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 
 
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 1 
 
 This book is due 
 
 
 T -n 2iA-60m-7,'66 
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