JOHN CALVIN. PRESBYTERIANS A POPULAR NARRATIVE OF THEIR ORIGIN, PROGRESS, DOCTRINES, AND ACHIEVEMENTS BY REV. GEO. P. HAYS, D. D., LL. D. WITH SPECIAL CHAPTERS BY REV. W. J. REID, D. D., AND REV. A. G. WAL- LACE, D. D., OF THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF NORTH AMERICA; REV. J. M. HOWARD, D. D., AND REV. J. M. HUBBERT, D. D., OF THE CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH ; REV. MOSES D. HOGE, D. D., OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES, AND REV. W. H. ROBERTS, D. D.. LL. D., AMERICAN SECRETARY, PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE INTRODUCTIONS BY REV. JOHN HALL, D. D., LL. D., AND REV. WILLIAM E. MOORE, D. D., LL. D. NEW YORK J. A. HILL & CO., PUBLISHERS 1892 COPYRIGHT, 1892, BY J. A. HILL & COMPANY. All rights reserved. THE MERSHON COMPANY PRESS, RAHWAY, N. J. PREFACE. THIS book is for church members, officers, and busy pastors, rather than for theological professors, or private antiquarians. The object sought is to furnish intelligent people with a comparatively brief outline of the work, achievements, and undertakings of the denomi- nation. Such a book is sought for by parents, Sabbath school teach- ers, Bible classes, and bright, brainy young Presbyterians in their Endeavor Societies, Reading Circles, and Mutual Information Associations. It is not supposed that this book, in its brevity, will satisfy all of these inquiring minds, but a great end will be gained if the appetite is sharpened for increased familiarity with the work of their own branch of Evangelical Christendom. Undoubtedly there will be much criticism on account of the omis- sions ; but a page of printed matter will only hold the full of it. It would have been easier to have written a book of fifteen hundred pages than one of five hundred. There will be differences of opinion as to which are the more deserving of insertion, some things left out, or some things put in. But the list given under the head of " works consulted " is not an expensive one, and the dissatisfied are advised to prosecute their studies by the perusal of these authorities. The plan of separate chapters on " Missions " and " Education," in addi- tion to the history, compelled some repetition. The Church has always been educating and missionating, and the repetition is in the work and not merely in the way of telling it. The author intended to be fair to all parties. On all controverted questions he undoubtedly holds quite definite opinions ; but if he has failed to state fairly the views of others, it was due to inability iii Ml 71 752 IV PREFACE. and not to want of purpose. A history might be made the vehicl of an argument, and anyone will more or less write himself into hi own composition. It was here meant to be just. It was in thisspiri that the request was presented to the representatives of other de nominations, that they should prepare the special sketch of their o\v Church for a chapter in this book. In writing it, they were nc asked to conciliate anybody ; but with frankness to give the accour of their Church, as to its doctrines and polity, as it is viewed by thei own people. Drs. Reid and Hubbert desire to state that the cred: of the faithfulness of the chapters with which their names are ider tified is due to Drs. Wallace and Howard. The latter did th laborious part of the work, but in each case the co-laborers revise and approved the final form of the chapter. No pretense is made of any particular originality. Originality a to facts may be useful for a reporter in padding out a newspaper, bi; it is not a desirable talent in a historian. In replying to the charg that Thomas Jefferson exhibited no originality in the Declaration c Independence, his biographer (Mr. Randall) justly says, "He, wh should at this age of the world utter nothing (on such subjects) bu that which is purely original, would keep pretty nearly silent, and i he did speak would probably utter very little to the purpose." The author is bound to say that the preparation of this volum has deepened his love for his denomination, has enlarged his confi dence in its compact structure, has strengthened his faith in it responsible and world-wide work, and has confirmed the calmnes of his trust in the Redeemer's direction of the mission of the Pres byterian Church. To the great head of Christ's people, and to the people who liv through Him and work for Him, and all inquirers who ask abou Christ's coming Kingdom, this account of " Presbyterians " i humbly commended BY THE AUTHOR. INTRODUCTION By the Rev. JOHN HALL, D. D,, LL. D. THE educated people of the United States have not ignored the records of the past, but the bulk of the pop- ulation has been so busy in making the materials of his- tory that comparatively little attention has been given to the developments of things in bygone ages. " Anti- quity," as many would say, " is no doubt interesting to people who have little to do ; but we are nineteenth century workers ; we are very busy, and we are not thinking much of what our forefathers did in their time, but of what we have to do in ours." We are in danger of forgetting that valuable help may be gained in the study of present problems from the experience of the foregoing generation. The name, the opinions, and the influence of John Calvin are before the thoughtful public at the present time, and Presbyterians have good reason to be inter- ested in the estimates formed of that remarkable man. Many of our readers will remember the deliberate esti- mate of our historian, Bancroft, of the Geneva clergy- man. The eighth chapter of his history of the United States has his first topic in the table of contents, " Influence of Calvin," whom he describes (p. 266) as a " young French refugee, skilled alike in theology and civil law. in the duties of magistrates and the dialectics v l INTRODUCTION. of religious controversy, entering the Republic of Ge- neva, and conforming its ecclesiastical discipline to the principles of republican simplicity," "who established a party, of which Englishmen became members, and New England the asylum." What New Englanders were to our nation, it is not necessary to repeat. But surely every intelligent American must be interested in look- ing at the principles, plans, and practical operations of the body, which honors the name, and professes to work out the convictions of the Reformer of Geneva. It may be said, indeed, that the New Englanders did not, when they settled in America, reproduce the Church organization shaped by the man whom Presbyterians so highly honor. It would not be difficult, perhaps, to explain this circumstance, especially if we bear in mind two things : the laws of action and reaction, and the light in which Old England Puritans had been forced to look at great church organizations. How natural it was for them to turn from anything that appeared to be set up over the people, and how natural to be per- suaded that the body of worshipers in a given local- ity, duly associated together, should be independent of all outside authority! Indeed, the word "Independ- ent" is that which describes the children of the Puritans of Old England a noble body of earnest and patriotic Christians. But while the New England settlers did not adopt all Calvin's church methods, it is undeniable that in re- ligious convictions John Knox and John Calvin, the Puritans and the Presbyterians, were substantially an unit. The same set of authors interested both. The INTRODUCTION. vii reverence of the Bible, the regard for the Sabbath, the solemnity of confessing Christ at his table, the fear of " forms of godliness " which they regarded as weakening the " power "of it, and the resolute resistance of any substitute for the Church's Divine Head, the King that had been set upon the Holy Hill of Zion these were vital elements of the life of both sets, or if you will, denominations, of Christians. And that these common elements still survive in their places is made obvious by the ease with which Presbyterians and Congregational- ists co-operate, and the frequency with which pastors pass from the pulpits of the one to those of the other. After the battle of the Boyne and the overthrow of the power of King James, many Scotch people moved over into Ulster, the northern province of Ireland. They did not become proprietors, but only tenants of the soil. The common way was to " lease " a farm, for say thirty-one years, at a fixed annual rent. The soil had been little cultivated. Fences had to be set up ; houses had to be built ; rocks and trees had to be re- moved in order that crops might be raised. In fact, Scotchmen had to do in Ulster what had to be done in Massachusetts and Connecticut. All this the tenants did. On the expiration of the leases (dating from 1689 and 1690) about 1 720, and onward, the landlords claimed much higher rent than before. " Why, gentlemen," said the Scotchmen, though not perhaps in this form ; " we got the land when it was worth little. We made it what it is ; and now you treble our rent because of our own improvements!" The landlords held their ground, and the Scotchmen were not of the yielding Vlll INTRODUCTION. sort. They had learned something about America ; many of their kindred had gone to it. They banded together and found sea vessels of the Mayflower type. New York was not a harbor of any account at that time. They landed at the James River and followed the opening of Providence into Maryland, Virginia, Tennessee, Pennsylvania ; a section, indeed, went to New England, and reproduced Londonderry with the Presbyterian name and organization. It is not at all unlikely that the experiences of these people broke down their regard for monarchical institutions and a "landed gentry," and prepared them for a constitution formed and upheld by the people. As is known to many, this element in the population of the United States and these facts of history have been recalled to the people in the last few years by successive meetings of the Scotch-Irish Congress an organization neither political nor denominational, but which aims at emphasizing to them and to coming generations the principles that ruled, and the characteristics that marked, about one- third of the people at the time when the colonies became a republic. It is to be hoped that this work, on which the Rev. Dr. Hays has expended time, thought and research, will be welcomed by the many friends who have, in the North and in the South in their Congress addresses, so enthusiastically recalled the personal qualities and the public services of their forefathers and their country- men. In 1775 the Presbyterian Synod issued its " Pastoral Letter," in the interests of independence. The very fact of its holding its annual meetings sug- INTRODUCTION. IX gested the union of the colonies in a colonial congress. " Never, never to the latest day," says the Rev. Dr. Bryson, of Huntsville, Alabama, "can America forget the precious blood of Ulster's sons. In the conflict for freedom they were conspicuous for unfaltering fidelity and indomitable courage." The circulation of this contribution to the history of Presbyterianism will, it is to be hoped, not only recall the past and emphasize its suggestive lesson, but will also bear beneficially on the present and on the future. It is not a book for one branch of the great Presby- terian family in the United States (which Dr. Dor- chester estimates as including about a million and a half members, representing a population, probably, of six millions), but for them all. Who can tell how far it may suggest the unwisdom of division, and the desira- bleness of co-operation, even of organic union ? There are sections of the great family that differ as to the ma- terial that should be used to express praise to Almighty God. There are differences of views regarding the duties of citizens to the civil government as it now stands a matter not materially affecting personal con- secration. Why not unite these organizations for mis- sionary and benevolent, for educational and for reform- atory work, giving to each congregation the right of choice as to hymns or psalms in praise, and to each in- dividual the right of decision on his duty as to the matter of voting ? On these matters we propound no theory. We only look for the raising of such ques- tions, and we expect to help in the answers to them from the history of the past two centuries. X INTRODUCTION. Nor is it too much to hope that many outside the Presbyterian ranks will be interested in this history. He who carefully scrutinizes the moral and religious life of a race like the Anglo-Saxon cannot fail to see how one part of the people may emphasize a truth for the good of all the rest. Who, for example, fails to recognize the service rendered to us all by the Wesleys and by Whitfield, who, in a time of cold for- malism in the churches, brought out and held up to human souls the need of regeneration and conversion ? Does not the steady, conservative life of the " Dutch Reformed Church," as it used to be called, teach a good and useful lesson in a time and place when " some new thing" has an attraction of its own? May it not be possible and we say this without undue self-compla- cency that there may be elements unfolded in the life of the Presbyterian Churches that others can study with advantage. We have been used to magnify the word of God, to aim at intelligent belief, to prefer the deci- sion of the understanding to the impulse of an emotion, to lay upon the members a sense of responsibility in the choice of officers, and to magnify the place of Christ as King and Head of the Church, the Chief Shepherd and Bishop of souls. The reliance of our fathers for spir- itual success, for true church prosperity, was not on wealth or social position, or attractions that appealed tc the senses, but on the word of God applied to dead souls that they might live, and to living souls that they might grow by the Divine Spirit. Can we lose any- thing by holding to this plan ? Can we gain any true, spiritual, enduring, eternal results by any lower INTRODUCTION. XI methods? Even for the community as such may not this be a beneficent course ? May not a church-life of which these are the characteristics tell beneficially upon citizens as such, upon communities, upon the State and the nation ? If Motley is correct in the state- ment that " Holland, England and America owe their liberties to Calvinists," may not the methods so de- scribed, and the principles connected with that name, though not always understood, perpetuate and extend good influences? If Ranke, like D'Aubigne, is right in the belief that this system of religious belief and life was " the true founder of the American government," may it not be good also in conserving and perpetuating its best elements and in repressing any evil forces brought to bear upon it? If Froude, Lecky, Macaulay and other historians rightly represent things when cred- iting English liberty to the courage and othervirtues of the Calvinistic Puritan, may it not be for the public good, when some perils to our free institutions loom up before thoughtful minds, that the same inspiration should be sought, and the same moral qualities nurtured that secured this blessing ? If Carlyle is right in the statement that " a man's religion is the chief fact with regard to him," is it not of some moment that we should try to propagate and foster such a religion ? We are getting Irishmen to-day in great numbers. Can it do them aught but good to hold up to them Irishmen who came to America for freedom of conscience and popular liberty, and who lived, and in many cases died, to up- hold these things? French and Swiss are coming among us. Can we recall to them a prouder name than xli INTRODUCTION. that of the countryman of the one by birth, of the other by adoption ? Italians, Swedes, Bohemians are crowd- ing to our shores. Can we present to them any better agency for teaching men the right use of regulated lib- erty than that which made this land worth coming to ? In view of the facts thus stated, or suggested, we cannot but look for good from the disseminating and the intelligent use of this volume ; and we hope that Chris- tian and patriotic people, whose life and whose heredi- tary lines it teaches, will be at pains to use it and to pro- mote its circulation. Minister of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. NEW YORK, March 31, 1892. .* INTRODUCTION By the Rev. WILLIAM E. MOORE, D. D., LL. D. THIS brief sketch of Presbyterianism by Dr. Hays will be of great value to all the ministers, elders and members of our Church who wish to look beyond the facts of Presbyterian history to the root and fruit of Presbyterianism itself. The history of Presbyterianism is far wider than the history of the Presbyterian Church. Presbyterianism is both a polity and a doctrine. Dr. Hays traces both to the Bible. As a. doctrine, it is commonly known under the name of Calvinism. As a polity, it is known as a system of church government which rejects alike the rule of one man and the rule of the extemporized and irresponsible assembly ; but which asserts the right of self-government through its own chosen representatives administering rule and discipline in accordance with the word of God. Its polity is the fruit of its doctrine. That doctrine asserts the sov- ereignty of God over all men and affirms the personal responsibility of every man to God, who alone is Lord of the conscience. It knows no mediator between God and man, save the Lord Jesus Christ. It recog- nizes no authority in spiritual things that does not rest for its sanction upon the revealed word of God, which it holds to be the only infallible rule of faith and con- duct. In the nature of things, its views of God and of XIV INTRODUCTION. man as related to Him and his fellow-men must lead to the assertion of personal liberty under the powers ordained of God, as the inalienable right of all men everywhere. The Theocratic state was a republic. Its rulers under God were the elders of Israel. The Christian Church in its earliest organization was a republic. Its rulers under Christ were the elders of the people of God. The doctrine, like the polity, is drawn from the Bible. There is no necessary connection between government by chosen representation and the doctrines of grace ; but the affinity between them is so close that, given the one, we naturally expect the other. I need hardly point out the influence of Presbyterian polity on the civil institutions of our country. Towns, cities, States the nation are the counterparts of the Session, Pres- bytery, Synod and General Assembly. Free institu- tions in civil life are the necessary corollary of the doc- trines of grace. But I may refer to the influence of our polity on well nigh every church organization. Inde- pendency is no longer purely democratic. Prelacy is no longer purely monarchical. Lay representation is the demand of every form of Protestant Episcopacy, with ominous signs even in the Roman Church. Association is the recognized necessity of all " Independent " churches ; a session, in fact, if not in form, is found in every individual church. Dr. Hall has shown that the Scotch-Irish, who most largely settled the middle section of our country, were the most influential factors in planting Presbyterian churches of various names; but we must remember INTRODUCTION. XV also that with inconsiderable exceptions all the early immigrants to these regions were from the Reformed churches in Europe and held the doctrines of the Pres- byterian Church. Of Romanists there were few, and few Episcopalians except in Virginia. The Methodists were not yet. Presbyterian churches and ministers were few. Presbyterian men and women followed up the fertile valleys, and crossed the mountains, and when they could find or form no church of their own, merged in any Evangelical church which might be con- venient. Largely, they were lost to the Presbyterian Church, but not to Presbyterianism. Their spiritual life flows in the veins of every Evan- gelical body in our land. It is doubtless true that the form and expression of our Presbyterian faith has been much modified by our contact and co-operation with other Christians in all evangelistic work. It is also true that their forms and expressions of doctrine have been modified by ours, so that in the substantiate of faith there is agreement and unity unknown since the Reformation. The growth of the missionary spirit in its largest sense as Dr. Hays sets it forth is eminently in- structive. The power of the religious press is suggestive of the duty and privilege of all Presbyterians to inform themselves and their families of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God. The saddest and darkest page of our past history is the story of the division of 1741 ; the Cumberland division of 1805, and the division of 1838, with their preceding, concomitant and following strife, alienation and loss. No man to-day defends them ; no good or great thing in our history is traced xvi INTRODUCTION. to them. Our fathers contended earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints, as they held it. No one doubts their sincerity ; but they who strove so bit- terly came together, after intervals respectively of seventeen and thirty-one years, and unanimously agreed to receive each other as brethren mutually sound in the common faith. Do the muttering thunders on our ecclesiastical horizon portend that history is to repeat itself in disunion, confusion, reunion, regret and loss? Dr. Hays' book is a manual compact and reliable, which ought to be in every family of our Presbyterian Church. COLUMBUS, O., April 20, 1892. TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PRESBYTERIANISM IN THESWBLE. Mosaic Elders Elders with David, Solomon and the Kings The Synagogue and the Captivity The Great Synagogue Elders of the Synagogue in the Time of Christ The Spirit through the Apostles Adopts the Synagogue with its Officers and Organization Ekklesia or Church Organic Unity by Appellate Assemblies Council at Jerusalem, a General Assembly with Authority Various Names for Various Duties 25 CHAPTER II. PRESBYTERIANISM IN EUROPE BEFORE, DURING AND AFTER THE REFORMATION. The Culdees Bohemians The Waldenses Printing Epoch of Luther, Calvin, Knox, Francis I., Charles V., Henry VIII., Holland Two Marys and Eliza- bethWestminster Assembly Presbyterianism in England, Scotland and Ireland The Mixture of Emigrants for America. . . ' 36 CHAPTER III. AMERICAN PRESBYTERIANISM ORGANIZING THE FIRST PRESBYTERY. Early Roman Catholic and Protestant Settlements Puritans in Virginia and New England Practicing Various Forms of Church Government Alexander Whitaker Richard Denton Francis Makemie Presbytery Organized to Ordain Boyd Curious Records Makemie's Descendants Andrews, Macnish and Hampton 58 CHAPTER IV. THE FIRST SYNOD AND ITS , DIVISION. Rapid Growth from Mingling Immigrants Foreign Troubles Brought Blessings Here "Fund for Pious Uses" Missions New York Aided Scotch Contributions in Goods Delegated Synod Questions of Morals Law Suits Condemned State Interference Foreign Ordinations Ministerial Education British Doctrinal Controversies Revivals The Tennents and Whitefield The Two Protests, and the Split Calm Afterward 77 CHAPTER V. THE SYNODS UNITED THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. Presbyterian Growth Episcopacy Distrusted Lord Cornbury's Stupidity Helps Freedom Varied Successes by Struggles in England That Lesson Followed Here Watching against a State Church " Election Sermons " and Political Education The Difficulties Obstructing Union Union of Colonies and Union of Synods The Synods United Grow Rapidly Presbyterians Suspected by Tories Mechlenburg Declaration Work in War Times Preachers Killed Caldwell of Elizabethtown Preachers in Civil Affairs Dr. John Witherspoon Synods During the Revolution Choice Men in Trying Times 97 xvii xviii TABLE OF CONTENTS. , , CHAPTER VI. THE FINAL CONSTITUTION OF CHURCH AND NATION. PAGE Peace after War Synodical Meetings Small Delegated Meetings The Assembly Created, and Four Synods Erected Presbyterianism in the United States Consti- tution Washington and the Presbyterians Presbyterianism familiar to Alexan- der Hamilton, James Madison and other Leaders in the Constitutional Conven- tion The Parallel between the two Systems of Government French Infidelity Skeptical Public Men Infidel College Students Wages of Missionaries Iniquity Giving Way to Grace, 123 CHAPTER VII. THE GREAT REVIVAL OF l8oo. Deadness Followed by Revival Camp Meetings " Bodily Exercises " Cumberland Presbytery The Separation " Falling Work" of Western Pennsylvania- Revivals and Missions " Plan of Union " Presbyterian Congregationalism Candidates for the Ministry Princeton Theological Seminary Temperance Dueling Slavery Statistics of Fifteen Years Characteristics of Leading Men, . 145 CHAPTER VIII. DIVISION INTO OLD AND NEW SCHOOL CHURCHES. " Era of Good Feeling " Presbyteries and Synods Organized Theological Semi- naries and Colleges Church Digest and Histories Parties Forming Plan of Union and Committeemen External Doctrinal Controversies Voluntary Societies vs. Church Boards Western Foreign Missionary Society "The Exscinding Acts "Protests and Answers The Assembly Divided The Duffield, Beecher and Barnes Trials All Three Acquitted, 167 CHAPTER IX. THE OLD SCHOOL BRANCH. New Boards Organized Elders in the Ordination of Ministers, and in Quorums Slav- ery in 1845 "Spring Resolutions " of 1861 Presbyterian General Assembly at Au- gusta" Declaration and Testimony " Gurley's " Ipso Facto " Resolutions Judi- cial Commissions Massacred Missionaries The Week of Prayer Presbyter- ian Commentary Church Newspaper Doctrinal Energy and Unity, . . . 188 CHAPTER X. THE NEW SCHOOL BRANCH. The Doctrinal Position "Auburn Declaration " Depletion by Departures to Con- gregationalism The Litigation Triennial Assemblies Home Missionary Energy American Home Missionary Society Partiality in Dealing with Denom- inations Protracted Slavery Discussion Church Extension Committee One Hundred Thousand Dollar Church Erection Fund Home Mission Itinerant Missionaries An Estimate of its Church Life, 200 CHAPTER XI. REUNION AND CONSOLIDATION. Laymen Determined on Union First Steps First Joint Committees Outside Con- ventions Presbyterian National Union Convention Basis of Union " The Standards Pure and Simple "New York Assemblies of 1869 Pittsburgh Meeting and Formalities Street Meeting and Mass Meetings Five Million Memorial Fund Healthful, Educating and Repairing Processes, ....... 218 CHAPTER XII. READJUSTMENT NECESSITATED BY LARGENESS. Reconstruction of Boundaries A General Church Treasurer Limitation of Ap- TABLE OF CONTENTS. xix PAGE peals Judicial Commissions Revised Book of Discipline Foreign National Presbyterian Churches Reduction of the Size of the Assembly Expenses of the Assembly Assembly Programme for Boards The Pacific Coast Meeting, . . 235 CHAPTER XIII. EDUCATION, COLLEGES AND THEOLOGICAL SEMINARIES. The Bible on Learning The Reformers Early Academies Log Colleges Princeton College Rich Colleges and Poor Colleges Theological Seminaries: Princeton, Auburn, Union (Va.), Allegheny, Lane, McCormick, Union (N. Y.), Danville, Columbia (S. C.), Pacific German Seminaries Freedmen's Institutions Totals of Northern Presbyterian Investments, 254 CHAPTER XIV. MISSIONS AND CHURCH BOARDS. Missions Always, All the Time, and Everywhere Early Plans Itinerants The Boards Home Missions Foreign Missions Education Publication and Sabbath School Work Church Erection Ministerial Relief Freedmen College Aid Committee on Systematic Beneficence- Temperance Committee Church at Home and Abroad, 286 CHAPTER XV. NEWSPAPERS PHILANTHROPIES CHURCH UNITY. The Oldest Religious Newspaper Present Papers and Circulation Newspaper Influence Presbyterians in Union Hospitals Presbyterian Hospitals False Charge of Presbyterian Narrowness Inter-denominational Movements, Bible Societies, Y. M. C. A., Y. P. S. C. E., etc. Propositions for Church Unity Pres- byterian Alliance- Possibilities of Universal Church Union Encomiums of Dorner, Carlyle, Froude, Archbishop Hughes and Prof. Fiske, . . . . . . 345 CHAPTER XVI. REVISION OF THE CONFESSION OF FAITH. The Providential Tasks of a Denomination All Denominations Affected by Every Discussion of Fundamentals Parties not yet Developing in the Assembly Early Creeds and Westminster Standards The Controversial Style Presbyterial Over- tures for Revision Assembly's Committee on Revision Instructions Based on Presbyterial Overtures Committee's First Report of Progress Three Types of Opinion Committee's Final Report Assembly's Action Thereon, . . . 364 CHAPTER XVII. HIGHER CRITICISM IN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARIES. Biblical Criticism Biblical Introduction Literary Criticism Textual Criticism- Higher Criticism and the " Difficulties of the Bible" Diversities of Style Astruc, Eichhorn, Elohist, Jehovist, etc. Rationalistic and Evangelical Higher Criticism Position of Prof. Charles A. Briggs His Inauguration as Professor of Biblical Theology in Union Seminary, New York President Butler's Endowment of the Chair Trial of Dr. Briggs and Issue Inspiration Verbal, Plenary, Conceptual and General Inspiration Prophecy and Inspiration Union Theological Seminary and the General Assembly The Veto of Dr. Briggs' Transfer The Compact of 1870 and its Peculiarities The Committee of Conference, ...... 377 CHAPTER XVIII. DISTINCTIVE PECULIARITIES OF PRESBYTERIAN DENOMINATIONS. The Distinctions, Real Differences Historic Meaning of Names Church Officers and the Civil Courts Sessions, Trustees and Deacons Rights of Each Body Legal Decisions Quoted Calvinism and Arminianism Foreordination Original Sin- Total Depravity Election Perseverance of the Saints Psalmody Secret Socie- tiesLicensing and Ordaining Men Lacking College Training Spirituality of the Church Work among the Colored People -Open and Close Communion Boards or Committees Nations and the Dominion of Christ, , . . . . 395 XX TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER XIX. REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN (COVENANTER) CHURCH. Old Testament Covenanting The State Subject to God-Scotch Covenants' "Solemn League and Covenant "" Sanquhar Declaration "People without a Minister Scotch Immigrants A Reformed Presbytery Organized Union with the Associate Church Presbytery Reorganized Division in 1830-33 Present Statistics Missions and Average Gifts Covenant Renewed in 1871 Voting- Incorporation with the Government "National Reform" Association Voting for Prohibition Amendments "East End Platform "Its Signers Disciplined, 413 CHAPTER XX. UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. Its Origin Antecedent Churches The Union Organization Spirit of the Church Communion Slavery Psalmody Secret Societies Spiritual Life Work of the Church Home Missions Foreign Missions Freedmen Church Building Pub- lication and other Boards Women's Work Young People's Societies Educa- tional Institutions Theological Seminaries and Colleges Periodicals Statistics and Growth, 425 CHAPTER XXI. THE CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. Cumberland Presbytery Organized Great Spiritual Death Rev. James McGready and his Religious Experience His Awakening Preaching The Revival Work Begins Opposition from Scoffers and also from Christians McGready's Prayer Covenant Camp-meetings Begun Objections to Revival Methods Licensing Men who Lacked Classical Education Cumberland Presbytery Organized, then Dis- banded by Synod Cumberland Presbytery Reorganized Independently Doctrinal Differences Irreconcilable" The Cumberland Council" vs. " The Synod's Commis- sion "The Confession and Fatalism Cumberland Presbytery Grows Rapidly The Revival Spreading Cumberland Synod Organized The First Cumberland Presbyterian General Assembly Statistics of Growth The Amended Confession of Faith Educational Institutions Missionary Progress Church Boards Grow- ing by Conversions not by Proselytes Inter-denominational Fraternity, . -451 CHAPTER XXII. THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. Historic Presbyterianism Early Southern People Educational Enterprises Share in American Presbyterian History Old School Assembly of 1861 Dr. Spring's Political Resolutions Protest of Dr. Hodge Southern Presbyteries Separate from its Jurisdiction The Atlanta Gathering and the Assembly at Augusta The Separate Church Organized The Spirituality of the Church The Quarter-Cente- nary Celebration Presbyterians of Kentucky and Missouri Join the Southern Church The Organization of Church Committees Instead of Church Boards Their Work, Location and Secretaries Theological Seminaries Colleges Philanthro- pies Church Papers Historic, Heroic Leaders Fraternal Spirit and Future Prospects, 478 CHAPTER XXIII. THE PRESBYTERIAN COMMUNION. Roman, Greek and Anglican Communion Total Presbyterians Presbyterian Doc- trine and Polity Presbyterian Fathers from Augustine (430) to the Reformation Presbyterians in Switzerland, France, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Russia, Scotland, England, Ireland, Wales, United States, Canada, Brazil, Japan, Asia, Africa and Australasia Alliance of the Reformed Churches Standards and Influence of Presbyterians, 51; LIST OF AUTHORITIES. FOLLOWING are the principal historical works consulted and relied on for the facts contained in the following pages : Gillett's History of the Presbyterian Church. Hodge's History of the Presbyterian Church. Webster's History of the Presbyterian Church. Briggs's American Presbyterianism. Sprague's Annals of the American Pulpit. (Vol. III. Presby- terian.) Sprague's Annals of the American Pulpit. (Vol. IV. Presby- terian.) Reunion Memorial Volume. Records of the Presbyterian Church. 1706-1788. Minutes of the General Assembly. 1789-1820. Minutes of the General Assembly. 1821-1835. File of the Minutes of the General Assembly (Old School) 1838-1869. File of the Minutes of the General Assembly (New School) 1838-1869. File of the Minutes of the General Assembly 1870-1891. Baird's Assembly Digest. (Ed. 1858.) Moore's Digest of the Presbyterian Assembly. (Ed. 1861.) Moore's Presbyterian Digest. (Ed. 1873.) Moore's Presbyterian Digest. (Ed. 1886.) Miller, On Ruling Elders. Hetherington's History of the Church of Scotland. McCrie's Life of John Knox. Works of John Calvin. Guizot's Life of John Calvin. Haydn's Dictionary of Dates. Fisher's Outlines of Universal History. Clare's Universal History and History of the United States. XXll LIST OF AUTHORITIES. Dorchester's Christianity in the United States. Nevin's Presbyterian Encyclopedia. Jackson's Concise Dictionary of Religious Knowledge. Bliss's Encyclopedia of Missions. Schaff-Herzog's Religious Encyclopedia. Encyclopedia Britannica. Kiddle & Schem's Cyclopedia of Education. Edersheim's Life and Times of Jesus. Schaff's Creeds of Christendom. Bingham's Antiquities of the Christian Church. D'Aubigne's History of the Reformation. Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History. Gieseler's Ecclesiastical History. Brace's Gesta Christi, or Humane Progress. Bancroft's History of the United States. Bryant's History of the United States. Knight's History of England. Presbyterian Church Throughout the World. Published by D. C. Lent, 1874. Glasgow's History of the Reformed Presbyterian Church. Reid's United Presbyterianism. M'Donnold's History of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Memorial Addresses, Quarter-Centennial of the Southern Assembly, 1886. Breed's Presbyterians and the Revolution. Tercentenary Book. Celebration of the Life and Work of John Knox. Smith's Mediaeval Missions. Wright's The Early Church in Britain. Bowen's The Days of Makemie. Alexander's Log College. Smith's History of Jefferson College and " Log Cabin " Schools. Speer's The Great Revival of 1800. ILLUSTRATIONS. portraits : CALVIN, JOHN, ..... Frontispiece KNOX, JOHN, . . 36 ALEXANDER, ARCHIBALD, ... . 145 BARNES, ALBERT, . . . . . 167 BEARD, RICHARD, .... .472 COOPER, JOSEPH T., ..... 436 ELLIOTT, DAVID, . .188 EWING, FINIS, . . . . . . 45 r KENDALL, HENRY, ... . 290 LOWRIE, JOHN CAMERON, . . . . 307 PLUMER, WILLIAM S., . . . 49 8 PRESSLY, JOHN T., .... 425 SLOANE, J. R. W., . 413 SMITH, HENRY B., . . 200 THORNWELL, JAMES H., ..... 47 8 WITHERSPOON, JOHN, . . . . 123 UbeolOGical Seminaries : ALLEGHENY, ALLEGHENY, PA., ... 433 AUBURN, AUBURN, N. Y., . . . . 205 COLUMBIA, COLUMBIA, S. C., . . " . 487 LANE, CINCINNATI, O., ..... 213 McCoRMiCK, CHICAGO, ILL., . . . 195 OLDEST IN AMERICA, .... 447 PRINCETON, PRINCETON, N. J., . . . . 160 SAN FRANCISCO, SAN FRANCISCO, CAL., * . . 281 TOKYO, JAPAN, ....... 34 UNION, HAMPDEN-SlDNEY, VA., .... 5OO UNION, NEW YORK, N. Y., . . . . . 3 8 9 WESTERN, ALLEGHENY, PA., ... 5 2 5 XENIA, XENIA, O., . 45 Colleges an& Universities : ALBERT LEA COLLEGE (FEMALE), ALBERT LEA, MINN., 373 BIDDLE UNIVERSITY, CHARLOTTE, N. C., . . 3 2 9 CENTRAL UNIVERSITY, RICHMOND, KY., , . 49 2 xxiii Xxiv ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE CENTRE COLLEGE, DANVILLE, KY., . . . .85 COLLEGE OF EMPORIA, EMPORIA, KAN., . . 318 COLLEGE OF MONTANA, DEER LODGE, MONT., . . 310 DAVIDSON COLLEGE, DAVIDSON, N. C., . . 503 GENEVA COLLEGE, BEAVER FALLS, PA., . . .422 HAMILTON COLLEGE, CLINTON, N. Y., .. . 109 HAMPDEN-SIDNEY (VA.) COLLEGE, . . . . 482 HANOVER COLLEGE, HANOVER, IND., . . . . 116 HOUGHTON SEMINARY (FEMALE), CLINTON, N. Y., . . 269 LAFAYETTE COLLEGE, E ASTON, PA.,. . . 173 LAKE- FOREST UNIVERSITY, LAKE FOREST, ILL., . . 229 LINCOLN UNIVERSITY, LINCOLN, ILL., . . . 458 MACALASTER COLLEGE, ST. PAUL, MINN., . . . 250 MCMILLAN'S LOG COLLEGE, CANNONSBURG, PA., . 91 MISSOURI VALLEY COLLEGE, MARSHALL, Mo., . y . 462 MONMOUTH COLLEGE, MONMOUTH, ILL., . 440 PARK COLLEGE, PARKVILLE, Mo., . . . . 334 PARSONS COLLEGE, FAIRFIELD, I A., . . 238 PENNSYLVANIA COLLEGE (FEMALE), PITTSBURGH, PA., . 401 PRINCETON COLLEGE, PRINCETON, N. J., . 73 SOUTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY, CLARKSVILLE, TENN., . 495 SYRIAN PROTESTANT COLLEGE, BEIRUT, SYRIA, 530 TRINITY UNIVERSITY, TEHUACANA, TEX., . . .465 UNIVERSITY OF WOOSTER, WOOSTER, O., . ' . 259 WABASH COLLEGE, CRAWFORDSVILLE, IND., . .153 WASHINGTON AND JEFFERSON COLLEGE, WASHINGTON, PA., 131 WAYNESBURG COLLEGE, WAYNESBURG, PA., . 469 WESTMINSTER COLLEGE, NEW WILMINGTON, PA., . 428 WESTMINSTER COLLEGE, FULTON, Mo., . 509 WILSON COLLEGE (FEMALE), CHAMBERSBURG, PA., . 223 Ibospitals, fbomes, etc, : CUMB. PRESB. PUBLISHING HOUSE, NASHVILLE, TENN., 476 HOME FOR AGED MINISTERS, PERTH AMBOY, N. J., . 326 INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL AND NORMAL INSTITUTE, ASHE- VILLE, N. C., . . . . . 293 INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL, SITKA, ALASKA, ... 295 MISSION ROOMS, 53 FIFTH AVE., NEW YORK, N. Y., . 287 OLDEST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA, . 65 PRESBYTERIAN HOSP.TAL, ALLAHABAD, INDIA, . . 300 PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL, BALTIMORE, MD., . . 410 PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL, CHICAGO, ILL., . . 357 PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL, NEW YORK, N. Y., . 350 PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL, PHILADELPHIA, PA., . . 366 THORNWELL ORPHANAGE, CLINTON, S. C., . . 505 THORNTON HOME, EVANSVILLE, IND., . 474 U. P. ORPHANS' HOME, ALLEGHENY, PA., 445 PRESBYTERIANS. CHAPTER I. BIBLICAL PRESBYTERIANISM. T)RESBYTER is a Greek word, not translated but sim- 1 ply transferred. The Greek word spelled in English would be presbuteros. Translated into English it is the word " elder." If it had been the Latin word and not the Greek which had been transferred, it would have been senior. The word in Hebrew \sZaqen. In the Old Testament that word, as meaning an official person, occurs more than one hundred times. Of these forty-four are in the Pentateuch. The word presbu- teros occurs sixty times in the New "Testament. This word, therefore, as the name of an officer, is of con- stant use in the Scriptures. Government by representative elders is imbedded in all Bible history and instruction. The system under- lies everything, and reappears everywhere, in religious and in civil affairs. It has been quaintly but aptly said that the first Gen- eral Assembly was called by Moses, and assembled in Egypt (Ex. 4 : 29). His authority to issue this call is given in Exodus 3 : 16. The book of Deuteronomy is the farewell address of Moses to these elders in the hearing of the people. Of the book of Joshua, chap- 25 26 PRESBYTERIANS. ters 23 and 24 are similar addresses of Joshua to these elders as representatives of the Hebrew people, Joshua was the military leader under Moses and the chief officer after his death. As representatives of the people the elders came to Samuel to ask for a king (I Sam. 8 : 4). The elders in behalf of the people came down to Hebron to invite David to take the dominion of the whole nation (II Sam. 5 : 3). When Solomon ded- icated the temple at Jerusalem, he assembled the elders and the people to unite with him in that service (I Kings 8 : i). These elders (Zeqenim) constantly reap- pear throughout the history of the kingdom, and are with Jeremiah at the time of the carrying away. into captivity. The elder's office was not connected specially with the service of the tabernacle or the temple. That service was in the charge of the priests and the Levitcs. The temple worship terminated with the coming of Christ. It had been impossible to observe it during the captivity. During that captivity, however, it was necessary that the people should assemble frequently in order to maintain their familiarity with the religion of Jehovah. In the midst of a foreign tongue, surrounded by an idolatrous people, the synagogue organization of the Jewish church was a necessity of the situation. The people were already familiar with the name of elder as a governing and instructing officer in their midst. Just when and how the synagogue worship first began is not recorded ; but at the return from the captivity, under Ezra and Nehemiah, the synagogue was perpet- uated in Palestine by these religious reformers. The existence of the " great synagogue" at Jerusalem is BIBLICAL PRESBYTERIANISM. 2? denied by Prof. A. Kuenen, of Leyden ; but Dr. Alfred Edersheim in his Life of Christ, vol. I, page 94, note, notices that the denial of its existence cannot be sus- tained. In the time of Christ this synagogue worship was familiar to the Jews in Palestine and in all other countries. The notices of it in the Rabbinical writings, in Josephus, in the New Testament and elsewhere, are so full and minute that its plan of worship can be dis- tinctly and certainly reconstructed. These synagogues had as their governing body a bench of elders, over which the " chief ruler" was the presiding officer. The pulpit of the assembly room was next to Jerusalem, and the audience faced toward that city. There was a regular church service, and a regular speaker or preacher for the instruction of the congregation. The authority to put improper persons " out of the synagogue" was vested in these elders. Ten families could constitute a synagogue, and three rulers might form the governing body, though the number might be much larger. The Savior frequently addressed the people in the synagogues. They were part of the religion of his time and well adapted to use in all countries. The synagogues had already familiar- ized the people with a governing body of their own representatives, and with regular service for people so assembled together for religious instruction. Unity to the whole was secured by the right of ap- peal, from all the smaller and inferior of these tribunals, to the highest at Jerusalem for a final settlement of these questions. At the outset the nation had been made familiar with this system of appeals from lower to higher tribunals. Moses in the wilderness had or- ganized the Children of Israel upon that plan (Ex. 28 PRESBYTERIANS. 1 8 : 24, 26). That system must have continued, at least with regard to civil affairs, through the period of the Judges and the Kings. In the time of Christ this sys- tem of appellate tribunals continued in respect to the Sanhedrim. (Edersheim's " Life of Christ," vol. II, page 554.) By this system difficult cases were carried for ultimate decision to the highest authority, and in extreme cases decided by the use of Urim and Thum- mim. The whole religious life of the Hebrew people was permeated with this notion of the supreme author- ity of the central power and of gradations leading up to it. They were themselves a chosen people out of the nations of the earth. Religiously Levi was the chosen tribe, the priesthood the chosen line out of that chosen tribe, and the High Priest the individual next to God. In civil affairs Judah was the chosen tribe, and the king, through whose lineage Christ came, was the supreme ruler. After the overthrow of the kingdom and the return from Babylon, there was a similar arrangement in the synagogues for the maintenance of religious knowledge, and the ultimate authority was to be found in the rulers at Jerusalem. Christianity, after the resurrection of Christ, spread first among these Jewish people. The apostles went into the synagogues and taught. The synagogue was the place where the people expected instruction, and where teachers went for the communication of infor- mation. When refused admittance to the synagogues, the Christians instinctively turned to the assembling of themselves together in their own houses. Any other course would have needed special and divine organiza- tion, but this process was certain to go on unless the apostles provided some substitute. Instead of provid- BIBLICAL PRESBYTERIANISM. 2Q ing a substitute the apostles followed up this synagogue worship. By the providence of God, first, through the agency of the captivity, and afterward by the oppres- sion in Jerusalem, the synagogue service had been made ready to hand, and its methods were adopted in the New Testament Church. This will explain the famili- arity which is manifested in the Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, and in all the Epistles, with the words elder and teacher and exhortation and assembling to- gether. The New Testament Church was distinctly founded on the synagogue worship, and was itself that synagogue worship adapted to the kingdom of God under the second great dispensation. The word synagogue is a Greek work and means simply an assembly of people, like our word congregation. It contains in it no suggestion of the spreading abroad of a religion. The design of the Jews in Babylon and in Palestine, and throughout the Dispersion, was simply the maintenance of a religious life already extant among themselves. But the spirit of Christianity aimed not only to maintain religious life where it already ex- isted, but to extend it throughout all the earth. Its watchword was " Go ye therefore and make disci- ples of all the nations." The forerunner, John the Baptist, went out calling to men to come to repent- ance, and the design of the outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost was to fit the New Testament Church to go out and call all men to salvation. This difference of spirit between the old Jewish synagogue worship and the New Testament aggressive worship was so marked that it soon indicated itself in the language of the people. The early Christians were so energetic in calling their followers together for mutual encour- 30 PRESBYTERIANS. agement and prayer and exhortation, and in calling the outside world together to hear of the Savior and His salvation, that the name of their assembly came to be Ekklcsia (called out). Christians were the called of God, and were sent to call others to the same salvation. From this Greek word we get our English word " ec- clesiastical." In heathen cities, therefore, the name of the assembly soon indicated the character of the reli- gion. Synagogue worship was Jewish and for Jews alone, but the worship of the Ekklesia was Christian and missionary. By and by differences of view on various matters came up among the Christians. Some of these controversies were settled by the elders in the particular church, or by the moral weight or inspired authority of the apostles. By and by a pivotal question arose as to the relationship between this New Testament Church, as a church of Christ, and the ceremonies of the Old Tes- tament which had foreshadowed Christ. Jewish con- verts naturally thought that the Jewish mark of faith in the God of the Bible was the distinct mark of a pro- fessor of that same faith in the New Testament times. Christian Jews, therefore, insisted on the perpetuation of circumcision. Others insisted that circumcision was a part of the Old Testament ceremonial law, and that, while there was no objection to Jews practicing it, that rite was not obligatory on the New Testament Church. Submission to it ought not to be insisted upon with regard to the Gentiles. Baptism had been preached by John, had been commanded by Christ, been admin- istered by the apostles, and was to be the New Tes- tament substitute for circumcision as the form of pro- fessing faith in the triune God. This question was a BIBLICAL PRESBYTERIANISM. 31 representative one, and its decision would settle a prin- ciple applicable throughout the whole range of religious service. Remembering, now, the Mosaic method of maintaining unity by a system of appeals to a final authority, and the synagogue system of regulating wor- ship by the decisions of the Sanhedrim at Jerusalem, it was perfectly certain that if left to themselves, the New Testament Church would come together to determine a policy and indicate the same by its conclusions upon this question of circumcision. The spirit of inspiration, instead of negativing this natural disposition of these people to accept a system of appeals as common law, indicated the perpetuation of that same system in the New Testament Church by directing " the apostles and elders to come together at Jerusalem about this ques- tion." The decision of that council was final, and settled for all time the principle which was underlying that subject of circumcision (Acts 15 : 23-29). That case also settled the doctrine that in the Christian Church the part is subject to the whole, the lower courts to the higher, and each part to the General Assembly of the whole. Presbyterians are those who believe that the man- agement of the New Testament Church is in the hands of representatives of the people called pres- byters. They hold that the language of the New Tes- tament, and especially of this i5th chapter of Acts, authorizes this method of the management of a large dis- trict by the representatives of a group of congregations. The final authority over the whole is in the represen- tatives of all the congregations. This method of church government by a graded system of church assemblies, made up of representatives of the people and of preach- 32 PRESBYTERIANS. ers of the Gospel, is not supposed to be so exclusively scriptural that no other method is allowable, but it is held so certainly scriptural that it is to be greatly preferred as a method of organizing church work. Only the leading outlines of the system are indicated in Scripture. The minute details are left to the wisdom of church officers and people under the superintendency of the Holy Ghost. These details are to be adapted to the various conditions of age, country, and church work. Very large liberty is granted for the aggressive and inventive genius of Christian people in pushing forward the king- dom of God. Presbyterianism is primarily a system of church government, and is not specially confined to any one system of doctrine. There is, perhaps, no special rea- son why Calvinists more than others should be Presby- terians in their form of government, and why Armin- ians, or Unitarians, or Agnostics for that matter, should not organize themselves upon what would be essentially the Presbyterian system. Generally, Presbyterians are Calvinists, but not necessarily so. They hold that the office of elder and its duties are determined in all its leading features by Jesus Christ, the head of the Church, and revealed by the Spirit of inspiration in the Scriptures. The part that the people have to do is to elect by their votes the individual member of the church who shall administer this eldership. The duties of a sheriff are enacted by the legislature and written in the law. The voters of the county simply determine which of their number shall, for a given time, discharge the sheriff's duties. Like the duties of a civil sheriff, the duties of the elder or the minister go right on the same, though there may be frequent changes in the BIBLICAL PRESBYTERIANISM. 33 persons who shall exercise the authority of the offices. It is not to be supposed because the church members elect the pastor or the elder, that, therefore, they have a right to dictate what the one shall preach or how the other shall rule. For all church officers' instructions are to be found in the Word of God, and the modern preacher, as much as the ancient prophet, is under the command : "Preach the preaching that I bid thee." In the Pastoral Epistles and elsewhere, inspired de- scriptions are given of the character of persons that ought to be selected for this responsible office, and very full instruction is given about the spirit which this elder ought to maintain, the tenderness which he should exhibit, and the ends at which he should aim in dis- charging his duties. Several different words are used in the Scriptures which all Presbyterians believe indi- cate the same office. Various words are used because different duties are required of these elders. They are enjoined to be overseers of the flock. The Greek word for overseer is Episcopos. The English equiva- lent is the word bishop. The minister is to feed the flock, as a shepherd provides food for his flock ; and so he is called a pastor. He is to be the messenger of God to the people, and so John, in writing to the Seven Churches of Asia, addressed their pastor as the angel of this or that church. He is to serve the people, and so he is called their minister. He is to serve his Mas- ter, even Christ, and so he is called a servant. But no distinction is made in the New Testament between the duties of a bishop and those of the ordinary minister or pastor. No distinction is indicated in regard to any difference in authority among the elders in the du- ties of ruling. Presbyterians hold to what is called 34 PRESBYTERIANS. "the parity or equality of the ministry." All ministers are of equal authority except as some of them may, at various times, be appointed to various departments of work. To all these, all ministers are equally eligible. Presbyterianism is thus distinguished from Episcopacy on the one hand, and Independency or Congregation- alism on the other. In Episcopal churches, such as the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of England, or the Protestant Episcopal Church of this country, all author- ity is in the bishop. There are no representatives of the people such as Presbyterian elders are. In the Independent or Congregational church the minister is a church member just as all the other members are, and the power of admission, trial, and exclusion of church members belongs equally to all the members of the congregation. The church officers are simply an executive committee to carry out the will of the congre- gation as expressed by a vote in regular meeting. Each congregation is entirely independent of any other, and there is no such a thing as an appeal. There are asso- ciations, but these are of individuals rather than oi churches; and there are councils called, but their con- clusions are simply advice which the individual church may follow or disregard. Presbyterians believe that the decision of the council at Jerusalem was not advice but an authoritative determination of the question. It was not the decision of all the church members, but of the elders representing the various churches. Presby- terians thus deny the right of bishops to arrogate to themselves the entire right of ordination, as if some peculiar virtue was transmitted by physical contact through " apostolic succession" clown to the modern church, They believe, on the other hand, that it is the BIBLICAL PRESBYTERIANISM. 35 order of God that certain officers should be chosen, as recorded of deacons in the 6th chapter of Acts, and set apart for certain duties pertaining to secular affairs and the temporal care of the poor. Others are set apart to the spiritual work of ruling, as are the elders, and others to the additional work of instruction, as are the pastors. Pastors are ex-officio members with the elders in the congregational session and preside at the meetings thereof. In the final chapter on Pan-Presbyterianism, it will be seen how large a proportion of the Protestant Church has adopted this system of government. It is eminently scriptural, and in its essence was used in the Old Testament Church as well as in the New. Other Christians may prefer another method of government, if they are themselves satisfied that it is scriptural ; but Presbyterians hold a strong preference for their own form of government, as they believe it to be indisputa- bly scriptural, admirably practical, eminently efficient, and equally adapted to God's government, man's obedi- ence, and that happy combination which results from divine supervision, heavenly grace and human activity in a working church. CHAPTER II. EUROPEAN PRESBYTERIAN ISM BEFORE, DURING AND AFTER THE REFORMATION. WHEN Constantine the Great, in the fourth cen- tury, made Christianity the state religion of Rome, its profession was a help to preferment. When, in the early part of the seventh century, Boniface III. secured supremacy for Rome over Constantinople, church of- fices, and especially the Roman Episcopate, became temptations to ambition. Through the subsequent centuries spirituality disappeared, and mechanical re- ligion and concentrated authority grew to be almost irresistible. As Popish domination, assisted by diplo- macy and persecution, subjugated everything to itself, it met here and there, throughout the European world, the antagonism of those who by preference or spirit- uality sought to read the Bible. Christianity entered England during its occupation by the Roman Empire, and when the Roman army retired, about 450, a con- siderable Christian population was left .among the na- tives on the island. These native Kelts were too weak to resist the Picts and Scots, and so called in the help of the Anglo-Saxons. But the Anglo-Saxons came to conquer not to help. With the Saxon con- quest, heathenism came again and Christianity was pushed back into Wales, Ireland, and Scotland. Au- gustine, the Romish priest, came over for the conver- sion of the Anglo-Saxons about 596. As Romanism 36 JOHN KNOX. EUROPEAN PRESBYTERIANISM. 37 took possession of the country it came in conflict with the earlier Christianity of the North of Britain and of Ireland. Patrick, as a saint, is a Roman Catholic. His- torical Patrick was a Scottish Christian, of the Presby- terian type, who called himself a presbyter, and reports three hundred and sixty-five bishops and three thou- sand presbyters in the North of Ireland. Columbawas a native of Ireland who missionated in Scotland about the close of the sixth century, and organized the Cul- dees, with their headquarters at the Island of lona. These Culdees were Presbyterians. For their history consult Jamison's " Culdees" and Smith's " Life of Columba." For centuries they endured fierce persecu- tion from the Romish priests, while sometimes they had public debates with them. When in the eleventh century King Malcolm Canmore married Margaret, the Saxon, as a Romanist she urged her husband to bring these Culdees under Catholic domination. In his at- tempt to do so he found an organized church, unable to understand Latin (and so not Romanists), and the king was compelled to act as interpreter in the confer- ences between the queen's clergy and the Culdee min- isters. The sufferings of the Culdees went on through the fourteenth century, when the Wycliffites in Eng- land and the Lollards on the Continent began to share with them the struggle for the right to read the Bible, and the accompanying persecutions. Scotch Culdee Christianity was not killed ; it was simply for a time buried alive. The Scottish Reformation was not, like the Reformation on the Continent, the resurrection of primitive Christianity from the dead. It was the revival of smothered piety by its liberation from the tomb. This explains the vigor of Scotch Presbyterianism 38 PRESBYTERIANS. under Wishart, Knox, and their followers, amid all sorts of suffering. Both sides had been habituated to persecution the Culdees to its endurance and the Romanists to inflicting it. England's Luther was Wycliffe, who died in 1384. His translation of the Bible brought on him the perse- cution which made life a burden, and after his death secured the honors of burning for his bones. But neither persecution while living, nor fire after he was dead, could destroy the leaven of his reforming work. The influence of that work reached John Huss and Jerome of Prague in Bohemia, and brought on them martyrdom by the council of Constance. Out of their work grew the Bohemian Church, which fellowshiped with the Waldenses previous to the Reformation. Bohemian representatives now sit in the Pan-Pres- byterian Council. The earlier Waldenses were not a separate church from Rome but rather an Evangelical church inside of the Roman Church. They received a powerful revival in the accession of Peter Waldo, about 1 1 70, and because of their general reading of the Bible and their permission to both men and women to speak in their religious as- semblies were constantly persecuted by the Catholic authorities. They rejected the papal hierarchy, pur- gatory, the mass and transubstantiation, and were ex- communicated by Lucius III. as schismatics and heretics. When they heard the tidings of the Reformation they sent a deputation to the Reformers and were delighted to find their agreement with them. At their Synod in 1532 the Reformation was adopted by a large majority, and the Waldenses became then and still remain a regular branch of the Reformation Church. Since the unifica- EUROPEAN PRFSBYTERIANISM. 39 tion of Italy they are a National Presbyterian church of that country. One good reason for the want of success in these pre- reformation movements was the lack of means for the widespread circulation of their doctrines. The invention of printing by Koster, Gutenberg, Faust and Schoef- fer about 1450, made it possible to reform the Church and enlighten the World. Without some such means of multiplying books and spreading thought, it had been a hopeless task. When Faust came to Paris to sell his printed Bibles, copies of the written Scriptures were sold for five hundred crowns ; and he sold his first printed edition at that price. The next edition he sold at first for sixty crowns. His price soon fell to thirty, and he produced copies as fast as they were wanted. With an incomprehensible want of logic his work was charged to the activity of Satan, as if the Devil published Bibles. People now can hardly understand the excitement then created by printed books. Printing was more wonder- ful then than the telephone is now, or the daguerrotype and telegraph were fifty years ago. To the natural appetite for learning, printed books added also this ex- aggerated appetite for a marvelous curiosity. William Caxton printed the first book in England in 1474, and Tyndale's translation of the Bible was executed in Worms in 1525, and reached England in 1526. In the midst of the intellectual public, thus startled by the re- vival of learning and the invention of printing, came two great events, and a group of marvelous men, provi- dentially fitted for the beginning of the sixteenth cen- tury. When, on the 3ist of October, 1517, Luther nailed to the church door in Wittenberg his ninety-five " Theses," 40 PRESBYTERIANS. or plain propositions on religion, aggressive work in the Reformation was begun. America had been discovered but twenty-five years before. The wealth of the New World was the hope of the indolent. Its adventures were the ambition of explorers. Its conversion was the dream of pious enthusiasts. At this same date, 1517, three young rulers were just beginning their careers. Charles V., of Germany, was only seventeen, but had been King of Spain one year, and two years later be- came Emperor of Germany. Francis I., of France, was twenty-three. Henry VIII., of England, was twenty- six. All three of these were to reign through the next twenty years, envying, fighting and befriending each other as interest dictated. At this date, 1517, Luther himself was but thirty-four. John Knox was a boy of eleven, and John Calvin was a lad of eight. These last three were to be men of writing and publishing as well as of speech and action. They and their co-lab- orers spread books and Bibles and education every- where. The Reformation was simply a revival of religion by the outpouring of the Spirit of God upon the Church at large, at a time when providences were fully ripe ; and the history of that movement in various countries is a clear demonstration of the value of competent leader- ship, as well as of great learning and heroic endurance. In Germany, Luther's Theses, like all his subsequent ut- terances, were about doctrine and not about church organization. But every religion must have both its doctrine and its form of government. Luther's work was destructive to Roman theology and constructive of Christian belief, but he had no special form of church government to substitute for Romish Episcopacy. The EUROPEAN PRESBYTERIANISM. 4! German Church, therefore, took on the form of a church managed by the civil authorities in the various German provinces. The princes and electors so generally fol- lowed the advice of the ministers and lay-representa- tives, that the Lutheran Church of Germany in subsequent times came very close in its actual govern- ment to the Presbyterian system. In America the Lutheran Church is essentially Presbyterian in its gov- ernment. The leader of the French Reformation was a French- man by birth, but was driven out of France for religion's sake, and settled near its southeastern border at Geneva. John Calvin was not only a leader in the matter of theo- logical reconstruction, but equally a leader in the matter of church organization. His quiet retreat at Geneva came to be a refuge for the persecuted from almost all other countries. French Huguenots sought his counsel and followed his system of government. English refu- gees studied under his instruction and organized their church by his plans, so clearly did he support his theo- ries by the Scripture. John Knox got his system of church government where Calvin got his, from the Greek Testament ; and both were delighted at the har- mony. Holland was not far from Geneva, and the Dutch counseled with Calvin and were convinced by his instructions and Scripture citations. Calvin's " Insti- tutes" were first written "that inquirers might be in- structed in the nature of true piety." The work was finally dedicated and presented to Francis I. as a de- fense of the Reformed Doctrine and Church against their slanderers and persecutors. Calvin was a born leader, and he has not been surpassed in logical coher- ence and scriptural argument by any among either his 4^ PRESBYTERIANS. foes or his followers. He sought to make the repub- lican civil government of Geneva as scriptural as he made his scheme of church government. Through the sixteenth century a few adventurers were settling in America, and stable institutions came with the seventeenth to attract the attention of European Prot- estants as they searched for some refuge from the per- secuting power which they could not resist in France, could not fight in Spain, played see-saw with in England, overthrew in Germany, and displaced in Holland and Scotland. If there had been no persecution in Europe, and the Protestant Church could have had freedom from state interference to fight its own battle before the general reason and conscience, the emigrants to Amer- ica would perhaps have been more like the first settlers in California, or the first inhabitants in a new oil town. As it was, the intellectual conflict and the physical struggle came on together and intensified each other. Huguenot Synods were held in France, and then sup- pressed, and then re-allowed. The first regularly or- ganized church was that of Paris, whose people elected John le Macon pastor, and had a board of elders and deacons, in 1555. In 1559 the first National Synod was held, and according to Calvin's advice a regular system of Appellate Courts was organized. In September, 1561, Theodore Beza at the head of twelve Protestant ministers made their plea before royalty. It was claimed that there were then more than two thousand churches and stations. The origin of the name " Huguenot " is not known, but it is believed to have been at first a nickname which grew to honor by the character and conduct of its wearers. They had a stormy history. Francis I. was their enemy. Charles IX. (an eflemi- EUROPEAN PRESBYTERIANISM. 43 uate boy in the hand ot the Medicis) massacred them at St. Bartholomew. Henry IV., at heart a Huguenot, was a brave soldier and a brilliant man, but he turned Catholic for policy's sake, and yet protected the Hu- guenots by issuing the Edict of Nantes. Then followed Louis XIII. and Richelieu and Louis XIV. and the revocation of that edict of toleration in 1685. These last events came in the seventeenth century. The six- teenth century had demonstrated the advantage of Prot- estant emigration, and the seventeenth century made it compulsory. In Holland the struggle was between Protestantism and Phillip II. of Spain. These were the days of the Duke of Alva and William the Silent. To save their religion and their homes and drive out the Spaniards, the Dutch cut the dykes and submerged their farms beneath the sea. But through all this suffering they were organizing a people and defending a country that should, in time, give to the world the Protestant and Presbyterian results of the Synod of Dort. That Synod was the nearest to an interdenominational and ecumen- ical Synod of any held for the forming of Reformation creeds. It was called to decide the controversy be- tween Arminianism and Calvinism ; but the selection of the members made it a foregone conclusion that it would condemn Arminius and support the doctrine of Calvin. As a result the " Canons of Dort " are ac- cepted everywhere as good Augustinian theology, and the Reformed Dutch Church of America, both in the earliest time and in the modern, is thoroughly and soundly Presbyterian. The early Dutch immigrants to this country brought with them their names of Consis- tory, Classis and Synod, with both ministerial and lay 44 PRESBYTERIANS, delegates, and between them and the Presbyterians there have never been any controversies in either the- ology or church government. But the main center of American interest in European Presbyterians is found in England. Henry VIII. had married his brother's widow, Catherine of Aragon. She was a kinswoman of Philip II. of Spain, and Philip and his nation were close friends of the Pope. When, then, the fickle, handsome, headstrong, and licentious Henry wanted to divorce Catherine and marry Anne Boleyn, he easily found his English bishops and uni- versities ready to declare his marriage to his brother's widow unlawful, but he found it very difficult, for polit- ical reasons, to get the Pope so to declare against that marriage that he might thereafter have a non-Catholic wife, and that Mary, his daughter by Catherine, should be an illegitimate child. Henry cut the knot by declar- ing himself the head of the Church of England, and the English Church in no possible way subject to Rome. During all this time Protestant doctrines were spread- ing among the people, and this seemed to open an easy solution. But pure religion in England was not what Henry wanted. He and all the Tudors wanted to have their own way, without interference from parlia- ment or the Church or the people. After the birth of Elizabeth, Anne Boleyn was beheaded to make way for the third of Henry's six wives. The king had now two female children, one a Romanist and the other a Prot- estant. When he died, in 1547, he left Edward VI., by Jane Seymour, only nine years old, but an astonishingly precocious Protestant king. Under Edward the effort to reform the Church went on vigorously, but everybody was debating, as the chief point of controversy, " What EUROPEAN PRESBYTERIANISM. 45 is the scriptural form of government?" John Knox had been a private tutor for Hugh Douglas of Long- niddry. The excitement occasioned by the martyrdom of Hamilton and Wishart turned his attention to Prot- estantism. St. Andrews is a picturesque city, rich in traditions from the Culdee period. At the call of the congregation of that city, Knox began preaching. With the capture of the castle of St. Andrews, Knox was sent a prisoner to the French galleys. After his release he, at one time, became Court preacher for Edward VI. Romanism, Episcopacy, Presbyterianism, and Inde- pendency were now up for discussion. The contro- versy between Protestantism and Catholicism, under Bloody Mary, made all England a charnel house. Mary was a Tudor and a Spaniard and a Roman Cath- olic ; and the task of bringing back the British Islands under the control of the Pope of Rome was the one re- ligious ambition of her life. How far her relentless persecutions were made more relentless by the sadness of her natural disposition, the want of an heir to the throne by her Spanish husband, her residence in Eng- land while her alienated husband lived in Spain, and her final loss of Calais, that last remnant: of English territory on the Continent, may be hard to decide ; but her persecutions filled Geneva, and all European Prot- estant cities, with English refugees and raised every- where the question of some land where Protestants could have freedom. Just as she was moving, appar- ently, toward the destruction of her Protestant sister Elizabeth, Mary died. This brought Elizabeth to the throne for that long, illustrious and perplexed reign. Philip of Spain, 46 PRESBYTERIANS. while he lived, was always ready to assert his claim to the throne in Mary's behalf and in behalf of Conti- nental Catholicism. English Roman Catholics were always plotting to bring the Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots, to the throne as the successor of Elizabeth. The English Commons were always insisting to Elizabeth that she ought to marry in order to perpetuate stable government, and Elizabeth herself was always strug- gling to promote her favorites, encourage literature, extend commerce and, for some incomprehensible reason, avoid taking a husband. Elizabeth's prin- ciples made her position difficult, and her course oftentimes was apparently contradictory. She did not burn Catholics or Puritans, but she humiliated and degraded both. By the assassination of Wil- liam the Silent at the instigation of Philip of Spain, and by the constant conspiracies in behalf of the Cath- olic beauty of Scotland, Elizabeth was taught the bloody hostility of her enemies. So for state policy she signed the death warrant of Mary, not for her own sins, but for the sins of treason to which her life and re- ligion were a constant temptation. As a mode of pro- pitiating her own conscience and diverting public odium, Elizabeth punished Davison, her secretary, for his handling of the death warrant. She dressed herself in mourning to receive the French ambassador's announce- ment of the massacre of Coligny and the Huguenots. With military equipment she mounted her horse to face Philip's Spanish Armada, sent to avenge the death of Mary in Fotheringay Castle. The first Presbytery of English Puritans was held at Wandsworth, November 20, 1572, the same year as the Bartholomew massacre. Its organizer, and the leader EUROPEAN PRESBYTERIANISM. 47 of early Presbyterianism in England, was Rev. Thomas Cartwright, a professor of Divinity in Cambridge. In the appendix of Briggs's " American Presbyterianism," there is given a " Directory of Church Government" practiced by the first nonconformists in the days of Queen Elizabeth, called " Cartwright's Book of Disci- pline." In due course of time Presbyterianism came to be quite powerfully organized in the vicinity of London, even in Elizabeth's day, but it was rather as a church inside of the state church. Elizabeth closed her reign with an effort to settle America ; and Virginia takes its name from the Virgin Queen. She was a vigorous, skillful, moderately unscrupulous woman, and her court, at the last, was a center of flattery, monopoly and bad morals. When she died, James VI. of Scotland ascended the throne as James I. of England. His mother, Mary, Queen of Scots, had been thwarted by the Presbyterians of Scotland, and James himself had been in perpetual conflict with them. He came to the throne of England a natural despot, confident of his ability, intellectually and physically, to carry out his own will. He was a scholarly, skillful, profane, drunken fool. On the way from Edinburgh to London he received the Millenary Petition, asking relief for the Puritans, and held a con- ference, under his own presiding, between the friends of High Church Episcopacy and the representatives of free Protestantism. The High Church pretensions and flattery completely carried the day with his egotism ; and the only outcome was his agreement to the sug- gestion of Reynolds, of Oxford, spokesman in behalf of the Puritans, that there should be a new and better translation of the English Bible. That gave us King 48 PRESBYTERIANS. James's Version. When he was seated on the throne, not only was drunkenness common among men, but among women also. At one of the Court revels, three ladies of the highest rank took on them to enact the Christian graces, but Faith and Hope were so hopelessly drunk that they could not stand, and Charity fell into the king's arms helpless. In 1618 he published a book of sports " to encourage recreation and sports on the Lord's day." His theory was "no bishop, no king." Throughout his reign, therefore, while resisting popery, he sought only to make himself pope of the Episcopal Church in England, and that Episcopal Church the only Church in the three kingdoms. He said that "presbytery agreeth with a monarchy as well as God with the devil. Then they will meet, and at their pleasure censure me and my council." One skill- ful thing in state policy James did early in his reign. The earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnel, in the North of Ireland, in the interest of themselves and Roman Catholicism, fearing the Protestantism of a Scotch king, had taken steps toward a rebellion. This they soon found would prove unsuccessful, and so they took to flight with many of their followers. James had their estates forfeited to the crown, as well as the estates of those that were suspected of sympathizing with them. In this way he gained control of the whole section of the North of Ireland known as Ulster. By the crea- tion of baronetcies, he farmed out that Ulster region to the English, but especially the Scotch peasantry. Hop- ing to escape religious conflicts in their own country great numbers of Scotch Presbyterians accepted this chance, and so this "planting of Ulster" with Scotch Presbyterians was the construction of that fertile hive EUROPEAN PRESBYTERIANISM. 49 from which the modern Irish Church and the Scotch- Irish Presbyterians of America have swarmed. James died in 1625 and left all his British dominions in a state of religious ferment to his unfortunate son, Charles I. Charles inherited the self-sufficiency of the Tudors through his mother, and the blind egotism of the Stuarts through his father, and illustrated in himself the vices of both. He early fell under the influence of William Laud, and finally made Laud Archbishop of Canterbury, and so Primate of all England. James I., in his very earliest intercourse with the English Parliament, intimated that the duty of Parliament was to register his will, and was told by Parliament that the rights of the people represented therein were quite as sacred as the rights of the king. Charles followed his father's policy, only pushing it to the extent of undertaking to do with- out any Parliament whatever. Archbishop Laud was essentially a Roman Catholic, and with this dictatorial- ness on the part of the king in civil matters, and Laud's dictatorialness in religious matters, affairs swiftly came to a struggle for life, The people would not pay taxes which Parliament had not voted. Parliament would not vote supplies for the king until he had redressed their grievances. The king insisted ''supplies first and re- dress afterward." The lines were soon drawn through- out the kingdom. One Parliament would be dissolved and another elected, until in the struggle the people grew weary of Episcopacy and finally elected the Long Parliament. It originally had in it a majority favorable to Presbyterianism as against Episcopacy. It was the project of that Parliament to call in Westminster an As- sembly " for settling the government and liturgy of the Church of England, and for vindicating and clearing of 50 PRESBYTERIANS. the doctrines of said Church from false aspersions and interpretations as should be found most agreeable to the Word of God, and most apt to procure and preserve the peace of the Church at home and near agreement with the Church of Scotland and other reformed churches abroad." This ordinance was entered at full length on the journals of the House of Lords, June 12, 1643. King Charles, two days before the meeting, pro- hibited by royal proclamation the Assembly to proceed under the bill. He had already revived the " Book of Sports," and otherwise outraged the moral sentiments of his people. Under the influence of Laud, he had un- dertaken to re-establish Episcopacy in Scotland, and on the 23d of July, 1637, the Archbishop of St. Andrews and the Bishop of Edinburgh assembled an audience in St. Giles' Church to introduce the new liturgy. When the famous Jennie Geddes started the riot that day, by throwing her stool at the reader, Scotland had already organized its form of church government and was anxious for a common system with England. The English Parliament had invited the Assembly of Scot- land to send delegates to this Westminster Assembly and Commissioners appeared, at the head of whom was the notable Alexander Henderson. In this Westmin- ster Assembly, sitting in defiance of the king, were thus gathered the chief representatives of the British Pres- byterians. Close correspondence was maintained with the Reformed Church on the Continent. While the Long Parliament was in session in their House, this Assembly was in session in the Jerusalem Chamber of Westminster Abbey. The first meeting of the West- minster Assembly was held Saturday, July i, 1643 ; its last numbered meeting was held on the 22d of Feb- EUROPEAN PRESBYTERIANISM. 51 ruary, 1649, and is marked " Session 1163." One hun- dred and twenty ministers, ten lords and twenty commoners were chosen to membership in it by Parlia- ment. Of those thus elected many declined, but at dif- ferent times ninety-six of them sat as members. Two months after it first met the commissioners from Scot- land, four ministers and two laymen, took seats without the right to vote. On December 6, 1648, Parliament was purged of its Presbyterian membership to the num- ber of 140 and the constitution of England virtually overthrown by Cromwell and the army. The Assembly was never officially dissolved. Its power waned with Parliament, and so vanished. The last pretense of a meeting was on March 25, 1652. The story of that Assembly is too long for these pages. Presbyterianism was legally established as the state religion of England by Act of Parliament June 29, 1647. Before it was really set up further proceed- ings in that direction were stopped by Lord Protector Cromwell. In 1649 Charles was beheaded by the authority of the Rump Parliament, and finally all parlia- mentary government was destroyed. The tidal wave to- ward Independency, which rose at the time of Cromwell, began to get ready for its return as the English people saw the Lord Protector's soldiers dispersing Parlia- ment. Cromwell was as much opposed to Presbyte- rianism as to Episcopacy. His Latin secretary, the poet John Milton, expressed precisely Cromwell's sentiments when he said that " Presbyter was only Priest writ large." The English nation, however, soon found out that Cromwell, while he was pious and honest, was also a dictator, and had at his back a thoroughly disciplined army. Under him the nation was quiet and orderly 52 PRESBYTERIANS. and voiceless at home and powerful abroad. The navy swept the seas clear of competitors ; and a shake of the head, concerning the persecution of the Waldensians, in the spirit of that magnificent poem of his secretary, " Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints," made even the Duke of Savoy and Louis XIV. call home from the Alps their relentless bloodhounds, and the Pope cringe in his palace. Oliver Cromwell, the absolutist, died in 1658 and left no successor. Social chaos came at once when his son Richard tried to fill his father's chair. In 1660 General Monk forestalled the movement for a parliamentary contract with royalty by calling Charles II. back to England and by the army putting him on the throne. Charles came, a thorough-going Stuart, without having learned any wisdom from the experience of his father. His return sent the Puritans into retire- ment and brought the rollicking Cavaliers all to the front. Amusement ran riot over England. The bishops immediately found that their success needed that they should keep still and flatter Charles. The Pres- byterians yielded in quiet, in the hope that the Savoy Conference to adjust religious matters, held in 1661, would secure religious toleration. Instead of that the Act of Uniformity came in 1662, and two thousand non- conformist ministers left their charges and their worldly support, rather than violate their consciences. All this tended to increase the emigration out of England and into America. By this time moderate quiet could be found on this side of the Atlantic. Settlements had been made at Jamestown, in Virginia, in 1607; at Plymouth, Mass., in 1620; at the mouth of the Hudson in 1621, New Hampshire was settled in 1623, Maryland in 1634, New Jersey in 1664, and South Carolina in 1670. EUROPEAN PRESBYTERIANISM. 53 In 1685 Louis XIV. revoked the Edict of Nantes, scattering half a million Huguenots all over the Protes- tant world. That same year Charles II. died, and James II., his brother, a thorough-paced Roman Cath- olic, came to the English throne. Persecution was now the lot of Protestants everywhere. Lord Jeffries played the Judge, and Claverhouse executed on all sexes and ages, in England and in Scotland, the orders of the " Bloody Assizes." It took this process no long time to set the eyes of Protestant England hunting every- where, either for a refuge or for some legitimate king to head a revolution against this degenerate Stuart dynasty. It was not a distant hunt. William of Or- ange, the worthy descendant of William the Silent, heir both to his ability and his Protestantism, had married his own cousin Mary, elder daughter of this same James II. Applications from all sides were sent to him to come and accept the English throne. This culminated in what is known as the " Glorious Revolution of 1688." A Protestant Parliament declared James's flight to con- stitute abdication, and settled the crown on William and Mary and their descendants. Religious liberty has since then prevailed in England under the Act of Tol- eration. A Catholic rising in Ireland in behalf of James II. was suppressed at the battle of the Boyne. The temper of the Irish Protestants at that time was displayed, and their endurance tested, in the siege of Londonderry. In Scotland the Presbyterian Church had an organ- ization anterior to that of England, and being blessed with competent and uncompromising leaders, was able to maintain the contest and finally to win the victory. The organization in Scotland began with the Assemblies 54 PRESBYTERIANS. and descended to the Presbyteries, much as in France. In England and America it began with the Presbyteries and grew into Synods and Assemblies. The first meet- ing of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland was held December 20, 1 560. It consisted of forty mem- bers, only six of whom were ministers. Instead of then organizing the Presbyteries, the Assembly appointed Superintendents of districts with nearly the power of bishops. This continued for twenty years, namely until 1580. The preceding year the Assembly had gone so far toward the erection of Presbyteries that they had declared that the " Weekly meeting of ministers and elders might be judged a Presbytery." Further con- sideration of the same subject was had in 1580, and the Assembly held in 1581, at Glasgow, passed an act erect- ing at once thirteen Presbyteries, and recommended the speedy extension of the system throughout the king- dom. Again and again was the effort made to sup- press these National Assemblies. King Jame.s, in 1618, by his representative, Spotswood, forced the Assemblies to accept the " Five Articles of Perth." These were : " kneeling at communion the observance of holidays Episcopal confirmation private baptism and the private dispensation of the Lord's Supper." This was the suppression of Presbyterianism and the forcible introduction of prelacy. The conflict was kept up until, by and by, the Assembly resumed its sessions without authority from the government. In 1653, at Edinburgh, Cromwell sent Colonel Cottrel of his army to repeat his English methods, and the Assembly was ordered to leave the house and depart to their own homes. Even in 1692 King William signified his desire that Episco- palians should be admitted to sit in the church judi- EUROPEAN PRESRYTERTANISM. 55 calories. When the Assembly refused assent, the royal commissioner, in his Majesty's name, declared the As- sembly dissolved. Final peace was reached only by the Act of Security in i 706, as part of the parliamentary union of Scotland and England under Queen Anne. This was the same year as the organization of the first Presbytery in America. The " Act of Security " con- firmed " the Confession of Faith and the Presbyterian form of church government as ratified and established to continue without any alteration by the people of this land in all succeeding generations ; and this as a fun- damental and essential condition of every treaty of union between the two kingdoms." The history of Presbyterianism in Scotland is also its history in Ireland ; for the first Presbytery in Ireland was organized in 1642 by Scotch chaplains accompany- ing the army for the suppression of the rebellion of that date. Large numbers of Presbyterian ministers and soldiers remained, and mixed with the Presbyterian people that had come into the North of Ireland at the " Plantation of Ulster." While the Presbyterian bodies in Ireland and Scotland were not organically united, yet their history has been in the main similar, with similar struggles and similar triumphs. Immediately on the dissolution of the Westminster Assembly, " The Standards " adopted by that body were adopted by the Presbyterian Churches in Scotland and Ireland. The Presbyterian system was suppressed almost as soon as set up in England, but the Westmin- ster Standards have remained in Europe and in America without change in their essential features until the pres- ent time. These Westminster Standards consist of six books : The Confession of Faith, theLarger Catechism, 56 PRESBYTERIANS. the Shorter Catechism, the Form of Government, the Directory for Worship, and the Book of Discipline. The first three are doctrinal, and the last three are for government and worship. As King James's translators, in their work of rendering the Bible into English, had the advantage of all the labors and all the criticisms of previous translators and all the arguments in the defense of those translations ; so the Westminster Assembly, being one of the last of the Reformed Assemblies to formulate doctrine and government, had the aid of all the preceding work of other Assemblies as well as the help of the criticisms of their enemies and the apologies of their friends. Whatever estimate may be put upon any of the individual men composing that Westminster Assembly, no set of documents have had so wide an in- fluence, and such an uninterrupted acceptance and adop- tion, as these same six books called " The Westminster Standards." Even the Continental Churches of the Reformation, which, on account of the difference of Ian. guage, did not adopt them, yet accepted them as good statements of the Reformed Faith, equal to the Canons of the Synod of Dort, the Heidelberg Catechism or the Gallican Confession of France. This hurried survey of European Protestantism, par- ticularly its Presbyterian side, will amply show the foun- tains out of which the mingled waters of American Protestantism and Presbyterianism have come. No doubt large numbers came, in these early Colonial days, with the design of improving their worldly prospects. Many also came from a mere spirit of adventure and a fondness for seeing new countries and new settlements. With a large part of the better element of the early settlers of this country, however, there was a combina- EUROPEAN PRESBYTERIANISM. 57 tlon of these motives coupled with a powerful propul- sion from behind. In Germany there was fairly good toleration amid agitation. In France it was one vex- ation and defeat after another, until absolute subjection to Romanism was imperiously demanded by Louis XIV., then upon the French throne. Holland was groaning under the heel of the Duke of Alva, until the alternative for the Dutch was war and suffering at home, or emi- gration to America to settle on the Hudson. English Presbyterianism had no great leader around whom to rally, and so was slow in organizing ; and when its su- preme authority came in the session of the Westmin- ster Assembly at the time of the overthrow of Charles I., the great military leader of the Commonwealth was its implacable foe. If Oliver Cromwell had been as tol- erant as he was arbitrary, England would have prob- ably been as thoroughly Presbyterian as Scotland. John Knox led Scotland, and bequeathed his leadership to competent men. Ireland has seen bloody times long continued. Ulster and the other Provinces of Ireland are on one island, but to no small extent they are diverse peoples. Turn, now, the currents from these European streams upon the American seaboard, and mix these people well together for their mutual helpfulness and enlighten- ment, and it would be strange, indeed, if there should not come out thence a strong, self-reliant and persistent class of people like the Presbyterian Church of America, which, while splitting easily like hickory wood, is, never- theless, solid and durable when kept in constant use. CHAPTER III. AMERICAN PRESBYTERIANISM ORGANIZING THE FIRST PRESBYTERY. TO see the effect of religion on land and people it is but needful to cross Ireland from Queenstown to the Giant's Causeway. At the South there is the best land and the best climate, the most Roman Catholics, the most beggary and squalor. At the North the soil is scant, the bogs large, and agriculture difficult ; but the Protestant people are busy, loyal, enterprising and intelligent, with large cities full of factories and a thrifty rural population extorting generous crops from unwill- ing lands. The early history of this country teaches the same lesson. The Spanish explorers were all Romanists, and their settlements were dedicated to the spread of their religion. The motives of most of these adven- turers were mainly ambition, avarice and romance. Through all, however, there was a sense of duty to God and the Mother Church ; and when taking new countries by conquest, they pacified their consciences by calling it the conversion of the natives. The " Conquest of Mexico " and "the Conquest of Peru " are both stories of the achievements of these adventurers. The coun- tries thus conquered are admirable in climate and rich in minerals ; and yet, for some reason, in both of these lands, the Roman Church sits bankrupt at the mouth of their inexhaustible mines, and the people, even when 58 AMERICAN PRESBYTERIANISM ORGANIZING. 59 rich, have neither enterprise, inventions, modern civil- ization nor good government. The imagination fails to give any correct conception of the changes which would have been made in the history of this Continent if Catholicism had taken as complete charge of the At- lantic Coast, in early times in North America, as it has clone of all coasts in Central and South America. San Domingo was founded August 4, 1496, St. Augus- tine, Fla., in 1565, and Santa Fe, N. M., before 1600. The Puritans of New England came in 1620. Catholic colonization had thus almost a century of headway before Protestantism came into competition with it in this Western Hemisphere. Of Old Testament history, more than one-half of it, as far as time is concerned, is covered by the first twelve chapters. Of the 400 years which have passed since Columbus discovered America, the first 200 will occupy but little space in any history. Yet the first 100 years was a period of great events in Eu- rope. As has been shown, it was the age of the intro- duction of the printing press, the Reformation, the consolidation of modern monarchies under Charles V., Francis I., Henry VIII. and Philip of Spain; and it closed with the gigantic struggle between Catholicism from the Peninsula and the Reformation from the North of Europe, under the leadership of Elizabeth of the British Isles. All these struggles were unsettling the population of the Old World. Unrest there made the people ready for emigration hitherward. Those who came to America came from all those disturbed European countries, and came, many of them, in a conscious search for religious liberty. During the second century of American history, the Jameses and 6O PRESBYTERIANS. Charleses of England were teaching the Protestants of the three provinces that the Stuarts could not be trusted. As the troublous times under these English monarchs unsettled the English people, the best of them became willing to take refuge in the American wilderness. Along with them came the Reformed Dutch of Holland and the Huguenots of France. Most of these people, Huguenots, Dutch, English, Scotch and Irish were essen- tially Presbyterian. They were Calvinists in faith, and believed in the government of the congregation by elders. Many of the early churches were thus Presby- terian churches in fact, though perhaps not so named by themselves. Puritanism came to this country with the first Protes- tant settlements. The charter of the Jamestown colony made Episcopacy the legal religion, but nonconform- ists in England hushed their convictions in the hope that, in America, distance would protect them from pre- latical interference with their preferences. Both Rob- ert Hunt, the first pastor at Jamestown, and Mr. Glover, his successor, were Cambridge graduates, and Puritan- ism was prevalent at that university. Dr. William Whitaker, professor of divinity at Cambridge, was a leading Puritan. His son, Rev. Alexander Whitaker, came to Jamestown, Va., with a company of Puritans under Sir Thomas Dale, in 1611. So zealous was Alex- ander Whitaker that he earned the title of the "self- denying Apostle of Virginia." He describes his work in 1614, thus: "Every Sabbath day we preach in the forenoon and catechise in the afternoon. Every Sat- urday at night, I exercise in Sir Thomas Dale's house. Our church affairs be consulted on by the minister and four of the most religious men " At this time the AMERICAN PRESBYTERIANISM ORGANIZING. 6l Puritans and nonconformists had not separated in England on the question of church government, but parties were already forming. A preference for Pres- byterian Puritanism was called Barrowism, and the preference for Congregational Puritanism was called Brownism. Whitaker's Puritanism is indicated by his appeal for help in his difficult and distant field. Under date of August 9, 1611, he writes: "If there be any young, Godly and learned ministers, whom the Church of England hath not, or refuseth to sett a worke, send them hither. Our harvest is froward and great for want of such. Young men are fittest for this country, and we have noe need of ceremonies or bad livers. Dis- cretion and learneing, zeal with knowledge, would doe much good." Whitaker was drowned in 1616, and was succeeded by George Keith, a Scotch nonconformist, who came from the Bermudas in 1617 and settled at Elizabeth City. He had been associated in the Ber- mudas with Lewes Hughes, who thus describes their form of government : " Ceremonies are in no request, nor the book of Common Prayer ; I use it not at all. I have, by the help of God, begun a Church government by ministers and elders, I made bold to choose four elders publickly by the lifting up of hands and calling upon God." Randall, of Johns Hopkins University, in his account of " A Puritan Colony in Maryland," says : "When, in 1620, the Pilgrim Fathers of New England turned their faces westward, their destination was Vir- ginia." He then adds "During the years 1618-21, twenty-five hundred persons came to Virginia alone, some enticed by Gov. Wyatt's offers, and others driven bv persecutions at home during the last years of Arch- bishop Bancroft." Rev. Hawte Wyatt, brother of the 62 PRESBYTERIANS. Governor, came in 1621, and the Puritans were greatly strengthened in the southern countries. Edward Ben- net, a rich London merchant, came the same year, and brought a considerable band of Puritans, who settled upon his grant of land and formed the nucleus of a Puritan Congregation. A perfect system of local gov- ernment was developed under his sway, and his relative, Rev. William Bennet, was leader in all spiritual mat- ters. In 1629 the Puritan county was represented by two burgesses in the Assembly. The rigorous laws, framed by Archbishop Bancroft against Dissenters, had hitherto remained a dead letter with the Virginia Gov- ernors. But in 1631 an act was passed prescribing that " there be uniformity throughout this colony, both in substance and circumstances, to the canons and con- stitution of the Church of England." This caused the withdrawal, at least, from public view, of the Puritan divines then officiating in Virginia. The elders of the Churches continued to conduct services in private houses. Mr. Philip Bennet, one of the elders, was sent in May, 1641, to the Church in Boston with a peti- tion signed by seventy-one persons, requesting that "ministers be spared from the Church in New England to preach in that distant quarter." But in 1642 Sir William Berkeley came to Virginia as Governor, and promptly issued a proclamation expelling the Puritan ministers from the colony. The Puritans, thus driven out, accepted the invitation of Lord Baltimore, through his Governor, Stone, and settled in Maryland. But Lord Baltimore was a Roman Catholic, and his Gover- nor, who wanted settlers, was not satisfied with these Puritans. A battle resulted in 1655, with victory for the Puritans. Subsequently many more settled in the AMERICAN PRESBYTERIANISM ORGANIZING. 63 Eastern shore, as well as the Western shore of the Chesapeake. It was among these Virginia and Mary- land Puritans that Rev. William Trail, of the Presby- tery of Laggan in Ireland, found refuge in 1682, and into their midst in 1683 came Francis Makemie by appointment of that same Irish Presbytery of Laggan. The Puritans who landed at Plymouth were part of the Church of Independents which had left England for Leyden, Holland, under John Robinson. They came with but one elder, Brewster, and for ten years had no pastor; and so, as Dr. Dexter says, "were com- pelled to carry their Congregationalism to a degree be- yond their original intent." John White, subsequently an Assessor in the Westminster Assembly, planned a Presbyterian colony, which was started at Salem, in Massachusetts Bay, under Roger Conant in 1625. These two churches, at Salem and at Plymouth, co-op- erated cordially, and encouraged all their English friends to come and join them. The two systems of church government were by no means distinct in this country. This is the explanation of the frequent Synods and Councils, reported, in early New England, as exercising far more than advisory authority. It was generally a question of the influence of some leading spirit which determined the form of church government. The lead- ers in New England more and more drifted into Inde- pendency ; while further South the immigrants came from Scotland and Ireland, rather than England, and their leaders went into Presbyterianism. Among the Huguenots in South Carolina, the Scotch- Irish emigrants of Virginia and Maryland, the Dutch settlers in New Amsterdam (now New York), Presbyte- rian ways were quite familiar to both ministers and 64 PRESBYTERIANS. people. Those New England settlers who preferred Presbyterianism to Independency drifted southward through Connecticut and Long Island into New Jersey. Rev. Richard Denton was one of the first of these. In 1630 he came from England, with a considerable part of his church, and settled in Watertown, Mass. Denton was certainly a Presbyterian by fixed choice. He was a graduate of Cambridge University in 1623, and had been a pastor at Cooly Chapel. Like Brewster's Puri- tans, Denton's people came with him as an organized body. When Denton was driven out of Massachusetts by the opposition to his Presbyterian ways, pastor and people removed in 1644 to Hempstead, Long Island. The controversy between the Independents and the Presbyterians disturbed Denton's work there also. In 1658 he returned to England. As if in anticipation of his departure, in 1656 two of Denton's sons, Nathaniel and Daniel, and their Presbyterian neighbors, purchased from the Indians on Long Island a large tract of land, and founded Jamaica. They seem to have had a church from the outset, as six years later (1662) they provided a parsonage. In 1710 Rev. George Macnish, one of the original members of the first Presbytery, was called as the eighth pastor of this Jamaica Church. The last known notice of that Presbyterian Church at Hempstead is in 1729. The history of the Jamaica Church is unbroken clown to the present time, and on the above facts is based the claim that it is the oldest church on the Assembly's roll. Mr. Denton was a man of much more than ordinary talent and ability, and of him Cotton Mather says: "Though he was a little man, yet he had a great soul. His well accomplished mind in his lesser body was an Iliad in a nut-shell. I AMERICAN PRESBYTERIANISM ORGANIZING. OLDEST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA, JAMAICA, N. Y. think he was blind of one eye nevertheless he was not the least among the seers of Israel." He wrote a sys- tem of divinity, though it was not published. Rev. James M. Denton, of Yaphank, Presbytery of Long Island, is a descendant of this early Presbyterian minister of America. Francis Doughty emigrated to Massachu- setts in 1637, and was driven thence because of his prac- tice of infant baptism. He found refuge with the 66 PRESBYTERIANS. Dutch, and was the first Presbyterian minister that preached in the city of New York. He ministered there from 1643 to 1648. By and by he also was driven fur- ther South, and sought refuge in the colony of Mary- land, with his brother-in-law, Governor Stone. He probably died in that section. A Presbyterian church was not organized in New York City until 1717. During all this time companies of pious people, set- tling in a neighborhood,- were gathered together for re- ligious worship. Occasionally ministers like Denton, Doughty, Hill, Woodbridge, Andrews, Stobo and oth- ers would visit these little groups, administer the sacra- ments and preach the gospel. Locomotion was difficult, and communication hard to secure. No system of post- offices was extant then, and letters were sent by private conveyance as opportunity might offer. But with the incoming population these groups would multiply, and be ready when the time came for organization into churches. What was needed was an organizing man of apostolic heroism and practical good sense. Such a man was found in Francis Makemie. As the West now clamors at the door of the East for more min- isters to preach the gospel, so in these early American days settlers from Presbyterian countries besought their friends at home to supply them with preachers in the Western wilderness. During the troublous times from 1670 to 1680 large numbers moved from the North of Ireland to this country. Their leading men kept up cor- respondence to the best of their ability. The Presbytery of Laggan, Ireland, received such a letter earnestly entreating for ministers. The Presbytery itself once voted to come, but hesitated, and after due considera- tion selected Francis Makemie as a suitable person to AMERICAN PRESBYTERIANISM ORGANIZING. 