p / *- K • n i, » +*~ *+a.< A+*J$i +4 £±~I.L * /j * r A / »'. yAn~n c /I* t i 9 A — <— « «-*-* < - & i <-» «-*~/ /?--v / ' > .4/ ^7y^ ** >~~-? / £/y «>. f- A/ *//« — „ «« r*+t X /r^;V / £d*7Z *£*/* 4 <> / ^~ / /** / Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from Princeton Theological Seminary Library http://archive.org/details/historyallreliOOharr /ft* rt^aJ^ * >s X \*v fc .^ A HISTORY OF ALL THE RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES: CONTAINING AUTHENTIC ACCOUNTS OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS, FAITH AND PRACTICE, LOCALITIES AND STATISTICS, OF THE DIFFERENT PERSUASIONS: WRITTEN EXPRESSLY FOR THE WORK, BY FIFTY-THREE EMINENT AUTHORS, BELONGING TO THE RESPECTIVE DENOMINATIONS. SECOND, IMPROVED AND PORTRAIT EDITION HARR1SBURG, PA: PUBLISHED BY JOHN WINEBRENNER, V.D.M 1849. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1848, by John Winebrenner, V. D. M., in the office of the clerk of the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 8TEREOTYPED BY R. P. MOGRIDGE, NO. 5 HARMONY COURT, PHILA. CONTENTS D., A. Ettinger Preface to the first edition, Preface to the second edition, ..,.'■ Introduction, .... Analytical Index, and Synoptical View of each Article, ite Presbyterian Church. By the Rev. W. I. Cleland, and P. Milleti, Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. By the Rev. John Foiisyth, D. D. AdrentistS. By Elder Josiah LiTcn, ... Baptists. By Elder Joseph Belcher, D. D., Baptists, Free Will. By the Rev. Pouter S. Burbank, - Baptists, Free Communion. By the Rev. A. D. Williams, Baptists, Old School. By Elder S. Tiiott, Baptists, Six Principle. By the Rev. A. D. Williams, Baptists, German, or Brethren. By the Rev. P. Boyle, Baptists, English Seventh-Day. By W. P. Gillett, Baptists, German Seventh-Day. By William M. Fahnestock, M. Bible Christians. By the Rev. William Metcalee, Catholic Church, Roman. By Professor W. J. Walters, Christian Connexion. By the Rev. David Millard and James Williamson-, Church of God. By John Wineuhenner, V. D. M., Congregationalists. By the Rev. E. W. Andrews, Dutch Reformed Church. By W. C. Brownlee, D. Disciples of Christ By Professor R. Richardson, Episcopal Church. By the Rev. A. B. Chapin, Evangelical Association. By the Rev. W. W. Orwig, and Rev. Friends, or Quakers. By Thomas Evans, Friends. By William Gibbons, M. D., German Reformed Church. By Lewis Mater, D. D., Jews and their Religion. By the Rev. Isaac Leeser, Lutheran Church. By S S. Schmucker, D. D., Latter-Day Saints, or Mormons. By Joseph Smith, Moravians. By L. D. Von Schweinitz, Methodist Society. By Rev. W. M. Stelwell, Methodist Episcopal Church. By the Rev. N. Bangs, D. D., Methodist Protestant Church. By the Rev. J. R. Williams, Methodist, Reformed Church. By the Rev. Wesley Bailey, Methodist, True Wesleyan Church. By the Rev. J. Timberman, Methodist African Episcopal Church. By the Rev. D. A. Payne, Methodist African Episcopal Church. By Rev. John J. Moore, Mennonites. By Bishop Christian Herr, Mennonites, Reformed. By Bishop John Herr, New Jerusalem Church. By N. F. Cabell, of Nelson County, Ornish. By Shem Zook, ...... Presbyterian Church, Old School. By the Rev. John Krebs, D. D., Presbyterian Church, New School. By the Rev. Joel Parker, D. D., Presbyterian Church, Cumberland. By the Rev. H. S. Porter, Presbyterians, Reformed. By the Rev. R. Hutcheson, Presbyterian Church, Reformed. By the Rev. J. N. McLeod, D. D., Restorationists. By the Hon. Charles Hudson, River Brethren. By a Familiar Friend, Schwenkfelders. By Isaac Schultz, - United Brethren in Christ. By the Rev. W. Hanby, United Society of Believers, or Shakers. By Seth Wells, and Calvin Green, Unitarian Congregationalists. By the Rev. A. Lamson, Universalists. By the Rev. A. B. Grosh, ..... Page - 4 5 - 7 11 - 17 24 - 37 42 - 71 82 - 86 88 - 91 95 - ' 109 123 - 130 164 - 170 188 - 205 223 - 236 274 - 279 290 - 298 307 - 319 344 - 350 357 - 358 380 - 383 391 - 396 399 - 406 416 - 421 457 - 459 485 . 499 521 - 531 538 - 550 557 - 560 567 - 570 589 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. The projector and compiler of this work, while examining many years since " Histories of Religions," and hearing numerous complaints by ministers and lay members of different denominations, that such books had unjustly represented their religion, was forcibly impressed, that a work like the one now offered to the public, was desirable and much needed ; he then conceived the plan of obtaining the history of each denomination from the pen of some one of its most distinguished ministers or professors ; thus affording each sect the opportunity of giving its own history — considering that a work thus prepared must, be entirely free from the faults of mis- representation, so generally brought against books of this character. To supply this desideratum, and to furnish a comprehensive history of the religious denominations in the United States, and also to present to the public a book, as free as possible from all grounds of complaint, the projector, two years ago, made appli- cation to many of the most prominent divines and lay members of different denomina- tions, for their views of such a work, receiving in all cases their approbation, and many at once consenting to aid, by writing or procuring the necessary articles. It would be superfluous to say any thing in regard to the contributors to this work — they are too favorably known to their own sects to need it, and their names accom- panying each article, is sufficient guarantee that justice has been done to all, so far as the projector was enabled to attain it. It is presumed, that no writer in this work can have had any motive to wilfully misrepresent the doctrine of the denomination of which he is a member ; it is admit- ted, that he may have been influenced by a bias, natural to many, to present the " Beauties of his own Faith" in glowing colors ; and where this may appear to have been attempted, it is left to the reader to make all due allowance. In the history, and especially in the creed of the different denominations, the unpre- judiced reader has a subject for candid investigation, and will be able to draw his own conclusions from authentic data. Though truth and error may be commingled, still the lover of free inquiry will have nothing to fear. It must be admitted, that many opinions are presented which cannot be maintained by " Thus saith the Lord ;" but as the projector has done his part in giving each sect an opportunity of taking its own story, and in its own way, he thus leaves it to a liberal and discerning public. Lancaster, Pa., April, 1844. PllEFACE TO THE SECOND AND LMPROVED EDITION. This new and stereotype edition of the " History of all Denominations in the United States," is much improved, and on several accounts vastly superior to the former edition. It is so, — I. Because it contains much additional and improved reading matter. Four articles, in the former edition, have been thrown out, and new ones substi- tuted, viz. : the Baptist, the Episcopal, the Cumberland Presbyterian, and the Advkntist articles. These, it is believed, are all much improved, and far superior to the former ones. Eight new and additional articles are inserted, viz.: the Bible Christian, the Old- School Baptist, the Free Communion Baptist, the Six Principle Baptist, the Reformed Presbyterian or Covenantor, the River Brethren, and two Afhk an Episcopal Methodist articles. Several other articles, also, have been very much improved and enlarged ; such as the German Seventh Day Baptist, the Christian, the Lutheran, the Evangeli- cal, the New Jerusalem, the Shaker or United Society of Believers, and the article on the Church of God; so that this new edition possesses claims greatly supe- rior to the former, in respect to the subject-matter of the work. But, besides these improvements, it possesses superior claims, — II. Because it is embellished icith twenty-four splendid Portraits of distinguished men in the different denominations. In our prospectus of the work, we promised only from fifteen to twenty portraits, but we have added several more at considerable expense ; so that the whole number now amounts to twenty-four. They are drawn by Messrs. Wagner & McGuigan, Lithographers, No. 116, Chesnut-street, Philadelphia, whose reputation as Artists, stands second to none on the American continent. The following is a list of the per- sons whose portraits will be found in the work, connected with or accompanying the several articles specified, to wit: Martin Luther, Lutheran Article, page 320 ; John Calvin, Presbyterian Article, page 459 ; Ulrich Swingli, German Reformed Article, page 298 ; Menno Simon, Menonite Article, page 406; Nicholas Lewis, Count Zinzendorf, Moravian Arti- cle, page 350; George Fox, Friends Article, page 279; Emanuel Swedenborg, New Jerusalem Article, page 421 ; Roger Williams, Baptist Article, page 42; John Wesley, Methodist Article, page 358 ; William White, Episcopalian Article, page (5) = PREFACE. 236; John Henry Livingston, Dutch Reformed Article, page 205; William Otterbein, United Brethren Article, page 560; John M. Mason, Associate Reformed Article, page 24 ; Finis Ewing, Cumberland Presbyterian Article, page 499 ; Jacob Albright, Evangelical Article, page 275; David Marks, Freewill Baptist Article, page 74; David Millard, Christian Article, page 164; Elias Hicks, Hicksite Quaker Article, page 290; Alexander Campbell, Disciples Article, page 223; William Miller, Advent Article, page 37; Richard Allen, African Methodist Arti- cle, page 396; Christopher Bush, African Methodist Article, page 399; Pope Pius IX., Roman Catholic Article, page 131 ; and John Winebrenner, Article on the Church of God, page 170. Again, this second edition is much superior to the first, — III. Because the articles are somewhat better arranged, and a very use/id and convenient Analytical Index, and Synoptical View of each article, prefixed to the work. By means of this Index and Synopsis, any leading and distinguishing point in the History, Faith or Practice of any and all the denominations, may be easily traced and ascertained. This, of course, will be, for many persons and purposes, of great utility and advantage. The reader will likewise find a very interesting Introduction, in which short accounts are given, of various associations and sects, some of which have become extinct, others scattered in different places throughout the country, without any regu- lar organization, and others limited to certain particular places. The publisher, therefore, claims for this work, the merit of a full and complete " History of all the Religious Denominations, which have been, and which now are in the United States of North America." Besides all this, he may add, it is now offered to the public at greatly reduced prices — such prices as will put it in the reach of all classes of readers. The regular retail price of the common edition, in plain leather or cloth binding, is $1.75 per copy; little over half the .price of the first edition. The retail price of the portrait edition, in extra gilt (leather or cloth) binding, is $2.50, and the embossed super-extra gilt, $3.00 per copy. These are the uniform, regular and established retail prices, at which agents and booksellers throughout the United States are required to sell. Those who deviate from these prices, either way, the present editor and publisher is not disposed to deal with at all. Hence, let all persons who engage in the sale of this work, take notice that they are rigidly restricted to these fixed and uniform prices. In fine, we hesitate not to assert, that this work will be found to give more general, accurate and satisfactory information, touching the Rise and Progress, Faith and Practice, Localities and Statistics, of the several denominations in the United States, than any other work now extant. This fact has been freely acknowledged by the American Press, and other eminent men, as may be seen from the Recommendations and opinions of the Press on the few last pages of this work. Vide pages 599, and 600. J. WINEBRENNER. Harrisburg, Jan. 20th, 1848. INTRODUCTION, Thk Editor of this work deems it appro- priate, by way of introduction, to notice some Beets that formerly existed in the tJnited States, and, also, to give a passing notice of Others still in existence, whose history is not embraced in the history of the denominations given in the body of the work. These notices are designedly brief. In 1691, Gsoaei Kiith, an eminent preacher oi' the Society of Friends, or Quakers, for many years, who had written and published treatises in defence of their religions principles, ! from them, and a number of Quakers joined him. However, in a few years after- wards, the major part of those who had sepa- rated themselves, returned again to the So- This seceding party were styled KEITHIANS. They practised baptism and the Lord's Supper. They were also called Quuker Baptists, because they immersed and retained the language, dress and manner of the Quakers. Keith was, says Proud, a man of quick, natural parts, and considerable literary abili- ties; acute in argument, and very ready and able in logical disputations, and nice distinc- tions on theological subjects; but said to be of a brittle temper and overbearing disposition of mind; not sufficiently tempered and quali- fied with that Christian moderation and char- ity, which give command over the human passions, the distinguishing characteristic of true Christianity ; of which he himself not only made high professions, but also in his younger years, as appears by his writings, had a good understanding. This great confidence in his own superior abilities, seems to have been one, if not the chief, introductory cause of the unhappy dispute with the Friends. When men set too high a value on themselves, and others will not own up to their price, then they are discontented. He is said to have had too much life in argument and disputation on religious points of controversy, and sometimes to have exhibited an unbecoming vanity on victory, thereby obtained over his opponents, even prior to the schism between him and his friends. For, having, some time before, been on a visit to New England, he is represented as having indulged his natural propensity in this way, among the preachers and inhabitants there, in a very extravagant manner; which disposition of mind, from that time forward, appeared to have so far got the ascendency over him, that, on his return, he began to ex- hibit the same, even among his friends, begin- * Proud's Pa. I. p. 363-377. ning with finding fault, proposing and urging new regulations m the society, in re the discipline of it, and complaining, uThett irrtx ton great n tlackness therein!1 Upon his friends not readily joining with him and hi. proposals, in the manner he expected, he be- came still more captious, and more d to seek matters of reproach and offence against divers in the Society, and to make the worst of them; charging some of his friends, who were generally esteemed and approved minis- ters, with preaching false doctrines; and, it is said, even in points contrary to what he him- self had formerly held and declared in his writings, in defiance of the Quakers, and their cardinal principles. He denied, in particular, the sufficiency to salvation of the Holy Spirit, without the aid of the gospel ; and with a fanaticism which struck at the root of the Proprietary power of William Penn, he de- clared it unlawful for Quakers to engage in the administration of government, and more especially of the penal law. To his brethren he was captious and supercilious ; treating their remonstrances with contumely, and as- sailing their persons and church with indeco- rous epithets. His conduct induced the society to expel him, although he and his adherents claimed to be the true church, and the others were the apostates. Having been expelled and disowned by the Quakers, Heith became a violent ene- my, took orders in England, whither he went, in the established church, and returned to America as missionar)r. He officiated in his new functions for about twelve months ; and, having given the Quakers all the trouble in his power, he returned again to England, by way of Virginia. In England he wrote against the Quakers. But, it is said, that on his death-bed he said, "/ wish I had died when 1 was a Quaker,- for then I am sure it would have been well with my soul. The NEW BORN, was a sect that originated in Oley township, Philadelphia, (now Berks county, Pa.,) in the early part o£ the last cen- tury. This sect had one Mathias Bowman for some years as leader. He was a native of Lamsheim, Palatinate Germany; having heard of the shepherdless few of his faith in this country, he embarked for America in 1719. The peculiar tenets of Bowman and his friends, can only be gathered from detached fragments gleaned some years ago, from let- ters and other manuscripts still extant, the Hallische Nachrichten, Colonial Records of Pennsylvania, and Chronica Ephratensis. Bowman, it appears, was honest and sin- O) INTRODUCTION. cere : not solicitous to accumulate wealth ; but that could not be said of all his followers, among whom were Peter Kuehlweit,* Yot- ler, and others — these loved the things of the world inordinately. They professed sinless perfection — boasted that they were sent of God to confound others. They, in their zeal to proselyte, even annoyed the retired Sieben Taeger, at Ephrata, by intruding themselves upon their notice, in their hermitage. Their disputations were also frequently heard in the market places of Philadelphia, among the quiet Friends. A cotemporary, the venerable John- Peter Miller, says, that Bowman pro- posed to the sceptic Philadelphians to prove to them that his doctrines were divine, by walk- ing across the Delaware river on the water. Bowman died in 1727; but traces of the ex- istence of New Borx are found twenty or more years after his death. In the Hallische Nachrichten, p. 226, June 10, 1747, the Rev. Dr. Muhlenberg says : " I started from New Hano- ver, and eight miles from here, called to see an old person of the so-called New Born, who had married a widow some twenty years ago ; with her he had five children. The old man says he was New Born: in the Palatinate. The evidences, however, of his having been New Born: are simply these : according to his own often repeated declaration, he had seceded from the Reformed Church — denounced the sacraments — had refused to take the oath of fealty to the then reigning election, that he and others were imprisoned — and, according to his opinion, had thus suffered on account of Christ and the truth. " He will not listen to reasonable counsel — he rejects all revealed truth — he will not suffer to be taught — he is obstinately selfish — a man of turbulent passions. After he had arrived in this country, he united with the so-called New Borx. They feign having received the xew hirth through mediate inspiration, appa- ritions, dreams, and the like. One thus re- generated, fancies himself to be like God and Christ himself, and can henceforth sin no more ! Hence the New Born use not the word of God as a means of salvation. They scoff at the holy sacraments." In a letter dated Oley Township, May 14, 1718, written by Maria Be Turk, to her rela- tives in Germany, she says : " Menschen ruehmen sich Christen, und wissen nicht wasz die PCeugeburt ist. Die Neugeburt ist derneue Stein das Niemand weisz was er ist, als der ihn bekommt ;" i. e. Men boast of being Chris- tians, and do not know what the New birth is. The New birth is that New Stone that none knoweth but he that receiveth it. In the con- clusion of her letter, she says : " Teachers and hearers — none of them are Christians ; for they are sinners ; but Christ came to des- troy sin. He that is not absolved from sin ; for him Christ has not appeared in this world. * Colonial Records, III. 349. All the teachers in the world, not freed from sin, and not in an impeccable state, are false teachers, be they devout or not. In the king- dom of Christ, none but Christ prevails. He that has not him is none of his ; and where he is, there man is set free from sin." The WILKINSONIANS were followers of a certain Jemima Wilkinson, extensively known, by reputation, as a religious fanatic, in the western part of New York. Her house, in Yates county, New York, is still occupied by a few persons, the sole remnant of her fol- lowers. Jemima was born in Rhode Island in 1753, and educated a Quaker. In October, 1776, on recovering from a fit of sickness, during which she had fallen into a syncope, so that she was apparently dead. She announced that she had been raised from the dead, and had received a divine commission as a reli- gious teacher. Having made some proselytes, she removed them to Yates County, New York, and settled between Seneca Lake and Crooked Lake, about eighteen miles from Geneva, at Bluff Point, and called her village New Jeru- salem, where she lived for many years, in very elegant style. It is said she inculcated po- verty, but was careful to be the owner of lands, purchased in the name of her com- panion, Rachel Miller. She professed to be able to work miracles, and offered to demon- strate it by walking on the water in imitation of Christ : accordingly a frame was con- structed for the purpose on the banks of the Seneca Lake, at Rapelyea's ferry, ten miles south of Dresden. At the appointed time, having approached within a few hundred yards -of the lake shore, she alighted from her carriage, the road being strewed by her fol- lowers, with white handkerchiefs. She walked to the platform, and having announced her intention of walking across the lake on water, she addressed the multitude, inquiring whether or not they had faith that she could pass over, or if otherwise, she could not; and on re- ceiving an affirmative answer, returned to her carriage, declaring ar. they believed in her power, it was unnecessary to display it. When she preached, she stood in the door of her bed-chamber, wearing a waistcoat, a stock, and a white silk cravat. Her religious tenets were a singular medley. She declared she had an immediate revelation for all she delivered, and had attained to a state of abso- lute perfection. She pretended to foretell future events, to discern the secrets of the heart, and to have the power of healing dis- eases. She asserted that those who refused to believe these exalted things of her, rejected the counsel of God against themselves. She actually professed to be Christ in his second appearing.* She assumed the title of the * Thayendanegea, or Joseph Brant, once met with her, and very adroitly discomfitted her, as she professed to be Christ in his second appearing. Brant tested her by speaking in different Indian languages, none of which she understood. He then disclosed her imposture, [NTRODl CTION. univrrsul frirmf of mankind ,■ hence h'i I -'I- lowers distinguish themselves i>v t h<- name of PbIBSTDS. She died in 1S1'.), at the | I irs. SEPARATISTS; several communities of these have settled in various parts of the United 8tates. This sect, if sucn 11 may be called, originated in Germany, in the earl) part of the last century. It ia maintained that the Brotmists of England gave cause to the rise of the Separatists of Germany." The principal communities of the Separatists in this country, are the following: — The Harmony Society, The Zoaritet, and German Ebcnezcr Society. The founder of the Harmony Society, was Gsoaei Hum-, born Oct 28, 1757, in the town of [ptinger Oberant Maulbronn, in the king- dom oi' Wurtemberg, Europe. Rapp was a Lutheran. At the age of twenty-five he with- drew from that church, and commenced "speaking his religious sentiments to a few friends in his private dwelling, but never ceased contributing to the church and state that which the law required. He soon had a number of adherents, and as they increased, persecutions waxed strong against them." To avoid being persecuted, they concluded to seek an asylum in the United States. Rapp, in company with three friends, came to America, in 1803, and purchased lands in Butler co., Pa. In 1804, and 1805, about one hundred and twenty-five families followed. In the latter year, an association was organized conform- ably to that of the first church at Jerusalem, mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, chap. ir. 34, 35. In 1815, they sold their property in Butler county, and located in Posey county, Indiana. Here they remained only two years, when they removed to Beaver co. Pa., where they built up a third town, their present lo- cality, called Economy, a name characteristic of the people themselves. Agriculture, manu- factures, and commerce, give employment to all — branches of industry in which they excel. First of all, the wants o( the members are supplied, then the surplus of their products are sold. "A written contract, or articles of associa- tion, contain the basis of membership, which every one signs upon admission, after first undergoing a probation of one year, during which period the applicant has ample time and opportunity to examine and decide, whether the conditions are such as he thinks he can comply with, and whether the internal and external advantages he appears to enjoy, are such as to outweigh the advantages of his prior position. The neophyte, in surrendering his property to this community, does not even reserve his own person. He becomes the property of the whole, as well as any thing simply by declaring that Jesus Christ must, of course, understand all languages, one as well as the other. — Stone's Life of Sapoyewatha, p. 121. * Ehrenfried's Handworterbuch, Article Separatisten. el ie ; hence all linglei | • iVed into one great body, of winch one lives for all, and all For one.*' They camber about lour thousand souls. Their irenerable founder and spiritual Gsoaei R uv, died, An rn .-, ,m, i - 1 ,. Imme- diately after his death, the Bociety appointed a board of elders of nine membi which attend to the interior concerns, and K. L. Baker, and Jacob Henrici, I rior. Jacob Henrici, aided by other . • the Spiritual department A vote of m\ of the nine eldera is binding. They can remove any one of the nine, and till all vaca: The ZOARITES, risiding in Tuscarawas, are also a secession from the Lutheran Church. They came to this country from Germany, about thirty years ago. This so- ciety is under the government of a patriarch, and chooses its own officers. They number at present about four hundred. They were at first poor, purchased their lands on ci which they have long since paid for, and added a thousand acres more to their first possessions. They are tenants in common ; each seeks to advance his own interest by promoting that of the whole communitv. THE GERMAN EBENEZER SOCIETY, located six or seven miles east of Buffalo, N. Y., came to America about five years ago. They are Prussian Lutheran dissenters. They number about eight hundred souls. Their spiritual wants are in charge of pastor Grahan, who, it is said, rules them with an iron rod. Their property is held in common. Religion, says one who lately visited them, seems to be the governing and inspiring element in this community; each day's labor is preceded by a season of devotional exercises in their several families, and after the close of labor at night, they assemble by neighborhoods, and spend an hour in prayer and praise. The afternoon of Wednesday and Saturday, is de- voted to religious improvement. The Sabbath is strictly observed by an omission of all secular business, and by various religious exercises, both in their families and public assemblies. Thus far all has been charac- terized by perfect peace and harmony. There are several other small bodies or communities of Dissenters or Separatists, of which a mere passing notice can be given in this connection. These are the Lutherans of Saxony, Norway, Sweden, &c., under the gui- dance of the Rev. Sfephan, who settled in Mis- souri, and some in Wisconsin, attached to the famous Krause. RATIONALISTS.— Of these, congregations are to be found in Baltimore, Philadelphia, \ New York, and Buffalo. They publish a periodical, devoted to the promulgation of their ■ peculiar sentiments. Die Fackel, i.e., The j Torch, edited by a certain Ludwig, is published j in New York, and has, it is said, an extensive ! circulation, principally, however, among im migrant Germans. 10 INTRODUCTION. COMEOUTERS.— There are to be found a considerable number of persons in the north- ern, and principally in the eastern States, who have recently seceded from various religious denominations, to whom the name Com rout- ers is applied. This is, however, no distinctive name assumed by themselves, as they do not intend to organize a sect. They maintain, as their creed, that every one should hold such opinions on religious subjects, as he pleases, witlu-ut being amenable to his fellow. They hold, consequently, a diversity of opi- nion on some points. In the main, they agree, by common consent, that Jesus Christ was a divinely inspired teacher, and his religion, a revelation of eternal truth. They regard Jesus as the only authorized expositor of his own religion, and believe that to apply in practice its principles as promulgated by him, and ex- emplified in his life, is all that is essential to constitute a Christian, according to the testi- mony of Jesus, Matt. vii. 24 — "Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock, &c." Hence they be- lieve, that to make it essential to Christianity to assent to all the opinions expressed by cer- tain men, good men though they were, who wrote either before or after his time, involves a denial of Christ. They believe that accord- ing to his teachings, true religion consists in purity of heart, holiness of life, and not in opinions ; that Christianity, as it existed in the mind of Christ, is a life rather than belief. They also agree in opinion, that he only is a Christian, who has the spirit of Christ ; that all such as these are members of his church, and that it is composed of none others ; there- fore, that membership in the Christian church is not, and cannot, in the nature of things, be determined by human authority. Hence they deem all attempts to render the church identi- cal with any outward organization, as utterly futile, not warranted by Christ himself, and incompatible with its spiritual character. Having no organized society, they have no stations of authority or superiority, which they believe to be inconsistent with the Christian idea, Matt, xxiii. 18, "But be not called Rabbi: for one is your master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren." Matt, xx, 25, 26, "Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise domi- nion over them, and they that are great exer- cise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you.'" They discard outward ordinances as having no place in spiritual religion, the design of which is to purify the heart, and the extent of whose influence is to be estimated by its legiti- mate effects in producing a life of practical righteousness, and not by any mere arbitrary sign, which cannot be regarded as a certain indication of the degree of spiritual life, and must consequently be inefficient and unneces- sary. Their views of worship correspond, as they believe, with the spiritual nature of the religion they profess. They believe that true Christian worship is independent of time and place ; that it has no connection with forms, ceremonies, and external arrangements, any further than these are exponents of a divine life ; that it is spontaneous ; in short, they regard the terms Christian worship and Chris- tian obedience, as synonymous, believing that he gives the highest and only conclusive evi- dence of Worshipping the Creator, who exhi- bits in his life the most perfect obedience to his will. These views, they consider in per- fect harmony with the teachings of Jesus, par- ticularly in his memorable conversation with the woman of Samaria. They also agree that the religion of Christ asserts the equality of all men before God ; that it confers upon no man, or class of men, a monopoly of heaven's favors ; neither does it give to a portion of his children any means of knowing his will not common to the race. They believe the laws of the soul are so plain that they may be easily comprehended by all who sincerely seek to know them, with- out the intervention of any human teacher or expounder. Hence they regard no teaching as author it at ivehwX that of the Spirit of God. The}' believe that every one whose soul is imbued with a knowledge of the truth, is qualified to be its minister, and it becomes his duty and his pleasure, by his every word and action, to preach it to the world. It follows, then, that as Christ prepares and appoints his own minis- ters, and as they receive their commission only from him, they are accountable to him alone for their exercise, and not to any human authority whatsoever. They therefore reject all human ordinations, appointments, or con- trol, or any designation by man of an order of men to preach the gospel, as invasions on his rightful prerogative. Against slavery and war, they come out fear- lessly. They assert as one of the principal reasons for leaving the churches with which they had been connected, that those bodies gave their sanction to these anti-Christian practices. Many of them believe it sinful to sanction punishments or penalties for crime. They hold meetings in various places, on the Lord's day, which they conduct in accord- ance with their views of Christian freedom and equality. They meet professedly to pro- mote each other's spiritual welfare. To this end, a free interchange of sentiments on reli- gious subjects is encouraged, without any re- straint or formality. They have no prescribed exercises, but every one is left at liberty to utter his thoughts as he may feel inclined — even those who differ from them in opinion, are not only at liberty, but are invited, to give expression to' their thoughts. This they be- lieve to be the only true mode of holding re- ligious meetings, consistent with the genius of their religion. They refer to the primitive Christians' meetings to support them in their practices. ANALYTICAL INDEX, AND SYNOPTICAL VIEW OF EACH ARTICLE. ANALYTICAL INDEX. Adam, original state of 24, 100, 240 Elect, 512 Adoption, 251 Election, 236, 251 Adveiili^ts. 37 Eldership, 172, 182 Agents moral 168, 177, 277, 369 End of the world, 181 Assemblv, General 476, 514 Episcopalians, 236 Atonement, 101,303,339,512 Eucharist, 152, 255, 337 Baptism, 83, 90, 101, 111, 129, 147, 176, 178, Excommunication, 413, 420 191,226, 250, 278, 348, 370, 403, 410, 519, 562 Extreme unction, 151 Baptists. 43, 71, 82, 88, 226 Faith, condition of salvation, 90, 254 Bible, the word of God 101, 110, 129, 141, 235, Faith, (see Doctrines.) 235,277. 294, 315, 348, 369, 393, 455, 530, 562 Fast days, 179 i Relievers, (see Church.) Fall of man,* 176, 240, 408 ,>ps, 93, 136, 159, 174, 372, 486, 554 Feet washing, 178, 412, 555, 562 • Burgers, 25 Free will, or freedom ol man, 168, 177, 277, 369, Ceremonies, 157 394,418 Christ's death for the elect, 27 Gospel, 27, 410 Christ's Divinity, 110, 167, 283, 337, 426, 562 God, manifested in the flesh, 426,455 Church, 101, 142, 170, 174, 191, 248, 277. 370, Good works, 154 410, 457, 512 Government, 41, 60, 80, 221, 275. 304. 333, 357, Colleges, 196,216 371, 381, 404, 415, 462, 487, 562 Colony, 21, 24, 97, 131, 192, 350 Guilt of sin, 100 Confession of sins, 148 Holy Ghost, 126, 140, 177, 230, 242, 247, 269, 393, Conference, 82, 84, 279, 363, 367, 383, 402, 555, 562 512 Confirmation, 147 History, 19, 37, 52, 74, 82, 125, 264, 317, 465. 548, Confession of Faith, (see Doctrine.) 562, 583, 592 Congregationalists, , 188 Holy order, 151 Conscience, 485 Holiness, 338 Constitution, 183, 381, 507 Humiliation of Christ, 101, 126, 409, 418 Conversion, (see Regeneration.) Illumination, 291 Convention, 380, 398 Inclinations, evil, origin of 100 Creation and preservation, 408 Indulgences, 150 Creed, (see Doctrine.) Infallibility-, 145 Deacons, 93, 260, 372, 411 Intoleration, 132, 190, 195, 210 Dead, resurrection of (see Resurrection.) Intermediate state, 155, 245, 572 Death, 431, 457 Invocation, 153 Debates, 227 Jesus, Deity of (see Christ's Divinity.) Divine decrees, 203 Jews, 40,307 Depravity of man, 176, 337, 403, 456, 512, 583 Judgment, general 101, 279, 395, 414 Divinity of Christ, (see Christ's Divinity.) Justification, 140, 147, 252, 337, 369, 394, 512 Discipline, 19, 129, 282, 333, 561 Kingdom of Christ, 420, 512, 539 Doctrines, 18, 37, 49, 78, 87, 91, 94, 115, 125, 138, Knowledge of God, 426 166, 176, 181,220,228,240,277, 284,291, 315. Law of nature, 28 334, 348, 351, 368, 384, 391, 403, 408, 417, 455 Law of God, 598 458, 459, 485, 512, 534, 538, 553, 563, 571, 579, Literary institutions, 69, 81, 99, 204, 474 515 589 Localities, 17, 87, 89, 93, 97, 125, 228, 356, 389 Education, 85, 184, 276, 374, 399, 498 Lord's Supper, (see also Eucharist) 111, 130, 178, Elders, 147, 191, 372, 486 i 255, 278, 287, 370, 394, 412, 419, 555 12 ANALYTICAL INDEX. Lutherans, 320 Man, origin of 100, 598 Man's primitive state 240, 512 Mass, 152 Matrimony, 151 Means of grace, 230, 235, 246, Mediation, 489 Mediator, 523, 597 Members of church, (see Church.) Mennonites, 406,421 Methodists, 357, 405 Millenium, 38, 180 Ministers of the Gospel, 256, 259 Missionaries, 26 , 135, 357, 362, 484, 522 Moral law, 101 Oaths, 413, 527 Offices of Christ, 174, 191 Old Testament, 315, 348 Original sin. 100, 176, 337, 369, 394 Penance, 147 Periodicals, 87, 91, 187, 515 Pictures and images, 156 Polity, 169, 202, 352, 385, 395 Pope, 158 Prayer, 129 Predestination, 251, 301, 303 Presbyterians, 459 Presbytery. 468, 506 Priests or Presbyters, 260 Proselytism, 153 Providence, 27 Publications, (see Periodicals.) Punishment, 279 Purgatory, * 155,370 Redemption, 139, 179 241, 254, 289, 409, 418 Regeneration, 177, 243, 253, 481 Repentance, 90, 403, 410, 456 Restorationists, 538 Resurrection, 101, 169, 180, 277, 269, 393, 414, 420, 431, 457, 512 Revivals, 171 199 305, 486, 501, 553, 569 Revelation, necessity of 524 Rewards and punishments, 181 279 Righteousness of Christ, 27 Sabbath, 95, 101, 103 , no,i 191 Sacraments, 146, 250, 278 ,338 ,370 457 488 Saints, 174 Saints, invocation of 153 Salvation, conditions of 110,2; Sanctification, 177 403 Satisfaction for sins, 150, 2' 371 Satisfaction rejected, 293 Saving faith, 480 Scriptures, (see Bible.) Seceders, 26,2: Sins after justification, 277 370 394 Slavery, 185 , 288, 295 523 Solemn League and Covenant, 527 Son of God, 166, 276, 269 393 429 Statistics, 17,71,81,85,89,97, 130 131, 187, 204, Soul, doctrine concerning 181 Spirit, Holy (see Holy Ghost.) 223, 275, 284, 305, 318, I 347, 356, 358, 368, 378, 380, 388, 395, 399, 405, 415, 421, 429, 458, 482, 498, 520, 537, 549, 553, 559, 563, 570, 587, 592. Synod, 330 469 510 Tenets, (see Doctrines.) Temperance, 185 Theological Seminaries, 31 ,218 305 330 Toleration, 132 Tradition, 141 Transubstantiation, 152 370 Trinity, 125, 139, 176, 276, 337 369, 393, 403, 512 562 581 Trinity discarded, 293 Truth of God, 239 Unitarians, 199 Vestments, 151 Will, original 512 Works, good ones, 154 , 277, 3 , 457, 5 World, end of 181 SYNOPTICAL VIEW OF EACH ARTICLE. ASSOCIATE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. Statistics and localities, 17 ; doctrine and discipline, 18; history, 19; first settlement in U. S., 21 ; efforts to form a union with Associate Reformed Church, 28 ; deposed ministers, 23. ASSOCIATE REFORMED CHURCH. Colony in South Carolina, 24 ; Presbyterians sold as slaves, 24 ; Missionaries sent to this country, 24 ; origin of the A. P. Church, 24; division thereof, 25; dispute between the Burghers and Anti-Burghers, 25 ; division of the Burghers, 25 ; dispute respecting the Solemn League and Covenant, 26; Division of the Anti-Burghers, 26; four bodies of Seceders — Old and New Light Burghers, and Old and New Light Anti- Burghers, 26; unjon between the New Light Burghers and the Anti-Burghers, 26 ; union between the Old Light Burghers and established church, 26 ; first Mis- sionaries to America, 26 and 27 ; union between the Burgher and Anti-Burgher bodies, 27 ; division of the Old Pa. Presbytery, 27 ; origin of the Associate Re- formed Synod, 27 ; basis of the union between the two Presbyteries, 28; account of the leading men who effected this union, 28; early localities of the church, 29; synod, constitution, and standards of the church, 30 and 31 ; division of the church into four provincial synods, 31 ; establishment of a Theological Seminary, 31 ; John M. Mason, first professor, 31 ; character and writings of Dr. Mason, 32. ADVENTISTS, Their name and rise, 37 ; peculiarities, 37 ; points of difference between Adventists and other bodies. 37 ; proofs of Christ's pre-millennial Advent, 38 ; SI NOPTICAL VIEW. 18 nature of titt* Millennium, 38, •'<:• i riiwi ind proofi of the return of the Jews to the land "i Palestine, |il, BOOdensed \i.\\ of their li.mi.T ar.Minii'iiN in t . i \ ■ » r of the OBOOOd ad\cnt of ( 'tirisl ;i!kmiI the \' SI id of their present reasons lor l>< In -miii: the ■dvani nowi 10; (bail Baaoeiated action, or ohnrcfa polity, 11. ■AfTBTI Prineiplei on which their views rest, 1".'; mode of baptism, 43 : peculiarity m t<> i l i « • subjeca of baptism, I' •«lo!);ipiisis on the nibject, lli j ergumenti tor the perpetuity of baptism, 17 ; conies- ■Hiii. 1!»: origin oTihe Baptists, 53; intro- duction of tiiipiisiii mto Britain, 53; decline ami n - vival of religion, 54; reigni of Henry, Edward, Elizabeth, ami Mary, 55; the Puritan father.- ami Roger Williams, 56; enlogimm by Magoon, Hopkins, ami Charming, 5(5; influence of Bapnsfaon freedom, 57 ; testimony of Washington to the Baptists, 5*>; emi- nent men among the Baptists, 59; attachment of the Baptists to the government, 59 ; New Hampshire church covenant, 60; advantages of Baptist polity, G'* : councils, associations, and conventions, 61 ; union of Baptists with other denominations, 62; the Puritan in! the Baptists, 62; statistics of Baptists at different periods, 63; present state of Baptists in Wales ami Kngland,64; Baptist literature in England, 65; peculiarities of the English Baptists, 66; influ- ence of Baptist zeal on prosperity, 67; Baptist public institutions, 69; Baptist statistical tables, 71. FREEWILL BAPTISTS. Origin and history, 74 — 76; Biographical notice of Elder David Marks, 74; doctrine and usages, 78; church ordinances and officers, 79; church govern- ment, 80 ; statistics, benevolent and literary institu- tions, 81. FREE COMMUNION BAPTISTS. Origin of the F. C. Baptists, 82; Groton Union Conference, 82 ; church in Westerly, R. 1., 82; gene- ral history, 82; account of their first ministers and churches, 82 and 83 ; formation of the first Confer- ence, 83 ; increase and localities, 83 and 84 ; Penn- sylvania Conference, 84; Northern and Southern Conference in N. Y., 84; General Conference, 84; Quarterly Meetings, 84; statistics, education, and be- nevolent exertions, 85; doctrine and polity, 85 ; union with the Freewill Baptists, 86. OLD SCHOOL BAPTISTS. Distinction and difference between the Mission and Anti-Mission Baptists, 86; opposition to human in- ventions, 87; doctrine, name, localities, and periodi- cals, 87. SIX- PRINCIPLE BAPTISTS. Author's reasons for writing this article ; origin of their tenets, notice of Roger Williams, his baptism, &c, 38; number of Baptists in Rhode Island in 1730, 88; first yearly meeting, 89; change of it into an association, 89 ; statistics and localities, 89 ; doc- trines and government, 90; paper and principal mi- nisters, 91. GERMAN BAPTISTS. Origin and emigration of the G. B. to America, 92; Martin Edwards' account of ihem, 91 ; E. Win- nit of them, !»','; their localtti manner of choosing and ordaining their i ■ i their bishops; duties o4 their deacon; the maimer of their public worship; their annual mcet- fi nasal \ ievt "i their doctrin ENGLISH .-i. \ i:\tii n\v BAFT] Antiquity of the Seventh-Day Baptists' principles, 95; identity with primitive Christians; controversy on the Sabbath in 1650; persecution of the 8 D I 96; first settlement in America ; Wm. Hiecoa fiat pastor oppression from civil law it locali- ties and atanatka, 97, 99 ; church officers ; organ of the church; literary institution! and moieties, '.>'.). 100; confession of faith, 100, Kil ; viewsof baptism, 103; the Sabbath, 1U3, 108. GERMAN SEVENTH DAY BAPTISTS. Account of their rise in Germany, and their emi- gration and settlement in America, Conrad Beissel, and his change of views on the Sabbath, 109: forma- tion of a monastic society at Ephrata, Lancaster Co., Pa., 110; principles of the society, 110, 112; man- ner of worship, 112; Gordon's account of tin 113; character of C. Beissel, 114; their peculiar doctrines and practices, 114, 115; literary and Sab- bath-schools; decline of the society in 1777, 115; settlements in other places, 116, 117; position, and appeal to the government for religious freedom, and exemption from the restrictions and penalties of the laws respecting the Sabbath, 117. BIBLE CHRISTIANS. The church an ancient and heavenly institution, origin of the Bible Christians, account of Wm. Cow- herd, their founder, 123; emigration to America, 124; locality and history in Philadelphia, 125; creed, or religious views, 125, 129 ; discipline, order of wor- ship, and statistics, 129, 130. ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. Origin, statistics, and progress of the Catholic Church in the United States ; outline of the Maryland colony, 131 ; Catholic toleration and Protestant in- toleration, 132; Catholic missionaries and first bishop, 135, 136 ; explanation of the name "Roman Catholic Church," 137; dogmas of the Catholic faith, 138, 159 ; prejudice and persecution against the Catho- lics, 160. CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Sketch of the origin of the Christians, 164, 165 ; brief view of their religious tenets, 166, 169; Divi- nity of Christ, 166, 168; church polity, 169. CHURCH OF GOD. Origin and name of the Church of God, 170; history of the church in America, 171 ; formation of the first eldership, 172, 173; form and attributes of the church, 173; import of the word church; mem- bership, organization, officers, form of government, &c, 174; attributes of the church, 175; faith and practice of the Church of God, 176, 181 ; her polity, 181; annual eldership, general eldership, 182; con- stitution of the general eldership, 183, 184; resolu- tion on the Bible cause, resolutions on education, 184; resolutions concerning church property, book concern, 14 SYNOPTICAL VIEW. Lord's day, slavery, and temperance, 185 ; formation and constitution of a missionary society ; boundaries of the annual elderships, 186; publications and sta- tistics, 187. CONG REG ATIONALISTS. Origin of Congregationalism, 188; church formed by Robert Brown, and his opinion of church polity, 189 ; Thacher and Cokking, first martyrs to these prin- ciples, 189; act of intolerance passed in 1592, and enforcement of conformity, 190; John Robinson, the lather of Congregationalism, persecutions against Con- gregationalists, their flight to Holland, and settlement at Leyden, 191 ; principles of the church at Leyden, their removal to America, and settlement at Ply- mouth, 192, 193; sketch of the spread of Puritan principles, 194; intolerance and banishment of Roger Williams, 195; Antinomian controversy, 195; Har- vard College founded, 196; Virginia and New Eng- land intoleration acts, 196; Cambridge Platform set- tled, 197; banishment of Baptists and Quakers, 197; debates respecting the proper subjects of baptism, 198; prevalency of the half-way covenant, 198; Savoy confession of faith, and Saybrook Platform established, 199 ; great revival in New England, and rise of Uni- tarian principles, 199 ; disunion of church and state, 200 ; plan of union between Presbyterians and Con- gregationalists, 201 ; abrogation of this plan in 1837, Congregational church polity, church councils and officers, 202 ; manner of creating and ordaining church officers, 203; different systems of state organizations, 203, 204 ; general statistics, and number of literary institutions, 204. DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH. Historical sketch of the church in Europe and America, 205 ; first ministers, and first churches in America, 208 ; second and third periods of the church, 208, 209; Episcopalian bigotry and intolerance, 210; Gov. Fletcher's civil establishment, 211 ; fourth pe- riod of the church, and vehement contentions between the Coetus and Conferentie parties, 212—214; diffi- culties arising from the introduction of English preach- ing, 214.215; "Queen's College" founded, 216; convention in 1771 for promoting union, 217 ; adop- tion of the plan of union in 1712, 218 ; establishment of a theological professorate, and a more perfect organization of the church, 218; Queen's College put in operation 1784, suspension, resuscitation in 1807, second suspension in 1816, revived again in 1825, 219; contrast between the church's past and present state, 219, 220; doctrines of the church, 220; govern- ment of the church, 221 ; form of worship and statistics, 222, 223. DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. Origin or rise of the Disciples, 223 ; proposition for Christian union, 224 ; rejection of the overture by the seceders, 225 ; formation of the first congrega- tion of Disciples on Bush Run in 1810, 225; bap- tism of the first Disciples in 1812, 226; their con- nection with the Redstone Baptist Association in 1813, and afterwards with the Mahoning, 226 ; A. Campbell's debate with J. Walker in 1820, and with Mr. M'Calla in 1823,227; Disciples cut off from the Baptists, 227; Campbell's debate with Owen in 1829,228; their increase and localities, 228; their faith and practice, 228, 229. Supplement, containing two queries, reflections, analysis of the sacred oracles, of doctrinal topics, and of the great salvation, 231 — 236. PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. The writer's difficulties in giving an accurate ac- count of all the topics connected with the rise, pro- gress, faith, and practice of the P. E. Church, 236 ; statement of his plan and intentions, 236 ; three dif- ferent existing theories in regard to man's connection with the first and second Adam, 237 ; doctrinal system of the church, and the Scriptures, 238; of doctrine, man's primitive state, consequences of the fall, of man's ability to repent, of redemption, incarnation of the Word, conditions of redemption, office of the Holy Ghost, of the nature of man's change ; perpetuity of the change ; of the use of means, 240 — 246 ; order of service and festivals, 246 ; of the church, 248; of the sacraments, 250 ; of baptism, 250 ; of the Lord's Supper, 255 ; of the ministry, 256 ; orders of the mi- nistry, 259 ; of the laity, 261 ; legislature of the church, 262 ; relation to other religious bodies, 263; general history, 264 ; particular history in the states of Virginia, Perinsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Massa- chusetts, South Carolina, New York, Rhode Island, North Carolina, New Jersey, Connecticut, Georgia, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Ohio, Mississippi, Michigan, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Illinois, Louisiana, Indiana, Florida, Missouri, 266 — 273 ; general institutions, 274. EVANGELICAL ASSOCIATION Origin or rise of this society, 275 ; localities and statistics, 275 ; government of the association, 275 ; statistics again, and salaries of the preachers, 275 ; funds of the church, book concern, education, 276 ; articles of faith, 277, 278 ; conferences, 279. FRIENDS OR QUAKERS. Rise of the Society of Friends, 279 ; account of George Fox, 279, 280 ; rapid spread of Quaker prin- ciples, 281 ; first settlements in America, 282 ; go- vernment and discipline of the society, 282, 283 ; statistics and doctrines, 284 ; testimony against slavery, war, litigation and conformity to the world, 288, 289 ; division of the society in 1827, 289. SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. Origin of the society, 290 ; doctrines of the society, 291 — 294; their testimony against a hireling minis- try, war, slavery, oaths, law-suits, superfluity and vain amusements, 295 ; discipline and government of the society, 295—298. GERMAN REFORMED CHURCH. Import of the name, 298 ; notice of Ulrich Zwingli, the founder of the church, 298, 299 ; difference be- tween Lutherans and Reformed, 299 ; sketch of John Calvin, 300; difference between Calvin and Zwingli, 301 ; form of government, conformation and doctrinal system, 302 ; origin of the church in America, 303 ; Heidelberg Catechism, her symbolical book, 303 ; government, localities, and statistics, 304, 305 ; theolo- gical seminary and Marshall College, located at Mer- cersburg, 305 ; official organs, the " Weekly Messen- ger," and "Christliche Zeitschrifl," published at Chambersburg, 305 ; history and statistics of the church in the west, 306. M NOPTICAL VIEW. 15 IBWfl wi) THEIR REUGI \ ilizat on, '{••7 ; Bible the rule of 1 1 1 « - . in ami history of ihe Jews, 308 and the v N kihen and Christian pre- ju.ltti'. 909, 310; doctrine, <>r belief of d teaching the Messiah of the Christiana, 311, 318; their rejectionof Chriat, 313 ; Daily mid identity of the Jewa,315; biotocy, -t.i'i-Mr-. and polity of the Jena m the United >;.ii' u, 317, 318. LUTHER A\ CHURCH* Founder ami name of the Lutheran Church, 320; mans, 320 : origin of the Reforma- tion, 301 : Opposition ("nun church :unl State, 322; divi- sion among die reformer*, 322 ; death of Luther, san- gejnery eonfficte, treaty of Fasaau, and diet of Augs- theran population, and first settlements in America, 32 1 — 337 ; character and labors of Mob- and others, 327, 328; story of an Indian 328 : deleterious effects of the American revolution, 329 ; lbrmalion of the general synod, and a general organization, 330 ; theological seminar)', and Pennsylvania college at Gettysburg, Pa., 330, 331 ; other institutions, and statistical view, 331 ; government and discipline, 333; doctrinal views, 33 1 — 337 ; forms of worship and church order, 338 — 341 ; note on Luther's Calvinism, 342. LATTER-DAY SAINT3. iphy of Joseph Smith, his visions and reve- lations, 344 ; account of the book of Mormon,345 ; first organization of the church in 1830, 346; Mormon settlements formed, 346 ; Xauvoo city, their increase and statistics, 347 ; their doctrinal views, 348 ; note by the editor, 348, 349. MORAY tAMBL Their origin, first colony and brotherly agreement, 350; their Christian principles and polity, 351, 352; their missionary and educational economy, 353 ; sketch of their manner of living in brethren, sisters, and widows' houses, 354 ; account of their public worship and peculiarities, 355 ; localities and statis- tics, 356; principal establishments in the United States, and chief settlements in England, 356; prin- cipal missions among the heathen, 357. METHODIST SOCIETY. Origin of the society, 357 ; progress and govern- ment, 357 ; secession of ministers, 358 ; statistics, 358. METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. Sketch of the founder of Methodism, 358 ; gene- ral rules of the M. societies, 359 ; rise and progress of Methodism in America, 360, 361 ; Wesley Chapel and first missionaries to this country, 362 ; Asbury and Wright sent to America ; first conference in Phila- delphia, in 1773; spread of Methodism, &c.,363 ; per- secution and malcontents, 364 ; Dr. Coke and Asbury appointed superintendents, 365; propriety and vali- dity of their ordination, 366 ; first general conference and rapid increase, 367 ; extent and general statistics, secessions, and doctrines, 368 — 371; government, 371 — 373 ; funds, book concern, education, 374, 375 ; benevolent enterprises and statistics, 378, 379. METHODIST PROTESTANT CHURCH. Statistics, 380; first general convention, 3S0; basis of government, 380 ; constitution and element- ary principles, 331 ; sketch of the government and discipline, 381, 382 ; points of difference between the E. M. and M. P. churches, 382. REFORMED METHODIST « HRBCII n <>i tin- K' M. church, 36 in their faith and disci- pline, 390. WESLEY A \ METHODIST CHURCH. v's arbitrary authority over the first Metho- dist societies, 391 ; peculiarities i I ism, 392; elementary prineip] religion^ 393, 394; polity an . AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. Origin of the African church, 396; cause ration from the M. K. church, 396; opposition by the white Methodists, 397; general convention in 1816, and points of difference between the white and Afri- can Methodists, 398; statistics, book concern, edu- cation, &c, 399. AFRICAN" METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. History of the origin and progress of the church, 399, 400; cause of difficulties and separation from the white Methodists, 401 ; organization of the church and first conference, 402 ; doctrines of the church, 403; rules regulating their moral conaucl, 404; church government, 404, 405; conventional department, 405 ; statistics, 405. MENNONITES. Character, travels, and labors of Meno Simon, 406 ; persecution of the Mennonites in Europe, and their first settlements m America, 407 ; leading articles of the Dortrecht confession of faith, 408 — 414; govern- ment, localities, and statistics, 415. REFORMED MENNONITE SOCIETY. First Mennonites, and origin of the reformed °~- ciety, 416; sketch of John Herr, its founder, 417; chief articles of their Christian faith, 417 — 120: statistical sketch, 421 NJfiW JERUSALEM CHURCH. Swedenborg's writings, their confession of faith, 421; biography of E. Svvedenborg, 422; sketch of the distracted state of the religious world, 422 — 424 ; progressive Christianity, 425 ; character of the Deity, 426; character and work of the Saviour, 427 ; origin and nature of sin, 428; identity of Father and Son, 429; work of redemption, 430; doctrine of the re- surrection and of a future state, 431 ; canonical books, 431; Wm. Mason's opinion of Swedenborg and Swedenborgism, 432 — 134 ; tirade against mo- dern sects, 435 ; Swedenborg's high pretensions, 436 ; coup aV the Carolinas, consisting of eight minis- i ters, most of whom had large congrega- tions. But in that year by an act of the I supreme judicatory of that body, all slave- holders were excluded from the fellowship of the church ; since that time all those ministers and most of the people, have either removed to the non-slaveholding States, or connected themselves with other societies. In the State of Vermont there are two small congregations, but none in any of the other New England States. There are three ministers and a few vacant congregations in Canada. The judicatories of this body now con- sist of a Synod and thirteen Presbyteries. The following summary of the statistical table will present some idea of the present condition of this society. The names oi the Presbyteries generally indicate, their localitv. Presbyteries. States. No.Min No.Con No. Cod Cambridge, \nv York, 4 10 P24* Albany, Nem York, 5 7 55f,* Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 7 18 1165* Stamford, Upper Canada, 3 6 521 Shenango, Pennsylvania. 8 10 22.50 Alleghany. Pennsylvania, 10 23 963* Chartiers, Pennsylvania, 19 20 2122* Ohio, Ohio, 7 17 1281* Richland, Ohio, 5 16 <3o* ."Muskingum, Ohio, 8 oo 1510 Miami, Ohio, 6 23 728* Indiana, Indiana, 3 14 367* Illinois, Illinois, 7 16 327* 1 Foreign RfiflS. Trinidad, W.I. o Min. itinerating. 18 106 211 13.477 * Those marked thus* are incomplete, there being no returns from several congregations, and some of these the largest in the Presbytery: 15,000 is the estimated number of communicants. Several Presbyteries, though marked as located in a particular state, include also the care of congrega- tions in the neighboring states, e. g. the Presbytery of Cambridge, New York, includes the congregations in Vermont and Canada East. "^1 18 HISTORY OF THE ASSOCIATE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. The Synod, which is composed of all the ministers and one ruling elder from each congregation, meets annually on its own adjournment. Each Presbytery meets on its own adjournment, and as often as circumstances require. The Theological Seminary is located at Cannonsburg, Pa. It has two professor- ships— one of didactic theology and He- brew, at present fdled by James Martin, D. D.; the other of church history, pasto- ral theology and biblical literature, at pre- sent filled by Thomas Beveridge, D. D. At this institution there is but one term each year, which continues from the first Monday of November until the last of March. The students are required to at- tend four terms to complete their course of study. The professors give lectures on their respective subjects. The text book which is used in didactic theology is " Jo- iiaxxis Markii Christians Theologi.e Medulla." DOCTRINE AND DISCIPLINE. The Associate Presbyterian Church of North America, is a branch of the Church of Scotland ; and holds the doctrines of the Reformation as set forth in the stand- ards of the Westminster Assembly. Hence the Westminster Confession of Faith is her Confession of Faith ; the Larger and Shorter Catechisms are her authorized systems of catechetical instruc- tion. The Form of Presbyterial Church Government, and the Directory for public worship and for family worship, are re- ceived and acknowledged as of obligatory authority in this church. The xxiii. chap- ter of the Confession of Faith, respecting the concern of the civil magistrate with the church, is received with some explana- tions, which are given in the Declaration and Testimony which this church has adopted and published. These explana- tions deny to the civil magistrate any au- thority in or control over the church, as respects cither doctrine or discipline, by virtue of his office. The church is re- garded as a free and independent society, to be governed and regulated according to the rules laid down in the Word of God, and responsible for the faithful discharge of her duty to Christ her only king and head. The doctrine of the Confession of Faith concerning public, social, religious vowing or covenanting, as set forth in the xxii. chapter of the Confession of Faith, and us formerly praetised by the churches pf Great Britain and Ireland, and the Re- formed Church of Holland, is both held and practised by this church, — with this difference, that the civil part of the Na- tional Covenant of Scotland, aiid the Solemn League and Covenant of the king- doms of Scotland, England, and Ireland, or any mingling of civil with religious affairs, have not been regarded by this church as belonging to the religious and ecclesiastical part of this duty. This church, both in doctrine and prac- tice, has always adhered to the use of a literal poetic version of the inspired Book of Psalms in the praises of God, as that only appointed of God, and consequently the only proper one. As other bodies of professing Christians, both in Great Britain and this country, profess adherence to the standards and doctrines of the Westminster Assembly, the Associate Church also, from an early period of her existence in this country, has published a " Declaration and Testi- mony," more particularly setting forth, , explaining, and defending some of the doc- ] trines of the Westminster standards, and stating the prevailing errors against which i this church considers herself called upon to testify. To this Declaration and Testi- mony she has prefixed a narrative, briefly setting forth some of the leading facts in her history, and the reasons of her main- taining a separate communion from other existing denominations of the present day. These books, which constitute the publicly authorized subordinate standards, together with her Book of Discipline, set forth all the distinctive principles and doctrines of this church. These books she calls her subordinate standards, because held in subordination to the Bible, — the supreme standard of the church of Christ. The following formula of questions, proposed to private members on their ad- mission to fellowship in the church, will give a brief but pretty distinct view of the principles and religious practices of this church : 1. Do you believe the Scriptures of the HISTORY OF THE ASSCM [ATE PRESBYTERIAN cm RCH. i >li- • >ry for the worship of God, as these d and witnessed for by us, in declaration and Testimony, for the doctrine and order of the church of Christ 3. Do you profess your resolution • continue in the faith, ac- cording to the profession you now make of it, ami to be subject to the order and line of the hoi - ; to be dili- gent in your attendance on public ordi- ching and sealing, according to your profession, on secret prayer, on family WOK OU may have opportu- nity, (to be used if the applicant be a head oTa family,) in keeping up family worship daily, morning and evening, and to per- form all other duties incumbent on you, according to this professii n, in wbaiii station you may occupy in life ; and lhat you will make conscience of promoting ' the knowledge of Christ, and his truths, as by other means, so more especially by a holy and spiritual conversation, consist- ent with your profession ? !'■ I HISTORY. The Associate Presbyterian Church in North America, is a branch of the Church ..of Scotland. The brief space to which sketch is necessarily limited, forbids us to refer particularly to that eventful pe- riod in the history of the Church of Scot- land, that intervenes between the years 1638 and 1686. Yet the causes which ultimately led to the Secession of 1733, may be distinctly found in the history of that period. During that reforming period, the church complained of the law of pa- tronage as an evil, and had obtained va- rious acts against it, particularly an Act of Parliament passed at Edinburgh, March I 9th. 1649, Charles I. and II. Pari. 2 Sess. Act 39, the patronage of kirks was abol- ! ished. That act had such an immediate connection with the origin of the Asso- ciate Church, that we may transcribe at part of it, I i patronage and | n <■:' a an si il and bonds] :d's people and the mini land have long groaned; and thai it hath BO warrant in God's word, but is founded only < n the common law, and i popish, and brought into the kirk in . l superstition ; and thai - contrary to tl . ii which, upon solid and ground, it is reckon* d bjtm ng the - that are desired to be r< ■:■ and [contrary] unto several acts ofG< n< - ral Assemblies; and that it is J to lh<> liberty oj ttie people and planting of kirks, and unio thejree calHi entry of ministers unto tl.< ir cl d estates being willing and <: to promote and advance the reformation aforesaid, that everything in the house of may be ordered according to his and commandment, do therefore, from a 91 ns of the former obligations, and upon the former grounds and reasons, lbrever hereafter, all patronages and pre- sentations of kirks, whether i the king or any laic patron, : or others within this kingdom, as being unlawful and unwarrantable by < word, and contrary to the doctrine liberties of this Kirk ; and do then rescind, make void, and annul all gifts and rights granted thereanent, and all former acts made in Parliament, or in any infe- rior judicatory, in favor of any patron or patrons whatsoever, so far as the same doth or may relate unto the presentation of kirks ;" making it a penal offence, un- der any pretext, to give or receive such presentation. And Presbyteries were pro- hibited from admitting to trials for ordina- tion any candidate upon any such presenta- tion. It may here be remarked, that this act was in full accordance with the doctrine of the Church of Scotland, from b organization under the doctrines ard prin- ciples of the Reformation from Popery. In the first Book of Discipline, drawn up by John Knox, we find the following rule : '; Xo minister should be intruded on any particular kirk, without their consent/' The same principle is asserted in the Se- cond Book of Discipline, adopted in 1578, 20 HISTORY OF THE ASSOCIATE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. and in force until 1640. This principle is also repeatedly recognised in the Direc- tory of the Westminster divin<\s. The above act of Parliament continued in force in the Church of Scotland until the year 1712, or the 11th of Queen Anne, win n the doctrine of patronage was again revived by Act of Parliament, in the Church of Scotland, to the great grief of at least most good men in her. Many of these not only opposed the reviving of patronage to the last, in the General As- sembly, but entered their solemn protest against it in the Assembly. The exercise of the right of patronage, at this time re- stored to the patrons, was for some time used with mildness, and the wishes of the congregations were generally consulted by the patrons. But men greedy of power and gain, were not long restrained by principles of moderation.* Cases soon arose, where the patrons altogether disre- garded the wishes of the people ; and church courts were soon found corrupt enough to sustain them in it. A flagrant case of this kind occurred in the parish of Kinross, in the bounds of the Presbytery of Dunfermline. Sir John Bruce the patron, gave the presentation to a Mr. Robert Stark, a very unpopular nominee, to whose ministry, the body of the people could not be induced to submit. This case, according to a late historian, was one of the most scandalous intrusions that ever was made in a Christian con- gregation.! The Presbytery positively refused to take any steps towards Mr. Stark's ordination. The Synod of Fife, to which the Presbytery of Dunfermline belonged, with the aid of the Assembly, resolved, however, to settle him at all haz- ards. This case came before the General Assembly in May, 1732, and it, together with similar cases, which were now be- coming more frequent, led to the adoption of an act at that meeting of the Assembly, " anent planting vacant churches," in which the doctrine of patronage was re- cognised, and such settlements as that of Kinross were approved. This act gave great offence to many godly people, and was regarded as violat- ing the long received principles of the church. In October following, Mr. Ebenezer Erskinc, minister at Stirling, in a sermon preached at the opening of the Synod of Perth and Stirling, condemned with free- dom and plainness of speech some of the prevailing sins of that time, and particu- larly the act of the Assembly of May pre- (•edin< Anent the settlement of vacant * Struther's History of Scotland, vol. i. p. 599. t Frazer's Life of Ralph Erskine, p. 190. churcJteS) tpc.," referring to the Kinross and other cases. The Synod took offence at the freedom with which Mr. Erskine attacked the act and decisions of the Assembly, and im- mediately took measures to censure him for the sentiments uttered in the sermon. This was the beginning of a series of proceedings which led to the secession and organization of the Associate Pres- bytery of Scotland, which event took place on the 17th of November, 1733. The reader will at once see the connec- tion between the secession and the proceed- ings of the church on the subject of pat- ronage. The seceding brethren who formed the Associate Presbytery main- tained, that in condemning patronage and the decisions of the judicatories sanction- ing the settlement of ministers in congre- gations against the consent of the people, they were only acting in conformity with the acknowledged principles of the church. They accordingly bore a very decided testimony against patronage. In a similar manner the Associate Presbytery of Penn- sylvania expressed their sentiments on this subject. " The revival of patronage was one of the evils which resulted to the church from merging the Parliament of Scotland into that of England, in 1707. " The members of the British Parlia- ment, being generally of the communion of the Episcopal church of England, and one class of them dignitaries in it, was not to be expected they would act the part of friends to the Presbvterian interest. Ac- cordingly, in the year 1711, [1712,?] when a party who entertained a deadly hatred against the English dissenters, and against the Church of Scotland, prevailed, the Parliament grievously injured both, and took from the people belonging to the lat- ter, the liberty of choosing their own pas- HI8T0RY OF THE ASSOCIATE PRESB\ ti;ki \.\ < m i:cn. -1 tots' ; restoring to Borne men of rank, or to the crown, certain rights, which thej claimed from tin- laws and customs of popish times, to provide for vacant con- gregations such ministers as thej thought There were, it is true, other causes of grievance ;if the Barne time that patronage was restored; but this was the most prom- inent, and the one which led to the ■loo ami organization of the Associate :■ i'\ of Scotland, and that led to the organization of the Associate Church of North America. It may Jure l>e observed, that the main question at issue then, was precisely the same in all its important bearings, with the (me which lias issued in the great secession of 1843. One other circumstance it may be ne- Cessary to state, in order to trace the origin of the Associate Church in this country to its proper source. In the year 1744, tli'' Associate Presbytery of Scot- laud having greatly increased, it was judged necessary, for the sake of conve- nience, to constitute a Synod. But in the next year a controversy arose in the Sy- nod, which issued in its disruption. The oath to be sworn by such as were admit- ted burghers, or freemen of towns in Scot- land, had, in some places, this clause : " Here I protest before God and your lord- ships, that I profess and allow with all my heart, the true religion presently professed within this realm, and authorized by the laws thereof, that I shall abide thereat, and defend the same to my life's end, re- nouncing the Roman religion called Pa- pistry." The controversy turned on the point, whether it was consistent and law- ful for dissenters, or those who had with- drawn from the national church, to swear this oath, knosving that it was the profes- sion of religion in the national church that was intended by the government im- » the oath. Different sides of this question were advocated in Synod, and the disputes ran so high that, in 1747, the body divided, and each party claimed the name of the "Associate Synod." But the public soon affixed distinguishing epi- thets to each of the parties. Those who * Narrative, p. '28, Cth edition, W. S. Young, Philadelphia, 1839. d the law fulness and < • i swearing the oath, were called A > \ ght is, ami the ad\ ocatcs of th with the former of these that the Associate Prei l»\ terj in thi try was connected. The latti r in w an organization in this country. THE INTRODUCTION OF THE AS ATE CHURCH INTO NORTH AMERICA. At an etrly period of the a C< ssion, indi- viduals approving of the principles of the secession emigrated to this country, both from Scotland and Ireland. These not find- ing here any denomination of professing Christians fully concurring with them in their views of religious faith and duty, and wishing still to retain the principles of the Church of Scotland in their primitive purity, they petitioned the Anti-burgher Associate Synod of Scotland, to send over some min- isters of the gospel to their assistance. In compliance with this petition, M< ssrs, Alexander Gellatly and Andrew Arnot were sent over. The former with a vi< w of permanently remaining in the country, the latter for a period of two years. They did not, however, reach the province of Pennsylvania, the particular place of their destination, until the year 1754. These brethren were authorized by the Synod to organize congregations, and to constitute themselves into a Presbytery, which they accordingly did in November, 1754, under the name of the Associate Presbytery of Pennsylvania. Notwithstanding the vari- ous difficulties which they had to encounter in their first labors, these brethren had the satisfaction of seeing the ordinary evi- dence of success attending their labors ; in a short time there were urgent applica- tions for their labors from different parts of Pennsylvania, from Delaware, N< w York, Virginia, and North Carolina. Mr; A mot returned at the expiration of his appointment, and Mr. Gellatly Mas removed by death in 1761 ; but the Pres- bytery continued to increase by the arrival of missionaries from Scotland, until the intercourse between the two countries was interrupted by the breaking out of the re- volutionary war. By this time the num- ber of ministers had increased to thirteen; and the applications to the Presbytery for 22 HISTORY OF THE ASSOCIATE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. supply of preaching and the dispensation of' the sacraments increased in a still greater degree. At this period it was judged necessary to divide the Presbytery. Those ministers Settled in New York, with the congrega- tions in that State and east of it, were set oiF into a new Presbytery, which was called the Presbytery of New York. The others remained under the old designation, the Presbytery of Pennsylvania, and had the care of such congregations as were located in Pennsylvania and southward of it. This division of the Presbytery took place on the 20th of May, 1776. There were at this time also in the Province of Pennsylvania three ministers belonging to another body of dissenters from the Church of Scotland, called "Re- formed Presbyterians." An attempt was shortly after this made to form a union between these brethren and the Associate Presbytery of Pennsylvania. After soms j! twenty meetings of unsuccessful efforts, ; when, the afFair had been apparently drop- || ped by both parties, it was unexpectedly brought on at a meeting of the Associate Presbytery of Pennsylvania, when the members were not all present, by the ef- forts of one of the members of the Pres- bytery of New York, and in violation of a former express agreement of the Pres- bytery, and carried by the casting vote of the moderator. The part of the Presby- tery who at the time opposed the union, wished the matter delayed until the judg- ment of the Synod in Scotland could be obtained on it ; but the others declared themselves no longer in connection with the Synod in Scotland, and proceeded to pass censures on their brethren who did not fall in with the union. This event took place on the 13th of June, 1782. The united body denominated them- selves the Associate Reformed Synod, from a combination of the names of the two bodies from which the parties came. This union, instead of making two bodies into one, as was its professed de- sign, divided two into three; for those of | the Associate Presbytery of Pennsylvania who refused to join the union, believing the terms of it inconsistent with truth and of s-hismatical tendency, continued their form $r organization. Their course was .improved by the Synod in Scotland ; the Reformed Presbyterian Synod disapproved of what their members had done, and sent in other ministers to supply their place. So that the two original bodies continued to exist, and the new one also. The Presbytery of Pennsylvania was almost extinguished by this union. At the meeting of the Presbytery at which the above transaction took place, besides the moderator, there were present five minis- ters and five ruling elders : three ministers and two ruling elders voted in favor of the union, and two ministers and three ruling elders against it. So that but two minis- ters were left in the Presbytery of Penn- sylvania at the time, for the absent minis- terial members at first fell in with the union ; and for a time these two ministers, Win. Marshall, of Philadelphia, and James Clarkson, of York county, Pennsylvania, with their elders, composed the Associate Presbytery of Pennsylvania. The Asso- ciate Presbytery of New York had joined the union previously. The Synod of Scotland, however, as soon as practicable, sent over others to their assistance, and in a few years most of those who at first had joined the union, abandoned it, and returned to the Presby- tery of Pennsylvania, so that in a short time her affairs began again to revive. Nothing however worthy of special no- tice occurred in the Presbytery from this period until the formation of the Synod in 1801. During this period a number of ministers arrived from Scotland, and some were educated in this country. The first institution for the purpose of educating students in theology by this body, was es- tablished in 1793, under the care of the Rev. John Anderson, D. D., of Beaver county, Pennsylvania, who continued to s?rve as sole professor of theology until 1818, when he resigned on account of old age. From the appointment of Dr. An- derson, in 1793, until the formation of the Synod, in 1801, six young men had been licensed to preach the Gospel. Before noticing- the formation of the Svnod, it is necessary to crjye an account of the organization of the Presbvterv of Kentucky. The Presbytery of Pennsvl- vania, being wholly unable to meet the applications for preaching which were sent history OF ' i hi. A8804 LATE PRE8BTT£RIA^ CHI i;< H. I and Kentucky, directed the Applicants to appl) direct!) to the Sy- nod in Scotland for missionaries! They did BO| and in answer to the petition, the Synod sent two, viz., Messrs. Robert Ann- strong and \ndrew Pulton, missionaries to Kentucky, with authority to constitute themselves into a Presbytery, These mis- sionaries arrived in Kentucky in the spring of L798, and formed themselves with ruling elders into a Presbytery on the 26th of V>\' in!" t 6£ the same year, l>\ the nam.' of the Presbytery of Kentucky, This accession of strength enabled these Presbyteries to form themselves into a Synod, A resolution to that effect was in the Presbytery of Pennsylvania at their meeting iii Philadelphia, May 1st, I -mm. After setting forth the reasons for this, tin1}' " Resolved, that this Presbytery will, if the Lord permit, constitute them- selves into a Synod, or court of review, known and designated by the name of the Associate Synod of North America. To meet in Philadelphia on the third "Wednes- day of May, 1801, at eleven o'clock, A. M. That Mr. Marshall open the meeting with a sermon, and then constitute the Synod. The rest of the day to be spent in solemn prayer and fasting." The Synod met pursuant to this appoint- ment. The roll then consisted of seven- teen ministers. These were divided into four Presbyteries, viz., the Presbytery of Philadelphia, the Presbytery of Chartiers, the Presbytery of Kentucky, and the Pres- bytery of Cambridge. At this time there were also several probationers preaching under the care of the Synod. Until the year 1818, appeals might be taken from this Sy- nod to that of Scotland. But at that time it was declared a co-ordinate Synod by the General Associate Synod of Scotland. From this period until the present time, this society has regularly increased in members and n It ii perhaps worth) of remark, thai her members have, increased in s greater proportion than her minist About the y< ax i 820, an attern] made to form a union between this church and the Associate Reformed Synod of the West, who had separated from what WBM at that tune the General Associate R< - formed Synod, on account of the latiludi- narian principles of the latter, A corres- pondence was carried on between the two bodies for some years, and oearl) everj obstacle to a union seemed to be removed, but the attempt was at length abandoned. This result seemed to be owing in a _p al measure to the nature of the last commu- nication from the Associate Reformed, t he- tenor of which was unconciliating and unkind. Between the years 1838 and 1840, six or seven ministers were deposed or sus- pended for various offences. These have since formed themselves into a Synod, and have assumed the name of the Associate Synod of North America. Two minis- ters, also, in the south, one in South Ca- rolina and the other in Virginia, who had been suspended on account of their con- nection with slavery, have also assumed the name of the Associate Church. These have united, or about to be united, to the Associate Reformed Synod of the South. A minister of the Presbytery of Miami has also joined with a suspended minister of the same Presbytery, and formed what they denominate the " Free Associate Presbytery of Miami." These defections of ministers have con- sequently occasioned some reduction in the number of the people ; but this loss has been more than compensated to the society by the peace, harmony and order that have since prevailed. January, 1844. 84 HISTORY OF THE ASSOCIATE REFORMED CHURCH. HISTORY OF THE ASSOCIATE REFORMED CHURCH. BY THE REV. JOHN FORSYTH, D. D., PROFESSOR IN THE ASSOCIATE REFORMED SEMINARY, OF NEWBURG, N. Y. Of the earliest Scots' Presbyterian Churches in this country, we have no very certain accounts, with the exception of a few in South Carolina. In 1680, Lord Cardron took measures for the establish- ment of a Colony in South Carolina, with the view to afford a place of refuge to his persecuted Presbyterian brethren. This was formed at Port Royal, and the minis- ter of it was the Rev. Dr. Dunlop, after- wards Principal of the University of Glas- gow. An invasion by the Spaniards, and the English Revolution of 1638, which af- forded the exiles an opportunity of return- ing to their native land, led to the aban- donment of the colony. Numbers of pri- vate persons, however, remained in Caro- lina, who were gathered into congregations under the care of a Presbytery, which con- tinued to exist until about the close of the last century. Of these churches, only one now remains, the Old Scots' Church of Charleston. During that dark period of Scottish his- tory, from 1660 to 16 8 S, numbers of Pres- byterians were transported to the American plantations, and sold as slaves. Wodrow sets the number down at 3000. They were for the most part sent to Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. To a con- gregation formed of these exiles, in New Jersey, Frascr, the author of the work on Sanetiiication, for some years preached ; he afterwards removed to Now England, and from thence returned to Scotland. It is much to be lamented that the accounts of these Scottish Churches are so exceed- ingly scanty, inasmuch as their history is connected with that of the American Presbyterian and the Associate Reformed Churches.* The earliest application to the Secession Church of Scotland for ministerial aid, was made very soon after the secession took place. In 1736, the Associate Presbytery received a letter from a number of persons in Londonderry, Chester county, Penn., requesting that an ordained minister, or a probationer might be sent to them, and promising that all the expenses of the mis- sion should be defrayed by themselves. The condition of the Presbytery, however, was such, the demand for laborers at home was so great, as to render it impossible to do more than send to the people of Lon- donderry a friendly letter. (McKerrow's Hist. Secess. i. 230.) The first minister sent out to America by the Secession Church, was the Rev. Alex. Gellatly, who arrived in 1751, and after a laborious ministry of eight years, finished his course at Octora- ra, Penn. The Covenanters, or Reformed Presbyterians, sent out the Rev. Mr. Cuth- bertson in 1751 ; he was followed, in 1774, by Rev. Messrs. Lind and Dobbin. As the Associate Reformed Church was made up of these denominations, a very brief survey of their history will not be out of place. OC the Reformed Presbytery, it is only * Wo Vow. the historian. coTrsp^nded with rrnnv of them for a lon<; series of venrs ; his correspondence, now in course of publication I v t'i" iVn ■'•-•m- So- ciety, it is to l>e hoped will throw mneh liaht upon this early period of American Presbyterian history. Wk of PS Duval. PMai: tfaDBHBS MIoMI.&MSSVIEJo® HISTORY OF THE AS80CIATE REFORMED CHI R4 ll ir) to observe, thai it original!} con- sisted "i those who objected to the terms on u li ith the Presb} terjan ( Ihurch of Scot- land was re-established at the Revolution of 1668 j they considered thai she had (alien from the attainments she had made, especially about the year 1649, and to which she was hound by solemn COVe- nants. While they professed to rejoice in the blessings secured to Britain by the banishment of the house of Stuart, they still regarded the constitution both of Church and State as imperfect, and hence, While they refused to heroine members of the former, they at the same time declined to recognise the Legality of the latter. Their most distinguishing principles, are those which relate to civil government. As these will be fully explained by a member of thai communion, it is not necessary to state them in this place. The Secession originated in 1733, and was occasioned by a sermon preached by the Rev. Ebenezer Erskine, in which he strongly inveighed against certain recent acts of the Assembly having reference to the settlement of ministers. For this ser- mon (preached at the opening of the Synod of Perth and Sterling) he was immediately called to account, but refused to submit to the censure imposed, appealing from the sentence of the Synod to the General As- sembly. The result was the secession from the Establishment of Mr. Erskine, together with his brother Ralph of Dunfermline, Mr. Wilson of Perth, and Mr. Moncrief of Abernethy, and the formation of a body known as the Associate Presbytery. Im- mediately upon constituting themselves in- to a Presbytery, they emitted a Testimony, in which they declared that they had not separated from the Church of Scotland, but only seceded from " the prevailing party:*' they appealed to the " first free reforming assembly" for an adjudication of their case, they declared their faithful adherence to all the Canons and Confessions of the church, and they particularly and strongly testified against the unsound doctrines, as well as the mal-practices which, for some years previous, had been creeping into the church. This testimony they required all who after- wards joined with them to approve ; a step this, eminently injudicious, inasmuch as it was a larce addition to the ancient terms of communion — bred among th< m ■ spirit of High Church excluaivcne— , and irai the remote canseof their subsequent un- happy divisions. in I "J 4G a dig] among the Secedcra relative to th<- Bur- ghers'Oath. B) this time the Presbyton had reached the dignity of a Synod, num- bering about lorty ministers, and as many congregations. The point in debate wai a clause in the oath required of those ad- mitted to the freedom of the Royal Burghs, to this effect, that they professed the true relfgion as then professed in the kin) and " renounced the Romish religion, call* d Papistry." One party maintained that the* taking this oath was inconsistent with the position occupied by Scceders ; the other party held that there was no such incon- sistency, inasmuch as the oath was no more than a recognition of the Protestant faith, as held forth in the standards of the Reformed Church of Scotland. The former were called Anti-burghers, and insisted upon making abstinence from the oath a term of communion, the latter were termed Burghers, and opposed any such restric- tion. The dispute, which was carried rn with much vehemence and animosity, produced a division of the Synod into two distinct bodies, each claiming the name and the succession of the Associate Sy- nod ; but they were popularly known by the names just mentioned. The numbers were about equal at the time of the sepa- ration, and the growth of the two bodies in succeeding years was very nearly equal. The first effect of this breach was a change in the old Testimony to meet the new condition of tilings. There were. thus, in 1747, two Secession bodies, each having its own distinctive Testimony. In this state the Secession body continued until 1796, when the Burghers were again divided by a dispute respecting the power of the civil magistrate circa sacra. The subject had been in discussion for scree years, one party (a very small one) lidd- ing that the magistrate was bound rot only to profess the true religion, but also to maintain it at the expense and by the power of the state; the other, forming the large majority of the Burgher Svth d, approached, in their views, very nearly to what has since been termed the volun- tary principle, though they did not abso- 26 HISTORY OF THE ASSOCIATE REFORMED CHURCH. lately condemn the principle of a civil establishment of religion. Connected with this question, was another respecting the binding obligatian of the Solemn League and Covenant; the former party asserting the obligation of these ancient instruments upon posterity, in the strong- est manner, the latter admitting it only in a very modified sense. This dispute re- sulted in the separation of a small party from the Synod, in 1796. They were called the Old Light Burghers ; while the majority were known as the New Lights. In 1806, the Anti-burgher branch of the Secession was agitated by the same ques- tions, and a small body, headed by Prof. Bruce, of Whitburn, and the late Dr. Mc Crie, the eminent historian, seceded from the Synod, in consequence of a change in the Testimony on the subject of the covenants, and the magistrate's power, and formed themselves into a body called the Constitutional Presbytery ; but the two parties were popularly known as the Old and New Light Anti-burghers. There were thus four distinct bodies of Seceders, all equally strenuous advocates of Pres- byterian government and order ; all ob- serving the same forms of worship ; and the ministry in each branch being equally distinguished for evangelical sentiment. Yet each had its own Testimony, an ap- probation of which was demanded as a term of communion. To finish this brief sketch : in 1820, the two principle branches of the Seces- sion, viz : the New Light Burghers and Anti-burghers, united themselves into one body under the name of the United Se- cession Church. The two Synods con- tained at this time about 150 ministers, each ; their reunion took place just seventy years after the breach, and in the same building, Bristo Street Church, Edin- burgh, where the division had occurred. Into this union the Burghers entered unan- imously ; but a small party of the Anti- burghers, with Professor Paxton at their head, refused to go with their brethren. Those dissenters in 1S27, joined the Old Lights, (Dr. McCrie's party.) While in 1837, the Old Light Burghers returned to the communion of the Established Church, thus leaving at the present time but two branches of the Secession, viz : the United Synod, numbering some 400 churches, and the Old Light Anti-burghers with 40 or 50. The earliest missions to this country, were sent out by the Anti-burgher Synod. Having received in 1751, a very earnest application from Rev. Mr. Alexander Craighead, of Octorara, for ministerial aid, the Synod appointed Messrs. James Harne, and John Jamieson, to proceed as missionaries to America. These appoint- ments having not been fulfilled, the Sy- nod in 1752, passed a very stringent "act concerning young men appointed to mis- sions in distant places," to the effect that if unwilling to go wherever the Synod might choose to send, they should no longer be recognised as theological stu- dents. In 1760, this act was extended to probationers, and it was enacted that pro- bationers refusing to be sent to North America, by the Synod, should be de- prived of their license ; and in 1763, it was farther enacted, that no probationer, under appointment to North America, could be proposed as a candidate in the moderation of any call in Scotland. In our day, this would be deemed ecclesias- tical tyranny of a high order; still it shows the exceeding earnestness of the Synod to answer the American call for help. In" 1752, Messrs. Gellatly and Arnot arrived ; the former as a permanent la- borer here ; the latter being a settled min- ister in Scotland, and having been sent out for a special purpose, soon returned home. These brethren were charged by the Synod, to constitute themselves into a Presbytery, immediately on their arrival in Pennsylvania, which they did under the name of the Associate Presbytery of Pennsylvania. In 1753, the Rev. James Proudfit was sent, and afier laboring as an itinerant for some years, was settled at Pequa, Pennsylvania. The hands of the Presbytery were strengthened in 1758, by the arrival of Rev. Mr. Matthew Hen- derson ; and 1761, by the arrival of Rev. Messrs. John Mason, (afterwards of New York,) Robert Annon, and John Smart ; in 1762, by that of Rev. William Mar- shall. In 1770, Messrs John Roger and John Smith arrived, with instructions in reference to a subject which shall pre- sently be mentioned. HISTORY OF THE ASSOCIATE REFORMED (III RCH. •r. The Burgher S3 ood received in 1751, a ver) faints! application ii > r ii minister from a number of persona resident in Philadelphia; this request was renewed in the year following, (1752,) with the promise of defraying all the char the mission. In consequence of repeated and earnest applications, the Synod re- solved, in 17.")i, upon establishing ■ mis- sion in America, and ihey appointed the Rev, Thomas Clark, minister of.Bally- hay, in Ireland, to proceed to Pennsylva- nia ; hut he was prevented from fulfilling the appointment at that time. How ver, in 1764, .Mr. Clark, in company with the major part of his congregation,; emigrated to America, ami settled the town of Salem, Washington County, New York. He was followed in 1766, by the Rev. Messrs. Telfair and Kinloch. Mr. Telfair became the minister of the Burgher Congregation, in Shippen Street, Philadelphia.* Mr. Kinloch, ultimately returned to Scotland, and was settled in Paisley. In 1770, he was called by the Old Church in Cam- bridge, Washington County, New York, but the call was declined. The Burgher ministers appear to have had no desire to keep up a separate or- ganization on this side of the Atlantic ; they accordingly united, very soon after their arrival, with their brethren ; but the union was disturbed by the refusal of the Scottish Synod to approve of it. In 1776, the old Presbytery of Pennsylvania was divided into two ; the one bearing the old name, the other called the Presbytery of New York ; this procedure was also condemned by the Scottish Synod, but no attention was paid to their order to re- scind the act of division. An attempt was made in 1765, to unite the Associate Presbytery of Pennsylva- nia to the Synod of Philadelphia and New York; the minutes of the conference held by the joint committee, of which Dr. Witherspoon and Dr. Mason, were mem- bers, are now before the writer, but they are too long for insertion. The chief * It may be here stated that the Shippen Street congregation; united with the old Scot's Church, in Spruce street, about the year 1763 or 1784. The ground in Shippen Street, is we believe, still used as a buiial ground. ground and < stent of the < lOtpel oner, the dii ine right of Presbj ivernment, ami the qualifications for the ministry. This attempt at union might perhaps have bc< n did, but for the amnion' by a foolish publication of the \. Presbytery, against tin- firsl ministers who came to this country .' The Revolution of 177<>, may, in one sense, be regarded as the cause of the union which produced the- Associal formed Church. The importance of union among the divided Scots' Presbyterian churches in this country, had indeed been felt long before it was actually accom- plished. The weakness of the con \ tions of the several sects showed the need of united effort ; and the conscipusni bs of this gradually excited and increased the desire for it, until the independence of the colonies, in the judgment of many, removed the ancient causes of disunion. During the progress of the war, several conventions were held between the mem- bers of the Associate and the Reformed Presbyteries, with the view to attain this desirable end. A detailed account of these conventions would be of little use, even if we had ampler materials for giving it than we actually possess. It will suffice to say, that the three Presbyteries sat in Philadelphia in October, 17 82, and formed themselves into a Synod, under the name of the Associate Reformed Synod of North America, on a basis consisting of the following articles, viz. : 1. That Jesus Christ died for the elect. 2. That there is an appropriation in the nature of faith. 3. That the Gospel is addressed indis- criminately to sinners of mankind. 4. That the righteousness of Christ is the alone condition of the covenant of works. 5. That civil government originates with God the Creator, and not with Christ the Mediator. 6. The administration of the kingdom of Providence is given into the hand of Jesus Christ the Mediator ; and magistra- cy, the ordinance appointed by the Moral I * For fuller details, see McKerrow's History, vol. i. 28 HISTORY OF THE ASSOCIATE REFORMED CHURCH. Governor of the world to be the prop of civil order among men, as well as other things, is rendered subservient by the Me- diator to the welfare of his spiritual king- dom, the Church, and has sanctified the use of it and of every common benefit, through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ 7. That the law of nature and the moral law revealed in the Scriptures are substantially the same, although the latter expresses the will of God more evidently and clearly than the former, and therefore magistrates among Christians ought to be regulated by the general directory of the Word as to the execution of their office. 8. That the qualifications of justice, veracity, &c. required in the law of nature for the being of a magistrate, are also more j explicitly revealed as necessary in the Holy Scriptures. But a religious test, any fur- ther than an oath of fidelity, can never be essentially necessary for the being of a magistrate, except where the people make it a condition of government. 9. That both parties when united shall adhere to the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Catechisms, the Directory for Worship, and propositions concerning church government. 10. That they shall claim the full exer- cise of church discipline without depend- ence upon foreign judicatories. Upon this basis all the members of the Reformed Presbytery, and all the Asso- ciate ministers, with the exception of two members of the Presbytery of Pennsylva- nia, (Messrs. Marshall and Clarkson,) united. A small minority of the people in the two communions also declined to enter into it. From these minorities have sprung the Covenanter denomination on the one hand, and the Associate on the other. The limits of this article preclude any extended comment upon this basis ; it will be sufficient to observe, that at this distance of time it is difficult to discover the reason for inserting some of its arti- cles. In reference to the extent of the atonement, the nature of faith, and the extent of the Gospel offer, there had never been anv difference of opinion among these parties : and it is therefore somewhat surprising that these topics are mentioned. There had been a dispute about common bencjits, i. e. whether the common blessings of life were derived to mankind in virtue of Christ's mediation, or were merely be- stowed by God as Creator. But a calm and candid perusal of the pamphlets be- gotten by this controversy — once deemed a very vital one — will convince any one that it was a dispute about words rather than things. Most of the articles, it will be perceived, relate to the subject of ma- gistracy, and this was the grand topic of difference, viz. the essential qunl fications of the civil magistrate, and the t ttcnt of his power circa sacra. On . h ;se last points, it must be confessed, thai .he lan- guage of the basis is by no means clear, yet it is perhaps as much so as its uithors intended, and as much so as the subject admits. It should be borne in mind that each of these bodies held to the Westmin- ster Confession, their catechisms were the same, their government, forms of worship and mode of administering the sacraments identical ; their views of Gospel doctrine, and even the style of preaching prevalent among them, were quite similar. Their differences had grown out of acts of dis- cipline, rather than points of doctrine. Here it may not be out of place to give some brief notices of the leading persons who were active in effecting this union. The Rev. Thomas Clark was one. Per- haps no minister of his day was " in labors more abundant" than he ; and many inter- esting traditions are still in existence res- pecting him in various parts of the coun- try. His public ministrations were marked by some eccentricities, so that he usually attracted large crowds to hear him. But he was a man eninently given to prayer, laborious, zealous, of a most catholic spirit, and he had many seals of his min- istry, not only by his labors in the pulpit, but also by his private faithfulness, with all sorts of persons, at home and abroad. He longed for the salvation of souls ; in season and out of season, he made full proof of his ministry. After a most laborious ministry of about thirty years (in this country.) he died suddenly at Long Cane, in South Carolina, in 1796. He was the founder and first minister of the church at Salem, Xew York. The Rev. Dr. John Mason, of New York, was one of the most accomplished 1IIMOKY OF Till: ASSOCIATE Klin >KM i:i> CHI'KCH. pre ichen aini pastors of bia age. I l< i man of ;i Bound strong mind, of re learning, and of unusually fer* rent piety. Hia scholarship waa rare. He had so habituated himself to classical studies, thai at the age of twenty, beapoike the Latin language on all the higher sub- of discourse, with equal case and neater elegance, than his mother tongue. In Greek his proficiency was but little inferior : and he was familiar with I [ebrew, At the age of twenty -four, he taught logic and moral philosophy in the seminary of the Anti-burghers at Abernethy; His lectures were in Latin. As a [Treacher he was uncommonly judicious and instruc- - a pastor singularly faithful and diligent, and as a friend and companion he displayed an assemblage of excellencies ranly (bund in so great a degree in one person. Few ministers have ever lived in New York, in so high esteem, or died so deeply and generally lamented." — The following testimony of regard is from the pen of the late Dr. Linn, who knew Dr. Mason well : — " lie had prudence without cunning, cheerfulness without levity, dig- nity without pride, friendship without cere- mony, charity without undue latitude, and religion without ostentation."* For thirty years he was minister of the Old Scots' Church, (Cedar Street,) New York ; he died in 1792, and was succeeded by his distinguished son, Dr. John M*. Mason. He is said to have written in connection with Gov. Livingston of New Jersey, some powerful political papers, during the discussions that preceded the Revolution. Banished in common with other Presbyte- rians from the city during its occupancy by the British army, he acted as a chap- lain to the American forces, and was very warmly esteemed by Washington. The Rev. Robert Anvon had been a fel- low student with Dr. Mason, and they came to this country about the same time, lie was first settled at Neelytown, in Orange county, New York ; and during the early years of the Revolution he was a very active promoter of the Whig cause. About the close of the war he was called to the charge of a newly formed Scots' church in Boston; but 'finding himself Miller's Life of Rogers, p. 1 64. unable t<. carrj out the discipline of the Presbyterian Church, he removed to Phil- adelphia, and lor some years waa minister of tli<- Spruce Street Church. Up after- wards accepted of a caJI from a con| tion in Baltimore. In this his last fixed charge be continued about six years, when he demitted it in favor of the pn at at | aa- tor, Dr. John M. Duncan. He died in 1818. He wrote (with some slight aid from Dr. Mason) a abort hut \< i ■;. lent exposition of the Westminster Con- fession; a liarraMe of the steps which led to the union ; a tract on (Jnnreraaliam : one on civil government ; and while p ><- dent at Philadelphia, he engaged in a dis- cussion with the late Dr. Rush on the subject of capital punishment. Pic was a man of superior eloquence, an able, though a rather bitter controversialist ; he seems to have been better fitted to lay the foun- dations of a congregation, than to carry up the superstructure. The Rev. James Provdft was also edu- cated for the ministry at A hern r thy. Plis first settlement was at Pequa, Pennsylva- nia. After laboring here upwards of twenty years, he was called to Salem, as the successor of Mr. Clark, where he re- mained until his decease, in 1802. For some years before his death, his son, the Rev. Dr. Alex. Proudfit, was associated with him in the pastoral charge. He was one of the first Presbyterian ministers settled north of Troy, and for many years he was abundant in labors over a wide extent of country ; not a few of the largest con- gregations in Washington county having been founded by him. He published no- thing, but he was eminent for his holiness. A brother minister who had long known him, once said to his son, that " he was the holiest man he ever knew." So great was his acquaintance with the Bible, that he was often called by his friends the concordance. Of. the Covenanting bre- thren, Messrs. Dolihin, Lind, and Cuth- bertso?t, we regret that we are unable to give any certain information. In this connection it may not be out of place to give a few notices respecting the principal localities of the Associate Re- formed Church, in these early days of her history. The earliest settlements were in Pennsylvania, within the Cumberland 30 HISTORY OF THE ASSOCIATE REFORMED CHURCH. Valley. From these, colonies went forth to various parts of the United States. Numbers emigrated to West Pennsylvania, but in what year, we are unable to state, — we only know that these emigrants formed some of the earliest Presbyterian churches west of the Alleghany mountains. S >me of the first settlers in Pennsylvania remained but a short time, and then re- moved to the upper parts of South Caro- lina and Georgia. The Old Church in Philadelphia, was formed by a few pious Scotsmen, who at first met together as a praying society. The Old Church in New York was formed by the sepa- ration of the Scottish members from the Wall Street Church in 1751, in conse- quence of changes in the forms of wor- ship, and the neglect of Presbyterian order. In Orange county, a colony of Irish Presbyterians was established under the auspices of Col. Clinton, the founder of the Clinton family, so early as 1734 ; from these have sprung the various Asso- ciate Reformed churches in that county. Others were induced to settle on the Col- den and Campbell patents. The first settlement in Washington county, was made by Dr. Clark ; his congregation emigrated from Ireland about the year 1760 : one part going to Carolina, another portion accompanying him to Washington county. To this day, this county is emi- nently Scottish in its religious peculiari- ties. It may be added, that the Associate Reformed Church was one of the first to plant the standard of the Gospel in the State of Kentucky ; and at the close of the last century the prospect of increase in that commonwealth was highly pro- mising. These prospects were, however, soon darkened and destroyed by dissen- sions among the ministers. At the begin- ning of the present century, the Lexing- ton Academy was founded under the aus- pices of the Associate Reformed Church. It was incorporated by the legislature of the State, and received from the same source the very handsome endowment of 4000 acres of land. Had the affairs of this institution, and of the church, been managed with ordinary prudence, there can be little doubt that it would now have been among the best colleges in the great valley of the West. But the opportunity was madly thrown away, and now it is irrecoverably gone. All the subsequent efforts of the church to extend herself in Kentucky, have been attended by no en- couraging results. In addition to these early settlements of the church, in the States of New York, Pennsylvania, Carolina, and Kentucky, it should be mentioned that there were some in New Hampshire and Maine. Mr. Greenleaf gives some notices of them in his Ecclesiastical History of Maine. They were associated under the name of the Presbytery of Londonderry. The region, however, was unfavorable to the growth of Presbyterianism ; so soon as the older generation was removed, their descendants became " like the people of the land," and degenerated into independency, though the name of Presbytery was still kept up. The consequence was, that the Synod in 1802 passed the harsh and unwise act, declaring this Presbytery no longer a por- tion of the Associate Reformed Church. We now resume the history of the Synod. As before stated, it was constitu- ted at Philadelphia, in 1782, and was then composed of three Presbyteries, and num- bered in all fourteen ministers. One of the first acts of the Synod, after its or- ganization, was, the adoption of a series of articles, which were afterwards pub- lished under the very unsuitable name of the Constitution of the Associate Reformed Church : among the people it was known as " the Little Constitution." These arti- cles were vehemently attacked both by the Covenanters (in Scotland) and the Seceders here ; yet they deserve attention as showing the ardent attachment of the men of that day to " the truth and peace ;" they furnish striking evidence that they possessed a truly catholic spirit, and were eminently free from that mean and narrow sectarian temper which has often been displayed by those who make the loudest professions of universal char- ity. Our limits forbid the insertion of these articles ; and we shall only say in reference to them, that the spirit of char- ity and moderation which they breathe, has been characteristic of the Associate Reformed Church from that day to this : in no case has she attempted to profit by ■; the dissensions of her neighbors, and with HISTORY OF THE ASSOCIATE REFORMED Mil K servo onlj a tempo- rarj purpose or not, can hardl} be deter- mined at this distance oi timej the fket, however, is, thai they were ultimately laid aside for a fuller exposition «>i' the church's faith — a measure thai was pro- bably owing to the uneasiness created in tin- minds of souk- weax but sincere per- sons, by the incessant and virulent attacks of the enemies of the union. The final result was, that the Westminster Confes- sion and the Catechism, after a careful revision, al Beveral successive meetings qf Synod, in the articles relating to the power of the magistrate, were published in one volume, in 1799, under the title of u The Constitution and Standards of the ate Reformed Church in North America," and they have continued to be such, down to the present day. The ground occupied by the United Church was the same as that held by the Church of Scotland. The testimonies of Covenanters and Secedera were approved so far as they did not conflict; but the simple standards of the Church of Scot- land were adopted as the standards of the church in the United States, only with a slight change of their language on the subject before named. And even this change amounted to no more than the in- corporation in the Confession of the very sentiments expressed by the Church of Scotland on this head, in her adopting act of 1646. The Directory for Worship and the Propositions of Church Govern- ment remained unchanged; the Rules of Discipline and Forms of Process were not so much altered as drawn out into a regular system, the want of which the Church of Scotland has long felt; instead of rules she has only precedents for her guide in matters of discipline. In this connection it may be mentioned, that va- rious doctrinal acts were passed by the Synod, which were intended to oppose particular errors prevalent at the time. Of these, the acts on Faith and Justifica- tion, written by the late Dr. John M. Mason ; on Original Sin, by the Rev. Robert Forrest, and on the Atonement, l.\ Dr. Robert Proudfit, are \« rj valuable expositions of Scri] rare truth, and long 1" en highl ) prized. I 01 Iweui \ \ i p the union, rhe growth <>f the church fact, tip- demand for lahon r in .ill purls of the hind, \« u England excepted, was far greater than the Synod could po supply. This rapidity of inert ase led the church, in 1 803, to adopt -i mi — under the inlluence of Dr. \K THE ASSOCIATE REFORMED ( III K< ll ( >ii this account, as well M (or the influ- ence which it was the means of exerting, it deserves an honorable notice in the bis- tor) of the church. The appearance of tins work gave great offence to those is our own and some other denominations, who either could not or would nol sit the difference between catholic communion and promiscuous communion, and an attempt was made to answer it; still it was the means of producing a happy change In the practice of a considerable portion of the church of which its author was a member. But candor requires the statement, that in some ether parts of the church, the doctrine of exclusive commu- nion is taught and practised. The dis- cussion oi' this subject, connected as it was in point of time with an attempt to introduce a new version of the Psalter, greatly helped to increase those sectional jealousies which had existed for some years before. All the great interests of the church languished ; the Seminary was becoming involved in pecuniary difficulties — a fact however no way surprising, when it is considered how sadly its pecuniary affairs were mismanaged. The ministers in the western Slates made loud com- plaints against what they deemed innova- tions on the ancient order of the church ; these proving — as might have been ex- pected from the very manner in which they were made — ineffectual, the entire Synod of Scioto at length, in 1820, with- drew from the superintendence of the General Synod. This was a step in pal- pable violation of the essential principles of Pfresbyterianism ; it was a causeless dismemberment of the church. Those who adopted it did not pretend that the General Synod had sanctioned heresy; they could not pretend that their interests were neglected, for quite as large a num- ber of those educated in the seminary at New York were settled in the western States, as in any other portion of the country. The only thing which furnished them with a show of complaint was the act of the General Synod allowing the use of a different version of the Psalms from that which had been in use in the Associate Reformed Church. But no at- tempt was made to force a new version upon unwilling congregations. Now it must be manifest t<> all that ii or, in other words, the dismemb i m m i >j a denomination, be warrantable on grounds, the foundation of such ■ bod) must be exceedingl) insecure. All the old and sound Presbyterian writ* Rutherford, Durham and Baillie, are agreed iii maintaining, that the onlj pro- per grounds of separation are, the author* itative sanctioning of gross heresy, or the positive interference with the rights of conscience j nor will even these justify it, until faithful though unavailing efforts have been made to remove the gri< vance. The eminent writers whose names have been given, unite in declaring, that to secede merely because the supreme judica- tory tolerates something which one party deems to be an evil, while perfect freedom is allowed to testify against it, is to be guilty of schism. The truth is, that the \ schism of which we have spoken is to be j traced to that absurd longing after an absolute uniformity in the mere externals of Divine worship, which Scottish Pres- byterianism derived from the Westminster Assembly; this, we are persuaded, more than any other cause, has cramped the energies and hindered the advancement of the Associate Reformed Church in the United States. In 1821, the Synod of the Carolinas petitioned the General Synod to be erected into an independent Synod. The ground on which it was made was the great dis- tance of the Synod from the place at j which the General Synod usually assem- bled, and the consequent impossibility of ; their being represented in the supreme | council of the church. The request was granted. For many years after that j event, the Southern Synod could hardly be said to have grown ; but within the last few years a more enterprising spirit has been diffused among its members, and the prospects of increase are more pro- mising than at any previous period. The increase of the Western Synod may be said to have kept pace with the rapid strides with which the Western States have advanced in population and in wealth. At the time of their separation in 1820, the number of ministers did not exceed twenty ; now it is more than one hundred. The details of their statistics 34 HISTORY OF THE ASSOCIATE REFORMED CHURCH. we shall leave to the close of our article. Both the ministers and membership of the n Synod are very strenuous advo- cates of what they denominate a "Scrip- tural Psalmody," by which they under- stand not merely a psalmody based upon the Scriptures, but the Book of Psalms, to the exclusion of all imitations such as that of Dr. Watts, and even of all trans- lations of other portions of the Sacred Word. Not only are their congregations confined to the use of the Scots1 version (as it is sometimes called) in the worship of God, but their ministers also are com- pelled to use this version when called to officiate in the pulpits of other denomina- tions. Whether this subject does not | receive an undue prominence among them, is a question which it might be deemed improper for one to determine, who is in a great measure unacquainted with the circumstances of that branch of the church. However this may be, it is very certain that psalmody forms the standing topic of discussion in all the periodicals connected with the Western Synod, and is the theme of not a few sermons. The" are also very strongly opposed to the doc- trine of catholic communion ; though it would probably be doing many of them injustice to affirm that they hold to the doctrine of exclusive communion in the strongest sense of the phrase. We are not indeed aware that the Synod, as. such, has ever given forth any positive deliver- ance upon the subject of communion ; but there can be no doubt that the practical sentiment of the majority of ministers and members is in favor of the exclusive sys- tem. Of late years the Synod has also taken very decided ground against slave- ry ; in many of the congregations, we are informed, that, not only are actual slaveholders excluded from their commu- nion, but even those who have ceased to be such, are refused, unless they express sorrow for their past sin in the matter. These remarks apply to the southern branch of the church also, except in rela- tion to the subject of slavery. In the Northern Synod, on the other hand, while there are some who entertain the views just expressed on the subjects of psalmody and communion, yet the majority of its mem- bers hold to a more liberal way of thinking. About the time of the separation of the Western Synod, a proposal was made to unite the Associate Reformed and the Re- formed Dutch Churches, under the name ojf M The Reformed Protestant Church of North America." The cause of the fai- lure of this projected union has never been very satisfactorily explained. In the report of the committee of the Associate Reformed Church, the coldness with which the proposal was received by some few of the classes of the Dutch Church, is given as the reason for their recom- mendation not to prosecute the business. But there must have been some more po- tent agency than this at work ; it is well known that the pride of one very distin- guished member of the committee of the Associate reformed Church was, in some way, wounded in the prosecution of the affair, and there are those who ascribe to this circumstance — whether properly or not the writer cannot positively determine — the unhappy termination of the project. At the very same meeting of General Sy- nod at which it was resolved to be inex- pedient to prosecute the attempt at union with the Dutch Church, on account of the coldness of a few of her classes, a pro- position of union was received from the General Assembly. A joint committee was immediately appointed, and a basis of union was very hastily framed, and it having received the approval of the two bodies, was sent down to their respective Presbyteries for their action. Those un- der the care of the Assembly do not ap- pear to have ever had the thing before them ; at all events they never acted upon it. At the next meeting of the General Synod, in 1822, it appeared that a large majority of the Presbyteries and Congre- gations were most decidedly opposed to the projected union. Yet, strange, to relate, those very men whose con- sciences had been so scrupulous about the coldness of a few of the Dutch clas- ses, as to deem it necessary to drop the project of union (a union be it observed worthy of the name) with that church, had got so completely rid of their scru- ples, that they resolved to proceed with another proposal of union, in the face of the expressed negatives of a majority of their own Presbyteries. The subject was HISTOM OF THE A6SCN [ATE REFORMED cm R( II. I u li- d the vole md miserable ii ken, ;m. re m re lor um< n nd silent Jour. Th immediately declared the i - ■ «1 ; and in palpable violati □ i if • oostitiitioa of the Presbj terian Church, they ueen sus- pended in 1821, and to establish it at Newburgh, under the care of the lv v. Joseph McCarroll, D, D., who was at the same time chosen Professor of Theologv. Si :>s were taken to recover the library which it was effected, proved that the- rred to Princeton in 1822; a rc- secedcrs were themselves conscious that presentation of the case, marked by great their doings would not bear investigation. ■ moderation, was presented to the A It is deeply to be lamented that the pro- - bly in 1830, which having proved unavail- posed union of 1622, was managed in the ; ing, legal measures were adopted, and after manner described. To an unprejudiced | a protracted suit, the library was obtained mind there appears no reason, on the score of principle, why these two branches of the Presbyterian Church should main- tain a separate existence; their standards, and removed to the Seminary at Newburgh. From the preceding statement it will be perceived that the Associate Reformed Church, since 1822, has existed in three their government, and their discipline arc < independent divisions, at the North, the the same, and while there is a difference j West, and the South. An ineffectual at- in some of their forms of worship, yet, as this would be no just cause for origina- ting a separation, it cannot he a just rca- son for continuing it. Had the proper i preparatory steps been taken, had due time been allowed the ministers and con- gregations of the Associate Reformed Church to consider the subject : the wri- ter believes that within a few years a happy union of the two bodies might have been effected. But managed as the busi- ness was, they were only placed wider apart than ever. Such, however, was the end of the General Synod, for it never met again; — ill advised in its origin, un- prosperous through its whole existence, tempt was made, in IS 27, to revive the General Synod on the old footing: this failure was not produced by any of the old causes of disunion, for by this time, there was a uniform practice in all the details of Divine worship throughout the several divisions of the church ; but it aroso from the conviction which had been created in many minds, that in a country of such vast extent as ours, and with so many peculiarities of local interests and feelings, the affairs of the church will be much better managed by particular Sy- nods, than by a representative General Synod or Assembly, having appellate ju- risdiction. This sentiment, the truth of % 36 HISTORY OF THE ASSOCIATE REFORMED CHURCH. which is very remarkably established by the history of the Associate Reformed Church for the last twenty years, is gain- ing ground both at the North and the West ; and we do not believe that any considerable portion of our church will ever consent to the erection of such a Synod, having appellate jurisdiction over the whole United States. This is, in fact, to carry the principle of Presbyterianism to an unwarrantable length ; all the argu- ments adduced to prove the necessity of such Synods or Assemblies, if worth any thing, prove the necessity of a permanent Ecumenical Synod or Assembly. Recent events, especially the increasing agitation on the subject of slavery, convince us that the day is not very distant, when the other and larger branches of the Presby- terian Church in the United States, will be compelled to take the same position, on this subject, with the Associate Re- formed Church. It only remains to add to this historical sketch, that for the last five or six years a correspondence has been going on be- tween the Associate Reformed, the Asso- ciate, and the Reformed Presbyterian Churches, with a view to their amalgama- tion into one body. Among persons of right Christian feelings, and of enlarged minds, there can be but one opinion, as to the desirableness of such a union ; but we are sorry to say, that at the present time, the prospect of its accomplishment is by no means flattering. Still, the par- ties concerned are acting with great cau- tion, and experience proves that in all attempts at union, the dictate of true wis- dom, is " festina lente." The great de- liberation by which this movement has been distinguished, may at least inspire the hope that when the union does take place, it will be a union that deserves the name. And yet, if it were speedily ef- fected, while we should greatly rejoice, the question would force itself upon us — why should the united Scottish Church maintain a separate existence in America? We confess that we should look upon this as a step towards a yet more blessed con- summation. We should look upon it as the harbinger of that day, when Presby terians, so lonn; divided and alienated, though one in their confession and gov- ernment, forgetful of their ancient animos- ities, shall unite their hearts and their energies against that common and mighty foe which is every day putting on renewed strength, that deadly i\v by which in other days so many of our Presbyterian lathers were Sent to join and increase "the goodly company of martyrs." We shall conclude the article with the statistics of the church. I. The Synod of New York, contains four Presbyteries, viz : New York, Sara- toga, Washington, and Caledonia. The whole number of ministers is 34 ; and of congregations, settled and vacant, about 43. The Theological Seminary is at Newburgh, Rev. Joseph McCarroll, D. D., Professor of Theology ; the Professorship of Church History is at present vacant. II. The Synod of the West, about four j years since, was turned into a General I Synod, having under its care the follow- ! ing particular ones, viz : 1. The East Sub-Synod, containing the following Presbyteries : Big Spring, Mo- nongahela, The Lakes, Mansfield, Steu- benville, Blairsville, Second Ohio. The East Synod, contains about 60 ministers, and about 100 congregations, settled and vacant. The Theological Seminary is established at Alleghany, near Pittsburg, under the' care of Rev. John T. Pressley, D. D., Profcssor.of Theology : Rev. James L. Dinwiddie, Professor of Biblical Criti- cism ; the Professorship of Church His- tory is vacant. 