6? be sent to America on that mission. Makemie was born at Ramelton, County Donegal, Ireland, but the date is not known. He was in Glasgow University in 1675-76 and was licensed about 1681. He was ordained by the Presbytery of Laggan in 1682 that he might go to America, and reached this country in 1683. He traveled throughout all the settlements, going South as far as the Carolinas, and North as far as New York and Boston. He organized churches at Rehoboth and Snow Hill on the Eastern shore of Maryland. In 1704 he went back to London to secure aid for the churches in this country, and was so successful that the ministers of London agreed to support two men for two years. Makemie returned in 1705, bringing with him John Hampton and George Macnish. These three took charge of the work in that section. In Philadelphia, Jedediah Andrews was pastor of the Presbyterian Church. He appears to have been ordained in Phila- delphia about 1701. His predecessor was Benjamin Woodbridge, who had been sent by the Boston ministers with a letter of introduction to Governor Markham. With the opening of the eighteenth century there were certainly three Presbyterian ministers in Delaware, one in Philadelphia, a Scotch Presbyterian in South Carolina by the name of Stobo, and probably several Scotch Presbyterian pastors of Congregational churches in New England. In this condition of scattered congregations and groups of people ready to be organized into churches, and a small number of ministers anxious for sympathy and support from each other, it needed but an occasion to mold these all into a Presbytery. The occasion came in due season, by the call for the ordination of 68 PRESBYTERIANS. Mr. John Boydto become pastor of the church of Free- hold, N. J. The original minutes of Presbytery are in the archives of the Historical Society in Philadelphia, but, alas ! the first leaf is gone. The record begins, therefore, on page 3, with the end of a sentence which seems to be giving the subjects of Mr. Boyd's parts of trial for ordination. The last half of this broken sentence is as follows : " 'De regimine ecclesice' which being heard was approved of and sustained, and his ordination took place on the next Lord's day, December 29, 1706." Curiosity wonders what records would have been found if we had those two pages of the first leaf of the minutes of that Presbytery. At whose call and by whose authority was Presbytery convened ? Did they consider and adopt the Westminster Stand- ards as their system of faith and government ? The best supported opinion is that by this time Makemie's leadership had become obvious. His trip to the old country, and probably its success, was by this time pretty well known. Mr. Boyd or his people wrote asking how he should be ordained, and Makemie improvised a meeting in the spring of 1 706 for the purpose of arrang- ing for this ordination, Boyd's trials being appointed for the December meeting. Presbyterianism thus grew out of the soil and of the necessities of the case. It did not begin at the top as it had done in France and Scotland, but began at the bottom and by degrees rose to strength. Now Synods are constituted by the act of the General Assembly, and Presbyteries organized by act of Synod. Then Presby- teries were organized by the necessity of the situation. In 1717, the Presbytery divided itself and constituted a Synod above it ; and in i 788 the Synod divided itself AMERICAN PRESBYTERIANISM ORGANIZING. 69 into subordinate Synods and created itself a General Assembly. There is no good reason to believe that this first Presbytery adopted any standards for their own guidance. It looks as though they came together assuming the Westminster Standards as authoritative without any special adoption in this country. They adopted the ordinary parliamentary law as their method of action. They did not even adopt a name, as Presby- teries now have names. It was simply " The Presby- tery "; not of Philadelphia, nor of New Jersey, nor of Maryland. There was no other, and when it was spoken of there was no ambiguity. When, in 1716, the Synod was constituted by dividing the General Presbytery into four, these were simply named First, Second, Third, and so on. It was a day of great demands for activity, and of small resources of men and means to meet the requirements. This first meeting at Freehold was the only meeting which was had outside of Philadelphia. That city was so central and so accessible that the early Presbyteries always met there. So, with three excep- tions, did succeeding Synods and General Assemblies, down to 1834. The three men who were present at this ordination of Mr. Boyd were Francis Makemie, Jedediah Andrews and John Hampton. The original members of the first Presbytery included these three, with George Macnish, John Wilson and Nathaniel Taylor. Some curious and interesting things are found in the minutes of the early Presbytery. In 1707 they refused to excuse Samuel Davis, of Lewes, Del., for non-attend- ance, notwithstanding the distance he had to come. They determined to take up the Epistle to the Hebrews and go regularly through it, and Francis Makemie and John 70 PRESBYTERIANS. Wilson were appointed on the first and second verses of the first chapter to preach " by way of exercise and addition." That same year Messrs. Andrews and Boyd were directed to " prepare some overtures to be consid- ered by the Presbytery for propagating religion in their respective congregations." They reported three, which were adopted as follows : " First. That every minister in their respective congregations read and comment on a chapter of the Bible every Lord's day, as discretion and circumstances of time and place will admit. Second. That it be recommended to every minister of the Pres- bytery to set on foot and encourage private Christian societies. Third. That every minister of the Presby- tery supply neighboring desolate places where a minister is wanting and opportunity of doing good is offered." This resolution with reference to private Christian so- cieties shows that such things are not modern ; and No. 3 is full of a thorough-going spirit of home missions. Mr. Andrews, of Philadelphia, partook of the Puritan hostility to reading and commenting on a chapter, as was advised ; and so the next year he was urged to take it into his serious consideration. The people of Snow Hill, like some churches now, were slow in paying the preacher ; so Presbytery sent a letter to them " requir- ing their faithfulness and care in collecting the to- bacco promised by subscription to Mr. Hampton." There was the usual amount of church troubles over such questions as the location of church buildings, the division of churches and the evil reputation of some of their ministers. In the days of their weakness the churches were burdened with men who had neither piety nor zeal. Efforts were made to secure reports from both ministers and elders as to " how matters are AMERICAN PRESBYTERIANISM ORGANIZING. ?T betwixt them, both in regard to spirituals and tempo- rals." In 1711, " inquiry was made of the several minis- ters touching the state of their congregations and them- selves with relation thereto ; and also of the several elders, not only of the measures taken to support the ministry, but of the life, conversation and doctrine of their several ministers." It was decided that " none should be allowed to vote for the calling of a minister, but those who shall contribute for the maintenance of him." In 1713, Presbytery received a letter from the Rev. Thomas Reynolds, promising to advance thirty pounds to be disposed of by the Presbytery, and Messrs. Macnish, McGill, Henry and Gillispie were directed to apply it to such members of the Presbytery as they saw fit. Here was an incipient Board of Home Missions for thesustentation of the pastors of weaker churches, with power also to act as a Board of Relief. The impor- tance of record books of sessional meetings grew to be obvious ; and in 1714 it was voted that " in every con- gregation there be a sufficient number of assistants chosen, to aid the minister in the management of con- gregational affairs, and that there be a book of records for that effect, and that the same be annually brought here to be revised by the Presbytery." This does not seem to have been the rule before, and no mention is made of any amendments to any constitution, as if one had been previously adopted. Thereafter this method of review is maintained, and action is taken directing that the " ministers come with said books, and perform the other end of the said act as it is specified therein." By the close of the meeting of i 7 1 5, it was apparent that the business of the Presbytery was showing need of re- adjustment. The last resolution of that meeting is "a 72 PRESBYTERIANS. recommendation to all and every member of this Pres- bytery, that betwixt this and our next meeting they may think of, and prepare, what they may judge most neces- sary to be presented to our Presbytery for the common or particular good of all or any of us." They had now finished in pleaching regularly " by way of exercise " the first chapter of the book of Hebrews. As nearly as can now be ascertained they had grown to be a body of nineteen ministers, forty churches, and three thousand communicants. These were scattered up and down the Atlantic Coast. Whether this instruction, to come to the meeting in 1716 with plans for the more efficient accomplishment of the work, was with the view to the division into subordinate Presbyteries and reconstruc- tion as a General Synod or not, that was the great thing accomplished. In 1716 four Presbyteries were arranged for, but singularly enough the time and place of the meet- ing of the respective Presbyteries were left to their own discretion. It was proposed that one Presbytery should be on Long Island, but holding fast to the rule of the Scotch Church that three ministers were necessary to con- stitute a Presbytery, Messrs. Macnish and Pumrywere directed to use their best endeavors with the neighboring brethren that were settled with them on that Island, to have them join with them in erecting this fourth Pres- bytery. Each Presbytery was instructed to "bring the book containing the records of their proceedings every year to our anniversary Synod to be revised." The thrill of gladness at their growth under God's blessing is indicated by the preface to their Act of Division. It reads : " It having pleased Divine Providence so to in- crease our number, as that, after much deliberation, we judge it more serviceable to the interest of religion, to divide ourselves into subordinate meetings or Presby- a, ?4 PRESBYTERIANS. teries, constituting one annually as a Synod, to meet at Philadelphia or elsewhere, to consist of all the members of each subordinate Presbytery or meeting for this year, at least. Therefore, it is agreed by the Presbytery, after serious deliberation, that the first subordinate meeting or Presbytery meet in Philadelphia or else- where as they see fit, and do consist of the following members, viz.: Masters Andrews, Jones, Powell, Orr, Bradner and Morgan." Many changes had come into that Presbytery since it was organized for the ordination of Mr. Boyd. Francis Makemie, its founder and father, had died in 1708. His life, under the title of " The Days of Makemie," written by Dr. Bowen, is as interesting as any romance could be. For twenty-five years he had been the leader of his denomination in this country. He twice visited England, and at some time visited nearly every part of the colonies. When in New York, January 19, 1 707, he preached in the house of a Mr. Jackson. For this he was arrested, indicted and compelled to return to New York from his Southern home to stand his trial. Lord Cornbury, a relative of James II., was then Governor, and ruled without respect to justice. Cornbury appro- priated a Presbyterian parsonage in 1702, by borrowing it for the sake of sickness, and when it was no longer needed he turned the house over into the hands of churchmen. In Makemie, Cornbury met with a man who was not only a preacher but a very respectable lawyer, and the government attorneys were completely beaten at every point. The jury brought in a verdicc of not guilty, and solemnly declared that they believed the defendent innocent of any violation of the law. In spite of the verdict the Court assessed on Makemie the entire costs, which amounted to more than $400. Ma- AMERICAN PRESBYTERIANISM ORGANIZING. 7 kemie seems to have been a business man as well as a 'minister and a lawyer. Before long Lord Cornbury fell into disgrace with the English Government, and, in his letter in his own behalf, he describes Makemie in the following vigorous language : " I entreat your protection against this malicious man. He is a Jack-of- all-trades. He is a preacher, a doctor of physic, a merchant, an attorney, a counselor-at-law, and, which is worse than all, a disturber of Governments." Ma- kemie's name is signed as executor in several suits in the courts of Maryland, and his will indicates that he was a man of considerable property. He married Naomi Anderson. In less than a year after Makemie's death, the widow married James Kemp, but died very soon thereafter. Makemie's elder daughter, Elizabeth, survived her father less than a year. The younger daughter, Annie, first married Mr. Blair, then Mr. King, then Mr. Holden. She died childless, as legal records show, between November 15, 1 787, and January 29, i 788. She thus lived to see the year of the erection of the General Assembly by the Synod. Makemie is described as a "man of eminent piety and strong intellectual powers, adding to force of talents a fascinating address ; and conspicuous for his dignity and faith as a minister of the gospel." His grave has been identified, but at this date (1892), is unmarked and neglected. Churches, parsonages, schools and colleges have been named after him, but the Presbyterian Church is his monument. He showed himself always the patriot, and so taught his children. In the will of Madame Holden, his daughter, is a bequest to Joseph Boggs on condition that " the said Joseph will vote at the annual election for the most wise and most discreet men who have proved themselves real friends of the ^6 PRESBYTERIANS. American independence to represent the County of Accomack." While Makemie was no doubt the leading man in the public eye in this period of early organization, the work done by Jedediah Andrews was perhaps as impor- tant. Managing men may be seen more by the public, but these substantial men, who stand by the work, and do what may be called the laborious drudgery, are as essential. Jedediah Andrews' work began with his ordi- nation in the autumn of 1701. The lives of these two men overlapped only about seven years, but their in- timacy is indicated by the fact that Makemie left his library to Andrews. Andrews was born at Hingham, Mass., July 7, 1674, and graduated at Harvard College in 1695. He was licensed in New England, and, in the summer of 1698, went to Philadelphia and- preached to the Presbyterians in "The Barbadoes Store." In 1704 his people erected a church on Buttonwood (now Market) Street. He was Recording Clerk of the Pres- bytery and Synod as long as he lived, and conducted most of their correspondence. He was always the earnest advocate of an educated ministry, and was con- sidered signally gifted in bringing to a successful ter- mination angry disputes both in congregations and among individuals. The four leading figures in that early Presbytery, and three of them afterward in Synod, were Makemie, Andrews, Hampton and Macnish. Andrews died in 1747, nearly forty years after Makemie. These men and their coadjutors were so familiar with Presbyterian doctrines, methods and forms of work that the organization of a Presbytery was a matter of instinct, and its enlargement into a Synod was always anticipated. CHAPTER IV. THE FIRST SYNOD AND ITS DIVISION. A CCORDING to appointment of the Presbytery on \ its adjournment the preceding year, the Synod first met in Philadelphia, September 17, 1717. George Macnish, the last moderator of the Presbytery, opened the meeting with a sermon, and Jedediah Andrews was elected his successor. A glance at Europe will show the character of the emigration which had increased the number of the churches and ministers during the ten years of the existence of the Presbytery, and will pre- pare us to anticipate the rapid growth which came after the organization of the Synod. The Huguenots were expelled from France by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, about a third of a century before this Synod met. That intervening time had been occupied in their dispersion through Holland and the British Isles. In England they were welcomed by the Protestants, and there they learned the English language. By the time this wave of fugitives from France reached America, this country was fairly quiet, and the English language the common speech of all. James II. came to the English throne in 1685, an< ^ began that persecution of Protestants which culminated in his overthrow and the ascension of the Prince of Orange in the revolution of 1688. William and Mary were Protestants, but they could not prevent their subjects from harassing the Presbyterians. When Queen Anne came to the 77 7 R PRESBYTERIANS. throne in 1702, the ministry so managed the govern- ment as to make emigration still more desirable for the Presbyterians. The House of Hanover, in the person of George I., ascended the throne in 1714. He was a thorough-going German, and could neither speak nor understand the English language. His ministry, there- fore, molded him and the public policy much according to their own minds. From 1717 onward, the emigra- tion from Ireland was very large. French Huguenots settled and organized distinctively Presbyterian churches in New York, Charleston, New Rochelle, and else- where. These churches, as they lost French and learned English, came into the general connection of the Synod. In England the officers of the government supposed that, if the pastors could be driven to Amer- ica, the people at home would return to the state churches. The Act of Toleration, relieving Dissenters from the oppressive Act of Uniformity, was not enacted by the British Parliament until 1719. The troubles abroad brought benefits here; and in 1718 Cotton Mather wrote, " We are comforted with great numbers of the oppressed brethren coming from the North of Ireland. The glorious Providence of God, in the removal hither of so many of a desirable character, hath doubtless very great intentions in it." The Irish Synod was not satisfied with the form in which toleration was presented, and the names of the members of that first American Synod show a large membership added from these Irish immigrants. The first meeting of Synod consisted of thirteen ministers and six elders. Pressed with the work to be done, the Synod immediately addressed itself to the financial question of its impoverished situation and its THE FIRST SYNOD AND ITS DIVISION. 79 great need. It established " A Fund for Pious Uses." This was the beginning of all the missionary enterprises which have since been organized by the Presbyterian Church. A treasurer was chosen in the person of Jed- ediah Andrews, and the record is that " the just sum of eighteen pounds, one shilling and sixpence, was weighed and delivered into the hands of Mr. Jedediah Andrews, for which he obliged himself, his heirs, admin- istrators, and executors to be accountable to the Synod, unavoidable emergency only excepted." This memo- randum was signed by Jedediah Andrews, with John Hampton as witness. To this there was added the note, " These are to testify, that there was an error in the summing up of the money above mentioned in the memorandum, by exceeding the sum expressed, one pound, five shillings and eightpence. Attest, George Macnish." In due time a guarantee bond was given by Mr. Andrews for the faithful performance of his duties, and his book accounts were to be yearly exam- ined in Synod. Each year the question was asked about collections for this fund, and the names given of those who had brought collections. Earnest letters were sent to the churches that had failed, exhorting them to contribute as they should from time to time be able. The fund was also used as we now use the Board of Ministerial Relief; for, in 1/19, "The com- mittee for the fund" recommended that "the widow of the Rev. John Wilson be considered as a person wor- thy of the regard of this Synod, and that four pounds be now given her out of the present fund, and discre- tionary power be lodged with Mr. Andrews to give her some further supply out of the said fund." At the present time the largest collections for the Boards of 80 PRESBYTERIANS. the Church come from New York, but, in 1719, the committee appointed to consider of the fund recom- mended that " A tenth part of the neat produce of the Glasgow collection be given to the Presbyterian con- gregation of New York, toward the support of the Gospel among them." Very early a committee of the leading members of the Synod was appointed each year to have charge of this fund for the year to come. Though not named a board, it was to every intent and purpose such an organization, and " It was earnestly recommended by the Synod to all their members to use their diligence that the yearly collections for the fund may be duly minded, that the said collections may not drop, as there seems clanger that they may, in case bet- ter care be not taken than has been for some years past." This is the phraseology of the act of 1731, but its essence was repeated every year. Earnest appeals for the increase of this fund were sent over to Scotland ; and in 1717 the Scottish Church appointed the third Sabbath of August for making collections in the behalf of this fund for mission work in America. The contribution, amounting to ^313, was sent, not in money but in goods, and in 1719 the Com- mittee concerning the fund recommended that Synod appoint fit persons to receive the collections of the Synod of " Glasgow and Ayr," if it arrived safe in goods, and put them into the hands of some substantial person to be sold to the best advantage for the money. This committee was charged also to concert together about the letting out of the money received from said goods to interest; and were to be accountable to Synod. Difficulties of travel and the extent of country over which the members of the Synod were scattered, raised THE FIRST SYNOD AND ITS DIVISION. 8 1 the question as to Synod meeting by delegates. In 1724, "after reasoning upon the matter, it was at last put to vote thus : Appear by delegate or not and it was carried in the affirmative ; and likewise concluded by vote that the Presbytery of New Castle and Phila- delphia do yearly delegate the half of their members to the Synod, and the Presbytery of Long Island two of their number. And it is further ordered that all the members of the Synod do attend every third year." But it was allowed "that every member of Synod may attend as formerly if they see cause." The committee on bills and overtures met often at six in the morning, to prepare matters for speedy consideration. To bring important business to a prompt conclusion, in 1720, it was ordered " that a commission of Synod be appointed to act in the name and with the authority of the whole Synod in all affairs that shall come before them ; and particularly, that the whole of 'the fund' be left to their conduct, and that they be accountable to Synod." This commission never seemed to do much except in relation to the fund. Competent power had no doubt been granted by the Synod, but the members were timid about using that power, outside of the financial question, with which they had to deal promptly and constantly. The question of a call to the ministry pressed heavily upon the minds and hearts of the members. Far more ministers were needed than could be secured ; and, of course, the temptation to license men insufficiently pre- pared was very strong. When it came to a concrete case, however, the Synod showed rare nerve and decision. The record concerning a certain individual before them is : " The ministers of Synod, having seriously and de- 82 PRESBYTERIANS. liberately considered the above case, do unanimously agree in judgment that the said person has not any regular call that way. For though we are satisfied as to his piety and Godly life, yet we think he wants nec- essary qualifications required in the Word of God for a gospel minister, and therefore advise him to continue in the vocation wherein he is called, and endeavor to be useful as a private Christian." Some years later a case came before them in which they expressed the opinion that another brother, "Owing to a certain weakness and deficiency, which rendered his exercise of the ministerial function a detriment to the interest of religion, and rather a scandal than a help to the Gos- pel ; Synod advised him to demit the whole exercise of the ministry." Of this brother it is recorded that he quietly and humbly acquiesced in the aforesaid advice. His submissive behavior seems to have commended him to the Synod, for, " in testimony of their compas- sion, they gave him out of the Fund the sum of forty shillings." It is perhaps to be much regretted that modern Presbyteries and Synods do not deal with cases of mental weakness and deficiency of common sense with the same fidelity. The vigor with which the Synod administered discipline is indicated by the class of cases before it. For years the question of the use of the lot was agitated, and Synod testified its con- viction that "the use of the lot for the decision of un- important matters was unscriptural." Several cases came before them in which parties, which had agreed to arbitration as a method of determining their differences, showed an indisposition to abide by the decisions. The Synod insisted that these agreements were mor- ally binding upon the parties and should be obeyed. THE FIRST SYNOD AND ITS DIVISION. 83 In 1729 the subject of litigation before the civil courts among church members was before the Synod. An ex- cellent resolution was passed as follows : " The Synod do bear their testimony against and declare their great dissatisfaction of the religious law-suits that are main- tained among professors of religion, so contrary to that peace and love which the Gospel requires, and the ex- press direction of the Holy Ghost, in I Cor. 6., 13, and consequently very much to the scandal of our pro- fession." As a substitute for these law-suits Synod strongly recommended that these differences be deter- mined by arbitration, and urged the ministers and church officers to strive by that means to avoid such controversies. Remembering how closely the Church and the state were united in the Old Country, it is to the honor of Presbyterianism that the Synod so early uttered its testimony against the control of the Church by the civil magistrates. The question was before them in 1729, along with other matters pertaining to the Westminster Standards, when Synod "unanimously declared that they do not receive those articles [the 2Oth and 23d chap- ters] in any such sense as to suppose the^civil magistrate hath a controlling power over Synods with respect to the exercise of their ministerial authority ; or power to persecute any for their religion, or in any sense con- trary to the Protestant succession to the throne of Great Britain." While thus holding to the freedom of the Church, the brethren were thoroughly loyal to the Crown of England. This loyalty was indicated in 1743 when Thomas Cookson, Esq., one of his Majesty's jus- tices, brought in a paper to be laid before the Synod. The Synod at once agreed " to defer all other business 84 PRESBYTERIANS. and set aside their common methods of proceeding in order to consider it." What the paper was can only be gathered from the minute, but that minute goes on to say, " the above-mentioned paper, with an affidavit concerning it, being read in open Synod, it was unani- mously agreed that it was full of treason, sedition and distraction, and grievous perverting of the sacred oracles to the ruin of all society and civil government, and directly and diametrically opposite to our religious principles ; as we have on all occasions openly and publicly declared to the world ; and we hereby unani- mously, and with the greatest sincerity, declare that we detest this paper. And if Mr. Alexander Craighead be the author, we know nothing of the matter. And we hereby declare that he hath been no member of this society for some time past, nor do we acknowledge him as such, though we cannot but heartily lament that any man that was ever called a Presbyterian should be guilty of what is in this paper." The moderator, with three leading members, was appointed a committee to draw up an address to the Governor on this occasion, which address, and a copy of the above-quoted vigorous minute in relation to this affair, was entered on the records. But the Synod did not always find it easy to escape conflict with the sometimes over-officious English governors. This was especially true in the Virginia Colony. Mr. Hugh Stevenson sent the Synod a rep- resentation of the severity with which he had been treated by some gentlemen in Virginia. On the basis of his representation earnest application was made in England to the Society for the Propagation of Religion, for money to help to maintain some itinerant ministers THE FIRST SYNOD AND ITS DIVISION. 8$ in Virginia and elsewhere. The assistance of this society was sought in England in order that the Government there should discourage the Colonial authorities here from hampering such itinerant minis- ters by illegal prosecutions. John Caldwell and many families sought to settle " in the back parts of Virginia." GYMNASIUM, CENTER COLLEGE, DANVILLE, KY. Synod appointed two of their number, to go and wait upon the Governor and Council of Virginia to " procure the favor and countenance of the Governor of that province to the laying a foundation of our interests in the distant parts where considerable numbers of families of our persuasion are settled." Synod unani- mously allowed out of "the Fund" a sum to bear the charges of the brethren ; and provision was made also for the supply of their congregations during their absence while prosecuting that affair. No definite sum of money was named, but the brethren were allowed 86 PRESBYTERIANS. discretionary power to use what money they had occasion for, to bear their expenses in a manner suitable to this design. The regions which are thus alluded to as the "back parts of Virginia" seem to have been, not only what is now West Virginia, but Shenandoah Val- ley and all that part of Western Pennsylvania of which Pittsburg is the center. The boundary line between the colonies was not run until many years thereafter. The Scotch-Irish settlers of the Shenandoah Valley and of Western Pennsylvania were early con- sidered as all belonging to Virginia. The question of the training of ministers in their own territory was early brought before Synod. Andrews had enjoyed college education in New England before he came to Philadelphia. Most of the ministers that emigrated to this country from Ireland and Scotland were graduates of the institutions there. The effort to secure help from the Old Country to support ministers, and ministers to supply churches, was only successful to a very limited degree. It was evident to the Synod that, in order to their own perpetuation, it was essential that they should raise up a ministry among themselves. Quite a number of the Irish Presbyteries began to license and ordain men before they came to this coun- try. These ordinations were not with a view to the settlement of the candidates in churches in Ireland, but were only for the purpose of sending them as fully authorized ministers to this country. This course was unsatisfactory to the Synod; and in 1735 a very for- midable paper was passed upon the whole subject. The essence of it may be understood from the follow- ing quotation : " Seeing we are likely to have most of our supply of ministers to fill our vacancies, from the THE FIRST SYNOD AND ITS DIVISION. 87 North of Ireland, and seeing it is too evident to be denied and called into question, that we are in great danger of being imposed upon by ministers and preachers from thence, though sufficiently furnished with all the formalities of Presbyterian credentials, as in case of Mr. - , and seeing also what was done last year may be done next year and the year following, upon this and the like consideration, Therefore ' After passing four other resolutions the paper proceeds, fifthly : "That the Synod would bear testimony against the late too common and now altogether unnecessary practice of some Presbyteries in the North of Ireland, viz.: the ordaining men to the ministry immediately before they come hither The Synod do now advertise the General Synod in Ireland that the ordaining of any such to the ministry before sending them hither, for the future will be very disagreeable and disobliging to us." The question of the supply and the proper education of ministers had to be seriously considered. In 1739, an overture for erecting a seminary of learning was brought in and Synod unanimously approved the design of it, and in order to accomplish it appointed Messrs. Pemberton, Dickinson, Cross and Anderson, to go to Europe, if possible, to prosecute this affair. Synod also appointed correspondents from every Presbytery to meet in Philadelphia, and requested Mr. Pemberton to go to Boston to push the enterprise, and directed the Presbytery of New York to supply his pulpit during his absence. Then, as now, various places sought for the location of the institution, and opened schools. Why these schools succeeded in some places and failed in others, it is not easy to determine. The spirit that is now among our missionaries in the Foreign Field 8$ PRESBYTERIANS. animated the brethren then. A church which expects life and growth must raise its own ministry out of its own midst. Up to this period in the history of the Church, the method of training ministers had been for the students to read under the direction of some pastor. But pastors were overworked, and the interruptions of the duties of an instructor by funerals, pastoral calls, prayer meetings- and the preparation of sermons were such as to make the work quite unsatisfactory. All through the bounds of Synod, therefore, there was the deepest anxiety to imitate the course pursued in the Old Country and in New England, and have colleges and universities of their own for the training of candi- dates for the ministry. The opening of the sixteenth century was a time of doctrinal agitation among Protestants throughout Europe and especially among the Presbyterians of the British Isles. In Scotland the Church had been organ- ized by the adoption of definite doctrinal standards and a compact system of government. To a large extent the Westminster system was assumed as adopted, with- out formal adoption, in England and Ireland. During the days of the American Presbytery, from 1 706 to 1717, and the earlier years of the first Synod, the immigration to this country was from the midst of the doctrinal discussions of England, Scotland and Ireland. The Irish, or Scotch-Irish element largely predominated. Arianism, or the denial of the divinity of Jesus Christ, was rapidly creeping into the English Church and making large inroads into the Irish Church. The leaders of the "Belfast Society" were quite aggres- sive, and many of them specifically denied the doctrine of Christ's deity. Others were extremely tolerant of THE FIRST SYNOt) AND ITS DIVISION. 89 differences of opinion on such fundamental matters. There were really three parties in the Irish Church. One insisted on requiring all ministers and elders to subscribe to the Confession of Faith. Another strongly resisted all suggestion of enforcing the adop- tion of the Confession. Between these two extremes there was the usual middle party. All three parties struggled to maintain peace, and the outcome was not altogether satisfactory to either, if, indeed, it was satis- factory to any individual man. The discussions led to a division of the Irish Synod in 1726. The next year, in the American Synod, a suggestion was made with reference to an " Adopting Act " similar to that of the Irish Synod. This was no doubt inspired by the Irish members, as they participated in the spirit of the Irish discussions. Many of the ablest ministers at Synod looked upon the proposition with very great alarm and disfavor. The ultimate result was the division of the Synod in 1741. It can hardly be said, however, that this division was in any sense due to doctrinal differences. Other ques- tions were mixed up with the discussion as it progressed, and personal differences on other questions ran along the line of the differences touching the " Adopting Act." In regard to the Confession of Faith there was no pretense that anybody in the Synod was privately out of sympathy with either the Calvinism of the Confession or the Pres- byterianism of the form of government. The question of education for the ministry had a good deal to do with it. Many, of what was known as the Old Side, were educated in Europe, and others in the colleges of New England. These insisted upon a very thorough min- isterial education. The Tennents (father and four $6 PRESBYTERIANS. sons) were equally anxious for a proper education ; but instead of doing nothing because they could not ac- complish the impracticable, insisted upon doing the best they could under the circumstances. As is narrated in the chapter on Education, William Tennent, Sr., had started his Log College at Neshaminy as early as 1726. In it were educated many zealous and pious young men. His Presbytery was disposed to license these men ; and as fast as they proved themselves efficient preachers, and secured calls to any of the churches, to give them ordi- nation also. The other side were unwilling to accept the education given in " the Log College" without further examination by Synod. They insisted upon the examination of candidates for the ministry, either by Synod itself or by a commission. This was looked upon as hostility to the Log College by giving oppor- tunity for unfair discrimination against and unreason- able examination of Tennent's students. Curiously enough, one of the causes of the division was the remarkable revival which was abroad in America about this time. Early in the century the state of religion had been extremely low. The preaching of the ministry was dead and formal. William Tennent, Sr., was a man of earnest piety as well as sound the- ology. The state of religion rested on his soul as a great burden. His sons partook of the spirit of their father. This country has rarely, if ever, had a more powerful preacher in the midst of revivals than Gilbert Tennent. The revivals of Whitefield and Wesley were then moving Great Britain. Whitefield was in this country in 1739 anc ^ was visited by the elder Tennent in Philadelphia in November, and that same month visited the Tennents at Neshaminy. The two con- THE FIRST SYNOD AND ITS DIVISION. 9 1 ceived a great admiration and fondness for each other. The only description extant of " the Log College " is extracted from Whitefield's diary. But that revival was accompanied by what is known as the " Falling Exercises." These exercises were matters of serious, if not bitter, differences of opinion. They were ex- MCMILLAN'S LOG COLLEGE, CANONSBURG, PA. perienced by some, who accepted these " exercises " as in themselves proofs of conversion. Not nnfrequently some of these went back to their worldliness and some to their excessive wickedness. In other cases these exercises came upon the wildest characters, who had come to the revival meetings merely to oppose and ridicule them. Many such cases, by years of subsequent pious behavior, proved to be sound conversions. " The Old Side" as they were called, held up the spurious 92 PRESBYTERIANS. conversions as proofs that the work at large was not the genuine work of the Spirit. In that revival the Tennents were prominent ; and the name of the " Ten- nent Revival " was given to it in view of their activity and leadership. Their friends were called " The New Side." By them the widespread awakening of the public on the subject of religion, the quickening of the life of the Church and the numerous genuine conversions were held as proving that the whole work was divine. Years afterward both sides came to see that, while their facts were true, their conclusions were very far beyond the reasons furnished for them in the facts. It was no proof that the spirit of God was not present, because the devil imitated the manifestations of divine activity. The permanent and widespread beneficent results of the revival were sources of sincere gratification to those who at first were fearful of danger. Even Whitefield's earlier ministry was marred by a censorious disposition toward ministers who did not co-operate with him. It was only human that ministers, who were quite effective in revival work, should speak disparagingly of other excellent men, who were not thus blessed. Gilbert Tennent, in the earlier years of the revival, was spe- cially severe upon his brethren. One famous sermon, the " Nottingham Sermon," was looked upon as a very unjustifiable attack upon other ministers and the Synod. In his later years he himself expressed profound regret at the severity of the language into which he had been betrayed in that discourse. Coupled with this revival spirit there was also a form of missionating which induced the revival ministers to travel from place to place. They were not careful to await an invitation before they went to the churches. THE FIRST SYNOD AND ITS DIVISION. 93 It was a plausible theory that revival Evangelists were bound, in seeking the salvation of souls, to go wherever they could to preach the gospel. The Presbytery of New Brunswick, to which the Tennents belonged, was disposed to indorse this itinerating practice. That Presbytery was charged with having appointed brethren to preach in vacant churches and mission fields within the bounds of other Presbyteries. When revivalists came into a church, and pro- ceeded to denounce part of the congregation, it was to be expected that there should be division and harsh language among the people. Sometimes these re- vivalists persisted in going into churches notwithstand- ing the objections of the pastor. The Old Side insisted that Synod should control the brethren, and rebuke Presbyteries that allowed such irregularities. Many of the New Side insisted upon the right to follow out what they called divine leadings, even though nobody but themselves were able to understand the supposed provi- dential indications. It was a difficult time for even the coolest ministers to maintain equanimity of feeling and impartiality of judgment. When, at the meeting of Synod in 1741, the question came up for decision, it was unfortunate that the whole Presbytery of New York was absent. Many of the most influential ministers belonged to that Presbytery. Among these men were Jonathan Dickinson, Ebenezer Pemberton and John Pierson. Protests had been en- tered by each side against the behavior of the other. At the opening of Synod a protest against the right of the New Brunswick brethren to a seat in the Synod was presented by Mr. Robert Cross, associate pastor of Jedediah Andrews in Philadelphia. Each preceding 94 PRESBYTERIANS. year there had been debates, and several attempts at ad- justing the points of controversy. Previous to this meeting of 1741, the New Brunswick Presbytery had ordained some young men, who had not been examined by Synod. The Old Side men, under the lead of Mr. Cross, protested against the right of that Presbytery to a seat, if these new members were to be included on the roll. The record stands that at this point there was a sharp controversy as to which party really was the Synod. "It was canvassed by the former protesting brethren [this is a statement from the Minutes of 1741, made by the Old Side party] whether they or we were to be looked upon as the Synod. We maintained that they had no right to sit, whether they were the major or minor number. Then they motioned that we should examine this point, and that the major number was the Synod. They were found to be the minor party, and upon this they withdrew." The record then goes on "after this the Synod proceeded to business." When the count was proposed each party believed that it had the majority. The count is not given but probably it resulted twelve to ten. The number of each party was so nearly the same that there was little moral weight in the decision. When, a few years later, the Presby- tery of New York joined the New Brunswick party in the formation of the Synod of New York, that Synod at once became the larger of the two. The Presbytery of New York set about an effort to reconcile the differences and secure a reunion. That Presbytery believed that the exclusion of the New Brunswick brethren by a simple protest, without a hear- ing and without a trial, was uncalled for and unconsti- tutional The Old Side, in the reasons given by them THE FIRST SYNOD AND ITS DIVISION. 95 for their action, make very much out of the severity of the language of the New Brunswick men. The Ten- nents had a school ; and if their Presbytery saw fit to license the graduates of that school without the exam- ination required by Synod, obviously it would be but a little while until the Synod would be revolutionized. Years were occupied in efforts to harmonize the differ- ences. Both Synods promptly declared their adhesion to the Westminster Standards. A little experience of the evils of itinerant evangelists, dividing churches where their services were not wanted by the pastor, led the New York Synod, or the New Side party, to adopt as decided measures to prevent " the intrusion of ministers into fields not under their care," as were adopted by the Philadelphia Synod, or the Old Side party. As the years went on the severity of the lan- guage of the revivalist ministers became very much softened down. The visit to the Old Country of Gil- bert Tennent and Samuel Davies, to get help for their college at Princeton, gave Mr. Tennent an opportunity to see his " Nottingham Sermon" from a different point of view from that which he had occupied when it was preached. He was in England and Scotland begging money, and his " Nottingham Sermon " was there cir- culated to his serious disadvantage and very great an- noyance. The revival greatly increased the activity of the churches which were visited by it ; and such churches, and those who believed in them, were naturally disposed to identify themselves with the New Bruns- wick party. The New Side party thus grew more rapidly than the Synod of Philadelphia or the Old Side party. Each soon saw that the other was honestly in- 96 PRESBYTERIANS. tent about the Master's business. A comparatively few years, therefore, accomplished that renewal of personal confidence, that softening down of asperities, and that willingness to find out good ways of harmony, which are always the sure precursors of organic reunion among brethren needlessly divided. CHAPTER V. THE SYNODS UNITED PRESBYTERIANS IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. THROUGHOUT the whole history of Presbyteri- anism in the first Presbyteries and Synods, minis- ters and people were conscious that they were " Dis- senters " in the eye of the English law and the English government. Unsatisfied with Episcopal worship and English bishops, these early colonists were striving to establish in the American wilderness a civilization in which the exercise of Protestant religion would be un- trammeled by law. The more complete the success of their chosen Presbyterian worship, and of that of Bap- tists, Methodists, Congregationalists, Moravians, Quak- ers and others, the more evident it became that state support was not essential to religion. As large congrega- tions with able ministers multiplied in New York, Phil- adelphia and the other cities, and throughout the rural districts, and flourished financially, and grew in practical godliness, the more confident all classes of Christians came to be that religion needed nothing from the state but protection and peace. Unconsciously dissenters grew confident of their success and strong in their de- termination to maintain their position. Proportionately Episcopacy grew continually weaker. The letters from this country, about the freedom from state interference and the peace and prosperity enjoyed by churches man- aged by their own officers, carried back to the Old 97 98 PRESBYTERIANS. Country glowing accounts for the encouragement of immigration. The letters from the Episcopal ministers were correspondingly discouraging. Their letters la- mented the neglect of religion on the part of dissent- ers, and the rapid increase of Independent churches. That the dissenters under these circumstances should increase rapidly, and Episcopalians increase but slowly, was only the natural course of events. Not only had the English who had settled in America studied the English form of government, but settlers from the Continent were equally familiar with it. In the eyes of Continental Protestantism, England, as the representative nation of the Protestant cause, was a special object of admiration. In that English nation for centuries the liberties and rights of the people had been from time to time acquired and enforced by resistance to arbitrary government. Magna Charta had been wrung from King John. The Wars of the Roses were con- flicts toward settling, by the support of the people, the right of inheritance to the English Crown. These wars had ended in the heir of the Red Rose marrying the heiress of the White Rose. When Edward VI. died it was a question of popular support whether Mary Tudor or Lady Jane Grey should come to the throne. For want of popular support Lady Jane Grey was be- headed. The question of the succession was substan- tially passed upon by Parliament when Elizabeth died and James I., the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, as- cended the throne. The struggle between Charles I. and his Parliament was carried on to settle the right of the throne to raise money which had not been voted by the representatives of the people. The establish- ment of the English Commonwealth was simply the THE SYNODS UNITED. 99 successful assertion by the people of the right .of resist- ance to an unreasonable monarch. On the one hand Cromwell's Protectorate demonstrated that a powerful and successful government could be carried on without a legitimate king. On the other hand the failure of Richard Cromwell in carrying on that successful Com- monwealth discouraged the people regarding repub- lican government. With the Restoration, under Charles II., the pendulum swung back in England from pop- ular government far in the direction of absolutism. But the control of the people reasserted itself when the Prince of Orange, in 1688, overthrew King James. On the death of Anne, 1714, King George of Hanover came to the throne as a Protestant ; and in Conti- nental Europe, the British Islands and America, he was looked upon as the representative of toleration. In apparent pursuance of that policy he put his govern- ment entirely into the hands of Whigs, and declared he never would accept any but members of that party as members of his administration. That declaration startled his Whig friends almost as much as it did his Tory enemies. On the king's part it was a declaration of a purpose arbitrarily to carry out the royal will. Quite promptly the English people and their House of Commons began to refuse obedience, and insist on the right of the nation to have Tories or Whigs accord- ing to their pleasure, regardless of the king's will. With such contests going on in the mother country under the eyes of the Protestant world, in matters affecting the national policy, it would be incomprehensi- ble if the American people did not acquire the habit of gaining their own way by resisting unreasonable governors. The grounds of resistance varied in differ- 100 PRESBYTERIANS. ent colonies, and changed with the changes in the governors representing the mother country. Generally the points of conflict touched the question of the assess- ment of taxes or the collection and expenditure of them. The metropolis of the country then, as now, was fixed at New York by reasons of physical geog- raphy. There were three kinds of colonies. Some of the colonies had charters granted by the English crown and confirmed by Parliamentary action. Some were Proprietary colonies where someone like William Penn held title under the King and over the colony. Such colonies corresponded to the domains of English lords in the Old Country. Others were royal colonies, and theoretically were subject to the King by the philosophy of the Feudal system. In this last there were no Parliamentary charters to appeal to, but the governors represented the arbitrariness and uncertainty of the royal will. New York was one of these royal colonies, and Mr. Bancroft, in his history (vol. ii, chap. 29) gives a very suggestive description of Lord Cornbury and his eminent service to the cause of free- dom by his administration of the governorship of that colony. Cornbury will be remembered as the governor who arrested Francis Makemie for preaching in Mr. Jackson's house in New York, and was with disgrace defeated in his efforts to get the jury to convict Makemie of crime when he had done no wrong. Corn- bury's predecessor in the governorship was Bellomont, of whom this promise is on record : " I will pocket none of the public money myself, nor shall there be any embezzlement by others." Under him the House of Representatives voted a revenue for six years and placed it at the disposition of the governor. Of his THE SYNODS UNITED. IOI successor, Mr. Bancroft says : " Lord Cornbury happily for New York had every vice of character necessary to discipline a colony into self-reliance and resistance. Educated at Geneva, he yet loved Episco- pacy as a religion of state subordinate to executive power. Of the same family with the Queen of Eng- land, brother-in-law to a King whose services he had betrayed, the grandson of a Prime Minister, himself an heir to an earldom, destitute of the virtues of the aris- tocracy, he illustrated the worst form of aristocratic arrogance joined to intellectual imbecility. Of about forty years of age, with self-will and the pride of rank for his counselors, without fixed principles, with- out perception of political truth, he stood among the mixed people of New Jersey and New York as their governor." Certain moneys had been appropriated to fortify the " Narrows, and for no other use whatever." But Lord Cornbury cared little for the limitations of a provincial assembly. The money by his warrant dis- appeared from the treasury, while the " Narrows " were left defenseless. The Assembly then solicited from the Queen a treasurer of its own appointment : and asserted "the rights- of the House." Lord Cornbury answered : " I know of no right that you have as an Assembly, but such as the Queen is pleased to allow you." By the Queen he meant her representative, himself. But the firmness of the Assembly won its victory by the appoint- ment of a treasurer to take charge of the extraordinary supplies. " In the affairs relating to religion," says Mr. Bancroft, " Lord Cornbury was equally imperious ; dis- puting the rights of ministers or school-teachers to exercise their vocations without his license. His long- undetected forgery of a standing instruction in favor 102 PRESBYTERIANS. of the English Church led only to acts of petty tyranny, useless to English interests, degrading the royal pre- rogative and benefiting the people by compelling their active vigilance." The power of the people redressed their grievances. Twice Cornbury dissolved the Assem- bly. The third which he convened proved how rapidly the political education of the people had advanced. The rights of the people with regard to taxation, to courts of law and to officers of the Crown, were asserted with an energy to which the government could offer no resistance. " Subdued by the colonial legislature, and as disspirited as he was indigent, he submitted to the ignominy of reproof, and thanked the Assembly for the simplest acts of justice." " Lord Cornbury fulfilled his mission, and more successfully than any patriot he had taught New York the necessity and the methods of incipient resistance." With his successor, Lord Love- lace, in 1709, the Crown demanded a permanent revenue without specific appropriations. New York hence- forward resolved to raise only an annual revenue, and name their own treasurer. The same kind of a struggle between the Provincial Assemblies and the royal government went on else- where. In Massachusetts it was largely a question of the rights of manufacturers. Almost every new gov- ernor, within a few months after his arrival, was in a conflict with his Assembly. Complaints were made that the products of the colonies were manufactured for use in their own territories. This excited the jealousy of the manufacturers in England. The colonial citizens elected no members to Parliament, and, therefore, no ministry had a direct interest in conciliating them for the sake of their votes. The English manufacturers THE SYNODS UNITED. IO3 had representatives in Parliament and English political parties needed their votes very urgently. The English desire to conquer Canada made additional soldiers from the colonies, and additional funds for war expenses, ex- tremely needful. Here was a good chance to insist on their rights, and enforce them in the midst of the ex- tremities of the English government. In one way or another the English government and its American gov- ernors were compelled to yield. At this time the rights of the colonies as well as the rights of the King and Parliament were very indefinite. Whether any serious change in the result could have been secured by some American Magna Charta, specifically defining all these, may well be doubted. After being de- fined there would come the task of interpretation. The House of Commons in Great Britain was ready enough to insist upon refusing supplies for the King when it wished to enforce its own authority ; but when the Colonial Assemblies undertook by. the same kind of measures to enforce their rights against the mother country, Parliament was by no means ready to maintain its consistency at the expense of its own pocket. Throughout all ages men's opinions have been affected with regard to legal rights by so simple a question as whether their ox is gored or the ox of their neighbor. Frequent successful conflicts, throughout the colonial period, brought the colonists up to the questions which were under discussion between England and America about the middle of the eighteenth century, with a very certain conviction that Englishmen had a right to resist the government, if there were enough of them who & o agreed to make their combined resistance sufficient to carry their point. It had been thus between the Eng- 104 PRESBYTERIANS. lish people, their Parliament and their King, hereto- fore, and has been so ever since. What is needed in any such conflict is unity, with numbers. Episcopacy was the state Church in Virginia, and in a certain sense also in New York. In many of the towns of New England Congregationalism was officially recog- nized. When a form of religion is adopted by the state, substantially three things occur. Taxes are levied for it on all persons. The ministers of religion are paid their salaries out of the proceeds of these taxes. The ap- pointment of the ministers, thus supported, is a part of the duty of the government. Ecclesiastical and theo- logical tests are, therefore, applied in the determination of the qualifications of the persons who shall vote or hold office. Where there is a state denomination, other denominations may be persecuted or they may not. Their worship may be allowed or disallowed. No prac- tice ever prevailed during colonial times in this country where a state Church gained more than favoritism for the chosen sect. The infliction of pains and penalties on ministers or members of other sects was generally the personal crime of the executive officers, rather than the injustice of legislative enactments. With all the pressure in England in favor of an Episcopal establishment for the perpetuation here of English authority, it is not remarkable that the Epis- copalians in the colonies were undisguisedly anxious for such a church establishment in this country. Fre- quent petitions were sent over to England for the appointment of diocesan bishops in this country, as in England. Over and over again boasts were made that such an establishment was certain to come in the not distant future. As early as 1703 Governor Johnson THE SYNODS UNITED. IO5 of South Carolina had, by a close vote, carried through the provincial legislature a law making the Episcopal Church the established Church. The leading opponent was Archibald Stobo, a Presbyterian pastor in Charles- ton. No minister in the colony had so universally en- grossed public favor, and the governor resorted to the weapons of slander and other malignant arts to break down his character. As early as 1748 overtures were made to some of the leading clergymen of New England to aid in introducing State Episcopacy by accepting bishoprics. The bribe held out was promptly spurned. The projects of the British ministry in this direction were scarcely ever disguised. There was thus grave reason for apprehension in this direction. The mere knowledge of this threatened danger tended strongly to unite the Puritan element among all denominations, and especially to bring together the Presbyterians and the Congregationalists in combined efforts for the cause of religious freedom. In 1766 a convention was held at Elizabeth, N. J. It was composed of representatives from the Con- gregational and Presbyterian Churches, and adopted a plan of union between them. The object of this con- vention was both Christian and patriotic. While civil liberty was threatened by Stamp Acts, a project for Episcopal ascendency in the colonies was believed to be resolutely cherished by the Episcopalian leaders. The convention was to meet annually, and had as its avowed object " to gain information of their united cause and interest, to collect accounts relating thereto, to unite their endeavors and counsel for spreading the Gospel and preserving the religious liberty of the Churches, and to vindicate the loyalty and reputation 106 PRESBYTERIANS. of the Churches therein represented." The Episcopal clergy of New York and New Jersey petitioned for the episcopate, and pleaded that nearly one million of the inhabitants desired it. Americans in England were openly told that bishops should be settled in America in spite of the Presbyterian opposition. The year of the Elizabeth convention a voluntary Episcopal con- vention was held, and the aforementioned petition was forwarded to England in its name. Dr. Chandler was requested to write an appeal to the public in favor of the project. This appeal was published in 1767, and was at once ably answered by Dr. Charles Chauncey of Boston. This began the active newspaper controversy. In the conflict between the colonies and England the Episcopalians were, for the most part, ultra-loyal. This fact reacted upon the minds of the Presbyterians and others, and made a general impression of the hostility of the Episcopal Church to the colonial cause. This struggle pointed plainly toward the necessity of unity among all those who were opposed to Parliamentary taxation for the benefit of the Episcopalian Church. It is supposed that the first suggestion of union may have been the sermon of Dr. Mayhew of Boston, at an interdenominational communion in his church. The next day Dr. Mayhew met Samuel Adams and said : " We have just had a communion of the Churches ; now let us have a union of the States." In 1754 a convention of delegates from the different colonies was held at Albany, with special reference to the war between England and the French and Indians. At that Albany convention the representatives of the six Indian nations sneered at the division among the colonists and lack of energy. To that convention THE SYNODS UNITED. iO/ Benjamin Franklin had come with a project of union among the colonies for their mutual strengthening. By that project, " the King was to name and support a governor general, and the colonies for their legislation were to elect triennially a grand council." Franklin carried his project " pretty unanimously." " It was not altogether to my mind, but it was as I could get it." The scheme failed, owing to the opposition thereto both in Great Britain and in America. The colonists were jealous of each other and of any central power. In England, American union was dreaded as a key-stone to independence. In the mind of Franklin the project enlarged to comprehend two additional colonies west of the Appalachian mountains, one on Lake Erie and the other in the valley of the Ohio. This mingling of religious and political questions greatly strengthened the public sentiment for union among the denominations as well as among the colonies. Politico-religious sermons were early introduced into New England. As early as 1633, the Governor and Council of the Massachusetts Bay colony began to ap- point one of the clergy to preach on the day of election. These " election sermons " came to be annual affairs like Thanksgiving days. Even more than the modern Thanksgiving sermon these " election sermons " dealt with political matters and public affairs. Edmund Burke, in 1 775, said of them they " contributed no mean part toward the growth of the untractable spirit of the colonies." These sermons widely promoted the study of political ethics, and John Quincy Adams called the American Revolution the ripe fruitage of this old cus- tom, The last Wednesday in May was established as election day, and remained so until the Revolution. 108 PRESBYTERIANS. On May 17, 1776, Dr. Witherspoon preached a sermon in which he entered fully into the great political question of the day. The sermon was on " The Dominion of Providence over the Passions of Men," and it was afterward published and dedicated to John Hancock. Though the day on which it was first preached was a day appointed by Congress as one of fasting, its character was similar to the New England "election day sermons"; and at the time he preached it, Witherspoon was a member elect of the provincial Congress of New Jersey, and the next month he was elected a member of the Continental Congress from the State of New Jersey. It is possible that this collocation of events may seem to overestimate the influence of the political trouble of the period in promoting, through the decade from 1750 to 1760, the sentiment for reunion among the members of the divided Synod. The Presbytery of New York, which had been absent when the division took place, had always greatly deprecated it, believed both sides were measurably in the wrong, and always strove earnestly to secure the reunion. For several years the New York brethren attended the Old Side Synod, hoping to effect a reconciliation. I n this they were disappointed. They insisted that the excluded breth- ren were still properly members of Synod. The Old Side insisted that they were not, until they should agree to cease ordaining insufficiently educated men, or intruding into the congregations of other pastors for evangelistic purposes. The New Side, or New Bruns- wick brethren, would not yield their right to judge for themselves what men they should ordain, and where they should preach. Believing that the rights of min- isters and Presbyteries were overthrown by the course THE SYNODS UNITED. 109 of the Old Side brethren, the New York men withdrew and joined the New Side. This gave that side three Y. M. C. A. HALL, HAMILTON COLLEGE, CLINTON, N. Y. Presbyteries ; and so enough to form a Synod of their own. These three Presbyteries New Brunswick, New Cas- tle, and New York met at Elizabethtown in Septem- ber, 1745, and organized themselves as the Synod of New York. Jonathan Dickinson was chosen modera- 1 10 PRESBYTERIANS. tor, and Ebenezer Pemberton, ckrk. These were two of the ablest men given to the Church at any period of her history. There were present from the Presbytery of New York, nine ministers ; from the Presbytery of New Brunswick, nine ministers, and from the Presby- tery of New Castle, four ministers ; altogether, twenty- two ministers, with twelve elders. Though the contro- versy in the old Synod had been in regard to the " Adopting Act," and the members of this Synod had been among the number of those who objected thereto, it was not because of their lack of faith in the West- minster Confession, or form of government. In organizing the Synod, and before they elected a mod- erator, they considered and passed a paper declaring their adoption of the Westminster Standards, and, in- deed, substantially the entire "Adopting Act" of 1729. This Synod of New York was the party that believed in the genuineness of, and energetically promoted the "great revival" of that era. This drew to them the sym- pathy of the general public, and rapidly increased the membership of their churches and the fervor of their ministers. The Tennents had been the active friends and laborious followers of Whitefield. They and their fellow-members had been diligent in the education of pious and gifted men. They had been especially zeal- ous in urging the examination of candidates on experi- mental religion, while the Old Side ministers had been insisting upon examination as to literary attainments. The minutes of the first meeting of this Synod of New York are comparatively brief, and bear evidence of the anxiety of the brethren to heal the breach in the Presbyterian Zion. The Philadelphia Synod could scarcely ask a more definite and explicit declaration in THE SYNODS UNITED. Ill favor of unity among the congregations and fidelity on the part of the ministers, and submissiveness on the part of the minorities, than are to be found in the min- utes of this Synod of New York. That Synod, with its revival spirit and missionary activity, grew rapidly as compared with the slower growth of the Synod of Philadelphia. The small number of additions to its ministerial roll from the Old Country, or from new licentiates, may have had a great influence in bringing this Synod of Philadelphia into a frame of mind in har- mony with that unity which was developing among the colonies and denominations throughout the land. The two Synods, as well as the colonies, were being united through discipline and suffering. The questions which had to be settled, as prelimi- naries to reunion, touched first the responsibility of the Synod of Philadelphia for the adoption of the Protest ; second, the question of the adoption of the Westmin- ter Standards ; third, the right of Presbyteries to license and ordain candidates according to their own mind, without supervision from the other Presbyteries when convened in Synod; fourth, the readjustment of Presby- terial and congregational lines where congregations or Presbyteries had divided ; fifth, the genuineness of the Spirit's work in the revival, and lastly, the right of min- isters to judge of each other and express publicly their opinion of each other's piety, irrespective of Presbyterial investigation. After the division, the subject of reunion was never dismissed from consideration at the Synods. Each successive year proposals were made, communi- cations interchanged or conference committees ap- pointed. On some of the points of supposed difference harmony was easily reached. Both sides agreed to 1 1 2 PRESBYTERIANS. the Westminster Standards ; both agreed that it was improper for ministers who doubted the genuineness of the religion of their brethren to express their doubts otherwise than through Presbyterial charges. The Philadelphia Synod yielded to the earnest desire of the New York men that a declaration should be made that a " great work of grace had been carried on during the revival." The two points upon which greatest difficulty was found in securing agreement were the questions of the responsibilities of the Philadelphia Synod for the Protest, and the method of readjusting Presbyterial and congregational lines so as to prevent future controversy. The Protest question was finally settled by a restate- ment of the fact that the Philadelphia Synod had never by any official act adopted the Protest. This left the Protest as the act of the signers and not of the Synod. All agreed that the division of congregations and the maintenance of two Presbyteries on the "elective affinity" principle were undesirable on the same territory, yet to compel union at once was likely to make matters worse. The union was finally agreed upon without disturbing old lines. It was the expectation that the result would work out (as it did) in frequent reunions of divided churches and ultimate readjustment of Presbyterial lines without excessive friction. In May, 1768, the two Synods met in Philadelphia, and their commissions, as a joint committee, had agreed upon a plan for union. This plan was separately con- sidered and approved by each Synod. On the 2Qth day of May they came together as one Synod, and elected Mr. Gilbert Tennent moderator, and Mr. McDowell clerk. The name of the united Synod was fixed as "The Synod of New York and Philadelphia." The THE SYNODS UNITED. 113 basis of union is the first paper recorded in their min- utes. The roll gives as present, ministers 42 and elders 14. The division between the two Synods had thus lasted seventeen years. With the reunion came a period of very decided growth and energetic work. So nearly as can now be ascertained, there were then in the whole Church 98 ministers, about 200 churches, and about 10,000 church members. Exact statistics were not then kept. Shortly after this reunion several new Presbyteries were organized as follows : The sec- ond Philadelphia in 1762 ; Carlisle in 1765; Lancaster, 1765 ; Dutchess, N. Y., 1766 ; Redstone, 1781. In 1755 the Synod of New York had organized the Presbytery of Hanover, Va. That was a mother of Presbyteries. Out of its territory, as first assigned, came in 1785 the Presbytery of Abingdon, and in 1786 the Presbyteries of Lexington and Transylvania. The Hanover Pres- bytery was originally a Mission Presbytery covering Virginia, the two Carolinas, Kentucky and Tennessee. Appointments were constantly made of leading men to make missionary tours through this region of the South and the far West ; and the annual meetings of the Synod were much occupied with hearing reports of the missionary tours of the year preceding, and planning for similar tours for the year to come. The work of the Church, from the reunion in 1758 to the opening of the war in 1775, was seriously impeded by the political distractions and excitement in the country. The English officials and their Tory friends laid a large portion of the blame of the insubordination of the people upon the Presbyterians. The Presbyte- rians of Scotland and Ireland had been leaders in resist- ing English religious oppression. The reputation of 114 PRESBYTERIANS. Presbyterians, therefore, in the Old Country was that of a people who would not readily submit to oppression by monarchial authority. Peter Van Schaak, in 1769, used these exultant words : " The election in New York City is ended, and the Church is triumphant in spite of all the efforts of the Presbyterians. The Presbyterians think they have, as a religious body, everything to dread from the power of the Church." This fairly expressed the feeling of both sides. The Presbyterians did dread the persecuting power of the English Church through the government ; and the English government dreaded the Presbyterians as ringleaders in resistance. For the English soldiery to hear a household or a body of men singing " Rouse's Psalms " was sufficient proof of the insubordinate character of the singers. In Mecklen- burg County, at Charlotte, N. C., this Presbyterian spirit of self-government took a definite form thirteen months before the National Declaration of Independ- ence. The region was remote from the center of gov- ernment, and if the English colonial governors were not to enforce their high-handed notions, these moun- taineers must have some government of their own pro- duction. The Mecklenburg Declaration was dated May 31, 1775. It was both a Declaration of Independence and a system of local government to take the place of the disowned English government. It answered as " Articles of Confederation," as well as a declaration. This declaration took the peculiar form of accepting the address of Parliament to the King " declaring the col- onies to be in a state of actual rebellion " as "annulling and vacating the authority of the King." " All former laws," they declared, "are now suspended in this Prov- ince, and whatever person shall hereafter attempt to ex- THE SYNODS UNITED. 115 ercise any commission from the Crown shall be deemed an enemy to his country." The convention was presided over by Archibald Alexander, a Presbyterian elder. Another elder, Dr. Ephraim Brevard, was the secretary. In that conven- tion there were nine elders, and almost all the rest were connected with the seven Presbyterian churches of the country. Rev. Hezekiah K. Balch, the pastor of one of these churches, made an address. The Declaration was written out by a law student, Dr. Brevard's nephew, Mr. Adam Brevard, who says they took the Confession of Faith as a guide in preparing the Form of Govern- ment adopted with the Declaration. Wheeler's " Remi- nisences of North Carolina," vol. i, quotes the plan of gov- ernment in full. Mr. Bancroft is wholly just, therefore, in his statement in relation to this Mecklenburg con- vention : "The first voice publicly raised in America to dissolve all connection with Great Britain came, not from the Puritans of New England, nor the Dutch of New York, nor the Planters of Virginia, but from the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians." Western Pennsylvania was also settled by these Scotch-Irish Presbyterians. When that section was first organized jnto a county it was called Westmoreland. At Hannahstown, May 1 6, 1776, a convention was held and resolutions passed with the same spirit of independence as those of Meck- lenburg. As might be expected religion suffered greatly during this preliminary period as well as during the progress of the war. The political excitement and the military disturbance made regular church work almost impos- sible. Disorders of the finances of the country made the support of the ministry extremely difficult. Very Il6 PRESBYTERIANS. many pastors betook themselves to other callings, es- pecially to agriculture, for self-support. Many joined the army either as chaplains, or, as not unfrequently happened, as officers of companies made up in their own neighborhoods. Churches were often taken and turned into stables or riding schools. The church of Newtown had its steeple sawed off, and was finally torn HANOVER COLLEGE, HANOVER, IND. down and its sides used for soldiers' huts. The church in Princeton was occupied by the Hessian soldiers, a fireplace built in it, and the pews and galleries used for fuel. More than fifty places of worship throughout the land were utterly destroyed by the enemy during the war. Others were so defaced and injured that they were unfit for use. Pastors, in many cases, were not allowed to continue their ministry. Rodgers of New York, Richards of Railway, Prime of Huntington, Duffield of Philadelphia and McWhorter of Carolina were forced to flee for their lives. On many occasions the soldiers destroyed what they could not carry away ; and the Presbyterian clergy were generally the special objects of vengeance. THE SYNODS UNITED. II? It is remarkable, considering their exposure, that among the Presbyterian ministers so few lives were sacrificed as the direct victims of the war. Caldwell of Elizabethtown was shot by a drunken assassin. Moses Allen, a classmate of President Madison of Princeton, and chaplain of a regiment, was drowned near Savannah. John Rosburgh of Allentown, N. J., chaplain of a military company, was shot down by a body of Hessians to whom he had surrendered himself as a prisoner. Duffield, when preaching at a point opposite Staten Island, was interrupted by the whistling of balls from the enemy. The forks of a tree were his pulpit, and undisturbed by the danger, he bade his hearers retire behind the hill and then he finished his sermon. Joseph Patterson, one of the fathers of the Presbytery of Redstone, had just knelt to pray under a shed when a board in a line with his head was shiv- ered by the discharge of a rifle. Stephen B. Balch once preached a sermon on " Subjection to the Higher Powers " while General Williams, with loaded pistols in his belt, protected him from the Royalists who were present. The ministers on the Western borders were constantly exposed to attacks from the Indians, and ordinarily preached with their rifles close at hand. Perhaps the best illustration of the Presbyterian preachers of Revolutionary days will be Rev. James Caldwell of Elizabethtown, N. J. His neighbors said of him that "he preached and fought alternately." The Revolutionary soldiers were armed with, old-fash- ioned muskets, which needed paper wadding rammed down betwixt the powder and the load of shot. During the attack on Springfield the wadding gave out, and Caldwell ran to the church and filled his arms with ; IlS PRESBYTERIANS. Watts' Psalm books, and going back scattered them among the soldiers, shouting, " Now, boys, give them Watts." Irritated at his efficiency, the British officers promised a large reward for his capture. Failing to get him, the British soldiery set fire to his church and shot his wife through the window of her own room. Then they dragged her bleeding corpse from the midst of her children into the street, and burned the out- buildings. Bret Harte tells the story so well in his peculiar verse that, for the inspiration of its patriotism, his version is here given : Here's the spot. Look around you. Above on the height Lay the Hessians encamped. By that church on the right Stood the gaunt Jersey farmers. And here ran a wall. Nothing more. Grasses spring, waters run, flowers blow Pretty much as they did so many years ago. Nothing more did I say ? Stay one moment ; you've heard Of Caldwell, the parson, who once preached the word Down at Springfield ? What, no ? Come, that's bad. Why, he had All the Jerseys aflame! And they gave him the name Of the " rebel high priest." He stuck in their gorge ; For he loved the Lord God, and he hated King George. He had cause, you may say. When the Hessians that day Marched up with Knyphausen, they stopped on the way At the " Farms," where his wife, with a child in her arms, Sat alone in the house. How it happened none knew But God and that one of the hireling crew Who fired the shot. Enough ; there she lay, And Caldwell, the chaplain, her husband, away. Did he preach ? did he pray ? Think of him as you stand By the old church to-day ; think of him and that band Of militant plowboys, See the smoke and the heat THE SYNODS UNITED. 1 19 Of that reckless advance, of that struggling retreat ; Keep the ghost of the wife, foully slain, in your view, And what could you, what should you, what would you do? Why, just what he did. They were left in the lurch For the want of more wadding. He ran to the church, Broke the door, stripped the pews, and dashed out in the road With his arms full of hymn books, and threw down his load At their feet. Then above all the shouting and shots Rang his voice : " Put Watts into 'em ; boys, give 'em Watts." And they did. That is all. Grasses spring, flowers blow Pretty much as they did ninety-three years ago. You may dig anywhere, and you'll turn up a ball, But not always a hero like this and that's all. Many of the ministers occupied various positions in civil life, and helped to serve the country in that station. Henry Patillo was a member of the Provincial Congress of North Carolina. William Tennent of Charleston was a member of the Provincial Congress of South Carolina, and is said at different hours of the same day to have spoken to the people in his church on their spiritual interests, and in the State House on their tem- poral concerns. David Caldwell was a member of the convention that formed the State Constitution of North Carolina, and Kettletas of Jamaica was a member of the New York convention. But the most notable man of all these in his relation to the Revolutionary government was Dr. Witherspoon. A medium square-built Scotchman, he was inaugurated President of Princeton College in 1768. He was then forty-six years of age and had been a minister in Scot- land for twenty-four years. Being a lineal descendant of John Knox, it can be readily seen how thoroughly fa- 120 PRESBYTERIANS. miliar he would be with the whole question of Church and state, and what heroic blood and brain animated him. He was pre-eminently a man of affairs. As the struggle between America and England was coming on, his broad knowledge of all sides of the subject, and of the literature and history of the past, made him at once a leader. He was elected a member of the Provincial Congress of New Jersey, and five days after it con- vened was elected from that State a member of the Continental Congress then in session at Philadelphia. The question of a Declaration of Independence was before Congress when he took his seat. The oppo- nents of that measure suggested delay that the New Jersey delegates might become familiar with the mat- ter, as it was doubtful if the people were yet ripe for such a step. Dr. Witherspoon in reply is reported to have said : " Delay is not needed on either of these grounds. The New Jersey members are familiar with the subject, and have been authorized by the conven- tion which elected them to unite with the representa- tives of the other colonies in such a movement. As for the people, they are not only ripe for it but in danger of rotting for want of it." " For my own part," he said, " of property I have some ; of reputation more ; that reputation is staked, that property is pledged on the issue of this contest. I would infinitely rather my gray hairs descend into the sepulcher by the hand of the executioner than desert at this crisis the sacred cause of my country." Witherspoon was the intimate friend of Robert Morris, the financier of the Revolutionary government. When others in the Colonial Congress and the Revolu- tionary army were assailing and slandering General THE SYNODS UNITED. 121 Washington, Witherspoon always stood faithfully by him. For six years, in his position in Congress, the clearness and vigor of his intellect, the calmness of his judgment, the indomitable strength of his purpose and his uncommon familiarity with the forms of public business made his services of inestimable value to the country. He was an active member of the " Board of War," and in connection with Richard Henry Lee and John Adams, when Congress had been driven from Philadelphia to Baltimore, issued, in 1776, a heart- stirring appeal to the people. He was the only min- ister who signed the Declaration of Independence. For years Princeton College was closed, as, indeed, were almost all the other schools in the country, by the disorders of the war. The meetings of Synod were but very sparsely attended. It was difficult for the members to reach the place of meeting, and in 1776 there were present but eighteen ministers and three elders. In 1778 the British held Philadelphia, and the Moderator convened Synod at Bedminster. When they opened at that place there were but ten ministers and three elders present. Almost all that could be accomplished at these slimly attended sessions during the war was to hear the multitudinous applications from missionary fields in the Carolinas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Western Pennsylvania and Western and Northern New York, and make such appointments for missionary tours as seemed practicable. At every meeting of the Synod during the Revolutionary War a paper was passed ac- knowledging the Divine afflictions, lamenting the wide- spread immorality and crime, beseeching the members to live peaceable lives and appointing a day of fasting and prayer. The last Thursday of each month was 122 PRESBYTERIANS. repeatedly appointed as a monthly day of prayer, to be observed by supplications for God's mercy and prayers for His blessing upon the army and upon the Conti- nental Congress. It took heroic men to keep up the Church and main- tain that struggle. But the Presbyterian Church had among her ministers of that day just such men, and among her membership just such people as were needed for the times. The Tennents, like Witherspoon, were foreign refugees with Scotch-Irish blood and fire and perseverance. McWhorter and Rodgers and McDowell and Sproat and Cooper, the two Alisons, and others, " of whom the world was not worthy," were men capable of leading any Church in any age the world has ever seen. The times were such as tried men's souls ; but these men's souls and the souls of their companions triumphed through the trials of those days. The seed of American Protestantism was sown in a New England blizzard. Its Presbyterian type sprouted in a Phil- adelphia spring snow. It shot its stalk upward in a New Jersey midwinter Sabbath ordination. It blos- somed amid the tempest of the Revolution. It " set its fruit" in the Great Revival of 1800. The world is now reaping its harvest in the missionary heat of these midsummer years with their millions of money and tens of thousands of native converts. JOHN WITHERSPOON, D. D., LL. D. CHAPTER VI. THE FINAL CONSTITUTION OF CHURCH AND STATE. TORD CORNWALLIS and his army surrendered to I j General Washington, October 19, 1781. On both sides of the Atlantic it was well understood that this was the end of the war. When Lord North, Prime Minister of England, heard the news he repeatedly said in the deepest agitation and distress, " It is all over." February 22, 1782, a motion against the continuance of the American war was supported in the British Parlia- ment by Fox, Pitt, Wilberforce, Burke, Cavendish and others, and was defeated by but one of a majority. March 4th a resolution to the same effect was adopted, without a division of the house, and Lord North's ministry shortly ended. Like Lord Cornbury in New York, Lord North, by his general incompetency, stub- bornness, corruption and bad management of British affairs greatly benefited the United States. It was almost two years before peace was finally concluded by a definite treaty. These years were years of steady re- organization and rehabilitation among farmers, pastors, storekeepers, manufacturers and all public men in the government and in the Church. But there was a widespread and growing feeling that the Articles of Confederation would not prove success- ful in furnishing the nation an adequate system of gov- ernment. These Articles authorized the National Con- gress to recommend everything, but enabled it to do 123 124 PRESBYTERIANS. nothing. The several States could follow the advice of the Congress or neglect it, as they saw fit. When Con- gress assessed taxes, it had to apportion the taxes among the States. Each State was left free to act as it pleased about their collection. Of course no appor- tionment of taxes would be satisfactory to all. In ef- fect, this same difficulty confronted the Synod in en- deavoring to carry out its missionary projects. It could advise Presbyteries and churches to take collections. These same Presbyteries made feeble efforts to comply, as owing to poverty and distance the members were not able to be present at the meeting of Synod, and so missed the inspiration of the occasion. By this time churches had been organized, pastors settled, Presby- teries constituted and church machinery generally set in operation throughout Northern and Western New York, along the tributaries of the Ohio River, on the eastern side of the Mississippi Valley and through the States of the Carolinas and Georgia. The meetings of Synod had by a law of custom been fixed at Philadel- phia. It was as difficult to get from Philadelphia to these distant regions to hold a meeting of Synod, as it was for the missionaries to get from these distant re- gions to Philadelphia to attend meetings. Efficient church work, therefore, called for quite a radical reor- ganization. In the Synod every minister was a mem- ber, and every pastoral charge had a right to be repre- sented by an elder. The Synods were thus not ordina- rily attended by a tenth of those who had a right to membership. The whole subject of delegated bodies had been ar- gued through, on its Scriptural side, in Geneva, in Scot- land and by the Westminster divines. The plan of a FINAL CONSTITUTION OF CHURCH AND STATE. 125 delegated General Assembly was, therefore, familiar to all the leaders of Presbyterianism at that date. In 1724 Synod had voted for meeting by delegates, and di- rected the Presbyteries to send but part of their num- ber. The record of the discussion of the subject in the minutes of Synod is very brief, but it can be well understood that, in the Church as in the state, the whole subject was abundantly debated in the corre- spondence of the leading members. If interstate diffi- culties compelled statesmen to consider the feasibility of some more effective form for the civil government, the rapidly multiplying missionaries and Presbyteries compelled the leaders of the Church to study with anx- iety the possibilities of future church extension and the method by which the Church could best be organized to meet that expanding future. In 1785 a committee consisting of Drs. Witherspoon, Rodgers, Robert Smith, Alison, S. S. Smith, Wood- hull, Cooper, Latta, Duffield and the Moderator, Rev. M. Wilson, was appointed to take into consideration the constitution of the Church of Scotland and other Prot- estant Churches, and compile a system of general rules for the government of the Synod. A proposition was made at the same meeting that the Synod be divided into three Synods, and a General Assembly constituted out of the whole. The clerk was directed to transmit a copy of this proposition to the Presbyteries not rep- resented in Synod, and earnestly urge their attendance at the next meeting. The whole subject was thus brought in the most serious way to the attention of every member of the denomination. By this committee, as well as by the members of the Presbyteries and the Synod, the whole subject of the 126 PRESBYTERIANS. standards of the Church was thoroughly examined through the years 1785, i 786 and 1787. By the close of the meeting of 1787 the work had so far progressed that a draft of the new constitution was transmitted to the Presbyteries, and notice given that it would be taken up and acted upon in 1788. The meeting of the Synod of New York and Phil- adelphia in 1788 was one of the historic meetings of the Presbyterian Church. Item by item, and article by article, that Synod went over the Confession of Faith, the Form of Government, the Book of Discipline and the Directory for Worship. The Presbyteries were quite extensively reconstructed as to their boundaries and membership. The last act of the Synod was to declare that its existence should cease with the present meeting and four Synods should be constructed out of its territory. A General Assembly was created and its first meeting was appointed to be held in the Second Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia on the third Thursday of May, 1789. As was proper, leading men were appointed to preach the sermon and preside at the opening of each of these four new Synods ; and they were directed to hold their first meeting in the October of that year, 1 788. Dr. Witherspoon was ap- pointed to open the first meeting of the General As- sembly, and his name appropriately heads the list of the moderators as now printed in the annual minutes. Each Presbytery was to send up a minister and an elder for every six ministers found on its roll. Minor amend- ments were made to almost all the Westminster Standards ; but these minor amendments were merely such as were required by the fact that the church was to- work in an American republic and not in an English FINAL CONSTITUTION OF CHURCH AND STATE. I2/ monarchy. At present, amendments to the Constitu- tion have to be sent down by the General Assembly to the Presbyteries for approval ; but as every minister was himself by right a member of that Synod of 1 788, the Synod itself took final action upon the whole sub- ject. When it adjourned on the 2Qth day of May, it adjourned " sine die " by its own final dissolution. From that time onward, even before it had held its first meeting, the General Assembly was in legal existence as the highest judicatory of the Church. It may not be possible to demonstrate that the framers of the present Constitution of the United States consciously and intentionally molded our present system of government after the Form of Government of the Presbyterian Church. Direct testimony to this effect does not exist. The circumstantial evidence, however, is very strong. The Articles of Confedera- tion, which constituted the first organic law of the nation, were substantially the Independent form of church government applied to the nation. The citizens of no State could be compelled to comply with the laws of Congress. As is true of a council, so it was said of Congress "it could advise everything, but could do nothing." The inherent weakness of this system was early seen by some of the Revolutionary statesmen, and became rapidly manifest as Congress sought to levy taxes, provide for the army and compact the Union. By the time the Revolutionary War was ended, Wash- ington, as commander of the army, was thoroughly con- vinced that the government of the Confederation was inherently incompetent to consolidate and control the nation. A Commission of Delegates from the adjacent colonies to adjust the rights of commerce in Chesa- 128 PRESBYTERIANS. peake Bay, convened September n, 1786. Their appointment grew out of the general discontent with the insufficient authority of Congress. The first duty of the members was to study what authority their report might carry with it in case satisfactory conclusions were reached. They never reported directly on the subject upon which they were appointed, but, in place of such a report, communicated to the Continental Congress their conviction that there was an imperative necessity for a general convention of the colonies " to devise such further provisions as should appear necessary to render the Constitution of the Federal Government adequate to the exigencies of the Union." Out of that report grew the call by the Continental Congress of that convention which finally proposed the present Constitution. This action of the Continental Congress is dated February 21, 1787. In 1785 the Synod of New York and Philadelphia appointed a committee of ten to " take into consideration the Constitution of the Church of Scotland and other Protestant Churches, and, agreeably to the general principles of Presbyterian government, propose to the Synod such a form as will be adapted to the wants of the Church in this country." Thus, in both the nation and the Church, at the same time, statesmen and church leaders were studying the problem of government as suited to this land. Thomas Jefferson, in repudiating any influence from the Mecklenburg Declaration on his draft of the Na- tional Declaration of Independence, and asserting that he never heard of it, adds a fact which explains the failure of the Mecklenburg Declaration to reach the general knowledge of the Continental Congress. He says, " Hooper was a great Tory, Hughes was very FINAL CONSTITUTION OF CHURCH AND STATE. 1 29 wavering, sometimes firm, sometimes feeble, so that he had to be held up to his duty by Caswell, the other delegate, who soon left for home." Captain Jack, who was sent with the Mecklenburg Declaration from Charlotte, was directed to deliver it to the North Carolina delegates when he reached Phil- adelphia. After he delivered it he immediately re- turned. If, now, he put it into the hands of the Tory Hooper, or into the hands of the timid Hughes, it is quite certain that, in the general antipathy felt by the leaders to the notion of rebellion against England so early as 1775, the North Carolina delegates would think it im- prudent to announce the rash action of their mountain constituency. No doubt neither Jefferson nor Adams heard of it, and by the next year it may have passed somewhat from the memory of those who had con- cealed it. If, however, Jefferson was ignorant of it in 1776, it would seem that Washington well knew its origin and tenor in the winter of 1776-77. When he was retreat- ing from Philadelphia toward Baltimore and Virginia, he made the speech quoted by Dr. Hoge, p. 480. It is cited also in Dr. Mears's address on the Presby- terian Element in our National Life quoted in the Presbyterian Encyclopedia. He had good reason to know the fighting qualities of the Presbyterians. When he took up his headquarters in New York he asked for a private interview with Dr. John Rodgers, because he had been told he might be very useful to the Commander-in-chief. Dr. Rodgers's aid and in- formation were repeatedly sought and always cordially granted. From 1776 to 1782 Dr. John Witherspoon, the acknowleged leader of the Presbyterian Church, 130 PRESBYTERIANS. was a New Jersey delegate to the Continental Con- gress, and was the unwavering friend of General Wash- ington when others were assailing his management of the army. Still further south armies were commanded, and battles fought, by Presbyterian elders. " The battle of the Cowpens, of King's Mountain and the severe skir- mish known as H uck's Defeat are celebrated as giving a turning point to the contests of the Revolution. General Morgan, who commanded at the Cowpens, was a Presby- terian elder. General Pickens, who made all the ar- rangements for the battle, was a Presbyterian elder, and nearly all under their command were Presbyterians. In the battle of King's Mountain, Colonel Campbell, Colonel James Williams, Colonel Cleveland, Colonel Shelby and Colonel Sevier were all Presbyterian elders, and the body of their troops were from Presbyterian settlements. At H uck's Defeat in New York, Colonel Bratton and Major Dickson were both elders in the Presbyterian Church. Major Samuel Morrow, who was with Colonel Sumter in four engagements and took part in many others, was for about fifty years a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church. General Mar- ion and many other distinguished Revolutionary officers were of Huguenot or full-blooded Presbyterian extrac- tion." Of the three millions of the population of this nation at the time of the Revolution, estimates only are pos- sible as to religious tendencies, and these estimates vary. Some go as low as one-tenth, and others as high as one-half as to the proportion of those of Pres- byterian affiliations, either in the German Reformed Church, Reformed Dutch Church or some branch of the English and Scotch-Irish Presbyterian bodies. 132 PRESBYTERIANS. From 1785 to 1790, in both Church and state, the question of a new form of government adapted to the independent condition of the country was before the people either as a theory or as an experiment. Various members of the Constitutional Convention, in prepara- tion for their work, made digests of the constitutions of the different republics of history. Washington, him- self, made such a compilation. Every public man knew that the Presbyterians of Scotland had measured strength with the royal house of England and had won the conflict ; that Knox and Calvin had developed the Presbyterian system of government while Knox was an exile residing at Geneva, and that Calvin had secured the molding of the Genevan republic according to his own conception of a form of government derived from the Bible. Queen Elizabeth and her lords objected to the return of the Puritans who had fled to Geneva dur- ing Bloody Mary's reign, because they came back so in- toxicated with republicanism. It is thus quite certain that the constitution of that Genevan Republic and the form of government of that victorious Scotch Presby- terian Church would be faithfully studied. Both King James I. and his son Charles objected to Presbyterian- ism because it was a form of government fit only for republics, and intolerable to kings. English Tories blamed all their American troubles on the Presbyte- rians. That hostility of British royalty was sure to make Americans of the Revolution feel confidence in Presbyterian representativism as a mode of government adapted to freemen. When the Continental Congress secured a quorum in Philadelphia on the 25th of May, 1787, the members found that the Presbyterian Synod was then in session FINAL CONSTITUTION OF CHURCH AND STATE. 133 in the Second Presbyterian Church, and had been for six days debating the subject of the form of govern- ment reported by that committee of seven of which Dr. Witherspoon was chairman. The report of that committee had been made to Synod the previous year, and then sent down to the Presbyteries for consider- ation. The whole Church had been studying it for two years, and the members had come to this Synod rilled with the spirit which at the last Synod had adopted a resolution urging general attendance in 1787, owing to the great importance of this business. The two bodies were but four squares apart, the Constitutional Convention meeting in Independence Hall on Chestnut Street, near Fifth Street, and the Presbyterian Synod in the Second Church on the corner of Third and Arch streets. In that Constitutional Convention of fifty-five men Bancroft says that there were nine Princeton gradu- ates, four Yale men, three of Harvard, two of Columbia, one of Pennsylvania and five or six had been for a time at William and Mary College. One, James Wilson, was a Scotchman who had had for his tutors the Presbyterian Drs. Blair and Watts in the old country. Washington appointed him one of the first Judges of the United States Supreme Court. Undoubtedly the three leaders of this Constitutional Convention were Hamilton, Madison and Washington. Washington and Witherspoon were intimate and trusted friends. Madison was one of Witherspoon's graduates at Princeton. Hamilton had applied for admission to Princeton, been examined by Witherspoon and was complimented on his remarkable ability, while yet but sixteen years of age. He was not willing to take the time ordinarily occupied by the regular course, but in- 134 PRESBYTERIANS. sisted that Princeton College should allow him to study the subjects included in the course, and stand examina- tions on them as fast as he finished them, and so grad- uate, if possible, in about half the time. This demand Dr. Witherspoon declined, and so Hamilton went to King's College, now Columbia College, New York. Hamilton was by his father a Scotchman and by his mother a Huguenot. Both parents died early, and his subsequent training was under the direction of Rev. Dr. Knox, a Presbyterian minister of Jamaica, the place of Hamilton's birth. When at fifteen years of age he came to New York, it was with letters of introduction from Dr. Knox to Mr. Boudinot and other prominent Presbyterians. He was an extraordinarily precocious youth, and entered with enthusiasm into the struggle for Independence. While on the staff of General Wash- ington, during the winter of 1780, he courted and mar- ried Elizabeth, the daughter of General Philip Schuy- ler, a leading Dutch Reformed layman of New York. Dr. Alexander T. McGill of Princeton is authority for the statement from Mrs. Hamilton that, when they were in Philadelphia residing during the Constitutional Con- vention, General Hamilton kept the Presbyterian Form of Government on his study table. It is obvious, therefore, that whatever information on the subject of government could be derived from the Presbyterian system, the leading members of the Constitutional Convention possessed that knowledge. Dr. Witherspoon, during his service in the Continental Congress, had vindicated his reputation, earned else- where, for remarkable fidelity in attention to business. The members of the Continental Congress were not required to be in constant attendance, as each colony FINAL CONSTITUTION OF CHURCH AND STATE. 13$ sent a large number of delegates and it was sufficient if any two of its members were present in Congress. So, as a method of mutual relief, the various delegations arranged for two to be in Congress while the others were alternately at home. Dr. Witherspoon is recorded never to have asked his colleagues to be in Congress in order that he might be at home. His influence and ability as a member of Congress is indicated by the fact that he was a member of the Board of War, of the Committee on Finances, of the Committee on the Treat- ment of Prisoners, of the Committee on the State of Money and Finances of the United States, of the Com- mittee on Supplying the Army by Commission and of the Secret Committee on the Conduct of the War. When Congress in 1776 adjourned from Philadelphia to Baltimore, and Washington's army was forced back through New Jersey, a committee consisting of Wither- spoon, Lee and Adams issued an eloquent address to the country, and that address was penned by Dr. Witherspoon. He was known to be the author of a large number of the public documents. He was the only member of the committee appointed to adjust the Vermont difficulty concerning the New Hampshire Grants in 1779 who was able to act; but his report was so acceptable that it was adopted by Congress and accepted by all parties. But the thing that makes it most certain that he would be influential in modeling the new Constitution is the fact stated in the sketch of his life in the j ' Biography of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence," namely, that " in the three leading particulars wherein he differed from his brethren in Congress, his principles have been justified by the result." These were the expensive mode adopted 136 PRESBYTERIANS. for supplying the army, the emission of paper money, and the inefficacy of the Articles of Confederation. The very assembling of the Constitutional Convention was a vindication of Dr. Witherspoon's statesmanship as exhibited in the Continental Congress. Let us, therefore, picture to ourselves the Presbyterian Synod of 1787 concluding the labors of the denomination which for a year had been studying the science of gov- ernment, just as the Constitutional Convention began its labors to make a new national government. Dr. Witherspoon is the leader of the first, and General Washington, his confidential friend, the President of the other, and nine Princeton alumni members with him of the same. But it is not important how they came to be so sim- ilar. It is certain, that the National Congress corre- sponds to the General Assembly, States correspond to the Synods, counties to the Presbyteries, and townships and incorporated towns to the individual churches. Congressmen, legislators and local officers are elected to represent their constituencies, just as commissioners are elected by Presbyteries to represent them in the General Assembly, or in delegated Synods. So elders are elected by the church sessions to represent them in the Presbyteries. " Ruling elders are properly the representatives of the people, chosen by them for the purpose of exercising government and discipline." Thus, throughout the entire system in both cases, government is administered by representatives of the people, as in republics ; and not by all the citizens, as in pure democracies and Independent Churches ; nor are the people ruled over by kings as in monarchies ; nor by bishops, as in Episcopal or Romanist denominations. FINAL CONSTITUTION OF CHURCH AND STATE. 137 The United States Constitutional Convention sent down its proposed Constitution to be ratified by the States, and the Presbyterian Synod sent its proposed new form down to the Presbyteries for their consider- ation. Both in the nation and in the Church the rec- ommendations were approved and the new Constitu- tions adopted. The processes of consideration and reorganization occupied two years. The Synod of 1788 ended the work of the Synod as the highest judi- catory and gave way to the General Assembly. The Assembly held its first meeting according to appointment, May 21, 1789, and Dr. Witherspoon preached the opening sermon from the text, " So then, neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth ; but God that giveth the increase." That was the year when the government of the United States, under its present Constitution, had gone into operation by the inauguration of General Washington on the 3Oth of the preceding April. On the very first day of its sessions the General Assembly appointed a committee, consisting of Drs. Witherspoon, Alison and S. S. Smith, to draft an address to be presented in be- half of the Assembly to President Washington. The historian of a sister denomination claims that it was in advance of any other religious body in recognizing the organization of the National Government and the presidency of Washington, because, May 29, two of its bishops waited on him with an address. But on May 26 the elegant address recommended by the above committee was unanimously adopted and signed by John Rodgers, as Moderator of the Assembly. The reply of General Washington was in his accustomed reverent and felicitous style. 138 PRESBYTERIANS. Among the acts of the first General Assembly some are noticeable for their characteristic fitness in express- ing the vital convictions of the Presbyterian Church. Special pains were taken to arrange for the publication of " faithful and correct impressions of the Holy Scrip- tures." A committee of its members was appointed to co-operate with representatives of other denominations to " revise and correct the proof sheets of Mr. Collins's edition of the Bible, and to fix upon the most correct edition to be recommended to the printer from which to copy." That Assembly adopted what seemed to it to be the best measures for " sending missionaries to the frontier settlements to form congregations, ordain elders, administer the sacraments, etc." It adopted a set of rules of order, which, by various amendments of General Assemblies, are the present " Rules of Order " of the Church. These have been pronounced by many foreigners " the best system of rules to be found on either side of the water for the guidance of deliberative bodies." The preceding year the old Synod had ar- ranged to secure from the Presbyteries a correct list of the ministers and churches. This is probably the first authentic record of the ministers and churches of the denomination. There were at that time one hundred and seventy-seven (177) ministers and four hundred and thirty-one (431) churches, gathered in sixteen Presbyteries in the four Synods of New York and New Jersey, Philadelphia, Virginia and the Carolinas. The Synod of New York and New Jersey consisted of the Presbyteries of Dutchess, Suffolk, New York and New Brunswick. The Synod of Philadelphia consisted of the Presbyteries of Philadelphia, Lewistown, New Castle, Baltimore and Carlisle. The Synod of Virginia con- FINAL CONSTITUTION OF CHURCH AND STATE. 139 sisted of the Presbyteries of Redstone, Hanover, Lex- ington and Transylvania, and the Synod of the Car- olinas of the Presbyteries of Abingdon, Orange and South Carolina. The work of the revival of the country financially, politically and socially after the Revolutionary War was reasonably rapid. The immigration from Europe was from better classes of society there, and furnished excellent citizens for America. There was much dis- trust of the system of government inaugurated with the presidency of Washington, and many feared that it would turn out such a strong central government as to obliterate the individuality of the States. This distrust had somewhat to do with the lack of public confidence, which interfered with the public prosperity. Almost immediately the French Revolution broke up the peace of Europe. Gratitude for the assistance furnished by France to this government during our own Revolution made sympathy for France very strong. Sympathy with French morals and religious opinions be- came very widespread in this country. Infidelity sub- verted public morals at the close of the last century, and the picture drawn by historians of that time is gloomy and discouraging. The excesses x>f the French Revolution, and the extremes to which the Bonaparte monarchy pushed its absolutism, were severe afflictions to France, but they were great blessings to this country. If French infidelity had been able to maintain stable and quiet government in Europe, it would have well- nigh obliterated Christianity in this country. A little time, however, was all that was needed to show the thoughtful world that, as a system of social order, French skepticism meant anarchy. Through its spread 140 PRESBYTERIANS. in this country, many of the prominent men, immedi- ately after the Revolution, declared themselves hostile to Christianity. Infidel organizations were very com- mon. " The statesmen of this period are entitled to great credit for their intelligence, ability and resources ; but their minds were tainted with a subtle poison of French philosophy vitiating their religious perceptions." When Dr. Dwight assumed the presidency of Yale Col- lege, in 1795, he found atheistical clubs and infidelity in its most radical form among the students. A con- siderable portion of his first class had assumed the names of English and French infidels, and were more familiarly known by these nicknames than by their own. The impression of the religious public as to this moral smallpox is indicated by the language of the General Assembly in 1 798. It speaks as follows : " Formidable innovations and convulsions in Europe threaten destruction to morals and religion, and our country is threatened with similar calamities. We per- ceive with pain and fearful apprehension a general dereliction of religious principle and practice among our fellow-citizens, a visible and prevailing impiety and contempt for the laws and institutions of religion, and an abounding infidelity which tends to atheism itself. Profaneness, pride, luxury, injustice, intemperance, lewdness and every species of debauchery and loose indulgence greatly abound." Denunciation of the best public men was fashionable among infidels. To Gen- eral Washington, Thomas Paine wrote : " As to you, sir, treacherous in private friendship, and a hypocrite in public life, the world will be puzzled to decide whether you are an apostate or an impostor." About the beginning of this century a gentleman wrote as FINAL CONSTITUTION OF CHURCH AND STATE. 14! follows : " I once cut out of the newspapers we received the advertisements of all the runaway wives, and pasted them on a slip of paper close to each other. At the end of the month the slip contained more than one hundred and twenty-three advertisements, and reached from the ceiling to the floor of the room. We prob- ably did not receive more than one-twentieth of the newspapers of the United States." Dueling was com- mon. Drunkenness at funerals and on public occa- sions was widely prevalent. Complaints are often- heard of the degeneracy of the present time as com- pared with " the good old days" ; but a study of the history of the earlier years of this government would show a state of society which would be shocking to modern moral thought. The resources of the Church were small indeed with which to make the struggle with this abounding vice and corrupt philosophy. The highest judicatories of the different denominations took alarm at the widespread iniquity. Solemn exhortations were addressed by relig- ious bodies everywhere to all their people. These exhortations were read from the pulpit, accompanied with earnest discourses. In some Presbyteries the first Tuesday of every quarter throughout the year was ob- served as a day of supplication and prayer. There were but few religious books, and very few Bibles. During the whole colonial history no English Bibles were per- mitted to be published in the land ; and when war arose with the mother country it became difficult to obtain a supply of the Holy Scriptures. In 1777 a committee charged with the matter reported to Congress : " We have conferred fully with the printers of Philadelphia and are of the opinion that the proper types for print- 142 PRESBYTERIANS. ing the Bible are not 'to be had in this country; and that the paper cannot be procured but with such diffi- culties, and subject to such casualties, as to render any dependence on it altogether improper." The right to free discussion, both through the Press and the plat- form, was guaranteed to belief and unbelief alike : and it seemed as if the question whether this country should be Christian or infidel was just then up for final settle- ment. The supply of ministers was very small in pro- portion to the open fields calling for such laborers, and the means of training more, very scant. Untrained men stood but little chance in the kind of struggle then raging in this land. The eighteenth century was closing in America in apparent spiritual darkness, while social, governmental and spiritual storms, whirlwinds and earthquakes were abroad in Europe. The " Great Revival of 1800 "is one of the epochs of religious history, and its influence for good has never been surpassed. The defection among the Congregationalists of New England toward Unitarianism was then at its flood tide. Their churches were reaping the full harvest of the tares they had sown by the " Half-way Covenant." That Unitarian defec- tion carried away a majority of the five men that con- trolled Harvard College. The election of Rev. Henry Ware in 1804 to the Hollis Professorship of Divinity settled the new theological position of that institu- tion. The appropriation in this manner by an unevan- gelical party of the foundation gifts of spiritually minded people startled the whole body of earnest Christians throughout the land. Andover Seminary was founded in the interest of orthodox religion as the result of the loss of Harvard. PTNAL CONSTITUTION OF CHURCH AND STATE. 143 The interest in missions to the heathen, stirred up by William Carey in England, quickened the discouraged, chagrined and now awakened temper of godly people in America. Pastors were ready, not only to preach at home but also to make itinerating tours of long distances, and often times of great hardships. Preaching thus, week-days and Sabbaths, to congrega- tions which all parties knew had few religious oppor- tunities, preachers and hearers both attended the serv- ices as for their lives. All felt the preciousness of the occasion, the urgency of the message and the need of activity. The problem of the time was to find some permanent system for reaching the whole country with the few available men on hand. God raised up choice men like Nettleton in Connecticut, Griffin in Boston, Finney in Ohio, McCurdy and McMillan in Western Pennsylvania, and Rice, McGready, the two McGees and the two Nelsons in Kentucky, and others like these throughout the length and breadth of the land. They were specially endowed with " power from on high." By 1800 the Church had grown to 189 ministers, 449 churches and probably 20,000 communicants. The compensation allowed for missionaries seems ridiculously small. Gillett says : " The annual expen- diture during this period for missions rarely exceeded $2500, and oftentimes came far short of it." The salaries were sometimes thirty-three dollars per month ; at others, one dollar per day and expenses. Mr. Chap- man of Georgia is recorded to have received $45.32 while traveling two thousand miles and preaching about one hundred sermons. James Hall served on a mission to the Mississippi Territory seven months and thirteen days, and received therefor eighty-six dollars. The re- 144 PRESBYTERIANS. ports of .Home Missionaries are very scant indications of the real truth as to their small resources and large results. It is impossible to read the reports of those early times, as well as those of later days, without a deep impression of the self-denying generosity of those who, for the merest pittance, were willing to brave all the hardships of the wilderness and endure storms and fatigue to accomplish their work. As the next chapter will show, the work of providing and supporting pastors, and the best use of the printing press in disseminating the Gospel, called for and re- ceived the aid of the most fertile and inventive resources of consecrated genius. The immorality, demoralization and infidelity of the last quarter of the eighteenth cen- tury was the low ebb tide of Christianity, as religion was driven back by the tempest of war in this country and the atheistic upheaval of the Old World. With the new century the tide began rapidly to return again, as the breath of the Lord, in infinite benediction, began to blow across the sea of His love toward the land of our sin and suffering. Whatever any discouraged souls may say, as they fondly look through increasing distance at these waves of blessing, the tide has been steadily rising from that time to this. It is higher now than ever before, and better times still await us in the future. ARCHIBALD ALEXANDER, D. D., LL. D. CHAPTER VII. THE GREAT REVIVAL OF 1 8oO. spiritual deadness which followed the Revolu- 1 tionary war caused widespread dismay. Year after year the General Assemblies, in their reports on the state of religion throughout the Church, expressed to the people the deepest concern as to the state of so- ciety. It looked to good people as if the very foun- dations of morality and social order were going to de- struction. It is possible that this sense of their great need led God's people to renewed and earnest prayer. By 1797 the symptoms of better times began to ap- pear ; and the closing years of the century were at once seasons of great religious awakening and great moral desolation. Infidelity and atheism were bold, confident and defiant. Christians grew weak in their own eyes and sought their strength from God. The earliest symptoms of this great awakening were mani- fest in Kentucky. The ministers of that, region were zealous and faithful itinerants. The people were bold on either hand in sin and in religion. In that section it became not unusual for ministers to appoint special communion seasons. Several preachers would gather and continue their preliminary services day and night, Out of these, as is shown on p. 454. grew " Camp Meetings." Early Western emigrants camped at night by their wagons. One family wishing to go to a distant meeting and stay a week at church 145 146 PRESBYTERIANS. decided to do that way. The first " Camp Meetings" were thus the device of practical Presbyterians in re- vival times. These revivals in Kentucky were accompanied by very remarkable " bodily exercises." The meetings were opposed energetically and defiantly by the large skeptical element then prominent in Kentucky. The more they were opposed by the enemies of godliness, the more earnestly the revivals were pushed by the faithful preachers. Very soon, too, opposition arose from some of the Church people themselves. Some of those who advocated the meetings were carried away with enthusiasm for the " bodily exercises," sometimes even to the extent of overlooking the im- portance of genuine regeneration. The more conserv- ative Presbyterians, having their attention turned mainly to the extravagances attending them, began to oppose the whole matter. The enemies of religion, taking ad- vantage of these extravagances, undertook to denounce all religion as mere emotion. Between these extremes there was a considerable body of earnest ministers, who believed in the work and were faithful laborers in the field. The public demand for more meetings, and more ministers to preach at them, led to the introduction of laymen as exhorters and evangelists. Some of these were judicious and efficient ; others were more enthu- siastic than discreet. In time it came to be obvious that two parties were growing up within the bounds of the Synod of Kentucky. The differences between these parties were genuine doctrinal differences of opinion, as well as practical differences with reference to church management. The one party believed that the Confession of Faith, in its THE GREAT REVIVAL OF l8oO. 147 statement of Calvinistic doctrine, tended toward fatalism. Many of their ministers in accepting the Confession of Faith declared their adherence to it, " except so much as seemed to affirm this doctrine of fatality." The other side denied that fatalism was taught in the Con- fession, and so were not ready to grant ordination to those who excepted to what seemed to the candidate for ordination an assertion of fatalism. " Father David Rice " of Kentucky appealed to the General Assembly for advice touching this practical question, as to the best means to meet the very urgent demand for more minis- ters. He and many others intimated that, " under the circumstances," the regular classical course was not essential, and that men who lacked this attainment, when found by the Presbyteries otherwise suitable, should be licensed and ordained for the work. Some of the men thus introduced into the ministry proved extravagant, and a reaction against the ordination of uneducated men set in among the brethren of the Synod of Kentucky. The Synod of Kentucky about this time organized the Cumberland Presbytery. A majority of its members were in favor of the new measures, and believed the Confession taught fatalism. Having a Presbytery of their own, they could administer its own affairs in their own way. When the members of the various Presbyteries came together at the annual meeting of the Synod, ,it seemed impossible to maintain the peace. The conservative party felt themselves responsible for the course pursued by the others. As a result, the Synod in 1806 dissolved the Presbytery of Cumberland, and reconstructed the Presbyteries so that the Revival men should be in the minority in the Presbyteries. With this the members 148 PRESBYTERIANS. of the Cumberland Presbytery were dissatisfied. In 1804 Messrs. Blythe, Lyle and Stuart, of the Synod, had petitioned the General Assembly for advice, and a committee had been appointed to confer with the Synod at their next meeting. In their report to the Assembly of 1805 that committee stated that the seceding brethren regarded the action of the Synod as a violation of its own rules, and believed that fatalism was taught in the Confession of Faith ; while the Synod, on the other hand, charged the seceding brethren with rejecting the use of creeds and disregarding the authority of Church judicatories. To the same Assembly of 1805 the mem- bers of the Presbytery of Cumberland addressed a letter of complaint. The Assembly, while disclaiming any intention to cast reproach on the Revival, pointed out some things which were considered proper matters for repression by the Synod. To some of the measures of the Synod the Assembly of 1807 took exceptions, and advised the Synod to review them. The members of the Cumberland Presbytery were notified that if the case had been brought up by way of regular appeal, some of the relief desired might have been afforded. By this time, however, the division was beyond the reach of measures of reconciliation. If the matters in controversy had only been matters of feeling and per- sonal prejudices, they might have been adjusted. When brethren, however, fundamentally differed in doctrine, it was not easy for them to continue cordially to co-oper- ate with each other. A recent writer of the Cumberland Church has said : " The doctrinal difficulty stands to-day the main barrier between the Cumberland Presbyterian and the Mother Church. Recent correspondence be- tween the Cumberland Presbyterians and other Presby- tHE GREAT REVIVAL OF l8OQ. 149 terian bodies, with a view to union, has been had, and every difference could be adjusted except the doctrinal one." The historical sketch of the Cumberland Pres- byterian Church given in this work by Dr. Howard and Dr. Hubbert, p. 451, gives an account of these early controversies. The Cumberland Presbytery was reorganized in 1810 as an independent body. By 1814 the General Assembly recognized the division as final, and has since dealt with the Cumberland Presbyterian Church as a sister evangelical denomination. At the time of the division neither the Assembly nor the Synod was unanimous in opposition to the Cumber- land Presbytery, and some leading members believed that the breach might have been prevented or healed. By the year 1800 the revival spirit had spread abroad to other parts of the Church, and was particularly mani- fest in Western Pennsylvania. There, also, it was ac- companied by what were known as the "falling exer- cises." These, like the "bodily exercises" in Ken- tucky, were by no means confined to those who were already interested in the subject of religion. Often- times persons were seized with them when on their way to the meetings. In some places these exercises were much more marked than elsewhere, and oftentimes took the form of jerking and jumping. tl It was no unfre- quent thing," said Dr. McMillan, " to see persons so entirely deprived of bodily strength that they would fall from their seats and be as unable to help themselves as a newborn child." The subjects of these affections re- tained the use of their faculties with much vigor. Their convictions of guilt and danger were often very pun- gent. Some were under deep conviction for weeks be- fore they felt any effects on the body. Instances I5O PRESBYTERIANS. occurred at family prayer, and even in merry company, or during the prosecution of ordinary business. The evils that grew out of these exercises came mainly from supposing that the physical exercise was proof of spirit- ual regeneration. Oftentimes genuine conversion ac- companied or resulted from these exercises ; but some- times the subjects of this "falling work" went back to their old vicious habits. The exercises of the revival of 1800 were quite similar to those of 1740. They certainly demonstrated that the deep mental emotions of pro- found religious experience would as seriously affect the physical system as deep emotion would when arising from any other cause. Sudden fear will oftentimes de- stroy physical strength. Sudden joy may do the same. Religious emotion, when very widespread, as in revival times, may be accompanied by these same physical ef- fects. What is required seems to be that the attention of the subject of them should be diverted from them as evidences of regeneration, and his attention concen- trated on the relation of the soul to the Savior. Dr. Aaron Williams, at the McMillan Centennial, summed all up in these words : " The calmer judgment of those who have investigated the subject in the light of history and of the reciprocal influence of the mind and the nerv- ous system, has led judicious men to the conclusion that these ' bodily exercises' were the result of natural causes, and were only an incidental accompaniment to a true work of grace wrought by the Holy Spirit." Questions of bodily exercises, like questions of age, are not the tests of genuine conviction or genuine faith. " By their fruits ye shall know them,'' is the divine test ; and the Church has settled down to that test as the only one given in Scripture or justified by experience. THE GREAT REVIVAL OF I8OO. 15 1 The revival of 1800 was, perhaps, as influential in Central and Western New York as in any other part of the country. These "bodily exercises" were not so prominent a feature in that section. Every year the General Assembly was cheered by reports of numerous conversions, and sometimes such reports came up from every Presbytery within the bounds of the Church. The Assembly declined to express its opinion on the origin and nature of these "bodily exercises," or extra- ordinary affections, but spoke with pleasure of the gen- eral extension and prosperity of the Church throughout the land. It is certain that this great revival of 1800 entirely changed the moral aspect of the country. Re- ligion, from being a mere matter of contempt on the part of public men, became an essential and influential part of the general public sentiment of the country. How far this revival may have been either the out- growth of the missionary spirit arising in the Old World, or itself the cause of the aggressive missionary spirit manifested in this country in the first quarter of the present century, maybe difficult to determine. It must be obvious, however, that the missionary revival, and the general revival of religion, were together the work of the Holy Ghost sent forth in blessing upon the Church. At first the General Assembly took direct charge of its mission work. The persons to be sent out as mis- sionaries were selected by the Assembly, and their com- missions signed by the Moderator. By the first of this century the current of emigration had broken over the Alleghany Mountains, and was flowing in full streams down all the valleys and rivers of the Mississippi Valley. From Western New York, Ohio, Indiana, Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, 152 PRESBYTERIANS. and Mississippi urgent calls came, pleading for mis- sionaries and the establishment of churches. Through o all these regions pastors went, under direction of the Assemblies, to spend from two to three months in their tours. They reported being received everywhere with great interest. Young students of theology were sent out to exercise their gifts. The growth of the Church increased the number of licentiates, and the Assembly soon found its time largely occupied by this interesting missionary department. The missionaries made per- sonal reports, sometimes in writing, and sometimes in oral addresses, and these were heard in open Assembly. This would be feasible when there were only two or three missionaries ; but when there came to be twenty or thirty missionaries, it was impossible for the As- sembly in open session to hear the reports of last year's missionaries, select men for the coming year and map out the routes which they were the next year to take in their work. At first, therefore, the missionary busi- ness was referred to a committee, to be transacted dur- ing the sessions of the Assembly. When that became impossible it was decided, in 1802, to choose a com- mittee annually, to be denominated the " Standing Committee of Missions." This committee consisted of seven persons (four ministers and three elders), and their duty was to push this missionary work in the in- tervals of the Assemblies. In 1805 this committee was enlarged to seventeen members, and it was made its duty to superintend the whole mission field of the As- sembly. In 1816 this " Standing Committee of Mis- sions" was changed to the " Board of Missions," and authorized to act with a large measure of discretionary power. 154 PRESBYTERIANS. The Synod of the Carolinas and the Synod of Vir- ginia from the outset managed the missionary business within their own bounds. The difficulty the commis- sioners of their Presbyteries found in traveling to the General Assembly, at Philadelphia, prevented these Synods from being fully represented. They knew their own work in their territory best, and while their re- sources were limited, and their missionaries not numer- ous, they did their utmost. But even without counting the missionaries of these two Synods, the growth of the missions of the Assembly was very rapid. The Assem- bly sought to supply the lack of men within these Synods, and the Presbyteries were repeatedly authorized to em- ploy laborers at the Assembly's expense. In 1803 the Assembly appointed only five missionaries, in addition to what was done by the Presbyteries and Synods inde- pendently of the Assembly. The next time, however, the Assembly appointed twelve. In 1807 it appointed fifteen. In 1811 the number had risen to forty. In 1814 it was over fifty. Many of the Synods and Pres- byteries received aid in sending out missionaries to the Indians. Indian missions were established in New York, in two or three places in Ohio, as well as in Ten- nessee and Georgia. To carry on this mission work was a constant financial problem, and its perplexities faced every meeting of the Assembly. Urgent appeals were made for annual collections in support of the en- terprise. Pastors were entreated to give more or less of their time to this work. During the recent war it was a popular thing with pastors and churches to send their ministers and best laymen, as " Delegates of the Christian Commission." to labor among the soldiers in the field and in the camps and hospitals. A very simi- THE GREAT REVIVAL OF l8(X). 155 lar enthusiasm seems to have been common among the churches and ministers in the early part of this century ; and glorious results followed these labors, both to the pastors while on these missionary journeys, and to the churches when they returned home to fill their people with the same zeal. The problem of organizing churches in the new dis- tricts brought up the question of the relation between the denominations, and urged, with special force, the importance of unity wherever it was at all practicable. The Congregationalists of New England were almost unanimously Calvinistic in their faith. The preaching of their ministers and the preaching of the Pres- byterian ministers were so similar that in newer districts no difference could be detected except on inquiry. It was, therefore, everywhere reasonable that all efforts should be made to devise some plan of harmonious co-operation. The best minds gave their attention to this. As the result of the correspondence between the General Assembly and the Congregational Association of Connecticut, regulated co-operation was proposed by the Association in 1801, and a " Plan of Union " was adopted by the General Assembly. In 1802 this " Plan " was reported unanimously adopted by the Connecticut Association. It was felt that ecclesiastical forms should be held subordinate to Christian effort. Grave questions were to be immedi- ately decided as to the destiny of the country. The combined influence of Presbyterians and Congrega- tionalists was needed to control the heterogeneous elements from this and other lands, as the unexampled emigration poured westward. New cities and villages were springing up along the lines of traffic, and all 156 PRESBYTERIANS. denominations would be tasked to furnish missionary and pastoral laborers. The first suggestion of the co- operation which resulted in this plan of union was made by President John Blair Smith when at Union College, Schenectady, N. Y. He was conversing with Rev. Eliphalet Nott, who, as a young man, was start- ing west on a missionary tour. Both were then, or afterward, eminent Presbyterians. This "Plan of Union" was the sincere and earnest attempt of able men to devise a scheme of harmonious co-operation, by which two incompatible systems of church government could be efficiently worked to- gether. It was arranged by the most skillful men of that day, and all that could be done was probably done to prevent future controversies and secure present and permanent co-operation. The plan allowed Congrega- tional churches to settle Presbyterian pastors, or Pres- byterian churches to settle Congregational pastors. It allowed the different parties to this settlement to select the authority to which they should appeal in case of controversy. The Congregational pastor of a Presby- terian church could either appeal to a council composed of equal numbers from each denomination, or to his own Association. In a Congregational church the male communicants of a church constituted the virtual session, and yet from them the appeal might be to a mutual council or to Presbytery. In the organization of Presbyteries a delegate elected by the church had a right to sit and act as a ruling elder. From i 794 the delegates exchanged between the General Assembly and the Congregational Association were allowed the right to sit, debate and vote in the body to which they were delegated. THE GREAT REVIVAL OF l8oO. 157 The time seemed most auspicious for this attempt at federation between the Churches. Many of the Congre- gational bodies in New England had much of the Pres- byterian power in their Associations. There was no denominational jealousy to promote mutual suspicion. In 1799 the Hartford North Association passed the following declaration of principles : " This Association gives information that the Constitution of the Churches in the State of Connecticut is founded on the common usages, the Confession of Faith, Heads of Agreement and Articles of Church Discipline adopted at the ear- liest period of the settlement of the State, and is not Congregational, but contains the essentials of the gov- ernment of the Church of Scotland, or the Presbyterian Church in America. It gives decisive power to ecclesi- astical councils. A con-sociation consisting of minis- ters and lay representatives from these churches is possessed of substantially the same authority as a Pres- bytery. The churches, therefore, in Connecticut at large, are not now and never were, from the earliest period of its settlement, Congregational churches ac- cording to the ideas and forms of church order con- tained in the Book of Discipline, called the Cambridge Platform." The Association goes on to say that, " there are in the State some ten or twelve un-conso- ciated churches which are properly Congregational churches." It was the expectation on all hands that co-operation among such Congregationalists and the Presbyterian Church would practically be an easy mat- ter. The " Plan of Union " authorized congregations to appoint committees, w T hich committeemen should have substantially the same power as Presbyterian elders. These committeemen were eligible to election 158 PRESBYTERIANS. to the General Assembly by the Presbyteries of which the church was a part. The plan was believed to be entirely feasible, and seems to have been acquiesced in by all parties in the Presbyterian Church. The prac- tical difficulties which were afterward developed were not foreseen. For a season all this seemed to work according to the excellent purposes of the parties. On all sides re- ligion made rapid progress, and the multiplication of Synods and Presbyteries showed the growth of the Church. The anticipations of the Church were expand- ing, as the denomination grew ; and while these ex- pectations have been far surpassed in the actual out- come of history, they were looked on then as somewhat fanciful. The act of incorporation of the trustees of the General Assembly was secured in 1799, and limited the amount of property the corporation might hold to an annual income of not over ten thousand dollars. As part of the projects for pushing the missionary work in 1804, the Committee of Missions was recommended to publish a periodical magazine sacred to religion and morals, and pay the profits into the funds of the As- sembly as part of its missionary resources. The period- ical, however, like many other subsequent publishing enterprises on the part of the Church, failed to secure enough of subscribers to make it self-supporting. In 1805 Dr. Ashbel Green brought before the Assem- bly an overture which had far-reaching influence upon the policy of the Church. It re-echoed and concentrated the cry of the missionary regions, the numerous vacan- cies and the large important towns and cities as they urged this plea, "Give us ministers." The overture was laid over for a year, and the attention of the Pres- THE GREAT REVIVAL OF l8oO. 159 byteries called to it. Special entreaty was made that promising candidates for the holy ministry should be urged to enter that calling. Parents were exhorted to educate their children for the Church. Diligent efforts were made to secure more adequate support for the ministry, in order to take out of the way the objection of poverty made to that calling by many young per- sons. The trustees of Princeton College called the at- tention of the General Assembly, and of the Presby- teries, to the fact that generous provision had been made at that place for the support and instruction of theological students. Dr. Archibald Alexander was at this time pastor of a church in Philadelphia, and a leading man in the councils of the denomination. He was Moderator of the General Assembly of 1807, and opened the Assembly of 1808 with a sermon in which he made special mention of the propriety of the estab- lishment of a theological seminary. In 1809 the General Assembly submitted three plans to the Presbyteries. The first proposed one great school at a central point ; the second the establishment of two, one for the Northern and one for the Southern portion of the Church, and the third proposed one for each Synod. The reports of the Presbyteries to the Assem- bly of 1810 showed a preference throughout the Church for one institution. A committee was appointed, with Dr. Ashbel Green as chairman, to draw up a constitu- tion for the proposed seminary. The first meeting of the directors was held June 30, 1812, but the corner stone of the building was not laid at Princeton until Sep- tember 26, 1815. On August 12, 1812, Dr. Alexander was inaugurated Professor of Didactic and Polemic Theology, in pursuance of his election by the preceding i6o THE GREAT REVIVAL OF l8(X>. l6l General Assembly. A sketch of the history of this institution is given elsewhere (p. 272). For years the Assembly took the deepest interest in its establishment and the enlargement of its funds, To the Assembly of 1811 Dr. Rush presented one thousand copies of his famous pamphlet, " An Enquiry into the Effect of Ardent Spirits on the Human Body and Mind." These were divided among members, to be distributed among congregations. The evils of intemperance had been before the Church for many a year, and a convention of laymen in 1766 had laid before the Synod a serious representation upon this and other objects. The Old Synod of that year adopted a paper of which Resolution VII says : " The too great use of spirituous liquors at funerals in some parts of the country is risen to such a height as greatly to endanger the morals of many, and is the cause of much scandal. The Synod earnestly enjoins the sev- eral Sessions to take the most efficient methods to correct these mischiefs, and to discountenance, by ex- ample and influence, all approaches to such practices." In 1812 Dr. Lyman Beecher was sorely discontented with a paper adopted by the General Association of Connecticut, admitting the evils of intemperance but doubting whether anything could be done. He pro- posed the appointment of a committee to report on the ways and means to arrest the tide of intemperance. He declared, nearly half a century later, that his report as chairman of that committee was the most important paper he ever wrote. The General Assembly gave a powerful impulse to the cause of this reform by recom- mending its ministers to "preach as often as expe- dient on the sins and mischiefs of intemperate drinking, 162 PRESBYTERIANS. and to warn their hearers, both in public and private, of those habits which have a tendency to produce it." The same paper enjoins " special vigilance on the part of Sessions, by the dissemination of addresses, sermons and tracts on the subject ; to adopt practical measures for reducing the number of places at which liquors were sold." The increased interest on this subject of intem- perance was probably not because the evil was more prevalent at that time than it had been previously ; but because the revivals and the aggressive spirit of church work had brought up the general religious conscience to a more sensitive appreciation of the evil. The death of Alexander Hamilton, in a duel with Aaron Burr in 1804, startled the public mind on the subject of this vicious practice. In 1805 the Presby- tery of Baltimore besought the Assembly to recommend its ministers to refuse to officiate at the funeral of any- one known to have been concerned in a duel. Dr. Beecher, in the Synod of New York and New Jersey, secured a solemn condemnation of any toleration of "the code of honor." The General Assembly pro- nounced "dueling a remnant of Gothic barbarism, and a presumptuous and highly criminal appeal to God, and inconsistent with every just principle of moral con- duct"; and recommended that no one who had ever been concerned in any way in a duel should be ad- mitted to the privileges of the Church without une- quivocal proof of repentance. The question of slavery had been before the Synods and Presbyteries of the Church throughout all the past history of the denomination. That question was sur- rounded with numerous perplexing difficulties. It has now passed out of the range of practical questions. THE GREAT REVIVAL OF l8oO. 163 How far it may have been the fundamental source of the recent war is to some persons even yet a contro- verted question. It would not be very wise to occupy much space in such a history as this with a controversy now passed away. The matter was brought to the at- tention of the General Assembly, in 1815, by petitions from various sources. The question had been raised for a new debate in the public mind by the opening up for settlement of the Northwest territory. The Synod of Ohio asked for a deliverance of the Assembly upon the subject. For several years various papers were adopted by the General Assembly. These were re- ceived with different sentiments of approval and disap- proval by various sections of the Church. In 1818 an extended paper was adopted by the General Assembly. This paper sharply condemned the institution of slav- ery. In 1836 the Assembly declined to speak definitely upon the subject. Shortly thereafter the Church was divided into the Old and New School. Each branch had then its own debates upon the question. By the time reunion came in 1870, slavery was abolished, the war was over and the question was of importance mainly as a matter of history. The war of 1812 brought upon the country and the Church many of the evils and distractions ordinarily at- tendant upon seasons of conflict. The demoralization was not so serious to the Church at this period as might have been expected. It was largely prevented by the constant revivals and the occupation of the Church with her great missionary work. During the whole period there was rapid growth, as will be seen by the reports of the Presbyteries to the General Assembly of 1815. The report of 1800 had given an account of four 164 PRESBYTERIANS. Synods, one hundred and eighty-nine ministers and licentiates, four hundred and forty-nine churches and about twenty thousand church members, with an esti- mated amount of benevolent contributions of two thou- sand five hundred dollars. To the General Assembly of 1815 there were reported five hundred and twenty ministers and licentiates, eight hundred and fifty-nine churches, about forty thousand communicants and seven thousand three hundred and seventeen dollars as collections. There were at this time forty-one Pres- byteries, but five failed to report, and their figures are to be added to the above. The Church had grown in the fifteen years to about double the size with which it had entered the century. It had at this time secured fraternal relations with all such denominations as rea- sonably agreed with it in doctrine and policy. It had thoroughly caught the missionary spirit of the Christian world. It had begun, its work of ministerial education, and was enlarging and systemizing its aggressive polity. Dr. Gillett gives an admirable survey of the leading minds who at this period were shaping the policy and promoting the success of the denomination : " Pres- ident Nott of Union College was then in the zenith of his fame ; eminent as a scholar, an orator and a teacher. Gardiner Spring and John B. Romeyn were in New York ; the first in the flush of his youthful enthusiasm, and faithful to the purpose which took him from the bar to the pulpit ; the second, of a sprightly and active intel- lect, a ready utterance and an earnestness of tone, man- ner and gesture, which dissipated all doubts of his sin- cerity. Richards and Griffin were at Newark ; the first was practical, sagacious and discreet, a safe guide and a devoted pastor. Griffin was a physical and intellectual THE GREAT REVIVAL OF l8oO. 165 giant, fresh from the battle with the Anakim of Boston Unitarianism. Ashbel Green was president of Prince- ton College, sound rather than sprightly in intellect, sternly conscientious and persistent in purpose ; with theories that were convictions and convictions that were acts. Archibald Alexander was professor of theology in the Theological Seminary, fascinating in the pulpit and lovely in mind and character, and destined for many decades to shape the views and characters of hundreds of pastors in the churches. Associated with him was Dr. Samuel Miller, the model of urbane and dignified deportment, and with a balance of character which ex- empted his life from the brilliancy or infirmities of genius. Wilson, Janeway, Skinner, Potts and Patterson were in Philadelphia, each with remarkable force of character and vigor of action and influence. West of the mountains there was John McMillan, the patriarch of the Ohio Presbytery and the father of Jefferson Col- lege, impetuous and almost irresistible in appeals and denunciation. Matthew Brown was successively pres- ident of Washington and then of Jefferson College, who though sometimes impetuous was never shrinking or timid. Elisha McCurdy was at Cross Roads, in- tensely devoted to his pastoral work, the friend of mis- sions and a powerful revivalist. The silver-tongued Marquis was at Cross Creek, with an art of persuasion well-nigh perfect. On the South Atlantic Coast Inglis and Glendy were at Baltimore : the first a most accom- plished orator, and the second an Irish exile, even in the pulpit venting his Irish wit and humor, but never forget- ful of the elegant manner of a Christian gentleman. The sensible, shrewd and genial Balch was at George- town. Moses Hoge was president of Hampden-Sid- l66 PRESBYTERIANS. ney College, and professor of theology, and his mind was of uncommon vigor, well disciplined and richly stored. John H. Rice was at Richmond, with fervent piety, practical talent and lovely spirit. George A. Baxter was president of Washington College at Lex- ington, as modest as he was great, with a wonderfully retentive memory, and a judgment that rarely erred. The patriotic Revolutionary Whig, David Caldwell, was a patriarch among the churches of North Carolina. Moses Waddell was at Wilmington, and afterward president of Georgia University, whose useful life earned him the epithet of 'blessing and to be blessed.' Blackburn, Henderson, Coffin, Ramsey and Anderson were in Tennessee ; Rice, Cunningham, Balch, Blythe, Nelson, Stuart and Cleland were in Kentucky ; while Hoge, Gilliland and the Wilsons were molding Ohio and the States west of it. Others, less remembered now, were doing their faithful work in their varied and difficult fields. An obscure parish could enjoy then, with less fear of molestation than now, the gifts and graces of a favorite pastor. Many of these quiet brethren added to the limited support derived from their churches by cultivating the glebes attached to their parsonages. A resplendent record for many of them could be found on the minutes of their Session books. Their wisdom framed and their energies executed the plans which have resulted in equipping the Church for her mission work, and perfecting measures for aggres- sive evangelical efforts." ALBERT BARNES, D. D. CHAPTER VIII. VIGOROUS GROWTH DIVISION INTO OLD AND NEW SCHOOL CHURCHES. <T)LESSED is a nation when it is making no his- 13 tory." From the American war with England in 1812 to the Mexican war, comparatively little material was furnished for the historian. The period included the " era of good feeling," and more space will be occupied in history by the five years from 1860 to 1865 than by the twenty-five years from 1815 to 1840. This " era of good feeling " was in many respects an era of rapid growth to the Church. Some progress was made in arranging for this chapter a list of the churches which within the twenty years from 1815 to 1835 en- joyed revivals ; but it was soon manifest that this could only amount to several pages of names of churches, and be neither interesting nor instructive to the reader. Some idea of the growth can be gained from a list of the Presbyteries organized during this period. There were organized as follows : Presbytery of Shiloh in 1816 ; Niagara, Ontario, Bath, Richland and Newton in 1817; Portage, St. Lawrence, Watertown, Missouri, Otsego, Genessee, Rochester and Steuben- ville in 1818; Washington and North River in 1819; Troy, Allegheny and Ebenezer in 1820 ; Susquehanna, Columbus, Alabama, South Alabama, Georgia, Cincin- nati, Ogdensburg and St. Lawrence in 1821 ; Second 167 l68 PRESBYTERIANS. New York, Second Philadelphia, Charleston, Union -and Athens in 1822 ; Buffalo and Oswego, District of Columbia, Huron, Salem, Indiana and New Albany in 1823; Newark, Elizabethtown, North Alabama, Meck- lenburg and Bethel in 1824 ; Cortland, French Broad, Madison, Wabash, Vincennes and Newburyport in 1825 ; Chenango, Detroit and Holston in 1826 ; Trum- bull in 1827; Angelica, Center of Illinois and Tombig- bee in 1828; Bedford, Tioga, Oxford, Crawfordsville, East Hanover, West Hanover and Western District in 1829; Third New York, Blairsville, Cleveland, Indian- apolis, Illinois, Kaskaskia and Sangamon in 1830; Delaware, St. Louis, St. Charles, Tabor and Clinton in 1831 ; Third Philadelphia, Second Long Island and Montrose in 1832 ; Schuyler, Palestine, Wilmington, Good Hope, Flint River, St. Joseph and Monroe in 1833; Ottawa, Nashville, Arkansas, Tuscaloosa and Woosterin 1834; Marion, Logansport, Roanoake, Mor- gantown, Amite and Louisiana in 1835 an ^ Chemung, Maumee, Loraine, Medina, Sidney, Peoria and Alton in 1836. In subsequent readjustments of the bound- aries of Synods and Presbyteries many of these Pres- byteries had their names changed, or were consolidated with other Presbyteries, taking an entirely new name. By subsequent changes the old names would be revived or adopted by some new Presbytery elsewhere. The wide sweep of country through which this growth man- ifested itself will be perhaps better indicated by the new Synods which were organized during this period. The Synod of Ohio had been organized in 1814. There were afterward organized : the Synod of Tennes- see in 1817; the Synod of Genesee in 1821 ; the Synod of New Jersey in 1823 ; the Synod of Western Reserve VIGOROUS GROWTH AND DIVISION. 169 in 1825; the Synod of West Tennessee in 1826; the Synod of Indiana in 1826 ; the Synod of Utica in 1829 ; the Synod of Mississippi and South Alabama in 1829 ; the Synod of Cincinnati in 1829; the Synod of Illinois in 1831 ; the Synod of Missouri in 1832 ; the Synod of Chesapeake in 1833; the Synod of Michigan in 1834; the Synod of Delaware in 1834; the Synod of Alabama in 1835. Yet even this exhibit of the new Synods and Pres- byteries does not fairly show the actual growth of the Church. In 1815 there were forty-one Presbyteries, and in 1834 there were one hundred and eighteen Pres- byteries, the number being almost trebled in twenty years. But the total church membership in 1815 was 39,685, and in 1834 the report to the General Assembly showed a membership of 247,964. This was a growth of more than 600 per cent. When an individual church increases from a church membership of fifty to a church membership of five hundred, it still only counts one church on the roll of the General Assembly ; but it exhibits a great difference in the size and strength of the church. From being a dependent church aided by others, it has become a strong church and a large giver to mission work. To hundreds of churches this trans- formation came during these twenty years. It was a period of somewhat aggressive competition between denominations, and the mutual emulation between them increased the number of church members, the amount of individual gifts and the general compactness of or- ganization everywhere. These revivals and missionary successes kept increas- ing, rather than diminishing the importunate cry for more ministers. The establishment of the Board of I/O PRESBYTERIANS. Domestic Missions in 1816, and the erection of the Board of Education in 1819, gave the adequate church organizations for equipping candidates for the ministry and securing for them suitable locations and measurable support when they were ready to enter upon their work. It was a period remarkable for the multiplica- tion of colleges and theological seminaries. The early experiments in this line met with decided success, though institutions here and there differed greatly in the degree and continuance of prosperity. As a result, every sec- tion became anxious to have its own institution. There was then, as there always has been since, a feeling that, when the young men of a Presbytery are sent out to some distant section for their collegiate or theological training, the churches in that more favored locality se- cure the abler students, while the churches at home that furnished the men are left neglected. If the Pa- cific Coast is to retain her sons for a life-work among her own people, she must see to it that colleges and theological seminaries are well equipped on her own ground for educational work. This feeling has been crystallizing into the shape of a Board of Aid for Col- leges and Academies in the recent history of the denom- ination. The following seminaries were established in the order named : Auburn (New York), 1819 I Union (Vir- ginia), 1824; Western (Allegheny), 1827; Lane (Cin- cinnati), 1829; McCormick (Hanover, 1830; Chicago, 1859), an d Columbia (South Carolina), 1831. The fol- lowing interesting list of colleges established during this period is taken from the report of the Commis- sioner of Education for 1889, and the date of their opening is here given : Maryville, Tenn., 1819 ; Centre, VIGOROUS GROWTH AND DIVISION. 171 Ky., 1821 ; Franklin, O., 1825; Hanover, Ind., 1828; Lafayette, Pa., 1832; Wabash, Ind., 1833; Marietta, O., 1835. The great impulse toward this system of collegiate and theological seminary education was given to the Church during the period now under review. There were frequent revivals in these colleges, and, as the re- sult of these revivals, many young men consecrated themselves to the ministry, who afterward became men of power and leadership in the Church. Various matters of importance attracted the atten- tion of the Church and the public throughout this period. In 1818 steps were taken for the preparation of a digest of the acts of the early Synod and the General Assembly. Frequent committees had been appointed for this purpose; but it was not until 1820 that the volume was finally completed and given to the public. Committees had been often appointed to pre- pare a history of the Church, and Presbyteries and Synods were solicited to furnish sketches of their own organization, and of the churches under them. These committees labored faithfully, and all too successfully, to gather this material. The quantity has become enor- mous, and the historian turns away from the accumu- lated mass in blank despair. In the present on-going of God's providence, and the freshness of new duties and new achievements, the hurrying world is too busy to read up the local details and minutiae of past min- isters, churches and Presbyteries. The great absorbing event of this period was the divi- sion of the Church first into two parties and then into two denominations. Hon. James P. Sterrett, when a judge of Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, was once look- 1/2 PRESBYTERIANS. ing at a curious collection of bitter pamphlets connected with the controversies about the location of Washing- ton and Jefferson College in Western Pennsylvania. Closing the book, he said : " Those are very curious and interesting. In my opinion they will do most good in the fire." Part of the agreement between the denominations at the time of Reunion is contained in the following from the Tenth Concurrent Declaration : " It shall be regarded as the duty of all our judica- tories, ministers and people in the united Church, to study the things which make for peace, and guard against all needless and offensive references to the causes that have divided us." In that spirit it is not proposed here to give in detail the account of those controversies, but, as impartially as possible, a state- ment of the questions debated at the time. The " Plan of Union " adopted in 1802 was an earnest effort to make out some workable scheme, whereby two denominations agreeing in doctrine, but differing funda- mentally as to church management, could work to- gether without friction. In practice it was found that the independency of the Congregational side secured irresponsibility for what was done, while the organized solidity of the Presbyterians made every part responsi- ble for every course adopted by any section of the entire body. The " Plan of Union " did not decide whether or not Presbyteries were authorized to elect " committeemen " to,the Assembly. As early as 1825 the question came to be raised as to the right of such persons to a seat and vote in the General Assembly. The fact that they were " committeemen," and not elders, seemed good evidence that neither they nor their churches were out-and-out Presbyterians in their preferences. VIGOROUS GROWTH AND DIVISION. 173 The early practice with reference to corresponding delegates sent by the General Assembly to the Con- gregational Associations of New England, or received by the General Assembly as delegates from them, was somewhat various. At first these delegates were what is known as " corresponding members," with the right to speak but not the right to vote. In 1794, however, PARDEE HALL, LAFAYETTE COLLEGE, EASTON, PA. the arrangement was made by which they should also have the right to vote in the body to whjch they were delegated. In due course of time the propriety of this practice came to be seriously doubted ; and in 1827 a proposition was made that this right of voting should cease. The Association of Massachusetts objected to this, but her consent to it was had in 1830. The Gen- eral Assembly having thus decided that delegates from Congregational Associations should not have the right to vote, an effort was made to apply the same rule to the representatives who came from the " Plan of Union" churches. The first case that came up for 1/4 PRESBYTERIANS. decision was in 1820, but the General Assembly decided that a " committeeman " sent by a Presbytery had the same right as a ruling elder would have had. In 1826 a delegate was present who was not even a "committee- man " in his own church. The Assembly decided to admit him, but the decision was met with a protest hav- ing forty-two signers. In 1831 a similar decision of the Assembly received a more elaborate protest signed by sixty-eight members. In 1832 "committeeme'n " were among the delegates, but after submitting their commis- sions they finally withdrew them, and the Assembly passed a resolution that the " Plan of Union," rightly construed, does not authorize any "committeeman" to sit and act in any case in Synod or in the General As- sembly. By this time the missionary work of the Church had grown to such magnitude that the question of its management became one of the very first importance. As has been stated, the decisions of the General As- sembly were not uniform on the rights of "committee- men." No unanimous decision could be had. As the mission work was largely one of growth, naturally enough considerable sensitiveness was manifest with regard to the society which was to superintend and push this expanding work. 'Whoever managed that work would naturally have the sympathy of the mission- aries who were sent out to the churches where these missionaries were laboring, and of the home churches from whom the contributions were drawn. Here again was the most obtrusive point of division. The Ameri- can Home Missionary Society represented both the Presbyterians and the Congregationaltsts. Large num- bers of its directors were leading Presbyterian ministers VIGOROUS GROWTH AND DIVISION. 175 and laymen. They believed in the sincerity of the zeal of that society, and the possibility of a joint work being carried on through it by the two denominations. Another large section of the Church believed that the presence of the Congregationalists in the Home Mis- sionary Society was injurious to the general interests of Presbyterianism in its hands. A preponderance of Congregationalists would be probable in a congregation under a Congregationalist as a pastor. All this was unfavorable to the prospect of that church becoming a thorough-going Presbyterian congregation. Steadily there grew up a party earnestly in favor of both Home and Foreign Missionary organizations controlled by the General Assembly, supported by contributions from its churches, and sending out its own Presbyterian min- isters as missionaries. Year after year this question of denominational missionary societies was carefully debated in the General Assembly, with the predomi- nance of view sometimes on the one side and sometimes on the other. Committees of conference were ap- pointed from the General Assembly to meet with com- mittees from undenominational mission societies; but no plan could be finally agreed upon which was accept- able to all parties. A further circumstance, outside of the Presbyterian Church, greatly tending to the development of parties, was "Hopkinsianism," and the "New Haven Divinity." Many leading men believed that " Hopkinsianism " was only another name for Pelagianism. It was a system of doctrine which took its name from Dr. Samuel Hopkins of Newport, R. I. It had various degrees of intensity or of error, generally determined by the individual person who was supposed to hold the 1 76 PRESBYTERIANS. system. The " New Haven Divinity" was generally recognized as originating with Dr. N. W. Taylor. His speculations and those of his sympathizers were looked upon with sincere alarm by many prominent men in New England and elsewhere. It was easy to charge these doctrines on peculiar men anywhere. About the same time " certain new measures" in conducting re- vivals in connection with the labors of evangelists awakened much concern. These " new measures " were to a considerable extent introduced by Mr. C. G. Finney in Western New York. His labor was greatly blessed, and in his hands his methods were very effec- tive. His imitators, however, carried measures to ex- tremes altogether unprecedented. Mr. Finney's popu- larity, and the power of the revival, for the time for- bade any general resistance to measures which were supposed to be a part of the system. Men hastily as- sumed the office of evangelist and adopted questiona- ble measures, and were guilty of extravagances which worked only mischief. Mr. Nettleton and Dr. Lyman Beecher strongly condemned many of these practices. Presbyteries and ministers in Western New York ear- nestly resisted them, and the permanent results were not so injurious as at first anticipated. The prospect of a division was greatly increased by the fact that the di- viding lines on all these different questions seemed to be found at about the same place, and the same lead- ers were found on the same side of most questions. By 1835 the friends of denominational missionary societies and of the abrogation of the " Plan of Union " had come to feel the necessity of conference and or- ganization. A convention of such persons was, there- fore, held just previous to the meeting of the General VIGOROUS GROWTH AND DIVISION. 1 77 Assembly. At this convention the whole situation was discussed, and the Old School party, which made up the mass of the convention, reached an understanding among its members. By this time there was a very considerable portion of the leaders of the Old School side, who had made up their minds that permanent peace and unity were both impracticable and undesira- ble. They believed that division was necessary to purity and safety, and plans were steadily adhered to in furtherance of separation. The New School party had no desire for separation. Whatever correspond- ence there may have been among the leaders of that party, there was no assembling of them together until after the separation actually took place. Indeed, the Auburn convention is probably the only unofficial as- sembly ever held by the New School party. When the General Assembly of 1835 was organized, among its other resolutions it appointed a committee to con- sider the propriety of the adoption by the General Assembly of the Western Foreign Missionary Society, which had been organized by the Synod of Pittsburgh. This committee was authorized to accomplish the con- solidation. The General Assembly of 1835 might be called an Old School Assembly by a decided majority ; but the General Assembly of 1836 had a majority of New School men in its membership. The committee appointed in 1835 to consider the transfer of the Western Missionary Society to the control of the General Assembly had, as far as they had authority, performed that task. This step was not acceptable to the majority of the General Assembly of 1836. If the General Assembly had approved the act of their committee it would have bound the Church to sepa- 178 PRESBYTERIANS. rate ecclesiastical action in the matter of its mission work. The majority of the Assembly was not in favor of this step. The course of the majority in 1836 was unsatisfactory to the Old School men. As a result, when the General Assembly adjourned, there was a wide understanding that, previous to the General Assembly of 1837, there should be another convention held of those in favor of independent missionary action. To that convention, and to the General Assembly of 1837, the opponents of the " Plan of Union " and of voluntary missionary societies sent their ablest leaders. It was the scarcely disguised pur- pose of that convention to work for the division of the Church ; but its councils were very much divided, owing to the uncertainty as to the state of the vote when the General Assembly should be organized. If the Old School party should be in the majority in the Assembly, the plans of the convention might be safely carried out. If, however, the New School party should be in the ma- jority, it might be necessary for the Old School party to go out of the body, and undertake the task of setting up an independent denomination. This raised all the perplexities of property rights and successorship to the General Assembly. In the midst of these uncertainties no definite plan could be agreed upon. When the Assembly convened, however, it was found that the Old School party had a very decided majority, and their candidate for Moderator was elected by a vote of 137 to 106. If this majority could be held together it was obvious that the whole authority of the General Assembly could be employed to carry out the views of the Old School party. One of the earliest steps taken was to abrogate the " Plan VIGOROUS GROWTH AND DIVISION. 1/9 of Union " as being from the outset unconstitutional, and, in its practical working, injurious. After the abro- gation of the "Plan of Union," the next step was to cut off from the Church at large the Presbyteries, Synods and churches organized in accordance with the " Plan of Union," and which might be determined to adhere to it. There was a protracted debate over the consti- tutionality of such an action, The Synod of Western Reserve was made the test case. The resolution offered was to this effect : " That by the operation of the abroga- tion of the 'Plan of Union' of 1801, the Synod of Western Reserve is, and is hereby declared to be no longer a part of the Presbyterian Church of the United States of America." Against this it was argued that the constitution of the Church made no provision for any such exscinding act on the part of the General Assembly, by which, without trial, a Synod could be cut off from the Church. This method of cutting off a Synod by a resolution was held to be judgment with- out trial, and condemnation without any other testi- mony than general rumor. The New School party held that it was wholly unnecessary as well as un- brotherly, and if there was either doctrinal error or practical disorder in any Presbytery or Synod, the As- sembly was bound, before reaching a conclusion, to give the accused party a full hearing and a fair trial. The advocates of the above resolution held that the obliga- tion of maintaining the purity of the Church finally rested upon the General Assembly ; that, however good the intentions might have been when the " Plan of Union "was first adopted, its practical workings had been to import into the Church persons who were not in sympathy with the Presbyterian system of govern- 180 PRESBYTERIANS. ment ; and that the only possible course which could be effective was to exclude from the judicatories of the Church those who were not in sympathy with a vigorous administration of the denominational policy. When after the debate the Assembly finally came to vote, the resolution cutting off the Western Reserve Synod was passed by 132 ayes to 105 nays. Almost immediately after the passage of this resolu- tion, another was adopted " affirming that the organi- zation and operation of the so-called American Home Missionary Society and American Educational Society, and its branches of whatever name, are exceedingly injurious to the peace and purity of the Presbyterian Church. We recommend, therefore, that they cease to operate in any of our churches." This resolution was carried by a vote of 124 to 86. Subsequently, a reso- lution was proposed that the same action which had been taken with reference to the Synod of Western Reserve should also be adopted in regard to the Synods of Utica, Geneva and Genesee. This was offered on Saturday, and it was not until the next Monday afternoon that the vote could be reached. At that time, by a vote of 115 to 88, these Synods were " declared to be out of the ecclesiastical connection of the Presbyterian Church, and not in form or in fact an integral portion of said Church." These resolutions were known in the history of the times as the " Ex- scinding Acts," and the debates as to their necessity and constitutionality then and since have been very thorough-going. That part of the Church which was led by the Princeton Review at the time expressed great doubts about the expediency of the step, and many of those who held strongly to the right of the VIGOROUS GROWTH AND DIVISION. t8l General Assembly to take such action gravely doubted the wisdom thereof. By the adoption of these Exscinding Acts the friends of the voluntary missionary societies were greatly di- minished ; and the General Assembly had in it a clear, strong, working majority of those in favor of denomina- tional missionary societies under the control of the General Assembly. Almost without discussion, there- fore, a constitution was adopted for a General Assem- bly's Board of Foreign Missions, and the churches were urged to rally to its support. Earnest protests were offered against all these acts, and in these protests the arguments against the constitutionality of the " Exscind- ing Acts," as well as against their expediency and neces- sity, were fully stated. In the reply of the General Assembly to these protests the majority declared it "pain- ful to them to declare that the bodies in which were brethren whose piety we cannot question, and whose ac- tivity in extending the visible Church we must regard with approbation, to be no longer connected with the body. We could not hope/' they went on to say, "that they would walk together in peace with us." A long paper on doctrinal errors was also adopted ^by the Assem- bly ; but the main protest raised against it was that, impliedly, it charged the members of the exscinded Synods with holding the doctrinal errors therein con- demned. This was distinctly denied by the signers of the protest, and considerable quotation of testimony, on the part of those who had good right to know, was offered to show that such errors were not held by one- tenth part of the ministry of the Church. The year between the Assembly of 1837 and 1838 was a year of great ecclesiastical agitation. The ques- l2 PRESBYTERIANS. tion of the division of the General Assembly took a large part of the Church by surprise, and the necessity of it many did not see. There was much uncertainty as to the course which would be adopted by the Assembly of 1838 when it should convene. It is not certain that any of the friends of the " exscinded Synods" antici- pated the actual shape in which the controversy was renewed in 1838. That Assembly was opened with a sermon by the retiring Moderator, Rev. David Elliot, D. D., on Isaiah 60 : i : " Arise, shine ; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee." Immediately on the opening of the Assembly, an un- usually delicate and difficult question arose for the de- cision of the Moderator, The clerks of the Assembly had made up the roll of the Assembly by omitting the names of the delegates from the four " exscinded Synods." The ordinary course to be pursued, when there are persons present with doubtful commissions, is to elect a Moderator, and then have a Committee of Elections appointed, to whom all such doubtful com- missions shall be referred. That course, however, would prevent the delegates from the Presbyteries in these four Synods from participating in the election of officers. When the roll was called by the clerks, the names of the commissioners from those Presbyteries were found to be omitted. A member then demanded that they be enrolled. The Moderator decided that, by the act of the previous Assembly, he could not recog- nize their right to sit without further action of this house. From that decision of the Moderator an appeal was taken to the house, but the Moderator decided it out of order at that time. A motion was then made to complete the roll by adding the names of those com- VIGOROUS GROWTH AND DIVISION. 183 missioners. This also was decided out of order, as was also an appeal from the chair. The Moderator in- sisted that the house was the only judge of the qualifi- cation of its members, and that the first business was its organization by the election of officers. There had been some previous conference among those who de- nied the right of the last Assembly to exclude those Synods, as to the course that should be pursued in case their names were omitted from the roll. Their lawyers advised them that it would be necessary for them to organize the Assembly at that time, and in that place, in the presence of the other party, by the election of a Moderator and other officers, in order legally to ad- journ to another place. In the midst of much con- fusion and many calls to order, Rev. John P. Cleave- land, of the Presbytery of Detroit, rose and read a paper, declaring that whereas, certain commissioners had been refused their rights as members, and the Moderator had refused to do his duty, he, therefore, moved that Dr. Beman, Moderator of a previous Assembly, take the chair until another Moderator should be chosen. This motion was put and carried by a very loud "aye." Dr. Beman took his station in the aisle of the church, and a motion that Erskine Mason and E. W. Gilbert be appointed clerks was made and carried. Dr. S. Fisher was then elected permanent Moderator, and the Assembly, thus constituted, adjourned to meet in the First Presbyterian Church. The New School part of the body then with- drew from the house, and proceeded to business in the First Presbyterian Church. It will be seen that no vote was taken which would tell precisely what would have been the constitution of the house in case all the members present from the exscinded Synods had been 1 84 PRESBYTERIANS. allowed to vote. It is probable that the majority would not have been more than from four to six either way. The fact that. the civil courts decided both ways shows that the question of right was not a clear one. Its decision depended upon rulings not provided for in general parliamentary practice. If due allowance be made for the conscientious zeal of two parties of Chris- tian people in behalf of interests they supposed to be vital to the welfare of the kingdom, and the new ques- tion which was up for decision, on which the Moderator and members were compelled to act without any prece- dent to guide them, we shall, at this day, probably look back upon the whole transaction as due to a mixture of religious zeal, human imperfection, sincere purpose and party spirit generated by emulation in a good cause, ^lore than half a century has now gone by, and both sides have tested their theories in actual church work. Neither side can say to the other, " We were always right in everything, and in everything you have found out that you were wrong." When time had proved that there were no serious doctrinal differences between the parties, the practical questions settled themselves. Presbyterians have never held that methods of church work were settled in Scripture by a "Thus saith the Lord." Parties may differ widely beforehand in their expectations as to the success their favorite plans will attain. But if, in practice, one surpasses the other, the party which is falling behind is generally not hard to convince. Both sides had their lessons to learn, and being sincere both were willing to yield to the resistless logic of actual results. The general, but mistaken impression, that there were doctrinal differences between the Old and the New VIGOROUS GROWTH AND DIVISION. 185 School, was probably due to the fact that, just as the parties were forming, there were three famous ecclesi- astical trials in the Church. The ministers thus accused were ultimately members of the New School body. In all these three cases the result left the accused in good standing in the ministry, and with the reputation of being sound evangelical preachers. Nevertheless, the clamor connected with the trials, first in the Presby- teries and afterward by an appeal in the Synods and then to the General Assembly, made a deep impression upon the public mind. The first of these trials was that of Dr. George Duffield of Carlisle, Pa. He was accused of stating erroneous views in a book published by him on " Regeneration." The Presbytery condemned the obnoxious positions pointed out by the report of a committee of investigation. Dr. Duffield denied that he held the view alleged against him, or that these views were taught in his book. Presbytery decided to inflict no further censure on him than to warn him to "guard against dangerous speculations, and to study to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace." This action of Presbytery was disapproved by Synod ; but Dr. Duffield shortly afterward received and accepted a call to a church in Philadelphia. He was subsequently settled in Detroit, Mich., as pastor there of the First Church, and died suddenly in 1867, at the age of seventy-three. He lived to enjoy the universal esteem of his brethren. Dr. Lyman Beecher was called from Boston to the Professorship of Theology in Lane Seminary, in 1830. He entered upon his duties in 1832, and the spring of the following year was installed pastor of the Second 1 86 PRESBYTERIANS. Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati. He was charged by Dr. Joshua L. Wilson with holding Pelagian and Arminian doctrines. Both the prosecutor and the accused were men of extraordinary ability. By a vote of nearly two to one the Presbytery decided that the charges were not sustained. The case was appealed to Synod, and the action of the Presbytery was sustained by that body. It was then appealed to the General Assembly, and should have reached that body in 1836. The case was, however, withdrawn from the considera- tion of the General Assembly. The reason given was that essentially the same questions would be up in the case of Mr. Albert Barnes, which was before the Assem- bly. The real fact, however, is stated to have been, that on the boat on the Ohio River, while Dr. Wilson, the prosecutor, was on his way to the General Assembly, some thief stole his baggage (coat, money and papers) and left him unable, for want of the papers, to prosecute the case. The most notable case of any was that of Rev. Albert Barnes. Mr. Barnes came to Philadelphia in the face of a theological storm. He was first settled in Morristown, N. J., in 1825. He was a graduate of Hamilton College and of Princeton Theological Seminary. In 1830 he was called to the First Presby- terian Church in Philadelphia as a colleague of the Rev. J. P. Wilson. When the church applied to Pres- bytery for leave to prosecute their call for Mr. Barnes, objection was raised because of a sermon recently pub- lished by Mr. Barnes on "The Way of Salvation." The objection was repeated when he presented his dismission from the Presbytery of Elizabethtown to the Presbytery of Philadelphia. After much agitation VIGOROUS GROWTH AND DIVISION. jg? upon the subject, formal charges were tabled against him by Dr. George Junkin, President of Lafayette College. These charges were raised specially on Mr. Barnes " Notes on Romans." The decision of the Pres- bytery cleared Mr. Barnes, by declaring that the charges were based on inferences not legitimately drawn from the language used. Dr. Junkin appealed the case to the Synod. The Synod condemned Mr. Barnes and suspended him from the functions of the ministry. The case was carried to the General As- sembly of 1836, at Pittsburgh. By that Assembly Mr. Barnes's appeal was sustained by a vote of 134 to 96; and by a still more decisive vote of 145 to 78 the action of the Synod, suspending him from the Gospel ministry, was reversed. Mr. Barnes's own behavior and bearing o in all that trying period strengthened the confidence of his friends, and secured the profound respect of his adversaries. He afterward continued pastor of the First Church in Philadelphia until increasing infirmities compelled him to cease the active duties of a minister. His people in 1868 consented to his retiring to the position of " pastor emeritus," and called Dr. Her- rick Johnson as regular pastor. Mr. Barnes died in December, 1870. The immediate cause of his death was a long walk to visit an afflicted family. He had but seated himself when, falling back on his chair, he expired without a struggle. He and Dr. Elliot, the Moderator at the time of the disruption, both lived through the years of the division and saw the reunion. Both rejoiced to see the two bodies once more united, and abundant affection went out toward both from all the ministry and membership of the Church. CHAPTER IX. OLD SCHOOL BRANCH. THE question of denominational Boards was the pivot of the division in 1837. The Old School Branch advocated separate church organizations for the control of missionary enterprises, At once, there- fore, after the division, the Old School General As- sembly proceeded to organize its own church Boards. The Synod of Pittsburgh had, in 1831, organized the Western Foreign Missionary Society. All the mem- bers of this society belonged to the Old School party, and therefore the General Assembly of 1837 adopted a constitution for and appointed members of a Board of Foreign Missions, and in 1838 accepted the West- ern Foreign Missionary Society, which offered to sur- render its entire work to the General Assembly. This same year (1838) the General Assembly organized the Board of Publication. The previously organized Boards of Home Missions and Education remained with the Old School Branch. In 1844 a constitution was adopted and members appointed for the Board of Church Erection. This is believed to be the first Board separately organized by any denomination for the aid of weaker churches in their difficult task of se- curing houses of worship. Eleven years later, in 1855, the Board of Ministerial Relief was created to take special and particular charge of this form of work. 188 Wf- DAVID ELLIOTT, D. D., LL. D. OLD SCHOOL BRANCH. 189 From the origin of the Church contributions had been solicited, and appropriations made, for the maintenance of aged ministers, and the widows and orphans of ministers. As the Old School Branch had always insisted, be- fore the division, that the ministers and people would take hold of any form of evangelical work more heartily, and contribute more liberally, if the Boards were managed by the General Assembly, the whole body was now pledged to vindicate this oft-repeated assertion. In 1800 to 1809 the Cumberland brethren charged the Church with being dead and lifeless, and seriously wanting in Christian energy and zeal. When they organized themselves into an independent Pres- bytery, those that remained in the Church were bound to special activity in order to defend themselves from the charge. Now the Old School party were com- pelled to make good their claim in behalf of Church Boards, by a special liberality and faithfulness in the spread of the gospel. The reports of these Boards, made year by year, showed very satisfactory progress in every form of church work. Exact statistics of the distinct branches could not be had at the time of the division. Some years were required to enable each congregation, Presbytery and Synod to finally de- termine with which side it would cast its lot. A safe estimate of the Old School Branch in 1839, has given, ministers, 1615; churches, 1673; communicants, 126,583; benevolent contributions, 134,439 dollars. The report of the same branch for 1869, the year preceding the reunion, gives ministers, 2381 ; churches, 2740; mem- bers, 258,963; contributions, 1,346,179 dollars. In the thirty years, therefore, the church membership had a 190 PRESBYTERIANS. little more than doubled and the contributions had in- creased about tenfold. The question of the status of ruling elders has been before the Church in many different forms. In the Old School Branch two important questions with reference to elders were at different times points of earnest discus- sion, and were at last settled, though without very com- plete unanimity. These questions were called the " Quorum Question " and the " Ordination Question." The " Quorum Question " was whether the presence of ruling elders was necessary in order to constitute a quorum of Presbytery and of the higher judicatories. The Form of Government said a quorum of Presby- tery consisted of " three ministers and as many elders as may be present." Very many times Presbyteries con- vened and no elders were present. Was that a consti- tutional Presbytery ? After many years of discussion, and numerous complaints and appeals and protests and answers, especially during the years 1842-44, this ques' tion was decided in favor of the competency of Pres- byterial meetings to transact business without the presence of elders. The " Ordination Question " was whether, in the ordination of ministers, it was proper for the ruling elders " to lay on hands " with the other members of the Presbytery. In the ordination of min- isters, while the candidate is kneeling in the presence of the Presbytery, and the ordaining prayer is being of- fered, the ministers present lay their hands upon the head of the candidate. Many leading elders and min- isters insisted that as this service was the act of the Presbytery, and as the ruling elders were members of the Presbytery, they had an equal right to lay on their ha,nds with the ministers. The other side said that it wa OLD SCHOOL BRANCH. IQI not the office of the ruling elders officially to instruct the Church of God in doctrine and in duty. This ordi- nation ceremony was held to be an official setting apart of the candidate to this work of authorized religious teaching. As the ruling elders did not participate in this office of teaching, this party held that it was im- proper for elders to take part in the ordination service. While an elder could vote in the determinations of the Presbytery on the sufficiency of the candidate's trials for ordination, and cast his vote on the question of pro- ceeding to ordain, yet the service of ordination be- longed to the ministerial members of Presbytery alone. At various times there have been deliverances on this subject, but always with minorities and protests and dissents. The general drift of the opinion of the ma- jorities has been against the right of the elders to " lay on hands" in the ordination of ministers. The final outcome, rather by general consent than by rigid decree, has been against the elders and in favor of the minis- ters on both these matters. In 1845 the slavery question was once more before the Old School General Assembly, and a paper was adopted upon the subject. The anti-slavery part of the Church strongly denounced this paper as being a pro- slavery document. Instead of allaying the agitation, its adoption seemed rather to foment it. It may pos- sibly have been true that the real object of the Church was to get rid of the question and leave its manage- ment, with all its perplexities, to the churches and Pres- byteries located in the midst of slavery. This result was at least attained in the sense of keeping the Church together until the conflict of war made further unity impracticable. 192 PRESBYTERIANS. In the General Assembly of 1861 only a small part of the Southern territory was represented. There were but thirteen ministers present from the Seceding States, and of these seven were from the Synod of Mis- sissippi. A resolution was introduced by the venerable Dr. Gardner Spring, indicating very clearly the adhe- sion of the Church as- represented in the Assembly in loyalty to the Federal Government. After a heated debate, Dr. Spring's resolution was adopted by a vote of 156 to 66. A protest signed by 58 members was presented, but the Church was divided. In the summer of this year, 1861, a conference of ministers and elders, from the Presbyterian Church within the bounds of the Confederate States, assembled at Atlanta, Ga. After consultation this convention issued a call for a General Assembly of the delegates of all the Presbyteries which desired to unite in the movement to meet in the First Presbyterian Church of Augusta, Ga., on the 4th day of the following De- cember. Drs. Waddell and Gray, with Elder Jones, were appointed a committee on commissions and to make arrangements for the meeting. At that meeting Dr. B. M. Palmer, of New Orleans, was Moderator. A sketch of the history of that Church, by Dr. M. D. Hoge, is found in a special chapter of this work. (See p. 486.) Unless the Church was either superhuman, or sanc- tified to an extraordinary degree, it could not be ex- pected that it should pass through the war without a great deal of excited feeling, and many things being done? which would not have been done in calmer mo- ments. The various actions of the General Assemblies from 1 86 1 to 1866 gave great offense to persons, partic- OLD SCHOOL BRANCH. IQ3 ularly in the border States. It is not probable that a separation between the Northern and Southern Presby- teries during the war could have been prevented by any particular course on either side. How could Chris- tians remain united in the Church, while large numbers were fiercely fighting on either side, and the line of war stretched clear across the country from the Atlantic Coast to the Rocky Mountains? Many times regrets were expressed by various individuals that the subject of "the state of the country" was introduced into the Assembly at all ; but when the discussion had been once begun and feelings once aroused, it was difficult to do anything but fairly express in behalf of the body the private views of the mass of the Church members. These various actions all contained appeals to the people to humble themselves before God and confess their sins both individual and national, and urged prayer that the divine anger might be turned away. When the war terminated, thanks to God were re- turned. Abraham Lincoln was eulogized, his death deplored, the Board of Domestic Missions was urged to extend its work through the South, and a committee was appointed to enter the wide field open among the freedmen. As a protest against the discussion of these political topics in the midst of ecclesiastical and religious work, the Presbytery of Louisville issued a " Declaration and Testimony," and invited the individual signatures of those who concurred in it. The whole number of sign- ers was about one hundred and twenty. It was prob- ably written by Rev. Samuel R. Wilson, D. D., and its language was extremely sharp. It initiated the in- auguration of a systematic resistance to the acts of the 194 PRESBYTERIANS. General Assembly. In the General Assembly of 1866 at St. Louis, this paper, with its signers and the Pres- byteries indorsing it, was taken up by resolution for de- cisive action. Finally, a paper offered by Rev. P. D. Gurley, D. D., of Washington City, was adopted by a vote of 196 to 37. This paper condemned the " Dec- laration and Testimony " as slanderous and rebellious. It forbade the signers to sit in any church court above a church Session, and declared any Presbytery or Synod which admitted them to seats to be " ipso facto" dis- solved. Those who in such cases obeyed the authority of the Assembly were declared to be the true Presby- tery or Synod, and were instructed to take charge of all books and papers and proceed with the Church work. As the result of all this the Synods of Kentucky and Missouri, with the Presbyteries belonging to them, were divided, and the Assembly of 1867 declared that the portion of these several judicatories which obeyed the orders of 1866 had the "true succession." The civil side of the controversies at last reached the Supreme Court of the United States. It came up in the Court as "The Walnut Street Church Case," from Louisville, Ky. The decision of the Court was rendered in De- cember, 1871, and is published in full in the Minutes of the Assembly of 1873, p. 480, and in Moore's " Di- gest," editions of 1873 and 1886; in each edition on p. 251. The Chief Justice did not sit in the case. Two judges dissented on the matter of the jurisdiction of the Court. The same matter, essentially, was pend- ing in the State court of Kentucky. It was a cause where the State courts and the United States courts had concurrent jurisdiction. Judges Clifford and Davis held that, as it was in the hands of the State court, the 195 196 PRESBYTERIANS. United States courts should have left it there. They expressed no opinion on the law touching the merits of the case. The question of the wisdom of leaving judicial cases to be decided by such changeable bodies as Synods and Assemblies has long been a mooted one. In 1849 a committee was appointed on the subject, and it worked out an elaborate plan fora Permanent Judicial Commis- sion. Presbyteries, Synods and General Assemblies are very changeable bodies, because the elders are usually appointed to attend but a single meeting. Even the ministers, however able and scholarly they may be in general, are not specially trained and habit- uated to the work of analyzing testimony and excluding irrelevant matter. With a view, therefore, to securing picked men to decide these intricate cases, it was pro- posed that there should be in each Synod and for the General Assembly a commission of appeals, composed of four ministers and four elders, elected two each year. The plan, however, was almost unanimously re- jected. The discussion developed widespread feeling, first, that the time of the General Assembly and the subordinate judicatories should not be occupied with many judicial cases to the exclusion of or interference with church mission work ; and second, that some method should be devised for a more careful consider- ation of each case by selecting persons qualified to de- cide its vital points on their real merits. Many of these questions, which were before the sep- arate branches of the Church during the division, have been settled, since the reunion, on methods which the experience of the separate branches seemed to indicate as essential. At present judicial trials are almost im- OLD SCHOOL BRANCH. 197 possible in the General Assembly, and are rarely entered on or tried in the Synods. No permanent judicial com- mission has been established, as was proposed in the Old School Church, but a plan of special judicial com- missions has been adopted, and each case is referred for trial to its own commission. This dissatisfaction with the modes of procedure in judicial matters caused the agitation of the subject of a complete readjustment of the Book of Discipline. Some of the ablest and most influential men were engaged in the process of an entire recasting of the book. It was difficult, however^ to get the General Assembly to adopt a new book without a prolonged consideration and a particular vote on each section. Finally, in 1864, at Newark, the en- tire project was abandoned. One reason for this aban- donment was, undoubtedly, that the growing prospect of an early reunion made it undesirable that a new book should be adopted until after the reunion was accom- plished. Such a new book has since been prepared, and its adoption by the General Assembly and the Presbyteries was declared in 1884. A strong impulse toward mission work came to the Old School Church, sometimes through distressing afflictions, and, at other times, through specially favor- ing blessings. The whole Church was shocked, in 1857, by the martyrdom of eight of their adult mission- aries, with two of their children, in India. That was the year of the Sepoy Rebellion, and Messrs. Freeman, Campbell, Johnson and McMullan, and their wives, with two of Mr. Campbell's children, Willie and Fannie, were captured by the mutineers. Money was freely offered for the release of the prisoners, but the reply was, "It is blood we want, not money." The intelli- 198 PRESBYTERIANS. gence of the complicated horrors of that rebellion sent a thrill of anguish through the hearts of God's people in this and other Christian lands. Days of special prayer were widely observed, and special supplications for India were the spontaneous utterance of the whole Church. That winter the Old School Church, and the churches of the various denominations, were most gra- ciously and signally revived and increased. In view of the Sepoy Rebellion, Rev. J. H. Morrison, of India, suggested to his brethren of the Lodiana mission that they should ask the Church of God throughout the world to set apart the first full week of January, each year, as a "week of prayer" for missions. This was first observed in January, 1860. The Fulton Street daily prayer meeting in New York, which was part of the work of the revival of 1857, has furnished the model for the services of this "week of prayer." The Evan- gelical Alliance heartily indorsed the suggestion, and the first week of January, though, in many climates, an exceedingly unpropitious season of the year, has ever since been observed as a "week of prayer for the con- version of the world." The Old School Church was in all its history charac- terized by intense denominational life and enthusiasm. It pushed its own enterprises, its boards, its colleges, its theological seminaries. For a time there was a large portion of the Church strongly in favor of a strictly denominational newspaper. Many projects were suggested to this end, but none of them secured the cordial assent of all the Church. At one time it seemed likely that a Presbyterian Commentary on the whole Scriptures would be published with the sanction of the Assembly. Able committees year after year toiled with OLD SCHOOL BRANCH. 199 the task of its preparation. Excellent reports on the subject were submitted to the Assemblies. No As- sembly, however, would so implicitly trust any committee as to vote for the official commentary without reading it and all could not read it before it was printed. The project was at last abandoned. The much easier task of providing an official hymn book has been often un- dertaken, but has never been a great success. Presby- terian independency asserts itself easily, and everybody has his own taste. As the result hyrnn books abound, and churches and pastors sometimes please and some- times displease themselves. Undoubtedly, the whole history was one of great doc- trinal unity. The strict theory of Confessional sub- scription prevailed, and ministers passing from one Presbytery to another were quite faithfully examined as to their soundness. Those who were not in sympathy with the general type of Calvinism found in the Church sought more agreeable companions. One thing that kept the Church from falling into the dead orthodoxy with which it was often charged was the energy with which it pushed both Domestic and Foreign Missions. It grew in the graces of giving and sacrificing. Doubts about total depravity and Divine Sovereignty may pre- vail among nice people who are busy looking at each other, but those who have grace to go and stay working among city slums, and naked heathen,. generally have an intense sense of the need in man for God's regenerating power and for the daily help of the Holy Ghost. Sometimes, in their despair, these last hope only for success in one overwhelming final catastrophe. CHAPTER X. THE NEW SCHOOL BRANCH. THE only special sketch of the history of the New School Branch that has been published is that pre- pared by Dr. J. F. Stearns as part of the Reunion Memorial volume. Most of the facts stated in this chapter are condensed from that document. For years before the division two parties had been obviously crystallizing in the Church. In the General Assembly these parties exhibited themselves in various ways, such as the election of officers, or the adoption of resolu- tions. During the years more immediately preceding the famous year of 1837, the New School party had been most frequently in the majority. The Old School party charged the New School men with being- unsound in doctrine. The historical out- o come, however, vindicated the many symptoms mani- fest at that time that this allegation was not justified. The New School Church was a separate body for thirty-two years. If there had been any disposition to change the Confession of Faith, or in any important point modify the Form of Government, the way was wide open. They were a body by themselves and could have done it without hindrance, if they had so desired. No proposition for an amendment of the Confession of Faith was made at any time. The Form of Govern- ment was modified only with reference to the meetings of the General Assembly, so as to make them triennial 200 HENRY BOYNTON SMITH, D. D., LL. D. THE NEW SCHOOL BRANCH. 2OI instead of annual. Shortly after the Assembly of 1837 which passed the Exscinding Acts, a convention assem- bled at Auburn, N. Y. This convention was largely attended by the New School representative men, and among other things issued what is known historically as the "Auburn Declaration " The Calvinism of that document has not been seriously challenged by those who are familiar with it. Indeed, it has been indorsed by those who are most strenuous in their opposition to the supposed heterodox views of the New School Church. Even in the discussions about reunion, those who op- posed reunion on the ground of the doubts of the doc- trinal soundness of the New School men, did not hesitate to indorse the Auburn Declaration. The theory that the division was due to doctrinal differ- ences cannot be successfully maintained further than that various men, on the different sides, used different words and expressions and illustrations in stating the same doctrine. When men are really unsound in doctrine a judicial trial ordinarily tends to send them further and further away from the Calvinistic system. No such result occurred in the case of any of those who were judicially tried by their several Presby- teries about this time. The New School Assembly was greatly hampered at the outset by two or three things. The division was not expected by the New School party, and their leaders had no well-conceived plan of action in case it came. The Church machinery, such as boards, officers, etc., and the apparent unity of the Church life, were left to the Old School party. The New School men had only Auburn, Lane and Union among the seminaries. Union was quite young, and neither Auburn nor Lane 202 PRESBYTERIANS. rich. Many of their leaders had only been in the Pres- byterian Church as the result of the Plan of Union, and while laboring in Presbyterian Churches had a pretty decided preference for Congregational ways. Many of these went back to membership in Congregational Associations, and accepted calls to Congregational Churches. The New School Church was assailed on both sides. Congregational Associations and news- papers urged their ministers and people to come back to the liberty and freedom of Independency. On the other side a policy of absorption was presented, and the Old School Assembly, in a spirit of thorough kind- ness, passed resolutions inviting ministers and churches who preferred thorough-going Presbyterian methods to unite with them. It required some time for the New School Branch, as a denomination, to get a clear con- ception of its mission among the various denominations, and a reason satisfactory to its own ministers and mem- bers for its independent existence as a denomination. Instead of being remarkable that it did not at first rap- idly flourish, it is more remarkable that it survived at all. Both General Assemblies for several years retained their roll unchanged, and so counted ministers and mem- bers of the other body as members of their own de- nomination. Frequent overtures were made for the adjustment of the differences, or for an amicable division of the property of the Church. The legal history of the case left the legitimacy of the succes- sion almost undecided. The New School Assembly elected certain persons " Trustees of the General Assembly." The majority of the Trustees refused to recognize their claim. In behalf of the New THE NEW SCHOOL BRANCH. 