2. The West Sub-Synod, contains the following Presbyteries : First Ohio, Chili- cothe, Springfield, Kentucky, Indiana, Il- linois, Michigan. It numbers about 40 ministers, and 70 or 80 congregations, settled and vacant. The Theological Sem- inary is established at Oxford, Ohio, under the care of the Rev. Joseph Claybaugh, D. D., Professor of Theology. III. The Synod of the South, contains the following Presbyteries: First Carolina, Second Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee. The number of ministers is about 25, and of congregations 40. They have a Lite- rary and Theological Institution, called the Clarke and Erskine College, in Abbeville District. The names of the Professors we are unable to give, though we understand the College is in a flourishing condition. Lith.. of P. S. Duval . "PHLad WIIL M Ml ■ HISTORY OK THE AH\ bINTI HISTORY OF THE ADVENTISTS. BY JOSIAH LITCH, OF PHILADELPHIA. Ai>\i:vii5ts arc so called from the prominence which they give to the doc- trine of the near and personal coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, They have no new views of truth, and base their belief entirely on tlie testimony of the holy Scriptures, as understood by the church in its best and purest ages. ks .1 body they have arisen under the labors of Wm. Miller, of Low Hampton, X. V., and others who looked to the com- ing of the Lord, about A. D. 1843. Wm. Miller commenced lecturing in 1 333! and his views were published about the same time in the Vermont Telegraph. To meet the calls for information on his views, he collected these articles in a pamphlet, which he distributed gratui- tously. One edition of his lectures was published in 1S36. Early in 1840, Joshua V. Himes, a minister in the Christian Con- nexion, became a believer in these views, and commenced the publication of a paper called " the Signs of the Times, and Ex- posifion of Prophecy," issuing it for nearly two years, only once in two weeks. Since that time it has been published weekly, and has reached the fourteenth Volume. It is now called " The Advent Herald." It was commenced without subscribers cr funds, but its circulation gradually increased, so that it is widely circulated in our own country, and is sent to Canada, England and the West Indies. PECULIARITIES OF ADVENTISTS. Advent believers are not distinguished as a body by any dissent from the great leading doctrines of the Evangelical por- tion of the Christian Church, such as the Divinity of Christ, His Sacrifice and Atonement for sin, the doctrine of future and eternal rewards and punishment, &c. On all these points they receive the plain literal testimony of the Bible, in its most obvious import, without attempting to ex- plain it away. THEV DO DIFFER FROM MOST BODIES OF CHRISTIANS. On the personal, Premillennial Advent of Christ, and his personal, bodily reign on the earth with his Resurrected and glorified saints. They cannot see, if, according to Isa. vii. 14, Christ was fortold to be born of a virgin, and it came to pass; Matth. i. 18— 25;— If, as foretold Micah. v. 2. Christ was literally born in Bethlehem, Matth. ii. 1 : — And that according to Dan. ix. 26, Messiah came at the expiration of seven weeks and sixty-two weeks, Mark i. 15 ; and if after the sixty-two weeks, Messiah was literally cut off: — If, as foretold by Isa. liii. 8, 9, he was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of his people ; — And made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death ; — If according to Ps: xvi. 10, Christ's soul was not left in hell [hades) nor did his flesh see corrup- tion ; — If according to Ps. ex. 1 , Christ did sit on the right hand of God, and is to sit there till his enemies be made his 38 HISTORY OF THE ADVENTISTS. footstool : — If all these predictions have literally conic to pass, and they have; — Then the Ad \< mists cannot see ground for doubting that the same rule will be observed in the fulfilment of all other prophecies relating to Christ. Thus, prophecy foretels Christ as the seed of Abraham, in whom all the fami- lies of the earth shall be blessed ; Gen. xxii. 18. It also promises to the seed of Abraham, all the land of Canaan, for an Everlasting possession, in connection with Abraham himself, Gen. xvii. 8. Hence the land is called Isa. viii. 8, Emanuel's land. But when Christ was on earth he had not where to lay his head : — Therefore, he must return per- sonally to inherit it. Christ is the predicted Son of David, who is to sit forever on David's throne ; he is the Son of David according to the flesh, Ps. exxxii. 11. But while on earth he never sat on David's throne. He went to Jerusalem as foretold, on an ass' colt ; claimed his rights, was proclaimed king- by the children, but rejected by the Riders ; Matth. xxi. Hence, he must return to earth to enjoy his kingdom and "reign over the house of Jacob forever." Luke i. 32, 33. Christ has the promise of the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession ; but he never yet had it. Ps. ii. 8. Therefore, he must come back to earth, to possess it. Prophecy points out the coming of Christ to receive his kingdom and domin- ion over all nations, to be in " the Clouds of Heaven." Dan. vii. 13, 14. But he never yet came thus : — He must, there- fore, fulfil the prediction in futurity, at his Second Advent. He cannot have uni- versal dominion till he does. Christ rose from the dead in the iden- tical body in which he was crucified and buried, and was so identified ,* John xx. 24 — 31. Those who thus identified his person, of flesh and bones, saw him go from earth up into heaven, and a cloud received him out of their sight. They were told by divine messengers, that this same Jesus, whom they saw go into heaven, " Shall so come again in like manner." Acts i. 2 — 11. — That the Second Advent of Oar Lord will be prt-miilennialy they conclude from various co/isi/leratio//s. 1. The Millennial Reign is placed after the first Resurrection, Rev. xx. 1 — G, which cannot be till the Second Advent of Christ. Those whtf have part in the first resur- rection are Saints, and will live forever. The Second death has no power on them. But they that are Christ's, are to be raised at his coming ; and that is the order of the resurrection to follow Christ's resur- rection. 1 Cor. xv. 23. Christ's coming, and the resurrection of the just, must therefore, precede the millennial reign. Again : — The Millennial period, follows the casting the beast and false prophet into the lake of fire, and shutting up the devil in the Abyss or bottomless pit. Rev. xix. 20; and xx. 1 — 3. Thus, before the Millennium, all the great anti-christian powers are put down. The man of Sin, however, the Son of perdition, is only to be desti-oyed by the brightness of Christ's coming. 2 Thess. ii. 8. The coming of Christ, for his destruction must, therefore, be prc-millennial. It will be seen by the foregoing, that they believe there will be two distinct re- surrections, a thousand years apart ; " the first resurrection ;" " the resurrection of life ;" " the resurrection of the just ;" — and the resurrection of " the rest of the | dead;" "the resurrection of damnation ;" " the resurrection of the unjust." The separating period is only named in Rev. xx, but the distinction in the resurrection is frequently made. THE NATURE OF THE MILLENNIUM. The general view entertained ?^y the Church that the millennium will be a thousrmd years of peace, and be intro- duced by the conversion of the world to Christ, and consist in his universal Spi- ritual reign; together with theMillenna- rian or Literahst view, that although Christ will come and reign personally on earth during the Millennium, yet that period will be a period of probation, in which the heathen who never heard the Gospel, and the Jews who have been cul ofF during the christian dispensation, will have the gospel preached to them and be HISTORY OF THE AD\ i;.VH>Ts converted, are both unscriptura] and nut to (»«• received. The Adventists cannot receive tin- first, because both the general anil specific teachings of the bible an- against it. Throughout the bible the descriptions given of the moral ami political state of tin' world, .show the utter impossibility <>i" the triumph of righteousness till tin' es- tablishment of tin- i:ti:k.\ai, kingdom of God, in all the* earth, and under the whole heaven. Thus the dream of Nebuchad- nezar, Dan. ii, fbretels (bur universal empires, which are to fill up the period from then, till the everlasting Kingdom of God comes and destroys them and fills the whole earth. But there can be no everlasting kingdom without immortality, which cannot be till the resurrection at S oond Advent of Christ. The S< venth Chapter of Daniel, presents in vision the same four empires, with the divisions and successions of the fourth empire, which only end (see verses 13, 14) when the son of man comes in the clouds of Heaven, to receive his eveilast- ina dominion, which is also universal. Till the judgment, the little blasphemous horn wears out the saints, and prevails against them. So likewise in the 24th of Matthew ; the course of events from the time of Christ, to the Second coming of Christ and end of the world, is given. There were to be wars, famines, pestilence, persecution of the saints, false prophets, false Christ's, abominations, great tribulation, mourning of all the tribes of the earth, the preach- ing of this gospel of the kingdom in all the world, for a witness to all nations, and then the end shall come ; and they shall see the son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. There is no peace in the prediction, till he comes. Therefore, he will come personally to judge the world and reign ; and not spiritually to convert and save the world. Once more; — The tares and wheat, (righteous and wicked) are to grow to- gether till the end of the world or age. And then the one be cast off and punished, the other glorified in the kingdom of God. Matth. xiii. 24 — 43. For these and many other reasons they cannot believe in the conversion of the world l" lore the £ Advent of our Sai iour. The) also find equal difficulty, in re- ceiving the Miih n mi i m n theory of the conversion "f the heathen and .1' ws, after the Se.ond Advent of Christy and during the Millennium. For the) regard the thousand years as being rather a dai • >» Ji di;mi:.nt than of PROBATION. For they read in the second Psalm, that when the heathen are given t'> Christ for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth lor bis possession, that lie is to break them, or rule them (Rev. xii. .">. and ii. 27.) with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces like a potters vessel. Such B description they consider to be any thing else beside conversion. They also learn from the cxlix. Psalm, that all the saints will have the honor to "bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron, and to execute upon them the judgments written." From the lx, of Isa. and xiv, of Zech. they learn that the worship and service of the heathen, will be compulsory service. That neither Jew or Gentile will be con- verted after the Second coming of Christ, they think the xxv, chapter of Matth. and xiii, of Luke, plainly teach. The first of these texts expressly declare that final and eternal retribution will be awarded to all nations, when the Son of man comes in his glory. There is no exception of any one nation. They will some of them plead, but in vain, for a Change of doom. There are but two classes ; one of them enters the kingdom of God ; the other goes away into everlasting punishment. There is no middle class, who will have another pro- bation. Luke xiii, teaches still more expressly that the unbelieving Jews will seek to en- ter the kingdom of God or be saved, after the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut the door, " but shall not be able." They will see the patriarch's there, with some from the east, west, north and south, but. they thrust out in outer dark- ness. Paul asserts, Rom. ii. 9, 10, 16, that God will render, Glory, honor, peace, to every soul of man who doeth good, Jew and Gentile ; but indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish on every soul of man that doeth evil, Jew and Gen- 40 HISTORY OF THE ADVENTISTS. tile, in the day when God shall judge the scents of men by Christ Jesus. This is not probation. THE JEWS. On the subject of the return of the Jews to the land of Palestine, they differ from most others. They hold that the promises made to Israel, of a yet future and final gathering to the land of Canaan, will be literally accomplished ; and that Israel will forever dwell there in peace. But then they cannot think such a promise can be fulfilled before the resurrection of the just, when the believing remnant of Israel, of every generation, including Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, will be raised from the dead, and restored to their own land. This, Ezekiel, xxxvii. chapter, de- clares will be the way the whole house of Israel will be restored. " I will open your graves, and bring you up out of your graves, and bring you into your own land." The resurrection, according to Paul, is M the hope of Israel." But if the resur- rected and glorified Israel are to have the land and dwell there forever, the Jews in flesh and blood, as a nation cannot have it forever. All the promises, however, of a future return, promise an everlasting possession of the land. But mortal Jews cannot possess it forever. Glorified and immortal ones can ; therefore, they are the heirs of promise. A distinguishing feature of the faith of Adventists, was their confidence in the ter- mination of the prophetic periods, and the scr-ond advent of Christ, about 1643. The main argument on which they rested, was that relative to the termination of the 2300 days in Dan. viii. 14, which they regarded as years. And then they considered the period of 70 weeks named in Dan. ix. 24, as the key to the date of the 2300 days of the preceding chapter. Dating the periods B. C. 457, when Ar- taxerxes, king of Persia, sent up Ezra from his captivity, to restore the Jewish polity at Jerusalem, (see Ezra, 7th chap.) and ending the 70 weeks as commenta- tors generally do, in A. D. 33, with the crn -ilixion of Christ ; they found the rc- mainder of the 2300 davs, which Mas 1810, would end in 1343. The argu- ment, many beside Adventists thought a reasonable one, but the result has proved it erroneous. Since 1844, many have adopted the views of the English Liter- alists, which ended the 2300 days in 1847, instead of 1843. But as a general thing they adopt a waiting position, and wait for more light on the import and dates of the prophetic periods, which they still firmly believe are of Divine origin, and to be understood by the church in God's own appointed time. For they cannot think any portion of Revelation has been given in vain. They regard the coming of the Lord to be at the door, for various reasons : 1. The four great empires are to be suc- ceeded by the everlasting kingdom of God ; and it is very manifest that the last, the Roman government, has passed its predicted divisions and must soon end. 2. The waneing of the Ottoman or Mahommedan power, is regarded as an- other index that the kingdom of Christ will soon come. 3. The universal movements and agita- tions, with the famines, pestilences, and earthquakes, together with the signs in the sun, moon and stars, &c, &c, they con- sider conclusive evidence of the speedy coming of Christ. This gospel of the kingdom which was to be preached in all the world for a wit- ness to all nations, is now completing its work. They likewise consider the study of the prophetic Scriptures an important but greatly neglected duty of the church ; and being fully convinced that the coming of Christ is at hand, they feel constrained to make it a prominent theme in their public ministrations and writing; that thus they may supply, in some measure, the lack of service of other denominations, in this department of religious truth. They feel in a great measure compensated for their disappointment in relation to time, by wit- nessing the great change which has taken place in the public mind since this discus- sion came up, on the subject of the per- sonal advent and roign of Christ on ear'b with his saints. They still labor for the extension of these principles over the world, by every lawful means in their power; being fully persuaded that their sentiments are those of the primitive HISTORY OP THE ADVENTI8T8 II church for the first three bundled rears, and thai they will be restored, aa the de- ceptions of the great apostacy yield to the word of God. There are at present, aa near aa the number can !><• arrived at, in the I nited States and Canada, between fifteen and twenty thousand believers identified with the body. These are scattered over nearly ail the States in the Union. There arc aUo prosperous missions in England, Scotland, and the West Indies. In tins estimate, those in the different churches an- not included. But they are numerous. \s in aK great religious movements, fanatics and impostors have availed them- selves of the deep interest felt on this great subject, to lead away disciples after them, and introduce fanatical doctrines and practices. These have been uniformly resisted and exposed when detected. As a body, Advcntists give no countenance to fanaticism. Although contrary to the original design and wish of those who commenced this movement, yet circumstances which they could not control, rendered it necessary To adopt some form of associated church action. The Mutual Conference of Ad- vcntists held in Albany, N. Y., April 29th, 1 845, thus briefly express themselves on this subject. ASSOCIATED ACTION. Order is heaven's first law. All things emanating from God, are constituted on principles of perfect order. The New Testament rules for the government of the Church, we regard as binding on the w^holc brotherhood of Christ. No circum- stances can justify us in departing from the usages established by Christ and his Apostles. Wc regard any congregation of be- lievers who habitually assemble for the worship of .God, and the due observance of the 1 ioap< l ordinal i ( 'hurch of ( Ihriet. AVa auch, it is aa indep body, accountable only t<> the great Hi d of the ( 'hurch. To all such u<- recom- niend a careful examination of the Scrip- tures, and the adopti f such principles of association and order, as are in a ance therewith, that they may enjoy the advantages of that Church relation which Chlich has instituted. In accordance with the foreging recom- mendation, the Second Advent believers generally throughout the country, have united in Church fellowship, with do other ened or form of discipline than the writ- ten word of God, which they believe is a sufficient rule both of faith and duty. Second Advent conferences .are held aa often as it is deemed necessary, for the consideration and discussion of such sub- jects and measures as the interests of the cause may demand ; they are constituted of both ministerial and lay members, fr< m ! all portions of the country. This body is purely voluntary and advisory, and claims to exercise no authority over the conscience of any. They look upon the Advent doctrine, embracing as it does, the resurrection of the body, the personal and visible appear- ance and reign of Christ on earth, the restitution of the heavens and earth to their paradisical state as the eternal inher- itance of the saints, &c, as the only view which will explain and harmonize the word of God. They believe the Second Advent of Christ to judge the world, to be near at hand ; and, that is the great practical doctrine set forth and used by the apostles as a motive to holiness. It was to them and their suffering brethren the gnat source of comfort, and the hope of the whole Israel of God. 42 HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS. HISTORY OP THE BAPTISTS. BY JOSEPH BELCHER, D.D., PASTOR OF THE MOUNT TABOR BAPTIST CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA. As the Baptists claim to have by far the largest number of adherents in the United States, it cannot be unimportant to become acquainted with their Principles, Histo- ry, and Present State. No denomina- tion of Christians has been more constant in its attachment to religious freedom, and conflict for it ; none exposed to so hot and incessant persecutions ; nor any which has more entirely resembled the ancient Is- raelites in Egypt, who, the more they were oppressed, the more they grew. The name of Baptists originated not with the parties so called, but with their opponents. Formerly they were called Ana-baptists, or Re-baptizers, which they rejected as involving what they deemed a misrepresentation ; because, in their view, none are baptized but the parties mentioned in the scriptural law relating to the subject, and to whom it is admin- istered in the only prescribed mode. As, however, the main differences between the members of this body and their fellow Christians centre in the ordinance of Bap- tism, it may be important briefly to state their views, and the foundations on which they rest. The general principles on which they construct their arguments have been thus stated : — 1st. Professors of religion, in general, consider baptism as a duty ; and that it ought to be attended to in some way or other. 2d. Baptism is a positive institution, and therefore we must have some plain precept, or example, to direct us ; both with respect to the persons who are to be baptized, and the manner in which the or- dinance must be administered. 3d. If we proceed in this ordinance, or in any other, without authority from Scripture, God will reject our services with, "Who hath required this at your hands ?" " In vain do ye worship me ; teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." 4th. Baptism is an ordinance peculiar to the Gospel dispensation ; and therefore the rule of our duty must be sought in the New Testament, and not in the Old. 5th. The law which enjoins Baptism may be found in Matt, xxviii. 19, 20. It enjoins a duty, durable as the unchanging dispensation to which it belongs — to charge the command with obscurity is a daring impeachment of Divine Wisdom and Love — to suppose the Apostles did not understand it is highly absurd ; they certainly must understand it right, and their practice must be the best comment upon it. 6th. If by searching sacred history we can learn how the Apostles attended to Baptism, we are bound to follow their ex- ample ; nor can any circumstances what- ever justify us in departing from the Di- vine law. In addition to these principles, we may LilK of P.S Duval. Philai* IR®®I1IE WEILlILliL&EfiS o HISTORY OF THE BAPTI8T8. 48 transcribe t ho following statement Groin an Bnglish writer \ — m I; is a distinguishing tenet with them, to admit of nothing as an article cf faith, or of ilutif, in the worship of Go*\ which .s mctioned by (i}><>st<>lir precept, or approved example; ami conceiving that New Testament furnishes neither the one nor the other for administering the ordinance oi" baptism to infants, or for the substitution of sprinkling and pouring for dipping, they regard these practices in the liurht of mere human invent ions, and dis- claim them. "Th"v contend that, since baptism is not a duty of itself, but is made so by the jjositive institution of Christ, Matt, xxviii. ID, Mark xvi. 15, 16, — and, [ike all simi- lar duties, has no foundation, with regard to us, but the will of the Institutor, — it can have no other rule; and that, if we depart from his directions, we do not ob- serve his institution, but cJmnge it into an institution of our own. For this reason, the Baptists appeal exclusively, on the Bubject of baptism, to the will of Christ, as made known by express precepts or approved examples in his word." In reference to the mode of baptism, the Baptists maintain that it is dipping, or im- mersion ; that the Greek word used by the inspired writers, of which the words bap- tize and baptism are an anglicised form, means immersion; and consequently that the command to baptize is a command to immerse, and can be fulfilled in no other way than by immersion. In proof of this they appeal to the use of the term throughout the whole scope of Greek lite- rature, and are sustained by the testimony of almost all who have been celebrated for their knowledge of that tongue. Among the modern Greeks, the term has the same moaning. The Baptists also appeal to the circumstances attending its administration as recorded in the New Testament. They remark that persons were "baptized in \ Jordan," Matt. iii. 6; Mark i. 9: uin the river Jordan," Mark i. 5; that baptize ; cannot therefore mean to pour, because to pour applies to the element, not to the 'per- son; and in that case the water would be ! said to be poured upon the person, not the person poured in or into the water; nor can it mean to sprinkle, for it is evidently needless to place a person //' a p sprinkle a little water upon him, nor is it ever done by those who maintain that sprinkling is baptism. The Baptist! also remark that JeSOS, alba- having been bap- tized, "went up straightway out of the water,*1 Matt. iii. n; j thai u both Philip and the eunuch went down i"f<» the Water, that the latter was baptized while there, and that they both came "up out of the water," Acts viii. 88, ->u ; eircamstsnoes which plainly show that to baptize is to dip under water; they also refer to the expression, " buried with Christ by bap- tism," as implying that in baptism persons were " buried" in the water ; and that when the gift of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, Acts i. 5, is called a baptism, and our Lord says, of his last agony, " I have a baptism to be baptized with," Luke xii. 20; there is an evident allusion to the fulness of that gift, and the depth of those sufferings, both of which find an emblem in immersion, but none in the use of a little water, as in pouring or sprinkling. But as it regards the mode of baptism, this body of Christians contend that they arc not distinguished from the vast mass of the Christian world. They appeal to the testimonies of eminent divines, not of their own body, and to the practices of the Catholic, the old English Episcopal church, and to the Greek and Armenian churches of the present day. The fol- lowing may be regarded as a specimen of such pa?dobaptist evidence on the subject : "They (the primitive Christians) led them into the water, and with no other gar- ments but what might serve to cover na- ture, they at first laid them doivn in the water as a man might be laid in a grave, and then they said these words, *I baptize or ivask thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.' Then they raised them up again, and clean garments were put on them : from whence came the phrases of being baptized into Christ's death; of being buried v: it I i him by baptisin into death; of our being risen with Christ, and of our putting on the Lord Jesus Christ; of putting off the old man and putting on the new. — Rom. vi. 3 — 5; Col. ii. 12, iii. 1 — 10 ; Rom. xiii. 14." — Bishop Burnet, Ex. xxxix. Art., p. 374. " To baptize signifies to plunge, 44 HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS. as is granted by all the world." — Bishop Bossuct. " The word baptize signifies to immerse, and the rite of immersion was observed by the ancient church ; and from these words it may be inferred, that bap- tism was administered by plunging the whole body under water." — Calvin. Obs. on John iii. 23. " The custom of the an- cient churches was not sprinkling, but im- mersion."— Bishop Taylor. Duct, dubit. B. iii. " The person baptized went down into the water, and was, as it were, buried under it." — Bishop Pearce. Note on 1 Cor. xv. 29. " We grant that baptism, then, (in the primitive times,) was by washing the whole body. Though we have thought it lawful to disuse the manner of dipping, and to use less water, yet we presume not to change the use and signification of it." — Bax- ter. On Matt. iii. 6. The same writer says, " Therefore, in our baptism, we are dipped under water, as signifying we are dead and buried to sin." — On Rom. vi. 4. " It being so expressly declared here (Rom. vi. 4, and Col. ii. 12) that we are buried with Christ in baptism, by being buried under water, and the argument to oblige us to a conformity to his death by dying to sin being taken hence, and this immersion being religiously observed by all Christians for thirteen centu- ries, and approved by our church, and the change of it into sprinkling, even with- out any allowance from the Author of the institution, or any license from any coun- cil of the church, being that which the Romanist still urgeth to justify his refusal of the cup to the laity, it were to be wished that this custom might again be of general use." — Whitby. Note on Rom. vi. 4. " In England, of late years, I ever thought the parson baptized his own fingers, rather than the child." — Selden. " It is certain, that in the words of Rom. vi. 3, 4, there is an allusion to the manner of baptism, which was by immersion" — Whitefield. Eighteen sermons. "'Buried with him in baptism.' It seems the part of candor to con- fess that here is an allusion to the manner of baptizing by immersion, as most usual in those early times." — Doddridge. The same excellent writer, noticing the case of Philip and the eunuch, says, " It would be very unnatural to suppose, that they went doicn into tlie water, merely that Philip might take up a little water in his hand to pour on the eunuch." " Mary Welsh, aged eleven days, was baptized, according to the first church, and the rule of the Church of England, by immersion" — Wesley. Journal of the time he passed in Georgia. It would be exceedingly easy to add to these statements multitudes of similar tes- timonies ; such as that of Beza. — " Christ commanded us to be baptized, by which word it is certain, im- mersion is signified ;" — or, Vitringa. — " The act of baptizing is the immersion of believers in water ; this expresses the force of the word ; thus also it was performed by Christ and his apos- tles ;" — or, , Salmasius. — " Baptism is immersion, and was administered in ancient times ac- cording to the force and meaning of the word ;" — or, Archbishop Tillotson. — " Anciently, those who were baptized were immersed and buried in the water, to represent their death to sin, and then did rise up again out of the water, to signify their entrance upon a new life, and to these customs the apostle alludes, Romans vi. 2-6 ;" — or, Dr. Campbell. — " The word baptize, both in sacred writers and classical, signi- fies to dip, to plunge, to immerse." But perhaps nothing of this kind of tes- timony can exceed that of the very emi- nent Dr. Wall, on whom the University of Oxford conferred the degree of D. D. for his " History of Infant Baptism ;" he thus writes : — " This (immersion) is so plain and clear, by an infinite number of passages, that as one cannot but pity the iceak endea- vors of such Pccdobaptists as would main- tain the negative of it, so also we ought to disown, and show a dislike of the profane scoffs which some people give to the Eng- lish Baptist's merely for their use of dip- ping. " 'Tis one thing to maintain that that circumstance is. not absolutely necessary to the essence of baptism ; and another to go about to represent it as ridiculous and foolish, or as shameful and indecent, when it was, in all probability, the way by which our blessed Saviour, and for certain was fhe most usual and ordinary way by which HIsToky OF THE BAPTISTS. 46 the indent Christians did receire their haptism. "Tis :i great want of prudence, ;is wi'll as of honesty t to refuse to grant to an adversary what is Certainly true and may be proved bo; it creates a jealousy of all the rest thai one says. M The Greek ehurch, in all the branches of it, does still use immersion, and bo do all other Christians in the world, except the Latins. All other Christians in the world who never owned the POPS'fl usurp- ed power, do, and ever did, dip — in the ordinary use; and if we take the division of the world, from the three main parts of it, all the Christians in Asia, all in Africa, and about one-third part of Europe, in which are comprehended the Christians of Grecia, Thracia, Servia, Bulgaria, Rascia, WaUachia, Moldavia, Russia, Negra, and so on, and even the Muscovites, who, if coldness of country will excuse, might plead for a dispensation with the most reason of any." He also affirms that the burial of the body in water is much more solemn ; and asks how a clergyman can answer to our Saviour, whose command is not to sprinkle a drop or two of, but to bury the whole body in, water. We might then ask, with the most respectful firmness, by what authority can the ordinance be changed ? If it were desirable to extend the list of human testimonies, which, however, as authorities, the Baptists entirely disown, they might with advantage quote the dis- tinguished Martin Luther, who says, " I could wish that such as are to be bap- tized should be completely immersed into water, according to the meaning of the word, and the signification of the ordi- nance ; not because I think it necessary, but it would be beautiful to have a full and perfect sign of so perfect and full a thing ; as also, without doubt, it was instituted by Christ." But the distinguishing peculiarity of the Baptists is, that they require a personal profession of faith in Christ as an indis- pensable requisite to the ordinance. One of their writers says : — " This question is of high importance, not only in reference to the fulfilment of the positive command of our Lord, but also as it respects the constitution of his ( Ihurch, and the very natur«- of Ri For Religion is wholly personal, baring its commencement in the new birth, and uniformly manifesting itself by repent- ance, faith, love, ami obedience. The ( 'lunch of ( Shrisl at large is corapo all those, and those only, v. ho are n - oewed by hia Spirit, who believe in bis name, and who, from a principle of love to him, keep his commandments. The new birth alone, with its certain results, faith, hope, and love, forms the line' of distinction between the Church and the world. " Can it be pleasing to God, or bene- ficial to men, to teach them to esteem any circumstance or service, previous to the new birth, as constituting a part, or par- taking of the nature of the religion of our Lord Jesus Christ? and ought the profession of Christianity to be a matter of mere imposition, or a matter of free conviction and choice ? And if religion be personal, all religious acts and ordi- nances must be so. It is plain, that acts or ordinances of a different description, would be out of harmony with the cha- racter of religion itself. " The ordinances of Christianity then, like its duties, are enjoined, and enjoined only upon those who are capable of re- garding them. Infants are, therefore, ex- cepted, because they cannot perform the duties or observe the ordinances of our holy and spiritual religion. " Believers, and believers only, who have been convinced by the Word and Spirit of God, that they are in a sinful and dangerous condition, and who have been guided by the same Word and Spirit to the Lord Jesus Christ, as a Redeemer able and willing to forgive, and sanctify, and save them ; these, and these only, are the proper subjects for the significant and solemn ordinance of Christian baptism." The view they take of the ordinance itself, necessarily confines it to those who profess faith in the Holy Redeemer. They say: — Christian Baptism is a personal pro- fession of repentance towards God, and faith in Jesus Christ ; and therefore is not to be administered to any but believers. What is required of persons to be bap- tized? Repentance, whereby they for- 46 HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS. sake sin, and faith, whereby they stead- fastly believe the promises of God, made to those who love the Lord Jesus Christ, and obey him. Christian baptism represents that the sin of the candidate has been washed away in the blood of Christ ; and there- fore is to be administered to those only who personally profess to have experienced this spiritual cleansing. Christian baptism is the answer of a good conscience toward God to the person baptized, and therefore ought to be admi- nistered to those only who are capable of enjoying a good conscience. — 1 Peter iii. 21. Christian baptism is a public sign by which the disciples of Christ are known to each other and to the world, and there- fore is to be administered to none but the disciples of Christ. " And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple." — Luke xiv. 27. Christian baptism is an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace ; and therefore is to be administered to those only who have received the Holy Ghost. — Acts x. 47. The various instances of baptism as re- corded in the New Testament, in their view, amply confirm the principles thus laid down. They refer their friends to the inspired oracles, and say that — Those baptized by John confessed their sins. — Matt. iii. 6. The Lord Jesus Christ gave the com- mand to teach and baptize. — Matt, xxviii. 19.Mark xvi. 15. 16. At the day of Pentecost, they who gladly received tlie word were baptized, and they afterwards continued steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship. — Acts ii. 41, 42, 47. At Samaria, those who believed were baptized, both men and women. — Acts viii. 12. The eunuch openly avowed his faith, (in reply to Philip's statement, — If thou bclievest with all thine heart thou mayest,) and went down into the water and was baptized. — Acts viii. 35, 39. Saul of Tarsus, after his sight was re- stored, and he had received the Holy Ghost, arose and was baptized. — Acts ix. 17, 18. Cornelius and his friends heard Peter, received the Holy Ghost, and were bap- tized.— Acts x. 44 — 48. Lydia heard Paul and Silas ; the Lord opened her heart, and she was baptized, and her household. — Paul afterwards went to her house, and comforted the brethren. — Acts xvi. 14, 15, 40. The jailor, and all his house, heard the word, and were baptized, believing and rejoicing in God.— Acts xvi. 32, 34. Crispus, and all his house, and many Corinthians, heard, believed, and were baptized. — Acts xviii. 8. The disciples at Ephesus heard and were baptized. — -Acts xix. 5. The household of Stephanus, baptized by Paul, were the first-fruits of Achaia, and addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints.— 1 Cor. i. 16; xvi. 15. Neither is there any difficulty in the Baptists showing, were it necessary, or if the opinions of others were matters of im- portance in religion, that not a few of those who have lived and died in the prac- tice of other principles, have in theory agreed with them. Thus write some of the most eminent pasdobaptists : — _" The subject of baptism, to whom it is to be administered, is a believer." — Lim- borch. " I think that illumination, as well as regeneration, in the most important and scriptural sense of the words, was regu- larly to precede the administration of that ordinance," i. e. baptism. — Doddridge, on Heb. vi. 4. " Faith and repentance were the great things required of those that were admitted to baptism : this was the practice of John ; this the practice of the Apostles in their ministry." — Watts, Berry St. Sermons. " By the first preaching or making of disciples that must go before baptism, is to be meant, the convincing the world that Jesus is the Christ, and sent to be the Saviour and Redeemer of the world, and when any were brought to acknowledge this, then they were to bap- tize them, to initiate them in his religion." — Bishop Burnet, Expos, xxxix. Artie. " Go and teach or disciple all nations, and so on, where there are two teachings, the one before, and the other after baptism." — BisJtop Patrick, Discourse on the Lord's ; lll>Ti>lvY OF Tin: I! \IT1>T>. 47 Supper. "Go disciple me all nations, baptising them. Thia is not tike some occasional historical mention of baptism, hut it is the \< tv commission of Christ to his Apostles, for preaching and baptizing, and purposely expreseeth their several places and order. Their first task is, by leaching, to make disciples, which are bj .Mark called believers; the second work is (o baptize them, whereto is annexed the promise of their salvation ; the third work is to teach them all other tilings, which are afterwards to be teamed in the school of Christ. To contemn this order is to renounce all rides of order / for where can ice expect to find it if not here ? I profess my conscience is fully satisfied from this text, that it is one sort of faith, even savings that must go before baptism, and the profession whereof the minister must expect." — Baxter, Disput. of Right . p. 149, 150. "Because Christ requires teaching, before baptizing, and will have believers only admitted to bap- tism ; baptism does not seem rightly ad- ministered, except faith precede." — Cal- vin, in Harm. Evan, in Matt, xxviii. 19. One of the most modern testimonies of this kind, and one which will weigh much with many persons, is the distinguished German Ecclesiastical Historian, Nean- der, who, in his " History of the Planting and Training of the Chris- tian Church by the Apostles," says : " The words of Peter (on the day of Pentecost) deeply impressed many, who anxiously asked, 'What must we do?' Peter called upon them to repent of their sins, to believe in Jesus as the Messiah who could impart to them forgiveness of sins and freedom from sin, — in this faith to be baptized, and thus outwardly to join the communion of the Messiah. " Since baptism marked the entrance into communion with Christ, it resulted from the nature of the rite that a confes- sion of faith in Jesus as the Redeemer would be made by the person to be bap- tized ; and in the latter part of the apos- tolic age we may find indications of the existence of such a practice. As baptism was closely united with a conscious en- trance on Christian communion, faith and baptism were always connected with one another ; and thus it is in the highest de- grce probable that baptism wai perl only \n instances where both could together, and that the practice >>\ infant baptism was unknown at this period. We cannot infer the existence oi infant bap- tism from the instance of the baptism of whole families j (or the passage in l ("or. ,\\i. 1."), shows the fallacy of BUCh elusion, as from that it appears that the whole family of Stephanos, who were bap- tized by Paul, consisted of adults. That not till so late a period bs (at leas* certainly not earlier than) Irena us, a trace of infant baptism appears^ and that it first became recognised as an ajiostolic tradition in the course of the third century, is evidence rather against than for the admission of its apostolic origin. If we wish to ascer- tain from whom such an institution origi- nated, we should say, certainly not imme- diately from Christ himself. " Baptism denotes the confession of de- pendence on Christ, and the entrance into communion with him, and hence, the ap- propriation of all which Christ promises to those who stand in such a relation to him ; it is the putting on Christ, in whose name baptism is administered, an expres- sion which includes in it all we have said. Gal. iii. 27. Paul might have said, All of you who have believed in Christ ; but he said, instead of this, 'As many of you as have been baptized unto Christ,' since he viewed baptism as the objective sign and seal of the relation to Christ into which men entered by faith." In the present day there are not a few persons who deny the perpetuity of the ordinance of baptism. But the Baptists maintain that it is as binding now, as at any former period ; and present in favor of their views the following arguments : — 1. That baptism was divinely instituted as an ordinance of the Christian religion, and administered by inspired apostles to both Jews and Gentiles, is plain from the preceding remarks. 2. There is no intimation that the law of baptism was designed to be restricted to any nation, or limited to any period of time. It is a general law, without any restriction, except that which refers to character — " he that believeth." 3. A divine law must continue obliga- tory until it is repealed by divine author- 4- HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS. ity. There is no intimation in the Scrip- tures that the law of baptism has been re- pealed, and therefore there is no reason to suppose its obligation has ceased. 4. The permanent duration of the ordi- nance is plainly implied in the promise: 44 Lo, I am with you (dicays, even to the end of the world/' Matt, xxviii. 19, 20. This important promise was given at the time the ordinance was instituted, and it plainly supposes the continuance of bap- tism " even to the end of the world." 5. Baptism is connected with the most important doctrines, dutic s, and privileges of the gospel. The Saviour connects it with the doctrine of the Trinity ; preach- ing and believing the gospel ; fulfilling all righteousness ; and the promise of salva- tion. .Matt. iii. 15; xxviii. 19. Mark xvi. 1G. Paul connects it with the death, burial and resurrection of Christ ; with the believer's dying unto sin, living unto God, and put- ting on Christ. Rom. vi. 3, 4. Gal. iii. 27. He connects it also with " one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one God and Father of all." Eph. iv. 4- 6. Peter connects it with the " remission of sins." Acts ii. 33. And also, with salvation, and a good conscience. 1 Peter iii. 21. To discontinue the ordinance would be to dissolve its connection with all these doctrines, duties and privileges. And who, without authority from the divine Author of the institution, can do this with impunity ? 6. Baptism answers all the purposes at this day which it answered in the first age of Christianity, and these are as needful ?tow as they were then. No reason can be assigned for the observance of the ordi- nance in the apostles' days, which will not apply in all its force to believers in every age of the Christian church. 7. The above considerations afford in- contestible proof of the perpetuity of Chris- tian baptism, and show that its observance is as obligatory at present as it was in the days of the apostles ; and that it will con- tinue to be as obligatory until the con- summation of all things. 8. It being thus evident from the Scrip- tures that baptism is designed by the Head of the church to be co-existent with the gospel system, as a constituent part of it, and co-extensive with repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ; it is manifestly a great error to imagine that the obligation to baptism has ceased. There is not the slightest foun- dation /or such opinion ; against it there is the strongest evidence. Should this fall into the hands of any who dispute this statement, we would entreat them seriously to consider, whether they are not, through their mistaken opinions regarding the per- petuity of water baptism, doing great dis- honor to the Saviour by disobeying his command, and to the Holy Spirit by re- jecting his written will, in setting aside what the Scriptures so plainly teach to be binding on all believers to the end of the world. 9. To suppose that the necessity of water baptism is superseded by the bap- tism of the Holy Ghost, is manifestly er- roneous on two accounts : — First : — There is noiv, in the scriptural sense of the words, no baptism of the Spirit. No miraculous gift, no convert- ing operation, no sanctifying influence of the Spirit, is ever, by the inspired writers, called the baptism of the Holy Ghost, ex- i cept what took place on the day of Pente- cost, and at the first calling of the Gen- I tiles in the house of Cornelius. On these j two occasions the promise of baptism in the Holv Ghost was fulfilled, and in refer- ence to no other events do the sacred writers speak of the baptism of the Holy Ghost. The bestowrnent of the Spirit on these two occasions is quite different from every former and every subsequent be- stowrnent of the Spirit, so far as our know- ledge extends. As the word of God men- tions no other baptism in the Holy Ghost, than what took place at Pentecost, and in the house of Cornelius, we have no war- rant to expect the scriptural baptism of the Spirit in the present day. We may, in- deed, experience the converting and sanc- tifying influences of the Holy Spirit, but these influences are not the scriptural bap- tism of the Spirit, nor ought we to call them the baptism of the Spirit. But if there is now, in the scriptural sense, no baptism of the Spirit, how can we reason- ably suppose that baptism in water is ren- dered unnecessary by our being baptized in the Spirit? Secondly: — But supposing every be- HISTORY OF THE BAPTI8T8. IQ Hover w.is m truly baptized in the Holj (.'host as Cornelius was, thil would in no wis.- diminish his obligations to I"' bap- tised in water. I lid doI the apostle Peter command the Pentecostal converts to be baptised .' And is il sot expressly re- corded thai they were baptised I 1 > i c 1 not the same inspired apostle command Oof- nelius and his friends to be baptized in water, and assign their being baptized in the Holy Ghost as a reason for their being baptized in water? uCan any man forbid water, that these should not he baptized, who have received the Holy Ghost as well as we .'" Is it not passing strange, that what an inspired apostle urged as a rea- son for the observance of water baptism, should be adduced by some professing Christians as a reason for their neglect of that baptism .' If the inspired apostle is right, those who argue in direct opposition to him must be wrong. And is it not to insult, rather than to honor the Spirit, to suppose that any influence from him, call it what we will, can justify our neglect of his commands? Surely it must grieve him, if we suppose that disobedience to God's word is a fruit of the Spirit ? Can that within us which leads us to walk con- trary to the light of Revelation, be the light of God's Holy Spirit ? " To the law and to the testimony : if they speak not according to this tcord, it is because there is no light in them." Isa. viii. 20. Mr. Wesley justly observes on this pas- sage, Peter "does not say, they have the baptism of the Spirit, therefore, they do not need baptism with water ; but just the contrary. ' If they have received the Spirit, then baptize them with water.' " Having thus fully stated the leading arguments by which what are usually re- garded the peculiarities of the Baptists are sustained, we introduce the following as a declaration of their faith on the lead- ing doctrines of Christianity. It is im- portant, however, that it should be well understood, that nowhere do the churches of this denomination require subscriptions to this or any other human creed as a term of fellowship. They adhere rigidly to the New Testament as the sole standard of Christianity. But as in England, in 1642, 1677, and 1689, our forefathers published to the world the views they generally en- tertained of the doctrines and di» ipline of the V w Testament, i o, in the >« ar I ". 12, the ohurches of the Philadelphia Baptist Association adopted their Confession of 1689, and in 1 887, published an ,,' of it, in which the Baptist Churches of the United States would, probably, moi nerallv agree than in any other similar document. CONFESSION OF FAITH. 1. Holy ScrijUure. The Holy Scripture is the only suffi- cient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith and obedience; the supreme judge by which all contro- versies of religion are to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to rest. (2 Tim. iii. 15, 16, 17; Ps. xix. 7; 2 Peter i. 19,20, 21.) 2. God the Trinity. The Lord our God is but one only living and true God, infinite in being and perfection. In this divine and infinite being, there are three subsistencies, the Father, the Word, (or Son,) and Holy Spirit, of one substance, power and eter- nity. (1 Cor. viii. 6; Deut. vi. 4; Jer. x. 10; Mat. xx viii. 19; 1 John v. 7; John xiv. 10, 11.) 3. GocVs Decree. Those of mankind that are predesti- nated to life, God, before the foundation of the world was laid, according to his eter- nal and immutable purpose, and the se- cret counsel and good pleasure of his will, hath chosen in Christ unto everlasting glory, out of his mere free grace and love; without any other thing in the crea- ture as a condition or cause moving him thereunto. As God hath appointed the elect unto glory, so he hath by the eternal and most free purpose of his will, foreordained all the means thereunto ; wherefore they who are elected, being fallen in Adam, are redeemed by Christ, are effectually called unto faith in Christ, by his Spirit working in due season, are justified, adopted, sanc- tified, and kept by his power through faith 50 HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS. unto salvation. (Eph. i. 4, 5,11: John xiii. IS; Rom. viii. 29, 30; Eph. ii. 8; 2 Thess. ii. 13; John xvii. 17, 19.) 4. The Fall of Man and Sin. Although God created man upright and perfect, and gave to him a righteous law, yet he did not long abide in this honor, but did wilfully transgress the command given unto him in eating the forbidden fruit ; which God was pleased, according to his wise and holy counsel, to permit, having purposed to order it to his own glory. Our first parents, by this sin, fell from their original righteousness and com- munion with God, whereby death came upon all ; all becoming dead in sin, and wholly defiled in all the faculties and parts of soul and body. They being the root, corrupted nature was conveyed to all their posterity, descending from them by ordi- nary generation, being now conceived in sin, and by nature children of wrath. (Gen. ii. 16, 17; iii. 11, 12, 13 ; Rom. v. 12, 13, 14 ; Jer. xvii. 9 ; Ps. Ii. 5 ; Eph. ii. 3.) 5. GooVs Covenant, Man having brought himself under the curse of the law by his fall, it pleased the Lord to reveal the Covenant of Grace, wherein he freely offereth unto sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ, requiring of them faith in him, that they might be saved ; and promising to give unto all those that are ordained unto eternal life, his Holy Spirit to make them witting and able to believe. (Gal. iii. 10 ; John iii. 15, 16 ; Ezek. xxxvi. 27 ; John vi. 44, 45 ; Ps. ex. 3.) 6. Christ the Mediator. The Son of God, the second person in the Holy Trinity, being very and eternal God, the brightness of the Father's glory, of one substance, and equal with him, who made the world, who upholdeth and governeth all things he hath made ; did, when the fulness of time was come, take upon him man's nature, with all the essen- tial properties and common infirmities thereof, yet without sin : so that two whole, perfect, and distinct natures were inseparably joined together in one person, which person is very God and very man, yet one Christ, the only Mediator between God and man. (John i. 14; Gal. iv. 4; Rom. viii. 3 ; Heb. iv. 15 ; 1 Tim. ii. 5.) 7. Redemption. The Lord Jesus, by his perfect obe- dience and sacrifice of himself, which he through the eternal Spirit once offered up unto God, hath fully satisfied the justice of God, procured reconciliation, and pur- chased an everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of heaven, for all those whom the Father hath given unto him. To all those for whom Christ hath ob- tained eternal redemption, he doth cer- tainly and effectually apply and commu- nicate the same ; making intercession for them ; uniting them to himself by his Spirit ; revealing unto them, in and by the word, the mystery of salvation ; per- suading them to believe and obey ; go- verning their hearts by his word and Spirit, and overcoming all their enemies by his almighty power and wisdom ; in such manner and ways as are most con- sonant to his wonderful and unsearchable dispensation : and all of free and absolute grace, without any condition foreseen in them to procure it. (Heb. x. 14 ; Rom. iii. 25, 26 ; John xvii. 2 ; Heb. ix. 15 ; John vii. 27 ; xvii. 9 ; Rom. viii. 9, 14 ; 1 Cor. xv. 25, 26 ; John iii. 8.) 8. The Will. Man, by his fall into a state of sin, hath wholly lost all will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation ; so as a natural man, being altogether averse from that good, and dead in sin, is not able, by his own strength, to convert himself, or to prepare himself thereunto. When God converts a sinner, and trans- lates him into the state of grace, he freeth him from his natural bondage under sin, and by his grace alone, enables him freely to will and do that which is spiritually good. (Rom. viii. 7, 8 ; John vi. 44 ; Col. i. 13, 14; John viii. 36; Rom. viii. 2; Eph. ii. 8 ; 2 Tim. i. 9.) .9. Effectual Calling. Those whom God hath predestinated unto life, he is pleased in his appointed and accepted time effectually to call by his Word and Spirit, out of that state of HISTORY or THE BAPTISTS. 51 siu unv< d, effectually called an by his spint, shall certainly j i i therein t«> the end, and \*- eternally (John x. 88, 89. Phil, i. 6, 1 Join, ii. 19.) 17. Moral 1 The moral law doth forever bind all, as well justified persons as others, to the obedii «)<•<• thereof, and that not only in re- gard to the matter contained in it, but also ;>ect of the authority of God the Creator who gave it ; neither doth Christ in the gospel any way dissolve, but much strengthen this obligation. (Rom. .\iii. 8, 9, 10. James ii. 10, 11. Matt. v. 17—19.) 18. The Sabbath. God, by his word, in a positive, moral and perpetual commandment, binding all men, in all ages, hath particularly ap- pointed one day in seven for a Sabbath to be kept holy unto him, which, from the beginning of the world, to the resurrection of Christ, was the last day of the week ; and from the resurrection of Christ, was changed into the first day of the week, which is called the Lord's day. (Ex. xx. 8. 1 Cor. xvi. 2, Acts xx. ~i\ Rev. i. 10.) 19. The Church. The Lord Jesus Christ is the head of the Church, in whom, by the appointment of the Father, all power for the calling, institution, order, or government of the church, is invested in a supreme and sove- reign manner. In the execution of this power, the Lord Jesus calleth out of the world unto himself, through the ministry of his word, by his Spirit, those that are given unto him by his Father, that they may walk before him in all the ways of obedience, which he prcscribeth to them in his word. (Col. i. 18, John x. 16. Matt, xxviii. 20.) 20. Church Officers. A particular church gathered, and com- pletely organized according to the mind of Christ, consists of officers and mem- bers: and the officers appointed by Christ to be chosen and set apart by the church are bishops, or elders, and deacons. (Acts i xx. 17, 28. Phil i. 1. Actsxiv. 23.) 52 HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS. 21. Minister? — their duty and support. \ The work of pastors being constantly ! to attend the service of Christ, in his | churches, in the ministry of the word, and | prayer, with watching for their souls, as they that must give an account to him : it is incumbent on the churches to whom they minister, not only to give them all due respect, but also to communicate to them of all their good things, according to their ability. (Acts vi. 4. Heb. xiii. 17. 1 Tim. 'v. 17, 13. Gal. vi. 6.) 22. Baptism. Baptism is an ordinance of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ, to be unto the party baptized, a sign of his fellowship with him in his death and re- surrection ; of his being engrafted into him ; of remission of sins ; and of his giving up unto God, through Jesus Christ, to live and walk in newness of life. Those who do actually profess repent- ance towards God, and obedience to our Lord Jesus, are the only proper subjects of this ordinance. The outward element to be used in this ordinance is water, wherein the party is to be immersed, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. (Rom. vi. 3, 4, 5. Colos. ii. 12. Gal. iii. 27. Mark i. 4; xvi. 16. Acts viii. 37, 38. Acts viii. 33. John iii. 23. Matt, iii. 16.) 23. Lord's Supper. The supper of the Lord Jesus was in- stituted by him, the same night wherein he was betrayed, to be observed in his churches unto the end of the world, for the perpetual remembrance and showing forth the sacrifice of himself in his death. (1 Cor. xi. 23—26.) 24. The Resurrection. The bodies of men after death return to dust, and see corruption ; but their souls, which neither die nor sleep, having an immortal subsistence, immediately re- turn to God who gave them : the souls of the righteous being then made perfect in holiness, are received into paradise, where they are with Christ, and behold the face of God, in light and glory, waiting for the full redemption of their bodies ; and the souls of the wicked are cast into hell, where they remain in torment and utter darkness, reserved to the judgment of the great day. (Genesis iii. 19. Acts xiii. 3(3. Eccles. xii 7. Luke xxiii. 43. JuJe 6, 7. Luke xvi. 23, 24.) 25. TJie Judgment. God hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world in righteousness, by Jesus Christ ; to whom all power and judgment is given of the Father ; then shall the righteous go into everlasting life, and receive that fulness of joy and glory, with everlasting reward, in the presence of the Lord : but the wicked who know not God, and obey not the gospel of Jesus' Christ, shall be cast into eternal torments, and punished with everlasting destruction, from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power. (Acts xvii. 31. Matt. xxv. 31, 34, 41. 40. 2 Thess. i. 9.) In proceeding to sketch the general history of the Baptists, we may remark that they have often been represented as unknown before the sixteenth century, and some historians are still so disinge- nuous as to ascribe their origin to the " Anabaptists of Munster." The term "Anabaptist," or rebaptist, has been ap- plied to all who baptize those whom others believe to be baptized already, but more especially to those who deny the validity of infant baptism. Some of the enthu- siasts of Munster did so, and they have, on that account, been called " Anabap- tists." But this peculiarity has existed in connection with almost every shade of religious faith and practice ; and some- times, as in the case of the Anabaptists of Munster, with fanaticism and wicked- ness. It does not appear, that in any thing but the rejection of infant baptism, did the Anabaptists of Munster bear any resemblance to the present Baptists, and their agreement with them in this is but an accidental coincidence. In Scripture there is no mention of the baptism of in- fants, nor even of adults, except as peni- tents, believing on Jesus for the forgive- ness of their sins. And since then there have been in every age great numbers, who, like the present Baptists, believed HISTORY OF TIN: IS VPTIST8. 53 baptism to be immersion, and immersed Done bul penitent believers. It will Ix- seen, Ihen, thai the Baptists claim the high antiquity of i h«* commence* incut of the Christian church. The] can trace a succession of those who have be- lieved the same doctrines, and adminis- tered tin- same Ordinances, directly up to the apostolic age. They have oever sought, nor ever had alliance with the state, or support from it ; they have never interfered with the disputes of those whom they regarded as antichristian, in their struggles for power. They were equally unknown as Protestants at Spires, and as the Reformers, who yet sought union with the king as head of the church, in the days of Henry VIII., of England. Whe- ther in the plains of Judea, the valleys of the Vaudois, the villages of Britain, or the wilderness of our own loved land, they have steadily sought the glory of their Lord, the purity of his laws, and the con- quest of men to his government. The historian Mosheim, a predobaptist, says, that the "true origin of that sect which acquired the denomination of Ana- baptists, is hidden in the depths of anti- quityr and Cardinal Hosius, Chairman at the Council of Trent, 1555, says, " If the truth of religion were to be judged of by the readiness and cheerfulness which a man of any sect shows in suffering, then the opinions and pxrsuasioiis of no sect can be truer or surer than those of the Anabaptists ; since there have been none, for twelve hundred years past, that have been more grievously punished." The best accounts seem to show that Christianity was introduced into Britain about the year 63, by Claudia, a Welsh lady, converted under the ministry of Paul at Rome. Bishop Burgess tells us that the early British churches bore a strik- ing r semblance to the model institution at Jerusalem. " No persons were admit- ted to baptism," says Mosheim, " but such as had been previously instructed in the principal points of Christianity, and had also given satisfactory proofs of pious dis- positions and upright intentions." The gospel is said to have made con- siderable progress in Britain about the year 167, and the churches there planted were long preserved from the errors which iil\ prevailed in H .■ I ! t, Tin ii steadfastness was severely tried in the 1 fourth centur) , by the edicts of Dia tion ; bul \\ hile opposed bj the civil power, ihei maintained their ( Jhi nplicity. When, however, Coostaotine began to smile upon them, tixy became worldly and corrupt, and Boon the i rron of Peia- giua rent the land. Two divines, who are said to be Welshmen, but who had resided on the continent of Europe, returned, and succeeded in reclaiming many of the wanderers, who were re-baptized in the river Allen, near Chester, about 410. Thirty years after this, such was the pre- valence of immortality in Britain, that the pious retired to the woods, and the old corrupt professors of Christianity, says Warner, united their system with that of the Druids. Dr. Thomas Fuller tells us that the body of the Christian church was now in Wales. This was the awful state of things when Austin, the Romish monk, reached Britain. By various representations, he succeeded in drawing over to that church ten thousand persons, who were baptized in the river Swale, near York, on Christ- mas day, 598. In this business there teas no compulsion ; each one was left to act voluntarily. Austin sent into Wales to the original pastors and churches, but after conferences with him, they declined his proposal " to baptize young children," (rather minors.) In less than two years, many of the WTelsh churches, which had maintained their apostolic character, were destroyed by military force. A fierce controversy followed, not as to doctrine, but baptism, between the ancient British Christians, and Augustine's converts, which lasted about a century. This de- bate was not on the number of im- mersions, savs Dupin, since one or three dippings were equally valid at Rome ; not on the mode, because all immersed in rivers, ponds, 6cc; but on the subjects. At this period, A. D. 600, baptism in the Roman church had descended to minors of seven years of age, (all minors, as is shown by Ma billion and Robinson, were called infants,) where it stayed for centu- ries. Conformity to this custom was re- quired, and refused. The ancient British church, says the Encyclopedia? Metropoli- 54 HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS. tance, did not practise immersion of minors. Their conformity to the " mother church," Acts ii. 41, forbade it. Neither Constan- tino the Great, who was born id Britain, was baptized in childhood, though his mother Helena was a zealous Christian, and his father favorable to Christianity, if not a professor of it, nor were Sexied and Seward, sons of Sebert, the Christian king of the East Saxons. " Men were first to be instructed into the knowledge of the truth," says Bede, " then to be bap- tized, as Christ hath taught, because with- out faith it is impossible to please God." In the first baptisms of Austin, nmic were compelled, but the multitude was ivith faith to go into the water two-and- two, says Camden, and, in the name of the Trinity, to dip one another. Bede's history of the first baptism in England is an exact counterpart of the histories of baptisms in the East ; the first teachers made disciples, and immersed in rivers or the sea. There is no proof in Gildas or Bede of infant baptism for the first six centuries. We soon after this find Saxon Chris- tianity little better than Paganism, and Milton tells us the British Christians ceased to hold communion with the Saxon inhabitants of the land. But, after an awful darkness of three centuries, the Baptists again rose from obscurity. Col- lier tells us that the confused state of the < country allowed some of the Waldenses or Albigenses of the eleventh century to visit it. They were so successful among all classes, that William the Conqueror became alarmed, and decreed, says Xcw- ton, " that those who denied the pope should not trade with his subjects." Another colony of people, belonging to a numerous sect of fanatics, says Lingard, " who infested the north of Italy, Gaul, and Germany, and who were called puritans," is said to have come into England. Usher calls them Waldenses, from Aquitain ; Spelman calls them Publicans, (Pauli- cians,) but says they were the same as the Waldenses. They gained ground, and spread themselves and their doctrines all over Europe. They labored to win souls to Christ, and were guided only by the word of God. They rejected all the Roman ceremonies, refused tc baptize in- fants, and preached against the pope, Thirty of these were put to death near Oxford. The remainder of them wor- shipped in private, until Henry II. came to the throne, in 1158, when, from the mildness of his measures, they appeared again publicly. It was now discovered that these people had several houses of the Albigensian order in England. Collier observes, wherever this heresy prevailed, the churches were either scandalously neglected or pulled down. Infants, Hove- den tells us, were not baptized by them. The conflicts between the sovereigns of this kingdom and the archbishops, during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, per- mitted the Baptists to propagate their sen- timents very extensively, unmolested. The sword not being in the hand of the clergy, they employed the friars to preach down heresy ,* but their conduct disgusted the people. The English Baptists were much revived and increased by the visit of Walter Lol- lard, a Dutchman. " He was remarkable," says Mosheim, " for his eloquence and writings." He was an eminent barb or pastor among the Begherds, in Germany, who, Dr. Wall says, baptized anew all who came over to their party. He was in sentiment the same as Peter de Bruis. About this period, 1338, colonies of weavers, Waldenses, came into the county of Norfolk. These people made little noise, though they existed in almost all the countries of Europe. Although the same in religious views as the Paterines, Picards, and Waldenses, they were now, says Hailam, called Lollards. There had appeared in England, up to this time, about twenty good men, preachers of the gospel, so that the soil was prepared, Sir James Mackintosh says, for after reformers. The Baptists now adopted a plan of dropping their written sentiments against poperv in the way of the members of Parliament. In 1368, thirty errors in matters of religion were charged on the people in the neighborhood of Canterbury ; one was, Du Pin tells us, that children could be saved without water baptism ; but none, says Fox, gave baptism to children at this time bid for salvation. Their numbers and decided hostility to the hierarchy aroused their adversaries to HISTORY OP THE BAPTIST8. :,:> adopt severe measures; and in L400, a lau was passed, sentencing Lollarda to be burned to death. In Norfolk they abounded, and there they Buffered se- verely. Bonner asked where the church \stis before Luther 1 Foa says, the an- swer might have hen, M Among the Lol- lards in the diocese of Norwich." The first martyr under this law was Sir William Sawtre, who was of Baptist sen- tinunts. Still the Bible-men increased, ami became dangerous to the church. It is saiil they amounted to one hundred tkoutand. The printing of the Scriptures called forth Cold, Latimer, and others, to preach publicly, which aided the Bihie-men, and led the way to the changes made by Henry VIII.' Tyndale's New Testament threw a flood of light upon the English nation. The king's misunderstanding with the pope led him to relieve and encourage the Lollards everywhere ; and their brethren, with foreigners of every sentiment, flocked into England to enjoy liberty, and strengthen true religion. A book of the Lollards, entitled " The Sum of the Scriptures," was examined by the archbishop; he condemned the party who circulated it, for denying the baptism of the church. Fourteen Mennonite brethren suffered death cheerfully ; and the re- proach of a??abaptism now supplanted that of the word Lollardism. These mar- tyrdoms did not check their sentiments, but rather led men to investigate them ; and such was the alarm of the clergy, that a convocation was called, seventy-six of their alleged errors condemned, and measures devised for their suppression. Under Edward, the penal laws were repealed ; the prisons were thrown open ; and many who had expatriated themselves returned. The island was now divided into three religious sections, the Baptists, the Episcopalians of Rome, and the rigid Reformers from Geneva ; these all had liberty to speak and print. The Baptists were soon charged with proselyting ; and they became, Bishop Burnet says, very numerous in England. The clergv, not having the control of the sword, published their views on baptism ; but the Baptists .replied, " Children are of Christ's king- dom without water," Luke xviii. 16. So numerous were the Baptists, that town live hundn d were .said to lu< j as books did not answi r the intended pur* pose, a commission was intrusted to Cranmer for their suppression, which entailed sufferings on many. The <_■ pardon of L650 again excepted the B - ti>t> ; the churches in Kent wen turned, and some eminent men sufS n d. On Queen Mary's acoessioB to the throne, all statutes in favor of the Pro- testant religion were repealed. Many nonconformists left, the kingdom, but some exposed, to use Calvin's language, the fopperies of the hierarchy of England, which awakened the revenge of Mary's council. Measures were devised to stay Anabaptism ; these brethren, notwith- standing, boldly declared, 1st, — That in- fant baptism was antiscriptural. 2d, — That it originated with popery; and, 3d, — That Christ commanded teaching to go before baptism. Mary's anger spent itself more particularly on the reformers. Elizabeth's reign promised liberty, but the conflicting opinions of the nation on the subject of religion reflected, she thought, on her prerogative. Not having succeeded in silencing the Baptists by proclamation, she commanded all Ana- baptists to depart out of the kingdom within twenty-one days. On Queen Elizabeth's demise, James, king of Scotland, was welcomed to the throne. In Scotland he had experienced interruptions in his councils from the national clergy ; and in his new situation many of these refused subscription to his articles of religion. To these indomitable spirits, James observed, " Your scruples have a strong tincture of Anabaptism." The king subsequently refused all con- cessions to nonconformists. The misrepresentations by which the prcdobaptists assailed the sentiments of the Baptists at this period in reference to infant salvation were well calculated to prejudice their cause. The Mennonite brethren, or family of love, who had for half a century maintained their position in the kingdom, memorialized the king on these misrepresentations, hoping, from his inaugural declaration, to obtain protection; but their prayer was disregarded, and their situation became increasingly critical. 56 HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS. Mr. Wightman, a Baptist was convicted of divers heresies, Dec. 14, 101 1, and was burnt soon after. Thus the first and the last martyrs in England were Baptists. Mr. Smyth, a leading minister among the Baptists, and his brethren, were the first to publish a work against persecution. It was entitled, " Persecution Judged and Condemned." This book was dedicated " to all that truly wish Jerusalem's pros- perity and Babylon's destruction." It is well written : it mentions the long and harassing sufferings which the Baptists had been exposed to, and the patience with which they had endured them. In further vindication of their views, a Dutch work was translated, entitled, " A plain and well-grounded Treatise concerning Bap- tism." The contents of this little book occasioned considerable alarm, and the council was prevailed on to issue a pro- clamation against the Baptists and their books. They once more appealed to the king ; avowed nobly their peculiarities, represented the hardships and grievances they had endured under his government, and entreated some mitigation of his mea- sures. Their appeal, however, proved of no avail. We have now arrived at a period of in- tense interests to the Baptists of the United States. Charles the first, in 1625, suc- ceeded to the throne of his father. Main- Baptists, among others, who are usually denominated The Puritan fathers, had already left England, and laid the founda- tion of our country's freedom and hap- piness. u Early in the sixteenth century," writes Mr. Magoon, one of our own au- thors, " in England, Sir Edward Coke, being in church, where lawyers went in those early times, he one day discovered a lad taking notes during service. Being pleased with the modest worth of the lad, he asked his parents to permit him to edu- cate their emulative son. Coke sent him to Oxford University. He drank from the fountains of knowledge, and in those draughts he found ' The sober certainty of waking bliss.' " ' As the hart pantcth for the water brooks,' he longed for the wisdom that rouses the might which so often and so long slumbers in a peasant's arm. He communed with the past and with his own startling thoughts. He summoned around ; him the venerable sages of antiquity, and in their presence made a feast of fat things. 1 A perpetual feast of nectared sweets, Where no rude surfeit reigns.' " At the fount of holiest instruction he cleared his vision ; and, from the mount ! of contemplation, breathed in worlds to which the heaven of heavens is but a veil. " But his soul was too free for the peace of his sycophantic associates ; his ■ principles were too philanthropic for the | selfishness of that age ; the doctrines which he scorned to disavow, were too noble for Old England, — and he sought an asylum among the icy rocks of this < wilderness world. He came, and was ; driven from the society of white men, through wintry storms and savages more lenient than interested factions, to plant • the first free colony in America. That boy was the founder of Rhode Island; that man was the patriot who stooped his ; anointed head as low as death for uni- versal rights, and ever 1 Fought to protect, and conquered but to bless ;' that Christian was Roger Williams, the first who pleaded for liberty of conscience in this country, and who became the pio- neer of religious liberty for the world." — Governor Hopkins, every way qualified to speak on this subject, says : — " Roger Williams justly claims the i honor of having been the first legislator in the world, in its latter ages, that fully ; and effectually provided for and esta- , blished a full, free, and absolute li- I berty of conscience." As there are to be found in our coun- try, even now, some who would depreciate ; this eminent man, we may be pardoned if \ we extract from the late Dr. W. E. Chan- | ning the following eulogium upon him: "Other communities have taken pride in tracing their origin to heroes and con- ! querors. I boast more of Roger Williams, ' the founder of my native state. The triumph which he gained over the preju- ; HISTORY OF THE BAPTI8T8. was, in tin- \ ii w of rea- son, note glorious than the bloody ficto- lies winch stun almost every page ofhis* Uxyi and hii mora generous exposition of ghts of conscience, of 1 1 * « • indepen* donee of religion on the magistrate, than had been adopted before bia time, gives linn ■ rank among the lights and henefae- ihe World, When I think of him as penetrating the wilderness, not only that he might worship (led according to Ins own convictions of truth and duty, hut that lie might prepare an asylum where the persecuted of all Beets might enjoy the same religious freedom, I see in him as perfect an example of the spirit of liU'rty as any age has furnished. " Venerable confessor in the cause of freedom and truth! May his name be precious and immortal ! May his spirit never die in the community which he founded ! May the obscurest individual, and the most unpopular sect or party, never he denied those rights of free inves- tigation, of free utterance of their convic- tions, on which this state is established !" The reader, even if he should possibly have been ignorant till the present moment of Roger Williams, will soon see ground for these encomiums, and take a lively in- terest in the details we have to give. We shall be forgiven, if we now leave the English Baptists, and turn to our own fathers in the wilderness. Sympathizing, as we must do, in the trials of the Chris- tians in England, we must be interested still more in the struggles of America ; believing as we do, that the testimony of Hume as to the English puritans, is at least equally applicable to the first Bap- tists of this country ; nor can we hesitate to say, " that by these alone the precious spark of liberty was kindled ; and to these America owes the whole freedom of her constitution." Roger Williams was born in Wales, about the year 1599, of humble parentage. His education, under the patronage of Sir Edward Coke, has been already referred to; he received ordination in the Church of England, but having embraced Puritan principles, and therefore become opposed to all ecclesiastical tyranny, he sailed with his wife to this country, Dec. 1, 1630, and arrived at Nantasket, Feb. 5th fol- lowing. 1 I. u.i ; to be- come an assistant minister at Bali i commenced his ministry in thai town. It is not possible !""i- ns h' re to detail the conduct of Mr. Williams and the per- secutions to which be was exposedi when it becani*- known that he bad embraced as of the Baptists. Suffice i: I that he was banished] and BOUght from the Indians the rights denied to him by Christians. With the origin of th ot" Rhode Island and the city of Provi- dence, our readers are, no doubt, well ac- quainted. Here he established the first State in the world founded on the broad principles of full religious freedom. He had been previously accused of " embrac- ing principles which tended to ana-bap- tism ;"and in March, 1639, he was bap- tized by one of his brethren, and then he baptized about ten more. Here was form- ed the first Baptist church in America. In 1063, the Church now worshipping at Swansea was formed by the Rev. John Myles, an ejected clergyman from Eng- land; in 1701 was formed the Church of Welshtract, now in the State of Delaware ; in 1714, the first church in Virginia, in Prince George county; in 1741, the first church in the State of New York, at Oyster Bay, on Long Island ; in 1762, the first in New York city, under the mi- nistry of John Gano. A very large num- ber of other churches have originated by ministers and others emigrating from Eng- land, Ireland, Wales and Holland, who had belonged to Baptist communities in their native land. From these humble beginnings "what hath God wrought !"' This appears a proper place in which to introduce two or three paragraphs from an able article in the third volume of the Christian Review. The object of the writer is to show the influence exerted by the Baptist denomination on the extension of religious liberty. Having shown the intolerance of very many of the first Puri- tan fathers, the nature of the charter which Williams obtained for Rhode Island, and the noble course of conduct which the early inhabitants of that state pursued, he goes on to say : — " In February, 17S5, a law for the es- tablishment and support of religion was passed in Georgia, through the influence 58 HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS. of the Episcopalians. It embraced all de- nominations, and gave all equal privileges ; but in May, the Baptists remonstrated against it, — sent two messengers to the Legislature, and the next session it was repealed. In both ministers and members, they were much more numerous than any other denomination. Their preachers might have occupied every neighborhood, and lived upon the public treasury ; but no, — they knew that Christ's " kingdom is not of this world," and believed that any dependence on the civil power for its support tends to corrupt the purity and pristine loveliness of religion. They there- fore preferred to pine in poverty, as many of them did, and prevent an unholy mar- riage between the church of Christ and the civil authority. The overthrow of all the above-named odious laws is to be at- tributed to their unremitting efforts: they generally struck the first blow, and thus inspired the other sects with their own in- trepidity. It is owing to their sentiments, chiefly, as the friends of religious liberty, that no law abridging the freedom of thought or opinion, touching religious wor- ship, is now in force to disgrace our sta- tute books. It is not here asserted, that but for their efforts, a system of persecu- cution, cruel and relentless as that of Mary of England, or Catherine de Medicis of France, would now have obtained in these United States ; but it is asserted, that the Baptists have successfully propagated their sentiments on the subject of religious liberty, at the cost of suffering in property, in person, in limb, and in life. Let the sacrifice be ever so great, they have al- ways freely made it, in testimony of their indignation against laws which would fetter the conscience. Their opposition to tyranny was implacable, and it mattered not whether the intention was to tax the people without representation, or to give to the civil magistrate authority to settle religious questions by the sword. In cither case, it met in every Baptist an irrecon- cilable foe. "The question maybe asked, how should this denomination, in its sentiments of re- ligious libertv, be so much in advance of the age? The form of church govern- ment established by the Puritans, was a pure democracy, and essentially that of the Baptists. True ; but in the reception of members, the two denominations differ widely : while a large portion of the for- mer come into the church by birth, the latter enter on their own responsibility. They feel that they have rights, and prize them. One feature in the polity of the former renders it a kind of parental go- vernment, authorized to mould the opinions of its subjects before they are able to dis- cern them. But from the first, the Bap- tists seem to have perceived the truth on this subject. Whether they derived it from particular texts, or from the general prin- ciples of the Bible, it is not now for us to inquire. Their knowledge on this subject is coeval with their existence as a distinct people. Religious liberty is a Baptist watchword, a kind of talisman, which ope- rates like a charm, and nerves every man for action." Every thing relating to the History of the Baptists, in every portion of the United States, justified the testimony of Washing- ton, in his reply to a letter from the Vir- ginia Baptists in 1789, that the denomina- tion " have been throughout America uni- formly, and almost unanimously, the firm friends of civil liberty, and the persevering promoters of our glorious Revolution." " Involuntary respect goes forth to the man who brings to light some great and useful truth in the sciences or in the arts. Such was the discovery of the art of printing, — the power and uses of steam, — the true theory of the solar system: but what are these in comparison with the great moral truth which the Baptists have held forth before the public eye for cen- turies ? — a truth without which life would j be a burden, and civil liberty but a j mockery. Nor is this all. While the ; Baptists have always defended the prin- ciples of religious liberty, they have never violated them. They have had but one opportunity of forming a system of civil government, and they so formed it as to ' create an era in the history of civilization. In the little Baptist State of Rhode Island was the experiment first attempted of leav- ing religion wholly to herself, unprotected and unsustained by the civil arm. The principles which were here first planted, have taken root in other lands, and have borne abundant fruit. The world is H1STOUV OF THE BAPTISTS. ; coming oaarer to the opinions of Williams: and ao universally are his sentiments dow adopted in thii country, that, like other successful philoaophera, he i> likely himself to be lost in the blase <>f his own discover} ,M It is impossible for us, within the limits to which we arc necessarily confined, to detail the labors, the persecutions, or the successes of our venerated fathers and brethren. Suffice it to say, that every suc- cessive vcar has brought with it new bless- ings, and has shown the labors of our body in extending the pure doctrines of Chris- tianity, securing the freedom of our coun- try on its only firm basis, the doctrines of the New Testament, in preparing a constantly improving ministry, adequate to the progressive character of the times, and in the employment of the press to perfect the labors of the pulpit. It is a matter for devout gratitude that we have never, as a body, been called to deplore a retrograde movement; we have never been rent asunder by internal doctrinal dissensions : but have ever maintained " one Lord, one faith, one baptism ;" nor has the world ever before witnessed so rapid and so vast an increase to any one section of the Christian church. If we have been called to weep over the graves of many ministers and other Christians of eminence, we have been constrained to thank the Great Head of the Church for their piety and usefulness, and to rejoice that they have passed from their labor to their reward. It would indeed be pleasant to describe the times and the actions of Bunyan and Milton; to furnish the biographies of Gill and of Gale, of the Stennetts and the Ry- lands, of Pearce and many others of the mother country : and to represent the lite- rary labors or Bible and missionary enter- prise of Fuller and Carey, of Hughes and Hall, of Carson and Gregory, and a multi- tude of others of modern date ; or to speak of the excellences of Baldwin and Stillman, of Staughton and Mercer, of Maxcy and Gano, and a vast cloud of other witnesses who have borne testimony to the doctrines of the cross in our own favored land. But for all this we are compelled to direct our readers to other sources of information. We can do no more at present than add to tins rapid sketch a very brief \ i H i nasi nt statb of the Baptist denomi- nation throughout the world. Mr. 1 lenedtct saya, ii '/'be incn i Baptists in this country, 1 haw (bund lar beyond my most enlarged conceptions. Somewhere between oae«fburth and < tered on their ministerial career; hut which some other Christian bodies would have kept out of the ministry altogether, tor want of a full classical and theological training. While this denomination jealously guards its independence, the churches individually, on affairs of importance, such as licensing ministers, calling a pastor, or in the event of difficulties springing up among them, call together ministers and other brethren to act as a council; who hear their state- ment of facts, and give their judgment as to the line of duty ; but in no case has such council power or authority to enforce their decisions. Their jurisdiction is merely advisory, and parties act upon their recommendation or not, as may seem to them desirable ; the cases, however, are very few where the moderation and wis- dom of the council do not produce the re- sults they desire. The spirit of Christian union goes far- ther than this, and leads the churches in almost every locality to assemble annually in their different counties or districts for devotional exercises and free intercourse on objects of common interest. The business is here transacted by the pastors and brethren previously appointed as dele- gates or representatives. " The associa- tion" is a high Christian festival among the Baptists, and brings together friends from considerable distances, who always meet a cordial welcome, and almost bound- less hospitality. Sermons, prayers, ex- hortations, and the letters addressed to the body from the several churches are usually of a highly interesting character ; and very frequently ministers and others carry from their association meetings an influ- ence, the happy effects of which tell on the prosperity of the church for the whole en- suing year. Many delightful friendships originate in these assemblies, and it would be almost impossible to exaggerate their 62 HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS. importance. Little difficulties or jea- lousies which arise during the year, are now removed, while the younger mem- bers of the denomination meet and hear its leading members, and become happily acquainted with the objects and forms of denominational business. Conventions are still larger and more important gatherings than even associa- tions. The latter are usually composed of from probably some twenty to eighty- churches in a comparatively small district, who meet exclusively to arrange plans for the prosperity of their own churches ; but a convention is a meeting of ministers and delegates from churches, associations, and public societies of perhaps a whole state, and probably also from other states. It is properly a series of meetings for the transaction of business relating to the Mis- sionary, Bible, and Publication societies, as also colleges, and other educational institutions. Sermons, devotional exer- cises, and platform meetings follow each other in rapid succession ; and these, with almost innumerable committees, keep all hands busy for probably six or eight days. The advantages of such assemblies can scarcely be overrated. For more than thirty years, besides the meetings already mentioned, the Baptists held a great Triennial Convention, by dele- gates from every state of the Union, pro- fessedly to transact the business of the Foreign Missions ; but, as might be ex- pected, all the other great national in- stitutions met at the same time. The vast extent of the country, the growth of the body, and other circumstances have led to the dissolution of this mighty body, and all the societies now arrange for annual meetings, at which each settles its own particular business. Every man, however, who has attended a" triennial convention," will remember how delightfully it remind- ed him of the great and eternal assembly " of the saints in light." While denominational meetings of this character are especially interesting to the Baptists, it must not be supposed that they are indifferent to the objects pursued by evangelical Christians in a united capacity. The Tract Society, the Sunday-School Union, and the Temperance cause all have the labors, the pecuniary resources, and the tender sympathies of the body in the accomplishment of their important designs. It may indeed be remarked that the Bap- tists seldom assume an antagonistic attitude in reference to other denominations. Even their controversial publications are chiefly defensive, and very seldom aggressive. They are content to publish what they consider to be scriptural truth, and to leave its results to its great Author. To the rising generation, the pastors and members of Baptist churches usually devote a considerable degree of attention. They know the importance of early and judicious training ; and have amply realized the truth of a remark of the ex- cellent Matthew Henry, that " though the grace of God does not run in the blood, it often runs in a line." Assuredly it has always been the happiness of Baptists to see as large a proportion of their children united with the church of Christ as those of any other denomination of believers in him. In passing over the ground of American Baptist History, we have said but little of the severities to which our fathers were exposed. We are led to take very high ground on this subject, and to believe that any other denomination would have been disposed to persecute as much as " the standing order," had they possessed the power. Paedobaptists generally, have been much inclined to look at the Jewish Church for a model, as much as at the Christian, and have even gone farther than Jewish law would allow ; for they have added force to the Divine command. Standing, as we do, on New Testament grounds, candor and charity are conge- nial, and under their influence, while we examine the errors that are around us by the searching light of the New Testament, we can deplore their existence, and labor for their removal, without the aid of a sectarian spirit. But liberal men of other denominations will take care that passing events shall sometimes lead us to reflect on the rela- tion which the Baptists hold to Puritanism, and to those who regard themselves as its representatives and advocates. The Rev. Dr. Coit, rector of the Episcopal Church at New Rochelle, and the author of a work entitled ' Puritanism,' has given a in-Torn of the i; \i'ii>rs. Mint of the injuries winch the la suffered from the old Nfew Bog- land Puritans; he has portrayed in lively col >rs that stern, persecuting spirit which vras th • disgrace of tin- seventeenth cen- tury, ami winch gave occasion for the remark, that the Catholics <>f Maryland more tolerant than the Protestants of Massachusetts. Or. Coil proceeds to cite from Prof, Knowles, ami other Baptist writers, Bome candid remarks on the his- tory ol* that period, containing something in apology for the Puritans, and showing that in our judgment of them, we mast make large allowance for the prevailing spirit of their times. He then remonstrates with the Baptists in regard to this tendency to treat the persecutors of their ancestors in this courteous man- ner, and calls upon them to be true to history, to be just to themselves, to cx- press their abhorrence of Puritan intole- rance without stint and without palliation. Earnestly would we press on the whole Christian world, that religion is a personal matter between God and the individual soul. That, justified before Jehovah, by the righteousness of his Son, we enjoy holy friendship with him, and direct ac- cess, without the intervention of priest or king ; and feeling our own happy free- dom, we must be intent on the same liberty being enjoyed by every other man. After this rapid sketch of the history and usages of the Baptist denomination, it might be useful and profitable, if our space would permit, carefully to examine its increase, and show how remarkably the blessing of God has always rested on the body. We have now lying before us a series of tables most carefully compiled by the Rev. J. M. Peck, of Illinois, giving much most important information. It appears that in 1791, in a population of somewhat less than four millions, there were in the United States, 891 churches; 1,156 mi- nisters, including licentiates ; and 65,345 communicants ; or, including some omitted by the historian of that period, say 70,000 communicants. In 1812, in a population not exceeding seven millions and a quar- ter, there were 2,164 churches; 1,605 ministers ; and 172,973 communicants. In 1832, in a population of rather more than twelve and a half millions, there 5,286 church and 882,1 L«» communicants. At p • in ;• iinpiilatiun of probably twenty-two million-, 9,098 churches ; 6,856 min and 781,906 c municants, Th increase, so much more rapid than the proportionate increase of population, may I well excite grateful emotions to the Giver of all good, and encourage zealous efforts in the advancement of his glory, in th'- present day, one grand means to increase in numbers, i-, to keep pace with the increase of intelligence in the commu- nity. Ignorance will never perpetuate any cause. That the Baptists are not behind other denominations in their literary and theological institutions, will be seen by a reference to a subsequent table, where the reader will find 14 of the former, with 70 instructors, 2,087 graduates, 720 minis- ters, 1,131 students, and 63,700 volumes in the libraries; and of the latter, 8, with 19 teachers. 309 graduates, 294 ministers, 150 students, and 13,750 volumes in their libraries. It would be gratifying, if it could be done, to ascertain the number and cost of churches and other public build- ings connected with the body. Suffice it to say, that generally sneaking, our build- ings will compare wun others in the land, which presents the best houses for wor- ship in the world. Next to the Pulpit, the Press will be found to exert the mightiest influence in the advancement of any class of persons who ought to increase. And in this country, the character of the population, the means of transit, and the thirst for information, will, for many years to come, make periodical literature of vast import- ance. We have lying before us a list of thirty-nine Baptist periodicals. Of these, 1 is published annually, 3 quarterly, 12 monthly, 2 semi-monthly, and 21 weekly. It would, of course, be improper to claim for every one of these, talent of the highest order ; but there is no one of them that can awaken unpleasant feelings, and in not a few are articles from powerful and elegant pens, which must produce mighty results. Never was the American reli- gious press in general, or the Baptist in particular, so efficient and useful as at the present hour. We have thus seen that Baptists claim 64 HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS. to be New Testament Christians ; and that they are separated from the world as much as in this imperfect state can be expected. To use the strong and eloquent language of a western preacher, "In the constitution of a Baptist Church, conver- sion is essential to membership. No child can be born a Baptist, and no adult can be admitted to commune until the Christian character is formed. Member- ship, therefore, is matter of choice. This unlettered freedom of judgment and will exists in the appointment of officers, and in the modes and seasons of public wor- ship. With these no external power can in- terfere ; no general standard is recognised. So that a wide difference is seen between the churches of Rome and those of Eng- land, and the Baptist Church. Against all laws and formularies, courts of inqui- sition, and acts of uniformity, the Baptists have always protested, and the Lord grant that they may ever contend for their an- cient faith ! Whether among the rocks of Piedmont, or hidden in the valleys of Wales ; whether in the death waves of "fair Zurich's waters," or in a cold and cheerless Virginia prison; whether hunted down and burnt af the stake by monks or archbishops, or governing the free and tolerant colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations ; whether cursed, hated, and anathematized by popes and kings, or favored only by the independent and magnanimous great men of the world, it has mattered not. Our banner has been unfurled to every breeze, in every region, where an advocate of our princi- ples could be found. On the one side has been inscribed, " One Lord, one Faith, one Baptism," and on the other, "God and Liberty." In proceeding to take a rapid glance at the present state of the Baptists in other parts of the world, we cannot but be struck with the fact, that wherever there exists a nationally established church, the adherents of this denomination are persecuted to a far greater extent than any other class of persons. It is only in our own favored land we can stand on a level with the highest. Tn Germany, though the Baptists have always been acknowledged by such writers as Luther, Madame de Stacl, Voltaire, and Niebuhr, to be the warm friends of freedom, and to have shed their blood in its cause, they are persecuted, imprisoned, and heavily fined. In France, it only requires that their number be enlarged to bring out the strong feelings of opposition on the part of other and stronger parties against them ; and in Britain, though their privileges of late years have been increased, yet, still, they are compelled to contribute their full quota to the established sect, and in con- nection with their corporate rights, and even their marriage ceremonies, there is the imposition of shackles which mock their freedom. May they never retaliate! Indeed, they never can do so till they be- come recreant to their principles, and cease to believe the doctrines they now profess. The Baptists of the world must ever feel a lively interest in the prosperity of the denomination in Wales. Here the truth was long perpetuated, when it was lost almost everywhere else. Here sim- plicity, earnestness, and adherence to scriptural doctrine have ever distinguished our body. The world does not elsewhere present so large a proportion of Baptists in the same extent of population. This fact, assuredly, does not arise from their superior wealth, or the high education of their ministers, or their extensive love of literature. The familiarity, earnestness, and frequency of their preaching, have, probably, contributed more than all other things, to their great and rapid increase. At the annual meetings of their associa- tions, for instance, they will assemble in thousands to listen, always in the open air, to their favorite preachers ; and during two days, from twelve to fifteen sermons will be delivered. They are never tired of preaching. Their ministers will often itinerate, and preach three sermons a day for many successive days, or even weeks, seldom delivering more than one sermon in a place, for which the preacher will receive some twenty-five cents, and re- freshments, and his horse a portion of food. If our Wrelsh friends may some- times have- rather too much preaching, and be somewhat too fond of excitement, we think we know some Christians who have by far too little of either. The settled character of England, as an HISTORY OP THE BAPTI8T8. old country, will readily suggest to the mind of the reader, thai considerably diflbr- enl features wiH .show themselves in man\ of its institutions. Take foj instance an Ltion of Baptist churches. It exists perhaps for u century essentially un- changed, except by a gradual increase of its churches ami members. Not a few persons will he connected with it the whole of their lives, ami associate with it their whole time, talents, and influence. Two or three generations will invest it with much that is hallowed inconsistent Uhris- iian character, holy zeal, and delightful Success, The young think of the asso- ciation in connection with the holy dead, as well as with the living; and love to speak of the history and the success of institutions with the origin of which their lathers were identified. There is more of what may he termed home feeling in the Baptists of the father-land, than can at pre- sent exist in comparatively but a few fami- lies, aiul in only a very few cities of the United States. With what feelings of plea- sure may the Baptists connected with the Northamptonshire association speak of their Halls and Rylands, of Fuller and ('a rev, and SutclifF, once connected with them, and of the birth of the Foreign Mis- sions in their midst ! The comparatively small extent, too, of England, and the denseness of its popula- tion, combined with the oppressions against which they have to contend, unite the Baptists of that land more closely than they can be united in a country like this. Hence their Baptist Union, instituted in 1812, now composed of more than a thou- sand churches, which meets annually by its delegates ; the objects of which are, 1st. To extend brotherly love and union among those Baptist ministers and churches who agree in the sentiments usually denomi- nated evangelical ; — 2d. To promote unity of exertion in whatever may best serve the cause of Christ in general, and the inte- rests of theBaptist denomination in particu- lar ; — 3d. To obtain accurate statistical in- formation relative to Baptist churches, societies, institutions, colleges, &c, throughout the kingdom, and the world at large ; — 4th. To prepare for circulation an annual report of the proceedings of the Union, and the state of the denomination. 9 This union has acted during \be last fifteen years with considerable vigor, and has done much in uniting the churches, an. I increasing, by its influence on tl vernment, the freedom of religion, I in L885 tuo ot' its members, the Rev. Drs. Cox and Hoby, to this country to convey an expression of fraternal feelings towards the Baptists of America, wh<> published a volume on the subject, on their return. Latterly they have been assiduously en- gaged in collecting a library, which they have placed in trust for the use of the denomination. It is worthy of remark that our Eng- lish brethren seem to embrace every op- portunity of making their literature con- tribute to the advancement of the Baptist cause. Hence their Baptist Magazine, which originated in 1809, is vested in trustees who have appropriated from the profits of its sale not less than 830,000 to the relief of the widows of Baptist minis- ters. The Baptist Selection of Hymns, devotes annually some seven or eight hundred dollars to the widows and orphans of Baptist ministers and missionaries ; while the profits of the Baptist Reporter, a cheap monthly periodical, and of the Baptist Sunday Scholars' Hymn Book are distributed in tracts and cheap publications among the churches, and in neighbor- hoods destitute of evangelical truth. Perhaps this may be the proper place in which to state, that our brethren in Eng- land, in addition to their missionary socie- ties, foreign and domestic, have in London a considerable fund for sustaining feeble churches, supporting colleges, and supply- ing young ministers with books. This fund is furnished principally from the interest of legacies left for those purposes by good men of other days. Whether it might not have been better to have expended this money in doing present good, trusting in the promise and power of Christ to sustain his cause in future, is a question which, happily, we are not now called upon to settle. The Baptists of London, and two or three other large cities, liberally sub- scribe for the erection of new houses of worship, which they forward to needy parties without their ministers leaving their pulpits to collect it. Recent move- ments seem to indicate that the contribu- 66 HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS. tors to the London Building Fund will become simply a Loan Society. It is a fact well known, that the Eng- lish Baptists are divided into two great branches, Particular and General, the former holding the Calvinistic view of the particularity of the redemption of Christ, and the other believing it to be general and designed for the whole of mankind ; in other things their views harmonize with the systems they thus respectively em- brace. The General Baptists are again subdivided into the Old Connexion and the New. The truth is, that a century ago, a kind of hereditary membership, an al- most entire disuse of congregational in- dependence, and a strong inclination to- wards Socinianism crept in among them, so that vital godliness had almost disap- peared. In 1770, the late excellent Dan Taylor and a few other good men, formed the New Connexion on sounder scriptural principles ; and their piety and zeal have given them a good standing among their brethren ; still the Particular branch of the denomination is by far the largest. In the Baptist Union, in their general efforts for the advancement of religious freedom, and generally, in communion, the Par- ticular Baptists and the New Connexion are but one. The Old Connexion has al- most died away, and indeed, would long since have lost its visibility, had it not been sustained by endowments of which it has obtained unrighteous possession. The whole history of this branch of the body shows the vast importance of guarding against the slightest departures from the law of Christ, while its present state proves that religious errors, in the end, will work their own destruction. Nor are we less impressively taught that when the members of a body become generally in- different, and leave the truths and ordi- nances of Christianity in the hands of a few leading persons, the whole will go on to ruin and decay. The Old General Baptists, once the most numerous, learned, and wealthy branch of the denomination, now present at their " Annual Assembly" in the metropolis of England, some fifty or sixty persons, who begin and end their devotional exercises, sermon, reports and business in some three or four hours. Truly the glory is departed ! Neither in Scotland nor in Ireland are the Baptists as numerous as they were two centuries ago, though the last few years have opened a more pleasing pros- pect of increasing prosperity. Various reasons might be assigned for the decline of the body, while a few years ago their increase was checked by a system which degraded the ministry, setting it aside as a separate order, refusing to support those who devoted themselves to its labors ; and by making each and all pastors in turn, introduced confusion and every evil work. Other and better influences are now ope- rating, and by the blessing of God there are " good things to come." There is in England, one subject as to which the Baptists are divided in opinion and practice, and in which they generally differ from their brethren in this country. We refer to the terms of communion. It may be information to some readers, to be told, that while the Free-will Baptists of this country admit unimmersed persons to the Lord's table, their brethren, the Gene- ral Baptists of England, universally con- fine this ordinance to those whom they consider to be scripturally baptized. On the other hand, while the Regular Baptists of the United States invariably require immersion as a pre-requisite to the recep- tion of the Lord's Supper, believing with the vast majority of Christians of other denominations, that baptism ought to pre- cede that ordinance, many of their breth- ren in Great Britain do not require obe- dience to that part of their Lord's will be- fore their reception to Christian fellowship. Nor is this a modern affair. The whole history of the body in that country has shown the existence of the same fact. This is not the place to argue either the one side or the other of this subject ; as we have only to do with the facts of the case. In some instances, neither Baptists or peedobaptists alone could sustain a church, and in some of these instances they have been driven to the exercise of mutual forbearance on this matter, that they and their families might have evan- gelical worship in any form ; in other cases, the union has taken place from choice. Two things have certninlv been the result. The one is, that in the dis- tricts where mixed communion, as it is HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS. called, fi;»s prevailed for a century or two, the pesdobapUsl cause is exceedingly fee- lilt* j tad the other, that in proportion as the Byatem extends, it introduces the senti- incuts and the practice <>f the Baptiati in si) many instances^ among the members of psBdobaptnf churches, that comparative- ly few of their pastors can say very much against the Baptists. Nor is the (act less certain, that in the advocacy of the pecu- liarities of the denomination, such as bap- tisn itself, the most ahle and earnest pub- lications haw issued from brethren who have advocated mixed communion, and by them the denominational institutions have been most firmly sustained. Thou- sands of immersed Christians arc to be found among Congregational, Methodist, and Episcopalian communicants; while some of these congregations have even gone so far as to construct baptistries in their houses of worship, where the neigh- boring Baptist pastor is sometimes seen going to immerse some of the members of his pedobaptist brother's church. In no one instance has a regular Baptist church ever invited a pacdobaptist to become its pastor ; while not a few Baptist ministers have been invited to the pastorate of pedo- baptist churches. In the missionary so- cieties, or collegiate institutions, the sub- ject is never made the matter of inquiry or debate ; nor is it ever heard that in any of the churches constituted on the mixed system the subject is matter of uneasiness. Whatever mav be urged in argument on this topic, it is certain that we cannot com- pare the circumstances of the two coun- tries so as to justify or condemn the sys- tem. Every thing presents an aspect so different on the opposite sides of the At- lantic, that he who hastily condemns his brother, whichever view he may take, may possibly condemn himself in the thing that he alloweth. Before entirely dismissing the subject, it may be remarked that the strictest Bap- tist churches of England commune with immersed believers, of whatever evangeli- cal church they may be members ; that the vast majority of Baptist churches in Great Britain are strict in their fellow- ship ; and that it is believed, that every foreign missionary church connected with the body also requires baptism as a pre- to communion at th<- Lord'i requisite table. In reference t<> the Baptist ministry of England, it may be remarked thai it o n- tams now, as it ever has done, iim n of the highest eminence for piety, talents, and learning. Su institutions are sustained by the body, l<»r the training of their pious young men for the pulpit ; while not ■ few arc sHf-made men. Still, it must be confessed, that our brethren in that coun- try arc generally below the standard which they ought to reach. The oppn l- sion of the hierarchy, the poverty of many of the churches, and other causes compel not a few of the pastors to blend the school, the farm, or the store with their high office; the result is the attain- ment of no great excellence or success. Little are American Christians aware of their privileges or obligations. On the whole, while in justice we are compelled to award the highest measure of excellence and prosperity to the Bap- tists of the United Stales, and while there are defects in our English brethren which we deplore, we must, nevertheless, con- sider them entitled to our admiration and sympathy. In many things they have acted nobly, and been blessings to the world ; and in their present efforts for the emancipation of themselves and their coun- try from the thraldom of an ecclesiastical national establishment, every American must wish them success. We are glad to see their re-publication of the writings of the Baptist Fathers of the best and purest age, their refusal of all favors and funds from the government, and the pecuniary sacrifices which not a few of them make for the objects in view. These prove them to be the worthy sons of worthy- sires, and good examples to be imitated by others. The object of our work is instruction ; and our readers entirely mistake the de- sign of this article, and indeed, of the whole volume, if they do not make all its statements bear on their own feelings and practice. A good writer has said, that " by the help of history, a young man may, in a good degree, attain to the ex- perience of old age;" and we think that the Baptists of both the old world and the new, have vet to learn from each other 68 HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS. much that is important and valuable. Serving one Lord, engaged in the same common cause, and cherishing the same grand principles, may they ever " provoke one another to love and to "ood works." In connection with the details we have now presented, and those which are yet to follow as to the condition of our public societies, there are two or three remarks we are anxious to bring under the careful consideration of the reader. The first is, that efforts made for the advancement of the cause of Jesus Christ in foreign lands, always produce a delightful influence at home. Take an instance from England. In reviewing their proceedings after the departure of the first missionaries, the committee of the society enumerate among the benefits produced in a few months by the society at home, in the language of the late Dr. A. Fuller, that " a new bond was furnished between distant ministers and churches. Some who had backslid- den from God were restored ; and others, who had long been poring over their un- fruitfulness, and questioning the reality of their personal religion, having their at- tention directed to Christ and his kingdom, lost their fears, and found that peace, which, in other pursuits, they had sought in vain. Christians of different denomi- nations discovered a common bond of affection ; and instead of always dwelling on things wherein they differed, found their account in uniting in those wherein they were agreed. In short, our hearts were enlarged ; and, if no other good had arisen from the undertaking, than the effect produced upon our own minds, and the minds of Christians in our own coun- try, it was more than equal to the ex- pense." It would be exceedingly easy to confirm all this, and far more, in the United States. Indeed, we may boldly challenge any man to show a prosperous state of religion in any community where zeal is not cherished in sending the Gos- pel to the regions beyond them ; or to show evangelical foreign missions which have not brought blessings to the church which originated them. There is, too, another way in which foreign missions have produced a beneficial result on the churches at home. When did a spirit of zeal for the evangelization of our own country experience a delightful revival ; and by whom have domestic missions been most liberally supported ? We apply the questions either to the United States, or to Great Britain, at the discretion of the reader. The reply must be, that a zeal for home missions originated in for- eign operations, and that those who have done most abroad, have ever been most deeply and increasingly convinced of the necessity of evangelical labor in their own land. It is not always true that " charity begins at home :" but it is certain that she never long neglects it. We have always found that the way to make a congrega- tion liberal in domestic operations, and even in the support of their own individual church, has been to interest them in the labor of the foreign field. One remark more shall bring these ob- servations to a close. The history of every mission has shown the power of the simple teaching of the gospel. No sub- stitute will be accepted and blessed of God. This has been abundantly proved by our English brethren in their labor for Ireland. There was a period when they carefully sought to keep back denomina- tional peculiarities ; when they labored to oppose popery, as such ; and when they almost entirely confined their efforts to the children in the schools. They failed in their desires for success. Later years have taught them a wiser lesson. They now boldly and affectionately preach the gospel, baptize the believers, constitute churches, and seek in Christ's own way to establish his kingdom. The contest be- tween truth and error becomes closer and more vigorous ; both the contending par- ties feel the power of the weapons em- ployed; and the ultimate result can no longer be doubtful. We have to establish the truth, and that of itself will supplant and destroy error. No body of Christians has ever proved this more fully than the Baptists ; let them, then, walk in the good old ways, or, to change the figure, let them fight the enemy only with the naked " sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God ;" this has been tried and never failed. Thus may the Baptists of America HI8T0RY OF TH1) BAPTI8TS. ever act, remembering irho bath "This people have J formed for myself; t!i«\ ikall show forth my prai Nothing more clearly indicates the character of a church or denomination for purity and couccru for the bonor of Christ, than zealous efforts tor the exten- sion ot* his cause throughout the world. Labor, and to a certain extent, lilwra I pecu- niary contributions have distinguished the Baptist body. In England their seven or eight institutions for the education of their ministry, — for sustaining their poor churches, — tor the evangelization of Bri- tain and of Ireland — and for the diffusion of the pure word of God throughout the world, may well excite our admiration and gratiude. Nothing, however, in the history of the English Baptists has ever attracted more general attention than the origin and his- tory of their Foreign Missionary Society. It was their honor to originate the spirit of zeal in modern times, which bids fair at no distant period, to evangelize the world Their society was formed in a small parlor, at Kettering, Northampton- shire, in 1792, by a solemn union of a few poor ministers and others, and a subscrip- tion of about sixty-five dollars. From this society proceeded to India the distin- guished Dr. Carey, and many others emi- nently qualified for the discharge of labors directly of a missionary character, and for translating the Holy Scriptures into the various languages of the East. In 1842, they celebrated the Jubilee of the society, when it appeared that the men who had excited no small share of ridicule and con- tempt, had the high gratification of report- ing, that up to 1841, they had translated the Holy Scriptures, wholly or in part, into forty-four languages or dialects of In- dia, and had printed of the Sacred Scrip- tures alone, nearly half a million copies ; that in their 204 schools they numbered nearly 22,000 scholars; that they had 168 missionary stations, 191 missionaries, and over 25,000 members. Their annual income then exceeded 8110,000 ; and the extra fund raised for important specific purposes, as a Jubilee gift, exceeded 81 60,000, Their income and both happily increa [for have the Baptists of the United States been behind t h« i r British brethren in tin' holy enterprises of the day. When it is remembered that our country is ra- pidly increasing, and therefore demands from every portion of the Christian church the most zealous attention to pro- vide for its moral necessities, it would he unreasonable to expect that it should rival older, more settled, and more wealth) countries in its foreign labors. The direct missionary efforts of the American bap- tists originated in 1814, after the Rev. A. (now Dr.) Judson and the Rev. L. Rice had become Baptists in India, and appealed to the denomination in the United States for aid. The thirty-third annual meeting of the Missionary Board was held in May last, in Cincinnati, Ohio, when it was re- ported that the receipts, from all sources, for the year ending April 1, 1847, were $94,239,71. Of this amount, $2,100 came from the American and Foreign Bible So- ciety, $2,700 from the American Tract Society, $4,000 from the United States Government, and $1,200 interest of per- manent fund. Missions are sustained in Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America. In Asia, — Burman and Karen Missions, 2. Maul- main, 2. Tavoy, 3. Arracan ; Siam ; As- sam; China; Teloogoos. In Africa, — Bassa Mission. In Europe, — France ; Denmark ; Prussia ; Germany ; Greece ; In North America. — Among the following Indian tribes : Ojibwas, Ottawas, Tusca- roras, Shawnoes, Stockbridges, Dela- wares, and Cherokees. Summary, 10 Missions, embracing 50 stations and 93 out-stations ; 99 missionaries and assist- ants, of whom 45 are preachers ; 144 na- tive helpers; 108 churches, with 10,000 members; 1,783 baptized the past year ; 59 schools with 1600 pupils. Another society connected with the de- nomination for the same general purposes, exists in the Southern States, called The Southern Board of Foreign Missions. Its second annual meeting was held at Savannah, in May last. The receipts for the year ending May 1, 1647, were $27,469. In China, the Board has 18 missionaries and native assistants, of 70 HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS. i OT whom 7 are preachers from the United States. Canton and Shanghai are the two stations occupied. J. L. Shuck, during his visit to the United States, accompanied by Yong Seen Sang, collected $5,324 to erect a chapel in China. In Africa, there are 2 missionaries. $500 were received for Bible distribution. There is also another society, called The American Baptist Free Mission Society, whose receipts reported at its fourth annual meeting in Albany, May, 1347, were $4,575, and who have mis- sionaries in Haiti, Illinois, and Wis- consin. The American Indian Mission As- sociation has an income of nearly $5,000 per annum, 19 missionaries, 5 churches, a prosperous academy; towards which latter institution the Indians contri- bute $2,900 per annum, and sustain a monthly publication. The fifteenth annual meeting of the American Baptist Home Mission So- ciety was held in New York. The re- ceipts for the year ending April 1, 1847, were $30,797.43. 26 new Life Directors by the payment of $100, and 178 Life Members by the payment of $30. 141 missionaries and agents were employed in 19 States, in Oregon and Canada. The missionaries have statedly occupied 505 stations and out-stations, performing in the aggregate the labor of one man for 83 years; reporting the baptism of 490 per- sons, the organization of 29 churches, the ordination of 25 ministers; 11,896 ser- mons preached ; 23,938 pastoral visits : 10 houses of worship completed, and 26 commenced ; obtained 1,927 signatures to the Temperance pledge, and travelled 111,969 miles. The TVlonthly Concert of Prayer is observed at 89 stations. Connected with the churches are 167 Sabbath Schools and 71 Bible Classes, having 945 teachers and 7,341 scholars, and 14,266 volumes in their libraries. Since the formation of the Society in 1832, its missionaries have jointly per- formed 953 years of labor, baptized 15,906 persons, organized 593 churches and ordained 255 ministers. The second annual meeting of The Southern Board of Domestic Missions was held at Savannah. The receipts for the year ending April 1, 1847, were $10,121. 30 missionaries and agents were commissioned, who supply 74 sta- tions, besides much itinerant service ; they report 1200 sermons; 145 baptized; 6 houses of worship commenced ; 35,661 miles travelled ; 10 Sunday Schools or- ganized, with 85 teachers, 418 scholars, and 1110 volumes in libraries. Neither have the Baptists been alto- gether negligent in the use of the press for extending what they consider the truth of God. Located in Philadelphia is the American Baptist Publication Society, svhich held its eighth annual meeting in that city. The receipts for the year ending April 15, 1847, were $24,277, a larger sum than in any previous year. 36 Life Members by the payment of $20 each, and 4 Managers for Life, by the payment of $50, were added during the year. About 50,000 volumes were put into circulation during the year. They have 16 Colporteurs, laboring in 10 states, and 2 Germans, formerly Roman Catho- lics, are employed among the Germans. They have also published 51 bound volumes, and 181 tracts. The New England Sabbath School Union, is also a Baptist Institution. The twelfth annual meeting was held in Bos- ton,"May 26,1847. Receipts from sales, $10,421 ; from donations, $1,152. Vo- lumes published, 37,500. Notwithstanding these efforts, it is strongly felt that the Baptists have not yet used the press to the extent they ought to do; and hence a vigorous effort is making, which promises success, to add $10,000 by donation to the capital of the Publica- tion Society; and also to commence an additional society in the Southern States. The American Bible Society having some years since withdrawn their support from the versions of the Scriptures made by Baptist missionaries, because they translated the words relating to baptism, it was found necessary in this country, as well as in England, to form a new insti- tution, which should secure full liberty to translators of the Holy Volume. This body is called The Ameruan and Fo- reign Bible Society, and has its house and Board of Managers at New York. The tenth annual meeting was held in II1STOKY OK I Hi: MAl'TIsTs 71 the Fust Baptist Church in that city, May, Is 17. The receipts lor the yeM ending May Lot, were $40,186. Of this amount *»v~>!> 1 (br Biblej and Testaments •old; |25,] US donations, and 18,446 ha- lanoe from previous year. The Society has 816 Life Director! and 2'2':\> Life Members. During the year, 12,988 Bibles and 37,059 Testaments were issued from the Depository, making 40,030 volumes. 'ji l ,680 volumes bare been pul since the organization of the Sock ty. Appropriations for foreign lands wi re made for Bengali, Peguan, Karen snd Oriya scriptures, also for China, many, Greece, Cherokees and Choctaws. We give the following Statistical Ta- bles, carefully prepared by the Rev. T. S, Malcom, A.M., from the Baptist Almanac and Annual Register for 1848. Statistics of Baptists in the United States. States. No. of As- sociations. Churches. Ordained Ministers. Licensed Preachers. Baptized in one year. Members. Maine, 13 301 210 23 231 21,223 New Hampshire, 7 101 82 12 86 9,266 Vermont, 9 110 62 4 87 8,811 Massachusetts, - 12 234 221 18 741 29,926 Rhode Island, o 47 43 5 239 7,069 Connecticut, 7 109 104 18 746 16,061 New York, 43 806 745 132 2,686 87,573 New Jersey, 4 86 87 12 608 11,637 Pennsylvania, 16 312 219 45 1,459 28,125 Delaware, - 1 2 1 32 349 Maryland, - 2 22 13 2 89 1,960 District of Columbia, — 4 5 _ 25 706 Virginia, 23 502 242 69 3,915 79,563 North Carolina, 22 445 239 87 2,426 33,023 South Carolina, - 13 395 182 37 2,909 41,258 Georgia, - 27 636 325 103 3,852 48,357 Florida, 1 34 12 4 246 1,630 Alabama, 18 473 224 55 2,911 30,838 Mississippi, - 16 338 148 31 1,796 31,384 Louisiana, 5 75 41 10 337 3,379 Texas, o 24 13 1 182 772 Arkansas, 5 58 20 1 75 1,600 Tennessee, - 19 456 251 56 3,091 33,007 Kentucky, 42 672 383 93 2,304 60,991 Ohio, - 26 463 294 63 980 24,612 Indiana, - 23 392 177 54 971 18,492 Illinois, 21 301 163 52 532 12,594 Missouri, - 21 349 160 62 1,356 16,769 Michigan, - 10 165 106 14 512 8,632 Wisconsin, 4 50 45 6 62 2,326 Iowa, - 2 38 15 5 165 995 Indian Territory, — 18 16 5 115 1,614 Oregon, - 3 3 1 1 40 Total, 415 7,920 4,752 1,081 35,767 664,566 Anti-Mission Baptists, 149 1,968 905 118 1,742 67,340 Grand total in U. S. 564 9,888 5,657 1,199 37,509 731,906 12 HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS. O to a> CO 1 05 r3 a o V3 1 ■I 03 o Vols, in Libraries. Students. Ministers. Graduates Instructors Founded. ? = 'K *- C « O w fO D 2 0) If lis ©.is J3 ja o3 >-» .a8»£ CO T3 = £•* =■= >** a> -T3 gr~ •— o to .9 ^-5 ►* 111 § to -s £ 3 B id .a o to hjo ^ «* S^^ «J ►» O 2 ^ c - e-~^ 5" ►»•" « ■-» -a _i ^ O CO 1 C G 0 -* l^rH ^ C* rH *tfCO rH ao o , aCGOC£)GDaoaoaOGOGOGOaOGD o io © io co co © © C^CJO^COCO-K^t** GOQOQCQOQOQOaOaO . Q •— ' " c CO -T o ^ r> 1; .2 "S ► si rt £ ri r^Q flsgl S Si^ ©! £ J C S o M ^ S fe H - OQ X oq ri § s Q ft .y ^ ^. -« "= o DOCPhXPQ o c ^ . O _ S'BCQ _= o o « a . §«?^£ s § 2 a £ o S ;£ c fj > co ~j ^ = *s £ > ,5 HISTORY OP THE H \l'i STATISTICS OF BAPTIST CHURCHES THROUGHOUT THE WOULD. NORTH AMERICA l "rnt.-.l States, - i» •. Atri Mission, - Do. Beventfc-Day, - Da Bii Principle, - 1>,.- Prot Will, - Do. church or t;u,i, Total in the I'nited - - ("an nil. - New luunswick, - - - - - J .tin. u CO, (West Indies) - Hahtmas, do. - Trinidad, do. - Havii. do. - Honduras, - Total in N. America, EUROPE. England, - Scotland, - Ireland, - Total in Great Britain, Franco, - Holland, ----- r and Brunswick, - Hamborg, - Hi limit . - Prussia, - Other German States, - Greece, - Total in Europe, - ASIA. Burmah, Arracan, &.C, - - - Assam, - - - - - Shun, - China, - India, - Ceylon, - - - - - Australia, - Total in Asia, - AFRICA. Liberia, - Mission Stations, - - - - Total in Africa, - RECAPITULATION. North America, - Europe, - - - - - Asia. ------ Africa, - Grand Total, - 63 20 1,105 130 11,266 143 71 100 76 16 I 2 2 11,773 1,410 300 102 42 1,854 13 5 4 1 6 8 23 2 1,912 OrtnoM Miuiilcn. 4,752 905 58 2*2 771 M 6,5«JS 78 41 67 123 12 4 3 4 6,930 1,050 230 65 27 1,372 12 4 3 4 5 I .-, I ■ : id ouc J.«r. 1,7 1-2 314 150 350 42,316 150 95 1,950 300 6 5 9 44,669 8,500 1,500 480 78 1.426 11,778 i,s»ia 96 18 13.-04 95 is 6,930 1,426 95 18 8,469 10,659 28 35 m 73 50 74 175 4 3.50N 9,231 52 30 130 -73»'.<5 23,74s 4,250 1.375 11,125 1,426 18 5 16 172 59 50 146.653 I - 150 125 2-6 233 970 20 149,023 6,200 30 H 50 1,162 516 250 1,746 65 .44,669 11,125 1,746 65 8,236 550 500 1,080 57.605 873.495 149,025 8.236 1,080 1.031.836 The reader who would obtain farther information on the subjects indicated in this article, is referred to the following works : most of which have been more or less consulted in its preparation. Englisli Works, — Histories of the Baptists by Ivimev Mann and Taylor ; Jones's Christian Church ; Essays and Treatises on Baptism by Beeby, Craps, Winks, Bilt, Orchard and Carson; Rippon's Baptist Register; the Baptist Magazine, Repository, and Reports. American IVorks : — Histories by Backus, Benedict, and Hinton ; Treatises and Essays, by Chapin, Woolsey, Frey, and Hague ; also Allen's Triennial Register, the Christian Review, and the Baptist Memorial ; and not least, a small but invaluable annual publication, filled with care- fully digested statistical information, " the Baptist Almanac and Annual Register," issued by the American Baptist Publication Society. 10 74 HISTORY OF THE FREEWILL BAPTISTS. HISTORY OF THE FREEWILL BAPTISTS. BY THE REV. PORTER S. BURBANK, A. M., HAMPTON, N. II. From the early period in this country's history when Baptists came to he a dis- tinct hranch of the Christian Church in America, at the banishment of Roger Williams from the Massachusetts Colony, and his settlement in Rhode Island, differ- ent views of the Atonement and Christian Theology generally, have obtained among them ; some inclining to Calvinistic, others to Arminian, sentiments. The first Bap- tist Church in America was of general views, and the Baptists in several of the states were Arminian long before the Freewill Baptist Connection arose, while others were Calvinistic. As Calvinism became more and more introduced, some churches of general sentiment went down, others went over ; others still, were in- clined to the Arminian side, but co-oper- ated with those churches which were Cal- vinistic ; and generally there was but one denomination of Baptists in America till the origin of the. Freewill Baptists, a little more than sixty years ago. This article on the " Freewill Baptists" will embrace summary sketches of their origin and history, doctrine and usages, and present statistics. I. ORIGIN AND HISTORY. The Freewill Baptist Connection in North America, commenced A. D., 1780, in which year its first church was organ- ized. Elder Benjamin Randall, more than any other man, in the providence of God, may be regarded the founder of this * The Rev. David Matiks, whose portrait is here given, though not one of the first, was nevertheless one of the most active and effici- ent ministers of the Freewill Baptist denomi- nation. He commenced preaching at fifteen years of age, travelled extensively, labored ex- cessively, and was eminently successful. Al- though self-educated, he managed by an ex- tremely rigid and systematic improvement of time, not only to become a thorough English scholar, but to make no mean proficiency in the classics. He was principally instrumental in originating and establishing the "Printing Establishment" of the denomination ; and also compiled a small Hvmn Book, and was the author of a treatise vindicating Free Commu- nion. He died Nov. 1, 1845, Aged 40, exceed- ingly happy and triumphant. denomination. He was born in New Cas- tle, N. H., in 1749, where he lived until of age, during which time he obtained a good mercantile and English education. From a child he was much accustomed to serious meditation and deep religious im- pressions. He did not, however, experi- ence a change of heart until his 22d year, when the distinguished George Whitefield was the instrument, under God, of his j awakening and conversion. It. was not j long before he became convinced, in spite j of his early education, that believers, and they only, were the proper subjects for Christian baptism, and that immersion was the only scriptural mode. He was bap- tized in 1776, and united with the Calvin- istic Baptist Church in Berwick. Very soon after this he commenced preaching ; and within the first year he saw quite a revival under his preaching, in his own Lilh ofPSDuval(PluUa.a BA¥EP MAM HISTORY OF THE FREEWILL HUM 7fi native ton u. It will Iw |»r«>i'» t here t<» remark, that Mr. Randall possessed strong and brillianl powers of mind ; and though be was ii"t liberally DOT classically in- structed, yet with a good Rr>gliih educa- tion to set out frith, b) close application and untiring diligence, in a few yean he came to be well informed in general know- ledge, and especially in biblical literature and practical theology; to winch may be added a clear knowledge of human nature, ■Ad deep and iencn? spirituality. His soul also drank deeply into the doctrine of w full au.l fret salvation. From New- i astle and adjoining towns, where be both met with violent opposition and saw many soulsconverted, he extended his labors more mto the country, and himself soon removed to New Durham. There a great revival commenced under his labors. The work spread also into adjacent towns. About this time Mr. Randall was several tunes called to account for his errors, that is, Anti-Calvin sentiments. In one of these public meetings, held July, 1779, at the close of the discussions, it was publicly announced by the leading minister, that be had -; do fellowship with Brother Ran- dall in his principles." To which Mr. Ran- dall immediately responded : " It makes no difference to me, who disowns me, so long as I know that the Lord owns me : and now let that God be God, who an- swers by fire ; and that people be God's people, whom he owneth and blesseth." In this way was Mr. Randall pushed out, and forced to stand by himself alone. The same year the church in Loudon and Canterbury, with its minister, and the church in Stratford and minister, protested against Calvinism and stood independent, until at an early period they came into the new connection. By these ministers Mr. Randall was ordained, in March, 1780 ; and on the 30th June, same year, he organized, in New Durham, the first Freewill Baptist Church. " This," in his own words, " is the beginning of the now [urge and extensive connection called Frrru-i!/ Baptists" The gospel which Elder Randall preach- ed was one of a free and full salvation ; and he seemed to preach it with a holy unction, in demonstration of the spirit and in power. He believed that men possessed minds free to will and t-» act, and that God'i exercise "f pardoning gra alwaj i compatible a ith man'i fn tion ; th.it the gospel in\ita!i<>n> W( all men ; that the Holy Spirit enlighten and Strives with all, and in a gi rather than a partial atonement ; that Christ invites all freely to come to him for life, and that God commands all men everywhere to repent. Such were the \ie\ss of this man of God, such are the freewill Baptist sentiments now. In the true spirit of a faithful ambassador for Christ, commissioned of God rather than by men, he went forth into the great gos- pel vineyard, preaching to and pray- ing his fellow-men to be reconciled to God ; and the Lord abundantly sealed his ministry. For a while lie went on to baptize, adding the converts to the New Durham Church ; but soon there were several churches associated with this. It will be proper here to remark, that at the time of the origin of the Freewill Bap- tists, evangelical piety and the life and power of godliness were at a very low- ebb in the two leading denominations in this section of the country. In the Cal- vin Baptist — we speak generally — there was much of real Antinomianism ; much was preached of unconditional election and reprobation, and but little to the im- penitent upon immediate repentance and seeking religion ; — and in the Congrega- tionalism experimental religion, in many cases, was scarcely considered a prerequi- site to church membership or to entering the ministry. Churches were in a lax state of discipline, and much of the preaching was little else than dull moral essays, or prosy disquisitions on abstract doctrines. Any reader, at all acquainted with the history of the Church at the period of which mention is here made, will admit the full truth of our statement ; while, on the other hand, we take much pleasure in informing the reader that these remarks, in our opinion, have no applica- tion whatever, at the present time, to these now truly evangelical and pious denomi- nations. Such then being much of the preaching of the times, it was to have been expected that the preaching of Elder Randall and the other pioneers with him in the cause of free salvation, should 76 HISTORY OF THE FREEWILL BAPTISTS. occasion much excitement; their senti- ments and measures he the subjects of frequenl discussion and various opinions; thai some would fail in with them, while others would oppose and deride. All these results actually followed. Publish- ing a full atonement, and gospel salvation free for all to embrace, and exhorting their hearers immediately to turn to God, the Lord working with them : many ac- cepted the glad tidings and embraced religion. Revivals spread. Several min- isters and some churches came out from other denominations and united with the new connection ; other ministers were raised up and churches organized, as the reformation extended. One of the first four ministers was liberally and theologi- cally educated. The new sect was every where spoken against ; fanaticism, delu- sion, wildfire, was the cry ; and by their enemies they were variously styled, Ran- dallitcs, General Provisioned, New Lights, Frecwillcrs, etc. Elder Randall had al- ready established large churches in Tarn- worth and in Strafford, in addition to those above named. The little vine soon ran over the wall — and in less than two years several churches were organized in the State of Maine, and their whole number was nine. In the fall of 1781, he made an eastern tour, and preached in several towns west of, and on, the Kennebec river, in most of which places he saw revivals commence, having in thirty-seven days preached forty-seven times, and travelled four hundred miles. Churches and min- isters continuing to multiply — for the pur- poses of preserving unanimity of views and co-operation of efforts, and for mutual edification, a quarterly meeting was or- ganized in four years from the first church organization. The quarterly meeting was held four times a year, in places which would best accommodate the churches, and its sessions continued two or three days. At these meetings the churches all represented themselves both by letters and delegates, all the ministers usually attend- in g and many of the private brethren. In these sessions the state of the churches was ascertained every three months, the business of the denomination was harmo- niouslv transacted, and several sermons preached before full assemblies. They were almost always the means of religious awakenings. In connection with the quarterly meeting a ministers' conference was held, in which doctrinal views were compared, Scriptures explained, and good instruction imparled to the younger por- tion of the ministry. Printed circulars were sent out to the churches, stirring them up to gospel holiness and active piety. These associations were found to be a rich blessing to the Freewill Baptist interest, and they hnv always been con- tinued, until, instead of one, there arc- now ninety-five quarterly meetings. Although the early ministers in the Freewill Baptist denomination had the pas- toral care of some church in particular, their services were not wholly given to their particular charge ; many effectual doors were opened to receive the gospel, numerous Macedonian cries for help were heard, and many of them travelled much. Elder Randall travelled extensively, and preached continually. At one place in his diary he says, " I have travelled this year more than twelve hundred miles in the service of truth, and attended above three hundred meetings." Stinchfield, Buzzell, and others also, itinerated exten- sively. In the first twelve years of the connection, Freewill Baptists had come to be quite numerous in New Hampshire and Maine, had extended into Vermont, and soon after Rhode Island and several other States. Several quarterly meetings were already constituted, distinct, yet acting in concert by messengers and correspond- ence. For the glory of God and the wel- fare of the increasing denomination, a yearly meeting was agreed on, which should embrace all the quarterly meetings in a general association, and present an opportunity for all parts of the connection to be directly heard from and represented once a vear. The first yearly meeting was held in New Durham on the 91 h. 10th, and 1 1th of June, 1792 ; " a season of great blessing and lon^ to be remem- bered." It was next held in Gorham, then in Parsonsfietd, and so in turn at dif- ferent places ,-is would best accommodate the Freewill Baptist community. As the quarterly meetings were composed of churches, and transacted their general and relative business : so the yearly meet- HISTORY OF THE FREEWILL UAH I is composed of the severed quarterly . through their del igatea, and transacted the general business of the de- nomination. This organization was also found u> bo of great advantage, and ha* continued, there being now twent) - bui such associations. Elder Randall died :n 1808 j his last written adviee to his beloved connection contains much excel- lent instruction. At the time when God called from Zion's walla him who was the founder, and who had (or so many years been the leading actor in the connection : its numbers and its ministry had greatly increased, and many of them were able ministers of the gospel of Christ, whoso names would often come up, in a lull his- tory of the denomination, hut need not in our brief article. They have now cx- tended into several other States in the Union, and into Canada. No other Free- will Baptist minister has ever been so suc- cessful as an evangelist, or so extensively instrumental in puhlishing a free gospel in the more distant States, as Elder John Colby. He entered the ministry in 1809 ; preached a few years with great success in several of the eastern States, in one of which years he baptized three hundred. But the great West seemed constantly to rest on his mind with such impressions to preach the gospel of Christ in that vast field, as he could not well resist. Accord- ingly he spent much of his precious min- istry in several of the western States, and particularly in Ohio. Of the eastern States, Rhode Island richly shared in his successful labors. He died in Norfolk, Virginia, 1817, after an extensively useful ministry ; having baptized many hun- dreds, established and set in order numer- ous churches, and laid the foundation for several quarterly meetings in States then new ground to the denomination. It ought to be mentioned, in this con- nection, that the Freewill Baptist interest had not arisen and come down to this period without some internal trials. There obtained among them, at one time, some difference of sentiment in reference to the divinity of Christ. Some few of the churches and several ministers had im- bibed Arian or Unitarian views, to the great grief of the general body. Several ministers, who afterward figured consider- ;i I il \ in tlw ( Christian connection, tl Smith ami tome of the rest bav< belonged to the Freewill B ipti ts, dre* several pf our ministers and churches into I oitarian views, and, in some instances, into the annihilation doe- trine, both of which were not regarded as scriptural or the sentiment of tin- Connec- tion. A small ■ecessionwaa the result on the our hand, and 00 the «»ther, unanimity of sentiment was restored. The Freewill Baptists have always been, and are, Trini- tarian. The above trial was not Long felt, and it is presumed that others do not require to be mentioned in the pr genl article. The Freewill Baptist denomination | having now extended over a large portion of the country, and there being several yearly meetings, and the whole body being represented in no one of them : a General Conference was organized in 1827, in which the whole connection should be represented. The General Conference was at first an annual, then a biennial, and now a triennial association. It is composed of delegates appointed by the twenty yearly meetings, and to it are re- ferred the general interests of the deno- mination, at home and abroad. Since 1827, the period last mentioned, the Free- will Baptist interest has been constantly extending, and their numbers augmenting, not so rapidly as in some of the sister denominations, but in a good ratio. Of course for a long time they had to struggle with the numerous obstacles universally common to all new causes. From the first they have not, so much as older de- nominations, enjoyed the advantages of an extensive and liberal education. The harvest seemed truly great; souls were perishing; and many young men whom God called to preach, felt constrained to enter upon the great work without wait- ing a long time to acquire a regular edu- cation ; — they have been eminently pious, the means of turning many to God, yet not so extensively useful as they would have been in the enjoyment of better early advantages. Intelligence, however, has for some years been, and is, increasing, both in the ministry and membership. From their origin the press has, more or less, been brought in to aid them. First, 78 HISTORY OF THE FREEWILL BAPTISTS. only their minutes and circulars, with occasional sermons, were published. Af- terward, for several years, Buzzcll's Maga- zine, a Freewill Baptist Register, and other periodicals, were published ; and occasionally such books were printed a3 the wants of the connection demanded. For some twenty-two years last past the w> .Morning Star," the principal organ of the denomination, has made its weekly visits among them with an extensive cir- culation, and has accomplished for the cause a great amount of good. Though they regard the Holy Scriptures as their only rule of faith and practice, they have found it to their great advantage to pub- lish, some years ago, a Treatise of their Faith, which combines, summarily, the doctrines and usages of the connection. Standard hymn-books, works on the Free- dom of the Will, General Atonement, Divinity of Christ, Free Communion, Baptism, Ministry, etc., memoirs of Ran- dall, Colby, Marks, etc., have been pub- lished, and a complete History of the Freewill Baptists is now printing ; and there is lately issued from the press a theological volume, by the principal of their Biblical School. Works and authors, though not numerous, are increasing among them. Though the Freewrill Bap- tist ministry generally are not so learned as it were desirable, many of them having to pick up much of their biblical know- ledge as they preach, there is now in the ministry quite a number of liberally edu- cated men, and this number is yearly in- creasing. They have one Biblical School and several flourishing academies ; and it may be safely said, that their ministry is becoming better and better educated. The Freewill Baptists have arisen, essen- tially, by religious revivals ; by conversions and accessions from such as were " with- out," rather than by secessions from other denominations. Protracted meetings, and their quarterly and yearly associations, have been blessed of God, as well as the ordinary means of grace. In 1841, about two and a half thousands of* Free Bap- tists in the State of New York united with them. The Freewill Baptists have never * More generally known as Free Commu- nion Baptists. See succeeding article. adopted a policy particularly calculated to increase their numbers. They would have numbered thousands of communi- cants more than they now do, but for their uncompromising anti-slavery position ; having withdrawn connection some years since from four thousand in North Caro- lina on account of their being slave-hold- ers ; and having refused, on the same principle, to receive into the connection some twelve thousand from Kentucky and vicinity, who sent a delegation, four years since, to the General Conference for that purpose. As a denomination, they have no connection whatever with the horrid system of slavery ; the General Confer- ence, Yearly, and Quarterly Meetings, having taken a strong and decided anti- slavery ground. Thence the reason why there are no more Freewill Baptists in the slave-holding states. The General Baj)- tists of England are in their sentiments and usages with us, and a correspondence and exchange of publications, have been carried on for many years ; and their Foreign Missionaries, and ours, in Orissa, in part, co-operate together. Our con- nection have warmly espoused, and are zealously supporting, the various religious enterprises of the age. Finally — The Freewill Baptist denomination considers itself a humble branch of the great Chris- tian Church, a lesser tribe of the true Israel of God ; but purposes to do all it can for the salvation of immortal souls, and the extension of the Redeemer's king- dom among men. II. DOCTRINE AND USAGES. The Scriptures. — The Holy Scriptures, embracing the Old and New Testaments, were given by inspiration of God, and constitute the Christian's perfect rule of faith and practice. Of God. — There is only one true and living God, who is a spirit, self-existent, eternal, immutable, omnipresent, omnis- cient, omnipotent, independent, good, wise, just, and merciful ; the creator, preserver, and governor of the universe ; the re- deemer, saviour, sanctifier, and judge of men ; and the only proper object of divine worship : He exists in three persons, offices, distinctions or relations, — Father, HI8TORY OF THE fREBWlLL H\n tnd 1I«»I> (ih'>^', which mode is above the understanding of finite men. ( >■ ( •/ , ,.v'. — The Son of ( Soil possesses all divine perfections, which ia provon from his titles: true God, great God, mighty God, God over all, etc,; his attributes: eternal, unchangeable, omniscient, etc*, and from his works. He is the only in* carnation of the I livine Being. Of the Hi''/ Spirit. — He has the attri- of God ascribed to him in the Scriptures; is the sanctirter of the souls of m «, and is the third person in the Go (head. Of Creation. — God created the world and all it contains for his own glory, and the enjoyment of his creatures ; and the angels, to glorify and obey Him. Of mdn's primitive state, end his fall. — Our first parents were orcatcd in the 1 mi ige of God, holy and upright and free; hut, by yielding to temptation, fell from that state, and all their posterity with them, they then being in Adam's loins; and the whole human family became ex- posed to temporal and eternal death. Of the Atonement.— f-Aa sin cannot be pardoned without a sacrifice, and the blood of beasts could never actually wash away sin, Christ gave himself a sacrifice for the sins of the world, and thus made salvation possible for all men. Through the re- demption of Christ man is placed on a second state of trial ; this second state so far differing from the first, that now men are naturally inclined to transgress the commands of God, and will not regain the image of God in holiness but through the atonement by the operation of the Holy Spirit. All who die short of the age of accountability are rendered sure of eternal life. Through the provisions of the atone- ment all are abilitated to repent of their sins and yield to God ; the Gospel call is to all, the Spirit enlightens all, and men are agents capable of choosing or refusing. T\.f"zencralion is an instantaneous reno- vation of the soul by the Spirit of God, whereby the penitent sinner, believing in and giving all up for Christ, receives new life, and becomes a child of God. This change is preceded by true conviction, repentance of, and penitential sorrow for, sin ; it is called in Scripture, being born again, born < 11V THi: KI'.V. A. 1). WILLIAMS. The Freewill Baptist denomination now extendi into most of the United States, Upper and Lower Canada, and the provinces of Nova Scotia and New Bruns- wick. According to the best information on hand, its statistics in June, 1846, were p8 follows: — 114 Quarterly Meetings; 26 Yearly Meetings; 1197 Churches; 806 ( )rdained Preachers ; 209 Licensed Preach- ers ; and 55,232 Communicants. This is however known to fall short of the real number ; not including several conferences in the Slave States, with whom we hold no connection, on account of their connection with Slavery. Benevolent Institutions. The " Free- will Baptist Foreign Mission Society" was organized some twelve years ago, and has now three stations in Orissa, a province of Hindostan ; three missionaries and their wives, assisted by a female school teacher and three native preachers ; a school at each station ; and a small church at each of two of them. Other missionaries have been accepted by the Board, and will sail soon, when it is expected that a mission will be established among the Santals, a people essentially different from the Hin- doos, although living in the same country. The " Freewill Baptist Home Mission Society," was instituted about the same time, and has a larger number of mission- aries in the field. At present it has several important stations in our large cities, un- der its charge : as well as several mis- sionaries, at the West. Compared with its resources this Society lias been i u've. The "Freewill Baptist Education So- ciety," sustains a Theological Seminary at W'hitestown, \. V., in connection with the Whitestown Seminary. The present number of students in attendance, Tuition, Room Bent, Library, &CJ l'n-i- : and it is equally open to students from all denominations. The " Freewill Baptist Sabbath School Union," keeps a deposi- tory of Sabbath School books at Dover, N. H. Most of our churches have Sab- bath Schools. There are also Other bene- volent associations, particularly in the causes of temperance and anti-slavery. Literary Institutions. The following institutions are under the control of the Freewill Baptists. Michigan Central Col- lege, at Spring Arbor, Mich., Whitestown Seminary, Whitestown, N. Y. ; Geauga Seminary, Chester X Roads, Ohio ; Smith- ville Seminary, North Scituate, R. I. ; Parsonsfield Seminary, Parsonsficld, Me. ; and Strafford Academy, Strafford, N. H. The " Freewill Baptist Printing Estab- lishment," is a chartered association loca- ted at Dover, New Hampshire, where most of their books and periodicals are printed. Its Trustees arc appointed by the General Conference. The " Morning Star," a weekly newspaper ; the " Gospel Rill," a monthly missionary paper ; the " Myrtle," a semi-monthly Sabbath School paper, are issued here ; and the " Biblical Expositor and Review," is about to be issued in the place of the Quarterly Ma- gazine. References. Life of Randall ; Buz- zell's Magazine ; Life of Colby ; Freewill Baptist Treatise; Memoirs of David Marks; Freewill Baptist Register; Smart's Biblical Doctrine; Morning Star; Quar- terly Magazine ; and the Review. 11 82 HISTORY OF THE FREE COMMUNION BAPTISTS. HISTORY OF THE FREE COMMUNION BAPTISTS. BY THE REV. A. D. WILLIAMS. THEIR ORIGIN. At the close of the seventeenth century, two pernicious errors had crept into eccle- siastical matters in some parts of New Eng- land. The first was that experimental religion was not deemed absolutely indis- pensable to the candidate for the ministry ; and the second, which measurably grew out of this, was a spirit of intolerance toward those who differed from the domi- nant church. To so great an extent was this carried, that the arm of civil power was brought to the aid of the clergy, to compel men to sustain and attend their ministrations. As a consequence, true godliness de- clined, and when the eloquent and devoted Whitefield sought to resuscitate it, he was bitterly opposed, and denounced from the high seats of learning, and from the pulpit. But the work of God was not thus to be stayed. In spite of persecution and deter- mined opposition, revivals followed him, and although he himself did not organize societies, yet the opposition and errors of the ministry and church induced many to come out from it and establish separate meetings. Many of these were converted under the instrumentality of Whitefield, and took the name of " Separates." Dur- ing the first half of the eighteenth century, a number of these societies were formed in Rhode Island and Connecticut. Some of them soon, and all finally, became Bap- tists, without, however, practising close communion. In 1785, these churches united in an association called the " Groton Union Conference," which in 1790 num- bered 10 churches, 9 ministers, and 1521 communicants ; besides four churches and three ministers which were not then con- nected with the conference. In the midst of the discussions and dif- ficulties of this division, a church was organized in the town of Westerly, R. I., April 4th, 1750, and Mr. Stephen Babcock ordained its pastor by Elder David Sprague a Baptist, and a Mr. Solomon Paine, a Pedo- baptist minister. This church was one of the ten which belonged to the Groton Con- ference. Ail of these churches were Cal- vinistic, and, gradually adopting the prac- tice of close communion, were merged into the Stonington Union Association of close Baptists, except the Westerly church, which had previously espoused Arminianism and withdrawn from the conference. It still exists, but without any connection with other churches. GENERAL HISTORY. Just before the close of the eighteenth century, one of the members of this West- erly church, a Mr. Benajah Corp, who had commenced preaching, removed to Stephen- town, Renssalaer Co., N. Y. A revival of religion soon resulted from his labors there, and a number were found who desired to be organized into a church. A council was called from Rhode Island and Con- necticut, consisting of Elder Babcock of Westerly, and an Elder Crandall, who organized a church and ordained Mr. Corp HISTORY OF THE FREE UOMM1 NION BAPTISTH. K-, pastor, it doea not appear thai anj farther correspondence was ever main- tained* Elder Corp and his church met ■ decided opposition, but nevertheleu the little vine grew and flourished. Mr, Nicholas Northrup, who bad been :i sailor] and was now a member of this church] ooinmehced preaching; and finally was, at tlic request of tin- church, ordained by Eilder Corp without assistance. Thomaa Talraan who had hern one of Burgoyne'a soldiers, was converted, joined the church, commenced preaching, and was ordained by Elders Corp and Northrup. Both of these men, as well as Elder Corp, were active and very efficient ministers. About this time a church was organised in Florida, (now Ames) Montgomery Co., N. Y., and George Elliott ordained its pas- tor. In 17(J? Elder Corp settled in Russia., Herkimer Co., and in 1709 a most power- ful reformation resulted from his labors. A church was formed in June, 1800, by Elders Corp and Elliott, over which Elder Corp remained pastor, until his decease in 1S3^. Hi1 however travelled considerable, and assisted in many ordinations and orga- nizations of churches. He was a very useful preacher, much beloved, distin- guished for his tenderness of spirit and power of appeal, and died full of years and usefulness. Northrup remained for many years the efficient pastor of the church at Stephentown, and Talman raised up seve- ral churches in Canada which were after- wards gathered into a conference. Both died in faith. Another church was gathered in Rich- field, Otsego Co., over which John Straight was settled as pastor. Elder Straight proved to be a corrupt man, and the church finally became extinct. Before this how- ever a society was gathered in the adjoin- ing town of PIainfielcl,Oct. 8th, 1822, which still remains a permanent and efficient church. About this time a church was organized in Worcester, and Ezekiel Carr ordained, but Elder Carr dishonored the cause, and the church lost its visibility. John Farley, a member of the Richfield church, commenced preaching in 1801, and was ordained in 1803. He was a young man of vigorous intellect, and proved emi- nently successful. During all this time opposition and persecution ran high, but against a wni it mora furious than aga nst Elder Parley, The settk re on the Mohawk river were mostly Dutch, and passionatel} devoted to the Dutch church, which had then had little m ore than Ihe name to live. They called bum John the Baptist, and tooli every means to annoy and oppose him. Finding their efforts vain, and that the work ofthe Lord ipread rapidly, they applied to their minister to put him down; but he wisely kept in the distance. At length Major ( assli Bellinger, and Judge Rosecranta were in- duced to meet him in <•» public disputation, but being effectually silenced, th j M tings, instead of directly from the churches, as heretofore, Toil In i^i"n took place io l 888, M.niv of the churches, especially in ithern ( Conference, were accustomed to leave oul the term "Communion" in their name; and the second General ('"ii- leivnee in 1 ^'>t>, voted to expunge it alto- ther, although many churches continued to use n. Hence they are sometimes known under the appellation of Free Baptists. The term M Open Communion" was also used for the same purpose. These names are all indicative of the same people. Their statistics irere as follows, in 1840. A General Conference, 4 Yearly Confer- ences, 9 Quarterl} Meetings, 51 churches, and 2,470 communicants. A few indivi- dual churches in the Northeastern part of the state had recently united with the Freewill Baptist Quarterly Meeting, and the German Q. M., including seven churches, bad been expelled from the connection the year before for mal-prac- tice. Some of these churches have since been gathered up, and the rest have lost their visibility. EDUCATION, BENEVOLENT EXER- TION, ETC. Most of the ministers were men who had not enjoyed extensive literary and scientific privileges. A few, however, were well educated, and the need of the aid of education was early felt. No school under their charge, existed for some time, and such of them as obtained more than a common school education were either self-educated, or were indebted : for it to the schools of other denominations. At length a systematic effort was made, and a Seminary, of the higher grade, was established, under flattering prospects, at Clinton, Oneida Co., N. Y. The build- ings were soon found too straight for them, and the trustees disposed of their location | and property here, and purchased the J commodious buildings of the Oneida Insti- • tute, at WhRestown, which had become private property. This was in 1844. In che same year the Freewill Baptists located their Theological Seminary at the same place, since which time, both departments have ranked among the best educational institutions in the country . The Free < tommuni a lx.id stand in (avor of Hi'- various bene- volent operations of the age, men as Anti Slavery, Temperance, Moral Reform bath Schools, and Missions. Thi drinker and the slave holder or their apo- logists were refused admission to their churches, pulpits, or communion. Re- spectable Bums were raised for E >reign an I domestic missions. One of their ministers, Jeremiah Phillips, of Plainfeld, N. ST., was sent out to Orissa, a province in Hindoos- tan, under the patronage of the Fro will Baptist Board of Missions, but they contri- buted most of his support, lie is still la- boring, with a native church under his charge at Balasore, but as he has learned the language of the Santa Is and reduced it to writing, he will probably soon be transferred to a mission among that peo- ple. The Santals are a people living in the same country, but having a different language, customs, and religion from the Hindoos. They also generally take a strong stand against Secret Societies. DOCTRINE AND CHURCH POLITY. In these respects they were so similar to the Freewill Baptist, that little need be added. (See last article.) In the early history of the F. C. Baptists they gene- rally held to the so-called doctrine of the final perseverance of the saints ; but they soon regarded it with less tenacity, and finally abandoned it altogether. They also had written covenants and articles of faith, which some of the Freewill Baptists once discarded. They would not commune with anti trinitarians, nor does it appear that thev ever regarded washing feet as a Gospel ordinance. Their church government was strictly congregational, and 'the power of their conferences, councils, etc., was only ad- visory, and had no authority to revoke the decisions of chu relies. A rule was adopted that, " If any elder in our con- nection be expelled for perjury, habitual drunkenness, theft, fornication, or adulte- ry, he shall not be restored to his official station." 86 HISTORY OF THE OLD SCHOOL BAPTISTS UNION OF THE FREEWILL BAPTISTS. For some time after the unsuccessful attempt at union with the Freewill Bap- tists in 1821, little correspondence was kept up with them. But eventually, as acquaintance became more intimate, the prejudices, differences, and local difficul- ties, measurably wore away, and it was gradually revived. After a little, there was several exchanges of ministers, which greatly hastened a union. Several com- mittees were respectively appointed by the General Conferences of the two denomina- tions, to investigate the matter, and not a little discussion and excitement was eli- cited by it. Various reasons induced several Free Communion Baptist ministers to strongly oppose the union, but the great majority were decidedly in favor of it. Considerable opposition arose to a change of name on both sides, and the matter was finally mutually compromised by agreeing that each church should adopt either name as it saw fit ; and that Free Communion, Free, and Freewill Baptists, should be significant of one and the same people. Thus the union was finally consum- mated in 1841, but a few churches and ministers refused to assent to it. Most of these have since joined, although the church in Russia, which Elder Corp or- ganized in 1800, still stands aloof. All the others that have not joined are well ! nigh, if not entirely, extinct. So the Free Communion Baptists arc now known only ! as an integral part of the Freewill Bap- j tist denomination. It should be noted that at the time of | the origin of the F. C. Baptists, neither they nor the Freewill Baptists were aware of the existence of the other. HISTORY OF THE OLD SCHOOL BAPTISTS. BY ELDER S. TROTT, OF CENTERVILLE, VA. The Old School Baptists hold themselves a separate church, as distinct from the New School, or Mission Baptists, and from the Reformed Baptists, or Campbellitcs, as from other denominations. Formerly our churches and associations stood in connection with what are now the Mission Baptists. When modern mission- ism and its kindred institutions began to be brought in among us, about 1813, some of our churches and associations would have nothing to do with them, some in a limited measure countenanced them ; others stood neutral, trying to bear with them rather than break fellowship with those whom we had been used to recognize as brethren. But at length, we becoming wearied with the continued increase of those humanly devised institutions, with the corruption in doctrine, which they fostered, the spirit of the world, which they brought into the churches, the confusion and contentions, which they occasioned in the associations ; and further, being more sensibly convinced, as we trust, by the teachings of the Spirit, and from a comparison of those institutions with the Scriptures, that they are entirely diverse from that simplicity of order insti- HISTOID OF Till: ol.D school BAPTI8T8. tuted bj our Lord, and declared in the V u Teetamenl as the law of his kingdom, and by which he would keep his people constantly mindful, that, in the building up ot' his churches, in the giving to them pis- tors and teachers, and in the gathering in of his elect, the excellency of the poUftf t* of dW, and not of as, a determination to separate began to he manifested, corres- pondence was had with brethren in different sections of our count rv, and then a meet- ing was held of brethren from different as- sociations and states, and an address pub- lished in 1832, setting forth the reasons why we could not longer give countenance to any oi' that mass of institutions and so- cieties which had been introduced among us, nor fellowship to those who should con- tinue to adhere to them. This brought brethren, churches, and associations that had hcen groaning under the burdens of human inventions and im- positions in religion, to separate themselves, some sooner and some later, from the whole mass of the popular religion and religionists, and to take a stand, as a dis- tinct people, upon the old baptist standard, the holding of the Scriptures as the only and a 'perfect rule of faith and practice, and Christ as the Foundation, the Head, and the Life of the church, the only source and medium of salvation. This separation occasioned the splitting of several associations, and many churches. Wie took, as a distinguishing appellation, the name, " Old School Baptists." This name we considered appropriate to us, not only as going back to the ancient order of Baptists, but also from its having been given to such as adhered to the old doctrine of predestination and special atonement, by who thought them having learned in Fuller's new school, that system which suspends every thing touch- ing salvation, on conditio as \>> !><• complied with by the creature, and opened the flood- gate for letting in all those contrivani religion, as though the bringing of the many sons unto glory depended on human effort. We thus use iii,' appellation be- cause, BS an Opprobrious term, it was first given to those who held the doctrine for which we contend, — not as approving of scholastic religion. I am not furnished with data to give a correct statement, of our numbers. Th'-n- are but few States or Territories in the Union, in which there is not an association of churches of our order, and in most of them there are several associations. Some adhere to the former order of associations, that, of churches uniting to form a com- pound body by articles of constitution. Other churches simply agree to hold meet- ings together, yearly, or oftener, for ke< p. ing up a correspondence among them, rejecting the idea of such compound bodies being connected with the church of Christ, and all constitutional compacts among churches, believing that the love of the brethren will have a sufficiently binding influence. There are several periodicals published by Old School Baptists, the oldest of which, and the one most extensively circulated, is " The Signs of the Times," published by Elder Gilbert Beebe, at New Vernon, Orange county, N. Y. By our opponents we are called Anti-mission and Anti-effort Baptists, &c. 88 HISTORY OF THE SIX PRINCIPLE BAPTISTS. HISTORY OF THE SIX PRINCIPLE BAPTISTS, BY THE REV. A. D. WILLIAMS. The writer never had any connection with the Six Principle Baptists. He has been induced to write this brief and im- perfect sketch only from the following considerations. 1. The ministers of that ! denomination have been repeatedly and urgently solicited to write it ; but to no purpose. 2. They have requested the author to write such a sketch, and have thrown some documents into his hands for that purpose. 3. It is thought de- sirable that some information concerning this people should be given in this work. 4. The urgent request of the publisher. " A Six Principle Baptist, who under- stands the true principles of his profession, does not esteem it necessary to have his tenets through the several ages of the church. He is fully persuaded, however early, or generally, other opinions may have prevailed, that those principles which distinguish him from other professions of Christianity , are clearly taught and enjoined by the great head of the church, in the grand commission to his Apostles." (Kinglet's History of the S. P. Baptists, p. 5.) In the early part of the seventeenth century, Roger Williams was banished from Massachusetts, for "disapproving the arbitrary conduct of the Clergy," and ad- vocating liberty of conscience. He deter- mined to establish a colony where his views might be enjoye 1 unmolested. For that purpose he removed to Rohobath,but finding this to be within the limits of the Plvmouth colony, he removed to a place which he named Providence. Here he and his adherents settled ; receiving freely and equally all who chose to come peacea- bly into their borders, whatever might be their religious opinions. Mr. Williams devoted himself assiduously to cultivating an intimacy with the Indians, and an ac- quaintance with their language. These he soon happily accomplished, and had the happiness, by this means, to avert the destruction of the colony which had pro- claimed him an outlaw. In the meantime, he became convinced that immersion only, was valid baptism. A difficulty was now presented, for though he had " received Episcopal Orders," as a clergyman, yet he never had been im- mersed, and no administrator who had been, was to be procured. At the organi- zation of his church, therefore, at Provi- dence, Mr. Williams was baptized by one of his members, Mr. Ezekiel Holliman, and he in turn baptized Mr. Holliman and the rest. This was the first Baptist Church in America. At first they held to " par- ticular redemption," and, generally, to the " laying on of hands." They soon deviated to " general redemption," and a tenacious adherence to the laying on of hands. How- ever, after various mutations and divisions, the church has given this up and now stands connected with the Close or Calvin- istic Baptists. But before this took place, various branches were established in adjoining towns, and a number of preachers were ordained. According to Bacchus, (vol. 2. p. 120,) there were in Rhode Island, in 1730, seventeen Baptist churches, of which thirteen were Six Principle Baptists. Ya- HISTORY OF THE SIX PRINCIPLE BAPTISTS. Sorts were made by 1 1 1* • surround- |( miee to counteract these principles in Rhode Island, and restrict 1 1 1 « - liberty of conscience there enjoyed. Not the unusing is b letter prom the Massa- chusetts Presbyterian Association ofMin- . requesting the toleration and nip- port of seme of their ministers, as mission- in the State, The letter was craftily written, and designed to answer a purpose, for they knew full well that their minister would receive the same toleration from gov- ernment that the BaptlBtl did. But could they have induced the government to pass an ordinance to tolerate and support their worship, they would, in the end, have been able to make the civil power subserve them the same purpose that itdidintheother colo- nic scheme however did not succeed. 11 Soon after the first settlement of this and the formation of a few of the first churches, (viz. Providence, Newport, Swansea, and North Kingston,) they, about the close of the seventeenth* cen- tury, united in a yearly meeting, composed of elders and messengers from the several churches, and such other brethren as could conveniently attend them, for the strengthening, edifying, and upbuilding of each other in the Redeemer's kingdom ; in setting in order the things that were wanting ; and in advising and assisting in accommodating any difficulties that might arise. These yearly meetings continued annually, and alternately at Providence, Newport, and Swansea, and sometimes North Kingston ; and, as other churches were organized, in the full faith and prac- tice of Christ's doctrine, they united with the yearly meeting, and as early as 1729, this body consisted of the union of twelve churches, and about eighteen ordained elders." " The yearly meeting," and churches composing the same, continued to increase, and went on their way rejoicing in the Lord, until 1764. when at a yearly meet- ing in Providence, they concluded to alter the name of their general convention into that of an association, consisting of the * My copy says " sixteenth," but this is evi- dently a misprint, as the first church, in Pro- vidence, was organized in A. D. 1639. Other evidence also proves that " seventeenth," was ; intended —A. D. W. HUM churches ami under similar rules and regulation* as for 1 • , 177 1 Until 1 '• §6, it » COM that the ciatieii was held semi-annually, at whn h latter time it was resolvedthat it should be held annually as before. "In 1"'.»7 the yearly meeting passed a resolve, ordering an exchange of all the public gifts in the fellowship, as might be directed \>\ I mittee annually appointed for that purpose, In 1802 the yearly meeting was com- posed of representatives from twi uty-one churches. The labors of the ministry in the Six Principle Baptist denomination have generally been confined to their own churches, or within a ve*y small circle. Their ministers have generally been in indigent circumstances, and were obliged to labor to support themselves and fami- lies ; their churches not having been so much in the habit of affording pecuniary aid to their preachers, as other denomina- tions ; by reason of which they have not had the opportunity of travelling, and* carrying their views into distant places." Notwithstanding, in 1812, five churches had been organized in New York, and one at Abington, Pa., which have since held a yearly meeting by themselves. These churches have dwindled, until but two remain — one in New York, and one in Pennsylvania. The history, from which the above ex- tracts are taken, was published in 1627, by which we learn that, in all, thirty-nine churches have at different times belonged to this denomination. Many of them had then lost their visibility, and still more at the present time ; so that in 1845 there were but nineteen churches, fourteen min- isters, and about three thousand commu- nicants. They are evidently decreasing, and unless something arrests its progress, they will undoubtedly eventually become extinct. But however we may regard thorn now, we can but respect them as the early defenders of religious freedom. Thoy had every thing to contend with, both with and without, but manfully main- tained the stngrrle. and are now likely to be swallowed up by those who prevail mainly by the adoption of that for which they struggled — religious liberty. It is not the province of the writer to inquire for the cause, or causes, of their decrease. 12 90 HISTORY OF THE SIX PRINCIPLE BAPTISTS. His additional duty is only to state their present position as impartially as he can. None will expect hirn to do it, as well as a member of the denomination described. DOCTRINE. They are Arminians, holding to a gen- eral, in opposition to a limited or particu- lar atonement, and hence they sometimes are termed, and term themselves, General Baptists. Their other peculiarities are principally what they deduce from the first three verses of the sixth chapter of Hebrews. These, they conclude, " con- tain the fundamental system of Christ's revealed plan and way of salvation to signers." Hence they derive their name from the fact that six particulars are men- tioned in this passage ; viz. Repentance from dead works, Faith toward God, Doc- trine of Baptisms, Laying on of hands, Resurrection of the dead, and Eternal •judgment. Repentance from dead works. They maintain that as all are sinners, all are under obligation to repent ; and " that except they repent they must all perish." Faith toward God. " Repentance will lead him (the sinner) to obtain ' faith tow- ard God,' " by which " he is born of the spirit, cleansed from all sin and guilt, has his heart purified, and is become a meet temple for the Holy Ghost to dwell in." The Doctrine of Baptisms. " The word is in the plural, and signifies more baptisms than one." 1. John's, " bap- tising with the baptism of repentance." 2. The baptism of the Holy Ghost and with fire, on the day of Pentecost. This they think " the only baptism of the kind." 3. The baptism of Christ's suf- ferings. " But after the resurrection of Christ, the establishment of his kingdom here on earth, and his ascension to glory, there is, by the authority of his gospel, to be but 'one Lord, one faith, and one bap- tism,' viz. 4. The Apostles and their suc- cessors in the ministry, baptising the believers in Christ in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. The mode of this Baptism, ac- cording to the true signification of the word — is to dip, plunge, immerse, over- whelm, &c, representing the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ." Laying on of hands. This corresponds with Episcopal Confirmation. " They hold this rite in connection with, and of equal authority with, baptism and all the other principles of Christ's doctrine." As this is a point of great importance with them, they refuse communion, as well as church membership, to all who have not been " under hands." It is their principal dis- tinguishing feature. Resurrection of the dead. " The doctrine of the resurrection is the great pillar of the whole gospel system. The resurrection of Christ from the dead is that foundation, upon which all Christianity depends ; 'and if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, they also that sleep in Jesus, shall God bring with him.' But there shall be a resurrection both of the just and the unjust. They that have done good to the resurrection of life ; and they that have done evil to the resurrection of damnation." Eternal Judgment. " This is called the eternal judgment because it will finally decide, and unalterably fix, the eternal state of all God's accountable creatures." CHURCH GOVERNMENT, ETC. Their church polity is so similar to the other Baptists that it does not need a description. Their ministry generally has not been liberally educated, nor adequately sup- ported. Neither have they been forward in the so called reformatory movements of the day. By others they are classed as opposed to many or most of them, though perhaps they would not wish to be so regarded. They discard the payment or reception of a stated salary for their preachers ; and are generally opposed to Temperance, Moral Reform, and Anti- Slavery Societies ; and never have made any missionary effort. The grounds of opposition to these societies, the writer does not clearly understand, and hence cannot affirm. It is possible that they do not oppose the things themselves, but only these societies as a means of accomplish- ing the work. As far as he has been able, the writer has quoted from their published docu- ments ; but where it is not distinguished by quotation points, it must be understood HISTORY OF THE GERMAN BAPTI8T8, <>K BRETHREN. 01 that h<- ii responsible. However he thinks he has m>t misrepresented them. A small paper called M John the Bap- tist" was published for b while bj one of their ministers, but has been discontinued. Some of their principal min Pardon Tillinghatt, Thomas Tillingha t, Richard Knight, I >. W. Pott r, William Stovyer, Albert Sheldon, and X. w . Warner. HISTORY OF THE GERMAN BAPTISTS, OR BRETHREN. BY THE REV. PHILIP BOYLE, UNIONTOWN, MARYLAND. The Gorman Baptists, or Brethren, are a denomination of Christians who emi- grated to this country from Germany be- tween the years 1718 and 1730 ; they are commonly called Dunkers ; but they have assumed for themselves the name of " Bre- thren," on account of what Christ said to his disciples, Matt, xxiii. 8, " One is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are bre- thren:" The following account of these people has been extracted from a work called " Materials toward a History of the Ame- rican Baptists," published in 1770, by Morgan Edwards, then Fellow of Rhode Island College, and overseer of the Baptist Church in Philadelphia : " Of the Germans in Pennsylvania who are commonly called Tunkers, to distin- guish them from the Menonists ; for both arc styled £ie £dufer, or Baptists. They arc called Tunkers in derision, which is as much as ' sops? from tunken, to put a mor- sel in sauce ; but as the term signifies clip- jots, they may rest content with their nick- name. They are also called Tumblers, from the manner in which they perform baptism, which is by putting the person head for- ward under water, (while kneeling,) so as to resemble the motion of the body in the act of tumbling. The first appearance of these people in America was in the fall of the year 1719, when about twenty families landed in Philadelphia, and dispersed them- selves, some to Germantown, some to Skippack, some to Oley, some to Concsto- ga, and elsewhere. This dispersion inca- pacitated them to meet in public worship, therefore they soon began to grow luke- warm in religion. But in the year 1722, Baker, Gomery, and Gantzs, with the Trauzs, visited their scattered brethren, which was attended with a great revival, insomuch that societies were formed where- ever a number of families were within reach one of another. But this lasted not above three years ; they settled on their lees again ; till about thirty families more of their persecuted brethren arrived in the fall of the year 1729, which both quick- ened them again and increased their num- ber every where. Those two companies had been members of one and the same church, which originated in Schwartzenau, in the year 1708, in Germany. The first constituents were Alexander Mack and wife, John Kipin and wife, George Grevy, Andreas Bhony, Lucas Fetter, and Joanna Nethigum. Being neighbors, they agieed together to read the Bible, and edify one another in the way they had been brought up, for as yet they did not know there were 92 HISTORY OF THE GERMAN BAPTISTS, OR BRETHREN. any Baptists in the world. However, be- liever's baptism and a congregational church soon gained on them, insomuch that they were determined to obey the gospel in those matters. These desired Alexander .Mack to baptize them, but he deeming himself in reality unbaptized, re- fused ; upon which they cast lots to find who should be administrator ; or whom the lot fell hath been carefully concealed. However, baptized they were in the river Etler, by Schwartzenau, and then formed themselves into a church, choosing Alex- ander Mack as their minister. They in- creased fast, and began to spread their branches to Marienborn and Epstein, hav- ing John Naas and Christian Levy as their ministers in those places ; but persecution quickly drove them thence : some to Hol- land, some to Crefelt. Soon after the mother church voluntarily removed from Schwartzenau to Serustervin, in Fricsland, and from thence migrated toward Ameri- ca in 1719 ; and in 1729 those of Crefelt and Holland followed their brethren. Thus, we sec, all the ' Tanker churches' in Ame- rica sprang from the church of Swartze- nau in Germany ; that that church began in 1708, with only eight souls, and that in a place where no Baptist had been in the memory of man, nor any now are ; in sixty-two years ' that little one is become a thousand, that small one a great nation.' It is very difficult to give a true account of the principles of these Tunkers, as they have not published any system or creed, except what two individuals have put forth, which has not been publicly avowed. However, I may assert the following things concerning them, from my own knowledge, viz., general redemption they certainly hold, and with all general salvation. They use great plainness of dress and language, like the Quakers, and like them will neither take an oath nor ficht. They wil not go to law, nor take interest for the money they lend.* They commonly wear their beards, and keep the first day (except one congregation.)'!' They celebrate the Lord's * The takinsr of interest is now tolerated amons: them, but most of thern do not demand or take full lawful interest, and some of them do not take any interest for the money they lend to their poorer brethren. | It is quite probable the author here alludes Supper, with its ancient attendants of love- feasts, washing feet, kiss of charity, and right hand of fellowship. They anoint the sick with oil for recovery ; and use the trine immersion, with laying on of hands and prayer, even while the person baptized is in the water, which may easily be done, as the person kneels down to be baptized, and continues in that posture till both prayer and imposition of hands be per- formed. Their church government is the same with the English Baptists, except that every brother is allowed to stand up in the congregation, and speak by way of exhor- tation and expounding ; and when by these means they find a man eminent for know- | ledge, and possessing aptness to teach, ! they choose him to be their minister, and j ordain him with laying on of hands, at- tended with fasting and prayer, and giving the right hand of fellowship. They also have deacons, and aged women for dea- conesses, who are allowed to use their gifts statedly. They do not pay their ministers, unless it be by way of presents ; neither do their ministers assert their right to pay, esteeming it c more blessed to give than receive.' Their acquaintance with the Bible is admirable : in a word, they are meek and pious Christians, and have justly acquired the character of ' Harmless Tim- bers'" The Rev. E. Winchester, one of the Baptist missionaries from England, in a work published by him in the year 1787, gave, among other things, the following account of these people : " They are in- dustrious, sober, temperate, kind, charit- ! able people ; envying not the great, nor despising the mean. They read much, they sing and pray much ; they are constant attendants upon the worship of God : their dwelling-houses arc all houses of prayer : they walk in the commandments and ordi- nances of the Lord blameless, both in public and private. They ' bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.' The law of kindness is in their to the (Sieben Taesrer) Seventh Dav Baptists, who formed a settlement at Ephrata. in Lan- caster County, in Pennsvlvania. in the year 1 Tt? 1. These are the same people meant and described under the name Dunkards, in Buck's Theological Dictionary; there is no account driven of the German Baptists or Brethren in that work. L HISTORY OF THE GERMAIN BAPTISTS, OR BRETHREN. mouths j no sou mess or morosencss dis. their religion i and whatsoever the) believe their »sa\ iour comma nds the] prac- tia , without inquiring or regarding what others il'>." Though they in general maintain the same pimciplea at this present time, yel they themselves confess there is not that same degree of vital piety twisting among dose of the 5, as they tliink, them that there was at the eighteenth century ; owin to the circumstance of many of them hav ing become very wealthy, and of their in- termarriage with others. The German Baptists, or Brethren, have now dispersed themselves almost through every State in the Union, more or leas; but they arc most numerous in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, and Indiana. It would be a difficult task to give a regular statistical account of these people, as they make it no part of their duty to keep an exact account of the num- ber of communicants. Some of their larger congregations number from two to three hundred members ; each congrega- tion has from two to three preachers, and some more. In travelling and preaching there are in general two together ; and very frequently one speaks in German, and the other in the English language, to the same congregation. None of their ministers receive any pecuniary compen- sation for any services they perform per- taining to the ministry ; they preach, offi- ciate at marriages and funerals among all who call upon them, without respect to persons : though their ministers will not perform the rites of matrimony, unless they can be fully satisfied that there are no lawful objections in the case of either of the parties to be married. Their teachers and deacons are all chosen by vote, and their bishops are chosen from among their teachers, after they have been fully tried and found faith- ful ; they are ordained by the laying on of hands and by prayer, which is a very solemn and affecting ceremony. It is the duty of the bishops to travel from one con- gregation to another, not only to preach, but to set in order the things that may be wanting ; to be present at their love-feasts and communions, and, when teachers and deacons are elected or chosen, or when a bishop is to Ik- ordained, or when an) member who holds an office in the church is t<> be excommunicati d, \ • >me of the congregations have no bishoj also the dut) of the bishop in the adjoining congregation t.> assist in k'-'-|>muf an i ■ sight <>f such congregations. An elder a ng them is, in general, the first or eldest chosen teacher in the congregation where there is no bishop; it is the dut) of the elder to keep p constant oversight of that church by whom he is appointed as a teacher. It is his duty to appoint meetings, to baptize, to assist in excom- munication, to solemnize the rites of ma- trimony, to travel occasionally, to the bishops, and in certain cases to per- form all the duties of a bishop. It is the duty of their teachers to exhort and preach at any of their regular stated meetings ; and, by the request of a bishop or elder, to perform the ceremony of baptism and rites of matrimony. It is the duty of their deacons, (or, as they are sometimes called, visiting brethren,) to keep a constant oversight of the poor widows and their children, to render them such assistance as may be necessary from time to time ; it is also their duty to assist in making a general visit among all the families or members in their respective congregations, at least once a year, in order to exhort and com- fort one another, as well as to reconcile all offences that may occur from time to time. It is also their duty to read the Scriptures, to pray, and even exhort, if it may appear necessary, at their regular meetings of worship. The general order of these people has been to hold their meetings for public worship at dwelling-houses ; but in some of their congregations they have now erected meeting-houses, or places ex- pressly for worship. Some of them arc built very large, without a gallery or a pulpit. They, as yet, have but one Annual Meeting, which is held every year about Whitsuntide, and is attended by the bishops and teachers, and other members, who may be sent as representatives from the various congregations. At these meetings there is, in general, a committee of five of the eldest bishops chosen from among 94 HISTORY OF THE GERMAN BAPTISTS, OR BRETHREN. those who arc present, who retire to some convenient place, to hear and receive such cases as may then be brought before them, by the teachers and representatives from the various congregations, which are (or at least the most important of them) after- wards discussed and decided upon, and then those several queries with the con- siderations as then concluded, are recorded and printed in the German and English languages, and sent to the teachers in all the different congregations in the United States, who, when they receive them, or as soon as convenient, read them to the rest of their brethren. By this course of proceeding, they preserve a unity of sen- timent and opinion throughout all their congregations. Some of their ministers manifest a great deal of zeal in their Master's cause ; and although some of them are poorly circum- stanced in the world, yet they, at their own expense, leave their families for seve- ral weeks in succession, and some even longer, to preach the Gospel to others. They have had a general revival amongst them within the few last years past; many have been convicted and converted under their preaching, and the cause of religion seems to be progressing among them ; and what might seem strange to some, is, that they baptize by immersion, and that at any season of the year. In connection with what has been said in the commencement of our account, con- cerning their doctrines, &c, we will only add, by way of conclusion, that they be- lieve that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation, he that feareth him and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him ; and that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life : and that God sent his Son into the world, to seek and to save that which was lost, be- lieving that he is able to save to the utter- most all that come unto God through a crucified Redeemer, who tasted death for every man, and was manifested to destroy the works of the devil. And although it has herein been testified, that they hold general redemption as a doctrine, still it is not preached among them in general, as an article of faith. It has probably been held forth by those who felt them- selves, as it were, lost in the love of God ; and, perhaps, on this account, they have been charged with holding the sentiments of the Universalists, which they all deny. They conceive it their duty to declare the whole counsel of God, and therefore they feel themselves bound to proclaim his threatenings and his judgments against the wicked and ungodly ; yet in accordance with their general principles, which are Love and Good Will, they are more fre- quently led to speak of the love and goodness of God towards the children of men. HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH SEVENTH DAY BAPTISTS. BY W. B. GILLETT, TASTOR OF THE SEVENTH DAY BAPTIST CHURCH, FISCATAWAY, N. J. Every denomination is proud of tracing its origin back to its founder. But not so with tin' ►Seventh Day Baptists. They have no authentic records by which they can ascertain their origin, other than the New Testament. Neither would they pretend that they can trace their existence back through the dark ages to the Apos- tles ; yet they are bold to say they can do it with as much, or with more certainty, than any denomination now in existence. The sentiments to which they hold, and the principles that distinguish them from the religious world, they think, they are able to show, were taught by the Apostles, and practised by the early Christians. That the seventh day Sabbath, was ob- served by the Church, until the decree of Constantine, profane history abundantly shows ; and very soon all the Roman do- minions felt the effects of God's law being made void by human traditions. Although the mystery of iniquity began to work before the Apostles left the stage, it had not shown itself supported by the secular arm, until, under the pretence of doing honor to Jesus Christ, God's law was set at naught, and human laws, unjust and cruel, enacted in its stead. In Chambers's Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, he says, "In 321, the seventh day was observed in Rome, and the enact- ing of Constantino's laws, relative to the observation of the first day, shows, that it was not regarded as holy time." Robinson in his History of Baptism says, " That there were forty-four Jewish Christian churches in Rome, which must have been in the latter part of the second century." What is required to constitute a Jewish Christian Church, in Mr. Robin- son's opinion, is evident from what he says of the Council of Bishops, in 517. He calls thern, "African Jewish Chris- tians." The charge alleged against them is, that in one of their canons they had done something towards regulating the keeping of the Sabbath. It is probable that those forty-four churches in Rome, were guilty of the same offence. Mosheim gives an account of a sect in the twelfth century, in Lombardy, who were called Passagenians, or the circum- cised ; they circumcised their followers, and celebrated the Jewish Sabbath. The account of their practising circumcision is doubtless a slanderous story ; and, because they observed the seventh day, they were called, by way of derision, Jews. There were Seventh Day Baptists in Transylvania. Francis Davidis, first chaplain to the court of SigismttncI, the prince of that kingdom, and afterwards superintendent of all the Transylvania churches, was a Seventh Day Baptist. (Bened's Hist. vol. ii. p. 414.) As these Eastern churches have uni- formly practiced immersion for baptism, these extracts show that there have been Christian churches from the earliest ages of Christianity, who agree in sentiment with the Seventh Day Baptists in America. 96 HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH SEVENTH DAY BAPTISTS. But it is uncertain whether the English Seventh Day Baptists orignated from these Eastern churches, or whether they were led to embrace their views from the Scrip- tures only; their views have ever been the same as those entertained by the earlier Christians, who have observed the seventh day of the week. At what time the Seventh Day Baptists first made their appearance in England, is uncertain. It is apparent that the Anglo-Saxons in their early settlement of Great Britain, were many of them Seventh Day Baptists. But the same tyranny that affected the Church at Rome, spread its baneful influ- ence over the island of Great Britain. Dr. Chambers says, " There was a sect arose in the sixteenth century, but we have no particular account of their churches until about 1650." In 1668 there were nine or ten churches, besides many scattered disciples in different parts of the kingdom. About this time there was much debate upon the subject of the Sabbath, and the controversy became sharp ; there were engaged in it, on both sides, men of learning and ability, and some of their works are still extant. While they were permitted to enjoy their privileges peaceably, they prospered, notwithstanding the influence of the pul- pit and the press. In 1668, Mr. Edward Stennett, a Seventh Day Baptist minister, and pastor of a church in England, writes to his friends in America, and says, the churches here have their liberty, but we hear that strong bonds are making for us. And it was this good man's lot to bear a part of the persecutions of that day. For the Conventicle Act forbid them to meet on the Sabbath for worship at any rate. If they met on the Sabbath, they had to do it by stealth; whilst their enemies were ever watchful, to find, if possible, some accusation against them. Mr. Sten- nett was arrested under pretence that he held meetings in his house, which meet- ings he had held in his hall for a long time, but they were managed with so much discretion, that it was impossible for those inimical to them to be admitted, so as to appear as witnesses against the persons who met there. At length a neighboring clergyman, resolved to suborn witnesses, but in this he was defeated. And he was a clergyman who had professed great friendship for Mr. Stennett. Mr. Stennett knowing that no proof of those charges by those witnesses, could be made justly, he resolved to traverse it. Various circum- stances occurred that were all in his favor ; so that when Mr. Stennett came to Newburg, neither prosecutor nor witness appearing against him, he was discharged. After this he was confined a long time in prison. Many of the Seventh Day Baptist min- isters were taken from their families and congregations, and were cast into prison. Among the number was Rev. Joseph Davis, who was a long time prisoner in Oxon Castle. Francis Bamfield was one of the most eminent ministers of his time.. He was educated at Oxford, and was a number of years a minister of the estab- lished church. In the time of the civil wars he was against the Parliament, and opposed to the Protector's usurpation ; he suffered much on that account. At what time he became a Baptist is not known, but on the restoration of Charles, he was treated with unrelenting severity. In one prison he was confined eight years. After that he was released, went to London, and gathered a church that still exists as a Seventh Day Baptist Church; after that he- was again imprisoned, and there died in 1683. Robert Spaulder and John Mauldin, were Seventh Day Baptists, and much persecuted ; and Spaulder was even taken out of his grave by his persecutors. (Bene's Hist. vol. ii. p. 417.) But the most barbarous and cruel acts of persecu- tion were practiced upon John James, the minister of a Seventh Day Baptist Church in London ; he was put to death in a most cruel manner in 1661. To take away his life was not enough to satisfy his enemies, but after being hung at Tyburn, he was drawn and quartered, his quarters were carried back to Newgate on the sledge that carried him to the gallows ; they were afterwards placed on the gate of the city, and his head was placed on a pole, oppo- site his meeting house. He went to the gallows as an innocent man, and died in a joyful manner. This is a brief narra- tive of the prosperity, trials, and sufferings of the early Seventh Day Baptists in Eng- HISTORY OF THE ENGLI8H BEVENTH h\Y BAPT land. 8qbm lefl the country, others still adhered to their peculiar views j even to the present day there are ■ ISjw small churches in England. There are two in London, one at Shorcditch, one al Will Yard, but their numbers must be small ; ami there are some scattering individuals throughout the kingdom, and some in Scotland. In 1665, Mr. Stephen Mumford, a Seventh I > i \ Baptist, came from England to Newport, Rhode Island, and soon Mr, Samuel Hubbard, a Baptist, embraced his views; there were others who soon em« braced the same sentiments, but they con- tinued to travel together in the same church, until 1671. Mr. Hubbard has left a manuscript journal, in which he g \ is an account of their separation. Soon after this (alluding to their embrac- ing the Sabbath.) many hard things were said to the Sabbath-keepers by their breth- ren, that they had gone from Christ to Moses; that the1 gentiles had nothing to do with the ten commandments. And in 1681, they came to an open separation, when these brethren and sisters entered into church-fellowship together, and be- came the first Seventh Day Baptist Church, in America. This little church being thus constituted, William Hiscox became their first pastor ; but a hostile spirit was soon raised against this little band, and laws were enacted severe and criminal in their nature. John Rogers, a member of this church, was sentenced to sit a certain time upon a gallows with a rope about his neck, to which he submitted. There were many other severities prac- tised upon the Sabbath-keepers in New England, while the Baptists were perse- cuted for their baptism. The Seventh Day Baptists met with opposition from all, and as far as the civil laws would permit, they suffered the dire effects arising from this state of things. From these and other causes the pro- gress of the Seventh Day Baptists has been very much impeded. Their history details no remarkable revolution in their favor. Worldly honors, interest, influence and convenience are against them, and have always been opposed to their perse- verance in the observance of the Sabbath. The members composing the church at New port have felt the disadvantai tending them in ■ city, and (or years they have Been "n the decline ; since many have removed t<> different parts of the State, and m mad'- their way into the tar West, u here the) have been the means iblishing churches, some of which are large and flourishing. But this event has not terminated in extinguishing the little light; although the mother church has become very weak and almost extinct. This church has had a succession of worthy ministers, the most of them were born, ordained, and preached, and died, members of that church. The church at Hopkinton, R. I., was established by brethren from Newport, in 1708. For a number of years this church numbered nine hundred members, but several churches have since been consti- tuted in the vicinity, by members from this church. They still number over five hundred members, having two ordained ministers, and an elegant meeting-house on the banks of the Paucatuck river. From this church there have been sent out many ministers, who have been last- ing blessings to the cause of truth. There are now in Rhode Island seven churches, six ordained ministers, and not far from one thousand communicants ; and from these churches the tide of emigration has taken hundreds into the western country. In the State of Connecticut there are but two small churches, which probably number one hundred communicants, and but one ordained minister. The Seventh Day Baptists in New Jer- sey arose from different circumstances. One Edmund Dunham, a First Day Bap- tist member, became convinced that he and his brethren were in an error as it regarded the Sabbath of the Lord. He presented his views to his brethren, and about twenty of his brethren and sisters came out with him in sentiment. They separatcd from the First Day church, and entered into covenant together, to walk together as a gospel church, in 1705, and sent Edmund Dunham to Rhode Island to receive ordination, and he was chosen their pastor. ♦ They are located in the county of Mid- dlesex, Piscataway township, thirty miles from New York city, and six miles from . »• 13 98 HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH SEVENTH DAY BAPTISTS. New Brunswick. As a church, thoy have been called in years past to pass through many severe trials, but God sustained tin-in : yet for a few years pasl their his- tory lias been more favorable. Thoy have now a neat and elegant house of worship, .-iiid a parsonage farm on which their pastor lives. At present thoy number 170 communicants. The church at Plainficld, was formed of members from this church, in 1838. They have a beautiful house of worship in the village of Plainficld ; numbering about 70 communicants, — at present with- out a pastor. A few families removed from Piscata- way to Cumberland county, forty miles below Philadelphia, at an early day, and a few families of Welsh extraction settled there from the State of Delaware. They were constituted into a church, in 1737. Jonathan Davis was their first pastor. They arc situated in a pleasant country, at the village of Shiloh, where they have an ancient brick meeting-house, adjoining to which is their graveyard, where a num- ber of generations have been deposited to wait until the resurrection morn. Among this multitude is a number of worthy ministers, who have finished their work and have gone to rest, and the place where they lie is marked to the stranger by the large marble monument, on which we read a brief history of their lives. The church now numbers 226 communi- cants. The church in Salem County, New Jersey, was formed by members from the church at Shiloh, in 1811. Jacob Avars, since deceased, was their pastor. They arc well situated, but a few miles from Shiloh. They have a comfortable house of worship, and number near 100 com- municants. In the State of New Jersey there are four churches, four ordained ministers, and about 560 communicants. There arc a number of families in the city of New York, of Seventh Day Bap- tists ; they have not been constituted into a church, but they hold meetings Sabbath days at their own houses. The Seventh Day Baptists in the State of New York, first moved from Rhode Island, and set- tled in different parts, so that at the pre- sent they are more numerous than in any other State. There is in this State as follows : In Rensselaer County, two churches — Berlin, 223 communicants ; Petersburg!), 142 communicants. Madison County — Brookfield, three churches ; first, 309 communicants ; se- cond, 143 communicants ; third, 136 com- municants ; De Ruyter, 1 45 communicants. Chenango County — Preston, 72 com- municants ; Otselic, 36 communicants. Otsego County — Lincklean, 122 com- municants. Jefferson County — Adams, 218 com- municants ; Houndsfield, 44 communi- cants. Lewis County — Watson, 45 communi- cants. Oneida County — Verona, two churches ; first, 113 communicants ; second, 20 com- municants. Cortland County — Truxton, 78 com- municants ; Scott, 181 communicants. Erie County — Clarence, 157 communi- cants. Cattaraugus County — Persia, 86 com- municants. Alleghany County — Alfred, 2 churches ; first, 448 communicants; second, 165 communicants; Amity, 32 communicants; Scio, 35 communicants ; Independence, 100 communicants ; Friendship, 133 com- municants ; Bolivar, 58 communicants ; Genesee, three churches; first, 159 com- municants ; second, 47 communicants ; third, 54 communicants. In the State of New York are twenty- seven churches, three thousand four hun- dred and ninety-one communicants, nine- teen ordained ministers, and a number of licentiates. In the early settlement of this country- there were five churches established in the vicinity of Philadelphia, but there were not more than thirty members in them all, but they have been long since extinct. In Fayette County, Pennsylvania, is a small church, not exceeding 20 communicants. In Potter County, Pennsylvania, there is a church numbering 41 communicants, but no minister. And in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, there is a church number- ing 75 communicants. They have a meeting-house and pastor. r«»iiv < HISTORY or THE ENGLISH SEVENTH 1)\V BAPT M In Pennsylvania, thert an three churches, 136 communicants, and but one net! minister. The Seventh May Baptists in the State of Virginia, emigrated first from V w Jersey, and constituted a church in Har- rison County, a1 New Salem, 1745; they now Dumber 58 communicants. Lost Greek, (>1 communicants; South Porks Hughes River, Wood County, 20 com- municants; North Forks Hughes River, l") communicants. In Virginia tin four churches, two ordained ministers, and 1") l communicants. The Seventh Day Baptists in Ohio, emigrated from Virginia and New Jersey, and settled in Clark County, Pike, and constituted a church, in 1824 ; they num- ber 30 communicants ; Port Jefferson, 46 communicants ; Sciota, 20 communicants; Jackson, 33 communicants ; Stokes, — communicants. There" are in Ohio, five churches, three ordained ministers, pro- bably 200 communicants, as there is a number of settlements where churches will soon be formed. There are numerous settlements of Seventh Day Baptists, in Illinois, although there is but one small church ; there is also a small church in Iowa Territory. There is a number of settlements in Michigan, but no church. In Wisconsin Territory, there is a church numbering near 100 communicants, and two minis- ters. Besides these, there are scattered families in every State, and in almost all our cities. There are in the United States about fifty churches, forty ordained ministers, and about six thousand communicants. They are divided into four associations. The Eastern Association includes the churches in Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Jersey. The Central Associa- tion includes the churches in the State of New York, east of the small lakes. The Western Association includes the churches in the western part of New York and Pennsylvania. The Southwestern, the churches in Virginia, Ohio, and all west thereof. They have an annual conference that meets yearly. This conference is composed of delegates from the associa- tions and churches, as some churches do not unite with the associations. As they | trictl) congregational in theii pline, and ever) < hurcfa is an ind pendent body to transacl its own business i all the busmen done ,u these meeting! is to ex- amine different subjects, and impart in- Btruction to the churches by s/aj of tsV vice, there being no right to interfere with the independence of the churches. Bvery church holds its meetings of business, where all business is done by a vote from Mr- body, all being equal in power, and no one having any more authority than another. The officers of the churches are pastors and deacons. The business of the pastor is to instruct the people of his charge, and officiate faithfully in his station as a coun- sellor ; and he should consider it his great business to preach the Word, to reprove the disobedient, to comfort the afflicted, and to feed the flock of Christ with the bread of life, and to administer to them the ordinances of God's house, (baptism and the Lord's Supper ;) and it is consi- dered the duty of the pastor to give him- self wholly to the work of the ministry, as far as circumstances will admit, " to the edifying of the body of Christ" The deacons are chosen for life ; it is their duty to assist the pastor in his labors, to see that his wants are supplied, and that all the internal affairs of the church are kept in proper order, as it relates to disci- pline and the temporal necessities of the same, and that the poor be not neglected. And, in a word, they are considered the leaders of the church, and ought always to be men full of the Holy Ghost. Every church has a clerk, whose duty it is to keep a faithful record, in a book, of all the proceedings of the church, with a record of the names of the members, the time of their baptism, &c. They have a weekly paper published in the city of New York, which is patronized by the denomination. It has at present about twelve hundred subscribers, at two dollars per year, in advance. Elder George B. Utter is editor and proprietor. They have a Literary Institution, founded in 1837, at De Ruyter, held by stockholders. The cost was twenty-one thousand dollars. It has been laboring under some difficulties, and therefore has not come up to the first expectations ; but 100 HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH SEVENTH DAY BAPTISTS. a number of young men are now pursuing ! their studies there, who promise much usefulness to the world. They have two professors and some primary teachers, and the prospects of the institution are more encouraging. They have an Academy at Alfred, Al- legany County, New York, which is in a ! very flourishing condition, and has up- wards of one hundred students. William ; Winyon, from Union College, is principal, and Miss Caroline Mason preceptress. This is a chartered institution, under the patronage of the State. For some years they have had a Mis- sionary Society, which holds its meetings annually, at the time of the meeting of the General Conference. Its object is to help feeble churches, and to send the gospel to the scattered families in different parts, where they are not privileged with the means of grace in a church capacity, and to preach the gospel to others as op- portunity may present. Within the last twelve months a foreign mission has been established. Elders Solomon Carpenter and Nathan Wardner, together with their wives, were set apart, and sailed late last ! fall for the field of their labors, China. : News has just been received of their safe arrival out ; but their precise location has not yet been decided on. They likewise have a Hebrew Mission- ary Society, whose object is to ameliorate ! the condition of the Jews in the United States. They have had a missionary em- ployed for that purpose in the cities of New York and Philadelphia, and some tracts were published, addressed to that people ; but no visible effects have been produced. At present the society is doing nothing. They have a Tract Society that is at present in operation, and has been doing something in publishing tracts on different I subjects, especially upon our particular views. As a denomination they wish to be en- gaged, as far as they possess the means, in the various benevolent enterprises of the day, and in these they have been found active. CONFESSION OF FAITH. The following was adopted as the gene- ral views of the denomination, by a vote of the General Conference, at its meeting in 163:3. I. We believe that there is one God; "For there is one God," 1 Tim. ii. 5; and that there is no other God, 1 Cor. viii. 4, 6. We believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, Acts viii. 37 ; and that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, and of Jesus Christ, his Son. " If so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you," Rom. viii. 9. " God hath sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts," Gal. iv. 6. " Christ in you the hope of glory," Col. i. 27. " God dwelleth in us," 1 John iv. 6. From these texts, and many more of like import, we believe that there is a union existing be- tween the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit ; and that they are equally divine, and equally entitled to our adora- tion. II. We believe that man was made up- right and good, and had ability to have remained so, but that through temptation he was induced to violate the law of God, and thus fell from his uprightness, and came under the curse of the law, and be- came a subject of death ; and that all of his posterity have inherited from him de- pravity and death. " God made man up- right," Eccl. vii. 29. " God created man in his own image," Gen. i. 27. " Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee saying, Thou shalt not eat of it, cursed is the ground for thy sake ; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life ; for dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return." Gen. iii. 17- 19. u Wherefore as by one man sin hath entered into the world, and death by sin ; and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned." Rom. v. 12. "The carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God." Rom. viii. 7. " And ye will not come to me that ye might have life." 1 John v. 40. " The unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God." 1 Cor. vi. 9. " They did not like to retain God in their know- ledge." Ro'm. i. 28. " There is none that doeth good, no, not one." Ps. xiv. 3. " And were by nature the children of wrath." Ephes. ii. 3. III. We believe that God so loved the HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH SEVENTH l>\\ BAPTISTS. 10] world, thai he gave hia only begotten Son, thai whosoever believeth in bun should aol perish, but have eternal lite. John iii. rhat he took on him our nature, and was born of the Virgin Mary; that ho offered himself a sacrifice fbrsm; thai he suffered death upon the cross* j was buriedi ami at the expiration of three days and three nights, rose from the dead ; and that be ascended to the right band of God, and is the mediator between God and man; from whence ho will come to judge, and reward all men according to the deeds done in their hodies. M He took on him the seed of Abraham," Hel>. ii. 16; and 11 being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and become obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." Phil. ii. 8. " But now, in the end of the world, hath he appeared to put away sin, by the sacrifice o[' himself." Heb. ix. 26. " The Son of Man shall be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." Matt xii. 40. " He is risen as he said." Matt, xxviii. 6. " So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat." Mark xvi. 19. " For we shall all stand before the judg- ment-seat of Christ." Rom. xvi. 19. " He hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained ; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead." Acts xvii. 31. IV. We believe that by the humiliation and sufferings of Christ he made an atone- ment, and became the propitiation for the sins of the whole world ; but that the nature or character of this atonement is such as not to admit of justification with- out faith, or salvation without holiness. " The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." Isaian liii. 6. " And he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for our sins only, but for the sins of the whole world." 1 John ii. 2. " But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man." Heb. ii. 9. " Who will have all men to be saved, and come to the know- ledge of the truth." 1 Tim. ii. 4. " There- fore, being justified by faith, we have peace v\ ith ( tod through our I Christ.'1 Rom. v. i. - \\ itboul i is impossible to please God.*1 Heb. id. <». " Follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." Heb. mi. l I. \. We believe thai regeneration is essential to salvation, that it consists in a renovation of the heart, hatred to sin, and love to God j and that it produces refor- mation of life in whatever is known to he sinful; and a willing conformity to the authority and precepts of Christ. John iii. 3 : 2 Cor. v. 17 ; Ephes. ii. 10 ; James ii. 17 ; 1 John v. 2. VI. As to good works, we believe that they are not the ground of the believer's hope, but that they arc fruits essential to a justified state, and necessary as evidence of a new birth. John xiv. 23. VII. We believe that there will be a general resurrection of the bodies, both of the just and of the unjust. John xxviii. 29. VIII. We believe there will be a day of judgment for both the righteous and the wicked, and that Jesus Christ shall judge and reward every man according to his works. Acts xvii. 31 ; Rev. xxii. 12. IX. We believe that the righteous will be admitted into life eternal, and that the wicked shall receive eternal damnation. Matt. xxv. 46. X. We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are given by inspiration of God, and that they con- tain the whole of God's revealed will, and are the only infallible rule to faith and duty. Isaiah viii. 20. XI. We believe that the moral law, written upon tables of stone, and recorded in Exodus xx., to be morally and reli- giously binding upon the church. Matt, v. 17. XII. We believe it is the duty of all men, and especially the church of God, to observe religiously the seventh day of the week, as commanded in the fourth precept of the decalogue, Exodus xx. 10. Mark ii. 27, 28 ; Luke xxiii. 5, 7. XIII. We believe that a gospel church is composed of such persons, and such only, as have given satisfactory evidence of regeneration, and have submitted to gospel baptism. Acts ii. 41. XIV. We believe that Christian bap- 102 HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH SEVENTH DAY BAPTISTS. tism is the immersion in water, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, of a believer in Christ, upon a profession of the gospel faith ; and that no other water baptism is valid. Col. ii. 12 ; Rom. vi. 4 ; Ephes. iv. 5. XV. Concerning imposition of hands, we believe it was the practice of the Apos- tles and the primitive church, to lay hands upon the newly baptized believers ; and it should be perpetuated in the church. We therefore practise it. Acts viii. 17 ; Heb. vi. 2. XVI. We believe it is the duty of all members of the church, to commemorate the sufferings of Christ, in partaking of the Lord's Supper, as often as the church shall deem it expedient and the circum- stances admit. Matt. xxvi. 26, 27 ; 1 Cor. xi. 26. XVII. As we deem it unscriptural to admit to the membership of the church any person who does not yield obedience to the commandments of God, and the institutions of the Gospel, or who would be a subject of church censure, were he a member of the church : so we deem it equally unscriptural and improper, to re- ceive such at the Lord's table, or to par- take with them of the Lord's Supper. 1 Cor. v. 11 ; 2 Thess. hi. 6. THEIR VIEWS OF BAPTISM. As a denomination they practise what is termed close communion. Their rea- sons for this are the following : They consider that the Pedobaptist brethren have perverted the ordinance of baptism, by abandoning the original- insti- tution, which was dipping or immersion, and using that of sprinkling or pouring. They do not charge them with a wilful violation of the divine rule, but with the matter of fact ; while they extend to them charity, and believe them to be sincere. On one term only does this great ques- tion rest ; and that is, What is the original import of the Greek word " Baptize ?" Baptists have and still contend, that the word originally implied immersion. Pe- dobaptists have contended that it implied merely a religious rite, and meaning many other things, such as sjprinkt lin g, pouring, washings tyc. To these speculations they have only to apply their own antidote. The word baptize is Greek, and in the English lan- guage means just nothing at all, unless they are allowed to translate it. And whom shall they call upon to do it 1 They will not take the the translation of Bap- tists, for that may beget partiality ; but they chose to take the evidence of men who spoke out before the art of prevari- cation was so extensively known among Protestants. For when they present Pedo- baptist authors, who show the greatest marks of candor, they cannot be objected to. In view of these remarks, in connec- tion with the following quotations, they are willing at all times to submit them to a thinking community, as being the doc- trine that is taught in the Holy Scriptures. And to strengthen their faith, they have the testimony of the whole Christian world in their favor. Luther. — " The term baptize is a Greek word ; it may be rendered immer- sion, as when we plunge something in water, that it may be entirely covered with water. And though that custom is now abolished among the generality, (for even children are not entirely immersed, but only have a little water poured on them,) nevertheless they ought to be com- pletely immersed, and immediately drawn out, for the etymology of the word evidently requires UP Calvin. — " The word baptize, signifies to immerse. The right of immersion was observed by the ancient church. From these quotations, and from John iii. 23, it may be inferred that baptism was admin- istered by John, and Christ, by plunging the whole body under water. Here we perceive how baptism was administered among the ancients, for they immersed the whole body under water ; now it is a prevailing practice, for a minister only to sprinkle the body or the head." Grotius. — " That baptism used to be administered by immersion, and not pour- ing or sprinkling, appears both from the proper signification of the word, and the places chosen for the administration of the rite, John iii. 23 ; Acts viii. 28 ; and also from the many allusions of the Apostles, which cannot be referred to sprinkling.'" Rom. vi. 34 ; Col. ii. 12. lll>TOK\ OF THE ENGLISH SEVENTH-DAY HAITI 103 Joi \ \\ nun . — M Mar\ \\ < Mi. eleven days, was baptized according t be and put for ei ei t.» rest. This the Bap- tists cannot do, the) cannot go to them, hut the others can come to the Baptist standard, without an\ violation of eon- science or faith. And may the time hap- ten its onward flight, when in the church there will be but "one Lardy our faith, our baptism" While this arm of Popery is attached to the Protestant church, they cannot with any expectation of success, contend with Catholicism, even in our own country. With much propriety they may say, Pky- sician, heal thyself; this the church must learn, that the " Bihlc alone is the reli- gion of Protestants." VIEWS OF THE SABBATH. 1. On this point of doctrine and prac- tice, they differ from all other denomina- tions. And this is the only essential point of difference between them and the large and respectable denomination, the Asso- ciate Baptists. By their belief and prac- tice, as it respects the Sabbath, they are accounted singular ; but they would wish at all times to have the privilege of ren- dering their reasons for doing thus, espe- cially as by this they are known as close communicants. It may not be necessary here, to attempt to meet all the objections that are presented against their views, by men who have become wise above what is written. But it is intended merely to pre- sent their views and reasons for thus be- lieving. They believe that the Sabbath was in- stituted by God, and given to our first parents while in the Garden of Eden ; for in this institution was their happiness in- timately concerned. As an evidence they refer to the ancients, and their customs. They had their days of observance. Noah observed the period of seven days in send- ing out the dove from the ark, in prefer- ence to any other number. The term week is used in the contract between Ja- cob and Laban. Balaam had seven altars, and one red seven oxen and seven rarns 104 HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH SEVENTH DAY BAPTISTS. upon them ; likewise Job and his friends observed the term of seven days. All which (and others) go to prove that the ancients enjoyed the blessings of a Sab- bat li, and were not left destitute of this exalted favor, as some suppose, until the days of Moses. From Exodus, xvi., we have a satisfactory evidence that the Is- raelites were not strangers to the Sabbath, long before they came to Mount Sinai, where the Law was given. For some of the people are voluntarily making prepa- rations and provisions for the Sabbath, while others arc reprimanded for neglect- ing it. And the very language shows that the Sabbath was not a new institution to them. " How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and by-laws ?" The very language of the fourth commandment it- self implies that they had a previous knowledge of it : " Remember the Sab- bath day to keep it holy." This injunc- tion is not attached to any of the rest of the commandments, which evidently shows that they had not only been acquainted with it before, but that it was not of the least importance, as some vainly suppose. And its being mentioned in connection with the creation of the world, shows to their satisfaction, that the inhabitants of the earth were not without a Sabbath two thousand and five hundred years. For the blessing and the sanctifying of the Sabbath is mentioned in connection with the first seventh day in the order of time. And the reasons rendered are, that on it God rested from all his works. And the blessing and sanctifying the day were subsequent acts, which are given as a cause for its being set apart from other days as a Sabbath of holy rest unto the Lord. And it is unreasonable to suppose that the cause existed two thousand and five hundred years before the effect. Jesus Christ says, Mark ii. 27, " That the sab- bath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath." Is it a good thing 1 were there any men of piety before Moses? And in the 34th Psalm we learn that " He will withhold no good thing from those Who walk uprightly," The early history being so silent about the sabbath, is no evidence of its nonexistence, for all the history of that age is given in forty short chapters. " We find, from time imme- morial, the knowledge of weeks of seven days among all nations. Israelites, Egyptians, Indians, Arabians, and, in a word, all the nations of the East, have in all ages made use of weeks of seven days." " And we find, too, that the very day that God had sanctified as a sabbath, was re- garded still as holy time, although they had forsaken the true worship of God." Among those authors we find the follow- ing : Homer, Hesiod, Callimachus, Tibul- lus, Philo, Eusebius, Clemens Alexandrius, Josephus. It has been, and is supposed by some that the sabbath was made for the Jews only, hence it is called by them a Jewish sabbath ; to this the Seventh Day Baptists object ; although it is said, in Exodus, xxxi. 14, to be a sign between that people and God, but not between them and the Gentiles ; but it has been and wilL be a sign between them and God to the end of time. And the words of our Saviour ought to put this question for ever to rest. Mark ii. 27, " The sabbath was made for man." It ought to be enough for us to know that God has in- stituted the sabbath, and required that it should be remembered and kept holy, especially when it is found among God's holy precepts, written with his own finger upon tables of stone, and we should not try to do away its force by our own tra- ditions. No reason ever has been given by any person why the law of the sabbath was inserted among those precepts which are universally allowed to be moral, unless it partakes of the same nature. As God is the God of the Gentiles, as well as of the Jews, so it is the duty of both Jews and Gentiles to love him and to keep his com- mandments, for they are a transfer of God's perfection ; and the revelation of his will, as given upon Sinai, was and is the only moral rule that was ever given. So it is the duty of all men to come under it, as far as they receive a knowledge thereof, Isaiah lvi. 6, 7. They come therefore to the unavoidable conclusion that the sabbath was enjoined upon all mankind, as presented to us in the fourth commandment, 2. They are unwilling to admit that the sabbath was changed by divine appoint- nisruKY OF Tin: ENGLISH m:\ EN in DAY n\n 105 ment, or thai it i iver * ill be. If il was 11 »t a good sabbath why should it ever have been appointed 1 and if good, whj should it be altered t Bui if we can find a divine warrant for a change, we are ready to confess our wrongs .'111(1 forsake St. Paul, in ll.h. iv. !», says thai it is a type of the rest thai remains for the people of ( rod j this refers to the rest thai remains for the saints in heaven, and types arc always continued until the anti- type comes to which they allude. The sabbath law still remains in lull force, and will until the end of time, unless God rentals it: ami if so, the Scriptures will be as plain as when it was enjoined. It is a moral institution, (the reasons we have already assigned,) and of perpetual obligation, Psalm cxi. 7, 8, " All his com- mandments arc sure, they stand fast for ever.*' Their perpetuity was typified by their being written upon tables of stone. [f the sabbath was made for the benefit of man, no reason can be assigned for its discontinuance under the Christian dispen- sation. Erase a sabbath from the church and she would soon go to ruin ; and it is ruin to people to believe and preach a doctrine, that would prove destruction if practised. Let such ministers beware lest they be numbered with the slothful shepherds. The perpetuity of this law is asserted in Christ's sermon on the mount, (Matt, v.) and when he spoke these words, he knew that the ceremonial law would soon be destroyed by him, and nailed to the cross ; therefore he must have alluded to the moral law. And in accordance with this he directs his disciples to pray " that their flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day." And this event was not to take place until about forty years after his crucifixion. Paul says, in Rom. iii. 31, " Do we make void the law through faith 1 God forbid, yea, we establish the law." Neither do we suppose that he meant to release us from this obligation, when he says, (ibid. xiv. 5, 6,) " One man estcem- eth one day above another," &c, or, in Colossians, (ii. 16, 17,) " Let no man, therefore, judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect to a holy day, or of the new moon, or sabbath, which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ." 'I'll-- apostle i- nol sp sabbath, hut of the J< w monial sabbath, which belongs to the ceremonial dispensation^ J'.ut the question may still be \\ hit da) of til.- week should ins now keep bol) I They at once say, the seventh, not c s<-\< nth, hut the seventh day that God sanctified at Sinai, and rested <>n when he closed his work of creation, which was observed by Christ and his apostles, and the early Chru until the dark ages of the church. We have no reason to believe that there has been any derangement in the order of time, so as to affect the observing the sab- bath. That perfect agreement among all civilized nations, places it beyond all doubt ; and the church has always been known to keep cither the first day or the seventh, ever since her establishment, and she has never existed without a sabbath. And the Jews, scattered among all na- tions, have never lost their sabbath. So that when they shall be gathered back to Judah's land, they will have the same identical sabbath, that God instituted in paradise, whether they go from this, or from other lands. But the advocates for a change of the sabbath are numerous and learned. Nevertheless, the Seventh Day Baptists cannot embrace their senti- ments, for every man's sword is turned against his fellow ; among them there is no agreement. They refer to prophecy, and the strongest is in Psalm cxviii. 24, " This is the day the Lord hath made, I will rejoice and be glad in it." If this alludes to any day, it must be the day that God has blessed, and not a new ap- pointment. But we are satisfied with be- lieving that this alludes to the gospel dis- pensation. And Daniel and Isaiah, as well as Abraham and others, looked forward to that day with much interest and delight. And they are bold to say that the pro- phets are entirely silent as to a change of the sabbath. Another plea is, the work of redemption is greater than the work of creation, wherefore the sabbath should be changed. But they think they arc not at liberty to limit God, and say which of his works is the greatest ; they suppose that he can as easily make a world as an in- 14 10G HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH SEVENTH DAY BAPTISTS. sect, and redeem man as easy as en ate him. But the advocates for the change of the sabbath must fail according to their own logic ; for it is the opinion of the church generally, though not universally, that Christ was crucified on Friday ; if, then, any particular day can be called the day of redemption, it must be that on which he expired on the cross, and spilt his blood ; " for without the shedding of blood there can be no remission." He died for our redemption, and the gracious work was doubtless done when he bowed his head and gave up the ghost and said, It is finished. But they do not admit that any personal act of his, "Who was made under the law," and bound to obey its precepts, could alter or change any of its require- ments. Another and general plea is, that Christ rose from the dead on the first day of the week. Tradition says so, but the Bible does not. If it had been the mind of Christ that the day of his resurrection should have been religiously regarded : we would have some positive information as to the day on which he did rise ; but not one passage is there to be found wrhich says that he arose on the first day, or which enjoins its observance ; but there is strong presumptive evidence that he did not rise on that day. This is found in his own predictions, Matt. xii. 40 : he declares that he would be " three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." Com- pare with Luke xxiii. 5, 4. If his predic- tion be true, he must have arisen at the close of the day previous to his appearing to the women, in the morning. And in Matt, xxviii. 1, we find that the great earth- quake happened in the end of the sabbath. Mary was present, and an angel rolled back the stone and sat upon it, and told her that he was not here but was risen, referring her to his own predictions while with them. Another reason rendered is, that Christ often met with his disciples upon the first day of the week. Supposing it was so, he met with them on other days ; but that is no reason that they should be considered sabbath days. But probably they had better look again ; people may have taken it for granted without evidence. The first day after his resurrection, he appeared three times to different persons, and at dif- ferent places. First to the women at the tomb, next to the disciples on their way to Emmaus ; he journeyed with them, and when they had arrived at the place of their destination, he was known of them by breaking bread and blessing it. The same hour they returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and while they were telling what things had happened, Jesus stood in the midst of them and said, Peace be unto you. Now in all this day's transaction, not a word is said about sabbatizing, but every evidence to the reverse ; they were journeying, and Jesus journeyed with them, and from Je- rusalem to Emmaus and back, is about fifteen miles. And it seems passing strange that he should not have told them that the day was holy to the Lord. And the dis- ciples were assembled at their own lodging place, (Acts i. 13,) and had not met to celebrate the resurrection ; for they did not believe that he had arisen, until con- firmed by the disciples from Emmaus. And there is not the least intimation that the disciples were there until evening, or that they were there for worship. And the absence of Thomas is a strong presump- tion that the meeting was not agreed upon previously. The next and only meeting pretended to have been held by Christ and his disciples on the first day of the week, is mentioned in John, xx. 26. " And after eight days, &c." — But had this interview been on the following first day, it could not afTord any claim for religious regard, for it is not noticed as a meeting designed for worship. Mark xvi. 14, says, "He appeared to the eleven while at meat," eating a common meal at their home doubtless. And it is a matter of certainty that this interview was not on the first day of the week, if the other one was ; for eight days had intervened between them, where a week has but seven days. They say then without any fear of successful contradiction, that Christ has left us no example of his regard for the first day of the week as a sabbath. As to the regard that the Apostles and early Christians paid to this day, all the Scriptures say about, is contained in Acts xx. 7 ; 1 Cor. xvi. 7 ; the first relates to HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH si:\ ENTH D\\ UAI'l 10*3 a mooting held in Troaa, and Raul preached and broke 1 »r* m 1 to them. Non all this text proves is, ih.it Paul held one meeting with these brethren on the first the week ; hut there is not the least intimation that it was their common cus« loss to meet on the first day of the week, or that they should or did regard it as a Sabbath. But this meeting was incidental, and held on account of the Apostles being ahont to leave the place. It was an ev< n- ing meeting; and by Paul's Bpeaking until midnight, and continuing until break of day, it was on the night part of the day ; and if this meeting was held on any part of the first day of the week, it was be- tween sun setting and first day morning, when Paul went on his way; and this is according to the Scripture mode of begin- ning the day, as it was literally the first day of the week after sunset. The miracle wrought upon Enticus, in restoring him to life, is probably the only reas in of this meeting being mentioned, while all the other meetings that Paul held while in Troas, were omitted ; had this been on some other day of the week, there would not have been a single reli- gious meeting held by the disciples on any part of a first day, recorded in the New Testament. We next notice 1 Cor. xvi. 2, "On the first day of the week let every one lay by him in store, &c." This text makes no mention of a meeting together, but to lay by them in store ; this contribu- tion was designed for the poor saints at Jerusalem ; and they were requested to have it in readiness when Paul should come to receive it. Orders had been given to the church at Galatia concerning the same matter ; but they say nothing concerning a first day meeting. But none of these or other passages give any reason to believe that the first day was ever de- signed by God to be a sabbath. Much has been said of the descent of the Holy Spirit (on the first day,) on the day of Pentecost. This they consider to be only a pn sumption, there being not the slightest evidence that the day of Pentecost was on the first day of the week, more than on any other day. But by the church gener- ally, especially by ministers, the first day of the week is called Lord's Day, from Rev. i. 10 ; still there is no evidence that the first daj of the week was alluded to in this expression. If if can be applied to an\ day, it would !><• mix h monappro- to suppose that it referred to the sabbath da) j fbr.Ji nis Christ says thai be is M Lord even of the sabbath day." Bui it should not be supposed that John meant either of those days; but that he meant the same day styled in other parts of the Scriptures " The day of the Lord." And to this day John was carried in the spirit and saw all things as they will take place, 1 Cor. i. 8; Phil. i. 6, And that this refers to his second roaring, and not to any particular day of the week, must be placed beyond all doubt. Th< some of their reasons for yet believing that the seventh day of the week is yet the sabbath of the Lord their God, and that by the church it should be observed as such. But they suppose that Christ and his disciples paid special regard to the sabbath of the fourth commandment. It is always called by them " the sabbath" in distinc- tion from any other day ; if they had in- tended a change this would have been calculated to mislead and deceive. It was their custom to assemble for worship on the sabbath, and not on the first day of the week ; for the next sabbath after his crucifixion they rested according to the commandment ; and on the first day they were journeying, and went into the coun- try. Acts xiii. Paul, while at Antioch on the sabbath day, went to a place of wor- ship ; and we have the sketch of a sermon he preached on the occasion. And by the request of his gentile hearers he preached to them on the next sabbath, when nearly the whole city came together. At Philippi, Paul and his companions resorted down to the river side on the sab- bath day, and Lydia and her household were baptized. Acts, xviii. Paul reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and per- suaded the Jews and the Greeks ; and this practice he continued a year and six months. At Ephesus, likewise, Paul went into the synagogue and reasoned wdth the Jews. And at Thessalonica there was a synagogue of the Jews ; and Paul, as his manner was, went in with them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures. 108 HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH SEVENTH DAY BAPTISTS. These quotations are sufficient to show what was the practice of the Apos- tles. This is confirmed by Paul's going into the temple and performing certain rights of purification, for the purpose of refuting slanderous reports about his practising contrary to the law ; and in Acts xx. 17, he states that he had committed nothing against the customs of the fathers. And was it not contrary to their custom, to keep the first day of the week to the ex- clusion of the seventh ? If so, then it is evident that Paul kept the seventh and not the first day of the week, for the Sabbath. The Jews, who were always ready to ac- cuse them of wrong, never upbraided them with a violation of the Sabbath, which would have been the case, had there been an occasion. The opposition made to these sentiments, are supported by the feelings and circumstances of their opponents, and not by the word of God. But it may be necessary to refer to the practice of the early Christians. Athaxasius, A. D. 340, " We assem- ble on Saturday, not that we are infected with Judaism, but only to worship Christ the Lord of the Sabbath." Socrates, A. D. 412, "Touching the Communion, there are sundry observa- tions ; for almost all the churches through- out the world do celebrate and receive the holy mysteries every Sabbath. Yet the Egyptians adjoining Alexandria, together with the inhabitants of Thebes, of a tra- dition, do celebrate the Communion on Sunday, when the festival meeting through- out every week was come. I mean the Saturday, and the Sunday, upon which the Christians are wont to meet solemnly in the church," &c. Eusebius, A. D. 325, as quoted by Dr. Chambers, says that in his time the Sab- bath was observed no less than Sun- day. Calvin. The old Fathers put in the place of the Sabbath, the day we call Sunday. Sozomex has delivered down a tradi- tion, that at Constantinople, and almost among all the churches, Christians did assemble on the Sabbath, and also on the first day of the week ; but at Rome and Alexandria, not so. — Magdebur. 4th Cent. fol. 224. Phelps. — " Indeed so prevalent was this party (Sabbath-keepers) at one time, and so superstitious withal in their obser- vance of the seventh day, that to coun- teract it, the council of Laodicea, about A. D. 350, passed a decree saying, It is not proper for Christians to Judaize, and to cease from labor on the Sabbath, but they ought to work on this day, and put especial honor upon the Lord's day, by refraining from labor, as Christians. If any one be found Judaizing, let him be anathematized." — Perpetuity Sab. p. 151. Kixgsbury. — Those who lived imme- diately after Christ did not misunderstand allusions to these different institutions. They all understood Sabbath, when used alone, to refer to the seventh day, or Jewish rest, and never the first day. Nor was it till after the disputes between the Jewish and Gentile converts had mainly subsided, and civil rulers (Romans) had required the observance of Lord's day, and forbidden the keeping of the seventh, that the term Sabbath, was applied to the first day of the week. It was not until A. D. 603, that a papal decree was made prohibiting the observance of the Sab- bath.—The Sab. p. 206. With the light that the Bible reflects upon this subject, and from the practice of the early Christians, they are con- strained to believe and practise as they do, notwithstanding the great body of the Christian world is arrayed against them ; but they are assured that they have truth in their favor, and that it is mighty, and will ere long prevail. history or THE GERMAN SEVENTH U\\ BAPTISTS. LOO HISTORY OF THE GERMAN SEVENTH DAY BAPTISTS. BY WILLIAM M. FAHNESTOCK, M. D., BORDENTOWN, N. J. About the year 1G94, a controversy arose in the Protestant churches of Ger- many and Holland, in which vigorous at- tempts were made to reform some of the errors of the church, and with the design of promoting a more practical, vital reli- gion. This party, at the head of which was the pious Spencr, ecclesiastical super- intendent of the court of Saxony, was op- posed, violently, and alter having bestowed upon them, in ridicule, the epithet of Pie- tists, they were suppressed in their public ministrations and lectures, by the Consis- tory of Wittcmberg. Notwithstanding they were prohibited from promulgating, pub- licly, their views and principles, it led to inquiry among the people. This state of things continuing, many learned men of different universities left Europe and emi- grated to America, whilst others remained and persevered in the prosecution of the work they had commenced with so much diligence. In the year 1708, Alexander Alack, of Schriesheim, and seven others in Schwartzenau, Germany, met together, re- gularly, to examine carefully and impar- tially, the doctrines of the New Testament, and to ascertain what are the obligations it imposes on professing Christians ; deter- mining to lay aside all preconceived opin- ions and traditional observances. The result of ftieir inquiries terminated in the formation of the society now called the Dunkers, or First Day German Baptists. Meeting with much persecution as they grew into some importance, as all did who had independence enough to differ from the popular church, some were driven into Holland, some to Crefelt in the Duchy of Cleves, and the mother church voluntarily removed to Serustervin, in Friesland; and from thence emigrated to America in 1719, and dispersed to different parts of Pennsyl- vania, to Germantown, Skippack, Oley, Conestoga, and elsewhere. They formed a church at Germantown in 1723, under the charge of Peter Becker. The church grew rapidly in this country, receiving members from the banks of the Wissahic- con and from Lancaster county, and soon after a church was established at Muehl- bach, (Mill creek,) in that county. Of this community was one Conrad Beisscl, a na- tive of Germany. He had been a Presby- terian, and fled from the persecutions of that period. Wholly intent upon seeking out the true obligations of the word of God, and the proper observance of the rites and ceremonies it imposes, stripped of human authority, he conceived that there was an error among the Dunkers, in the obser- vance of the day for the sabbath — that the seventh day was the command of the Lord God, and that day being established and sanctified, by the Great Jehovah, for ever, and no change, nor authority for change ever having been announced to man, by any power sufficient to set aside the solemn decree of the Almighty — a decree which he declared that he had sanctified for ever, — he felt it to be his duty to contend for the observance of that day. About the year 1725, he published a tract entering into a discussion of this point, which 110 HISTORY OF THE GERMAN SEVENTH DAY BAPTISTS. created some excitement and disturbance in the Society at .Mill Creek; upon which he retired from the settlement, and went secretly to a cell on the banks of the Co- calico, (in the same county,) which had previously been occupied by one Elimelich, a hermit. His place of retirement was unknown for a long time to the people he had left, and when discovered, many of the Society at Mill Creek, who had become convinced of the truth of his proposition for the observance of the sabbath, settled around him in solitary cottages. They adopted the original sabbath — the seventh day — for public worship, in the year 1726 ; which has ever since been observed by their descendants, even unto the present day. In the year 1732, the solitary life was changed into a conventicle one, and a Monastic Society was established as soon as the first buildings erected for the pur- pose were finished — May, 1733, — consti- tuting, with the buildings subsequently erected by the community, the irregular, enclosed village of Ephrata. The habit of the Capuchins, or White Friars, was adopted by both the brethren and sisters ; which consisted of a shirt, trowsers, and vest, with a long white gown and cowl, of woollen web in winter, and linen in sum- mer. That of the sisters differed only in the substitution of petticoats for trowsers, and some little peculiarity in the shape of the cowl. Monistic names were given to all who entered the cloister. Onesimus (Israel Eckerlin) was constituted Prior, who was succeeded by Jabez, (Peter Mil- ler,) and the title of Father — spiritual father — was bestowed by the Society, upon Beissel, whose monastic name was Fried- sam ; to which the brethren afterwards added Gottrecht — implying, together, Peaceable God-right. In the year 1740, there were thirty-six single brethren in the cloister, and thirty-five sisters ; and at one time, the Society, inclu ling the members living in the neighborhood, numbered near- ly three hundred. The community was a republic, in which all stood upon perfect equality and free- dom. No monastic vows were taken, neither had they anv written covenant, as is common in the Baptist churches. The New Testament was their confession of faith, their code of laws, and their church discipline. The property which belonged to the Society, by donation, and the labor of the single brethren and sisters, was common stock ; but none were obliged to throw in their own property, or give up any of their possessions. The Society was supported by the income of the farm, grist mill, paper mill, oil mill, fulling mill, and the labor of the brethren and sisters in the cloister. The principles of the Seventh Day Bap- tist Society of Ephrata, but little under- stood, generally, and much misrepresented abroad, may be summed up in a few words, viz. : 1. They believe, that " all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is pro- fitable for doctrine, for correction, for in- struction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works ;" and, therefore, they receive the Bible as the only rule of faith, covenant, and code of laws for church government. They do not admit the least license with the letter and spirit of the Scriptures, and especially the New Testa- ment— do not allow one jot or tittle to be added or rejected in the administration of the ordinances, but practise them precisely as they are instituted and made an example by Jesus Christ in his word. 2. They believe in the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the trinity of the Godhead ; having unfurled this distinctive banner on the first page of a hymn book which they had printed for the Society as early as 1739, viz. :'" There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood ; and these three agree in one." 3. They believe that salvation is of grace, and not of works; and they rely solely on the merits and atonement of Christ. They believe, also, that that atonement is sufficient for every creature — that Christ died for all who will call upon his name, and offer fruits meet for repent- ance ; and that all who come unto Christ are drawn of the Father. 