203 School side their men brought suit in the civil court. The opinion of Judge Rogers and the jury before which the case was first tried was a complete vindication of their claim. An appeal was taken to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, and the opinion was read by Judge Gibson, overruling the court below and granting a new trial. As it was evident that this adverse opinion would ultimately prevail, the case was withdrawn by the New School claimants. The final fact was that colleges, seminaries, newspapers and property generally were all left in the hands of the party that had control of them at the time of the division. There was a widespread feeling among the constit- uency of the New School party that they had been at a disadvantage owing to the frequent meetings of the General Assembly. Some, who preferred the Con- gregational form of government, did not believe that a supreme court controlling the whole Church (like the General Assembly) was necessary or even useful. Among them, as among the membership and minis- ters of the Presbyterian Church now, there was a large number of people who believed that the expense of a meeting of the General Assembly was not compensated by any good which it accomplished. Quite soon after the organization of the separate Assembly, therefore, a movement was made for reducing these expenses by omitting such frequent meetings of the General Assem- bly. This culminated in 1840. The Form of Govern- ment was amended to accomplish this change, and from 1840 to 1846, there was only one meeting of the Gen- eral Assembly, namely, in 1843. This change proved to be a serious disaster. The denomination lacked the 264 PRESBYTERIANS. unity and the spirit of enthusiasm born by gathering together its people. Something was needed to develop a self-respecting and aggressive spirit among them- selves. The denomination was well supplied with young, enthusiastic and energetic men, and fairly well supplied with good leaders. With triennial meetings of the General Assembly, however, the influence of this leadership was scarcely able to be made effective. It took a very few years to show all parties that the change from annual to triennial Assemblies was not a wise one ; and after 1846 the body returned to the method of frequent meetings by having an adjourned meeting in 1847 and then affirming, in 1849, tne change back to annual meetings. The New School party, before the division in 1837, had been strongly in favor of "voluntary societies." After the division, therefore, they sought to do their foreign mission work through the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and their domestic mission work through the American Home Missionary Society. Their young ministers were enthusiastic for the work of the new and growing sections of the coun- try. Into the Mississippi Valley and the Lake regions, and specially into their large cities, there was pouring a large population of Congregationalists from New Eng- land and Presbyterians from the Atlantic Coast. The "Plan of Union" adopted in 1801 enabled these Con- gregationalists and Presbyterians to unite their forces in this mission field for the building of churches and the support of pastors, but it contained no satisfac- tory method of determining to which body these new churches with their pastors should belong. It specially had no plan for an equitable division of the fruits of 206 PRESBYTERIANS. mission work and contributions. While the American Home Missionary Society was managed and sup- ported with equal fidelity by Presbyterians and Congre- gationalists, the popular understanding was that it was a Congregational missionary society, and was sup- ported by funds contributed in New England. Weak churches were justly grateful to those that helped them to support their pastor. To a very large extent, there- fore, the work of that Home Missionary Society accrued to the credit of New England Congregationalists. The secretaries of the Home Missionary Society were believed to have strong Congregational sympathies. A powerful influence was exerted by the appointment of Congregationalists as agents for the new States and Territories. These agents discouraged the organization of Presbyterian churches and encouraged the organi- zation of Independent churches. Some churches were revolutionized. The contributions of the New School Church were lost sight of as evidences of the missionary benevo- olence of the denomination, when thus mingled with o the gifts of the larger body. When Old and New School separated, the Old School Branch, by keeping control of the mission societies had at once a channel through which the large churches could aid the weak ones in the West, and through which the weak ones West could make their plea to their stronger Eastern friends. It was a serious difficulty in the way of the New School Church that it had to do its mission work through an agency recognized by the public as controlled by another denomination. This crippled their efforts in the West, because ministers and churches could not look directly to their own friends for support and assist- THE NEW SCHOOL BRANCH. 2O/ ance. The course of the Home Missionary Society itself seriously aggravated this difficulty. The Society was disposed to be guided in its appro- priations by the recommendations of its own agents traveling through the West, rather than by the recom- mendations of the New School Presbyteries. The Western Presbyteries grew restless under this apparent disparagement of their judgment. The home office sought to enforce the right to manage these mission- ary affairs by refusing appropriations within the bounds of Presbyteries which did not make that home office the sole channel through which the missionary contribu- tions were sent to missionary fields. Some of the Pres- byteries were disposed to raise funds within their own bounds, and in their own name solicit assistance from outside of their own bounds as well as administer the money thus collected by their own committees on the field. This course was objected to by the Home Mis- sionary Society as " unfaithfulness to the general pol- icy." Consent was given that such a course might be adopted by Congregational churches in Associations which did as they pleased, because their churches were independent of each other. But it was insisted that as Presbyteries controlled ministers and churches within a given geographical boundary, this control must be exercised in favor of the Society. This wrought great discontent throughout the West. In some places also the American Home Missionary Society aided Congre- gational churches where there was already a Presby- terian church, but refused to do the same thing for Presbyterian churches in places where there was a Congregational church, on the ground that this was contrary to the rules. 208 PRESBYTERIANS. In the General Assemblies various overtures from different Presbyteries upon the subject increased the agitation. Weak churches were dissatisfied by being neglected, and the strong churches were dissatisfied because they had difficulty in assisting their weaker brethren. The Church was handicapped in the laudable competition for Western enlargement. Wealthy New England Congregationalists could directly aid their people in the West through what was well understood to be a Congregational Society. Wealthy Old School churches East could directly aid their weaker churches in the West through their Board of Domestic Missions. More and more it became obvious that either the New School body must have an adequate substitute for a home missionary association of its own, or its relation to the American Home Missionary Society must be so reorganized that the contributions and the influence of the body should be under the direction of the denom- ination East and West. Western Synods grew urgent for more men and more means for the work in their bounds. The missionary spirit in the East appreciated and cordially responded to the call. The meeting of the General Assembly in 1846, at Philadelphia, assembled in the midst of two very di- verse controversies outside of the Church. This mis- sionary question was uppermost in the minds of the Western members, but the slavery question was upper- most in the minds of the Church in the East. The policy of the Assembly was to give ample time and op- portunity for the discussion of that question. " No denomination of Christians in the land devoted a larger portion of the time and strength of its higher court to the discussion of this subject of slavery than the New THE NEW SCHOOL BRANCH. 2OQ School Presbyterians. Nearly the whole time of the Assembly of 1846 was consumed with it. To give every member North and South, conservative and rad- ical, a full and equal opportunity, the roll was called al- ternating between the top and bottom." At the As- sembly resolutions condemning the actual system as opposed to the principles of the law of God, the pre- cepts of the Gospel and the best interests of humanity were adopted by a vote of ninety-two to twenty-nine. The Assembly of 1849 recites preceding actions, and declares in favor of the same position. The Assembly of 1850, at Detroit, Mich., spent almost a week, and then by a vote of eighty-seven to sixteen adopted what is known as the " Detroit Resolution." This looked toward the discipline of slaveholders, unless pecu- liar circumstances relieved the particular case. The Assembly of 1853 reaffirmed the " Detroit Resolution," and asked the Presbyteries in the slaveholding States to lay before the next Assembly distinct statements as to how far the " Detroit Resolution" had been applied, and what effort was being made for the well-being of the enslaved in their religious needs and privileges. In 1856 the debate continued, fomented by the political agitation of that year, and both sides were more de- cided than before. When the Assembly of 1857 con- vened, the Presbytery of Lexington, Mo., notified the Assembly that a number of its ministers and elders held slaves from principle, and believed it right to do so ; and that their position was sustained by the Presbytery. That Assembly declared emphatically " that such doc- trines and practices cannot permanently be tolerated in the Presbyterian Church." The Southern New School Synods immediately withdrew from the body 210 PRESBYTERIANS. and formed themselves into the United Synod of the Presbyterian Church. This was the only great conflict which, after debate, resulted in serious differences dur- ing the thirty-two years of the separate existence of the New School Church. The Western members were not satisfied at the Gen eral Assembly of 1846 at having their missionary enter- prises crowded out by the discussion of the slavery ques- tion. In order more thoroughly to consider this mission- ary business, it was decided to hold an adjourned meeting of the General Assembly the next year in Cincinnati. The measure was without precedent, and Chancellor Kent, of New York, was asked his opinion in regard to its legality. He gave the weight of his authority strongly in favor of the Assembly's right to do so if circum- stances demanded it. Among other notable leaders of the New School body, to the Rev. Thornton A. Mills, D. D., was providentially given the honor of in- augurating most important movements at this juncture. To that adjourned meeting he presented a special overture. This overture called attention to four things : first, the great want of places of public worship ; second, the great need of a system of itinerancy under the direc- tion of the Presbyteries and Synods ; third, the need of measures for the increase of the ministry, and, fourth, for some special provision for the foreign population, especially the Germans. But such measures could not well be carried out if the Assembly met only trien- nially, and its action was essential to the work. Steps were, therefore, taken to resume the policy of annual Assemblies, and able committees were appointed to consider these vast interests of the Church. By ap- pointment Dr. Mills preached on Home Missions to the THE NEW SCHOOL BRANCH. 211 Assembly of 1851. His sermon on the text "Enlarge the place of thy tent," etc., Isaiah 54 : 2, 3, made a pro- found impression, and the Assembly appointed a com- mittee, with Dr. Mills as chairman, to report on the whole subject to the Assembly of 1852. That Assembly of 1852 met in Washington City, with Dr. William Adams, of New York, as Moderator. It was an earnest, hard- working General Assembly, and its results are a part of the history of the Church. Dr. Mills's committee re- ported three recommendations : one on Education for the Ministry ; one on Home Missions, and one on Doctrinal Tracts. The whole policy of the Church was there debated exhaustively. One party, led by many of the older members of the Assembly, still clung to the hope of the possibility of finding some way of doing their denominational work effectively in connection with "voluntary societies." Another, and perhaps younger party, certainly the Western party, insisted upon having some means devised by which the denom- ination should attend to its own business in its own way. Three days were occupied in the discussion. The Western men made their speeches very short and very direct, telling mainly their own experiences, and the facts and embarrassments which existed under present methods. The result was a general conviction that something must be done quickly. Finally, a not- able committee of twelve seven ministers and five elders was appointed to report such new plans of oper- ation as would be suitable under the circumstances. A Committee of Publication was recommended by them. A Western Education Society was proposed, and an Assembly's committee was appointed to confer with the American Home Missionary Society, and if possible 212 PRESBYTERIANS. report some satisfactory method of co-operation. At this meeting two steps were taken of the very first im- portance. Each Presbytery and Synod was directed to appoint a Church Extension Committee ; and each Presbytery or Synod was directed to secure, if possible, an itinerant missionary. The members of that Assembly went home greatly gratified at the progress made. The Church had now a consciousness of a mission among the Churches of Christ, and had resolved to hold on its way, and look after its own safety and prosperity as an organized body. The concurrence of the Home Missionary So- ciety in these plans was confidently expected. It had invited ecclesiastical bodies, Presbyteries and Synods, to become its auxiliaries, and pledged itself not to interfere, in the slightest degree, with denominational work. But the object of the Society left unprovided for some things which the Assembly thought quite in- dispensable to the prosperity of the Church. The Society believed it could not modify its plans to include them, and agreed, with the Assembly's committee, that such objects should be provided for directly by the Assembly. 'Some of these projects were met by tem- porary arrangements with a few individuals ; but these arrangements were not sufficiently permanent and reli- able to be adopted as a future policy. ' In 1855, therefore, the General Assembly established a Church Extension Committee. This step was denounced, in many quar- ters in- the Congregational ranks, as an unfair and un- friendly attempt to gain denominational advantage. The Home Missionary Society took up the contest, and asserted that the step was impairing confidence and diverting funds from its treasury. It was next to im- 913 214 PRESBYTERIANS. possible that a society to establish churches and sup- port pastors should not prefer doing this in such ways as would increase the number of its friends and secure the extension of its territory. Its appointment of mis- sionaries and its appropriations of aid, therefore, were liable to be partial to its own friends, and very certain to be looked upon with suspicion by others. News- paper correspondents on both sides rather aggravated the difficulty. The General Assembly of 1857 ap- pointed a commission to investigate all the facts, learn the principles and modes of administration of the American Home Missionary Society, and to furnish a well-authenticated report to the next General Assembly. That committee did not report until the meeting of the Assembly at Pittsburgh, in 1860. The spirit of that Assembly maybe understood when it is stated that Dr. Thornton A. Mills was its Moderator, and Dr. Robert W. Patterson the retiring Moderator and chairman of the Committee of Bills and Overtures. The body had now grown so large and aggressive that it felt com- petent to organize and work its own system, and, there- fore, at this meeting, it appointed a committee to cor- respond with all the Congregational Associations, and confer with them with reference to the adjustment of the mutual relations of the society and itself, and, if a separation should be found necessary, to agree upon equitable terms. This suggestion was declined by the Associations, and many of them declared their belief that no good could be expected from such negotiations. The next year the Assembly " assumed the responsibil- ity of conducting the work of Home Missions within its own bounds," and instituted a permanent committee, to be known as the Presbyterian Committee of Home THE NEW SCHOOL BRANCH. 21$ Missions. By this act the Assembly left to a sister de- nomination all the unexpended funds and legacies of Presbyterian contributors. The Presbyterian Church had founded the Home Missionary Society, and had sustained it several years before the Congregational brethren came into it, and their present step was only taken in accordance with the obvious indications of Providence, and as a movement essential to proper care for the vigor of their Church throughout the whole country. Very many of the features of the Home Mission pol- icy adopted by the New School Church have been dis- tinctly incorporated into the work of the united Church. The name " Home Missions " was exceedingly striking and apt. Cut of the plan of itinerant missionaries to ex- plore new fields, and aid vacant churches to secure pastors, has grown the present system of synodical missionaries. The whole movement for separate home mission work was greatly promoted by the work of the Church Ex- tension Committee, designed to aid weaker churches in securing houses of worship. In different places West, Home Mission Societies had been organized to collect funds and loan them to aid new churches in building houses of worship. Some single congregations, like the Second of Cincinnati, thus loaned thousands of dollars. The same project was pushed in various Presbyteries and Synods under the leadership of men like Dr. Norton of Alton, Dr. Pat- terson of Chicago, and Dr. Bullard of St. Louis. Considerable sums were thus raised and loaned out by the Synods of Illinois, Peoria, Missouri, Iowa and many others. This policy so commended itself to the whole Church that the Assembly of 1853 instituted the 2l6 PRESBYTERIANS. Church Erection Committee, and resolved to raise by contributions from the churches the sum of one 'hun- dred thousand dollars. This was to constitute a per- manent fund, the interest of which should be loaned to the churches to aid in building houses of worship. The canvass for that sum built up a consciousness of denom- inational unity which was of the utmost value. By the meeting of the General Assembly in 1856 this fund had reached an amount lacking only a few thousand dol- lars for its completion, and on a resolution to take sub- scription on the floor of the Assembly, the $2900 was at once raised. This completed the total sum of $100,000 It was a success for the Church ; gratifying for the time being, but especially valuable for the hope it inspired in its newer churches and mission fields. The reunion period found the Church with a purpose thoroughly fixed on growing into a Continental Church. It was not at any time disturbed by fierce controversies or angry debates. Prof. E. D. Morris of Lane Seminary, who was a leader in its work, and has been deservedly honored since by the reunited Church, says, as he now looks back on it, " The New School Church was zealous for revivals and earnestly sought to raise up a sound and consecrated ministry. On all moral questions, such as Temperance, the Sabbath, etc., it was at the front and sometimes extreme. With a noble company of leaders, the growth of the Church was healthful, and the average of Christian character high. The efforts to save men were earnest, and there was more doctrinal preaching, in my judgment, than is the style in the present day." Rev. E. F. Hatfield, D. D., who was the Stated Clerk of the New School Assembly for the last twenty- three years before the reunion, and Stated Clerk for THE NEW SCHOOL BRANCH. 217 thirteen years after the union, gives this as his estimate of the strength and growth of the denomination : In 1839 there were 75 Presbyteries, 1093 ministers, 138 licentiates and candidates, 1260 churches and 106,736 members. No reports of money given by the churches were required by the General Assembly until 1853. The report for 1869, the last year of the separate exist- ence of the Church, gives 24 Synods, 113 Presbyteries, 1848 ministers, 419 licentiates and candidates, 1631 churches and 172,560 members. The contributions for strictly benevolent purposes were $740,595, and includ- ing money for congregational purposes the financial operations of the Church amounted to $3,620,533. CHAPTER XL REUNION AND CONSOLIDATION. BY the close of the war in 1865 it had become a well settled conviction, with large numbers of the leaders of both branches of the Church, that reunion was only a question of time. This conviction was specially defi- nite on the part of leading laymen. These did not believe the division absolutely called for originally, and they had come to the strong determination to end the separation as early as possible. During the war, every- body was disposed, theologically, to hold still and see what the outcome would be. Previous to the war the slaveholding membership of the New School Church was comparatively small. The slaveholding section of the Old School branch was quite large very able and highly influential. If the Southern Confederacy should succeed in establishing its independence as a nation, there would be no question that the denominations within its territory would be so organized as to be self- governing bodies. If the Southern Confederacy should fail, the question of the duty of the denominations could only be fairly studied in view of the resulting situation. The Christian Commission and the Sanitary Com- mission gave all philanthropic people in the North ample opportunity for evangelistic work in the army, in securing to the soldiers at the front, and their families at home, such physical and spiritual aid as the circum- stances might demand. In these philanthropic move- 218 REUNION AND CONSOLIDATION. 219 ments both branches of Presbyterians worked together side by side. Each had to inquire of the other before he could tell his denominational connection. This co- operation seemed so good that, when it ended with the war, nobody could see any reason why it should not continue in all forms of missionary work. The reunion movement really began in the midst of the war. The Old School General Assembly of 1863 met at Peoria, 111., and of that Assembly Dr. J. H. Morrison, of India, was the Moderator. It was a mis- sionary Assembly, and largely pervaded with the spirit of prayer. Dr. Morrison was elected Moderator in tes- timony of the interest in Foreign Missions. The Old School Assembly in 1862, in Columbus, O., had pro- posed an annual interchange of commissioners between the two Assemblies. This resolution could not reach the New School Assembly until its meeting in Phila- 'delphia in 1863. That Assembly adopted resolutions declaring their heartfelt pleasure in accepting the prop- ositions, and directed that this action should be tele- graphed to the Old School Assembly at Peoria. A special delegation was appointed to communicate the response of the Old School Assembly to the New School body. These delegates were instructed to pro- pose a committee of nine ministers and six ruling elders from each body to constitute a joint committee to con- sider the desirableness and practicability of reunion. This was cordially agreed to by the other Assembly, and the result was the first joint committee on the sub- ject of reunion. It is an interesting fact that before these committees of the two Assemblies could meet as a joint committee, both the chairmen had been disabled from all participation in the conference. Dr. Brainard 22O PRESBYTERIANS. was suddenly translated to the General Assembly above, and Dr. Krebs was disabled by his last illness. Some formalities were required to remove all embar- rassment from the minds of the brethren on the two committees. But soon each understood the other, and a report was agreed upon by the joint committee to be presented to both Assemblies in 1867. On almost every question there was general har- mony. The pivotal point was with reference to the common standards. At first it was supposed that there must be some agreement upon the method of inter- pretation of these standards. Neither branch had amended or changed the Westminster standards ; but it was supposed that there was serious difference in their interpretation. So this first reunion report de- clared that " the Confession of Faith shall continue to be sincerely received and adopted as containing the system of doctrine taught in the Holy Scriptures, and its fair historical sense as it is accepted by the two bodies in opposition to Antinomianism and Fatalism on the one hand, and to Arminianism and Pelagianism on the other, shall be regarded as the sense in which it is received and adopted." This was looked on by many as an excellent solution of the supposed doctrinal differ- ences. It was soon felt, however, that there would be as much need of interpreting the basis of union so adopted as there would be in interpreting the Con- fession of Faith. The more this sentence was studied the more unsatisfactory it became. It was finally agreed to by a considerable majority of the New School Presbyteries, as they held that to be the method in which they had always accepted the Confession of Faith. The debate upon the whole subject was able REUNION AND CONSOLIDATION. 221 and very discriminating, and accomplished the rapid education of the ministers of either branch concerning the views held by the ministers of the other. A good deal of influence in the progress of the whole movement had been exerted through voluntary conven- tions of the friends of union, The General Assembly of 1864 of the Old School branch met at Newark, N. J. Outside of the members of the Assembly them- selves, there was a large attendance of prominent ministers and laymen from both branches of the Church. During the meeting of that Assembly an informal con- vention was called for conference upon the expediency and feasibility of organic reunion. This convention had no authority, but its meetings brought together very many persons from both branches for prayer and exchange of views. A paper prepared by Dr. J. G. Monfort was adopted and signed by seventy ministers and fifty-three elders. That paper contained an explicit avowal of an earnest desire to secure complete and perfect reunion between the two bodies. This is claimed to have been the first public gathering that declared itself undisguisedly in favor of reunion. Its declaration served as a rallying point for the friends of reunion in all branches of the Presbyterian Church. Another of the most influential meetings in favor of reunion was the " Presbyterian National Union Con- vention." This assembled in Philadelphia in 1867, and was presided over by George H. Stuart, the noted president of the Christian Commission during the war, and a leading elder of the Reformed Presbyterian Church. Its avowed object was not merely the reunion of the Old and New School Presbyterian Churches, but the union of all branches of the Presby- 222 PRESBYTERIANS. terian family of all denominations. The particular union which was most prominent in the minds of all was, undoubtedly, the union between the Old and New Schools which was then pending in the joint committee before referred to ; but the convention really looked to a much larger result. Those who were opposed to the reunion of the Old and New School bodies had looked upon the convention with very earnest disfavor. Not a few had come to the convention with the pro- claimed purpose of opposing all union. It is, however, a pretty difficult task for pious men to meet Christian brethren and pray for division. That convention closed with the best of feeling, and the members scat- tered to their homes with a conviction that the special providence of God, and the powerful manifestation of his Spirit, had alone prevented acrimonious debate and possibly division in the convention 1 itself. Many who went to the convention avowed antagonists of reunion came away earnestly working and praying for it. About this time there grew up a widespread feeling that church unity was after all a question of personal confidence. When the two branches had come to believe in each other, there was not much need of carefully guarded and explicit statements about fair historical modes of interpretation. It would be an interesting fact of history (if it could be ascertained) where the phrase originated which finally became so popular. Somebody must first have said that he was in favor of reunion " on the basis of the Standards pure and simple." That expression aptly met the wishes of those who were willing to trust each other. A paper was drawn up in Pittsburgh in favor of this as the basis pf reunion. Among its signers was Rev. David Elliot, REUNION AND CONSOLIDATION. 223 D. D., the Moderator of the General Assembly at the division in 1837. The first part of the paper was written by Dr. A. A. Hodge, Professor of Theology in Allegheny. The influence of that paper upon the dis- cussion, toward the close of the preliminary negotiations, was very marked. It was projected into the public mind when the whole subject of reunion was in quite a tangled condition. Some of the Presbyteries WILSON COLLEGE (FEMALE), CHAMBERSRURG, PA. had adopted one part of the overtures on reunion and rejected other parts. Other Presbyteries still had adopted different parts. Others had adopted the whole. The result was in such chaos that no one could very well determine what the real mind of the Church was. Informal modifications of the basis of reunion had been suggested by various Presbyteries ; and the Old School part of the joint committee had been discharged. In 1868 Dr. Musgrave had suggested to the Old School Assembly that the basis should consist of but one article, and this should be the " doc- trinal one." This should contain only the Standards, leaving all other matters for readjustment after the reunion took place. This suggestion was not at first 224 PRESBYTERIANS. favorably received, but the Presbytery of Philadelphia, just before the General Assembly of 1869, had repeated that proposition to the General Assembly. It was thus in the mind of the whole Church as a good sug- gestion, to be carefully considered. It looked like coming back to the basis of mutual confidence. By this time it was obvious that the only question was one of method, and not one of fact and purpose. " Re- union was in the air," and in the minds of men, and in the symptoms and signs of the kingdom of God. The antagonists to reunion "with every basis and on every basis " were comparatively few. It could hardly be said to have been providential that both Assemblies of 1869 convened in New York City. It was more the result of preconcerted arrangement on the part of the leaders than of mere inscrutable Providence. The Old School Assembly of that year was the largest that had ever convened in the entire history of the Church, ex- cept on three occasions. One of these was before the disruption, and the two others were just before the separation of the Southern Church. The New School Assembly was the largest of that body that had ever assembled. It lacked only thirty-six persons of being equal in number to the Old School Assembly. A joint Assembly would have numbered five hundred and fifty- five. The formal meetings of the two Assemblies were preceded by a joint prayer meeting of the members and others in the Brick Church. At that prayer meeting it was understood that the subject of reunion was so delicate that it should not be introduced. But those plans of prudence were all in vain. It is not so easy to shut out the light of the morning. The subject of reunion was referred to in the first prayer offered, and REUNION AND CONSOLIDATION. 22$ the first speaker plainly broached the matter. Every exercise tended toward the reunion sentiment. It was the first time the brethren had come together under such circumstances, and the precious ointment loaded the air with its fragrance. The whole community was in full sympathy with the movement. It was suggested that the brethren of the New School Church were not as enthusiastic as those of the Old School Church ; but for this there was ample ex- planation. In all the propositions made by the joint committee on reunion, the New School Church had cordially accepted the report of the joint committee. The opposition had come almost wholly from the Old School side. Not a few New School men believed that there had been time enough occupied in fruitless over- tures, and their desire was for a prompt and final de- cision. To many, time often seems wasted when it is occupied by these preliminaries. The route of reunion had been a very circuitous one, considering that the apparent starting-place was such a short distance from the final outcome now at hand. Almost every con- ceivable basis of reunion had been proposed, debated in the newspapers, or voted on in some Assembly or Presbytery. The universal feeling now was that no new basis was needed. Both branches of the Church had been standing on the same platform at the same eleva- tion ; and all that was needed was simply that the two platforms should be joined and the floor would be smooth enough even for old people. The proposition that the two Assemblies should then and there unite, " on the Standards pure and simple," was seriously con- sidered. If it had been proposed and advocated by a considerable number of the leaders in each Assembly, 226 PRESBYTERIANS. it would almost undoubtedly have been carried. It was better that more patient counsels prevailed, and that when the Assemblies were formally organized the motion should be adopted for committees of conference .on reunion. Very strong committees were they, which were appointed for that conference. The members on the part of the Old School branch were Drs. Musgrave, Hall, Atwater, Lord and Wilson, and Ruling Elders Drake, Francis, Carter, Grier and Day. On the part of the New School the members were Drs. Adams, Stearns, Patterson, Fisher and Shaw, with Elders Strong, Haines, Dodge, Farrand and Knight. Better men did not exist in either branch or in any branch of the evangelical Churches in this country, They were set to do an honorable thing in an honorable way, and being men of pure minds, clear heads and firm pur- pose they had no great difficulty in discovering that way. They were not a little helped by various outside meetings during the Assemblies. The elders of the two Assemblies held joint prayer meetings. The two As- semblies were brought together by the hospitable people of New York at a public reception. They heard each other preach on the Sabbath days, and by and by early prayer meetings were convened on the days of the busi- ness sessions. Members of the different Assemblies were entertained at the same hotels. In the hotel, in the omnibuses, in the street cars, going to church and coming from church, the subject was talked over in every aspect, and differences continued to disappear. Finally the joint committee unanimously agreed upon a report. The vote in the Old School Assembly for the adoption of the report stood 285 to 9. In the New REUNION AND CONSOLIDATION. 22/ School Assembly by a rising vote the report was de- clared adopted unanimously. There was no formal pro- test entered even by the persistent minority in the Old School Assembly; and the plan of the joint committee was overtured to the Presbyteries in sharp, categor- ical form. It was to be answered by a simple "yes " or " no " on the part of each Presbytery. Scattered throughout the Church there were a few men of marked ability that to the very last doubted the wisdom and safety of the step. Previous Assemblies had received and recorded able protests, not so much against the method of reunion as against the thing itself. To these protests ample and conclusive answers had been adopted by the Assemblies. At last both bodies were substantially a unit upon the subject. So confident were all parties that the Presbyteries would adopt the basis of union thus sent down to them, that when the Assemblies adjourned, they adjourned to meet in Pittsburgh that same autumn. The vote of each As- sembly had been formally announced to the other. , It was well known before the announcement what the re- port would be ; but the formality of the announcement was the opportunity for an outburst of applause. When they adjourned, it was only to be separated for a brief six months, and then to reassemble on the loth day of November, the New School body in the Third Presby- terian Church of Pittsburgh, and the Old School body in the First Presbyterian Church of the same city. The secular press, as well as the religious, was active and earnest for reunion. A very prominent statesman said after the separation of the Northern and Southern sec- tions of the Presbyterian Church at Philadelphia, in 1 86 1, that he had little hope of the country now that 228 PRESBYTERIANS. the Presbyterian Church was divided. Large-minded men outside of the Presbyterian fold believed that the reunion of the Old School and New School Churches would be a great matter for the unity of the whole country. When the Assemblies met together at Pittsburgh, the report to the Old School Assembly showed that there were in existence one hundred and forty-four Pres- byteries. Of these one hundred and twenty-eight answered the overture in the affirmative, and but three in the negative. Of the thirteen that did not answer, some were in the foreign field, others were so situated in the home field that the members could not get together for an extra meeting. Some who could not formally meet had sent a circular letter around the membership and forwarded that letter signed by a majority of their whole number. In the New School body there were one hundred and thirteen Presbyteries. Official responses had been received from all of them, and every Presbytery had voted in the affirmative. These facts were fully known before the Assemblies convened, but their announcement was loudly applauded and gave universal satisfaction. Through the summer, as the votes of the Presbyteries were reported, numerous records were kept, and long before all the Presbyteries had recorded their votes, it was known that sufficient had voted in the affirmative to carry the reunion, no matter what the others did. When the Assemblies, therefore, came together, the question of the method of executing the reunion had been carefully thought out by the joint committee on reunion, and all the arrangements had been fully planned. The reports of the votes of the Presbyteries of each REUNION AND CONSOLIDATION. 22 9 Assembly were to be first received by the Assemblies to which they belonged ; and then, at ten o'clock on the Friday following the day of meeting, committees were to notify the other Assembly of the final action. The Assemblies met on Wednesday, November 10, 1869. The afternoon of that day, and the business ART BUILDING, LAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY, LAKE FOREST, ILL. hours of the day following, sufficed for the little routine business matters which needed attention, and forgetting the reports of the Presbyteries and the various com- mittees before their Assemblies and by them adopted. At ten o'clock on Friday, November 12, 1869, both Assemblies had heard the reports of their own Pres- byteries, and from their committees the official noti- fication of the other Assembly. Each Assembly then formally adjourned to meet in the First Church in Philadelphia on the first Thursday of May, 1870. By this method the meeting of the Assembly in Phila- 236 PRESBYTERIANS. delphia, in 1870, was the legal official successor of each of these Assemblies. This avoided all possibility of legal controversy. But some manifestation of the reunion must of course be had during this Pittsburgh meeting. The New School Assembly, therefore, promptly left the Third Church and marched, single file, clown past the First Church, where the Old School Assembly had gath- ered. Upon the appearance of Rev. P. H. Fowler, D. D., its .Moderator, at the head of the New School line, the Old School Assembly, in single file, led by its Moderator, Rev. M. W. Jacobus, D. D., marched out of the church, and the two Assemblies then marched along opposite sides of the street until both bodies were paraded before the thousands who from the street windows and sidewalks watched the ceremony. They then halted, and facing each other, met in the middle of the street, shook hands, and in double file, led by their Moderators arm in arm, proceeded to the Third Church for a mass meeting celebrating the event. The public enthusiasm, as well as that of the members of the Assem- blies, seemed to know no bounds ; and a continuous ova- tion of clapping hands, waving signals of joy, and cheers from the people greeted the body on their way to ratify, by public sentiment, what had already been accom- plished by legal form. The meeting was a thanksgiving celebration and not a business meeting. It was the climax up to which previous meetings had fitly led the public feeling, and from which subsequent meetings fitly carried on the sentiment of consecration to the enlarged work for the reunited Church. An immense mass meeting in the in- terest of Home Missions had been held in the First fcEUNION AND CONSOLIDATION. 23! Church the night preceding. Aggressive Home Mis- sion work was one of the objects sought in the reunion. A similar meeting in behalf of Foreign Missions was held on the following evening, and both were largely attended by the members of the Assemblies. On the afternoon of that famous Friday the two Assemblies met that they might, as members of one body, partake of the Lord's Supper. One of the addresses at the table was made by the Rev. R. K. Rodgers, a descend- ant of the John Rodgers who, in 1789, had .been the first Moderator of the General Assembly. But such a mass meeting as was held that morning could not adjourn without doing something. Able ad- dresses had been made by the two Moderators, and amid prolonged and deafening applause, at the close of his address, Dr. Fowler turned to Dr. Jacobus and they grasped hands. Dr. David Elliot, who had been Moderator at the time of the division in 1837, was on the platform, and under the metaphor of a marriage at which he imagined Jesus Christ, the Great High Priest of our profession, as officiating, Dr. Jacobus addressed particularly Dr. Elliot, and said : " If there be any person present who knows of any reason, just and suf- ficient, why these parties may not be lawfully united let him speak, or ever after hold his peace." On behalf of the public, after a pause, Dr. Elliot said : " I know of none." George H. Stuart, who was a sympathetic spectator, though of another denomination, said : " Whom God hath joined together let not man put asunder." And Dr. Jacobus added, "In the name of God, Amen." Amens sounded throughout the house. Subsequent addresses were made by Dr. G. W. Mus- grave, Dr. Wm. Adams, Dr. John Hall, Hon. Wm. 232 PRESBYTERIANS. Strong of the United States Supreme Court, C. D. Drake, then a United States Senator from Missouri, Hon. Henry Day and William E. Dodge of New York, and George H. Stuart of Philadelphia. Prayers had been offered by Dr. E. F. Hatfield and Robert Carter of New York. Dr. S. W. Fisher, of the Committee of Arrange- ments, had been appointed to report some suitable method of commemorating the reunion. As chairman of the sub-committee for that purpose he presented a paper recommending that the reunited Church raise a " Memorial Fund of One Million Dollars," as a special offering to the treasury of the Lord. An amendment to make it five millions was at once made and accepted, and then the whole suggestion was unanimously carried. A committee of leading laymen was appointed to take charge of the movement. This committee promptly elected Rev. F. F. Ellinwood, D. D., as Secretary of that Memorial Fund. Dr. Ellinwood had been the Secretary of Church Erection for the New School body, and was known to be eminently enterprising, ac- tive and practical. The objects assigned as suitable for the reception of gifts were " Theological and other educational buildings in this country, and especially among freedmen. and like institutions in the Foreign Field, church buildings, manses, hospitals, or orphan asylums in connection with our churches, and special contributions for permanent endowments of our own enterprises of every form." Under the appeal of this committee, the ingenuity and ambition of the Church was stimulated to take up all sorts of helpful enterprises as connected with church work, and include them in their memorial contributions. The committee made its REUNION AND CONSOLIDATION*. 233 final report to the General Assembly of 1872, and re- ported the magnificent sum of $7,833,983.85. Some sport was made out of some of the objects included in the memorial contributions by some of the weaker churches. Some included new organs, new towers for the church buildings, new horse-sheds and various im- provements likely to increase the comfort of their pastor and the size of their congregations. Investiga- tion subsequently, however, showed that the amount of these debatable contributions actually included in the sum total was small. The real contributions to the actual Working power of the Church was far in excess of the five millions originally proposed. It is a good thing for any denomination every ten or twenty years to stir up the enthusiasm of its members to overhaul the entire plant of its church work, and re- place or reconstruct all defective buildings or insuffi- cient machinery. People may be planning such things for years, but a great concurrent movement changes these suggestions from mere indefinite plans to actual accomplished helps. It is a great blessing to the Church throughout its entire length and breadth to have before it for some years the history of ks past, the con- dition of its present and the tasks of its future, to be carefully resurveyed by all its ministers and people. During the progress of the raising of the Memorial Fund much fear was expressed in various directions lest such an extra effort would cut down the regular contributions to church work, and so be an injury rather than a benefit. A few years after it was over, however, Dr. Ellinwood was able to show by actual figures that, instead of interfering with regular work, it made the gifts to the church enterprises greater than 234 PRESBYTERIANS. before. Enlargement of the heart is a dangerous dis- ease for the body ; but it is metaphorically a very healthy process for the spiritual nature. No Church ever died of giving too much. The campaign for the Centenary Fund for the Endowment of the Ministerial Relief Board had precisely the same history. It was feared as liable to overtax the Church, but, in fact, it was an education for the church members in the whole scope of church machinery. Gifts have been greater in all directions ever since. CHAPTER XII. READJUSTMENTS CONSTANTLY NECESSITATED BY LARGE- NESS AND GROWTH. THE highest judicatory of a small denomination can take time at its sessions to consider the de- tails of the church work of its separate congregations. When the Presbyterian Church was included in one Presbytery, or even when it was all controlled by one small Synod, it was possible that each transfer of a minister from one field to another should be considered, and each vacant church listened to while it applied for the means of grace. As denominations grow larger, however, time cannot be taken to consider all these cases. The early Synods and General Assemblies lis- tened attentively to " appeal cases " of discipline where private members were dissatisfied with the decision of their Session. What was possible, however, when the total number of ministers was one hundred or less, and the churches numbered less than two hundred, was not possible when there came to be five thousand ministers and more than five thousand churches. One by one, throughout the history of the Church, steps have been taken to relieve the General Assembly of these details of local administration. The General Assembly sits, ordinarily, less than two weeks. The Supreme Court of the United States is in session oftentimes six months, and yet the Court is over two years behind its business. Complaint is often made that important matters are 235 236 PRESBYTERIANS. crowded out of the Assembly by other matters which some do not consider important. But the General As- sembly cannot consider everything in a ten days' ses- sion. From the reunion onward, various methods have been adopted to enable the General Assembly to con- sider the great permanent questions of policy, and give it relief from being taxed by minor matters. The first meeting of the reunited General Assembly, in 1870, had its hands full with the work of reconstruc- tion. The members of that Assembly were elected by the Presbyteries, as these Presbyteries had been con- structed by the separate branches of the Church pre- vious to the reunion. The Reunion Committee had reported certain Concurrent Resolutions, and these in- cluded the readjustment of all matters of boundaries by the reunited Assembly when it convened. This compelled a reconstruction of all the Synods, and then to these reconstructed Synods was referred the business of reconstructing all the Presbyteries. It was decided to proceed in this work by geographical boundaries, so that each minister and church should be subject to that Presbytery or Synod within whose physical terri- tory the party naturally belonged. At the same meeting of the General Assembly a proj- ect was attempted of consolidating the treasurerships of all the various boards. At present each board has its own treasurer and keeps its own books. It was thought that a central treasurer would simplify matters and reduce expenses. To a certain extent this project overlooked the importance of the treasurer as an ad- viser for the board. His work gives him intimate knowledge of the churches, great familiarity with the men, and exact acquaintance with the field. No secre- READJUSTMENTS CONSTANTLY NECESSITATED. 237 tary, or member of any board, is more familiar with the details of that board's work than its treasurer. The project of having a single treasurer for all the boards of the Church, therefore, failed, as the Church came to see the importance of this officer and of his kind of knowledge for the efficient work of the board itself. At various times since the reunion much clamor has been raised in favor of the " consolidation " of some of these boards. At first sight it looks as if Home Mis- sions and Freedmen surely could be consolidated. Ed- ucation and College Aid seem to be so much in the same line, that many think these could be one board. Home Missions and Church Erection occupy and inspect the same fields, and many times aid the same churches. But things which look plausible as a new suggestion are sometimes found to be extremely impracticable, when examination is had of all the bearings of the case. Boards which represent a great Church like the Presby- terian Church must adapt themselves to the wishes of givers, to the needs of various fields, and oftentimes to the prejudices of those who are to do the work. Vested rights and titles to property grow out of the peculiar- ities of the situation. The Board of Freedmen carries on all sorts of work which may be demanded by the people whose interest and welfare the Board seeks. The Board of Church Erection is the recipient of nu- merous gifts from persons willing to help particular churches. Bequests or gifts are granted to the Board in trust for certain uses ; and the destruction of the Board, or its consolidation with anything else, might se- riously jeopardize property rights. The Board of Col- lege Aid is continually dealing with the corporation laws of various States. College charters must be good both READJUSTMENTS CONSTANTLY NECESSITATED. 239 in the particular State of its location and under the United States law. The work of each board has its perplexities and peculiarities, and though the cry for " consolidation " has often gone out from the Church and seemed to have great popularity, yet no scheme whereby considerable consolidation could be secured has yet been devised which would obviate the difficulties of the case. One great burden long felt by the General Assembly was the careful and sufficient trial of judicial cases. Sometimes methods of relief have been adopted that could scarcely be defended in accordance with the strict construction of the Form of Government. A some- what inexperienced member of the Judicial Committee of a certain General Assembly asked the chairman of his committee what the duties of the committee were. The chairman replied, with more regard to facts than to the constitution : " The business of our committee is to find some way to save the General Assembly from wasting time on judicial cases." This need of relieving the General Assembly from the burden of judicial busi- ness was one strong reason which led the Church, about 1880, to amend the Form of Government? so that the de- cisions of Synods should be final in all cases not involv- ing doctrine or government. (See Form of Govern- ment, Chap. IT, Sec. 4.) This was the rule in the New School Presbyterian Church adopted in 1840. It is not often that a Synod and a Presbytery both shall be en- tirely wrong as to their understanding of the facts of a given case. This is especially true if the Synod shall cover a large State, and so shall include in its member- ship those not likely to be influenced by local feelings and prejudices. 240 PRESBYTERIANS. As part of the system, therefore, of diminishing the work of the General Assembly by increasing the work of the Synods, the General Assembly of 1881 consolidated the Synods so as to make them generally conform to State bounds. Where a State is small, like Delaware or West Virginia, it was coupled with a larger State. Since 1881 most of the Synods include the Pres- byteries within a single State. if, however, the old method of having every minister a member of Synod, and giving every church a right to an elder, had been still in force, these State Synods would have been un- reasonably large. That rule, if now in force, would have made the total possible membership of the Synod of Pennsylvania amount to 2 109 persons and the Synod of Ohio 1117 persons. To avoid this difficulty, the Church adopted in 1880 a rule authorizing Synods to become " delegated bodies." The number of delegates from each Presbytery is decided by the Synod and its Presbyteries themselves. In some cases it is one min- ister for every six members of Presbytery ; in other cases it is one for every eight or ten. As a fact it has been found that the change of a Synod from a body where all ministers are members, to a delegated body where only a certain number from each Presbytery can be members, has not seriously diminished the size of the meetings of the Synod. Where attendance is vol- untary a large number cannot go owing to health and special pressure of business. Others cannot go owing to distance and expense. Where a Synod is a dele- gated body, Presbyteries usually elect those who indicate beforehand their ability to attend. By this process the work of the Synods has been made highly important, and the work of the General Assembly greatly diminished. READJUSTMENTS CONSTANTLY NECESSITATED. 241 From the earliest history of Presbyterianism it has been recognized as the right of the General Assembly or a Synod to appoint a Commission clothed with the power of Synod to discharge certain duties. Such Commissions have not been uncommon in Presbyterian Churches in other countries. The early Synod ap- pointed an annual Commission, and theoretically clothed that Commission with the whole power of the Synod. This made the Commission somewhat like the Synod sitting the whole year, and adjourning from time to time as business might require. It was not, therefore, a new suggestion that "Judicial Commissions" might be appointed. It was simply an adaptation of a prin- ciple of church government always previously recog- nized, that it might now be applied to a more careful trying of judicial cases. In 1879, therefore, an overture was sent down from the General Assembly to the Presbyteries for such an amendment to the Constitu- tion as would authorize the appointment of a special Ju- dicial Commission for each case. The decision of such a Commission is to be reported to the body that appointed it. This has been found to be a good solution of the question of time. It is a good solution also, as to the question of securing suitable persons to try appeal cases. Many a minister or prudent elder may be an excellent speaker and a very pious man without being at the same time an ecclesiastical judge, and a person compe- tent to sift evidence and measure its weight. These Judicial Commissions are appointed for the purpose of having the most suitable men to try each case. Most commonly these Judicial Commissions are in fact Com- missions of Arbitration, as their members are agreed upon by the parties to the case. The decision of the 242 PRESBYTERIANS. Commission is reported to the appointing body, and entered on its records. The proposition for a perma- nent Judicial Commission had been presented to, dis- cussed and dismissed without action in the Old School Assemblies of 1849, T ^54 an d 1855. It was up again in 1866, and this time an overture on the subject was sent down to the Presbyteries and defeated in them. These discussions prepared the Church for this step of special Judicial Commissions as a good mode of pro- cedure for the higher Church Judicatories in appeal cases. The old book of church discipline had been drawn when the Church was comparatively small, and its membership not widely scattered. Constantly, as the Church grew, various amendments were advocated, and various propositions at different times were con- sidered for submitting to the Church a Revised Book of Discipline. It is probable that the Old School Presbyterian Church would have adopted substantially the report of its committee for the revision of its Book of Discipline in 1863, Dut tnat reunion was then in sight. It was thought that a new Book of Discipline adopted by either would increase the obstacles to such a reunion, and the project was, therefore, in 1864 abandoned. But in the General Assembly of 1878 a committee on the revision of the Book of Discipline was appointed. Of that committee Rev. E. R. Craven, D. D., was chairman. He and his committee labored for years, corresponding with the ablest ministers and laymen in the Church, and securing suggestions from every quarter. The committee made its final report to the General Assembly in 1883. The report was ap- proved by that Assembly, and sent down as an over- READJUSTMENTS CONSTANTLY NECESSITATED. 243 ture for adoption or rejection by the Presbyteries. When the Assembly of 1884 came together, it was manifest that the report was adopted. But at the same time it was obvious that there was very widespread objection to a few features of the report. The com- mittee of the Assembly of 1884, to consider the answers of the Presbyteries, reported to the General Assembly that the whole was adopted ; but that the adoption or rejection of those parts most numerously objected to by the Presbyteries would not interfere with the in- tegrity of the book, and recommended the General Assembly to declare the New Book of Discipline adopted, but yet to send down certain sections for a second vote from the Presbyteries, which vote should be taken separately on the specified chapters and sec- tions. The question of the votes on these specified sections reached the General Assembly of 1885, ano ^ the present Book of Discipline is the outcome of that process of revision. It is not likely that any book of discipline could be framed to which there would not be objection from some quarter. The present book seems to be generally satisfactory to the Church. The com- mittee sought to make it so consistent, simple and definite that every Session, Presbytery or Synod could find in it intelligible directions for dealing with every actual case. . The growth of the mission work in many of the For- eign fields has long ago resulted in the organization of Presbyteries and Synods, as well as of churches. The spirit of union was active and influential in these fields. Among these people the sentiment of patriotism led the native converts to desire a church organization and name in connection with their own country. It seemed 244 PRESBYTERIANS. to these native Christians an unreasonable thing that their church membership should remain in a denomina- tion whose national locality was on the other side of the globe. In the Roman Catholic sections of the American continent this national jealousy plays a more conspicuous part in interfering with missionary work than in any other part of the world. American mis- sionaries are charged with being national emissaries of this government, and native church members are charged by their own government with disloyalty. The time had come when this question of national Churches in Brazil and Japan required prompt solution. It was the embarrassment of success. If our missions in these countries had remained but small, and there had been no disposition among Presbyterian mission- aries belonging to other Presbyterian denominations to unite together in a national Presbyterian Church, things would have gone on as they had heretofore done. This matter was brought before the General As- sembly of 1886 at Minneapolis, and an able committee, with Dr. D. W. Fisher, President of Hanover College, as its chairman, was appointed to consider and report upon the whole subject. At the meeting of the General As- sembly in Omaha, in 1887, this committee recommended the Assembly to approve of the union of our mission- aries, and the churches under our care, in such fields as might seem to the missionaries proper to co-operate therein in establishing a national Presbyterian Church. There was great reluctance in adopting this report, as it would seem to sever the beloved Foreign mission- aries from the Presbyteries and Synods and home churches, with which they were united in the tenderest affections. However obvious might appear the ultimate READJUSTMENTS CONSTANTLY NECESSITATED. 24$ necessity of such a course, the Church was scarcely willing to take the step at that time. The speeches of some of the missionaries who were members of that Assembly probably turned the tide and settled the vote. They said they had not gone out into the Foreign work from sentimental motives, but from a sense of duty. To them it seemed that if the prosperity of the kingdom called for the sundering of these ties, and the unification and identification of the missionaries with the converts and congregations which had resulted from their labor, their duty was to accept this result of success, and unite with the churches in an appeal to patriotism, as well as religion, to push forward the work. Foreign missionaries who were thus ecclesi- astically severed from the home churches are still to be retained upon the rolls of the Foreign Board, receive their support from the Foreign Board, and, whether men or women, have equal right to future help, as their cases may require, from the Board of Ministerial Relief. It was a tender and trying ordeal through which the Church at home and her missionary force abroad were compelled to pass ; and yet to it all parties were com- pelled by the largeness of the growth and the prospec- tive success of the great work. Throughout the whole history of the Church its increased membership has compelled a change in the " Ratio of Representation " for the constitution of the General Assembly. When in i 788 the Synod came to organize the General Assembly, the ratio of representa- tion was fixed as one minister and one elder for every six ministers in a Presbytery. In 1819 the ratio was changed to one minister and one elder for every nine ministers in a Presbytery. In 1826 the ratio was 246 PRESBYTERIANS. changed to a minister and an elder for every twelve ministers in a Presbytery. In 1833 it was changed to a minister and an elder for every twenty-four ministers. When the reunion came in 1870, this basis made a membership of 595. It was felt that this made a very large body for efficient work, and the steady growth of the first few years showed that some method must be adopted for limiting the number of members in the General Assem- bly. The first project hit upon and persistently pushed was what was known as " Synodical Representation." The members of the General Assembly have always been elected by the Presbyteries. Presbyteries must meet frequently, and should not cover too large a ter- ritorial space. Synods meet but once a year, and may cover (as they do now) entire States. If the right to elect members of the General Assembly was transferred from the Presbyteries to the Synods, it was thought that it could be put in a permanently manageable shape. By reducing the ratio year after year from the Synods, as had been previously done for the Presby- teries, the Assembly could always be kept to a mem- bership of three or four hundred. Year after year overtures for this change in the form of government were sent down from the General Assembly. Each time the proposition was defeated in the Presbyteries. At a General Assembly, where the question was certain to come up as again defeated in the Presbyteries, a leading minister was asked what was proposed to be done in the matter of limiting the size of the Assembly. He replied : " Synodical representation is the only thing that will do it ; and we must keep on sending that overture down until the Presbyteries shall feel READJUSTMENTS CONSTANTLY NECESSITATED. 247 compelled to adopt it." It was sent down again, and more overwhelmingly defeated than ever before. Since that time it has been abandoned. But the growing size of the Assembly, and the expense of its meetings, absolutely demanded some remedy. Various plans were proposed to the Presby- teries and rejected. In 1884 several requests from different sections came asking some relief. The present rule, sent down in 1884, was adopted in 1885. "Each Presbytery, consisting of not more than twenty-four ministers, shall send one minister and one elder ; and an additional minister and an elder for each additional fractional number of ministers not less than twelve." But even this still gives a General Assembly, as in 1891, of 533. This would be an unendurable financial burden if the expenses had been left on the members and entertainment was to be provided by the Presbyterians of the city where the Assembly was convened. In early times ministers had to pay their own trav- eling expenses in going to the General Assembly. Otherwise, though rarely, these expenses were paid by the Presbytery which sent them. When the Atlantic Coast was mission territory, and the Alkghany Moun- tains and the Mississippi Valley were fields to be trav- ersed by itinerant missionaries, going to the General Assembly at Philadelphia was a great burden in those days of hard travel. Members often went hundreds of miles on horseback. It took longer time to go and longer time to return than was occupied by the meet- ing. As early as 1735, tne Synod recommended the churches to raise funds to defray the expenses of their elders in attending Synod. The meetings of Synod were usually held in Philadelphia, as the center 248 PRESBYTERIANS. of the Church. This made the long journeys come upon the mission Presbyteries, and the short trips fall to the lot of the richer pastors and elders. The project of a mileage fund, raised by collections in the richer churches, recommended in 1803 was not much of a success, though the spirit of it was most admirable. When the meetings of the Assembly came to be scat- tered over the country in various places, Presbyteries found it a more practicable task to bear the expenses of their own delegates. But when finally there came to be Synods and Presbyteries on the Pacific Coast, in the Rocky Mountains, and through the whole West, honorable men, ministers and laymen, saw that it was an unfair thing permanently to load these men with the expense of attending the meetings in the East, or else altogether deprive those Presbyteries of the privilege of being represented in these Assemblies. The whole subject was carefully discussed at the meeting of the General Assembly at Chicago, in 1877. It was there proposed that in addition to the Mileage Fund provided by the General Assembly and assessed by the Assembly as a per capita tax from the whole Church, there should also be added a certain sum as an " Entertainment Fund" to be expended by the local committee of arrangements of the General Assembly in caring for the members. Previous to that time the Assembly had gone only to such places as had in- vited it, with an implied promise of entertainment gratis to members in the homes of the Presbyterian people of the city. It looked for a time as if there would be no invitation for the Assembly of 1878. When the suggestion was made that a respectable sum should be furnished as as Entertainment Fund, several READJUSTMENTS CONSTANTLY NECESSITATED. 249 persons said that this solution of the difficulty would be complete. At such places as Saratoga and other " Watering Places," entertainment could be provided for the whole body for the ordinary duration of a session, at houses within easy reach of the meetings. Since then the annual assessment has been seven cents per communicant ; four cents of this for mileage, one and one-half cents for entertainment, and one and one-half cents for the Contingent Fund. The total amount received from this assessment in 1891 was $5^725.97. Fifty thousand dollars seems a large sum to be ex- pended in securing a full attendance and suitable enter- tainment of the members for a meeting of the General Assembly. It is to be remembered, however, that this sum includes all the expenses of the executive adminis- tration of the Presbyterian Church. If a Church will in- sist upon growing to a membership of six thousand two hundred and twenty-three ministers, with seven thou- sand and seventy churches and eight hundred and six thousand seven hundred and ninety-six communicants, it cannot expect to run so large a machine with the small amount of money which the same demonination required, with less than two hundred ministers and not four hundred churches. There are very few Presby- teries wherein the assessment amounts to over ten cents a member. Seven cents of this are for the General As- sembly assessment, and the other three cents per mem- ber for Presbyterial and Synodical expenses. Ten cents per member is not a large sum to be expended by a denomination whose total financial operations in 1891 footed up $13,961,211. At ten cents per member it would amount to about $80,000, or very much less than 250 PRESBYTERIANS. one per cent, of the whole financial income of the Church. The question is often asked whether the meetings of the General Assembly are worth the amount of money which such meetings cost. The question is seldom raised by those who have been privileged to attend these annual gatherings of the Church. The public sen- MACALASTER- COLLEGE, ST. PAUL, MINN. timentof the denomination has insisted that the time of the Assembly shall not be given up to unimportant or local matters ; but that the great questions that belong to the whole Church shall have a full hearing and ample consideration. These propositions are pre-eminently such as are in the hands of the Boards. The benevo- lent movements managed by these Boards are the en- terprises to which the gifts of the people go, and from which this rapid growth of the past has come. In order, therefore, that at the General Assembly these Boards may have timely consideration, and full notice of the hour when that consideration shall be had, and a READJUSTMENTS CONSTANTLY NECESSITATED. 2$1 good opportunity to prepare their reports and addresses before that time, " Standing Orders " have been fixed by the Assembly, and in a certain sense a programme mapped out for the consideration of every such cause. That programme of " Standing Orders " is itself an inter- esting study, and indicates clearly the missionary spirit of the denomination. It shows that a resolute purpose is adhered to for pushing these benevolent enterprises. To Home Missions and to Foreign Missions, each, there are assigned two and one-half hours. To Education, Publication, Church Erection, Ministerial Relief, Freed- men, Temperance and Aid for Colleges one and one- half hours each. This time is given in the midst of the business sessions as follows : Ministerial Relief, first Saturday morning ; Freedmen, first Monday morn- ing ; Education, Monday afternoon; Home Missions, first Tuesday morning ; Aid for Colleges, first Tuesday afternoon ; Foreign Missions, first Wednesday morn- ing ; Publication and Sabbath School Work, first Wed- nesday afternoon ; Church Erection, Second Thursday afternoon, and Temperance, Second Friday afternoon. In addition to this mass meetings are held in the evening of the following days for the following subjects : First Friday evening, Sabbath School Work ; First Monday evening, Freedmen ; First Tuesday evening, Home Missions ; First Wednesday evening, Foreign Missions. Systematic Benevolence, Second Thursday evening, and Temperance, Second Friday evening. To attend a meeting of the General Assembly without personal ex- pense is now the privilege of every minister or elder of the Presbyterian Church. The only question is, will his Presbytery elect him ? No man whose heart is full of the lc-ve of the kingdom, and loyal to the Presbyterian 252 PRESBYTERIANS. Church, can atttend a meeting of the General Assembly and see six hundred such men gathered together to hear these reports from the center of the Church and from every mission station of her wide-extended boundaries, and not go home to be himself a center of zeal and enthusiasm in his own Church and Presbytery. In the line of her missionary enthusiasm for Home Missions, for several years successive Assemblies have planned to have a meeting of the Assembly on the Pa- cific Coast. The business could be no better done there than elsewhere ; but it would be an expression of sym- pathy for the Home Mission work and an influence broadening the mind of the Church to grasp the extent of her field. This would be of great value. The eco- nomical administration of the Church funds by the treas- urer of the General Assembly, Rev. W. H. Roberts, D. D., has, for several years, left an increasing balance to the credit of the mileage fund to meet that future larger expense which would be involved in a meeting on the Pacific Coast. So the General Assembly at Detroit, in 1891, voted that the meeting of the Assembly in 1892 should be at Portland, Ore. In 1877 Rev. James Eells, D. D., of the Presbytery of San Francisco, had been elected to the Moderatorship of the Assembly as an ex- pression of this same interest in the fields of our West- ern Coast, as well as an expression of the high regard which the Assembly had for him personally. Others from the home field and several foreign missionaries had been elected to the Moderatorship in the same way. Now the Assembly was to show its interest in the furthest West by a willingness to endure the fatigue of a long journey, and the Church was to show its inter- est by a readiness to bear the expenses of such a meet- READJUSTMENTS CONSTANTLY NECESSITATED. 253 ing. The Church is able financially to meet the tasks set for it by the impulses of its missionary enthusiasm ; and the meeting at Portland is a notable event in the history of the denomination, showing that the whole territory of the United States is ecclesiastically one country, and the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church is ready to hold its meetings wherever the gath- ering of that meeting will do the cause most good and the kingdom of Christ the most honor. CHAPTER XIII. EDUCATION, COLLEGES AND THEOLOGICAL SEMINARIES. IT may be somewhat difficult to prove from Scripture that there is an inspired requirement for an edu- cated ministry. But experience confirms what is at least suggested by Scripture passages and examples. The human founder of the Old Testament economy was an adopted child, providentially sent to the best universities of Egypt, and supported, at public expense, by the Board of Education of the Egyptian govern- ment. Woman's co-operation in church enterprises is at least a fact in the assistance Pharaoh's daughter gave to the collegiate education of Moses. Solomon's wisdom is proverbial. Daniel was a graduate of the most learned institution of Babylon. Paul, after finish- ing the regular course at Tarsus, took a post-graduate course at Jerusalem, and his inspired instruction to his favorite pupil was directly in this line : " The things which thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also." (II Timothy 2 : 2.) Here is the requirement of natural talent, ability to teach and doctrinal faithfulness. Many denominations have made their boast that their ministry was not a college-bred ministry. Many preachers have thanked God that they had never been influenced by a college or theological seminary. But those who have despised mental training have in turn 254 EDUCATION, COLLEGES AND SEMINARIES. been despised by the public. Many men, who have performed public church work without this preliminary training, have been pointed to as proofs that such training is not needed ; but these very men have been the most laborious Bible students, and like Lincoln with the law, they have made up by hard work after- ward what they lacked in early education. The de- nominations are to-day, as a rule, unanimous in the conviction that no training, however good, can be use- less, much less injurious to ministerial work. Even the denominations which are most conspicuous in the mat- ter of introducing men into the ministry without requir- ing college training are now among the most earnest and faithful advocates of the benefits secured by such liberal education. The number of their colleges, the amplitude of the equipment of their colleges and theo- logical seminaries, the exactness of their religious works and the drift of their religious press all show how strong the public sentiment in favor of thorough training is among their membership and ecclesiastical leaders. Derived as the Presbyterian Church is so largely from the Reformed Church of Western Europe, it would be expected that in this regard American Pres- byterian sentiment would be but the natural develop- ment of the policy of this same Reformed Church. The universities of Germany, France and Britain, and the theological instruction of the various leading men inside and outside of their theological institutions, have been repeated on this side of the water. To a very large extent the earliest ministers of this country were themselves college graduates. Denton was a graduate pf Cambridge ; Makemie studied at one of the Scotch 256 PRESBYTERIANS. universities, and Andrews graduated at Harvard. Harvard itself was founded by the same spirit. The New England Puritans had only been landed sixteen years when that institution was founded. By 1642 its first class of nine members graduated. This was with- in twenty-two years after the landing of the Mayflower. Yale College came in 1701 ; William and Mary College in Virginia had been incorporated by the Colonial Assembly as early as 1660, although it did not get into operation until about 1692. By the end of the eigh- teenth century there were in this country at least thir- teen colleges ; namely, Harvard, William and Mary, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Brown, Dartmouth, Rut- gers, Hampden-Sidney, Dickinson, Washington (now Washington and Lee University), and Greenville. Four of these, Princeton, Hampden-Sidney, Dickinson and Greenville were and (except Dickinson) still are Presbyterian. But even small colleges demand so much money that either some one large donation, or a considerable combination of gifts by the friends of education, must be on hand for their establishment. It is otherwise with academies ; and in the early Church these academies, established and taught in their own homes, were quite common among the pastors. No complete list of them can be given, but it is at least certain that Tennent had his " log college " at Neshaminy, and academies doing quite a good work were in existence under the care of Finley, at Nottingham ; Evans, at Pencader, and Andrews, at Philadelphia. Others, which were more of public enterprises, were extant at New London, Faggs Manor, and Pequa, in Pennsylvania, and Timber Ridge Meeting House, in Virginia, and some were in North EDUCATION, COLLEGES AND SEMINARIES. and South Carolina. Tennent's log college in the East, and McMillan's log academy in the Western part of Pennsylvania, are typical illustrations of these schools. No picture of Tennent's college is preserved, and the only description of it is taken from Whitefield's diary. He visited old Mr. Tennent in 1739. In his diary Whitefield says : " The place wherein the young men study now is in contempt called ' the College.' It is a log house about twenty feet long and nearly as many broad ; and to me it seemed to resemble the school of the old prophets, for their habitations were mean, and that they sought not great things for themselves is plain from the passages of Scripture wherein we are told that each of them took them a beam to build them a house ; and that at the feast of the sons of the prophets one of them put on the pot whilst the others went to fetch some herbs out of the field. All that we can say of most of our universities is they are glorious without. From this despised place seven or eight worthy ministers of Jesus have lately been sent forth. More are almost ready to be sent, and the foundation is now laying for the instruction of many others." This extract from Whitefield's journal was printed the year of his visit by Benjamin Franklin, in Phila- delphia. McMillan's log academy, of which a picture is given (p. 91), was still standing in 1890, having been torn down and rebuilt that the rotten logs might be replaced by new ones. Of one of the Western Penn- sylvania academies it is recorded that, in his zeal for a school, Mr. Joseph Smith, of Buffalo, who had added a kitchen to his humble dwelling, asked his wife whether she would not give up that kitchen to be used for the academy, and continue to use the old limited quarters 258 PRESBYTERIANS. as a kitchen. Like a Christian woman she cordially acquiesced in the plan. This must have been as early as 1783-84. Out of McMillan's log academy in West- ern Pennsylvania grew Washington and Jefferson College, as out of Mr. Tennent's log college at Nesh- aminy, grew Princeton College ; and out of the school at Timber Ridge Meeting House grew, first, Liberty Hall, Augusta, then Washington College, at Lexington, which is now Washington and Lee University, Virginia. The history of early Presbyterian education is sub- stantially the history of Princeton College. When Mr. Tennent died in 1 745 his school was closed. Yet such had been its usefulness that the Synod of New York immediately, in 1 746, took steps to perpetuate that institution of learning. It was located first at Eliza- bethtown, N. J., and Jonathan Dickinson was its first president. The students, except those of the village, boarded in the family of the president. Dr. Dick- inson died shortly, and the school was removed to Newark in order to be placed under the care of Rev. Aaron Burr, so that he might accept the presidency with- out resigning his pastorate. The first class of six young men graduated November 9, 1748. In 1753 Rev. Gilbert Tennent and Rev. Samuel Davies were ap- pointed by Synod to visit England and solicit aid for the college. In the face of very great prejudices against them and the theology which they represented, after a year's canvass in England, Scotland and Ireland, they had secured widespread sympathy and public indorsement of the enterprise. They succeeded, finan- cially, far beyond their expectation. The total sum raised must have approached, if it did not pass beyond, twenty-five thousand dollars, 259 260 PRESBYTERIANS. By this time it was obvious that a permanent loca- tion must be selected. Neither of the places where the institution had formerly been located showed as high an appreciation of it as they would now. The inhabitants of Princeton " offered two hundred acres of wood land, ten acres of cleared land, and one thou- sand pounds 'proclamation money." In 1753 this offer was accepted and the institution permanently located. In honor of William, Prince of "Orange and Nassau," the first building was called Nassau Hall. Mr. Burr died in 1756, and Jonathan Edwards, his father-in-law, was elected his successor. President Edwards died of smallpox in March, 1758, and Samuel Davies, of Vir- ginia, who had visited England soliciting funds, was elected president. He died in 1761, and that year Samuel Finley was elected, but died in 1 766. While Tennent and Davies were in England they came across a publication entitled " Ecclesiastical Characteristics, or the Arcana of Church Polity." Davies described it as "anonymous, but as attributed to one Wetherspoon, a young minister," and added, "it is a burlesque upon the high-flyers under the name of the Moderate Men, and I think the humor is not inferior to Dean Swift." The author of the pamphlet was Rev. John Wither- spoon, and on the death of Finley an earnest effort was made to secure his acceptance of the presidency. It is said that he first declined it, owing to the opposi- tion of his wife to coming to America. Further cor- o respondence, and possibly changes in the state of affairs in Scotland, as well as in America, changed the views of the good woman, and increased the motives urging her husband to move to the New World. In 1768 he was inaugurated president. This position he held until his EDUCATION, COLLEGES AND SEMINARIES. 261 death in 1794. Until 1771 the faculty of the college consisted of only the president and two or three tutors. From 1771 there was an additional professor, and much of the time the president was expected to act as professor of theology for the Church at large. After 1808 the number of professors was, however, reduced to one. From 1813 until 1827 there were only two. It was not until after 1869 that the faculty ever reached more than eight professors, with some additional lec- turers. For the whole first century of its history, therefore, the institution did its great work for the Church in the midst of extreme poverty. It is said that a Harvard professor recently expressed a wish that their modern graduates would approximate surpassing their earlier graduates as much as the institution's modern wealth surpassed its earlier poverty. Alas ! that increase of wealth for institutions of learning cannot proportionately increase the usefulness of the men who are trained. William and Mary College, and other early and later projected educational enterprises, were almost extin- guished in poverty by the recent war. Many of the academies, of which mention has been made, and others of which no mention has been made, had as fine op- portunities for usefulness as any of the institutions which grew out of the schools of Tennent or Graham or Smith or McMillan. But the spirit of the Church, and the success of its few schools, kept up good heart in all its history. Despite numerous failures in pro- jected institutions, Kiddle & Schem's " Cyclopedia of Education," in its article on Presbyterians, contains this just remark : " No Church in Europe has taken more prompt and energetic steps for the diffusion of school 262 PRESBYTERIANS. education than the Presbyterians of Scotland. The Presbyterian Church of the United States, from the earliest period, has been an earnest worker, and the strenuous advocate for education, and insisted on higher qualifications for its ministers." This is accom- panied by a full and very commendatory statement of the educational work of the Presbyterian Church North, the Presbyterian Church South, the United Presbyterian Church and Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Although these statistics only come down to 1876, yet, for these four denominations up to that time, he gives a list of forty-one colleges and twenty theological seminaries. As sketches are given in this work of the duties and successes of the Board of Education and the Board of Aid for Colleges and Academies, details need not be inserted here. The Church has never given much attention to professional education outside of theologi- cal seminaries. Some of the medical colleges have a legal, though generally only a formal connection, with Presbyterian institutions. Jefferson College, Philadel- phia, was once a part of Jefferson College, Canons- burg, as Washington Medical College, Baltimore, was part of Washington College, Pennsylvania. It is some- times supposed that any denominational attempt at pro- fessional education is more ornamental than efficient ; but it is continually becoming more and more obvious to the public mind that moral questions are seriously affected by the moral philosophy and political theories which are taught in law schools, and that materialism and skepticism have no more efficient promoters than infidel professors in medical colleges. If a physician is not well able to deal with a disease who denies the EDUCATION, COLLEGES AND SEMINARIES. 263 existence of malaria, when his patient's sicknesses are seriously complicated with that trouble, neither is a physician, who denies the existence of the soul and of man's moral character, well fitted to cure the ills of his body, if nervous prostration is brought on by remorse of conscience. On p k 256 there is given a list of the colleges which were in efficient operation at the opening of this century; and on p. 170 a list of the Presbyterian colleges established from 1815 to 1835. The colleges organized by Presbyterians in the first fifteen years of the present century were not numerous, and were on the line of the emigration westward from the Atlantic Coast. One pathway was from the Carolinas and Vir- ginia through the Eastern end of Tennessee to the Mississippi Valley. Here Greenville College had been established in 1794, but the difficulties of migrating through the mountains, and the increased facilities for traveling to the northward and the southward of Ten- nessee left the progress of this institution slow and difficult. The next great pathway was from Virginia, Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, by the way of the Cumberland and Shenandoah Valleys to the upper Ohio River and its tributaries. On this route the early Presbyterians had instituted their academies almost at their first settlement. Dickinson College was established by Presbyterians at Carlisle in 1783. In the Ohio Valley in 1802 " McMillan's Log Acad- emy" was chartered as Jefferson College at Canons- burg, and in 1806 Washington College was incorpo- rated at Washington, Pa. From the first organization of these institutions and since their union they have been prolific sources for the supply of ministers. The 264 PRESBYTERIANS. total number of the alumni up to the present time is 3603, of whom 1575 entered the ministry. The North- ern pathway of the Western migration was from New England and New York through Western New York to the Lake region. On this route, in 1812, Presby- terians established Hamilton College at Clinton, N. Y.; and its ministerial graduates made a demand for a theological seminary and guaranteed a supply of students. Hence sprang Auburn Seminary. The ex- cellent work done by Prof. Peters at the observatory of Hamilton College, in the discovery of asteroids and fixed stars, has made the institution famous among the learned everywhere. During the presidency of Dr. Nott, from 1804 to 1866, as well as under his prede- cessors, Union College at Schenectady, N. Y., was al- most as thoroughly Presbyterian as Hamilton College. Presbyterians have been enthusiastic in helping through their early weakness colleges which are now either inde- pendent of any denominational affiliation, dominated by some other branch of evangelical Christendom, or per- vaded by a thoroughly unreligious spirit. Dickinson College at Carlisle was founded by Presbyterians, but since 1833 it has been under control of the Methodists. In its early history Transylvania University, Ky., was Presbyterian, but was perverted to skeptical influ- ences. These failed in its management, and it is now a State institution with affiliations with another evangel- istic denomination. Western Reserve College at Hud- son, O., was under New School Presbyterian control until it was removed to Cleveland and became part of Adelbert University. The institution is now evangel- istic, but in no sense denominational. Of the efficient Presbyterian institutions these facts are interesting : EDUCATION/ COLLEGES AND SEMINARIES. 265 Lafayette College introduced, under Prof. F. A. March, the study of Anglo-Saxon into college curricu- lums. Both it and Princeton have largely endowed scientific departments. Wooster University has an effective medical department at Cleveland. Lake Forest University has Rush Medical College, Chicago, as its medical department, and Chicago College of Law as its law department. Southwestern University, Clarks- ville, Tenn., and Central University at Richmond, Ky., under the Southern Church, and Cumberland Uni- versity, at Lebanon, Tenn., of the Cumberland Church, have theological departments. Park College at Park- ville, Mo., has more success in combining self-support by manual labor with the college course of study than perhaps any other institution. The following statistics from the last Report of the Commissioner of Education at Washington, D. C, ex- hibits the present financial state of Presbyterian col- leges. All of them in their early history have had to struggle through poverty. Dr. Porter, in his work on " American Colleges and the American Public " says : " Most colleges have originated in the most thankless and self-sacrificing services. To services of this kind clergymen are consecrated by the vows and the spirit of their profession. Then the profession of teaching is akin to that of the clergyman in the smallness of its pay and the unselfish patience which it involves." When salaries are small ministers eke out a subsistence by preaching to some weak church on Sabbaths. This labor, self-denial and disinterested toil, which have been required to lay the foundations and rear the super- structure of the most successful colleges of this country, cannot be easily overestimated. There is not a rich col- 266 PRESBYTERIANS. lege in this list which has not been carried through just such a struggle by the underpaid labor of such clergymen professors. Until a college has assets in real estate and endowments amounting to $100,000, its mainte- nance is a struggle for life. When its income-bearing endowment reaches $100,000, or more, it is able, by good management, to pay the essential expenses of a classical course. Thereafter it is a matter of enlarge- ment by the donations of its friends. Knox College, Olivet and Marietta are also sup- ported and patronized by the Congregationalists. Alma College, Alma, Mich., Missouri Valley College, Marshall, Mo., Daniel Baker College, Brownwood, Tex., and Whitworth College, Sumner, Wash., are known to be at work, but are not entered in the Com- missioner's Report. W T aynesburg College, Pa., and Blackburn University, 111., are older, but are also absent from the Report. The order is that of the Commis- sioner's Report, namely, by the alphabetical order of the States wherein the institutions are located. The figures for some of these last have been secured by persistent correspondence. When the second column is blank the institution has no endowment and is supported by tuition fees. The report of the Bureau of Education at Washington is usually three years behind time, though now just out (1892) its figures are those of 1889. WHEN FOUNDED. COLLEGE NAME. ESTIMATED REAL ESTATE PRODUCTIVE ENDOWMENT. 1872. Arkansas College, Ark. (S. P ) JfiU c; ooo $6 ooo 1852. Cane Hill College, Ark. (C. P.) 8 ooo 1883. Del Norte College, Col ?o ooo l88l. Pierre University, Dak 40 ooo 1841. Knox College, 111 1^6 700 204 181 1876. Lake Forest University, 111. A 2C OOO 803 ooo EDUCATION, COLLEGES AND SEMINARIES. 267 WHEN FOUNDED. COLLEGE NAME. ESTIMAT D REAL ESTATE PRODUCTIVE ENDOWMENT. l866 Lincoln University 111 (C P ) ^O.OOO ^?I,725 l8 5 6. 1833 Monmouth College, 111. (U. P.) Wabash College, Ind 56,OOO 175, ooo 105,000 240,000 1828 Hanover College Ind 100,000 175,000 1881. Coe College, la 60,000 70,000 1871; 65,000 45,000 LW / j' 1850. Lenox College, la 14,000 10,194 188^. Emporia College, Kan 98,000 25,000 1857. Highland University, Kan 16,000 21,600 1887. 1821 Cooper Memorial College, Kan. (U. P.) Centre College Ky 40,000 70,000 7,5oo 246,899 1874 Central University Ky (S P ) 100,000 175,000 1887 Alma College Mich . 57,000 81,000 18^0 Olivet College Mich 108,000 166,500 xu^y. 1885 Macalaster College Minn 175,035 80,000 y**3* 1822 Westminster College Mo (S P ) 35,000 78,000 1870. Park College, Mo 252,200 69,900 1884 Tarkio College Mo (UP) 3C,OOO 30,000 1888. 1883 Missouri Valley College, Mo. (C. P.) College of Montana Mont 160,000 100,000 110,000 10,000 1883 100,000 14,000 1882 Hastings College Neb 60,000 15,000 174.6 College of New Jersey, N J 1812 Hamilton College N. Y 240,000 284,123 l8^7 Davidson College N C (S P ) 100,000 108,000 *"*}/' l868. Biddle University, N. C . . , 75,000 10,000 1835. Marietta College, O 90,000 182^ Franklin Colleo-e O (U P) 14,000 1837 Muskingum College O (U. P.) 15,000 35,000 1870 University of Wooster, O ^120,000 201,000 184.0 Geneva College Pa (R P ) 75,000 100,000 A<j ^y- 1832 Lafayette College Pa . ... 600,000 272,303 1852 Westminster College Pa (U P ) 10,000 135,000 1802. 1879. 1869 Washington & Jefferson College, Pa. . . Pres. College of South Carolina (S. P.) King College Tenn (S P.) 150,000 20,000 25,000 250,000 5,000 22,000 1842. 184.7 Cumberland University, Tenn. (C. P.). Bethel College Tenn (C P ) ... 40,000 I 5,000 70,000 vf Ti* l8l9 Marvville College Tenn .... CO, OOO IIO,OOO 1794. 1851. Greeneville & Tusculum College, Tenn. Austin College Tex (S P ) 18,650 25,000 l6,OOO 1869 Trinity University Tex (C P ) 40,000 2Q,5OO 1890 Daniel Baker College Texas 42,000 1776. 18^0 Hampden-Sidney College, Va. (S. P.). Gale College Wis , 100,000 35,000 115,000 ivjjy. 268 PRESBYTERIANS. With reference to female education two plans are employed by Presbyterians, and through them as good an education is offered to young women as to young men. Of the colleges open only to women, and mod- eled after Wellesley and Vassar, there are controlled by the Presbyterians, Wells College, Aurora, N. Y.; Pennsylvania College, Pittsburg, Pa.; Elmira College, Elmira, N. Y.; Lindenwood College, St. Charles, Mo.; Wilson College, Chambersburg, Pa.; Coates College, Terre Haute, Ind.; Albert Lea College, Albert Lea, Minn, and Oswego College, Oswego, Kan. A large number of the State universities, especially in the newer States, are equally open to men and women. The following Presbyterian colleges make no distinc- tion of sex in their admission of students : Arkansas College, Cane Hill College, Presbyterian College of the Southwest, Pierre University, Knox College, Lake Forest University, Lincoln University (111.), Monmouth College, Hanover College, Parsons College, Lenox College, College of Emporia, Highland University, Cooper Memorial College, Olivet College, Tarkio College, College of Montana, Bellevue College, Franklin College, Muskingum College, University of Wooster, Geneva College, Waynesburg College, West- minster College, (Pa.), Presbyterian College of South Carolina, Cumberland University, Bethel College, Maryville College, Greeneville and Tusculum College, Trinity University and Gale College. The following institutions are for women only. Where the post-office name appears in the name it is not repeated to indicate location. Where the name does not show the location, the town, as well as the State, is given : EDUCATION, COLLEGES AND SEMINARIES. 269 Huntsville Female Seminary, Alabama ; Caldwell College, Danville, Ky.; Sayre Female Institute, Lex- ington, Ky.; Stuart Female College, Shelbyville, Ky.; Silliman Female Collegiate Institute, Clinton, La.; Michigan Female Seminary, Kalamazoo, Mich.; Union Female College, Oxford, Miss.; Fulton Synodical Female College, Fulton, Mo.; Kansas City Ladies' College, Independence, Mo.; Eliza-beth Aull Female HOUGHTON SEMINARY (FEMALE), CLINTON, N. Y. Seminary, Lexington, Mo.; Charlotte Female Institute, North Carolina ; Oxford Female Seminary, North Car- olina ; Peace Institute, Raleigh, N. C.; Glendale Female College, Ohio ; Granville Female College, Ohio ; Oxford Female College, Ohio ; Houghton Seminary, Clinton, N. Y.; Blairsville Ladies' Seminary, Pennsylvania ; Washington Female Seminary, Penn- sylvania ; Synodical Female College, Rogersville, Tenn.; Stonewall Jackson Female Institute, Abingdon, Va.; Montgomery Female College, Christiansburg, Va. ; Augusta Female Seminary, Staunton, Va. The foregoing statistics do not, in the estimation of 2/0 PRESBYTERIANS. many public writers, fairly represent the proportionate influence of the Presbyterian denominations in these matters of public culture and education. The combined ministry of the Presbyterian denominations amounts to about ten thousand, the number of churches to, perhaps, one-fourth more, and the total membership to approxi- mately twelve hundred and fifty thousand. In any form of effort to promote general education, higher in- struction and thoroughness in intellectual discipline, these ministers, churches and church members, together with their adherents, carry far more than their share of the weight of the burdens, do far more than their share of the public work of supervision, and contribute far more than their proportion of the means necessary to promote the high state of popular culture reached by the better classes and the general public in this land. THEOLOGICAL SEMINARIES. The forms are almost innumerable in which the Presby- terian Church, during its history, has striven to increase its supply of ministers. It seems almost impossible that there could be a suggestion now made on the sub- ject which has not sometime, in the past history, been pro- posed, discussed and, more or less, experimented upon. Twice the Church has been divided, and both in 1741 (with the Tennents) and 1810 (with the Cumberlands) the question of the training necessary for ministers occupied a conspicuous place among the causes of division. In the old Colonial Synod this was the heart of the controversy. In the erection of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, in the earlier part of this century, this question was again a matter of contention. In the days of poverty, in the early Colonial times, EDUCATION, COLLEGES AND SEMINARIES. 2/1 young ministers had to do as young lawyers and young doctors did. Some admired member of the profession was selected, and the young man submitted himself to him for direction in reading, and such practice as might be possible at the time and under the circumstances. Some preceptors were better than other preceptors. Some ministers had several young theologians reading with them and missionating, more or less, at the same time. Some physicians had several young doctors in their offices. With the ministry, however, as with the two other professions, there was always this difficulty : that the young man did not feel safe in relying upon the instruction of a preceptor who had not attained eminence. Any preceptor who has attained eminence is too busy to give the young man such time and atten- tion as is needed for his instruction. Not every scholar and learned man is a good teacher. Ability to teach is almost as important in a preceptor as great knowledge. The necessity for special schools, therefore, of medicine, and of law, and of theology, confronts all parties for the same reason. Because the preliminary education needed by min- isters was identical with that needed by the lawyers and physicians and well educated men generally, acad- emies and colleges were much more practicable than these professional schools. By combining into one institution all those expecting to enter any of the pro- fessions, a living patronage for a college might be secured quite early. Hence academies conducted by pastors were frequent, and the earlier colleges soon attained enough of income to support their very limited faculty. At one time the project was suggested and undertaken of having each Presbytery appoint from its 2/2 PRESBYTERIANS. own membership a teacher of theology to which its candidates for the ministry should go for instruction. But practically the man thus selected was always a busy pastor ; and out of the instruction he could furnish young ministers, he could neither secure such compen- sation as would justify him for leaving his other work, nor by the aid of the students could he be enabled to increase his salary by enlarging his field of labor. This plan, therefore, showed itself to be impracticable. The ability manifested by the professors of Princeton College made young men anxious to secure their instruc- tion on theological subjects. Public opinion approved of the suggestion of having a theological professor con- nected with the College. The College itself was the outgrowth of the anxiety of the Church to increase the number of its ministers. The revival of 1800, like the revival of 1740, under the Tennents, greatly intensified the demand for more ministers. The problem of a method for their educa- tion was as urgent as it was difficult. Public sentiment was gravitating toward an institution for the special training of ministers. The project was first brought to the attention of the General Assembly in 1809. The idea of establishing a theological seminary met with universal approval, and in 1812 the General Assembly determined to establish such an institution. There was, however, by no means the same unanimity as to the method to be pursued, especially in regard to the location and number of the institutions to be established. Some wanted three ; one in the North, one in the South, and one in the central part of the Atlantic Coast. It is probable that financial reasons had very much to do with the final decision to locate the institution EDUCATION, COLLEGES AND SEMINARIES. 273 at Princeton. To secure the college the people of Princeton had donated two hundred acres of land. This was far more than the college could use in its col- lege work. There was, therefore, plenty of land to be had for the theological seminary, and it would be an important advantage to the seminary to be within reach of the libraries, and it was supposed much use could be made out of the faculty of the college for instruction in the seminary. The seminary students who might be deficient in any college branch could make that up while measurably going on with their theological studies. At the present time, when both the college and the seminary at Princeton are rich, and when the country is so rich that Presbyteries in any section can, if their people are in self-sacrificing earnest, at once and sufficiently endow an institution, it may appear odd that, at any time in the past, these institu- tions should have had their location and destiny so much affected by small financial matters. When Princeton Theological Seminary was opened the College had but very few professors, and the Gen- eral Assembly only felt justified in risking the moneyed obligation involved in electing one, Dr. Alexander, for the seminary. The next year, 1813, Dr. Miller was added. The two thus elected were rare men for the po- sition, and much of its present influence, as well as its early success, is the result of the interior life given to it by Drs. Archibald Alexander and Samuel Miller. Both left positions of great influence, and salaries which for the time were quite large, to accept chairs in this institution, whose funds were small and whose sal- aries were very limited. They had the confidence of the entire Church. While they were teaching in a 2/4 PRESBYTERIANS. theological seminary, busy pastors felt no need to take up their own time in the irregular instruction of stu- dents. All parties, therefore, were anxious that this matter of education for the ministry should be attended to at the theological seminary. Pastors desired it since they knew it was better clone there than it could be done at home. Students desired it because it brought them in contact with acknowledged experts in pastoral work, with first-class teachers of history and theology and with recognized leaders in ecclesiastical affairs. The institution opened in 1812 with three students. There were fourteen students the next May. It has steadily grown, financially and every way, since. The college offered to share with the seminary the land it had received as a bonus for the location. This was accompanied with an agreement that if the seminary should be located on its land, the college would sur- render the entire control of so much as might be used. At the same time to the Assembly and its trustees of the seminary, Richard Stockton offered " four acres of land at the place proposed, for the purpose of the principal edifice of the seminary and its offices, and a campus in front and rear." The present buildings and some of the professors' houses are located on that donation. The college trustees were as well pleased with that lo- cation as if their own tender had been accepted, and every offer of aid made by them was carried out under the modified plan, while the funds and real estate of the institution were kept wholly distinct. Princeton Seminary was thus immediately estab- lished by the act of the General Assembly, and both its directors and professors were elected by that body. But various Synods were disposed to attempt the or- EDUCATION, COLLEGES AND SEMINARIES. 