4. They observe the original Sabbath, the seventh day, finding no other day com- HISTORY OF THE GERM \\ *i:\ BN III DAY BAH , 111 Banded in the Scriptun as hi>/ improve the Bubjecl still farther, or have am remarks relative to the topic to make, is ;it perfect freedom to express them, r and singing, n\ ith the reading of i psalm, instead <'t* a benediction, conclude the sen i<-e. At another time, and in an- other place, I may enter into a full expo- aition of the principles and ordinances of this Society, and exhibit at length their doctrines, and the grounds on which they are predicated. This Society lias been much misrepre- sented by w Titers who know but little of them, and mostly draw on their imagina- tions and the libels of the persecutors of the Society, tor the principles of this peo- ple. In a short notice "I' Kphrata in Gor- don's Gazetteer of Pennsylvania, drawn from an account published by one not very friendly to the Society, in the Trans- actions of the Historical Society of Penn- sylvania, several errors were inadvertently and unconsciously promulgated by the respected author. The good and devout Founder is represented as a crafty, de- signing usurper of ecclesiastical authority7, and as assuming titles, honors, and power. This is not the place to enter into a full refutation of these charges, which are without foundation, and could only have originated in gross ignorance, or shameful wickedness. Beissel, who had been edu- cated in the Calvinistic faith, left Europe that he might enjoy freedom of opinion in America ; he withdrew from the Society of Dunkers at Mill Creek, because his views on the sabbath produced some dis- sension : and after he was drawn from his seclusion by love for those who came and settled around him, and entreated his ministry, he devoted his whole life and property to advance the welfare of the Society; giving the management of the secular affairs entirely into the hands of others, while he gave his attention wholly to instructing them in the Word of Life, and establishing the gospel in its truth and simplicity. The titles of " Father," and " Gottrccht," were conferred upon him by his brethren, and were not a presumptuous assumption of Beissel. Their principles are equally misrepresented in that as well as most other English accounts of the Society. In Buck's Theological Diction- ary we are told, that " the principal tenets appear t<> l><- these : that future happinet i is only attained \>\ penance and outward mortification in this life ; and thai ( Ihrist, bj Ins meritoi ious suflei came the Redeemer of mankind in g< neral, i«l> indh idual of the human ra< i . a life of abstinence ami restraint! n work out his own salvation. Nay tl gO so far as l«. admit of WOtkfl of SU] I rogation, ami declare that a man may d<» , much more than he is in justice or equity : obliged to do, and that his superabundant works may therefore ho applied to the sal- vation of others ;" and a great many other things equally ridiculous and unfounded. The account in that hook is a tissue of misrepresentation, unworthy a place in a work of that character. It is not one of their customs to wear long beards, as is frequently said of them ; this is more the case with the Dunkers and Menonists. They are often represented as living on vegetables, the rules of the i Society forbidding meats, for the purpose of mortifying the natural appetite, and also J as lying on wooden benches, with billets i' of wood for pillows, as an act of penance, ij The true reason and explanation of this matter is, that both were done from con- siderations of economy. Their circum- stances were very restricted, and their undertaking great. They studied the strictest simplicity and economy in all their arrangements : wooden flagons, t wooden goblets, turned wooden trays, I; were used in administering the commu- |! nion ; and the same goblets are still in ! use, though they have been presented • with more costly ones. Even the plates, off which they ate, were octangular pieces of thin poplar boards, their forks and can- dlesticks were of wood, and also every other article that could be made of that material, was used by the whole commu- nity. After they were relieved from the pressure of their expensive enterprise in providing such extensive accommodations, they enjoyed the cot for repose, and many others of the good things of life: though temperance in eating and drinking was scrupulously regarded. And it may be well to remark, there were not any ardent spirits used in building the whole village, * the timber of which was hewn, and all th^ i boards sawed by hand during the winter ! 15 114 HISTORY OF THE GERMAN SEVENTH DAY BAPTISTS. months. The Society was a social com- munity, and not a cold, repulsive, bigoted compact ; though it has been sometimes represented as reserved and distant, its members not giving an answer when ad- dressed on the road. Morgan Edwards, in his " Materials towards a History of the American Baptists," (published in 1770,) bears a different testimony; he says: " From the uncouth dress, the recluse and ascetic life of these people, sour aspects and rough manners might be expected ; but on the contrary, a smiling innocence and meekness grace their countenances, and a softness of tone and accent adorn their conversation, and make their deport- ment gentle and obliging. Their singing is charming ; partly owing to the pleasant- ness of their voices, the variety of parts they carry on together, and the devout manner of performance." And of Beissel, he gives the following character, which he says he had from one who knew him well. " He was very strict in his morals, and practised self-denial to an uncommon de- gree. Enthusiastic and whimsical he cer- tainly was ; but an apparent devoutness and sincerity ran through all his oddities. He was not an adept in any of the liberal arts and sciences except music, in which he excelled. He composed and set to music (in two, four, five, and seven parts) a volume of hymns, another of anthems. He published a dissertation on the fall of man, in the mysterious strain ; also a volume of letters. He left behind him several books in manuscript, curiously written and embellished." One writer has made a remark, as invidious as it is un- founded, on the sisterhood, in stating that, " the sisters, it would seem, took little de- light in their state of single blessedness, and two only (aged and ill-favored ones we may suppose) continued steadfast in renunciation of marriages." They never had to renounce matrimony on entering the convent ; and but four or five of the whole number that have been in the clois- ter, in the period of one hundred and ten years, left and were married. One of th^se rmrried a gentleman in the city of Philadelphia, and afterwards much re- gretted her change, as did all others who left the " stille einsamkeit." The rest continued steadfast in that state of single blessedness, and now, save those remain- ing in the convent, lie beside each other in the beautiful cemetery in the fore ground of the village. These little things would not be consid- cred worthy of any notice, but from fresh currency which has been given to them by a late popular work, which is exten- sively circulated throughout the State. We conclude our notice of the gratuitous aspersions, by a few words in reply to the charge of their denying the doctrine of original sin, and the eternity of punish- ment. They do not hold that Adam's fall condemns indiscriminately all born souls, for many are born and die without sinning ; but they admit and teach, that in the fall of Adam all disposition to good and holiness was lost, and that the whole race inherit a natural innate depravity, which will lead them to sin, and prove their sure condemnation, unless they re- pent, and are born again of the Holy Spirit. Beissel wrote a book on this sub- ject, which is as curious as it is ingenious. He enters into long disquisitions on the nature of Adam and his capabilities, before the fall ; explaining many things of the fall, and with it elucidating several parts of the Scriptures, which have, and would easily escape the attention of men of less profundity of genius. His views are somewhat mysterious, yet deep and inge- nious, but in the present day would be deemed little more than refined specula- tions, sublimated into visions. But none go to deny the depravity of the human heart, and the sad consequences which the fall of Adam has entailed on every succeeding generation, unless each creature be regenerated and born again through the sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit. They do not believe in universal salvation in the usual acceptation of the term, but they teach the sure reward of submission and obedience to the requi- sitions of the Lord, through the mercy of God in Christ Jesus ; and believe fully in the punishment of transgression ; for " the wages of sin is death"— -death to the joys of heaven, and an exclusion from the pre- sence of the Lord ; " Cast into utter dark- ness, where there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, where the fire is never quenched, where the worm never HISTORY OP THE GERMAN BEVENTH DAT? BAPTI8T8 1 16 dieth." The idea of a universal restora- tion did wort among some in the ear!) days, and it is to be attril uted to attempts to explain the fifteenth chapteT of the first epistle to the Corinthians, and the twen- tieth chapter of the Revelations, and re- concile some other parts of the Scriptures. If, however, is n<'\« t taught as a doctrine, but is a!wa_\ s approached with the greatest caution and delicacy, by their pastor in private conversations with the members, who desire to he instructed upon this sub- ject; and who invariably admonishes them to be diligent in making their codling and election sun1 ; to be prepared for the first resurrection and not to depend on a second. Though they considered contention with arms and at law unchristian and unbecom- ing professors, yet they were decided - in the Revolution, and have, unfor- tunately, had to defend themselves too frequently in courts of justice. To set an example of forbearance and Christian meekness, they suffered for a long time to be Wronged and plundered, until forbear- ance was no longer a virtue. In the French war (the war of 1756,) the doors of the cloister, including the chapels, meeting room, and every other building, were opened as a refuge for the inhabitants of Tulpehocken and Paxton settlements, then the frontiers, from the incursions of the hostile Indians, all of whom were re- ceived and kept by the Society during the period of alarm and danger: — upon hear- ing of which, a company of infantry was despatched by the royal government from Philadelphia to protect Ephrata ; and on representation of the character of the So- ciety, by the commissioners who were sent to visit the place, the Government made them a present of a pair of very large glass communion goblets, which was the only recompense they would receive. At an earlier period they attracted the ♦attention of the Penn family, and one of the young ladies, in England, commenced a correspondence with the Society.* Gov- ernor Penn visited them frequently, and desirous of giving them a solid evidence * One letter from Lady Juliana Penn to Peter Miller, may be found in the Memoirs of Daniel "Rittenhouse, LL. D., F. R. S. of Ins regard, had i trad of five ti, acres of land surrounding Bphrata \ <\ ed ami cohvev< d to them, Seventh Da) Baptist Manor; bol they refused to accept it, believing thai large ji< .it- were calculated to en{ strife, and as more becoming to ( i pilgrimBand sojourners not to beal in the gains of this world and the accu- mulation of property. After the battle of Brandywine the whole establishment was opened to receive the wounded Amer- icans, great numbers of whom were brought there in wagons, a distance of more than forty miles ; and one hundred and fifty of whom died, and arc buried on Mount Zion. Their doors were ev< r open to the weary traveller, and all vis- itors were cordially received and enter- tained, while they tarried, as is done in the hospices of Europe. They gave all the necessary supplies to the needy, even their own beds, and to stripping their own backs to afford some shelter from the " peltings of the pitiless storm," to those who were exposed to the weather in inclement sea- sons. Many of the brethren being men of education, they established, at a very early period, a school, which soon gained for itself an honorable reputation, numbers of young men from Philadelphia and Bal- timore being sent hither to be educated. A sabbath school was also instituted for re- ligious instruction, which flourished many- years, and was attended with some re- markable consequences. It produced an anxious inquiry among the juvenile popu- lation who attended the school, which increased and grew into what is now termed a revival of religion. The scholars of the sabbath school met together every day before and after common school hours, to pray and exhort one another, under the superintendence of one of the brethren. The excitement ran into excess, and betrayed a zeal not according to knowledge ; which induced Friedsam to discourage an enterprise, which had been commenced, and was partly under way, namely, to erect a house for their especial use, to be called Succoth. Ludwig Hcccker, or Brother Obcd, as he was de- signated, who was the teacher of the com- mon school, projected the plan of holding 116 HISTORY OF 'THE GERMAN SEVENTH DAY BAPTISTS. a school in the afternoon of the sabbath, and who, in connection with some of the other brethren, commenced it, to give in- struction to the indigent children who were kept from regular school by employ- ments which their necessities obliged them to be engaged at during the week, as well as to give religious instruction to those of better circumstances. It is not known in what year exactly that the sabbath school was commenced. Ilcecker came to Ephrata in the year 1739, and it is pre- sumed that he began, soon after he took up his residence amongst the brethren. The materials for the building were fur- nished, as is recorded in the minutes of the Society, in the year 1749. After the battle of Brandywine, the sabbath school room, with others, was given up for a hospital, which was occupied as such some time ; and the school was never afterwards resumed. Hoecker at that period was sixty years of age. To Robert Raikes is certainly due the honor of having projected and successfully introduced the present general system of Sunday school instruction, but there is much credit justly due to the Seventh Day Baptists of Ephrata, for having established and maintained in operation, for a period of upwards of thirty years, a sabbath school, forty years before the first school was opened by the Gloucester philanthropist. By this time (1777) the Society began to decline, but not from causes alleged by somc writers — want of vigor of mind in the successor of Beissel, who died 1763 ; for his successor, Peter Miller, was a man of much greater powers of mind, and had the management of the establishment during Beissel's time ; and to his energy and per- severance is mainly attributable the great prosperity of the institution in its early days. The institution was one of the seventeenth century, and in accordance with European feelings, most of the mem- bers being natives of Germany. The state of public opinion at Beissel's death was widely different from what it was during the first fifty years after Ephrata was established, in relation to politics and government; and with this march of in- tellect, di fie rent sentiments were enter- tained in regard to religious institutions. It was commenced as a social community in the midst of a wilderncs — the hand of improvement made the desert bloom as the rose, — and at that time (1768) was not surrounded by a dense, promiscuous popu- lation. These circumstances connected with incessant persecution, the turmoil and contention into which they were thrown and constantly kept by some of their envious neighbors, were the principal causes of the decline of the Society. There is still a small band who retain the principles, and meet together regu- larly to worship, on the evening and the morning of the Sabbath ; but they arc a flock without a shepherd — they have the forms but not the spirit, nor the zeal of their predecessors. The ancient commu- nity has been called " zealots." Zeal is, certainly, better than indifference, and enthusiasm better than deadness. Zeal is the life of Christianity, and it is an honor to the denomination to be designated by a title, even if it be in ridicule, which im- ports their activity and faithfulness. The people of Ephrata now lack that desirable quality for which those of old are stigma- tized ; for that zeal would be an honor to them should they merit it. Ephrata would be a paradise as it was in former days, were the people now here such zealots, as those they have descended from. They now partake more of the cold Christianity of the world. It must not, however, be supposed that they were ranters, or made a noise and display in their zeal. It was a quiet, all-absorbing zeal, in which the world and all its vanities were sacrificed to pure and constant devotion : they were living and moving in this world, performing diligent- ly all the duties that devolved upon them here ; but their spirits, and all their con- versation, were centered in heaven. Of them, who were derided witli the epithet of " zealots," Mr. Winchester, speaking of the people of Ephrata, in his dialogues, says : " I remember the Rev. Morgan Ed- wards, formerly minister of the Baptist church in Philadelphia, once said to me : ' God will always have a visible people on earth, and these (the society at Ephrata) are his people at present, above any other in the world.' " Mr. Winchester says further, " They walk in all the command- ments and ordinances of the Lord blame- less, both in public and private. They HISTORY OP THE GERMAN SEVENTH I>\\ i;\l'i i 11 bring up their children, (no* speaking of the married members,) in the nurture and admonition of the Lord j no noise, rude- ihameless mirth, loud laughter, is beard within their doors. The Ian of kindness is in their mouths j n<> sourness or moroseneas disgraces their religion, and whatsoever the) believe their Saviour commands they practise, without inquir- ing, or regarding what others do. They read much; they sing and pray much; they are constant attendants upon the worship of it<^\: their dwelling bouses arc all houses of prayer." But alas! alas! it is not so now. Kphrata has fallen — degenerated beyond all conception. It is QOW spiritually dead. Ichabod is written upon the walls of this branch of our Zion. As early as 1758, there was a branch of this Society established at the Bermu- dian Creek, in York county, about fifteen miles from the town of York ; some of the members of which still remain, though they have been without preaching many years. Another was established in 1763, in Bedford county, which still flourishes, and many members of the present Society are scattered through the counties of the interior of the State ; so that the truth which was left has not become extinct, but is still extending, which is particularly the case at Snowhill, now their principal set- tlement ; and the hope is still entertained, that the little one may become a thousand, and the small one a great nation. For a further detail of the history of this Society, a description of the Monastic Institution at Ephrata, and an account of their extensive literary labours and nume- rous publications, as well as their music, which is peculiar to themselves, see the writer's " Historical Sketch," in Hazard's Register of Pennsvlvania, vol. xv. page i6i. This obscure and unobtrusive little flock of the Great Shepherd and Bishop of Souls, after having passed nearly a century and a quarter under the benign institutions of our blessed country, whose republican Constitution guaranties, alike, equal rights and immunities to all its citizens, and ex- tends the panoply of unfettered relisrious freedom over all denominations, without any preference or shade of distinction, is now attracting much attention throu the laud, and even abroad in di tries, from the persecute cutions the\ have Buffered w ilh'ii B (since the first edition of this work,) at the hands of the ( 'ml Ma . in this land of vaunted freedom; and which have at length roused them, after failing to ob- tain redress at Legislative Halls, to appeal to the highest judicial tribunals, to test the constitutionality of the State Statutes, which abridge their religious rights, and interfere with their civil immunities. And as tall oaks from little acorns crow, the sacred principle for which they are contending — religious freedom — may affect the- liberty of every individual of the Republic, and agitate the whole mass of our wide; spread population, (as it involves one of the most important principles of human govern- ment— no less than the right of Govern- ment to prescribe religious observances — a virtual union of Church and State,) it becomes proper, as a part of the history of this People, to note some of the circum- stances connected with this movement, which is destined to affect both the legis- lation and the judicature of all the States of our Union ; as well as to define their position and save these humble followers of the lovely Jesus from misrepresentation and unjust obloquy ; as we often hear the question propounded : Who are these Se- venth day Baptists ? and, What are they contending for? To all of which we simply reply : They are a body of evan- gelical Christians, wrell spoken of by all men, who for more than a century, have been content to enjoy, in quietness, the undeniable privilege of worshipping Al- mighty God according to the dictates of their consciences. They are men and citizens of the State, on a perfect equality with all others — entitled to all the privi- leges and immunities of all other citizens. They are freemen — independent freemen — integral parts of the body politic ; who have the same rights, and the same claims to protection, in all the pursuits of life and happiness, as other citizens. They contend against unequal and invidious laws — they contend for the inalienable right of worship- ping their Father in Heaven agreeably to the dictates of His lav \ who alone is Law- giver in Zion ; — and resist being compelled, 118 HISTORY' OF THE GERMAN SEVENTH DAY BAPTISTS. by lines and penalties, to "keep M the com- mandments \Y BAPTISTS. 119 ami l>\ oar honored Constitution, the Seventh day Baptists, in common with ;tll other citizens of our Republic, are secured in their religious rights — religious equality and religious privileges. Thai Constitu- tion suffers do ban on any individual's religious principles — no preference to be given to an] Bed or part) ; yet by suo- e legislative enactments, many of the States have imposed fines and penalties, and Justices of the Peace have enforced them against freemen of the Republic, for exercising their constitutional right of worshipping Almighty God, on his own appointed, hallowed, sanctified day, and pursuing their honest avocations on the other six days of the week. Thus, the Seventh day Baptists, in violation of vested rights and immunities, have been arraigned lx?forc the civil magistrates of the land as evil doers and disturbers of the peace, and have repeatedly been fined as criminals. They are treated as out- laws, placed before the public in a false and unfavorable light, and forced to yield enths of their time to religious rest, while other denominations observe but ore-seventh ; and that not the day re- quired by the Word of God : and strange inconsistency, their persecutors, proven, on trial, to be the greater violators of the statute — guilty of open, flagrant immora- lities, reveling in vices and crimes, regard- less of God or man, on the legalized rest- day, escape, and prosecute with impunity. Strange as it may appear, yet it is never- theless the fact, that with such testimony before the Magistrate, the Seventh day Baptists are mulcted, and the vagabond escapes. Thus, under unjust enactments, the ungodly oppress, and the righteous suffer; and this in the land of boasted liberality of sentiment and charter rights — the land of vaunted liberty and equality. And thus they must suffer until the Con- stitution shall have been vindicated by the Supreme Bench. By that ever glorious Constitution, our liberties, our religious equality and reli- gious rights, are inviolably secured, and so secured that they cannot be shaken or wrested from us by any action of any State Legislature. The toleration of re- has never been conferred upon our Legislature. It is an inherent right, a d right, in the people, in each in- dividual himself, m vet delegated t«» the i . latllie, ii« . r to thi' ' the l nion. All toleration or attempts at toleration in matters of religious faith and practice, is not only, in our estimation, ■ usurpation, but the vilest tyranny; be- cause it assumes the power t<> grant and to withhold religious prh ileges, which be- long unto God alone. We deny that the State or the Federal Government have any power to legislate on the subject. The Constitution of the State (Pennsyl- vania,) declares: "that no preferena shall evelr be given, ly law, to any reli- gious establishments or model <>j ship ;" and the Constitution of the l'ni?< d States ordains, that " Osmgfett shall make no law respecting an establishment qj re- ligion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;" and again: " This Constitution, and the laws of the United States, which shall be made in pursuance thereof, shall be the supreme law of the land, and the Judges i?i every State shall be bound thereby, any thing in the constitu- tion OR LAWS of any state to the contrary notwithstanding." What is the difference, we ask, of a State religion, which taxes a parish a few dollars to support the established Church, and taking fifty -two days every year of a freeman's precious time, who voluntarily and conscientiously devotes the time re- quired of him by his Maker, according to the requirements of His Word, — to sacrifice to the sectarian prejudices of those who have usurped a preference ? It is, we maintain, a ^preference" given to the Sunday sect — making an unjust and oppressive distinction among the members of the same republican family. Besides, these Sunday laws, with their fines and penalties, are hindrances to the reception of the truth ; and if acquiesced in, must, eventually, destroy its promulga- tion throughout the land. Under these unrighteous laws, it cannot have " free course." This preference to sect, and this restriction of privilege, are in direct vio- lation of our charter immunities — are wanton infractions on the Constitution of the State, and of the General Government. That this security was designed by the Constitution of the United States, we have 120 HISTORY OF THE GERMAN SEVENTH DAY BAPTISTS. from the pen of the immortal Washing- tun ; who was the Presiding Officer of the Convention that framed that instrument. In a letter written to a First-day Baptist Church, in Virginia, bearing date.August 4th, 1789, he emphatically remarks : " If I had the least idea of any difficulty re- sulting from the Constitution, adopted by the Convention of which I had the honor to be President, when it was framed, so as to endanger the rights of any religious denomination, I never should have at- tached my name to that instrument. If I had any idea that the General Govern- ment was so administered, that the liberty of conscience was endangered, I pray you ! be assured, that no man would be more willing than myself to revise and alter that part of it, so as to avoid all religious persecution. You can without doubt re- member, that I have often expressed as my opinion, that every man who conducts himself as a good citizen, is accountable alone to God for his religious faith, and should be protected in worshipping God, according to the dictates of his con- science." And the House of Represen- tatives of the United States, in the year, 1830, made the following declaration to the world on this point, in the celebrated Sunday Mail Report : — " We look in vain to that instrument for authority to say whether first day, or seventh day, or whether any day, has been made holy by the Almighty." " The Constitution regards the conscience of the Jew as sacred as that of the Chris- tian ; and gives no more authority to adopt a measure affecting the conscience of a solitary individual, than that of a whole community. That representative who would violate this principle, would lose his delegated character, and forfeit the confi- dence of his constituents. If Congress should declare the first day of the week holy, it would not convince the Jew nor the Sabbatarian. It would dissatisfy both, and consequently convert neither." " If a solemn act of legislation shall in one point define the law of God, or point out to the citizen one religious duty, it may with equal propriety define part of revelation, and enforce eve gious obligation, even to the forms and ceremonies of worship, the endowments of the church, and the support of the ."* " The framers of the Con- stitution recognized the eternal principle, that man's relation to his God is above human legislation, and his rights of con- science inalienable. Reasoning was not necessary to establish this truth ; we are conscious of it in our own bosoms. It is this consciousness which, in defiance of human laws, has sustained so many martyrs in tortures and flames. They felt that their duty to God was superior to human enactments, and that man could exercise no authority over their con- sciences. It is an inborn principle, which nothing can eradicate." . " It is the duty of the Government to afford to all, to Jew or Gentile — Pagan or Christian — the protection and advantage of our benignant institutions, on Sunday as well as every day of the week." Thus, in violation of our clearly defined charter rights, we are despoiled of our sacred immunities, by the secular arm. Our moorings have been cut loose — we have been sent adrift — our only Ararat is the ever glorious Constitution. We are, therefore, found in the Courts of Justice, much against our own inclinations. Op- posed as we are in principle to contention and conflict under ordinary circumstances, yet it now becomes our duty, an impera- tive duty, to maintain our rights with all our ability, especially as fidelity to our high calling involves the most sacred prin- ciples, and that the more imperatively as the integrity of the law of our Maker is concerned, and the peculiar privilege of honoring Him and His institutions is put in jeopardy. As His disciples, we are required to contend for " the faith once delivered to the Saints." In this matter, we are not our own — " We are bought with a price ;" — We have pledged our allegiance to Heaven, and have to " fight the good fight of faith," like true " soldiers of the Cross." The Sovereign of the Universe has commanded us to : " Re- member the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shall thou labor and do all thy work : but the Seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God : in it thou shall do do work, thou nor thy son, nor thy daugh- ter, thy man servant, nor thy maid ser- vant, nor thy cattle, nor the stranger that HI8T0M OF THE GERMAN SEVENTH DA\ BAPTI 121 is within thy gates : for in Bbt days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all thai in them is, and rested the seventh da) : wherefore the Lord blessed the Sab- bath day and hallow. .1 it." This Sab- bath he has imposed upon us by a power which belongs to himself alone; and it is perpetually obligatory on us, to "sanc- tify that (/ hi- sanctified in its stead ; neither has lie delegated any power to an\ Potentate, ( )hurch, or Legislature — to any Bishop, Priest, or People, to do so. It, therefore, remains untouched by Divine Authority, and is as binding as the tablet of stone on w bich the statute is written by the finger of God — the Sabbath of the Lord forever J Until lie ahrogatcs it or absolve us from the service, it is our so- lemn duty to observe it, and it only ; and not to recognize any other substituted or enforced by num. It is due to the Ma- if Heaven, that we be faithful to this His command ; and it is likewise due to ourselves and to our posterity. It is, also our duty to resist the unhallowed en- croachments of the secular power in inter- fering with the promulgation of the Truth of God our Father ; for if we suffer the rights of citizenship — the inestimable privileges of religious liberty — to be wrested from us and succumb to the usurpations of political power in enforcing the sanctification of the first day of the week, we do His cause much damage, by recognizing that infringement, and by suffering that encroachment to deter others from embracing the unmutilated Truth. The secular power has usurped our reli- gious immunities ; and inasmuch as it in- terferes with the "free exercise" of reli- gion, and the reception of the word of God, it is an infraction of the fundamental law. Requiring any man or set of men, to yield more than their voluntary consecra- tion of a seventh part of their time to the service of their Maker, which is all that He requires, is a vile infraction of vested rights, and a slander on our professions of perfect civil and religious equality. Has it come to this in America ? — the land of Freedom ! — the boasted Asylum for the oppressed of all nations, — that a religious society " of good n iport*1 is put under bin ' BV< ii ". W >■ blush we^proclaim it : but it is > \< a so. \\ bat has been gained bj our forefather! having left the iron glebe of despotism ' ( Kir Republicans saj : u We may enj< Seventh-day Sabbath in qtrietne ,M Bui they say rei M You must also keep holy first day" Where do the) derive anj Buch authority from the Constitution — from our Magna Charta 1 Where is the country in Europe, at the present day, that would not grant us the privili meeting together on the seventh day ! A Romish or Moslem hierarchy would not withhold that " boon ?" What peculiar religious privileges, then, do we enjoy as American citizens ? Absolutely none ! If the dominant party may force us to keep days holy not enjoined by the Scriptures, what is to prevent them from forcing us to support a State or National Ecclesias- tical Establishment? — And if permitted to progress in their usurpations of authority, who knows how soon we may be placed under that yoke ? O America ! America ! — land of Washington, of Adams, of Jef- ferson, and of Madison, we mourn thy fall — we blush for thy shame. Where need we dread more illiberal, less considerate treatment, than we have received at the hands of our republican brethren. Dragged, time after time, before the Offi- cers of Justice ; fined under odious and partial laws ; and turned away from the Halls of Legislation without definite action on our memorials, when we appealed for redress — asking merely for exemptions from the penalties of invidious statutes, in virtue of being conscientious Sabbath- keepers, — we have no resort, no City of Rcfi/gc but the Polar Star of Freedom, the Constitution of the Republic. If our rights are not secured by our Magna Charta, and not respected b\r our Judi- ciary, in vain may we appeal to the mag- nanimity of bigoted sectarians and preju- diced legislators. Sectarian bigotry cru- cified the Redeemer — " they hated him without a cause." Sectarian bigotry mur- dered the Apostles and persecuted the saints unto death. Human nature is still the same. — Give man power and he will abuse it ; the strong will trample on the weak : and if left to the tender mercies of 16 122 HISTORY OF THE GERMAN SEVENTH DAY BAPTISTS. sectarian prejudices, we may never hope for the restoration of our rights, which have been wrested horn us by unjust #nd iniquitous legislation. We have therefore been constrained to appeal to the Judicial tribunals, not from any circumstances of our own seeking, but in self-defence — in S( extremity, to save God's heritage from being trampled under foot by the secular power, and the observance of His own institution being suppressed by the machinations of man. We are, thus, called upon by the most sacred sense of duty, to resist these intolerable invasions on our rights. We owe it to ourselves, to human rights and to our Maker. Where is our religious liberty if not per- mitted to follow the dictates of our own consciences, freely, fully, in serving our Maker, but are forced to yield another sixth of our precious time, than that re- quired by our legitimate Ruler, by the enactment of unequal and invidious State statutes ? Where is our religious freedom, if compelled to cease from our indefeasible right of " the pursuit of happiness" and the maintenance of our families, by arbi- trary and partial legislation '? Our liberty is but the liberty of slaves — our freedom, but the freedom of the dungeon. If we prove recreant to our high trust, we are worthy of fines and shackles ; and if we submit to the impious desecration of God's prerogatives and our own blood-bought privileges, we deserve the rack and the stake. "We have, therefore, we repeat, been constrained to appeal to the highest tribunals of the land to regain our consti- tutional rights ; without wishing, in the least, to disturb the peace of society or in- terfere with the rights of others, but bein°; actuated solely by a sense of duty, to maintain the integrity of God's holy law, and preserve, unimpaired, the religious immunities of our happy country. Our trust is in God and the rectitude of our Judiciary. The Supreme Court cannot declare in the lace of the world, that the American Republic does not tolerate Re- ligious Freedom ! They cannot, they will stultify our Constitution and make our Government a laughing stock to all Europe — to the whole civilized world, by a decision at such variance with the genius of our institutions and the professions of our boasted preten- sions. This is the position of our persecuted Society ; and we have claimed the privi- lege of giving this portion of our history, as due to the whole church, as well as to ourselves : for they, knowing how to ap- preciate religious liberty, have a right to a candid exposition of our grievances, as a professing church, and as members of the same republican family. The great principle for which the seventh day Peo- ple are contending — -unfettered religious liberty — is alike dear to all the churches of the land : it belongs equally to all de- nominations, however large, or however small. — It underlies the whole system of Protestanism and of Republicanism, and is the only security for all the churches, and the whole church, against any usur- pations of superiority of sect ; which the ambition of an aspiring hierarchy may, at no distant day, assume, to bring into subjection all not of her own faith and not within her own pale ; and whose aim may not only be to monopolize a universal ecclesiastical See, but to sway the secular arm and fill the Chair of State. Regard- ing the whole design of human govern- ment to be to protect the people, indivi- dually and collectively, in their respective rights, and to afford security to their per- sons and property, we protest against any power in our Legislature to pass any law relative to religious matters, other than a general law to secure all persons from molestation or wanton disturbance, at all times, when they assemble to worship Almighty God. Beyond this, any legis- lation is a usurpation of the fundamental law — the charter of our rights — the palla- dium of our liberties ! Let it be permitted on one point, and where can any limit be interposed ? We are therefore called upon as Christians and as Republicans, to take our stand and protest against every in- fringement on religious rights. As Ame- rican Citizens, as Independent Freeman, as responsible Stewards of the glorious heritage bequeathed to us by the Fathers of the Revolution, we are called upon, to maintain, unimpaired, the high privileges secured to us by the Constitution of the Republic. In conclusion, we reiterate, that we recognize the laws of the land in HISTORY OF THE BIBLE-CHRIST1 \\- L23 all secular matters, and honor the laws of God, and of God alone, io religious faith ami practice. These are the inalienable rights of everj member of the Republic. These are rights b) the people to themselves, in the formation of the Go- vernment, which n<> power can legiti- mately wtetl from them. It' a arjx d our Legislatures and sustained bj the Judiciary , then has the downfall of the Republic already commenced, and w<- n prepare to sing the requiem of M the hope of Preedocn !" HISTORY OF THE BIBLE-CHRISTIANS. BY THE REV. WILLIAM METCALFE, MINISTER OF THE BIBLE-CHRISTIAN CHURCH, NORTH THIRD STREET, PHILADELPHIA. Among the primary institutions of our Heavenly Father, for the more effectual assistance of his people in the acquisition of spiritual knowledge, and the attainment of thevend of their creation, was a visible, external Church, in which he might be worshipped, his name professed and mag- nified, his appointed ordinances duly ad- ministered, and such order and discipline maintained as should be suitable to the times and conditions of the generations of men. Such an institution existed in the Antidiluvian world; this was succeeded by the Noahaic, or Ancient Church, in which " Noah was a preacher of right- eousness." Then followed the Israclitish, and lastly came the Christian Church with all its spiritual blessings, " peace upon earth and good will to men." There is great reason to believe that the Almighty has made use of means to bring forth to view the principles of these seve- ral Churches. Noah, Abraham, and in the fulness of time, Jesus Christ, are pre- sented in the sacred Scriptures as the in- struments by whom the respective Dispen- sations were announced to the human fa- mily; and even in subsequent times, when Reformation was needed, a Luther, a Cal- vin, a Mclancthon, and others have been successively raised up in the providence of God to be the mediums for accomplish- ing his all gracious purposes, of reforming abuses in his church. Under Divine Providence, the body of people known by the appellation of Biele- Christians, began to assume an external, visible and distinct existence as a Church about the year 1600, principally through the pastoral labors of the late Rev. Wil- liam Cowherd, minister of Christ Church, Salford, England. Educated in the most liberal manner for the Christian Ministry, he was early ordained a minister of the Church of England, or Episcopal Church, and appointed to the important du- ties of a church living, at Beverly, in York- shire. In addition to his sacred charge, he became Classical Teacher and Pr< of Philology in the college at that place, and fulfilled the duties of both stations to the entire satisfaction of all concerned. While thus exercising his arduous duties at Beverly, he became acquainted with the late Rev. John Clowes, A. If., Rector of St. John's Church, Manchester, from 124 HISTORY OF THE BIBLE-CHRISTIANS. whom he received a liberal offer, and a pressing invitation to remove to Manches- ter, and exercise his ministerial powers in that populous and improving town. Thither accordingly he shortly afterwards re- moved, and for some time preached in St. John's Church, in connection with the well known and highly venerated rector of that institution. Here Mr. Cowherd became a general favorite of the con2Te- gation, and as a preacher was universally admired. Possessing a strong and vigo- rous intellect, and a deep sense of moral responsibility, he was not long willing to to be trammelled in his religious services by the ritual and forms of that denomina- tion ; he therefore, after some time, left the established National Church, and took charge of the New Jerusalem Church, in Peter street, which had been built, and was just completed for him by a number of ardent admirers of his preaching. For some time Mr. Cowherd preached at this place, and was exceedingly popu- lar ; but even in the New Jerusalem Church, professing as it does to be distin- guished for its charity, he was made to feel the influence of sectarian jealousy. This caused him to come to the determina- tion to continue there only until Provi- dence empowered him to erect a church of his own, in which he could feel himself at liberty to preach the truths of the Bible unshackled by human creeds, and unfet- tered by sectarian connections. In the year 1800, when his Meeting House in Salford was completed, he com- menced a new career ; he preached the word of God gratuitously, and supported himself by the Practice of Medicine. Believing it to be the duty of every one, in matters of faith, to turn from the erring notions, and vain traditions that were to be found in most of the denominations of professing Christians, and to draw their principles directly from the Bible, he re- quired every one who became a member of his church to proclaim himself simply a BIBLE-CHRISTIAN.* Hence origi- * None in the Christian Church, at first, were called so much as by the name of an Apostle ; we never heard of Peterians, or Paulians, or Barfholomceans, or Thaddaeans; but simply of Christians, from Christ. See Epiphajt. Hasr. 42. Marcionit. — Item. Hser. 10. nated the name by which this body of Christians are designated and known among the numerous and diversified sects of the age. His cultivated mind, tran- scendant talents, powerful eloquence and indefatigable zeal soon attracted a large and highly respectable congregation ; for in the pulpit Mr. Cowherd shone with pe- culiar lustre. He was fluent, copious, sublime, demonstrative and persuasive. Possessing a clear and harmonious voice, capable of expressing all the various pas- sions of human nature, and taking a deep interest in his subject at all times, he sel- dom failed to reach the hearts and en- lighten the understandings of his hearers. His church soon became so crowded that numbers who could not be accommodated with a seat, were yet contented to stand in the aisles that they might enjoy the pleasure of hearing his eloquent and in- structive illustrations of the Bible. In the year 1807, he began to inculcate the doc- trine of abstinence from the flesh of ani- mals as food, and total abstinence from all intoxicating liquors as religious duties. He founded his principles on the testimony of the Bible, and confirmed them by ap- peals to the facts taught by Physiology, Anatomy, and personal experience ; for he faithfully practised what he taught to others as essential to secure their salva- tion. In the spring of 1817, a number of per- ' sons, all professing to be members of the Bible Christia?i Church, as above des- cribed, including two ministers, the Rev. James Clarke, and the writer of this arti- cle, sailed from Liverpool for Philadelphia, in the ship " Liverpool Packet," Captain Stephen Singleton, Commander. This people left the land of their Nativity, with the intention of becoming citizens of these United States. They had in view as the crowning object of their emigration, the propagation of their religious views among the citizens of this great Republic, and if possible to establish the Bible Christian Church, in this free and favored land. Shortly after their landing, the Rev. Mr. Clarke, and several of his friends deter- mined to go Westward and obtain land. The other minister and two or three friends concluded to remain in the city of Brotherly Love, believing it to be their HI8T0RV OF THE BIBLE-CHRISTIANS. dui) to M Stand BtiU ami do good," trust- ing that tin- gracioua promise of theif I leavenl) Father, would be extended to them; — %* verilj thou shall be fed.*1 Xhe iif\t step in the onward progress of tins people was to bu) out a Teacher, and pen! the residence and school house ht« had occupied ; the minister intending hv the blessing of Providence, to support himself and family by Leaching school ; and to fulfil his ministerial duties by preaching on the Sabbath, like the Apostle of the Gentiles of old, " in his own hired house," to as many as mighl be disposed tt) attend and listen to his testimony < Here he adopted, at once, the order of procedure which had] been approved and acted on by his brethren in the ministry, in England. He took a chapter from the Old Testament, beginning at the first of GrSifESis in the morning, and one from the Ac."- Thstament, beginning with the first of Matthew in the afternoon, and proceeded in this way, chapter by chap- ter in regular rotation every Sabbath day, giving such an Exposition of the revealed Word of God, as he might be graciously enabled to do by the goodness of God. To make their meetings more generally known, a notice was caused to be pub- lished in several of the City papers, stat- ing, That the members of the Bible Chris- tian Church, assembled every Sabbath day in the Schools back of No. 1 0, North Front Street, at half past ten o'clock, in the morning, and at three in the afternoon ; that they did not form a Sectarian Church, deriving their doctrines from human creeds, but that they held all the doctrines, though not all the ideas of the various sects, so far as they were respectively founded on the literal expressions of Sacred Scrip- ture ; that they humbly sought, through the institutions of the Word of God, to become more efficiently edified in Bible Truths, and that they respectfully invited their fellow mortals, of any or every pro- fession, to come and hear for themselves, and if disposed, to join with them in Church membership, and unite in the all- important service of worshipping God ac- cording to the teachings of his Word. Much inconvenience was experienced from time to time, by being compelled to move their meetings from one place to an- other* Prom Front Street, w here the fmj I religious meetings of this people wer to Pear Street, then then to Germantown Road, and little Green Street. The onl) remedy the} could entertain as likely to be permanent, was to purchase a place of their own. tacerdinglj on the 31sl of M lot of ground was purchased. \ frame building which had been recently erected and used as a Lancasterian School House, was bought, removed to their lot ami titled up in a plain and suitable style (or public worship, and on the 2 1st of December, of that year, it was opened and dedicated to that purpose. \\\ the year, 1830, they became Incor- porated by Law, under the title of " The PJtiladelphia Bible Christian Church, North Third Street,'1'' and they have re- cently superceded their old frame building by the erection of a handsome brick edifice. This denomination of Christians having no Creed but the Bible, cannot re any other standard of Faith, as containing a development of their doctrines, or prin- ciples of religious belief. In the Report of a Conference, however, composed of Ministers and lay members, held in Christ Church, Salford, Manchester, in June, 1809, at which were present, Rev. Joseph Wright, Kighley, Yorkshire ; Rev. George Senior, Dalton ; Rev. Samuel Dean, Hulme, now Manchester ; and Rev. William Cow- herd, Christ Church, Salford, Manchester ; and about forty lay members as delegates from different parts of the kingdom. In that Report we find the subjoined testi- mony in relation to the Doctrines of the Trinity, the Incarnation, Revelation, the Church, and Church Discipline. " The Divine Trinity consists not of three visible beings or personal subsisten- ces— somewhere localized in a heavenly " mansion," but of three combinations of Spirit in one united kingdom. In this Great Spirit of heaven, the inmost is the Father, or essential Divine Spirit; the second, effluxed by and every-where combining with the Father, is properly the Son of God ; and the third, assumed by the Father and the Son, in and around human or angelic individuals and societies, is as properly the Son of Man, — taken | by the Son of God into union with the 12G HISTORY OF THE BIBLE-CHRISTIANS. Father, when the atonement or " at-one- menC between God and men was fully i, according to the obvious meaning of the Redee.hkk's prayer: " As thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one t/i us /" •• A ecordingly, as God is " a Spirit" and as " all men should honor the Son as ;h y honor the Father," the glorified Re- deemer, now constituting a " place pre- pared" for Christians, is there the infinite Human Spirit — the Word that was " with God," the Sox of God " before all worlds," concentrating himself finitedly in an assumed human Spirit from our earth — the Son of Man " born in time ;" dis- playing therein a " Likeness as the ap- pearance of a Max — the Likexess of the Glory of the Lord ;" and beaming thence from the indwelling and embosom- ing Father (that fills also and embosoms the universe) a threefold Holy Spirit, in which He — the True Object of all Christian worship, unitedly comes to men, according to promise, " in his own glory, in his Fathers, and (in that) of the holy angels." M This Trixity of Spirit in any of the " Father's mansions," is, according to the Scriptures, omnipresent in miniature, both within and before the eyes of every angel or spirit of "just men made per- fect," in what has been invariably called " the beatific vision." — Thus " it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. — No man hath seen God at any time : the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared (or manifested) him. — He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. — Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that will I do, that the Father may be glo- rified in the Son. — The Son can do no- thing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do : for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise." In this way, that " glorified" and visi- ble Mediator of the otherwise invisible God, from a heaven as before an angel, is every where the " express Image of the Father's Person, — the Image of his Glory." "Respecting the INCARNATION, Conference thought it necessary to inquire '.whether, as some suppose, the Divine Beixg then descended, and were ' exclu- sively enshrined within the person of .1 IIS US CHRIST; or, whether it were the E.maxated Glory of Divine Spirit of the Immutable God, as existing forth in the heavens, which became Soul in the REDEEMER. " If the DIVIXE BEIXG descended on that occasion, He who built the uni- verse, and continually gives life to every animated creature, must necessarily have icorked for a time, on our earth, as a com- mon carpenter ; and then have died, like a frail mortal : For, Jesus Christ, it is certain, by following the occupation of that reputed • parent' to whom he was ' subject,' was denominated ' the Carpen- ter ;' and, after a laborious and painful life, died as man ever dies, by the sep < ra- tion of soul and body, when he had cried, 1 Father ! into thy hanels I commend my Spirit: " But if w7e admit, as wre ought to do, according to the Scriptures, That ' God s;ave not the Spirit,' His Son, ' bv mea- sure' to JESUS CHRIST, but « dwelt' thereby in Him, in heaven, and in the universe, at the same time and in the same manner, Oxe Uxdivided God : That ' the Son of Man' also, or the Human Spirit, which was associated with the Divine at the incarnation, was in JESUS CHRIST on earth, and ' in heaven: at one and the same time ; — finally united with the GREAT OMXI- PO TEXT, the DIVIXE SPIRIT in both worlds, when He said, ' All power is given to Me in- lieaven and in earth :' — In this case, we neither finite the Divixe Spirit, nor limit the Human ' exclusively: to the person of JESUS CHRIST. On the contrary, we maintain, That they have been from eternity united in the 4 heaven of heavens,' the ■ throne of God: as intimately as the soul and body of man are united into one person ; — but not ' exclusively,' even there. That, on earth, the Human was partially separated from the Divine Spirit, at the fall of man. That in JESUS CHRIST, the fallen, the carnal spirit of man was ultimately re-united with its appropriate degree of the Divixe Spirit, as that exists, — unscparatedfrom the thro?ie, — down into ' our world. That this Divixe Spirit, ! BISTORT OF THE B?BLE-CHRI8TIAN8. . ling from the throne and pervading the universe, is that - HOLY SPIRIT,' which came upon the Virgin and assumed ility at the incarnation, Thai when this Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, the • that enlightens every man that comes into the world/ had, through the fleshly tabernacle of JESUS CHRIST diffusi 1 itself throughout this world of man, as tUicr diffuses itself in our atmo- sphcr • ; it then began to exhibit the Divine UUMAjS APPEARANCE* of the 1 1 1 . v \ in of H ■ s ether ex- hibits the rt . t (>t the sun in our atmosphere. That this ■ 1 MAG IV of that Divine Human Appearance, which n in the glorified Human Spirit;!; at the centre of creation, is the true < JESUS ('II HIST; whom we shall 'meet in the air;' — that 'Quickening * This APPEARANCE is most sublimely described by the Prophets ,- — as ' He that sitfeth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grass-hoppers ; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them as a tent to dwell in.' — Isai. xl. 22. — ' And upon the likeness of the throne was a LIKENESS as the Aimm. aiivnte of a Man above, upon it : — from the appearance of His loins even upward ; and from the appearance of His loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire ; and it had brightness round about, as the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain : — This was the appearance of the Ltkexess of the Glouy of the Lord.' — Ezek. i, 26 — 28. j In looking through the atmosphere, as in looking through a telescope, toward an object, we never see the object itself (the sun, for in- stance) but only that image of it which is formed (in the lowest stratum of the atmo- sphere, and) next the eye in the Telescope. — See Ferguson*. Lecture Vll. — Also Bp. Beiike- let's Theory on Vision, passim. t That the Human Spirit, in its greatest and smallest portions, in heaven and in man, is ever in the human form, — may be demonstrated by what is natural, thus : — « Every salt, in crystal- lizing, invariably assumes its own peculiar form. You may dissolve common salt, or saltpetre, a thousand times, and crystallize them as often by evaporating, or cooling the j water in which they are dissolved, yet will you still find the common salt will be constantly crystallized in the form of a cube, and the salt- petre in the form of a prism ,- and if you ex- I amine with a microscope such saline parti- | cles as are not visible to the naked eye, you will observe these particles to be of the same shape with the larger masses' — See Bp. Wat- son's Chem. vol. i. p. 87. Spirit,' the -Mediator between - d< h\' the kingdom to the Father1 in the eternal heavens. Thai the Glosy investing this - express [mage of the Path* r1 l ' is again the ' Holt Spirit,1 which was ven'fbrth in full manifestation from trone of JESUS,' till He was fully glorified, or till Hit Ihuw Sparr, leav- ing its fleshly Tabernacle on the ci came one with the right Spirit of Man as filled and united with the good Spirit <>' God throughout the universe. That the mo- terialbody, re-assumed at the resuscitation, and ' handled' by the unbelieving Thomas, could spontaneously pass off from the Spirit of Jesus ; as the * flesh and blood,' which ' cannot enter the kingdom of hea- ven,' undoubtedly deflagrated from the prophet Elijah, in the fire beheld by Ellslia. That, in this way, the ' body* of Jesus, which had given offence to some, and might have caused idolatry in others, became truly and properly a ' sacrifice for sin.' And that, finally, the At-onc-mcnt or reconciliation between God and Man, was virtually effected, ichcn the human spirit icas re-united with the I) and fully accomplished against sin, when Jesus, by voluntarily ' laying down His life, prevented his enemies from murder- ing him : — thus overruling their wicked design, for good to them and their poste- rity, by presenting sin, — particularly the sin of idolatry, among Gentiles as well as Jews, even to the remotest generations. In this way of viewing the Incarnation and* the Redemption, the pious Christian may be edified, the infidel silenced or re- claimed, and all the great attributes of Divine Wisdom, Mercy and Goodness, completely reconciled with common se?ise, sou?id reason, and every expression of Sacred Scripture. " It was also thought a subject of great importance to consider, whether Revela- tion, particularly that of the BIBLE, came to the inhabitants of this earth by secret Inspiration, or by open Vision and audible Dictation. — It may be clearly perceived, that Revelation by secret In- spiration could only be of a private na- ture, merely to the individual who re- 128 HISTORY OF THE BIBLE-CHRISTIANS. ceived it ; attended with much fear and uncertainty, lest it should not be from the right source; and requiring continually a fresh inspiration in the hearer, before it could be believed. This, it must be al- lowed, would have been a fruitful source of great delusion, enthusiasm, and dan- gerous imposition ; not at all calculated to give stability and confidence to public faith. " But open Vision and an audible Dic- tation, such as, according to the Scrip- tures and other ancient Testimonies, took place before thousands ' on Mount Sinai,' in the ' pillar of the cloud,' and in the ' Temple at Jerusalem,' might give a rea- sonable conviction even to the whole world ; provided the nature of those mani- festations, which occur so frequently both in the Old and New Testament, could be rationally understood, and intelligibly accounted for. "After duly deliberating on this impor- tant subject, and on the ideas already developed concerning the God of Reve- lation, &c, the Conference came to the following most interesting conclusions : — That the Patriarchs, Moses, the Prophets, the Apostles, « and other holy men of old,' being possessed of that right human spirit ever filled iv ith the Divine, which, in their surrounding sphere, would receive and reflect the DIVINE IMAGE, as it is received and refracted by the same Spirit in our atmosphere ; — it must necessarily happen, in all their unobscured states of mind and spirit, that they would see the Lord, or what they called the Word of the Lord, apparently standing near to tliem, and by the suggestions of His Spirit, there apparently speaking to them as ' a man does to his friend.' That the Reflected Image of God is that Per- sonal Holy Spirit, and the Refracted Image of God that Personal Jesus Christ, by and in whom alone the Eter- nal Father has ever been manifested, and His Will and Wisdom revealed, to the sons o '* mr>n. That the One God, thus appearing in His Son and Spirit, did ac- tually speak all the lares and all the pre- dictions contained in the Bible, and vir- tually perform all the things ascribed to Him in the historical parts of the OLD and NEW TESTAMENTS. That the Four Ages of the world, so much spoken of by the Ancients, arc the Four suc- cessive Revelations, which God has given of Himself, — in Paradise, — in the Church which perished at the flood ; — to the He- brews,— and to Christians. That the Holy Bible, which treats professedly of the beginning, duration, and ending of those Four Ages, being, of course, the complete Canon of Sacred Writ ; no man can presume to be the medium of any fur- ther Revelations from God, without being either a deceiver, or deceived. That the Revelations of the Bible, which were first given by God Himself, being now fixed in Writing, are the only true medium through which He, by His Spirit, con- tinues, at this day, to enlighten mankind. That those men are e?ilighte?icd through the Scriptures, who see therein the eternal laws of that Divide Providence which governs the world ; and the interior prin- ciples, good and evil, which, in proportion as they alternately prevailed, did succes- sively elevate and depress the different Churches described in the BIBLE, and will, at this day and in all ages, elevate the faithful and depress the wicked in every Church under heaven. That a fur- ther unfolding of those laws and those principles, in any particular WRI- TINGS, is not to be considered as a new Revelation, but as a nciv Doctrine, provi- dentially contained in the BIBLE from the time it was first written ; but developed, under God, precisely when wanted, to re- edify or re-establish a scripture-founded Church. — This plain account of Biblical Revelation exhibits a true Characteristic of what mav properly be called the WORD OF GOD, as being spoken by God Himself ; and shows also, how gen- nine Church-doctrine may, at all times, be derived from that WORD, by unfold- ing the eternal laws and interior princi- bles ever abounding in its literal Facts. Conference now proceeded to examine the difference between a real and an ap- parent Ctitjrcii. — All must acknowledge the difference between a Church professing under man,- and a Church practising under God, the Truths and Precepts of | Sacred Scripture ; and that the latter is I the GENUINE CHURCH of Revela- tion, ever to be sanctioned and established \ HI8T0R\ OP THE BIBLE-CHRI8T1 IN8. I I on r.uth ; whilst the former is thai nois) an. I ostentatious Pretender, always rdin- . \>\ the true-born k children of liod.' -This distinction led to the following conclusions w hich ( lonference deemed well calculated to make all christians of one heart and of one mind in the doctrine and practice <>f their holy Religion: — That the weWdisposed natural man, ' not know- ing the things of the Spiril *»t~ i i*>«l,"* him- self, yel capable of reformation and in- clining towards religion, puts himself, voluntarily and implicitly, under the teach- ing and direction of some religious Leader, Whom be Cannot perhaps lightly under- stand, hut whom he conceives to be nearly infallible in the exposition and elucidation of scriptural doctrines. That this ' na- tural man,' though not apprehending tcfow, is extremely zealous for the u-ords of his Leader, which lie will maintain even in direct opposition to the sense they were intended to convey. That, if his Leader be spiritual-minded, — one that directs the heart and life in true submission to the revealed will of Uod ; — in process of time, this natural '■carnal man,' once enmity against Hod, turning from evil, will turn to the ' one living and true God,' — under whose influence, perceiving the truths he had hitherto but blindly followed, he is enabled, at length, to say to his Leader, as the people did to the woman of Sa- maria, ' Nino I believe, not because of thy word ; jor I have seen and heard the Truth myself That, in this way, there is a double conversion, first to religious men, next to the God of Revelation: — Those in the former conversion are the Sectarians ; these in the latter are the genuine and united Church. That thus, in every Church, the adopted under man are the 'elect ;' the heaven-born, the 'pre- destinated' who, 'from the foundation of the world,' ever take precedence of those ' born after the flesh,' and inherit the highest privileges and possessions of their FA TIIER' S^IIOUSE.— It consequent- ly appears, contrary to what has generally been supposed, that the greatest sectarians, are the least enlightened ; that those who clamor most for the particular doctrines of men, understand those doctrines the least ; and that, when religious truth is properly understood, it is alwa • and held, under God, independently of man" M ( 'him h I Hscipline was now dered, as it respe< the Bible or preaching, th ship ; Baptism, the Holy Supper, and ( 'lunch "Membership, M In Praying it was the gen< raJ wish, that the exordium Bhould announce always an important practical truth; respecting which the minister should beseech the congregation to apply fervently to their God for assistance or deliverance, not in a dictatorial, but humble and submissive spirit; and that all prayer, public as well as private, should be extempore. " In Expounding the Bible, it was re- commended to give, by way of preface, the general sense first ; and then, as the passage is regularly read throughout its pauses, to descant on the genuine and literal meaning of the text ; — pointing out at the same time those eternal principles contained therein, which are of universal application, and of unalterable obligation, in all ages of the world ; that their .Min- isters and Teachers would found all their doctrines on the literal facts recorded in the Bible ; — enable their audiences by a lucid us ordo, to see as well as hear;-' — press every point in animated, earnest and affectionate language ; illustrate copiously, by appealing to natural facts, ami actual experience in real life ; and above all things to live as they preach, that they may always be prepared, without notes, and win souls by that example which ren- ders precept irresistible. " The order of worship, recommended on experience as perhaps the most useful and consistent, begins with a Hymn, fol- lowed by prayer, the reading of the De- calogue ; then a passage of the Old Tes- tament, in the Morning of the Lord's day, read and expounded, chapter after chapter, in regular rotation. Evening service be- gins in the same manner, with a hymn, prayer followed by a chant, or hymn, then portion after portion of the New Testament, read and expounded. After the exposition of the Chapters, morning and evening, another hymn, and then a general Benediction. " Baptism, being the ancient ceremony 17 130 HISTORY OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. i of adopting both children and adults, : might be performed, it was agreed, as a ceremony, either by sprinkling or im- mersion* To some, it was thought, sprinkling would appear to be a sealing 0)i the forehead, and might, on that ac- count, be preferred. But immersion, it was allowed, was more according to the primitive practice of the Christian Church. The end, however, is the baptism of the Spirit ; without which, the ceremony, however rightly performed, has not its intended effect, in bringing the baptized one, by purification and holiness of heart and life, into the real body and commu- | nion of Christ's Church, visible and i invisible, on earth and in heaven. The Holy Supper, being the ancient marriage feast in its original ceremonies, would be celebrated, it was concluded, most usefully, and most according to pri- mitive usage, if the bread and wine (un- fermented,) were distributed amongst the communicants in their pews, by deacons, as appointed assistants, whilst the minister enlarges, at discretion, on the duties of the bride of the Lamb, &c, ccc. As to Church Membership, Conference thought it proper for them to declare, that they did not form a Sectarian Church, under any particular denomination from man ; that they wished to be simply Bi- ble Christia?is, and are in perfect union and connection with the sincere, conscien- tious livers, in all the various denomina- tions of Christians ; that they presume not to exercise any dominion over the faith, or consciences of men ; that all who wish to join them in shunning the common evils and errors of the world, — in abstaining from animal food ; that is, from fish, flesh and fowl of every kind, and from all in- toxicating liquors ; and in appropriating to life the truths and precepts of the Bible, are freely admitted, under God, as mem- bers of the IV ue Bible-Christian Church. The adoption is by Baptism ; the ratifi- cation by the Holy Supper." In statistics, the number of members of the Bible-Christian Church in Philadcl- phia, compared with many others, is very small. At their annual meeting in May, 1847, they had between 70 and 80 mem- bers. There are individuals abstaining from animal food and intoxicating drinks in several of the States in the Union, and agreeing with us in doctrine, but, out of Philadelphia, there is, at present, no regu- larly organized society of Bible-Chris- I tians in this country. HISTORY OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH BY PROFESSOR W. JOS. WALTERS, PHILADELPHIA. The Roman Catholic Church, as it exists on this side of the Atlantic, may date its origin from the discovery of the western world. From the memorable day, October the eleventh, 1492, on which Co- lumbus landed upon the island of Guana- hani, or San Salvador, and at the foot of the cross poured forth his fervent thanks | to God for the success of his glorious en- terprise : this church has, amid many re- verses, continued gradually to advance. If in some quarters she has met with re- Lith of PS.DuTal.Fhil* F@PI 3PH HISTORY ok THE ROMAN CATHOLIC < in RCH. 181 verses, I « < r lessen have been compensated l.\ what the !».'<•> gained in other direc- ■q that the number of bei adbe- n nts, aooording to recent and respectable authorities, may, at the present time, be estimated at about twenty-five and b half millions, spread over the whole American continent* This ancient church, therefore, outnumbers by nearly ten millions, even in the new world, all the various Protestant denominations put together. Of this large body, however, only about 1,900,000 at the highest calculation, an> found in the United States.* A Catholic navigator, whose name will he forgotten only in the wreck of the world, having thus discovered this vast continent, and another son of the church having given it its name : it was likewise by the illustrious Catholics John and Se- bastian Cabot, and Yerragani, in the ser- vice of the Catholic kings Henry VII. of England, and Francis I. of France, that the shores of the United States were first discovered and explored. This took place between the years 1497 and 1524. Far- ther north, the noble-hearted James Car- tier discovered, in the course of three suc- cessive voyages, the gulf and river of St. Lawrence, and laid the foundations of the present flourishing cities, Quebec and Montreal. It is, however, to that portion of the new world which the American fondly hails as his native land — the United States, and to the origin and progress of the Catholic religion within its borders, that we now confine our attention. And here with unfeigned pleasure, with honest and heartfelt satisfaction, does the American Catholic challenge the attention of his countrymen to the first settlement of the Maryland colony ; for the early * According to the Metropolitan Catholic Al- manac for 1847, the Catholic population in the United States is estimated at one million, one hundred and seventv-three thousand, and seven hundred (1,173,7000 There are 2 archbishops, 23 bishops. 1 Vicar Apostolic, 834 priests, 812 churches, 21 eccle- siastical institutions, 244 clerical students, 13 male religious institutions, 24 literary institu- tions for yowfrg men, 43 female religious insti- tutions. 66 female academies, 88 charitable in- stitutions.— Editor. history of that colon} , •- Hie . ,n u i of I '.iilioiiciiy iii these I nited Sti The following is an outline of thi morable epoch in our annals. Lord Bel* timoce having obtained from ' 'barles I. thi Charter of Maryland, hastened to carr) into effect, the plan of colonizing tl» province, <>f which ho appointed his bro- ther, Leonard Calvert, to be ( lovernor. This first body of emigrants, con of about tw<> hundred gentlcm n oi siderable rank and fortune, chiefly of the Unman Catholic persuasion, with a num- ber of inferior adherents, sailed from Eng- land under the command of Calvert, in November 1032, and after a prosperous voyage, landed in Maryland, near the mouth of the river Potomac, in the begin- ning of the follow iiia year. The ( lovernor as soon as he landed, erected a cross i n the shore, a Ad took possession of the country for our Saviour, and for our So- vereign Lord the King of England. Aware that the first settlers of Virginia had given umbrage to the Indians by occupying their territory, without demanding their permis- sion, he determined to imitate the wiser and juster policy that had been pursued by the colonists of New England, and to unite the new with the ancient race of in- habitants by the reciprocal ties of equity and good-will. The Indian chief to whom he submitted his proposition of occupying a portion of the country, received it at first with sullen indifference, the result most probably of aversion to the measure, and of conscious inability to resist it. His only answer was, that he would neither bid the English go, nor would he bid them stay ; but that he left them to their own discretion. The liberality and courtesy of the Governor's demeanor succeeded at length in conciliating his regard, and so effectively, that he not only promised a friendly league between the colonists and his own people, but persuaded the neigh- bouring tribes to accede to the treaty. Nay more, he said with warmth, " I love the English so well, that even if they should go about to kill me, while I had breath to speak, I would command the people not to revenge my death : for I know they would not do such a thing, except it were my own fault." Having purchased the rights from the aborigines at a price which gave 132 HISTORY OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. them perfect satisfaction, the colonists ob- tained possession of a considerable district, including an Indian town, which they pro- ceeded immediately to occupy, and to Which they gave the Dame of St. Mary's. The tidings of this safe and comfortable establishment in the province, concurring with the uneasiness experienced by the Roman Catholics in England, induced considerable numbers of the professors of this faith to follow the original emigrants to Maryland, and no efforts of wisdom or generosity were spared by Lord Baltimore to facilitate the population, and promote the happiness of the colony. The trans- portation of people and of necessary stores and provisions during the first two years, cost him upwards of forty thousand pounds. To every emigrant he assigned fifty acres of land in absolute fee: and with a libe- rality unparalled in that age, and altogether surprising in a Catholic, he united a gene- ral establishment of Christianity as the common law of the land, with an absolute exclusion of the political predominance or superiority of any one particular sect or denomination of Christians. This wise administration soon converted a dreary wilderness into a prosperous co- lony. The opposition of the Virginia planters to the new colony, but still more the intrigues of the vindictive Clayborne, cast for a while a gloom over the early history of Maryland. Notwithstanding the misfortunes which attended and followed the rebellion of 1645, the same Assem- bly that enacted measures for the future protection and safety of the colony, made a magnanimous attempt to preserve its peace by suppressing one of the fertile sources of human contention and animosi- ty. It had been declared by the proprie- tary, at a very early period, that religious toleration should constitute one of the fun- damental principles of the social union over which he presided, and the Assembly of the province, composed chiefly of Ro- man Catholics, now proceeded, by a me- morable " Act concerning Religion," to interweave this noble principle into its legislative constitution. This statute com- menced with a preamble declaring that the enforcement of the conscience had been of dangerous consequence in those countries where it had been practised, and therefore enacted that no person professing to believe in Jesus Christ should be mo- lested in respect to their religion, or in the free exercise thereof, or be compelled to the belief or exercise of any other religion, against their consent ; so that they be not unfaithful to the Proprietary, or conspire against the civil government ; that persons, molesting any other in respect to his reli- gious tenets, should pay treble damages to the party aggrieved, and twenty shillings to the Proprietary ; that those, who should reproach their neighbors with opprobrious names of religious distinction, should for- feit ten shillings to the persons so insulted ; that any one, speaking reproachfully against the Blessed Virgin or the Apos- tles, should forfeit five pounds ; but that blasphemy against God should be punished with death. By the enactment of this statute, the Catholic planters of Maryland won for their adopted country the distin- guished praise of being the first of the American States in which toleration was established by law, and graced their pe- culiar faith with the signal and unwonted merit of protecting that religious freedom which all other Christian associates were conspiring to overthrow. It is a striking and instructive spectacle to behold, at this period, the Puritans persecuting their Pro- testant brethren in New England, the Episcopalians retorting the same severity on the Puritans in Virginia, and the Catho- lics, against whom all others were com- bined, forming in Maryland a sanctuary where all might worship and none might oppress, and where even Protestants sought refuge from Protestant intolerance. If the dangers to which the Maryland Catholics must have felt themselves ex- posed, from the disfavor with which they were regarded by all other communities of their countrymen, and from the ascen- dancy which their most zealous adversa- ries, the Presbyterians, were acquiring in the councils of the parent state, may be supposed to account, in some degree, for their enforcement of a principle of which they manifestly needed the protection, the surmise will detract very little from the merits of the authors of this excellent law. The moderation of mankind has ever needed adventitious support ; and it is no deprecation of Christian sentiment, HI8T0RY OF THE ROMAJN CATHOLIC CHI RCH. thai n is capable pf deri\ ing an ao i iiii\ from tin- experience of | cuuon. It is by divine grace alone thai the tin- of persecution thus sometimes bends t«» refine virtue, and consumes the that may have adhered to it ; and the progress of this history is destined t<» show, that, without such overruling agen- cy, the commission of injustice naturally tends to its own reproduction, and thai the experience of it engenders a much Btn >nger lion t<> retaliate its severities, than to sympathize with its victims. It bad been happy for the credit of the Protest- ants, whose hostility, perhaps, enforced the moderation of the Catholics of Mary- land, if tiny had imitated the virtue which their own apprehended violence may nave tended to elicit. But unfortunately, a great proportion even of those who were constrained to seek refuge among the Catholics from the persecutions of their own Protestant brethren, carried with them into exile the same intolerance of which they themselves had been the victims : and the Presbyterians and other dissenters, who now began to flock in considerable numbers from Virginia to Maryland, gradually formed a Protestant confederacy against the interests of the original set- tlers ; and with ingratitude, still more odious than their injustice, projected the a! rogation not only of the Catholic wor- ship, but of eveiy part of that system of toleration under whose shelter they were enabled to conspire its downfall. But though the Catholics were thus ill requited by their Protestant guests, it would be a mistake to suppose that the calamities that subsequently desolated the province, were produced by the toleration which her Assembly now established, or that the Catholics were really losers by this act of justice and liberality. From the dis- position of the prevailing party in England, and the state of the other colonial settle- ments, the catastrophe that overtook the liberties of the Maryland Catholics could not possibly have been evaded : and if the virtue they now displayed was unable to avert their fate, it exempted them at least from the reproach of deserving it : it redoubled the guilt and scandal incurred by their adversaries, and achieved for them a reputation more lasting and honor- able than political triumph or t< n ■ii. \\ I. .it Chri tian (howevei aible of ih. ; i !ai holic doctrine) would not rather be the ck -< i ndanl of the ( '.-it holies w ho establish* d toleral Maryland, than of the Protestants who overthrew it .' From the establishment of reli freedom, the Assembly of Maryland pro- ceeded to the improvement of political liberty ; and, in the following y.'ir, the constitution of this province received that structure which, with some interruptions, it continued to retain for more than 8 a n- tury after. In conformity with | expressed by the burgesses (ill 1642 "that they might be separated, and sit by themselves, and have a negative," a law was now passed (1600.) enacting that members called to the Assembly by spe- cial writ, should form the upper house ; and that those who were chosen by the hundreds should form the lower house; and that all bills which should be assented to by the two branches of the legislature, and ratified by the governor, should be deemed the laws of the province. Blend- ing a due regard to the rights of the people, with a just gratitude to the Proprietary, the Assembly at the same time enacted a law prohibiting the imposition of taxes without the consent of the freemen, and declaring in its preamble, " that as the Proprietary's strength doth consist in the affections of the people, on them he doth rely for his supplies, not doubting of their duty and assistance on all just occasions." (Laws, 1650, Cap. 1, 23^ 25.) Perhaps (concludes the impartial Grahame) it is only under such patriarchal administra- tion, as Maryland yet retained an admix- ture of in her constitution, and under such patriarchs as Lord Baltimore, that we can ever hope to find the realization of the political philosopher's dream of a system that incorporates into politics the sentiments that embellish social intercourse, and the affections that sweeten domestic life. In the prosecution of its patriotic labors, the Assembly proceeded to enact laws for the relief of the poor, and the encouragement of agriculture and commerce. (Laws. 1649^ Cap. 12 ; 1650, Cap. 1, 33.) And a short gleam of tranquil prosperity suc- ceeded the calamities which the province 134 HISTORY OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. - fated again to experience from the evil genius of Clayborne, and the interpo- sition of the parent We refer the reader who may wish to study tin' darker shades of this beautiful picture, to the pages of Grahame. We have no desire to awaken the recollection of the many wrongs sustained by the Ma- ryland colonists. For peace' sake their unmerited sufferings may be passed over in silence ; but justice and truth alike demand that the above statements, from the pen of a Protestant historian, should be more rally known to the mass of our coun- trymen. Nov should we forget that, fore- most among the colonists who thus hal- lowed the shores of the Potomac by their virtues, were members of the Society of Jesus ; the Fathers Andrew White and John Althano, both men of sterling worth and extensive learning ; here, as in every other quarter of the new world, their zeal, their learning and address, contributed greatly to the success of the early set- tlers. It was on the 23:1 of March, 1634, the festival of the Annunciation of the ever blessed Virgin, and on St. Clement's Island, in the Potomac, that the divine sacrifice of the mass was for the first time offered up to God, in this portion of Amer- ica. Governor Calvert, accompanied by Father Althano, then sailed up the river, landing first on the Virginia side, at an Indian town called Potomac, and now known as New Marlborough, or Marlbo- rough Point. The Jesuit Father explained to the assembled Indians the chief mys- teries or the Christian religion, as well as the peaceful and benevolent motives that actuated their unexpected visiters. It is remarkable that his interpreter on this occasion was a Protestant. Leaving the chief and his people favorably impressed, and even gratified at the arrival of the strangers, the governor sailed about twen- ty-five miles up the river, to Piscataway, in Maryland, the residence of the great kimr or chief of the neighboring tribes. At the first sii_rht of the party, the savages prepared to sive them a hostile reception, but being informed of their peaceful inten- t:ons, the chief boldly stepped on board the governv's boat, and enve him permis- sion to settle in any part of his dominions. (Oldmixon's British Emp. in America.) It diil not, however, seem safe for the English to plant the first settlement so high up the river. Calvert descended the stream, examining in his barge the creeks and entrances near the Chesapeake, en- tered the river now called St. Mary*-, t<» which he gave the name of St. George's, about two leagues from its junction with the Potomac, having purchased the right to thf soil from the natives, together with their good will. The settlement was commenced by the Catholics on the 27th of March, and religious liberty obtained a home, its only home in the wide world, at the humble vil- lage which bore the name of St. Mary's. The able and eloquent historian of Mary- land, McMahon, thus adverts to the senti- ments which must naturally have stirred the hearts of the settlers at this moment : " To the feeble emigrants it was an occasion for joy, rational and profound. Prefer- ring all privations to the privation of lib- erty of conscience, they had forsaken the endearments of their native land, to cast themselves, in reliance on divine pro- tection, upon all the perils of an unknown country inhabited by a savage people. But the God in whom they trusted was with them, and he in whose hands are all hearts, seemed to have moulded the savage nature into kindness and courtesy. Where shall we find, in the history of any people, an occasion more worthy of our com- memoration than that of the landing of the colony of Maryland ? It is identified with the origin of a free and happy state. It exhibits to us the foundations of our government, laid broad and deep in the principles of civil and religious liberty. It points us with pride to the founders of this state, as men who for the secure enjoyment of their liberties, exchanged the pleasures of affluence, the society of friends, and all the endearments of civ- ilized life, for the privations and dangers of the wilderness. In an age, when per- fidy and barbarity but too often marked i the advances of civilization upon the savacje, it exhibits them to us displaying in their intercourse with the natives, all I the kindness of human nature, and the charities of their religion. Whilst we would avoid all invidious contrasts, and I forget the stern spirit of the Puritan, HISTORY OF THE ROM \.\ CATHOLIC ncr building their altars and their homes on the verdant hanks of the broad Potomac, the same ehnrch had sent forth not less devoted men, to bear the light of civilisation and religion to other portions of our. beloved country. Between thfl years 1634 and 1G«7, Catholic mis- sionaries had already traversed that vast region lying between the heights of Mon- treal, Quebec, and the mouth of the Mis- sissippi, the greater portion of which is now known as the United States. Within thirteen years the wilderness of the Hurons was visited by sixty missionaries, chiefly Jesuits : one of their number, Claude Allouez, discovered the southern shores of Lake Superior ; another, " the gentle Marquette," of whom Bancroft says "the people of the West will yet build his monument," walked from Green Bay, fol- lowing the course of the Wisconsin, em- barks with his beloved companion and fellow-missionary, Joliet, upon the Missis- sippi, and discovers the mouth of that king of rivers, the wild, the impetuous Missouri ; a third member of this devoted band, the fearless Menan, settles in the very heart of the dreaded Mohawk country, on the banks of the river that still bears that name. The Onondagas welcome other missionaries of the same illustrious society. The Oncidas and Senecas likewise lend an attentive ear to the sweet tidings of the gospel of peace. When we consider that these missionaries were established in the midst of continual dangers and life-wasting hardships, that many of the Jesuit mis- sionaries sealed with their blood the truth of the doctrines they preached, the sin- cerity of their love for those indomitable sons of the American forest : we are not surprised at the eloquent encomiums that have been passed upon their dauntless courage and their more than human char- ity and zeal. M All per •■ of oui i writers, "who are m the leasl familiar with the early history of the Weat, know with what pur-- and untiring zeal the Ca- tholie missionary pursue d the work of conversion among thi i I Virginian had crossed the Blue Rid while the ( Connecticut was still the i •■■. frontier of New England, more than one man whose youth had been passed amongst the warm valleys of Languedoc, had ex- plored the wilds of Wisconsin, and i the hymn of Catholic praise to rise from the prairies of Illinois. The Catholic priest went even before the soldier and the trader; from lake to lake, from river to river, the Jesuits pressed on unresting and with a power that no other Christians have exhibited, won to their faith the war- like Miamis and the luxurious Illinois. For more than a hundred years did this work go forward. Of its temporary re- sults we know little. The earliest of the published letters from the missionaries were written thirty years after La Salle's voyage down the ' Great River.' But were the family records of France laid before us, I cannot doubt that we should there find evidences of savage hate dimi- nished, and savage cruelty prevented, through the labors of the brotherhood of Jesus ; and yet it was upon these men that England charged the war of Pontiac! Though every motive for a desperate ex- ertion existed on the part of the Indians, the dread of annihilation, the love of their old homes and hunting-grounds, the re- verence for their father's graves — all that nerved Philip, and fired Tccumseh — vet, to the Protestant English, the readiest ex- planation was that Catholics, that Jesuits, had poisoned the savage mind." (Knick- erbocker, June, 1838.) The regret ex- pressed above, that we have not more copious and satisfactory information with regard to this earlier portion of American ecclesiastical history, may well be shared not only by the Catholic, but by all who take an interest in every thing relating to their native land. Meagre, however, as are the memorials of these primitive times, we have sufficient data to prove that there is not a State of our Union wherein Catho- licity has obtained a footing, whose history does not exhibit many interesting traits of ;' i;w HISTORY OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. heroic Belf-denial, of dangers overcome, of opposition meekly borne, of adversaries won to our faith by the Catholic missiona- ries. The name of the devoted and indefati- gable Father Farmer, in Pennsylvania, is still venerated by all who knew him. Men of every religious persuasion followed his remains to the tomb ; the last and un- sought tribute of their respect for his many virtues. Amid the forests and snow-clad hills of Maine, a Rasle emu- lated the courage and toils of his brethren in the West. The late Cardinal Cheverus has left a reputation in Boston which will not be forgetten while the people of New England retain their wonted regard for genuine, manly worth ; for talents, learn- ing, and disinterested yet untiring zeal, all employed in that holiest of human enter- prises, the promotion of God's glory and the happiness of man. Not less revered by the liberal-minded of every religious persuasion, is the memory of that " model of prelates, Christians, and scholars," the Right Reverend John Carroll, the first Roman Catholic Bishop of Baltimore. u No being," (says a writer in the Ame- rican Quarterly,) " Xo being that it has been our lot to admire, ever inspired us with so much reverence as Archbishop Carroll. AVe cannot easily forget the im- pression which he made a few years before his death, upon a distinguished literary foreigner, who conversed with him for a half-hour, immediately after the celebration of the mass, in his parlor, and had seen the most imposing hierarchs in Great Bri- tain. The visiter seemed, on leaving the apartment, to be strongly moved, and re- peatedly exclaimed, ' That, indeed, is a true archbishop!' " (March Number, 1827, p. 23.) " The archbishop's patriotism" says the same writer, " was as decided as his piety. . . . He loved republicanism ; and so far preferred his own country, that if ever he could be excited to impatience, or irritated, nothing would have that effect more cer- tainly, than the expression of the slightest preference, by any American friend, for foreign institutions or measures. He had joined with heart and judgment in the Re- volution : and to his last hour he retained, without abatement of confidence or fer- vor, the cardinal principles and American sympathies and hopes, upon which he then rested. We may mention in fine, as evi- dence of the public confidence in his ex- alted character, that, in the year, 1776, at the solicitation of the then Congress of the United States, he accompanied Dr. Franklin, Samuel Chase, and that other and illustrious Catholic, Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, on a political mission to Canada, with a view of inducing the peo- ple of that province to preserve a neutral attitude in the war between the mother country and the United States. Turning our eyes to another quarter of our Union, need we remind the intelligent reader of the solid and extensive learning, the stirring eloquence, the apostolic labors of an England? — beloved, honored by men of every religious denomination, and even now lamented in the South as one of her best and noblest sons ? But this is not the occasion to record the virtues or the toils of these and other kindred spirits of the Catholic Church in America. We confidently leave the task to worthier pens than ours. From the foregoing observations some idea may be formed of the early history of Catholicity in these United States. For more accurate and detailed information we must refer the reader to the various articles in the Catholic periodicals and journals ; among others, to several inter- esting historical papers in the " Metropo- litan Catholic Almanac and Laity's Direc- tory," commencing with A. D. 1833, and continued to the present year. The " United States Catholic Magazine," and the " Catholic Cabinet," will also furnish several highly entertaining and satisfac- torv papers on the early history, progress, and present state of the Catholic Church amonn: us. THE NAME CATHOLIC. "Catholic" is from a Greek word, sig- nifying whole, £.c>/cr\ the Apostles in the Catholic ( Inn. h. Hut this cannot ai ail them, (or two reasons: 1st, The word Catholic has no direct reference to the truth or false- hood of doctrine. It point- out univer- saUty ; it designati s kk the Church over the whole inhabitable world/' — a de- signation to w hich they can have no claim*. 2d. If their reasoning be admitted, we must concede the title of CathOhc to every heterodox sect that ever had e\i-!enco. For all these sects believed that their j ecu- liar doctrines were true; and of course they might thence infer, as the divines in question do, that the doctrines in question were those of the Apostles, and gave to them a right to the appellation of Catholics. So long as the creed is true, there must exist a Catholic Church, in which the re- citers of the creed may profess their belief. There was, then, such a church when the so-called reformers were born. By ( atho- lic ministers they were baptized ; in Ca- tholic doctrines they were educated : in the Catholic Church they were taught to believe. Subsequently they separated from her; a separation that certainly could not affect her right to the title of Catholic, which she had possessed for so many cen- ■turies. She still exists, and is still the same Catholic Church. Their followers also still exist, and may justly claim the names assumed by their fathers. They may be Anglicans, or Lutherans, or Cal- vinists, or Baptists, or any other denomi- nation whatever : but one thing is certain, — they cannot be Catholics. As to the term " Roman Catholic," it shows the bond of union which hinds the various churches of Christendom in the profession of the faith of the chief See of the entire Christian world. Hence, it always brings to the mind of the faithful in any clime, the great, primitive senior church, the Church of Rome ; and as more nations became converted to the faith, they were called by their different appellations, as " English Roman Catholics," " Ameri- can Roman Catholics," " French Roman Catholics," &c. " The reproachful epithets of ' Papist,' 18 138 HISTORY OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. ' Romanist,' ' Popish,' ' Romish,' &c, are no longer applied to them (the Catholics,) by any gentleman or scholar." (Rev. J. Nightingale, author of "A Portraiture of Methodism," &c.) The same liberal Protestant makes the following quotation from a sermon of Dr. Butler, preached at Cambridge, at the in- stallation of the Duke of Gloucester : " Popery, as it is called, is still a fertile theme of declamation to the old women and children of the year 1811. This term Papist is reproachful, conveys an erroneous idea, keeps alive a dishonorable prejudice, and ought to be abolished ; nor will I ever believe that man a sincere friend to Christian liberty, who persists in the use of it. THE DOGMAS OF THE CATHOLIC FAITH. " We see now through a glass in a dark manner : but then [we shall see] face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know even as I am known. And now there remain Faith, Hope, Charity, these three : but the greatest of these is charity." 1 Cor. xiii. 12, 13. In these words the Apostle speaks of the natural blindness of men respecting religion. He teaches, that whilst we live in this lower world, encompassed with clouds and darkness, we see faintly and obscurely the things that are above; that the revelations, made to us respecting a future world, are often wholly above our comprehension, and generally full of mystery and difficulty ; that we shall never be able fully to comprehend them, till the veil is drawn aside by death, and we behold God face to face : in whom, as in a clear mirror, all truth and all knowledge will be found. While here upon earth, there remains for our exercise three virtues, Faith, Hope, and Charity. These united, form an epitome of the whole duty of a Christian. Faith serves as a remedy for our natu- ral defects, and supplies the place of knowledge. It teaches us to believe, without doubting, doctrines which we cannot comprehend, on the testimony of God, who has taught them. It teaches us to put a restraint on the daring flights of reason, and to confine within its proper limits this noblest of our natural gifts : to employ it in examining the grounds upon which revelation rests, but not in discuss- ing the credibility of any subject which it discovers to have been revealed ; to wait with patience till our faculties are enlarged, and the obstacles to our knowledge re- moved, and in the mean time, with the humility and simplicity of children, to re- ceive, venerate and love the hidden and mysterious truths taught us by the invisi- ble and incomprehensible Deity. Hope teaches us to look forward with humble confidence to future happiness. It is an essential doctrine of revelation, that God really and truly desires the sal- vation of all mankind ; that he created all for this end ; that with this view, Jesus Christ, his eternal Son, died upon the cross, and established the Church with all necessary helps to salvation ; that conse- quently, if we do our best endeavors, we shall be saved, not indeed by our natural strength, for with this alone we can do nothing, but by the help of grace, which God is ever ready and desirous to impart to those who employ the proper means of obtaining it ; that consequently, if any one is lost, his perdition is from himself alone, and that if any one despair or cease to hope, it must either be, that he refuses to i do his best, or that he violates the doc- trine of faith, and accuses God of injustice. Hope gives peace to the mind, not by im- parting a certainty of future happiness, which even the apostle himself declares he did not possess, but by inspiring a firm yet humble confidence in the promises, the mercy, and the merits of Christ. Charity is the first, the greatest, the most essential of all the Christian virtues. It is not synonymous with benevolence to the poor. It does not consist merely in relieving the distressed, comforting the sorrowful, clothing the naked, and similar works of brotherly kindness ; for St. Paul says, " If I distribute my goods to the poor, and give my body to the flames, and have not charity, it profiteth me no- thing." (1 Cor. xiii. 3.) Charity, then, is something more than benevolence. It is a virtue which regards God as well as man. It would be a partial and imperfect virtue, indeed, if it excluded God, the HISTORY OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC (III RCH. most perfect! the most amiable, i h»* only adorable being] the firsl of benefactors, the best of friends, the most tender and loving of parents. It teaches ns to lore (J.xl above all things, to prefer lus law and will before every consideration, to make them the rule, guide, and criterion of our thoughts, our words, and <>ur con- duet. It prepares us at any moment to sacrifice whatever we value most in life, rather than violate the allegiance we owe to our sovereign Lord. It teaches us to worship him in the manner he requires, and consequently to follow the religion which we sincerely believe to have been established by him. For should any man say to Cod, " I love thee, O God, but I will not worship thee in the manner which thou hast commanded, but in a manner which I consider as good or better," would he not offer an affront to God 1 Would he not be considered as a rebel against the divine majesty 1 Would not his selfish homage be rejected with dis- dain .' This sacred virtue teaches us to love every neighbor as ourselves, in thought, in word, and in deed. It forbids us to think unkindly, or to judge rashly of any human being ; it commands us to put the best construction on his conduct, to excuse it when we can, and palliate it when it will not admit of excuse, and this, even though our judgments be confined to the secrets of our own breasts. Still more does it require that our words be regulated by the same principles : that nothing escape our lips which can injure our neighbor's reputation, or disturb his peace of mind ; that, when occasion offers, we undertake his defence, excuse his de- fects, extenuate his errors, and proclaim his merits. It teaches us to assist him in his distress, comfort him in his sorrows, adN ise him in his doubts, correct his errors, and, as far as lies in our power, promote all his temporal and spiritual interests. Such is the virtue of charity, which the Apostle declares to be the greatest and most essential of Christian virtues. It is a universal virtue. It admits of no excep- tion. It extends to God and to our fellow creatures of every country, of every co- lor, of every disposition, of every opinion, of every sect. The man who should ex- clude from his universal charitj child of Ad mi, !><• his < ouutr\ , In duct, his religion, whatever it may, trane- L^resse.s tins first of the divine commands, and becomes guilty of all. (James h. 10.) ONE GOD IX THREE DIVI.m; PEBSON& The Catholic Church holds, as tin- foun- dation of all religion, that there is but one supreme, self-existent, eternal Deify, infi- nite in wisdom, in goodness, in every per- fection ; by whom all things were made, in whom all that exist " live, move, and have their being.'1 (Acts xvii. 28) It teaches that our first duty is, to love God, and adore him alone ; that the worst of treasons and the greatest of crimes is, to give his homage to any creature what- soever. It teaches that in this one God, there are three divine persons, perfectly distinct in personality, perfectly one in nature ; that the second Person descended from heaven, became man, and died upon a cross for the salvation of all mankind : that through his blood all may be saved, and that there is " no other name under heaven given to men, in which any one can" obtain salvation, (Acts iv. 12 ;) that all spiritual graces and blessings actually bestowed in this life, or hoped for in the next, must be derived originally from the sufferings and merits of the divine Re- deemer alone. REDEMPTION THROUGH CHRIST. Catholics believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God ; who, for us sinners and for our salvation, was made man, that he might be the Head, the His;h Priest, the Advocate and Saviour of all mankind. We acknowledge him our only Redeemer, who paid our ransom by dying for us on the cross ; that his death is the fountain of all our good; and that mercy, grace and salvation can by no means be obtained but through him. We confess him to be the Mediator of God and man, the only Mediator of redemption, and the only Mediator of intercession too : who intercedes in such manner as to stand in need of no other merits to recommend his petitions. But as for the saints, although we address ourselves to them, and desire 140 HISTORY OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. their prayers, as we do also to God's ser- vants here upon earth, yet we mean no otherwise than that they would pray for us, and with us, to our common Lord, who is cur God and their God, through the merits of the same Jesus Christ, who is our Mediator and their Mediator. THE HOLY SPIRIT. Catholics believe that the Holy Ghost, the third person of the blessed Trinity, proceeds from the Father and the Son, and is equally God with them, and that he is " the other Comforter" promised to the apostles, to abide with the church for ever. The Holy Spirit descended on our Saviour in the form of a dove, a fit emblem of that peace, that reconciliation between God and man, which he was about to accomplish by his death. The same Holy Spirit de- scended on the disciples in the visible form of fire, an emblem of that supernatural change which he was about to work in their hearts, by the purification of their feelings and aspirations from the dross of sensual ideas and affections. " And I will ask the Father, and he shall give you another Paraclete, that he may abide with you for ever, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, nor knoweth him : but you shall know him, because he shall abide with you, and shall be in you. These things have I spoken to you, remaining with you. But the Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said to you." (St. John, xiv. 16, 26.) By the term " Paraclete" is understood a comforter, or an advocate ; inasmuch as by inspiring prayer, he prays, as it were, in us, and pleads for us. It is also evi- dent from the above text, that this Spirit of truth was promised, not only to the persons of the apostles, but also to their i jcessors through all generations. A'_r:>in: Christ's last words, before as- cending up to his Father, were: "But you shall receive the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the uttermost parts of the earth. (Acts, i. 8.) In the following chapter of the Acts we see the fulfilment of this promise, and hear the testimony of the chief of the apostles : " This Jesus hath God raised up again, wiiereof we all are witnesses. Being exalted, therefore, upon the right hand of God, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath poured forth this which you see and hear." (Acts, ii. 32, 33.) JUSTIFICATION. It is the Catholic belief that no man can be justified, either by the works of nature, or of the law of Moses, without faith in Jesus Christ. That we cannot by any prudent works merit the grace of justification. That all the merit of our good works is the gift of God ; and that every merit and satisfaction of ours en- tirely depend on the merits and passion of Christ. Or, in other words, that our sins are gratuitously remitted to us by the mercy of God, through the merits of Jesus Christ ; and that whatever good works we do, they are, all of them, the effects of God's grace. " We are justified freely by the grace of God, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ, whom God hath set forth to be a: propitiation through faith in his blood" (Rom. iii. 24) ; " In Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins" (Eph. i. 7) ; "And Christ hath washed us from our sins in his blood," (Rev. i. 5.) So far the members of nearly all com- munions agree with the Catholic Church. They are, therefore, in agreement with her not only in charity, but in the profes- sion of the primary and most essential doctrines of faith.* Beyond these prima- ry articles, the generality of communions are not very rigid in exacting agreement * " Under the Papacy are many good things ; yea. every tiling that is s:ood in Christianity. I say, morever, that under the Papacy is true Christian itv, even the very kernel of Chris- tianity.''— Luther, Book against the Annbap- tist*. "The Church of Rome is, no doubt, to be attributed a part of the House of God ; and we gladly acknowledge them to be of the family of Jesus Christ." — Hooker, Ecclesiasti- cal Policy. HISTORY OF THE ROM \.\ CATHOLIC CHI RCH. 1 II from each other. < Kher points they con- sider m^ .»r smaller moment, and allow, ird to thorn, ■ greater latitude of i. Surel) , then, the) will no* re- me privilege to their ( Catholic brethren, which they allow to each other. BCRIPTURE AM) TRADITION. Jesus Christ laid the foilndationfl of his church upon the authority of teaching ; consequently the unwritten word was the first rule of Christianity, a rule, which, even when the bdoks of the New Testa- ment were superadded to it, did not, upon this account, lose any thing of its former authority. Hence it is that Catholics re- ceive with equal veneration whatever was taught by the apostles, whether communi- cated by writing, or circulated only by word of mouth, according to the express declaration of St. Paul to the Thessalo- nians, commanding them "to hold fast the traditions which they had been taught, whether by word, or by epistle." (2 Thess. ii. 15.) Upon no point is the Scrip- ture more express, than upon the subject of the authority of teaching ; " Go, ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teach- ing them to observe all things, whatsoever I have commanded you." (Matt, xxviii. 19, 20.) " Go forth to the whole world, and preach the gospel to every creature." (Mark xvi. 15.) " For I have received of the Lord that which also I have delivered to you." (1 Cor. xi. 23.) " Hold the form of sound words, which thou hast beard from me in faith." (2 Tim. i. 13.) " The things which thou hast heard from me, before many witnesses, the same com- mend to faithful men, who shall be fit to teach others also." (2 Tim. ii. 2.) There is nothing in the Scripture to intimate, that Christ ever commanded his disciples to compose a code of doctrine for the guidance of the faithful. In fact, it is clear from internal evidence, that the Scripture is not a doctrinal record. From an unprejudiced perusal of the different parts that compose the New Testament, it will evidently appear that the writers had their contemporaries principally before their eyes, and that instead of intending to |. a\«- behind them a peril <-\ c Christian doctrine (or future generations, tip \ pro-supposed, in their readi that day, a previous knowledge of such doctrines. YVhen the) make mention of doctrinal matters, it is only incidentally, or h\ \\a\ of explanation. Hence it hap- pens that, when m all-seeing Judge, and to incur the threat- ened condemnation, if his faith be errone* i'.\ the same tribunal will those who dilli-r from him be tried. Let them be satisfied with this, and not expect that their Catholic brethren will prefer their opponent's convictions to their own. Lot the liberty claimed f>o reciprocal : "As you would that men should do to you, do \ou also to them in like manner." (Luke 'vi. 81.) Hut, it may be asked, why, upon the supposition that the lawful successors of the ;ij)ostles arc authorized teachers of re- ligion and expositors of Scripture, does itholic assume that the pastors of his church are the lawful successors of the apostles, and the Catholic Church the only- church of Christ ? The reasons will be best given by recurring to the different lasts of Scripture already cited. From those texts it may be inferred, first, that certain revealed doctrines are essentially required to be believed. " He who be- lieveth not shall be condemned." (Mark, xvi. 16.) It may he inferred, secondly, from the commission of Christ, " Go teach all na- tions," (Matt, xxviii.) — " Go preach the gospel to every creature," (Mark, xvi.) — that the religion of Christ must be a uni- versal, not a national or merely local re- ligion. Now the Catholic is the only uni- versal religion. It is morally universal as to place ; for it exists in every known country of the world. In many countries, it is the only religion ; in most, its num- bers greatly predominate ; in every coun- try, where Christianity exists in any form, there the Catholic religion is found. It is comparatively universal as to numbers, being infinitely more numerous than any other sect or denomination of Christians, and perhaps than all other sects and de- nominations put together. All other reli- gions or sects are confined to compara- tively narrow limits. They are national or local establishments. They are the church of England, the church of Scot- land, the church of Geneva, the Greek, or the Russian church, existing in the par- ticular countries which give them their Dames, and scarce!} known in other parts of the world. .Not one of thertl has the slightest pretensions t" be the church of "all nations."' Hence, it may be ' eluded, that none of them can I*- the church which Christ commanded his apos- tles to (bund f<»r the benefit of the world at large, into which the prophet had pr<- dieted, that "all nations should flow." (Isaiah, ii. 2.) 3dly. The doctrines which the apostles were commanded to leach, were those and only those which they had learnt from Christ: u teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." (Matt, xxviii.) Therefore the doctrines of the true and universal church of Christ must be in all places the same ; for when there is difference of doctrine, there must necessarily be deviation from the doc- trines of Christ. Now this unity of doc- trine exists in the great Catholic Church, and in it alone. Though spread through every nation of the known world, though professed by so many " peoples, and tribes, and tongues," differing from each other in manners, in customs, in language, in interest, the doctrines of the Catholic religion are every where the same. Not a difference will be found on any siDgle article of faith, amongst all its countless millions. Let the experiment be made. Let the first bishop or priest you meet with be consulted, as to what is the doc- trine of the Catholic Church in any given article of faith, and let his reply be care- fully noted. Let the same question be put to any bishop or priest of France, of Italy, of Germany, of Spain, of Hindoos- tan, of China, and from all and every one the same answer will be received. One and all will unhesitatngly say, M such is the doctrine of the Catholic Church, such is my sincere belief." Surely can- dor must acknowledge that this is as it ought to be. Unity like this is indispen- sable in any church which lays claim to teach the uniform and unchangeable doc- trines of Christ. INFALLIBILITY OF THE CHURCH IN MATTERS OF FAITH. If it be true that the Son of God took upon himself our nature, not only that He 19 143 HISTORY OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. might die for our salvation, but also that 11 • inijit establish a church to teach his doctrine, an 1 to dispense to mankind the • of his death ; it surely follows, as an indisputable consequence, that He would moreover preserve that church from falling into doctrinal or practical error; Otherwise, we must suppose that a God of in inite power and wisdom, having a par- ticular end in view, adopted, for the ac- complishment of that end, means calcu- lated to frustrate his own purpose ; that he founded a church to teach truths and holiness, and yet permitted her, while she t tught under his auspices, to become the propagator of error, and the corrupter of morality. Now, that he promised to preserve her from error, is manifest. 1. He promised to his apostles, that the Spirit of truth should abide with them, — how long 7 For the term of their natural lives .' Xo, for ever (John xiv. 16); and therefore not with them only, but also with their suc- cessors. 2. He promised to remain with them himself, — how long ? Only whilst they preached the gospel? Xo ; but all days, even to the consummation of the world (Matt, xxviii. 20) ; a promise which must also extend to their successors. 3. He appointed Peter the rock, and declared i that against his church, founded on that , rock, the ^ates of hell should never pre- ! vai!. (Ma'tt. xvi. 13.) The infallibility ; of the church plainly follows from this text :% for it is manifest that, if the church ever fell into doctrinal error, — if she ever taught blasphemy, sacrilege, and idolatry, as is often stated in the " vain ■ and profane babblings of men, who speak evil of things which they know not" (1 Tim. vi. 20; Jude i. 10),— then the gates of hell have prevailed against the church, and the declaratory promise of our Saviour has been falsified. It should, however, be remembered, that when we deduce from these premises, that the church cannot err in matters of faith, i we claim no infallibility in such matters * '-The only difference between the Church df Rome and our national church, in respect t ) the certainty of their doctrine is, that the former thinks it is n(wai/s infallible, and the latter that it is never in the wrong." — Sir Richard Steele. for any individuals ; but mean, that God, by his superintending providence, will so watch over his church in her decisions, as never to suffer her to become the teacher of error in point of religious doctrine. THE SACRAMENTS. Catholics believe that the sacraments of the Christian covenant are not only sacred signs representative of grace, but also seals which insure and confirm the grace of God to us, and the instruments of the Holy Spirit, by which they are applied to the souls of men. In other words, a sacra- ment is an external rite, ordained by Christ, — the visible sign of an invisible grace or spiritual benefit bestowed by God on the soul. Every sacrament, therefore, imparts such grace, as often as it is re- ceived with due dispositions. The Catholic Church recognizes seven sacraments, viz., Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Eucharist, Penance, Extreme Unc- tion, Holy Order, Matrimony. Of these seven sacraments five are com- mon to all : for, by baptism we are spi- ritually born again : by confirmation our weakness is strengthened ; by the eucha- rist we are fed with the bread which comes down from heaven ; penance restores the soul from sickness to health : and by ex- treme unction it is prepared for its depar- ture to another world. Of the remaining two, holy order supplies the church with ministers, and matrimony sanctifies the state of marriage. Thus has the blessed Founder of Christianity, by the institution of these means of grace, provided for all the wants of man in his passage through life. The sacraments are the fountains of the Saviour, at which the Christian is to slake his thirst during his earthly pil- grimage ; the blessed sources whence, by divine appointment, he is to draw the waters of eternal life. " You shall draw waters with joy from the fountains of the Saviour." (Isaiah xii. 3.) And again : " If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink." (St. John vi\ 37.) " He that shall drink of the waters that I will irive him, shall not thirst for ever. It shall be- come in him a fountain of water springing up unto everlasting life." (lb. iv. 14.) j£+ HISTORY OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC cm RCH. I I*, BAPTISM Catholics believe that l»> the sacrament of baptism met) are cleansed from Bin, as Well original as actual, and made members of the church oft !hrist, adopted children of God, and heirs to the kingdom of heaven. "God hath saved us, not by the works of justice which we have done, but according to his mercy, by the laver of regeneration, ami the renovation of the 1I<>|\ Ghost, whom he hath poured forth abundantly upon us, through Jesus ( Ihrist, our Sa> iour, that; being justified by his grace, we may U> heirs, according to hope, of tile ever- lasting." (Tit iii, 5.) M Except a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom' of God.91 rtoha iii. 5.) " Be baptized, every one of you ; for the promise is unto you, and to your children.'1 (Acts ii. 38, 99.) With respect to the ceremonies used by the Catholic Church in the administration of baptism, they allude either to the state of the pagan before, or to the duties of the Christian alter, baptism, and were ori- ginally performed, some of them during the instruction of the catechumen, and some during the administration of the sa- crament. Some modern sects have thought proper to reject them all, under the idea that they arc useless, and, as some of them assert, superstitious. The Catholic Church has preserved the ancient ritual. Other churches betray the newness of their origin by the newness of their service. It is the pride of Catholics to practise the ceremonies practised by their forefathers ; they are respected by them as having been established by the founders of Christianity, and are cherished as evidences of their descent from its first professor's. CONFIRMATION. Catholics believe that, through the sa- erament of confirmation, they receive the Holy Ghost, to enable them to overcome temptations to sin, and to suffer persecu- tions for the name of Christ. It is admi- nistered by the imposition of hands, with prayer, and the unction of the forehead with the holy chrism, accompanied by the words " I sign thee with the sign of the cross, and confirm thee with the chrism of salvation, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the J loly 1 1 ( lonfirmation completes u hat w#i in baptism. In baptism we enrol our under the banners of ( Ihrist ; in confirma- tion we receive strength to tight with courage the battles of our leader, M Now, when the Apostles, that w< Jerusalem, had beard that Samaria had d the word of ( i<»i, they sent to them Peter and John; who, when they were come, prayed for them, that they might receive the Hoi) Ghost T"r he had not yet come upon any ofthem; but they were only bsiptiaod in the name of the Lord Jesus, Then they laid tlieir hands ujx>n thorn, and they received the Holy Ghost." (Acts viil 14-17.) "Hav- ing hoard these things they wore baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had imposed his hands on them, the Holy Ghost came upon them." (Acts xix. 5, G.) It is certain, from historical records, that what the Apostles then did, the bishops, in every age from that time to the present, have continued to do, and for the same purpose, that is, to give the IIolij Ghost, The following is the testimony of St. Cyprian: "It is necessary that he who has been baptized, should be moreover anointed; in order that having received the chrism, that is the unction, he may be anointed in God, and possess the crace of Christ." (Ep. I. 20.) "It was the custom," say the Centuriators, " to impose hands upon those who were baptized, and to imprint upon their foreheads, with chrism, the sign of the cross." PENANCE. All the first Christians were converts from Judaism or Paganism, who, being instructed by the Apostles, had received the sacrament of baptism, and in that sacrament the remission of their former sins. They were of the number of those of whom our blessed Lord had said, " lie that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." (Mark xvi. 16.) It is plain that for this blessing they were indebted, not to their own merits, but to the mercy of God. " Not by works of justice which we have done but according to his mercy. God has saved us by the laver of regen- 14S HISTORY OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. cration, and renovation of the Holy | Ghost/% (Tit. iii. 5.) Hence it is that St. Paul, in his epistles to Christians, thus received into the covenant through bap- tism, continually reminds them that they had been justified, not by the works which they had done whilst they were .lews or Pagans, but by faith in Christ, which had brought them to the grace of baptism. This, therefore, is the true meaning of " justification by faith and not by works." They had thus M teen justified by the grace of God, and made heirs according to hope of eternal life." (Tit. iii. 7.) Hence, also, we may learn in what sense they were said to have been saved by the justification received in baptism. They had been taken out of the great mass of sinners, and placed amongst those who were heirs to eternal life : not heirs in actual possession, but heirs according to hope. Still it was possible that they might forfeit their inheritance. They would for- feit it if they relapsed into the sinful prac- tices of their former life. Some did ac- tually relapse, and " walk so as to be enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end would be destruction." (Phil. iii. 18.) Now these men had already obtained, in baptism, the remission of their sins committed before baptism. Could they be baptized again to obtain the remission of their sins committed after baptism ? No ; " for it was impossible for those who had once been enlightened, who had tasted the heavenly gift, and who had been made partakers of the Holy Ghost, if they then fell away, to be renewed (baptized) again unto repentance ; having crucified again the Son of God, and make a mockery of him." (Heb. vi. 4, 6.) " It had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they had known it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered unto them." (2 Pet. ii. 21.) Were they then to despair of pardon ? Certainly not ; for, notwith- standing the severity of these warnings, they were still reminded that, " If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the just, who is a propitiation for our sins ; and not for our sins only, but for those of the whole world." "(John xi. 12.) How, then, without a second baptism, was the sinner to be reconciled a second time with God ? To this most important question — and the query is calculated to startle the man who looks upon the Scrip- ture as the sole and sufficient rule for all Christians — the inspired writings return no direct or satisfactory answer. They repeatedly speak of the first reconciliation in baptism, but scarcely ever allude to reconciliation after baptism. For the man- ner on which this is to be effected there is no instruction in Scripture. For it we must have recourse to the practice of the Catholic Church in the more early ages ; which practice, as it prevailed universally, must have been founded on the doctrine taught by the Apostles. From it we learn that the second reconciliation required a longer and more laborious course than the first. Of the Jew or Pagan it was re- quired, that he should believe, renounce his sins, and be baptized ; but the offending Christian was excluded from the commu- nion of the body and blood of Christ, was called upon to confess his sins, was made to undergo a long course of humiliation and self-denial, and then to sue for abso- lution, which was often deferred till the approach of death. By such absolution he was reconciled through the sacrament of penance. We, indeed, who have been baptized in infancy, could not have com- mitted any actual sin to be forgiven in baptism : but, like them, we were made in baptism heirs of heaven, and, like them, may, after baptism, forfeit that inheritance by sin. If such be our misfortune, there remains to us no other resource than that which was left to them. We must seek forgiveness through the same sacrament of penance. SACRAMENTAL CONFESSION. A slight acquaintance with the books of the New Testament will suffice to show, that the writers had no intention of de- fining, in them, the doctrines, or1 of regu- lating the practices, of the Christian reli- gion. They presuppose in their readers a knowledge of both the one and the other. Hence, if they mention such prac- tices, it is only incidentally, and without any full or minute description ; so that, on the present subject of confession, though HI8TORY OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC ('III RCH. i 19 there can be no doubt thai il was of divine institution, yel the practice is no where expressly recordod. Prom the verj ear- beat ages, however, it has been considered as lm luded in the power given to the apostles of forgiving or retaining sins; for, how could the) exercise that office in a rational manner, without a knowledge of the spiritual state of the applicant, or obtain such knowledge but from his free confession of his sins I To it St. Paul appears to allude, when, writing to the Corinthians, lie says: M God lias given to us the ministry of reconciliation . . . lie lias placed in us the word of reconciliation . . . for Christ we beseech you, i*> ve reconciled to God." (2 Cor. v. i 8-2Q.) Where, it m iv be remarked, that he is writing to persons who had already been baptized, ami exhorts them to make use of the mi- nistry of reconciliation intrusted to the apostles, which, in their case, can refer only to the pardon of sins committed after baptism. In like manner, St. John says, M If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins," (1 John i, 9,) where the confession of which he speaks is one, in virtue of which, God is bound, in faith and justice, to grant forgiveness. Moreover, St. James writes, " Confess, therefore, your sins one to another, and pray for one another, that ye may be saved*' (James v. 16) ; which passage many of the ancient fathers explain of confession to a priest; because it is con- nected with the preceding verses, in which the sick man is told to call in the priests of the church, to be anointed by them, and prayed for by them. If it be objected that there is nothing positive in these passages, and that the confession there spoken of may be a general acknowledgment of sinfulness, or a private confession to God, or a public confession in presence of the congrega- tion : the objection might be met by a re- ference to the practice of the apostles ; and of that there can be no doubt, when we find in the most ancient Christian do- cuments, that confession to priests, some- times in private, sometimes in public, uni- versally prevailed. Undoubtedly, a prac- tice so humbling to human pride, as that of confession, could never have been in- troduced and propagated throughout the Whole church, OH any BUthoi •' that .if the apostfc ■>. And w hat was the commission given i" the apostles 1 Before lus ascension into heaven, Christ breathed upon them and said, M Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven j and whose sins you shall retain, tin \ are retained.1' (John xx. 28.) He had before said to the name apostles, M Whatsoever yOU shall hind on earth, it shall be hound also in h< avcn j and what- soever you shall loose on earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven,91 (Matt, xviii. 18,) and to St. Peter he had said, that he gave to him " the keys of the kingdom of hea- ven." (Matt. xvi. 19.) Catholics conclude from these texts that Christ gave to his apostles and their successors in the minis- try the commission to remit, under certain conditions, the sins of his people. What are these conditions? The first is sincere sorrow for the oflcnce committed, and a firm determination of mind never to com- mit it again. Without this condition, it is the doctrine of the Catholic Church, uni- versally received as an article of her faith, that neither priest, nor bishop, nor pope, nor the whole church together, has power to forgive any sin whatever ; and that should any priest, or bishop, or pope, pre- sume to grant absolution to any sinner, who was not from his heart sorry for his sins, and fully determined not to commit them again, such absolution could have no effect, but to augment the sinner's guilt, and involve in a participation of it the rash minister who had presumed to absolve him. But, in addition to this, the Catholic Church requires that the sinner should confess his guilt to the minister of religion, in order that the latter may ascertain whether his penitent possesses the requi- site dispositions, and that he may be en- abled to prescribe the necessary repara- tion for the past and precautions against future transgressions. Unless a sinner is ready to make this full and undisguised | acknowledgment of his offences, howevei j painful, however humbling it may be : th< | Catholic Church teaches, that her ministers have no authority to grant an absolution, and that should they presume to srant it, it would be of itself null and void. Nor are the above conditions sufficient. loO HISTORY OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. The sinner must, moreover, submit to make such atonement to his offended God, by prayer, by fasting, by works of self- denial, and the like, as may be required of him ; and if he has injured any neigh- bor in his good name, his property, or his person, he must, to the utmost of his ability, resolve to make full and ample satisfaction. Without such a resolution, no Catholic priest in the world could or would consider himself authorized to give absolution to any penitent ; and if ho did presume to give it, his religion teaches, as an article of faith, that his absolution could be of no avail in the sight of God, but would add to the guilt both of the giver and the receiver. Now, -it may be asked, is this a doctrine which relaxes Christian morality, which encourages guilt, and facilitates the com- mission of crime? What, then, must those doctrines be, which admit the sinner to reconciliation, upon the simple condition of repentance and a confession made to God alone ? As to the charge of forgiving sins for money, or allowing the commission of future sins, on any condition whatever, it is a simple calumny. The Catholic Church expressly forbids her clergy to receive money for absolution from sin, and would condemn, as guilty of simony, any priest who should commit such a crime. Accounts to the contrary, in which many works abound, — and frequently such works as would appear least likely to admit them, — arc, like other similar charges, fabrica- ted for purposes best known to the authors. SATISFACTION. According to the doctrine of the ancient church, if the convert to Christianity re- lapsed into the sins which he had abjured, he was subjected to a course of penance, partly in satisfaction to God, for the breach of his vows of fidelity to him, and partly in satisfaction to the church, for the scan- dal which he had given to it. In later ages, the severity of this discipline was abandoned ; and only a portion of it re- mains in the satisfaction still enjoined in the sacrament of penance. The sinner who voluntarily punishes his sin, can in no wise displease God, or offer an injury to Christ, while he at the same time ad- mits, that no satisfaction which he can make, can be of any avail, independently of the satisfaction of Christ. As well might it be said that prayer for mercy is injurious to the mercy of God, or to the atonement offered by our Saviour. INDULGENCES. Indulgences grew out of the church dis- cipline just spoken of. In every case, the bishops were accustomed to mitigate the rigor, or abridge the duration of the peni- tential course, as circumstances appeared to them to require. Both in the imposi- tion and the relaxation of such penance, they had the same object in view, the benefit of the sinner ; and in both they believed themselves to be justified by the promise of our Saviour, that " whatsoever they should bind upon earth, should be bound also in heaven ; and that whatso- ever they should loose upon earth, should be loosed also in heaven." (Matt, xviii. 18.) See 1 Corinthians, v. 3-5. In this passage St. Paul excommunicates the man who had been guilty of incest. But in the second chapter of the second Epistle, — having been informed of the sorrow and repentance of the criminal — he tells the Corinthians, that he remits the punishment which he had lately deemed so salutary. 11 Wherefore," he says, " I beseech you, that you would confirm your charity to- wards him. And to whom you have for- given any thing, even I also. For what I forgive, if I have forgiven any thing for your sakes, I have done it in the person of Christ." This mitigation by St. Paul, is precisely what the Catholic Church means by an indulgence. Most misrepresentation on the subject of indulgences has arisen from an ambi- guity of language, in which the term " re- mission of sin" has been made to include " remission of the punishment due to sin ;" in the same manner as we say, that a king has pardoned treason, when he has re- mitted, on certain conditions, the penalties of treason. Every grant of indulgence requires in express terms, as a previous condition, true repentance, and the performance of HISTORY OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHI RCH. Ift] all that is necessary for the forgivem till of mm : so that, in tact, instead of being, u tome penom have rashly said, an eooouragemeiil to sin, it becomes to tbOH Sfho avail themselves of it, a powerful incentive to virtue and religion. An indulgence is still less M a license to commit sin, is others have falsely repre- sented. The doctrine of the Catholic Church is, that no power on earth can give a license to sin. Again, it has been misrepresented as "a pardon for sin be- forehand." But an indulgence, so far from being a pardon lor sin beforehand, has no concern whatever with the pardon of sin in any form: it is confined solely to the temporal punishment which may be due after the guilt has been committed. As little can it be an encouragement to sin, when its very condition is true repen- tance: otherwise, God might be said to encourage sin by promising exemption from eternal punishment to the repentant sinner. EXTREME UNCTION. Catholics believe that extreme unction is a sacrament, ordained for the benefit of those who are dangerously sick, both in remitting their sins, and alleviating their sufferings, according to the hidden designs of God's providence, and to the different degrees of faith and preparation in those who receive it. It is administered in the manner de- scribed by St. James : " Is any man sick among you ? Let him bring in the priests of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil, in the name of the Lord." Its effects are also declared by the same aposile : " And the prayer of faith shall save the sick man : and the Lord shall raise him up ; and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him." " I acknowledge," says Calvin, " that extreme unction was used by the disciples of Christ, as a sacrament ; for I am not of the opinion of those who imagine, that it was a corporal remedy." {Comment, in Ep. Jac.) HOLY ORDER. Holy order is a sacrament by which bishops, priests, and OtOCl lam. spread bis religion and worship through the world ; that they appointed others to aid them m tln> great work, ordaining such persons with fasting, prayer, and imposition of hands; and that this ordination conferred on the ordained certain spiritual graa s, adapted to their respective duties. M As the Father hath sent me, I also send you." (John xx. 21.) M Let a man so account of us, as of ministers of ( 'hrist, and the dispensers of the mysteries of God." (1 Cor. iv. 1.) "He gave some apostles, and some prophets, and Other some evangelists, and other some pastors and teachers, .... that henceforth we be j no more children, tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine," (Eph. iv. 11, 14.) " Stir up the grace of God, which is in : thee, by the imposition of my hands." : (2 Tim. i. 6.) " Neglect not the grace ! that is in thee, which was given to thee by prophecy, with the imposition of the | hands of the priesthood." (1 Tim. iv. 14.) As the New Testament contains no de- tailed account of the constitution of the ' Christian ministry, nor of the exact form 1 of ordination : we must have recourse for information on those subjects to the most ancient ecclesiastical historians ; and when we find in their pages the same gradation of office and authority in the sacred ministry, which still prevails in the Ca- tholic Church, described as existing in every particular church, the only conclu- sion that can be reasonably drawn from such antiquity and universality is, that it was established by the apostles themselves, in conformity with the will of their hea- venly Master. No other authority could have established it every ivJicre. MATRIMONY. Catholics believe that matrimony is a sacrament, by which the marriage cove- nant is sanctified and blessed, and the parties receive grace to fulfil the duties of the married state. " For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife, and they shall be 152 HISTORY OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. two in one flesh. This is a great sacra- > ment : but I speak in Christ and the church." (Eph. v. 31, 32.) f Matrimony," says Luther, " is called a sacrament, because it is the type of a very noble and very holy thing. Hence," he adds, " the married ought to consider, and respect the dignity of the sacrament." — (Zte Matrimo?iio.) The Catholic Church teaches that the marriage covenant cannot be dissolved by human authority. " What God hath joined together, let no man put asunder." (Matt. xix. 6.) THE HOLY EUCHARIST. Catholics believe that, in the sacrament of the holy eucharist are the body and blood of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, under the outward appearance of bread and wine ; that they are received in memory of his death for our redemption ; that the soul is thereby filled with grace, and that a pledge is given to us of future glory. Our blessed Lord, at his last supper, took bread and wine into his hands, blessed them successively, and gave them to his apostles, saying of the bread, " Take ye, and eat ; this is my body ;" and of the wine, " Drink ye all of this ; for this is my blood." (Matt. xxvi. 26-2S.) The real signification of these words is a sub- ject of controversy between Catholics and Protestants. The Protestant, arguing from the appearance of the elements to the meaning of the words, contends that, as there is no visible change in the bread and wine, the words must be taken in some figurative sense : the Catholic, arguing from the literal meaning of the words to the real state of the elements, contends that, as the meaning is obvious and posi- tive, the bread and wine must have under- gone some invisible change. He asks if such a change is impossible, and bids us look at Hi in who utters these mysterious words. Who is He 1 To judge from our senses, he is, indeed, a mere man, like ourselves. To-day he is sitting at table with his disciples, — to-morrow we shall see him in the agonies of death, hanging, like a malefactor, on the cross. But what sivs our faiih 7 That he is Dot only man, but God ; that God who inhabiteth eter- nity,— who by a single word called the universe into existence, — whose will all things must obey. Shall we then dispute the power of this God to work a change in the bread and wine, unless it be per- ceptible to our senses ? Shall we dare to give him the lie, by denying that to be his body and blood, which he has de- clared to be so? The men of Capernaum did this, when they exclaimed, u How can this man give us his flesh to eat 1 It is a hard saying, and who can hear it?" (John vi. 60.) But then the men of Ca- pernaum took him for a mere man ; we believe that he is our God. Hence it appears, that the real point in dispute regards the power of God. Un- less you deny that it is possible for him so to change the substance of the ele- ments, that Christ may say of them lite- rally and with truth that they were his body and blood ; or maintain that, if such change were wrought, it must of necessi- ty fall under the cognizance of the senses : it will follow that you are bound to admit, with the Catholic, the conversion of the elements into the body and blood of Christ. The Scripture says, it is his body and his blood : who that believes the Scripture will dare to say, it is not his body, it is not his blood ? To "escape from the difficulty, some theologians have sought shelter behind certain expressions of our Saviour, which they call parallel passages ; because in them the verb to be has reference to a fig- urative meaning. But this is a miserable subterfuge. The most important in our Saviour's words, at the supper, is the de- monstrative pronoun this : — this, which I hold in my hand, is my body. He has indeed said, I am the door, I am die vine ; but when did he lay his hand on a door or a vine, and say, This door, or this vine, am I? There cannot be a doubt that the apos- tles would teach the real meaning of these words to their disciples. Now we have, fortunately, the means of ascertaining what was the belief of the Christians about half a century after the death of St. John, from the apology of Justin Martyr. It was his object to describe the acknowledged doetrines and practices of the converts, and to place them in the H1sTok\ OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC mi RCH. meet favorable light before tin- eyes ofhii infidel sovereign. Now, if the eucharist had been considered nothing more than b figure, moat certainly Ik* would have said so at once: for then- could 1m> no need of concealment, where there was nothing winch might be thought singular <>r unin- telligible. But of the figurative doctrine, he appears never to have heard. He stat.-s openly, that the consecrated ele- ments are the holy and hlood of Christ; and accounts for a belief of a doctrine so extraordinary and Startling, because it was the doctrine of our Lord at his last -supper. The following are his words: M With us, this food is called the eu- charist, of which it is not allowed that any other man should partake, hut he who believes in the truth of our doctrines, and who lias been washed in the laver for the remission ot'sins and for a new birth, and who lives according to the precepts which Christ has left us. For we do not receive these things as common bread and com- mon drink ; in the same manner as our Saviour Jesus Christ, becoming incarnate, through the word of God, had flesh and blood for our salvation : so have we been taught that the food, with which by trans- mutation our flesh and blood are nourished, is, after it has been blessed by the prayer of the word that comes from him, the body and blood of him, the same incar- nate Jesus. For the apostles, in the com- mentaries written by them, and called ' gospels,' have delivered to us that they were so commanded to do by Jesus, when, taking the bread, and having blessed it, he said, Do this in remembrance of me : this is my body ; and in like manner, taking the chalice, having blessed it, he said, This is my blood : and distributed it among them only." — Just. Mart. 97. Assuredly, if the Catholic doctrine be false, the error must have introduced it- self among Christians before that race of men, who had been instructed by the apostles, had become entirely extinct. The change, effected by Almighty Power, of the substance of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, lias, with great propriety, been termed transubstantiation ; a word introduced to distinguish the real doctrine of the Catho- lic Church from the heterodox opinions of successive innovators. The term, in- deed, is of more recent origin ; but the doctrine designated b) it mi as ancient as Christianity. •'Learn,'1 says St, Cyril of Jerusalem, (Catech. Myk. iv.) M that the bread which we sec, though to the taste it he bread, is nevertheless not bread, hut the body of Christ ; and that the wine which we see, though to the taste it he wine, is nevertheless not wine, hut the blood of Christ." (See also pp. 281-289, ed. Ozon.) It would he difficult U) ex- press the doctrine of transubstantiation in clearer terms. " I should have wished," says Luther, " to have denied the real presence of Christ in the eucharist, in order to incom- mode the papists. But so clear and so strong are the words of Scripture which establish it, that in spite of my inclination so to do, and although I strained every nerve to reach the point, yet, never could I persuade myself to adopt the bold expe- dient." (Epist. Car. Amic.) Again : " Among the fathers, there is not one who entertained a doubt concerning the real presence of Christ Jesus in the holy eucharist." (I)ffcns Vers. Caznce.) He calls the contrary opinion " blasphemy, an impeachment of the veracity of the Holy Ghost ; an act of treachery against Christ, and a seduction of the faithful." (Ibid.) " Many Protestants," snys Bishop Forbes, (A. D.) " deny too boldly and too dangerously, that God can transubstantiate the bread into the body of Christ. For my part, I approve of the opinion of the Wittemburg divines, who assert that the power of God is so great, that he can change the substance of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ." (De Euch.) INVOCATION OF THE SAINTS. When Catholics pray to the saints, they do no more than when they prav for their fellow-men upon earth ; of the one and the other they ask the same thing — that they would pray to the common God and Father of all, both with them and for them. If Catholics be asked, " "Whether they do not make the saints their mediators?" their answer will be, " We make them so 20 154 HISTORY OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. in no other sense, than we are mediators one for another." Nor does the passage of Scripture so often quoted, apply here: " There is but one mediator between God and man," because by mediator is here signified, one " who gave himself a ran- som for all." (1 Tim. ii. 6.) In that sense, Jesus Christ is our only mediator. Did the mediatorship of Christ receive any injury, or disparagement, from the pray- ers addressed to the saints, then would it also be violated in like manner by the prayers which Christians reciprocally offer up for each other's benefit. When the Catholic says to his brother in Christ, " Pray for me to our common Father, to obtain for me those blessings which I myself may be unable or unworthy to obtain :" the same he says to the blessed mother of Christ, to St.' Peter, St. Paul, St. Augustine, St. Chrysostom,St. Jerome, or any other of those holy persons, whose acknowledged sanctity has procured for them, through the grace and merits of Christ, the friendship of God, and the happiness of heaven. Surely there is nothing wrong or unreasonable in this. The earthly trials of those holy persons are past, the veil of mortality is removed from their eyes, they behold God face to face, and enjoy without reserve his friend- ship and his love. May the pious Catho- lic not reasonably hope that their prayers will be more efficacious than his own, or those of his friends here upon earth ? At least, there is nothing in reason or revela- tion to forbid him to do so. Let a case be supposed. A child has been deprived by death of a parent, who through life offercl for him the most fervent supplica- tions. Is it likely that the anxiety of a parent for the welfare of a beloved child wholly ceases in death ? Should the child think not, and under this persuasion say, " O ! my parent, think of me, love me, pray for me still. Forget not in your happy country your exiled child." Would this be impiety? Would this be robbing God of his glory, or Christ of his media- tion ? Would this be transferring to creatures, the honors and privileges due to God alone ? Would this justify a man in judging harshly, speaking contemptu- ously, or acting unkindly towards his Christian brother? The following texts are offered to the notice of those who would more closely examine the subject. " The angel Ra- phael said to Tobias : When thou didst pray with tears, and didst bury the dead, I offered up thy prayer to the Lord." (Tobias, xii. 12.) "This," says Judas, relating his vision, " this is Jeremiah, the prophet of God, who prays much for the people, and the holy city." (2 Mach. xv. 12, &c.) " I say to you, there shall be joy before the angels of God, upon one sinner that repents." (Luke, xv. 10.) " And when he had opened the book, the four living creatures, and the four and twenty ancients, fell down before the Lamb ; having each of them harps, and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of the saints." (Apocal. v. 8.) In the early, we may say the earliest, ages of the church, the saints were invo- cated. Listen to St. Augustine. " Chris- tians celebrate with religious solemnity the memory of the martyrs, that they may excite themselves to imitate their con- stancy, that they may be united to their merits, and may be aided by their prayers. But it is not to any martyr, but to the very God of the martyrs, that we raise our altars. To God alone, who crown the martyrs, is the sacrifice offered." {Cont. Faust, xx.18.) And here be it observed, that to God it is said, " Have mercy upon us ;" to the saints it is said, " Pray for us." It is surely not difficult to discriminate between these two forms of address : the difference is immense. On the subject of the invocation of the saints, that learned Protestant, Bishop Montague, has the following remarks : "It is the common voice, with general con- currence and without contradiction, of re- verend and learned antiquity. And I see no cause to dissent from them [the Catho- lics,] touching intercession of this kind. Christ is not thus wronged in his media- tion. And it is no impiety to say, as the Catholics do, * Holy Mary, pray for me.' " (Invoc. of Saints.) " I allow," says Luther, " with the whole Christian church, and believe, that the saints in heaven should be invoked." (De Pier gat. Quorund.) ON GOOD WORKS. Good works are twofold : relisrious works, HI8T0RY OF Till: ROMAN c.VJ'ilnUc mi KCH. .-,;, which have far their immediate object the honor and irorahip of God j and works <>f mercy or charity, which have for their te relieve the wantf of our neigh- bor, spiritual or corporal. To these works ample reward is promised: "Come, ye i of my Father, possess the king- dom prepared for \<>u from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and ye gave me to eat ; I was thirsty, and ye gave me to drink ; naked, and ye clothed me," &c. (Matt. \\\. 84.) Nor will the smallest set of charity go unrequited : " Whoever shall give to drink to one of these little ones, a cup of cold water only, in the name of a disciple, amen I say unto you, be shall not lose his reward." (Matt. X. 42.) Respecting the merit of these good works, the Catholic helieves, that eternal life is proposed to the children of God, both as a grace, which is mercifully pro- mised to them, and as a recompense, which, in virtue of this promise, is faith- fully bestowed upon their good works. Lest, however, the weakness of the human heart should be flattered with the idea of any presumptuous merit : it is at the same time carefully inculcated, that the price and value of Christian actions proceed wholly from the efficacy of sanctifying grace, a grace gratuitously bestowed upon us, in the name of Jesus Christ. Much unintelligible learning has been wasted in attempts to explain the doctrine, that we are justified by faith without good Works. But on carefully weighing the passages on which this doctrine is founded, it will appear that the Apostle is not speak- ing of the justification of the Christian who has fallen into sin after baptism, but of the justification in baptism, of the man who has been converted from Judaism or Paganism. (Tit. iii. 5, 7.) Such con- vert is justified, according to St. Paul, not in er>ns.H|UCncc of the works which he did while he was a Jew or a Pagan, but in virtue of his faith in Jesus Christ, who brought him to the water of baptism. But it. must be remembered, that the faith which sufficed for his justification in that sacrament, will not suffice for justification after baptism. When once he is become a Christian, he must " be faithful in every good work." (Col. i. 10.) " Because faith without Works is df .id, and by WO man is justified, and not by tint h only.91 (.lames, ii. 3 i, 26.) 1 1' has indei d well, hut be is not yet secure of salvation; it is !»\ good works M that he is to ma calling and election sure." ("J \'> U \ . .. I ". THE INTERMEDIATE STATE, OB PI K OATOBY.- It is the belief of the Catholic Church, as indeed it may be presumed of every communion, that all sins are not equal in malice and guilt; that a passing angry feeling is not so great a crime as murder, nor an idle word as blasphemy. Hence we believe that God does not punish ail sins equally, but " renders to every one according to his works" (Matt. xvi. 27 ) ; that whilst he punishes the wilful, delibe- rate and mortal offender with the extremity of severity, even with everlasting fire, he inflicts upon the minor and more venial sinner chastisements less severe, and of limited duration. This belief is surely not unreasonable. In human laws there are gradations of punishment, corresponding with the gradations of crime. We should call the law unjust, that punished equally with death the child who pilfered an apple, or the wretch who had murdered his father. Are the laws of God alone unjust ? Has he alone the privilege of punishing with- out discrimination? The Scripture ex- pressly declares, that before the divine tribunal " men shall give an account of every idle word." (Matt. xii. 36.) Let us, then, make a supposition. A child arrived at the full use of reason, and knowing that every lie is a sin, to escape punishment, tells an untruth in a matter of trivial mo- ment. There is not a doubt that a sin has been committed. Before the child has time to repent, an accident deprives him of life. * This term is from a Latin root, which sig- nifies to cleanse or purify. To the objection that the word is not in Scripture, it may be answered, that like the word " Trinity." (which also has no place in Scripture), the term " Pur- gatory" was introduced and adopted to express more conveniently by one word, what was pre- viously expressed by metaphor or circumlocu- tion. In this manner many new terms have been admitted into Christian theology; thus men believed in the three divine persons, long before they adopted the word " Trinity." 156 HISTORY OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. What reception shall he meet with at the bar of eternal justice? Will he be sen- tenced with the parracide to eternal flames? I need not give the answer. Reason revolts at the idea. He must then be punished for a time, and when he has atoned for his fault, be admitted to recon- ciliation. Such is the belief of the Catholic Church. But if a temporary state of punishment bo admitted, prayer for the dead must fol- low of course ; as on the other hand, if heaven and hell are believed to be the only alternatives in the moment of death, prayer for the dead is vain : for in heaven relief is not wanted, and " from hell there is no redemption." Hence, when our friends are taken from us by death, and we have reason to hope (and when will not affection hope?) that these offences may not deserve the extremity of eternal punishment: we entreat the divine Good- ness to shorten or alleviate their sufferings. Is this unreasonable ? Is this supersti- tious ? Is this unscriptural ? Certain it is, that it is not uncharitable, and charity is the first of virtues. " But the Scripture does not command us to pray for the dead." Neither does it forbid us. Why, then, may not the voice of nature, the dictates of reason, and the belief and usages of antiquity, be allowed to govern our conduct? At all events, if the Catholic does not think the practice repugnant to Scripture, why should he be condemned ? Surely he has as much right as others to judge of the meaning of Scripture? And if his inter- pretation be confirmed by the constant belief of the Catholic Church, by the practice of his fore-fathers, by the dictates of nature, and the best feelings of the human heart : is he not abundantly justi- fied in preferring his own firm conviction to the fluctuating opinion of his neigh- bors? An assertion is often made, " That the ministers of the church claim the power of relieving souls from purgatory." This strange misrepresentation, though a thou- sand times proved to be groundless, is as often repeated. The Catholic priest claims no authority or jurisdiction over the dead. All he can do is to apply to the mercy of God in their behalf; but, like other men, he must ever remain uncertain respecting the efficacy of his prayers. He has, in- deed, one advantage peculiar to the priest- hood. He can offer sacrifice ; and sacri- fice under the new law, as well as under the old, has always been considered the most powerful means of moving God to mercy. Hence, if any one, in addition to his own private prayers, wish to have sacrifice offered for the souls of his de- parted friends, there is no doubt he must apply to the ministry of the priests ; and if " They who serve the altar are entitled to live by the altar," (1 Cor. ix. 13,) no one, I presume, will deny, that the priest is as much entitled to a remuneration for the labor he performs, as those who re- ceive fees for the burial service performed over the dead ; nay, even for the admin- istration of baptism, and for preaching the gospel. Would a Catholic be justified in saying, on this account, that, for a sum of money, these clergymen claim a power of remitting sin, and opening to their fol- lowers the gates of life ? PICTURES AND IMAGES. Catholics use paintings and images as the most fitting ornaments for churches, oratories, &c, and at the same time, as objects calculated to excite and keep alive feelings of devotion. As the principal among thern the crucifix may be men- tioned. It is not possible to gaze upon the figure of the Redeemer, nailed to the cross, with a vacant eye. It brings before the mind, in the liveliest manner, his good- ness, who for us, and for our salvation, was pleased " to submit himself to death, even to the death of the cross ;" and re- minds us how criminal those sins must be which caused him to undergo such suffer- ings, and how sincere our sorrow should be in having participated in the commis- sion of them. But there are those who say, that "Ca- tholics worship images, as did the pagans of old, and that, like them, they give to the works of man's hands the glory due to the one eternal God." The accusation is a common one ; and were it not that it proceeds from otherwise respectable sources, it might appear like insulting the understanding of the reader, to suppose HISTORY OF THE ROMAN CATllol.lc CHI RCH. 157 him capable of believing them. 1W wank} it is n«»t pmWJblfl, that, in an Age, And a ouiiitiv which claims, and not unjustly too, in be one of the moat libera] and en- lightened upon earth, men should be found capable of believing, thai the majority of the Christian world, the great, the good, the learned ef almost every civilised na- tion under heaven, should he so ignorant, so debased, to stupid, so wicked, as to give divine honors to a lifeless and senseless image! It is ditlicult to bring the mind to conceive it. Among other texts of Scripture which bear upon this subject, the following are ottered lor consideration: Numb. xxi. 8, 9; John iii. 14, 15 ; Exod. xxv. 16, 22. " The Lord spake unto Moses, saying, . . . Thou shalt also make two cherubim of beaten gold, on the two sides of the oracle. Let them cover both sides of the propitiatory, spreading their wings, and covering the oracle ; and let them look one towards the other, their faces being turned towards the propitiatory, wherewith the ark is to be covered ; in which thou shalt put the testimony that I will give thee. Thence will I give orders, and will speak to thee over the propitiatory, and from the midst of the two cherubims," &c. (Exodus xxv. 18, &c.) " And the Lord said to him (Moses,) Make a brazen serpent, and set it up for a sign. Every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. Moses, therefore, made a brazen serpent, and set it up for a sign, which when they that were bitten looked upon, they were healed." (Numb. xxi. 8, 9.) " And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the son of man be lifted up. That whosoever believeth in him may not perish, but may have life everlasting." (John iii. 14, 15.) Like the invocation of the saints, the early use and veneration of their images are acknowledged. The centuriators allow that they were common in the third age of the church. " Eusebius," they say, " writes that he saw, in Asia, Christians who preserved the images of St. Peter, St. Paul, and of Christ himself." (Cent. iii.) The same writers add : " Tertullian seems to declare, that the Christians kept the image of the cross, both in their pub- he Assemblies, and private bona - ; and it was thence that the pagan called them worshipper! of the cross." {Cent, iii.) CEREMONIES ami vi:>T\n;.\Ts. With respect to ceremonies tad ments, they should be Viewed with the eye of antiquity. They are renerable relics of primitive? times, and, though ill adapted to the youthful religions of mo- dern times, well become that hoary reli- gion, which bears the weight of so many ages. The ceremonies employed m the Christian sacrifice, as well as the sacer- dotal vestments, have their model in the book of Leviticus, and, as nearly as the difference of the old and new laws per- mits, closely resemble those instituted by God himself. The Catholic Church deems them useful. They give a peculiar dig- nity to the sacred mysteries of religion ; they raise the mind of the beholder to heavenly things by their various and ap- propriate import ; they instruct the igno- rant and keep alive attention ; they give the ministers of religion a respect for themselves, and for the awful rites in which they officiate ; but neither the cere- monies nor the vestments belong to the essence of religion. The Church esta- blished them in the first ages. She could, if she deemed it advisable, set them aside any day, and the sacrifice would be equally holy, though not equally impressive, if offered by the priest in a plain white sur- plice, or the ordinary costume of the day. THE SERVICES IN THE LATIN LAN- GUAGE. The reasons why, in the celebration of the mass, and of other services of the church, the Latin language is used, are simply these : First, the Latin and Greek were the languages most generally used, and almost the only written languages in the principal countries where the Christian religion was first promulgated. In these lan- guages, therefore, the liturgy of the church was originally composed, nearly in its present form. When, several centuries t afterwards, the languages of modern Eu- rope began to be formed, the church did not think proper to alter the languages 4' ■• 158 HISTORY OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. she had ever used in the celebration of the holy sacrifice. For if, on the one hand, these languages, by becoming dead, ceased to l>e understood by the unlearned, on the other, they became, like a body raised from death, immortal, unchange- able, and on this account the better adapted for preserving unaltered the awful doctrines and mysteries committed to their care. Would prudence have jus- tified the setting aside the pure, the dig- nified, the immutable languages of the pri- mitive church ; languages which, though no longer spoken by the unlettered, were still, as they are to this day, the universal languages of the learned in every country, and the adoption in their stead of the numberless barbarous, half- formed and daily changing languages of modern Eu- rope ? Would it have been respectful, would it have been secure, would it have been practicable, to commit to these rude and uncertain vehicles, the sacred deposit of the faith and hope of Christians 1 For the use of the people, translations have been made, and abound in every Catholic country ; but at the altar the priest con- tinues to commune with God in the ori- ginal languages, reciting the more sacred parts of the sacrificial rite in a low voice, which breaks not the awful silence, nor disturbs the deep recollections of the sur- rounding adorers. And yet this has been termed " praying in an unknown tongue," and for the purpose " of keeping the peo- ple in ignorance." Had the latter been the unwise policy of the Catholic Church, she would have commanded the clergy to give instructions and to preach in un- known languages ; whereas these portions of the church ordinances are always in the vernacular language. PROSELYTISM. And here a few remarks may not be irrelevant, in regard to what is usually called proselytism. A degree of odium has become attached to the term ; all seem eager to disclaim it, as if it implied something criminal. Yet what is meant by proselytism 1 If it means converting others to the true religion, what were the apostles themselves, but the makers of proselytes 1 What did Jesus Christ give them to do, when he bade them " Go and teach all nations," (Matt, xxviii. 19,) but every where to make proselytes 1 For what Were the apostles persecuted, put to death, and crowned with the glory of martyrdom, but for making proselytes? What successor of the apostles would do his duty, if he did not labor like them to make proselytes ? What Christian could lay claim to the rewards of charity, who, convinced of the truth of his religion, and of the inestimable blessings it imparts, refused or neglected to make others par- takers of it ,* concealed his treasure from the objects of distress, and covered " under a bushel," the light which was wanted to guide the steps of his benighted fellow- traveller ? But, if by proselytism is meant the se- ducing of men from truth to error, or what we believe to be such ; if it imply the use of any means that are unfair, un- handsome, dishonorable, or uncharitable ; of violence, bribery, false arguments or any other means whatsoever than such as are dictated by the strictest truth and ani- mated by pure benevolence ; then, indeed, is proselytism as odious as it is unchris- tian ; then, far be its practice from every Catholic and from every Christian. Be it hated and detested by every lover of honesty, of truth, and of charity. THE POPE.* Catholics, while they hold that the Church is the congregation of all the faithful under their invisible head, Jesus Christ, also believe that the Church has a visible head, in the Bishop of Rome, the successor of St. Peter, and commonly called the Pope. That Jesus Christ, in quality of our Lord, is the head of the Church, will not be disputed ; for " God appointed him head over all the Church." (Eph. i. 22.) But, since his ascent into heaven, he is invisible to us ; and the question is, whether he did not, before he left the earth, appoint a vicar, or deputy, to be the visible head in his place. From * At present his holiness Pope Pius XT. (Mastai Fercttai) occupies the chair of Peter. He was elected June 17th, 1846, and his coro- nation took place four days after his elec- tion.— Editor. HI8T0RY or THE !:• »M \x C \ i imi.ic mi R< n L50 Scripture it ia manifi si that he did, end thai St, Peter was the person on whom he conferred this high dignity. The follow- ing circumstances are worth} of attention. The name of this apostle w;is original 1} Simon. The moment he appeared before our Saviour, he received firom hini a new name i MThou art Simon, the son of lona; thou shall be called Cephas." (John i. 12.) Now, why did our blessed Lord give to Simon, at first sight, before he had said or done an\ thing to elicit it, this name of Oeptta*, which signifies rock? In due season, the mystery was disclosed, when, in consequence of Peter's confes- sion, Christ said to him, M Thou art Ce- phas, ami on this ci phas I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matt. xvi. 18) ; words, in Hebrew, equivalent to the following: ix Thou art Rock, the rock on which I will build my church." He then pro- ceeded thus: "I will give unto thee the k'.vs of the kingdom of heaven ; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound also in heaven ; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, shall be loosed also in heaven." (Ibid. 19.) The power of binding and loosing was afterwards conferred on the other apostles, but not the keys, the badge of the chief officer in the household. They were granted to Peter alone. Other circumstances will be noted by those who are desirous to as- certain the bearing and signification of the Saviour's actions. For instance, in the miraculous draught of fishes, which was figurative of the gathering of the na- tions into the church, when Peter, with his associates James and John, forsook all, and followed our Saviour, it will be remarked that it was the bark of Peter into which Jesus entered in preference; it was Peter whom he ordered to let down the net for a draught, and to Peter that he said, " Fear not ; henceforth thou shalt catch men ;" that is, shalt be a fisher of men. (Luke v. 10.) From that period, we always find Peter spoken of as the first, and the leader of the others ; to him is given the charge that he confirm his brethren, (Luke xxii. 32,) and the office of feeding both the lambs and the sheep, (John xxi. 15, 16,) which is interpreted by the fathers as the simple faiihful, and tin ir spiritual guides, Am r the •ion "i our Lord, \\'- find him n< the head of the w hole body, at the elec- tion of Matthias (,\<-ts i.); in preaching ;-■ I to the .1- ws ( A< :- n. ;< ,- > in re. buking Ananias and Sapphire (Acts v.) ; in the calling of the gentiles (A< and in the council at Jerusalem, (Acts xv.) All these passages and proceedings demonstrate in Peter a pre-eminence in rank and authority above the Other apos- tles. Should it be supposed that the office might he personal to Peter, and then fore might not pass to his successors, it is not unreasonable to ask on what ground such a supposition rests? If Christ, when he established his church, gave to it a visible head, who could have authority to change that form of government afterwards ? Whatever reason there might be why Peter should be invested with authority over his brethren, the other apostles ; the same reason will require that the success- or of Peter should be invested with au- thority over his brethren, the successors of those apostles. To seek for proof from Scripture on points like these, would be labor lost, because the Scripture does not treat of them. We may glean from the inspired writers a few detached and imperfect notices of the form of church government which was established in their time ; but not one of them fully describes that form, nor alludes to the form that was to prevail in time to come. For such matters we must have recourse to tradition ; and tradition bears ample testimony to the superior authority of the successors of St. Peter. St. Irenoeus says (a/mo 177.) "It is necessary that all the Church — that is, the faithful, wher- ever they are, — should conform to" (be in communion with) " the Church of Rome, on account of her superior chiefdom." — Adv. Hair, iii. 3. Tertullian says (anno 194), "If thou think that heaven is still closed, recollect that the Lord left the keys thereof to Peter, and through him to the Church." — Scorpiaci, c. x. With respect to certain questions agita- ted in the schools, relative to the spiritual power of the Pope, as exercised in con- junction with the temporal, little need be said in this place ; although we see such 160 HISTORY OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. questions continually revived, in order to draw down odium upon the Catholics. Suffice it to state, that these questions are not included in the articles of Catholic faith, nor have any influence upon Catho- lic practice. On this point, we have plea- sure in quoting the decisive words of Dr. Purcell, Bishop of Cincinnati : " The Ca- tholics do not believe that the Pope has any such power [that of interfering with the institutions of free States.] We would be among the first to oppose him in its exercise, and we should be neither heretics nor bad Catholics for so doing. For ten centuries this power was never claimed by any Pope ; it can, therefore, be no part of Catholic doctrine. It has not gained one foot of land for the Pope. It is not any where believed or acted upon, in the Catholic Church ; nor could it at this late day be established, even were a man found mad enough to make the at- tempt. Let these go forth before the American people as the real principles of Catholics concerning the power of the Pope. And if we must pronounce a judg- ment on the past, let it be remembered, that when the Pope did use the power, it was when he was appealed to us a com- mon father, and in favor of the oppressed. We should go back, in spirit, to former times, when we undertake to judfje them. We should understand the condition of society at the period ; we should know the circumstances, general and particular, which controlled or influenced the great events recorded in history. We should not quarrel with our ancestors, because they did not possess knowledge which we possess ; nor flatter ourselves that we are vastly their betters, because of these ad- ventitious advantages ; while they mani- festly surpass us in others, of greater value to the Christian and the moralist. They had the substance of good things ; we seem to be content with the shadow of them." The same sentiments are eloquently enforced by Judge Hall, of Cincinnati. We quote a paragraph or two, for the benefit of those who may not be acquainted with an address, honorable alike to the head and the heart of its candid and liberal author. " This question [the alarm raised against the Catholics] has become so im- portant in the United States, that it is time to begin to inquire into its bearings, and to know whether the public are really interested in the excitement which has been gotten up with unusual industry, and has been kept alive with a pertinacity that has seldom been equalled. For several years past the religious Protestant papers of our country, with but few exceptions, have teemed with virulent attacks against the Catholics, and especially with para- graphs charging them substantially with designs hostile to our free institutions, and with a systematic opposition to the spread of all free inquiry and liberal knowledge. These are grave charges, involving con- sequences of serious import, and such as should not be believed or disbelieved upon mere rumor, or permitted to rest upon any vague hypothesis ; because they are of a nature which renders them susceptible of proof. The spirit of our institutions requires that these questions should be thus examined. We profess to guarantee to every inhabitant of our country, cer- tain rights, in the enjoyment of which he shall not be molested, except through the instrumentality of a process of law which is clearly indicated. Life, liberty, pro- perty, reputation, are thus guarded — and equally sacred is the right secured to every man, to ' worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience.' " But it is idle to talk of these inestima- ble rights, as having any efficacious exis- tence, if the various checks and sanctions, thrown around them by our constitution and laws, may be evaded, and a lawless majority, with a high hand, ravish them by force from a few individuals, who may be effectually outlawed by a perverted public opinion, produced by calumny and clamor. It is worse than idle, it is wick- ed, to talk of liberty, while a majority, having no other right than that of the strongest, persist in blasting the character of unoffending individuals by calumny, and in oppressing them by direct violence upon their persons and property, not only without evidence of their delinquency, but against evidence; not only without law, but in violation of law — and merely be- cause they belong to an unpopular deno- mination. HISTOID OF THE KOMAN CATHOLIC (III RCH. L6] "The very feci thai the Roman Catho- lics are, and can be iritfa impunity, thus trampled upon, in a country like oure, affords in itself the moat conclush dance of the groundleameai of the feara which arc entertained by souk- respecting them. Without the power to protect them- selves in the enjoyment of the ordinary rights of citizenship, and with a current of prejudice setting so strongly against them, that they find safety only in bending meekly to the storm; how idle, how pue- rile, bow disingenuous is it, to rave as some have done, of the danger of Catholic in- fluence ! "We repeat, that this is a question which must rest upon testimony. The American people are too intelligent, too just, too magnanimous, to suffer the tem- porary delusion by which so many have been blinded, to settle down into a perma- nent national prejudice, and to oppress one Christian denomination at the bidding of others, without some proof, or some rea- sonable argument " We have not yet seen any evidence in the various publications that have reach- ed us, of any unfairness on the part of the Catholics, in the propagation of their religious doctrines. If they are active, persevering, and ingenious, in their at- tempts to gain converts, and if they are successful in securing the countenance and support of those who maintain the same form of belief in other countries, these, we imagine, are the legitimate proofs of Christian zeal and sincerity. In relation to Protestant .sects, they are certainly so estimated ; and we are yet to learn, why the ordinary laws of evidence are to be set aside in reference to this denomination, and why the missionary spirit which is so praiseworthy in others, should be thought so wicked and so dangerous in them. " Let us inquire into this matter calmly. Why is it that the Catholics are pursued with such pertinacity, with such vindic- tiveness, with such ruthless malevolence ? Why cannot their peculiar opinions be opposed by argument, by persuasion, by remonstrance, as one Christian sect should oppose each other 1 We speak kindly of the Jew, and even of the heathen ; there are those that love a negro or a Cherokee even better than their own flesh and blood ; hut a ( Sathoiic is an abomination, lor a bom there is no law, no charity, no bond of Christian fraternitj . 11 These reflections rise naturally out of the recent proceedings in relation to the Roman Catholics. \ nunnery has been demolished by an infuriated mob — a small coi unity of refined and unprotected fe- malee, lawfully and usefully engaged in the tuition of children, whose parents have voluntarily committed them to their care, have been driv< n from their home — jet the perpetrators have escaped punishment, and the act, if not openly excused, is winked at, by Protestant Christians. The outrage was public, extensive, and unde- niable ; and a most respectable committee, who investigated all the facts, have shown that it was unprovoked — a mere wanton ebullition of savage malignity. Yet the sympathies of a large portion of the Pro- testant community are untouched. " Is another' instance required, of the pervading character of this prejudice ? How common has been the expedi< nt, em- ployed by missionaries from the west, in the eastern states, of raising money for education or for religion upon the allega- tion that it was necessary to prevent the ascendancy of the Catholics ! Plow often has it been asserted, throughout the last ten years, that this was the chosen field on which the papists had erected their standard, and where the battle must be fought for civil and religious liberty ! W7hat tales of horror have been poured into the ears of the confiding children of the Pilgrims — of young men emigrating to the west, marrying Catholic ladies, and collapsing without a struggle into the arms of Romanism — of splendid edifices under- mined by profound dungeons, prepared for the reception of heretic republicans — of boxes of firearms secretly transported into hidden receptacles, in the very bosoms of our flourishing cities — of vast and widely ramified European conspiracies, by which Irish Catholics are suddenly converted into lovers of monarchy, and obedient in- struments of kings ! " A prejudice so indomitable and so blind, could not fail, in an ingenious and enterprising land like ours, to be made the subject of pecuniary speculation ; accord- ingly we find such works as the ' Master 21 10-2 HISTORY OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. Key to Popery,' ' Secrets of Female Con- vents,1 and ' Six Months in a Convent,' manufactured with a distinct view to making a profit out of this diseased state of the public mind. The abuse of the Catholics, therefore, is not merely matter of party rancour, but is a regular trade ; and the compilation of anti-catholic books of the character alluded to, has become a part of the regular industry of the country, as much as the making of nutmegs, or the construction of clocks. " Philosophy sanctions the belief, that power, held by any set of men without restraint or competition, is liable to abuse ; and history teaches the humiliating fact, that power thus held has always been abused. To inquire who has been the greatest aggressor against the rights of human nature, when all who have been tempted have evinced a common propen- sity to trample upon the laws of justice and benevolence, would be an unprofitable procedure. The reformers punished heresy by death as well as the Catholics ; and the murders perpetrated by intolerance, in the reign of Elizabeth, were not less atro- cious than those which occurred under ' the bloody Mary.' We might even come nearer home, and point to colonies on our own continent, planted by men professing to have fled from religious persecution, who not only excluded from all civil' and political rights those who were separated from them by only slight shades of reli- gious belief, but persecuted many even to death, for heresy and witchcraft. Yet these things are not taken into the calculation ; and Catholics are assumed, without ex- amination, to be exclusively and especially prone to the sins of oppression and cruelty. " The French Catholics, at a very early period, commenced a system of missions for the conversion of the Indians, and were remarkably successful in gaining converts, and conciliating the confidence and affec- tions of the tribes. While the Pequods and other northern tribes were becoming exterminated, or sold into slavery, the more fortunate savage of the Mississippi was listening to the pious counsels of the Catholic missionary. This is another fact, which deserves to be remembered, and which should be weighed in the examination of the testimony. It shows that the Catholic appetite for cruelty is not quite so keen as is usually imagined ; and that they exercised, of choice, an expan- sive benevolence, at a period when Pro testants, similarly situated, were blood- thirsty and rapacious. 11 Advancing a little further in point of time, we find a number of colonies ad- vancing rapidly towards prosperity, on our Atlantic seaboard. In point of civil government they were somewhat detached, each making its own municipal laws, and there being in each a predominance of the influence of one religious denomination. We might therefore expect to see the political bias of each sect carried out into practice ; and it is curious to examine how far such was the fact. It is the more cu- rious, because the writers and orators of one branch of this family of republics, are in the habit of attributing to their own fathers the principles of religious and political toleration, which became estab- lished throughout the whole, and are now the boast and pride of our nation. The impartial record of history affords on this subject a proof alike honorable to all, but which rebukes alike the sectional or secta- rian vanity of each. New England was set- tled by English Puritans, New York by Dutch Protestants, Pennsylvania by Qua- kers, Maryland by Catholics, Virginia by the Episcopalian adherents of the Stuarts, and South Carolina by a mingled population of Roundheads and Cavaliers from Eng- land, and of French Huguenots — yet the same broad foundations of civil and political liberty were laid simultaneously in them all, and the same spirit of resistance animated each community, when the oppressions of the mother country became intolerable. Religious intolerance prevailed in early times only in the eastern colonies ; but the witchcraft superstition, though most strongly developed there, pervaded some other portions of the new settlements. We shall not amplify our remarks on this topic ; it is enough to say, that if the love of monarchy was a component principle of the Catholic faith, it was not developed in our country when a fair opportunity was offered for its exercise ; and that in the glorious struggle for liberty, for civil and religious emancipation — when our fathers arrayed themselves in defence of HisTOKY OP THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHI RCH. ioa die sacred principles involving the whole broad ground of contest between liberty and despotism] the Catholic and the Pro- testant stood side by side on the battle- ii-1.1, and in the council, jand pledged to their common COUntxy, with equal de- VOftedneSS, their lives, their fortunes, ami their sacred honor. Nor should it be for- gotten, that in a conflict thus peculiarly marked, a Catholic king was our ally, when the most powerful of 1'roteslant governments was our enemy." We dose, in the language of the great father oi" American liberty. In a reply to a patriotic address of the Catholics of til-- United States, the illustrious Washing- ton thus gave utterance to his feelings : "Gentlemen:'— While I now receive with much satisfaction your congratula- tions on my being called by an unanimous vote, to the first station in my country, I cannot but duly notice your politeness, in offering an apology for the unavoidable delay. As that delay has given you an opportunity of realizing, instead of anti- cipating, the benefits of the general gov- ernment, you will do me the justice to believe, that your testimony of the increase of the public prosperity, enhances the pleasure, which I should otherwise have experienced from your affectionate ad- dress. " I feel that my conduct, in war and in peace, has met with more general appro- bation that could have reasonably been expected.; and I find myself disposed to consider that fortunate circumstance, in a great degree, resulting from the able sup- port, and extraordinary candor, of my fellow-citizens of all denominations. 41 The prospect of national pros] now before us, is truly animatin ought to excite tin- exertions <<\' all men, to establish and secure the happiness of their country | in the permanent duration of its freedom and independence. Am r« ica, under the smiles of divine Provid'-nee. tin- protection of a good government, and the cultivation of manners, morals, and piety, cannot fail of attaining an uncom- mon degree of eminence in literature, commerce, agriculture, improvements at home, and respectability abroad. " As mankind become more liberal, they will be more apt to allow, that all tliose who conduct themselves as worthy members of the community, are equally entitled to the protection of civil govern- ment. I hope ever to see America among the foremost nations in examples of jus- tice and liberality. And I presume that your fellow-citizens will not jorgct the patriotic part which you took in the ac- complishment of their revolution, and the establishment of their government, or the important assistance which they received from a nation in which the Roman Catho- lic faith is professed. " I thank you, gentlemen, for your kind concern for me. While my life and my health shall continue, in whatever situa- tion I may be, it shall be my constant en- deavor to justify the favorable sentiments which you are pleased to express of my conduct. And may the members of your society in America, animated alone by the pure spirit of Christianity, and still con- ducting themselves as the faithful subjects of our government, enjoy every temporal and spiritual felicity." Within about one-half century, a very considerable body of religionists have arisen in the United States, who, rejecting all names, appellations, and badges of distinctive party among the followers of Christ, simply call themselves Christians. Sometimes, in speaking of themselves as a body, they use the term Christian Con- nexion. In many parts of our country this people have become numerous ; and as their origin and progress have been marked with some rather singular coinci- dents, this article will present a few of them in brief detail. Most of the Protestant sect^ owe their origin to some individual reformer, such as a Luther, a Calvin, a Fox, or a Wes- ley. The Christians never had any such leader, nor do they owe their origin to the labors of any one man. They rose nearly simultaneously in different sections of our country, remote from each other, without any preconcerted plan, or even knowledge of each other's movements. After the lapse of several years, the three branches obtained some information of each other, and upon opening a corres- pondence, were surprised to find that all had embraced nearly the same principles, and were engaged in carrying forward the same system of reform. This singular coincidence is regarded by them as evi- dence that they are a people raised up by the immediate direction and overruling providence of God ; and that the ground they have assumed is the one which will finally swallow up all party distinctions in the gospel church. While the American Revolution hurled a deathblow at political domination, it also diffused a spirit of liberty into the church. The Methodists had spread to some con- siderable extent in the United States, es- pecially south of the Potomac. Previous to this time they had been considered a branch of the Church of England, and were dependent on English Episcopacy for the regular administration of the or- dinances. But as the revolution had wrested the states from British control, it also left the American Methodists free to transact their own affairs. Thomas Coke, Francis Asbury, and others, set about es- tablishing an Episcopal form of church government for the Methodists in America. Some of the preachers, however, had drank too deeply of the spirit of the times to tamely submit to lordly power, whether in judicial vestments, or clad in the gown of a prelate. Their form of church gov- ernment became a subject of spirited dis- cussion in several successive conferences. Jarrles O'Kelly, of North Carolina, and several other preachers of that state and of Virginia, plead for a congregational system, and that the New Testament be their only creed and discipline. The weight of influence, however, turned on the side of Episcopacy and a human creed. Francis Asbury was elected and ordained bishop ; Mr. O'Kelly, several other preachers, and a large number of 164 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIANS, OR CHRISTIAN CONNEXION. HISTORY THE CHRISTIANS, OR CHRISTIAN CONNEXION. BY THE REV. DAVID MILLARD, AUTHOR OF TRAVELS IX EGYPT, ARABIA TETREA, AND THE HOLY LAND. *a&; jfP.S Duval. PM' BAWE® MHILILAIRID : - — ; HISTORY OF THE CHRI8TIAN8, OR CHRISTIAN CONNEXION. 163 brethren, seceding from th<- dominant party. Tin- final separation from the Episcopal Methodists, took place, volun* tarily, al Manakin Town, V <".. Decern* Ith, L798. At firs! the) took the name of " Republican Methodists,'1 but 'it a subsequent conference resolved to be Ivk.'u u as ( Christians only, to acknou ledge no head over the church but Christ, and DO creed or «.li-^«.-i|*liix<* lint tin- Bible. Near the close of the ls'>h century, Dr. Abner Jones, of Mankind, Vermont, then a member of a regular Baptist Church, had a peculiar travel of mind m relation Italian dames and human creeds. The first he regarded as an evil, because t h. \ were bo man) badges of distinct separation among the followers of Christ. The second, served as so many lines or wails of separation to keep the disciples of Christ apart ; that sectarian names and human creeds should be abandoned, and that true piety alone, and not the externals of it, should be made the only test of Christian fellowship and communion. Making the Bible the only source from whence he drew the doctrine he taught, Dr. Jones commenced propagating his sentiments with zeal, though at that time he did not know of another individual who thought like himself. In September, 1800, he had the pleasure of seeing a church of about twenty-five members gathered in Lyndon, Vt., embracing these principles. In 1802 he gathered another church in Bradford, Vt., and, in March, 1803, an- other in Picrmont, N. H. About this time, Elias Smith, then a Baptist minister, was preaching with great success in Portsmouth, N. H. Falling in with Dr. Jones's views, the church under his care was led into the same principles. Up to this time Dr. Jones had labored as a preacher nearly if not quite single-hand- ed ; but several preachers from the regu- lar Baptists and Freewill Baptists, now rallied to the standard he had unfurled. Preachers were also raised up in the dif- ferent churches now organized, several of whom travelled extensively, preaching with great zeal and success. Churches of the order were soon planted in all the New England states, the states of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and more re- cently in New Jersey and Michigan. A large Dumber of churches hav< planted in the ( fenadas, and tin- provia e of V -u Brunswick. \ \-t\ extraordinary revival of religion was experienced among the Presbyterians m Kentuck} and Tennessee, during the yeara 1800 and 1801. Several Presby- terian ministers heartily entered into this work, and labored with a fervor and seal Which they had never before man Others either Stood aloof from it, or op- posed its progress. The preachers who entered the work, broke loose from the shackles of a Calvinistic creed, and preached the gospel of free salvation. The creed of the church now appeared in jeopardy. Presbyteries, and finally the Synod of Kentucky, interposed their au- thority to stop what they were pleased to call a torrent of Arminianism. Barton W. Stone, of Kentucky, a learned and eloquent minister, with four other minis- ters, withdrew from the Synod of Ken- tucky. As well might be expected, a large number of Presbyterian members, with most of the converts in this great re- vival, rallied round these men who had labored so faithfully, and had been so signally blessed in their labors. As they had already felt the scourge of a human creed, the churches then under their con- trol, with such others as they organized, agreed to take the Holy Scriptures as their only written rule of faith and prac- tice. At first they organized themselves into what was called the " Springfield Presbytery ;" but in 1803, they abandoned that name, and agreed to be known as Christians only. Preachers were now added to their numbers and raised up in their ranks. As they had taken the scriptures for their guide, pedo-baptism was renounced, and believers' baptism by immersion substituted in its room. On a certain occasion one minister baptized another minister, and then he who had been baptized immersed the others. From the very beginning, this branch spread with surprising rapidity, and now extends through all the western states. From this brief sketch it will be per- ceived that this people originated from the three principal Protestant sects in Ame- rica. The branch at the south, from the Methodists ; the one at the north, from tie I 166 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIANS, OR CHRISTIAN CONNEXION. Baptists, and the one at the west, from the Presbyterians. The three branches rose within the space of eight years, in sections remote and unknown to each other, until some years afterwards. Pro- bably no other religious body ever had a similar origin. The adopting of the Holy Scriptures as their only system of faith, has led them to the study of shaping their belief by the language of the sacred oracles. A doc- trine, which cannot be expressed in the language of inspiration, they do not hold themselves obligated to believe. Hence, with very few exceptions, they are not Trinitarians, averring that they can nei- ther find the word nor the doctrine in the Bible. They believe " Lord our Jehovah is one Lord," and purely one. That " Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God." That the Holy Ghost is that divine unction with which our Saviour was anointed, (Acts x. 38,) the effusion that was poured out on the day of Pente- cost ; and that it is a divine emanation of God, by which he exerts an energy or influence on rational minds. While they believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, they are not Socinians or Humanitarians. Their prevailing belief is that Jesus Christ existed with the Father before all worlds, and is therefore a Divine Saviour.* * The word Saviour signifies a deliverer or preserver, one who saves from danger or de- struction, and brings into a state of prosperity and happiness. In Greek writers, the bene- factor of a state is called a saviour ; so among the Jews, God raised up men called deliverers or saviours, to deliver them from the invasion and oppression of surrounding nations ; as Othniel, Ehud, &c. These were only tempo- ral deliverers. But Jesus, the Messiah, is called Saviour in the highest sense of the word. He saves his people from eternal death, from punishment and misery as the consequence of sin, and gives them eternal life and happiness in his kingdom. Hence he is called " the Saviour of the world," " able to save to the uttermost," i. e. wholly. He is even called " the author of eternal salvation," "Lord and Saviour," to distinguish him from all human deliverers. It requires as great an effort to save a lost world from sin and death, as it did to create it in the beginning. Conse- quently none other than a divine being is competent for such a great work. The evi- dence we have to prove that ours is a divine Saviour is : Although the Christians do not contend for entire uniformity in belief, yet in addi- tion to the foregoing, nearly, if not quite 1. Because he is God's son, in a peculiar sense applicable to no other being in the universe. In the scriptures angels and men are called sons of God, but Christ is called his " own son" " his only-begotten son," "his beloved son," to distin- guish him from others who are sons of God by creation, and regeneration. Also, in the parable, God is represented as having but "one son, his well beloved."-^Mark 12: 6. The same expression is used in the Septua- gint, in reference to Isaac, Abram's only son, Gen. 22 : 2.—" Take now thy son, thine (aga- peton) only son Isaac." The phrase (huios agapetos) beloved son, is used ten times in the New Testament, and in every place it is spoken bv the Father concerning his son Jesus Christ. See Math. 3: 17; 12: 18; 17: 5. Mark 1 : 11; 9 : 7 . Luke 3 : 22 ; 9 : 35. 2 Peter 1 : 17. Mark 12: 6. Luke 20: 13. We want no better evidence to prove a man to be a human being than to know that he is of human descent ; so we wrant no better testi- mony to prove that Christ is a divine being, than to know, as the scriptures abundantly inform us, that he is " the only begotten son of God."This proves that his essence is not only superhuman and superangelic, but strictly m- vixb. Jesus told the Jews that " he proceeded forth and came from God," consequently if God were their father they would love him as possessing a nature equally lovely- — John 8 : 42., Hence we find the most intimate union existing between the Father and the son, and such is the near relation, that their knowledge of each other is mutual. Jesus says (oudeis) " no one knoweth the son but the Father ; nei- ther knoweth (tis) any one the Father save the son, and he to whomsoever the son will reveal him." — Math. 11: 27. Again he says : " as the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father." He is also represented as being the Father's bosom friend — even " in the bo- som of the Father," that is, to be in his em- brace, and cherished by him. — John 1 : 18. Farther, the divine perfections were so exactly delineated in the son, that to see the son, was to see an exact representation of the Father ; " he that hath seen me," said Christ to Philip, "hath seen the Father." Hence he is called by Paul, " the image of the invisible God." Col. i. 15. " He is the effulgence of his (the Father's) glorv, and an exact image of his substance." The word brightness (apav- rasma.) Heb. i. 3 is an image drawn from a luminous hodv. giving the idea that as the brightness of the sun is to the sun that emits it, so is the son of God in relation to his Fa- ther, reflecting the splendor of the divine per- fections, to angels and men. The expression (character hupostaseoos) of the Father, sig- nifies " the express image or counterpart of all of them would agree in the following sentiments: 1. Thai (i<>(| is the rightful arbiter of the universe; the source and < NMiH-f or being." >sce Robinson's (M<-«>k Lexicon. These ami other similar pas. sages, ha\ mi: direct reference to tin- son of God, are expressive of his divine essence; no Other rational 111tfrprftai1.u1 can be given them. •J. He is a divine Saviour, because he has a di- vine naint . A- Christ is the only begotten son of God, he bean the name peculiar to the Deity, as a son bears the proper name of his father: that name is (Heb. y khovah) Jehovah ; generally translated by the LXX (kuhios) Loud. God says, •• I am thf Lord, (Heb. Yehovah,) that is my name." " The latter Hebrews, for several centuries before the Christian era, either mis- led by a false interpretation of certain laws, or following out some ancient superstition, re- garded this name as too sacred to be uttered, as the ineffable name which they scrupled even to pronounce." Gesenius, Heb. Lexicon, page 389. Yet it is the name appropriated to the son of God, according to the repeated testimo- ny of the inspired penmen, who are the true interpreters of scripture. For in many passages of scripture in the Old Testament where the name Jehovah is used, it refers particularly to the .Messiah, according to the interpretation of the New Testament writers : for example in Isa. vi. 1 — 5, the prophet says, "In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw" also the Lord sit- ting upon his throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphim ; each one had six wings, with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is (Ykhovah) the Loud of Hosts ; the whole earth is full of his glory ;" and in verse 5th, Isaiah says, " mine eyes have seen the king (vlhovah) the Lonn of hosts." Now the apos- tle John, in reference to this vision of the prophet says, "these things said Esaias when he saw his (Christ's) glory, and spake of him." —John xii. 38—41. See again in Isa. xl. 3.— " The voice of him that crieth in the wilder- ness, prepare ye the way of (ykhovah) the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God :" and compare Math. iii. 1 — 3. Mark i. 3. Luke iii. 3, 4. John i. 23. " For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, say- ing, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight" Now, according to the united tes- timony of the four evangelists, the very being whom Isaiah calls u Jehovah" and our God," is the true Messiah of whom John the Baptist was the forerunner. If farther evidence be want- ins:, the reader may compare Jer. xxiii. 5, 6, with 1 Cor. i. 30, 31 ; vi. 11. Joel ii. 32, with Rom. x. 13. where the original word in the old Testament is Yehovah. When Christ showed fountain <f the glory of dud. 'A. That srith the true oracle of Jehovah. Hence the expression mon among the prophets i u the word (dabah, okaclk) of the Lord came to me saying" — (Jer. i. 4.) corresponding with the (xooos) word in the writings of John i. 1 ; 14; 1 ; Rev. xix. 3 ; and expressing the pre-existent nature of Christ, i. e. his spiritual and divine nature so frequently referred to, both in the old and new Testaments. 3. Christ is a divixe Saviour, because the work of creation is ascribed to him, as well as that of redemption. We come now to a nice point, which requires close investigation in order to arrive at the true meaning of scripture on this subject. God the Father, and his son Jesus Chirst, are repre- sented in scripture as co-workers in the crea- tion of all things and in the redemption of man. Jesus said to the Jews, " my Father worketh hitherto, and I work." — John v. 17. Again, " I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day" — ix. 4. And Paul says, God "created all things by Jesus Christ." Eph. iii. 9. In speaking of the son, he says, "by whom he (God) made the worlds," Heb. i. 3. In other places the same apostle ascribes the work of creation to Christ. See Heb. i. 10. — " And thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth ; and the heavens are the works of thine hands." This evidently refers to the son, as evidence of his superiority to angels, otherwise it would not have been to the apostle's purpose to quote it here : com- pare Col. i. 15, 16. " Who is the image of the invisible God, (phototokos pases ktiseoos) the first born (consequently heir and lord) of the whole creation." " For (the reason why he is heir and lord of the whole creation is) by him were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and in- visible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers : all things were made by him, and for him :" compare John i. 3 — all things were made by him, and without him was not (ex) one thing made that was made." Now if Christ be a creature, as some assert, John has taught us wrong ; for he would be one thing made without him, unless we be- lieve an absurdity, that he created himself first. When the work of creation is ascribed to the Father, it means the Father is the original cause of all things, and when it is ascribed to the Son, it means, the son is the efficient cause of all things : the former is the contriver, the latter is the operator. The son executes the Liiunrss; but thai sincere repentance and reformation are indispensable to the for- giveness of sins. 4. That man is con- work under the direction of his Father. This is the meaning of the apostle in 1 Cor. viii. 6. " But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things (as the original cause) and we in him ; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, (as the efficient cause,) and we by him." So God is frequently repre- sented in scripture as " the judge of all the earth" and in Heb. xii. 23, he is called " the judge of all." So is Christ called " the Lord, the righteous judge," 2 Tim. iv. 8. And " we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ," Rom. xiii. 10, who will in the day of judgment " sit upon the throne of his glory" as judge, and pass the final sentence on all nations, and assign each one his portion, and place in heaven or hell. From this we infer that although it is said by Paul that " God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ," and "judge the world" by him, Acts xvii. 31, yet Christ will be the judge to execute judgment in accordance with his own words : " For the Father judgeth no man, but hath com- mitted all judgment unto the son." John v. 22. And according to the testimony of Peter, Acts x. 42, " It is he (Christ) who was ordained of God to be the judge of quick and dead." Hence we justly conclude that as the Father and son are joint-judges in judging the world, so they are co-workers in the creation, the preservation, and restitution of all things. We may extend the analogy still further, in showing God's uniform manner of operating from beginning to end. The resurrection of the dead is ascribed to God the Father — Acts xxvi. 8, yet the work will be effected by the quickening voice of the son of God : " all that are in their graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth" John v. 28, 29. See an ex- hibition of his power in the resurrection of Lazarus : After consulting the Father in pray- er, he had only to say " with a loud voice, Laz- arus, come forth," and the petrified body was instantly resuscitated, and raised from the grave, John xi. 43, 44. Even the very elements were under his control. He commands, and " even the winds, and the sea obey him." — The passage in Rev. iii. 14, where Christ is called " the beginning of the creation of God," when properly interpreted, harmonizes with other passages of scripture. The word (Arche) rendered " the beginning" by Meton- omy is used to express the efficient cause of the creation of God. This manner of expres- sion is common in the scriptures, for example : Christ is called "Salvation." "The Resur- rection," " Peace," " Righteousness, sanctifi- cation, and redemption," that is, the author of all these. By the same figure of speech, cir- cumcision, and uncircumcision, in Rom. iii. 30, signify circumcised and uncircumcised stituted a free moral agent, and made capable of obeying the gospel. 5. That through the agency of the Holy Spirit persons, " The election," Rom. xi. 7, is put for the elect. — Light and darkness, Eph. v. 8, de- note the enlightened and the ignorant. So the beginning is here used for the beginner, as the abstract for the concrete. This word (Ahchk) was also used by the Greek philosophers to express the Jirst cause, or efficient principle of things. Theophilous, a Grecian writer, in al- lusion to Christ, says "he is called (ahchk) the beginning, because he (archei kai kihi- euei) rules and exercises authority over all things made by him." This interpretation har- monizes with the sentiment expressed in John i. 3, " all things were made by him," &c, and with Col. i. 16—18. 4. Christ is a divine Saviour, because he claims a right to divine honor as due to him. No friend of God not divine, angel, or man, claims to himself this honor, his chosen mes- sengers not excepted. The apostle John at- tempted to worship the heavenly messenger that appeared to him in Patmos ; but the angel forbade him, because he was only a " fellow- servant" — Rev. xix. 10. So, Peter the inspired apostle refused to accept religious homage from Cornelius, because he himself was a jnan. — Acts x. 25, 26. But our great Redeemer, so far from refusing such homage, demands it of all, saying " that all men should honor the son, even as they honor the Father" — John v. 23. And Paul says, in allusion to Isa. xlv. 23, "that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and of things upon earth, and of thi?igs under the earth ; and every tongue should confess Jesus Christ is Lord, to the Glory of God the Father." Phil, ii. 10, 11. Even all the angels of God were commanded to worship him. — Heb. i. 6. The common phrase in the Old and New Testa- ments, " call on the name of the Lord," ex- presses divine worship in the highest sense of the word. See Gen. xxvi. 25, " and he (Jacob) builded an altar there, (at Beer-sheba.) and called upon the name of the Lord." And yet this phraseology is used to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus. See 1 Cor. i. 2, where the apostle uses it as peculiar to all saints " in every place." He says, in his address to the church : " called to be saints, with all in every place that call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours :" that is, their and our Lord. Compare Acts vii. 59; xxii. 16 ; ix. 21 ; all which teach as that the invo- cation of the name of the Lord Jesus was practised by the. apostles and primitive Chris- tians. This custom was so common in the day of Pliny, that he mentioned it in his letter to Trajan concerning the Christians • " Carmen Christo r/uasi Den, direre." — " They sing with one another a hymn to Christ as to God." When the twelfth apostle was about to HI8T0M OP THE CHRI8TIAN8, OR CHRISTIAN CONNEXION. d iiu* um of means, are converted, rated and made new creatures, 6, Thai Christ was delivered for our ofiences and raised again (br our justification ; thai through his example, doctrine, death, re- surrection and intercession, he has made >alvatiou possible to <'\- charact r an. I stand minister is examined, that purit) in the ministry ma) \»- carefull) mainti Such <»ther subjects are discussed and measures adopted, us have a direct ing on the welfare of the body at la The) have a boob cone* rn located at Albany, V ^ ., called "Tne Christian General Book Association.'1 At the same place the) issue a weekly paper) called the "Christian Palladium." The) also publish a weekl) paper at Newburyport, Mass., called the "Christian 1 Icrahl." At Springfield, Ohio, they publish B m mi- monthly paper, called the " Gospel 1 hr- ald ;" another semi-monthly at Hillsbo- rough, N. C, called the "Christian Sun ;" and another of the same class at Oshowa, Canada West, called the " Christian Lu- minary." They also publish a monthly periodical in Philadelphia, called " The Christian." They have three institutions of learning: one located at Durham, N. H., one at Starkey, N. Y., and one near Raleigh, N. C. They are also connected with the free Theological School, at Meadville, Pa., in which institution, the writer of this article holds a Professorship. Although several of their preachers are defective in education, yet there are among them some good scholars and eloquent speakers ; several of whom have distin- guished themselves as writers. Education is fast rising in their body. While their motto has ever been, " Let him that under- stands the gospel, teach it," they are also convinced that Christianity never has been, and never will be, indebted to palpable ignorance. Their sermons are most gen- erally delivered extempore, and energy and zeal are considered important traits in a minister for usefulness. The statistics of the connexion, though imperfect, may probably be computed at the present time, (1847,) as follows : The number of preachers about 1S00, and 300 licentiates ; number of churches, about 1800, including about 140,000 communi- cants. There are probably not less than 500,000 persons in this country who have adopted their general views, and attend on their ministry. It may be proper also to add, that within a few years, a veryr considerable body of 22 170 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF GOD. Christians has arisen in England, who occupy about the same ground of the Christian connexion in the United States. They reject all creeds and disciplines but the Bible, take no name but that of Chris- tians, and are believers in the divine unity of God. A recent letter received from Joseph Barker, their earliest and most leading minister, states : — " The number of persons in England, who have been led, during the last three or four years to embrace the sentiments which we advo- cate, cannot be less than from thirty to forty thousand." HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF GOD. BY JOHN WINEBRENNER, V. D. M., HARR1SBURG, PA. Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus."— Rev. xiv. 12. The prominent parts and features of this brief history of the " Church of God," in the United States may be traced and referred to under the following heads, to wit: I. The origin and name ; II. The form and attributes ; III. The faith and practice ; and, IV. The polity and statistics, of the Church of God. I. THE ORIGIN AND NAME OF THE CHURCH OF GOD. 1. As to the origin of the Church of God, we maintain, and truth compels us to say, that she justly claims priority to all evangelical churches. Her illustrious and adorable founder is the Lord Jesus Christ. He bought her with his blood.* I He founded her on the Rock.* He first commenced her gathering.! He continued her establishment by the ministry of the apostles, and by the dispensations of his Spirit.^ And thus he still continues to * Acts xx. 28. Take heed, therefore, to yourselves, and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. * Matt. xvi. 18. And I say also to thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church ; and the gates of hell shall not prevail asrainst it. f Mark i. 14-20. Now, after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preach- ing the gospel of the kingdom of God, &c. t Matt, xxviii. 19. Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; 20. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you : and, Jo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world. Amen. Mark xvi. 15. And he said to them, Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved ; but he that believeth not shall be damned. Acts ii. 4. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. % Lith of PS L'ival.Ph' So W1II11! E1MI1, Ill.viOKV OF THE (HI KUI OF GOD. L71 earn on this building of God1 — thii Pfei Jem from above, \\ bicb ia 1 1 i« - mother of us all.f Ami we may add, thit, his own church or temple, be will continue to build and prosper, despite of all her ad« reraariea ; and ultimate!! , cooaummate ln> purposea, by bringing forth the head stones thereof with loud acclamatiom and shout- ings of grace, grace to it.:£ It is nothing uncommon, among theolo- gical writers, to trace the origin of the Church of God to Abraham, the Father of the Faithful, with whom God made a covenant nineteen hundred years before the birth of Christ. We, however, dis- sent from this view of the origin of the church, We believe that the Abrahamic or Jewish Church was not the same church, called in the New Testament the Church of God. If the same, Christ would not have said to Peter, " Upon this rock will I bmld my Church ;"§ and the Apostle would never have said, " He (Christ) hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us ; having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordi- nances, for to make in himself of twain, (Jews and gentiles) one new man."|| Now, if this u new man," means the Church of God, and of this there can be no rational doubt, then, without controversy, she ori- ginated under the personal ministry of Jesus Christ and his apostles. 2. The name or title, Church of God,^F • 1 Cor. iii. 9. For we are laborers together with God : ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. f Gal. iv. 26. But Jerusalem which is above j is free, which is the mother of us all. * Zech. iv. 7. Who art thou, O great moun- tain ? before Zerubbabel thou shult become a plain, and he shall bring forth the head-stone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace to it § Matt. xvi. 18. And I say also to thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church ; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I| Eph. ii. 14. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us ,• 16. Having abolished in his flesh the en- mity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace. 1 Some writers derive the word Church from the Greek Kvpia^, Kuriake ,• Saxon Cyrc, or is undeniably the true and proper appella- tion l>y which the New T< stament church ought t<> !>•• designated. Thii is beracrip* tural and appropriate Dame, This, and no other title, ia giYen her by divine authori- ty.* Tins pame or title, therefore, ought to 1)«' adopted and worn to th<- exchl of all othera, There are those, who have pled for the use, and for the exclusive use, of aorne other appellations : nich as the name of Christian: others for that of Disciples; and others, again, for the name Brethren, &c. But it ought to be recollected, that not one of those is a proper noun, or a patronymic, and, therefore, none of them is ever used in the Scriptures as an appel- lation for the church. The individual members of the church are, and may be, very properly so called ; but not so with regard to the church herself. We no- where read of the " Christian Church," or of the " Disciples' Church," nor of the " Brethren's Church," &c. If, then, it is unscriptural to assume and wear any one of these, or any other Bible name, as a church appellation, how much more improper, unscriptural, and God dis- honoring is it, to lay aside all Bible names, even the divinely appointed name, Church of God, and assume a human name : such as Roman Catholic, Episcopalian, Lu- theran, Presbyterian, German Reformed, Baptist, Methodist, Menonist, Unitarian, Universalis!, or something else, equally inappropriate, unscriptural, and unmean- ing? Ciric ,• Scottish Kirk; German .fttrcbe, from the ancient German verb ^tcrcn, to elect, to choose out, and is of the same import with the Greek verb zkkoIziv, ekkalein, to call out ,- and whence the word ExxA^ia is derived, and pri- marily denotes an assembly of men called together on the authority of the supreme power. * Is. lxii. 2. And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory ; and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Loro shall name. Gal. i. 13. For ye have heard of my con- versation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beytond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it. 1 Tim. iii. 15. But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thy- self in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. 172 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF GOD. I Ajb a religious community, therefore, we claim to stand identified with, and to be a part of, the one true Church of God, of which Jesus Christ is the founder and bead.* As such, we claim brotherhood with all the saints of God, wherever they may be found, and wish to extend the right hand of fellowship to all, without excep- tion, " whose fellowship is with the Father and his Son the Lord Jesus Christ." But having been requested to write a brief history of the Church of God, as she exists, by that name, in the United States, we shall, accordingly, notice more particularly that religious community, or body of believers, who profess to have come out from all human and unscriptural organizations, who have fallen back upon original grounds, and who wish, therefore, to be known and called by no other dis- tinctive name, collectively taken, than the Church of God. This name we assume from conscientious motives, because rea- son and revelation require it ; and not because we wish to magnify ourselves against others, as it has been improperly nnd unkindly intimated by some unfriendly sectarians. In the year 1820, the writer of this article, settled in Harrisburg, Pennsylva- nia, as a minister of the German Reformed Church, and took charge of four congre- gations ; one in the town, and three in the country. Soon after his settlement in this charge, it pleased the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls to commence a work of grace among the people, both in the town and in the country. But, as revivals of religion were new and almost unheard-of in those days, especially among the German people of that region, this work of God failed not to excite opposition among hypocrites, false professors, and the wicked generally ; just as true revivals of religion, or genuine works of grace, have very generally done. And as the members of these congregations or churches were unconverted, with few ex- * We admit, that there are more or less Christians, or converted persons, anions: the different sects and denominations ; but we i regret that the most of them have no prefer- , ence for Bible names, and the ris:ht ways of ! the Lord; or>if they have, that they lack moral ; courage to show it. ceptions, and many grossly ignorant of the right ways of the Lord, the most vio- lent opposition and persecution arose from that quarter, aided by not a few of the ministers of their synod. This state of things lasted for about five years, and then resulted in a separation from the German Reformed Church. About the year 1825, more extensive and glorious revivals of religion com- menced in different towns and neighbor- hoods, to wit : Harrisburg, Shiremans- town, Lisborn, Mechanicsburg, Church- town, New Cumberland, Linglestown,Mid- dletown, Millerstown, Lebanon, Lancas- ter, Shippensburg, Elizabethtown, Mount Joy. Marietta, and other places. In these glorious revivals, hundreds were happily converted to God. As a natural conse- quence, these conversions led, in different places, to the organization of churches. And, as the views of the writer of this arti- cle, had undergone a material change, as to church ordinances and the organization of churches, he united with others in adopt- ing the apostolic plan, as taught in the Xew Testament, and established free, and inde- pendent churches, consisting of believers or Christians only, without any human name, or creed, or laws, ^cc. From_ among the young converts, in these newly planted churches, it pleased God to raise up several able men, to take upon them the solemn and responsible office of the gospel ministry. These min- istering brethren, with a few other great and good men with similar views and kin- dred spirits, labored and co-operated with each other for a few years, without any regular system of co-operation ; but, finally, they agreed to hold a meeting for the purpose of adopting a regular system of co-operation. In October, 1830, they met together for this purpose, pursuant to public notice, in the Union Bethel, at Harrisburg, and or- ganized the meeting by appointing John Winebrenner, of Harrisburg, speaker ; and John Elliot, of Lancaster, clerk. After spending the morning session in solemn prayer and deliberations, the moet- ing was adjourned till 2 o'clock, P. M.. when a sermon was preached before the meeting by the speaker, of which the fol- lowing is a brief sketch. HI8T0R1 OF THE CHI RCH OF GOD. : hi now, l §au to you, refrain from •ii, unit let /hi til mow ■ fbt if this cnttn- tel or this work tic of men, it trill come to nought : \rl or this work M of Hit if it be of 0m{ i/c cannot orir/hrmr it ,• l> st hti/ili/ i/c he found urn to fight against Ood»n \ . i . 88, 30. By the "counsel and work" ipokenof m this passage, i> meant the preaching and pro- pagation of Christianity; or, in other words, the conrersion of sinners, the formation <»t' churches, ami the supply of the destitute arith the gospel ministry. The furtherance of this comrsra Lira wmik, then, is tlic great ostensible object COntem> plated by the present meeting ; that is, by adopting such a plan of co-operation, that will most happily subserve the cause of God in promoting, 1st The conversion of sinners; 2dly. The establishment of churches, upon the New Testament plan ; and, 3dly. The supplying of the destitute with the preaching of the gospel. I. The conversion of sinners is the para- mount object contemplated by the preaching of the gospel. By sinners, are meant persons in a carnal or natural state, and who have transgressed the law of God. By the conversion of sinners, is to be un- derstood, such o moral change of the heart and life, as the Scriptures uniformly require and declare indispensably necessary to pre- pare them for heaven. This great and benevolent end is usually effected by the preaching of the gospel. Hence Christ has ordained the ministry; and those who are entrusted with this sacred office, ought to consider it their greatest duty to la- bor for the conversion of sinners. This is the first part of the "counsel of God." This, therefore, we have in view : of it, may we never lose sight, and in it, may we never tire. II. To establish and build up churches on the New Testament plan is another primary par: of this " counsel and work ;" and a fur- ther object that we have in view. A church signifies a religious society, or a given number of Christians united together by mutual consent, for the worship of God according to the Scriptures. Agreeably to the New Testament, churches should be formed, — 1. Of Christians or believers only;* 2. Without a sectarian or human name ;f 3. With no creed and discipline but the Bible;* 4. Subject to no extrinsic or foreign juris- diction ;§ and, 5. Governed by their own officers, chosen by a majority of the members of each individual church.H * Acts ii. 41 ; Ch. v. 13. f Is. lxn. 2. $ Ps. xix. 7; Matt, xxviii. 20; Acts ii. 42; 2 John 9. § Heb. xiii. 17; Gal. v. 1. || Acts vi. 3; xx. 28. i tplish all tli i ^ will require atioUnr i formation. But, undei <;••!, it achieved. ill. 'I'm supply de titute place w ith preaching, i - another great and of the M counsel and u<>rU" of God, aii'1 tin' accomplishment <>t tins, u.- parpo • unite on tin- tx-Nt and most efficient plan cooperation. After sermon, the business meeting was called to order, and after tome further consultation, it traa agreed, as the unani- mous sense of the meeting. 1st. That there is but one true church, namely : the Church of God. 2dly. That it is the bounden duty of all God's people to belong to her, and none else. 3dly. That it is " lawful and right" to associate together for the purpose of co- operation in the cause of God. 4thly. That we agree to hold an elder- ship annually for this purpose, consisting of teaching and ruling elders of the Church of God. The Teaching elders present, then sub- scribed their names, viz : Andrew Miller, John Winebrenner, John Elliott, John Walborn, David Maxwell and James Richards. Thus originated the Church of God, properly and distinctively so called, in the United States of America ; and thus, also, originated the first eldership. II. THE FORM AND ATTRIBUTES OF THE CHURCH OF GOD. The English word church is derived from the Greek kuriakon, belonging to the Lord. The Greek word E**X/7t" ruling elden tnd deaoona are confined to the pellicular churches to which they belong ; i>ut the teaching ciders, or preach* en earr) irith them all their ecclesiastical functions ex-ofEcto. Hence, Peter, John, Paul, and others, wen- elders in all the churches wherever they went; whereas, the elders of the cities of ( Irete, and of the churches of Jerusalem, Bpfeeaus, In- ooch, Corinth, Lystra; [conium, &c, were elders only in the local churches when1 they resided. This, then, being the essential and or- ganic form of the Church of God, to her rightfully appertain the following attri- butes, viae : 1. Visibility. 2. Unity. 3. Sanctity. 4. Universality ; and, 5. Perpetuity. 1st. Visibility is a prime attribute of the Church of God. God intended his church to be " the light of the world,"* and this light to be "as clear as the sun and as fair as the moon."f Hence he compares her in another place to " a city that is set on a hill, and that cannot be hid, "J An invisible church, therefore, that some divines speak of, is altogether an anomaly in Christian Theology. * Matt. v. 14. Ye are the light of the world. t Songs vi. 10. Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners ? t Matt. v. 14. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. 2dly, Unity is another essential attri- bute of the Church of God. The union of sects into one general Evangelical Al- liance, or into one human organization, diverse in character, faith, and practice from the one true Church of God, as cha- racterized in the Bible, we have no belief in, nor sympathy for. But the oneness, or unity of all true believers in one holy Church of God, on the Bible plan, and under the reign and government of Jesus Christ, is a consummation we most de- voutly wish for : and this union being founded on the immutable counsels of God, we believe implicitly, that here, under Messiah's reign, in the Church of God, a no1 nowhere else, is the proper rallying ground, and the true platform of Christian union, where all can, will, and ought to meet and unite in order to be " OtU , pi I - fectlv etc, as the Father and the Son an one/1 John x IS. Ami oUmi iheep. I hava, which ire nut hi this f.ilM : then also I iniiHt lima', i ml e hear m\ roiC6J ami tin •!■• fli.ill I in- lulil, umi MM s||e|l|lt III ( h on M. A M« < ommaiidiiient I |hrc I" >"ii, i ii.it \.- love one another ; a* l have loved jroo, tint >■• al>.i lot i- inn' another. cii .wii. SI. Thai tiny ail i M . i > I.- "in-. ■• tin. ii. Father, url in mo, ami 1 In thee that thai eleo niai be one in us; that tin- world may believe loaf thou hast sent inc. 22. And the glory which thou gaveal me, I h tiii-ni ; that they ma) be one, even u ere an- om 23. 1 in tin-in, and thOU in inc, that the) ma) In- made perfect in One; and that tin- world may know thai Ibotl boat Mill mo, and hast loved them, U thou lia.it loved mi- Eph. ii. 14. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle- wall of partition betircen us ," 15. Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandment! contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain, one new man, so making peace. 3dly. Sanctity is also an essential attri- bute of the true church. Hence none but saints, or holy ones, have a just and scrip- tural claim to membership in the Church of God. The house of Israel was a type of the Church of God : and just as that house or nation, was made up of the natu- ral seed of Abraham, so likewise is the true church of his spiritual seed. Now, as believers only, can become the spiritual seed of Abraham ; hence, none but sound converts and true believers ought to be recognized and tolerated as approved members in the church. The religious association of unconverted persons, or their incorporation with the " saints of the Most High," is directly subversive of the designs of God with regard to his church. John xvii. 14. 1 have given them thy word ; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 19. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Acts v. 13. And of the rest durst no man join himself to them ; but the people magnified them. 1 Cor. iii. 11. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy'; for the temple of God is holy, which tem- ple ye are. Eph. v. 26. That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27. That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing ; but that it should be holy and without blemish. 1 Pet. i. 15. But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation ; 16. Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. Matt. xiii. 33. Another parable spake he to them; the kingdom of heaven is like to leaven, which a wo- man took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. 4thly. Universality is likewise a pro- minent attribute in the Church of the First Born. A Cew passages will set this in a 176 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF GOD. clear light. These few may suffice : — Mutt. xiii. 33. Another parable spake he to them ; The kingdom of heaven is like to leaven, which a woman took, end hid in three measures of meal, till the w (mil u m lean ned. l's. Ixxii. s. He shall have dominion also from sea to l from the river to the ends of the earth. Isa. ii. '.!. And it shall come to pass in the last days, j that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be estab- lished m the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills ; and all nations shall flow unto it. Dan. ii. 34. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that vcr, of iron and clay, and broke them to pieces. ! in n was the 'iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them : and the stone that smote the image became a great moun- tain, and filled the whole earth. 5thly. Perpetuity is another principal attribute of the true church. The Church of God is built upon an immovable rock, and " the gates of hell," we are told, " shall never prevail against her." This " kingdom," therefore, " is an everlasting kingdom." Matt. xvi. 18. And I say also to thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church: and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Dan. ii. 44. And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Chap. iv. 3. How great are his signs! and how mighty are his wonders! his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to gen- eration. III. THE FAITH AND PRACTICE OF THE CHURCH OF GOD. The Church of God has no authorita- tive constitution, ritual, creed, catechism, book of discipline, or church standard, but the Bible. The Bible she believes to be the only creed, discipline, church stand- ard, or test-book, which God ever intended his church to have. Nevertheless, it may not be inexpedient, pro bono publico, to exhibit a short manifesto, or declaration, showing her views, as to what may be called leading matters of faith, experience and practice. 1. She believes the Bible, or the cano- nical books of the Old and New Testa- ment to be the word of God, a revelation from God to man, and the only authorita- tive rule of faith and practice. Luke xvi. 29. Abraham saith to him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. 2 Tim. iii. 16. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correc- tion, for instruction in rishteousness. 2 Pet. i. 19. We have also a more sure word of pro- phecy ; whereto ye do well that ye take heed, as to a light that shinetli in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts. 20. Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scrip- ture is of any private interpretation. 21. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man ; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. 2. She believes in one Supreme God, consisting of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and that these three are co-equal and co- eternal. Matt, xxviii. 19. Go ye, therefore, and teach all na- tions, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. 2 Cor. xiii»14. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen. 1 John v. 7. For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. 3. She believes in the fall and depra- vity of man; that is to say, that man by nature is destitute of the favor and image of God. Rom. v. 10. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son ; much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. Chap. iii. 10. As it is written, There is none right- eous, no, not one. Chap. viii. 7. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God : for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. 11. There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12. They are all gone out of the way, they are toge- ther become unprofitable ; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. 13. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their* tongues they have used deceit ; the poison of asps is under their lips. 1 Cor. xv. 49. And as we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Col. i. 21. And you, that were sometime alienated, and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled. 22. In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy, and 'unblamable, and unreprovable in his sight. 4. She believes in the redemption of man through the atonement, or vicarious ! sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Rom. v. 6. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 11. And not only so, but we also joy in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. Chap. iii. 25. Whom God hath set forth to be a propi- tiation, through faith in his blood, to declare his righte- ousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God. 2 Cor. v. 19. God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them; and hath committed to us the word of reconcilia- tion. 20. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us : we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. 21. For be hath made him to be sin for us. who knew no sin; tuat we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Gal. iii. 13. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written. Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree- Chap. iv. 4. But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made ! under the law. 5. To redeem them that were under the law, that we misht receive the adoption of sons. Heb. ix. 12. Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy placej having obtained eternal redemption for vs. 13. For if the blood of bulls, and of goats, and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh ; HI8Td*Y OF THE nil RCH OP GOD. I ! it. ii.nv tniK M in. -r«- ihall tiw Mood "i < ti'i-i, who t iii- « r. r .■ .1 iplril nfli red himself u llbotti apot i e ir.'in dead works I l he lis in. i f| r 1M1 < me* he !• the Medl 1 1 < t of l he n. m t.--i inifiit. thai by meant ol death, for the redemption ,.! i In- It M iat trrn under I In- 1 1 f *• t I • - 1 1 1 1 1 • 1 1 1 . thej which ore called, might receive the promlM ol eternal Inheritam e I iii. rui. 18. For Cnrial alto hath once aoffered for MMi. the Just (or the imju^i. thai he might bill God, being put lo death In the flesh, but quit k> oed bj the S|in u I John ii. 8. and he li the propltl it Ion fur our sins ; nnil not lor uuis only, bill llao lor tkt $in» of the whole WOllll. "). sin- believes in the gifl anil office- work of tin- Holy Spirit; that is, in the enlightening, regenerating, and sanctifying influence ami power of the Spirit. John \vi. 7. Nr\ vrihi'li-ss, I til! yon the truth: It is expedient tor you that 1 go ewaj ; for if I go not away, tin- Comforter will not come t.> yon; but it* I depart, 1 will tend him to you. B. Ami * ben be i- come, he will reprove the world of sin, ami of righteousness, ami of Judgments •.'. of Mti ; I..-, lose they believe not on me : in. of righteousness] because I go to my Father, am', fl tee me no more : 11. Of judgment; been we the prince of this world is (hip. xiv. 16. And 1 will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide With you for ever. 17. Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it teeth him not. neither knoweth him : but ye know linn ; for he dwerleth with you, and shall be in you. SB. Hut the Comforter, which is the Holy ("host, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, what- soever I have said lo you. Acts i. 5. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Chost not many days hence. Titus iii. 5. Not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us, bv the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost. 6. She believes in the free, moral agency of man ; that he has moral ability, because commanded to repent and believe, in or- der to be saved ; and that the doctrine of unconditional election and reprobation, has no foundation in the oracles of God. Matt, xx iii. 27. Wo to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Chap. xxv. 14. For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own ser- vants, and delivered to them his goods. 15. And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one ; to every man according to his several ability ; and straightway took his journey. 16. Then lie that had received the five talents, went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents. 17. And likewise he that had leceired two, he also gained other two. 18. Hut he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money. 19. After a longtime the lord of those servants cometh, and rcckoneth with them. 20. And so he that had received five talents, came and brought other live talents, saying. Lord, thou deliveredst to me five talents : behold, I have gained besides them five talents more. 21. His lord said to him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things ; enter thou into the joy of thy lord. "hi I, ol r. H .iv. .1 hi •aid, i..r.i u lellveredst to km- two lata hold 1 have gained two ■.'■ ihem. Ion,, w. II ,! me good lui ten mi ; thou Iii-i been faithful over a. few things I w ill make thee ruler over many thin mi., ii.- • |oy of tin lord -M. Then he which had received the one talent came, and aaid, Lord. 1 knew thee thai thou .in a hard man, reaping n here ihou nasi not son n, ami . thou hast not strewed i dl« is ;ili ml, ami went ami tin! tin | the earth i lo '/../•. thoa nasi that i* thina -1 ■• Hi- lord answered and uM to ball, 71«* wicked and ilothful aervant, thoa knewesi thai I reap aowed not, ami gather where I have not itrewed i 87. Thou oughteal therefore to have pui nit i the exchangers, and rasa at mj coming I ibould have rei i Ived nun.- on n with usury. 28. rake therefore the talent from him, ai to him which huh tea talents. 89. For tO every one t li.it hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance,] but from him thai hath not. shall be taken away even that which be bath. 30. And caal ye the unprofitable aervant into outer darkness : there shall be weeping and gnashing Ofte< iii. John V. 40. And ye will not come to me, that ye U ight have life. Mark i. 13. The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand : repent ye, and believe the gospel. Acts x. 43. To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name, whosoever believtthin him shall receive remission of sins. Chap. Xiii. 88, Be it known to you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached to you the fbrgiveneaa <>f sins ; .'J'.'. And by him, all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. Chap. xvii. 30. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent. 1 John iii. 23. And this is his commandment. That we should believe on the name of Ins Son .lens Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. 7. She believes that man is justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law, or by works of his own righte- ousness. Rom. iii. 88. Therefore we conclude, that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Chap. iv. 4. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt ; 5. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him thai justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for right- eousness. Gal. ii. 16. Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ ; even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be jus- tified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law ; for by the works of the law shall no flesh be jus- tified. Phil. iii. 9. And be found in him. not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. 8. She believes in the necessity of re- generation or the new birth ; or, in the change of man's moral nature, after the image of God, by the influence and power of the word and spirit of God, through faith in Christ Jesus. John iii. 5. Jesus answered. Verily, verily, I say- to thee, Except a man be born of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Titus iii. 5. Not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved ns, bv the washing of regeneration, and renewing of tjie Holy Ghost; 6. Which he shed on us abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour ; 23 17^ HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OP GOD. 7 That being justified by his trace, we should be in :t clt* h.-irs according to ihe nope of eternal life. James i. 18. Uf bis own will begat h<: us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of fust-fruits of Ins creature*. 1 Peter i '23. Bt >ing bora again, not of rorruptil)le seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveib and ebidelh forever. 9. She beyeves in three positive ordi- nances of perpetual standing in the church, viz., Baptism, Fcct-ivask'uig, and the Lord's Supper. Acts ii. 3S. Then Peter sai 1 to them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sine, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. John xiii. 14.— If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet. 15. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you 1 Cor. .\i. 23 -For 1 have received of the Lord that which al>o 1 delivered to you, That the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread; 24. And, when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat; this is my body, which is broken for you ; this do in remembrance of me. 25. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood ; this do ye, as often as ye drink it, in remem- brance of me. 26. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. 27. Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 33. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. 29. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. 10. She believes two things essential to the validity of baptism, viz., faith and immersion: that faith should always pre- cede immersion ; and that where either is wanting, there can be no scriptural bap- tism. Mark xvi. 16. He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved ; but he that belitfveth not, shall be damned. Acts viii. 37. And Philip said. If thou believest with all thy iieirt, thou merest. And he answered and said, 1 hi: ve that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Rom. vi. 3. Know ye not th.it so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death 7 4. Therefore we are buried wit 1 1 him by baptism into death ; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5. For if we have been planted together in the like- his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. Col. ii. IS. Buried with him in baptism, wherein also risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who huh raised him from the dead. 1 Peter iii. 21. The like figure whereto, even baptism, doth also now save us, (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God.) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 11. She believes that the ordinance of feel-washing, that is. of the saints1 feet, according to the words and example of Christ, is obligatory upon all Christians, and ought to be observed by all the churches of God. John xlii. 3. J''sus knowimr that the father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God. and went to God, the literal washing 4. lie rieeth from supper, and laid aside his garments ; and took a towel, and girded himself. 5. After that, he poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples1 feet snd to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. P2. So, after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said to them, Know ye what I have done to you | 1.1. Ve call me Master and Lord ; and ye say well ; for so I am. 14. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet. 15. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I hive done to you. Matt, xxviii. 20. Teaching; them to observe all things whatsoever 1 have commanded you : and, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world. Amen. 12. She believes that the LoroTs Sup- per should be often administered, and, to be consistent, to Christians only, in a sit- ting posture, and always in the evening. Matt. xxvi. And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to his disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. 27. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, savins. Drink ye all of it; 2'. For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. 1 Cor. xi. 23. For I have received of the Lord, that which also I delivered to you. That the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread : 24. And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said. Take, eat : this is my body, which is broken for you : do this in remembrance of me. 25. After the same manner also he took the cup when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood : this do ye, as often as ye drink it, in remem- brance of me. 26. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death til) he come. Luke xxii. 19. And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave to them, saying. This is my body which is given for you: this do' in remembrance of me. 20. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you., Mark xiv. 22. And as they did eat. Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat ; this is my body. 23. And he took the cup, and when he nad aiven thanks, he gave it to them : and they all drank of it. 21. And he said to them. This is'iiiy blood of the new testament, which is shed for many. 25. Verily, I say to you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the" vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God. Acts ii. 42. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. 13. She believes in the institution of the Lord's day, or Christian sabbath, as a day of rest and religious worship. Mark ii. 27. And he said to them. The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath. Luke xxiii. 56. And they returned, and prepared spices and ointment ; and rested the sabbath-day accord- ing to commandment. Acts xiii. 27. For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath- day, they have fulfilled thevi in condemning him. Rev. i. 10. I was in the spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet. 14. She' believes that the reading and preaching of God's word, the singing of psalms and hymns, and spiritual songs, and the offering up of prayers, are or- dained of God, and ought to be regularly HISTORY OF THE ('III RCH OF GOD. an,; I i»y .ill the people ;m are thi m ,n M B, ltm thou, when thou prayest, enter into et, and when thou hast ahni thy door, praj '" th) Father which i- i'i iccretj and thj Father, which in seen i, -lull reward thee openly. : Bui when ye prmy, uee not vain repetitions, a* the for they think that they shall be beard for (hell nun 1) speaking. not ye therefbre 1 1 k .■ to them : (hr your Father knoweth what ihingt ye nave need of before ye a>k him •i Ati.r tins manner therefore pray yet Dm Father which art in heaven, Hallowed !><• thy name. id. Thy kingdom come. Thj w ill be done on »-:i»-»!i ;is tt in in he i\ en li. Give us this day our dally bread. ■ ii r dolus, us we forgive our debtor*. 13, Ami lead us not Into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, end the power, and the glory, tor ever. Amen. Chap, vwiii. 19.- Go ye therefore and teach rill na- tions, baptising them in tin- name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; ichina them to observe all things whatsoever I ■ unwilled yout and lo, I am will, you always, i rrn to the end of the World. Amen. Bph. v. 10, Speaking to yourselves in psalms, and h\nms, and spiritual son^, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Col. ni. 16, Lei the word of Christ dwell in you richly in ail wisdom ; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, and h\ inns, and spiritual songs, sihg- mg with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Phil, iv 6. Ho careful for nothing: hut in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let youl requests be made* known to God, 15, She believes in the propriety and utility of holding fast-days, experience meetings, anxious meetings) camp meet- ings, and other special meetings of united and protracted efforts for the edification of the church and the conversion of sinners. 1 Cor. xiv. 31. For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may he comforted. Luke vi. 12. And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued ali night in prayer to God. Arts x\, 28 And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. Chap. .\ii. 1'2. And when he had considered the thing1, he came to the house of Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark; where many were gathered to- gether, praying. Chap. xiv. 27. And when they were come, and ha<5 gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how" he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles, 16. She believes that the gospel minis- try, sabbath schools, education, the reli- gious press, the Bible, missionary, tem- perance, and all 'other benevolent causes, ought to be heartily and liberally sup- ported. 1 Cor. ix. 11. if we have sown to you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things'? 12. If others he partakers of this power over you, are not we rather? Nevertheless we have not used this power ; hut suffer all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ. IS. Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live if the things of the temple, and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar? i ,;> the I'M nrd I lit d tiu y win. h j,. I should lit ■ ol tie got :>• i Gal. \ i. 6, i.. i in". rd, com- muiiii at.- mi him ih ii lea< heth In all i I things .i i \ it. Therefore t" bun thai knoweth lo do i.ni dot Hi tt not, to ii mi ii i 17. She believes thai the church • to relieve and take care of hci own pooi saints, superannuated ministers, widow* and orphans; A.i^xi. I. And in those days, when the number of tit < w .i* mnltiplh .1 i a murmuring • it the Grecians against the Hebrews, because theta widows were neglected in the daih ministration. 2. Then the twelve called the multitude ofthe disciples unto limn, and said, It is not reason that We should leave the word of God, and serve tables. Chap. m. IB. Then the dleclpVes, every man act nrdlng to his ability, determined to send relief to the brethren which dwelt in Judea. Kom. Mi. 13. Distributing to the necessity of saints ; given to hospitality. Gal. vi. 1 Hear ve one another's burdens, and SO fulfil the law of Christ. 1 Tim. v. <>. Let not a widow be taken into the num- ber under three store years old, having been the wife of one man. 1 Thess. v. 11. Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort tiie feeble-minded, sup- port the weak, he patient toward all mm. Phil. iv. 15. Now ye f'hilipians, know also, that in the beginning ofthe gospel, when 1 good, and to communicate, forget not: for with such sacrifices God Is well pleased. 18. She believes that the manufacture, traffic, and use of -ardent spirits, as a beverage or common drink, is injurious 1 Cor. x. Si. Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. 1 Peter ii. 11. Dearly beloved. 1 beseech grow, as stran- gers and pilgrims, abstain from Beebly lusts, which war against the soul ; 12. Having your conversation honest among the Gen- tiles : that, whereas they speak against you as evil- doers, they may by your good works, which the] shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. 1 Thess. v. 22, Abstain from all appearance of evil. 19. She believes the system or institu- tion of involuntary slavery to be impolitic or unchristian. Matt. vii. 12. Therefore all things whatsoever ye Would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them : for this is the law and the prophets. Chap. xix. 19. Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Gal. in. 2s There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye arc all one in Christ Jesus. 