275 ganization of such institutions within their own bounds. The Synod of Geneva, N. Y., in February, 1818, voted in favor of the establishment of a seminary, provided the General Assembly should approve of the project. The Assembly in May of that year, in answer to similar suggestions from several Synods, declined to " give any opinion or advice on the subject, believing the said Synods are the best judges of what may be their duty in this important business." The first sentiment in the Geneva Synod was in favor of combining theological with academical training, so as to provide for a short course into the ministry. This plan was soon aban- doned, however, and a purely theological school deter- mined upon. Contributions in grounds and money were accepted from the City of Auburn. A charter was granted by the Legislature in 1820, and the first class of students, eleven in number, was admitted in 1821. Recent large contributions from William E. Dodge of New York, Edwin B. Morgan of Aurora, and others, have given the institution handsome re- sources. Its able and efficient faculty have, during all its history, furnished its numerous students with first- class instruction. Union Seminary, Va., grew out of the work of Dr. John H. Rice, and is now under the care of Synods of the Southern Church. It is described in Dr. Hoge's chapter (p. 499). The Seminary at Columbia is also part of the Southern Church (p. 501). Previous to 1827 the growth of population west of the Alleghany Mountains, and the great success of the missionary work of the Presbyterian Church in that region, as well as the multiplication of its colleges, developed a strong sentiment in favor of a theological 276 PRESBYTERIANS. seminary for the West. For several years eminent committees had studied and corresponded with regard to the question, and made their reports to succeeding General Assemblies. In 1827 it was determined by the Assembly to establish such an institution at Alle- gheny. The influence of Andrew Jackson was active in the matter, especially in reference to its location. Its name was given it apparently on the assumption that anyplace west of the Alleghany Mountains would meet all the demands of the West then present or in prospect. It is a curious fact that the Western theo- logical seminary of the Presbyterian Church is located at the head of the Ohio River, a thousand miles east of the center of the country, and five hundred miles east of the center of population in the United States. The seminary has always been surrounded by an excel- lent class of tributary colleges. It has had, and still has, in its faculty men unsurpassed in ability in the Presbyterian Church or in any other denomination. About the same time as the founding of this semi- nary at Allegheny, there was an earnest desire for the location of another, more accessible to the lower Ohio and Mississippi regions. In 1828 Mr. Ebenezer Lane and his brother offered funds to the Baptist people to found a seminary at Cincinnati. The way was not clear for them to undertake the work. The offer was then made to the Presbyterians. In October, 1828, an association was formed ''for establishing a seminary of learning, the principal object of which shall be to edu- cate pious young men for the Gospel ministry." In 1829 Mr. Elnathan Kemper gave the institution sixty acres of land on Walnut Hills. At first the institution was both classical and theological. The classical de- EDUCATION, COLLEGES AND SEMINARIES. 277 partment was maintained until 1834, since which time it has been exclusively a theological institution. The theological department was organized in 1832, with Dr. Lyman Beecher, Professor of Theology, T. J. Biggs, Professor of Church History, and Calvin E. Stowe, Pro- fessor of Biblical Literature. The experiment of such an institution on the manual labor plan was faithfully made at this place. Early teachers and students both attempted physical labor to reduce expenses without diminishing studies. Experience, however, has shown that ordinary success in one of these departments is at the expense of the best results of the other. The spirit of the institution has always been that expressed by Dr. Beecher when he said : " To plant Christianity in the West is as grand an undertaking as it was to plant it in the Roman Empire, with unspeakably greater per- manence and power." It has faithfully sought, in the words of one of its leading professors, " to supply the world with preachers who are pastors." The organization of the board of trustees of Lane Seminary was that of a " close corporation." It will thus be seen that the theological seminaries of the Presbyterian Church already had three different forms of organization. One of these seminaries was the immediate creation of the General Assembly. The Assembly appointed the trustees and elected the pro- fessors. Others were institutions managed by certain Synods. In this case the trustees were elected by the Synods, and then the entire management of the institu- tion was under the care of these trustees. Sometimes the Synods appointed visiting committees to attend the annual examinations of the students. Where a semi- nary is managed by a close corporation, the trustees 2/8 PRESBYTERIANS. fill their own vacancies, and have the entire direction of the institution. The institution itself may be as thoroughly Presbyterian under one of these systems of organization as under any other. The method of organization is oftentimes determined by local circum- stances and providential indications manifested by the history of the institution. At the time of the reunion of the Old and New School Churches, the sentiment was strongly in favor of a uniform method for the management of the theological seminaries. In the history of general education in this country such entire freedom has been adopted and enjoyed, in the manage- ment of instruction, that it is pretty difficult to confine all schools to one method, or fix for all schools a uniform grade and course of study. The habit of the country is in favor of entire liberty in this respect. It may, perhaps, be difficult to show that all the advan- tages are in favor of any one system, or all the difficul- ties in the way of any other. In 1830 the Synod of Indiana proceeded to establish a seminary for its region, and located it in connection with Hanover College at the town of Hanover. In 1840 an offer was accepted of fifteen thousand dollars for its removal to New Albany, Ind. In 1853 the ques- tion of a theological seminary for the West was brought prominently before the Church by several overtures from different places for the future site of the seminary. The Assembly accepted the offer of the Kentucky people and established the Danville Seminary, without including the removal of this seminary as part of the scheme. This met the wants of the Southwest, but left the New Albany institution in the hands of the Synods of the Northwest, and with a diminished field south of it. At EDUCATION, COLLEGES AND SEMINARIES. 279 the Assembly of 1859 tne Synods which then controlled the seminary brought up the question of its future loca- tion as well as its transfer to the control of the Assembly. That Assembly of 1859 agreed to accept the proposi- tion of Hon. C. H. McCormick of Chicago, that, if this institution should be located at that place, he would give one hundred thousand dollars for endowment. Others added an offer of twenty-five acres for a site. A new board of trustees was appointed and a new faculty was elected. By action of the General Assembly this institution was declared to be the legal successor of the one at Hanover and at New Albany, and the proper " Alma Mater " of all its gradu- ates. Since its removal to Chicago, Mr. McCormick and his heirs have added large donations to his original contribution ; and in 1886 the name of the institution was, by authority of the General Assembly, changed from " The Theological Seminary of the Northwest" to " McCormick Theological Seminary." A look at the map will indicate the magnificent constituency of churches and colleges which are within the territory of this institution. As has been noted, this discussion of -the interest of the New Albany seminary started the question of the proper distribution of such schools over the country. The delegates of the Kentucky Presbyteries of the Assembly of 1853 offered $20,000 toward an endow- ment of $80,000 regardless of the matter of location ; but that if the seminary should be located at Danville, Ky., an additional sum of $60,000, and ten acres for a site, should be given by the Presbyterians of that State. Both offers were accepted by the Assembly, and a faculty and board of directors elected. Rev. R. J. 280 PRESBYTERIANS. Breckinridge was really the organizer of the project, and, being elected Professor of Theology, at the opening fashioned it on his own ideas. The seminary opened that autumn most auspiciously, with an attendance of twenty- three students. For a time all went well, but the strife preceding the Civil War was dividing its friends, and, later, the organization of the Southern Presbyterian Church cut off a large part of the territory on which it was to depend. It was for a time practically closed. It has since been reorganized and is doing good work. It has a fine site, a fair endowment, an able faculty, and, as will be seen by the table at the end of this chapter, a noble property. New York had early and always been the friend of educational institutions. A goodly number of its minis- ters and laymen of the Church had been leaders in all the enterprises of the Church. In 1835 this feeling culminated in a scheme to furnish for the Church a school to train ministers in the midst of the advantages of a large city, and in the presence of all kinds of city mission work. In October nine persons four ministers and five laymen met at the house of Mr. Knowles Taylor, No. 8 Bond Street, to consult about the proj- ect. The conference learned of so many cordial friends to the enterprise that they called another meet- ing. Encouragement was given on all sides, and Union Theological Seminary, New York, was the result. It was opened the 5th of December in 1836, and went into operation that same winter. Its first class was graduated three years later and numbered six, and its second, the next year, numbered twenty-one. Located in the metropolis of the country, and with men of na- tional reputation in its faculty, it has always drawn EDUCATION, COLLEGES AND SEMINARIES. 2$I patronage from all sections and from all denominations of evangelical Christians. The institution has from the outset been blessed with large-minded and very liberal friends, possessors of large wealth, and willing to use their means in the promotion of the interests of the Presbyterian Church through their theological SAN FRANCISCO THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. seminaries. They have called only choice men to their professorships, and the field and the work have always proved exceedingly attractive to the men who are in- vited to their chairs. Since the reunion, also, very large donations have been made, both to its real estate and to its endowment. As population on the Pacific coast increased, the growth of the Church made it evident that a theologi- cal seminary was needed in that section of the Church. 282 PRESBYTERIANS. Such an institution was originally projected by the Synod of the Pacific, and in 1871 was opened at San Francisco. For many years its establishment was a laborious struggle. In more recent times it has been the recipient of generous treatment. It is beginning to gather friends among the large contributors in that sec- tion of the United States. Mr. Ladd of Portland, and Mr. Alex. Montgomery are among its large contribu- tors ; the former giving to its endowment, and the latter furnishing $250,000 for endowment and a mag- nificent new building. Its future is in every respect most hopeful. Two German theological schools have been organized with the object of furnishing a German ministry for the German population of this country. One is located at Dubuque, la., and the other at Bloomfield, Newark, N. J. If it were desirable, and there were any as- surance that it could be accomplished, that the Ger- man population of America could perpetuate the Ger- man language as the vernacular of their children, the field for these German schools would be very large and very urgent. So many people, however, among both English-speaking and German-speaking Christians, be- lieve that it is best for the people of this country, regardless of their origin, to have the English language as their speech, that the friends of these institutions meet with great difficulty in securing funds for their maintenance. Their merit deserves for them much better treatment than they are receiving at the hands of Presbyterians. The success of the work of the Church among the Freedmen early made it sure that there would be an imperative demand for theological seminaries specially EDUCATION, COLLEGES AND SEMINARIES. 283 suited to the wants of the colored people. It is no lono-er a matter of doubt whether or not the colored o people are able to receive as complete an education as the people of other races. So much of the work, how- ever, among them was necessarily at first, of the most primary character in education that it did not seem wise to require four or five years at common school work, six or seven at academic and collegiate study, and three more in a theological course, before any of their young men could be ordained to work among their own people. The General Assembly has, therefore, always favorably regarded the suggestion of a some- what shorter course for their preparation for the work of the ministry. This short course has always been judged proper, and has been practiced in exceptional cases in the Presbyterian Church. Both Lincoln University at Oxford, Pa., and Biddle University at Charlotte, N. C., are institutions at which there is furnished to colored students a complete college course. The graduates of their theological departments are able to meet any examinations asked by any of the Presbyteries, in any part of the country. To both of these institutions liberal gifts have already been made, and liberal gifts are greatly needed in the future. While, therefore, the Assembly did in 1876 encourage Presbyteries to be more lenient with candidates from among the colored people than is otherwise common, great caution was urged lest men unworthy as to morals should thus be introduced into the ministry. On the other hand, great energy has been put forth to supply the colored people with educational facilities as good as the best. The results of this effort have been most en- couraging. One of these men, Rev. D. J. Sanders, D. D. 284 PRESBYTERIANS. is now President of Biddle University, and in that posi- tion is showing the same executive ability which he has done as editor of the A frico- American Presbyterian. Men like Dr. Sanders of Biddle and Dr. Grimke of Washington City are an honor to the Church as well as to their race. The last theological seminary that has been organ- ized within the bounds of the Church is the Theolog- ical Seminary at Omaha. It was recognized and its erection approved by the General Assembly of 1891. North, South, East, and West of it is an admirable field for its constituency, with numerous colleges from which it may draw students. Its friends are sanguine and earnest, and the whole Church will be greatly blessed by its success. As an indication of the profound interest the Pres- byterian Church feels in this cause of theological edu- cation, the following statement is given of the amount of property held in real estate, scholarship funds, en- dowment funds and other forms by the various institu- tions. In many cases these institutions have also collegi- ate courses and the theological seminary is only one de- partment. In this table is given the total amount held by the institution for its educational work in all depart- ments as reported to the General Assembly. The or- ganization of a theological department by any institution is conclusive proof that the chief object the friends have in view in its establishment is an increase of educated ministers and trained church workers in all forms of evangelical effort. So much of the mission work of the Foreign Field is done now by female teachers, missionary physicians, lay evangelists, and other un- ordained laborers that every form of education is EDUCATION, COLLEGES AND SEMINARIES. 28 5 demanded by the Church in her service for the Master. WHEN FOUNDED.! NAME. TOTAL VALUATION. 1812 Princeton .. $1,687,766 1821 Auburn 725,800 1827 Western (Allegheny) 8 33,35 6 1831 Lane (Cincinnati) Union (New York) Danville (Kentucky) 185 1 McCormick (Chicago) 1,404,648 1871 San Francisco 1 89 1 Omaha 30,000 1852 Dubuque (German) 55,94 1869 Newark (German) 86,668 1871 Lincoln (Freedman) 473>98 1868 Biddle (Freedman) 91,000 Total reported $8,067,438 Of the above, neither Lane (Cincinnati) nor Union (New York) report on "real estate." That item in every case must be an estimate. Their real property is essential to such institutions, but it would be worth little on sale, as its whole use must be changed. The above includes all the property of institutions connected with the Northern Presbyterian Church. CHAPTER XIV. MISSIONS AND CHURCH BOARDS. HUMAN nature in its unregenerate state asserts its identity and unity by no mark more definitely than by its selfishness. So evangelical Christianity demonstrates its supernatural power by the benevolence which characterizes the true followers, as they pour out their money by the million, annually, in the support of missions. By their gifts Presbyterians vindicate their right to rank among the leaders. At much pains the reports have been collated, and the following are the aggregate amounts which have gone through the treas- uries of the boards to these causes. In the early years no reports were made ; afterward reports were not full, and it is only in later years that they have been com- plete. Definite figures are on hand for these totals : Home Missions $15,067,272.18 Foreign Missions 16,933,383.37 Education (since Reunion) I >575 J 634.oo Publication and Sabbath School Work 1,370,017.50 Church Erection 3,674,968.00 Ministerial Relief 1,083,408.96 Freedmen 1,836,026.2 1 Aid for Colleges and Academies...' 1,206,132.00 Total $42,746,842.22 The sums above given were to be expended when given. Beyond these, however, there have been large sums given as permanent funds, of which the interest only is to be used. These permanent funds now amount to 2,157,629.76 Grand Total $44,904,471.98 MISSIONS AND CHURCH BOARDS. 287 In 1831 Rev. Dr. John H. Rice, of Virginia, pre- sented to the General Assembly his famous overture on missions. He asked the Assembly to adopt the fol- lowing resolutions : " First, that the Presbyterian Church in the United States is a missionary society, the object of which is to aid in the conversion of the PRESBYTERIAN MISSION BUILDING, NEW YORK, N. Y. world ; and that every member of the Church is a mem- ber for life of said society, and bound, in maintenance of his Christian character, to do all in his power for the accomplishment of this object. Second, ministers of the gospel in connection with the Presbyterian Church are most solemnly required to present this subject to the members of their respective congregations, using every effort to make them feel their obligations and to induce them to contribute according to their ability." In the preamble to this resolution, it was insisted that " one primary and principal object of the institution of the Church by Jesus Christ was, not so much the salva- 288 PRESBYTERIANS. tion of individual Christians (for he that believeth on the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved), but the commun- icating of the blessings of the gospel to the destitute in efficient and united efforts. The entire history of the Christian societies organized by the Apostles affords abundant evidence that they so understood the design of their Master." In the action on this overture the General Assembly declared their anxiety that measures should be adopted for enlisting the energies of the Presbyterian Church more extensively in the cause of missions to the heathen, and steps were taken at once with that object in view. It is oftentimes supposed that this overture was the first suggestion of the theory that the Church itself was a missionary society. Whether the overture was the first instance of this thought being formulated into words or not, the Presbyterian Church, throughout its whole history in the United States, had been acting upon the principle animating those words. At the sec- ond meeting of the original Presbytery, held in Philadel- phia in 1 707, a missionary resolution was adopted. (See p. 70.) In succeeding years, a very large portion of the time of the annual meetings of the First Presbytery and of the Old Synod was occupied in devising plans for missionary work. The committee to manage "The Fund for Pious Uses" was the germ of the modern boards of the Church. Every arrangement sought to make the work of that committee prompt and efficient. The churches were annually urged to take up collec- tions in furtherance of these objects. The habitual spirit of Home Missions was present when the Synod in the year 1759 selected three leading men, Messrs. McWhorter, Kirkpatrick and Latta, to go to the MISSIONS AND CHURCH BOARDS. 289 destitute places as itinerants, preaching the gospel. The effort to raise up a ministry to supply these vacan- cies called into existence the work of the Board of Education in assisting pious young men in their studies. Long before so perfect an organization as a Church Board was established, the Church was doing the same work by temporary committees. The only difference between a board and a commit- tee is in the amount of discretion and responsibility involved. When, under the influence of William Carey, the missionary spirit of the Church was revived in the latter part of the last century, there was great division of sentiment among Christians as to the obli- gations for missions. Carey's " Inquiry into the Obli- gations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathen" was one of the wonderful publications which, in the providence of God, has almost revolu- tionized religious thought. His sermon preached at the ministers' association at Nottingham, England, May 31, 1792, on Isaiah 54 : 2, 3, made a world-wide and perma- nent impression. Its two propositions were : expect great things from God, and attempt great things for God. As a result, there was gathered together, at Kettering, in the year 1792, a company of Christian people, who associated themselves together, October 2, in the first missionary society, called the " Baptist Missionary Society." Carey was its first missionary, and arrived in India in 1793. Later, voluntary missionary organi- zations appointed certain of their number as trustees, or directors or executive committees, and called these by the name of boards for the management of the work. When, therefore, similar societies came to be organized in this country, they adopted that same name 2QO PRESBYTERIANS. of boards. The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was thus organized in 1810. This was the form of the religious enterprises of that day before the different denominations had taken up the work under their own direction and control. When, by and by, the General Assembly thought it desirable to organize permanent bodies for the carry- ing out of its wishes in these respects, it established the " Boards of the Church," and adopted for each of these boards constitutions defining their duties and their powers. HOME MISSIONS. The first of these boards, naturally enough, was the Board of Home Missions. It was created by the Gen- eral Assembly in 1816, and was the result of the labors of the Church through preceding years in pursuance of its early resolution to " supply destitute places." The work of the Board of Home Missions, and its resources for the accomplishment of that work at the beginning of its history, were very small. The statistics of the whole Church for 1817 give only 536 ministers, 556 churches, with 47,568 members, and the total contributions for all purposes, as reported, are but $9627. The first form of this work was by missionary journeys made by a pastor himself. The visits of Makemie and Hampton to New York and Boston were just such mis- sionary journeys. The early pastors were constantly making them through the destitute portions of the country. After the Synod was organized these mis- sionary journeys were frequently undertaken, and the distant portions of the Church made application to Synod for the appointment of missionaries to travel HENRY KENDALL, D. D. MISSIONS AND CHURCH BOARDS. 29! among them. Thus record is made of the appointment of Messrs. Conn, Orme and Stewart to make a visit of this kind to Virginia and Carolina. These brethren went expressly to " form societies, to help them adjust their bounds, ordain elders, administer sealing ordi- nances, to instruct the people in discipline, and finally direct them in their after conduct, particularly in what manner they shall proceed to obtain the stated minis- try." Every year such appointments as these were made out of the lists of the pastors, and appointments were made to supply the pulpits of these pastors while they were absent. The whole work of the Synod was obviously in the direction of reaching vacant places. Later, from 1800 and onward, permanent committees were appointed to look after and systemize this work. It was out of the work of these committees that finally the thing came into the shape of a regular board. The board was simply the committee with more authority. The work of that board has a history equal to that of a romance. In later times men were sent out, with special means, " to explore new territory, and take a look at the fields that were likely to become permanent fields of settlement and usefulness for ministers." Oftentimes candidates for the ministry were sent out on these missionary tours. The General Assembly drew up a form of commissions, and adopted a book of in- structions which should be put into the hands of these young men when they went out upon this work. These itinerant ministers were urged " to avoid political con- troversies, and confine themselves in their preaching mainly to the great fundamental doctrines of the gos- pel." As they could stay but a short time in any one place, they were urged to use their time, to the very PRESBYTERIANS. highest advantage, in laying foundations for a spiritual Church. The reports made to the Assembly as to these tours, both by the missionaries and by the people visited, were of a most encouraging character, and gave the Assembly a strong appeal to make to the Church for more funds for the work. To read the earlier and later minutes, it would be supposed that the manage- ment of these mission matters occupied much more than one-half the meetings of the Assembly. The brethren were intensely earnest in the undertaking. From the first, every effort was made to avoid con- flict with other denominations. The similarity of doc- trinal views between the Presbyterian Church and the Congregational Churcli early led to the conviction that this missionary work ought to be carried on by a single superintending agency. The correspondence between the bodies was of the most cordial character. The American Home Missionary Society was the outcome of an arrangement for the consolidation of several separate associations engaged in this frontier work. As, however, the funds increased and the work grew in magnitude, it was found that many advantages could be secured by each denomination directing its own mis- sionaries and expending its own funds. During the period of the division between the Old and the New School branches of the Church, both engaged with great energy in these undertakings. After the reunion in 1870, that missionary spirit was, if anything, intensi- fied. The work was managed with consummate ability and great zeal. The men who entered the work were largely young men, full of courage and with large gifts in adapting themselves to new fields. A study of their achievements on the Pacific Coast, in the Rocky Mourr MISSIONS AND CHURCH BOARDS. 293 tains and in the Missouri Valley reflects the highest credit on their foresight and practical judgment. Wherever the physical geography of the country indi- cated a good site for a great city, or the accidental developments of business and trade gave any growing town peculiar advantages, the young missionary was sure to be on hand. Good lots were selected ; good ASHKV1LLK COLLEGE AND INDUSTRIAL INSTITUTE, ASHEV1LLE, N. C. people were gathered together and organized. If no house could be built, some storeroom or hall would be rented for the Sabbaths, without much regard to the uses to which it was put during the week. They were ready to take the best resources at their command for doing their work. The outcome is that this whole region is dotted over with large churches in the large cities and very efficient churches in the smaller cities and towns, while the rural districts are well supplied. The Kansas band of nine young men went West in 1869. Six were ordained in October of that year and the Synod of Kansas was the early result. Presbyterian- ism in West Missouri and in the State of Kansas 294 PRESBYTERIANS. constitutes their monument. No church nor business enterprise ever had better representatives to push any work than Rev. Timothy Hill, D. D., of Kansas; Rev. A. T. Norton, D. D., of Illinois; Rev. Henry Little, D. D., of Indiana ; Rev. B. G. Riley of Wisconsin and the present corps of living Synodical missionaries. The country has been reached by the Presbyterian Church, and the part of the work of Home Evangel- ization which falls to the lot of that denomination is well in hand. Presbyteries are organized all over the territory of the United States, and experienced minis- ters and elders are seeking to take advantage of each new opening. The early exploring missionary pastors of the last century have been transformed into per- manent Synodical superintendents. These men are elected annually by the Synods, and their work consists in traveling throughout the entire bounds committed to their care. New openings are visited and preaching maintained by the Synodical missionary for a season. When the people are ready for it, churches are organ- ized by the authority of Presbytery. Weak churches are gathered into groups. The people are advised and helped in selecting pastors ; and from the general funds gathered by the board in New York, aid is given to supplement the gifts of the people on the ground. It is obvious that, with sixteen skillful and practical men engaged in this form of work, the minimum of mistakes is made in the location of churches, and the maximum of effectiveness is secured for the money expended. Large churches are urged to make large contributions, and weak churches persuaded to do their best to help them- selves. Ever since the reunion the headquarters of the Board MISSIONS AND CHURCH BOARDS. 295 of Home Missions has been in New York City. It consists of seven ministers and eight elders, one-third being elected by the General Assembly each year. Its principal executive officers are its Corresponding Sec- retaries and Treasurer. The Presbyterian Church has been peculiarly fortunate in the men that have occupied PRESBYTERIAN INDUSTRIAL INSTITUTE, SITKA; ALASKA. these places of managing leadership in connection with its extending work at home. The reports of the Home Board for 1891 give the names and the preaching sta- tions of 1677 men who had been employed the preced- ing year. Every territory is more or less fully sup- plied ; and, betwixt the secretaries and the Synodical missionaries, a sharp lookout is kept for any new place which needs attention. Rev. Henry Kendall, D. D., has for thirty years directed this great work with the 296 PRESBYTERIANS. skill and organizing ability of the highest statesman- ship. No old methods have prevented this Home Board from modifying its forms of work, or adapting its means and measures to each new want which may arise. Closely identified with it is the work of the Woman's Executive Committee, with its headquarters in the same building with the headquarters of the Home Board. The demand for missionary work among the Mormons, among the Mexicans and among the Indians called for other kinds of work than that of simply preaching. As in the foreign field, so in this part of the home field there was great need for educational work. Women are quite as good teachers as men. In 1884 tne General Assembly declared it to be the purpose of the Church to call the work within the bounds of the United States "Home Work," and to give to the Foreign Board the charge of the work out- side of this boundary. This has led to the constant transfer from the Foreign Board to the Home Board of the work among the Indians. At the outset of Pres- byterian history in this country, "this Indian work was considered foreign missionary work. Now that the Indians, Mexicans, Mormons and Freedmen are all in process of incorporation into the citizenship of the land, it is obvious that work done within our own national boundaries ought to be called home work. Earnest calls for schools came to the Woman's Executive Com- mittee from the mountain whites of the South. The Southern Presbyterian Church had been greatly im- poverished by the war, and being unable to do all that was needed, this form of school work was readily ap- proved. The school work among the mountain whites MISSIONS AND CHURCH BOARDS. 297 of the South is managed by the Woman's Executive Committee of New York, with means furnished by the women of the Church. Although the Woman's Execu- tive Committee was only completely organized in 1878, its total income for 1891 amounted, as shown by its reports, to $338,846.76. It is impossible for any Christian heart to read the pitiful stories of the pioneer missionaries amid destitu- tion and limited means, and the accounts of the strug- gles of itinerant pastors to meet the wants of their fields, as these are shown in the early records of the Church, and then turn to the present condition of this " Conti- nental Work," and the heart not be thrilled with thanks- giving and praise to God. The future of Home Mis- sions can only be judged by this past record. And judged in that light, and in the light of the promises of God, we are furnished with ample grounds for the live- liest anticipation of future growth, efficiency and skill in the work of the Church. FOREIGN MISSIONS. Christians who had left Europe for conscience' sake, that they might build up a country where they could worship God as the Bible seemed to them to direct, might well be expected to be interested in the world's conver- sion. Even the early charters granted to the colonists in this country by statesmen themselves not too reli- gious included, as among the objects of the colony, the Christianization of the natives. The commission of Queen Elizabeth to Raleigh mentions that object. The first charter of Massachusetts Colony included the civ- ilization of the natives as a great design of the com- pany. In 1643 the English House of Commons de- 298 PRESBYTERIANS. clared that the " plantations of New England have, by the blessings of the Almighty had good and prosperous success without any public charge to this State, and are now likely to prove very happy for the propagation of the gospel in these parts and very beneficial to the kingdom and nation." Religious conviction was a life- controlling motive with the early Presbyterian ministers and their congregations. It is not surprising that the itinerant ministers to the " destitute places" should in- clude, among their objects of religious effort, the Indian population. The conflict between the whites and the Indians had not yet produced the feeling, now wide- spread among white people, that the only possible "good Indian was the dead Indian." The zeal of Eliot was matched by the early history of David Brainerd ; and the spirit of the Church was manifested when, in 1759, John Brainerd, brother of David Brainerd, was taken from the church at Newark to carry on the work among the Indians. For years John Brainerd kept up his Indian school and mission. So far as his conscious- ness of his work was concerned, as well as the feeling of the Church in sending him out, all was purely the spirit of Foreign Missions. The Brainerds preceded Carey almost half a century. The " Society for Prop- agating Christian Knowledge," located in Scotland, es- tablished in 1741 a " Board of Correspondents " in New York, and by them Rev. Azariah Horton of the Presby- tery of New York was, in 1742, appointed a missionary. In 1763 the Synod of New York ordered a collection in all its churches for the support of Indian missions ; and in 1766 Charles Beatty and George Duffield went on a mission to the Indians on the Muskingum River in Ohio. Various Indian missionary societies by this MISSIONS AND CHURCH BOARDS. time were organized and at work. In 1797 the North- ern Missionary Society, composed in part of Presby- terians, was organized. In 1803 the General Assembly selected Gideon Blackburn and sent him to the Cher- okee Indians residing in Georgia. When Blackburn's health failed, Mr. Kingsbury took up that mission under the American Board. In 1816 the United Foreign Mis- sionary Society was organized from members of the Presbyterian, Reformed Dutch and Associate Re- formed Churches. Their declared object was " to spread the gospel among the Indians of North America and other portions of the heathen and anti-Christian world." In 1826 all the existing missionary enterprises of the Presbyterian Church were merged into this so- ciety. In that year the society had a force of sixty ministers, and the whole work was transferred to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mis- sions. This noble organization was instituted in 1810. In 1806 the famous "Haystack Prayer Meeting" of the students of Williams College was held. There Samuel J. Mills proposed that they attempt to send the gospel to the heathen. Two years later Mills r Richards and Hall signed a pledge binding themselves to go to the foreign work, should it be possible for them to do so. This was a "Student Volunteer Mission Band" in ear- nest. In 1810 Mills, Judson, Newell and Nott, all Ando- ver students, met a number of ministers at Prof. Stuart's house, and laid before that private conference their appeal to be sent to the foreign field. The next day Messrs. Spring and Worcester, on the way to the General Association of Massachusetts, formed the plan of the A. B. C. F. M. June 29, 1810, the Associa- PRESBYTERIANS. tion adopted their plan, and the Board was formally constituted, September 5, at Farmington, Conn. In 1812, Judson, Newell, Hall, Nott and Rice sailed for Calcutta, and the work was thus fairly inaugurated. It is possible that the original plan did not contemplate connection with any other than the Congregational PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL, ALLAHABAD, INDIA. churches of New England. In 1811 the Board sug- gested to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church the forming of a board of its own for foreign missions. June 12, 1812, the Assembly heartily in- dorsed the proposal of the Board, but expressed doubt as to the advisability of a separate organization, and preferred uniting in the work with their Congregational brethren. At the annual meeting of this year, 1812, eight commissioners were elected into the Board from among the most prominent members of the Presbyte- MISSIONS AND CHURCH BOARDS. 3OI rian Church. In 1814 a member was elected from the Associate Reformed Church ; in 1816 one from the Reformed Dutch, and subsequently members were added from the German Reformed Church. Steadily this A. B. C. F. M. grew to be the leading organ of various denominations for the foreign missionary work. As already stated, in 1826 the Northern Missionary Society went out of existence and transferred its mis- sions to this Board. The object for which the Board was created, as stated in its charter, is " for the purpose of propagating the gospel in heathen lands by support- ing ministers and diffusing a knowledge of the Holy Scriptures." The Board consists of two hundred and twenty-three members, of whom one-third are to be laymen, one-third clergymen, and the other third may be either. Until about 1830 the whole foreign mission- ary work of the Presbyterian Church was carried on through this agency. The deepening missionary spirit of this country, how- ever, was rapidly growing, and the conviction, always acted upon, was beginning to shape itself into words and actions ; namely, that the Church itself was a mis- sionary society. Missionary committees in the General Assembly were making earnest reports, and Presby- terian missionaries in the foreign fields were sending home urgent appeals for additional help. It is, there- fore, hardly to be wondered at that the strengthening Church should feel called upon to enter the field in its own name. The propriety of organizing a separate Board of Foreign Missions under the control of the Assembly, or continuing to co-operate with the Con- gregational Church in the support of the American Board of Foreign Missions, was frequently debated in 302 PRESBYTERIANS. the highest judicatory of the church, and this question finally came to be one of the pivotal questions which led to the separation between the Old School and the New School a few years later. Unfortunately, divisions of opinion upon various questions grew up in the Assem- bly, and parties divided very nearly on the same lines. The Western Missionary Society was organized by the Synod of Pittsburgin October, 1831, and the second article of their constitution declares the object of the society to be " to aid in fulfilling the last great com- mand of the glorified Redeemer, by conveying the gos- pel to whatever parts of the heathen and the anti- Christian world that the providence of God may enable this society to extend its evangelical exertions." In succeeding years there was a large and influential ele- ment in the General Assembly in favor of taking this Western Foreign Missionary Society under the control of the General Assembly. This was the Old School party, and after the division in 1837 this was imme- diately accomplished by them. The Board, after this reorganization, was called " The Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America," and consisted of forty ministers and forty laymen. The first report of this Board, made in 1838, showed 15 missionaries, 23 assistants with 190 pupils in the schools in the foreign field. The total receipts were $45,498. The growth of this foreign mis- sionary work from thence onward has been inspiring. The missionaries were at once authorized to organize themselves into Presbyteries and Synods, and an im- mense amount of laborious work, in the way of reducing languages to writing, translating the Scriptures, pre- MISSIONS AND CHURCH BOARDS. 303 paring translations of school books and other books, was accomplished. After the division between the Old and New Schools, the New School Church continued to contribute to and co-operate with the American Board. Naturally enough, the native churches organized in the for- eign field were organized as independent churches. As those foreign mission stations enlarged in the num- ber of ministers, teachers, pupils and church members, the number of churches increased. The contributions of the New School Church to the American Board were very large ; and a very considerable number of the missionaries sent out by that- Board were members of the various Presbyteries. In time the question of the number of churches in these missionary stations which were connected with the New School Assembly, came to be inquired into, and in 1859 overtures on this point were sent to the General Assembly from the Synod of Minnesota, the Presbyteries of Newark, of Philadelphia Third and of Greencastle. The overture of Philadelphia Third called attention to the fact "that, after contributing millions of money, we have not a single mission church or but one in the entire foreign field." This was not fairly to be attributed to the in- fluence of the Board, but was simply a result that grew out of the situation of affairs. It can be readily seen, however, that the result being what it was, and the public attention of the Church called to it, it produced great readiness to unite with the Old School Church in the formation of one consolidated body, managing its own foreign missionary affairs. This greatly promoted reunion sentiments in the Church prior to 1870, and contributed to pave the way for the event of that year. 304 PRESBYTERIANS. The reunion of the Old and New School Churches raised at once a very delicate question ; and it was a source of profound thanksgiving that the settlement of it was accomplished in such a high-toned Christian spirit. The New School Church had been large con- PRESBYTERIAN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, TOKIO, JAPAN. tributors to the tunds of the American Board. Very many of the missionaries were ministers and laymen of the New School body. The Societies and Presbyteries and churches were deeply attached to their own repre- sentatives in the foreign field. Ordinarily, it would have been the understanding that when the Old and New School united the American Board would be left in charge of all the stations that had grown up under MISSIONS AND CHURCH BOARDS. 305 its care. Two serious objections were urgent against that course. In the first place, this would leave the Board with all its old financial burdens on its hands, and with a very large amount of its supporting con- tributors withdrawn. On the other hand, these same contributors would feel a very great sorrow at severing their intimate connection with their friends in these various foreign fields. As a result, the reunited Gen- eral Assembly appointed a very able committee of conference with the American Board. When these representatives of the two parties came together, it was with an earnest and humble desire that the Holy Spirit should lead them to see and to do what was right and just among Christian brethren. Under such circumstances, it is ordinarily not difficult to find out just what is the right way. It was finally agreed that the missions of Syria, Persia and the Gaboon Missions in Africa and those among the Dakotah, Nez Perce, Seneca and Lake Superior Chippewa Indians should be transferred from under the care of the A. B. C. F. M. to the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions. This left some in the foreign field in other stations which the Church greatly regretted to leave, and who were much saddened by seeming to have their connec- tion with their home churches severed or changed. A large number of the New School ministers and laymen who had been connected with the American Board still continued their contributions. These were fairly rep- resented by Mr. William E. Dodge of New York, who said at the time, that he should never cease his annual contributions to the American Board, though he should give according to his ability also to the Foreign Board of the United Church. 306 PRESBYTERIANS. The growth of this foreign work since the reunion has been most gratifying. The Board has now under its care twenty-seven distinct missions. The missions in two different fields have been consolidated with na- tive churches in the countries where they are located. They are in a sense still a part of the work of the For- eign Board, as it appoints the missionaries and furnishes the support. In another sense these missionaries and churches are members of the independent self-govern- ing Church of their own country. This was first true of Brazil, and is now true of Japan. Movements for the consolidation of the various Presbyterian missions of the different Presbyterian bodies of Great Britain and the United States are now on foot, with a view of a like result both in China and in India. This is the result which is ultimately to be expected in any country where mission work is blessed in the future with such success as that of which the past gives promise. The effort of the missionaries has always been directed toward such an organization of education as would raise up and furnish a native ministry, capable of managing the native churches and the native work. In many missions there are native churches, supporting by their own funds their native pastors. Colleges and theological schools are opened in every leading country. Medical missionaries are doing an immense work, and rapidly gaining in those countries an influential posi- tion for foreign science and scholarship. Despite all the statements to the contrary made by ignorant and hostile critics, the missionaries themselves have in the opinion of the natives proved themselves to be experts in scholarship, education, medical work, exact transla- tion, book-publishing, itinerating and in the planning and JOHN CAMERON LOWRIE, D. D, MISSIONS AND CHURCH BOARDS. 307 superintending the construction of buildings. The Arabic Bible is readable by 200,000,000 Moslems. The Chinese Bible is readable by more persons than the Arabic. Beyrout College is a university. The insti- tutions of higher education of China, India, Japan and Brazil are recognized by the natives as equal to their best in their own scholarship. Dr. W. A. P. Martin is Chancellor of the Imperial University of Pekin, and Dr. S. G. M'Farland is President of the King's College of Siam. The name of Lowrie has been identified with the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions in its whole history. Hon. Walter Lowrie was a member of the United States Senate from Pennsylvania for six years, and for the next twelve years Secretary of the Senate. He left that high place to take the higher one of Sec- retary of the Western Foreign Missionary Society. When that society was taken up by the General Assembly he was continued in the office. His son, Rev. Walter M. Lowrie, was a missionary to China and was drowned by pirates in the China Sea. Another son, Rev. John C. Lowrie, D. D., was first a missionary to India, and since 1838 has been secretary of the Board. He has helped to develop the foreign work of the Presby- terian Church from the first of its separate establish- ment till it has reached its present colossal magnitude. BOARD OF EDUCATION. It has always been true for the Presbyterian Church that the harvest has been exceedingly great and pro- portionately the laborers few. In the conviction that a successful ministry should be an educated ministry, the early Presbyterian ministers strove to improve the means for this education, and increase the number of 308 PRESBYTERIANS. candidates for the pastoral office. Among these candi- dates (as is always true) there was a large number of bright students who had very limited means of support. In the early Presbyteries and Synods various schemes were set on foot to provide means for the education of these talented youth in their poverty. Numerous plans were proposed, temporarily adopted and finally aban- doned as impracticable. The usual reason was the lack of funds. Sometimes it was proposed that the pupils should be admitted without tuition, but that left the teacher without support. Then the effort was made through tuition to provide a salary for the teachers. As is elsewhere noticed, Princeton College grew out of this desire to provide more pastors. In a measure the University of Pennsylvania was also the development of this same earnest purpose after education. In 1757 aid was secured for the Presbyterian school from the " Ger- man Fund," and arrangements made for the education of a limited number of Germans in the school at Chester Level. In 1769 it was recorded that " the Synod look upon this matter (for the necessary support of a col- lege) as of great importance, and appoint three to make suitable representation for the information of the several congregations." In 1771 a general education plan was adopted. This proposed that every Presbytery should inquire after suitable candidates, and that those needing help should receive aid from a general fund. It was an elegant scheme in theory, and after being re-enjoined for several years was finally abandoned as impracticable. In 1806 a special committee reported " a plan for increasing the number of candidates," and the Presbyteries were re- quested to give an account of their diligence in its prose- MISSIONS AND CHURCH BOARDS. 309 cution. In 1819 fifty-nine young men were reported as under the care of the Presbyteries. The same year, 1819, the General Assembly established a "General Board of Education," and gave it a regular constitu- tion. The declared objects were four: " First, to rec- ognize Presbyterian associations as auxiliary to this General Board. Second, to assist Presbyteries in edu- cating pious youth for the gospel ministry. Third, to assign to the several auxiliary societies a just propor- tion of the whole disposable funds. Fourth, to concert and execute measures for increasing the fund." In 1822 it was voted " that the General Assembly consider the education of poor and pious youth of promising talents for the gospel ministry, a subject of interesting impor- tance especially considering the rapid population and the increasing number of destitute settlements of our country." Year after year this subject was considered, its importance urged upon the Church and various modifications adopted suited to the wants of the times. One constant source of perplexity was the question of requiring candidates to pledge themselves to enter the ministry as a condition of receiving aid. It was found that oftentimes these pledges were hurriedly given, and afterward broken. Many times they proved a snare to weak consciences, and not unfrequently Pres- byteries sought means to escape from licensing such unsuitable candidates. It finally came to be the policy only to require candidates that failed to enter the ministry to pledge themselves to refund the money they had received in assistance of their education. Like the administration of all other contributions for good ends, the task had its difficulties. Candidates for the ministry are reasonably conspicuous in their own ^ESBYTERIANS. neighborhood, and when any turn out badly, the ap- parent misapplication of funds in such cases works un- usual injury to that form of philanthropy. Along with the Tort to educate men, there was always present the motive for multiplying institutions for education. <An increasing number of theological seminaries dems?-'Lie ill increasing number of colleges. COLLEGE OF The General Assem means to aid these s schools in connectioi received special atte: sembly of 1844 a nbta- subject ; and the Gen the whole subject tr authorized that B might be committed to establishment of paroc Differences of opinion e '-'A, DEER LODGE, MONT. ^erefore, sought to devise '.i i The subject of parochial 'itk* individual congregations In the Old School As- jport was adopted upon that ssembly, in 1847, referred Board of Education and expend whatever money that purpose, in aid of the nd Presbyterial schools. a as to the best manner of MISSIONS AND CHURU/T BOARDS. 311 maintaining religious control of, colleges, but the dif- ferences were as to the mode of control, and not as to the importance of the religious influence in these insti- tutions of learning. It wouldoKave probably been well if the Church at that time had persisted in the policy of aiding in the establishment rf Church schools, instead of postponing attention tfo> , it important task until the Board of Aid for Colleges was established in 1883. Money to establish colleges was not easily pro- cured, and the money that was procured seemed to go further when distributed among candidates for the min- istry. Thus the Board and the church slowly drew off from the college work, and entirely concentrated atten- tion upon the special work of educating individual men. * %. The policy of educating njijen Jias always been more or less debated, but the conj^l"^ * .has generally been in the affirmative. Theorcl j^ctions have been urged that this acceptance iyjg&f^tance on the part of theological students would "Se 3y thgj%m^.nliness of character ; but it has been** i^und that tT ~***p^mls almost wholly upon the ind* ?fol man; The amount of aid given has never b' )re than two hundred dollars per year. And it i ]y reached this sum in recent times. To receiv~ $ 7 ! f the young man must now be recommended both j ro , ?fis church and his Pres- bytery. No man who is wo ;daining will be spoiled by twenty-five dollars petft 4^-, j t h for eight months of the year. Common day-1 \s get more than that. The ministry is largely r j from the ranks of the humbler circles of the- -ch, if rank is estimated on the basis of this we goods. Now and then persons born in the midih,,;, /luxury, and able to look 312 PRESBYTERIANS. forward to the possession of inherited wealth, are blessed with such a spirit of consecration that they are willing to go anywhere and do anything ; but these are exceptional cases rather than illustrations of any gen- eral rule. The early Apostles were from the ranks of the middle classes and the poor, and the modern " Apostles of missions and the Church " have generally come from the same circles of society. However some may object to giving aid toward theological education, large numbers of Christian people have felt that it was a privilege. If young men and women are willing to turn aside from the vocations that promise wealth and fame, to enter the mission fields where only a bare liv- ing is promised, and that oftentimes in obscurity, the least the Church can do would seem to be to enable them to obtain their education without the concomitant of a debt. Many of the ablest ministers, now occupying large churches, have thus been aided, and are not ashamed to own it. They do not seem to have been injured by it. The Church could sorely afford to spare the brilliant men and women who have thus been sent out into the newer parts of the home field, and into the difficult parts of the foreign field. BOOKS, READING AND GENERAL IMPROVEMENT. An educated ministry is certain to develop church members who crave intellectual instruction. Printing enables people to bring to their own homes the intel- lectual food which, previous to the discovery of that art, had to be secured through oral instruction. Some of the early devices for satisfying this craving, among the people of new sections, for literature and reading, were quite interesting and curious. Presbyteries sought MISSIONS AND CHURCH BOARDS. 313 to establish circulating libraries in their midst, from which ministers and others could draw books, as occa- sion needed. Earnest exhortations were addressed to the churches to provide congregational libraries for the use of the ministers. Pastoral salaries were con- fessedly small, and soon the attention of the people was called to the importance to themselves of supply- ing their ministers with libraries, as well as with par- sonages and additional grounds as a glebe. Not a few churches adopted this excellent policy. Many an old- time minister had not only a partly furnished house to live in, but a small farm attached thereto. Some of these ministers so cultivated these farms in their leisure moments that they gained admirable vigor of health and a toughness, resulting in long life, and were able to save almost the whole of their salary. In 1772 the old Synod took action to select a list of books suitable for general circulation. To guard against unwise publica- tions, the brethren almost established a censorship of the press. In 1735 it was agreed "that if any of our members shall see cause to prepare anything for the press upon any controversies in religious matters, be- fore such member publish what he has thus prepared he shall submit the same to be perused by persons to be appointed for that purpose." A committee to act " northward of Philadelphia," was appointed, and an- other committee to act "southward of Philadelphia." Three of the committee were a quorum. Of course the publication and distribution of the Scriptures was always held to be an important matter. Bibles were always included in every list of books suit- able for distribution. Calls were made for contribu- tions of Bibles and other good books, and committees PRESBYTERIANS. appointed to receive them. Some of these committees were allowed out of the " Fund for Pious Uses" a small sum of money to be expended in the purchase of books for this kind of distribution. In 1783 a col- lection was appointed for the purchase of Bibles. An intimation had been received that a Mr. Aitken had undertaken the publication of Bibles and the importa- tion of them from Europe, and it was earnestly recom- mended to all to purchase such in preference to any other. In 1789 the General Assembly, at its first meeting, indorsed the project of " Mr. Collins, printer to the State of New Jersey, who proposed to make an impression of the Old and New Testaments, and de- clared the scheme worthy of the countenance and sup- port of all denominations of Christians." A commit- tee of sixteen of the ablest members of the Assembly was appointed to bring the subject before the respec- tive Presbyteries ; and Drs. Witherspoon, Smith and Armstrong were appointed as the Presbyterian members of a joint committee to revise and correct the proof sheets. This same project was recommended in 1 790 and 1791. The American Bible Society was organized in 1816, and at its next meeting the General Assembly "records its gratitude and heartfelt pleasure at the formation of this society." The Bible Society has al- ways been an organization to which all Assemblies, Synods and Presbyteries have given their most cordial indorsement. Since its organization no other move- ment for the publication of Bibles has had much sup- port in the Church. About 1850, the American Bible Society, in the most innocent way, proposed a revision of their standard edition. The design of the revision was undoubtedly MISSIONS AND CHURCH BOARDS. 315 good, but it included the question of spelling the word spirit with a capital, or without it. When spelled with a capital, it referred to the third person of the Trinity. When spelled otherwise, it had not that spe- cific reference. The Bible Society's Committee on Re- vision proposed to change the spelling of this word as to this particular in many passages. This was looked upon as a very high species of Scriptural interpreta- tion, and the Presbyterian Church, perhaps more than any other denomination, entered its protest against the Bible Society's assuming authority for such commenta- tion. Before very long the revision was abandoned, and the Bible Society confined itself closely to the terms of its constitution, the publication of King James's Version of the Bible, " without note or com- ment." While the Church has thus relegated the whole work of printing Bibles to the American Bible Society, it has always appreciated the necessity for its own work in the publication of religious tracts and books. Both branches of the Church, during the division between the Old and New Schools, engaged in this work. There are many of the more strictly doctrinal books which may not have a sale sufficient to make their pub- lication a paying operation. Ministers, many times, may be in need of such books, and find it difficult, for the reason just mentioned, to get them. Private mem- bers also may often seek, with like difficulty, to procure some able and authoritative exposition of the doctrines of their own Church. Rather than such a want should go unsupplied, the Church ought itself to furnish the facility for meeting it. True economy on the part of the Church would place the intellectual and spiritual 316 PRESBYTERIANS. benefit of its members first, and then consider what ex- pense can be saved in the business of promoting it. When, however, ministers want them, or private mem- bers desire an abl-e, authoritative exposition of the doc- trines of their own Church, they want such books very earnestly. Experience has proved that a denomination which does not print and circulate its own literature can- not prosper. Even denominations which have specially claimed to have no creed have found it necessary to give attention to the publication of standard books. The book business of the Presbyterian Church, as a business, has been so managed as to support itself. For the purpose merely of publishing books contribu- tions have never been asked beyond what was necessary to furnish an original working capital for the publica- tion house. The profits of the business have been sufficient to increase this capital as rapidly as was deemed essential. Donations have been asked exclu- sively for the support of the colporteurs and the Sabbath- school work. These colporteurs are the pioneers of the churches. They travel through sparsely settled dis- tricts, and bring Bibles and good books directly to the homes of the people. They converse and pray with these scattered children of the fold, and are able to report places where missions would be the most promis- ing. Oftentimes their sales amount to enough, even with the small profit allowed, to pay for the undertak- ing. The books have generally, however, been sold very nearly at cost. The object is to disseminate religious truth, and not to make money. The colpor- teur is a missionary and not a book peddler. He has been, in many cases, extremely useful and greatly blessed in his work. MISSIONS AND CHURCH BOARDS. 317 During the hundred years since Robert Raikes started the Sunday-school movement, the Presbyterian Church has been an efficient laborer in that field. The instruction of children was always part of her policy. The Westminster Assembly prepared the Shorter Cate- chism with special reference to the need of parents in educating their children. In the old country, as well as in this, the catechising of children was one of the forms of parental education and pastoral service which was steadily insisted on. The increasing attention given to Sunday-school work has, by some, been believed to be a reason for the decline of this form of labor for the baptized children. Many believe that this neglect of catechising is a great evil. Years ago the Board of Publication sought to give Sunday-school teachers valu- able help by the publication of works on methods of Sunday-school instruction. The American Sunday School Union long ago published Union Question Books upon various books of the Bible, and these were largely used in the Sunday schools. As early as 1839 that Union Society published a book entitled " The Teacher Taught." In these later days; when normal classes and teachers' classes are found everywhere, per- sons are apt to suppose that these are new things under the sun. Present names may be new, but the desire of teachers to do better work, and the desire of Church leaders to help them in plans for this better work, are by no means new things. At present the Sunday- school department of the Presbyterian Board of Publi- cation is its great missionary department. It is found that the colporteurs of former times could have their efficiency promoted by commissioning them to hold Sabbath-school conventions, organize schools and PRESBYTERIANS. supply these schools with libraries. In 1887 the Gen- eral Assembly adopted the report of a committee which recommended the changing of the technical name of the Board from " The Board of Publication," to " The Board of Publication and Sunday-school Work." From that time onward all contributions have gone to this Sunday-school department and its mission work. The Westminster system of Lesson Helps is one of COLLEGE OF EMPORIA, EMPORIA, KAN. the very best now offered to the public. Children's day in June has become a recognized institution in all the Sunday schools. The collections taken on that day are not large from any one giver, but when gathered together they furnish the chief means for the wide- spread work of this department throughout the whole country. The theological seminaries have sessions for about eight months of the year. This gives a good long vacation in the summer. It is excellent experience that is to be secured by theological students spending this vacation as a season of work under this Sunday- MISSIONS AND CHURCH BOARDS. 319 school missionary department. Numbers of these students find most helpful employment each year in this direction. They go back to the seminaries under- standing their future work, and appreciating their opportunities. The report of the Board for the year 1891 gives the following statistics, which show the gratifying results of this enterprise both to the churches, the Sunday schools, the missionary colporteurs and the outside public : Sabbath Schools 7,n7 An increase for the year of 583. Officers, Teachers and Pupils 947>337 An increase for the year of 47,246. Scholars joined the Church 25,240 Contributions for all purposes , $598,341 BOARD OF CHURCH ERECTION. Religious enthusiasm finds itinerating mission work much the most attractive. It looks like the immediate work of preaching the Gospel to travel from place to place, holding evangelistic meetings. Undoubtedly, in the early Church very much of the work done by the Apostles was of this character. It is also probable that the evanescent character of the early Churches in Western Asia, Northern Africa, and Southeastern Europe was due to want of attention to matters looking toward permanency. If Christianity is to be perma- nently strong, and financially able, and intellectually competent to carry on large schemes of aggressive missionary work, great attention must be paid to these things which help to secure enduring strength and power. In the early history of this country, in the desolate places there were many neighborhoods anxious to have regular preaching ; but neither then nor since 320 PRESBYTERIANS. has pastoral work been stable and useful, unless the congregation is furnished with a house in which to worship. Camp meetings in the open woods and basket meetings in destitute neighborhoods are excellent tem- porary expedients. They are mainly available, how- ever, for the newer districts. When populations become settled, and accustomed to good houses for their homes, and good buildings for their public gatherings, they are not content to hold church services in the open air all the year around. It is a great task for a small church in a destitute neighborhood to erect a suitable building. Unsuitable buildings, badly constructed and unfavor- ably located, are oftentimes more of a hindrance than a help to the growth of a church. The early fathers of Presbyterianism learned the value of help from the strong, when wisely given to the weak, by the necessity which compelled them to appeal to the Churches of the mother country for aid in building up the Church in the wilderness. The New School General Assembly in 1850 expressed the thought, which has been true through the whole history of Presbyterianism in this country, in these words : " It is recommended to all our Churches to strive earnestly to render our religious institutions permanent by the erection of church edifices and the settlement of pastors, wherever this can be done ; and in this work the old and wealthier churches ought to co-operate with the younger and feebler." As early as 1733 tne Synod acted on this principle ; for it was voted " that something be allowed to the congregations of Baskingridge and Perth Amboy in order to assist them in defraying the charges of their meeting house." In 1775 application was brought in from the Presbyterian congregation in Salem, in the MISSIONS AND CHURCH BOARDS. 321 Province of Massachusetts Bay, representing that " their meeting house, with many other valuable build- ings, had been consumed by fire ; and Synod was requested to commiserate their case, and take such methods for their relief as might appear expedient." This was accompanied by an earnest address from the Presbytery of Boston in favor of this application. Synod agreed in heartily recommending this as "an object of charity, hoping all persons of ability would contribute to their relief." The work of church building is so intimately con- nected with the work of Home Missions that it is diffi- cult, even yet, to separate the two. From the time of the organization of the Board of Home Missions in 1816, this matter of aid for church building was con- stantly brought to the attention of the General Assem- bly. The Assembly urged upon the churches the duty of contributing for this purpose. The suggestion for a special board was often made, but the Assembly pre- ferred keeping the two causes combined under one board. It was believed that in this way the business of both could be transacted with less time and expense than by separate organizations. After the division be- tween the Old and New Schools both branches of the Church kept pressing this work of church extension. Annual committees were appointed to have special charge of the subject, and bring it to the attention of the General Assembly and the churches. In 1844 the Old School Assembly gave the Board of Missions spe- cific instructions in regard to the management of this department, and in 1851 special collections were directed to be taken up in aid of church building. It was sup- posed by the Old School Assembly that the great work 322 PRESBYTERIANS. of the Board would be the distribution of money among the various churches, as if there was a liability of more trouble in judiciously distributing the money than in get- ting money enough to meet the wants. For this purpose the Church Erection Board was located in St. Louis in 1855, because that city was in the midst of a region where the largest number of congregations were to be found needing aid. The New School Committee on Church Extension was located in Philadelphia. They seem to have foreseen that there would be more work to get money than to find places enough in need of it. When the reunion came the experiences of both branches led them to believe that headquarters in the East, where the money was mainly to come from, was the better policy. The New School Church, in 1853, undertook, and by 1856 accomplished, the project of raising a fund of $100,000, which fund was to be allotted to the different Synods, and loaned in aid of church building. The Church Extension Committees of the Assembly, when so advise"d by the different Synods, were authorized to donate from this fund a sum not larger than one-fourth of the amount allotted to the Synod for that year. In both branches of the Church two conditions have always been insisted on as necessary on the part of the churches receiving aid. The rules of the Church Erec- tion Board now require that the trustees of churches receiving aid shall give the ^Board a mortgage to the amount which they receive. This mortgage bears no interest, and the principal is never collected while the congregation remains in connection with the Presby- terian Church. As the money is given by Presbyterians through a Presbyterian Church Board, it is held to be MISSIONS AND CHURCH BOARDS. 323 but fair that it should be used in connection with that body. If the congregation sees fit to leave the Presby- terian Church, and join some other denomination, the mortgage is immediately collectable and interest is cal- culated from the time the money was first given. The General Assembly has held to a very liberal interpreta- tion of this mortgage, and has claimed the right to re- lease the forfeiture or transfer the mortgage title to other bodies similar to our own. It is believed that in no case has there been objection made to the transfer- ence of the ecclesiastical connection of a Church which wished to join the Southern Presbyterians. Indeed, very rarely has the foreclosure of a mortgage been en- forced, except where a church was disbanding, and the property about to cease to be used as a church. This mortgage gives donors assurance that their contribu- tions will not be thrown away. The other condition on which churches receive this aid is that they shall promise to take up an annual collection for this Board of Church Erection. Those who are themselves aided in securing a church building, ought to be willing, according to their ability, to aid other churches weaker than themselves. Wherever these collections amount to ten per cent, of the amount of the original aid given by the Board, it is credited on the mortgage; so that any Church disposed to do so, can in ten years entirely cancel the Board's claim against its property. Occasionally objections are made in various places to these regulations, but when properly understood they seem to be eminently just and fair. It is greatly to be regretted that so many churches, after receiving aid, and promising to take up collections, should feel at liberty to excuse themselves from these collections on account of poverty. One of 524 PRESBYTERIANS. the Assemblies well said : " A church of adequate size and respectable appearance is of great importance to every congregation. There are many places in which the members of the Presbyterian Church are too poor to build such houses as would accommodate themselves and that portion of the people who might be induced to attend the ordinances of the Gospel with them. Under such circumstances unsuitable churches are erected sometimes, and much money wasted. Assist- ance to a congregation in such circumstances is most important." The readiness of Presbyterian people to give for such an object is indicated by the fact that they not only contribute liberally to the Board, but also give additional sums to special cases in which they may be interested. For the year 1891 the total amount re- ceived by the Board of Church Erection was $103,- 304.49. This sum passed through the treasury of the Board itself. The General Assembly has directed that there shall be reported by the churches to the Presby- teries, for publication in the minutes under this head, not only what is sent directly to the Board, but also all that is given for church building, when not given by a church to itself. The report for church erection, as given in the minutes of the Assembly, therefore shows all the gifts of the people to this object. That amount for 1891 is $360,944. MINISTERIAL RELIEF. A Church which aids its young men to gain an educa- tion for the ministry is sure to care for its old men after they have finished their life work. From the very out- set this cause has been found close to the heart of the Presbyterian membership. One of the first conspicuous MISSIONS AND CHURCH BOARDS. 325 cases on record is that of Jedediah Andrews. He will be remembered as one of the original members of the Presbytery organized in 1706. He came to Philadel- phia as a young man, and served that Church through- out all his life. He was with it and the denomination in the days of its weakness, so that when in 1733 he de- sired to have an assistant appointed to aid him in his pastoral labors, the matter was brought to the attention of the Synod. Synod declined to take action on it, unless provision was made for a support for him in his old age. This, his people, with the true spirit of Phila- delphia generosity, were quite ready to do, and the Synod assented to the arrangement. Synod had already taken action in this line of things, since in 1719 they had made an appropriation for the widow of Rev. John Wilson, from the " Fund for Pious Uses." Throughout the whole history of Synod and the early days of the General Assembly, this kind of appropriations were made. Almost every device for accomplishing the end has been tried. Occasionally, even yet, someone will pro- pose a system of ''life insurance," as ff there was no such thing in existence, and the thought entirely new and original. The Presbyterian Ministers' Fund is still in vigorous existence, though organized in 1755. Its first name was the "Widows' Fund." Since that time its constitution has been amended, and it has always been doing a fairly profitable life insurance business for the special benefit of ministers and churches. Though a business institution in its legal structure, it is truly a philanthropic enterprise. It has been and is remarkably well and economically managed. The result is a very low rate of insurance as well as a safe 326 MISSIONS AND CHURCH BOARDS. 327 company. It has never been appreciated as its merits deserve. Without interfering with this form of insurance work, in 1 849 the Old School Assembly established a separate collection, with its own column in the statistical tables, and to be disbursed by the Trustees of the Assembly " in aiding disabled ministers and the widows and orphans of deceased ministers." In 1876 this fund was put in charge of a regular Board. In 1887 the en- dowment of this Board was taken up as the principal object of contribution for the Centenary fund. At that time $606,266.25 was contributed for the purpose; this was added to the permanent fund then held by the Board. The total of Permanent Endowment Funds held in 1891 was $1,151,282.22. The annual contributions of the Church to this cause during the year 1891 were $170,418, furnishing relief to 659 fam- ilies. The persons who are aided from this fund, on the recommendation of their Presbyteries, are not only disabled ministers, but the widows of lay missionaries and their orphan children. The General Assemblies of 1888 and 1889 instructed the Board to include in the list of those who had claims upon its funds, "such female missionaries and lay missionaries as may have become disabled in the service of the Church." The rapid growth of the missionary work, giving employ- ment to so many missionaries other than ministers, made the justice of this arrangement manifest on its first suggestion. At present no one who is devoting his life to the service of the Church, either as a min- ister, teacher or missionary, under the Home Board, the Foreign Board or the Board of Freedmen, is ex- cluded from the care of the Church. 328 PRESBYTERIANS. THE FREEDMEN'S BOARD. The duty of American Christians to the colored peo- ple of this country has never been absent from the mind of the Presbyterian Church. To find out practi- cal methods of performing this duty has always been a very complicated task. The missionary enthusiasm, which early led to evangelical work among the Indians, would quite as readily have gone into work among the colored people, except for the fact that the great majority of colored people were slaves. European Christendom has almost throughout all history been complicated with the question of slavery, and the Afri- can slave trade has been a subject for debate among statesmen, for treaties among nations and for differ- ences of opinion among philanthropists. The history of that question in this country is marked by the bit- terest animosity, the fiercest invectives, the hottest po- litical contests and the bloodiest wars. Every project was confronted with difficulties ; and every scheme for the discharge of Christian duty on the one side, and the amelioration of the condition of the slaves on the other, had its embarrassments. Previous to the war of 1 86 1 Presbyterian ministers and churchmen in the slaveholding sections sought often earnestly, but sometimes indifferently, to bring to these people the knowledge of the Gospel. In 1860 there were enrolled 1 3>83 7 colored communicants in the Presbyterian Church. Before the war had lasted any length of time various movements were set on foot for missions among the Freedmen, who had gathered around the camps of the army and its various fortified places. One of these volunteer missionary associations had its MISSIONS AND CHURCH BOARDS. 329 headquarters in Indianapolis and another in Philadel- phia. Christians were feeling their way as to the best methods of meeting their responsibilities. In the Old School General Assembly in 1865 the question was discussed and a committee on missions for Freed- men was appointed. In the New School General BIDDLE UNIVERSITY, CHARLOTTE, N. C. Assembly in 1865 similar steps were taken; and when the reunion came, in 1870, this work was put into the hands of a board, with its headquarters at Pittsburgh. It has not merely had charge of the work of the support of preachers, but the charge of every form of missionary work. It has established schools; it has educated ministers ; it has commissioned Bible readers and evangelists. To every form of work opened to its laborers among the Freedmen, it has given earnest attention ; and upon all its work there has 330 PRESBYTERIANS. been given the abundant blessing of God, and the cor- dial favor of the colored people themselves. It may truthfully be said that every school is so crowded with pupils that it is compelled to turn away applicants for want of accommodations. The aggregate money contributed to this Board, and administered by it in its various forms of work, such as salaries of laborers, building of schools and churches, and the like, amounts, for its twenty-six years, to $1,836,026.21. To the credit of the colored people gathered in these various church organizations, in con- nection with the work of this Board, it is worthy of record that they have steadily grown in contributions until now their gifts, out of their deep poverty, are examples for other people. While the sum contrib- uted by them at the beginning in 1865 amounted to almost nothing, during the year 1891 it amounted to about $50,000. By the report of the Board made to the General Assembly of 1891, and audited and ap- proved by the committee of the General Assembly of that year, the expense of the administration of this board amounted to only three per cent, of its income. BOARD OF AID FOR COLLEGES AND ACADEMIES. The high standard of ministerial qualifications always insisted upon by the Presbyterian Church of the old country, and of this, made ministers and people of ne- cessity the friends of higher education. Parochial schools for common school education were a part of the work of each individual congregation previous to the organization of the American free school system. In the earliest times the pastor was, to a considerable extent, the teacher of the community as well as its MISSIONS AND CHURCH BOARDS. 331 preacher. The advantages of a public school system were pressed upon society by the manifest benefits of church schools. The various States, as part of the state government, at length took this form of church work as a state duty. Now secularists seek to exclude the Bible from that school system which the Bible created by its influence on its friends. Early log colleges were instituted by ministers who wished to have some place to teach the boys of their region such knowledge as might prepare them to preach the Gospel. As was mentioned in connection with the Board of Education, this work was given special form by the General Assembly of 1819. It was then ex- pected that both methods of promoting ministerial education : the aid of indigent students in meeting the expenses of their education, as well as the aid of the weaker communities in establishing suitable institutions of learning would be committed to this Board. To establish schools of learning large sums of money are needed. When the Board of Education was beginning its work, large sums were difficult to obtain. While church collections were small, it was possible for that Board to aid many a young man in fitting himself for the ministry ; he would need only fifty or one hundred dollars per year more than he himself had to go on in his work. By the nature of the case, therefore, more people were interested in the work of helping students than in the work of building and endowing colleges in other neighborhoods than their own. For the year 1844, and for many years onward, much attention, on the part of the Old School General Assembly, was given to the matter of "parochial schools." It was the sup- position then that these would be started and main- PRESBYTERIANS. tained by all the better congregations throughout the Church. It was expected that the more useful and promising of them would, in their own communities, find means to enlarge themselves into either academies or female seminaries. Some were expected to become colleges and universities. Under the administration of Dr. Cortlandt Van Rensselaer, as secretary of the Board of Education, this work of parochial schools was pushed to great importance. The demand of the Church, however, was for money to aid students ; and the lack of public interest in funds for parochial schools left the cause, after his death, to drop into decided neglect. By 1877 so l u d a call was heard from the Home Board, through its missionaries, for "some plan which should result in the better endowment of our institu- tions and some system for the aid of colleges," that a special committee was appointed to consider this gen- eral subject and report to the next General Assembly. The subject was continued, the committee enlarged and various additional duties assigned to it by the As- semblies of 1878, 1879 an d 1880. They made their final report to the General Assembly of 1883. Wide cor- respondence by the committee, and a fair study of the whole subject of higher education, both in Europe and in this country, led the committee to the unanimous conviction that the Church needed a " separate and special agency for the direction and enlargement of this work." The report of the committee was unani- mously adopted by the General Assembly. This sought to " promote institutions that should have as their aim the education of the whole man by colleges pervaded by a positive Christian atmosphere, and that should make the Bible one of the text-books, with all the in- MISSIONS AND CHURCH BOARDS. 333 struction in harmony with the Christian faith, and the influence on the students in favor of the ministry as a life-work rather than away from it." On the principle that anything worth doing is worth doing well and by a system, the Board of Aid for Colleges was created to aid in the location of colleges and in arousing the Church to the vastness of this work. Money had been wasted in local competitions, and this was to be a remedy for that waste. The Board was located from the outset in Chicago, and has given great originality of resource and skill of adaptation to the carrying on of its work. This is obvious when the fact is stated that there has gone, through its influence, to institutions under its care the sum of $582,597.35 in eight years. But this does not state the total result of its activity. The other part of its work it is impossible precisely to state in figures. For example, very much of its work is done in the com- munity where, with its co-operation, a new institution is to be established. The very fact of the approval of the enterprise, by the secretaries and members of the Board of Aid for Colleges and Academies, gives such courage to a local community that, in order to secure the moderate sum the Board is able to raise among its friends and contributors, three or four times as much will be contributed to the institution by its own neigh- borhood as would otherwise be given. Then, after a community has shown its liberality and appreciation by handsomely doing its own duty, the Board is often able to secure from liberal givers other large donations to the institution thus discreetly located. These contri- butions from the community, and these other large con- tributions of liberal givers, go directly to the college, and 334 MISSIONS AND CHURCH BOARDS. 335 do not pass through the treasury of the Board. Exact figures cannot be given, for much is given in real estate and labor. Any statement of amounts, therefore, could only be general estimates of "money value secured through the assistance of the Board." But a fair esti- mate would show that the Board has in this way brought to institutions under the control of the Presbyterian Church a vast amount of property in addition to the money above given as passing through its own imme- diate treasury. The work of this Board, perhaps more than that of any other, requires time to develop confidence and secure large contributions. These institutions of learn- ing are oftentimes matters of slow growth. As evidence of this it is to be noted that the oldest Presbyterian institution, Princeton College, for the first hundred years of its history was never able to maintain a faculty of more than five professors. Its present great enlarge- ment is comparatively recent. The first plan of this Board of Aid was to map out the various sections of the Church, and allow the institutions, in the person of their own agents, to canvass these assigned districts in solicitation of funds. Experience soon proved, how- ever, that givers knew the Board and its secretaries better than they knew the agents of these institutions. In more recent times, therefore, the Board has come to know the large givers that believe in the Board's officers and trust their judgment. For several years the Board has declined to assign any field for others to canvass. It has found it to be more satisfactory for the Board's officers themselves to visit their friends, and lay before them the opportunities for doing good through various colleges. 336 PRESBYTERIANS. To Presbyterians now it seems like the greatest pos- sible misfortune that the Church so long delayed this work of molding and directing the generosity of its living people and the bequests of its dying membership in this matter of the establishment and endowment of academies, female seminaries and colleges. Theo- logical institutions have been established in numbers quite adequate to the demand, and quite accessible to all sections of the Church. But the manufacturing establishment which sets up its plant, irrespective of the supply of the raw material to be found in its vicinity, may have a very good factory but nothing to do. The theological seminary needs students, if it is to be a success. The work of furnishing the students, by organizing the feeders and equipping colleges for their work, is the particular enterprise in which this Board is admirably succeeding. PERMANENT COMMITTEES SYSTEMATIC BENEFICENCE. Many important subjects have such a constant value that they always need attention. These may help every other good cause, and yet may not have a field where large sums of money seem to be required. For such ob- jects as these the General Assembly has been appoint- ing what are called " Permanent Committees." These permanent committees have some special field assigned them, and their officers and members usually serve with- out pay. Their only expenses, therefore, are the publi- cation of documents, the gathering of statistics and such minor incidental items. Many causes have been brought before the Assembly by their friends, and permanent committees, to have charge of their interests, have been petitioned for or suggested. The subject of MISSIONS AND CHURCH BOARDS. 337 International Peace and Arbitration is one of these. Though this has always had the sympathy of the Church, it has not seemed to the General Assembly necessary to appoint a permanent committee on such a subject. On two points, however, such permanent committees have been appointed, and are now efficiently at work. The oldest of these is the Special Committee on Systema- tic Beneficence. This was organized in 1879. ^ w ^ be seen by the past history of " Missions and Church Boards " that every one of them is so wonderfully suc- ceeding that its work demands far more money than its treasury receives. It is not the belief of the Church that this lack of funds is owing to lack of wealth among the membership, or pity for a dying world, or love for the Master or an earnest desire to promote the coming of Christ's Kingdom. What seems to be needed is, that there should be system in giving, as well as system in expending. A very large portion of the Church believes that the legal requirement of the Old Testament economy was a good example for New Testament Christians. The method of TttMngthGn es- tablished by divine law was the system ^of contribution laid down for that age of the world. Some system should be adopted by each Christian in the present age. There are differences of opinion as to the present bind- ing obligation of the law of tithes ; but few would un- dertake to show that with the enlargement of the New Testament dispensation, there came a narrowing and diminishing of the divine call of God's cause upon His redeemed people. The importance which this subject of Systematic Giving has held in the mind of the Church is indicated by the various projects which at different times have 338 PRESBYTERIANS. been submitted. At the time of the reunion a serious effort was made to organize a committee which should be the Financial Board of the Church, and whose treas- urer should act as treasurer for all the Boards. The plea for this was that it was an expensive way of doing business to require each Board to maintain a treasury system of its own. The theory carried great weight with the Church when it was first proposed. But as first proposed, this was to be a Committee of Benevolence and Finance, and to some extent was to apportion the contributions of the churches among the various causes. This was strenuously objected to. Givers insisted upon their right to direct their own gifts. The Boards wanted direct access to the people in their own behalf. But that Committee of Benevolence and Finance showed how great was the need of education in the matter of giving both in the measure and the methods. To a large extent contributions had been matters of emotion, to be stirred up by some perfervid appeal for a collection taken just then. What the Bible calls for, and what the Church wanted, was that giving should be intelligent, prayerful, intentional, and performed regardless of the weather, or the appeal, or sickness, or absence from home on " collection day." The result, therefore, was this Permanent Committee on Sys- tematic Benevolence. Under its leadership "The Directory for Worship " was amended in 1886 by the insertion of Chapter VI, "Of the Worship of God by Offerings." Theoretically, therefore, in the Presby- terian Church, "taking up a collection for the Boards" is no longer an odious interruption of the Sabbath serv- ice, to be slurred over by pastors, and neglected by MISSIONS AND CHURCH BOARDS. 339 the people as the Nickel-Plate Narrow-Gauge Collec- tion, where buttons are sometimes dropped into the plate by sinners, to give motion to the hands in the eyes of men, and save money to the bank account ; but so far as the Church can make it, by the most solemn and formal assertion of its official books of worship and its highest judicatories, it is a regular act of worship like prayer, singing and preaching. The financial op- erations of the Church can only be maintained by ad- equate system and intelligent consecration of property as well as of person. The Boards now expend not over five per cent, of their income for their office expenses, counting treasurer's and secretaries' salaries, clerk hire, printing bills, traveling expenses and all. Arid the total financial transactions of these Boards each year now amount to millions of dollars. For the year 1891 the total financial footings of the Church reached the magnificent sum of $13,961,211. Of this, $9,664,279 was congregational, such as church build- ings, pastors' salaries and contingencies, and $4,296,932 was for benevolence. This cause of systematic giving, as well as the work of the permanent committee itself, has been greatly promoted by a member of the committee who is by the Church better known under the name of " Layman " than he is by his own name of Thomas Kane of Chicago. Making a specialty of the relation of busi- ness people to benevolent contributions, and using the printing press with unbounded liberality, he has brought this Christian duty to the attention not only of every minister and elder of the Presbyterian Church, but to a very large proportion of her membership. After seeking in writing the experience of a large number of 340 PRESBYTERIANS. systematic givers, he has printed these " Experiences," and offers to send them gratis to all who apply. The annual report of this committee to the General Assem- bly is one of its important features. Its annual survey of the work of the Church in the matter of benevolence is at once a most instructive and stimulating part of the Assembly meeting. This committee now publishes a small four-page monthly newspaper, devoted to the discussion of these duties, measures and methods of charity to man and interest-paying to God. It is called The Christian Steward. PERMANENT COMMITTEE ON TEMPERANCE. This committee was established in 1881, and its duties as then assigned were "to seek to quicken and unite our Synods and Churches in suitable measures for promoting the temperance reform ; to mature and report action on this subject to the General Assembly." In 1886 the headquarters of the committee, which were at first in New York and afterward at Philadelphia, were transferred to Pittsburgh. It is the recognized representative of the Presbyterian Church in the wide- spread temperance movement on the part of all Chris- tian denominations throughout the world. Presbyte- rians are conspicuous and efficient co-laborers with other Christian people in all interdenominational tem- perance movements. They are active in the support and work of the National Temperance Society, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and other sim- ilar associations. One of the tracts published by the Temperance Committee is a statement of the " Deliver- ances of the General Assembly" upon that subject. This shows from the early minutes how alert early MISSIONS AND CHURCH BOARDS. 341 Presbyterians were to these evils ; and how in all her history the Presbyterian Church has felt the power of liquor as an obstacle to the Gospel. " The liquor traffic is the efficient promoter of Sabbath desecra- tion, licentiousness, profanity, violence and general dis- order. And it has often assumed to control municipal and State governments for its own protection. To this destructive influence and menacing attitude the Presbyterian Church has never been indifferent. To this gigantic evil she has opposed herself with her early temperance utterances, her vast financial resources, her aggressive, far-reaching missionary work, and the fear- less and uncompromising character of her ministry." As in the Home work, the Foreign work, the F reed- men's work so in the Temperance work, the women of the Church have organized themselves to do their part in aid of the general cause. Very many of these women of the Church were already active in the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, but many of them felt that in some organization among themselves they should, as Presbyterians, co-operate with the committee in this great reform movement. The General As- sembly at Detroit, in 1891, gave this work of the women its cordial approbation, as the Assembly has ever been ready to indorse any movement to antagonize this most gigantic evil of our times. The temperance committee has done a great work in unifying and strengthening public sentiment, and has done this work almost without resources. Its only income is from the collections of a few churches, and the larger contributions of its special friends. The whole sum for 1891 was but $1171.55, and yet with that, there were distributed more than one million pages of tem- 342 PRESBYTERIANS. perance documents. A small library was sent to a temperance society in Bankok, Siam, and money was given the Spanish tract work at Albuquerque, N. M., to print 12,000 copies of one of Dr. Talmage's sermons on temperance translated into Spanish. THE CHURCH AT HOME AND ABROAD. One very vital part of the work of carrying on these great benevolent enterprises is accomplished by the monthly Presbyterian magazine The Church at Home and Abroad. No great project can succeed which does not keep its work and wants before the public. Its friends must know what is going on and what are the needs, and the indifferent must be awakened to duty by knowledge. This had led several of the interdenomin- ational missionary societies to publish periodicals, and had induced an early Assembly to found a publication for the dissemination of missionary information. Vari- ous publications were started by the Boards until they became so numerous that there was at length a demand for their consolidation. Pastors were not willing to canvass for so many different papers, and they did not wish to shut out any. Some of the periodicals had been published at a loss to the board that issued them. Many believed that the Church would have its denom- inational enthusiasm stirred by having a magazine of its own. The whole subject was examined in detail at the Assembly of 1886 on the report of a committee in regard to the matter. This committee had been appointed some years before and had offered several reports to previous Assemblies. The members had studied and corresponded with others on the subject, until they had fairly covered the whole field. After MISSIONS AND CHURCH BOARDS. 343 full consideration the Assembly voted to consolidate the periodicals then existing, and issue one to represent all the interests of the Church. A publishing committee was appointed and the work was begun in January of 1887. The committee was very judicious in the selec- tion of an editor. They intrusted that work to Rev. H. A. Nelson, D. D. He was well known, had held high places in the affections of the people, was of a most kindly and conciliatory disposition, and well knew the work and history of the denomination. The subscription list has never gone up to the figures that the friends of the plan had a right, from the answers to their overtures, to expect from the Presby- teries. The request had been made from the Assembly to the Presbyteries to send up their information and wishes, and it seemed as if there was an earnest desire for a paper giving the whole church news in one docu- ment. The subscription list has been about 30,000. The plan was a difficult one to carry out as at first adopted. Thinking that the acceptance of advertise- ments, however good and useful, was beneath the dig- nity of such a church periodical, no income was sought or derived from that kind of revenue. But those who object to religious papers inserting advertisements are not willing to pay the additional price which is involved in their pride. It is right hard to say to a publishing committee, " you must make the magazine self-sustain- ing, and yet do it without such income as other like periodicals enjoy. You must keep the price down, and at the same time cut off legitimate sources of revenue." The magazine has been a periodical of great merit. Monthly it brings the whole church work before the 344 PRESBYTERIANS. readers, and no one can read it without having a full knowledge of what is being done by the church machin- ery, and also a good knowledge of what other denom- inations are doing. It is able and thoughtful in a high degree. Its files are themselves a diary of the King- dom of God and its progress in the world. CHAPTER XV. t NEWSPAPERS, PHILANTHROPIES AND CHURCH UNITY. THE discovery of printing fifty years before the Reformation was the providential preparation for the success of Protestantism. Presbyterianism on both sides of the Atlantic has always been a vigorous pro- moter of books and reading. Catechisms for the young have abounded among her people. Oral discourse is interesting but transient. The printed book can be studied carefully and constantly re-read. Newspapers are the modern device for the rapid circulation of the best thought. The first book printed was the Bible ; and religious tracts and books have formed a large part of the issue of the press ever since. Weekly religious newspapers began in this country about the opening of the present century. Previous to that time, religious periodicals were monthly journals. The first secular newspaper was published September 25, 1690. In 1800 it is recorded that there were about two hundred newspapers published in the United States. Dr. Dorchester, in " Christianity in America," says : " The first religious newspaper published in Am- erica, and probably in the world, was the Boston Re- carder. It was issued January 3, 1816. Within the next twenty-five years almost every denomination in America had its own religious paper." This claim that the first religious newspaper was the Boston Recorder is probably not well supported. At Chillicothe, O., July 5, 1814, 345 PRESBYTERIANS. (eighteen months before the issue of the Boston paper), there was published The Recorder. This Chillicothe Recorder was removed to Pittsburgh in 1822, and under various names has been issued in that city ever since. Its present legal successor is The Presbyterian Banner. This claim of being " The Oldest Religious Newspaper " has been successfully maintained by that paper against all opponents for years, as its files show its regular title by various purchases of all the traditions and good will of that original Recorder, of Chillicothe, O. Other secular papers had previously published more or less religious intelligence, and some had regularly given a column or more of such items ; but none had taken the modern form of a paper devoted to religion, and dis- cussing secular affairs from a religious standpoint. Be- ginning as the Recorder, of Chillicothe, this paper has at various times been The Spectator, The Christian Herald, The Presbyterian Advocate and The Presby- terian Banner. There are at present eleven weekly religious papers which are distinctively Presbyterian. There is one monthly organ of the denomination, The Church at Home and Abroad, and one Quarterly Review. These are in addition to the various monthlies, semi-monthlies and quarterlies published by the Presbyterian Board of Publication, in the interest of general religion and espe- cially of Sabbath-school work. There is no law prohibiting anybody from starting a religious newspaper. The cost of the plant, types, presses and other material, is not more than ten or twelve thousand dollars. The real expense is in main- taining the life of the paper until it secures circulation enough to make its publication pay. Various quarter- NEWSPAPERS, PHILANTHROPIES, CHURCH UNITY. 