20. She believes that all civil wars are unholy and sinful, and in which the saints of the Most High ought never to partici- pate. 2 Cor. jr. 4. For the weapons of our warfare art not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds* Neb. xii. 14. Follow peace with all 7nrn,and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. Matt. vii. 12. Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to lliem : for this is the law and the prophets. Chap. xxvi. 52. Then said Jesus to him. Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword, shall perish with the sword. Chap. v. 39 But I sav to you, That ye resist not 1*0 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF GOD. evil : but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the oilier alto. 44 Hut I gay to you. Love your enemies, bless them that curse you. do good to them tli.it bate you, ami pray for then which deepilefirUy uae you, ami persecute you. 21. She believes that civil governments are ordained of God for the general good ; that Christians ought to 1x3 subject to the same in all things, except what is mani- festly unscriptural ; and that appeals to the law, out of the church, for justice, and the adjustments of civil rights, are not in- consistent with the principles and duties of the Christian religion. Rom. xiii. 1. Let every soul he subject to the higher powers. For there is no power but of God : the powers that be, are ordained of God. 2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God : and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same; 4 For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid ; for he beareth not the sword in vain : for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. 5 Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for Wrath, but also for conscience' sake. Acts xxv. II. For if 1 be an offender, or have com- mitted any thing worthy of death, I refuse not to die : but if there be none of these things whereof these ac- cuse me, no man may deliver me to them. I appeal to Cesar. 21 But when Paul had appealed to be reserved to the hearing of Augustus, 1 commanded him to be kept i till I might send him to Cesar. 1 Cor. vi. 1. Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints? 2 Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world ? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 3 Know ye not that we shall judge angels ? how much more, thing's that pertain to this life? 4 If then ye hive judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church. 5 I sp>ak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you ? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren? 6 But brother gbeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers. 7 Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law with one another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? 22. She believes in the necessity of a virtuous and holy life, and that Christ will save those only who obey him. Ileb. xii. 14. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. Chap. v. 9. And, being made perfect, he became the Author of eternal salvation, unto all them that obey him. 16. Because it is written, Be ye holy; fori am holy. 23. She believes in the visibility, unity, sanctity, universality, and perpetuity of the church of God. Matt. v. 14. Ve are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. John xvii. 21. That they all may be one: as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in ug : that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 1 Cor. x. 17. For we being many are one bread, and one body : for we are all partakers of that one bread. Eph. v. 27. That he might present it to himself a glo- rious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing ; but that it should be holy and without blemish. Matt. xiii. .'):). Another parable spike he to ihein ; Tin: kingdom of heaven is like to leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. Chap. xvi. 18. And I say also to thee, That thou art I'eter, and upon this rock I will build my church : ami the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 24. She believes in the personal coming and reign of Jesus Christ. Matt. xxiv. 42. Watch therefore; for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. 43. But know this, that if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. 44. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not. the Son of man cometh. Act? i. II. Which also said, Ve men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven ? tins same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. Phil. iii. 20. For our conversation is in heaven ; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ : 21. Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like to his glorious body, according to the working wherebv he is able even to subdue all things to himself. 1 Thess. iv. 16. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archan- gel, and with the trump of God : and the dead in Christ shall rise first. 17. Then we which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 1 John iii. 2. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him ; for we shall see him as he is. Rev. i. 7. Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him : and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. 25. She believes in the resurrection of the dead, " both of the just and the un- just ;" that the resurrection of the just will precede the resurrection of the unjust; that the first will take place at the begin- ning, and the second at the end of the millennium. John v. 23. Marvel not at this : for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, 29. And shall come forth; they that have done good to the resurrection of life ; and they that have done evil, to the resurrection of damnation. Acts xxiv. 15. And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resur- rection of the dead, both of the just and unjust. 1 Thess. iv. 16. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archan- gel, and with the trump of God : and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Rev. xx. 4. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given to them : and / saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God. and which had not worshipped, the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their bands ; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thou- sand years. 5. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resur- rection. 6. Blessed and holy u he that hath part in the first resurrection : on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. HISTORY OF THE nil RCH OP GOD. 181 She believes in the creation of new he ivens and a new earth. u.iw.i: i or, behold, i «t..ii.- new beavene,and a ,., V\ eartbi and the foriuei shall not i» remembered, mm i "in.* mi, i mind- Chap Ixvi. •-'.'. 1 1 .1.1- iii-- new beavena, and the new earth, a bleb I « ill make, shall remain bef r. ate. - illh b, to -i. ill \ seed and youi name remain. ei in. 13 Nev< riin less \\.\ nccordlng i" his look for new heavens an. I a now earth, w hen in dw . lleth righteousness. Ret wi. i An, i i taw a nf\v heaven and a new aarthi for the in-i heaven and the firei earth wen pasted a.\ BJf ; and lli. :<• u as n.i more -> i. 37, She believes in the immortality <>!' the SOU] J iii a universal and denial judg- ment : and in future and everlasting re- wards and punishments. M.itt. \\v II. When the Sun of man shall come in in- glory, and all iti.- boll angels wit li him, then shall he -i! npon the throne of hi< glory. .". \iid before him shall in- gathered all nations j and be shall separate them on.' from another, as a shepherd divideth ku sheep from the goats : i he shall set the sheep on the right hand, bat • - on the left. ■n shall the King say to them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom i for you from the foundation of the world : S&. For I was I hungered, and ye gave mi' meat ; I was thirsty, ami ye gave me drink ; 1 was a Stranger, and ye took me in : 3f>. Naked, and ye i lothed me; 1 was sick, and ye Visited me; 1 was in prison, and ye came to me. 37. Then shall the righteous answer him, aaying, Lord, when saw we thee a hungered, and fed Ihcc? or thirsty, and gave CAM drink ? 36, When saw u e tine a stranger, aud took thee in ? or naked, avid clothed /Ace? 39. Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came to thee ' 40. And the King shall answer and say to them. Verily. 1 say to y on. inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the least of these my hrethren. ye have done it to me. 41. Then shall he say also to them on his left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, pre- pared for the devil and his angels. •i'2. For I was a hungered, and ye gave me no meat ; I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink : 43. 1 was a stranger, and ye took me not in ; naked, and ye clothed me not; sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. 44. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee a hungered, or a thirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to thee ? 4j. Then shall he answer them, saying. Verity, I say to you, inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of \ e 'lid i' not to me. 40, And these shall go away into everlasting punish- ment ; but the righteous into life eternal. Mark viii 36. For what shall it profit a man. if he shall L'ain the whole world, and lose his own soul? (hap. \ii. 25. For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are siven in marriage ; but are as the angels winch are in heaven. I. like wi. 19. There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptu- ously every day : 90. And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, •21 . And desiring to he fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores. '22. And it came to pass, that the heg-rar died, and was carried by the augels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died, and w as buried : 23. And in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in tor- ments, and seeth Abraham afar oif, and Lazarus in his bosom. 21. 'And he cried, and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his Suffer in water, and cool my tongue ; for I am tormented in this flame. i. ni Abraham < ., in tin hi. i • r. . elved I 1 1 ■ \ | i thing*, n d llki I a/am- evil 1 1 1 1 1 1 ■ - ; luit HOW In ll COO)f< rtcd, an. I lle.n an tormented. ill tin-, beta ■ i gulph flied i so Hi it ihej which would , from hence i" you, cannot) neither can ihej pai that irmiiii r,m:i from thence. 27. Then he said I praj thee therefore, fhtla r, that thou wouldesi send him i" mj fhthi r's b< •:- j ..i i bai s fli '■ brethren ; thai at maj I them, lesl tin \ tlso come In this pin. .,f torment. 10. Abraham -aith to him, I In •;. SSV6 MOSSS and tin- prophets ; lei them bear tin in SO. And he Bald, Nay, fhther Abraham; but if 'in*- went to them from tin .lead, thej w hi repeal. 31. And he said tO bun. If lln \ In ar not MosCS and the prophets, neither will the] be persuaded, though one rose from the dead, A.ts wii. Sf. Becanse he hath appointed B day, in the whn I) he will judge the world m righteousness, by thai man whom he hath ordained: wksrtcf be bath given assurance unto all nun, in that he hath raised him from the (bad. Such then, is an outline of the avow* d principles of the Church of God in the United States. IV. HER POLITY AND STATISTICS. The polity, or form of government of the cKK\naia too Oeov, is strictly scriptural and apostolical. All her local and individual churches are formed on the principles of a free and independent republic. After confederation and organization every par- ticular church is under the supervision, watch-care, and government of an official church council, consisting of the preacher or preachers in charge, and a competent number of elders and deacons. These jointly co-operate in feeding, ruling, and governing the flock of God, on the rational principles of family government, and con- sist chiefly in these things, to wit : " In going before the people, and lead- ' ing the several parts of their worship, and becoming their example in every duty. In teaching them the principles and rules j of their religion ; the knowledge, profes- sion, and practice of those doctrines and ' duties, that worship and order, which reason and natural religion dictate, and which Christ himself has revealed, super- added, and established in his Word. It consists in exhorting and persuading, and charging the members of the church with that seriousness, circumspection, and pro- priety of conduct, which becometh saints : in instructing them how to apply those j general principles and rules to particular cases and occurrences, and giving them | their best advice under every circum- stance. It consists in presiding in their 162 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF GOD. assemblies for worship or otherwise ; in examining and admitting applicants for baptism and church membership-; in watching over and guarding the church against errors and dangers. It consists In conducting the moral discipline of the church ; in admonishing, and warning, and reproving, with all gravity and au- thority, those who neglect or oppose any of the rules, ordinances, and command- ments of Christ; and expelling from the church the scandalous, and in receiving again the truly penitent."* ANNUAL ELDERSHIPS. These individual churches arc confed- erated or united for co-operation. The Church of God, therefore, has within her bounds, at present, four Elderships, viz.: the East Pennsylvania, the Ohio, the West Pennsylvania, and the Indiana Elderships. Each Eldership holds an annual meet- ing, consisting of all the teaching elders within its bounds, and a delegation from the churches, or rather from the stations and circuits, of an equal number of ruling elders. Co-operation, and not legislation, is the main object of these meetings ; and that, on the itinerant and stationary plan, com- bined. Thus it was originally. Whilst some were stationed, others itinerated in given districts ; whilst others again mis- sionated, or travelled at large. This plan the Church of God finds to be the most rational, scriptural, and efficient ; and therefore, she has adopted and pursues the same. Every station and circuit is required to support its own preacher or preachers for the time of their service among them, and to aid in supporting the missionaries and preachers at large. No one is allowed to remain longer than three years ; generally not more than one or two years, on one station or cir- cuit. Frequent changes work the best for ministers and people. The East Pennsylvania Eldership was formed in the fall of the year 1830. * Vide " Brief View of the Formation, Gov- ernment, and Discipline of the Church of God," bv John Winebrenner, V. D. M. It had at its first formation, 6 ordained ministers — it has now 56. The Ohio Eldership -was formed in the year 1836. It had then G preachers — it now numbers 20. The West Pennsylvania Eldership was established in the year 1844. It con- sisted at that time of 10 ministers — it now consists of 13. The Indiana Eldership was set off from the Ohio Eldership, in the fall of 1846, and consists of three teaching and as manv ruling elders. GENERAL ELDERSHIP. These annual Elderships hold a general Eldership every three years. The first general Eldership met and was formed in Pittsburg, in the year 1845. Out of 22 delegates which were appointed, viz. 12 by the East. Pa. Eldership ; 6 by the Ohio Eldership ; and 4 by the West Pa. Elder- ship ; 13 only were in attendance, to wit : From theVEAST PENNSYLVANIA ELDERSHIP. TEACHING ELDERS .* J, WINEBRENNER, DAVID KYLE, E. H. THOMAS, and GEO. McCARTNEY. ruling elders .-—JOHN S. GABLE, and WM. EHNNY. From the WEST PENNSYLVANIA ELDERSHIP.— teaching elders : — JOSEPH A. DOBSON, and JOHN HICK- ERNELL. ruling elders :— JOHN KARNER, and ABRAHAM SHERICK. From the OHIO ELDERSHIP. teaching elders :— EDWARD WEST, THOMAS HICKERNELL, and ARCHI- BALD MEGREW. ruling elders :— absentees :— JACOB FLAKE, WM. McFADDEN, JOSEPH ROSS, A. WEI- KER, JOHN YOUNG, A. J. KAUFF- MAN, DANIEL MARKLEY, JOSEPH SHERICK, and SETH HOLLINGER. This body for their own efficient govern- ment and co-operation, drew up and adopt- ed the following constitution ; viz : CONSTrTTHTTOX OF THE GENERAL EL- DERSHIP OF THE CHURCH OF GOD IN NORTH AMERICA. Art. 1. The General Eldership of the Church of God, shall consist of delegates J HISTORY OF THE cm K, to wit : — ( Mic teaching elder for every ten, together with an equal number of ruling elders, during the first twenty yearsj after that, the ratio of representation shall lx' defined as the Eldership shall deem most advisable. Art. °. The General Eldership shall very three years, during the first twenty years, and every five years there- after, at such time and place as shall be agreed OH, at each consecutive Eldership. Art. 8. Bach session of the Eldership shall be opened and closed with religious worship, as the Speaker shall direct: and two-thirds of the members in attendance shall constitute a quorum to transact busi- Art. 4. The first meeting of each regu- lar Eldership shall be opened by the Speaker of the preceding one — in his ab- sence, by the oldest minister present ; then two persons shall be appointed by accla- mation, to constitute the meeting ; and after that, the Eldership shall be organized by electing by ballot, first a Speaker, next a Treasurer, and then two Clerks, viz : — a journalizing and transcribing clerk — all of whom shall hold their office till the meeting of the next stated Elder- ship. Art. 5. The Speaker shall be the pre- siding officer of all the meetings of the Eldership during the time for which he was elected. He shall conduct the busi- ness thereof, according to the rules and usages of deliberative bodies — he shall en- dorse all orders on the Treasurer, and shall call a special meeting of the Elder- ship, whenever a majority of the standing committees of the several annual Elder- ships shall require it, and not otherwise. Art. 6. The Treasurer shall hold the funds of the General Eldership — he shall invest or disburse the same, according to the warrants of the Speaker — he shall also exhibit a report of the receipts, in- vestments and disbursements at each con- secutive Eldership, and give approved se- curity to the Speaker and Clerks for any amount that the Eldership may require. Art. 7. The Journalizing Clerk shall read all papers and documents which the Speaker shall lay before the Bldei keep a regular journal of il and read the journal ever) morni the preceding day, during the sjttirj the same. Art. S, The Tu v EI84 RISING Cl£si trans* ribe the journal, and such other pa- pers as the Eldership ma) direct, into a protocol, or book of records \ and also furnish B Copy of tfl Don. Art. 9. The Genera] BldN rship shall own and control all the public, joint and common property ; such as the printing establishment, stereotype plates, copyrights of books, and whatever else may come into its hands, by way of purchase, be- quest, donation or otherwise. Art. 10. All publications for g< use; such as hymn books, news] periodicals, &c, shall be under the direc- tion of the General Eldership. Art. 11. It shall be the exclusive right and duty of the General Eldership, to elect or appoint the editor or editors of all newspapers and periodicals — a publishing committee — a board of directors of the printing establishment and book concern, and all other agents necessary for carry- ing out the true principles and plans of co-operation. Art. 12. The proceeds of all the public property shall be divided among all the annual Elderships, according to their nu- merical strength, or otherwise, as the General Eldership may direct. Art. 13. All orders from the annual Elderships, on the Treasurer of the Gene- ral Eldership, for their share of the public funds, or any part thereof, shall in all cases be issued and signed by a majority of the members of their respective stand- ing committees. Art. 14. The General Eldership shall have the exclusive right of arranging and settling the boundary lines of all the an- nual Elderships. Art. 15. All controversies and difficul- ties arising between the members of any two or more annual Elderships, shall be adjusted by a council of the several stand- ing committees of the same ; but either party may take an appeal from their deci- sion to the General Eldership, provided notice thereof be given to the chairman of 184 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF GOD the council, or through the paper or regular organ of the church, within twenty days after the rising of said council. A majority of the council, as above constituted, shall form a quorum to transact business. Art. 16. All matters of controversy or dispute which may arise between members of the several annual Elderships, shall be settled, either by their respective standing committees, or in their yearly meetings ; and their decision shall in all cases be final, except where two-thirds shall sanc- tion an appeal, or consent to refer it to the General Eldership. Art. 17. No person shall be considered an accredited Minister in the Church of God, without a regular license; and all the preachers in good standing shall have their license renewed annually by the Elderships of which they are members. Art. 18. All persons expelled from any given Eldership, shall be treated as such by all the rest. Art. 19. No preacher shall be trans- ferred from one Eldership to another, with- out mutual consent. Art. 20. No minister shall be eligible to an appointment, as a delegate to the General Eldership, who shall not have held a license for five years previous to appointment ; except in new Elderships, or in cases where it is unavoidable. Art. 21. The General Eldership shall have power to employ suitable persons as missionaries or agents, whether they are members of an annual Eldership or not ; j provided they go into their employ volun- tarily, and give due notice thereof — if members of an Eldership, to the standing committee, or to the annual Eldership of which they are members. Art. 22. All persons in the employ of the General Eldership shall have the ere- dentials expressive of their appointment, signed by the Speaker and Clerks thereof, to whom they shall also be held account- able for the faithful performance of the same ; but all such as are ministers of the gospel shall be amenable, for their moral and religious character, to the annual El- dership of which they are members. Art. 23. Any resolution or set of reso- lutions, brought forward by the committee on resolutions, shall be acted on imme- diately ; but any resolution or set of reso- lutions offered by a single member of the Eldership, shall be referred to the com- mittee on resolutions without debate, and said committee shall have discretionary power to suppress or to return the same, either with or without amendments. Art. 24. No member shall speak more than twice, on the merits of one question, whilst under consideration, without leave of the house. Art. 25. When a question is under de- bate, no motion shall be in order, except it be to amend, strike out, commit, post- pone or adjourn. Art. 26. A motion to adjourn shall always be in order, and shall be decided without debate. Art. 27. All questions shall be decided by a plurality of votes, and all voting shall be done viva voce, except when otherwise called for. Art. 28. On no question before the El- dership shall the yeas and nays be order- ed, except they are called for by at least one-fourth of the members present. Art. 29. No member shall be permitted to withdraw from the Eldership before the close of the session, without first obtaining leave of absence. Art. 30. Two-thirds of the members in attendance, at any stated or regular meet- ing of the General Eldership, shall have power and authority to annul, to add, change or amend any article or articles i of this constitution. The General Eldership, also, passed the following resolutions : RESOLUTION ON THE BIBLE CAUSE. Resolved, That we regard the Bible cause as being emphatically the cause of God ; and, therefore, we earnestly re- commend this noble cause to the special care and patronage of the " Church of God," hoping that she will not be a whit behind the most forward in supporting the same. RESOLUTIONS ON EDUCATION. Resolved, That this Eldership consider the subject of education of vital import- ance, both in a civil and religious point of view. i HI8T0M OF Tin: CHI RCH OF GOD. 1-:. //■ x tlved, That we recommend to the members of the churches to have their children liberally educated to the utmost extenl <>i' their ability. Resolved, That we highly approve of Sabbath schools, Bible classes, and all systems ami modes of instruction, calcu- lated tO impart useful and seriptured knowledge to the young and rising gene- ration. RESOLUTIONS RESPECTING THE DEEDING OF CHURCH PROPERTY. 1. Resolved, That this General Elder- ship recommend to all the brethren in the Church of clod to have their Bethels, or meeting houses, parsonages, &c, deeded to the elders of their respective local churches, and their successors in office, to be held by them in trust for the church. 2. Resolved, That we also advise them CO have inserted in the deed, a provisionary . transferring and conveying all their right, title and interest in, of and to the property of the church so deeded, to the annual eldership of the Church of God, in the bounds of which it is located, in the event that the local church should become extinct, or cease to exist. RESOLUTIONS RESPECTING A BOOK CONCERN. 1. Resolved, That we recommend the establishment of a general book concern, as soon as practicable ; and the publica- tion of such books and pamphlets, as the funds will justify, and the wants of the churches demand. 2. Resolved, That the Speakek, Trea- surer, and Clerks of this Eldership be, and they are hereby constituted a pub- lishing committee, and are authorized to do all they can towards commencing a Book Establishment. RESOLUTION ON THE LORD'S DAY. Whereas, the sanctification or proper observance of the Lord's day is a subject of vital importance, intimately connected with the glory of God, the salvation of the soul, and the moral and political wel- fare of our country; Therefore, Resolved, That we beartilj and seal- ously recommend i" all pur brethn d of the ( Ihurch of I rod, to avoid the d< tion of the Sabbath b) travelling, ing, sleeping, working, worldly conversa- tion, ^\«-. ; bul duly to sanctify the bad by meditation, prayer, reading, worship- ping God privately and publicly, accord- ing to the requirements of his law. RESOLUTIONS ON SLAVERY. Whereas* it ia the duty of the ministers of God to testify against sin in every form and place; Therefore, 1. Resolved, That it is the unequivo- cal and decided opinion of this General Eldership of the Church of God, that the system of involuntary slavery, as it exists in the United States of North America, is a flagrant violation of the natural, un- alienable and most precious rights of man, and utterly inconsistent with the spirit, laws and profession of the Christian re- ligion. 2. Resolved, That we feel ourselves authorized by the highest authority, and called upon by the strongest ties and obli- gations, to caution our brethren in the Church of God, against supporting and countenancing, either directly or indirect- ly, the said iniquitous* institution of in- voluntary slavery ; and should any of otir ministers or members ever become guilty of this great and crying sin, we do most earnestly and religiously recommend and advise, that all such be excommuni- cated, or cast out of the church, and de- nied the right of Christian fellowship among us. RESOLUTIONS ON TEMPERANCE. 1. Resolved, That we arc grateful to Almighty God, for his goodness in smil- ing upon the efforts made to promote the Temperance cause. 2. Resolved, That in our opinion the time has fully come, when men in every condition of life, who have the welfare of the human family at heart, should come forward and sign the pledge of Total Arstinence, and strive to advance the noble cause of temperance by precept and example. 24 136 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF GOD. 3. Resolved, That the friends of tem- perance remember, that the cause in which they are engaged is a cause whose ad- vocates and supporters are of no particu- lar creed ; that its aim is to reform the life, and fit men for the society of the good here, and under God, for the society of the blessed hereafter ; and therefore, they should take care not to " fall out by the way," but to join in one united effort to do something worthy of their day, which shall cause their children to rise up and call them blessed. 4. Resolved, That we are sorry that there are yet ministers of the Gospel in this country, who are so far influenced by selfishness, as to refuse to give their views and influence in favor of a cause like that of temperance, which is so close- ly allied to that of Christianity. 5. Resolved, That we consider it in- consistent for professors of Christianity in any way to countenance the traffic in in- toxicating drink ; and especially to assist the rumseller to procure a license by signing his petition, which is nothing less than signing the death warrant of many poor inebriates. 6. Resolved, That we consider the traf- fic in intoxicating liquors as a drink, al- ways sinful and demoralizing in its re- sults ; and that no man is entitled to mem- bership in the Church of God who is en- gaged in it. MISSIONARY RESOLUTION AND SO- CIETY. Resolved, That this Eldership form it- self into a Domestic and Foreign Mission- ary Society, under the following constitu- tion, to wit : CONSTITUTION OF THE DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIE- TY OF THE CHURCH OF GOD. Article 1. This society shall be called, The Domestic and Foreign Mission- ary Society of the Church of God in North America. Article 2. The object of this Society shall be to employ, send out, and support, both Domestic and Foreign Missionaries. Article 3. Any person paving an- nually the sum of fifty cents, or upwards, shall be a member of this Society. Article 4. Any person paying the sum of five dollars, for five years in suc- cession, or the sum of twenty dollars at any one time, shall be a life member. Article 5. All the members of the General Eldership, who are members of the Society, shall constitute a Board of Missions, competent to transact all the business of the Society ; and the Speaker, Treasurer and Clerks, shall be the regu- lar officers of the Society, ex-officio ; (pro- vided they are members ; if not, they shall be elected by the Society ;) and form its Executive Committee — three of whom shall be a quorum ; and shall have power to carry on the operations of the Society, during its recess, as the Board of Missions shall direct. Article 6. The Society shall meet at every regular meeting of the General Eldership, at which time the Board of Missions shall exhibit a particular account of the funds of the Society ; of their re- ceipts and expenditures ; of the Mission- aries employed by them, and the places to which they are sent. Articlb 7. All the Ministers in the Church of God, and all such as shall be appointed by them, shall have full power and authority to act as agents on behalf of this Society, to exert themselves in get- ting members to the Society — to receive their yearly subscriptions, life subscrip- tions, donations, &c, and to transmit them to the chairman of the standing committees of the several Elderships, and by them they shall be forwarded to the Treasurer of the Society. Article 8. This Constitution may be altered or amended by two-thirds of the Board of Missions, at any regular or stated meeting of the Society. BOUNDARIES OF THE ANNUAL EL- DERSHIPS. 1st. The East Pennsylvania Eldership shall include the whole of the States of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, East of the Allegheny mountains. 2nd. The West Pennsylvania Eldership shall comprehend that part of Pennsyl- HI8T0R1 OP THE CHI RCH OF OOD. vania, Maryland and Virginia, which lies Weal "t" the Allegheny, in connexion with tli.it part of ( >hk>, easl of a direct line from Lake Erie to the < mio river, the line between Columbianna and Stark countiea. 3rd. The Ohio Eldership shall com- priae the States of Ohio, (Indiana* and Michigan,) except that part of Ohio con- tained within the boundaries of the West Pennsylvania Eldership. PUBLICATIONS. The Church of God has one religious Newspaper under her patronage : "The Church Advocate," published at Harris- burg, Pennsylvania ; Bishop John Winc- brenner, editor. She also publishes several Pamphlets or Tracts, and is preparing to publish Books. STATISTICS. fn the East Pennsylvania Eldership there are at present : Licensed and ordained ministers, - 56 Organized churches, 75 Regular preaching places, about - - 130 Probable number of church members, 6500 * These two States are now included in the Indiana Eldership. In the ( 'mo I (LDl RSBIf \h ft •' i< : Licensed and ordained ministers, - 20 Probable number of organized chun I Probable numtx rof other appointnx i Probable number of church memben ,8000 In the West rnN>M.\ \m\ ESu>sssHif 'here are ■ Licensed and ordained ministers, - 16 Probable number of churches, - - 80 Probable number of regular preach* ing places, 60 Probable number of church members, 2000 In the Indiana Eldership there are : Licensed and ordained ministers, - 4 Probable number of organized churches, 10 Probable number of other appointments, 25 Probable number of church members, 300 In other States and Territories there are to be found, scattered abroad, a consider- able number of members and a few Minis- ters, amounting, at least, to 200, or up- wards. RECAPITULATION. Aggregate number of licensed and ordained ministers, .... 96 Aggregate number of organized churches, 155 Aggregate number of preaching places, 305 Aggregate number of church mem- bers, 12,000 168 HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATIONALISTS. HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATIONALISTS BY THE REV. E. W. ANDREWS, PASTOR OF THE BROADWAY TABERNACLE, NEW YORK. The origin of the Congregationalists, as a modern sect, is commonly ascribed to Robert Browne, who organized a church in England, in 1583. But it appears pro- bable that there were churches formed upon congregational principles in the reigns of Edward VI. and Queen Mary, although it is impossible to speak with any certainty respecting them. It is well known that Cranmer, the chief promoter of the Reformation in England, admitted the right of the churches to choose their own pastors, and the equality of the clergy; and it is worthy of note that, in the Bible published by him, the word ecclcsia is always rendered congregation. Some of the bishops went further, and advanced opinions which would now be regarded as amongst the distinctive principles of the Congregationalists. But the right of any individual to judge for himself what the scriptures taught in matters of religion was not recognized. The government in- sisted upon an entire conformity to the established church, both in doctrines, and in rites and ceremonies. The Reforma- tion advanced slowly ; for its progress was controlled by subtle statesmen, who sought the reasons of any innovation, not in the word of God, but in the calculations of state policy. Many of the leading early reformers were greatly dissatisfied at the slow progress of the Reformation, and would gladly have introduced a more sim- ple and scriptural form of worship. Even Edward VI., popular as he deservedly was with the Protestant party, did not escape censure for the indulgence he showed to Popish superstitions. It was evident in this reign, that a portion of the Protes- tants in England were far in advance of the standard set up by the king and the prelates ; and that the distance between them was daily widening. But the divi- ding line between the supporters of the hierarchy and the non-conformists was not distinctly drawn, until the Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity passed, in the early part of Elizabeth's reign. From this period there was little hope of perma- nent reconciliation between the two parties, although it was not until about the year 1565, that separate assemblies were held. It is from this time that the Puritans are to be regarded as a distinct party. The first open attempt to suppress these assem- blies seems to have been made two years after, when a congregation was arrested at Plumbers' Hall, and thirty of them confined in Bridewell, for more than a year. Without enumerating all the points of difference between the prelates and the Puritans, it may perhaps be doubted whether an abrogation of all the rites and ceremonies complained of as superstitious, would not have allayed the storm that was rising against the Establishment, and pre- vented, for many years at least, the sepa- ration that afterwards took place. How- ever this might have been, the attempt to enforce these ceremonies led the Puritans HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION VI 189 to examine more oloeely, than tin \ bad hitherto done, the ground of that authority 10 arbitrarily exercised over them. The dogmatic Cartwright assailed Episcopacy with great boldness, and asserted the Presbyterian to be the onlj scriptural form of church government The cruelty and intolerance of the Mshops had pro- duced a directly opposite effect from what thr\ bad intended. Instead of coercing the non-conformists into submission, a spirit of resistance was aroused; and, as is well said by llallam, "the battle was no longer to be fought for a tippet and a surplice, but for the whole ecclesiastical hierarchy, interwoven as it was with the temporal constitution of England." The first church formed upon Congre- gational principles, of whose existence we have any accurate knowledge, was that established by Robert Browne ; but it was in\ broken up, and Browne, with many of his congregation, fled to Holland. He subsequently returned to England, and is said by some historians to have renounced the principles he had so earnestly main- tained. In the latter part of his life, he seems to have been openly immoral and dissolute. The church planted by him in Holland, after his departure, fell into dis- sensions, and soon perished. The char- acter of Browne is thus drawn by Ban- croft : " The most noisy advocate of the new system was Browne ; a man of rash- ness, possessing neither true courage nor constancy ; zealous, but fickle ; dogmati- cal, but shallow. He has acquired histo- rical notoriety, because his hot-headed indiscretion urged him to undertake the defence of separation. . . . The principles, of which the intrepid assertion had alone given him distinction, lay deeply rooted in the public mind ; and as they did not draw life from his support, they did not suffer from his apostacy." The opinions of Browne respecting church polity are the same in many re- spects as those now held by the Congre- gationalists of New England. He main- tained,* " that each church, or society of Christians meeting in one place, was a body corporate, having full power within * I abbreviate from Punchard's Hist. Cong, p. 247. itself to admit and SZCludl members ; to chpOSe and ordain officer! ; and win n th«- good of the societj required it, to i t li< in, without being accountable to i convocations, synods, councils, or an) jurisdiction whatever." 11-- denied the supremacy of the queen ; and tin- claim of the Establishment to be a scriptural church, lb' declared the scriptures to be the only guide in all matters of faith and discipline. The labors of a pastor srere to be confined to a single church, and be- yond its bounds he possessed no authority to administer the ordinances. One church could exercise no jurisdiction over another, except so far as to advise or reprove it, or to withdraw its fellowship from such as walked disorderly. Five orders, or offices, were recognised in the church : those of pastor, teacher, elder, deacon, and widow ; but he did not allow the priesthood to be a distinct order from the laity. How far these views have been since modified, will appear hereafter. Such are the outlines of a system pro- mulgated by Browne, in tracts published by him in 1680, and in 1682. The » j Pi- rating line, between the conforming and the non-conforming Puritans, now became broad and distinct. The former, recog- nising the Church of England as a true church, and unwilling to separate them- selves from the Establishment, demanded only that her discipline should be further reformed, and her bishops ranked as the head of the presbyters. Neither by the supporters of the hierarchy, nor amongst this class of the Puritans, was the great doctrine of liberty of conscience recog- nised. A different standard of uniformity was indeed set up by each ; but the prin- ciple of ecclesiastical tyranny was as plainly to be seen in the implicit obedience required to the decrees of synods, as in the oath of supremacy. The non-con- forming Puritans would enter into no com- promise with the Establishment. They desired its total overthrow, with all its cumbrous and complex machinery, its ceremonies and its forms ; and to build upon its ruins churches after the simple, pure model of the Apostolic days. The first martyrs to these opinions were two clergymen, Thacker and Cokking, who were executed in 1593; ostensibly 190 HISTORY OF THE COXGREGATIONALIST8. for denying the queen's supremacy, but in fact for dispersing Browne's tracts. Ten yoarfl afterward, Henry Barrow and John Greenwood were put to death for non- conformity. Barrow was somewhat dis- tinguished by his publications in defence of his sentiments ; and from him his fol- lowers were sometimes called Barrowists. Percy, an intimate friend of Barrow and Greenwood, was executed soon after. In 159*2 an act was passed, aimed at the separatists, by which it was enacted that whoever, over the age of sixteen, should refuse to attend upon common prayer in some church or chapel, for the space of one month, should be imprisoned, and if still refusing to conform, should be banished the realm. This law, cruel and oppressive as it was, was yet a relief to the separatists, who had long languished in prison, and who now, as banished exiies, might hope to find in other lands that religious freedom which was denied them in their own. How many left Eng- land at this time is unknown, most of those thus banished went to Holland ; but even by the Dutch, who at that time understood and practised, far better than any other people, the principles of reli- gious toleration, they were treated with little favor. The cause of this ill-reception seems to have been the slanders spread abroad respecting them by the English prelates, by which the Dutch were made to believe that they were factious, quarrel- some, and enemies to all forms of govern- ment. A better acquaintance soon re- moved these bad impressions, and churches were planted by the exiles in Amsterdam, Leyden, and several other cities, which continued to flourish more than a hundred years. In the discussion which took place in Parliament on the passage of this act, Sir Walter Raleigh estimated the number of Brownists in England at twenty thou- sand, a number, probably, short of the truth. The separatists who remained in Eng- land wore, in common with the great body of the Puritans, much more kindly treated, and allowed greater liberty of conscience during the last years of the queen's life. The prelates, ignorant of the religious opinions of James, her successor, were unwilling, by fresh acts of severity, to irritate and exasperate their non-conform- ing brethren. James had been educated in the Presbyterian faith, and the Puritans fondly hoped that, upon his accession to the throne, free permission would be given them to worship God as they pleased. But their hopes were bitterly disappointed. Won by the fulsome flatteries of the bish- ops, and made to believe that the demands of the Puritans were alike inconsistent with the preservation of the hierarchy, and the undisturbed exercise of the royal prerogatives, James was even more op- pressive than his predecessor. At a con- vocation held in 1604, of which the bigDted Bancroft was president, new canons were drawn up, by which conformity was rigidly enforced. Excommunication, with all its civil penalties and disabilities was pronounced against any one who should dare to deny the divine authority of the established church, the perfect conformity of all its rites and ceremonies to the scrip- tures, or the lawfulness of its government ; or who should separate from its commu- nion, and assert that any other assembly or congregation was a true or lawful church. To these canons, by a royal proclamation, dated in July, 1604, all were required to conform ; the Puritan ministers before the last day of November, " or else to dispose of themselves and families some other way." During this year between three and four hundred Pur- itan ministers were silenced or exiled, and for many years few summers passed by in which numbers did not seek safety in flight. It is at this period that we first meet the name of John Robinson, who has, not inappropriately, been called the father of modern Congregationalism. Of his early life little is known. Probably he was at first a conforming Puritan. We first hear of him among the separatists, as the pas- tor of a church which had been formed in the north of England the year previous to Elizabeth's death. Harassed by the bish- ops, and seeing no prospect of peace at home, he and his congregation determined to leave their native land, and fly to Hol- land. But it was not without hazard and suffering that they were able to leave their own country behind them and escape. The first attempt was unsuccessful through J HISTOHY OF Till: UONGREG \TION \LIST8. I'. I i|lf- in ichi r\ "i' the captain of tin sel, n\Ii«' betrayed their plana i" their i n- - and tin- whole company was im« -I for a month* I son the second attempt a part of the church reached Am- sfterdamin safety, .Mr. Robinson and the remainder of il"- church, made another i --.ill attempt, in the Bpring of 1008, which is thus graphically described by Bancroft : ,v An unfrequented heath in Lincolnshire was the place of secret meet- ing. As if it had been a crime to escape from persecution, the embarkation was to !><> mad.' under the shelter o[' darkness. After having encountered a night storm, just as a he .at was bearing a part of the emigrants t<> their ship, a company of : truth. Examine it, consider it, and compare it with other scriptures of truth, before you receive it, for it is not i • that the Christian world should conic SO lately out of such thick anli- christian darkness, and that perfection of knowledge should break forth at once. I must advise you to abandon, avoid, and shake oil* the name of Browneists: it is a mere nickname, and a hand for the mak- ing religion, and the friends of religion, odious to the Christian world. Unto this end I shall be extremely glad if some godly minister would go with you, or come to you before you can have any company. For there will be no differ- cue hot ween the unconformable ministers and you, when you come to the practice of evangelical ordinances out of the king- dom ; and I would wish you by all means to close with the godly people of England ; study union with them in all things, where- ever you can have it without sin, rather than in the least measure to effect a divi- sion or separation from them." After leaving Holland, Elder Brewster, and that portion of the church which ac- companied him, set sail for America ; but because of the unseaworthiness of one of their vessels, were obliged to turn back to Plymouth. Again they set sail, and again returned. Leaving the discouraged and disaffected behind, the remainder, in all a hundred souls, in a single ship, for the last time, set forth to find a new home in the solitudes of the wilderness. The church planted by these exiles at Plymouth, was the first church organized m New England. To repeat the story of their privations and sufferings would only be to repeat what every one is already familiar with. For ten years they strug- gled on with unabated hope, strong in their confidence of the protection of Hea- ven. In 1629 a new settlement was made at Salem. These emigrants were Puritans, but had never been ranked amongst the separatists. Their principles of church government were essentially the same with those of the church at Ply- mouth, and a harmonious intercourse soon commenced between the two setth i which was never interrupted* Van after the arrival of the emigrant! at Salem, a day was appointed tor the organ . of a church. The day was sp of in Hi',' and prayer, mid thirty perSOfl their assent to a confession of faith and covenant. A day was also set apart for the trial and choice of a pastor and teacheft Says Bradford : M The forenoon they spent in prayer and leaching; the afternoon about the trial and election, choosing Mr. Skelton pastor, and Mr. Higginson t< acher; and they accepting, Mr. Higginson, with three or four more of the gravest mem- bers of the church, lay their hands on Mr. Skelton, with solemn prayer. Then Mr. Skelton did the like upon Mr. Higgin- son ; and another day is appointed for the choice of elders." By invitation, a dele- gation from Plymouth was present at the ceremony. It should perhaps be stated here, that both Mr. Skelton and Mr. Hig- ginson had been previously ordained by bishops of the church of England. The settlers at Salem expressly denied themselves to be separatists ; but it seems to have been rather a denial of their name, than of their principles. " The New England Puritans," says Hutchinson, " when at full libertv went the full length, which the separatists did in England." So Bradford in his History of Massachu- setts says, " That Mr. Skelton, and Mr. Endicott, were entirely in sentiment with the Plymouth church, as to the errors and corruptions of the Church of England, and to the propriety of a separation from it. They were agreed as to the real indepen- dence of the churches, and the perfect equality of their ministers or pastors." Between the church of Plymouth, and the churches subsequently formed at Boston and Dorchester, there at all times existed a strong friendship ; and the Rev. John Colton in 1633, addressed his friends at Boston, " to take council with their Chris- tian brethren of Plymouth, and do nothing to mjure or offend them." But it should not be forgotten that to Mr. Robinson and his church, at Leyden in the old world, and at Plymouth in the new, we owe the first modern develop- ments of the principles of the Congrega- tional polity. To their example and suc- 25 194 HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATIONALISTS. cess were, no doubt, owing all the subse- quent religious settlements of New Eng- land. That all their distinctive opinions respecting church government should have been adopted by those who at first divided them, is an honorable testimony to the correctness of their logic; and a proper reward of that firmness of purpose, which led them, years before, to separate them- selves from the rest of their Puritan brethren. All' the early emigrants were Congregationalists in discipline. To them the Scriptures were a perfect pattern in government and worship, as well as in faith and doctrine, and to the New Testa- ment they looked for the model after which every church was to be formed. For several years after the landing of the Plymouth exiles, Elder Brewster per- formed all the duties of a pastor, except the administration of the sacraments, but steadily refused to be ordained. In 1625, Mr. Robinson died, and after his death, the church at Leyden was dissolved, a part going to Amsterdam, and a part afterwards joining their friends at Ply- mouth. At the end of ten years the colony contained only three hundred souls, and its growth was slow compared with the growth of its sister settlements. In 1630, a church was organized in Charlestown. Hutchinson thus describes the proceedings : " At Charlestown the governor, deputy governor, and the minis- ter, Mr. Wilson, on the 30th day of July, the fast day, entered into a church cove- nant ; two days after, they allowed five more to join them ; and so others, from time to time. At length they in form chose Mr. Wilson for their minister, and ordained him ; but all joined in a protesta- tion, that it was not a renouncing of the ministry he received in England, but that it was a confirmation in consequence of the election." Similar modes of organiza- tion seem to have followed in the other colonies, and distinct churches were formed in each, one after another. It does not appear, however, that there was any uniform plan of church government, until Mr. Colton's arrival in 1633. To him was owing the introduction of some general plans embracing all the churches, "which from that time took the name of Congre- gational." In 1632, a new church was formed at Duxbury, by colonization from the church at Plymouth ; and others were soon after- wards formed at Marshfteld, Eastham, and other places in the neighborhood. In the same manner Connecticut was settled in 1635, by colonics from Massachusetts Bay. To give in detail the ecclesiastical his- tory of the separate plantations is impos- sible in the limits to which this outline is necessarily confined ; and I shall therefore confine myself to those events in which colonies generally were interested. For near a hundred years after the planting of the colonies, it is impossible to separate their ecclesiastical from their political history. A history of the churches is a history of the plantations. Without intending it, and indeed with principles in their full development essentially hostile to any connection between the state and the church, the Pilgrims so blended together religious and political institutions, that both religious and political liberty grew sickly and feeble from the unnatural union. Impelled solely in their emigration by pious considerations, civil freedom had a subordinate place in their esteem. First of all, they wished liberty to worship God according to the dictates of their own con- sciences. The form of their government, and their rights under it, were but a secondary matter. But the forms of church government, which they consid- ered scriptural, were democratic, and their political institutions naturally took the same form. There were few at first to be found who were not members of some church ; and therefore the laws relating to ecclesiastical matters were, in effect, binding upon the whole community. To deprive all but church members of the privileges of freemen, would in our day be most arbitrary and oppressive ; yet it can scarcely be deemed to have been so at that time, when ninety-nine out of one hundred were ranked in that class. From this preponderance of one class and one interest, is to be traced that intolerant spirit, which showed itself in the restric- tions of suffrage, and the persecutions of the Anabaptists and Quakers. The errors of our pilgrim fathers consisted, not in the original character of the institutions lk=— HISTORY or Till: UONOREG \TI<»\ VLISTK. I . founded, but in their refusal modifV tl»< in, bo as to meet the changing circumstances of the times. W h< are of one mind, there can be do oppres- sion. It is only where the partisans of opinions appear, that tolerance can be exercised. The Puritans of New England urn- intolerant, because they did oot see, that the colonists of 1660, were not the ints of 1630 ; they united the state and the church, because they forgot that the church had erased to be the state. It is by keeping these tacts in mind that we arc able satisfactorily to explain those transactions which arc seemingly inexpli- cable: their dislike to the interference of the General Court in religions matters, and their admission of the right of the ciVil magistrate to exercise coercive power when churches grew schismatical ; their intrepid assertion of the principles of po- litical liberty in their relations with Great Brin'an, and their arbitrary proceedings towards Roger Williams and his follow- ers. For many years the ministers depended upon the voluntary contributions of their hearers for their support. It was not until 1655, that any legislative proceedings were had in respect to their maintenance. It was at first ordered, that if any should refuse to pay, the magistrates should use such means as should put them upon their duty. But this failing of its intended effect, it was soon after ordered, that the ministers should be supported by a tax assessed upon the congregations. Among the remarkable events of this early period were the trial and banishment of Roger Williams. There seems to have been in the mind of this extraordinary man a strange confusion of opinions, which manifested itself both in his lan- guage and his actions. Whilst to him is due the glory of having first promulgated the great principle, that there should be a general and unlimited toleration for all religions ; and that to punish men for milters of conscience was persecution: yet at the same time he held, that it was not lawful for good men to join in family prayer with those they judged un regene- rate, or at the communion table with those who did not perfectly agree with them in their religious sentiments. He was banish- ed, much to the di iconti nl of the of Sal< hi, with whom he popu- lar, and u here he had made man} verts. He I'tind to Providence, was without the jurisdiction of Massachu- setts, and there i,-iid the foundations of B state in which unlimited toleration pre- vailed. A dispute that arose at 'his time in con- sequence of the teachings of Mr. W illiams, strongly marks the spirit of the times. One of his followers, in the ardor of his zeal, cut from the king's colors the cross. For this lie was reprimanded and turned out of his office; but the public mind being divided as to the propriety of his conduct, and several pamphlets having been written on the subject, the matter was at last settled by a compromise: the cross being retained in the banners of castles and ships, but omitted in those of the trained bands, or militia. In 1637, began the famous ecclesiastical controversy respecting Antinominnism. Mrs. Hutchinson, the promulgator and chief defender of Antinomian tenets, seems to have maintained, according to the sum- mary of her opinions in Neal, " that be- lievers in Christ are personally united with the spirit of God ; that commands to work out salvation with fear and trembling be- long to none but such as arc under the covenant of works ; that sanctification is not sufficient evidence of a good state ; and that immediate revelations about future events are to be believed as equally infal- lible with the scriptures." These opinions soon became the absorbing topics of dis- cussion, and divided the whole colony into two parties, such as were for a covenant of works, and such as were for a covenant of grace. As the quarrel continued to rage with constantly increasing violence, a synod was called, which met at New- town. This was the first synod convened in New England. It was composed of the ministers and messengers or delegates of the several churches. There were also present certain magistrates, " who were allowed not only to hear, but to speak if they had a mind." The synod unani- mously condemned Mrs. Hutchinson's opinions. But she and her followers, not being satisfied with this decision, and con- tinuing to promulgate, with new zeal, their 196 HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATIONALISTS. sentiments, recourse was had to the civil power, and sh-' was banished to Rhode Island. She subsequently retired to the territory " Amsterdam, where she perished by the hands of the Indians. Mr. Wheelwright, a clergyman of Boston who had embraced her opinions, subsequently renounced them, and her party, at least in name, became extinct. In 1638, was founded Harvard College. The origin of this institution was the need which our ancestors felt of a body of men educated in the country, who might fill the places of those who had been educated in England. Nothing marks more strongly the value which they had placed upon learning, and the esteem with which they regarded learned men, than their early efforts and sacrifices to sustain this col- lege, and to establish common schools in all the plantations. Reference was no doubt at first had, mainly, to the education of clergymen, as was the case in the foundation of Yale College ; and a large proportion of the early graduates of both these institutions, became pastors in the various colonies. As early as 1646, common schools were established by law, and provision was made for their support in all the towns within the jurisdiction of Massachusetts. Xo provision was made in Plymouth till some years after, but the children were taught by teachers employed by the parents. In 1642, in answer to an application made from Virginia, to the General Court, for ministers of the gospel, three ministers were sent ; but the legislature of that co- lony immediately passing an act that no clergymen be permitted to officiate, under the penalty of banishment, but one or- dained by some bishop in England, and who should subscribe to the constitutions of the established church, they were obliged to return. This law shows that the clergymen of Virginia were no more inclined to tolerate dissenters than the New England Puritans. Indeed the former seem to have been wiser in their intoler- ance, for they passed precautionary laws against the Puritans before there were any in their colony. But the congregation collected by these ministers continued to flourish for a number of years, although under circumstances of great discourage- ment. The pastor and teachers were banished, some of the members impri- soned, and many disarmed, which, says an old writer, " was very harsh in such a country, where the heathen lie around them."** On the other hand, the Pilgrims were equally intolerant to the Episcopalians, who were not allowed publicly to observe their forms of worship. Probablv, in both colonies, religious bigotry was made more cruel by their dislike of each other's political opinions : Virginia adhering to the king, and New England to the Parlia- ment. About this time Elder Brewster died at Plymouth. No man in her early history deserves to hold a higher place in the grateful recollections of the people of New England. In early life he had been secre- tary to Davison, Queen Elizabeth's minis- ter to Scotland and Holland, in which capacity he very much distinguished him- self. He inherited considerable wealth, but spent it freely to supply the wants of his poor persecuted companions. In com- mon with them, he suffered the severest privations, at Leyden and at Plymouth ; yet, says Baylis, " He possessed that happy elasticity of mind, which could ac- commodate itself with cheerfulness to all circumstances. Destitute of meat, of fish, and of bread, over his simple meal of clams, would he return thanks to the Lord, that could suck up the abundance of the seas, and of the treasures hid in the sands." The restrictions which were placed on the rights of suffrage caused much dis- content in the colony of Massachusetts Bay. A petition was presented to the General Court, complaining that so many of the citizens were debarred from having a vote in the elections, and from holding office ; and also that so many " good people, members of the Church of Eng- land," are prohibited the Lord's supper, because they will not subscribe thechurch's covenant, and yet " are compelled on Lord's day to appear at the congregation." They prayed for liberty to the members of the ^hurch of England, not scandalous in their lives and conversation, to be received * Hawk's Ecclesiastical History of Virginia. HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION \l.l>l>. I'.-. into the churches; «»r else "that Liberty ma .1 thiin to settle themselves in ■ church «'i\ , according t<> the Reformation and and Scotland ;" with I threaj of an appeal to the Psxuament if their ;i should be refused. The ( reneral Court immediately ordered the petkionera to I*' fined and Imprisoned; and the pec* pic sustained the court by electing their president, Mr. Winthrep, governor every year after as long as he lived. Tins j , which no one can justify, seems to have been mainly owing to th<- threat of the petitioners, the Pilgrims being ex- ceedingly jealous of any appeals to Eng- land, which might authorize the Parlia- ment to interfere in tte ecclesiastical mat- ters of the colonies: In 1648, the second synod was held, in pursuance of the recommendation of the ral Court. This assumption of a :i the part of the Court to call these lies, was much complained of by the deputies of the congregations, who were apprehensive lest the magistrates should regard this as a precedent for the exercise of their power in more important matters. But when it was represented that it was a request and not a command of the General Court, and that the decisions of the synod were not judicial, but merely advisory, the deputies consented to meet. At this synod an unanimous vote was passed in these words : " This synod having perused and considered the Con- fession of Faith published by the late re- verend assembly in England, do judge it to be very holy, orthodox, and judicious in all matters of faith, and do, therefore, fully and freely consent thereto, for the substance thereof; only in those things which have respect unto church govern- ment and discipline, we refer ourselves to the platform of church discipline agreed upon by this present assembly." The platform here rererred to is the one gener- ally known as the Cambridge Plntform. Tin's instrument, to which I shall more particularly refer hereafter, was in some sort regarded as the federal constitution | of the Congregational Church. It never '■ was established at Plymouth, by act of | government, but was generally conformed to in practice. Previous to this svnod the churches of New Enjdand had never agreed upon an;, uniform scheme oi pfine. Soon afti r the dissolution of tln^ • the Anabaptists appeared in Massachu- setts, a bo were fblt >a r a brief in- terval, by the ( The I were banished from Mass . and s law was passed by the General Court, fbrbidoing any one t<> advocate their prin- ciples under the penalty of banishment, Mr. Dunistar, who had embraced these opinions, resigned his office as President of Harvard College. It seems a little singular that Mr. Chauncey should have been ehosen to succeed him, entertaining, as he did, the same opinions in substance as Mr. Dunstar. The Baptists were more favorably received in the colony of Ply- mouth, where they settled the town of Swanzey. The Quakers first appeared in 165fi ; two women from Barbadoes, who on their arrival, says Neal, " were put in prison, and examined by proper persons for to- kens of witchcraft/' They were sent back to Barbadoes, but others soon ar- rived. On being ordered to quit the ju- risdiction, they refused, and the irritated magistrate proceeded to great severities. Some were whipped, some fined and im- prisoned, and others banished. Nothing daunted b\r their sufferings, those who had been banished returned. A law was at last passed, punishing all who should thus return, with death. This law was carried by one vote in the Court of De- puties, but it never received the approba- tion of the people. Under its provisions three Quakers Were executed. For these barbarous proceedings no valid apology ever has been, or ever can be, | offered. The most that can be said is, that they erred with others. King Charles, in a letter to Massachusetts, savs : " We I cannot be understood hereby to direct, or wish, that any indulgence should be shown to those persons commonly called Qua- | kcrs." Nor were the principles of reli- gious toleration better appreciated, or prac- ; tised, in other countries. But to this re- ! mark Rhode Island forms a mest honora- ble exception. In Connecticut, and New : Haven, also, the Quakers suffered but little. By degrees these sanguinary laws : of Massachusetts fell into disuse. 198 HISTORY OF THE COXGREGATIONALISTS. In 1661, arose the debates concerning the right of t|ie grandchildren of church members to the ordinance of baptism. The dispute began in Connecticut, several years before, in one of the churches at 1 lartford. It originated in the same cause, that has been already spoken of, the ex- clusion of all but church members from j the privileges of freemen. This cxclu- I sion, little complained of at first, when few were to be found out of the pale of j the churches, became regarded as a heavy I grievance, when the number of those, j thus excluded, was greatly increased by j the arrival of new emigrants no longer ; actuated by religious considerations. It was therefore demanded, that all, who were not openly unworthy, should be ad- mitted to the church without being re- quired to profess a change of heart ; and also all baptized persons, and all who had been members of churches elsewhere. As a step to the accomplishment of these ends, it was claimed, that all the children of those who had been baptized, upon own- ing the covenant, should themselves be baptized. It was apparent, that to yield to these demands, would be destructive to vital piety in the churches, and they were therefore strenuously opposed. The colonies of Massachusetts and Con- necticut, contrary to the advice of the colony of New Haven, called a council, which met in 1657. In reply to a ques- tion respecting the subjects of baptism, it was decided by the council, that those j who, being grown up to years of discretion, of blameless life, and understanding the grounds of religion, should own the cove- nant made with their parents, by entering thereinto in their own proper persons, should have the ordinance of baptism ad- ministered to their children. This decision not being regarded as sa- tisfactory, and the disputes raging more fiercely than ever : a synod was called at Boston, to which the same questions were propounded that had been previously dis- cussed in the council. The answer re- specting the proper subjects of baptism, was in substance the same ; and it was held, that all baptized persons were to be considered members of the church, and if not openly dissolute, admitted to alt its privileges, except partaking of the Lord's Supper. This decision of the synod was strenuously opposed by Mr. Chauncey, President of Harvard College, Increase Mather, and others of the most distinguish- ed ministers in the colonies. It was justly judged by them, that to admit unregene- rate persons into the pale of the church, would be most pernicious to the interests of true religion. The result seemed to justify their fears. In Hartford, in one month, 192 persons took the covenant, comprising almost all the young people in the congregation. The number of those in full communion was small.* " Correct moral deportment, with a profession of correct doctrinal opin- ions, and a desire for regeneration, came to be regarded as the only qualifications for admission to the communion. This innovation, though not as yet publicly ad- vocated by any, there is conclusive proof, had become quite extensive in practice, previously to 1679. The churches soon came to consist, in many places, very con- siderably of unregenerate persons ; of those who regarded themselves, and were regarded by others, as unregenerate. Of all these things the consequence was, that within thirty years after the commence- ment of the eighteenth century, a lanje proportion of the clergy throughout the country were either only speculatively correct, or to some extent actually erro- neous in their religious opinions — main- taining regularly the forms of religion, but in some instances having well-nigh lost, and in others, it is to be feared, having never felt, its power." One of the warmest defenders of the Half-way Covenant, as it was called, was Mr. Stoddard, minister at Northampton, who carried on a public controversy re- specting it, with Increase Mather, of Bos- ton. He maintained, that it was the duty of unconverted persons to come to the Lord's Supper, " though they knew that they had no true goodness, or gospel holi- ness." His grandson, President Edwards, at first adopted his opinions, but subse- quently renounced them; and wrote with great ability to disprove them. The Half- way Covenant continued to be used for * Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, ar- ticle Con^resationalists. HISTORY or tin: uonuregationalists. 109 man} rears j but after a bitter experience i>i" tin- pernicious consequences attending it, it u.is laid aside in all tin- orthodox ( longregational churches. Alter the restoration of Charles II. many of the ejected ministers soughl a refuge in New England. For the twenty years previous, then- had been but little emigration to the colonics, the Parliament tolerating at home all sects but the Episco- palians. The persecutions against thr Quakers still continuing, though with much less severity than at first, B letter was written in L669, by Dr. Goodwin, and Dr. Owen, and others of the leading Independents in England, to Massachusetts, recommending them " to put an end to the sufferings and confinement of the persons censured, and to restore them to their former liberty; and to allow them to practise the princi- ples of their dissent, if unaccompanied with a disturbance of the public peace."' The tolerant counsels of this letter were not immediately complied with, but the severity of the laws was gradually miti- gated. In 1658, a Confession of Faith was adopted by the English Congregational churches, at a convention held in the Savoy which, with a few variations, was the same as that agreed to by the West- minster Assembly. This confession was approved of by a synod convened at Boston, in 1680, and is to this day consi- dered a correct exposition of the opinions of the Congregationalists. New articles of discipline were adopted by the churches of Connecticut, at an assembly of ministers and delegates held at Saybrook in 1708. The Saybrook Platform differs from the Cambridge Plat- form chiefly in the provision that it makes respecting councils and associations. This synod was held in pursuance of an Act of the Legislature, ordering it to draw up a form of ecclesiastical discipline. The expenses of the ministers and delegates were to be paid from the public treasury. The system agreed upon by the synod was presented to the Legislature, at their next session, by whom it was approved in the following terms : " This Assembly do declare their great approbation of such an happy agreement ; and do ordain, that all the churches Within tin- bovi rnmenl thai are, or shall be, thus united in doctrine, wor- ship, and discipline, In-, ami for the future shall he, owned, and acknowledged, and established l»\ law; provided always, that nothing herein shall l>e intended oi strued to hinder or prevent any society or church that is, or shall ho, allowed by the laws of this government, who soberly diner or dissent from the I tailed ( lurches, hereby established, from exercising worship and discipline in their own way, according to their consciences." The synod also gave their assent to the Confession of faith adopted by the synod at Boston, 1680. About the year 1740, New England was blessed with a powerful revival, which embraced all the colonics. Some extrava- gances, which attended it in Connecticut, gave rise to an Act of the Legislature, by which ministers were forbidden to preach out of their own parishes, unless expressly invited by a clergyman and the major part of his church ; and if any evangelist preached, without being requested to do so by the inhabitants, he was to he sent as a vagrant out of the limits of the colony. Two parties arose among the people and in the Legislature, frequently called the old and the new lights, who bestowed on each other the epithets of cold, dead preachers, formalists, and Arminians, on the one hand, and of enthusiasts and fana- tics, on the other. Much opposition was manifested to the interference of the Legis- lature, as being contrary to the liberty of conscience. As early as 1750, the principles of the Unitarians had been extensively adopt- ed by members of the Congregational churches. There was not, however, be- tween such, and those who held fast to the faith of their fathers, an open separa- tion, until some years later. In 1765, several churches in Boston ceased from their confessions of faith, and many others followed in their footsteps. Harvard Col- lege fell into the hands of the Unitarians, and is now under their control. But the Congregational form of church govern- ment is still retained by the Unitarian churches. During the French, and still more dur- ing the revolutionary war, religion suf- fered much, great laxity of morals pre- 200 HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATIONALISTS. vailed, and very many were avowed in- fidels. But the disastrous result of the Prench revolution opened the eyes of many to the insutficiency of human rea- son, as a guide in religion, and to the importance of Christianity, as the safe- guard and preservative of all govern- ments, especially of republics. Great efforts were also made by the clergy to prevent the further progress of infidel principles ; and a revival of reli- gion which commenced in Connecticut, and spread throughout New England, was followed by the happiest consequences. At the present day, probably in no por- tion of the world, will fewer infidels, or openly immoral men be found, than in the New England states. The connection that existed between the Congregational system of church polity, and the civil power, was severed in most of the colonies by the revolution. In none of the new constitutions was there any provision made for the support of any particular form of worship by law. It will be useful to glance at some of the early laws of New England, both because they have been much misrepresented and misunderstood, and because they may serve us as landmarks, by which we may judge of our progress in religious free- dom. Most of the religious, and many of the political disputes, which arose in the early history of New England, are to be traced to the unfortunate connection that existed between the churches and the civil autho- rities. The manner in which the connec- tion grew up, has been already alluded to. Both in Massachusetts and Connecticut all the citizens were obliged by law to support public worship, and church rates were collected in the same way as town rates. But to this there was one excep- tion : the salaries of the Boston ministers, down to 1700, were paid by voluntary contributions, collected after divine ser- vi «, anl given to them bv the deacons every Monday morning. Every church first chose its own pastor, and, if the ma- jority of the inhabitants of the town con- curred, he was supported bv an assessment upon the inhabitants. If the town did not concur, a council was held of the elders, or messengers of the three, or five neigh- boring churches, and if they approved of him, whom the churches had chosen, he was appointed their minister. Before a church could be gathered, it was neces- sary that the consent of the magistrates should be obtained, and if a minister preached to such a church, he was liable to a penalty. If the councils called to settle disputes did not agree, or if the con- tending parties were contumacious, " it was a common thing for the civil magis- trate to interfere, and put an end to the dispute." In Connecticut the interference of the Asssembly in religious matters was frequent. All persons were obliged, under a pe- nalty of five shillings for every neglect, to attend public worship on Sunday and other days set apart to devotional exer- cises. It was not, however, obligatory on any one to attend the Congregational churches. Every one was allowed to worship peacefully in his own way, by applying to the General Court, and de- claring his wishes. Church censures were declared invalid to depose, or de- grade any man from any civil office, authority, or dignity, which he should sustain in the colony. In a declaration of the General Court, it is said : " That the civil magistrate had power and liberty to see the peace ordi- nances and rules of Christ observed in every church according to his word, and also to deal with every church member in a way of civil justice." So in Hal- bard's Survey of the Cambridge Platform : " Church government and civil govern- ment may very well stand together, it being the duty of the magistrate to take care of matters of religion." The Congregational form of church government, although not in name, yet in effect, was the established ecclesiastical system of Massachusetts, and of New England generally. In the former co- lony, no other form was tolerated for the first fi'ty years, and towns were required to settle ministers of that denomination. The law afterwards became more favor- able to the Quakers, Anabaptists, and Episcopalians. But at first, polls were alone exempted, while the estate was taxed for the support of the Congrega- tional clergy. HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION \U>Ts. It is rviilrut to every thinking man, that any connection between the stats end the church, is u 1 1 • ■ i- 1 \ hoetile to the genius of Congregetionalisin. Indeed, the tern church, in the sense in which it is used, when we Bpoak of the Church of England, or the Presbyterian Church, Is wholly in- applicable here. Any body of men, unit- ing together for religious purposes, con- stitutes a church, perfect ami complete in all its parts. It is therefore that we speak of the Congregational churches, as we speak of the United States; each having an independent existence, and still sove- reign, except so far as it has given up its rights by the act of union. That there may 1*' a union between the state and church, the latter like the former must be an organized body, harmonious in its parts, and pervaded by a principle which is the law of its being, imperative, perma- nent, and Universal. Such can never be the case with the Congregational churches ; for there is no common law, other than the scriptures, to which they arc obedient. Between the states and such a multitude of isolated independent communities there can be no union ; and that any connection ever existed between them was owing to that peculiarcombination of circumstances, which for many years made them one ; a unity, rather than a union of distinct bodies. In 1801, a plan of union was adopted between the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church and the General Association of Connecticut, with a view " to promote union and harmony in those new settlements which are composed of inhabitants from those bodies." By this plan, a Congregational church, if they settled a Presbyterian minister, might still conduct their discipline according to Con- gregational principles ; and on the other hand, a Presbyterian church with a Con- gregational minister retained its peculiar discipline. Under these regulations many bew churches were formed, which after a time came under the jurisdiction of the General Assembly. In 1837, this plan of union was abro- gated by that body, as unconstitutional ; and seve.-al synods, which had been at- tached to it in consequence of the plan, I were declared to be out of the ecclesiasti- cal connexion. The principles of the modern I • gationalists, as has been elread) differ but littl<- from those held by John lv'.i>uis..n and the church at Leyden. The foundation and fundamental princi- ples of their church polity >v 'hi- : that a church is a company of pious 1 1 who voluntary unit.- together for the wor» ship of God. From this definition, as a starting point, their whole system may logically he deduced, ll is a voluntary union in this, — that every individual ex- ercises his own judgment respecting the church with which he shall connect him- self, acting in obedience to that law of ( rod which commands all his children to become members of some visible church. Being, then, in a sense, self-created, each church is entirely independent of every other, ex- cept so far as it is bound by those laws of Christian intercourse which govern socie- ties equally with individuals. It has the power to elect its own officers, to admit and to exclude members ; in short, to do all those acts which are recognized in the scriptures as coming within the province of a Christian church. To the scriptures the Congregationalists appeal, as their only guide in all matters both of faith and polity. They believe that this system of church government is taught in the sacred writings, and sanctioned by the usage of the Apostles and the early Christians. Creeds and confessions of faith, though used as formularies, are never to be regarded as tests of orthodoxy. They are merely compendiums of all the essential doctrines to which every one is expected to subscribe : convenient guides in the examination of candidates, but not standards of religious truth. In this li^ht are the various confessions of faith, which at different times have been adopted by synods, to be regarded. No one of them has any further authority than as being the expression of the opinions of good and wise men. They have no claim to infallibility. By the Bible they are to be measured, and no doctrine which cannot be found in it is to be received, however endeared to us by its associations, or venerable by its antiquity'. This strict adherence to the scriptures, as the only rule of faith and practice, must necessarily prevent many of those erroneous opinions, and that 26 202 HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATIONALISTS. credulous reliance upon tradition, which are too apt to characterize those who fol- low the Bible only at second hand. Probably no part of the Congregational polity has been so much misunderstood, as the union which exists between the indi- vidual churches. The idea of a central legislative and judicial power, which marks all other ecclesiastical systems, is here unknown. Councils and synods are merely advisory bodies, composed of dele- gates from the various churches, within certain local limits. They are, so to speak, a kind of congress, where the representatives of independent churches meet, to consult with each other respecting matters of general interest. But they be- come parties to no articles of union, which make the decisions of their representatives, thus convened, of binding authority. Each church is at liberty to accept or reject their decisions. As the judgments of im- partial, wise, and good men, they will de- servedly have great influence with all who are unprejudiced ; but they are mere re- commendations, not laws. These councils are sometimes mutual, sometimes ex parte, and sometimes stand- ing, or permanent. A mutual council, as the term denotes, is one called by the con- sent of both parties ; an ex parte council, one which either party in the dispute may call, without the concurrence of the other. These councils are usually composed of the pastor and a lay delegate from each of the neighboring churches ; the disputing parties, by letters missive, designating the churches whose c unsel they desire, and each of the churches thus addressed elect- ing its own delegate. Standing, or permanent councils are almost entirely confined to Connecticut. By the articles of discipline adopted at Saybrook, all the churches are consocia- ted for mutual assistance in their ecclesi- astical concerns. The pastors and churches of a county usually form one or more con- sociations ; and all cases, which cannot be determined without the aid of a council, are brought before this body. Mutual and ex parte councils have therefore, in great measure, gone into disuse in that state. In has been a question somewhat con- troverted, whether the decisions of the consociations are final. In practice, how- ever, they have generally been so regard- ed. Some advantages are doubtless pos- sessed by this system over the others, es- pecially as offering a speedy termination to disputes ; but it must be admitted that consistency demands that every church should be its own judge in the last resort. If a church should refuse to follow the advice of a council, and the case should be such as to warrant it, the other churches would withdraw their fellowship from it. Such a step would only be justifiable when its offences are such as no longer to permit the other churches to recognise it as a Christian church. Difficult as it may seem in theory, for so many independent sovereignties to pre- serve uniformity in doctrine and harmony in action : yet it is believed that no reli- gious denomination, for the last two hun- dred years, has swerved less from the principles of its early defenders, or main- tained more perfect harmony amongst its members. This, no doubt, in a great measure, is to be ascribed to the constant appeal to the Bible as the guide in all matters of controversy. The only church officers now recogni- sed by the Congregationalists are pastors and deacons. In this respect they differ from the early churches, who admitted five orders, pastors, teachers, ruling elders, deacons, and deaconesses. The office of deaconess was soon dropped. Those of teacher, and ruling elder, were longer re- tard. According to Cotton Mather, the churches were nearly " destitute of such helps in government" about the year 1700. The office of elder went into disuse in the church at Plymouth in 1745. In general, the ordination of a pastor was by the imposition of the hands of his brethren in the ministry ; but, in a few instances, by the imposition of the hands of some of the lay brethren. One instance is mentioned, as having taken place at Taunton in 1640, where the or- dination was performed by a schoolmas- ter and a husbandman, although two clergymen were present. " This," says Hutchinson," at this day would be gene- rally disapproved of and discountenanced, although it might not be considered as in- valid." Other instances are mentioned by the early historians of New England. H18T0R\ OF THE CONUREGATIONALISTS. 203 Tin- Cambridge Platform holds the foU lowing language: "This ordination we account nothing elae but the solemn put* ting ■ man into his place and office, whereto be had a right before by election, being like the installation of a magistrate in tin- commonwealth ordination ; there- fore it is n<>t to go before, but to follow, election. The essence and substance of the outward Calling of an ordinary officer in the church does not consist in his ordi- nation, hnt in his voluntary and free elec- tion by the church, and his accepting of that election. Ordination does not con- stitute an officer, nor give him the essen- tials of his office. In such churches, where there are elders, imposition of hands in ordination is to be performed by the elders. In such churches, where there are no ciders, imposition of hands may be performed by some of the brethren, or- derly chosen by the (dm rch thereto." At the present day lay ordination, un- der ordinary circumstances, would be re- garded, by the great majority of Congre- gationalists, as highly improper, and pro- bably, by some, as invalid. Deacons are chosen by votes of the church. The practice in their ordination has not been entirely uniform.* One in- stance is mentioned where they were or- dained without the imposition of hands. Rut, in general, the practice seems to have been that the pastor and elder both laid on hands ; the pastor then prayed, and gave the charge, and the elder prayed. At present, ordination by imposition of hands is the custom in the majority of churches. The ministers of the neighboring congre- gations are not invited to assist in the ceremony, as the office of deacon is purely- local, and does not extend beyond the par- ticular church for which he is chosen. The common practice in the dismission of a pastor is to call a mutual council. Should either the pastor or the congrega- tion refuse to join in a mutual council the other party might then call a council ex parte. In all the states, where Congregational- ists are found, there exists some union or association of ministers, embracing all within certain local limits. These meet- * Thatcher's History of Plymouth. ings an- usually held at intervals of rail weeks. Toe object of those rm is personal improvement, end assistance by mutual counsel and adi The power of licensing mini^t. now generally entrusted t<> the associations of pastors. Por many years after the settlement of the country, then was no regular way of introducing cundidatfn into the ministry. " When they bad finished their collegiate studies," >a\s Trumbull, u if they imagined themselves qualified, and could find some friendly gentleman in the ministry to introduce them, they began to preach without an examination, or recommendation from any body of ministers or churches. If they studied a time with any particular minis- ter or ministers, after they had received the honors of college, that minister, or those ministers, introduced them into the pulpit at pleasure, without the general consent and approbation of their breth- ren." To remedy the evils necessarily resulting from such laxity, the present system was adopted, and no one is now regarded as duly authorized to preach until he has undergone an examination by some association, and is recommended by it to the churches as properly qualified. The organization of the churches as it exists in Connecticut, under the Saybrook Platform, has been already spoken of. A similar system, in most respects, has been adopted by the Congregationalists in other states. In Massachusetts, a general association was formed in 1803, which now includes twenty-two distinct associations, and near- ly all the Trinitarian clergy of the de- domination in the state. In Vermont, a general convention of the Congregational ministers and churches, is held yearly, to which every association, presbytery, county conference, or conso- ciation, sends two delegates. This body held its first session in 1796. In New Hampshire, a pastoral conven- tion was formed in 1747, including " those Congregational and Presbyterian minis- ters of that state, who own or acknow- ledge the Westminster Assembly's Shor- ter Catechism as containing essentially their views of Christen doctrine." This organization continued until 1809, when a 204 HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATIONALISTS general association was formed, which held its first meeting the same year. The ecclesiastical system of Maine is different from that of the other New England states in this, that it has no gene- ral association or convention of ministers. Each county, or other convenient district, has its own conference, which is express- ly forbid the exercise of any authority or control over the churches. In 1823, a general conference was formed, to which delegates are sent from each county con- ference ; but " no ecclesiastical power or authority shall ever be assumed by it, or i bv the delegates to it." 160,000.* There have been founded in New England eight colleges, and four theological seminaries. All these institu- tions are in a flourishing condition. So far as the political and social bless- ings of a people flow from their religious institutions, no greater praise can be de- manded for the religious principles and polity of the Pilgrims, than that they be judged of by their fruits. The harmony between their ecclesiastical and political forms of government is apparent ; nor is it too much to say, that the republicanism of the church was the father of the re- publicanism of the state. The English In Rhode Island, an evangelical asso- ! prelates were not far wrong, when they ciation of ministers was formed in 1808. The next year the name was changed to that of the " Evangelical Consociation," by which it is now known. It has merely an advisory jurisdiction over the churches. In Michigan, a general association was censured the Puritans as cherishing prin- ciples which, in their development, would overthrow both hierarchal, and regal des- potism. " In New England the war of the Revolution commenced. "j" In New England was devised, and carried into ground-plan of Consrregationlism in this coun- try. The system of church polity was drawn up by the synod which met at Cambridge. Massachusetts, in the year 1648. At this time the whole number of churches was thirty-nine in Massachusetts, four in Connecticut and three in New Hampshire. This was twentv- formed in 1842. Bv its articles of union, i effect, that system of school education, no judicial authority can be exercised : which has made her people more generally over the ministers, or churches belonging intelligent than the people of any other to it. Its prospects are thought to be ' portion of our continent. In New Eng- highly encouraging. | land, at the present day, is to be found In New York, many churches, origi- less immorality, vice, and unbelief, than nally founded by Consregationlists, and exists in any other country of equal ex- after the Congregational model, have, tent upon the globe. When we recollect, from a desire of harmony, and a more ; perfect union with their brother Chris-' * The Cambridge Platform is regarded as the tians, of the same doctrinal faith, adopted wholly or in part the Presbyterian disci- pline. In 1834, those churches who had retained the Congregational discipline formed a general association, in which both churches and ministers are repre- sented : lav delegates representing the seven years after the landing at Plvmouth, and former. The number of churches and ministers connected with this body, is an- nually increasing. The number of Congregationlists in each state of the Union, the writer has not been able to ascertain. In 1841, the number of churches re- ported to the general association of Con- necticut, was 2 46, and the number of pas- tors 211. In Vermont, there are about 200 ministers; in New Hampshire, about 150 ; in Rhode Island, 16 ; in New York, 150. By the census of 1640, the number of Congregational ministers is rated at 1 150 ; of congregations, 1300, and of members, seventeen after the settlement of Boston. Congregationalism was confined almost ex- clusively to the New England States until so late as the year 1800. Since that time this denomination has extended considerably into many of the other States of the Union. At this time there are in the Middle and Western States, 325 churches: in thesis N England States, 1,270 churches; total in the United States, in round numbers, one thousand six hundred. In England, the writer savs. it has been estimated that the Congregational churches are 1853: in Wale?. 463 ; land, 103; i-n Ireland, 24; in British Provin- ces. 78; all which, added to those in this country, make the total of Congregational churches in Great Britain and America, some- thing over four thousand. — C. Observatory. j- Daniel Webster. L.lti of P. S Duval ,FV JflDIM ELLEW!ITOOT©BS.ID>0]D). HISTORY OF THE Dl TCH REFORMED cm RCH. that (or Detl tWO humlivil \.ars after its settlement, there was scarcely ■ tingle church of any other denomination within its limits, "in Congregaiionalistf and to Congregational principles it mustchieflybe ax-nU'd, that New England is what it is." Those who desire more particular in- formation of the principles of the Con- gregationalistSy.are referred to M Punchard 00 Congregationalism," the second edition of which lias just been published. It is a lull, impartial, and able Work, tory of Congregationalism l>\ the author will, when completed, be a ver) valuable addition to our stock of histori- cal knowledge. Much Information will also lw found in Dr. Bacon's u Church Manual," Mr. Mitchell's M Gride," Dr. Hawes' "Tribute to the Pilgrims,'1 and Prof. Upham's " Ratio Disciplined*" HISTORY OF THE DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH. BY W. C. BROWNLEE, D. D., OF THE TROTESTANT DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH IN NEW YORK. In presenting this brief detail, I shall, I. Give a sketch of the history of our church ; II. State its doctrines ; III. Its government ; IV. Its form of worship ; V. Its statistics. I. The Dutch Reformed Church is the oldest church in the United States, which adopts the Presbyterian form of church government. Its history begins with the history of New York and New Jersey. It is a branch of the national Church of Hol- land ; and is formed exactly on its primi- tive, simple, and scriptural model, in every point. The struggle in Holland for religion and liberty was severe and protracted. But, by wisdom and piety in the cabinet, and by a succession of gallant achievements in the field, against the arms of the bigoted and ferocious Spaniard, the Dutch by divine aid secured their national inde- pendence and the enjoyment of the Pro- testant religion. From this era the Dutch became a great and powerful nation. Com- merce, literature and religion flourished to an extraordinary degree. And to our days, Holland has been pre-eminently distin- guished for her devotion to religion and literature. Hence her primary schools, her academies, her universities, and paro- chial churches, and hence the number of her learned men, and her pious and de- voted ministers in the national church. In the midst of her extensive commercial enterprises she did not lose sight of the Christian duties she owed to those with whom she traded. Her ships, which visited all lands, were instrumental, in the hands of her pious sons, of carrying the glorious gospel to many countries. The East Indies and the adjacent islands, the West Indian Islands, and our own conti- nent, bear lasting proofs of this in the ex- isting monuments of the fruits of the labors of her missionaries and pious immigrants. The Dutcli West India Company were the first who carried the ministers of the gospel from Holland to our shores. This was done in answer to the petitions of the pious immigrants who had settled in this province, then called New Amsterdam. And as the members of the Dutch West Inlia Company were citizens of Amster- dam, these petitions were, of course, put into the hands of the ministers of that city, as the fittest persons to select good and suitable pastors for the rising churches abroad. By these ministers was the whole management thereof brought before the Classis of Amsterdam ; and they promptly undertook the important charge of pro- viding an able ministry for America. The ministers, thus provided, were ordained and sent as missionaries to these shores, by that classis, with the consent and ap- probation of the Synod of North Holland, to which that classis belonged. And under their paternal and fostering care, and the labor of the able ministers who came among them, these churches grew and increased in number and strength con- tinually. This minute detail was necessary to throw light on an important matter, out of which arose consequences, in future of the deepest interest to our church. It re- veals the reason why the Dutch American churches were brought into such close connection with the Classis of Amsterdam, and through that classis, with the Synod of North Holland, to the entire exclusion of all the other classes and synods of the national church. And it shows why, in process of time, this connection brought about the entire dependence, and the im- plicit, subordination of these American Dutch churches to that classis and that synod. So much so, that they claimed the entire and exclusive right of selecting, ordaining and sending ministers to these churches. They went farther ; they claimed the exclusive power of deciding all ecclesiastical controversies and diffi- culties which might arise in all the Dutch churches in the provinces. This was, at first, casually, and by a ; silent understanding, vested in that classis, by the young and weak churches here, ."nd not objected to by the other synods in Holland, or by the older and more expe- rienced ministers. This dependence was not at first anticipated ; and what was only casually allowed, was afterwards claimed by the Classis of Amsterdam with un- yielding obstinacy ; and it was maintained successfully by a party here, as well as by the members of that classis who had so long held the authority, and who deemed that supervision essential to the well being of the churches here. It is difficult to suppose that such godly ministers as be- longed to the Classis of Amsterdam could wish to retain the reins and authority so stiff over a body of ministers, and over so many churches, whose members were so far removed from and beyond their actual cognizance and supervision. Be- sides, it was a matter of surprise that they should so long submit to the trouble, and take on them the painful responsibility of regulating the affairs and doings of those churches, whom they could not call before them ; and of trying cases in the absence of the accused, and without the benefit of witnesses, unless at great expense and ruinous loss of time to all parties. Be- sides, had even the Classis of Amsterdam moved, at an early period, the North Synod of Holland to constitute an Ameri- can classis subordinate and connected, like the other classes of that synod, a vast amount of good would have been gained, and an immense amount of evil avoided. Had that been done at an early day, the two parties, with their great contentions, would never have been known, and the painful divisions and controversies would have been spared to the Reformed Dutch churches, and their reproach among the other denominations and their injury utterly prevented. And had the ministers here united to maintain this happy policy, their good-will would have been induced to yield to their vassalage. But, instead of this, those ministers who came from Holland cherished their home attachments, and maintained the unbounded authority of the old Classis of Amsterdam, who had sent them out, and had loaded them with so many favors, to superintend their churches and to decide on their appeals. They used all their influence to preserve that connection with the old classis and its vassalage. They represented the Ameri- can churches as very weak and destitute, and as utterly incapable of acting inde- pendent of their ecclesiastical fathers in HISTORY OF THE Dl TCH REFORMED Mil RCH. Holland, ind even of supplying their nun Wants. It muel 5e admitted that there was the • cause of gratitude <>n tin- par! of donial young churches. They had never been weaned, and they were Bup« ported chiefly by the old country, not only the ehurches here, but also those in the Bast Indies, and in the West India bios. They had kept up a regular and cheering correspondence; and had lavished their generous charities in making their mis- sionaries comfortable. And those noble deeds the Dutch elassia had also extended to the ('(Titian missions, and especially to the German churches in Pennsylvania. For, through the same classis, were min- isters sent from Germany to supply the Dutch settlers in Pennsylvania. And what is most praiseworthy, a fund was formed, and put at the disposal of the classis, to defray the expense of the German mis- sionaries for their journey to Holland and their voyage to America. The Dutch churches here, however, paid the expenses of their own ministers, and thus left the whole fund at the disposal of the classis for the henefit of the German churches and missionaries. All these circumstances combined to keep up here a strong party of ministers, who were natives of Holland, in favor of this dependence on Holland, and also to the continuance of their vassalage to the -is of Amsterdam. These composed the Conference party, who afterwards carried out their peculiar principles so far; they advocated the un- limited power of the fathers in Amsterdam over these churches; they clothed them with something bordering on infallibility. Some of them ventured even to maintain that they were the only legitimate source of ministerial power and authority, and insinuated that no ordination was valid, except it had been performed by the Classis of Amsterdam, or had, at least, its solemn approbation. Such were the claims of the Confer- ence party : and they were maintained by them, in the face of but a very feeble opposition, until the year 1737.* * In the violent contentions of those days, this principle was, in no few instances, carried That feeble opposition came from who afterwards assumed the name of the CostUS party. The\ were willing to yield a just tribute of gratitude, and a definite submission to the church in father-land. But they had deeply felt the inconveni- ence and s« rious difficulties, not I degradations, of being placed in this im- plicit subordination and entire control, so inconsistent with the Christian liberty of presl>\ tery. They had !>■ < n deeph affected with the evils growing out of the mortify- ing necessity of sending all the ci ecclesiastical controversy, and difficulties in discipline, to Holland, to be adjudicated there, where none of the parties could be on the spot to give testimony, or plead their own cause. And it was no small ground of complaint, that parents must be subjected to the painful separation, for years, from their sons sent to Holland for education for the ministry ; not to men- tion the burden of expense to which they were also subjected, by sending abroad those who were educated here, to be or- dained in Holland to the holy ministry. In a word, the Conferentie party main- tained the high importance of Holland education, and ventured to uphold the ex- clusive validity of Holland license, and Holland ordination. The Ccetus party out into actual practice. But it is due to truth to say, that the case of Dominie " Niewenhyt," has not been correctly stated by Smith, in his "History of New York;" and by Dr. Romeyn, in his "Historical Sketch," published in the Christian's Magazine ; and by Dr. Gunn, in his " Life of Dr. Livingston." Dr. Dewitt has, by his researches in the do- cuments preserved in the Dutch, enabled me to correct their errors. This " Niewenhyt" at Albany, was in fact, Dominie "Niewenhuy- sen," of the church of New York. Nicholas Van Rensselaer came over under the auspices of the popish Duke of York, and was sus- pected, at the time, of coming into this new province to further the cause of Poperv- But Dominie N. took this fair and justifiable ground, that " although Van Rensselaer, having the license and ordination from the English bishop of Salisbury, "was truly invested with the office of the Christian ministry: yet, nevertheless, this gave him no claim, nor qualification what- ever, to settle as a pastor in the Dutch Re- formed Church." Hence he resisted Van Rens- selaer's settlement in the Dutch Church in Albany, although he was summoned to answer for his conduct, before the Erastian governor and council. 208 HISTORY OF THE DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH. advocated the necessity of a home educa- tion, u Ik iinc license, and a home ordina- tion. These, they said, were equally good for them, and equally valid lor every pur- pose, as those in fatherland. This may be considered the first period of the Dutch Reformed Church in this land. It extends from the first organiza- tion of the church, unto the year 1664, when the province was invaded and seized by a British army, and placed under the government of the Duke of York and Albany, who was afterwards James II., and who abdicated the British throne. During this period, the church of New Amsterdam, now New York, was estab- lished ; also, the church in Albany, in Flatbush, in New Utrecht, in Flatlands, and Esopus, now Kingston. The colle- giate church of New York was organized as early, it is believed, as 1619. This is so stated in a manuscript of the late Dr. Livingston, on traditionary documents. And in another, he stated that a document is still extant, containing the names of members of that church, in 1622.* In the sketch of the history of the Dutch Church by Dr. Romeyn,'|* it is conjectured that the collegiate church was organized first. But Dr. Livingston, in one of his manuscripts, has said that " in Albany they had ministers as early as any in New York, if not before them." The authentic records, now in possession of the colle- giate church, commence in the year 1639, and in them we find the acts of the Con- sistory, and bating some omissions, a list of ministers, elders, and deacons, with the members, together with the baptisms, and marriages, from that period. And these records have been continued down to this day. The first minister in New York was the Rev. Everardus Bogardus, whose descendants are among us at this day. It would appear that he had been a pastor for a long period ; but we can find no correct date of his arrival here, nor the length of the time of his ministry. There is a tradition, among his descendants, that he became blind, and returned to Holland. This may in part be true ; for I am in- * Dr. Gunn's Life of Dr. Livingston, pp. 79, 81. f In the Christian's Magazine. debted to my colleague Dr. Dewitt for the fact, that in returning to Holland, in the same ship with Gov. Kiest, he was ship- wrecked and lost with the rest. We find the names of only two Dominies between him and the capture of the city in 1664 : these were I. and S. Megapolensis. The latter was a practising physician, as well as a minister. The first place of worship, erected by the colony, in the New Netherlands, has generally been supposed to be that small edifice which stood close down on the water's edge, and within the fort of New Amsterdam, and on the place now called the Battery. But I am indebted to my colleague Dr. Knox, and the distinguished antiquarian Mr. Rapelje, for the fact, that the first church of Christ was reared on a spot near the lower end of Stone Street. That in the fort was the second, and was erected in 1642. This was, in process of time, transferred to the site on which the late Garden Street Church stood. The church erected by Gov. Stuyvesant, on his farm, or as it is styled in Dutch, his Bowery, was probably the next. But no true dates can be discovered, or correct list of his chaplains. The celebrated Henry Solyns was one of them ; he also ministered in the Dutch Church in Brook- lyn.* The second period of the Dutch Church extends from the surrender of the province in 1664 to 1693. The condition of the church was now materially changed, as might be anticipated. The English strove to shear it of its glory as the church of the province, and the grand branch of the national Church of Holland. But the Dutch, at the surrender in 1664, and more fully in the treaty of peace, concluded in 1676, had taken care to secure their spiritual rights. It was expressly stipu- lated that the rights of conscience, with regard to worship and discipline, should * Henry Solyns was a most amiable, learned, and accomplished Dutchman. He retired to Holland early in life, at the earnest request of his aged father, who was anxious to embrace him before he died. A Latin poem by him, addressed to the venerable Cotton Mather, on the appearance of his great work, u Magnalia Americana," is still extant in some of the edi- tions of the learned New Englander's work. HISTOID OK Till: Dl IVH REFORMED < HI RCH. | to the ] lutch inhabitants. It mge thai this high privi- lege should hove been granted to the Dutch hero, at that time, when o furious perse- cution was carried on bj the brother of , Charles II., against the Sc Covenanters, and their nation. |{ut it is lo be remembered, that .lames, Duke of York and Albany, was a decided and even ! Roman ( 'atholic. And the Papists were themselves, at that time, under severe laws ''""I penalties, depriving thorn of liberty <>:* conscience. James had been Striving to obtain toleration for Others, that he might obtain it for those of his own creed Hence lie had taken care to grant tli-' rights of conscience to the Dutch, with a view to open the way for the Roman Catholics. His bigotry wrought this one good result. Under tins sacred erant, the Dutch Church maintained still a high ascen- dancy. The mass of the population be- longed to her; the members were among the most wealthy and influential indivi- duals in the colony ; and the distinguished Governor Stuyvesant, and the great offi- cers of the former government, were elders and members in full communion. She was not only the predominant, but, be- yond any comparison, the most respecta- ble church in the whole colony. Owing to this influence, and the mild sway of the British, the Dutch Church still kept up her correspondence with the Classis of Amsterdam ; she still owned its full power and authority. And that classis and the North Synod still ex- ercised their former care and power over all ecclesiastical matters, here, as formerly. During this period, we must notice a certain assumption of power by the oldest churches of New York, Albany, and Esopus, now Kingston. As new churches sprung up in the vicinity of each of these, the ministers of these old and powerful establishments claimed and exercised a superintending power over all these coun- try churches. This, by some, has been deemed not quite consistent with the strict course of Presbyterian church power. But it was exactly similar to what occurred in the days of the Scottish Reformer, John Knox. They had in those days their tuperi/Uendents,* irhb visited churches, and formed new church) s ; and directed preachers on their route of mis- sionary duty. Hut they never acted as diocesan bishop-; over other officiating pastors. It was assumed in Scotland and in tins province, to meet the extraordinary wants of a people calling loudly for pas- tors t') break the bread of Uu- t<> them. These wants the old Dominies labored to supply, in the absence of a sufficient number of pa-tors. And if they consi- dered it an infringement on their preroga- tives if any minister ventured to Officiate in these churches without their approba- tion : it was no severer, nor a more im- proper rule on their part, than the salu- tary rule now existing with the strictest propriety iir each of our classes; namely, that no strange minister, nor itinerant preacher, shall preach in any of our vacant churches, without the approbation and leave of a committee of ministers, ap- pointed as a species of superintendents. Such was the state of the Dutch Church at this period. It was eminently distin- guished by its numbers, wealth and piety ; and such was its flourishing condition until 1693. The third period of our church extends from 1693, to 1737. That jealousy and spirit of exclusiveness, which has charac- terized one branch of the Reformed churches, now began to put itself forward in a formidable manner, against the equal rights of the Dutch Church and other de- nominations. This was no less than a too successful attempt, by English influence, to place the Episcopal Church on a civil establishment. These plans of the Eng- lish people were not concealed. They seemed to be resolved to create a union of church and state, and to give a civil establishment to Episcopacy in all the British provinces. It was at- tempted, mainly, in Virginia and New York. That sect was to be the exclu- sive church, — the Church. And all the citizens were to be taxed for its support ; and all other Christians were * The English word for Bishops ; T mean strictly scriptural bishop, not diocesan bishops, — a human invention, originated by human power in the church. 210 HISTORY OF THE DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH. gravely pronounced to be " dissenters," from "the Church."* Previous to the times of the bigoted Gov. Fletcher, a delightful courtesy and Christian intercourse prevailed between the Dutch Church and the Episcopalian Church. It is refreshing to us, w ho live in these times, which may be called the terrapin agco( exclusivcncss and bigotry, to recall its memory. It is a fact, that the first rector of Trin- ity Church, in New York was inducted into office, December, 1697, in the Dutch Church in Garden Street ; and it is equally a fact, that the distinguished Dominie Henry Solyns, the pastor of the Dutch Church, and Dominie J. P. Nucolla, of Kingston, did actually officiate on this im- portant occasion ! And that Rev. Rec- tor, Mr. Vesey, officiated in the Garden Street Church, alternately with the Dutch, until Trinity Church was finished ! In 1779, this minute is found on the * Some are still so bigoted as to allow them- selves to violate the feelings of their fellow- Christians, by denominating those " dissen- ters," who do not worship in their church. This might have received some countenance on the part of those who enjoyed the palmy days of a civil establishment here. But, inas- much as we obtained, by the glorious and suc- cessful war of the American revolution, this extraordinary boon, along with our civil liber- ties-— namely, a full and complete deliverance from a civil establishment of the Episcopal Church : we cannot possibly conceive any reason, on the part of any man, who has heard of the said revolution, and the breaking down thereby of that civil establishment — why we should be called dissenters ! But, we only state historical facts when we say, the Episcopalians are the dissenters. They are dissenters from the famous Re- formed Churches of France, of Holland, of Germany, of Switzerland, of Scotland ; and all their other Presbyterian brethren in Ireland and the United States. They are, moreover, dissenters from the Waldenses, Albigenses, and the ancient British Christians, called Culdees, who sustained the true primitive apostolical churches in England, until the i sixth century ; and who withstood Popery in Ireland and Scotland, until the year 1172. These were, strictly speaking, Presbyterians. See the History of the Culdees, by Dr. Jamie- son, jointly with Sir Walter Scott, quarto, Edinburgh; and the History of the Walden- ses, &c, by John Paul Perrin ; also bv Sir Samuel Moreland : and Saber's Historie Gene- rale des Eglises Vaudoises. records of the Trinity Church : " It being represented that the old Dutch church is now used as an hospital for his majesty's troops, this corporation, impressed with a grateful remembrance of the former kind- ness of the members of that ancient church, do oflcr them the use of St. George's Church to that congregation for celebrating divine worship." It was grate- fully accepted, and a vote of thanks was kindly offered in return, for the use of that church. I delight to add, that Gov. Bur- net, the son of the illustrious historian, and Bishop Burnet, presented an organ to the Dutch Church in Garden Street. It was destroyed during the revolutionary war. How different were those sweet and palmy days of true Christian fellowship and delicious charity, from our iron times, when bigots call all men " dissenters," who cannot stoop to laud " high church- ism," " Puseyism," and " Popery ;" and when fanatics gravely profess to leave all other Christians " to God's uncovenanted mercy," who are under the ministry of Christ, not ordained by " a diocesan bishop :" an officer in the church, whom God Almighty never ordained ! This encroachment of intolerance and bigotry was originated, ostensibly, by the folly of Gov. Fletcher. His project was brought forward and urged with the un- usual intolerance of the age. He was a man of inordinate warmth and boldness, and withal a bigoted Episcopalian, even to a degree of fanaticism. He knew no other church ; with him no man merited the name of Christian, who was not of his sect; and there was no recognised ministry or sacraments but of his church. He was a thorough disciple of Laud. There was an air of bigotry in all this scheme. The Episcopalians were a mere handful, com- pared to the great masses of the popula- tion, and they were chiefly in the city of New York, and some were scattered over the adjacent counties, and they consisted chiefly of the officers of goverment, their dependents, and the military. These were " the church." And the idea of establish- ing these into a church, to be supported by taxes levied on the mass of the people, was so unjust, so unreasonable, and so absurd, that no one but Gov. Fletcher | could have entertained it soberly for a sin- HI3T0 I ill: Di nil REFORMED < m RCH. ||] mhI dcliv< tne revolu- tion, thai the people were let free from 1 1 ■ * • union i . ;, nt. li.ii ••■ the h . him, an 1 declared the project ►surd. Resist - fanaticism into ,: of his project. irts of J< v J]j> po ; it; i rribere , .in. 1 cajol :iou8 prom i he threat- ened and bullied into compliance. At last, . with extreme reluctanoA 1 to his plan, and, in 1693, . ishing the Episcopal Church in New York, and in the and from the establishment of a p< in tlr I States. During this civil establishment, many nlghl the *• loavea and the i. lefl the communion of the Pi and Dutch Churches, and went inl I society. For, in every religious society there are many individuals, who a r»- ready to join a dominant party, where u enjoy the favor of the rule he in the way of appointments to i <• ,tiu* st Chester, Richmond, and and also be freed from theex] Queen's. And the hand of the astute in the drawing of the act, and in the cunning management of the whole afiair. The inhabitants of these counties and the city were instructed to choose ten nen and two churchwardens. The Dutch Church and Presbyterians had no elder or d aeon to mingle with the above " apostolic number," and these twelve officials . Fletcher were to have all the appointing power of the ministry who It is very true, the act did not precisely specify that the clergy should be of the Episcopal order, and no other. The half unwilling and long re- luctant assembly, lefl this open. There was even an " explanatory act' got up some time afterwards, declaring that " dis- senting ministers might be chosen." But is quite a harmless enactment, to which the bigoted governor cheerfully lent his signature. For he was certain that all was safe, and that no dissenting min- ister, that is, no " unordained" clergyman, could be chosen by his devoted and equally bigoted vestrymen. And this was, in fact, se. No minister of the Dutch or Presbyterian Church was ever chosen to officiate. Thus, from 1693, to 1776, that is, for eighty-three years, the Dutch, English, on dissenters. But the result, on the whole, was not unfavorable to the spi- ritual, interests of the Dutch Church. She lost only, generally speaking, the worldly men, and some turbulent members who loved not the pure and strict discipline of the church. In this period the doctrines of grace were faithfully preached, and divine ordinances administered in purity. The ministry, with some few exceptions, were learned, exemplary, and ind< ble ; and the great body of the population, regular and moral, and attached to the church of their Dutch fathers, which had been so long preserved, without interrup- tion, and with little opposition. The fourth period of the Dutch Re- formed Church extends from 1737tto 1771. It opened with a new and important move- ment. Hitherto the ascendancy of the Holland courts had remained unimpaired in our churches here. For, although many were obviously opposed to this state of things, and the opponents were daily in- creasing : still their movements were se- cret, and their opposition spent itself in words. Hence no decided measure had been resorted to, in order to remove this state of dependence and its manifold evils. In 1737, the first movement was made by five prominent ministers, Messrs. G. and Scotch Churches, and all other non- j Dubois, Haeghoort, B. Freeman, Van Sant- Episcopalinn inhabitants of the city and county of New York, Queen's, Richmond, and West Chester counties, were placed under a galling yoke. Besides supporting their own ministers, they were forced bv an unrighteous law to support, by tnxes levied on them, the small sect of the Epis- copalians ! And it was only by the glo- fort, and Curfenius. They did not venture to adopt the bold measure of renouncing the abject dependence on the parent classis. They merely proposed to form an i bly for counsel and free internal inter- course, and any ecclesiastical business, not inconsistent with this dependence on Holland. This they called a catus. A 212 HISTORY OF THE DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH. plan was adopted, and rules formed for its ' regulation; and it was sent down to the churches for their concurrence. On the 27th of April, 1738, the day appointed by the five ministers to receive the reports from the churches, a convocation of minis- ters and elders met in New York.* The several reports of the churches in- duced the convention to adopt the plan without opposition ; and it was sent to the Classis of Amsterdam for their ratification. This they presumed they should promptly obtain. For there was nothing in the pro- jected ccetus which did, in fact, really cur- tail any of the power of that classis. Yet it was not until ten years after this that they received an answer, by the Rev. Mr. Van Sinderin, from Holland ; for it was in the month of May, 1747, that the convention was summoned to receive the answer of the classis, which, though a long delay, gave its entire approbation and concur- rence. On the appointed day only six ministers were present. These having received the act of the classis, did nothing more than issue their call of the first meet- ing of the ccetus, on the second Tuesday of September, 1747, in the city of New York. On the day appointed the representatives of the churches met in cactus ; and, al- though the plan had received the full ap- probation of the mother church, still there was a most decided opposition to it. This opposition was made by Dominie Boel, of the church of New York, and by Mr. Mancius of Kingston, Mr. Freyenmoet, and Mr. Martselius. Mr. Frelinghuysen could not prevail with his church to accede to the ccetus ; but it received his own de- * The following are the names of these eminent men : — the Rev. G. Dubois, and the elders, Anthony Rutgers, and Abraham Lef- ferts ; the Rev. Mr. Freeman, and the elders, Peter Nevius, and Dirk Brinkerhoef ; the Rev. Mr. Van Santford, and the Elder Goosen Adriance; the Rev. Mr. Haeghoort, and the Elder Van Dyck ; the Rev. Mr. Cnrtenins, of Hackensack, and his elder, Mr. Zabriskie ; the Rev. Theodorus J. Frelinghuysen, of Raritan, (a most distinguished man of God, and greatly blessed in his ministerial labors ; he had five sons, ministers; and two daughters, married to ministers.) and the Elder H. Fisher; the Rev. Mr. Ericksen, and the Elder J. Zutveen ; the Rev. Mr. Bohm. of Philadelphia, with the elder, Mr. Synder; the Rev. Mr. Schuyler, of Schoharie, with the elder, Mr. Spies. cided support. And it was soon ascer- tained that those who opposed the whole of this narrow and ineiricient scheme, were correct; whatever may have been their avowed motives. It affected no good purpose which could not have been done without it. It was a meeting merely for fraternal intercourse and advice. This could have been attained without a formal ccetus. It gave the pastors no powers ; they could not meet as bishops, who had each their church ; they had no power to ordain ministers ; they could try no cases requiring ecclesiastical investigation ; they could not even settle ecclesiastical disputes, without the usual consent of the Classis of Amsterdam. Its utter unfitness to pro- mote the interests of the church became apparent to all, except those in the slavish interests of fatherland. Nothing but an independent classis could do this. They must have power to ordain ; they must have their own court to try cases. The church was suffering exceedingly, said those who had got a ccetus, but wished a ccetus clothed with the power of a classis. But this met with a renewed, fierce oppo- sition. " Shall we throw off the care and paternal supervision of the Classis of Amsterdam ? Shall we venture to ordain ministers ? Shall ice set up ourselves as judges ? Where can we get such learned ministers as those from Holland? And can any of us judge of their fitness, and learning, and piety?" Such was the feeling and declamation of the Conference party. On the contrary, the Ccetus party ap- pealed to their brethren on the necessity of having youth trained here for the minis- try. " We must have academies and a college. The English language is ad- vancing on us : we must have a ministry to preach in English, or our youth will abandon us in a body. And the expense of sending for ministers is becoming op- pressive ; not to speak of the great ex- pense and privation sustained by us who are parents, in sending our sons to Hol- land to be educated, so as to be able to preach in Dutch. And you all know," they added, " how many years have some- times elapsed between the time of a call sent to fatherland, and the coming of a pastor; and sometimes churches have been disappointed entirely. None have nisToin of 'I'm: ditch reformed cm rch. 213 i \,- 1 to their call. A.nd even, in ccri lin a >mc ministers have eooji put w li > were not onl) unpopular, bul al>- tolutel . eablc. Is it not unendur- thal the churches should have no of their pastor ' Men, accu t.) ;i national church and its high-handed res have com • among us, w h i have, ofcou and habits entirely differ- ent Prom those of our (bllow-citizens and Christians in Holland. Need we remind you of the distractions and divisions oaus d by these obstinate men, who, instead of harmonizing with the people, and winning their confidence, have imprudently op- thera, and rendered their ministry odious and unsuccessful ! Besides, is it not humiliating and degrading to these churches, and to us all, that we should be deprived of the power of ordaining minis- ters1? An! we must send abroad ibr ministers, as it* none here were fit to minister in holy things ! It is an impu- tation on our sons; it is an imputation on us, in the ministry here; as if they were unfit for the holy work, and as if we had only half of the ministerial office ! We declare this bondage to he no longer tolerable, and it ought no longer to be endured." Such was the bold language now used by the Coe'us party, both ministers and laymen. And as a goodly number had, by the permission of the Classis of Am- sterdam, been ordained, by special favor, all these, to a man, took a bold stand against this dependence on Holland. Th~y never felt that attachment to the classis, which bound down, in slavish attachment, those whom it had sent out hither. They had no prejudices ; they saw the painful grieyancea under which their fathers smarted; and they felt the power of the arguments and appeals, so urgently '. by all, to seek an independent istical jurisdiction of their own. They spoke out with warmth on the sub- ject. They even ventured to charge the church of their forefathers with injustice to the ministry here, and actual tyranny over them. They withheld what Christ, the King of Zion, never authorized them to withhold from the true ministry. They demanded of her to do them arid herself justice, by conveying to them all the p rwors -»f the ministry, which the had received, a. ii respected doctrine, and sacraments, and discipline. All these appeals made a most power- ful impression <>n the people. Man) churches cam'- over to then- measures; and even a few of the European mi candidly acceded. And they no longer concealed their fixed determination to commence a system of measures to with- draw these American churches from tins abject subordination to the I 'las>is of Am- sterdam and the Synod of North Holland. This plan was matured in 1754. In the cactus of the preceding year a motion had been entertained to amend the plan of the cted as the most violent and outrageous. But, on both sides, a furious zeal prompted many 214 HISTORY OF THE DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH. to shameful excesses, and a most painful disgrace of the Christian name. The more moderate and prudent de- plored these evils and growing mischiefs, hut they could find no remedy. No indi- vidual, no body of Christian men, was found to act as mediator. The two par- ties would listen to no overtures. Hum- hie Christians wept over the revolting scenes, and the impending ruin of their church ; hope deserted their fainting hearts ; and many of them retired, from such unhallowed scenes, to the bosom of a peaceful and Christian communion in other churches. The Conference party called in the aid of the Holland Church. They addressed a letter to the Classis of Amsterdam, in 1755 ; a second one in 1756 ; a third in 1760; a fourth in 1761. In these they utterred their inflammatory complaints, that the American churches were attempt- ing to throw off their submission to their lawful authority, and to form an inde- pendent body, with powers equal to those of the mother church ! And in reply to these, too many of the ministers of that classis lent their aid to foment fresh troubles, and defeat the efforts of the church to become independent of them. When this violent schism took place, the two parties of Ccetus and Conferentie, were nearly equal in point of numbers. But there was a marked difference in their character, and the spirit of their preaching. The Conferentie pastors were men of greater learning, but they were cold, and heavy, and spiritless. Their discourses had more of the air of a pro- fessor's lecture from the chair, than of a popular and heart-stirring address to a mixed audience. The Ccetus party were zealous, ardent, practical in their popular addresses, and indefatigable in their pas- toral duties. Hence they soon had the mass of the pious people with them, who applauded them and sustained them in their trials and labors of love, while the unsound and heartless vehemently op- posed them. The anecdote told of that devoted and pious Dominie, Dr. Meyer, of Esopus, now Kingston, will illustrate this. He had one sabbath preached the holy doctrine of regeneration by the Holy Ghost, its true nature, and its necessity, and he had closed with a heart-searching examination of the souls of his audience, giving marks of its existence in them, and the evidences of their not having the new birth. When he came down from the pulpit, one of the elders refused to give him, as usual, the right hand of fraternal recognition and approbation, as is the de- lightful custom in our church. "Ah! Dominie," cried he, " 1 cannot give you my hand of approbation ; I cannot stand that, flesh and blood cannot endure that doctrine !" " True, very true," said Dr. Meyer, — " therefore is it the more mani- festly Christ's holy doctrine ; and there- fore do I cease not to preach it." Many such scenes occurred in those days of dissension in the churches. During this period, another painful source of difficulties occurred, which caused to our church the loss of many most valuable families. I allude to the introduction of preaching in English in the churches. The English had been, for a century, the language of the govern- ment, its officers, and influential men. It was evident to the great mass of the Dutch youth, that it must, in the issue, be the language of the country. Causes were tried in English — all the pleadings were in English. The youth mingled with increasing multitudes of youth, who spoke nothing but English ; and the best education in the city, and in the neighbor- ing colleges, was all conducted in Eng- lish. Hence the youth of both sexes la- bored to be master of English. In the progress of years, the great body of the youth could not understand a sermon in Dutch. They demanded English preach- ing. All the more prudent, and all, who by a wise forecast, saw the utter deser- tion of the Dutch churches by the youth, in the course of another generation at least, unless English preaching were in- troduced, united their efforts with the youth* and urged the necessity of having English preaching forthwith, as well as Dutch preaching. This was long and keenly resisted. Those whose spirits had been so long sharpened by the vehement contentions of the home and foreign par- ties, alluded to by us, carried an unusual warmth, and obstinate pertinacity, into this new conflict. The youth and their BISTORY OF THE Di TCH REFORMED CHI RCH. iVn aids did not, perhaps, use the ne© •oothing Bpiril of persuasion. They saw the justness of this requirement so clear- ly, thai tney had nol the oecessary pa- tience !«> bear with the venerable men who clung to their dear, their own native tongue — the language of dear <»ld Hol- land— which they s»> tenderly loved. To take from them their fiative tongue seemed to them as being driven into exile, among iiii-ii whose tongue was to them harbarous ! It was a hard Struggle. Hut the venera- ble consistory of the church of New York were constrained at last to yield. For they loved their church, they loved their uar children; and they saw many of them already gone to other denomina- tions, where they could understand the speakers. Yet, even this compliance made us lose a goodly number of the old people and younger heads of families. And they were without any reasonable excuse. For they understood the Eng- lish as well as the Dutch. But they left their fathers' church, because they failed in their etlort at victory ! And, hence, not a few made this remark, as they re- tired into the Episcopal Church, — " Well, since we must have English, let us go where we shall get the language in the purest form !" This was not the first movement in our church to secure English preaching. My colleague, Dr. Dcwitt, who is now pre- paring a full history of the Dutch Re- formed Church, has drawn my attention to a fact not generally known. It is this : about the middle of the seventeenth cen- tury, a formal request was sent by our church, to Holland, for a Dominie to be a colleague to Dominie Megapolensis, who should also preach to the people in Eng- lish. In answer to this, was Dominie Drisius (in Dutch, Dries,) sent out. He arrived in 1653. He had been a pastor in the Dutch Reformed Church in the city of London. He preached in Dutch, in English, and in French.* * This excellent and indefatigable pastor officiated frequently on the north side of Staten Island, in French, in a church formed there, in that French settlement. These were Hu- guenots, who were driven from France, at the revoking of the edict of Nantz, by the inhuman tvrant Louis XIV. These eminent sufferers But thf first man hIi<> preached exclu- sively in English, in the collegiate church, I was the Rev, Dr. Laidlio. He was a i native <>f the South ofScotland, a grnd i of Edinburgh University. He had been ,-i pastor of the Church of Rushing, in Zealand, in Holland. Prom that he arai called by the consistory, and he arrived and entered on his ministry in 17vdecker, Michael Moor, Enir.X-iu'hborhood. David Morinns. G. Tinirens. Ackqnakenonk. Cornelius Dubois, A. Zipkenu, Freehold. Adolnhus Mevpr. ffaeriem. B. Vanderlinden, Stephen Zabriskie, Paramus. 28 218 HISTORY OF THE DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH. ant objects : First, The internal arrange- ments, church government, and all the usual powers of classis. Second, The measures best calculated to heal all ani- mosities and divisions. Third, The con- ducting of a correspondence with the parent church of Holland. It met with the kindest reception in the committee. After a few additions and amendments were proposed, it was adopted, and brought forward to the convention. Here it was again fully discussed with the best feelings. The members on each side seemed to vie with the other in applauding it ; and finally it was adopted without one dissenting vote! It now only needed the final approbation of the Classis of Amsterdam. Accord- ingly, it was transmitted to them. And the convention adjourned, to meet in Oc- tober, 1772, to receive their final answer. That answer came, conveying to their dear American brethren the fullest and most perfect approbation of the union, and all the measures adopted, and concluded with their fervent prayers for the pros- perity of the American church. The con- vention heard the letter with emotions of joy and gratitude, and it was with the greatest cordiality signed by every mem- ber of the meeting, while they praised God for the happy consummation ! The most distinguished promoters of the union, and the independence of our church, were these: Dr. Laidlie, and Dr. Livingston of New York ; Dr. Westerlo, of Albany ; Dr. Romeyn, of Schenectady ; Dr. Hardcnberg, (afterwards the first pre- sident of Queen's College,) and Mr. Leydt, of New Brunswick ; Mr. Breyck, of Tap- pan, and Mr. Rysdyck, of Poughkeepsie. This distinguished man had all along been a keen conferentie partisan. But as soon as he heard the wise and fraternal plan of union, he cordially gave it his support, and brought his friends and people over to the same course. The establishment of a college now oc- cupied the earnest attention of the united and peaceful church, and particularlv to secure a theological professor. But from : the date of their charter to the close of the war of the revolution, little was done for the furtherance of an object so dear to the church. This was on account of the po- j verty of the country, and deplorable cala- mities of the war. Besides, many were in- clined to keep the theological professorate distinct from the college. And others being afraid to stir up old animosities, as the college was the child of the Ccetus party, and always opposed by the other party, sus- tained them in this timorous policy. Hence the convention in 1774, in urging on the measure for the professorate, kept the new college out of view. In like manner the con- vention, as such, that met in 1784, took no decided steps to organize the college. But letters having been received from Holland, in reply to their petition for a suitable pro- fessor, with strong recommendations from the classis, and from the faculty of Utrecht, in favor of Dr. Livingston, he was unani- mously elected to the professorate, and entered immediately on the duties thereof. In this distinguished convention, consi- derable progress was made in ecclesiasti- cal organization. At the adoption of the articles of union in 1771, the convention of which Dr. Livingston was president, had before them the entire model of the government of the Church of Holland. Yet for some particular reasons, they simply denominated their conventions "the particular and the general assembly." But the convention of 1764, resolved to dis- tinguish these assemblies by the names usually given to such judicatories. At first "the particular assembly," was called " a classis," and " the general assembly," a " particular synod." At the commencement of the war of the revolution, there were about eighty churches in New York state : these were divided into three particular assemblies, or classes ; in New Jersey there were forty churches : these were formed into two classes. These met twice in the year. The particular synod was a delegated body, consisting of two pastors and two elders, from each classis, and met once a year. And it was now also for the first time re- solved to have a third assembly, to be called " the general synod." This court was held in 1792. It consisted, at first, of all the ministers of the church, with an elder from each congregation, and it met each third year. Some years afterwards, when the churches had multiplied greatly, it was made a delegated body, each classis nomi- nating three bishops and three elders as HISTORY OF THE DITCLI REFORMED CHI RCH. 19 their representatives ; the Domination to be confirmed by each oftwg particular ■) nods to which the classes belonged. And this court met, and still meets annually.1 In 1784, the trustees, with a laudable seal, made ;i11 attempt to resuscitate the college, called Queen's College, at New Brunswick. It went into operation under the superintendence of the venerable Dr. Hardenberg, its nest president, who was as eminent a ripe scholar as a profound theologian. But for want of funds, caused by thf general distress pervading this young nation, just come out of the war of the revolution; and also for want of an adequate faculty to co-operate with its distinguished president, and its able pro- fessor of the languages, Dr. Taylor; it gradually declined, and had at last to be suspended for a season. In 1807, the efforts of these devoted and persevering friends of literature were more successful. The old building was an un- sightly and inconvenient one for such an institution. They proceeded, with the greatest industry and perseverance, to col- lect funds for a suitable building. In 1809 they laid the foundation of the present beautiful edifice, on a commanding emi- nence, overlooking the city of New Bruns- wick. The original cost of this stately erection was thirty thousand dollars. One thing was yet necessary to the suc- cess of the college, and that was attained in 1807. The trustees entered into a cove- nant with the general synod of the Dutch Church ; uniting their mutual interests and funds, giving the college the whole influ- ence and patronage of the church, and placing the theological professorate in con- nection with the college ; but yet, in such a manner, that the college is not made by any means, a sectarian institution. In conformity with this covenant, Dr. Living- ston, the synod's theological professor, was elected professoi in the college, and offi- ciated as the active president ; the governor of the state being then, ex officio, the nominal president. But in 1816, a sus- pension of the college exercises was caused bv the exhaustion of its literary funds. This suspension continued unto 1825. Then was it revived with great spirit, and Dr. Gunn's Life of Dr. Livingston, p. 274. with s full faculty.* And it contin BUCCeSsiUl operation to this day, — a blight star among the other bright stars in the constellation of literature in om- happy re- public ! The theological seminar) ha three professorships richly endowed j and Idled, at present, by three abl<- divines. The college is under the cafe of the I Ion. A. Bruyn llasbrouek, LL. D., the presi- dent, a most distinguished scholar and learned civilian ; assisted by a full com- plement of able professors and tutors*! Since its late organization, the colli New Brunswick, hitherto known as Qua n's College, has been named Rutger's College, after the name of its munificent patron, the late Col. Rutgers, who was a gallant revolutionary officer, and an eminent man of God, in the church. Thus far has the Dutch Reformed Church struggled successfully through all her difficulties and distressing calamities. What a pleasing contrast there is between her present flourishing condition and that of 1769 ! Then, was she distracted and rent by two violent contending parties ; and her courts and sanctuaries were the arena of unnatural and unchristian broils, and a hissing, and a by-word among the enemies of religion ; while all good men deplored her impending fate ! She was, moreover, without an academy, or a col- lege of her own ; and subjected to a de- pendence on a foreign nation for her sup- ply of ministers. Now, " peace reigns within her walls ; and prosperity within her palaces." For our God hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary, to hear the groanings of his people. He hath regarded the prayer of the destitute. The Lord hath buildcd up our Zion, and he hath appeared in his glory among her children ! She has, now, her academy * With unusual pleasure does the -writer of this look back on that organization. To him the trustees were pleased to assign the chair of the languages. And he had such men as these1 as his colleagues : Professor Adrian, Prof.- Woodhull, Prof. Dr. John Dewitt; and the venerable and beloved president Dr. Milledoler was at the head of the institution, including our college and the theological seminary. Adrian and Dewitt. followed Woodhull, to their rest in heaven. Two of us survive, but in different spheres of duty and service. -j- See the statistics appended to this. 220 HISTORY OF THE DITCH REFORMED CHURCH. and schools ; her college, and her theolo- gical seminary ; blessed with accomplish- ed, pious, and efficient teachers. She has her foreign and domestic missionary so- : her Sabbath School Union, and her Education Society ; and her twelve scholarships, and her Van Bensehooten en- dowment :* to bring forward the pious sons of the church into the holy ministry. During the last forty years she has been steadily *; lengthening her cords, and strengthening her stakes." Very many new churches have been planted by her Home Missionary Board ; particularly in the northern and the western parts of the state of New York, and in the city of New York, where the first and venerable Collegiate Church, which once stood alone, now beholds two great classes, with their numerous and flourishing churches under their care, and prospering, by the grace of God, under an able, devoted, and pious ministry. She is now directing her earn- est and successful labors, in planting Dutch Reformed churches in Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. At the same time she watches, with the deepest interest, the progress of her foreign missionaries in the far East ; and rejoices in their suc- cessful efforts in bringing the heathen tribes to the Lord Jesus Christ, and the hope of glory. Our fathers brought this vine from Holland ; and they planted it here, in the name of the Most High. They cultiva- ted it with their hands, and watered it with their tears ! Under the dew of heaven has she spread her fair and fruit- ful branches over the land. We sit under her shadow with great delight, and eat the pleasant fruits thereof! The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad. Blessed be the name of the Lord our God, for ever and ever ! And let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen. IT. THE DOCTRINES OF THE DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH. The doctrines of our church are those * The Van Bensehooten Fund was bequeath- ed by the pious and venerable Dominie Van Bensehooten. It amounts to twenty thousand dollars, and it is designed to carry pious youth through a complete scientific course, as well as the theological studies. which, in common with all the branches of the Reformed Churches, we have re- ceived from the reformers. These blessed doctrines were taught the church by the prophets and apostles, by the command of our Lord, the only king and head of the church. They are contained in the holy scriptures of the Old and New Tes- taments, and in them alone. For, in con- cert with the church of God, in all we reject traditions and expositions of the fathers, except only as they strictly and rigidly agree with the Holy Bible, the only and all-surBcient rule of faith and practice. These doctrines we hold as they were taught by Luther and Calvin, so far as they taught as Paul and the other in- spired writers taught. We receive as our creed the Confession of Faith, as revised in the national synod of the Council of Don, in the years 1618 and 1619, consisting of thirty-seven arti- cles ; with the Heidelberg Catechism ; the compend of the Christian religion ; the canons of the Council of Dort, on the famous five points: — I. Predestination. II. Definite atonement of Christ. III. Si IV. Man's entire corruption and helplessness, and his conversion by God's grace alone. V. Perseverance of the saints in grace. These doctrines have been received as their creed by all the churches of God, whose honored representatives were mem- bers of the Council of Dort, namely : 1. England and Scotland ; 2. The Electoral Palatinate: 3. Hesse; 4. Switzerland; 5. The French Churches; 6. South Holland ; 7. North Holland; S.Zealand; 9. Pro- vince of Utrecht; 10. Friesland ; 11. Groningen; 12. Omland ; 13. Drent; 14. The Republic and Church of Bremen ; 15. The Republic and Church of Emden ; 16. Gelderland; 17. Zutphcn : 1^. Wet- teraw : 19. The Republic and Church of Geneva; 20. Transylvania; and 21. The German Reformed Church. These doctrines, usually called Calvin- istic, or rather the doctrines of the Re- formed Church, are the same precisely as those expressed in the Thirty-nine Articles of the Protestant Episcopal Church, with some few exceptions ; such, for instance, as that in relation to church government, which is characterized by diocesan bishops. With us, and all other <>* HISTORY OF THE M TCH REFORMED cm R('H. 2 ! I churches, each pastor who presides over a church, is strictly, according to the word I Ihristian bishop. Por, by the testimony of Paul, j Vcta ex. 5, IT, and i ry presb) ter or teaching elder, is B b shop. We refer the reader for further parti- culars in reference to the Reformed Churches and our church, as one of them, to our Confession of Faith, cate- chism, and canons, in the book of our church. This, we repeat, is the canoni- cal book also of the Gfchrmao Reformed Church, the French Church, and the Swiss Church. These are usually bound up with our psalms and hymns, and are in every body's hands who chooses to ex- amine them. In regard to our " liturgy," we have to state that it contains, as every one sees, prayers carefully adapted to persons in various circumstances, public and private. Rut these are designed, now, simply as models, not as regular forms. When the early reformers, by the grace of God, led " the church" out of the long captivity of modern Babylon, they found their people extremely ignorant. Hence they needed helps. They were children, and crippled in their walk. They needed crutches to lean on in their early helplessness. But now, we consider our ministers, elders, deacons, and members of our church, as no longer little and lisping children, and cripples needing crutches. These crutches we throw away, and we walk without them ! This we do because the spirit of God is really given to all who ask of him help in prayer. But we have no desire to interfere with those of our reformed brethren who deem themselves, as yet, incapable of doing without these helps for the weak ones of the flock. The only part of our liturgy which is enjoined to be read, is this : the Form of Baptism, in order to preserve the uni- formity of vows : together with the short prayer, before the vows taken by the parents; and also the formula of the holy communion of the Lord's Supper. This the minister reads, while all the members, carefully and devoutly follow him, with the form open before them, in their seats. This is the amount, and the proper use of our liturgy. IN. ITs cm RCH QOl BRNMENT. Our form of government is thai i has been adopted by all the church* - of the Reformation in Holland, France, Switzerland, ( rermany, Scotland, with the except ii m of England, — which is governed by diocesan bishops, — and of the famous Puritans of Old and New England, whose form is that of independency. Wt to our form in our Book of the Church. Our primary court a that of the consistory, the same as that called a session in the Presbyterian Church. This conaisl the three distinct offices : ministers or bishops, elders, and deacons. The dea- cons in our church have no right to preach. We adhere strictly to the scriptural insti- tution of that office, as detailed in Acts vi. They have the care of the poor ; and take charge of the alms and the proper distri- bution of them. Our church discoun- tenances the office of trustees, especially of a board of trustees, whose members are not even required to be members of the church in full communion. The most general, I may say the universal, practice of ecclesiastical arrangement with us, is this : the pastors and elders meet as a spiritual court, to transact spiritual con- cerns, such as the admission of members, exercising discipline, &c. The deacons meet statedly, to make provision for the poor and make distributions. And the consistory, composed of the pastor, elders, and deacons, meets for the transaction of all temporal business relating to their own church. On important occasions, such as that of calling a minister, the grand con- sistory is called together. This is com- posed of all those individuals who have been at any time elders and deacons in the church. The next court in our church is the classis, corresponding precisely to the presbytery in our sister churches. This is composed of a minister and an elder from each distinct church, under the care of the classis. The next court is the particular synod. Of these we have two, namely, the Synod of New York and the Synod of Albany, or the Southern and Northern Syno Is. These consist of two ministers and two elders from each classis within its bounds. _ 222 HISTORY OF THE DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH. The highest court, from which there is no appeal, is the general synod. This also is a representative body. It is com- posed of three ministers and three elders from each classis throughout the entire church. At its first organization, this court met triennially ; now it meets an- nually, for the despatch of all business belonging to the church. In one peculiar feature do we differ from our Presbyterian brethren in the United States and Scotland. In the different branches of these most eminently distin- guished churches, their elders are chosen for life. With us they are chosen to serve for two years in succession. And if they do their duty they are again eligible, after having been out of their office one year. If they have not fulfilled their office to edification, they may be left off the ticket ; and no offence is given or taken. This, we believe, has most essentially contri- buted to preserve the peace, and promote the edification of the church, and to stir up good men to increased faithfulness to God and the church. IV. THE FORM OF WORSHIP. This is nearly the same as that of all those who adopt the Presbyterian form of worship. With us, the ancient and time- honored custom and mode is this : the mi- nister and people, who are members, upon entering the church bow down, and in se- cret worship the King of Zion. In the morning, the pastor begins the solemnity of the day by reading the ten command- ments ; and in the other services of the day, by reading a chapter of the holy scriptures. The assembly then sing ; then there is the solemn benediction ; then a 'brief address, called the exordium remotum, containing an outline of the subject to be discussed ;* then prayer ; then singing ; then the ser- mon ; then a prayer ; then a collection of alms for the poor ; then singing, and the benediction. Our psalmody is that which has been carefully prepared by a committee of our General Synod. It consists of the psalms of Watts, greatly improved and enlarged, * This has, by a late regulation, been left discretionary, and by many it is dispensed with. and two books of hymns. It is a rule of our church that each pastor shall lecture on a section of our Heidelberg Catechism, in the afternoon of the sabbath, so as to go through the whole in a definite time. These lectures exhibit an entire system of pure and holy doctrine to the people, in a regular course. And to this admirable system do we humbly and prayerfully ascribe the uniformity and strictness of adherence to pure doctrine in our churches. The design is to secure doctrinal preaching, and that of the entire system, to our peo- ple, in a regular course, from year to year. V. THE STATISTICS. The annual report for 1843, presents this summary of the church : There are twenty classes ; two particular synods, that of New York, and that of Albany, under one general synod, the highest court of appeal, which meets annually. There are two hundred and sixty-seven churches, and two hundred and fifty-nine ministers, and twenty-three theological students, at present. The number of families, as reported, is 21,569; the ascertained number of indi- viduals in the congregations, 96,302 : total in communion, 29,322. The increase of members on confession of their faith, from June, 1842, to June, 1843, 3202, by cer- tificate, 1021 : total increase in the year, 4223. Baptized in the year : infants, 2211, adults, 682. Number of catechu- mens, 5664 ; number in biblical instruc- tion, 3988 ; the number of sabbath schools, 269; the number of pupils in these, 15,534. Our college and theological seminary are located at New Brunswick, N. J. These institutions have been richly en- dowed by the liberality of our church. The two institutions are so far connected, that the theological professors render cer- tain important services in the college. The venerable Dr. Milledoler lately retired from these institutions, after having rendered for a series of years most valuable services, as professor of didactic and polemic theo- logy, and as president of the college, which last laborious office he performed gratui- tously, with the utmost fidelity and great success, for nearly sixteen years. Since that, the Hon. A. Bruyn Hasbrouck, a LA of P.SDuvaLPhilacU Ao CAMPBELL HISTORY OP THE DI8CIPLE8 OF CHRIST. 328 gentleman of distinguished taste snd scho- larship, has been i v cted president, Tl>e c is now in verj successful operation, under his cere, and that of sn able and learned faculty. In the theological school, there are three worships, occupied by distinguished in n. who instrucl the youth for the mi- nistry in every branch of a complete i jical course. At the close of the theological year, there is :i public theolo- gical commencement, at which the gra- duating class pronounce, from memory, suitable discourses, This will have a very happy tendency to encqurage our youth to study, more than heretofore, true pulpit eloquence, and tend to bring hack the good old custom of pronouncing, instead of read- ing, discourses^41 To the seminary arc attached twelve scholarships, lor the aid of eminently gifted youth, whose hard lot has been to struggle with adversity. The Van Benschootcn Fund of $20,000 produces a considerable annual revenue. By the will of the pious • By "pronouncing discourses," we do not mean "extemporaneous preaching." We mean (lie writing fully out of discourses, and deliver- ing them from memory and judgment. To preach " extempore," and without laborious preparation, is one of the worst habits, into which any preacher or minister can fall. donor, the proceeds are applied to can*) youth through the college cou as the theol< >gical course. For farther particulars, 1 refer the reader to the following : The ( lutline of the 1 1 1 story of the Dutch Reformed Church, by the late Dr. Rome} n, in the paj the Christian's Magazine, vol. i.; to the extended Outline of the History of the Dutch Reformed Church, in the paf the Magazine of the Dutch Church, vol. ii. ; Dr. Gunn's Lite of Dr. Livingston; The History of New York,byJucFge Smith; Dr. Janeway-'a Abstract of the History of Rutgers's College ; The Minutes of the Particular and General Synods of the Dutch Reformed Church; The Appendix to Dr. Bradford's Sermon of 1813, con- taining the Address of the Committee of the General Synod of 1807; The Ency- clopaedia of Christian Knowledge, article Dutch Reformed Church ; Watson's Olden Times ; Olden Times in New York ; Benedict's History of all Religions ; The American Quarterly Register, for May, 1833, and February, 1834; and, finally, Dr. Dewitt's History of the Dutch Re- formed Church, which he is now (1843) preparing by the request of our General Synod. HISTORY OP TIIE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST BY PROF. R. RICHARDSON, OF VIRGINIA. THEIR RISE, PROGRESS, FAITH, AND PRACTICE. The religious society, whose members prefer to be known by the primitive and unsectarian appellation of " Disciples of Christ," or by that of " Christians," the title first given to the followers of our Lord at Antioch, A. D. 41, but who are vari- 224 HISTORY OF THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. ously designated in different sections, as |k)Baptists," "Reformed Baptists," "Re- TOmerst" or rt Campbell ites," had its origin in an effort made, a few years since, to e&bcl a union of the pious of all parties, by the ties of a common Christianity. This was at first proposed by Thomas Campbell, who had long been a minister of high standing in the " Secession" branch of the Presbyterian Church, in the north of Ireland, and who had been at all times characterized by his love for the Bible, and for godly men of all parties, without res- pect to sectarian differences. Having visited the United States, as well for the recovery of his health, which had become much impaired, as with a view to a per- manent location, he employed his time for nearly three years in supplying with min- isterial labor, the destitute churches of the Seceder connexion in Western Pennsylva- nia. During this period, he experienced much opposition and persecution from some of the ministers of his own party, in consequence of the liberality of his reli- gious views, and was, at one time, formally arraigned before the ecclesiastical tribunal, under a charge of favoring a communion with other parties, which was regarded as a laxity in regard to the Testimony of this particular sect. Shortly after these con- troversies, Mr. Campbell's family set out from Ireland, under the charge of his eldest son Alexander, then a young man, and arrived in Washington County, Penn- sylvania, where they all took up their abode, and where Thomas Campbell con- tinued his ministerial labors. Continually deploring, however, the divided and distracted condition of the re- ligious community at large, and deeply convinced that its divisions were unneces- sary, unscriptural, and most injurious to the interests of religion and of society : he at length formed the resolution to make a public effort for the restoration of the original unity of the church. Being joined in this resolution by his son Alexander, whose views of religion had been much liberalized and extended by an intimacy with Greville Ewing and the Independents of Glasgow, in Scotland, during his studies, which he had just completed at the uni- versity in that city ; and whose talents, learning, and energy have, since this period, so widely disseminated the princi- ples of union then adopted : an attempt was made, in the first instance, to obtain the co-operation of the people and minis- ters with whom he stood associated. The great fundamental point urncd at this juncture was, that in order to Chris- tian union, and the full influence of the gospel, it was absolutely necessary that the Bible alone should be taken as the au- thorized bond of union, and the infallible rule of faith and practice ; in other words, that the revelations of God should be made to displace from their position all human creeds, confessions of faith, and formularies of doctrine and church gov- ernment, as being not only unnecessary, hut really a means of perpetuating^ divi- sion. Containing, indeed, much truth, and embracing, for the most part, the great leading facts and doctrines of Chris- tianity, each one, it was argued, superad- ded unfortunately its own peculiar theory of religion, and blended with the Chris- tianity common to all, speculative opin- ions respecting matters not revealed, which, nevertheless, were, in these theological systems, exalted to an equal authority with the undoubted facts of the gospel. These conflicting opinions, uncertain for want of clear scriptural evidence, were, whether true or false, unimportant in them- selves, as contrasted with the great and plainly revealed truths of Holy Writ ; and, as derived from human reason, and being the offspring of human weakness, were regarded as constituting essentially human religions, and as being therefore wholly devoid of any regenerating or saving effi- cacy. It was conceived to have been a small matter, that the Lutheran Reforma- tion should have freed the church from the religion of the priest, if she persisted in substituting for it the religion of men, rather than the religion of God, as God himself had given it. For, while it was admitted that the various formularies of religion contained the great and leading points of Christianity, and the pleasino reflection .could be indulged that almost all parties were agreed in those, as, for instance, briefly summed up in the Nicene, or Apostles" Creed : it was urged, that the various systems of human opinions, com- mingled with these truths, had so diluted, HI8T0RV OF THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 1 m.,1, ind even perverted them, have deprived them in b great tin of their power in me salvation of the world; to, thai the gospel, in th<- hands of tanusm, and become s vague, con* tradictor} (incomprehensible religion, quite unable to effect the conversion of the world, or accomplish the grand, extensive, and blessed results, for the attainment of which, the religion of Christ, in its con- centrated purity, was bo admirably fitted. It was therefore proposed, that all human creeds, as being incomplete if they con- tained any thing less than the Bible — un- worthy of credit, if they contained any thing more upon the subject of religion, and in either case, as highly injurious for the reasons above given, should be indis- criminately repudiated by the churches, and that the Bible itself, and more espe- cially the New Testament, as containing the clear development of the religion of Christ, should be, as was undeniably the case in primitive ages, the creed, the con- fession, and the guide of all. The plea that human creeds and disci- pline were necessary to preserve purity of doctrine and government in the church, was totally rejected, as disproved by the well known fact that they had failed to do this, and also as an imputation upon the divine goodness and wisdom, implying that God was unwilling to give a sufficient revelation, and left something for men to supply ; or that men could express the truths revealed, in better words, and in expressions less liable to misconstruction, than those selected by the Holy Spirit. On the other hand, it was insisted, that the Scriptures, interpreted in conformity with the fixed laws of language, could convey but the same ideas to all unbiassed minds respecting every thing necessary to salvation ; and that if, perchance, dif- ference of sentiment should arise, respect- ing minor and incidental matters, these inferences or opinions were to be distin- guished from faith, and were neither to be made a term of communion, nor imposed by one Christian upon another. Or, to express the whole in the language em- ployed by Thos. Campbell, " Nothing was to be received as a matter of faith or duty, for which there could not be pro- duced a Thus saith the Lord, either in i terms, 01 b) approve d • cripture precedent.*1 This overture for a religious n forma- tion being reject d bj the Beccd< body, but embraced by boom members] an application was made t<» the pious of all the parties in the vicinity, and a "de- claration and address" drawn up and printed, in which all were invited to form a union upon the principles above stated. A considerable number <>f individuals re- sponded to this appeal, and a congrega- tion was immediately organized upon Brush Run, in Washington county, on the 7th of September, 1810,* where a house of worship was erected, and where minis- terial duties were performed conjointly by T. Campbell and his son Alexander, who had been duly ordained pastors of the church. It is proper to remark here, that the members of this congregation were not associated together in a loose and inform- al manner, at its formation. On the con- trary, it was deemed absolutely necessary that every one, in being admitted, should give some proof that he understood the nature of the relation he assumed, and the true scriptural ground of salvation. Each applicant, therefore, was required to give a satisfactory answer to the question : " What is the meritorious cause of the sinner's acceptance with God ?" Upon expressing an entire reliance upon the merits of Christ alone for justification, and evincing a conduct becoming the Christian profession, he was received into fellowship. f Such was the humble origin of a reformation, now widely extended, which did not, as is often the case, pro- ceed from the fire of enthusiasm, but was the offspring of calm and long continued deliberation, frequent consultation, and pa- tient, laborious, and prayerful investiga- tion of the Holy Scriptures ; and which had never for its object to add a new sect to those already existing, but was design- ed, from its very inception, to put an end to all partisan controversies, and, far from narrowing the basis of Christian fellow- ship, to furnish abundant room for all be- * See Supplement to this article, f For want of these proofs, two persons were rejected at the first meeting. 29 226 HISTORY OF THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. lievers upon the broad ground of the Bible, and a common reliance upon the merits of Christ. Much devotion and interest was mani- fest .1 by the church of Brush Run, and the utmost peace and harmony prevailed amongst its members for a number of months. Most of them being poor, they were unable to finish the interior of the frame meeting house which they had erected, and were accordingly wont to as- semble in it, without fire, during the in- clemency even of winter. They were also in the habit of visiting often at each other's houses, and spending whole nights in social prayer ; searching the scriptures, asking and answering questions, and sing- ing hymns. Their affections seemed to be elevated above the love of party, by the love of Christ ; and the deeply implanted prejudice of a sectarian education and training, appeared to have died away be- neath the overshadowing influence of di- vine truth. A circumstance occurred, however, after some time, which showed that these pre- judices had power to revive ; and that, like noxious weeds, they were more hardy and enduring than the things that are sal- utary to men. This circumstance was the presentation, by a member, of the subject of infant baptism, which at once necessarily brought up the question so often debated between Baptists and Pedo- baptists : whether or not this ordinance could be scripturally administered to in- fants ? Mr. Campbell, sen., entered upon the discussion of the subject, with his im- pressions in favor of the affirmative ; but he examined the question with so much impartiality in a series of discourses, that a number of his hearers became convin- ced thereby, on the contrary, that the practice of infant baptism could not be sustained by adequate scripture evidence; and the mind of his son Alexander espe- cially, was, after a full examination of the subject, led to the conclusion, not only that the baptism of infants was without scriptural authority, but that immersion in water, upon a true profession of faith in Christ, alone constituted Christian bap- tism. Upon stating to his oldest sister, his conclusions, and his intention to com- ply with what he conceived to be the re- 1 quisiiions of the gospel, she informed him that her convictions and intentions had for some time been the same ; and, upon stating the matter to their father, he pro- posed that they should send for a Baptist preacher, and attend upon the ministration of the ordinance in the immediate region of their labors. Before the appointed time, Thomas Campbell himself, together with several other members of the Brush Run congregation, became so forcibly im- pressed with the same convictions, that they were prepared to accompany them, and all were immersed, upon the simple profession of faith made by the Ethiopian eunuch, (Acts viii. 37,) by Elder Luse of the Baptist community, on the 12th June, 1812. This was an important occurrence in the history of this little band of reform- ers ; for it not only revived the educa- tional prejudices of all those who were unfavorable to immersion, or attached to infant baptism, and induced them imme- diately to withdraw themselves from the church ; but it was the means of bring- ing the remainder, who now constitu- ted a congregation of immersed believ- ers, into immediate connexion with the Baptists. For, although disinclined to a combination with any religious party, known as such, they deemed the princi- ples of the Baptists favorable to reforma- tion and religious freedom, and believed that as they had it in their power to pre- serve their own independence as a church, and the integrity of the principles of their first organization, a connexion with the Baptists would afford them a more ex- tended field of usefulness. Accordingly, in the fall of 1813, they were received into Redstone Baptist Association, care- fully and expressly stipulating at the same time, in writing, that " Xo terms of union or communion other than the holy scrip- tures should be required." The novelty of those simple views of Christianity which Alexander Campbell, as messenger of the church of Brush Run, urged with much ability upon the associa- tion, began immediately to excite consider- able stir in that body, with whom an op- position to human creeds and to claims of jurisdiction over the churches,- found but little favor. With the more liberal-mind- HISTORY OF THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. ad Baptists, however, Mr.< larapbelPa \ iewa n railed ; and so high b of the Baptist oommunity, . ral, in his talents and knowledge ipturea, thai b i looted, .in ■ tune, to debate the question of Christian baptism with Mr, .1. Walker, a minister of the secession church. This , held al .Mount Pleasant, Ohio, in June, 1830, being afterwards published, greatly contributed to extend .Mr. Camp- bell's celebrity, as well as to diffuse abroa ! among the Baptists his views of the Chris- tian institution. The same result followed a second debate upon the same subject, which grew out of the fir8l one, and which he held, in L823, at Washington, in the Btate of Kentucky, with Mr, McCalla of sbyteriao church, so that the views of Mr. Campbell became generally diffused am ong the Baptist churches of the western country. Meanwhile, a jealousy on the part of some leading members of the Redstone Association, of his increasing popularity and commanding talents, led them to inveigh against his principles as innovating and disorganizing ,• and finally created so much dissension in that body, and so much animosity towards the church of Brush Run, that the latter, in order to avoid its effects, dismissed about thirty members, including Alexander Campbell, to Wellsburg, Virginia, where they were constituted as a new church, and, upon application, were admitted into the Ma- honing Association of Ohio, with some of whose members they had already formed a favorable intimacy. This body proved much more liberal in its views ; and after the bickerings and dissensions of nearly ten years at Redstone, the reformers were pleased to find in it not only liberality of feeling, but a disposition to follow impli- citly the dictates of the scriptures. Various meetings of preachers were held to con- sider and investigate the ancient and apos- tolic order of things ; and at length nearly the whole association came by degrees into the views presented ; so that, in the year 1828, it rejected finally all human formularies of religion, and relinquished all claim to jurisdiction over the churches ; resolving itself into a simple annual meet- ing for the purpose of receiving reports of the progress of the churches ; for worship, and mutual co-operation in th<- spread of •pel, Th" influence i churches, embracing i ible por- tion of the West* rn K reral able preachers, em a isarii • ' ,-\- tenaion to the principli ■ d b) .Mr. Campbell. Jt was but ■ short time, how- ever, until tlie abandon in- nt of usages long cherished by the Baptists, and the intro- duction of views and practices not i monly received by them, gave i | much umbrage and opposition on the part o^ the adjoining churches, composing the Beaver Association: that this body were induced, being not a little influena d also hv the persevering hostility of that of Redstone, to denounce as heretical, and exclude from their fellowship, all those churches which favored the views of the reformers. The schism, thus produced, was soon extended to Kentucky, to eastern Virginia, and in short to all those Baptist churches and associations into which the views of Mr. Campbell had been intro- duced by his debates and writings; the Baptists, in ail cases, separating from their communion all who favored the senti- 1 ments of the Disciples, being unwilling to concede even permission to believe the plain dictates of the scriptures to those who freely granted to them, without a breach of fellowship, unrestricted liberty of opinion. The Disciples, thus suddenly cut off from their connection with the Baptists, formed themselves every where into dis- tinct churches, independent of each oth< 'a control, but holding the same sentiments, having the same fellowship, and continu- ing to carry out the great principles ori- ginally professed, exhorting all men to return to the Bible alone, as the only rule of faith, and, in the language of Thomas Campbell, to co-operate together for " the restoration of pure primitive apostolic Christianity, in letter and spirit; in prin- ciple and practice." The proscriptive measures of the Bap- tist clergy, and the persecuting spirit by which they had been often guided, proved, as has ever been the case, favorable to the cause they labored to overthrow. Xo sooner had a separation been ejected, than prejudices began to subside, and misap- 228 HISTORY OF THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. prehensions to be corrected, as the excited feelings which produced them gradually died away. Many intelligent Baptists came over, from time to time, to the ranks of the Disciples, and many others were ad- mitted to fellowship with the latter, with- out being excluded from communion with their Baptist brethren. Indeed, many of the Baptist clergy, as the objects of the Disciples became better understood, came to approve them ; and even to a certain extent to adopt their sentiments. So great has been the approximation, that the most friendly feelings now almost every where exist between the Disciples and the Bap- tists ; and those very points, as, for in- stance, the rejection of creeds, and baptism for remission of sins, which were at first regarded as most objectionable, are at length adopted and publicly maintained by certain of the most talented Baptist minis- ters and editors in the Union. Meanwhile the Disciples have rapidly increased in number, not by these acces- sions from the Baptists so much, as by a general diffusion of their principles amongst all parties, and especially by an almost unprecedented success in the conversion of those who had not as yet embraced any of the religious systems of the day. Many have come over from the Presbyterians ; some from the Episcopalians and from the Lutherians ; among the latter, two well- educated ministers ; but more, both of preachers and people, from the Methodists. A few Universalists have united with them, renouncing their own distinguishing tenets ; some Roman Catholics also ; some Tunk- ers ; English and Scotch Baptists, and In- dependents. Indeed, some from almost every party have renounced their conflict- ing opinions, and adopted the faith and doctrine of the primitive church. It is also to be noted, that a great many sceptics and infidels have been converted through the labors of Mr. A. Campbell, and espe- cially by his able defence of Christianity against Mr. Owen, in a public debate held in the city of Cincinnati, in the year 1829, which was published and extensively cir- culated in this country, and republished in England. Manv of the writings of Mr. Campbell and his fellow-laborers have been republished in England, where the Disciples are becoming numerous. Their churches are found also in Wales and in Ireland. In the United States, they are most numer- ous in Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and Virginia. There are a few provinces. The churches in the British whole number of communicants in the United States, so far as has been ascer- tained, is believed to fail but little short of 200,000. It will not be necessary to say much of the faith or practice of this society, after the above history of its origin and pro- gress. From this it will appear evident that it is founded upon the two great dis- tinguishing principles of the Lutheran Re- formation, to wit: "the taking of the Bible alone as the rule of faith, to the entire exclusion of tradition ; and the relying only upon that justification that is obtained through faith in Jesus Christ.'' Through all the various phases imposed upon this new effort at reformation, by its relative position to different points of Christian doctrine, or to sectarian parties, its real position has never changed : it has pre- served its identity, and reflected more or less upon the whole community the light of divine truth. The controversies which have attended its progress, have been neither few nor unimportant ; but their object has ever been the exhibition and defence of truth ; and, though it were too much to say that imperfect views, and in- considerate expressions have not, at times, proceeded from even the most prudent of its advocates, giving rise to various mis- conceptions and misrepresentations on the part of its opposers : it may safely be as- serted, that there has been, from the begin- ning, an unwavering devotion to the cause of primitive Christianity, of Christian union, and of an entire conformity of the church to the requirements of the sacred volume. One circumstance peculiar to the society deserves notice here. It is this : that its knowledge of the Christian institution, and its conformity to its requirements have been progressive. Unlike the various sects which are founded upon human creeds arid confessions, and which are, by virtue of their very constitution, forbidden ever to get beyond the imperfect know- ledge, or to differ from the ignorance of the men who composed their formularies : HI8T0m OF THE DI8CIPLE8 OF CHRIST. u.srlf, without (ear, upon the broad and free expanse of divine reve- lation itself j unrestricted bj the aarro* boundaries of parties or sects, sod un- daunted by human animadversion, to seek the pearls and treasures of divine truth. Thrown thus upon the scriptures alone for religious instruction, by the fundamental principle of their association, it would say but little, indeed, for the perspicuity , depth, and perfection of the Bible, if, during the protracted investigations and discussions, carried on l>y members of acknowledged learning and talent, there had been nothing move learned of the Christian institution, than was known and realized at first. The truth is, that the different character- istic points of primitive Christianity were developed in succession. The object, however, has been one from the beginning — to disinter the edifice of ancient Chris- tianity from the rubbish which so many ages had accumulated upon it; and the beauty of those portions which were first exposed, only induced greater exertion to bring others into view. It was the unity of the church which first struck the atten- tion : the subsequent submission to immer- sion is only one example, anions others, of that progression which consistency with their own principles required. Thus, it was not until about ten years after this, that the dcji/iite object of immersion was fully understood, when it was recognised as the remitting ordinance of the gospel, or the appointed means through which the penitent sinner obtained an assurance of that pardon, or remission of sins, procured for him by the sufferings and death of Christ. Nor was it until a still later period, that this doctrine was 'practically applied, in calling upon believing penitents to be baptized for the purpose specified. This view of baptism gave great impor- tance to the institution, and has become one of the prominent features of this re- formation. The practice of week!// communion is another characteristic. This was adopt- ed at the very beginning, as the well- known and universally admitted custom I of the apostolic age. Their views of the nature and design of this ordinance, differ rot from those of Protestants in general. They are not in favor of " close com- munion," as it i^ tensed, nor do they pro- hibit any pious persons a h<> feel '*• to unite with them in t i j * - commemo of the Lord's death. Their manner of dispensing the ordinance is simple and im- pressive, conformable to ili«- example of Christ, and the injunction of Paul. (1 ( 'or. \i.) They are accustomed to s< t apart the first day <>f the week, not as a Jewhtb <>r a Christian sabbatht but as commemora- tive of the resurrection of Christ, and to be devoted to seripture-n •ading, medita- tion, prayer, and the ordinances of public worship. These are prayer and praise ; teaching and exhortation; the Lord's Sup- per, and the fellowship or contribution for the poor, in accordance with Acts xi. 42. As to government, each congregation is independent of every other, managing its own affairs, and electing its own offi- cers. Of the latter, three classes are re- cognised: ciders or bishops, deacons, and evangelists. The functions of elders and deacons are restricted to each individual church and its vicinity. The evangelists are usually itinerant, except in cities and towns, and are supported by the voluntary contributions of their brethren. A co- operation of the churches, for the spread of the gospel, is regarded as scriptural, and is now urged as highly necessary to a more effective system of evangelical labor. In the proclamation of the gospel to sinners, their practice is of course regu- lated by their views of the state of man, and the nature ef the Christian institu- tion. They regard the unconverted as in a state of separation and alienation from God, dead in trespasses and sins ; and look upon the gospel as the power of God to the salvation of every one who believes it. They conceive that this Word of God, is that incorruptible seed of which the chil- dren of God are born ; God, having, ac- cording to his own will, begotten them " by the word of truth, that they might be a kind of first fruits of his creatures !" They believe that the word is thus the means employed by the Holy Spirit, in the conversion of men ; and that the di- vine testimony itself is the source of that faith by which the gospel is received to the saving of the soul, for, in the Ian- 230 HISTORY OF THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. £Tuage of scripture, that " faith comes by hearing; and hearing, by the word of God." They lvgard the kingdom of Christ as a spiritual one, first formally and publicly set up on the day of Pente- cost (Acts ii.), upon the exaltation and coronation of Christ, as evinced, upon that occasion, by the descent of the Holy Spirit. They believe that the apostle Peter, to whom Christ had committed the keys of the kingdom, did, on that day, give admission to the believing and peni- tent Jews, in exact conformity with the nature and requisitions of the gospel, and that all should be admitted time, upon the same principles, and in the same manner. That is to say, that upon a sincere belief of the testimony borne by prophets and apostles, respecting the birth, the life, the character, the death, resurrection, and as- cension of Christ, accompanied by a true repentance, the sinner is to be immersed for the remission of sins, and the recep- tion of the Holy Spirit, and is then to be added to the church, to walk in the com- mandments of the Lord, and manifest the graces of Christian character. If then they have any theory of conversion, it is simply that of the natural order of cause and effect ; the Holy Spirit, through the divine testimony, being conceived to pro- duce the faith of the gospel ; this faith leading to repentance, to reformation, and consequent obedience to the commands of the gospel ; and this obedience securing the immediate enjoyment of its promised blessings, the pardon of sins, and the in- dwelling of the Holy Spirit. The posses- sion of the Holy Spirit is regarded as the evidence of sonship to God, and as the earnest of the spiritual and glorious in- heritance promised to the righteous. As a means of sanctifieation and growth in knowledge, the diligent study of the holy scriptures is every where earnestly enjoined. It may be safely affirmed, that no denomination in our country is so fa- miliar with the contents of the Bible, al- though there is yet, doubtless, great defi- ciency in this respect with many. But, it is believed, that in this there is a pro- gressive improvement, and a more special attention paid to the instruction of the young in the sacred volume, in families and Sunday schools. With regard to the Divine Being, and the manifestations of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, by which he is revealed, the Disciples hold no sentiments incongruous with those of the parties who call them- selves " evangelical." It is true, that their peculiar position has subjected them to much misrepresentation upon this sub- ject, as well as upon others. For, be- cause they felt it their duty to confine themselves to the very language of scrip- ture, in relation to every subject of which it treats, they have been unwilling to use those scholastic terms and phrases, which the wisdom of men has substituted in its room ; and this, not only on account of the principle involved, but from a fear of introducing, along with unscriptural ex- pressions, unscriptural ideas. Neverthe- less, . although they use not the words Trinity, Triune, &c, they receive every thing Avhich the scripture affirms of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, giving to every expression its full and ob- vious meaning. They hold that the Word which was in the beninning with God, and which was God, and by whom all things were made, became ffesh and dwelt among men, manifesting his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth ; and that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. And with respect to the Holy Spirit, they believe that he is the " Spirit of God/' the " Comforter," the 11 Spirit of Christ," who spoke by pro- phets and apostles, filling them with di- vine wisdom and power ; and that he is " the gift of God," " to those who ask him," who are made "the habitation of God through the Spirit," by whose pre- sence th?y are rendered " temples of the living God," and "sanctified," "renewed," and " saved." As it respects practical Christianity, the Disciples enjoin an entire conformity to the divine will, in heart as well as life. The fruit of the Spirit they believe to con- sist "in all goodness, righteousness and truth." They think that the standard of piety and morality cannot be elevated too highly, and that the personal holiness of the professed followers of Christ, is the great object to be accomplished by the in- stitutions of the gospel. They regard HIsj(»K\ OF THE DISCIPLES <>F CHKIhT. 23] these ■! a means of salvation, fj/i/// as the) prove to be ;» means of renovation ; knowing thai "nothing avails in Chrial Jesus i»ut a new creature,*' and Inal M * ith- ..ut bolinesa no one shall aee the Lord.*1 They are the more careful, therefore, to maintain the ancient simplicity and purity oftlif.se institutions, which are thus divinely adapted to the accomplishment of an ob- ject so greatly to be desired. Nor do the Disciples neglect the claims of society at large, as it respects its general improvement, and the amelioration of its condition, by the benevolent associations through which the Bible has been circu- lated abroad, and temperance and morality promoted with a success so signal, as clearly to display the finger of God. They strongly advocate the universal education of the people, as the best means of pro- moting human happiness, and of preparing the way for the universal spread of the gospel, and the introduction of that happy era, tor which they, in common with other Christians, look, when the " tabernacle of God" shall be " with men ;" when he " shall dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God." They have already under their charge many semina- ries of learning, and, among these, two colleges. One of these, Bacon College, at Harrodsburg, Kentucky, is respectably endowed, furnished with a handsome col- lege edifice, and in a very flourishing con- dition. The other, Bethany College, Vir- ginia, is near the residence of Alexander Campbell, who is president of the institu- tion. Its plan and its buildings are exten- sive, being designed for the education of the whole man, physical, intellectual, and moral. Its success has been very great, and although it has only commenced its third session, it already ranks in number of students, and in character, with the oldest institutions in the country. Such being the faith and practice of the Disciples of Christ, their rapid increase in number may be attributed to the fact, that they have kept steadily before the com- munity the claims of that common Chris- tianity in which most parties are agreed. This agreement includes every prominent feature of the Reformation, without an ex- ception. However, parties may differ about their creeds, all agree with the Dis< ciples m receiving the Bible. Ho various the riews of difierenl a scholastic theology, all pretty much with the Disciples in justification by faith, and in the necessity of repentance ••Mid reformation of life. However the former may contend wiili each other about sprink- ling and pouring, as modes of baptism ; all agree with the Disciples, and with each other, that immersion, at Least, is undis- puted baptism, and the only mode in which there is universal agreement. Nay, even in regard to the object of this institution, the different confessions of faith are almosl entirely agreed, stating, in their respective articles upon baptism, that it is, to adopt the words of the Westminster Confession, " The sign and seal of regeneration ; of remission of sins, and of giving up to God to walk in newness of life." The same sentimental agreement may be predicated of weekly communion ; the observance of the Lord's day, &c, and most happily of the great design of the observance of re- ligion, the promotion of holiness and right- eousness of life. Thus, having for their object to unite all Christians together in the common faith, without regard to differ- ence of opinion ; and in the full enjoy- ment of the common salvation, without respect to sectarian distinctions : the Dis- ciples labor in joyful hope to aid in bring- ing about that happy period when all shall be united " by the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace, in one body and one spirit; in one hope of their calling ; one Lord ; one faith ; one baptism ; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in all." SUPPLEMENT. Christianity is a system of religion and morality instituted by Jesus Christ, primarily taught his apostles, and recorded in the New Testament. It has for its im- mediate object the amelioration of the character and condition of man, morally and religiously considered, as far as pos- sible in this life, and ultimately his com- plete salvation from the guilt, the love, the practice, and punishment of sin. It con- 232 HISTORY OF THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. sists in the knowledge, belief, and obe- dience of the testimony and law of Jesus Christ, as taught by his apostles, and re- corded in the New Testament. It has many professional oppositcs, many rivals to contend with, all of which, however, may be reduced to three classes, viz : infidels, heretics, and schismatics. The first of these reject, the second subvert, and the third corrupt Christianity, and, of course, measurably destroy its benign and blissful effects. In order to defend the Christian institu- tion against the rival influence of these opponents, we must meet each of them respectively with the proper arguments. The infidels of every class, having no counter testimony to exhibit against the divine authority and authenticity of our sacred records, nor any thing comparable as a substitute to present to our reception, stand convicted of the most unreasonable obstinacy in rejecting a revelation, not only confirmed by every kind of accom- panying evidence which the nature of the thing could justly require, but which also goes to confer upon the believing and obe- dient the greatest possible happiness, in- tellectual and moral, of which they are capable in existing circumstances, and of which our nature can be made capable in a blissful immortality. But as it is from the perversions and corruptions of Christianity, and not from professed infidelity, that the proposed re- formation is intended, we would most re- spectfully submit the following queries to the consideration of all concerned, for the purpose of bringing the subject fairly be- fore them. Queries. — 1. Is not the Church of Christ upon earth essentially, intentionally one; consisting of all those, in every place, that profess their faith in Christ, and obe- dience to him in all things according to the scriptures, and that manifest the same by their tempers and conduct, and of none else, as none else can be truly and pro- perly called Christians. 2. Should not all that are enabled through grace, to make such a profession, and to manifest the reality of it in their tempers and conduct, consider each other as the precious saints of God, love each other as brethren, children of the same family and father, temples of the same spirit, members of the same body, subjects of the same grace, objects of the same divine love, bought with the same price, and joint heirs of the same inheritance'.' Whom God hath thus joined together no man should dare to put asunder. 3. Is not division among Christians a pernicious evil? — Anti-christian, as it de- stroys the visible unity of the body of Christ, as if he were divided against him- self, excluding and excommunicating a part of himself? — anti-scriptural, as being strictly prohibited by his sovereign autho- rity— a direct violation of his express command — anti-natural, as it excites Christians to contemn, to hate and oppose one another, who are bound by the highest and most endearing obligations to love each other as brethren, even as Christ has loved them ? In a word, is it not produc- tive of confusion, and of every evil work? 4. Is not the Christian community in a sectarian condition, existing in separate communities, alienated from each other ? 5. Is not such a condition the native and necessary result of corruption : that is, of the introduction of human opinions into the constitution, faith or worship of Christian societies ? 6. Is it not the common duty and inte- rest of all concerned, especially of the teachers, to put an end to this destructive anti-scriptural condition? 7. Can this be accomplished by con- tinuing to proceed as hitherto ; that is, by maintaining and defending each his fa- vorite system of opinion and prrc'iee? 8. If not, how is it to be attempted and accomplished, but by returning to the ori- ginal standard and platform of Christianity, expressly exhibited on the sacred page of the New Testament scripture ? 9. Would not a strict and faithful ad- herence to this, by preaching and teach- in"; precisely what the apostles taught and preached, for the faith and obedience of the primitive disciples, be absolutely, and to all intents and purposes, sufficient for producing all the benign and blissful in- tentions of the Christian institution ? 10. Do not these intentions terminate in producing the faith and obedience that justify and sanctify the believing and obe- dient subject? HlSTOR\ OF THE DISCIPLE8 OF CHRIST. II. b nol ever) thii larj for the iti..n and saMtMcatieu 0/ iIk- be- ■ and obedient, expressly taught and enjoined by the apostles in the execution of their commission for the conversion and salvation of the nations; and fully re- ■d in the New Testament .' 13, [f so, what more is necessary] but • expressly teach, believe and obey, what we find expressly recorded for these purposes 1 And would not our so doing, happily terminate our unhappy, scanda- lous, and destructive divisions I The two following queries are subjoined for the sake of a clear definition of the leading and comprehensive terms, viz., faith and obedience — which comprehend the whole of the Christian religion. 13. Are not law and obedience, testi- I rnony and faith, relative terms, so that neither of the latter can exist without the former 1 that is, wlvre there is no law, there can l)e no obedience ; where there is no testimony, there can be no faith. 14. Again, is not testimony necessarily confined to facts, and law to authority, so that without the latter the former cannot be Tthat is, where there are no facts, there can be no testimony — where no authority, no law. Wherefore, in every case, faith must necessarily consist in belief of facts ; and obedience, in a practical compliance with the expressed will or dictates of au- thority. By facts is here meant some things said or done. Conclusion. — Upon the whole, these things being so, it necessarily follows, that Christianity, being a divine institution, there can be nothing human in it ; conse- quently it has nothing to do with the doc- trines and commandments of men ; but simply and solely with the belief and obe- dience of the expressly recorded testimony and will of God, contained in the holy scriptures, and enjoined by the authority of the Saviour and his holy apostles upon the Christian community. Reflections. — The affirmative of each of the above propositions being, as we presume, evidently true, they most cer- tainly demand the prompt and immediate attention of all the serious professors of Christianity, of every name. The awful denunciations and providential indications of the divine displeasure against the pre- sent anti-chrisuan state of Christendom, loudly call for reformation ; — the p< i and soci d happiness of all cono rn the conversion of the unbelieving part of mankind equally demand it. Neverthe* less, we are not authorized to expect, that any party, as SUCh, will Ik- indue- d by the above considerations, or by any other that caa possibly be suggested, spontaneously and heartily to engage in the work of self- reformation. The sincere and upright in heart, however, ought not to be di aged at the inattention and obstinacy of their brethren; for had this been the case in times past, no reformation had ever been effected. It becomes therefore the immediate duty and privilege "1 all that perceive and feel the necessity of the pro- posed reformation, to exert themselves by every scriptural means to promote it. Seeing the pernicious nature and anti- scriptural effects of the present corrup- tions of Christianity, both upon professors, and non-professors, in producing aliena- tions amongst the former, in direct oppo- sition to the law of Christ, and in casting almost insuperable obstacles in the way of the conversion of the latter : the serious and upright of all parties must feel con- scientiously bound to endeavor, to the utmost of their power, to effect a genuine and radical reformation ; which, we pre- sume, can only be effected by a sincere conformity to the original exhibition of our holy religion, the divinely authorized rule and standard of faith and practice. To such, therefore, we appeal ; and for the consideration of such alone, we have respectfully submitted the above queries. " Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you ; but that ye be per- fectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment." (Paul, 1 Cor. i. 1 0.) " Jesus lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, I pray for them who shall believe on me through the word of my apostles, that they all may be one ; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us : that the world may believe that thou hast sent me : that the world may know that thou hast sent me ; and hast loved them as thou hast loved me." (John xvii.) 30 " In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." (Matt xv.) M From the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, saith the Lord of hosts." (Mai. iii. 7.) " Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." (Rev. xviii. " He that testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly ; Amen. Even so come, Lord Jesus." As a striking instance of the necessity and importance of the proposed reforma- tion, we present the following extract from the Boston Anthology, which, with too many of the same kind that might be ad- duced, furnishes a mournful comment upon the text — we mean upon the sorrowful subject of our woful divisions and corrup- tions. The following reply to the Rev. Mr. Cram, missionary from Massachusetts to the Senecas, was made by the principal chiefs and warriors of the Six Nations, in council assembled at Buffalo Creek, state of Xew York, in the presence of the agent of the United States for Indian Af- fairs, in the summer of 1805: "I am come, brethren," said the missionary, "to enlighten your minds, and to instruct you how to worship the Great Spirit agreeably to his will, and to preach to you the gospel of his Son, Jesus Christ. There is but one way to serve God, and if you do not embrace the right way, you cannot be happy hereafter." To which they replied, " Brother, we understand your religion is written in a book. You say that there is but one way to worship and serve the Great Spirit. If there be but one religion, why do you white people differ so much about it ? Why not all agree, as you can all read the book ? Brother, we do not understand these things. We are told your religion was given to your fore- fathers. We also have a religion which was given to our forefathers. It teaches us to be thankful for all the favors we re- ceive, to love one another, and to be united. We never quarrel about religion. We are told you have been preaching to the white people in this place. Those people are our neighbors : we are acquainted with them. We will wait a little, to see what effect your preaching has upon tJtem. If we find it does them good, makes them honest, and less disposed to cheat Indians, we will then consider again what you have said." Thus closed the conference ! Alas ! poor people ! how do our divisions and corruptions stand in your way ! What a pity that you find us not upon original ground, such as the apostles left the pri- mitive churches ! Had we exhibited to you their unity and charity ; their humble, honest, and affectionate deportment towards each other, and towards all men, you would not have had those evil and shame- ful things to object to our holy religion, and to prejudice your minds against it. But your conversion, it seems, awaits our reformation — awaits our return to primi- tive unity and love. To this may the God of mercy speedily restore us, both for your sakes and for our own ; that his way may be known upon earth, and his saving health among all nations. Let the people praise thee, O God ; let all the people praise thee. Amen and amen. Upon the whole, we appeal to every candid mind, that has one serious thought upon the great subject of Christianity : is not the necessity of a religious reforma- tion among professed Christians most con- vincingly evident, and universally ac- knowledged, by the serious of all denomi- nations ? We appeal, then, to all con- cerned, what should be its character ? Should it be divine or human ? Should it be the simple belief and obedience of the word and testimony of God, or of the opinions and dictates of men .' You will, no doubt, say of the former. So say we ; and yet, strange to tell, all the sects are offended. And why ] We shall leave it to them to say ; for they have not yet, no, not one of them, presented any relevant reason, why we should desist from urging the indispensable duty, absolute necessity, and vast importance of the reformation for which we plead. They have not presented us with the detection of one single error in our premises. We shall conclude our humble appeal by respectfully assuring all concerned, that if they, or any of them, will convince us of any error, either of faith or practice, that we will candidly re- HISTORY OF THE DI8CIPLE8 OF CHRIST. linquish if, and thank God and nai fbr th.' discovery. Also, thai it* they will IftOW us how we may, without giving oflbnce, plead the cause of a reformation, which involves the glory of God and the happiness of mankind, we shall thankfully adopt it. Tor the assistance and satisfaction of oar inquiring friends, who wish to avail themselves of the luminous fulness of the holy scriptures upon the great subject under consideration, we BubjOin the follow- ing analysis of the sacred oracles, and the ■real salvation which they exhibit ; by the due consideration of which the scriptural evidence and certainty of what is intended, will, we hope, be apparently obvious. ANALYSIS OF THE SACRED ORACLES. The Bible consists of two volumes — the Old Testament and the New. Each of these consists of histories, prophecies, moral dictates, divine institutions, and de- votional exercises. The Old Testament I contains three distinct dispensations of re- ligion, and predicts a fourth, which is con- tained in the New, viz: 1st. The primitive or Edenic — delivered to our first parents immediately after their creation. 2d. The Patriarchal — also delivered to our first parents immediately after their fall. 3d. The Israclitish or Mosaic — delivered to the Israelites by Moses. And the 4th, called the Christian, — exclusively contained in the New Testament. Concerning these two volumes we observe, that although the scriptures of the Old and New Testa- ments are inseparably connected, making together but one perfect and entire revela- tion of the divine will, for the edification and salvation of the church ; and, there- fore, in that respect cannot be separated : yet as to what directly and properly be- longs to their immediate object, the New Testament is as perfect a constitution for the worship, discipline, and government of the New Testament church, and as per- fect a rule for the particular duties of its members, as the Old Testament was for the worship, discipline, and government of the Old Testament church, and the parti- cular duties of its members. Also, that in order to enjoy a clear and comprehensive knowledge of what we read upon every subject in the sacred rolume, the following things should be duly con« sidered, riz : Who speaks ; to whom h<- speaks; what be says; why .' when ; and when be said so. ANALYSIS OF THE GRAND DOCTRIN M. TOPICS CONTAINED l.\ THE BIBLE. 1. The knowledge of GocL 2. Of man. 3. Of sin. 4. Of the Saviour. 5. Of his salvation. G. Of the principle and means of enjoying it. 7. Of its blissful efibcts and consequences. These are the grand doctrinal topics which the scriptures were specially de- signed to teach, in the knowledge, belief, and practical influence of which consists our present salvation. ANALYSIS OF THE GREAT SALVATION. I. Of its concurring causes. — 1. The prime moving or designing cause — the love of God. 2. The procuring cause — the blood of Christ. 3. The efficient cause — the Holy Spirit. 4. The instru- mental cause — the gospel and law of Christ, or the word of truth. II. Of the principle and means of en- joyment. 1. OF THE PRINCIPLE. The sole principle of enjoyment is be- lief or faith. 2. OF THE MEANS. I. The prime instituted means of enjoy- ment is baptism. 2. Prayer. 3. Church fellowship in the social ordinances. 4. The Lord's day. 5. The Lord's Supper. 6. The prayers. 7. The praises. 8. The teaching of the word. 9. The contribu- tion for charitable purposes. 10. Reli- gious conversation. 11. Studious perusal and meditation of the holy scriptures. 12. All manner of good works — called works of faith and labors of love, '.\ Writ, to terms or by infer- is not the truth ; b cause it belongs not to ( "ii!ci>i u h • is the truth. 1 1 n t,» fall i perfect appreh nsion of all that HolyWrit contains, la to have im- >f ( Ihbis i ; — I > go beyond rom t )hrist, and therefore, to go out of Christianity, and, consequently, mt > h sthonism, or Judaism. ( Ihbis p, ore, is Christianity in a living form; Holy Writ, Christianity in a written, or doctrinal form, and both arc perfect. This perfect truth is to be imparted, as a principle of life to the Boul, as Well as a law of life to the mind; and through the joint influence of both, is to reproduce itself in action. But the activity by which the truth is apprehended is, in both sen- ses, fallible; and the medium through which it is developed, imperfect. The re- sult of this apprehension and develop- ment, is Christianity, as seen in the history of the church. An 1 the principles thus developed, when clothed in their appro- priate expressions, form the doctrines of the church. When, therefore, this truth has been fully received and apprehended, and when this apprehension has been de- veloped without perversion or addition, such development will always correspond with that written word, which, being a perfect representation of the invisible and living Word, is, to us, at once the source and measure of truth. But if the truth be imperfectly understood, or error be mingled with it, in the intellectual appre- hension thereof, the development, be if ever so true to the idea existing in the mind, will vary from the standard of the written word ; and just so far as it varies from that, is erroneous. Now it is the peculiar province of the truth, to be the same at all times, and under all circumstances. Whatever, there- fore, has always been apprehended in the same way, whether manifested in the same terms or not, is certain truth ; for we may safely take it for granted, that no error could develop itself in the same way, under all variety of circumstances to which the human mind is subject. Whatever, then, has been believed by all, always, and ever?/ where, is certain truth, and will have these three characteristics — universality, antiquity, and consent. And this truth is binding on ail < !hi to it, th<- private opinion of the individual must alua\ s submit. U hen, lb we find tlie church in all • the apprehension and expression o doctrine, we may know that to l«- Certain and infallible truth, and consequently, the true interpretation <>t ll>>/u W-rit. Hence the church is called the Inter- preter of Scripture, not because she per- forms the office of an outward and • nal expositor, but because those truths which constitute her very life, when pro- perly expressed, are the true m a Scripture. And every truth is ly expressed, which, having been devel- oped in the first age of the church, has since been believed at all times and in all places. And no point is so properly ex- pressed, as to challenge the title of abso- lute truth, unless it were developed thus early, and has ever since continued to be the faith and teaching of the church. This continuous testimony of the church is what is called tradition ; which is not, as some suppose, an independent source of truth, but a perpetual witness to the church's view of truth ; and so, the sense of Scripture itself, as apprehended and settled by the church. This continuous, or traditional testimo- ny of the church, is found in those symbols and creeds, which, having been adopted in the first ages, as expressing the concen- trated sense of Scripture, have been witnessed to in all succeeding ages ; and also in those Sacramental Liturgies which prevailed in all the early churches, and in the testimony of the Fathers and Doctors of the church of that day. Any doctrine, therefore, which is not contained in the express letter of Holy Writ, or which was not received in the truly primitive church, as the sense of Scripture, wants an essen- tial requisite in proof of its truth, and must, therefore, be rejected. But any and every doctrine which has this proof, the church is bound to receive, and all her members to believe. No such doctrine may be rejected or set aside, however unimportant it may seem to us ; for such is the nature of truth and of the human mind, that the omission of one truth from any system of teaching, puts the existence of all others 240 HISTORY OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. at hazard ; and the introduction of any error, is sure to bring down the truths of the system to its own false standard. We are, therefore, to receive the faith, as it was delivered to the Saints, neither ad- ding to its body, nor rejecting its provi- sions. We are not at liberty, therefore, to make any distinction between essential and non-essential truths ; for every truth is essential, and every falsehood fatal. While, therefore, it is a duty to receive and believe every truth, it is no less a duty to protest against every error that may be introduced into any system of religious teaching. And from the performance of these various duties the Protestant Epis- copal Church has its name. The Protestant Episcopal Church de- clares itself Catholic, therefore, as being a portion of the one Catholic body of Christ, and receiving and believing all Catholic Truth; Protestant, as testi- fying against those things which she con- siders the additions, and therefore corrup- tions of Romanism ; Episcopal, as wit- nessing against the omissions, and there- fore corruptions of those who have rejected the Episcopal regimen ; and Re- formed, as having herself cast out the errors and corruptions which had been foisted into her system, through the errors and usurpations of the Papacy. III. OF DOCTRINE. 1. Of Man's Primitive State. The church teaches that God created man in His own image, and in a state of righte- ousness and positive holiness. He was endued with all kinds of heavenly gifts and knowledge, sound and perfect in all his parts, with no spot of uncleanness in him. His reason was uncorrupt, his un- derstanding pure and good ; his will obe- dient and godly ; in short, he was like unto God in righteousness, in holiness, in wisdom, and in every kind of perfection. Man, therefore, in his primitive state, was holy in a far higher sense than he ever can be, while encumbered with his body of sin and death ; was in the same state as that in which he will be, when he has experienced the full benefit of the new creation which is in Christ Jests. And those perfections in Adam, as in the Chris- tian, resulted from his participation in the Divine Nature, through the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, according to the literal teaching of Holy Writ. 2. Of the consequences of the Jail. The church teaches, that when man sinned, that indwelling Spirit, upon which all his righteousness and holiness depended, was withdrawn, and that image of God which had thus been imparted was lost. And along with this, man also lost all power, either of doing or willing good works pleasing and acceptable to God ; so that he is very far gone from original righte- ousness, and of his own nature inclined to evil ; having no power of himself to help himself; not able to think a good thought, or work a good deed ; his very nature being perverse and corrupt, destitute of God's word and grace. In short, he was no longer a citizen of heaven, but a fire- brand of hell, and a bond slave to the Devil. And hence, as we shall see, arises the necessity of the doctrine of justifica- tion by faith only. And the church also teaches that what was true of Adam, as an individual in this respect, is true of the race; the same corrupt nature being trans- mitted to all his posterity, as we are expressly assured by divine Revelation. The nature of Adam, fallen and corrupt as it was after his expulsion from Para- dise, is conveyed to all his children, so that, although we have not his person in us, we have his nature, and the corruption of that nature which causeth death. Hence, we are really partakers of the sin and death received from Adam, as truly as he had been partaker of the righteousness and holiness of God before his fall, and as the Christian shall be of the righteousness and holiness of Christ, in the world to come. Adam fell not in body alone, or in soul alone, but in both at once, and both toge- ther; and consequently, the humanity which was in him as its root, fell in him and with him to the same extent. All, therefore, who partake of that humanity, must partake of it, as- it existed in him ; fallen, corrupted, depraved. 3. Of the extent and ground of Marts ability to repent and obey. It follows from what has been said, that man since the fall has no power of himself, either to will or to do go d works pleasing and HISTORY OF THE PROTE8TANT EPI8COPAL CHI RCH. 241 to God ; and this power can be ,| onl) through the gracious in- that I Ioli Si'iki r, winch had i given to Adam, but which he had forfeited and lost in the fall. All, i p, to n\ horn the influences of thai Spirit are given, have the power of doing both. Ami here Ilea the true explanation of what is meant by the freedom of the will. Mm, as fallen, has in himself nopower, and consequently, n<> freedom for good. 1 fe is a bond slave to sin, according to the clear testimony of the Bible. But, as redeemed, he bas through the gracious influences of r h> • IIoia Ghost, all the power and free- dom requisite for bis obedience, as no less clearly taught in scripture. The power to will and the power to do were both lost in the fall, and both were recovered in the redemption. 4. Of the Redemption. — The Church teaches in the strongest terms, and in the mphatic manner, that Christ died for all mankind, and consequently, that all men have now the ability to repent and obey. This is the great, central point of the Christian system, — that which distinguishes it from every other system, the different views of which cha- racterize the different systems of Christian teaching; and consequently, demands a careful examination, in order to see the connection and dependence of the teaching of the Church. The Word became Flesh ; — God MANIFEST IX THE FLESH J this IS the turn of the Gospel. This Incarnate Word, is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. The Incarnation opened the Way for our sal- vation,— revealed the Truth by which we are to be saved, and communicated the Life that is to save us. When the Holy Ghost came upon the Virgin Mary, — when the power of the highest over- shadowed her, the only-begotten of the Father took man's nature, in the womb, and of the substance of the Virgin, so that two whole and perfect natures, — the God- head and the Manhood, — Very God and Very Man, — were joined together in one person, never more to be divided. By this union of the human and divine in the Person of Christ, humanity itself has been raised from the depths of darkness and damnation, into which it was plunged h\ the fall, to a higher and nobler sphere, i.\ re-uniting it with the nature of the I ieity, thus making ii the root of ■ nev [Ate for the race. These two nutans, therefore, are the original cause or ground of all that ( 'iiai-r hath done, and that body in which they were united, was thai body wherewith the Redeemer saved the world, — that body, which ever hath been ami ever will be the root of eternal Lii<-, — the instrument wherewith the Deity worketh the sacrifice that takcth away sin, — the price wherewith he hath ran- somed souls from death, — the Captain of the whole army of bodies that shall rise again to glory. From this union of the Deity with the human soul, resulted a new order of Life, — at once truly divine and yet perfectly human, — and hence sometimes called Thcanthropic, — which Life is the well- spring and cause of ours. This is the new creation in Christ Jesus, of which all must partake, who would become sons of God, and joint heirs with Christ in the kingdom of the Father. We have in our- selves the nature of Adam without his per- son ; so also, we must have in us the nature of Christ without His Person ; or we do not stand related to the second Adam as to the first. In short, as human nature itself has been corrupted in Adam — as the life of man, as a cause as well as a con- sequence— that vivifying essence which constitutes his inmost nature — has been rendered sinful by the fall ; so, that same nature must be restored by an union with the Redeemer, as certain and real as that which exists between Adam and the race. As we were cast down to death by parti- cipating in the life of the first Adam, so we must be raised to life, by partaking in the life of Christ, who is the second Adam. Since, then, Christ took upon himself our nature, by dying in that na- ture, he has borne the sin of that nature, literally, and not by way of substitution, thereby redeeming our nature, rather than our persons, so that now, all who partake of that nature, have, through the grace of God, ability both of willing and doing good works pleasing and acceptable to him. The church sees in Christ a new order of life, divine and yet most perfectly hu- ■31 242 HISTORY OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. man, not merely external to man, but really active in humanity itself. Chris- tianity, with it, is a true and real revela- tion of the supernatural in the flesh. God manifest in the flesh, is the leading fact in all its theology. The Incarnation, there- fore, stands out as among the chiefest of doctrines. It is the union of the divine {' and human in a visible form, a union that has been perpetuated in the church, and is repeated in every Christian. 5. Of the conditions upon which the benefits of this redemption are rendered available to man. The teaching of the church is, that although the redemption is universal, and the offer of salvation is made to all, yet, that the benefits thereof can be experienced by individuals, only upon their acceptance of the offers of mercy, and their voluntary compliance with the conditions annexed ; which con- ditions are repentance, whereby they for- sake sin ; and faith, whereby they stead- fastly believe all the promises of God ; points upon which there is scarcely any difference of opinion among all the variety of religious denominations. 6. Of the office and operation oftheHoLY Ghost, in applying these benefits to man, and of his co-operation in the same. The church teaches, that the Holy Ghost is ready to co-operate with man, when he desires to work, — that He does this by an indwelling in the heart, thereby imparting | to man that Divine Life which renews and sanctifies. This change the church holds i to be something more than a mere moral i one, something more than a mere subjective I change of the will, being (when complete,) : an entire change of the moral nature of j the soul itself, in consequence of its par- { taking in the holiness and righteousness j of our heavenly Father through a partici- pation in the life of the Son. The church, seeing in Christ, the example and pattern, as well as the source of the Christian life, finds the type of the Christian birth in the Incarnation, and supposes that what was done in the one case, is repeated in the other, as nearly as the different circum- sfanees of the cases will allow. As Cifrist was begotten of the Virgin Mary, by the power of the Holy Ghost, so also is the Christian life begotten in us by the same power. And as God was in Christ, the divine in the human, exalting it to a new and higher sphere of life, so Christ must be in the Christian, the divine in the human, exalting it to a new and higher sphere of life. And it is such an indwell- ing as enables the Christian to live in Christ, even as he lives in and by the Father, that is, by a mutual inter-penetra- tion of the same life. As, therefore, that Deity which dwells in the Son also dwells in the Father, so, that divine humanity, (if we may so speak,) which dwells in Christ must also dwell in the Christian. It is thus that the Christian cats the flesh, and drinks the blood of the Son of Man ; that is, the Christian partakes of the flesh and blood of Christ, in the same manner, and to the same extent as that in which Christ partakes of the flesh and blood of those he came to save. He took to himself, not the person of a man, but the nature of man, before it came to have any personal subsistence, and that nature which he took into union with his divinity, organized for him such a body, as the same nature organizes for us. The Chris- tian, therefore, partakes of the nature, not the person of CnRiST, and that nature shall produce the same results in us, that it has already produced in him. It is thus also that the Christian is said to be in Christ, and Christ in the Christian ; that God is said to dwell in us, and we in him ; that our hearts are said to be temples of the Holy Ghost ; and that the life of Jesus is said to be manifest in our mortal bodies ; things which are accomplished in the Christian literally, and without a figure. But though this life is imparted to us by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, it is not received, and docs not become active in us without co-operation on our part. Faith, which is a condition, when viewed as something required by God, is some- thing more than this when viewred as rela- tive to ourselves. It then becomes a means, or instrument, by which the in- dwelling of the Holy Ghost in our hearts is to be promoted, and without which it will never take place. This faith, which j is sometimes called saving faith, and also | justifying faith, is something more than a mere assent of the mind to the histori- cal truth of the Scriptures ; something more than a belief in them as a revela- RI8T0R\ OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHI RCH. tion. It is thai act of the soul which lays hold od Christ ; Which receives and em« bim, and thereby partakes of him. It is the act, on our part, b) which we v- oeive that which makes us Christians. < ":m;i i doth truly dwell in our by faith ; and those who have this faith are said to live by the faith of the Sou of Clou, and to !'<■ children of Gon by faith in Ciikist Jksi -. And all who ht\\ • this faith, and quently, have this indwelling Spibit, arc in Christ — truly and literally are ne* creatures in Christ — are blessed with all spiritual blessings iu Christ, and arc ac- cepted in the !i loved. And because with- out this faith, we can never obtain any of things, we arc said to be justified by faith only. Those who arc justified by faith, therefore, are not justified on ac- count of any act, or deed, or righteous- ness of their own, but on account of the msness of Christ, in whom they are found ; that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of Gon by faith. The new life of the Christian, there- fore, results from his participation in the 'tropic life of the Redeemer; im- parted by the indwelling of the Holy- Ghost ; received by faith on our part. And those to whom this life is so imparted, are freely justified for the merits and righteousness of Christ, graciously reck- oned to the account of those who are thus found in him, not in any outward and fictitious way, but in truth and in reality, in consequence of their participation in that life, in which that righteousness and holiness dwells. As, by partaking in the life of Adam, we are partakers of his nature, and of the corruption inherent in that nature ; so, by partaking of the life of the Redeemer, we are partakers of his nature, and of the holiness and righteous- ness inherent in that nature. And from the time that the Christian enters into communion with that life, he is regarded as being in Christ ; as partaking in all that he has done and suffered for us ; as being already complete in the beloved ; because he has in himself, potentially, or in germ, the entire result of his Christian life. To this justification man comes as a feeble, helpless, fallen, sinful being, unable to do any thing i" prepare himenTf for it; without ability to d< the Spirit gives him the will, and unable to seek it, except when the Spirit works with him w hen he has thai will, i and faith alone% is the onlj instrument ox means he can employ. And when this is exercised, and ( Christ dwells in our hearts by faith, Gon regards us as just, freely, for Christ's sake, because of our \< pation in those merits inherent in that life which has been imparted to US. 7. Of the time and manner of this change, and of its final result. Thechurch does not consider this change, as such, a re-creation of the soul; nor yet, as such a re-endowment of it with any powers or faculties lost in the fall, as would render it cither sudden, sensible, or perfect. But she regards the effect of the new life of the Christian, imparted to him through the indwelling and co-operating influence of the Holy Ghost, as of such a nature, that it will not ordinarily be sudden, nor immediately sensible, and never at once perfect. The church holding that the Christian bears a relation to Christ, similar to that borne by the man to Adam, expects to find some analogy between the natural and spiritual birth, and also be- tween the development of the spiritual and natural life ; — some correspondence be- tween the spiritual birth of the Christian, and of him from whom they have their birth. And as it believes the reality of that infancy and childhood, in which the Lord Jesus appeared, so it believes the reality of a spiritual infancy and child- hood in every one who derives his spirit- ual life from that Divine fountain and source. When, therefore, we arc born of God, we are born babes in Christ. This, she supposes, follows necessarily from the whole tenor of Holy Writ. The church also teaches, that the life of the truly Christian man increases in strength and power, as it is developed in action. It is as leaven in a measure of meal ; or like seed, producing first the blade, then the ear ; and after that, the full corn in the ear. Hence arises the ne- cessary connection between faith and works. Faith, on the part of man, being that act which consummates, and the only 244 HISTORY OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. thing which can consummate the union between Christ and the Christian, ne- cessarily involves all the consequences re- sulting from that union. Hence, that obedience which springs from the new life in the soul, is a necessary result from the life itself. A living faith, that is, a faith which so lays hold upon and em- braces Christ, that we may live and dwell in him, and he in us, will be follow- ed by obedience and good works. Good works, therefore, do necessarily spring out of a true and lively faith ; insomuch, that by them a lively faith may be as evi- dently known, as a tree is discerned by its fruit. As a living body of a man exer- ciseth such things as belong to a natural living body, so, the soul that hath a lively faith, will be ever doing those things that belong to such a life. Hence, also, al- though good works, which are the fruits of faith, and follow after justification, can- not put away sin, they are the necessary evidence that we are justified ; for, as no man is justified, until he is made partaker of the righteousness and merits of Christ, so none who are partakers of that, will ! fail of producing the fruits thereof. Con- sequently, when these fruits are altogether wanting, there is no true and living faith, nor any spiritual life. The church also teaches, that the de- | velopment and growth of the Christian life causes a continual struggle between j the corrupt life which we have inherited from Adam, and the spiritual life which we received from Christ. The new life imparted to the Christian, does not extin- i guish the natural life, but is in addition to it, being inserted, as a germinating point, into the very centre of the old life, in or- der that it may work a change in its moral character, without destroying, in any respect, its proper personal identity. The new life of the Christian, after the example and pattern of him from whom this life proceeds, is joined with our na- tural life, in a manner analagous to the union of the Deity with the human soul, in the person of our Lord, so as event- ually to change the entire moral cha- racter, without any change in the identity of our natural life. And these two dif- ferent principles of life, co-existing toge- ther in man, both retain their different characteristics, and consequently, are per- petually at warfare, until the human be- comes entirely pervaded by and assimilat- ed to the Divine. This constitutes the Christian warfare — this is the law of the members which wars against the law of the mind, bringing the Christian into cap- tivity to the law of sin. Hence the need of watching, fighting, praying, duties which form so important a part of the Christian course. The struggle which the Christian is compelled to maintain, ceases at death ; but not the consequences of that struggle. The body of sin and death which we re- ceived from our first parents is put- off, along with that body in which that sin and death inhered. The natural life now becomes so completely transfused with the spiritual life which had before been strug- gling with it, as to participate in all the righteousness and holiness of him from whom we received that life. But this is not all. The example and pattern of the Captain of our Salvation, is to be still further followed. That life which has been received from the person of Christ, is a life which has organized a body for him, and from which, the body in which he now dwells, was derived. In order, therefore, to realise the Apostolic descrip- tion of that future state, when we shall be like him who has redeemed us from the grave, that regenerated life must put on a body, fashioned like unto his glorious body ; and a body, too, which like his own glorified body, must be derived from that body in which that life had lived. The new body must be raised up from the old, as truly as the body in which the Saviour rose, was the body in which he died ; and as truly as the body in which he now lives, is the body in which he rose from the tomb. When the man dies, therefore, the body dies, and the sin and death inhering in it, expires. But not so the life, nor yet the body. The life lives on, while the body sleeps — the one wait- ing the sound of the Archangel's trump, to wake the other from the slumber of its death. And when this is done, the spirit- ual body shall spring forth from the ashes of the material ; the corruptible shall put on incorrruption, and the mortal shall put on immortality. HI8T0R\ OF THE PROTECTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. resurrection bodies of the saints, therefore, will be the continuation of thai liich nivified then- material bodies, s,» that ill-' personal identity of the wtan will be retained, though the material ele- ments which composed the frame-work of hit corruptible body, at the time of his death, be cast off. This body will be the result of that spiritual life which has been implanted in the Christian ; the out-burst of that lilt* which had lived in his mortal body lure on earth — a continuation of his personal identity, by actual continuity of life, aa truly as the life of the plant is a continuation of the life of the seed from which it sprung. The mortal body that was laid in the tomb, becomes itself the womb of that spiritual body, which, fashioned like unto our Lord's most glo- rious body, shall spring forth from it, when the trump of God shall call the sleeping dead to judgment. In regard to the resurrection bodies of the finally impenitent, the church, like the Scriptures, is silent. But there are plain intimations in the teaching of both, that the resurrection bodies of the saint and the sinner will not be alike. That body which is raised in glory, through the quickening spirit of the second Adam, and which obtains the victory through its participation in the life and nature of Christ, cannot belong to those who shall go away into everlasting punishment, the smoke of whose torment shall ascend up forever and ever. That period which elapses between death and the resurrection, in which the condition of all is fixed, and a degree of happiness or misery experienced, is usually called the Intermediate State. The con- dition of those, therefore, who have died in the faith, is one of peace and rest, of joj and felicity in the Paradise of God, but not of perfect consummation of bliss in the highest heaven above. It is that same place, and that same condition, in which the Redeemer was, before he as- cended to the Father, and in which David now is, who, we are told, is not yet as- cended into heaven. With all these, as belonging to the mystical body of Christ, we may enjoy communion through the Head, by means of that Spiritual life which we have received from the Head, so thai a commemoration of the faithful departed m a\ 08 proper, and |'i".i\ I communion with them appropriate. There are some doctrinal and practical consequences gro* ing out of the pi ing, which the church deems too import- ant to be overlooked, or forgotten. If it be true, as the church teaches, thai the union of the Ihvine and human which took place in the person of our LoKD, is perpetuated in the church, and repeated in the Christian, and that this union is wrought in us, as in him, by the power of the Holy Ghost, then the general conse- quences that followed that union in him, must follow in us. Consequently, the whole history of our Lord's sojourn in the flesh, beside being so many steps in our redemption, is intended as an exam- ple, and all his children should endeavor to follow his footsteps. His infancy and childhood, therefore, compel us to believe a real infancy and childhood in the spiritual man. It also requires us to believe that the life which begets us anew unto God, by which we were made sons of God, requires suitable nourishment for its perfection and growth, as truly as the natural life itself. His submission to parental authority, and his filial affection ; his love and benevolence towards the race, are examples for his children. His patient waiting to the law- ful age before entering the ministry, and his legal induction into the office, are de- signed to teach us that we too must wait for the appointed time, and execute in a lawful manner any duty devolving upon us, or any mission committed to our care. The Baptism of our Lord, also, was designed to teach us an important truth ; for, since he saw fit to receive in the or- dinance of Baptism, of his own Divine Spirit, — of that Spirit which proceedeth from his own person, as well as from the person of the Father, those who would receive of the same Spirit from him, must seek it in the same sacrament. In- d ed, no reason can be given why this outward ordinance was submitted to, by him in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, — why he should re- ceive of his own Spirit, in a visible form, except that it was done for our example. So, also, the temptation in the wilderness 246 HISTORY OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. teaches us at once, the reality' of our temptation to sin by the powers of dark- ness, the passions of humanity to which such temptations are most likely to be ad- dressed, and the mode in which they are to be repelled and overcome. Thus the church sees in the personal history of her Lord, an interest and an importance which other modes of teaching cannot perceive. And herein lies the reason, and is seen the significance of those festivals which commemorate the leading events of that history ; which will be noticed under an- other head. 8. Of the perpetuity of the change thus produced. The church teaches that as the change produced in man results from an indwelling and co-operating influence of the Holy Ghost, it will continue only so long as the co-operation continues ; and consequently, if man himself ceases to work, the Spirit of God will be with- drawn, and his spiritual life becoming ex- tinct, he will again become the servant and slave of sin. That this 'is not likely to happen, we believe; that it never will hap- pen, when man is faithful, is certain. But the church takes the possibility of such an event for granted, and bases upon it some of her most touching and powerful exhor- tations to watchfulness and duty. 9. Of the use of means. The church teaches that the means of grace may be available to all, and are essential to the Christian. And to render these more sure and certain in their effect and operation, she has prescribed a form of service in which all the great and leading events of the Gospel are brought before the minds of her children, in connection with those Scriptures of the Old Testament, upon which the foundation of the New must rest. The leading characteristics of this order of service are two : — the prominence which it gives to the teaching of Holy Writ, and the faithfulness with which it holds up the example of her Lord and Master as a pattern for her children to follow. IV. ORDER OF SERVICE, AND FESTI- VALS. The church believing that the word of God is alone able to make us wise unto salvation, gives that the first and chief place and prominence in all her service, both for Sundays and other days. Every day in the year has its appropriate service prescribed, both for morning and evening, which is to be observed whenever practi- cable. The Sundays like all other days have their appropriate lessons, consisting of a selection of one lesson from the Old Testament, and one from the New, both for morning and evening, with selections from the Gospels and Epistles for every morning. Where the daily service is ob- served the whole Bible will be read through each year, and the book of Psalms once every month. But as this is not practica- ble in all places, the Sunday and Holy- day services are so arranged, that all the leading facts of the Gospel, and the more important portions of the Old Testament will be read, so that the punctual atten- dant upon the services of the church, will become well acquainted with the general outline of Scripture history, and have a good general knowledge of all the doc- trines of the Gospel, even if he learns nothing of either, save in church. This will be rendered more obvious by a brief description of the service itself. The church begins the circle of her holy year with the observance of Advent, which always comprises four Sundays previous to the 25th of December, and is observed as a season of preparation for the appearance of Christ in the flesh. The Nativity, commonly called Christ- mas-day, observed on the 25th of Decem- ber, is a commemoration of the mystery of the Incarnation, with a consideration of its consequences to the world. This is followed by a commemoration of St. Stephen, who first suffered martyrdom for the cause of Christ, — of St. John, the beloved and faithful disciple, and the Holy Innocents who were sacrificed to the cruelty of Herod, on the Saviour's ac- count. The Circumcision of Christ is observed on the first of January, being eight days subsequent to the time of the Nativity. On the 6th of January, the festival of the Kpiphany is observed, being in comme- moration of the manifestation of Christ by the star in the East, and also by the descent of the Holy Ghost at the time of HI8T0M OF THE PROTECTANT EPI8COPAL CHI R< H. I iptism, both of which arc buj i,. have taken place at this time. Prom Chriatmaa to the Epiphany, the assump- tioa of human nature by Chris*, ia espe- eially Bel forth; from Epiphanj toSeptu- agesinta, his glory ami divinitj arc made know n. The order of services from Epiphany to Lent, an- worthy of raivfui observa- tion. It commemorates the gifts offered l>\ the arise nun to our Lord, and ex- horts us t<> make a similar use of all things conferred upon us, and especially, that are offer ourselves a holy sacrifice unto God by Christ. It rehearses the first miracle wherein the Son of Goo displayed his glory and goodness in administering to the sities of others, and exhorts us that uc use the gifts enjoyed by us as our Saviour did, for the benefit of others. It relates the miraculous cure of certain con- tagious bodily diseases, and warns us against the contagious sins of pride, ma- lice, and revenge. Then follows the ac- count of Christ's miraculous power in stilling the winds and the waves ; which is understood to be emblematic of those who destroy the peace and harmony of the church, accompanied by the prayer that God would preserve it safe, amid all the tempests and troubles which surround it. Then follows the petition that God would keep his church and household continually in his true religion, rendered more espe- cially important by the prospect of his speedy coming to judgment, set forth in the Scriptures for the days, in order that we may be like him, when he shall appear in power and great glory. These general considerations bring us to what is called Septuagesima, or seventy days from Good Friday ; which with the two following Sundays, called Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima, are regarded as pre- paratory to the season of Lent. The service now exhorts us to works of absti- nence and self-denial, reminds us that the vineyard of God is no place for the idle loiterer ; and that all must work if they would- receive their reward. The example of St. Paul is now brought forward as one who was eminent for works of mortifica- tion and self-denial, and we arc reminded of the danger of an external profession of faith, unless we bring forth the fruits there- of. V \i are sn n minded that all other works are of little profit unl panied by faith anil charity, whu h brings us to the season of A- n \ Th'' first das of Lent is known | Wednesday^ because i' was anciently the custom, and is even now to some extent for penitents, or those under discipline, to conic to church on that day, their li'-ads Sprinkled with ashes, and their bodies clothed in sackcloth, — a practice th often observed by the whole co The season of Lent, which includi days, exclusive of Sundays, the church never observing that day as a last, i. on' of especial humiliation, fasting, and prayer. The service exhorts us to patience in afflic- tion, in view of Christ's victory over temp- tation,— to abstinence and temperance as following our Saviour's example, and as a means of attaining unto his reward in that New Jerusalem above, which is the mother of us all. The last week in Lent, is called Passion Week, because in that the Passion itself is commemorated. The Sunday of this week is called Palm Sunday, being the day of our Lord's triumphal entrance into Jerusalem, when branches of palm trees were scattered by the way-side ; and the whole period is devoted to a consideration of the circumstances attending the sacri- fice of the true Paschal Lamb. Good Fri- day, the last day of Lent, commemorates the crucifixion in the language of St. John, who alone, of all the Apostles, stood by the cross and saw it. And as on this day the Lord of Glory gave up his life for his enemies, so the church prays for them all, Jews, Turks, Infidels and Heretics. The evening of the Saturday following is Easter Even, and is devoted to a con- sideration of Christ's body, as lying in the tomb, and of his soul, as having de- scended into the place of departed spirits, — that place which is usually described as the Intermediate State. The day following is called East* -r Sunday, because it commemorates the Resurrection, and its benefits. Tl vice following this festival, exhorts those who have put on Christ in baptism, to rise from sin to newness of life, as he had done, of whose death they had been made partakers, and exhorts to an imitation of 248 HISTORY OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. forth in his holy life ; especially incumbent on us, because of the greatness of our Redemp- tion. Forty days after Easter the Ascension is commemorated, and ten days after that, the descent of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, now known as Whit- Sunday ; with their attendant conse- quences. The church, having now fol- lowed the personal history of her Lord, from his cradle to his grave, and from the grave to glory, — and having considered the descent of that quickening, strengthen- uiding Spirit, which the Father sent the name of the Son, turns to a consideration of the unity of these adora- ble persons, in the ever-blessed Trinity, and hence calls the day, Trinity Sunday. And from thence to the time of Advent again the gifts and graces of the Spirit, — the duty and destiny of the Christian form the leading idea in all the service. The church thus presents her children with an annual consideration of the most important events in the life and character of him who is our example and pattern, in such time and order as is best adapted to make the deepest impression upon the minds and hearts of those, who listen diligently, and in faith to the tenor of her teaching. V. OF THE CHURCH. According to the teaching of the church, as we have seen, we become Christians, in consequence of our participation in the Tlieanthropic life of the Redeemer — in that life which now dwells in his glorified body in heaven, and which, being imparted to us, by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, becomes the principle of a new and holy life in us. The Christian Life, therefore, has its origin in Christ, parta- king of the two-fold nature united in him, — and its operation is that of a new life : introduced into the very centre of our ! being, gradually transforming our souls, 1 and transfusing our bodies, renewing them after his own likeness, in that right- eousness and true holiness which fill his own divine and heavenly person. Now that new creation which is in Christ Jesus, which is to create us anew unto God, being something independent of and external to us, must be conveyed to us, and be received by' us, before it can become operative in us. The means by which we receive this life, is, as we have seen, faith : the medium by which it is conveyed to us, is the Church. The church, therefore, is the body in which the life- stream of salvation is made to flow on from age to age, and from which it is im- parted to all those who become partakers of the divine nature. It is an institution founded by Christ, — proceeding forth from his loins, — animated by his Spirit, and through which, as its necessary origin, the revelation of God in Christ becomes effective in the history of the world. It is, therefore, a true, living, organic body, the depository and continuation of the Thcantliropic life of the Redeemer ; and is, therefore, visible and invisible, external and internal, having a divine and human, an ideal and real, an earthly and human nature. The church, therefore, is the mother from which we derive our Chris- tian life, and to which, therefore, we owe continued obedience and subjection. This body, as has already been shown, was founded in the Incarnation ; and rests on the fact, that the union of the divine and human in the person of our Lord, must in some way be communicated to us. And since that Theanthropic life, must also be our life, we must derive it from that body in which alone this life can dwell. And since there is but one life, derived from one fountain and source of life, the church in which that life resides, must also be one. There is, therefore, in the church of Christ, an absolute oneness of origin, and must be an absolute oneness of faith ; for there is but one life that can be given, and but one faith by which it can be recceived. And this one faith it is the duty of all to keep perfect and entire, and whoever rejects it, does so at the peril of his soul. We may separate ourselves from the body of Christ, but we cannot divide it. We may deny the faith, but cannot separate it. This church, — the body, — the fulness of him that filfeth all in all, — is one body, — in which, there in one Spirit, — into which, we are baptized by one baptism, — into which the Father gatheretfa together all things in Christ, in whom, we are ac- HI8T0R1 OF THE PROTB8TANT BPI8COPAL CHI RCH. cepted in the belovcdj and over which, - one * •'"> and Father of all, who ii over all, and through all, and in all, This unity is nol that resulting from the Bsemblage of independent indi\ id- uals, but it is a In ing, mystical and spir- itual union of different members, all par- of the same living spirit, by virtue of their union with the same living body. This living, organic body, is the deposi- tory and continuation of tin* life of the Redeemer, in which it Hows on from age . and from which it is made to flow into the persons of his people. That life that lives genetically in Christ, and spe- cifically in the Christian, lives also his- torically or continuously in the church ; as that generic life which is in Adam, is ally in every one descended from him, and historically in the race. It is, in both cases, the same organic life-stream, from age to age, reaching down from the head through all the members. As human- ity has its common life in Adam, so Chris- tianity has its common life in Christ, the second Adam. Hence the union of the Christian with Christ, is so deep, inti- mate, and all-pervading, that if Christians, we are in Christ by a true and real union with him, and our bodies even, are members of Christ. And through a mu- tual participation in this common life, we are members one of another, so that if one member suffers, all must suffer with it, or if one rejoice, all must rejoice. We are also joined to the head, through member- ship in the body, as branches to the vine, so that personal piety can no more come to perfection, apart from an inward and outward communion with that life, which is in the church, than a limb can flourish when separated from the parent stock. This body, however, is not the glorified body of our Lord, in which he dwelt while here upon earth, and in which he ascended into heaven, and in which he now sits at the right hand of the Father. Nor is it that body, universally expanded, so as to be equally ubiquitous with the Deity that dwells in it, as some teach, nor yet, that body miraculously multiplied for sacramental purposes, as others teach ; for that body has its local presence only in heaven. The church holds, that God in < 'n in i r, i> the medicine whii h doih cure the world, and that it it by the receipt of this medicine that we an everj i But t Ihrist'i Incarn itloo and Pat don oan be rendered available to no man'i who it not partaker of Christ, and that we cannot participate him without hi sencr. Vet she holds, thai nothing of ChSIIT which is limited, — nothing which is created, — that neither the BOUl nor the body of Christ, and consequently that not Christ as man, nor Christ aco >rdihg to his human nature, can be every wh'ie present; so that the substance of CHsnr't body hath no presence, andean have none, but only local. Nor yet is his presence merely that of his Deity, since the perfect union of the two distinct natures in one person, so as never to be divided, necessa- rily supposes, that where his Divinity is present, there his humanity is in some sort present also. And this presence is that new life resulting from the union of both, which, though its proper body has its local session, only at the right hand of God, does nevertheless extend its influence, so far at least, as the needs of a redeemed humanity may require. Since, then, the spiritual life of the Christian, is that Tfieanthrcqric life which dwells in the glorified body of our Lord, and since that life can only be communica- ted to us by union with him, and since that body to which this life belongs has its local presence only in heaven ; it follows neces- sarily, that there must be a medium by which the life of that body may be com- municated to the Christian. And that medium is the church. Hence, as has already been remarked, the church is an institution founded by Christ, proceeding from his loins, animated by his Spirit, and through which alone, as its necessary organ, the revelation of God in Christ becomes effective in the history of the world. This body, though not that glorified body which dwells in heaven, is literally and truly the body of Christ, bearing a relation to Christ, analogous to that borne by Eve to Adam. As Eve was formed out of the substance of Adam, — as she was the depository and continuation of his own life, — the bearer of his own nature in another form from that in his own per- 32 250 HISTORY OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. son : so, the church is formed out of the very wounded and bleeding side of the Son of Man, so that the words of Adam and Eve may be fitly spoken by Christ concerning iiis church ; flesh of mj and bone of my bone, a true native extract out of mind and body. As Eve was formed out of the substance of Adam, and par- took of his life, in order that, being at once a part of himself, she might become the mother of his children ; so, the church was formed out of the very substance of the Saviour, and bears his life, that it may become the mother of all the sons of God. And all who partake of this life that flows on in this body, are said to be born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorrup- tible, by the Word of God which liveth and abideth forever. This church is visible as well as invisi- ble, external as well as internal, having a human and earthly, as well as a divine and heavenly nature. This follows from the fact that the church has its foundation in the Incarnation ; for the body which is the depository, and continuation of the life of him who united the divine and human na- ture in his own person, must possess both. There must be an outward and visible or- ganization, embodying an internal and in- visible spirit, in the one case, as truly as in the other. And the spirit must be that by which the body lives, while the body must be that by which the spirit acts. Consequently, the visible church must not only have the authority of Christ, in which to act, but it must have his spirit by which to act. Any body which has not this spirit, is not the body of Christ, and any spirit without such body, is not a body in any proper sense of the language. And this necessity of an union between the visible and invisible, is the foundation on which the sacraments and ministry are made to rest. VI. THE SACRAMENTS. We have seen that, according to the teaching of the church, that which, makes us Christians, that is, sons of God, is the true and substantial life of the Incarnate Word ; that this life flows on from age to acre in the church, from which it passes over into our persons ; and that it is by faith we receive of the same. Now, since the which is to save us, and the church by which this grace is conveyed to us, are both external to and independent of man, it is necessary that we should in some way be united to the body, wherein this life stream of salvation is found, that faith may receive of the life that Kve8 therein ; and may live and grow thereby. And such means are the sacraments. The sacraments, therefore, arc outward and visible signs of an invisible and spi- ritual grace, by which God works invisi- bly in us ; which signs have been ordained by Christ, as means by which we receive that grace, and a pledge that we do receive it. But their operation is neither physical nor magical, but moral and spiritual, and therefore, inoperative, unless received ac- cording to the Saviour's institution. Their object is, to re-connect man, who, since the fall, has been sundered from his true life in God, to that body in which this life resides, in order that IT may restore him to that holiness and righteousness which alone can commend him to the favour of his God. This was the object of the Incarnation, — the one great sacra- ment of the gospel, and hence, also, of all those lesser sacraments which are but imitations and copies of this, and from which they derive all their force and effect. Of such sacraments, there are only two, Baptism and the Lord's Supper ; the out- ward and visible sign of the first being water administered in the name of the Holy Trinity ; of the other bread and wine duly set apart and consecrated for that purpose, siven and eaten in the name of Christ. The church does not regard the amount of water, nor the mode of its application in baptism, nor the nature of the bread in the eucharist, as at all essen- tial to the sacrament. VII. OF BAPTISM. Baptism, according to the church, is not onlv a sign of our profession, a mark by which Christian men are distinguished from those who are not Christians, but is also a sign of regeneration or new birth, whereby, as by an instrument, they that receive it rightly, are regenerate and crafted into the church, the body of 0R\ OK THE PROTESTANT BPI8COPAL CHI RCH. • ; the promises of the forgivi » is of sins .'»' '1 end » eJed ; the adoption of sonship publicly ratified and confirmed; bith established, and grace The full desigu arid effect <>f icrament can onl) be set d bj under different aspects. 