34? lies, monthlies, weeklies and dailies have at different times been started in different cities of the country. A weekiy religious paper, with a paying subscription list of ten thousand subscribers and over, is a very valuable piece of property. In the market such a religious paper is worth from fifty thousand to two hundred thousand dollars, according to location and patronage. Six of the religious weeklies of the Presbyterian Church are very valuable and very profitable enterprises. During the division between the Old and the New Schools the New York Observer, the Presbyterian of Phila- delphia and the Presbyterian Banner of Pittsburgh, were Old School papers ; the New York Evangelist was New School. The Herald and Presbyter of Cincinnati is the result of a union between the two papers which had represented the two denominations in that city, and which were united on the reunion of the two denominations. The Interior was started by the Presbyterians of Chicago, as a result of reunion. The Presbyterian Journal of Philadelphia, the Mid-Continent of St. Louis, the Central West of Omaha, and the Northwestern Presbyterian of Min- neapolis have all been started since the reunion. The Occidentals started in 1868. It has been consolidated with the Central West and Northwestern Presbyterian. The consolidated paper is published as the North and West at Minneapolis, Omaha and the other original cities. The A frico- American Presbyterian of Char- lotte, N. C., is published by the Presbyterian Freed- men in the interests of the colored people of the South. The total weekly circulation of these twelve religious papers, as given in " Rowell's Ameri- can Newspaper Directory" for 1891, is about 125,- 348 PRESBYTERIANS. ooo. During the year 1890-91 the Board of Publica- tion and Sabbath School work aggregated a total of 22,686,649 publications. The Presbyterian monthlies of the individual churches and the Quarterly Review are not included in any of these figures. Well-in- formed newspaper men assert that there is no Church doing so large a newspaper business as the Presby- terian. In no position does an individual exert a larger in- fluence than as an editor of a newspaper. The preacher who has an audience of two thousand per- sons is supposed to have a wide field. Investigations show that it is fair to estimate that the readers of each family newspaper, counting the members of the family and the people outside of the family who borrow the paper, will amount to five readers to each subscription. A subscription list of 2500 is estimated by newspaper men as a comparatively small list ; but the editor of that paper would have a weekly audience of more than ten thousand readers. Any policy for the Presbyterian Church, upon which the newspapers are united, is pretty certain to be adopted by the whole Church. On questions on which the newspapers disagree, their columns are the best place for effective discussion. These discussions are sometimes charged with being bitter and the result of newspaper jealousy. Editors are not easily hurt in their feelings by able or aggres- sive replies to their own arguments. They are accus- tomed to striking hard blows, and are ready to take the same in response, when called upon. They are always anxious to open their columns to the ablest writers, and it does not often occur that the debates in the General Assembly bring forward anything new, on NEWSPAPERS, PHILANTHROPIES, CHURCH UNITY. 349 subjects which have already been discussed by the re- ligious press. Newspaper writers have this advantage over speakers in deliberative bodies. The writer quietly sits in his study, surrounded by his library of authorities, and can take time to guard and reconsider his positions and his arguments. In deliberative bodies the speaker must "go on" without time or opportunity to verify his- recollections, or compact his arguments, or make sure that his conclusions grow in- evitably from the facts presented. The most efficient assistance that pastors and Christian workers can have is to be found in the religious newspapers. It is a good work for any good cause to try to secure a weekly religious paper in every family. PHILANTHROPIES. From the outset Presbyterians have been interested in all forms of philanthropic work. They have been specially careful of their own orphans, aged, sick or afflicted ministers and their families. It is only in com- paratively recent years, that this philanthropic feeling has, in the larger cities, taken the form of " Homes for the Aged," "Orphanages for Neglected Children " and " Hospitals for the Sick." To equip and maintain such institutions, a large amount of money is required. Such charities are chiefly needed in the large commer- cial centers. These institutions in these centers supply the needs for large districts in their vicinity, and are able to command the highest medical skill and the best attendance which money can attract. Generally, Presbyterians combine with charitable people of all denominations, and of no denomination, in this public work. Even where they establish such NEWSPAPERS, PHILANTHROPIES, CHURCH UNITY. 351 philanthropies, the institutions are Presbyterian only in their support and management, and not in the ob- jects which they seek to relieve. In some denomina- tions, such forms of work have long been a special preference. In many places other denominations man- age the so-called United Charities, and Presbyterians contribute the money for their support. More and more the inclination among the wealthier Presby- terians is, either during lifetime or by bequest, to establish such institutions. The only safe plan for the benevolent donor is to establish them while he is alive and able to manage his own outlay, and so see that it is put in satisfactory shape. Either way, however, is to be preferred to expensive monuments in a lonesome cemetery, which few see, except the other mourners who are visiting the graves of their own dead. The following is a list of these philanthropic organiza- tions in the various cities where they are located. In them Presbyterians from abroad, as well as from all parts of our own country, have found a comfortable shelter, good nursing and excellent medical attendance when suffering from accident or disease. The dates of their opening are given, as far as can be ascertained, and the order is geographical rather than chronologi- cal : NAME. PROPERTY. WHEN OPENED. Home for Aged Women, New York 4JI2QQ OOO 1866 Presbyterian Hospital, New York 875,000 1868 Home for Aged Couples, Philadelphia 2s, OOO 1885 Presbyterian Home for Widows and Single Women, Philadelphia 45O,OOO l872 Presbyterian Orphanage Philadelphia IT? 2 ^ A Seaside Home, Cane May Point.. 2O.OOO 1870 352 PRESBYTERIANS. NAME. PROPERTY. WHEN OPENED. Lady Kortright's Convalescent Home, Devon, Pa. Presbyterian Hospital Philadelphia $III,600 I ^OO OOO iSyi Presbyterian Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital, Baltimore Md IOO OOO l877 Presbyterian Hospital, Woman's Medical Col- lege, Cincinnati 2C OOO l8oO Presbyterian Hospital, Chicago, Endowment .... Presbyterian Hospital, Omaha, Rented Buildings i55 8 J l88 3 1890 The file of the reports of these noble institutions is a magnificent showing in behalf of the philanthropy of the Presbyterian Church, although property esti- mates are of necessity very indefinite and no estimate is given of the Chicago Hospital. In her organized capac- ity the Church has established at Perth Amboy, N. J.,a " Home for Disabled Ministers." It is under the care of the General Assembly, and managed by the Board of Ministerial Relief. Close by the sea, it enjoys the invigorating atmosphere of the shore, and is a safe harbor which kindly Christian hands and hearts have provided for those who have worn themselves out in the service of the Church and the Master. CHURCH UNITY. The charge is constantly made by Arminians and the outside world, in antagonism to Calvinism, that it is a very narrow and illiberal style of religion. In one of the hospitals just named, out of the inmates seven- ty-four in every hundred came from the Methodists, the Catholics and the Lutherans, while only eight were Pres- byterians. The Jews, Unitarians and Friends helped to make up the rest. This peculiarity, also, of Calvinism^ should not be overlooked, namely, that the clenomina- NEWSPAPERS, PHILANTHROPIES, CHURCH UNITY. 353 tions that hold it are among the most cordial of all religious sects in their co-operation with other evan- gelical Christians. Whether from the Presbyterian- ism of its Form of Government, or the Calvinism of its Confession of Faith, no denomination unites more heartily in the interdenominational movements of the Christian world than does the Presbyterian Church. At the very organization of the American Bible Society the Presbyterian Church, through its General Assembly, cordially indorsed that religious enterprise. Through all its history, Presbyterian contributions have been a large element in the re- sources of the Society. The same thing is true of the other two great religious publishing houses of the country, namely, the American Tract Society, and the American Sunday School Union. One of the leading executive officers of one of these Societies, himself not a Presbyterian, said that if the Presbyterian Church should withdraw its contributions and co-operation from any or all of these three societies, their great work would thereby be ended. For the American Bible Society there is provided in the annual minutes of the General Assembly a space for reporting contributions. It would be interesting to know, if there were any way of finding out, exactly the amount given by the Presby- terian Church to these great union movements. In 1891 the amount reported in the minutes as given by the Presbyterian Churches to the American Bible So- ciety was $20,442.07, or nearly thirty-three per cent, of the total " Gifts of the Living." The annual report of the Bible Society for that same year gives the amount of " Gifts of the Living" as $68,379.87. Much of this came from " Individual Gifts" and " Donations from 354 PRESBYTERIANS. Auxiliaries." Curiosity is awakened to ask how many of these " Individuals" were Presbyterians, and how much of these donations of auxiliaries were the contri- butions of Presbyterians present at the anniversaries when the collections were made. With the same cordiality the Presbyterian Church has done her full share and more in the work of the Young Men's Christian Associations, Young Women's Christian Associations and Christian Endeavor Socie- ties of the country. In the Young Men's Christian Association organizations of the large cities, the pro- portionate support given by the Presbyterian Church is not ordinarily indicated by the denominational affilia- tions of the officers. It is only when their annual report of contributions and contributors is published, that even the best informed are able to say how large a share is furnished by Presbyterian donors. In a West- ern city the Young Men's Christian Association was seeking funds to secure a new building. After sixty thousand dollars had been given by one Presbyterian, a general committee of one hundred was appointed representing all denominations. For effective work, of course, that number was too large, and so a select can- vassing committee of five was appointed, taken from the leading business men, and limited to those who would contribute at least five thousand dollars. Four of these so appointed were found to be Presbyterian Elders. The Young Men's Christian Association Secretary said that this was about the ordinary propor- tion in other cities. The names of William E. Dodge, Jr., and Cephas Brainard of New York ; George H. Stuart and John Wanamaker of Philadelphia; J. V. Farwell and Cyrus McCormick, Jr. of Chicago. NEWSPAPERS, PHILANTHROPIES, CHURCH UNITY. 355 are specimens of the kind of Presbyterians whose public spirit and energetic liberality go into the Young Men's Christian Association work. During the war the Christian Commission was one of the most useful agencies in that remarkable maintenance of Christian character which was manifest among the soldiers. That Christian Commission was originally appointed by the International Convention of Young Men's Christian Associations. The efficient President of the Commis- sion was Mr. George H. Stuart, a Presbyterian elder. Into the contributions of money to the treasury, and of hospital supplies and books to the material resources of the commission, as well as delegates, ministerial and lay, to the work in the field, no denomination gave more abundantly than did the Presbyterian Church. The most recent interdenominational form of reli- gious activity is the Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor. For many years Young People's Associa- tions under various names, and doing various kinds of work, were found in the large churches in the leading cities. The Christian Endeavor organization was the result of these experiments, and took^ form in the church of Rev. F. E. Clark, in Portland, Me., February 2, 1 88 1. The constitution originally adopted was so simple, and the plans so effective, that on their earliest publication they struck a responsive chord in the hearts of the Christian young people and experienced Christian workers all over the land. Thousands of associations, which had been in existence in other forms, immediately adopted the Endeavor name and the Christian Endeavor Constitution, pledge and methods. The Church in which it was first formed was a Congregational Church, but at the tenth annual con- PRESBYTERIANS. vention held in 1891 at Minneapolis, there were re- ported a total of 1 7,000 Associations. Of these there were more found in Presbyterian churches than in the churches of any other denomination. This denomina- tion had 4019. The history of the work of the Pres- byterians in the Y. M. C. A. and the Y. P. S. C. E. is also repeated in the experience of the Young Women's Christian Associations. The introduction of ladies as clerks in stores, stenographers and private secretaries for business people, has opened a wide field for this Association. In almost all the large cities at present these Associations have been formed and are doing a most admirable work in supplying needed care for the physical, intellectual, social and religious life of these self-respecting and self-supporting young women. It is the testimony of the international workers that, in this form of religious activity, the Presbyterian Church is doing its full part, whether in contributing money or furnishing workers. In 1886 the House of Bishops of the Protestant Episcopal Church assumed the position of the special representatives and advocates of "Church Unity." Though that denomination is popularly supposed to be the most self-contained and exclusive of any, a proposi- tion was made by the bishops to the Christian world to come back and unite with them on the basis of four propositions : First, the supreme infallible authority of the Scriptures ; second, the two Sacraments, of Baptism and the Lord's Supper; third, the doctrinal basis stated in the Nicene Creed ; and fourth, the universal accept- ance of the Historic Episcopate. To this, as to every other proposition for Church unity, the Presbyterian General Assembly made a respectful and cordial NEWSPAPERS, PHILANTHROPIES, CHURCH UNITY. 357 response ; and appointed a committee of conference. There is a widespread feeling that the Nicene Creed is insufficient for the doctrinal basis of a church in the present day. There is also a very broad suspicion that the phrase " Historic Episcopate" is meant to be that form of Episcopacy held to and maintained by the Protestant Episcopal Church of England and PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL, CHICAGO, ILL. America, as contrasted with the Roman Catholic and the Greek Churches on the one hand, and all other evangelical denominations and forms of government on the other. The correspondence between this com- mittee of the Presbyterian General Assembly and the Protestant Episcopal General Convention is still going on ; but the prospects of any valuable practical result are rapidly fading out. In 1876 the General Assembly entered into the " Alliance of the Reformed Churches throughout the world holding the Presbyterian system." At all its meetings the General Assembly has been represented by a large delegation, and out of the funds of the PRESBYTERIANS. General Assembly there have been contributed the quota of the expenses assessed upon the Church. The last chapter of this book, on the " Presbyterian Communion," is the contribution of Rev. William H. Roberts, D. D., LL. D., Professor of Practical Theology in Lane Seminary, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly, and Western Secretary of the Alliance. The General Assembly has also taken prompt meas- ures to co-operate with the other denominations in all interdenominational movements. It now has com- mittees appointed to co-operate with delegates from other bodies with a view, if possible, to arrange for an American Federation of Presbyterian Churches to con- sider such matters as education, temperance, Sabbath keeping, marriage and divorce legislation, and especially proper co-operation in mission fields. There is another committee upon a " Consensus Creed." The Apostles' Creed is quite extensively used in the Sunday Schools and elsewhere ; and yet it contains two expressions which are constantly liable to misinterpretation on the part of the children. One is the belief in the " Holy Catholic Church," and the other is the "descent into Hell." This committee on the Consensus Creed seeks to furnish such a modern statement of the few essential and fundamental doctrines of evangelical religion as will be acceptable to all branches of the Presbyterian Church, and suitable for use by the young people's societies and Sunday-schools of all churches. There is also a committee to co-operate with other friends of the Sabbath in the securing of the proper observance of the Lord's day. Reports from all these committees are had at each General Assembly, and the various subjects NEWSPAPERS, PHILANTHROPIES, CHURCH UNITY. receive earnest consideration, and the efforts at har- mony enthusiastic approval. At present (1892) no movement is before the Church for organic union with any other denomination. No proposition for such organic union has reached the Presbyterian Church, from any quarter, which has not been kindly received and carefully considered. There are several denominations with which the great mass of the Presbyterian ministry and membership would be glad to unite ; but in all these cases, after the union, the Presbyterian Church would be in a decided majority. Leading men in the Church believe that it is scarcely courteous for the Presbyterian Church to be thrusting its desire for union upon any denomination, when it is self-evident to all that, after the union, the Presbyterian Church could clo as it pleased and the other body would be in a comparatively helpless minority. All this, how- ever, is on the supposition that, after the union those who are now in the Presbyterian Church should hold to one view, and those who are now in the other body with whom a union is suggested should hold to a dif- ferent view. Organic union means that both parties should lose their identity, and each should take the uncertainties of the future in subjection to divine Prov- idence, and trust the other party to the contract. No contract of union can be made by which a real organic union can be accomplished, and yet there be still left any party so separate and individual as to be able to enforce that contract. No case of organic union has so far occurred in which the dividing lines, between parties in the united Church, followed the lines of division be- tween the denominations before they were united. However desirable church union may be, until two de- 360 PRESBYTERIANS. nominations come to have such confidence in each other that they are ready to hold their past as part of the common history, and trust to their future as under God a common destiny, it is doubtful whether union is practicable or even desirable. Constantly there is an increasing degree of unity and brotherly kindness maintained between evangelical de- nominations. Interdenominational controversies are very rare ; theological debates almost unknown. Mu- tual co-operation is the almost universal rule. Even when there is competition, it is generally carried on in very much the same spirit as the competition between congregations of the same denomination. No doubt there is emulation ; but in most cases it is an emulation which results in larger activity and more thorough work on the part of all parties. The present disposition is for every evangelical denomination to rejoice in the success of any of the others ; and while each shall pray for God's blessing upon all who preach the truth and wait for the Kingdom, each shall strive earnestly to discharge the duties which are found crowding around its own door. Upon the whole it may be most surely asserted that whatever charge of a lack of breadth may be made against the Creed, or lack of liberality made against the Presbyterian Church, the people are not a whit behind the chiefest Christians in sturdiness of faith, liberality of contributions and cordiality in co-operating with all God's people in every good work. It is not easy to determine why the proverbial de- scription of the thorough-going Presbyterian should be " True Blue." No doubt it comes to America through Scotland, but why did the Scotch choose blue as their NEWSPAPERS, PHILANTHROPIES, CHURCH UNITY. 361 national color, or the British red, or the Irish green? Blue was an appropriate color in the days when men were persecuted, and only a color which would n'either fade in rain nor grow dim in sunshine would do. But the interpretation and adoption of the color was older than the Scotch Presbyterians. The dyeing of linen cloth was an industry in which the Egyptians were ex- perts long before Moses' time. Blue was incorporated largely into the construction of the tabernacle, and in Numbers 15:37-41 it is specifically directed to be worn for instruction and remembrance. The earliest popula- tions of Western Asia knew its durable character. From Hebrew times, on through Scotch sufferings and triumphs, as well as in modern thought, to be the " True Blue" was to show loyalty to God and perseverance in the right among men. Presbyterians may be proud to be the "True Blue," and their past history and their present labors fairly justify the encomiums passed on them by Froude, Carlyle and others who have studied and written upon the philosopy of civilization. Prof. Dorner, of Berlin, has said : " Its manly, reso- lute temper, its energy of action, which also expresses itself in energy and strength of thinking, its willing self- surrender and its fortitude of pursuit in great and bold designs for the furtherance of Christ's reign ; it is these qualities that I admire in Presbyterianism." Carlyle has said : " Protestantism was a revolt against spiritual sovereignties, popes and much else. Presbyterianism carried out the revolt against earthly sovereignties." Mr. Froude has said : " When patriotism has cov- ered its face, and human courage has broken down ; when intellect has yielded, as Gibbon says, ' with a 32 PRESBYTERIANS. smile or a sigh,' content to philosophize in the closet, and abroad worship with the vulgar ; when emotion and sentiment and tender imaginative piety have dreamt themselves into forgetfulness that there is any differ- ence between lies and truth, the slavish form of belief called Calvinism, in one or other of its many forms, has borne ever an inflexible front to illusion and mendacity, and has preferred to be ground to powder like flint, rather than bend before violence or melt under en- ervating temptations." The Roman Catholic Archbishop Hughes, of New York, has said : " Though it is my privilege to regard the authority exercised by the General Assembly as usurpation, still I must say, with every man acquainted with the mode in which it is organized, that, for the purpose of popular and politipal government, its struc- ture is little inferior to that of Congress itself. It acts on the principle of a radiating center, and is with- out an equal or a rival among other denominations of the country." Some leading Comtean Evolutionists of England have published a " Calendar of Great Men " to show how Darwinism is indicated in intellectual progress. They omitted the name of John Calvin. Though of the same way of philosophical thinking, Mr. John Morley thus criticises this omission: "To omit Calvin from the forces of Western Evolution is to read history with one eye shut Hobbes and Cromwell were giants in their several ways, but if we consider their power of binding men together by stable association and organi- zation, their permanent influence over the moral convic- tions and conduct of vast masses of men for generation after generation, the marks they have set on social and NEWSPAPERS, PHILANTHROPIES, CHURCH UNITY. 363 political institutions wherever the Protestant faith pre- vails, from the country of John Knox to the country of Jonathan Edwards, we cannot but see that, compared with Calvin, not in capacity of intellect, but in power of giving formal shape to a world, Hobbes and Cromwell are hardly more than names writ in water." Prof. John Fiske, of Harvard University, speaking of Puritan Theocracy in its relation to civil liberty, says : " It would be hard to overrate the debt of civil liberty which mankind owes to Calvin. Calvinism left the individual man alone in the presence of his God. It was a religion fit to inspire men who were to be called upon to fight for freedom, whether in the marshes of the Netherlands, or on the moors of Scotland. Each church tends to become an independent con- gregation of worshipers, constituting one of the most effective schools that has ever existed for training men for local self-government." SEAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, ADOPTED AT PORTLAND, ORE., l8g2. CHAPTER XVI. REVISION OF THE CONFESSION OF FAITH. NO denomination of Christians enjoys perfect freedom in the selection and shaping of its own mission in the world. The tasks to which a denomination is called are largely assigned to it by the providence of God and the struggles and studies of its own people. Success in religion, as in every other human enterprise, is rarely attained, unless those who are engaged in it have before them a clear conception of their peculiar providential mission. Presbyterianism in America has, in the past, been set to maintain an educated ministry, a logically coherent system of doctrine, a religious life in its mem- bers consecrated to home and foreign mission work, and to earnest evangelical movements in the large cities and in the older settlements. The Presbyterian Church has never established a board for the promotion of the welfare of Christianity, and then abandoned the objects for which that board was established. Its list of boards and permanent committees, and the length of time set apart at the General Assembly by standing rules for the consideration of the causes represented by these boards and committees, constitute the " Public Profes- sion of Faith " on the part of the denomination as to the great permanent objects to which it is devoted. That list deserves to be in the memory and heart of every Presbyterian, and will furnish an instructive study to all outside of its membership who wish to investigate 364 REVISION OF THE CONFESSION OF FAITH. 365 the life and work of the denomination. Special sketches of the history of each of these Boards will be found in the chapter on Missions and Church Boards. Besides these tasks which the Church continually urges on the consciousness of her people, as history goes on new duties arise, according to the exigencies of the times. These are generally matters about which differences of opinion exist. It is not ordinarily found that any denomination will, on these new questions, develop unanimity among its membership. In the early Church the questions concerning the divinity of Jesus Christ were sharply debated. In the times of the Reformation the doctrines as to justification and the methods of Church government were on hand for re- consideration and study. In the seventeenth century Deism was the center of controversy in England. In the history of the Presbyterian Church in this country, at different times, such questions as the education of the ministry, the methods of revival, the wisdom of voluntary societies, or denominational Boards, have been debated. On all these questions there is now reasonable unanimity throughout the body. Four new questions are now before the Church. These are : the extent and form of the revision of the Confession of Faith, higher criticism, a confessional position on the mode of inspira- tion and the relations to be maintained between the Church and her theological seminaries. It is not the office of a historian to predict the probable conclusions of the Church on any of these questions. It may seem somewhat presumptuous to assert that any of these is to be decided by the Presbyterian Church any more than by any other denomination ; but other Churches will be profoundly influenced by these discussions and 366 PRESBYTERIANS. the conclusions. No denomination can debate such questions except in the presence of the whole reading public of the religious, not to say of the secular, world. No denomination now lives to itself, or debates for itself, or determines theological or practical questions ADMINISTRATION BUILDING, PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL, PHILADELPHIA, PA. wholly for its own communion. The papers and peri- odicals of all denominations will report the action of the Presbyterian Church, and they will open their columns to criticisms, reviews, objections or encomiums on all propositions, speeches, resolutions or books which may be given to the public as bearing on any of these questions. Whether the difference of view upon these four points will divide along the same lines, so REVISION OF THE CONFESSION OF FAITH. 367 that there shall grow up in the Church two parties, each with its own view of revision, higher criticism, inspira- tion and theological seminaries is not yet manifest. The formation of such parties, made by agreeing lines of division on all these questions, would make a split in the Church look quite probable. Whether that will be avoided or not cannot now be foreseen. The dividing lines on these questions have, so far, shown no prob- ability that any past divisions will be complicated with these future questions. Able Old School, as well as New School men are found on both sides of all of these debated matters. The advice of the town clerk of Ephesus is excellent advice for all parties in the Pres- byterian Church at the present time : "Ye ought to be quiet and to do nothing rash." (Acts 19 : 36.) REVISION. It will be remembered that the Cumberland Presby- terians, before their separation from the mother church as well as after, objected to the Confession of Faith be- cause they believed it asserted a doctrine of fatalism. Though this has always been denied by' ministers of the Presbyterian Church, yet there has been a grow- ing sentiment throughout the Church, that many phrases of the Confession of Faith presented a some- what extreme view of the doctrine of Foreordination. Here and there various ministers have insisted that these expressions went beyond the statements found in the Word of God. The Westminster Assembly framed the Confession of Faith and catechism in the midst of an age of theological controversy. The conflict with the Roman Catholic form of Episcopacy was then spe- cially exciting. The controversy with the rationalistic 368 PRESBYTERIANS. form of Arminianism was then at its height. The Synod of Dort had but recently proclaimed its canons of faith, which canons are generally recognized as the extremest form of Calvinism that has been formulated into the creed of a National Church. The statements of the Confession of Faith, therefore, are to a consid- erable extent controversial statements, and are only fully understood as they are interpreted in the light of the error over against which these statements are made in the expression of truth. Since the adjournment of the Westminster Assembly many of these forms of error have either disappeared, or their rationalistic and skeptical phases have been supplanted by a thor- oughly evangelical type of belief. It is, therefore, not surprising that, when these polemic statements come to be read by themselves, without the contrasted light of the antagonistic errors, they should be liable to be mis- understood. At the time of the meeting of the Westminster As- sembly the great mission movements, both Foreign and Home, which came in with the revival at the open- ing of the present century, had not been thought of. These missionary movements have turned the attention of Christians very intently on the Scripture language proclaiming the mercy of God, the universality of the offer and the universal applicability of the gospel, and the evangelistic duty of the Church. Within the last ten or fifteen years the discussion of these questions has been very earnest. In the presence of the lack of monev, and of men to o into the difficult fields abroad > ' & and into the humbler and more trying fields of frontier life, and into work among the degraded districts in the city, Christians have come to feel that the Confession REVISION OF THE CONFESSION OF FAITH. 369 of Faith of the Church ought to magnify the duties of evangelizing the world laid by Jesus Christ upon all his people. As a result of this agitation in favor of a revision of the Confession of Faith, fifteen Presbyteries sent over- tures to the General Assembly of 1889 asking for some revision. This number was not large as compared with the whole number of Presbyteries, but it was large enough fairly to demand of the General Assembly that steps should be taken to find out what was the mind of the Church upon the subject. Cautious and prudent action was therefore had. The General Assembly sent down two questions to be answered by each of the Presbyteries to the General Assembly of 1890. The first was the general question/' Do you desire a revision of the Confession of Faith?" The second was in- tended to call out a specific indication of the kind and measure of revision desired, and was in these words : " If so, in what respects and to what extent?" When the General Assembly of 1890 came to examine the re- sponses sent to them, it was found that answers were present from all but four Presbyteries. These four were all Foreign Mission Presbyteries in Asia. Seven Pres- byteries, five of them Foreign Mission Presbyteries, declined to vote. Sixty-eight Presbyteries answered that they did not desire a revision of the Confession of Faith. One hundred and thirty-four Presbyteries an- swered the first question in the affirmative, with specifi- cations of revision which they desired. In their answers many of the one hundred and thirty-four revision Presbyteries simply named certain chapters and sections, without specifying the amended form which they would desire. Ninety-two coupled with their desire the state- 3/0 PRESBYTERIANS. ment that, while they desired revision, they desired that this revision might not impair the integrity of the sys- tem of doctrine contained in the Confession of Faith. Ninety-three Presbyteries asked for an insertion in the Confession of a more explicit statement of " the love of God for the world." Sixty-three asked for an insertion of a statement of the " sufficiency of the Atonement and the free offer of salvation to all men." Sixty asked for a recognition of the Church's duty of evangelizing the world. There was a very general expression of a desire for a reconstruction of the article of the Confes- sion of Faith on the salvation of infants. The General Assembly of 1890 thus had before it a fair expression of the views of the Church upon the whole revision ques- tion. It was obvious that the Church desired the ap- pointment of a suitable committee to examine, with great care, all the phraseology of every part of the Confession of Faith. The appointment of this committee of Revision was a very important matter. The selection of the men to constitute it was accomplished by appointing a large committee to name the Revision Committee. The Moderator was instructed to appoint a nominating com- mittee, consisting of one member of the Assembly from each Synod, and composed of nineteen ministers and ten elders to nominate to the Assembly the " As- sembly's Committee on Revision of the Confession of Faith." This Revision Committee was to consist of fifteen ministers and ten elders. The Assembly in- structed this Revision Committee " That they shall not propose any alteration or amendment that will in any way impair the integrity of the Reformed or Calvin- istic system of doctrine taught in the Confession of REVISION OF THE CONFESSION OF FAITH. 371 Faith." The nominating committee reported, and the Assembly appointed the following persons to constitute this committee : Ministers. Prof. William H. Green, Princeton Semi- nary ; Prof. T. S.Hastings, Union Seminary; Prof. M. B. Riddle, Allegheny Seminary; Prof. W. J. Beecher, Auburn Seminary ; Prof. E. D. Morris, Lane Seminary ; Prof. Herrick Johnson, Chicago Seminary; Prof. Will- iam Alexander, San Francisco Seminary ; President F. L. Patton, Princeton College; President W. C. Roberts, Lake Forest University; Dr. W. E. Moore, Pastor Second Church, Columbus ; Dr. H. J. Van Dyke, Pastor Second Church, Brooklyn ; Dr. E. Ers- kine, Pastor First Church, Newville ; Dr. J. T. Left- wich, Pastor First Church, Baltimore ; Dr. S. J. Nic- colls, Pastor Second Church, St. Louis ; Dr. E. R. Burkhalter, Pastor First Church, Cedar Rapids, la. Elders. Judge William Strong, Washington City; Senator S. J. R. McMillan, Minnesota ; Judge Alfred Hand, Pennsylvania; Dr. E. E. White, Ohio ; Judge Henry B. Sayler, Indiana; W. S. Gilman, Esq., New York; Barker Gummere, Esq., New Jersey; William Ernst, Esq., Kentucky ; George Junkin, Esq., Phila- delphia ; Charles N. Charnley, Esq., Illinois. The committee met and organized by the election of W. C. Roberts, D. D., LL. D., of Lake Forest Univer- sity, Moderator of the General Assembly of 1889, as permanent Chairman, and Rev. W. E. Moore, D. D., LL. D., Moderator of the General Assembly of 1890, as Clerk of the Committee. Dr. Hastings being unable to act, Dr. R. R. Booth, of New York, was elected. Mr. Gummere declined, and Mr. M. H. Stratton, of Salem, N. J., was elected. Dr. Van Dyke died in 1891. 3/2 PRESBYTERIANS. The course pursued by the General Assembly in 1890, in directing the publication in full of the answers of all the Presbyteries, laid before the whole Church the real mind of the Church on the subject of revision. Many of those who had opposed revision, under the supposition that the revisionists desired to abandon the Calvinistic system, lost all interest in their opposition to Revision when they came to see the kind of revision the Presbyteries asked for in their answers to the over- tures. The whole Church seemed to be completely satisfied with the constitution of the Revision Com- mittee. It was representative of the mind of the Church. It will be seen that on the committee there is a representation of those who are recognized as op- posed to all revision. There was, as was right, a good working majority of the advocates of revision. There was a good representation of the theological seminaries of the country ; and this representation of the theolog- ical seminaries represented all forms of professorial work. On the committee were professors of theology, of Hebrew language, of Greek language and of pastoral work. Two of the committee were college presidents. Six of them were successful pastors, with high reputa- tion for scholarship, as well as general ability in church work. Among the elders there were prominent law- yers, several judges, several business men, and many well-known writers. One was an ex-Justice of the United States Supreme Court, one was an ex-Senator of the United States, and one was an ex-State Superin- tendent of Education. The committee frankly avowed its desire for thoughtful suggestions from all who were interested in such a revision as would express the mind of the Church. After two meetings, at each of which REVISION OF THE CONFESSION OF FAITH. 373 ample time was taken for prayer, conference and the fullest comparison of views, the committee was able to present to the General Assembly of 1891 a unanimous report. When the committee was appointed it was ex- pected that it would be able to make a final report by 1891. The committee, however, believed there was no ALBERT LEA COLLEGE (FEMALE), ALBERT LEA, MINN. great hurry for finishing the work, and that it was im- portant that the committee should have the criticisms of all students of revision before its members in making up the final report for the vote on its adoption by the Presbyteries. The report, therefore, came to the Gen- eral Assembly of 1891, not as a final report, but as a " report of progress," with the request from the Com- mittee of Revision that the proposed amendments to the Confession of Faith should be sent down to the 374 PRESBYTERIANS. Presbyteries for criticisms and suggestions, and that the committee should be given another year in which to make up its final report in view of whatever added light might be furnished. This suggestion of the committee was unanimously adopted by the General Assembly, and the committee continued to report again in 1892. If the General Assembly of 1891 had been called upon to do so, it is extremely probable that it would have approved the report, and sent it down to the Presbyteries for adoption or rejection. The discussion which has occurred in the public prints, as well as what is reported from the Presbyteries, indicates that there are in the main three phases of opinion extensively held by the Church. One section may be called the Anti- revisionists, who prefer the Standards of the Church as they are ; another section may be called the Revision- ists, who are well satisfied with the work of the Com- mittee ; the third section may be called the Short Creed party. It is not easy to estimate with any confidence the proportionate number of these three parties. Un- dojubtedly, the section whose views are represented by the report of the Committee is very much the largest. The Anti-revisionist section has so far given no indica- tion of a purpose to divide the Church in case the essence of the report of the Committee should be adopted. It is probable that there are two parties in the Short Creed section. One party would prefer a comparatively brief creed, thoroughly evangelical and Calvinistic, after the type of the creed adopted by the English Presbyterian Church ; another part would pre- fer a still shorter creed excluding distinctive Calvinism, and more after the form of the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, or the creed of the Evangelical Alliance. REVISION OF THE CONFESSION OF FAITH. 3^ Several good results have already been reached by the agitation. The whole Church has been called to a restudy of her fundamental doctrines. Attention has been called to the difference between the use of a Con- fession of Faith to which ministers and Church officers are expected to subscribe, and the simple " Confession of their Faith in Christ," which is expected of Church members. Those who are to be teachers and leaders of Presbyterians are expected to know and prefer the position of the Church. Private members have never been asked to understand the Confession of Faith before they join the Presbyterians. Private member- ship is for the upbuilding and training of the young, and the beginners in the divine life. These are expected to acknowledge their own sinfulness, reject all depend- ence on themselves, proclaim Jesus Christ as their only trust for a Saviour, and their full surrender to him as his servants bound to obey his will. All such have always been welcomed to the means of grace employed by the Church to promote "growth in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ." In their report the committee recommends the inser- tion of two new chapters. One of these is on the work of the Holy Spirit, and the other is on the Sufficiency of the Redemption by Christ for the salvation of all men, and the free offer thereof to all who will accept it. The report is quite explicit in affirming the election of the saved and the inclusion of infants and idiots among the elect. The report omits much that is said in the present confession about the relation of God to the lost, but affirms that they perish for their sins under the righteous justice of God. It affirms what is asserted in Scripture, and seen by men in the world, that God . PRESBYTERIANS. did not see fit to elect all mankind to everlasting life. Many other minor changes are made, but they are chiefly in the way of harmonizing other parts with the scope of the amended sections. Some phrases in the original language of the Confession, which came from the controversy of the Westminster days with the Roman Catholic Church, are also stricken out. The final report of the Revision Committee was made to the Assembly of 1892, at Portland. It was sub- mitted in the shape of twenty-eight separate overtures, each containing the proposed amendments on a dis- tinct subject. The Report was adopted and these overtures sent down to the presbyteries for a separate vote on each. The answers of the presbyteries will come to the Assembly of 1893, and enactment by that Assembly will be required to confirm such amendments as receive the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the presbyteries. The discussion of revision has attracted earnest attention to the history of the work of the Church in the past, and a diligent study of the relations between her Calvinistic system of doctrine and her Presbyterian form of Church government, in the influence of the denomination upon modern Christianity. Outside the Church, as well as inside, there is growing up some due appreciation of Calvin's influence in favor of educa- tion and republican freedom in government. Men now see better than before the importance in historical progress of that toughness of moral fiber which is characteristic of Calvinists, and which makes them intelligent in faith, logical in debate, heroic in battle, unbroken by persecution and persevering in every resistance of wrong or promotion qf right. CHAPTER XVII. HIGHER CRITICISM IN THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARIES. THE subject of higher criticism and its bearing upon the doctrine of inspiration is at present one of the leading questions before the mind of the Church. Higher criticism is a phrase used to distinguish that form of study from what is known as textual criticism. Textual criticism is the study of the manuscripts, ver- sions and variations in the existing copies of the Old and New Testaments for the purpose of obtaining the purest possible text of the Scriptures. Higher or literary criticism is the study of the Bible as literature. It investigates the external and internal evidences, bearing upon such questions as those of authorship, date, place, purpose and relations of the various writ- ings of the Bible. It seeks to discover how far human authorities and/human knowledge may have influenced the immediate writers of the books of the Bible. Many of the books of the Bible are historical books or com- pilations of poetry. In the historical books other books are referred to, such as the Book of Jasher and various Hebrew records. Some of the books of poetry were used as devotional works in the public worship as are our modern Church hymn books. Others were poetical works written and used for public and private exhorta- tion and instruction. Higher Criticism seeks to dis- tinguish and study the works of these earlier authors whose writings are used, the date and place of these 377 PRESBYTERIANS. earlier authors, and the date and place of the final writers of the Scripture books. The name Higher Criticism, in its present use, was mainly introduced into theological discussions by the German author, Eichhorn. Though it is not properly confined to it, Higher Criticism is now mainly occupied with the study of writings whose existence is suggested but not proved. One of the long-recognized "Difficulties of Scripture" is the diversity of style found in certain books. One explanation of this diversity is that it is due to differ- ences of personal age and personal design of the writer. Moses sometimes wrote law, sometimes history, some- times prophecy. Solomon began writing as a young man and ended when he was old. Isaiah was, at one time, warning against sin by threatening judgments, again he records facts for future instruction, and again he encouraged the disheartened by predicting victory over Israel's enemies. Higher critics suggest that some of these variations of style are due to variations of authorship. The critics believe that they can discern differences of " theology, style and material," as well as "language." Thus they strive to discriminate between the Elohist, the Jehovist, the Priest Code, the Pro- phetic Writer, and the Redactor of the Pentateuch. In some instances these dissections lead to the assign- ment of various clauses and words of a single verse to different authors of this list. Some critics have five authors, others two, and some ten. The great impulse toward this kind of study was given long before the time of Eichhorn. Jean As- true, a Roman Catholic physician of very bad charac- ter, even in the dissolute court of Louis XV., in Paris, HIGHER CRITICISM IN THE SEMINARIES. 379 in i 753, published a work entitled " Conjectures as to the Original Writings from which Moses compiled the Book of Genesis." He supposed the two names, Elohim and Jehovah, which are used as names of God in the first chapters of the Hebrew of Genesis, marked two different authors ; and that from their writings and other lost records, Moses, or some later scholar, com- piled the book we now have. Following the line of investigation suggested by this " Conjecture," subse- quent critics proposed various divisions of the book, imagining more or fewer writers with varying dates. Through the latter half of that century (the eigh- teenth) this mode of explaining by differences of authorship any difference of style found in a book grew in popularity. When, therefore, Eichhorn came to apply this method to the whole of the Old and New Testaments, his designation of it as "the Higher Criticism " was promptly followed by all its champions. By the use of the same method, Eichhorn asserted that the Gospels showed themselves to be compilations by authors living some centuries after the death of the apostles. His application of the rules of Higher Criticism in the New Testament is an admitted failure. There are two classes of modern advocates of higher Criticism, namely : the Rationalistic and the Evangeli- cal Schools. Rationalism denies all supernatural influ- ence, and reduces all past events to ordinary results of natural causes. It denies the existence and possibility of historical evidence of anything which may be fairly called miraculous, and of any supernatural inspiration, and nec- essarily denies any genuine prediction in prophecy. It is thus essentially skeptical as to the creation and providen- tial government of the universe by the power of an 380 PRESBYTERIANS. almighty God, and denies all evidence of any efficient intervention by the Deity in the affairs of man for the purpose of giving man divine instruction. Evangelical Higher Criticism, on the contrary, asserts the existence of God's providential government and of his supernat- ural agency in the government of his Church, but asserts his adoption of a certain mode of revelation in which his servants sometimes cited and used human authori- ties in order to the production, by God's will, of an infallible text-book on faith and duty. These are the two. extremes ; and between them may be found advo- cates of every shade and mixture of belief and unbelief. The confidence with which skeptical critics of Europe have asserted that disbelief in the Divine authority of the Bible is the only logical result of Higher Criticism, the fact that its conclusions from the facts stated so largely depend on the taste of the critic, and the absence of all historical evidence of the existence of the writers (Elohist, Jehovist, etc.,) of which it makes so much use, have led large numbers in the Church to be ex- tremely distrustful both of its results and its processes. Earnest resolutions in condemnation of it were passed by the General Assemblies of 1882 and 1883. The whole matter came sharply into public discus- sion at the inauguration of Professor Charles Augustus Briggs as professor of " Biblical Theology " in Union Theological Seminary, New York. The president of the Board of Trustees of that Seminary, Hon. Charles Butler, LL. D., in April, 1890, tendered to the Trus- tees of the Seminary one hundred thousand dollars for the endowment of an additional chair in the institution, to be called " The Edward Robinson Chair of Biblical Theology." In his address making the donation, he HIGHER CRITICISM IN THE SEMINARIES. 381 expressed a wish that Professor Briggs should occupy the chair thus established. Professor Briggs had been " Davenport Professor of Hebrew and Cognate Lan- guages " in the Seminary for many years, and was by the Board of Trustees transferred to this new chair of Biblical Theology. He was inaugurated professor January 20, 1891, and delivered an inaugural address suitable to the occasion. Professor Briggs has for years, in his instructions and through the public press, expressed himself strongly in favor of the principles and methods of the Higher Criticism, and his confident belief that there was noth- ing necessarily involved in either its facts, its methods or its legitimate conclusions, which invalidated faith in the supreme authority of the Bible as a rule of faith and practice. In his inaugural address he reasserted these convictions with great confidence and some sever- ity of language regarding those who condemned Higher Critics as a class. The inaugural address, when published, produced widespread agitation in the Church. In the address Dr. Briggs insisted that there was noth- ing in the Westminster Confession, the Standards of the Church, or of any of the creeds of Christendom inconsistent with his views. Professor Briggs being a member of the Presbytery of New York, that Presbytery appointed a committee to consider the propriety of tabling charges aginst him. The committee reported that it was desirable that charges be brought, and did present charges with speci- fications annexed. The report of this committee was adopted by a vote of sixty-four to sixty-two, October 5, 1891, and Presbytery directed Professor Briggs to answer the charges. His answer was presented to a 382 PRESBYTERIANS. meeting of Presbytery held November 4, 1891, and, after considering the question, the Presbytery, by a vote of ninety-four to thirty-nine, passed the following paper and dismissed the case. That paper is as follows : "Resolved: That the Presbytery of New York hav- ing listened to the paper of Rev. Charles A. Briggs, D. D., in the case of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America against him, as to the suffi- ciency of the charges and specifications in form and legal effect, and without approving of the positions stated in his inaugural address, at the same time desir- ing earnestly the peace and quiet of the Church ; and in view of the declarations made by Dr. Briggs touch- ing his loyalty to the Holy Scriptures and the West- minster Standards, and of his disclaimers of interpreta- tions put on some of his words, deems it best to dis- miss the case, and hereby does so dismiss it." An appeal to the General Assembly from this action of Presbytery was taken by the prosecuting committee. Thirty-four members of Presbytery also took steps to bring the case before the Synod of New York by complaint. The General Assembly of 1892 at Portland sus- tained the appeal of the prosecuting committee by a vote of 307 to sustain, 124 to sustain, in part, 87 not to sustain ; thus making the total vote to sustain the ap- peal, 431 and 87 to sustain the action of the Presby- tery in dismissing the case. The case was then for- mally remanded to the Presbytery of New York, with instructions to speedily try the case on its merits. INSPIRATION. This agitation on the subject of Higher Criticism seems to be concentrating on the subject of Inspiration HIGHER CRITICISM IN THE SEMINARIES. 383 as the center of conflict. The Westminster Standards are quite explicit on \hefact of Inspiration, but they do not so decisively affirm any one theory of the mode of inspiration as against several others. Very many, in and out of the Presbyterian Church, have held to what is known as the theory of verbal inspiration. They hold that as God selected certain languages out of many languages, and certain persons out of the multitude of his people, to be the channel through which he would communicate his Word to the race, so he chose the inspired writers with all the peculiarities of their own style and age and idioms and individuality. The result, therefore, these hold, is a collection of inspired writ- ings having two authors, a human author and a divine author ; and that each of these, according to his own department, maintains all his distinctive peculiarities in the composite work, but both are responsible for the words used. A very prevalent view at the present day is what is known as the theory of plenary inspiration. This is supposed to evade the objection to the verbal theory that it is too mechanical, and makes the human authors mere scribes of dictated words. Dr. Henry B. Smith, formerly Professor of Theology in Union Theological Seminary, states this view as follows : " The divine influence extends to and pervades the whole contents of the Scriptures, both historical and doctrinal ; it in- cludes the whole of the strict Divine revelations, and also whatever the sacred writers utter as historians and witnesses. This theory comprises both the matter and the form of the Bible ; the matter in the form in which it is conveyed and set forth. It extends even to the language, not in the mechanical sense that each word 384 PRESBYTERIANS, is dictated by the Holy Spirit, but in the sense that, under divine guidance, each writer spake in his own language according to the measure of his knowledge, acquired by personal experience, by the testimony of others, or by immediate divine revelation." Dr. Briggs, in his inaugural, states his own theory of Inspiration as that which holds that the "Concept" alone was given of God, and that the human agent was liable to error, as he is oftentimes merely expressing his own belief as to science, history and human affairs. He was charged by the prosecuting committee of his Pres- bytery with making, in his inaugural, the Reason, the Church and Scripture as of co-ordinate authority. In his response to Presbytery he explicitly denied holding that these were co-ordinate, but asserted that while the Church and the Reason were authorities they were not infallible ; and that " the Scripture was the only infallible rule of faith and practice." He said, " When God speaks through the conscience he speaks with divine authority ; but the conscience does not thereby become an infallible rule of faith and practice." " The Church is a great foun- tain of divine authority, and yet not an infallible rule of faith and practice." Another theory of inspiration is that the Bible "contains the Word of God." These hold that there is a general inspiration given to notable men in vari- ous ages ; and that this was given to the writers of Scripture in an especial degree. This theory is not much held in the Presbyterian Church, but in various shades of expression is avowed by many writers be- longing to evangelical denominations. Skeptics and Rationalists deny all divine authorship of any book ; HIGHER CRITICISM IN THE SEMINARIES. 385 and on the subject of inspiration argue as they do on the subject of miracles, namely, that any book which asserts miraculous events as historical facts, or makes such a claim to inspiration as involves a divine author for its pages, has thereby proved itself erroneous. What the ultimate issue of the discussion on inspira- tion shall be is not yet manifest. It is possible that the pivot of the controversy may come to be over the question of the existence of prophecy. If Christ was predicted specifically, and Old Testament writers spoke so definitely of him as to exclude everyone else, and so described him that he could be recognized when he came ; and all this so discriminatingly that they could only have done it through the divine foreknowledge given to them ; then the fact of supernatural inspiration cannot logi- cally be denied. Furthermore, if Christ uttered pre- dictions, which have been so fulfilled since his death, that his utterance of them and their fulfillment in his- tory can only be explained by his foreknowledge and such Divine direction of events on his part as brought to pass the fulfillment of his predictions, then the fact of his supernatural knowledge is assured. Such prophecies and their fulfillments are themselves such supernatural operations of God in the present world as would make the denial of the possibility of miracles quite unreasonable. If Messianic prophecy is a fact and not a fiction, Biblical inspiration is likewise a fact. . The Standards of the Church commit those accepting them to such a form of belief in inspiration as makes God responsible for the contents of the books given by his direction for the instruction of man. That he should so give these promises and prophecies and his- 386 PRESBYTERIANS. torical examples, and so give his instruction through poetry and parable and miracle, that men should find difficulties in the way of understanding them, or per- plexities involved in the divine method, no more neces- sarily destroys our belief in the divine authority of his Word, than do the difficulties of nature destroy all con- fidence in science ; or do sin and suffering and national oppression and the temporary triumph of evil destroy our conviction as to the moral character of the system of the universe. RELATION OF THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARIES TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. When the directors of Union Theological Seminary reported to the General Assembly of 1891 their inau- guration of Professor Briggs, a very important question arose for consideration. That General Assembly found in its possession overtures from sixty-three Presbyteries with reference to the views expressed by Dr. Briggs in his inaugural address. Several other Presbyteries had sent up overtures upon the general subject of theo- logical training, the Inspiration of the Bible and the method of the appointment of professors in theological seminaries. These overtures had been sent up by the Presbyteries in view of the action taken by the General Assembly at the time of the reunion, with reference to the election of theological professors. As will be seen in the chapter on theological seminaries, previous to the reunion the seminaries were organized in different ways. In some the directors and professors were ap- pointed by the General Assembly. Others were under the control of certain Synods. Others were organized as close corporations. Union Seminary, New York, HIGHER CRITICISM IN THE SEMINARIES. 387 was one of these last. At the time of the reunion there was a strong desire that the General Assembly should hold the same relation to all the seminaries. A middle ground was sought by which the Directors of each should have entire control of the actual work, but the Assembly have such a regulating power as would enable it to control any unsatisfactory measures. An agree- ment was therefore entered into between the Assembly and the Seminaries ; but it was an agreement without any " legal consideration " on either side, and without having in it any specific method provided for its en- forcement by one party against the other in case its terms were not complied wkh. No tribunal is named to arbitrate any difference^ of interpretation which might arise as to the meaning of the compact. That agreement, as recorded in the Assembly's Minutes of 1870, is in these words : " First : That the Board of Directors of each theological seminary shall be author- ized to appoint all professors for the same. Second : That all such appointments shall be reported to the General Assembly, and no appointment of a professor shall be considered as a complete election if disap- proved by a majority vote of the Assembly." By this action the Assembly abdicated such right of original election as it had held in any of the seminaries ; and the seminaries which were not under its immediate con- trol granted to the Assembly the right of a veto over their elections. But nothing was said in the agreement concerning the matter of a transfer of a professor from one chair to another. The friends of Union Seminary insisted that the transfer of Dr. Briggs was not a new election, and was therefore not subject to this veto power of the Assembly, since he had already for years. 388 PRESBYTERIANS. been a professor in that institution with the approval of the General Assembly. The overtures assumed that his case was subject to this veto of the Assembly. All the overtures on the subject were referred to the Standing Committee on Theological Seminaries. When this committee made its report it adopted the view that such a transfer was a case covered by the veto power of the General Assembly, and recommended the General Assembly to " disapprove of the appoint- ment of Rev. Charles A. Briggs, D. D., to the Edward Robinson Professorship of Biblical Theology in Union Theological Seminary, by transfer from another chair in the same Seminary." This recommendation was adopted by a vote of four hundred and forty-nine ayes to sixty nays. A substitute had been offered for this report recom- mending the appointment of a committee " to confer with the Directors of Union Seminary in regard to the relation of the said seminary to the General Assembly," and to " request the Directors of Union Seminary to reconsider the action by which Dr. Briggs was trans- ferred to the chair of Biblical Theology," and " to advise that in any case Professor Briggs be not allowed to give instruction during the year previous to the next meeting of the General Assembly." On a motion to adopt this substitute instead of the report of the com- mittee, one hundred and six voted in the affirmative and three hundred and sixty in the negative. The pream- ble of the report of the committee on theological semi- naries, which had thus been adopted by the Assembly, recognized that an interpretation might be put upon the agreement between the seminary and the Assembly \yhereby a transfer from one chair to anpther would not 339 390 PRESBYTERIANS. be subject to the veto power of the General Assembly, and recommended the appointment of a committee to confer on the whole subject with the Directors of Union Theological Seminary. This committee was appointed and was made up of persons representing the different views submitted to the Assembly. Immediately after the adjournment of the Assembly the Board of Directors of Union Theological Seminary was convened to elect a successor to Dr. Henry J. Van Dyke, who had accepted the position of Professor of Theology, but had recently died. At that meeting of the Board of Directors the question of instruction in Dr. Briggs's department came up, and after consultation the Board decided that it would adhere to its interpre- tation of the agreement between the General Assembly and itself, and stand by its appointment of Dr. Briggs to the chair of Biblical Theology. This raised a sharp issue of interpretation with regard to the agreement between the General Assembly and the theological seminaries. The committee of the General Assembly and the Trustees held two meetings, but were not able to agree. Each party adhered to its own view of the right of the Assembly in regard to vetoing a transfer of an old professor from one chair to another. Their disagreement was reported to the Assembly of 1892, and the parties agreed to the maintenance of the pres- ent status quo until further action by the General As- sembly, with this question left in abeyance in the mean- time. At the General Assembly at Portland, in 1892, the relation of the theological seminaries came up in sev- eral different forms. The committee to confer with the trustees of Union Seminary, in regard to the Briggs tilGHER CRITICISM IN THE SEMINARIES. 39! veto, reported that the parties were not able to agree upon any interpretation of the compact. The trustees held that the veto power of the Assembly applied only to the appointment of new professors, and that when the Assembly of 1891 undertook to exercise a veto power on the transfer of a professor already in office, it had transcended its powers. The report of the committee of conference, and the report of the trustees, were both referred to the Assem- bly's committee on theological seminaries. Two reports were made, a majority and a minority report. The Assembly adhered to the position of the Assembly at Detroit in insisting on the right to veto the transfer of a professor when such is reported to the Assembly by one of its theological seminaries. The committee of conference, owing to the sickness of the chairman, Dr. Patton, was not able to have a final meeting, but six of its members were present at Portland, and these presented a " supplemental report " suggesting that the controversy about the veto power of the Assembly, under the compact of 1870, should be submitted to arbitrators. This suggestion was approved by the Assembly, and it proposed to Union Seminary that the matter should be submitted to fifteen men five to be selected by the Assembly and five by the trustees of the seminary, and these ten, thus chosen, to select the other five. The Assembly named as its five to act, in case the proposition was accepted by the seminary : Rev. T. Ralston Smith, D. D., Buffalo, N. Y. ; Rev. B. L. Agnew, Philadelphia, Pa. ; George Junkin, Esq., Philadelphia, Pa.; Logan C. Murray, Esq., New York ; E. W. C. Humphrey, Esq., Louis- ville, Ky. 392 PRESBYTERIANS. The trustees of Union Seminary presented formally a request that the compact of 1870 should be annulled, and Union Seminary allowed to withdraw therefrom, and become again, as it was before the reunion, a Pres- byterian seminary managed by a close corporation. The Assembly was not willing to approve of this se~pa- ration, but preferred arbitrating the- differences, in the earnest hope that some practicable and acceptable result might be reached. As the whole subject was one which affected all the seminaries, before any new arrangement of the mutual relations of the Assembly with the theological semi- naries should be seriously considered, it was felt that full consultation should be had with representatives of each. The Assembly, therefore, appointed a committee of fifteen to confer with all the theological seminaries, and in 1893 report, if possible, some practical method of co-operation for the future. The names of that com- mittee are, ministers : Rev. Geo. P. Hays, D. D., Kansas City, Mo. ; Rev. W. C. Young, D. D., Danville, Ky. ; Rev. J. McC. Blayney, Frankfort, Ky. ; Rev. S. A. Mutchmore, D. D., Philadelphia, Pa. ; Rev. W. E. Moore, D. D., Columbus, O. ; Rev. Wm. A. Bartlett, D. D., Washington, D. C. ; Rev. Charles T. Haley, Newark, N. J.; Rev. J. McC. Holmes, D. D.^ Albany, N. Y.; Rev. A. G. Wilson, D. D., Hopkinton, la. Elders: Thos. McDougall, Esq., Cincinnati, O. ; J. J. McCook, Esq., New York ; W. C. Gray, Esq., Chicago, 111. ; Samuel A. Bonner, Esq., Greensburg, Ind.; Jas. F. Joy, Esq., Detroit, Mich.; W. B. Negley, Esq., Pittsburgh, Pa.; Henry M. Knox, Esq., Minneapolis, Minn. After the Moderator had announced the committee, his own name was added by a vote of the Assembly. HIGHER CRITICISM IN THE SEMINARIES. 393 The whole subject of the relation of the General As- sembly to the theological instruction of the Church is thus brought into strong prominence, and all its perplex- ities are up for full reconsideration. The early prac- tice of the Church was to select, as professors in these institutions, men who had acquired scholarship and rep- utation in their discharge of pastoral and public duty for the Church. Such men were generally men of age and settled opinions. The more recent practice has been for the seminaries to select younger men of marked ability and special promise as instructors, and let them grow up as specialists in the particular depart- ment which is thus made their life-work. This practice raises, as an urgent question, the course to be pursued by the General Assembly in case a professor, already approved in his position, should seriously change his opinions. The duty of disciplining a minister who be- comes unsound in doctrine, belongs to the Presbytery of which he is a member. The theological seminaries, however, bear special relationship to the Church at large through the General Assembly. It is not an easy question to decide upon the course to be adopted by the General Assembly in case the teachings of a pro- fessor, or the policy of a seminary, should become un- satisfactory to the general Church. There are serious difficulties in every plan. The local friends of a seminary are generally the best acquainted with its needs, and the best fitted to select its instructors. Where the professors are elected by the General Assembly, it is quite possible that these local directors and friends might select one candidate and the General Assembly elect another. Such a result would make the situation embarrassing to all parties. 394 PRESBYTERIANS. A person so elected by the General Assembly might decline, under the circumstances, to accept the appoint- ment. Or, if ignorant of all the facts connected with the appointment, the office should be accepted, the re- lations of the new professor might be very embarrassing to all concerned. Yet it is of the first importance that the most intimate and even confidential relations should exist between the seminaries and the General Assem- bly. Every legitimate means should be adopted on the part of the General Assembly and of the whole Church to nourish and promote these institutions. The task of devising the most effective and least objection- able connection between the seminaries and the Church at large is one now before the Church. It affects not the Presbyterian Church alone, but every denomina- tion of Christians. The committee appointed to con- fer with the Directors of Union Seminary about the difference between them and the General Assembly, might have considered the whole question of the rela- tion of the seminaries to the Church. They have con- fined themselves to the one case now mainly prominent. The present phases of the question press the whole subject upon the Church for very careful and judicious management and adjustment. CHAPTER XVIII. DISTINCTIVE PECULIARITIES OF PRESBYTERIAN DENOMINATIONS. are various denominations of Presbyterians. 1 Often superficial people say " They should all unite. The differences must be small." But these differences touch upon such practical matters that they affect church life and mold the public spirit of the various denominations. Even the peculiarities of the names carry with them the associations of the past history. No railroad engine can run on every road. There may not be a mathematical and mechanical reason why so many roads have the gauge of four feet eight and a half inches, but its name "compromise gauge," or " standard gauge," shows that there is a history back of it. Those who will run their trains on it must con- form to its limitations. The word " Cumberland" has no theological meaning. It is a geographical term. But the Presbytery, to which the early founders of that denomination of Presbyterians belonged, was called the "Cumberland Presbytery" from its geographical location, and that name is historic. The name " United Presbyterian " would have well suited the Church after the union of the " Old School " and the " New School," but already the Associate and Associate Reformed Presbyterian Churches had united and taken that name. The word " united," in the name, "United States of America," has just such a history in itself. So, when 395 PRESBYfERiANS. " The United Presbyterian Church " was formed, the; brethren did not want to be embarrassed in the future, if they should have Churches in Canada or Mexico. They adopted the name "The United Presbyterian Church of North America." Serious national preju- dices are excited by the tl U. S. A." of the church name borne by the missionaries of the Presbyterian Church, as they work in Mexico. The exact official name adopted by the several denominations represented in this book are given in the title page in connection with the names of the writers of the special chapters. The governing body in each congregation of Pres-; byerians is the church Session. This consists of the pastor (when there is one) and the elders. Of these last there may be one or more. The money collected for the poor of a particular church is administered by its deacons. All other matters are ultimately under the control of the Session. This control may be exercised with great leniency, and great prudence will be needed; but when any controversy arises, the authority to de- cide it is legally with the Session, as a Session and not as individual elders. This control includes the Sab- bath-school, the music, the societies of the Church, the taking of collections, the appointment of services and all such matters. The control which the trustees have over the church property is simply as trustees to hold the title for the uses of the congregation. The uses are to be determined by the Session. In the eye of the civil law, rules of church government are modes of ar- x bitration, just as are, also, the laws of secret societies or benevolent associations. Each member of a Church agrees to these church laws when he joins the Church. He enters at his will and leaves at his pleasure ; and, PRESBYTERIAN DENOMINATIONAL PECULIARITIES, 397 therefore, church property will follow the rules and be subject to the decisions of the highest court of the de- nomination to which the Church belongs. Judge North- rup, of Syracuse, N. Y., in an address to his brother elders on this point, says : " The control of the church edifice is a fruitful source of misunderstanding and dis- agreement. The trustees must keep it in repair, warmed, lighted and fit for occupancy for all the pur- poses for which it is required in the judgment of the Session, and there, substantially, the duty of the trus- tees ends." The same view is held by the Missouri Court in " North St. Louis Christian Church vs. McGowen (62 Mo., p. 279) and by the Pennsylvania Court in McGinnis vs. Watson (41 Penn., p. 9). This relation between civil trustees and church courts is thus decided by the United States Supreme Court, in Watson vs. Jones, 13 Wallace, 679 : " The trustees of the Church are mere nominal title holders and custodians of the church property. In the use of the property for all religious services or ecclesiastical purposes the trustees are under the control of the Session." This decision is cited and followed by the Missouri Court, in the Lindenwood College case (State ex rel. W T atson vs. Paris, 45 Mo., p. 183). One of the most recent cases is that decided by the Supreme Court of Louisiana (State ex rel. Scares vs. Hebrew Congre- gation " Dispersed of Judah," 31 La., 205). From that opinion the following is quoted : "All who unite them- selves to such a body do so with an implied consent to its government, and are bound to submit to it. But it would be a vain consent, and would lead to the total subversion of such religious bodies, if anyone, aggrieved by one of their decisions, could appeal to the secular 398 PRESBYTERIANS. courts and have them reversed. It is of the essence of these religious unions, and of their right to establish tribunals for the decision of the questions arising among themselves, that these decisions should be binding in all cases of ecclesiastical cognizance, subject only to such appeals as the organism itself provides for." The Louisiana Court then supports its opinion by cit- ing Harmon vs. Dreher, 2 Speer, Eq. 87 (S. C.),as "one of the most careful and well-considered judgments upon the subject." This case is also cited by the United States Supreme Court (Watson vs. Jones, quoted above): " It belongs not to the civil power to enter or review the proceedings of a spiritual court When a civil right depends upon an ecclesiastical matter, it is the civil court, and not the ecclesiastical, which is to decide. But the civil tribunal tries the civil right and no more, taking the ecclesiastical decisions out of which the civil right arises as it finds them." Kentucky courts are then cited : " In Kentucky the binding force and completeness of the Church's action is thus stated (Lucas, vs. Case, 9 Bush, p. 297): ' Every person entering into the Church impliedly, at least, if not expressly, covenants to conform to the rules of the Church, to submit to its authority and discipline. Ap- pellant, when he became a member thereof, placed him- self in this condition Whether in what the Church did it acted right or wrong, the court cannot approach its precincts to inquire, and is powerless to redress any wrong inflicted on appellant thereby. By becoming a member of the Church he subjected himself to its ecclesiastical power, and neither this nor any other earthly tribunal can supervise or control that jurisdiction,' ' PRESBYTERIAN DENOMINATIONAL PECULIARITIES. 399 After making the preceding citations in support of their decision the Louisiana court closes its opinion as follows : "The judicatory provided by those laws has acted upon the matter now before this court, and we cannot go behind its action to inquire whether it acted rightly or wrongfully, justly or unjustly. It is the tribunal to which the appellant submitted himself when he accepted membership of the congregation, and its action is not examinable in a civil court." The civil courts hold that the spiritual courts are the exclusive judges of their own jurisdiction, and so the secular courts will, in such spiritual matters, accept and follow the rulings of the church courts and make prop- erty rights conform to these decisions. Every denom- ination has decided for itself whether among its mem- bers there shall be a right of appeal from one tribunal to some higher, or not. The Presbyterian Church has decided this matter in the affirmative. In every case the church Session is under the control of the Presbytery to which it belongs. Any matter may be brought before that Presbytery by appeal or complaint, and carried from the Presbytery to the Synod in the same way. In the Presbyterian Church (North) appeals from the Synod to the General Assem- bly are limited to cases involving doctrine or govern- ment. In the other Presbyterian Churches appeals from the Synod to the General Assembly are allowed in all cases. Any court, civil or ecclesiastical, may err, and there must be somewhere an end of litigation. If it seems to any person hard that in his case there can be no appeal from the church courts to the civil court, he must remember that the civil courts may err and have erred, and that there is no more reason for an 400 PRESBYTERIANS. appeal from the highest church court to the civil court than there is for an appeal from the supreme civil court to the church court. From the above it will be seen that the differences among the Presbyterian Churches are in regard to doctrine and Church management and not in reference to Church government. Two great systems of Church doctrine divide evangelical Protestantism. These are popularly known as the Calvinistic and Arminian systems. Their fundamental difference lies in their central conception of theology. The Calvinist begins with divine sovereignty, and makes the theory of man and of salvation subordinate to that. The Arminian begins with man and his free agency, and makes the doctrine of God accommodate itself to that free agency. All the Calvinistic denominations hold and preach the great evangelical doctrines of Christendom. They are foremost in asserting them, and none are more zealous than Calvinists in preaching such fundamental doctrines as these : The unity of the Godhead and the Trinity of persons therein, the sufficiency and the infallible authority of the Scriptures, the helplessness of man in consequence of the fall, the recovery and salvation of sinners by the Redeemer, the incarnation of the Son of God, his atonement, and all his mediatorial work and offices, the work of the Holy Spirit in the conversion and sanctification of the sinner, the sinner's interest in the finished work of Christ, and his justification by faith alone, the second advent of Christ to judgment, the resurrection of the dead and the eternal separation of the righteous and the wicked. But the Calvinistic or Augustinian system specially holds to the doctrine of the divine sovereignty, or that God foresaw and planned 402 PRESBYTERIANS. for whatsoever comes to pass. Like the Bible it begins with the first four words of Genesis, " In the beginning God." Calvinism asserts the doctrine of original sm, which is to say that the fall of Adam is the source from which comes the sinfulness of all his posterity, and that in this corruption all his posterity, adults and infants, are involved, and if saved must be regenerated by the Holy Ghost as redeemed by Christ. Calvinism holds the doctrine of total depravity ; that is to say, that this corruption with reference to God and as viewed by him extends to every part. It does not hold, as some misrepresenting it say, that every man is as bad as he can be, but that there is no part of him that is so free from sin that it is acceptable to God. Calvinism asserts the doctrine of efficacious grace ; which is, that man of himself is so dead in sin that he cannot of himself be born anew, but that this New Birth is the work of the Holy Spirit, and must be begun by that Spirit ; and that Holy Spirit being omnip- otent his work herein is always efficacious. Though constantly resisted his work is not able to be success- fully and finally resisted when the Holy Spirit comes with his almighty power. As the Holy Spirit knows and has from eternity known what he will do, and on whom he will through providences and by His immedi- ate power exert his saving work, he does not work by emergency. He intends to do what he does do. That is election. Calvin ists believe that there is cer- tainly an election, and that the child born of Christian parents in the center of a Christian community, and wrought upon by the Omnipotence of the Holy Ghost, has a better chance than a child providentially born in the heart of Africa, or in the slums of the cities. Cal- PRESBYTERIAN DENOMINATIONAL PECULIARITIES. 403 vinistsalso hold to ^.^.perseverance of the saints ; which is, that as the Christian is regenerated by the omnip- otent power of the Holy Ghost, so by that omnipotent power such grace will be forthcoming as is needed to keep the Christian from finally falling away. Through chastisement, encouragement and blessing he shall, at last, be brought into the heavenly kingdom. Arminians, on the other hand, begin by holding that absolute freedom, both as to ability and will, is neces- sary to responsibility. Therefore, though men are fallen they are not of themselves entirely unable to re- turn from sin to holiness, but are able to co-operate in the New Birth with the grace of the Holy Spirit given equally to all men. The question whether a man will persevere or not depends on himself, and not on God. Arminians hold election to be conditioned on man's conduct. Grace and faith are, they say, resistible ; and therefore those that are really regenerated may fall away and return, or may finally and totally apostatize from God. Generally, Arminians hold to the doctrine of Christian perfection, though among them there are great differences over this doctrine, as well as most of their other peculiar doctrines. The United Presbyterian Church holds steadfast to the Westminster Standards as their standards of doc- ine. In addition to this, it issues what is called a Testimony of the Church," enlarging, elucidating and ipplying its doctrines to the present phases of duty and :he present condition of the Church and country. "United Presbyterians," by W. J. Reid, is a standard ok. In many respects the Testimony is simply a more lefinite statement than that of the Westminster Assem- ly on certain points now controverted, and raised since 404 PRESBYTERIANS. the sitting of that Assembly in 1648. Three things, specially, are the distinctive principles of the United Presbyterian Church. One is Article XVIII. of the Testimony, with reference to the use of the Psalms of David in public worship. The United Presbyterian Church holds that these Psalms were given by inspira- tion to be used in public worship, and no substitute was furnished by inspiration when the Spirit gave the New Testament. The metrical version, to be used by any Church in its public worship, should be as correct a translation in meter or chantable prose as that Church is able to make from the original Hebrew Psalter. This inspired Psalmody, having for its thought that which was given by the Holy Ghost with a view to being used in worship, will be better than any uninspired ex- pression of truth, though that may be in its measure scriptural truth. In its early history, this Church used the Scottish Version of the Psalms, sometimes called Rouse's Version. It is now using a version of its own made by a committee of its General Assembly. This version its people believe to be a more correct render- ing of the original Psalms, and better adapted than any other to the present uses of their Church. As this peculiarity of their worship is obvious to strangers, be- cause it occurs in their public Sabbath worship, it is perhaps more known than others. Article XVI. of the "Testimony," on " Communion," goes to the question, " Who are to be admitted to the sealing ordinances of the Church?" It is there held that, if the Church has a testimony important to be borne in the world, those who are admitted to the sealing ordinances of the New Testament Church should adhere to that testimony. If persons believe PRESBYTERIAN DENOMINATIONAL PECULIARITIES. 46$ that the testimony so made is agreeable to and founded upon the Word of God, they ought to unite with the Church through the session, the divinely appointed court in the Presbyterian order. If people do not so believe, then they ought to unite with the Church with which they agree. Therefore, the Testimony says : "The Church should not extend communion in sealing ordinances to those who refuse adherence to its pro- fessions or subjection to its government and discipline, or who refuse to forsake a communion which is incon- sistent with the profession it "makes." The General Assembly of the Church has decided that " Sessions, in the exercise of a wise discretion, must dispose of excep- tional cases as may be for the peace and edification of the Church." , Article XV. of the " Testimony " " on secret societies " is a protest against such associations. It is there held that their use of the oath is a profanation of that ordi- nance, and that these societies interfere with the Church of God and oftentimes furnish a substitute for the true religion. Therefore the "Testimony" declares them " inconsistent with the genius and spirit of Christianity," and that Church members ought not to have fellowship with them. Previous to the abolition of slavery this Church always held that slaveholding was sinful, and did not allow slaveholders to remain in full communion with the body. It has, since the war, been efficient in work among the Freedmen, and believes that it is best for the colored people to be in the same Presbyteries, Synods and Assemblies with the white members. It has not been able to any large extent to secure the union of their white and colored members in the same congrega- tions, though this is perhaps much more generally done 406 PRESBYTERIANS. in the United Presbyterian Churches than it is in other denominations through the South. Presbyterians be- lieve that the colored ministers, elders and churches will more rapidly learn Presbyterian ways and doctrines by mingling as members in the general ecclesiastical meet- ings, and be less liable to make mistakes through their ignorance and inexperience, than if they were in organ- izations of their own. They believe that to put them in separate Presbyteries would be to make color a "line" of distinction between Christian brethren. The Reformed Presbyterian (Covenanter) Church uses only as its Standards of doctrine those of the Westminster Assembly. In its public worship it con- tinues to use the Scotch Version of the Psalms. It also uses with this aversion of its own, leaving each congre- gation to enjoy its own preference. The Covenanter Church opposes secret societies and holds the doctrine of close communion. It declines to allow its ministers and members to vote, as this would be " incorporating" themselves into this government, and holds that civil government is an ordinance of God, and that this gov- ernment ought in some explicit way to recognize the responsibility of civil governments to the divine gov- ernment of Jesus Christ. In its work among the col- ored people of this country this Church unites colored ministers, elders and churches in the same Church judicatories with the neighboring whites. The Cumberland Presbyterian Church has from the outset extensively changed the Confession of Faith, and while not accepting all the Arminian positions, it only adopts the Westminster Confession of Faith with such abridgments, eliminations and alterations as make it conform to the views of that denomination. That PRESBYTERIAN DENOMINATIONAL PECULIARITIES. 407 Church claims to occupy a middle ground between the two extremes of Calvinism and Arminianism. It holds to the doctrine of the fall of the race under Adam, and the necessity of the work of the Holy Spirit in regenera- tion, and that Adam's posterity are so wholly depraved that they must be born again. Justification is by faith alone as the instrument, by the merits of Christ's active and passive obedience as the meritorious cause, and by the operation of God's spirit as the efficient or active cause. Cumberland Presbyterians hold to the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, but prefer to call the doctrine by the name of the preservation of the saints. They positively deny the doctrine generally known as " falling from grace." On the subject of their difference from the Westminster Confession, the " Cumberland Presbyterian History" by McDonnold, p. 99, quotes approvingly this oft-published statement of their dissent from the Westminster Confession : " ist. That there are no eternal reprobates ; 2d. That Christ did not die for a part only, but for all mankind ; 3d. That all infants dying in infancy are saved through Christ and the sanctification of the Spirit ; 4th. That the operations of the Holy Spirit are coextensive with the atonement that is, on the whole world in such a man- ner as to leave it without excuse." An admirable state- ment on the subject of its doctrinal belief may be found in Crissman's " Origin and History of the Cumberland Church." It will be noticed that by them the Westminster Stand- ards are interpreted as asserting that some infants are lost. Those who hold to these Standards disagree with this interpretation, and understand the assertion to be that infants to be saved must be elected, regener- 40S PRESBYTERIANS. ated and sanctified as truly as are the adults. The Cumberland Church, in its early history, in view of the revivals then existing and the great need of ministers, adopted the policy of licensing men who had not had a college training and taking charge of their further edu- cation while they were preaching. The Church always held that education was desirable, but that it was im- possible to secure as many highly educated ministers as were needed ; and wherever men showed themselves efficient, under the blessing of God, the Church should license them. It is an earnest advocate of work among the colored people of the country, but agrees with its own colored ministry and membership in holding that it is best for the colored people that they should be in Churches, Presbyteries, Synods and Assemblies of their own, wherever there are enough of them. This is held to be best for the colored people, because they will in that way most speedily learn Presbyterian methods. As in chemistry, the pupil learns most by making the ex- periment himself instead of by watching the professor, so the colored people, having on themselves the responsi- bility of managing themselves, will most rapidly become familiar with the doctrines and the routine of the busi- ness of the Church to which they belong. A colored Cumberland Presbyterian Assembly has been organized with the co-operation of all parties interested. Their colored people, like those of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, prefer this separate organization. The colored people of the whole country are by no means agreed among themselves as to what is best for their religious success. The whole question was fully considered in the Cumberland Presbyterian General PRESBYTERIAN DENOMINATIONAL PECULIARITIES. 409 Assembly at Huntsville, Ala., in 1873, an< ^ the result was this arrangement of a separate organization. The Presbyterian Church (South) has not desired iny revision of the Confession of Faith. It prefers :he Westminster Standards unchanged, and finds in :hem a satisfactory statement of Christian doctrine. The leading distinctive peculiarities of this Church consist of its doctrines of the spirituality of the Church, its preference for Committees instead of Boards for church enterprises, its purpose for separate Presbyteries and Synods wherever sufficient material :an be found in their work among the colored people. An excellent statement of their position is found in the " Memorial Addresses," delivered before the Quarter- Centennial Anniversary of the organization of the Southern Assembly. Thornwell's " Collected Writ- ings," Vol. IV., on " Ecclesiastical Subjects," discusses the question of Boards, the spirituality of the Church, and contains the " Address to all the Churches of Jesus Christ throughout the World " as issued by their first General Assembly in Augusta, Ga., in 18.61. The doc- trine of the spirituality of the Church is that the Church is such a kingdom of God as separates it distinctively from the governments of this world, and this in such a sense that the Church is not judicially to deal with secular questions, but is to devote itself solely to the preaching of the gospel, the promotion of spiritual en- terprises and interests, and the suppression of public and private vice and crime, by preaching the gospel. The Southern Church judicatories, therefore, do not pass resolutions upon a large number of questions which are considered and acted upon by many other Presbyterian bodies. It is oftentimes difficult to de- PRESBYTERIANS: cide when this rule would exclude a subject, or what form of expression of religious conviction it would PRESBYTERIAN EYE, EAR AND THROAT HOSPITAL, BALTIMORE, MD. justify; but on practical questions where the issue is clearly defined, the line of duty is not hard to discover. On the question of church Boards it holds that the PRESBYTERIAN DENOMINATIONAL PECULIARITIES. 4! I Boards are apt to become self-perpetuating bodies, and by being incorporated become so far irresponsible to the Assemblies appointing them that they become in- dependent organizations, and oftentimes manage the Church, instead of the Church managing them. To remedy this evil their General Assembly simply ap- points Executive Committees which have for a year the work of the Assembly committed to them under the Assembly's instruction, to be carried on until the next meeting. In this way the Assembly has com- plete control of every form of work, and is compelled every year to appoint persons of its own selection to the different departments to manage the work as directed. This Church holds that it is best for the colored people to be in separate Presbyteries and Synods. By this there is no intention of estab- lishing a " color line," or, indeed, of making any dis- tinction on that basis. Its General Assembly, on a judicial case, has specifically declared that the ordina- tion of a colored minister has precisely the same effect as the ordination of a white minister, and that he is a member of Presbyteries and Synods just as others are. There are numerous colored members and ministers in the Presbyteries, but where there are enough of them it is believed to be best that they should be in Pres- byteries and Synods managed by themselves. Council and assistance are always given with the greatest readi- ness, and a Colored Institute, under efficient man- agement from the General Assembly, is carried on at Tuscaloosa, Ala. An Excutive Committee on Colored Evangelization is also appointed by the As- sembly. The two Presbyterian denominations whose exact 412 PRESBYTERIANS. names are most similar are the Northern and Southern Presbyterian. The only difference is that the Northern adds to the end of its name the words "of America," and the other omits these. The Presbyterian Church (North) has in many respects amended the form of government, has almost entirely changed the Westmin- ster Book of Discipline and is now revising the Con- fession of Faith, but within Calvinistic lines. It consti- tutes Presbyteries and Synods by geographical lines by putting all ministers and churches (white or colored) in the same bodies. It uses hymns in its service of praise, insists on an educated ministry, admits members of se- cret societies to membership, practices open communion, expresses its opinions on all moral and philanthropic questions by resolutions of the General Assembly, and carries on its benevolent work through eight Boards of the Church. J. R. W. SLOANE, D. D. CHAPTER XIX. REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN (COVENANTER) CHURCH. AT the organization of the Presbyterian Church in Scotland in the sixteenth century, the ministers and people followed the example of Moses at Sinai, and entered into a national covenant. They believed the conduct of Moses and the Hebrews in repeating their Covenant on the Plains of Moab, and Joshua and the Israelites in repeating this covenant afterward at Shechem, completely authorized the binding of rulers and people by a formal bond to the recognition of Almighty God as the Ruler, and his law as the stand- ard of morals in every relation of life. The Church and the nation are both of divine ordinance ; and while their fields of authority and operation are wholly inde- pendent and distinct, yet each in its own sphere is bound to recognize the government of God, and in thp duties which belong to it is bound to obey the divine will. The Church is not to domineer over the state, as does the Pope ; neither is the State to domineer over the Church, which is Erastianism. Jesus Christ, as head of the Church and ruler of the nation, holds each to accountability for the discharge of its own duties, and for non-interference with the prerogatives of the other. Whatever may be the office of govern- ment; the moral law should be its code of morals, and it should recognize in national and international affairs its responsibility to the divine authority. 413 4 14 PRESBYTERIANS. On these principles, in 1580, the people of Scotland prepared the National Covenant of Scotland, and that Covenant was subscribed to by all ranks of the people. But it is hard to bind effectually a state officer who has no conscience, in the faithful performance of his duty. When, therefore, in 1603, King James became king of both Scotland and England, he had no scruples about violating his oaths to the 'Scottish nation. The Eng- lish Puritans had great expectations based upon the ascendency of that oath-bound Protestant king to the English throne. James cherished great expectations of escaping from his bondage to his duty, under his oath in Scotland, by becoming a monarch in England and head of the Church. When, therefore, the attempt of his son Charles to establish prelacy in Scotland in 1638 issued in a riot, it is not strange that the Scotch people renewed their National Covenant, and in 1643 adopted the " Solemn League and Covenant," proposing that it should become part of the Constitution of the kingdom. A comparatively small number of the Scotch Presby- terians finally adhered to their principles, sacrificing their Church relations. The restoration of Charles and the ascendency of James II. brought on the Cove- nanters all forms of persecution and banishment. Many were martyred, many submitted, and many gave up the Covenant. In 1680 Cameron and Cargill, as the leaders of the resolute remnant, issued the " Sanquhar Declaration." That same year Cameron perished, and the next year Cargill was executed at Edinburgh. This left their followers without a minister. If ever a communion of lay Christians proved their ability to maintain their denomination without a minis- try, the Covenanter Church has achieved this success. REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 415 In Scotland and in this country its people have been at different times, and for years, without a ministry ; but in each case they have betaken themselves to the course pursued by their Scotch ancestry after the death of Cargill. They organized a system of societies among themselves, and met as often as they could. The Amer- ican Covenanters are the lineal descendants of these Scotch Presbyterians, and hold fast to their testimony for the obligation of nations to recognize the dominion of Christ. At the Revolution of 1688, many of the Covenanters were not satisfied with the settlement made at the ascension of William and Mary. By that arrangement royal supremacy of the Church was recognized in the establishment of Episcopacy in Eng- land and Ireland, and Presbyterianism in Scotland. The other Presbyterians in Scotland accepted the arrangement, but the Covenanters believed that the principles were just as much violated by having a king the head of the Presbyterian Church, and not bound in his national duty to recognize the government of God, as if the particular Church which he recognized had been some other denomination. Large numbers of these testifying people had come to this country previous to that date. Very many more came afterward. In 1752 Rev. John Cuthbertson arrived in America from the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland. He was afterward joined by Rev. Messrs. Linn and Dobbin, from the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland. These organized a Presbytery in 1774, and became a distinct ecclesiastical body in North America. In 1782 a movement was made for the union of the Covenanter Church and the Associate Church of the United States. Into this 416 PRESBYTERIANS. union all of the Covenanter ministers went, but many of the people were not satisfied with the union. For a season the people maintained their denominational existence without the presence in this country of any minister, or any Presbyterial organization. As they came to this country in little groups or single families, the Scotch Covenanters scattered themselves all up and down the Atlantic coast. Some settled in New Eng- land, others in New Jersey, very many in Eastern Pennsylvania, and quite a goodly number in South Carolina. Many of these immigrants identified them- selves with those who refused to go into the union. It was difficult for these pastorless people thus scattered to maintain their unity and acquaintance with each other. Through the fifteen years that succeeded the union of the Covenanter and Associate Churches, at varying intervals, five ministers, Revs. Reid, McGar- ragh, King, McKinney and Gibson, and two theological students, Messrs. Black and Wylie, came over from their respective Presbyteries in Ireland and Scotland. In 1798 Revs. McKinney and Gibson, with a number of Ruling Elders, reconstituted the Reformed Presbytery of America, at Philadelphia. They appointed three committees for the management of Church affairs in the different sections of the country. In 1809 these three committees were constituted three Presbyteries, and the Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in America was organized. In 1823 the Presbyteries had grown to sufficient size for each to manage the bus- iness in its own section, and it was decided to change the Synod from a general body to a delegated body ; and instead of meeting every year it should meet bien- nially. REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 417 The growth of this Church had been steady if not rapid ; and they were now an intelligent and well-in- structed people, with strong convictions of duty and affectionate adherence to their blood-baptized princi- ples. In 1830 the denomination was agitated over the question about their members definitely " incorporat- ing " themselves with the American government by taking the oath of allegiance. This controversy cul- minated in a division, in 1833, m ^ what was popularly known as the Old Side and the New Side. The Old Side section insisted that, if the Church believed that it should testify against the nation's refusal to recog- nize the government of God in national affairs, the private members of the Church ought to enforce that testimony by their conduct. The New Side, on the other hand, believed that, while the defects of the Con- stitution were very great and extremely to be regretted, yet that a sufficient testimony could be borne by the action of the Church, without requiring the members to refuse to vote until the defects were cured. This dis- cussion was very thorough and naturally led to much feeling, and brought into existence another denomina- tion. Very many of the ministers of the New Side, and a number of their congregations, have joined vari- ous other Presbyterian bodies since that time. The legal name of the New Side is the " The Gen- eral Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in North America." The statistics of this Synod for the year 1892 give the following : 40 ministers and licen- tiates, 6200 communicants and about 2800 Sabbath- school scholars. There is, under the care of this Synod, one theological seminary located at Philadel- phia, one Foreign Mission station in Northern India, 41 8 PRESBYTERIANS. and various other missionary stations in this country and in Canada. The Old Side Covenanter Church has for its legal name "The Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in the United States of North America." The minutes of this Synod for the year 1891 give the following sta- tistics : presbyteries n, ministers, 123; congregations, 127; church members, 11,272, and Sabbath-school scholars, 13,011. The Synod has under its care a theological seminary located at Allegheny City, and Geneva College at Beaver Falls, Pa. It has Mis- sion work at Latakiyeh, Syria; Tarsus, Asia Minor; and Cyprus. The Missions at Latakiyeh and Tarsus have several out-stations. The Church has also a Southern Mission, an Indian Mission and a Chinese Mission in this country. The benevolent contribu- tions give a very high average per member. The gifts for Foreign Missions, Home Missions, Southern Mis- sions, Chinese and Indian Missions amount to $43,230, which is an average of $3.84. For all purposes the Church gives $216,407, or an average of $19.19 per member. Few denominations, if any, equal that. This Church has, from the outset of its history in this country, been a steadfast opponent of the system of slavery, and has always excluded slaveholders from the communion table. It has always been a vigorous ad- vocate of every temperance movement and reform. Though their members have strenuously objected to the Constitution and government of the United States for its lack of Christian features, they have never hesitated to support it in the payment of their taxes, and the enlistment of their members in its armies in time of war, The Church believes that secret, oath- REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 419 bound societies are unscriptural, and forbids all con- nection with them as inconsistent with the higher allegiance due to the Church. The Scotch version of Psalms is used in their service of praise, without the use of organs or instruments of any kind. But a new ver- sion of their own is allowed and growing in use. The Westminster Standards are maintained in their in- tegrity, and the denomination co-operates cordially with all other Presbyterian denominations in the support of Bible societies, philanthropic movements, efforts for education and the maintenance of general public mo- rality. The Synod at Sharon, la., in 1878, decided that "it was proper for women to speak and lead in prayer in social praying societies." The office of Deacon has been held to be open to female as well as male mem- bers, and several women have been ordained to the office by their respective Presbyteries. The women of this Church are extremely active and efficient in all missionary work and benevolent effort. The denomination has steadily grown since the divi- sion of 1833 ; partly by the arrival of immigrants from the old country, and largely from its efficient work in missions, education and religious activity. After many years of preparation, at a meeting of their Synod in Pittsburgh, the denomination renewed the covenant. A suitable Committee of Arrangements had been ap- pointed and a suitable Bond of the Covenant had been prepared ; and, with the most solemn religious worship, the Synod, as representing the Church, reconsecrated the denomination to the Testimony of God. This had been frequently done by their ancestors in Scotland. After the adjournment of Synod, the same Covenant 420 PRESBYTERIANS. was taken by a very large number of congregations. This Covenanting was one of the most notable events in the history of the Church in more recent times, and took place on May 27, 1871. Revs. Andrew Steven- son, James M. Beattie, J. R. W. Sloane, Thomas Sproull and William Milroy conducted the exercises. This Church is the special leader in the National Re- form Movement. This is in the line of its testimony from the earliest days of Scotch Presbyterianism down to the present time. The thing which is peculiar to the Reformed Presbyterian Church (Old Side) and which distinguishes it from all others, is the refusal of its people to vote, hold office, or do any other act defi- nitely incorporating themselves with the government until the nation shall specifically recognize Jesus Christ as the source of its civil authority, and God's law as the rule of national conduct in legislation and in the admin- istration of its affairs, both international and domestic. While the Covenanter Church is alone in maintaining the consistency of its political dissent by refusing to vote, large numbers of Christian American citizens in other communions look upon it as a radical, if not fatal defect of the Constitution that it contains no recogni- tion of God as supreme, or of the nation as a moral person bound by the moral law. The Constitution ac- knowledges no benefit to be derived from the Bible, the Sabbath, Christian morality, or Christian conduct in officials, and gives no legal basis for any Christian feature of the government. At Xenia, O., in February, 1863, a number of citi- zens, of different denominations, met to consider the need of the nation of some amendment of the United States Constitution, which would preserve and legalize the Christian features of our government. The meet- REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 421 ing called a convention in July, 1863, to meet at Pitts- burgh for the same purpose ; and such was the origin of the National Reform Association. It is a patriotic rather than a religious movement. The Church does not need the state, but the state needs God's favor and blessing. All the Church asks of the civil law is protection to do its work in peace ; but the Nation needs a regenerated public conscience and sound moral integrity to secure God's care and escape his wrath. Others may be indifferent to God's punishment, but this nation has had enough of misery inflicted on it for its sins to lead those engaged in the National Reform Movement to seek to avert from themselves, their chil- dren and their neighbors any further Divine vengeance. Reformed Presbyterians feel specially called upon to aid the success of this association at any cost or per- sonal sacrifice. They believe that when the proposed amendments to the Constitution shall have been incor- porated into that document, and not until then, shall this be a truly Christian government. To this Na- tional Reform Movement the Church contributed, in 1891, $4520. That Movement seeks to add to the Preamble of the Constitution of the United States, as the source of its civil authority some acknowledg- ment of God and the Nation's accountability to him. At present the Preamble of the Constitution simply says " We, the people of the United States," as if the people were independent of the Almighty. The Na- tional Reform Association seeks to have that Pream- ble amended by inserting after the words just quoted, " recognizing the dominion of Jesus Christ over the nations, and this nation's subjection to the Divine law." Mr. F. R. Brunot, an Episcopalian, of Allegheny, Pa., is President of the Association ; Rev. T. P. Stevenson, 4 22 PRESBYTERIANS. D. D., of Philadelphia, a Covenanter, is its Secretary, and The Christian Statesman its newspaper organ. Mr. John Alexander, of Philadelphia, is the largest individual contributor. Almost all denominations are represented in its Board of Officers and working committees. GENEVA COLLEGE, BEAVER FALLS, PA. A peculiar question with reference to voting was raised when, in various States, amendments to the Con- stitution were submitted to the vote of the people pro- hibiting the traffic in liquor. Voting has always been looked upon by the denomination as the most definite act of incorporation with the government ; and yet the REFORiMED PRESBYfERIAN CHURCH. 423 desire of the people was unanimous for the passage of these prohibitory amendments. The Synod of the Church, in 1884, passed a resolution that " the simple act of voting for such an amendment to the State Constitution as will secure some important principles of moral right and reform, such as the prohibitory amendments recently submitted to the people of Kansas, Iowa and Ohio, belongs to the class of acts consistent with the principles and position of the Re- formed Presbyterian Church." The wisdom and prudence of this act were doubted by many of the people. These last believed that even when the immedi- ate object sought was good, yet that voting was essen- tially the incorporation of the voter in the government. At present the Church is somewhat disturbed by a peculiar case of discipline. A circular letter in favor of further discussion of the subject of voting, and of the position of the Church on various points, was issued by a number of persons. It is known as the " East End Platform," from the fact that the company which signed and issued it met at Pittsburgh " East End." It is as follows : "We, the undersigned, agree together in the maintenance of the following principles : " i. That while we hold it to be the duty of the Church to main- tain the most advanced testimony in behalf of truth and against error, yet the terms of communion ought to be limited to the plain requirements of the Scriptures ; namely, faith in Christ and obed- ience to his revealed will. " 2. That persons who make a credible profession of Christ should be received into church membership on their acceptance of our Testimony and Terms of Communion without binding them to an explanation in the matter of political dissent or in other questions. "3. That restricted communion, and not close communion, nor open communion, is the teaching of the Bible and of our Standards. 424 PRESBYTERIANS. " 4. That interchange of pulpits should be allowed among those who preach the evangelical doctrines of the gospel. "5. That there should be an organic union of the whole Christian Church upon the basis of the plain teaching of the Scriptures. " 6. That free discussion should be allowed of our subordinate standards, and of every deliverance of Synod, testing them by the Bible, which is 'the only rule of faith and manners.' ' The signers personally asserted that, in practice they had conformed to the rules of the Church ; but declared that they did not believe that these rules were neces- sary for the promotion of the objects of the Church, and proclaimed their purpose to agitate fora change. Dis- ciplinary proceedings were instituted against such of them as were members of the Presbytery of Pittsburgh, but confining the point at issue exclusively to Resolu- tion 2, or the matter of "political dissent"; or voting. The case in this shape came before the Synod at its meeting in Pittsburgh in 1891. The action of the inferior tribunal in suspending the accused from the ministry was sustained by Synod by a vote of yeas 130, nays 25. Most of the signers of the "East End Plat- form" have since united with other denominations. The majority of the Synod held that while ministers and members remain in the denomination, and partici- pate in the deliberations of its church courts, it is improper for them in speech or in print to advocate principles or practices inconsistent with the well-known position of the denomination. There seems to be general satisfaction with this action of Synod on the part of the Church. Ministers and people insist that those who become dissatisfied with the position of the Church, instead of trying to revolutionize the denomi- nation in a disorderly way, should quietly withdraw and join some other body of Christians. JOHN T. PRESSLY, D. D. CHAPTER XX. THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF NORTH AMERICA. By Rev. W. J. REID, D. D., and Rev. A. G. WALLACE, D. D. THE United Presbyterian Church of North America is one of the youngest of the Presbyterian sister- hood, but its antecedents and its own record make it worthy of a place with the older members of the family. It was formed by a union of the Associate and Asso- ciate Reformed Churches in Pittsburgh, Pa., on the 26th day of May, 1858, in the presence of a multitude that filled Old City Hall to its utmost capacity, and blocked the stairway and pavements. It was a day of great en- thusiasm, because of the consummation of a long cher- ished hope, and the anticipation of a happy future in more effective work for the Lord, and in richer blessings of the Holy Spirit. The negotiations for this union had been carried on through many years. Sometimes it seemed as if the obstacles could not be overcome, but one after another they were removed, and at length, in the time of a great spiritual awakening, the two closely related, but long separated, Churches were brought to- gether in one body. All that was anticipated has been enjoyed. Born of the Spirit of Life in a revival, the United Presbyterian Church has been active and ag- gressive, retaining the sturdy character and conservative spirit and the positiveness of doctrine of its ancestry, 425 4.26 PRESBYTERIANS. and yet liberal in Christian sympathy and evangelistic in its work. ANTECEDENT CHURCHES. By one line the United Presbyterian Church is de- scended from the Covenanters of Scotland, those valiant defenders of the " Crown and Covenant " of Christ, whose history for many years was written in blood and whose monuments are the covenants and martyrs' graves. Almost destroyed at the disastrous battle at Bothwell Bridge, they maintained their exist- ence and fellowship, under a most relentless persecution, by societies for Scripture study and prayer. When Pres- byterianism was again established by the Revolution Settlement, the great body of the Covenanter connec- tion refused to accept the modifications of the former establishment, believing that to do so would be a viola- tion of their covenant engagements. In this strong conviction of duty they continued to be independent of the General Assembly, and, at length, in 1743, were organized as the Reformed Presbytery. Many of this faith removed to the north of Ireland, and thence to America. Rev. John Cutbertson came to them as their minister, and on the 23d day of August, 1752, they held their first communion, at Stony Ridge, now New Kings- ton, in Cumberland county, Pa. A Presbytery was or- ganized on the loth of March, 1774, at Paxtang, near Harrisburg, Pa. By the other line, the United Presbyterian Church is descended from that body of Evangelical men who preached against the erroneous doctrines tolerated by the General Assembly, the common indifference to re- ligious convictions, the ignorance and immorality that THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 42; prevailed in the ministry, and the patronage act of Par- liament, under which most unworthy men became pas- tors. For this fearless denunciation of wrong they were subjected to discipline. Failing to find redress they seceded, and in 1753 formed the Associate Presbytery. They were comparatively few in number, but by this act of separation, the purity of their lives, the positive- ness of their doctrines concerning the grace of God and the independence of the Church of all civil control, they produced a profound impression. They were the forerunners of the secession a century later, for the same principles, which gave the Free Church of Scot- land to the world. The movement grew rapidly, and was extended to America, where the Presbytery of Pennsylvania was organized on the 26. of November, 1758, and, a few years later, the Presbytery of New York. These two churches the Associate and the Reformed had so much in common, that in the new circum stances in which they were placed they drew nearer to each other. They were pervaded by the spirit of the Revo- lution, and felt the necessity for a church entirely inde- pendent of foreign control, and free to adapt itself to the American conditions. Conferences were held, a basis of union was agreed upon, and on the i5th day of June, 1782, the Associate Reformed Church was organized. The first meeting of the Synod was held at the house of William Richards, in Philadelphia, on the 3 ist of October of the same year. Its first act was to adopt certain articles setting forth the principles on which the Church was established, and to prepare the way for the revision of the parts of the Confession of Faith relating to the civil power and the Church. This 428 PRESBYTERIANS. was an honest effort to heal the divisions of the Church by the union of those most in accord, but it did not ac- complish all that was hoped, for some dissented, and the Associate Church continued its organization. Both Churches were blessed and prospered. Congre- gations were formed more rapidly than they could be WESTMINSTER COLLEGE, NEW WILMINGTON, PA. supplied, extending into the South and keeping abreast with the advancing settlement in the West. In 1804 the General Synod of the Associate Reformed Church was organized, but trouble arose. The great distances and the fatigue of travel made it impossible for the re- mote Presbyteries to be fully represented. Divergencies began to appear, and ultimately serious departures from the principles and usages of the Church caused dissen- sion. In 1820 the Synod of Scioto withdrew and be- came independent, as the Synod of the West ; two years later the Synod of the Carolinas constituted itself THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 429 as the Synod of the South, and still remains a separate Church; a considerable number of the congregations in the East entered the Presbyterian Church. Such a dis- ruption was a great disaster, but the rally from it was prompt and effectual. In 1855 the Synod of New York united with the General Synod of the West, under the name of "The Associate Reformed Church of America," with very happy results. The Associate Church, whose supreme court was an aggregate Synod, also had some dissensions, but they did not materially interfere with its growth, and were ultimately healed. THE UNION. Time and the orderings of God's providence are effective agencies in the hands of the Spirit. Occupy- ing the same fields, composed of the same class of people, having substantially the same standards and the same form of worship, the Associate and the Associate Reformed Churches were gradually drawn together. Negotiations conducted through many years resulted, at length, in a union, and the organization of the United Presbyterian Church of North America. The basis of union, which became the organic law of the Church, was the Confession of Faith, the Catechisms, Larger and Shorter, the Form of Government and the Direc- tory for Worship, together with a " Testimony." The " Testimony " consists of eighteen articles, designed to set forth the views of the Church " on certain points which were either not distinctly introduced into the Con- fession of Faith by its framers, or not exhibited with that fullness and explicitness which the circumstances of the Church, the times in which we live, and the views and practices of those around us, demand of us as witnesses 43O PRESBYTERIANS. for the truth. These Articles, which may be said to distinguish the profession of the United Presbyterian Church from others, treat of the following subjects : The Plenary Inspiration of the Scriptures ; The Eternal Sonship of Christ ; The Covenant of Works ; The Fall of Man and His Present Inability; The Nature and Extent of the Atonement ; Imputed Righteousness ; The Gospel offer ; Saving Faith ; Evangelical Repent- ance ; The Believer's Deliverance from the Law as a Covenant ; The Work of the Holy Spirit ; The Head- ship of Christ ; The Supremacy of God's Law ; Slave- holding ; Secret Societies ; Communion ; Covenanting and Psalmody. This was the basis of union ; the bond of union was the Testimony of the Spirit. It was a day of God's power. Hearts flowed together as they stood before the Lord. " The voice of joy and gladness was heard." A new enthusiasm in the service of the Lord was kindled ; a greater power was given to the ministers, and grace was upon the people. " Forbear- ance in Love " was inscribed on the banner of the United Church as its motto, and, in all the agitations and dis- cussions incident to an advancing work, has continued to express its spirit. ORGANIZATION. To some this union seemed unduly conservative, but to the great body it was a forward movement, the heal- ing of a division, the concentration of forces, the simpli- fication of agencies, and the opportunity for more aggressive Christian work. The first General Assem- bly completed the organization by the appointment of Boards for missions at home and abroad, for church building, education and publication, and subsequently THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 53! Boards were appointed for missions to the Freedmen and for ministerial relief. The organization of the church for work has been found very satisfactory, and has con- tinued with very little change, except that incident to growth. Special care has been taken to protect the rights of the Presbyteries, and to avoid the centraliza- tion of power m the Assembly or the Boards, by laying upon the Presbyteries the responsibility for the raising of the funds and the prosecution of the work within their own bounds. No agents are allowed to canvas the Church in behalf of any Board, but each congrega- tion is expected to contribute a reasonable proportion of the whole amount appropriated by the General As- sembly. A Committee of ways and means, appointed by the Assembly, keeps the subject of Christian giving before the ministry and people, and by suitable literature seeks to develop the spirit of beneficence. In every Presbytery there is a financial agent, appointed by the Assembly, who has an oversight of the contributions of the congregations, and through whom they are for- warded to the treasurers of the several funds. The re- sult has been great efficiency. The greater part of the ministry and very many of the people make conscience of giving one-tenth of their income. SPIRIT OF THE CHURCH. The spirit of the United Presbyterian Church is con- servative as to doctrine, fraternal as to other churches, and evangelistic as to work. The Calvinistic system of doctrine is firmly held and emphatically preached. The plenary inspiration of the Scriptures, the sovereignty of God in creation, providence and grace, His eternal pur- pose, concerning redemption, the atonement of Christ 432 PRESBYTERIANS. for his people, the salvation of those for whom Christ died, not by personal merit, but by the grace of God working righteousness, and the free offer of that grace to all, are prominent themes in the pulpit and cardinal doctrines in the pew. The standards are for the members as well as for the ministers, and assent to them is required of those seeking the privileges of the church. Much care is taken in regard to family wor- ship and instruction. Changes in custom and usage are made slowly, and there has not been any radical depart- ure from the faith of the fathers. But, withal, there is a desire and constant effort to adapt the methods of work to the circumstances in which we are placed and the spirit of the time in which we live. Communion. The United Presbyterian Church holds to a restricted communion. There is a full recogni- tion of the Christian character of other Evangelical Churches and the most cordial co-operation with them in all benevolent and general Christian work ; the General Assembly welcomes their delegates, and cordi- ally returns the courtesy. But for edification and good order, fellowship in the communion of the Lord's Sup- per, is, ordinarily, extended only to those who are members ; privilege is bounded by jurisdiction. A cer- tain discretionary power is given to Sessions as to the admission of members of other churches to communion in special circumstances, the privilege, however, being extended by the Session on the knowledge, or evidence, of suitable Christian character. In the earlier days a very strict interpretation was given to the 26th Chapter of the Confession of Faith, practically restrict- ing communion to those in membership, but a broader view subsequently obtained. In the union which formed 433 434 PRESBYTERIANS. the United Presbyterian Church, the following Article was adopted : " The Church should not extend com- munion in sealing ordinances to those who refuse adher- ence to her profession, or subjection to her government and discipline, or who refuse to forsake a communion which is inconsistent with the profession that she makes; nor should communion in any ordinance of worship be held under such circumstances as would be inconsistent with the keeping of these ordinances pure and entire, or so as to gwe countenance to any corrup- tion of the doctrine and institutions of Christ." But questions of interpretation arose and much discussion followed. iThe subject came before the General Assem- bly in 1867, by appeal in a case in which the author of a certain book was charged with " serious and funda- mental error on Church fellowship." He was judged guilty "because of his enunciation and advocacy of principles which, if fully carried out, would work a com- plete subversion of the Church as a visible organiza- tion." But the question of the power of Sessions re- mained, and a memorial was submitted to the next General Assembly asking for a modification of the Article "so as to concede to Sessions the authority of applying the principles of it, as their own discretion may direct." The General Assembly declined to make any modification, on the ground that it was not neces- sary. " It is well known to those who are familiar with the history of the Church, that the faith and practice of both Churches previously to the union were in ac- cordance with the principle of restricted, in opposition to latitudinarian communion. . . . This authority Sessions already possess. . . Sessions, of course, are responsible for the manner in which they exercise THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 435 this discretion ; but the right to exercise it is unques- tionable." The deliverance was satisfactory to all, and a discussion which had threatened dissension ended at once. Temporary privilege, like permanent commun- ion, is under the jurisdiction of the Church court. This gives all the latitude practically required for edification, and preserves the purity of the communion by retaining the power of discipline. Slavery. The United Presbyterian Church has al- ways been strongly anti-slavery. In 1830, the Synod of the West, which had congregations in Kentucky, pro- nounced judgment upon the buying and selling of slaves for gain, as against the religion of Jesus Christ, and re- quired its members who were the owners of slaves to make conscience of liberating them at the earliest pos- sible time, and meanwhile to treat them according to the teachings of the Apostles. It was soon relieved of complicity in the evil. The Associate Synod also had congregations in the South, and as early as 1811 took condemnatory action. Milder measures failing, in 1831 all slaveholders were excluded from communion. When the Union was formed there was no dissent from the Article which said: " Slaveholding that is the holding of unoffending human beings in involuntary bondage, and considering and treating them as property, and subject to be bought and sold is a violation of the law of God, and contrary both to the letter and spirit of Christian- ity." The feeling on the subject was intense, and when the Civil War came an undivided support was given to the cause which involved, not only the integrity of the nation, but also the freedom of the slaves. There was an unbroken line of deliverances from all the courts of the Church expressing loyalty to the government, 436 PRESBYTERIANS. and a very large proportion of her sons entered the service. Psalmody. The United Presbyterian Church has been, and is, distinguished by its position and practice on the subject of Church Psalmody. The Reformation in Scotland was rigidly biblical, and the divine sanction was demanded for everything that was introduced into the worship of God. The men who seceded from the Established Church insisted on this principle, and therefore, when changes in the psalmody began to be made, they adhered to the use of the Psalms of the Bible, as given by the Spirit to be sung in the Church to the end of time, On this point there has been no change, or wavering. During all their history both the Associate and the Associate Reformed Churches held firmly to the exclusive use of the Psalms, believing them to be divinely appointed, suitable and sufficient for the spiritual need of the people of God, and that a depart- ure from the principle of a divine warrant would open the door to the corruption of the worship in other things. At the time of the organization of the United Presbyterian Church this conviction was embodied in its organic doctrines : "It is the will of God that the songs contained in the Book of Psalms be sung in His worship, both public and private, to the end of the world ; and in singing God's praise, these songs should be employed to the exclusion of the devotional compo- sitions of uninspired men." The only questions which have arisen related to ver- sions and the use of instrumental music. The version long in use was defective in rhythm and did not allow a sufficient range of music, and therefore, after many years of labor, a new one was authorized and quickly JOSEPH T. COOPER, D. D., LL. D. THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 437 came into general use. It has contributed very much to the improvement of the worship and the effective- ness of the praise service. Set to music suitable for general use, it is published under the name of " The Psalter." Another book, in which some of the duplicate versions are omitted, and in which the music is more specially adapted to Sabbath schools, has been published under the title : " Bible Songs." These, all by the authority of the General Assembly, give entire uni- formity to the worship of all the congregations, and amply meet their spiritual need. The most notable change in connection with the worship of the Church has been the repeal of the rule prohibiting the use of instrumental music. The Direc- tory for Worship contained the following regulation : " As the use of musical instruments in the New Testa- ment Church has no sanction in the Bible, they shall not be introduced, in any form, in any of our congrega- tions." This rule never commanded the undivided support of the Church, for even at the time of its adop- tion it was opposed by many who had doubts as to its scripturalness. Efforts were made to have it repealed, but, until 1 88 1, the Assembly refused to permit an over- ture. When submitted the vote was remarkably close, being 620 1-2 in the affirmative, 612 1-2 in the negative, and nine not voting. The law on overtures requires " at least a majority of the votes of the whole Church " be- fore any change can be made in " doctrine, worship or government." The decision in this case turned on the question : What constitutes a majority? Should the non-voters be counted ? The question had never arisen on an actual overture, but the previous Assembly had interpreted the law as contemplating only the votes 438 PRESBYTERIANS. cast in the affirmative and negative. In accordance with this, the Assembly declared the rule repealed " by a clear, constitutional majority," but added : " This de- cision is not to be considered as authorizing instru- mental music in the worship of God, but simply as a declaration of the Church that there is not sufficient Bible authority for an absolutely exclusive rule on the subject." In view of the nearly equal division of senti- ment in the Church and to avert unhappy dissensions, the Assembly also said : " This Assembly hereby in- structs and enjoins the lower courts to abstain, and have all under their authority abstain, from any action in this matter that would disturb the peace and harmony of congregations, or unreasonably disregard the conscien- tious convictions of members." There were earnest protests ; much discussion with considerable feeling fol- lowed ; and for several years the subject was before the Assembly, but the substantial harmony of the Church was not disturbed. Whatever diversity of sentiment there is, all work together for the common cause. Temperance. It may be supposed by many that the United Presbyterian Church is so much occupied in contending for the old ways, that it has no time or dis- position to take part in the amendment of the evil ways of the present day. But, in fact, it is an active worker in the great reforms which enlist Christian sentiment and effort. The " National Reform " has received the repeated endorsement of the Assembly, and is strongly supported by the ministry and many of the people. On the subject of temperance there is practical unanim- ity. The pulpit has spoken with all possible earnest- ness, the press has given its unqualified support to the strongest prohibitory legislation, and the members are THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 439 practically undivided, except as to a separate political organization on this issue. The General Assembly has expressed this sentiment in deliverances, renewed almost every year. The first Assembly declared " that the business of manufacturing and vending intoxicating drinks for drinking purposes is injurious to the best interests of society, and therefore inconsistent with the law of God which requires : " Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself ; " and " that the practice of renting houses to be occupied by those who are engaged in the manufacture and sale of intoxicating drinks to be used as a beverage, or for immoral purposes, is utterly inconsist- ent with the honor of the Christian religion." In the same line subsequent Assemblies declared that the manu- facture or sale of intoxicating liquors is inconsistent with membership in the Church of Christ, and that Sessions have full authority to require total abstinence on the part of members when they judge it necessary; that every Church member is, by his profession, pledged to total abstinence ; that, as a civil remedy, absolute pro- hibition is the only efficient one, and that " constitu- tional amendment " is the only sure method of securing this result ; that all measures of license or tax are wrong in principle and contrary to good government ; that it is the duty of Christian citizens to meet the evil directly in the careful and prayerful use of the ballot. The sentiment of the Church has advanced with the changing phases of the evil, and positions which at one time would have been regarded as untenable, are now held without question. Secret Societies. There has not been any change of the position of the Church in regard to secret oath- bound societies. They are held to be inconsistent with THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 44! the genius and spirit of Christianity, substituting an- other master for Christ, tending to break the brother- hood of those in the Church, and forming a barrier to entrance into the kingdom of God. Whether formed for political, benevolent or other purposes, they are re- garded as inimical to the religion of Christ, and de- structive to the freedom of the personal conscience when they impose an obligation to obey a code of un- known laws. There have been earnest discussions as to the best methods of meeting what is felt to be a great evil, and some diversity exists, but the Article on the subject stands unquestioned. Upon Sessions rests the responsibility of the exercise of discretion as to the course to be taken in dealing with the individual. So far as known, not any minister in the Church is con- nected with any such order, nor would one be tolerated in the ministry who would so connect himself. Spiritual Life. With the growing activity in gen- eral reform movements and increasing efforts to meet & the social influences that indirectly, but powerfully, re- sist the Gospel, there has been a very marked develop- ment of spiritual life. In the admission of members there is more inquiry as to personal experience of grace, in Church work there is more personal activity, both in the congregation and in Sabbath schools and missions o o in destitute places. On the part of the ministry there is more direct preaching to the unconverted, and a nota- ble increase in evangelistic services. The spiritual growth has been in the greater prominence given to the person of Jesus and the imitation of his life and work, but not to the neglect of the former standard of doc- trine and membership. 44 2 PRESBYTERIANS. WORK OF THE CHURCH. The work of the United Presbyterian Church may be briefly set forth by some statements concerning the several departments into which it is naturally divided. Home Missions. The Home Mission system contem- plates the employment of every minister and licentiate who is willing to take appointments. The Board is largely an executive committee, with power to meet emergencies, and, by correspondence with the Presbyter- ies, selects missionaries for new stations and special mis- sions. The whole work is under a general committee, composed of a delegate from each Presbytery, meeting one week before the General Assembly. To this com- mittee belongs the selection of special mission fields, the supply of stations already under the care of the Presbyteries, the distribution of all the unemployed ministers and licentiates to the several Presbyteries, and the appropriation of funds to the stations and con- gregations. By this arrangement every part of the Church is represented, and no one can complain of in- justice, for the smallest Presbytery has an equal vote with the largest. In every Presbytery there is a Super- intendent of Missions, appointed by the Assembly and its agent, for the oversight of the missions, who reports quarterly to the Board. The last report of the Board shows that the amount expended annually is over $63,000. The number of stations is 200, of which 95 have settled pastors, and 141 have preaching full time. The membership of the aided stations is 12,500, and the increase by confession of faith during 1890-91 was i i.i per cent. These stations contribute $56,675 for salaries and other mission work. THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 443 Church Building. Co-ordinate with Home Mission work is the erection of churches and parsonages by the Board of Church Extension. The aid given for churches is by donations and loans, and for parsonages by loans at a low rate of interest. The annual expen- diture is about $43,000. The aim is to have a church, and if possible a parsonage, at the very opening of the mission, that the work may begin under the most favor- able conditions. By the aid thus given two-fifths of all the churches now in use have been erected. Ten years ago a little more than one-eighth of the organized con- gregations were houseless, but at present only one in twenty is thus destitute. Missions to the Freedmen. The work among the Freedmen is largely educational, but there is a church in connection with every mission. The last report gives six stations Knoxville and Athens, in Tennessee ; Miller's Ferry, in Alabama ; Norfolk, Chase City and Bluestone, in Virginia, and Henderson, in North Caro- lina. There is an enrollment of 1876 in the schools and an equal number in the Sabbath schools. There are four ordained ministers, one licentiate, and thirty- five teachers and helpers. This work was sustained at a cost of $35,861 for the year 1891. Foreign Missions. The Foreign Mission work has been concentrated on Egypt and India. The mission in Egypt extends from the Mediterranean Sea at Alex- andria, to the First Cataract on the Nile, at Assouan. It was opened in 1854, and has been greatly blessed. At each station there is a school, at Asyoot a college, and at Cairo a theological seminary, and also a board- ing school for girls. There are fourteen ordained for- eign missionaries and the same number of native pas- 444 PRESBYTERIANS. tors, with five licentiates and seventeen theological students. The mission in India is in the Punjab, the Northwest Province. It was established in 1854, and has enjoyed remarkable tokens of the Spirit's power. It has ten organized congregations and fifty-six stations, with a membership of 6673 ; twelve ordained foreign missionaries, thirteen native ministers and two licenti- ates. Also two medical dispensaries, with female phy- sicians for the treatment of women and children, are connected with the missions. The number of cases treated has risen to over 40,000 in the past year. The summary for both missions is : Ordained foreign missionaries, 26; unmarried female missionaries, 23; native ordained ministers, 27; organized congregations, 39; unorganized stations, 143; communicants, 9828; increase during the year [1891] by profession, 725 ; schools, 245; pupils, 10,347; Sabbath schools, 201, with 7559 scholars ; contributions, $7246. The pay- ments reported by the Board in 1891 were $103,395. In organization, in the character of the missionaries, and in the efficiency of the schools and mission work these missions are unsurpassed. Publication. The Board of Publication is located at Pittsburgh, Pa., where a large building furnishes the fa- cilities for the business, a ministerial room, and various offices. In 1891 the sales in the book and periodical departments amounted to $75,000. This Board has charge of the Sabbath school publications, and general superintendence of the Sabbath school work. The ag- gregate circulation of the periodicals is 3,143,000 copies. The Board of Ministerial Relief, in 1891, reported aid given to 125 persons, to the amount of $5753 dur- ing the year. THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 445 The Board of Education is occupied chiefly with the helping of young men preparing for the ministry. The aid is restricted almost entirely to students of theology. Of the fifty-nine beneficiaries reported in 1891 only three were literary students. The amount given during the past year was $5700, and also $600 to acad- emies. Women's Mission Work. The growth of the Foreign Mission work awakened a deep interest on the part of the women of the Church. Local societies were formed for its sup- port, but, as all mission work is essentially the same, the help was extended to the other departments. A General Society was formed in 1875, anc ^ m T 888 the Women's Missionary Board was organized as the Executive Board of the General Society, and as an auxiliary to the other Boards. The Society has con- ducted its work with signal ability, and has rendered valuable aid in all departments of the mission work. In the foreign field, besides the support of lady mission- aries, it has charge of the medical department, and sustains two hospitals in the Indian Mission. In the home field it has the entire care of the Warm Springs, Ore., Indian Mission, and employs several city mis- sionaries. It aids the Board of Church Extension in the erection of parsonages, and the Freedmen's Missions by building ''Homes" at the principal stations, and by U. P. ORPHANS HOME, ALLEGHENY, PA. 446 PRESBYTERIANS. the support of teachers. There are now 49 Presby- terial Associations and 852 congregational societies, in which there is a membership of 19,628. The expen- ditures for the past year were $46,029. Benevolent Work. The Women's Association for benevolent work was formed in 1878. It has since that time established an Orphans' Home, a Childrens' Hos- pital, an Aged People's Home, and sustains a Day Nur- sery. These institutions are located in Allegheny, ex- cept the Aged People's Home, which is in the vicinity. Young People s Societies. The Young People's move- ment did not take formal organization until 1889, when the General Assembly appointed a committee to give general direction to it, and prepare a constitution for the societies. A general secretary has been added to the committee, Presbyterial societies have been formed and an annual Institute is held. Active work is carried on in all the lines of Bible study and missions. There are 589 societies and 23,994 members. EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS. The United Presbyterian Church has always en- deavored to maintain a high standard for the ministry. In the early days ministers were designated, who should have the oversight of the studies of young men, and prepare them for the pastoral work. So early as 1794 the Associate Church established a theological semi- nary under the care of Dr. John Anderson. It was lo- cated at Service, in Beaver county, Pa. the first theo- logical seminary on the continent. The old log build- ing still stands. In 1804 the theological seminary of the Associate Reformed Church was opened in New York, Dr. John M. Mason being the instructor. THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 447 The educational institutions of the United Presby- terian Church are under Synodical control. The Gen- eral Assembly prescribes the term and the course of study in the theological seminaries, but the support, OLDEST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY IN AMERICA, SERVICE, PA. control and election of professors, belong to the Synods in charge. There are two seminaries : Allegheny, Allegheny, Pa.; founded in 1825 by the Associate Reformed Synod of the West ; under the care of the First Synod of the West and the Synods of New York, Pittsburgh, and Ohio ; five professorships, all 448 PRESBYTERIANS. filled ; number of students, 66 ; total number from be- ginning, 898 ; property and endowments, $260,000. Xenia. Xenia, O.; founded by the Associate Synod in 1794, at Service, Pa., removed to Canonsburg, Pa., in 1821, to Xenia, O., 1855 ; under the care of the Second Synod and the Synods of Illinois, Iowa, Neb- raska, and Kansas; 4 professorships, all filled; number of students, 45 ; property and endowments, $120,000. There is also a theological seminary in connection with each of the foreign missions. The colleges are as follows : Muskingum. New Concord, O.; founded in 1837; under the care of the Synod of Ohio. Westminster. New Wilmington, Pa.; founded, 1852 ; under the control of the First Synod of the West and the Synod of Pittsburgh. Monmouth. Monmouth, 111.; founded, 1855 ; under the care of the Synods of Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska. Tarkio. Tarkio, Mo.; founded, 1885 ; under the care of the Synods of Iowa and Nebraska. Cooper Memorial. Sterling, Kan.; founded, 1886; under the care of the Synod of Kansas. Knoxville. Knoxville, Tenn.; founded, 1876. Thyne Institute. Chase City, Va.; founded, 1876. Norfolk. Norfolk, Va.; founded, 1884. The three last named are for the colored people, and are under the care of the Board of Missions to the Freedmen. Prosperous academies are located at Marissa, 111., Pawnee City, Neb., and Waitsburg, Wash. The value of the real estate held by the collegiate and academic institutions is about $265,000, and the endowment fund, excluding Knoxville, Norfolk, Thyne Institute and the academies, amount to about $325,000. THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 449 PERIODICALS. The United Presbyterian. Established, 1842 ; pub- lished at Pittsburgh, Pa.; weekly. The Christian Instructor. Established, 1844 ; pub- lished at Philadelphia, Pa.; weekly. The Midland. Established, 1883; published at Omaha, Neb.; weekly. The Evangelical Repository. Established, 1824 ; published at Pittsburgh, Pa.; monthly. The Young Christian, The Youths Evangelist and Olive Plants are issued by the Board of Publication for Young People and Sabbath Schools. GROWTH. In closing this short sketch of the United Presby- terian Church it is proper to refer to its growth since its organization in 1858. A smaller church is at a disadvantage in the presence of larger ones closely related, but notwithstanding this, there has been a steady and substantial growth. In 1859, tne fi rst year in which the statistics are given, there were 408 ministers; in 1892 there were 797; a gain of 95.3 per cent. The number of members has increased at the same rate, viz.: from 55,547 to 109,- 018 ; or 96.3 per cent. The congregations have be- come larger, and in number have increased to 920 from 654. The number of persons added to the Church on the profession of their faith in 1892, was 6,975, or 6.5 per cent.; an average of 13 to every pastor. There are 60 Presbyteries, under 10 Synods, in this country ; the Presbyteries in India and Egypt have Synodical powers. 450 PRESBYTERIANS. In 1869, when the full reports were first given, there were 567 Sabbath schools, having an average term of 9 months in the year ; 6068 officers and teachers, and 43,806 scholars, contributing $19,133. At the present time there are 1090 schools, open 11.5 months in the year; 11,415 officers and teachers, 98,859 scholars, whose contributions are $76,058. In contributions there has been an increase from $253,150, for all purposes, in 1858, to $1,145,987 in 1891 ; an average of $ 1 3.38 a mem- ber an increase of 409 per cent. The United Presbyterian Church cherishes the names and honors the work of its ministers who have entered into rest. They have been eminent as pastors, and faithful expositors of the divine word. It is grate- ful to God for what it has been permitted and enabled to do in His name, and for the blessing now resting upon it. It also looks forward with confidence. It hears the call of God's providence and feels the quick- ening of His Spirit. Its ministers are earnest, its people hold firmly to the principles of their profession, and both ministers and people have the enthusiasm of work for the Master, XENIA SEMINARY, XENIA, O. REV. FINIS EWING. CHAPTER XXI. THE CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. By Rev. J. M. HOWARD, D. D., and Rev. J. M. HUBBERT, D. D. Cumberland Presbyterian Church had a very 1 humble beginning. Three Presbyterian ministers, Finis Ewing, Samuel King and Samuel McAdow, on the 4th day of February, 1810, at McAdow's home, a log cabin in Dickson County, Tennessee, organized a new and independent Presbytery. It was named Cum- berland Presbytery and became the organic germ of a new denomination of Christians Cumberland Presbyte- rians. This solemn act was the crisis of a movement and a controversy which had begun a dozen years be- fore. The movement was the great revival of 1800, and the controversy was between the promoters and the opposers of the revival. The great spiritual awakening that.swept through the Western wilderness was kindled in the experience and through the agency of one man, James McGready. He was born in North Carolina, but studied under John Mc- Millan in Western Pennsylvania. About 1786 he, by accident, overheard a conversation between two of his friends, of which he was the subject. They freely ex- pressed their views about his religious character, declar- ing that, though a minister in the Presbyterian Church, he was a mere formalist, "a stranger to regenerating grace." This led him to earnest self-examiuation and 451 452 PRESBYTERIANS. prayer, and at a sacramental meeting near the Monon- gahela River he found the new spiritual life which his friends had declared he lacked. This new experience transformed his whole life. Thenceforth he made it his mission to arouse false professors, to awaken a dead church, and warn sinners and lead them to seek the new spiritual life which he himself had found. In North Carolina, whither he went as pastor, extensive revivals were kindled. His ministry also aroused fierce opposition. He was accused of " running people dis- tracted," diverting them from necessary avocations, " creating needless alarm about their souls." The op- posers, we are told, went so far at one time as to tear away and burn his pulpit, and send him a threatening letter written in blood. In 1796 McGready moved to Logan County, Ken- tucky, taking charge of three country congregations known as Gasper River, Red River, and Muddy River churches. Here, as in North Carolina, his ministry soon created wide-spread interest. His sermons were a ringing alarm, which everywhere either awakened pen- itence or aroused opposition. The region had long been known as Cumberland, or the Cumberland Country, and embraced that part oi the States of Kentucky and Tennessee lying between Green River on the north and the Tennessee Ridge not far south of Nashville on the south, and reaching to the Tennessee River on the west. The scattered population was made up of hardy and adventurous pioneers who had come from States farther east to seek homes in this wilderness. Among them were many Presbyterian families. These, like others, were im- mersed in the arduous worldly pursuits of the back- tttfe CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 453 woods. The Indian warfare that raged during the Rev- olution and afterward had but lately ended, and all were fighting an absorbing worldly battle, felling forests and opening farms. The seeds of French infidelity, sowed during the Revolutionary period, had taken root in the West as well as on the Atlantic seaboard. Deists and other scoffers were not wanting. Much of the preaching in the Presbyterian pulpits was unsuited to the practical needs of the people a cold and lifeless discussion of doctrine. Many church members, and even some pastors, were destitute of vital piety. Such a thing as "religion that could be felt" was hardly known. In brief, there was absorption in worldly af- fairs and pleasures, joined to prevailing unbelief and much outbreaking sin in worldly circles, and deadly apathy and formality in the churches. Amid such surroundings McGready began his minis- try in Kentucky. The revival, like all genuine revivals, was kindled by prayer. McGready wrote out a prayer covenant which a few faithful members of his congrega- tion joined him in signing. It was in ^these words: " We bind ourselves to observe the third Saturday in each month for one year as a day of fasting and prayer for the conversion of sinners in Logan County and throughout the world. We engage to spend one-half hour every Saturday evening, beginning at the setting of the sun, and one-half hour every Sabbath morning at the rising of the sun, in pleading with God to revive his work." In May, 1797, these faithful prayers began to bear fruit. A woman in Gasper River Church was the first convert. She visited relatives and friends, telling them of her new experience and hopes, and warning and ex- 454 PRESBYTERIANS. horting them. The interest spread from house to house until the entire congregation was aroused. This was the beginning. With some intermissions of cold- ness the work continued, until three years later the whole West was aflame with its power. Almost with the beginning of the revival, the opposition to it and the controversy about it began. Infidels and wicked men were, of course, in the ranks of the opposers, but from the first there was opposition by church members and ministers. Rev. James Balch, a member of Mc- Gready's Presbytery (Transylvania) visited Gasper River to put a stop to what he and others thought the disorderly and fanatical proceedings. He ridiculed the movement and denounced McGready's teachings, es- pecially the doctrine of a conscious new birth ''exper- imental religion." He succeeded in forming a consid- erable party of opposers, involving the churches in confusion, and threatening for a time to extinguish the revival. But in July and August, 1799, t ^ ie WOI "k began again with new power. On a Monday in August, at Gasper River, there was such absorbing interest that the congre- gation refused to disperse when the benediction was pronounced. After a solemn interval of silence the voices of praying penitents were heard and many were so overcome with a sense of sin and condemnation that they fell from their seats. This was the first camp meeting in Christendom. A family that had just arrived in the neighborhood from North Carolina, desiring to attend the meetings, came with their wagons and encamped near the church. At another sacramental meeting in the autumn a number of other families imitated this example. The next THE CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 455 summer McGready sent invitations far and near, urging ministers and others friendly to the revival to come to the sacramental meeting at Gasper River prepared to encamp and remain several days. A large number re- sponded. This was in July, 1800. From this first pre- meditated camp meeting the seeds of revival were scat- tered in distant places. William McGee, pastor of Shiloh Church, Sumner County, Tennessee, and a num- ber of his people were among the campers, and they carried the revival fire back to Tennessee. They held a camp meeting of their own at Shiloh soon after. Thus the work spread from neighborhood to neighbor- hood, till every corner of the wilderness was stirred by it. But the opposition also grew with the growth of the revival. There were three chief causes for this : First, the revival itself was offensive to many. There was in it a reproof to unbelievers and open sinners, and even greater reproof to unfaithful or unconverted church members. Among the opposers in the Church many were, no doubt, honest and conscientious. They looked on the anxiety of penitents and the joyous emo- tions of converts as fanaticism or the result of Satanic influence. They were offended and scandalized by a zeal and an earnestness which they could not feel or sympathize with. They believed that, in opposing these demonstrations, they were the champions of soberness and good order, and were therefore doing God service. Second, the measures adopted to promote the revival were a further cause of complaint. The mourners' bench was condemned as an unscriptural device ; camp meetings, which sprang up in every neighborhood, as disorderly gatherings. The method resorted to in 456 PRESBYTERIANS. securing preachers to meet the increasing demands of the revival, and to provide missionary pastors for the multiplying congregations, was a still more serious cause for offense. Men who had not attained to the required standard of literary qualification were licensed as ex- horters and evangelists, and placed on " circuits" to travel and hold meetings. This was regarded as es- pecially irregular and un-Presbyterian. Third, the doctrines taught by the revivalists were a third and deeper cause of opposition and controversy. The very earnestness to win souls, the very pleading with sinners to accept salvation freely offered to all, seemed a denial of the certainty and definiteness of the eternal decrees as taught in the third chapter of the Westmin- ster Confession of Faith. But there was, from the anti-revivalists' point of view, positive as well as im- plied heresy. The men licensed and afterward or- dained by the revival ministers were permitted to adopt the Westminster Confession of Faith, with the excep- tion of " the idea of fatality," as it seemed to be taught in that book. This last offense proved, in the end, the one irreconcilable difference between the two parties. All other difficulties might have been adjusted. Growing out of these three original causes of differ- ence was a fourth the ecclesiastical controversy. This grew more and more complicated and bitter, until it ended in the organization of the new Presbytery and the new Church. As the revival progressed, whole neighborhoods and districts begged to be supplied with pastors or mission- aries. The ministers could not answer one in ten of the calls that thus came to them. Under the advice of the most aged member of Transylvania Presbytery, THE CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 457 Rev. David Rice, men of approved intelligence and re- ligious character, with talents fitting them to speak in public, though without classical education, were encour- aged to exercise their gifts in exhortation. Three such young men, Alexander Anderson, Finis Ewing and Samuel King, presented themselves in 1801 and were licensed by the Presbytery to "catechise and exhort." They were put on three circuits, including all the pas- torless churches and destitute neighborhoods. These they visited regularly, holding services and addressing the people without the formality of taking a text. The next five or six years were a period of wonder- ful growth and progress in the revival, and rapidly widening divergence between the two parties. In 1802 Kentucky Synod divided Transylvania Pres- bytery, forming Cumberland Presbytery out of that portion of its territory embracing the Green River and Cumberland countries. Five of the ten ministers com- posing the new Presbytery, Thomas B. Craighead, T. Templin, John Bowman, Samuel Donnell and James Balch, were the bitter opposers of the revival ; the other five, James McGready, William Hodge, William McGee, John Rankin and Samuel McAdow, were its earnest promoters. By the addition of the Rev. James Hawe, who came through the Transylvania Presbytery from the Methodist Church, the revival party acquired a majority of one. In May, 1803, the new Presbytery ordained Alexander Anderson, and the ordination of Finis Ewing followed in November, and that of Samuel King In June, 1804. Thus the friends of the revival had a growing majority in the Presbytery, and at almost every meeting there were licenstires and accessions to the number of candidates, and Cumberland Presbytery 458 PRESBYTERIANS. grew to be the ecclesiastical representative and instru- ment of the revival. The revival preachers came to be designated first as "the majority of Cumberland Pres- bytery," then the " Cumberland party," or "The Cum- berlands." In this way the name of the new denom- ination, Cumberland Presbyterians, had its origin. In October, 1804, the minority of the Presbytery, led by Thomas B. Craighead, presented to Kentucky Synod LINCOLN UNIVERSITY, LINCOLN, ILL. a letter of remonstrance against the proceedings of the Presbytery, charging the majority with irregularity and doctrinal unsoundness. The Synod cited the parties, "both complained of and complaining," to appear be- fore it at its next meeting. It also appointed a com- mittee "to attend the' earliest meeting of Cumberland Presbytery and inquire into the case and report to the Synod." Thus the lines were definitely drawn. One party was supreme in the Presbytery, the other in the Synod. The friends of the revival claimed that, while THE CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 459 the Synod had a right to redress any wrong done by the Presbytery, it could not legally cite the members to appear before its bar or disannul Presbyterial acts when no regular appeal from the Presbytery's decisions had been taken. Many also objected to the Synod's appointment of a committee to act as "spies" on the Presbyterial proceedings. None of the revival minis- ters obeyed the citation to appear before the Synod, and but one member of the committee of "spies" at- tended the next meeting of the Presbytery, April, 1805. In October of the same year, Cumberland Presbytery held what proved to be its last meeting. During the three years since its organization it had ordained four ministers friendly to the revival party and licensed seven, besides receiving under its care a number of candidates and exhorters. Kentucky Synod, at its meeting, October, 1805, re- viewed and severely criticised the minutes of Cumber- land Presbytery. The irregularities, which it was alleged that these records revealed, were thought so grave as to require summary action. So the Synod appointed a commission composed ( of nine ministers and six elders, "clothed with full Synodical powers," "to confer with the members of Cumberland Presbytery, and to adjudi- cate upon the Presbyterial proceedings which appear upon the minutes of said Presbytery." The commission, every member of which was a known opposer of the revival- and the "Cumberland" party, met at Gasper meeting house, December 3, 1805. Its sessions continued four days. All the members of Cumberland Presbytery, and the candidates and licen- tiates under their care, obeyed the summons to appear. On the third day the commission adopted a paper 460 PRESBYTERIANS. solemnly condemning the Presbytery for licensing a number of young men to preach the gospel and ordain- ing some " contrary to the rules of the Church. . . . Whereas, these men have been required by said Presby- tery to adopt the said Confession of Faith and Disci- pline of said Church no farther than they believe it to be agreeable to the word of God." It was also re- solved that the commission would then and there "pro- ceed to examine those persons irregularly licensed and those irregularly ordained by the Cumberland Presby- tery." The members of the Presbytery refused to sub- mit to this resolution, declaring that " they had the exclusive right to examine and license their own can- didates, and Synod had no right to take them out of their hands ; " and that the Synod had no right to arraign and try one of the Presbytery's ordained minis- ters. The " young men," i. e., those who had received ordination or li censure at the Presbytery's hands, were next solemnly adjured to come forward and submit to examination. They asked, and, after some debate, were granted the privilege of retiring for prayer. As they returned one by one the questioawas put to each, " Do you submit?" and each gave a negative answer, affirm- ing that the Presbytery was "competent to judge of the faith and abilities of its candidates." The commis- sion then rendered its verdict declaring the young men " not only illiterate, but erroneous in sentiment," and that their ordination or licensure was, therefore, illegal, and prohibiting them " from exhorting, preaching or administering the sacraments." The older ministers of the revival^ party those ordained before the contro- versy arose were cited to appear before the Synod at its next meeting, October, 1806, for trial, all of them THE CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 461 for refusing to submit to the Synod's authority, and three of them for heretical views about election. Whether their conviction was well founded or not, many believed that the real object of the commission was to put an end to the revival. The fact that the Rev. John Lyle, the known enemy of the revival, was a leading member of the commission, gave color to this opinion. It is said that the popular feeling was such that the people near the church refused to open their houses to the commissioners. Whatever was the purpose, it is certain the commission's edict, had it been obeyed, would have ended the revival by silencing the most effective revival preachers. After the commission adjourned the members of the Presbytery held a consultation, and decided to continue preaching as before, and to encourage the young men to persevere in their work, disregarding what they believed an illegal prohibition. While they would thus foster the revival, they decided to refrain from official Presby- terial action, and to labor earnestly for a reconciliation with the Synod and the Presbyterian Church. They organized themselves into a Council, which was made up of ministers and elders representing congregations. During the next four years there was steady progress in the revival, and the Council labored unremittingly, but in vain, for reconciliation with the Synod. Two members of the Council, the Rev. William Hodge and the Rev. John Rankin, attended the Synod's meeting, October, 1806, to seek some adjustment of the difficul- ties ; but the Synod proceeded solemnly to suspend them both from the exercise of the functions of the gospel ministry for refusing to submit to the commis- sion's verdict. At this meeting the Synod also for- 462 PRESBYTERIANS. mally dissolved Cumberland Presbytery and remanded the parties and their complaints to Transylvania Pres- bytery. In May, 1807, the Council sent a letter to the Gen- eral Assembly, giving a history of the great revival, de- tailing the exceptional circumstances which had led to the licensing of men without the prescribed literary MISSOURI VALLEY COLLEGE, MARSHALL, MO. qualifications, and explaining that the exception in adopting the Confession of Faith had been permitted because of "the concise manner in which the highly mysterious doctrine of divine decrees is therein ex- pressed, which was thought led to fatality." They dis- claimed any desire or intention to become a new party or produce secession from the Church, and prayed that the Synod's action might be set aside and their Presby- terial rights restored, entreating the Assembly's inter- position to prevent the loss of many congregations whose members were offended at the action of the Synod THE CUMBERLAND PREbiJYTERIAN CHURCH. 463 The Assembly decided that it was not called on judicially to act in the case as the matter had not come up regularly by appeal. A letter was, however, sent to the Synod advising it to review its action and " take steps to mitigate the sufferings its censures had pro- duced." A letter was also sent by the Assembly's order to the members of Cumberland Presbytery, de- claring that the General Assembly questioned the reg- ularity of the proceedings of the Synod, " and that the Synod's dealings with Cumberland Presbytery were wholly improper in suspending ordained ministers, and still more improper was it for a commission to do so." The Synod at its next meeting, October, 1807, did review its action ; but reaffirmed its decisions. The Council sent a second petition to the General Assem- bly, May, 1808, and again received the answer that, as the matter had not come up by appeal, no relief could be given. But another semi-official letter, prepared by a member of the General Assembly, Rev. J. P. Wilson, of Philadelphia, was sent to the Council pronouncing the action of the commission unconstitutional, and stating that the relief asked for might have been granted had the minutes of the Synod been before the Assem- bly. The letter said that the better opinion in the Assembly was that " the work of the commission was without constitutional authority and wholly void," and that a letter to the Synod "much more plain than the last year's letter " was read in the Assembly's com- mittee and approved by paragraphs, but it was after- ward decided not to send it, " as it could do no good and might exasperate some of them." Of the young men admitted to the ministry by the Cumberland Pres- bytery, Mr. Wilson said : " We are glad to hear of the 464 PRESBYTERIANS. prudence, diligence and success of the men you ad- mitted. If they hold to the form of sound words, and are steadfast in the faith, they will be as much beloved by most of us as though they had studied long and graduated." An effort to secure reconciliation through Transyl- vania Presbytery was next made. But that Presbytery decided that no exception concerning " fatality" would be permitted in adopting the Confession of Faith. In a formal letter which it sent as its ultimatum the Presby- tery said : " With relation to those young men licensed and ordained by the aforesaid Presbytery (Cumberland), we do humbly conceive that a formal examination of them respecting doctrine and discipline is indispensable. An unequivocal adoption of the Confession of Faith is also indispensable. . . . For them to adopt the Con- fession of Faith only in part, and we the whole, would by no means, in our opinion, effect a union according to truth and reality ; and whatever inference may be drawn by others respecting what is called fatality from our views as expressed in the Confession of Faith re- specting divine sovereignty and the decrees of predes- tination and election, we conceive that no such conclu- sion can follow from the premises as there laid down." That is, the revival ministers composing the Council were told that they must either suppress their scruples about what seemed to them the false doctrine of the Presbyterian creed, or be shut out from the rights and privileges of Presbyterian preachers. They chose the latter alternative. The General Assembly of 1809 had before it the peti- tion of the Council praying for redress, also Kentucky Synod's minutes, and a letter from that body, explaining THE CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 465 its proceedings. The Rev. John Lyle, the old enemy of the revival, was the bearer of this letter. Through his influence and pleading the Assembly was led to vote unanimously to sustain all the measures adopted by the Synod, adding a vote of thanks to its members for their fidelity ! That the decision was contrary to Presbyte- rian law and usage, is now, more than eighty years after TRINITY UNIVERSITY, TEHUACANA, TEX. the event, almost universally admitted. Perhaps very few Presbyterian ministers could to-day be found who would try to uphold the constitutionality of the pro- ceedings of Kentucky Synod ; and some think and say, "the less said about it the better ! " The approval of the Synod's action by the General Assembly really cut off the last hope of reconciliation ; but when the Council met in August, 1809, it was re- solved to make a final appeal to the Synod. But this effort failed, though the members of the Council offered 466 PRESBYTERIANS. to yield everything that did not involve the abandoning of the work of the revival and the adoption of what they regarded the doctrine of " fatality." October 4 the Council met and voted to organize an independent Presbytery. At this juncture William Hodge, one of the older ministers, his nephew, Samuel Hodge, and Thomas Nelson withdrew. All three soon after adopted the Westminster Confession, without re- servation, and were at once admitted to all the rights of Presbyterian ministers. As none of the men ordained or licensed by Cumberland Presbytery were more defec- tive in literary attainments than Samuel Hodge, this action in his case makes it manifest that all the members of the Council would have been welcomed back to the Presbyterian Church had they consented to renounce their objections to the Presbyterian creed. Samuel Hodge did not begin the study of English grammar until several years after he was thus received as an or- dained minister in the Presbyterian Church. Thus it is evident that difference of doctrinal views, and not the question of ministerial education, was the final cause of separation. The withdrawal of the two Hodges and Nelson left but three ordained ministers in the Council, William McGee, Finis Ewing and Samuel King. McGee, while he could not accept what he thought the idea of fatality taught in the Westminster Confession, and while he held that " the truth lay betwixt Calvinism and Arminianism," was yet unwilling to unite with the others in the organization of a Presbytery, until a new creed could be formulated. This left the Council with- out the constitutional number needed to form a Pres- bytery. 1HE CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 467 McGready had, soon after the action of the commis- sion, moved away from Logan County and ceased to act with the Council ; McAdow's ill health kept him away. The Council therefore adjourned, with the understand- ing that unless three ordained ministers should, before the time appointed for its next meeting, March, 1810, constitute a Presbytery, its members should thereafter be released from the bond that held them together. Things stood in this doubtful attitude from October till February 3, when Finis Ewing and Samuel King, ac- companied by Ephraim McLean, a licentiate, repaired to the house of Samuel McAdow and laid before him the question of forming an independent Presbytery. McAdow spent the whole night in prayer, and in the morning, February 4, with face aglow, announced his readiness to join in the organization. So Cumberland Presbytery was solemnly constituted, and, as its first act, proceeded to ordain Ephraim McLean. It held its second meeting the next month at Ridge meetinghouse, at which time several .congregations were represented. Six licensed preachers and seven candidates for the ministry were received under its care. Four meetings were held during the first year. At a meeting in the autumn of 1810 William McGee became a member. At the fifth meeting (1811) eight churches were rep- resented. In October, 1813, three and a half years after its organization, the Presbytery had so increased in num- bers, and in the extent of the territory occupied, as to make its division into three Presbyteries and the forma- tion of a Synod necessary. The Synod was named Cumberland Synod, and was made up of the Presby- teries of Nashville, Logan and Elk. Up to this time. 468 PRESBYTERIANS. there had been a lingering hope of reconciliation and reunion with the Presbyterian Church. The formation of the Synod was the act of final separation. The Spirit and power of the revival were perpet- uated in the new organization. The work extended to wider and wider fields. In 1817, following a day of fasting and prayer, which had been appointed by the Synod a new prayer covenant similar to McGready's the revival work received new impetus. In 1820 the denomination had spread to Alabama, Arkansas, Illi- nois, Indiana, Missouri and Mississippi, and a number of missionaries were laboring among the Indian tribes. In 1822 the number of ordained ministers was 46, and 2718 conversions were that year reported. In 1834, 10,688 conversions were reported. Rev. Jas. Smith, who wrote and published a history of the Church at Nashville, Tenn., in 1835, estimated the numerical strength of the denomination that year as follows : Synods, 9 ; Presbyteries, 35 ; ordained ministers, 300; licensed preachers, 100 ; candidates, 75 ; communi- cants, 50,000. After that and until the beginning of the Civil War the growth of the Church was rapid and uninterrupted. In 1828 Cumberland Synod was divided into four Synods, and in May, 1829, at Prince- ton, Ky., the first General Assembly convened. There were 18 Presbyteries, 16 of which were represented by 1 6 ministers and 9 elders. In 1831 five missionaries were sent by the General Assembly to Pennsylvania, in response to a petition from certain members of the Presbyterian Church in the western part of that State. Under their ministry a revival hardly less remarkable than that of 1800 was kinclled, many congregations grew up ; Pennsylvania THE CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 469 Presbytery was organized in 1832 and Pennsylvania Synod in 1838. This Synod is now composed of four Presbyteries and sustains an institution of learning of WAYNESBURG COLLEGE, WAYNESBURG, PA. high order, Waynesburg College, located at Waynes- burg, Greene County, Pa. Sumner Bacon, a volunteer and self-supporting Cum- berland Presbyterian missionary, began to preach in Texas as early as 1828. Texas Presbytery was formed in 1837. There were then but four congregations in that republic. Texas Synod now has 551 congrega- tions and 27 Presbyteries. Thus the work continued to spread, reaching Louisiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Iowa, Georgia, Kansas, California, Oregon and the Western Territories. A record of the adventures of 47 PRESBYTERIANS. the missionaries of the church who visited distant set- tlements, establishing congregations and schools on the very borders of civilization, would form a most thrilling narrative. When Cumberland Synod was formed in 1813, one of its first acts was to appoint a committee to prepare a Confession of Faith. In the form of words adopted three and a half years before, in constituting Cumber- land Presbytery, was this provision concerning doctrine : " All licentiates and probationers whp may hereafter be ordained by this Presbytery shall be required, before such licensure or ordination, to receive and adopt the Confession and Discipline of the Presbyterian Church, except the idea of fatality, which seems to be taught under the mysterious doctrine of predestination. It is understood, however, that such as can clearly receive the Confession without an exception shall not be re- quired to make any." In forming the Synod a brief doctrinal statement was adopted in which the points of dissent rom the Westminster Confession were thus stated: i. "There are no Eternal reprobates. 2. Christ died not for a part only, but for all mankind. 3. All infants dying in infancy are saved through Christ and santification of the Spirit. 4. The Spirit of God operates on the world, or as coextensively as Christ has made the atonement, in such a manner as to leave all men inexcusable." The committee appointed by the Synod to prepare a creed, simply modified the Westminster Confession, expunging what they believed unscriptural and supply- ing what they thought omissions of vital truth. The chief changes were in chapters iii and x, and con- sisted in the elimination of what is known as preter- THE CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 471 ition, or what the fathers of the Cumberland Presby- terian Church called "fatality." The Presbyterian polity was retained ; also the Evangelical Presbyterian doctrines such as the inspiration and infallibility of the Scriptures, the fall and condemnation of the race, total depravity, the salvation of believers through a vicarious atonement, and the eternal punishment of the finally impenitent. This revised Confession of Faith was adopted by the Synod, October 14, 1814, and continued to be the ac- cepted creed of the Church until 1883, when a new re- vision was adopted in which the same essential doctrines enunciated in the revision of 1814 are stated in some- what briefer form and with a more logical arrangement of subjects. The creed of Cumberland Presbyterians, as it differs from Calvinism on the one hand and Ar- minianism on the other, may be stated in connection with the doctrine of the new birth the central theme of the revival of 1800 as follows : 1. All men must be born again or perish. 2. All may be born again and not perish. 3. None who are born again will perish. The first proposition, while it is accepted by all, means more to Cumberland Presbyterians than to others ; for they believe that the soul's salvation is made certain in the hour of the new birth, while Calvinists believe that this certain election of the soul to eternal life was made by divine decree before the foundation of the world, and Arminians hold that the soul's decision or choice cannot be so made as to be secure from reversal or failure until after death possibly not then. The second proposition Cumberland Presbyterians think is contradicted by the Calvinistic doctrine of elec- 472 PRESBYTERIANS. tion and reprobation, and the third by the Arminlan doctrine of apostasy. In the matter of ministerial education, while clas- sical training was not made an essential requirement, it was earnestly recommended when at all practicable, and a liberal course in English branches and in the- ology was required. In view of Christ's example in selecting his apostles, the founders of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church shrunk from adopting a standard as high and inflexible as that prescribed in the West- minster Confession. They believed that some who be- come religious late in life are called to preach the gos- pel and that the strict Presbyterian rule would prevent these from obeying God's call. They held, also, that in the ministry, as well as in the professions of law and medicine, some who never enjoyed the highest schol- astic training become eminently useful. In brief, it was deemed right, rather than allow wide districts to remain entirely destitute of the gospel, to send forth sound teachers who loved souls and knew the way of salva- tion, even though they did not know Latin and Greek. But the fathers labored to secure for ministerial candi- dates the most thorough preparation possible. Schools and academies were established and rigid examinations in literature, science and theology were conducted at the Presbyterial meetings. The truth is that, though this Church had its origin among the pioneer settlers of the West far from literary centers, its ministers and people have ever been the promoters of education. In Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Ohio and Arkansas, as well as in Kentucky and Tennessee, they were pioneers in establishing schools. Wherever the missionaries went, schools and academies sprang up. RICHARD BEARD, D. D. THE CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCtt. 4/3 In 1826 the Synod established a college for the whole Church, at Princeton, Ky. It was named Cum- berland College. In 1842 the central educational institution of the Church was removed to Lebanon, Tenn., and named Cumberland University. This school, before the Civil War, grew to be one of the most im- portant educational centers in the Southwest ; and though it suffered much during the great struggle, losing its buildings and much of its endowment, it has in a measure recovered its place and usefulness. It has departments of literature, theology, law and engineer- ing, and special courses amounting to ten lines of instruction. The Church's theological seminary is located here. Dr. Richard Beard, who long filled the chair of Systematic Theology in this school, left, be- sides other works, three volumes of lectures which are regarded by many as the best elaborate statement of the doctrines of the Church. The other principal schools of the denomination are Waynesburg College, Pennsylvania; Lincoln Univer- sity, Illinois; Trinity University, Texas p and Missouri Valley College, Missouri. The policy of operating through central boards in the work of missions, ministerial education, the publishing of books and periodicals, church erection, and in pro- viding for aged and disabled ministers, is well estab- lished in the Church. Through a denominational board it began to send missionaries to the Indians and the Western border as early as 1819. Through its present Board of Foreign and Domestic Missions, located at St. Louis, Mo., missions have been established in Japan and Mexico, as well as in the Indian Territory and in numerous towns and cities in our own country. 474 PRESBYTERIANS. The Board of Publication is located at Nashville, Tenn. Here a large publishing house has recently been erected, from which books are issued, also a number of periodicals, including a quarterly Review, a full series of Sunday-school papers, and the central weekly organ, the Cumberland Presbyterian. At other points, also, weekly papers are published in the interest of the Church. The Board of Education and the Board of Minis- terial Relief are, in their respective departments, doing excellent work. The object of the latter is to provide for the wants of aged and disabled ministers and their widows and orphans. To aid in carrying out this pur- pose, a home, known as "The Thornton Home," has been established near Evansville, Ind. THORNTON HOME, EVANSVILLE, IND. THE CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 475 The work of the Board of Education is to aid young men who are pursuing their studies preparatory to entering the ministry. A Women's Board of Foreign Missions, organized in 1880, has sent a number of missionaries to Japan, besides contributing largely to the work in Mexico and among the Indians. Though this Church embraced in its boundaries large portions of the two sections of our country .which were arrayed against each other in the Civil War, it remained undivided. Whatever differences of opinion had arisen in connection with this conflict, or about the questions which led to it, were amicably settled when the war ended, and were long ago buried as dead issues. Sec- tional lines and distinctions are blotted out and a spirit of fraternity and unity in Christian work prevails throughout the denomination. In the years since the war the Church has enjoyed a new era of growth. In 1892 it numbered about 170,- ooo communicants. During the year ending May, 1891, there were 17,000 accessions, and thetotalcontributions were $705,500. It then had 122 Presbyteries, 2844 congregations, 1639 ministers, 236 licentiates, and 256 candidates for the ministry. Before the war there were about 20,000 colored Cum- berland Presbyterians. They belonged to the same congregations of which white people were members and sat under the ministry of the same pastors, though they had preachers of their own race and often held separate meetings. This order of things broke down during the war, and in 1869 the colored people asked and received the consent of the General Assembly to the organiza- tion of a separate African Cumberland Presbyterian 4/6 PRESBYTERIANS. Church. This church has its own General Assembly, and in 1891 reported about 15,000 communicants. It then had 22 Presbyteries, 5 Synods, 200 ordained minis- ters, 1 75 licentiates and 1 90 candidates. Though Cum- berland Presbyte- rians adhere with great firmness to their doctrinal views and denomi- national usages, yet they have ever showed a liberal spirit of fraternity toward otherChris- tian communions, and have favored the utmost prac- ticable union a- mong the denomi- nations. It was this spirit that led this church to seek admission to the World's Presby- terian Alliance and prompted the more recent action by which the Cumberland Presbyterian missionaries in Japan united with other Presbyterians in forming one Japanese Presbyterian Church. Denominational- ism is regarded as a means, rather than an end ; and were the obnoxious features of the Presbyterian creed removed, Cumberland Presbyterians would not be found C. P. PUBLISHING HOUSE, NASHVILLE, TENN. THE CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 477 averse to counsels looking to the reunion of the dif- erent members of the Presbyterian family. From the first this Church has grown, not by acces- sions from other Churches, but by additions from the outside, by making converts rather than making pros- elytes. Two of the three ministers who organized the first Presbytery were brought into the ministry as the result of the revival, and but three of those who formed Cumberland Synod in 1813 had entered the ministry before the great revival began. The new Church was not the result of a schism so much as the growth of a new body. The great aim of the revival preachers was to win souls to Christ, not to build up congregations ; and thousands of the converts have joined other com- munions. Instead, therefore, of being the result or cause of schism or division, the Cumberland Presbyte- rian Church has, throughout its history, been a helper to other Christian communions. Its influence in culti- vating interdenominational friendliness and in softening doctrinal asperities has also been most salutary. It has done its share in moderating the severities of Calvin- ism, and in creating a sentiment in favor of revising the Westminster Confession of Faith. In recent years it has extended its work in many new fields. Especially marked has been its progress in establishing congrega- tions and building houses of worship in cities and large towns. Substantial progress has been made also in the endowment of schools, in the publishing interest, and in missionary work. The denomination seems to be entering upon a new era of activity, and to have before it an enlarging field and a growing mission of useful- ness. CHAPTER XXII. THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES. By Rev. MOSES D. HOGE, D. D. Presbyterian Church in the United States, 1 popularly known as the Southern Presbyterian Church, dates its organic existence from the 4th of December, 1861, when in the city of Augusta, Georgia, "The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States of America " was consti- tuted. It would not, however, be consistent with its charac- teristic principles, nor true to the facts of history, to fix such day as the beginning of this Church. That date chronicles merely the integration into one body of those scattered Presbyteries, separated from the mother Church, the cause of whose independence will be here- inafter related. Their glorious heritage, and no less glorious tenets, linked them with historic Presbyterian- ism. The golden chain of their story led back through two centuries of struggle and progress in this mighty Republic, whose unexampled growth and marvelous development have been even eclipsed by the advance- ment of that Church, which has ever 'proven an en- lightenment of its citizens and thus a bulwark of its liberties. Bound by ties of blood to the sturdy peo- ples of Northern Ireland and rugged Scotland, enriched by noblest types from Holland, France and Switzerland, 473 JAMES H. THORNWELL, D. D. THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 479 they trace the gleaming lineage of their principles far back through ages of darkness and trial, illumined by the saintly zeal and purity of Columba and Waldo, and the consecrated ability and sacred learning of Calvin and Augustine, to that Scriptural Presbyterianism that finds its ablest and fullest exposition in the writings of Paul. The story of the planting of Presbyterianism in this land, and of its development, has already been told in these pages. As early as 1642, according to Rev. Dr. Briggs, in his essay on " Earliest American Presby- terianism," Rev. Francis Doughty, an English Presby- terian minister, preached in Long Island, and subse- quently labored in Eastern Virginia and Maryland. In 1683 Rev. Francis Makemie, a native of Ireland, came from Ulster, and preached in Eastern Virginia and Maryland. Southern Presbyterians have always regarded Makemie as the first Presbyterian minister who preached in America, there being no traditions or memorials among them of Mr. Doughty. At a still earlier date, however, under the auspices of Admiral Coligni, French Huguenots emigrated, settling in the Carolinas and Florida. These were the first Presby- terians who came to this country, coming before the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock. Though Virginia was settled largely by cavaliers, there were some English Presbyterians among them, and there were also some settlements by Huguenots on the James River. The newer and more inviting lands of the Valley of Virginia, and of Piedmont, North Carolina, attracted a steady stream of population from the heart of Pennsyl- vania, filled with Scotch-Irish a staunch and stalwart stock. And just before the Revolution, on the defeat 480 PRESBYTERIANS. of Charles at Culloden, numbers of his adherents from the Highlands of Scotland settled in Eastern Carolina, chiefly on the waters of Cape Fear River and its tribu- taries. From these older States, the broad, inviting lands of Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri and Arkansas, and other States in the South and Northwest, drew the basis of their population. So that throughout the South and West, names of churches, especially in rural communities, and in one instance of a Presbytery, are transferred from Eastern Synods. The happy blending of these strains of Presbyterians under the favoring conditions of our Southern life made a body of Christians singularly homogeneous, conservative, truth-loving and ardently devoted to right and liberty. The courtly and cultivated Huguenots, the stern and simple-hearted Highlander, the strong, earnest, faithful Scotfch-Irish, the conscientious Puritan, and the frank, honest Teuton, contributed of the wealth of their character, and the glory of their history. Devotion to principle was the guiding star of ac- tion. It is not surprising, then, to know from secu- lar history that such people were devoted to liberty and to country, that to Presbyterians was due that remarka- ble action known as the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, said to have antedated by more than a year the National Declaration ; and that it was of such brave and hardy men as inhabited the Valley of Virginia that Washington declared, that if all his plans became overturned and but a single standard left, he would plant it upon the Blue Ridge, and making that his Thermopylae would rally around him the patriots of the valley, and there lay the foundations of a new republic. Han- over Presbytery, in Eastern Virginia, in its petition to THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 481 the first Assembly of Virginia, after the adoption of the Constitution as a State, in the fall of 1776, made the first and fullest exposition of the doctrine of religious liberty, made by any ecclesiastical body in America. Nor is it surprising that such people were no less lovers of truth than of liberty, and sought to hold aloft the light. By every church was erected an academy, and "pas- tors" were often also " teachers." In Charlotte, North Carolina, on the soil of liberty-loving Mecklenburg, Queen's Museum was founded for the dissemination of a higher learning than could be obtained at parochial schools, but which, though the colonial government con- sented to charter it in 1771, had its charter repealed by proclamation of George III. for no reason whatever, unless the founders and abettors were Whigs in poli- tics and Presbyterians in religion. (" Foote's Sketches of North Carolina," p. 513.) The character of the people is seen when the independent commonwealth of North Carolina chartered the institution in 1777 as Liberty Hall. Before the Revolution likewise, among the re- fined, cultivated and goodly people of South-side Vir- ginia, under a title that revealed the ardent love of its friends for freedom and rectitude, bearing the name of two of the most pure and noble patriots England or the world has known, Hampden-Sidney was established, a college whose light and influence have been unbroken and undimmed for more than a century. So, too, the sturdy Presbyterians of the Valley, feeling their need of an institution for the education of youth, planted as an academical school that which, under different names and at different places, grew under the wise and liberal and patriotic control of that eminent educator, Rev. William Graham, to Washings 482 PRESBYTERIANS. ton College, and is now known as Washington and Lee University. Of such people were Southern Presbyterians. The conditions of their life, largely in rural communities, " far from the maddening crowd," fostered their homo- MEMORIAL HALL, HAMPDF.N-SIDNEY COLLEGE, HAMPDEN-SIDNEY, VA. geneity and conservatism. The standards of West- minster were heartily accepted, as amended by the eradication of all Erastianism and entangling alliances of Church and state, as the teaching of God's word, and to them they clung with enthusiastic devotion. In all questions of doctrine or order there must be a " Thus saith the Lord," or a good and necessary inference THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 483 from Scripture. The ties of family were multiplied and strong, love for native land was ardent, and de- votion to the Church of their fathers intense. The prosperity of the Union, and the prosperity of the great Presbyterian Church, of which they formed no unimportant part, were very dear to their hearts. Why, then, the separation from that Church in 1861 ? And is the Church guilty of schism in maintaining its distinct organization ? Let us look at these questions which confront the student of history and the lover of truth, not with the eye of the partisan advocate, but of a conscientious and impartial annalist. In May, 1861, the General Assembly of the Presby- terian Church in the United States of America (Old School) which met in Philadelphia, adopted a paper in reference to the Civil War, then impending, known as the Spring Resolutions, Rev. Dr. Gardiner Spring, of the Brick Church, New York, being their author, which un- dertook to decide for its whole constituency, North and South, a question upon which the most eminent states- men had been divided in opinion from the time of the formation of the Constitution, viz : whether the ulti- mate sovereignty, the jus summi imperil, resided in the people as a mass, or in the people as they were originally formed into colonies and afterward into States. Presbyterians in the South believed that this deliver- ance, whether true or otherwise, was one which the Church was not authorized to make, and that, in so doing, she had transcended her sphere and usurped the\ duties of the state. Their views upon this subject found expf^ssion in a quarter which relieves them of all suspicion of coming from an interested party. A pro- 484 PRESBYTERIANS. \ test against this action was presented by the venerable Charles Hodge, D. D., of Princeton Theological Semi- nary, and fifty-seven others who were members of that Assembly. In this protest it was asserted, " that the paper adopted by the Assembly does decide the political ques- tion just stated, in our judgment, is undeniable. It not only asserts the loyalty of this body to the Con- stitution and the Union, but it promises in the name of all the churches and ministers whom it represents, to do all that in them lies to strengthen, uphold and en- courage the Federal Government. It is, however, a notorious fact that many of our ministers and members conscientiously believe that the allegiance of the citi- zens of this country is primarily due to the States to which they respectively belong, and that, therefore, whenever any State renounces its connection with the United States, and its allegiance to the Constitution, the citizens of that State are bound by the laws of God to continue loyal to their State, and obedient to its laws. The paper adopted virtually declares, on the other hand, that the allegiance of the citizen is due to the United States, anything in the Constitution or laws of the several States to the contrary notwithstanding. The General Assembly in thus deciding a political question, and in making that decision practically a con- dition of Church membership, has, in our judgment, violated the Constitution of the Church, and usurped the prerogative of its Divine Master." Presbyterians in the South, coinciding in this view of the case, concluded that a separation from the General Assembly aforesaid was imperatively demanded, not in the spirit of schism, but for the sake of peace, and for THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 48$ the protection of the liberty with which Christ had made them free. Accordingly, ninety-three ministers and ruling elders, representing forty-seven Presbyteries, duly commis- sioned for that purpose, met in the city of Augusta, Ga., ont he 4th of December, 1861, and integrated in one body. The first act after the organization of that memorable Assembly was to designate a name for the now separated Church, and to declare its form and belief. The following resolutions were accord- ingly adopted : 1. That the style and title of this Church shall be: The Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States of America. 2. That this Assembly declare, in conformity with the unanimous decision of our Presbyteries, that the Con- fession of Faith, the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, the Form of Government, the Book of Discipline, and the Directory for Worship, which together make up the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, are the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States of America, only substituting the term " Confederate States" for "United States." Of that memorable and historic Assembly it may not be amiss to say something more. After the adoption of the Spring Resolutions in May, 1861, Presbytery after Presbytery in the Southern States, feeling that by that act they had been exscinded, withdrew from the jurisdiction of the Assembly that had transcended its sphere and decided political questions. A conference of ministers and elders was held in Atlanta, August 15-17, 1 86 1, and in response to a call thus issued the PRESBYTERIANS. Assembly met. To quote from Rev. Dr. Joseph R. Wilson in his memorial address, delivered at the quar- ter-centennial of the organization of the Southern Assembly : "It was in response to a request on the part of this exceptional body of trusted brethren that all the Presbyteries addressed not one excepted were here, not many months afterward, regularly repre- sented in accordance with the ancient forms, and in every instance by a delegation of ministers, in whose number there was not a single blank, as also, save in the case of a few far-distant constituencies, by a full commission of ruling elders, making altogether an authorized membership of ninety-three, and possessed, as a whole, it soon became apparent, of an unusually high average of Christian character and mental ability, whilst some of them, conspicuous above the many, would have adorned the Church in any age or country." Of the members of that Assembly there are many whose names the Church will not willingly " let die." Of these let mention be made of one, whose profound ability constitutes him a leader of thought in the world, Rev. Dr. James H. Thornwell, the eminent theologian and scholar. To him as chairman of the committee was entrusted the preparation of the "address to all the Churches of Jesus Christ throughout Earth," setting forth the reasons for separate organic existence ; a paper as conciliatory and calm as it is logical, clear and convincing. With reference to the action of the Southern Presby- terian Church then, and its present maintenance of its integrity and distinct organism, the following eloquent words of the Rev. Dr. B. M. Palmer, of New Orleans, spoken in May, 1886, at the "Quarter-centennial of 488 PRESBYTERIANS. the organization of the Southern Assembly," in his ad- mirable address, " The Church a Spiritual Kingdom," pp. 53-55, voice the sentiments of Southern Presby- terians as to the facts and the points in issue : "The years which have passed since then have cooled every feeling of resentment in our bosoms ; and we can look with the eye of charity upon the error of those whom we have never ceased to regard as our brethren in the Lord. We do not undertake to say that, with our positions reversed and acting under their convictions, we might not have been guilty of the same fault. Are we not all led by a divine hand into posi- tions which give us wider and clearer views of truth ? However this may be, the simple fact remains that we were separated from the Church of our fathers upon a strictly political issue, which a spiritual court had no authority, either human or divine, to adjudicate. Whether we ourselves fully comprehended or not the significance of our withdrawal, the logic of the case constituted us the assertors and guardians of this vital truth, the non-secular and non-political character of the Church of Jesus Christ ; and, whether we will or no, we must preach to the world this ' Gospel of the King- dom.' I desire to emphasize the statement that, up to the passage of the 'Spring Resolutions/ in May, 1861, a division of the Church had not been suggested, per- haps had not entered the thought of any, except as a possible and painful necessity. Some of us cherished fondly the hope that the bonds of ecclesiastical fellow- ship might be able to bear the strain even of a great civil war. It would have been a sublime spectacle, if the Church could have preserved her visible unity amidst the convulsions which shook a continent a THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 489 spiritual kingdom rising unconsumed out of the flames of a gigantic war, like the bush burning with fire at Mount Horeb, to proclaim the power of divine grace over the passions of men. The historic basis, there- fore, upon which stands this dear church of ours, the special feature by which she is distinguished from others, is this testimony for Christ's kingdom, as a free, spiritual commonwealth, separate from civil govern- ment, under whatever form administered upon earth. " But if the entire American Church affirms this principle, and if in the other portions of the Presby- terian body it be affirmed in identical terms with our own, wherein is our testimony peculiar ? With refer- ence to the latter, simply in this : that whilst the spirit- uality of Christ's kingdom is admitted in theory, it has been contravened in practice, and that solely upon this issue we were driven from their communion. If it be alleged that this deviation from the Constitution was but a temporary departure, under stress of circum- stances, and during a period of intense excitement, it is competent to inquire whether, during the period of twenty-five years which have elapsed, any official action has been taken to repair the breach. So far from it, those political deliverances are to this day treasured as most precious testimonies, which must not be impaired by any whispered suspicion of their impropriety. Even in the treaty of amity between themselves and us, the tenderest solicitude was shown to protect them from being supposed to be withdrawn. The political issue, then, is precisely the same to-day as it was a quarter of a century ago. If in the past the letter of the Con- stitution was too frail a barrier to protect the Church against the swelling tide of political enthusiasm, how 490 PRESBYTERIANS. much less will it restrain in the future, when undermined by this fatal precedent ? . . . . " God is our witness that nothing could yield us such joy as to be henceforth discharged from the necessity of bearing special testimony to the non-secular char- acter of the Christian Church. If this principle could be enshrined in the hearts of men with the sacred confi- dence of former years, louder hallelujahs would not be heard than in this Southern Church ordained through her very existence to bear silent and constant testimony for the crown rights of our Lord and Re- deemer." This, then, is the meaning of its continued distinct organization. And the distinctive features of this Pres- 1 byterian Church may be briefly stated : Holding, in common with other branches of the Pres- . byterian family, the Westminster Confession and Cate- chisms, the Southern Church lays special emphasis on the following points : 1. A Faithful Adherence to the Constitution. While \ allowing a just liberty of explanation, according to the well known traditions of Presbyterian history, latitu- ; dinarianism is carefully excluded. 2. The Spirituality of the Church. " Synods and Councils are to handle nothing but what is ecclesias- tical." 3. Ecclesiastical Power. " While the source of all *^ power, in all the courts alike, is Jesus, who rules in them and through them, yet the Constitution, in ac- cordance with the word of God, assigns the courts re- spectively their several powers and duties, and pre- ] scribes the mode in which these powers are to be I exercised. Therefore the claim by any court to exer- THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 491 cise powers not assigned to it is a breach of the Con- stitutional Covenant between the several parties there- to." Hence it is that the Church has never entrusted its great benevolent operations either to voluntaryism on the one hand, or to vast incorporated Boards on the other entities existing in quasi independence but to executive committees of which their secretaries and the other members are all elected annually by the As- sembly, are directly responsible to it, and act as execu- tive agents under its instructions. At the close of the war the name of the Church was changed to " The Presbyterian Church in the United States." In 1859 tne General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (New School) took action on the state of the country, and particularly on the question of domestic servitude, which consti- tuted in the judgment of many, especially in the Southern States, a political deliverance transcending the sphere of the Church, violative of its own Constitu- tion, contravening the personal political rights of min- isters and members, and imposing new and unscriptural terms of church membership. Presbyteries, ministers, and churches withdrawing from the jurisdiction of that General Assembly, and thus by separation testifying against such action, constituted in 1860 " The United Synod of the South." At the General Assembly of "The Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States of America "held in Columbia in 1863, a committee, of which Rev. Dr. Robert Dabney was chairman, was ap- pointed to confer with a similar committee on the part of the United Synod, looking to organic union. After 492 PRESBYTERIANS. careful conference as to doctrinal views, in 1863, anc after full deliberation by the highest courts of the two Churches on the report of the committee, in 1864 an organic union was formed between the General As- sembly and the United Synod, by which an accession CENTRAL UNIVERSITY, RICHMOND, KY. of about 1 20 ministers, 190 churches, and 12,000 com- municants was received. In like manner, protesting against the action of church courts on matters that in their judgment seemed without their jurisdiction, the Presbytery of Patapsco, of the Synod of Baltimore, consisting of 6 ministers, 3 churches, and 576 communicants, in 1867 united with the Southern Church. The story of the struggles in the Presbyterian Church in Kentucky and Missouri on the same great issues is a thrilling one Protesting year after year THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 493 against the political deliverances of the General Assem- bly (Northern), in 1865 a paper was prepared, signed by 119 ministers and elders, adopted formally by the Presbytery of Louisville, styled " Declaration and tes- timony against the erroneous and heretical doctrines and practices which have obtained and been propagated in the Presbyterian Church in the United States during the last five years (1861 to 1865, inclusive)." The ac- tion of the General Assembly, 1 866, in St. Louis, with ref- erence to this paper, and to the Commissioners from the Presbytery of Louisville, caused the Synod of Kentucky to separate from the General Assembly and remain in an independent attitude until 1869, when the Synod of Kentucky, including 75 ministers, 137 churches, and 13,540 communicants, was received into the Southern Assembly. In like manner, in 1874, the Synod of Missouri, which had also separated from the Northern Assembly, and borne through protest and separation its faithful testimony for the spirituality of the Church, its non-secular and non-political character, was received into the Southern Assembly, including 67 ministers, 141 churches, and 8000 communicants. Born amid the throe? of war, circumscribed in its territorial area because of its genesis, and finding its habitation in a part of the country desolated and devas- tated by trampling armies, impoverished in its re- sources, and with homes everywhere still saddened be- cause of the unreturning dead, the Southern Presbyte- rian Church has grown with such marvelous rapidity as to excite the gratitude, as well as admiration, of all interested in her history. At its first Assembly the foundations were laid deep and broad for the mainten- ance and expansion of its work. At once the four 494 PRESBYTERIANS. great divisions of denominational enterprise were un- dertaken, manned, and equipped, notwithstanding the intense strain of a vast civil war, and committees were appointed of Foreign Missions, Home Missions, Edu- cation and Publication. These have been carried on with a diligence and success as gratifying as it is en- couraging. At the time of organization, in 1861, the General Assembly included 10 Synods, 47 Presbyteries, about 700 ministers, 1000 churches, and 75,000 communi- cants, about 10,000 of whom were of the African race. According to the last official report (published in July, 1891) it includes 13 Synods, 71 Presbyteries, 1186 ministers, 2453 churches, and 174,065 communicants. In other words, while the population of the United States has increased in thirty years 60 per cent, the Southern Church has grown nearly 133 per cent., or more than twice as much. The cause of Foreign Missions is administered by an Executive Committee, with headquarters at Nash- ville, Tenn. The Rev. M. H. Houston, D. D., is sec- retary and the Rev. D. C. Rankin is assistant secre- tary. Missions are established and carried on with more or less encouragement in Brazil, China, Turkey, Italy, Mexico, Japan, Africa and Cuba, and from many parts of this broad field there are tokens of divine favor, and calls for increased endeavor. It has just been determined to establish a new Mission in Korea, for which men and means are already provided. The force in the field, not counting native ordained minis- ters or native helpers variously employed, is one hun- dred. The receipts for this cause aggregated for the last fiscal year (1891) nearly $113,000, which exceeds 495 496 PRESBYTERIANS. the receipts of any previous year by more than $5300, and shows an increase in contributions from churches and Sabbath schools, etc., of over $15,000 over the pre- vious year. The work cannot be estimated, however, by numbers employed or amounts given. The number of additions to the Church has been most encouraging, especially in Brazil, Mexico and Japan. The influence of our schools and colleges in heathen lands is whole- some and widening. The missionary zeal of the Church at home has been vastly augmented. The Committee of Home Missions has its seat in Atlanta, Ga. The Rev. Dr. J: N. Craig is secretary. This field is of vast extent, and becoming more im- portant every day because of the steadily rising tide of immigration from Europe and the Northern States. Contributions to Home Missions are distributed among the following district funds : Sustentation, for aiding feeble churches in the support of ministers; Church Erection, for assistance in building edifices for worship; Evangelistic Work, including Missions among the Indi- ans, for supplying new and unoccupied fields with evan- gelists and sustaining missionaries to the Indians; In- valid Fund, for help to disabled ministers, and widows and orphans of deceased ministers ; Colored Evangeli- zation, including the support of Tuskaloosa Institute, a training school for colored ministers, and aid to colored ministers preaching to their race. From this enumera- tion it will be seen how broad and pressingly important is this department of the Church's benevolent opera- tions. This agency has not only strengthened many weak churches, but has aided in the organization of others in destitute places, and has been one of the most efficient instrumentalities in advancing the pro- THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 497 gress and prosperity of the Presbyterian Church in the South. The total receipts for all departments of Home Mission work, as last reported, amounted to more than $187,000, an increase of more than $40,000 over what was reported the previous year. It is proper here to add that there has been a great revival of Evangelistic effort on the part of the Synods. An illustrious and inspiring example, set by the Synod of Kentucky, reaching the neglected and destitute with the Gospel, and planting churches in regions hitherto unsupplied, has stimulated others, and has been followed by the Synods of Missouri, North Carolina, Virginia, Nashville and others, with most gratifying success. Here too let it be recorded that the General Assem- bly of 1891 took a long stride forward in appointing an Executive Committee of Colored Evangelization, at Birmingham, Ala., the Rev. A. L. Phillips, secretary. When the Church was organized in 1861, 10,000 col- ored communicants were connected with our churches, and under our pastoral care. For one reason or another, preferring ministers of their own color, or a worship more demonstrative than Presbyterian Churches offered, or seduced by other considerations, almost all of these drifted into other organizations. Recognizing that the true way to evangelize a people was through ministers of their own, and feeling the obligation to reach this needy and dependent people with the gospel, the General Assembly, in 1877, established in Tuska- loosa, Ala., an Institute for Training Colored Min- isters, an institution steadily growing in the confidence of the Church and in the appreciation of the colored people. There are two professors and twenty-five pupils, and already the Institute has prepared several PRESBYTERIANS. for the gospel ministry, preaching in our own land, and one missionary, a man of great consecration and prom- ise, in the Congo Free State. There are now five Presbyteries of colored ministers and churches in the bounds of the Southern Assembly, with a working force of thirty-eight, thirty-two of whom are aided and sus- tained by the Colored Evangelistic Fund, and steps are now being taken to organize an African Synod, under the fraternal and fostering care of the Southern Church. The interests of publication are cared for by an ex- ] ecutive committee, placed at Richmond, Va., with the Rev. J. K. Hazen, D. D., secretary. The management of the business has been wise, economical and efficient. The business has greatly increased, and assets over all liabilities exceed $85,000. Colportage and Sunday- school literature are under the care of this committee. The receipts from all sources, according to last report, aggregated nearly $14,000. Through this committee, many most valuable and important works have been given to the public ; among them the works of the pro- found thinker and theologian, Dr. Thornwell, and the collected discussions of that most able professor of theology and philosophy, Dr. Dabney. The Church has ever maintained its ancient tradi- tions in seeking an educated ministry. To aid those desiring this sacred office there have been contribu- tions to the cause of education, and the work of its ad- ministration is entrusted to an executive commit- tee, at Memphis, Tenn., with Rev. E. M. Richardson, D. D., as secretary. The whole number of students aided during the last fiscal year (1891) was 226, from thirteen Synods. Receipts for this cause were nearly WILLIAM SWAN PLUMER, D. D. THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 499 $21,500, an increase of more than $3500 over the con- tributions of the previous year. The Presbyterian Church in the United States has fostered, according to its means and beyond its ability even, all learning secular and religious. The influ- ence of Presbyterianism, and of the Southern Presbyte- rian Church especially, is not to be estimated by the number of institutions founded under distinctively Pres- byterian control. In many State institutions, in other institutions founded originally by Presbyterians, but the government of which has been generously shared with others ; in many private schools of broad patronage, high scholarship and far-reaching influence, Presbyterian ministers and teachers, able, learned, eminent and use- ful, are to be found. In the enumeration, therefore, here given, of Presbyterian institutions, it will be seen, in the light of what has been said, how painfully meager and inadequate such a statement is, of what is done by Presbyterians in the cause of education and en- lightenment. Of the theological institutions over which the General Assembly has supervisory power, there are two. Pleas- antly situated in the County of Prince Edward, Va., in the village of Hampden-Sidney, and in sight of the venerable Hampden-Sidney College, is Union Theologi- cal Seminary, under the care of the Synods of Virginia and North Carolina. This seminary was founded by Hanover Presbytery in 1821, and its first professor chosen by that Presbytery was the Rev. John H. Rice, D. D. To his consecrated learning, indefatigable labors and conscientious zeal, the founding and establishment of the seminary is largely due. With this institution have been connected in time past the honored and illustrious 1 C/5 1 I O 5 tHE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 50! names of Dr. George A. Baxter, the scholarly Dr. F. S. Sampson, and for thirty years that able and pro- found theologian and magnetic teacher, Dr. R. L. Dabney, now professor in the University of Texas. The chairs were never more ably filled than now, and for a score of years the seminary has been steadily ad- vancing in power and influence. There are six pro- fessors and seventy-six students. I ts endowment, though inadequate to the growing needs of such an institution, yields an income of $15,000. Columbia Theological Seminary, under the care of the Synods of South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama, is situated in the charming capital of South Carolina. The endowment is sufficient for its wants, and the buildings and library are attractive, and the seminary has exerted a great influence upon the Southern Church. Here taught for many years, numbers flocking to sit at his feet, the great thinker and brilliant polemic, Dr. J. H. Thornwell. Here, too, for more than fifty years, Dr. George Howe was professor, beloved and useful. The eloquent Dr. Palmer, of New Orleans, also, at different times, filled a chair in this seminary. The venerable Dr. Plumer was also connected with it. There are now four professors, and an assistant instructor, scholarly, able, and commanding the confidence of the Church, and the institution, which has passed through recent vicissitudes, has happily emerged from them, with encouraging prospects for enlarged prosperity. There were twenty-five students in attendance during the last year. Besides these institutions under the supervision of the General Assembly, there is at Austin, Tex., commended and fostered by the Synod of Texas, the 02 PRESBYTERIANS. Austin Theological School, the chair of Theology being filled by Rev. Dr. Dabney, Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Texas. In connection with the Southwestern Presbyterian University at Clarkesville, Tenn., under the auspices of the Synods of the Southwest, there is a theological department efficiently manned and accomplishing a noble work. Central University, at Richmond, Ky., has recently added to its admirable faculty a professor of theology, with the purpose of affording a theological, as well as academic education. The following institutions must be mentioned, not theological, but avowedly Presbyterian in their char- acter and management. Hampden-Sidney College, Virginia, was founded in 1775. Under the eloquent appeals and earnest labors of Rev. Samuel Stanhope Smith, Hanover Presbytery having made provision for an institution in the Valley under Rev. William Graham (afterward Washington College), made provision, February, 1775, for an in- stitution in Prince Edward. Thus began an illustrious career of usefulness, the institution now known as Hampden-Sidney College. Rev. Samuel Stanhope Smith was its first President, to be succeeded, when he accepted the professorship of moral philosophy in Princeton, by his no less eminent and accomplished brother, Rev. John Blair Smith. Of his distinguished services and ability, the history of Virginia, of the Presbyterian Church and of education, is full. Rev. Druy Lacy, was acting President for seven years, fol- lowed by the sainted Archibald Alexander, D. D., names memorable and honored. Rev. Moses Hoge, D. D., was President from 1807 to 1820, and filled the double THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 503 position of President of the College and Professor of Theology, by appointment of the Synod of Virginia. With varying fortunes the college has pursued the even tenor of its way, and now, under the efficient presidency of Rev. Richard Mcllwaine, D. D., has reached a higher prosperity than ever known before in its history. In 1837 Davidson College was planted in Meck- lenburg County, N. C., a county already famous no DAVIDSON COLLEGE, DAVIDSON, J*. C. ' less for its love of liberal education than for its love of independence. For fifty-five years it has steadily advanced in popular regard, and has stimulated a love of thorough scholarship. Its graduates are held in high esteem, more than one-third of whom have entered the Presbyterian ministry. Davidson College is under the control of a Board of Trustees appointed by the Pres- byteries of the Synods of North Carolina, South Caro- lina, Georgia, and Florida. Rev. J. B. Shearer, D. D., LL. D., is President (1891), and the number of stu- dents in attendance is now larger than ever before. o Reference has already been made to Central Univer- 504 PRESBYTERIANS. sity, Richmond, Ky., under the chancellorship of Rev. Dr. L. H. Blanton, which was founded by the Pres- byterians of the Synod of Kentucky since the close of the Civil War, and to Southwestern Presbyterian Uni- versity, Clarkesville, Tenn., under the control and gaining the patronage and confidence of our six South- western Synods, Rev. Dr. J. M. Rawlings, Chancellor, both of which institutions, wisely administered and with full and able corps of professors, are meeting with de- served prosperity and accomplishing much for our Southern Church. To meet the wants of that attractive region, and filled with a true and sturdy population, embraced in East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia, King College was founded in 1869. Of its work it is enough to say, more than half its graduates have entered the Presbyterian ministry, many reaching by their ability and scholar- ship eminence, usefulness and honor. Rev. Dr. J. Albert Wallace is President. Its curators are appointed by Presbyteries in Tennessee and Virginia. In 1872, at Batesville, Ark., under the presidency of Rev. Dr. Isaac J. Long, Arkansas College was founded, and has accomplished a noble work for the Presbyterian Church, more than a third of its graduates becoming ministers. Westminster College, Fulton, Mo., with an accom- plished faculty, Rev. William Hoge Marquess, D. D., President, under the care of the Synod of Missouri, and one of the few colleges of the West that worked on bravely during the war, has maintained a high standard of scholarship, and promises to rise to more and more prominence in the sphere of Christian education, its endowment having been recently largely increased, and THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. $05 is already reckoned among our most solid and substan- tial institutions. In the vast State of Texas, itself a magnificent em- pire, Presbyterians have maintained amid many dis- couragements, both before and since the war, a college which has done already much to build up the Presby- terian Church, and is constantly growing in public con- THORNWELL ORPHANAGE, CLINTON, S. C. fidence and influence, and gaining in patronage. Austin College is situated at Sherman, Tex., and is under the presidency of Rev. S. M. Luckett, D. D. The youngest of the institutions recognized as avowedly Presbyterian is Clinton College, Clinton, S. C. Of eleemosynary institutions, as of collegiate, there are several under the control of boards of trustees ap- pointed by church courts, and others whose affairs are directed by Presbyterians. One of the most widely known is the Thornwell Orphanage, at Clinton, S. C. t a memorial of the divine whose name it bears, and a fitting one, as he himself, though not an orphan, was 506 PRESBYTERIANS. cared for in his early years by others. Thornwell Orphanage is under the care of Rev. Wm. P. Jacobs, D. D., and without endowment or resources of any kind, dependent on the favor of Him who feeds the ravens and clothes the lilies of the field, has now within its several memorial cottages, built by the gifts in many instances of children, and as memorials of loved ones, an hundred orphans, in the hallowed control of a Christian home. Already some have left its walls for the ministry, and one is a missionary in Japan, who was there cared for and educated. Presbyterians in Charlotte, N. C., having maintained a home for orphans for several years, yielded its control to the Synod of North Carolina, which has removed it to Barium Springs, Iredell County, N. C. Though re- cently destroyed by fire, a munificent benefaction from Mr. G. W. Watts, of Durham, N. C., will enable the Synod to resume its benevolent enterprise. In other cities, too, Presbyterians, sometimes in asso- ciation with other Christians, have opened and main- tained dispensaries, retreats for the sick, homes for the aged, or for the friendless, for boys or for girls, hos- pitals, orphanages, and asylums, and sought to illus- trate the character of their Lord and follow His example who "went about doing good." The principles maintained by the Southern Presby- terian Church, and tidings concerning its work, have been zealously and ably advocated, and widely and in- terestingly told by several journals, official and un- official. The Missionary, one of the best of the For- eign Mission journals, is issued by the committee at Nashville under the editorial care of the secretaries. The Home Missionary in like manner presents the THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 50? interests of home mission work in all its details. For Sunday school teachers The Earnest Worker is pub- lished by the Committee of Publication and Sunday Schools, and for children's reading they issue The Childreris Friend. An able and scholarly theological review, The Presbyterian Quarterly, admirably edited by Dr. George Summey, and Drs. Strickler and Bar- nett, is published in Richmond, Va. The Union Semi- nary Magazine is winning its popularity. The Chris- tian Observer of Louisville, The Central Presbyte- rian of Richmond, The St. Louis Presbyterian, The North Carolina Presbyterian, The Southern Presby- terian of Columbia, The Southwestern Presbyterian of New Orleans, The Texas Presbyterian are the weekly family religious papers of the Southern Church. They illustrate that local devotion characteristic of Southern people, and while giving news and discussions from the whole Church, foster and give prominence to the work of the special Synods and parts of the Church in which they find their constituency chiefly. Edited with varying ability, they present a faithful portraiture of the piety, earnestness, culture, spirituality, and aggressiveness that mark in greater or less degree the Church whose interests they subserve. Such is, in brief, the outline of the Southern Presby- terian Church, a sketch too much without color. It would have been pleasant to have lingered in the story of its heroic hours. Not less glorious than the magni- ficent protest of Chalmers and others, and the silent and solemn retirement from the Assembly Hall in the Free Church movement of 1843, was the movement in the Synods of Kentucky and Missouri led by such men as Stuart Robinson and S. B. McPheeters. We have a 508 PRESBYTERIANS. compensation for the toils and sacrifices of those days in the stern testimonies that were given. The bitterness is past the witness is uttered the truth abides forever. It could have been no less pleasant to have pictured the struggles and successes of evangelistic effort at home and abroad and our Church has abundant reason for gratitude for the favor of a covenant-keeping God. By the side of those who preached in the fastnesses of the highlands or at low tide on the glistening sand, or of those who bore the Gospel to the South Seas and wit- nessed the transformation of savage tribes, may be placed the record of those self-sacrificing missionaries who preached to and cared for the slaves, or who planted the banner of the Cross in remote and inaccessible regions in Kentucky and West Virginia, or the story of our own Allen Wright, Kingsbury, Inslee, and Ed- ward Lane. It would have been pleasant to have told of such men who have made the annals of the Southern Church luminous with the splendor of their genius and achievements, as Thornwell, and Chancellor Johnstone, Lyon and Justice Swayne, Stuart Robinson and Gov- ernor Wickliffe, McPheeters and Judge Shepherd, Plumer, and many others, not to mention the names of the living. It has been rather our effort to give a faithful presentation of the causes of our existence as a Church, and of the progress of our beloved Zion. The outlook is one of encouragement and hope. The life of the Church has been developed by the very discipline through which it has been called to pass. With energy and buoyancy it has addressed itself to the work allotted in the providence of God. Bearing faithful testimony to the spirituality of the Church, THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 509 preaching " the gospel of the Kingdom," of which Christ alone is King, it has sought to live in peace and fellowship with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ. Fraternal relations are maintained with the Church from which it separated, and with all other Presbyterian bodies and for all Christian ministers and Churches WESTMINSTER COLLEGE, FULTON, MO. there is the warmest brotherly sympathy. The increase in missionary zeal, the development of spiritual life, the devotion to the traditions of Presbyterianism, the in- telligent attachment to the Scriptures as the Word of God, and to the standards as teaching the doctrines of the Scriptures, the rapid growth in numbers, both of communicants and those seeking the ministry, the equipment and success of educational and eleemosyn- ary institutions, and the special success that has accom- 510 PRESBYTERIANS. panied the Church's managing its own work, all these give just cause for congratulation and hope, and awaken profoundest gratitude to the Great Head of the Church who has given us a place and a work in His Kingdom. " In the name of our God we will set up our banners. The Lord fulfill all our petitions ! " CHAPTER XXIII. THE PRESBYTERIAN COMMUNION. By Prof. WM. HENRY ROBERTS, D. D., LL. D.,- American Secretary of the Presbyterian Alliance. word communion is used ecclesiastically to ex- 1 press the idea of a widespread religious fellowship, including within the same bonds of faith and polity men of many nations and diverse races. There is a Roman communion, composed of all those who ac- knowledge the supremacy of the Pope ; a Greek com- munion, including all who look to the Czar of Russia as ecclesiastical leader, and an Anglican communion, taking within its compass those who accept the faith and order of the Established Church of England. The Presbyterian communion includes all Christians who maintain what are called the great doctrines of grace, and are organized in accordance with the princi- ples of representative government. The number of Presbyterians thoughout the world at present is about 21,000,000. They are found in well- nigh every nation, on all five continents, and are gathered into more than eighty denominations. See statistical table, p. 534. While holding with all Protest- ants the fundamental doctrines of evangelical Christi- anity, they emphasize what is sometimes called Pauline, sometimes the Augustinian, and ordinarily the Calvinis- tic system of doctrine. The essential characteristic of this system is that it makes the process of human sal- 512 PRESBYTERIANS. vation from beginning to end, from election to glorifi- cation, dependent for efficiency solely upon the rich, free, full, unmerited and special grace toward sinners, provided of God in Jesus Christ. Salvation is " not of works lest any man should boast." Further, Presbyterian Church Government, as well as the Calvinistic doctrine, is regarded as apostolic in origin. The principal elements of the Presbyterian polity are : The sole headship of Jesus Christ, involv- ing submission to his law as contained in the Christian Scriptures as the only rule of faith and practice ; the parity or equality of the ministry ; the equality of believers in power and privilege; the unity of the Church, involving the authoritative control of the Church, not by individuals but by representative courts, known as Church Sessions, Presbyteries, Synods, and General Assemblies. Magnifying doctrinally the sovereignty of God, the Presbyterian System magnifies ecclesiastically the sovereignty of law. The Presbyterian polity suffered decline during the Early and Middle Ages, owing to the influence of the prevailing civil governments, which were either monar- chical or imperial. The Pauline doctrines of grace, however, were maintained from the Apostolic Age to the Reformation by a long and glorious line of Theo- logians, including Augustine (430), Alcuin (804), Anselm (1109), Bernard of Clairvaux (1153), Brad- wardine, (1349), Wycliffe (1384), Huss (1415) Savon- arola (1498), and Staupitz, the instructor of Luther. With the Reformation in 1517, came freedom both of thought and action, and a widespread revival of the Apostolic faith and polity. This revival found clearest expression in the Churches called interchangeably Re- THE PRESBYTERIAN COMMUNION. 513 formed and Presbyterian, and the history of many of them is briefly sketched in this article. EUROPE. Switzerland. The Presbyterian system found organ- ization first at the time of the Reformation in the Re- formed Church of the Canton of Geneva. The earliest of the Swiss Reformers was Ulric Zwingli, who began preaching in 1509 and who fell, in 1531, in the disastrous battle of Cappel. But while holding the Reformed doctrine, he cannot be regarded as the founder of the Reformed Churches. The Christian to whom this great privilege was given of God was John Calvin, a native of France, who, flying from persecution, took refuge, in 1536, at Geneva. The history of the Refor- mation in Switzerland from the time of Calvin is the history of conflict with the Papacy and with heresy. The struggles between the Roman Catholic and the Protestant Cantons did not cease until the decisive battle of Vilmergen, in 1712. Again, the union of Church and state, as elsewhere, has been unfavorable to doctrinal purity, and the Calvinistic faith has been seriously weakened by Unitarianism and Rationalism. At present the nominal adherents of the Reformed Church in the country number 1,700,000. Three Inde- pendent churches exist, but they are comparatively weak in numbers. France. The French Reformed Church originated , in the early part of the sixteenth century, many persons in France being in sympathy with the Reformation in Germany. Their struggle through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries is sketched elsewhere. As a result of their various persecutions, fully 500,000 per-: 514 PRESBYTERIANS. sons escaped from the country and established them- selves in various Protestant lands, many of them set- tling in the American colonies. Intolerance was the rule from 1685 to 1787, when a new Edict of Toleration was issued by Louis XVI. Napoleon Bonaparte, in 1802, gave complete liberty to the Reformed Church, except in administration ; but it was not until 1872 that the National Synod, after an interval of more than two hundred years, again met by permission of the govern- ment. The orthodox party, being in the majority in this Synod, formulated a brief Confession of Faith, triumphing over a so-called liberal minority, and, as a result, on complaint by the minority, the government declined to authorize subsequent Synods. In these circumstances, the Reformed Church instituted a sys- tem of unofficial Synods, which meet regularly, and now carry forward efficiently the work of administration. The latest statistics show the number of ministers to be 840, churches 567, and the total number of adherents 700,000. In addition to the Reformed Church, an organization exists called The Union of the Free Evangelical Churches, having about 3300 communi- cants. The National Church is supported by the state. In several European countries certain denomi- nations are recognized by law as churches entitled to support by the civil authorities, though they are not state churches. Religious conditions in Europe, as affecting civil rights, are strange to an American. For instance, to secure civil standing, every person in Germany must be an adherent of some recognized Church. Again, in order to obtain admission to the state schools, a certificate of baptism is necessary, and also for marriage or burial. This certificate must be THE PRESBYTERIAN COMMUNION. 515 signed by the pastor of some church. Further, all churches, both those established bylaw and those which are recognized as having a legal standing, are responsible to the state for all persons nominally connected with them, whatever their true spiritual condition. This state of affairs is one of the great obstacles to spiritual religion on the European Continent. Christianity does not flourish under the pressure of such compulsory relations and enactments. Germany. The Reformation in Germany was the work of Martin Luther. The Lutheran Church is his monument. The Reformed Church in Germany finds its source in the Reformation in Switzerland, originating in the labors of Zvvingli, and afterward organized by Cal- vin. The chief differences between the Reformed and Lutheran Churches are two. Doctrinally the Lutheran Church holds to consubstantiation, as the true mode of the presence of Christ in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, while the Reformed Church holds solely to the spiritual presence. In matters of polity the Reformed Church insists upon the right of the Christian laity to a participation in the government through elders elected by the people, while the Lutheran Church governs by consistories, composed of ministers and lay- men, appointed by the Emperor as the Supreme Bishop. The portions of the German Empire in which the Re- formed faith was largely prevalent were Hesse, Baden, the Palatinate, Nassau and Prussia. Between 1817 and 1822 a union was formed between the Lutheran and the Reformed, and the united organization bears the name of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. There are yet in Germany several Reformed organi- zations declining union with the State Church, and 5l6 PRESBYTERIANS. the total number of their adherents is estimated at [,300,000. Holland. The Reformed Church of Holland traces its origin chiefly to Switzerland and France. In 1573 the patriotic party gained control of the seven northern provinces of the Netherlands, and in 1579 formed a union under the lead of William the Silent, Prince of Orange. The Church of Holland, like other Reformed Churches, had been from the first Calvinistic, but in 1600 the famous Arminian controversy began, by which it was divided and weakened. The Synod of Dort was called to decide the issues raised, and adopted in 1619 the famous Canons or Articles of the Synod of Dort, which, with the Belgic Confession and the Heidelberg Catechism, are the existing doctrinal standards of the Church. The government is essentially Presbyterian, but here, as elsewhere, union with the state is the great enemy of spiritual religion. About 1830 a number of ministers and congregations separated from the Estab- lishment in order to secure, in their opi-nion, greater purity of doctrine and polity, and formed a Church with the name, The Christian Reformed Church of Holland. This denomination has now about 320 min- isters and congregations, and 70,000 communicants. The state Church has about 1700 ministers, 1500 con- gregations and 2,200,000 adherents. Hungary. The Reformed Church of Hungary orig- inated in the dissemination of the Reformed doctrine in the Kingdom by University students and others from 1523 onward. It met first in Synod at Varad, August 1 8, 1559. Up to 1781, Hungarian Protestants were obliged time and again to maintain their rights by force pf arms. In the latter year the Emperor Joseph II. THE PRESBYTERIAN COMMUNION. 5 I/ Issued his famous Edict of Toleration. The Church is governed by Synods and Presbyteries, and the number of ministers is 1997, of congregations 2100, and of baptized adherents about 2,100,000. Being a Church recognized by the state, its ministers are maintained by appropriations from the revenues of the Crown. Each Synod is controlled by a Superintendent or Bishop, the word, however, being used in a non-prelatical sense. This arrangement is the result of the connection with the state, which holds the superintendent directly re- sponsible for ministers and church members. Italy. The history of the evangelical Christians of Italy is written with their blood. The Reformation spread rapidly through the land during the earlier part of the sixteenth century, and many adhered to its principles, but in 1542 the Inquisition was established, and as a result the seventeenth century found Protestantism, ex- cept in the valleys of Piedmont, either extirpated or expatriated. In the fastnesses of the Alps the Wal- denses maintained a pure faith despite the determined efforts of their enemies to destroy them/ In 1533 the Waldenses came into alliance with the Swiss Reformers, and their Churches were organized more fully after the Genevan or Presbyterian model. This connection with the Reformers brought only new afflictions, and the persecution of 1655 was so terrible in its character that Cromwell threatened that, if it did not cease, he would bombard the Pope in his Castle of St. Angelo. Full release from oppressive conditions was secured only at the revolution in 1848. Under the favoring environment of a free and reunited Italy, The Waldensian Church has increased rapidly in num- bers and influence. There is also in Italy an organ- $l8 PRESBYTERIANS. ization called the Free Christian Church of Italy, founded in 1870. Both the Waldensian and the Free Churches are Presbyterian in faith and polity. The former has 18,000, the latter 1500 communicants. In the other European countries the several Re- formed Churches have experienced, as in Italy, great reverses. In Spain, Protestantism was utterly destroyed by Philip II. Persecution needs simply to be thorough to do its work. The present Reformed Church of Spain was organized in 1872, and has at this time about 1000 communicants. In Belgium, also, the Spanish monarchs practically extirpated the adherents of the Reformation. Two churches are now found in the country, The Synod of the Union of Evangelical Churches and The Synod of the Missionary Christian Church. In Poland, at the time of the Reformation, the Polish nobility accepted the Reformed faith, and Synods were held in 1550, and thereafter from time to time until 1655, the date of the Swedish invasion. From the date of that event, war and other causes operated to overthrow Protestantism. At present, there are two feeble Reformed Churches in Polish Rus- sia, The Evangelical Church of Poland, with 2000, and The Reformed Church of Lithuania, with 5000 com- municants. Both bodies are subjected to persecution by the Russian officials. Last, but not least of the Re- formed Churches of Europe, are those located in the Austrian Empire. One of these, the Hungarian Church, has already been considered. Another of these is The Reformed Church of Bohemia, whose origin can be traced back to the earliest times, and which revived its life under the influence of Wycliffe, in the four- teenth century, and of Huss, in the fifteenth century. THE PRESBYTERIAN COMMUNION. 519 The Bohemians were the first European people to resist the Papacy. But though the Reformed portion of the population maintained desperately on the field of bat- tle the rights of conscience, they were at last totally defeated, and the battle of the Weissburg, in 1620, ended a conflict which had lasted, with varying fortunes, for 200 years. From 1206 until 1781, the date of the Edict of Toleration, Protestantism was virtually extinct. At the present time not more than two per cent, of the population are of the Reformed faith. In addition to the Churches of Bohemia and of Hungary, there are in the Austrian Empire two other bodies professing the Reformed faith, the Reformed Churches in the provinces of Austria and Moravia, having between them about 30,000 communicants. Even in this latter half of the nineteenth century, however, the hand of Rome is heavy against the Churches, which it recog- nizes as its most dreaded enemies, and while it cannot persecute, persistently annoys Austrian Presbyterians. GREAT BRITAIN. There are in Great Britain six strong Churches, bear- ing the Presbyterian name, the first of which, histori- cally, is The Church of Scotland. The name Presby- terian is indissolubly united with the land of John Knox. The early Christian Church in Scotland, which originated probably in the second century, was not sub- ject to the Papacy until the twelfth century. The teachings of Columba, and the influence of the Cul- dees were still potent in the sixteenth century among the Scotch peasantry. When the Reformation came, it swept away with a rush the Papal connection as an excrescence and a blot. Under trie lead of Knox the 526 PRESBYTERIANS. Scotch nation threw off at one and the same time Po- pery and Episcopacy, and established the Church as a Reformed Church, August i, 1560, by Act of Parlia- ment. Through severe conflicts the Church held fast its position till the passage of the Act of Security in 1 707. Since then it has been, and will probably remain, the Church of the kingdom, unchangeably established by law, and entitled to support by the State. The peace of the Church has been disturbed at times by controversies, resulting in secessions, the principal of which, in the eighteenth century, were those of 1733 and 1761, and which resulted in the formation of the Associate and the Relief Churches. The great seces- sion, however, was the movement which culminated in the establishment, in 1843, f the Free Church of Scot- land. The number of ministers of the State Church by the last statistics, is 1450; of churches and parishes, 1650; of communicants, 581,568. The Free Church of Scotland arose from popular op- position to what is called the Patronage Act. This Act was passed in 1712 by the British Parliament, and gave to certain landed proprietors in parishes the right to nominate pastors, and virtually to force their settlement over congregations, in the face of opposition from the majority of the people. The Act frequently occasioned trouble from its first passage, but it was not until about May, 1830, that it began to be made the subject of general complaint. Certain cases arising under it were carried into the civil courts. The courts decided in favor of the proprietors or patrons,and in opposition to the will of the people and the decisions of the General Assembly. This assertion of civil authority in the determination of ecclesiastical matters stirred Scotland THE PRESBYTERIAN COMMUNION. 52! to its center, and led, under the influence of Thomas Chalmers and others in 1843, to the establishment of the Free Church. In that year 470 ministers left the Established Church, led by the Moderator of the Gen- eral Assembly, and organized a new denomination. It is in all respects similar in organization to the Church of Scotland, except in the fact that it has no connection with the State. Statistics: ministers, 1249; congrega- tions, 1030; communicants, 335,000. The United Presbyterian Church of Scotland is the existing representative of the Associate and Relief secessions from the Established Church, effected in 1733 and 1761 respectively, and largely as a protest against state control of Church affairs. A union be- tween these secessions was accomplished in May, 1847, at Edinburgh, and the latest statistics are as follows : ministers, 615; congregations, 567; communicants, 184,352. This denomination is a Psalm-singing Church, and it is noteworthy that its General Assembly passed, in 1879, a Declaratory Act explaining the Calvinistic portions of the Westminster Confession from the stand- point of the Divine love. The Presbyterian Church of England. The English Puritans were Calvinistic in doctrine, and largely Pres- byterian in polity. The spread of Presbyterian doc- trines and governmental views was rapid from 1572 on- ward, and finally resulted in the establishment of the Presbyterian Church as the state Church of England by Act of Parliament, June 29, 1647. It was at this time that the Westminster Assembly met and framed that general standard of Presbyterian doctrine, in English-speaking countries, which is known as the Westminster Confession. Presbyterianism, however, $22" PKESBYTEfctANS. though established by Act of Parliament, never became the recognized state Church outside of London and Lancashire, and even in these localities its influence and power were seriously impaired by the opposition of Oliver Cromwell, who suppressed its Synod meetings in 1655. At the Restoration in 1661, a sharp crisis oc- curred in the history of English Presbyterianism. Par- liament passed an act of Uniformity requiring all rectors to conform to the newly established Episcopal Church. Many complied, but nearly 2000 ministers resigned their charges, or were ejected from them rather than conform to the state Church. Of these ministers, 1 500 were Presbyterians. This Church has also suf- fered from internal strife. During the eighteenth cen- tury subscription to doctrinal standards was not re- garded by the majority of its ministers as essential to good standing. A gradual departure from the faith of the fathers was the result, until at last in many portions of the country, Presbyterian and Unitarian had become synonymous terms. There are churches to-day in England known legally as Presbyterian churches but in whose pulpits Unitarian ministers officiate. In addi- tion to the Presbyterian churches of English origin quite a number of congregations have existed, from an early date, which are of Scotch origin. In 1843 a Synod was organized in sympathy with the Free Church of Scotland, and, in 1876, this Synod formed a union with the English branch of the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland, the new body taking the name of the Pres- byterian Church of England. This Church is gov- erned by a Synod, and in 1889 adopted a new Confes- sion of Faith, containing twenty-five articles, not as a substitute for, but as supplementary to the Westminster THE PRESBYTERIAN COMMUNION. 5^3 Confession. Statistics : Ministers, 300 ; Congregations, 288 ; Communicants, 65,000. The Presbyterian Church in Ireland. Presbyterians entered Ireland from Scotland in 1608. Their num- bers were largely increased, about 1641, by the sup- pression of the great Roman Catholic Rebellion of that year,and the settlement of Scotch soldiers in the country. This Church, like the Presbyterian Church of England, was greatly troubled by the Unitarian heresy. Internal conflicts, however, came to a close in 1827, when Arian- ism in Ireland was decisively overthrown under the leadership of the famous Henry Cooke, D. D., and the Irish Church was established upon a thoroughly evan- gelical basis. This victory was followed in 1840 by the union of the Synod of Ulster with the body called the Seceder Synod, the new organization taking the name of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. The Church is governed by a General Assembly and holds tenaciously to the Westminster Confession. It regards ministers as teaching elders, and emphasizes lay power. Statis- tics : Ministers, 626, congregations, 555, communicants, 102,678. The Calvinis tic Methodist Church of Wales. Welsh Methodism is in origin independent of, and was organ- ized prior to, English Methodism. Methodist Societies were organized in Wales as early as i 736, three years previous to the organization of English Societies by John Wesley. In 1740 the great division between Calvinists and Arminians took place in the Methodist body in England, but the Welsh Methodists were Cal- vinists from the beginning. The First General Asso- ciation or Synod was held in 1742. Formal withdrawal from the Church of England did not take place until 524 PRESBYTERIANS. 1811, when at the General Synod held at Bala, 21 per- sons were ordained to the office of the ministry, and a Church organization was established based avowedly upon the New Testament. It is well to bear in mind that the ministers and members of this Church had been brought up under the influence of Episcopacy, and yet, after due study of the Scriptures, rejected in toto that system of Church Government. In 1823 a Con- fession of Faith was adopted, and in 1864 the General Assembly was constituted. The word Methodist, in the name of this Church, is to be understood as defining not a system of doctrine, but methods of Christian life and work. In this Church every elder is a member of Presbytery, a feature of the polity which gives to the laity an overwhelming influence. Statistics: Ministers, 101 2, churches, 1439, communicants, 142,051. AMERICA. The history of several of the Presbyterian Churches in the United States has been discussed at length in other portions of this volume. The limitations of space have forbidden the presentation in the work of complete accounts of the remaining denominational organizations found on the American Continent. It is hoped that the brief sketches which follow will be accepted as a slight though inadequate effort to recog- nize and appreciate honored and highly esteemed Churches of Christ. The United States. There are three Christian Churches at present existing in the United States which originated on the European Continent. The first of these is : The Reformed Church in America. This Church was founded in New Amsterdam as THE PRESBYTERIAN COMMUNION. 525 a colonial Church by the Reformed Church of Hol- land. The first congregation was organized in 1628 with the Rev. Jonas Michaelius as pastor. In 1664 the colony was captured by the English and its name changed to New York, but the connection of the SEMINARY HALL, WESTERN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, ALLEGHENY, PA. Reformed Dutch Church with Holland was main- tained and continued until about 1770, when two bodies, one called the Coetus (1747), and the other the Conferentie (1755), united in forming a self-governing court. The formal and full organization as an Ameri- o can Church took place in 1792, when the first General Synod met. Emigration from Holland to the Atlan- tic region ended about 1750, and the Dutch language ceased, in New York and New Jersey, to be the vernac- 526 PRESBYTERIANS. ular of many of the people during the first years of the eighteenth century. In 1867, the name by which the Church had been legally known for three-quarters of a century, " The Reformed Protestant Dutch Church," was changed so as to read " The Reformed Church in America." A liturgy is provided for use in public worship, but is not obligatory. The forms for baptism, communion, ordination, etc., are mandatory. The names of the judicatories differ from those in use in other Presbyterian Churches. The Session is called a Consistory, the Presbytery a Classis, and the higher bodies are Particular Synods, and the General Synod. Further, the Session is vested with power to adminis- ter the temporal affairs of the congregation, and the pastor is both Moderator of Session and Chairman of the trustees. The Church is one of the wealthiest and most influential in the country. Statistics : ministers 572, congregations 580, communicants, 94,323. The second organization bearing the Reformed name is The Christian Reformed Church, which is a branch of the Church of the same name which was organized in Holland in 1835, as a protest against the then condition of the state Church. It is composed in large part of recent emigrants, and is strongest in the State of Michigan. It has about 75 ministers, 99 congregations and 12,470 communicants. The largest of the Reformed Bodies in the United States is The Reformed Church in the United States. The first emigrants to the American colonies from the Reformed Churches of Germany settled in New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania, in 1684. The majority came from the Palatinate. The first minister of this Church was the Rev. John J. Ehle, who labored in THE PRESBYTERIAN COMMUNION. 527 New York from 17101780. In 1746 the Palatinate Classis or Presbytery sent the Rev. Michael Schlatter over as Superintendent, who found in the country 54 congregations, 30,000 adherents, but only five ordained ministers. The growth of the Church was greatly hindered by this lack of ministers, and the lack was not supplied so long as dependence upon Germany was maintained. In 1747, a Coetus, or ecclesiastical convention, having only advisory powers, was formed, which in 1792 became a Synod. In 1793 the Church became independent and adopted a Constitution. Its services until 1825 were everywhere conducted in the German language, then the change to English began which has since become quite general. In 1863 a General Synod was established, and in 1869 the word German was dropped from the title of the Church. The names given to Church judicatories are the same as in the Dutch Church, with the exception that the Particular Synod is called a District Synod. This Church is now considering the advisability of forming a Federal Union with the Reformed Church- in America. Statistics : ministers 871, congregations 1573, commu- nicants 208,990. In addition to the Presbyterian Churches in the United States, whose history is thus recounted, there are also the following bodies. The Associate Re- formed Synod of the South has eight Presbyteries, with 116 churches and 8501 members. The Associate Church of North America has four Presbyteries, 31 churches and 1053 members. The Reformed Presby- terian Church in the United States and Canada has one church of 600 members. The Reformed Presby- terian Covenanted Church has four churches and 37 528 PRESBYTERIANS. members. The statistics of these last four are quoted from the Census of 1890. There is also in the United States a branch of the Welsh Presbyterian Church. Presbyterians of this nationality settled in the country as early as 1684, but the first congregation connected with the Welsh Church was established in 1826, at Remsen, N. Y. The services are conducted in the Welsh language, and the membership is recruited by emigration from the Prin- cipality. Statistics: ministers, 130; churches, 187; communicants, 12,275. Canada. The Presbyterian Church in Canada. The first Presbyterian minister in the general territory now bearing the name of Canada was the Rev. James Lyon, who came from New Jersey, U. S. A., in 1764 to Nova Scotia. The people to whom he ministered were immigrants from Scotland and Ireland, and these two countries were the chief sources of the Presbyterian population in the Dominion. These immigrants natu- rally brought with them to their new homes the religious differences existing in the motherlands. The first Presbytery established was one in connection with the Associate Synod of Scotland in 1 769, and, between that date and 1843, Presbyteries were established in con- nection with the various Presbyterian organizations in Scotland. In the latter year one-fourth of the ministers and churches in the Scotch connection organized the Free Church of Canada. The desire for Church unity, however, found expression repeatedly in the history of the Canadian Churches, and finally culminated in 1875 in the union of the then existing four Presbyterian denominations. In the Dominion of Canada to-day there is but one Church holding the Presbyterian doc- THE PRESBYTERIAN COMMUNION. 529 trine and polity, and it is a liviug illustration of the value and power of unity in Christian faith and work. Statistics, 1891 : ministers, 1020; churches, 1769; mis- sions, 698; communicants, 169,152. OTHER AMERICAN CHURCHES. The principal Presbyterian Church in the West Indies is The Presbyterian Church of Jamaica. This Church originated in the work of missionaries sent out from Glasgow, Scotland, in 1820. Its highest judicatory, the Synod, was organized in 1848. Statistics : 30 ministers, 66 congregations and 9444 communicants. In Mexico, Central America and Chili, important Presbyterian missions exist. In Patagonia Welsh Pres- byterians are found, and The Presbytery of Trinidad and the Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church in Suri- nam are independent bodies. The principal South American Presbyterian Church is The Presbyterian Church of Brazil. The Calvin- istic faith was first carried to Brazil by the Huguenots, in 1555, but only to be destroyed by persecution. The present Church organization originated in the labors of missionaries sent out by the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, the first of whom was the Rev. A. G. Simonton, who landed in Rio de Janeiro in August, 1859. Missionary work has been also carried on in Brazil by the Presbyterian Church in the United States (South). The missionaries of these two churches came together, in 1888, at Rio, and organized, with the full consent of the General Assemblies inter- ested, the Synod of the Presbyterian Church of Brazil. Statistics : 32 ministers, 67 churches and 3000 commu- nicants. 530 PRESBYTERIANS. ASIA. In addition to the Colonial Reformed Dutch Churchy with its 240,000 adherents, in the East Indies, and the numerous Presbyterian missions scattered from Syria to Korea, there are two native Churches in Asia, which SYRIAN PROTESTANT COLLEGE, BEIRUT, SYRIA. are the first fruits of foreign mission work on that con- tinent. The first to which attention is drawn is The Evan- gelical Syriac Church of Persia. This Church is the outgrowth of American missions among the Nestorians in that country, beginning in the year 1835. The first formal organization was accomplished in 1862, and in 1878 a Confession of Faith and a form of government were adopted. The system of polity is essentially Pres- THE PRESBYTERIAN COMMUNION. 531 byterian, with one or two points of difference. Native ministers, for instance, insist upon the maintenance of the diaconate as a preaching order. The prospects of growth for the Church are encouraging. It has at present 50 ministers, 25 churches and 2290 communi- cants. The second denomination is the United Church of Christ in Japan. This Church originated in missions established, in 1859, by the Presbyterian and Reformed Churches in the United States of America. Prominent among the original missionaries was Dr. J. C. Hep- burn. In 1873 th e Presbytery of Japan was constituted ; in 1877 a denominational organization w r as formed, and by 1886 all the Presbyterian missionaries, from what- ever country, entered into the union movement. An effort to unite the Congregational with the Presby- terian ministers and Churches made in 1887 failed, owing to the opposition of Congregationalists in the United States. The Japanese Church is now thor- oughly organized, and has adopted (1891) a brief creed, composed of the Apostles' Creed, with one or two ad- ditional statements of doctrine. Statistics : Native ministers, 40 ; congregations, 68 ; communicants, 8954. AFRICA. The Dark Continent is not altogether given over to the blackness of heathenism. Numerous Christian Missions are found in its every part, and in some sec- tions there are fully organized Churches. In Algeria, there are three Presbyteries, in connection with the Reformed Church of France, and in South Africa there are six distinct denominations bearing the name of Re- formed, the principal one of which is The Dutch Re.- 53 2 PRESBYTERIANS. formed Church of South Africa. The total of Pres- byterian and Reformed members and adherents on the Continent is estimated at about 150,000. AUSTRALASIA. In the South Pacific, Presbyterian Churches or Mis- sions are found in New Zealand, Tasmania, the New Hebrides and Australia. The first Presbyterian con- gregation established in this part of the world was or- ganized at Portland Head, New South Wales, in 1809. As in Canada so in Australia, the divisions existing in Scotland at the time of the settlement were perpet- uated in the Colonies. The tendency toward ecclesias- tical union, however, soon manifested itself in Austra- lia, so that, from 1859 onward, Church divisions gradu- ally disappeared, until there is now one Presbyterian Church in each of the colonies of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, West Australia, East Australia, South Australia and Tasmania. The tendency to union reached its consummation in 1891, when the Federal Assembly of these Presbyterian Churches was formed, having jurisdiction in certain general matters over all the Churches. There are in the Australian Churches, 40 Presbyteries, 743 congregations, 384 ministers, and 33, 1 5 7 'communicants. Presbyterian congregations were first organized in New Zealand about 1840, and the first Presbytery was established in Otago in 1854. The union of the several Presbyterian denominations on the islands was accomplished in 1862, so that there are at present in existence but two Churches of the Reformed Faith : The Presbyterian Church of New Zealand, occupying the northern islands, and The Presbyterian Church of THE PRESBYTERIAN COMMUNION. 533 Otago, the southern. The first-named Church has 255 congregations and 6849 communicants ; the second 223 congregations and 11,754 communicants. The Churches of the New Hebrides are Mission Churches having 3500 communicants. THE ALLIANCE OF THE REFORMED CHURCHES. This concise historical sketch would be incomplete without reference to the movement orginating about 1870, with the Rev. Dr. James McCosh, President of Princeton College, which has culminated in the organi- zation known as " The Alliance of the Reformed Churches throughout the world holding the Presbyte- rian System." The motto of the organization " Co- operation without incorporation," indicates with suffi- cient clearness its general nature. The objects of the Alliance are chiefly the creation of a spirit of fraternity among brethren of like mind, and the advancement of the great cause of missions. It finds formal expression in quadrennial meetings called General Councils, hav- ing only advisory powers, and of which four have been already held, at Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1877, Philadel- phia, U. S. A., in 1880, Belfast, Ireland, 1884, and London, England, in 1888. The Fifth General Coun- cil is to be held at Toronto, Canada, September 21-30, 1892. More than sixty Reformed and Presbyterian denominations are included in the Alliance. 534 PRESBYTERIANS. PRESBYTERIAN AND REFORMED CHURCHES THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. Communicants and Adherents. COUNTRIES. COMMUNICANTS. ADHERENTS. AMERICA : United States . . . . - . . 1,650 ooo 5,7OO,OOO Canada 1 7O,OOO 6oO,OOO West Indies I I, OOO 4O,OOO Mexico and Central America 6,250 2O,OOO South America 7,5oo 20,000 EUROPE : Great Britain : Scotland 1,1 10,000 3,5OO,OOO England 67,000 240,000 Wales 147,000 4OO.OOO Ireland 1 15,000 4OO,OOO EUROPE : The Continent : Austria Proper 1C, 000 Bohemia ... ... ... 7O,OOO Moravia 4O,OOO Hungary 2,100,000 Belgium 7,000 25,000 France . Sco.ooo Germany 1,300,000 Holland 2,500,000 Italy 20,000 70,000 Russia 8,000 20,000 S pai n 1,^00 5,000 Switzerland .... 1,700,000 AFRICA 140,000 400,000 ASIA : Japan 0,000 25,000 Persia , 2,500 6,000 23,000 300,000 AUSTRALASIA : Australia 35,000 120,000 New Hebrides 3, coo 10,000 New Zealand 10,000 60,000 Total . . 20,536,000 THE PRESBYTERIAN COMMUNION. 535 DOCTRINAL STANDARDS. There is no one creed or confession which is accepted as the Standard of Doctrine by all the Presbyterian and Reformed Churches in the Alliance. This is not because they do not agree as to the essentials of the Calvinistic faith, but because they originated in differ- ent lands and under varying circumstances. The first of the Reformed Creeds in order of time, the Gallican Confession, adopted in 1559, is the Confession of the French Reformed Church. The Reformed Churches of Dutch origin, whether in Holland, America, Asia, or Africa, thirteen in number, all adhere to the Heidelberg Confession and the Canons of the Synod of Dort. The Reformed Churches of the Austrian Empire, four in number, accept the Second Helvetic Confession and the Heidelberg Catechism. The Presbyterian Churches, technically so called in Great Britain, Canada, the United States of America, Brazil, Australia, etc., nearly forty in number, adhere to the Westminster Confession, with the exception of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. (For its doctrinal position see its special chap- ter.) The remaining Reformed and Presbyterian Churches have their separate Creeds. The General Council of the Alliance, held in Belfast in 1884, con- sidered the advisability of framing a Consensus or Common Creed for all the Churches, but decided that the way was not clear at that time for such a movement. In 1890, however, the General Assembly of the Pres- byterian Church in the United States of America ap- pointed a Committee on a Consensus Creed, which Committee is conducting correspondence on the subject with all the Denominations interested. 536 PRESBYTERIANS. INFLUENCE OF THE PRESBYTERIAN SYSTEM. This sketch would also be incomplete without refer- ence to the principal effects upon the welfare of man- kind of the Calvinistic doctrine and the Presbyterian government. In brief, it can be said that the Presby- terian system has uniformly elevated both the moral character of individuals and nations, has secured for all persons religious liberty, has won and maintained popular rights as against tyranny, has advanced in a conspicuous manner the cause of education, has illus- trated in a marked way the principle of self-sacrifice by furnishing the great majority of martyrs to Christianity since the Reformation, and has evoked persistent enthusiastic effort in the cause of Foreign Missions. One of the strongest reasons for cherishing a large and ever increasing hope for the future of the world lies in the increase in numbers of those who maintain this sys- tem. In almost every country and on every continent two great communions confront each other, the Roman and the Reformed. The first is representative of the tyranny of priests, the other of the liberty of the gospel ; the one owns allegiance to the Pope at Rome, the other is constrained by the obedience of Jesus Christ. The past history of the Reformed Churches is the guarantee of the coming universal triumph of the principles they maintain. INDEX. ACADEMIES and Colleges vs. Professional Schools, 271 ; Finley at Nottingham Evans at Peneader Andrews at Philadelphia Others at New London Faggs Manor Pequa, 256 ; In the Last Century, 256 ; Under Early Southern Pastors, 481 ; vs. Colleges, 256 Adams, John Quincy, on " Election Sermons," 107 Adjusting Church Machinery to new Conditions on Reunion, 235 Adopting Act, 89 Adoption of the Revised Book of Discipline, 243 Africa, Churches of, 531 Africo-American Presbyterian, 347 Alexander, Dr. Arch., 165 ; Elected Professor in Theological Seminary, 273 ; Sermon in 1808, A , 159 Algeria, 531 Allegheny Seminary, 275 Alliance of the Reformed Churches, 357, 533 Amendments Destroying Calvinistic System For- bidden, 372 ; Proposed by Revision Committee, 37 6 . American Churches, 524 American Bible Society, 314 American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions and its Origin First Missionaries Indorsed by the Assembly, 299 : and New School Church, 204 ; Organized in Massachusetts, 290 American Home Missionary Society and American Educational Society, Condemned and Excluded from Presbyterian Churches, 180 A. H. M. S. and New School Church, 204 ; and a N); S. Conference Committee, 211 ; Depend on their Own Agents not on N. S. Presbyterians, 206 ; Insists on Being the Exclusive Channel of N. S. Mission Work, 207 ; Known as a Congre- gational Society. 206 American Sunday School Union and its Resources, American Tract Society and its Income, 353 Andrews, Rev. Jedediah, 69-77 Andover Seminary to offset Harvard Uni- tarianism, 142 Anne and Act of Security, 55 ; and Her Ministers, 77; and Toleration, 99 Anselm, 512 Anti-Revisionists after Appointment Committee, 37 2 j Apostles Familiar with Synagogues, 28 I Apostolic Missions were Transitory, and Why, 319 Apostolic Succession, 34 .; Arbitration Inforced, 82; in Judicial Commissions, 241 ! Arian Heresy, 23 Arianism in Britain, 88 I Arkansas College, Batesville, Ark., 504 il Arminian Controversy, 516 Arminianism and Calvinism, 403 Asia, Churches of. 530 Assembly Election of Theological Professors, Ad- vantagesand Disadvantages, 393; First Meeting Address to Washington, 137 ; and Theological Professors at the Reunion, 386; Has its First Meeting the year of the organization of the Pres- ent Government, 137; Hold an Adjourned Meet- ing, 210; N. S., Raises the Balance of $100,000 Erection Fund, 216 ; of 1835 and Plan of Union and its Abrogation, 176 ; of 1838 opened by Dr. Elliot, 182 ; of 1846 N. S. Slarery Question Missions in, 208 ; of 1852 N. S. Eastern and Western Parties, 211 Associate Reformed Synpd of the South, 527 Associate Synod of N. A., 527 Astruc, Jean, and his "Conjectures," 378 Atlanta Conference of Presbyterians, 485 Auburn Convention, 177 ; Declaration, 201 ; Seminary, 275 Augusta, General Assembly, 485 Augustine, 512 Austin Theological School, Texas, 501 Australasia, Churches of, 532 Australian Churches, 532 Austria, Reformed Churches of, 518 BALA, SYNOD, 524 Balch, Rev. James, 454 Balch, Rev. S. B., 117 Baltimore Synod, Unites with Southern Church, 492 Bancroft, Archbishop, and his Intolerance, 62 Banner at Pittsburgh, the Oldest Religious News- paper, 345 Barnes, Dr. Albert, 186, 187 Barrowism or Presbyterian Puritanism, 61 Baxter of Washington College, Va., 501 Beard, Rev. Richard, D. D., 473 Beecher, Dr. Lyman,and his Trial Called to Lane Seminary, Pastor of Second Church, 185 ; on Dueling, 162 ; Opposes New Measures in Fin- ney's Revivals, 176 ; on Temperance, 161 Belgic Confession, 516 Belgium, 518 Bennett's Colony of Puritans, 62 Berkeley, Gov., Expels Puritans from Virginia, 62 Bernaid of Clairvaux, 512 Beza, Theodore, the Committee of Twelve and their Plea for Protestants, 42 Bible and its Publication and Circulation Amer- ican Bible Society, 313 Bible and its Publication in the First Assembly,i38 Bible, Revision of, by American Bible Society ,314 Bible scarce in Colonial Times Printing Impossi- ble, 141 Bible Society and its Resources Presbyterian Contributors, 353 Biddle University, 283 Bishops, Pastors, Ministers, Angels, 33 Blackburn and Indian Missions, 299 Boards, First Origin of, 79 ; Grow out of the " Fund for Pious Uses," 288 ; Of Missions, 154; Of the Cumberland Church, 473 ; Or Commit- tees Power of. 289; The Pivot of Division, 188 ; Ur^ed as Controlled by the Assembly, 177 ''Bodily Exercises" Explained, 150; opposed, ad- vocated, 146 537 538 INDEX. Bohemian Church, 38 Bohemia, Reformed Church of, 518 Book Business Pays its own Way, 316 Book of Discipline Revised, 242 Books, Reading, and General Improvement, 312 Boundary Question on Union of Old Synods, 112 Boyd, Rev. John, Ordained at Freehold, 68 Bradwardine, 512 Brainard, John, and Indian Missions, 298 Brazil, Japan, and Native Presbyterian Churches, 306 ; Presbyterian Churches of, 244, 529 Bieckinridge, Dr. R. J., Organized Danville Semi- nary, 279 Brevard, Dr. E , Prepares Mecklenburg Declara- tion, 115 Briggs and Union Seminary, 380 ; Trial, 382; . Assembly Veto, 387 British Christianity, 36 Brownism, or Congregational Puritanism, 61 Burke, Edmund, on Election Sermons, 107 Burr, Rev. Aaron, President of Princeton Col- Butler, Charles, Donation to Union Seminary, 380 C/M.DWRLL, DAVID, of North Carolina, 166 Caldwell of Elizabethtown, 117 Call to the Ministry, 81 Calvin Described by Bancroft, Introduction, 5 Calvin, John, 40, 513 Calvin's Institutes and Leadership, 41 Calvinism, its Influence and Introduction, 6 ; and Mission Work, 199 ; as Estimated by Others, 361 Calvinistic Methodist, 523 ; System, 512 Camp Meetings, 145, 454 ; and Basket Meetings, 320 Canada, Presbyterian Churches in, 528 Candidates for the Ministry, 309 Canmore of Scotland and Culdees, 37 Carey, Rev. Wm., and his Mission Revival, 143 ; Sermon on Missions First Foreign Mission Society, 289 Carlisle Presbytery Tries Dr. Duffield, 185 Cartwright and Presbyterianism in England, 47 Catholicism and America, 58 ; and Climate, 58 Cavaliers, 52 Caxton Introduces Printing in England, 39 " Centenary Fund" and Ministerial Relief, Central University, 502 Central West of Omaha, 347 Chalmers, Thomas, 521 Charles I. Charactenzed and Laud and his Par- liament, 49 ; and Popular Support, 98 Charles II., Puritans and Presbyterians, 52 Charles V., of Germany, 40 Chesapeake Bay Commission of U. S. Government, 127- Children's Day and its Collections, 318 ' Christian Commission," 154, 218 ; and its Dele- gates, 355 " Christian Endeavor " and Presbyterians, 355 Christianity and the Synagogues, 28 Christian Reformed Church, 516 Church at Home and Abroad, 342 Church Buildings Essential to Real Success, 320 Church Buildings Needed, aio Church Erection and $100,000 Fund of the N. S. Church, 322; Headquarters Located at St. Louis, 322 ; Mortgages bear no Interest and may be Canceled by Collections, 322 ; Outside of the Board's Work, 324 Church Erection Fund in Early Times for Perth Amboy, N. J., and Salem, Mass., 320 Church Extension Society, 212 ; $100,000 Scheme and its Success, 216 Church Government and Civil Law, 396 Church is Itself a Mission Society, 287, 301 Church Unity, 356 Circuits Established by Revival Preachers, 456 Circumcision and Christianity, 30 Civil Courts and Church Governments, 397 Clark, Rev. F. E., " Father " of Y. P. S.C. E., 355 Cleaveland of Detroit Reads a Paper and Moves that Dr. Beman Preside at the Division, 183 Clinton College, 505 " Close Corporations," Lane Seminary and Union, N. .,277 College Aid Board, Organized in 1883 Its Chris- tian Motives, 332 ; Develops Local Contribu- tions and Gives Confidence, 333 ; Its First Plans Present Methods, 325 College Aid Parochial Schools Academies Free Schools, 330 College Fund Amount Needed to Establish, 275 College, Cumberland, 473 Colleges Early Founded Thirteen before A. 327 I). 1800, 256 College Education and its Importance, 308 Colleges Established, 170 Colleges Multiplied, 170 Colleges Needed to Supply Students to Theologi- cal Seminaries, 336 College Revivals, 171 Collections for Church Erection from Churches that Have Been Helped, 323 ; for the Fund, 79 Collins's Bible, 31* Colonial Reformed Dutch Church, 530 Colonies' Varied Constitutions, 100 Colored Church Members Before the War of 1861, 328 Colored Church Members of Cumberland Church, Colored Evanglization in the Southern Church, C olporters and Missions, Colporters and Church, not Book Peddlers, 316 Columba, 37, 519 Columbia Seminary, 501 Commentary Presbyterian, 198 . Commissions, Judicial, 241 Commissions on Judicial Cases, 196 Commission with the Power of Synod, 81 The Synod of Kentucky, 459 Committeemen as Members of the Assembly, 173 Committee of Benevolence and Board of Finances of U. P., 442 Communion, Terms of, in U. P., 404 Confederation, the Articles of, not Sufficient, 123 Conference of the Presbyterians in the Confeder- ate States, 192 Confession of Faith, Westminster, 367, 462 ; Cum- berland, 471 Congregational Associations, Decline further Con- ference with Committee of the N. S. Assembly, 214 Congregationahsts and Presbyterians in Early Missions, 155 Congregationalism in New England, 63 Congregational Libraries, Parsonages and Glebes, Consensus Creed. 535 ; and Committee, 358 Consolidation of Boards, 237 Constantine, 36 Constitution. New Draft Sent Down to the Presby- teries, 125 Constitutional Convention Called by Congress, 128 Controversies among Denominations very Rare, 360 ; in Modern American Church, 365 Convention of O. S. before Assembly of 1835, INDEX. 539 176; Convention of O. S. before Assembly of 1837, 178 Convention of Presbyterians and Congregational- ists at Elizabeth, 105 Convention Presbyterian National Union at Philadelphia, 221 Convention of 1837, 1 7% Cooke, Henry, 523 Cornbury and his Services, 100 ; andMakemie, 74 Cornwallis's Surrender, 123 Council at Jerusalem, 31 Councils, General, of Presbyterian Alliance, 533 Courts of Church and State Liable to Err, 399' Covenanters, The, 413, 424 ; Covenant Renewed, 419; Missions, 418 ; Societies, 415; Synod, 416 Covenanting in Moses' Time, 413 Craighead, Rev. Thos. B., 457 Craighead's Paper, 83 Craven, Dr. E. R. , and the Revised Book of Dis- cipline, 242 Criticism, Textual and Higher, 377 , Cromwell, Oliver, 51 Cromwell, Richard, 52 Cross, Rev. Robt., Offers a Protest against the New Brunswick Men, 93 nd M Cumberland College, 473 Culdees, The, 37,519; and Margaret the Saxon, 37 37,519; ollege, Cumberland Presbyterians, 147 ; and their Pe- culiarities, 406 ; Aggressive Spirit, 468 ; Causes of Opposition, 455; Church Recognized, 149, 451; Doctrinal Position, 471 ; First Presbytery, 467 ; Growth and Spirit, 477; Originated in a Revival, 453 ; Publication and Periodicals, 474 ; Schools, Cumberland Presbytery Appeal to the Assem- bly, 148; Organized, Dissolved, 147; Reorganized, Cumberland Presbytery, New, 451, 457, 458 Synod, 467 DANVILLE SEMINARY, and the Kentucky Offer, 279 David and the Elders, 26 Davidson College, N. C., 503 " Days of Makemie " by Bowen, 74 Deacons, 396 ; Females elected, 419 Declaration and Testimony, 193, 493 Declaratory Act of U. P. Church of Scotland, 521 Deism. 365 Delegates Allowed to Vote and then the Privilege Withdrawn, 173 elegated Assembly ugges Delegate Ratios in Synods and Presbyteries, 240 Delegated Assembly Suggested, 124 Delegated Synods, 81, 240 Demand for Ministers Increased by Revivals, 272 Denominations Co-operating During the War, 218 ; Influence Each Other, Introduction, 15 Denominational Boards Advocated, 175 ; Mis- sions Rise in the Presbyterian Church, 301 Denton, Rev. Richard, 64 Detroit, Resolution of N. S. Assembly, 209 Derry. Siege of, 53 Dexter on Puritan Independency, 63 Dickinson, Rev. Jonathan, President of Princeton College, 258 Dickinson and Other Able Men in New Side, 93 Dickinson College, 273 Difficulties in the Way of Reunion of Old Synods, 108, up ; of Inspiration, 386 ; of Scriptures, 378 "Digest'' First Proposed, 171 "Directory for Worship" and the New Chapter on the " Worship of God by offerings," 338 Discipline, New Book Adopted, 197 ; Revision of the Book, 242 Dissenters Encouraged by Success, 97 Division into Old School and New Appearing, 172 Division of Synod Actually Occurs, 94 Division, Causes of, 172 Division in the Civil Courts and Contradictory Decisions, 184 ; Lines of Various Questions Concerning, 176 ; Of Synod, 94 Doctrinal Agitation in Britain, 88 ; Basis, alone a Basis for Reunion, 223; Difference in Parties, in Great Revival of 1800, 146 ; Differences not the Cause of the Division into Old and New School, 184, 200; Errors Condemned, 181; Unity, 199 Doctrine, Presbyterian, 511 Doctrines and Mission Work, 199 ; of Cumber- land, 470 Dort, Canons of, 535 ; Synod of, 43 Doughty, Francis, 65 Drunkenness at Funerals, 141. Dubuque, German Theological Seminary, 282 Duelling, 141 ; and Assembly's action, 162 Duffield, Dr. Geo., 185 EAST END PLATFORM, 423 Edersheim on * Great Synagogue," 26 Edict of Nantes, 43 Edinburgh Council, 533 Editor's Weekly Audience and Influence, 348 Education, 254 Educational Statistics, 266 Education and the Ministry, 146, 472, 498 ; and the Board, 307: Board, Presbyterian 308; Cum- berland, 474 ; Dr. Green's paper, 158; In Script- ure, 254; Of Ministers. 86; Policy and its Critics, 311 ; Presbyterian System and, 536; Statistics, 265-267 Elder, 25 Elders at the Ordination of Ministers, 190 Elders' Duties Denned by the Bible, 32 Elders or Assistants Advised, 71 Election, 402 Election Sermons, 107 Elizabeth and Presbyterian Republicanism, 132 and St Bartholomew, 46 Beheads Mary of Scotland and Punishes Davison, 46 Elizabeth. N.J., Convention against State Episco- pacy, 105 Ellinwood, Dr. F. F., Elected Secretary of the Memorial Fund, 232 "doderator, Elected in 1837, 178; 836 Rules out New School Elliot, Dr. David, IV as Moderator in Delegates Refuses to Entertain Motion to Enroll Refuses to Allow an Appeal to the House, 182 Elliot and Barnes Survive the Disruption and Re- joice in the Reunion, 187 Elliot and Brainard among the Indians, 298 England, Presbyterian Church of, 521 English Confession, 522 English Presbyter}' First meeting, 46 Episcopalian Address to the People, 106 Episcopacy, 34 ; and Articles of Perth, 54 ; Dis- couraged with this Country. 97 ; Desired by Eng- lish and Petitioned for in America, 104 ; Estab- lished in South Carolina, 104 Erection, Board of, Helps Permanent Work, 319 ; Church, First Organized in O. S. Church, 188 Europe, Reformed Churches of, 513 Evangelical Alliance and the Week of Prayer, 198; and Rationalistic Criticism, 379 Ewing, Rev. Finis, 451 Executive Administration and the Expense, 249 Executive Committees of Presbyterian Church, South, 411 Expenses of the Assembly, 246 Exploring Missionaries. 291 Exscinding Act and Western Reserve Synod, 174-182 Exscinded Synods,Delegates Refused Enrollment, 182 540 INDEX. " FALLING EXERCISES," 91 ; and " Bodily Exer- cises," 149 Falling from Grace, 403 Fatalism Charged on the Confession of Faith, 147; Excepted to by Cumberlands, 462 Federal Union of Reformed Churches in America, 427 Federation of Churches, 358 ; of Similar Denomina- tions, 156 Female Education, 268 Finney, Dr., and Revivals, 176 First Meeting of Synod, its Numbers and Finances, 77. 78 First Presbytery, 68 Scotch Assembly, 54 Fisher, Dr. S., Made Moderator at Division, 183 Dr. D. W., 244 Foreign Board Organized and Subsequent Growth, 302 Foreign Mission Board Established, 181 ; and Present Statistics, 306 ; and the Reunion, 304 ; Transferred from A. B. C. F. M. to Presbyte- rian Board, 305 ; Presbyterian Churches, 244 Southern Church, 404 Form of Government, and U. S. Constitution, 136 France, Reformed Church, 513 Francis I., of France, and Calvin's Institutes, 40 Freedmen and Mission, 328 Freedmen's Board Does All Sorts of Mission Work, 329 Newspaper, 347 Schools and Theological Training, 282 Freedmen and Work among them, 193 Freedom in Planning Educational Institutions, 278 Freehold, Rev. John Boyd Ordained at, 68 French Infidelity Popular, 139 " Fund for Pious Uses," 79; an Incipient Board, 288 ; as a Relief Fund for Aged Ministers, 325 GALLICAN Confession, 535 General Assembly at Jerusalem, 31 ; Cumberland, 468 ; First, in Egypt. 25 ; in France, 42 Genesee and Geneva Synods Cut Off, 180 Geneva, 513 German Theological Seminaries, 282 Germany, Reformed Churches of, 515 Givers and their Gifts Systematic and Thought- ful Giving, 338 Glasgow Collection, 80 Glendy and Inglis of Baltimore, 165 God in the Constitution, 421 Government of Congregation in Session, 396 Government, Presbyterian Principles of, 512 Grace, Doctrines of, 511 Great Britain, Churches of, 519 Green, Dr. Ashbel, on Education, 158 ; President of Princeton, 165 Grimke, Dr. F. J., of Washington City, D. C.,28 4 Growth of American Presbyterianism, 122 of Cumberland Church, 468 Gurley's Resolutions on Declaration and Testi- mony, 194 " HALF-WAY COVENANT," 142 Hamilton, Alex., and Form of Government, 134 College. 264 Hamilton, Killed in a Duel, 162 Hampden-Sidney College, 502 Hampton, John, 67, 69 Hanover College and Theological Seminary, 278 Harvard College. 256 Hatfield, Mr. E. F., and Statistics of N. S. Church, 216 Hawe, Rev. James, 457 Haystack Prayer Meeting and Foreign Missions, 299 Heidelberg Catechism, 516, 535 Helvetic Confession, Second, 535 Hempstead, Long Island, 64 Henry VIII. Divorces Anne Boleyn, 40, 44 Hepburn, J. C., 531 Herald and Presbyter, 347 Higher Criticism, 377 Historic Episcopate, 356 History of the Church Materials Gathered, 171 Hoge, Dr. Charles, 484 Rev. Samuel, 466 Rev. William, 466 Hodge, Dr. Moses, of Hampden-Sidney, 165 Holland, Protestantism in, 43 ; the Reformed Churches of, 516 Holy Spirit, Revised Section of Confession on, 375 Home Board, Its Organization, Location and Officers, Statistics, 290; and Old Methods, 296 Homes for the Aged and the Orphans, 349 Home vs. Foreign Work, 206 Home M issions, 290 ; Beginning of Board, 71 ; And Church Erection at first United Separate Boards Needed, 301 Committee in the Early Church, 291 ; a Continental Work, 297 ; Everywhere Motive for the Reunion, 293 ; a Taking Name, 215 Hopkinsianism, 175 Hospitals and Orphanages, 349 ; List of them, 351 Huguenots, 42 ; in Brazil, 529 ; in England and America, 77, 78 Hughes, Rev. Lewes, 61. Hungary, Reformed Church of, 516 Huss and Bohemia, 38 IMMIGRATION after the Revolution, 139 Independency, 34 Indian Missions, 297, 469 Infidelity Agressive, 142 ; Denounced by the As- sembly, 140 ; In Medical and Law Colleges, 262 ; Quickens Religion, 143 Infidel Organizations In Yale College, 140 Inglis and Glendy of Baltimore, 165 Inspiration, 382 ; Verbal, 383 ; Plenary, 383 ; Con- ceptual, 384 Interdenominational Comity in the Early Church, 292 Interior of Chicago, 347 Ipso Facto Resolutions, 194 Ireland, Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnel, 48 Presbyterian Churches of, 523 ; Presby- tery of. Scotch Chaplains, 55 Irish Bishops and Elders, 37 Irish Ordinations Objected to, 86 Irish Protestantism, effect on People, 58 Rebellion, 1641, 523 Synod and the Act of Toleration, 78 Italy, Free Christian Church of, 517 ; Reforma- tion in, 517 Itineracy by System, 210 Itinerant Missionaries, 290 Itinerant Pastors on Mission Tours. 143. 155, 288 JACKSON, GEN. ANDREW, Chairman of Committee to Locate Western Theological Seminary, 276 Jamaica, Long Island, 65 W. I., Presbyterian Church of, 529 James's Bible, 47 James I., 47 James II. and his Persecutions, 77 Jamestown Colony and Puritan Settlers, 61 Japan, Presbytery of United Church of Christ in, 531 ; Cumberland Missions, 475 Japanese Presbyterian Church, 244 Jefferson on N. C. Delegates in Congress, 128 Joseph II. of Austria, 516 Joshua and his Elders, 25 Judicial Business and Judicial Committees, 239 ; INDEX. 541 Commission for Special Cases, 196 ; Commis- sion, Permanent, Proposed Rejected, 196 ; Trials next to impossible now in General As- sembly, 196 KANE, THOS., "Layman, "and Systematic Bene- ficence, 339 Kansas Band, 293 Keith, Rev. George, a Scotch Nonconformist at Elizabeth City, 61 Kemper, Mr. Elnathan, Donates Land for Lane Seminary, 276 Kentucky Awakening, 146 Kentucky Judicatories Divided, 194 Kentucky Synod and Cumberland Presbytery, Kiddle and Schem's Cyclopedia of Education, 261 Kingsbury and Indian Missions, 299 King College, 504. Knox, John, 38, 45 Knox and Scotch Leaders, 57 Korea, 530 LADD, of Portland, Contributes to the San Fran- cisco Theological Seminary, 282 Laggan Presbytery, 66 Lake Forest University, 265 Lane, Mr. Ebenezer, Offers Contributions to Found a Theological .-emmary at Cincinnati, 276 Laying on of Hands, 190 " Layman " Thomas Kane and Tithing, 339 Laymen on Reunion, 218 Lafayette College, 265 Lexington, Mo., Presbytery and Slaveholding, 209 Liberality of Presbyterians, 353 Lincoln and Education, 255 Lincoln University, Pa., 283 ; C. P. Illinois, 458 Liquor, and its Fertility in all Vice, 341 Lithuania, Reformed Church of, 518 Litigation Discouraged, 83 Liturgy, Reformed, 526 "Log College," 90 Log Colleges and Early Ministers, 331 Log College at Neshaminy, 256 London Council, 533 Lot and Lotteries, 82 Luther, Martin, 39, 512 ; and Church Govern- ment, 40 Lutheran Church, 515 Lyle, Rev. John, 465 Lyon, James, 528 MADISON, JAMES, a Princeton Graduate, 133 Magna Charta, 98 Makemie, Francis, Comes to Puritans in Mary- land, 63 ; Makemie Described, His Preaching, Makemie's Daughter, and Her Patriotic Will, 75 ; Makemie's Death and Work Tried by Cornbury, 69, 74, 75 ; Makemie's Education, 255 ; Makemie's Memorial and Grave, 76 Massacre of Missionaries, 197 Martin, Dr. W. A. P., of the Chinese Imperial University, 307 Martyrs, Presbyterian, 536 Mary, Bloody, 45 Mayhew's Sermon at Union Services Suggestion of Union of States, 106 McCormick, C. H , Offers $100,000 to Locate a Seminary at Chicago --Its Name Changed 279 McCosh, James, 533 McFarland, Dr. S. G President King's College, Siam, 307 McMillan, Dr. John, Patriarch of Western Penn- sylvania, 165 ; and " Falling Exercises," 149 McMillan's Log Academy, 257 Macnish, George, 67, 69. 77 ; at Jamaica, 64 Mecklinburg Declaration, 114, 480; and Jefferson, 128 Medical Colleges, 262 Memorial Fund of Five Million Odd Objects of Gifts, 232 Messianic Prophecy, 385 Methodist, Calvinistic, 523 Mexico, 529 ; Cumberland Missions, 473 McGee, Rev. William, 455, 457 Michigan, Reformed Church in, 526 Mid- Continent of St. Louis, 347 Miller, Dr. Samuel, 165 ; Elected Professor, 273 Mills, Mr. T. A., 211 Milton, Cromwell and Waldenses, 51 Ministers called for, 289 ; as College Professors, 265 ; Driven from England, 78; Killed during the Revolution, 117 ; Multiplied, 171 Ministerial Education. 86, 210 ; Insurance Pro- ject, 325 ; Relief and Andrew's case, 325 ; Re- lief and Lay Missionaries, 327 ; Support Urged, 159 Ministry, Parity of, 34, 512 Mission Work and Afflictions, 197 Mission Work and Calvinism, 199 Mission Work, Fruits of, Gathered by Congrega- tionalists, 174 Missions, Chapter en, by Revision, 368 Cumberland Church, to Indians, 469 Missions Demand More Time of the Assembly, Permanent Committees Appointed, 152 ; Grow to National Churches, 244 ; in Synods of CarolinaS and Virgina, 154 ; Judicatories Divided. Rice's Overture, 286-87 ; to the Heathen First Organized, 289 ; Widespread by the Great Revival, 152 Missionaries, Freeman, Campbell, McMullan, Johnson, Murdered, 197 ; Get but Small Pay, 143 ; in the First Assembly, 138 ; in Increasing Numbers, 154; Foreign, in the Estimation of the Natives, 306 Missionary Motives of the Early Colonists, 297 ; Resolutions in First Presbytery, 70 ; Publica- tions Consolidated in 1886, 342 ; Sacrifices of Men and Women, 143 Missouri Judicatories, Divided, 193 Missouri Valley College, 458, 473 Montgomery, Alexander, Contributes to the San Francisco Theological Seminary, 282 Moravia, Reformed Church of, 519 Morgan and Dodge, Enrich Auburn Seminary, 275 Morrison, Dr. J. H., Missionary, Moderator in 1863 ; Suggests the " Week of Prayer," 219 Mortgages to the Church Erection Board, 322 Mountain Whites of the South, 296 NATIONAL REFORM MOVEMENT, 420 Native Presbyterian Churches in Foreign Fields, 306 Nelson, Dr. H. A., Editor Church at Home and Abroad^ 343 New Albany Theological Seminary, 279 New Amsterdam, 524 Newark Reunion Convention avowedly Favors Union, 221 New and Old Side Convention, 417 New Chapters of the Revision, 375 New England Presbyterians, 60 New Haven Divinity, 175 New Hebrides, Church of, 533 New School does not Change Confession of Faith, 200 ; Doctrinal Soundness, 200 ; With- draws from A. H. M. S. and Organizes Inde- dendent Missions, 214 ; Assailed on Both Sides, 202; Church, and Estimate of Its Life by Its Honored Ministers, 216; Coldness, as to 542 INDEX. Reunion, 225; In Conventions, 177; Churches in the West Hampered, 206 ; Did not Expect Division and had no Plans or Church Ma- chinery, 201 ; Men Advised that They Must Organize the Assembly at the Right Time and Place, 183 ; Men Invited into Congregational- ism and Back to the O. S. Church, 202 ; Party and Separation, 177 ; Presbyterian Church and the American Board, 303 ; Seminaries neither Old nor Strong, 201 ; Synod of the Souih, 491 New Side and Adopting Act, no; and the Revival, 92; Grows Rapidly, in; Repress Itinerating, 95 ; Synod Organized, 109 New South Wales, Church of, 532 Newspaper Circulation of the Church, 347 ; Dis- cussions, 348 ; Denominational Character, 198 ; Peculiar and Religious, 345 ; Southern Church, 506 New York Assemblies of 1869, 224 New York Evangelist, 347 New York, First Church Aided, 80 New York Men Join the New Side, 94 New York Observer, 347 New York, Revivals in Western, 176 New Zealand, Churches of, 532 Northern Presbyterian Church Peculiarities, 412 Northrup, Judge, on Relations of Trustees and Elders, 397 Northwestern Presbyterian of Minneapolis, 347 Northwestern Theological Seminary, 279 Nott, Dr. E., of Union College, 264. Nottingham Sermon of Tennent in England, 95 Occident of San Francisco, 347 Offerings and the Worship of God thereby, 338 Oldest Presbyterian Church, 64 Old School Adopts Western Foreign Missionary Society, 188 ; Quite Denominational, 198 ; Ma- jority in 1837, 178 ; Men Dissatisfied with the Assembly of 1836, 178 ; Men of Ability in As- sembly of 1837 and Preceding Convention, 178; Moderator in 1837, 178 ; Organize Church Erec- tion Board, 188 ; Organize Foreign Board, 188; "Ministerial Relief/' 188 ; Party and Separa- tion, 177 ; In Majority in Assembly of 1837, 178, Statistics at the Reunion, 189 Old Side and the Revival, 91 Old Side Covenanter Statistics, 418; Mission Average, 418 Grows Slowly, in Omaha Theological Seminary, 284 Ordination Question, 190 Ordinations in the Old Country Disapproved of, 86 Organic Union and What it Means, 359 Origin of Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 452 Organization of Cumberland Council, 461 ; Cum- berland Presbytery, 467 Original Sin, 402 Otajo, Church of, 533 __ Overtures about Missions and the Presbyterian Church under A. B. C. F. M., 303 PACIFIC CoAST,Meetingat Portland, 252;Theologi- cal Seminary, 281 Paine's, Thomas, Letter Denouncing Washington, 140 Palmer, Dr. B. M.,on Spirituality of the Church, 486 Pan-Presbyterian Alliance, 357 Papers and Periodicals, Cumberland Church, Parity of the Ministry, 34, 512 Park College, 265 Parochial Schools, 310 ; and the Board of Educa- tion, 330 Patagonia, 529 Patriotism among Native Christians, 243 474 Pauline Doctrine, 512 Pentateuch, Authors, 378 Peoria Assembly and Reunion, 219 Percentage of the Income of the Boards used for Expenses is very Small, 339 Permanent Committees of the Assembly for Minor Objects, 336 Permanent Judicial Commission, 241 Persia, Church of, 530 Perth Amboy, Home for Ministers, 352 Perth, Articles of, ^4 Philanthropies and Union Charities, Presbyterians ii 349 Philip II., and Holland, 43 " Pittsburgh Paper" on Reunion, 222 "Plan of Union," 155; Abrogated in 1837, 178; Churches, 172, 179 ; Proposed Abrogated in 1835, 176 Poland, Evangelical Church of, 518 Polity and Doctrine of Presbyterians,Introduction, 13 Prayer, Covenant, 453 Preceptors for the Learned Professions, 271 Presbyter, 25 Presbyterian Alliance, 533 Presbyterian Banner, 347 Presbyterian Church (N.), Its Peculiarities, 412 ; (Sj Its Peculiarities, 409 ; Covenanter, 406 ; Government and U. S. Constitution, 136; Journal of Philadelphia, 347 ; Ministeis* Fund, 327 ; Newspapers, Twelve Weeklies, 346 Presbyterian of Philadelphia, 347 Presbyterian Peculiarities, 395 ; Polity Related to its Doctrine (Introduction), 13 ; Population in the Revolution, 130; Support of Y. M. C. A. Work, 354 ; of General Charities, 349 ; System. Effects of, 536 ; Workers among the Y. M. C. A. Men, 354 Presbyterianism Established in England, 51 ; a System of Government and not of Doctrine, 32; in Scotland, 53 Presbyteries and Synods Self-Constituted, at first, 68 ; First Formed, 72 ; List of Newly Organized, 167 ; Reconstructed by Geographical Bound- aries, 236; Show Rapid Growth, 167 Presbyterians and Congregationalists brought to- gether by Colonial Danger, 79 ; and Education in Europe and America, 255 Presbytery Adopting the New Standards, 69 ; First, in 1706, 55 ; First Meeting of, 68 Princeton College, 258-261 Princeton Seminary, 272-275 Printing in Paris Bibles, 39 Prohibition Amendments, 422 Property Rights prevent Consolidation, 237 Prophecy and Inspiration, 385 Protests against Exscinding Acts, 181 Protest against Spring Resolutions, 192 ; and its Final Omission in Union of Synods, 112 Psalmody of U. P. Church, 404 ; of Covenanter Church, 419 Publication Committee, 211 ; of the Southern Church, 498 Publication House, Cumberland Church, 474 Puritans and Restoration and Emigration, 52 ; Colony in Maryland Randall's History, 61 ; in New England, Robinson, Brewster and Inde- pendency, 63 ; Unity of the Followers of Knox and Calvin, Introduction, 6; Puritans in Virginia, 61 ; Victory in Maryland, 62 QUEENSLAND, Church of, 532 Question of Enrolling Delegates from Exscinded Synods, 182 ; of Controversy in Ancient Church and Reformation, 365 Quorum Question, 199 INDEX. 543 RATIONALISTIC Higher Criticism, 379 Rationalists and Miracles, Prophecy and Inspira- tion, 385 Reading a Chapter, Andrews on, 70 Record Books Required, 71 Reducing the Size of the General Assembly, 245 Red River Church, 45-^ Reflex Influence of Skepticsm and Christianity, 145 Reformation, 512 ; in France, 41; Principles, 512 Reformed Church in America, 524 ; in the U. S., 526 ; Churches, Federal Union of, 527 ; Presby- terian Church in N. A., General Synod of, 527 Relief for Soldiers and their Families, 218 ; Fund its Beginnings, 79 Religious Newspapers, First Published, 345 Representation in the General Assembly and its Basis, 245 Republicanism at Geneva, Calvin and Knox, 132 Resolutions at Reunion on Conciliation, 172 Restoration and Charles II., 52 Reunion, 218 ; and Peoria Assembly, 219 ; Com- mittee as Last Constituted Help by Social Meetings and Interchange of Views, 226 ; Conventions very Helpful, 221 ; First Joint Committee on, Both Chairmen Die before Work Began, 219 ; First Report Agreed on, First Basis of Reunion, Education by Dis- cussion, 220 ; Mass Meeting and Speeches, 230 ; Memorial Fund, 232 Reunited Synod and Statistics Mission Fields and Mission Work, 112 Revision, 367; Committee, 371; Report, 373; Over- tures, 369 ; Analzyed, 369 ; Parties, 374; Final Re- port, 376 5 Approved by Assembly and sent down, 376 ; Good Results, 376 ; Cumberland Church, 470 Revival in Western Pennslyvania, 149 ; of 1800 and its Influence on Society the Assem- blys, Thankfulness, 151 ; Origin of, 455 ; of 1841 and the New Side, no Revivals almost Constant, 167 ; and Missions, 151 ; Calls for more Missionaries, 169 : Help the r'. Fin Churches, 95 ; in Colleges, 171 ; ures," Dr. Finney, 176 New Meas- Rice, Dr. J. H., 166 ; Overture on Missions, 287 ; Father David, 147, 457 Roberts, Dr. W. H., Secretary of the Presbyterian Alliance, 358 " Rules of Order" in First Assembly, 138 Rump Parliament, 51 SABBATH COMMITTEE. 358 Sabbath School Statistics, Work and the Board of Publication, 319 Sanders, Dr. D. J., President of Biddle Uni- versity, 283 San Domingo, 59 San Francisco Theological Seminary, 281 Sanhedrim, 26 Scotch Assemblies Suppressed, 54 ; Collections Sent Over in Goods, So ; Commissioners to Western Association, 58 ; Superintendent and Presbyteries, 54 Scotland, Church of, 519 ; Free Church of, 520 ; and Presbyterian Assembly, 54 Seal of Presbyterian Church, North, 363 " Security, Act of," 55 Seminary, Theological, First at Service, Pa., 446 Sepoy Rebellion and Massacre of Missionaries, 197 Shiloh Church, 455 Shenandoah Valley and Western Pennsylvania, 86 Skeptics of Europe and Higher Criticism, 380 Slavery and Missions to the Freedmen, 328 ; and the Detroit Resolution, 209 ; Early Actions Paper of 1818- Northwest Territory, 162 ; in N. S. Assembly 1846 and Onward, 208 ; Pushes aside Western Mission Work, 191 Smith, Joseph, and His Academy in the Kitchen at Buffalo, 257 (Southern) Presbyterian Church in the United States, 478 ; Early Settlers, 480 ; Separated from the North, 1861, 483 ; Hodge's Protest, 484 ; Augusta Conference, 485 ; Atlanta Assem- bly, 486 ; Distinctive Features, 490 ; Statistics, 493 ; Boards. 494 ; Educational Institutions, 499 ; Philanthropic Institutions, 505 ; Periodi- cals, 506 ; Notable Men, 508 Southern Synods Withdraw from N. S. Assem- bly of 1857, 209 Southern University, Tenn., 265, 502 Spain, Reformed Church of, 518 Spring, Dr. Gardner, 192 Spring's Resolutions in 1861, 192, 483 Southern Presbyterian Quarterly, 507 St. Bartholomew, Massacre of, 43 St. Patrick a Presbyterian, 37 " Standards Pure and Simple," 222 State Church and Taxes, 104 ; and Church both needed Reorganization, 125 ; of the Country, Spring's Resolutions, 192 ; Synods, 240 Statistics at the First Assembly, 138; of the Freed- men's Board Freedmen's Gifts, 330 ; at 1800 and 1815, 163 ; in 1800, 143 ; of Growth, 169 ; of Home Missions in 1817, 290 ; of N. S. Church, 217 ; of O. S. Church, 189 ; of Sabbath School work, 319 ; Presbyterian Churches, 534 ; South- ern Church, 494 Stuart, Geo. H., President, National Union Con- vention, 221 Christian Commission, Y. M. C. A. Work, Student Volunteer Movement in 1810, 299 " Subscription " Controversy in England, 522 Subscription to the Confession, 199 ; to the Standards, objected to, 89 Sunday School Union and its Publications, 317 Surinam, Reformed Church, 529 Switzerland, Reformed Churches of, 513 rmanent Commit- Syria, 530 Syriac Evangelical Church, 530 Systematic Beneficence and Pe tee, 337 Synagogues, 26-30 Synods Delegated Bodies, 240 ; Dissolved " sine die" and General Assembly Appointed, 727; Enlarged in Boundaries and Business, 240 ; Place of Meeting Changed on Account of War, 121 ; Provided for, 72; Reconstructed and Recon- structing the Presbyteries, 239 ; Small during the Revolution, 121 ; Small From Scattered Pastorates, 124 ; Suggested in Overtures, 72 ; Un- able to push the Work, 124 ; Want Theological Seminaries, 272 Synodical Control of Seminaries, Auburn, N. Y., Union, Va., Hanover and New Albany, Ind., 277; Missionaries and Itinerants, 215; Representa- tion, 246; Superintendents of the Home Mis- sions Their Duties, 294 TASMANIA, Church of, 532 Temperance, Action of Old Synod, 161 ; and, the Assemblies Permanent Committee Women's Work on this Line, 340 ; Publications of the Permanent Committee, 341 ; tjermons and Meas- ures Urged, 161 Tennents, Father and Sons, 89-92 ; and Whitfield, no Texas Cumberland Church, 46) Theological Seminaries: Andover, 142; Princeton, 272 ; Established Multiplied, 170; Need Col- leges as a Constituency, 336 ; Statistics, 285 ; Various Relations to Assembly, 386-393 544 INDEX. Theological Education Every Plan Tried Twice Divides the Church, 270 ; School of Cumberland Church, 473 Thornton Home for Aged Ministers, 474 Thornwell, Dr. J. H., 486 Thornwell Orphanage, Clinton, S. C., 505 Toronto Council, 533 Traveling Expenses of Assembly, 247 Triennial Assemblies, in New School, 200 ; in N. S. Church Effect Injuries, 203 Trinidad, Presbytery of, 529 Trinity University, 473 "True Blue," Meaning of, 360 Trustees, 396 Tyndale's Translation, Printed in Worms, First Introduced into England, 39 UNION COLLEGE, Schenectady, N. Y., 264 Union Demanded by the Great Field, 155 ; of Colonies Dreaded in England, 107 ; of Colonies Helps Union of Synods, 108 ; of Synods in 1768, Statistics and Conditions, 112 Unitarians Appropriate Harvard College, 142 United Foreign Missionary Society, 299 United Presbyterian Church of North America, 425 ; Antecedents, 426 ; Communion, 432 ; Church Work, 441 ; Doctrinal Position, 431 ; Education, 446 ; Papers, 449 ; Psalmody, 436 : Secret Societies, 439 ; Slavery, 435 ; Spirit and secret societies, 439 ; slavery, 435 ; spirn Life, 438 ; Statistics, 450 ; The Union, 429 United Presbyterian Church of Scotland, 521 Uniting the Platforms, 22 s Unity and Personal Confidence, 222 ; of Churches in Evangelical Movements, 352 ; of the Syna- gogues, 27 Union among Presbyterians, Introduction, 9 Union Seminary, N. Y., 280, 387 ; Assembly Veto, 388 ; Arbitration Proposed, 391 Union Seminary, Va., and the Synods of that Vicinity, 275 Utica, Geneva, and Genesee Synods Cut Off, 180 VAN DYKE, Dr. H. J., 371 Victoria, Church of, 532 Voluntary Societies, Objected to, 174 ; Societies, 204, 211 Voting Divides Covenanter Church, 417 ; on Prohibition Amendments, 422 ; on East End Platform, 424 WALDENSES, 38 ; Protected by Cromwell, 62 Waldensian Church, 527 Wales, Calvin istic Methodists, 523 Walnut St. Church Case, Dissenting Opinions, 194 War of 1812, 163 Washington and Jefferson College, 172, 258, 263 Washington and Witherspoon, 130 ; and Presby terians, 480 Weak Brethren, Relief offered. 82 " Week of Prayer," 198 Western Foreign Missionary Society and Gen- eral Assembly, 177 ; Report of Committee not Adopted, Missionary Society of the Synod of Pittsburgh, 302 ; Reserve Synods Cut Off, 179 ; College, 264 : Theological Seminary, 275 Westminster Assembly, 50 ; Confession, Churches, 535 ; Standards, 55 ; Westminster Standards and Witnessing Churches, and the New Side, in 1841,202 ; Standards Accepted ex- cept Fatality, 471 ; College, Fulton, Mo., 504 Westmoreland Co., Pa., Resolutions, 115 Whitaker, Dr. Wm., of Cambridge University, 60 Rev. Alexander, Apostle of Virginia, 60 Whitfield and the Tennents, 92, no Whitfield's Severity on his Brethren, 92 Descrip- tion of the Log College, 257 " Widows' Fund" and other Relief Schemes, 325 Williams, Dr. Aaron, on " Falling Work," 150 Wilson. Dr. Joshua L., 186 Rev. John, Aided from the Fund, i, 79 Rev. J. P., and Cumberland Church, 463 Witherspoon, Dr. John, DescribedPresident of Princeton Descended from John Knox, 119; and his Work in Continental Congress, many Important Committees and Addresses, 134 ; his Burlesque on Theological High Flyers, 260 ; Preached a Political Sermon it is Published and Dedicated to Hancock, 108 ; Familiarity with all Questions of Church and State Speeches in Congress Influence in Congress, 119; Wife, 260; Stands by Washington, 12;; Opens the First General Assembly, 137 Women's Christian Temperance Union, National Temperance Society, etc., 340 Executive Committee of the Home Board Its Work and Income, 296 Foreign Missionary Society, Cumberland, Wooster University, Ohio. 265 Wycliffe, 512 ; England's Luther Translates the Bible His Bones Burned, 38 YALE COLLEGE and Infidel Nicknames among the Students, 140 Y. M. C. A. and Y. W. C. A. Work, 354 Y. P. S. C. E. and Presbyterian Co-operation, 355 Young Women's Christian Association and its Field, 356 ZWINGLI, ULRIC, 513 uu RETURN TO 1 This book is due T -n 2iA-60m-7,'66 L (G4427slO)476B