1 . / \ is i s icrxunent q) /. in Christ. What the individual election of Christ was to the first hand of disci- that is baptism to the succeeding community. He called men to himself, in order that In- might impart to tin himself, and of those who accepted this invitation during his personal ministry, some were commissioned to administer to : the badge and token of that ae- ceptance. Bui this baptism was then, in some : incomplete, for the Holy i!h st had not yet been given. Since the the Comforter upon the day of . however, baptism has boon the sacrament of our election, in which we called to a participation in all those ind benefits, of which the church is made the depository, and by which we 1 unto God. It is the outward and visible union with that body, in which the life-stream of salvation is, in order that we may drink of that river of water of life, which, flowing out from the throne of God and the Lamb, shall be in us a well of water springing up into everlast- ing life. But although it is by Baptism that the church is externalized in the history of the world, Baptism does not create the church. That is a body existing independently of man and of the Sacraments, — the Sacra- ments merely uniting us to a true, organic, living body. Baptism, therefore, places the recipient even before he is aware of it, in the most intimate union with Christ, and among the members of his body, even as the man by his natural birth is placed in certain determinate relations to his fellow beings without his assent, and before he can be conscious of them. The Sacrament of Baptism, therefore, is to all intents and purposes, essentially and pro- perly infant Baptism. 2. It is the Sacrament of our predesti- nation unto life. This, according to the church, is the everlasting purpose of God, whereby (before the foundations of the earth win- laid,) be hath in pursuance of Ins plans of in., i .in- nf, con I by his counsel, secret '■> as, t«» de- liver from curse and damnation through the instrumentality of his Son, those whom hi- hath chosen in Cboust, to bring them 1»\ their voluntary participation in the benefits purchased b) Christ, t<> ererlast- inur salvation, as \ made to honor. All, therefore, who have been endued with etlent a benefit of God, as the par- ticipation of the lit<- of hi> Son, through the indwelling of his Spirit, because ac- cording to God's purpose by his Spirit working in due season, through the Sa- crament of Baptism ; they through the gracious indwelling of the Holy Ghost in the heart, obey the calling. And all who ire justified freely by reason of their participation in the righteousness and holi- ness inherent in that life which has been imparted to them, — they be made sons of God by adoption into his family, both ex- ternally and spiritually, — they be made lik<- the image of his only begotten Son Jesus Christ, through the power of his own substantial life dwelling within them, in consequence of which they walk reli- giously in good works, and at length, by God's mercy attain to everlasting felicity. According to this teaching, the recipient of Baptism is regarded ; first, as the ob- ject of grace ; as a vessel made unto honor, upon which grace is conferred : as the material (so to speak,) out of which Christ will form the work of the new creation. In Baptism, therefore, the reci- pient is united to the body of Christ, even without conscious volition, in order that he may receive of that life of the head, which must become in him the ground and cause of his Christian life. And second, the receiver is regarded as the subject of grace in which the life thus commenced may grow and increase, through further participation of the same. Under the first aspect, the recipient of Baptism is a pas- sive receiver of an ordinance in which he is elected to, and by which he is designed for holiness ; that is, set apart or predes- tinated thereto. Under the second, he is a free moral agent, following out the ob- ject of his predestination, — a growing con- formity to the Son of God. 3. It is the Sacrament of our Adoption '' 252 HISTORY OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. to be Sons of God. This Sacrament like the ancient rite of adoption, is a public act, in and by which one who bears no natural relation to another, who is a stran- ger, perhaps an enemy, is taken into his family and made to stand in the relation of son and heir. The performance of such an act is of itself the pardon, and the seal of the pardon of all former offences, and the recognition of a new and intimate re- lation existing between the parties. In this point of view the Sacrament is always operative, unless the recipient put some bar in the way; that is, unless he come to the Sacrament with personal transgres- sion unrepented of. Here, too, we see the essential nature and propriety of the Sacrament, when viewed as Infant Baptism. The infant having no personal sins to answer for, and having part in the redemption of our common humanity, comes in his personal innocence to be adopted into the family and household of its God and King. But the adult, beside his participation in the consequences of the fall, has personal guilt to answer for. And before this can be forgiven, there must be repentance. But even when repented of, the stains and consequences of sin remain in the soul, so that the infant is not only as fit a sub- ject for Baptism, as the adult, but even a more proper subject than the adult ever can be, since the unconscious child can put no bar in the way of his pardon. 4. It is the Sacrament of our initia- tion or ingrafting into the body of Christ. Ingrafting is an act by which a scion from one tree, is inserted into the stock of an- other, so that the life of the tree may flow into the branch, causing it to grow, and flourish, and bear fruit. Now we are na- turally dead branches, without any spiri- tual life ; and the design of this Sacra- ment is, so to insert us into, or connect us with that life-stream of salvation which flows on from age to age in the church, that we may receive of that life, and there- by become living branches of the body of Christ. In the process of ingrafting, the recipient is as much a passive receiver in the spiritual as in the natural world. But there is this wide difference in the effect produced. In the one case, the life of the tree flows into the ingrafted shoot, through that mutual co-operation which results from the mere laws of nature. In the other case, the active volition of a free agent is re- quisite ; that faith which alone can perfect the union between the sinner and his Sa- viour, must be in active exercise, before any flow of spiritual life takes place from the head, into the branches. Without faith, no life is imparted, the new creation is not begun. But when faith lays hold of Christ, the union is complete, life flows into the branch, and the new creation be- gins to live and grow in us. 5. Baptism- is tlie Sacrament of our Justification. Justification, as has already been shown, is that act of our heavenly Father, by which he accepts of us, as righteous, in consequence of our having received of the life of his Son, as the germ of a new life in us. We have also seen that we can receive of that life only by faith, whence it is said that we are justified by faith only. We have also seen that this life being something external to us, must be conveyed to us by means external to, and independent of ourselves ; that the medium by which the life is con- veyed is the church, and that the means by which we are so united to that body, that we may receive of that life, are the Sacraments. The body of Christ, there- fore, is the means or instrument whereby that which constitutes the grace of the Sacrament is conveyed to us ; the Sacra- ment being the bond that unites us to the body ; faith the instrument or means whereby we receive of, and participate in the life of the body. But the receipt of this living, spiritual grace, of that which renews and sanctifies the soul, is not justification. Justification is that determination of the divine mind, in Itself concerning us, which accompanies our reception of this renewing grace. Justification, therefore, being an act and not an essence, cannot be communicated though that will of God in which it con- sists may be revealed. When, there- fore, it is said that we are justified by faith, it is not meant that justification is some- thing which faith receives ; but that it is something done by our heavenly Father for us, when faith is active in us. This language is but seldom used in the formu- laries of the church, but is nevertheless an HI8T0RY OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHI RCH. m when considered under one aspect, which «r must briefly advert to. Done can be wived but through the meritfl of Christ) and that none can par- take of those merits without part in that new creation which is in him; and that »v cannot do this without faith : and th.it faith implies conscious moral action j are points already described. But infants dying before moral action, cannot have faith, and consequently, unless there were some other provision than the one already spoken of, could not be saved. We have lean, however, that although there is no development dI' consciousness in the child ; yet, that by virtue of his participation in the redemption of humanity, he may be said to long after sacramental union with God, which union it receives in the Sacra- mesl of Baptism. There is, then, in the case of the baptized infant, dying before moral action ; on the one hand sacramen- tal union with that divine life, which alone can renew and sanctify it; and on the other an undeveloped longing of its re- deemed humanity, after communion with that life ; and which is prevented only by the body of sin and death, inhering in the natural life. But death comes, pays the debt of nature, and removing the obstacle which had before prevented the communion of the soul with the life of the Redeemer, enables it to enter upon that communion for which it had secretly sighed, and pre- pares it to receive that justification by which alone it can stand in the presence of its God. 6. Baptism is the Sacrament of our Regeneratio7i. In describing the nature and effect of baptism, under the preceding heads, it has been considered more espe- cially in its objective character, as some- thing external to us, as something done for us, in which we are looked upon mainly as passive recipients. As the sa- crament of election and predestination, it has regard chiefly to the purpose of the divine mind, as manifested towards us in the same. As the sacrament of adoption and ingrafting, it has regard mainly to that change of state which is wrought for us ; to that objective outward relation which we are made to bear to God and the church. As the sacrament of justifi- cation, it has regard mainly to the favor- able disposition manifested by our h>n. vmhi Father towards na in thesani the •acrament of regeneration, it i> foresee to the internal and tpirUual effect begun or a rough! by that divine life, prof- fered t,, us in the tame. The church teaches that regeneration l»y water and the Spirit are necessary ; one as an origi- nal, inward, originating cause of spiritual life ; the other, as an outward means whereby that life is communicated, which faith is to receive, and by which the soul is to live. This sacrament joins the recipient to that organic body, in which the Thean- thropic life of the Redeemer flows on from age to age, and unites him to the life of that body, so that when faith becomes active, or the body of sin and death in- hering in the natural man, has been cast off without actual transgression, he may enter into communion with that life, be renewed unto God, and be justified by him. Yet, the sacrament does not, of itself, ac- complish either. If faith be not active, no flow of life from the head into the branches follows ; no communion will take place, and consequently, neither renewal nor justification ensue. But, because we are united to that life which is to renew us, and upon the receipt of which we shall be justified, we are said to be sacrament- ally regenerated in baptism, as we are also sacramentally justified. But though the reception of this sacrament works no change when faith is wanting, it is not without its benefits to those who cannot exercise faith. The gracious influences of the Holy Spirit are given in greater abundance to those who are citizens of the household of God, and heirs (upon condi- tion,) of his heavenly kingdom, than 10 those who are strangers to the covenants of promise, and aliens from the common- wealth of Israel. And by this influence, the life of the body is, (so to speak,) brought into contact with the ingrafted branch, waiting the first motions of faith to complete the union necessary for com- munion with that life. The sacrament presents the fountain of living water — the true blood of the Incarnate Word to the lip — faith drinks thereof. The sacrament, therefore, effects the union — faith produces communion. 254 HISTORY OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. ! 7. It is the Sacrament of Faith. The meaning of the word faith, as has already been remarked, is twofold; historical faith, by which we signify our assent to the truth of the Bible, as a matter of fact and history ; justifying faith, by which the soul lays hold of Christ, and receives him into itself. As by the one he is received into the mind, as intellectual truth, so by the other he is received into the heart, as a spiritual essence and truth. But even in this sense, the meaning of the word is twofold. First, it is objective, denoting the sub- stance of what we are to embrace ; and second, subjective, denoting the act by which we embrace it. In this last sense, faith is always a voluntary act of the mind ; something which is done by man through the aid of the Holy Ghost. Ob- jectively, faith is given to man, both in its substance and essence ; subjectively, it is embraced by man under both aspects. We are embraced by the faith before we embrace it, so that we follow after, in order that we may apprehend that by which we are apprehended. Faith, there- fore, commences, potentially, in baptism ; actually, when the soul puts forth its first conscious motions after communion with God. Now, this objective faith, which all must have, is given to us from without, as something external to ourselves, conveyed to all by the sacraments, — to the infant and the adult alike, — to both as a passive recipient, so that, in this sense, the sacra- ment is essentially infant baptism. ». It is the Sacrament of our Redemp- tion. It is only under this aspect that very much of the significance of the sacrament of baptism is made to appear. Whatever was done and suffered by the Redeemer for man, was done and suffered as the Incarnate Word. In the Incarnation, Christ took our humanity into union with his Deity, thereby raising that humanity from the darkness and degradation in which he found it. In his passion and ueath he suffered the consequences and penalty of the sin, which inhered in the very nuture of that life which constitutes our humanity, and by his resurrection brought back that renovated nature to life, thereby scouring immortality to all who partake of that nature. All those, therefore, who participate in the life that dwells in the body of Christ, partake of its Theanthro- 2>ic character as it duclls in him. It is the life that animated the human body of the Saviour, — the life that suffered, — the life that rose, and consequently, all who participate it, partake of the death and resurrection of Christ, as truly and as literally as they partake of the life in which he suffered these things. Those who partake of this life, partake of all that inheres in it, and hence in all that results from the passive suffering and active obe- dience of the Redeemer, as well as in the righteousness and holiness of the same. We are said, therefore, to be baptized into the death of Christ, in order that we may be partakers of his resurrection ; to be buried with him in baptism unto death, in order that we rise unto newness of life. It is not being buried after the similitude of his burial, but a real participation in the death of Christ, through the power of his indwelling life, communicated in the sacrament of baptism. It is thus we are co-born, co-crucified, co-buried, co-risen with Christ. The Christian passed through and suffered all these things in Christ, in the same sense, and to the same extent that the man sinned and fell in Adam. Thus it is, that we bear about in our bo- dies, the dying of the Lord Jesus, — thus that the sufferings of Christ abound in us, — thus that we know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellow- ship of his sufferings, as well as thus that we partake of the righteousness and holi- ness that abound in him. 9. It is the Sacrament of our Pardon. Hence the church confesses one baptism for the remission of sin, and teaches that infants and believing adults are herein washed from the filthiness of sin, through the sacrifice of Christ. That pardon which adoption implies, is here granted ; and that gift of the Holy Ghost which regeneration implies, is here preserved. This Sacrament being, according to the view of the church, so important, is de- clared to be generally necessary to salva- tion ; though grace is not so absolutely tied to the Sacraments, that it is never communicated without them. It is God's ordinance, and therefore binds us. But those ordinances bind not himself, though HISTORY OF THE PROTE8TANT BPII COPAL CHI RCH he linn '■■' '" Hm I"* " so thai to d Sacrament, where- maj be had, ■ lo despise the au- ■ \ in- Pounder. vill. THE LORD'S 81 PPBRj OH HOLT? i;i CHARI8T, \ • ■ ■ i to ili" teaching of the church, •rd'a Supper is a Sacramenl of bur redemption by Christ's death, insomuch, that they wh«> rightl) receive the same, do tli ireby really, but spiritually partake of the body and blood o[ Christ ; their sin- ful bodies are made clean by his body; their souls washed by his most precious bl i "1 ; ami they are filled with grace and heavenly benedictions. The church ex- horts us to remember, that in the Lord's Supper there is no vain ceremony, no sign, no untrue figure of a thing ab- sent ; hut the table of the Lord, the bread and cup of the Lord ; the memory of Christ, the annunciation of his death, communication of his body and blood through the operation of the Holy Ghost; that a marvellous incorporation is wrought in the souls of the faithful, whereby their souls live to life eternal, and their bodies win a glorious resurrection and immor- tality. In the Lord's Supper, therefore, the body and blood of Christ arc really and truly, though in a spiritual manner pre- sented to the communicant, objectively, that is, from without himself; while the recipient, by faith, takes or receives that body and blood so presented, subjectively, that is, within himself. By such reception the man is incorporated into Christ ; the life which must have been previously im- planted within him, is nourished and strengthened ; and thus both soul and body arc cleansed and purified — one pre- pared for the favor of God, and the other for the glory of the resurrection. To a clear understanding of this sub- ject, and especially to a proper explana- tion of what is meant by the presence of Christ in the Eucharist, and in what sense we are said to eat of his body and drink of his blood, the following facts must be borne in mind. It is the life, or soul of man which, under God, organizes the body, and gives unto every member of lubstanoe, quantity, in I nape, This life, which rically in \ Uly in us, — the generic identit) thereof forming the bond of our common humanity \ the • independence of it in i ach indi- vidual constituting our personal identity, Adam is in us, then rically, by Wi r of his lit'-, so thai we are bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh, because we are partakers of that Life which or- ganized and vivified his flesh and bones. In strict analogy with this, that V ihropic life which was generically in Christ, is specifically in the Christian; the generic identity of this life, forming the bond of our communion with the head and all the members of the mysti- cal body of our Lord, the specific inde- pendence thereof in each individual con- stituting his Christian personality. The Christian, therefore, is bone of Christ's bone, and flesh of his flesh, because he is partaker in that life which first organized, and now vivifies that glorified body which dwells in Heaven. When, therefore, it is said, that the body and blood of Christ are spiritually present, and are spiritually taken and re- ceived by the faithful in the Eucharist, it is not meant that they are not there, in essence and reality ; but that they are present, not bodily, or corporeally, but spiritually. And by spiritually present, is meant that the living, spiritual, vivify- ing essence, which constitutes the very life of the Son of God — that life which organizes and vivifies his body and blood, are present with, and imparted to the Christian. Consequently that flesh and blood, which are inseparably joined to this life, are also present, so far as their inmost nature is concerned. The body and blood of Christ are in the Eucharist, as Adam is in us, and Christ in the Chris- tian. But the church denies, that the cor- poreal elements of the body and blood are also communicated, or that it is necessary that they should be, to the presence and participation of the life, for the life bears the* body, not the body the life. That we shall hereafter have bodies, fashioned like unto the most glorious bodv of our as- cended Lord, is a most certain truth ; and 256 HISTORY OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. that we shall have them, because possess- ed of Divine life derived from him, is also true. But that body which shall hereafter be developed in us, comes of that life, and not of the elements of the body in which that life now dwells. And those who have this life, are said to dwell in Christ, and he in them ; to eat his flesh and drink his blood, and to live by him, even as he liveth by the Father. This life, which is first imparted in Baptism, is nourished and fed in the Lord's Supper, and those who worthily partake of the same do thereby, verily and in deed, eat and drink the flesh and blood of the Son of Man ; and hence, the full frui- tion of that holy Sacrament, renders it, as it has been called, the salve of immor- tality ; a sovereign preservation against death ; a deifical communion ; the sweet dainties of our Saviour ; the pledge of eternal health ; the defence of faith ; the hope of the resurrection ; the food of im- mortality ; the healthful grace and con- servatory to everlasting life. IX. THE MINISTRY. Having seen what is the teaching of the church, in regard to the nature of our Chris- tian life, — in regard to the source from which it comes, — in regard to the channel in which it is conveyed to us, and in regard to the means by which we become united to that body which is the channel thereof, we must now consider the agency by which these means are employed. These means, as we have seen, are two-fold in their character, internal and external. The internal means, as has been shown, is faith ; involving of course, where there is personal guilt, repentance also. In this respect man himself, aided by Divine grace, is the agent. The reception of spiritual life or grace, is his own act; but not so the conveyance thereof. The life itself, is something above and beyond him, and the body in which it dwells, something ex- ternal to, and independent of him. Hence, as we have seen, the life which must re- new our souls, must be transmitted to us, by means external to us ; and we must be united to the body in which it resides, by means independent of ourselves. The means of its transmission is the church, and the means of union with the church, are the Sacraments. It is by the Sacra- ments, therefore, that the church is exter- nalized in the history of the world, and by the Sacraments, also, that individual Christians are nourished unto everlasting life. But the Sacraments cannot adminis- ter themselves, and consequently there must be a power in the church authorized to do it ; and this power is the ministry. The ministry, according to the teach- ing of the church, is an institution of Di- vine appointment and perpetual obligation ; those who compose it, being commissioned to perform all those visible acts, relative to the church, which Christ himself per- formed towards the infant church while here on earth ; he himself standing by the meanwhile, ratifying and confirming what is lawfully and properly done in his name. This authority was first given to the Apos- tles by Christ himself, and by them com- mitted to their successors in the ministe- rial office, to be by them transmitted by other successors through all succeeding ages. Now as one of the first acts of our Saviour's personal ministry, was calling men to himself, in order that they might have communion with himself; so also, one of the first acts of the ministry offi- ciating as his representative, must be to call men by the Sacrament of Baptism, into that bodv which he has made the de- pository and continuation of his own life, in order that they may there enjoy com- munion with him through that life. And as he instructed and governed, in person, those whom he had thus personally called, and finally, in person, fed them with that Sacramental feast, which is to the faithful the word of life ; so the ministry, follow- ing his example, are to do the same. And those who are to do this, are also made watchmen and messengers of Israel, stewards of God, dispensers of his word and doctrine, as well as of his Sacraments. The true nature of the office will be seen more clearly by looking at a few of its duties and prerogatives. 1. The ministry of Baptis???. Since Baptism is the Sacrament of our election into the church, and has succeeded to the personal election of our Lord, those who administer it must do it bv the authoritv, HISTORY OP THE PROTECTANT EPI8COPAL CHI RCH. 257 I as id the MUM of Christ. The administrators must be the Agent! of Christ — Ins personal representative , truly ;is those were whom he commis- sioned m person t«>r that purpose, while on earth. The administrators must be incorporated into that organic body, wherein the life-stream of salvation Hows on from age to age, if they would unite others to the same. So, too, since Bap- tism is the Sacrament of our predestina* don to the means of life, the agent must art by the authority of him to whom those means belong. He must be the au- thorized ambassador and representative of him in whose name he officiates, or all s will be a nullity. Again: since Baptism is the Sacrament of our adojrtion to be the sons of God; the rite of initiation into the church, and the declaration of .the will of God concerning us, it is necessary that the minister thereof should have au- thority to do so. lie who attempts to adopt children into the family of another, to introduce members into the household of another, and to declare the good will of another, must have his express autho- rity for doing it, or all his acts will be in- operative and vain. The ministry, there- fore, is a representative ministry, and the members of it are ambassadors, acting in the name and by the authority of the su- preme head of the church ; and all the acts of the ambassador, done in pursuance of his office, are judged and deemed to be the act of the principal himself. It is, therefore, through the instrumen- tality of these ministerial agents that the church is externalized in this sacrament. The ministers of Baptism, therefore, are the organs by which the ideal and invisi- ble in the church, are made to assume a real and visible form ; by which the hea- venly and the spiritual are united with the earthly and the human. It is Baptism that organizes the church, — the ministry by which it is organized. 2. The mi?iistry of the Eucharist. The life which is begun in baptism, must be nourished and strengthened, in order to its perfection and growth. And this nourishment it is the design of the Eu- charist, to give. This consists of two parts, the one visible, the other invisible, one material, the other spiritual. Now the material and risible, when properly set ap.art and consecrated, becomes a means by which the invisible and spiritual i^ communicated. Ami tins consecration is performed by the act signified by those words which our Lord himself employed, when he consecrated the elements of the first euchnristic supper, in order, there. fore, that the elements of the eucharist should receive the same consecration now, as then, it is necessary that tkr art of consecration should be the same now, as then. The words spoken must be the same words, — pronounced by the same authority, either in person or by his per- sonal representatives, and if by a repre- sentative, in the presence of him who first uttered them ; the author being present performing those identical acts, whatever they may be, which he performed in the first instance, in order to make them means of grace. The act of consecration, therefore, so far as man is concerned, is purely a ministerial act, — an act that can be performed by no one to whom this ministerial power has not been committed. It is by act of Christ's ministerial representative that we are so united to the life-stream of the church to baptism, that we may have communion with that life ; and it is by the ministerial act of the same representative, that the elements in the eucharist are so united to the same, that they become means by which the faithful participate more largely in the same. The ministry, therefore, being represen- tative, and not vicarious, has no control over, and cannot prevent, either by wick- edness or want of intention, the flow of grace to the faithful. The minister being only the visible representative of an invis- ible King, does but perform the acts, and utter the words which Christ himself per- formed and uttered while here on earth, and which are as truly his acts and his words now, as then ; all gracious effect and influence depending upon the presence and active personal agency of the invisible king himself. 3. The ministry of Absolution. The church holds that the power of Government and Absolution was given to the Apostles, as ministers of the church, and by them committed to those to whom thev intrusted 33 258 HISTORY OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPxVL CHURCH. the care of the church. This absolution consists in the pardon of ecclesiastical offences, or those committed against the church, and in the declaration of God's pardon of repenting sinners. In this last sense, the ministerial representative is the mouth by which the master himself speaks, and his absolution, therefore, is a ministerial declaration of the master's acts ; that is, of forgiveness of sin to re- penting sinners. It is not a declaration of the man that he forgives the sin ; but the declaration, that, if the conditions of pardon have been complied with, God himself forgives it. It is a declaration that would be truth, if made by any one, whether a minister or not. But when pro- nounced by the ministerial representative of the supreme power, it becomes an au- thoritative truth. In one case, it is a truth of God's word, repeated by one of his creatures ; in the other, it is God's word, pronounced in God's name, by his com- mand, by the ministerial representative of Christ himself; and is thus invested with a degree of authority that it would not otherwise have. This declaration of the minister stands related to the forgiveness of the master, as the outward calling in baptism to the spiritual renewal signified by it. It is de- claring that in Christ's name, which he declared in person while here on earth. And as his act of forgiveness then was one thing, and his declaration of the act another ; as the forgiveness always pre- ceded the declaration, so it is now. He forgives, his ministers declare his forgive- ness ; not in their own names, or by their own authorit3r, but in the name, and by the authority of an invisible, but ever pre- sent kinp;, whose organs they are. 4. TJlc Ministry of reconciliation. The power of absolution involves reconcilia- tion, and presupposes the means of recon- ciliatioh. Hence the ministry to which the power of absolution has been com- mitted, must be a ministry of reconcilia- tion ; and the office must be that of recon- ciling sinners to God. Hence it is said that God, who both reconciled us to him- self by Jesus Christ, hath committed the ministry, or office of reconciliation, to the personal representatives of him by whom we are thus reconciled ; so that now, they are ambassadors for Christ, and hence ex- horting all, as though God did beseech us by them, to be reconciled unto God in Christ. To the ministry of reconciliation has been committed the word of reconciliation, so that the ambassadors of Christ are teachers as well as governors ; arc to preach, as well as to administer the sacra- ments. They are to instruct men how they may be reconciled, and to exhort them to be reconciled as well as to offer reconciliation. And as Christ came to do the will of the Father, and to declare the words which he had received from him ; so the ministry which acts in his name, and by his authority, is to do the same will, and declare the same words. And while the ministry teach no other words but his, they teach infallible truth. The church, therefore, has made the largest share of the ministers teaching to consist in the public reading of the Scriptures, which is a proclamation of the gospel, in the words of the gospel ; and the declara- ration of God's will in the language of his word. Consequently, the sermon of the minister forms but a small share of his public teaching and preaching. But though this is quite sufficient for the communication of all truth, such is the weakness and wickedness of man, that other safeguards seem to be necessary to prevent mistake and error. And these are found in those summaries of doctrine contained in the creeds, which, as has already been shown, are but the concen- tration of the sense of Scripture ; and also of those Catechisms and Articles that are formed in explanation and limitation of them. And to these every teacher and preacher is required to conform, since they are infallible truth, being proved by most certain warrant of Scripture ; being the sense of Holy Writ as apprehended and settled by the church in the first and purest ages. 5. The ministry of the priesthood. If the view taken of the ministry by the church be the true one, if it be a repre- sentative ministry, if Christ be the pattern and example of his ministers, as well as of his people, they must represent him to the world, in all those acts which admit of a true representative character. Now the HISTORY OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHI R( H. . features of our Lord's personal j irere those of Prophet, Priest, and King. As a prophet, he is the te ich< r of all, and those who are sen! in hii ij.uii ■ to teach and to preach, sre the representatives of that prophetical office, by which he now teaches and instructs his people. As a Icing, he calls men to him- self, in order thai they may have commu- nion with himself, pardons their offences, adopts them into the number of his chil- dren, rules and governs them when so caHed ami adopted; and those who arc appointed to be his ministerial representa- tives, must represent his kingly authority in all these particulars, so long as he con- tinues to exercise them. As a priest, he has offered himself, once for all, a full, complete, and perfect sacrifice, oblation and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world ; and since his ascension makes continual intercession for us. Now, as there is but one sacrifice, once offered, there can be no other sacrifice, nor any repetition of that one, so that there can never be but one priest in this sense of the word. But though the sacrifice itself cannot be repeated, the benefits flowing out therefrom need to be continually ap- plied to those for whom it was offered. And Christ has so ordered his church, that one of the chiefest means by Avhich these shall be applied to his children, is the commemoration of that sacrifice. And that eucharist by which this sacrifice is commemorated, is a commemorative sacri- fice ; and those who offer it, minister in things pertaining to the priesthood. But that act of our great high priest which admits of the truest representative character, is that of continual intercessor. Hence that ministry which is a ministry of intercession, that spiritual high priest who is ever present in his church, offering intercessions for all its members, has seen fit to appoint ministerial representatives to represent him in that character to the people, by receiving and offering their prayers and offerings to God. In this sense there is a ministry of the priesthood, and those who fill the office are a representa- tive priesthood, as under the former they are a commemorative priesthood. The ministry of the church, therefore, is the representative of our ascended Lord, m all the arts and offices which h<' him- self perform - i<>\\ ards hi i church. in ii are called to him, that the) may have communion with him. By it, the) joined to his body, that thioy ma) have communion in his life, By it, Ins word and w ill are made known, and hi mises confirmed t<» his children. By it, he himself is represent d in his thin office of prophet, priest, and king, X. ORDERS OF THE MIMsTKY. It is the teaching of the church, that from the Apostles' times there have been these Orders of ministers in Christ's church, Bishops, Priests, and Deacons ; which Orders she holds to be of divine origin and appointment, and to have been ever held in such reverend estimation, that no man might presume to execute any of them, unless he had been first called, tried, examined and known to have such qualities as are requisite to the same, and also to have been admitted thereto by prayer and the imposition of hands of those having lawful authority to do it. The type of this ministry the Church sees in the threefold orders of the Jewish priesthood, and in that threefold ministry which the Saviour established during his personal administration upon earth. And as before him, there were the high priest, the priests, and the Levitcs ; and as in his day, there were himself, the Apostles, and the seventy ; so since his ascension into heaven, there are bishops, priests or pres- byters, and deacons. And as the high priesthood was one , and as his own head- ship was one ; so now, the Episcopate is one. 1. Bishops. But as the borders of the Christian church, were to be much more extensive than those of the Jewish, and as the proper oversight and government of the whole could not be performed by one man, and for numerous other reasons, the members of the Episcopate were increased, without multiplying or dividing the office. The master appointed as many individuals to succeed in his office as overseer and governor of the church, as there were tribes in Israel, and these have uniformity appointed bishops for every nation, people, and tribe of man, that has embraced the Gospel. But the office, by whomsoever 260 HISTORY OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. held, or whensoever placed, is the same; and no bishop has or can have any author- ity over other bishops, except such as is derived from canonical regulation, and no precedency, or primacy which does not depend solely upon human arrangement. Bach bishop becomes, by virtue of his or- dination, a bishop of the church catholic, and though limited by canon and custom in the exercise of his orrice, to certain local limits called his diocese, would, upon the demise of all other bishops, become at once, bishop of the whole catholic church. Consequently, no bishop is subject, or responsible to any other bishop ; though every bishop is responsible to those holding the same orrice, inasmuch as the parts of a body must always be responsible to the whole. To this Order alone, belongs the minis- try in its completeness ; only portions of it being shared with the inferior orders. To this Order and office belong the exclu- sive right ; (1) of conferring Episcopal, or Apostolic authority upon others, by or- dination or consecration ; (2) ordaining presbyters and deacons ; (3) of confirming those who have been baptized, by prayer and laying on hands, thereby publicly re- ceiving them to the communion of the church ; (4) of ruling over presbyters and deacons ; (5) of administering the disci- pline of the church ; (6) to preside in all councils of the church, and declare the judgment of the same. 2. Priests or Presbyters. The second Order of the ministry exercises a portion of the priesthood, in common with the bishops. The powers and duties, held in common with, and to be exercised under the direction of the bishop, are: (1) to teach and instruct the people, by reading and expounding the Scriptures ; (2) to rule in particular congregations and ad- minister discipline therein ; (3) to feed the members thereof with the spiritual food and nourishment afforded by the Holy Eucharist ; (4) to watch over and direct the conduct of those over whom they are placed ; and (5) to give their concurrence to the ordination of presbyters by laying on hands with the bishop ; so that the or- dination shall be by the laying on of the bishop's hands, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. 3. Deacons. The deacon has part of the ministerial office ; but, properly speak- ing, no share in the priesthood. He exer- cises no act of concurrence in the ordina- tion of other deacons, and is never per- mitted to consecrate the elements of the Eucharist, though he may assist in their distribution ; and is not permitted to pro- nounce the declaration of absolution. His duties, held in common with bishops and presbyters, and to be performed under the direction of the bishop and his presbyters, are : (1) to receive and distribute the alms of the church ; (2) to baptize, which is a ministerial, and not a priestly act ; (3) to preach, when specially licensed therefor ; (4) to assist their superiors in administer- ing the discipline of the church ; and (5) to sit in councils at the formation of rules and canons for the government and regu- lation of the church. The theory and teaching of the church, suppose that there will be a presbyter and one or more deacons in every congrega- tion. But the circumstances of the church in this age and country, will not permit her to realize this feature of her polity in action. Hence, the deacon is necessarily deprived of the experience and instruction which the church desires him to receive from his association with one older and more experienced in things of this nature. And hence, too, the deacons are necessa- rily advanced to the priesthood in less time than the church desires ; sometimes to the injury of the individual, or the dis- advantage of the church. Before a person can be admitted as a candidate for holy orders in the Protestant Episcopal Church, in the United States, he must have acquired a certain amount of literary qualification, have received the testimonial of one Presbyter, and a com- petent number of laymen, that for a given number of years preceding, he has lived honestly, piously, and soberly, and has not to their knowledge or belief, held or taught any doctrines contrary to God's word, as received and believed in that church. He must then be approved by the Standing Committee or Bishop's Coun- cil, and be received by the Bishop, when he will have a probation of three years to pass through, in which he is required to pursue a given course of theological studies, HI8T0R1 OF THE PKOTE8TANT EPISCOPAL < Hi RCH. 26] and to !*• evimmed .it I. a>t lour limes, !>y i w . > or more Presbyters appointed b) ili«- Bishop for t ii •* t jnirj«>sr, to irhbm also he is required to exhibit a specified Dumber of Sermons. Having passed through all these prc- timinariea t<> the satisfaction <>f the exa> liiui.Ts, and having procured s testimonial similar to the one above described, and having undergone another examination l»v other Presbyters in the presence of the Bishop, he is presented to the Bishop by some Presbyter tor Ordination. The Bish- op now warns the Presenter to take heed, thai these presented be apt and meet for their learning end godly conversation, to exercise the ministry to the honor of God, and the edifying of his church. He then makes proclamation, that if any one knows just cause whv the candidate should not be admitted to the Holy Order of Deacons, he should then make it known. If no ob- jections are made, he then proceeds to the Ordination. There are, however, certain dispensations which may be made by the Bishop, in the secular learning of certain candidates otherwise well qualified for the sacred office, and certain other dispensa- tions which may be made in the time of those candidates, who have full literary qualifications, or have been ministers in other denominations of Christians. A Deacon who has satisfactorily exer- cised his ofHce for one year or more, who has received a call to the Rectorship of some Parish, or to the performance of other appropriate clerical duty, under the ecclesiastical authority of the Diocese, and has received testimonials similar to those already described, may be admitted to the Priesthood. And no person can be or- dained to either office, until he declares in writing, his belief that Holy Scripture contains all things necessary to salvation, and promises conformity to the doctrines and worship of the Protestant Episcopal Church. Before a person can be consecrated a Bishop in this church, he must have ar- rived at the age of thirty, and except in case of Missionary Bishops, must have been elected by a majority of the Clergy and Laity of the Dioeese where he is to officiate, voting separately, bv orders; and have received from the body electing him, testimonials declaring thai th< licve him to !*• of sufficient l< ami sound faith, of \ irtuoui and pure manners, of godl) conversation, not justly liable i<> evil repoi i, ejtii.i for error is reiij vicipusness <>f life, apt and met i to eise the office to the honor of God, and the edirj ing of his church, and that he w ill be a wholesome example t<» the /lock of Christ. He must also have a similar testi- monial from a majority of the Clergy and Laity, composing the liens'- of Delegates in General Convention, or from the Stand- ing Committees of a major part of the Dioceses in the union; and finally be or- dained by at least three Bishops. XL THE LAITY. The church does not make the same rigid exactions of the Laity, as of the Clergy. She receives those to her com- munion who are unlearned, as well as the learned, — those weak in the faith, as well as the sound — but she receives them not to doubtful disputation. Before, however, any one can be admitted into the church by Baptism, he must by himself or his sponsors, profess his belief of all the arti- cles contained in the Apostle's creed, — must renounce the devil and all his works, the vain pomp and glory of the world, with all covetous desires of the same, promising by God's help, not to follow or be led by them ; but to keep his holy will and commandments, and to walk in the same, all the days of their life. Before he can be received to the communion, he must renew his Baptismal vow and have been admitted thereto, in the rite of Con- firmation, or be desirous of doing so, and must give satisfactory evidence that he is in love and charity with his neighbors, and intends to lead a new life, following all the commands of God. The powers and duties of the Laity are held to be: 1st. To assemble themselves upon Sundays and other set days for public worship, religious instruction, and celebra- tion of the Eucharist. 2d. When so as- sembled, all are expected to take part in the service, according to the form or order prescribed by the church. 3d. To con- tribute for the support of the public ser- vices of the church. 4th. And for the 262 HIS TORY OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. wants of the poor of the church. 5th. To aid in sending the Gospel to those without it. 6th. By mutual kindness and assist- ance to do all in their power to promote the welfare of the brethren. 7th. To those having the rule over the church. 8th. To aid their rulers in executing the discipline of the church. 9th. To give testimonials to those who are to be admit- ted to Holy Orders; and 10th. To give j their assent to canons framed for the government of the church. Such is the church's view of the powers and duties of her ministers and members, copied as ex- actly as possible from what she believes to have been the Apostolic and Primitive order and organization, to which she refers all questions of discipline as well as of doctrine. I XII. LEGISLATURE OF THE CHURCH. As the church is divine as well as hu- man, with an external and visible consti- tution, as well as an internal and spiritual life, so, in its external constitution even, it partakes of both characters ; parts of its arrangements depending on Divine au- thority, and part being left to human ar- rangement. To this last point alone, does the proper legislative jx>urr of the church extend. The church supposes that all her doctrines have been definitely settled by the teaching of Holy Writ, as received and believed in the earliest ages, and that the nature of the Sacraments, with the Orders and Powers of the Ministry, rest upon the same authority. These form part of the constitution of the church, by virtue of their divine appointment and au- thority, and may not be changed or set aside. These God hath set in the church, and man may not remove them. But the particular mode in which these powers are to be exercised, is left to the direction of the church itself. In the Protestant Epis-opal Church in the United States,the following is the plan adopted. 1. Parishes. These consist of those bodies of baptized Christians which hav* associated tor the purpose of enjoying re- ligious ordinances, a^rording to the rites and ceremonies of this church, together with such others as may choose to unite with them. Persons, so associated, have the power of meeting at such times and places as they shall deem expedient, of regulating the internal concerns of the parish, in any manner not inconsistent with the constitution and canons of this church, of choosing their own officers, levying such taxes as they desire, and of choosing delegates to a diocesan conven- tion, when they shall have been admitted into union with it. The parish also calls and dismisses its minister or rector, sub- ject to the approval of the bishop. No clergyman can become the rector of any Parish, until its union with the Convention ; and cannot properly officiate in any such parish, except as a missionary. No minister can be sent to officiate in any Parish without a call from the same, ex- cept as a missionary ; and no missionary can be sent into a Parish where there is a rector. 2. Dioceses. All the parishes within J certain local limits, being generally that of a state, when associated together, form ' a diocese. Each diocese holds an annual synod, or convention, which is composed of all rectors of parishes, and ministers performing certain other clerical dir and of one or more lay-delegates from ! every parish in union with the convention. To this body belongs the power of electing the bishop of the diocese, and of present- ing him for trial ; of choosing a standing committee, which is a council of advice to the bishop; to determine how eccle- siastical offences shall be tried ; to ap- point delegates to the general convention ; and of doing whatever else may be deemed expedient for the cause of religion and the church, not inconsistent with the con- stitution and canons of the general con- vention. Both clergy and laity meet and delibe- rate in one body, but when divided, vote separately, a majority of each being re- quisite to any enactment. The delegates to the general convention are composed of an equal number of clergy and laity, never exceeding four, each from a Dio- cese, the members of which are nominated by its own order, and approved by the convention. o. Rational Churches. There is no national church in the United States, in the sense of a church established bv the HI8T0RV OF THE PROTECTANT EPI8COPAL ('III RCH 203 nation. Yet all the Protestant Episcopal Churches in this country are associated in (MM national bod) , OF Synod, called the gtturaf oflHrriTnfiiTfi, nrhirh holds Itfl ■ions once in three years. This body is oosnposed hi' i«n par;-, oi houses: (1.) the House of bishops^ including the bishops of all the diooesee in the nation ; and (2.) A ktfUM tf clerical and laij deputies, composed of delegates elected as above described The clergy and laity, com- posing the house of deputies, meet and deliberate together, but when, required, vole separately, and in many cases, by Dioceses. This convention directs the particular manner in which the qualifica- tions of candidates for Orders shall be es- timated and determined; regulates the particulars in regard to the election and ordination of the several Orders of the ministry ; defines the nature of ecclesias- tical offences, and decrees the punishment thereof; settles the particular form and orders of its common prayer, and pub- lishes authorized editions of the Book of Gammon Prayer ; and directs the mode and manner of its intercourse with foreign churches. In all cases, the house of bishops has a negative upon the doings of the other house ; but when exercised, must be communicated, within a limited time to that house. Under this arrangement, no law or canon can be enacted without the concur- rence of both clergy and laity, and no man can be introduced into the sacred office without testimonials from both or- ders. Nor can any clergyman be sent to minister where he may not choose to go, nor any parish be required to receive or continue a clergyman that may be ob- noxious to a majority of the parishioners. No man can be punished for any offence not clearly defined by the laws of the church, nor in any manner but in that prescribed by the same, and never without an opportunity of a trial by his peers. The salaries of the clergy are determined by the mutual agreement of minister and people ; and though generally small, are ordinarily sufficient to afford a comfort- able subsistence when expended with pru- dent economy. This admixture of the divine and hu- man in the external constitution of the church, 1. 1 strength, without pr< or cringing spirit on the pari of the clergy. With a divine office, above and I the reach of the people, they are d< cut on the people for a place to execute this office, and for tl.- CUting it. With a divine mission with which the people may Hot inti mieddle, they are de- pendent on the people for an opportunity of deelaring their mission. \\ ! temptation, therefore, th be to lead the clergy to fashion their preaching to suit any popular fancy, then: are other and counterbalancing reasons to | it. It is God's truth which they are to preach in God's name, which may not be kept back by the minister, nor rejected by the people, but at the peril of their The clergy of this church are sent forth by their divine Lord and Master, as he himself went forth to the world, without purse or scrip, with nothing but the truth and his Spirit to sustain them. Xni. RELATION TO OTHER RELIGIOUS BODIES. The church, holding that the episcopate is one, which each bishop holds enure, holds that no bishop may ever be intrudeu into a portion of country which has al- ready been committed by proper autnonty to the jurisdiction and oversight of any other bishop. Consequently, there nevei can be two true lawful catholic bishops in any diocese, at one and the same time, unless one be the assistant or coadjutor of the other. But where a bishop has been unlawfully introduced into a diocese, by those in schism or heresy, it is no bar to the lawful consecration of a lawful bishop for the same place. And the church re- gards all those as heretics who have re- jected any doctrine essential to salvation. And she looks upon all those as (in effect) schismatics who have cut themselves oft' from the communion of the true Catholic Church, either (1) by rejecting such por- tions of the outward organization of the church as she deems essential, or (2) by requiring terms of communion that are unlawful or sinful, in regard either to doc- trine or discipline. The Romish communion, therefore, is 264 HISTORY OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. looked upon as being in essential schism, bGcause she has, by her highest authority, added to her articles of faith, as necessary unto salvation, things which are repug- nant to God's word, and requires submis- sion to practices which are a violation of his law. She also looks upon those Pro- testant bodies which have rejected the government of bishops, as being in sub- stantial schism, because of the rejection of Episcopal regimen, which is considered necessary to the ministry in its complete- ness. The church can, therefore, hold no official communion with either body; nor does she regard their presence as any bar to the lawful planting of new churches, or the consecration of new bishops. But when the Romanist renounces his error, and the dissenting Protestant supplies his omission, she receives both ; never repeat- ing the Ordination of the Romanist, nor the Baptism of the non-Episcopal Protes- tant, unless desired. In regard to the Greek Church, and those oriental churches which really hold many, and some of them most of the errors of the Romish Church, but which are not committed to them by the decision of any council or synod, and among which they are not required as terms of communion, the case is far different. Their faith is sound, though their practice is cor- rupt, and acts of intercommunion may be exchanged ; though not without protest against their unlawful practice. Nothing is required of these, by autJiority of the church, to which an intelligent, orthodox, and Catholic christian might not assent ; and therefore our duty towards these is, aid in correcting the errors and abuse of their practice, without subverting the faith or order of their churches, or introducing other organized churches among them. XIV. HISTORY. It will be seen from the foregoing ac- count that the church, of which the Pro- testant Episcopal Church considers itself a true and living branch, was founded in the Incarnation, externalized by a visible constitution and body, through the personal ministry of the Incarnate Word, and per- fected in all gifts and graces by the giving of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pente- cost. This church, with its visible and human body, the depository and channel of an invisible spiritual and heavenly life, she supposes to have been planted, com- plete and perfect in all its parts, in every country whither the apostles and primitive preachers came. And each church, when so planted, was complete and perfect in itself, a reiteration of the same divine original, with the same divine life and power. But while they were all bound together by a common life, and the bonds of a common faith, each responsible to the other for the abuse of its power or the corruption of its faith ; yet each church was independent of every other church. Every bishop derived his power directly from God, by virtue of his induction into the episcopate. But he could not be in- ducted into that office without the concur- rence and ministration of other bishops, admitting him to the sacred office by ordi- nation, nor could he procure a place where he might execute his office, without the concurrence of the people. Every bishop was responsible to his brethren and the church, for the faithful performance of his duties, but to no other power upon earth. Consequently, for one bishop to attempt to exercise any authority over another bishop, which had not been expressly granted to him by canonical regulation, was usurpa- tion. And for any power, civil or eccle- siastical, to thrust any bishop into a diocese without the concurrence of the laity, was also usurpation. When, therefore, the Bishop of Rome asserted authority over other bishops, he put forth a claim which was not only un- authorized, but at utter variance with the nature of the church itself. It was a virtual abrogation of the Episcopal of- fice, except in the bishop of Rome, by making all other bishops the dependents or deputies of this one ; receiving their power from him instead of Christ, and holding portions of the Episcopate under him, instead of holding the whole in com- mon with him, according to the view of all primitive antiquity, and the testimony of Cyprian and Jerome in particular. It was a claim, too, in direct opposition to the decrees of the early councils, and espe- cially of the Council of Nice. The HI8T0R\ OF THE PROTESTANT EPI8COPAL CHI R< ll. Church ft' England, therefore, at the Re* fbfiMttioDt did ii" more than cleanse itself from defilement and error, and purify itself of corruption and (also doctrine, restoring to their first and primitive condition. in doing this it also cast off usurpation! of the Papacy, rejecting that unlawful claim of authority set up by the Bishop of Rome, which, though submitted to in days of ignorance and darkness, had never been confirmed b) any proper canonical au- thority. The ( 'huivh of England, alter the Reformation, therefore, was no oilier than the old Catholic Church of that country, as it existed in the beginning, with its primitive order and worship restored. It was a Reformation which resulted from prayerful study and careful research. Nothing was left to chance, nothing con- ceded to passion, nothing rejected that could plead the sanction of the Bible and primitive antiquity, and nothing done but in accordance with the laws of primitive Catholicity. It was this church, which was planted by small congregations here and there, in the then wilds of this western continent, from which the body now known as the Pro- testant Episcoiml Church has its descent; from which it has received these orders, and that faith, which had been transmitted to her from the apostles. And through her we are now able to trace the list of our bishops, duly ordained in regular succes- sion,— a glorious line, reaching back to Jerusalem, and up to Christ. A brief ac- count of the origin and history of this body is subjoined. From the time when the first congrega- tions of the Church of England were set- tled in this country in 1607, up to the close of the American Revolution in 1783, all the clergy, in all the colonies, were regarded as under the supervision of the Bishop of London. Thus, for more than one hundred and seventy years, the Pro- testant Episcopal Church in this country was without any proper episcopal super- vision ; without any power on this side the Atlantic authorized to confer holy orders, and without any ability to admit to the communion by confirmation. Thus shorn of its ordinances, crippled in the exercise of its legitimate functions, and beset by hostile sects on every side, it was compelled to make possible discouragement and disadvai Hut tins anomalous state of thinj not unobserved, nor permitted t-> exist without an effort to remedy the evil. As early as 1638, in the reign of Charles 1., the Archbishop of Canterbury conceived th'' (|c^;;_rn of sending a bishop to .V u England, hut the troubles in Scotland pre- vented its being carried into effect. Aflef the restoration of Charles II. a similar proposal was made by Lord Clarendon, and a patent was actually made out for the consecration of Dr. Alexander .Mur- ray, Bishop of Virginia. But the plan was again defeated by the accession of those to power, who won for themselves the inglorious title of the "Cabal Minis- try." From that time to the revolution, the need and necessity of bishops in Ame- rica, form the continuous theme of every pious and devoted missionary in the colo- nies. Tlte Society for Propagati?ig the Gospeli?i foreign ]>arts, chartered 1701, soon took up the subject, and in 1713, seemed likely to accomplish the object. But the death of Queen Anne frustrated this plan also. Still the interest was kept alive, and in 1715, Archbishop Tenison bequeathed £1000 for the support of bishops in America. In 1723, Rev. Ro- bert Welton, and Rev. John Talbot, were consecrated bishops for the American church, by the non-juring bishops of Scot- land, and immediately came to this country. But the British government would not per- mit bishops to be ordained in England, nor to officiate in the colonies when ordained elsewhere, and Dr. Welton was ordered to return immediately to England, and Mr. Talbot soon died, so that this scheme also soon failed. The subject was now pressed anew at home, and the Bishop of London resolved to consecrate Rev. Mr. Colebatch, his suffragan, to officiate in the colonics, when he was also forbidden by the court authorities to leave the kingdom. Still the venerable Society for Propagating the Gospel continued to advocate the cause of an American Episcopate, seconded by nearly every bishop of England. Among the most conspicuous of them are Bishops Butler and Berkley, and Archbishops Seeker, Sherlock, and Tenick ; and at a later period, of Granville Sharp, Esq. 266 HISTORY OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. But all was to no purpose. The dis- senters in England and in the Colonies were united, energetic, and active in their opposition, while the great mass of church- men were cither ignorant or indifferent to the whole matter, so that the urgent pray- ers of the colonists, and the unceasing efforts of the Episcopal bench, were utterly unavailing. And it was not until the co- follies had dared to assert and defend their independence, that the politicians of Great Britain could be made to see and feel that these prayers and petitions were worthy of their attention. Nor was this enough to rouse them to action, for when the Rev. Samuel Seabury was sent to England for consecration as Bishop of Connecticut in 1783, the bishops could not consecrate a bishop for an independent country, without a special act of Parliament authorizing them to do so, which permission Parlia- ment would not grant. Dr. Seabury, there- fore, after ten months' patient waiting in London, without the slightest prospect of success, was directed to proceed to Scot- land for consecration, which he there found no difficulty in obtaining, the bishops there not being trammelled by their union with the state, and their consent having already been obtained by the zealous la- bors of Rev. Dr. Berkley. The aspect of things was now entirely changed ; a Bishop was already in Ame- rica, without power to continue the office, derived from a source which had the un- mingled hatred of most of the British politicians ; and no difficulty was experi- enced in obtaining the requisite power and authority for the English Bishops to con- secrate Doctors White and Provoost, and afterwards Dr. Madison, for the American Church. And though Bishop Seabury was not permitted by divine Providence to be present and assist at the consecra- tion of but a single Bishop, yet, every Bis- hop of this church can trace his succes- sion through him and the Scottish line, and also through Bishop White, and the English line. 1. VIRGINIA. The first permanent settlement was made, and the first church planted in Vir- ginia, at Jamestown, in 1607; the Rev. Mr. Hunt being the Rector. He was suc- ceeded in 1610, by the Rev. Mr. Bucke. The next year, (1611) a new parish was formed at Henrico, under the charge of Rev. Mr. Whitaker. Before 1619, other new parishes had been formed, and four additional clergymen had come over. A century later, (1722) there were fifty-four parishes in Virginia, a majority of which were supplied with clergy. In 1685, Rev. Dr. James Blair came to this colony as a missionary, and in 1689, he was appointed commissary to the Bishop of London, in this Province ; an office which he held until his death in 1743. At the com- mencement of the American Revolution, there were in this colony ninety-five par- ishes, with one hundred and sixty-four churches and chapels, and ninety-one clergymen. At the close of the Revolu- tion, there were but twenty eight clergy- men there, laboring in only thirty-six par- ishes. In 1844, parishes were about ninety, clergy one hundred. Episcopate. C J. Mr 1 B. Po (.John f Wm. Whit j J. H. Hobai S A. V. Grisi Died. Bishops. Consecration. Consecrators. J. Moore, J. Madison, Sept. 19, 1790. •{ B. Porteus, March 6, 1812. Thomas, R. C. Moore, May 13, 1814. < ^ V.^old, ^l"' l/Pheo. Dehon. f William White, I J. H. Hobart. I A. V. Griswold, Wm. Meade, Aug. 19, 1629. ^ R. C. Moore, I John Croes, | T. C. Brownell, (. H. V. Onderdonk. "A. V. Griswold, [A. V. Griswold, ! William Meade, ] L'-vi S. Tves, mrr J. Johns, [A. B.JOct. 13, 1842. , , ; i-'vi c\ Ives, mm (. W. R. Whitting ham! Diocesan Institutions. 1. Education Society of Maryland and Virginia, 1818. 2. Protestant Episcopal Theological Seminary, Alexandria, 1821. 3. Protestant Episcopal Association for the promotion of Christianity, (Diocesan Missionary Society,) 1829. 4. Corporation for the relief of widows and orphans of deceased Clergymen, 1Q 10. 5. Episcopal High School, Alexandria, 1839. 6. Fairfax Institute, Fairfax. HI8T0R1 OF THE PROTESTANT EPI8COPAL CHI RCH. •j PBKN81 i\ \.ma ami i>i:i.\\\ \ki:. IVniis\ Ivania was firsl settled l'V the Swedes, in iti:?l)art, Oct. 28, 1827, . Moore, \V. Wl.ite, R. C. .Moore, Feh. 2fi, II. U. Onderdonk, 1836, W. Meade, A. V. Griswold, H. C Moore, 15. T Onderdonk, George W. Doano. Diocesan Institutions. 1. Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Maryland, 1816. 2. Corporation for the relief of widows and orphans of deceased clergymen. 3. Prayer Book, Homily, and Tract Society, 1816. 4. St. James' College, Hagerstown, 1840. 5. St. Timothy's Hall, Catonsville. 6. Patapsco Female Institute, Elicott's Mills. 4. MASSACHUSETTS. The first congregation of churchmen in this colony, was gathered in Boston, 1679, but the first Wal organization of the parish took place, and the first missionary was sent in 1686. The Rev. Roger Price was commissary to the bishop of London in this colony, for more than twenty years. In 1750, the number of parishes was twelve, clergy ten ; in 1772, the clergy were eleven; and in 1792 eleven. In 1844, the parishes were forty-eight, clergy fifty-eight. Episcopate. Bishop, E, Bass, S, Parker, Consecration, May 7, 1797, Consecrators. Died, i W. White, •? S, Provoost, Sept, 10, 1803. ( T. J, Claggett. fW. White, T, J, Claggett, Dec. 6, 1804, Sept, 14, 1S04X V -V ^Ia™ 1 '*. A, Jarvis, t M. Moore, i W. White, A, V, Griswold, May 29, 1811..? S. Provoost, Feb, 15, 1843, ( A. Jarvis. f A. V, Griswold, „ ^ , r . - . - j' T, C. Brownell, M. Eastburn, [A, B,J Dee, »/< B. T. Onderdonk, 1842, LW, H, De Laneey, Diocesan Institutions. 1. Massachusetts Board of Missions, 1833. 2. Corporation for the relief of widows and orphans of deceased clergymen, 1840. 3. Tract Department of Convocation. 5. SOUTH CAROLINA. The first permanent settlement was made in this colony in 1672, the first church was built in 1682, under the care of Rev. Atkin Williamson. In 1707, there were in this colony, three parishes and three clergymen. At this time the Rev. Giear Johnston was appointed com- missary to the bishop of London, and held the office until his death, 1719, when there were ten clergymen in the colony. In 1755, the number was sixteen; in 1792 fifteen. In 1844, there were forty-five parishes, and fifty clergymen. Episcopate. Bishop. Died. R. Smith. T. Dehon. N. Bo wen. Consecration. Consecrators. fVV. White, Sept. 13. 1795.^ f ^S'Oct. 28, 1801. LT. J. Claggett, (W, White, Oct. 15, 1812X A. Jarvis, Aug. (_J. II. Hobart, fW. While, U. Croes. fA.V. Griswold, C. E. Gadsden, June 21, 1840.^ G. W. Doane, (S. A.McCoskrv. 5, 181- •Aug. 15, 1839 Diocesan Institutions. 1. Society for the relief of aged and infirm clergymen. 2. Society for the Advancement of Christianity', 1810. 3. Corporation for the relief of widows and orphans of the clergy, 1762. 4. Protestant Episcopal Missionary So- ciety, 1821. 6. NEW YORK, AND WESTERN NEW • YORK. It is not known that there was an indi- vidual in this colonv belonging to the Church of England, until 1693. In 1697, a parish was formed, and the Rev. Mr. Vesey called to the rectorship. He filled this office more than half a century, and during a considerable portion of the time, discharged the office of commissary to the Bishop of London. In 1752, there were twenty parishes and twelve clergy- men in the colony. In 1772, the number HISTORY OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHI RCH. <»f clenry was fifteen, with eight lay mis- sionaries as teachers. In 1792 the clergy amounted to nineteen. This diocese was divided into two dioceses in ls-^. The Dumber of parishes in Men ITork in 1844, was one hundred and* sixty-four; in West; em New fork one hundred and sixteen ; total 280i The number of the clergy at fne time was, in New fork, one hundred and ninety-eight; in Western New York, one hundred and .-even; total 805. Episcopate. Bishop. Consccrati S. Provoost, B. Moore. J. II. Hobart, Fob f J. Mo 4 1-87 J W. M OooaaermUM. Died. J. Moora, Markham, Sept. 6, Io^>, lcl5. l_Jol)ii Hinchclifle, i W. White, -p, 1fi Sept. 11, 1801. < T. J, Claggett, JJ".,} ' ( A. Jarvis, .. ™ fW. White, May 29, 1S11.3 ft Provoost, Sept. 12, 1830, (^ A. Jarvis, r W. White, suspended B. T. Onderdonk, Nor. 26, 1830-? T. C. Brownell, Jan. 3, (jl. U. Onderdonk, le45. TW N Yl f A. ▼. GrkwoM, W II n« T inrpv ' Mnv *Q J H U- Onderdork, W. a. De Lancej , Ma> J, 4 B T 0()derdonki ICJJ- LGeorge W. Doane. Diocesan Institutions. 1. New York. 1. Society for the promotion of religion and learning. 2. Corporation for the relief of widows and children of clergymen. 3. Protestant Episcopal Tract Society, 1810. 4. New York Bible and Prayer Book Society, 1809. 5. Education and Missionary Society, 1817. 6. St. Paul's College, Flushing. 2. Western New York. 1. Fund for aiding disabled clergymen, 1839. 2. Geneva College, Geneva, 1825. 3. Hobart Hall Institute, Holland Pa- tent. 7. RHODE ISLAND. The first congregation of churchmen in this colony, was gathered in 1699; the first clergyman, Rev. Mr. Honeyman, was sent there as a missionary in 1704. In !h<- Dumber of parishes and i men was three of each. In 1 7 .* ■ j , ii,,. parish* i wen ix, clei ■■;. five ; in 11 92, clergy, (bur. In L844, the parishes wen twenty-one, the clergy twenty-four. Episcopate. The church in Rhode Island was under the supervision of the first bishop of Con- necticut, until his death, and afterwards under that of Massachusetts, with which it was associated under the name of the Eastern Diocese, until 1842. Episcopate. Bishop. J. P. K. Henshaw. Consecration. Consecrators. f T. C. Brownell, B. T. Onderdonk, Ai lc43. inghac LJohn Johns. ,' B. T. Onderdor r 11 J J. H. Hopkins, 43. I G. W. Doane, 1 W. R. Whittii Diocesan Institutions. 1. Missionary Convocation of the Church in Rhode Island, 1833. 2. Diocesan Depository of Church Books, 1844. 3. Diocesan School, 1844. 8. NORTH CAROLINA. The first missionary to this colony was Rev. John Blair, in 1704. He was for many years the Bishop of London's Commissary in this colony. At an early period, the destitution here was so great, that one of the early ministers baptized ten thousand perso?is in this colony, in twelve years. The number of clergy in 1760 was Jive; in 1770 ten ; parishes eleven. The church in this diocese was so prostrated at the Revolution, that it did not recover strength to be received into union with the General Convention, until 1817. There were then only three clergy, and only five parishes. In 1844, the par- ishes were forty, the clergy thirty. Episcopate. Bishops. Died. Consecration. Consecrators. fWm, White, I A, V, Griswold, J. S. Ravenscroft, May 22, 1823.-1 STcST "&>'' J Nath, Bowen, LT, C, Brownell, rWm, White, Levi S. Ives, Sept. 22, 1831X H, IT, Onderdonk, (_B, T, Onderdonk. 270 HISTORY OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. Diocesan Institutions. 1. Episcopal Bible, Prayer Book, Tract, and Missionary Society, 1816. 2. Committee for the relief of disabled clergymen, and the widows and orphans of deceased clergymen. 3. Diocesan Missionary School, Valle Crucis. 4. Episcopal High School, Raleigh, 1834. 5. St. Mary's Episcopal Female High School, Raleigh, 1843. 9. NEW JERSEY. The first missionary to this colony was Rev. John Talbot, who was stationed here in 1705. He had previously traversed a considerable part of the province in com- pany with Rev. George Keith. In 1723 he went to England, and while there, in conformity with the wishes of many of the clergy, was consecrated bishop for the American colonies, by the non-juring bishops of Scotland. But he died soon after his return to this country. In 1752 the number of parishes was sixteen, of clergy eight ; in 1770 the clergy were ten, in 1792 only nine; in 1844 the parishes were forty-six, clergy fifty. Episcopate. Bishops Consecrations. Conseciators. Died. f\Vm. White, John Croes, Nov. 19, 1315. { J, H. Hobart, ( James Kemp, f Wm. White, G. W. Doane. Oct. 31, 1332. <^ B. T. Onderdonk, tLevi S. Ives. Diocesan Institutions. 1. Corporation for the relief of widows of deceased clergymen. 2. Episcopal Society for the promotion of Christian Knowledge and Piety, 1815. 3. Diocesan Missionary Fund, 1804. 4. Burlington College, Burlington, 1846. 5. St. Mary's Hall, Green Bank Bur- lington. 10. CONNECTICUT. This Diocese, though far younger than some of the others, may be said to be the first place where the church was composed almost entirely of native born citizens, Julv 30, 1838. I who had been educated in other forms of faith, but came into the church through conviction of truth and duty. The first trace of any Episcopalians in this colony is about 1707. In 1708 a parish was formed, composed mostly of Englishmen, and Rev. Muirson appointed missionary. But he died before entering upon his du- ties, and no clergyman was settled there until 1721, when Rev. Mr. Pigott was sent. While there, Rev. Samuel Johnson, a Congregational Minister in West Haven, formed his acquaintance, and thus strength- ened the predilections he had formed for the church some years before, from the study of the Prayer Book. These cir- cumstances induced him to examine the claims of both bodies, in which the books given by bishop Berkley to Yale College aided very materially. The result was, that Mr. Johnson himself, together with Mr. Cutter, president of the college, Mr. Daniel Brown, a native of West Haven, and a tutor in the college ; Mr. Wetmore, a Congregational Minister in North Haven, resigned their places and went to England for Orders. The discussions to which these facts gave rise, resulted in bringing the following persons into the ministry of the church, who had been either ministers, or candidates for the ministry among the Congregationalists. 1. Rev. Samuel Johnson, West Haven, 1723. 2. Rev. Timothv Cutter, President Yale College, 1723. 3. Rev. David Brown, Tutor, Yale Col- lege, 1723. 4. Rev. James Wetmore, North Haven, 1723. 5. Rev. Samuel Seabury, Groton, 1732. 6. Rev. Jonathan Arnold, West Haven, 1730. 7. Mr. Henry Caner, New Haven, 1727. 8. Mr. Isaac Brown, West Haven, 1732. 9. Mr. Richard Caner, New Haven, 1736. 10. Rev. Ebenezer Punderson, Groton, 1740. 11. Rev. Richard Minor, Monroe, 1742. 12. Rev. Christopher Newton, Hunting- don, 1740. 13. Mr. Ebenezer Dibble, Danburv. 1742. 0R\ OF THE ISCOPAL i i Mr. Richard Mansfield, .\< \\ Haven, i '>. Mr. Jen miah Li aming, Middle- town, 1748, 16. Mr. Thomas Badbury Chandler, stock, 1751. it. .Mr. [chabod Camp, Middle 1751 . h :ni influx <>f native citizens into •he church, a majority of wh.im had been ministi frs among the 1 Job* . and nearly all of whom remained in their native state, gave the church .-in impulse that nothing else could impart, as may be seen by the following statist A. D. Clergy. Parishes. Families. Epi«co. Population. i : .-, 1 3 30 ISO (ubout) 17:h> 3 5 71 M> r-j B 16 1,600 130,000 M 12,000 141 IMH) 1779 17 31 I7HB 1U 31 2,500 15.000 23 411 3,400 iiO.000 240,1 1801 i-J 00 3. 7(H) 1-11 31 73 . 1820 40 75 3 BOO •JJ-l KJ 275,000 183U 78 297,000 1,-40 BS a :?.'.( kio 310,000 1-47 103 105 7,500 45.0U0 3-JO,000 The same causes which gave the church an impulse in this Diocese, also gave it unity of sentiment, and the leading fea- stamped upon the first churchmen of this colony by its learned and laborious clergy remain to this day. And so uni- versal has been its influence, that no such thing as a party has ever been known in the church in this Diocese ; and the epi- thets of high and low church, by which parties are often described, have never been known here, except as matters of history. Brought into the church through conviction of duty, the clergy and laity of this Diocese have ever remained true to it, as a matter of principle. Conse- quently, when the proposition was made at the South near the close of the revolu- tion, to adopt a provisional organization without the Episcopacy, the clergy of Connecticut not only refused to join in it, but at the very earliest possible moment, elected a bishop and sent him to England for consecration, as has already been re- lated. And it is in no small degree owing to the learning and faithfulness of Bishop Seabury and his clergy, that serious inno- vations were not made in the book of ( ommon Praj er ; and t<> th< m • thai no portion o/ that Catholic truth, \\ Inch has come don ii fn rn the < ■ I from iii ' . i S; Svabury Con». i fit. ii i:-i \ v e' I ( Willian T.C.Brown. '-Vl II Hoberl (_A. V. Griswold. A, Jjrvi", Corm-cratori. H. Kilgoor. P I l«T. V Wm. U / Willi :■ v. Diocesan Inttitvti 1. Society for promoting Christian knowledge, 181b. 2. Church Scholarship Society, 1827, :i. Sppiety W provide for the wants of aged and infirm Clergymen, 1846. 4. Episcopal Academy, Cheshire, 1794. 5. Trinity College, Hartford, 182 11. GEORGIA. The first missionary to this colony was Rev. John Wesley, afterwards the cele- brated founder of Methodism. He re- turned to England in 11-^, and was suc- ceeded by Rev. George Whitfield, the other father of the Methodist Societies. The Church of England was established in Georgia, at an early period, but so late as 1769, there were but two churches in the colony. It was first admitted into union with the General Convention in 1820, when there were but four parishes. In 1S44, the parishes were seventeen, clergy twenty. Episcopate. Bishop. S. Elliott, Consecration. Feb. 88 is Consecrator?. William Meade, E. Gadsden. Diocesan Institutions. 1. Domestic Missionary Society, 1C2S. 2. Montpelier Episcopal Institute, 1840. 18. VERMONT. The Episcopal Church was planted in this Diocese before the Revolution, and to a considerable extent endowed with Glebes bv the various owners in the various town- 272 HISTORY OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. ships. These lands, however, were seized and confiscated by the civil authorities, and not recovered to the use of the church until Prom 1320 to 1830. About 1794, sonic el" the Episcopalians of Vermont elected Rev. Samuel Peters, then in Eng- land, Bishop of that Diocese. He applied to the English Bishops for consecration, who declined, on the ground that there were a canonical number of Bishops in America, to whom application should be made. Accordingly in 1795, the subject was brought before the General Conven- tion, but the church in Vermont, not hav- ing been duly organized, and not having been received into union with the conven- tion, and there being but one clergyman in the state, the consecration was refused. It was received into union with the Gene- ral Convention in 1811, but so late as 1814, there was but a single clergyman in the Diocese. In 1844, the parishes were thirty-three, clergy twenty-two. Episcopate. Bishop. Consecration. Consecratorg. ("William White, J. H. Hopkins, Oct. 31, 1832. \ A. V. Griswold, (^ Xathaniel Bowen. Diocesan Institution. Domestic Missionary Society, before 1826. 13. NEW HAMPSHIRE. A church was established and well en- dowed at Portsmouth, about 1640, but the puritans drove off the minister and seized the lands belonging to the church, and it was long before any other congregation was gathered. In 1764, the church was endowed in various towns throughout the colony by Governor Wentworth. But as late as 1772, there were only three par- ishes, and two clergymen in the province. These lands have been most of them seized and confiscated. In 1844, the parishes were fourteen, the cler^v eleven. Episcopate. Bishop. Consecration. Conservators. rPhilamfer Cbaae, I T. C. Browmtl, Carlton Chase, Oct. 20, 1^44. { Beifr T. Onderdonk, | LnviS. I vs. [Benj. B. Smith. Diocesan Institutions. 1. Episcopal Missionary Board, 1827. 2. Sunday School Board, 1827. 14. MAINE. There has been one congregation in this Diocese from an early period ; but the church did not receive a distinct organiza- tion until 1820, when the state had been separated from Massachusetts, and erected into a distinct jurisdiction. The parishes in 1844, were six, clergy eight. It has never yet had a Bishop by itself, but has been under the provisional supervision of the Bishop of some other Diocese. It has a board of missions, organized in 1842, for domestic missionary purposes. 15. OHIO. The church in this Diocese was first organized in 1818, and admitted into union with the General Convention, in 1820. In 1844 it had seventy-eight parishes, fifty- seven clergy. Bishops. Episcopate. Consecration. Consecrators. Wm. White, P. Chase, Feb. U, 1MI * &^"ui sSS'JSEj f Jol ' ^2. -> Ali C. P. Mlhaine, Oct. 31, 1832. John Croes. William White, Alex. V. Griswold, illiam Meade. Diocesan Institutions. 1. Domestic Missionary Society, 1828. 2. Theological Seminary, Gambier, 1828. 3. Kenyon College, Gambier, 1828. 4. Preparatory School, Gambier, 1828. 16. MISSISSIPPI The first Episcopal Clergyman who preached in this Diocese was Rev. James Pilwar, in 1822. It was admitted into union with the General Convention in 1826, when it had five clergymen, and as many parishes. In 1844 the number of clergy was' fifteen, of parishes about twenty. No Bishop has yet been conse- crated for this Diocese. It has a Diocesan school for bovs ; St. Thomas's Hall Hollv Springs, 1842. HISTOM OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHI R< ll i,. lOCHlOAN. The first congregation of Churchmen in thii Diocese was gathered at Detroit in i ->•„':{; the fust missionary, Rev, R. II. Cadle, preached here in 1820. The Dio- cete was admitted into union with the Genera) Convention in 1832. Parishes in 1844, thirty-one j clergy twenty-five. Its Bishop is Right Rev, Samuel Allen McCoskry, consecrated July 7, 1836, by Right Rev. Bishops Henry U. Onderdonk, George W. Doane,and Jackson Kemper. Its Diocesan Institution is a Diocesan Missionary Society. 18. TENNESSEE. This Diocese was admitted into union with the General Convention in 1829, having then four parishes and three clergy. In 1644, the parishes were thirteen, the clergy thirteen. Its Bishop is Right Rev. James Hervey Otey, consecrated January 14, 1834, by Right Rev. Bishops William White, Henry U. Onderdonk, Benjamin T. Onderdonk, and George W. Doane. Its Diocesan Institutions are a Mission- ary and Education Society ; Mercer Hall, Columbia ; and Columbia Hall ; at the same place. 19. KENTUCKY. This Diocese was admitted into union with the General Convention in 1882, having then three parishes and three clergy. In 1844,the parishes were seven- teen, the clergy twenty-three. Its Bishop is Right Rev. Benjamin Bosworth Smith, consecrated October 31, 1832, by Right Rev. Bishops William White, Thomas C. Brownell, and Henry U. Onderdonk. Its Diocesan Institutions are a Mission- ary and Education Society, a Diocesan Sunday School Society, a Theological Seminary, and Shelby College. 20. ALABAMA. This Diocese was admitted into union with the General Convention in 1832, having four parishes, and three clergy- men. In 1844, the parishes were twenty ; clergy fourteen. Its Bishop is Right Rew Nicholas Hawner Cobbs, consecrated Oc- tober 20, 1844, by Right Rev. Bishops Philander I 'haae, William M< ade, < fairies P, Mclh aine, I «< ■< »rge w. I toene, and Jam s 1 [ervt y ( key, li baa a 1 Koceaan ry Society, and a Female Institute at Tin* k b« 21. ILLINOIS. This Diocese was received into the union in 1835, the parishes numbering six ; the clergy seven. In 184 I, the par- ishes were twenty; the clergy nineteen. Its Diocesan Institutions are Jubilee College and Theological Seminary. Its Bishop is Right Rev. Philander Chase, consecrated for Ohio, but who subse- quently removed to this Diocese. 22. LOUISIANA. This Diocese was received into the union in 1838, having three parishes, and | two clergy. In 1844, the parishes were ten ; the clergy eleven. Its Bishop is Right Rev. Leonidas Polk, consecrated December 9, 1838, by Right Rev. Bishops William Meade, Benjamin B. Smith, Charles P. Mcllvaine, and James H. Otey. It has a Diocesan Missionary Society. 23. INDIANA. This Diocese was received into the union in 1838, having twelve parishes, and nine clergy. In 1844, the parishes were twenty -two ; clergy fourteen. It is under the supervision of Right Rev. Jackson Kemper, Missionary Bishop ; consecrated September 25, 1835, by Right Rev. Bishops William White", Richard C. Moore, Philander Chase, Henry U. On- derdonk, Benjamin T. Onderdonk, Ben- jamin B. Smith, and George W. Doane. 24. FLORIDA. This Diocese Mas received into the union in 1838, having ten parishes and six clergymen. In 1844,. the parishes were nine ; clergy seven.. 25. MISSOURI. This Diocese was received into union in 1841. In 1844,it had nine organized par- ishes, beside several Missionary Stations, with twelve clergy, its Bishop is Right 35 274 HTSTORY OF THE EVANGELICAL ASSOCIATION. Rev. Cicero Stephens Hawks, consecrated October 20, 1344, by Right Rev. Bishops Philander Chase, Jackson Kemper, Samuel A. McCoskry, Leonidas Polk, and William H. De Lancey. Beside these, there are bclong-inr* to the Protestant Episcopal Church, the Mission- ary Diocese of Wisconsin, Iowa, and the North Western Territory, having in 1844, fifteen clergy, under the charge of Right Rev. Jackson Kemper ; and the Diocese of Arkansas and Texas, with six clergy in 1844, under the charge of Right Rev. George Washington Freeman, consecrated October 26, 1944, by Right Rev. Bishops Philander Chase, Jackson Kemper, Leo- nidas Polk, and Alfred Lee. Also Right Rev. William Jones Boone, Bishop of Amoy, China, consecrated October 20, 1844, by Right Rev. Bishops Philander Chase, William Meade, Levi Silliman Ives, George W. Doane, and James Her- vey Otey ; and Right Rev. Horatio South- gate, Bishop of Constantinople, consecrated October 26, 1844, by Right Rev. Bishops Philander Chase, William R. Whitting- ham, Stephen Elliott, John Johns, and J. P. K. Henshaw. In addition to the Diocesan Institutions already described, there are the following General Institutions established by the Ge- neral Convention : 1. The General Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church, New York City, established 1817. 2. Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, of the General Convention, 1820 ; re-organized 1835, upon the principle, that the Church is the great Missionary So- ciety of the world, and every baptized christian a member of it. (1) Domestic Department, 1846, two Missionary Bishops, and one hundred and five missionaries. (2) Foreign Department, 1846, two Missionary Bishops, thirteen missionaries, and twenty-two assistants. 3. General Protestant Episcopal Sunday School Union, 1826. HISTORY OF THE EVANGELICAL ASSOCIATION. BY RE\. W. W. ORW1G, AND IMPROVED BY REV. A. ETTINGER, NEW BERLIN, UNION COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. This Christian denomination took its rise about the year 1800, in one of the middle free States of America ; at first they were called the Albrights, (Albrechts- leute,) probably on account of Jacob Al- bright having been, by the grace of God, the instrument of their solemnly uniting themselves for the service of Almighty God. About the year, 1790, Jacob Al- bright became the happy subject of the awakening influences of God's Holy Spirit, and was brought to the knowledge of his sinful state and of the truth ; and after a long and very severe struggle, he received at last, by faith in the Son of God, the re- mission of his sins and the spirit of adop- tion. In this state he spent several years in the service of God ; and, at the request of his fellow-Christians, he at sundry times spake publicly a word of exhortation, lath of F S JAC(D)B 'AILBMIKSBS^o HISTORY OF THE i:\ ANGELICAL ASSOCIATION. which did '"»' remain fruitless. In the i . ■.,(• 1 7!»<», after a \< ry levere conflict respecting hia call to fh<' ministry , he com- id, aced travelling through the country, and to preach the gospel of Christ, and Mm crucified, to his fellow-men,, and the Lord owned ;ind richly blessed his labors, and gave him many souls for his recom- pense. Having now continually a feeling and tender regard for the Germans of this country, as among them true Christianity #as at that time at a very low ebb and almost entirely extirpated: he united him- self in the year 1 800, with a numher of persons, who by his preaching had beed awakened and converted to God, into a Christian society. This is the origin of the Evangelical Association. In the year 1803, this society resolved upon introduc- ing and instituting among, and for, them- i selves an ecclesiastical regulation. Jacob Albright was therefore elected as the pre- siding elder among thorn, and duly con- firmed by the other preachers, and by their laying on of hands ordained, so as to authorize him to perform all transactions that are necessary for a Christian society, and hecoming to an evangelical preacher. They unanimously chose the sacred scrip- tures for their guide in faith and action, and formed their church discipline accord- ingly, as any one may see, who will take the pains to investigate and examine the same. At first, indeed, when their prin- ciples and design were not yet much known, this denomination met with consi- derable opposition and suffered much per- secution ; it, however, spread more and more till to the present time, but more especially during the last ten years. At present(l843.)thcirnumberisnear 15,000 communicants, and between two and three hundred preachers, of whom there are above one hundred travelling preachers. Hitherto they have confined their labors chiefly to the German population of the (.o\ i:i;\\ii;\ i. The government of thi ' lion \s Episcopal. The 1 1 i re elect d quad- rennially 'hv the ( leneral I krofeh no me amenable to that body for their official conduct. It is their duty alternately to travel through the whole connection, to superintend the temporal and spiritual atlairs of the church, and to preside in the Annual and General Conferences. It de- volves upon the Bishop who presides St a ye.irh conference, with the aid of the pre- siding elders belonging to the same, to as- sign to the preachers their respective fields of labor. The special duty of a presiding elder is to travel over the whole bounds of his dis- trict, hold stated quarterly meetings, pre- side at local and quarterly conferences and to superintend all the churches within the limits of his district. Preachers in charge of circuits and stations have the superintendanee of their respective spheres of labor. Beside preaching, they are to attend the formation of classes, direct and superintend the elections of leaders and exhorters, receive, put back on trial, and expel members, as cases may require. A CURSORY VIEW OF THE EXTENT OF THIS SOCIETY. This branch of Christ's Church is now spread over a large portion of the United States, and extends over several districts of Upper Canada. They have four An- nual Conferences, upwards of 150 tra- velling preachers, and from 6 to 700 local preachers. The number of communicants cannot now be exactly ascertained, but may be estimated at about 20,000. SALARIES OF PREACHERS. The amount allowed to travelling preachers is one hundred dollars annually. United States and the Canadas, and have j ^^de his travelling expenses ; if married, 1 lor some time past been very successful in ! j their missions among the emigrated Ger- I mans in the western States, and in several of the principal seaports of this country. * Since the above was written, they have turned their attention somewhat more to Eng- lish preaching, and on several of their circuits, an equal sum for his wife, and twenty- five dollars for each child under fourteen years of age. But as these allowances principally depend on voluntary contribu- tions, they have as vet in no case reached their exercises are almost exclusively con- ducted in thai language. 276 HISTORY OF THE EVANGELICAL ASSOCIATION. the amount specified. Theordinary method of raising these salaries is by holding quar- terly collections in the different classes, in which it is expected that every member will contribute more or less according to his or her ability. Beside this there are public collections taken up at quarterly and other protracted meetings ; and this together with so much of the avails of the Book concern and Charter Fund, as is left after supplying the wants of superan- nuated and wornout preachers, their widows and children is divided among the several claimants. FUNDS OF THE CHURCH. Beside that which is drawn forth from the people by spontaneous contributions, the funds of the church consist in the avails of the Book concern and the Char- ter Fund ; the former is located at New Berlin, Union county, Pennsylvania ; and the latter, called the " Charitable Society of the Evangelical Association," at Orwigs- burg, Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania. The annual income of those two institu- tions is not exactly known to the writer ; but that of the Book concern alone varies from 81300 to about 82200 a year. This amount is equally divided among four annual conferences, and applied first to the support of the superannuated and worn- out preachers, their widows and orphans ; and the balance, if any, to the stipends of the travelling and laboring ministry. BOOK CONCERN. Some twelve years ago, a spacious and convenient place was purchased for the accommodation of their printing establish- ment and book bindery, the former build- ing being too concise for the amount of work required to be done. This establish- ment, which under the control of the Gene- ral Conference, and managed by an exe- cutive committee appointed by that body, is rendering very important service to the church. In addition to a number of useful books, mostly German, they publish a Ger- man religious newspaper, of which nearly 4000 copies are issued semi-monthly ; and an English periodical is now under con- templation. EDUCATION. As to literary institutions, the Society as yet claim none as their own. The fact that the venerable founder of the Evan- gelical Association, and his coadjutors, were not scientific men, and others being subsequently admitted into the ministry without special literary qualifications, whose labors nevertheless were abun- dantly blessed, which created in the minds of the major part of the ministry and membership a considerable degree of apathy or indifference to the cause of edu- cation ; and the first actual effort that was made toward an advancement in this res- pect, was that of the West Pennsylvania Conference, forming themselves into an i Education Society, in 1846, the object of which, is, in the first place to procure a I library for the use of the preachers, and of assisting pious young men, who appear | to be destined for the ministry, and not I being in the possession of means them- | selves, to procure an adequate share of j literary qualification for the work. Sabbath Schools, Temperance, Mission- ary causes, &c, are unanimously fostered and liberally supported by the Society ; and the rapid progress of the same is greatly owing to its Sabbath Schools and Domestic Missions. The following is a compend of their unanimous doctrine and confession of faith. ARTICLES OF FAITH. I. Of the Holy Trinity.— -There is but one only, true and living God, an eternal Being, a Spirit without a body, indivisible, infinite, mighty, wise, and good, the crea- tor and preserver of all things, visible and invisible. And in this Godhead there is a trinity, of one substance and power, and co-eternal ; namely, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. II. Concerning the Word, or Son of God, who became Man. — The Son, who is the Word of the Father, the eternal and true God, of one substance with the Father, took man's nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin, so that both natures, the divine and the human, are perfectly and inseparably joined together in him (as in one person ;) therefore, he is Christ (the HI8T0R\ OP THE K\ UVGELICAL ASSOCIATION. .. i \ ( rod and *erj man, i \< a 1,,., \S; I, was crucified, dead and buried, in order to reconcile the justice of nuil Father arith as, and to j ■';. -c for both our original ami actual Bins, III. Of ChrixCx Resurrection. — This Christ did truly rise again from the dead, sad reaaaumed bis body, with all things appertaining to the perfection of man's nature, and thus in the same body lv as- cended into heaven, and sitteth there until he return again, at the last day, to judge all m< n. IV. Of the Holy Ghost.— The Holy (ilh»st proceeda from the Father and the S»u, is the true and eternal God, of one ace, majestj and glory, with the Father and the Son. V. Tn< Sufficiency of the Holy Scrip- tmrtsjor <,,/r Instruction to Salvation. — The Holy (Scriptures contain the decree of God, so far as it is necessary for us to know for our salvation; so that whatso- ever is not contained therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be enjoined on any to believe as an article of faith, nor as a doctrine essential to salvation. By the Holy Scriptures, we understand those canonical books of the Old and New Testament, which the church at all times indubiously received as such. VI. Concerning the Old Testame?it. — The Old and New Testaments are not con- trary to each other; in both, as well in the Old as in the New Testament, ever- lasting life is offered to mankind by Christ, being both God and man, and the only Mediator between God and man. Where- fore, they are not to be heard, who teach that the fathers of the ancient covenant had grounded their expectations on tran- sitory promises only. Though the law- giver) from God by Moses, touching cere- monies and rites, doth not bind Christians, by any means, nor ought the civil pre- cepts thereof of necessity be received in any commonwealth : yet, notwithstanding, no Christian is free from the obedience of the ten commandments, which are also called the moral law. VII. Of Original Sin. — Original sin consisteth not in the filling of Adam (as some falsely pretend ;) but it is that corruption of the human nature, in which i \ « rj oflspi ing of Adam a thai world — a corruption, whereby i (ar gone from original rtghtei u <>u the contrary, 11 of bis own nature in* dined to ei il, and thai contini VIII. Of &* M ML— The co,;,;/ man after and BMOO the tall of Adam M 90 wretched, that w<- cannot turn ant by the simple powers of nature ; mid }.< nee are cannot by our own natural stn ngtk do ;ui\ good works, pleasing and acceptable in the Bight of God, without tfo God by Christ preventing US, and influen- cing us that we may ha\< ,.l, and working with us, when we haw will. IX. Of the justification of Man; — We are never accounted righteous befbn on account of our works or merits ; but it is only for the merit of our Lord and Sa- viour Jesus Christ, and by faith in his name, that we are justified. Wherefore, that we are justifi ed by faith only, is a most wholesome doctrine, and full of comfort. X. Of Good Works. — Though good works are the fruits of faith, and follow justification, whilst they have not the vir- tue to put away our sins, nor to avert the judgment, or endure the severity of God's justice : yet they are pleasing and accept- able to God in Christ, if they spring out of a true and living faith, insomuch, that by them living faith may be as evidently known, as a tree is discerned by its fruit. XI. Of Sin after Justif cation. — Not every sin willingly committed after justifi- cation is, therefore, the sin against the Holy Ghost, which is unpardonable. They cannot all be precluded from repentance who fall in sin after justification, nor their acceptance straightway denied them. After j we have received the Holy Ghost, it may so happen, that we may depart from grace, and fall into sin ; and, we may even thus arise again by the grace of God and amend our lives. And, therefore, the doctrine of those is to be rejected, who say, they can no more fall into sin as long as they live here, or who deny the place of forgiveness to such as do truly repent. XIT. Of the 'Church. — The visible Church of Christ is the community of true believers, among whom the word of God is preached in its purity, and the means of grace are dulv administered, ac- =1 278 HISTORY OF THE EVANGELICAL ASSOCIATION. COpdilJg to Christ's own appointment in all those things) so for as they arc requisite, and in conformity with the ordinances of Christ. XIII. Of speaking in the Congregation in such a Tongue as the People may un- derstand.— Public prayers in the church, and the ministering of baptism and of the Lord's Supper in a tongue not understood by the people, are matters plainly repug- nant to the word of God, and the custom of the primitive church. XIV. Of Baptism and the Lord's Sirp- per. — Baptism and the Lord's Supper, ordained by Christ, are not only given pledges or tokens of Christian men's pro- fession, but they are much more certain signs of grace and God's good will towards us, by which he works invisibly in us, quickens and also strengthens and confirms our faith in him. Baptism and the Lord's Supper were not orlained by Christ that we should abuse them ; but that we should duly use them. And in such only, as worthily re- ceive the same, they produce a wholesome and effectual power ; but such, as receive them unworthily, purchase to themselves damnation, as Paul saith. XV. Of Baptism. — Baptism is not merely a token of a Christian profession, whereby Christians are distinguished from others, and whereby they obligate them- selves to observe every Christian duty ; but it is also a sign of internal ablution, renovation, or the new birth. XVI. Of the Lord's Supper.— The Supper of the Lord is not merely a token of love and union, that Christians ought to have among themselves and one towards another ; but it is much more, a mystery or a representation of our redemption by the sufferings and death of Christ ; inso- much, that such as rightly, and worthily, and faithfully receive the same, partake of the body and blood of Christ by faith, as the imparting means, not in a bodily but in a spiritual manner, in eating the broken bread and in drinking the blessed cup, which is handed them. Transubstantia- tion, or the changing of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ in the Lord's Supper, cannot be supported by Holy Writ, but is repugnant to the plain words of the Scriptures. XVII. Of the only Oblation of Christ, , finished upon the Cross. — The offering ; which was once made by Christ on the cross, is that perfect redemption, propitia- tion and satisfaction, for all the sins of the whole world, both original and actual, so j that there is no other satisfaction required but that alone. XVIII. Of Church Rites and Ceremo- nies.— It is by no means necessary, that ceremonies and rites should in all places be the same, or exactly alike ; for they have always been different, and may be changed according to the diversity of countries, times and national manners, provided, that nothing be introduced con- trary to God's ordinances. Whosoever, through his private judgment, willingly and purposely doth break the ordinances, ceremonies and rites of the church to which he belongs, (if they are not repugnant to the word of God, and are ordained by proper authority,) ought to be rebuked openly, as one that offendeth against the order of the church, and woundeth the consciences of the weaker brethren, in order that others may be deterred from similar audacity. Every particular church has the privi- lege to introduce, change, and abolish rites and ceremonies ; yet so, that all things mav be done to edification. XIX. Of the Rulers of the United States of America. — The President, Con- gress, the General Assemblies, the Gover- nors, and the Councils of State, as the delegates of the people, according to the regulation and transfer of power, made to them by the constitution of the United States, and by the constitutions of their respective states, are the rulers of, and in the United States. And these states are a sovereign and independent nation, which is and ought not to be subject to any forergn jurisdiction : though we believe that wars and bloodshed are not agreeable with the gospel and spirit of Christ. XX. Concerning the Christian's tem- poral property. — The temporal property of Christians must not be considered as common, in regard to the right, title and possession of the same, as some do vainly pretend ; but as lawful possessions. Not- withstanding, every one ought, of the things he possesseth, to give to the poor Lith of PS Duval. Philal' HISTORY OP Tin: BOCIET^ OF FRIENDS OR Ql UCER& ami needy, and t<> manilrst Christian lore and liberality towards (hem. XXI. Of the I '• righteous Sentence of Rewards and Pun- ishments.— We believe that Jesus Christ will come in the last day, to jlldj mankind l>y a righteous judgment ; that God will give unto the faithful] elecl and godly, eternal lift and happiness, everlast- ing rest, peace and joy without end. Bui Cod will bid the impenitent and ungodly, to depart to the devil and his angels, to en- dure everlasting damnation, punishment and pain, torment and misery. Therefore we are not to concede to the doctrine of those who maintain that devils and ungodly men will not have to suffer eternal punish- ment and torment. CONFERENCES. Their conferences are : first, a quarter- ly ; second, an annual ; and third, a gene- ral conference. The first takes place on every circuit at the quarterly meetings ; the second once a year in every confer- ence district, and the third every four years m the district of the who!. count of wlii-h it is called tl conference. The members of the quarterly conference are all the c borters, travelling and local preachers, residing or stationed in the circuit of said quarterly conference. The meml the annual conferences are all the I ling preachers, and such as have travelh d, and who by Ordination stand in full con- ncctionwith the ministry. The gi conference consists of delegates who are elected of every annual conference every fourth year, one for every four members of her own body. There is in addition to these another annual conference appointed for the local preachers on every circuit, where several of them reside ; but these are destined principally for the investiga- tion of the character and conduct of said preachers, in order to save time at the an- nual conferences of the travelling ministry. Arrangement of the Society. — The whole society is divided into conference districts, the conference districts into smaller districts, these into circuits, and 1 the circuits into classes. HISTORY OF THE FRIENDS OR QUAKERS BY THOMAS EVANS, PHILADELPHIA. The religious Society of Friends, com- monly called Quakers, is a body of Chris- tian professors, which arose in England about the middle of the seventeenth cen- tury. The ministry of George Fox was chiefly instrumental, under the divine blessing, in convincing those who joined him of those Christian principles and tes- timonies which distinguish the society ; and his pious labors contributed in no small degree to their establishment as an organ- ized body, having a regular form of church government and discipline. This devoted servant of Christ was born at Drayton, in Leicestershire, in the year 1624, and was carefully educated by his parents in the Episcopal mode of worship. He appears to have led a religious life 2S0 HISTORY OF THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS OR QUAKERS. from his childhood, and to have been deeply concerned for the salvation of his soul. Amid a high profession of religion, then generally prevalent, he observed among the people much vain and trifling conversation and conduct, as well as sordid carthly-mindcdness, both which he believed to be incompatible with the Christian life. This brought great trouble upon his mind, clearly perceiving that the profession in which he had been educated did not give to its adherents that victory over sin which , the gospel enjoins, and which his soul panted after. He withdrew from his former associates, and passed much of his time in retirement, — reading the holy scriptures, and endeavoring to wait upon the Lord for the revelation of his Spirit, to enable him rightly to understand the truths of the gospel. In this state of reverent dependence upon the Fountain of saving knowledge, his mind was enlightened to see into the spirituality of the gospel dispensation, and to detect many errors which had crept into the professing Christian church. In the year 1647, he commenced his labors J as a minister of the gospel, travelling ex- |i tensively through England, generally on i foot; and, from a conviction that it was jj contrary to Christ's positive command, he j refused to receive any compensation for preaching, defraying his expenses out of j his own slender means. The unction from j on high, which attended his ministry, car- ried conviction to the hearts of many of his hearers ; and his fervent disinterested labors were crowned with such success, that in a few years a large body of persons had embraced the Christian principles which he promulgated. The civil and religious commotions which prevailed in England about this pe- riod, doubtless prepared the way for the more rapid spread of gospel truth. The fetters, in which priestcraft had long held the human mind, were beginning to be loosened ; the dependence of man upon his fellow-man, in matters of religion, was shaken, and many sincere souls, panting after a nearer acquaintance with God, and a dominion over their sinful appetites and passions, which they could not obtain by the most scrupulous observance of the ceremonies of religion, were earnestlv in- quiring, " What must we do to be saved ?" The message of George Fox appears to have been, mainly, to direct the people to Christ Jesus, the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls, who died for them, and had sent his spirit or light into their hearts, to instruct and guide them in the things pertaining to life and salvation. To the light of Christ Jesus, in the con- science, he endeavored to turn the atten- tion of all, as that by which sin was mani- fested and reproved, duty unfolded, and ability given to run with alacrity and joy in the way of God's commandments. The preaching of this doctrine was glad tidings of great joy to many longing souls, who eagerly embraced it, as that for which they had been seeking ; and, as they walked in this divine light, they expe- rienced a growth in grace and in Christian knowledge, and gradually came to be es- tablished as pillars in the house of God. Many of these, before they joined with George Fox, had been highly esteemed in the various religious societies of the day, for their distinguished piety and expe- rience, being punctual in the performance of all their religious duties, and regular in partaking of what are termed " the ordi- nances." But, notwithstanding they en- deavored to be faithful to the degree of knowledge they had received, their minds were not yet at rest. They did not wit- ness that redemption from sin, and that establishment in the truth, which they read of in the Bible as the privilege and duty of Christians; and hence, they were induced to believe that there was a purer and more spiritual way than they had yet found. They felt that they needed to know more of the power of Christ Jesus in their own hearts, making them new creatures, bruising Satan, and putting him under their feet, and renewing their souls up into the divine image which was lost in Adam's fall, and sanctifying them wholly, in body, soul and spirit, through the inward operations of the Holy Ghost and fire. Great were their conflicts and earnest their prayers, that they might be brought to this blessed experience ; but looking without, instead of having their attention turned within, they missed the object of lheir search. They frequented the preach- HISTORY OF Till: NOCIF/n OK FRIENDS OR gi AKER8. ina of die atosl eminent ministers ; ipenl much time in reading the holy scriptures, in fasting, meditation ami prayer, and in* d the Strictness Of their lives ami religious performances j but still the) irere not wholly freed from the dominion el" sill. Some, after wearying themselves with the multitude and severity of their duties, without finding the expected benefit from them, separated from all the forms of wor- ship then practised, and sat down together, waiting upon the Lord, and earnestly looking and praying for the full manifesta- tion of the kingdom and power of the Lord Jesus. In this humble, seeking state, the Lord was graciously pleased to meet with them ; sometimes without any instrumental means, at others, through the living ministry of George Fox or other anointed servants, w ho were prepared and sent forth to preach the gospel. Then they were brought to see that that, which made them uneasy in the midst of their high profession and manifold observances, and raised fervent breathings after the God of their lives, was nothing less than the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, striving with them in order to bring them out fully from under the bondage of sin, into the glorious lib- erty of the children of God. They were brought to see that they had been resting too much in a mere historical belief of the blessed doctrines of the gos- pel, the birth, life, miracles, sufferings, death, resurrection, ascension, mediation, intercession, atonement and divinity of the Lord Jesus ; but had not sufficiently looked for, and abode under, the heart-changing and sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit or Comforter ; to seal those precious truths on the understanding, and give to each one a living and practical interest in them; so that they might really know Christ to be their Saviour and Redeemer, and that he had, indeed, come into their hearts and set up his righteous govern- ment there. This was the dawning of a new day to their souls ; and, as they attended in sim- ple obedience to the discoveries of this di- vine light, they were gradually led to see farther into the spirituality of the gospel dispensation. The change which it made in their views was gn at, and mat deep were their searchings of heart, trj ing M the Hire- both wet and dry ,w ere they yielded; lost they should l><- miStak< II .Hid put the workings of their own imagina* tion for the unfbldings of th<- spirit of Christ ; hut as they patiently sbode under its enlightening operations, every doubt and difficulty wa- removed, and they were enabled to speak from joyful experience of that which they had seen, and tasted, and handled of the good word of life. The rapid spread of the doctrines preached by George Fox, was surprising ; and, among those who embraced them, were persons of the best families in the kingdom; several priests of the Episcopal denomination and ministers of other socie- ties ; besides, many other learned and sub- stantial men. A large number of ministers, both men and women, were soon raised up in the infant society, who travelled abroad, as they believed themselves di- vinely called, spreading the know ledge of the truth, and strengthening and comfort- ing the newly convinced. In a few years meetings were settled in nearly all parts of the United Kingdom ; and, notw ith- standing the severe persecution to which the society was subjected, by which thou- sands were locked up in jails and dun- geons, and deprived of nearly all their property, besides being subjected to bar- barous personal abuse ; its members con- tinued to increase, and manifested a zeal and devotedness which excited the admi- ration even of their persecutors. Their sufferings seemed only to animate them with fresh ardor, and to unite them more closely together in the bond of gospel fel- lowship. Instances occurred where all the parents were thrown into prison, and the children continued to hold their meet- ings, unawed by the threats of the officers, or the cruel whippings which some of them suffered. As early as the year 1655, some minis- ters travelled on the continent of Europe, and meetings of Friends were soon after settled in Holland and other places ; — some travelled into Asia, some were car- ried to Africa ; and several were im- prisoned in the Inquisitions of Rome, Malta, and in Hungary. About the same period the first Friends arrived in America, 36 282 HISTORY OF THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS OR QUAKERS. at the port of Boston, and commenced their religious labors among the people, many of whom embraced the doctrines which they heard. The spirit of persecu- tion, from which Friends had suffered so deeply in England, made its appearance in America with increased virulence and cruelty, inflicting upon the peaceable Qua- kers various punishments ; and finally put four of them to death by the gallows. Notwithstanding the opposition they had to encounter, the principles of Friends continued to spread in America ; many eminent ministers, actuated by the love of the gospel and a sense of religious duty, came over and travelled through the coun- try ; others, removed thither and settled ; — and in 1682, a large number, under the patronage of William Penn, came into the province of Pennsylvania, and founded that flourishing colony. At that time, meetings were settled along the Atlantic provinces, from North Carolina as far as Boston in New England ; and, at the pre- sent day, the largest body of Friends is to be found in the United States. When we consider the great numbers who joined the society ; that, without any formal admission, all those who embraced the principles of Friends and attended their meetings were considered members, as well as their children, and of course, the body in some measure implicated in the consistency of their conduct ; the nu- merous meetings which were settled, and the wide extent of country which they embraced ; it is obvious that the organiza- tion of the society would have been im- perfect, without some system of church government by which the conduct of the members might be inspected and re- strained. The enlightened and comprehensive mind of George Fox was not long in per- ceiving the necessity for this ; and he early began to make arrangements for carrying it into practice. Under the guidance of the light of Christ Jesus, which had so clearly unfolded to him the doctrines and precepts of the gospel in their true spiritual character, he com- menced the arduous work of establishing meetings for discipline ; and, in a few years, had the satisfaction to see his labor and concern crowned with success, both in England and America. Under the in- fluence of that Christian love which warmed his heart toward the whole human family, but which more especially flowed toward the household of faith, he was very tender of the poor, and careful to see that their necessities were duly supplied. This principle has ever since characterized the society, which cheerfully supports its own poor, besides contributing its share to the public burdens. The first objects to which the attention of these meetings was directed were the care of the poor and destitute, who had been reduced to want by perse- cution, or other causes ; the manner of accomplishing marriages ; the registry of births and deaths ; the education and ap- prenticing of children ; the granting of suitable certificates of unity and approba- tion to ministers who travelled abroad, and the preservation of an account of the suf- ferings sustained by Friends in support of their religious principles and testimonies. It also became necessary to establish regu- lations for preserving the members in a line of conduct consistent with their profession. In this imperfect state of being, we are in- structed from the highest authority, that offences must needs come ; but it does not necessarily follow, either that the offender must, be cut ofT from the church, or that the reproach of his misconduct should be visited upon the society to which he be- longs. If in pursuance of those Christian means laid down in the gospel, he is brought to acknowledge and sincerely con- demn his error, a brother is gained ; the church is freed from reproach by his re- pentance and amendment of life ; and thus the highest aim of all disciplinary regulations is attained. Where these effects, however, do not result from the Christian care of the church ; it becomes its duty to testify against the disorderly conduct of the offender, and to declare that he has separated himself from its fel- lowship, and is no longer a member thereof. The views of George Fox on this subject were marked by that simplicity and scriptural soundness which distin- guished his whole character. He considered the church as a harmo- nious and compact body, made up of living members, having gifts differing according to the measure of grace received, yet all HISTORY OF THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS OR w1 AKER8. I, nl one upon another, ami each, even the weakest tnd lowest, having hia proper place and lervice, As the ver) ofrcligious society is the preserva- tion, comfort and edification of the mem- u ra, and as ;ill have a common interest in the promotion »>t* these great ends; he considered ever) faithful member reli- giously bound to contribute according to his capacity toward their attainment. The words oi* our Lord furnish a short hut comprehensive description of the order instituted by Him for tin- government oi' His church: M If thy brother shall tres- pass against thee, go and toll him his fault between thee and him alone. If ho shall hoar thee, thou hast gained thy brother. Rut if ho will not hear thec, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hoar them, tell it to the church ; but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be to thee as an heathen man and a publican." Here is no limitation of this Christian care to ministers or any other class ; but any brother, who sees another offending, is to admonish him in love for his good. The language of our blessed Saviour respecting the authority of his church ; and his being in the midst of it in the per- formance of its duties, is very clear and comprehensive : " Verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven ; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth, as touch- ing anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in beaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." The doctrine of the immediate presence of Christ with his church, whether assem- bled for the purpose of divine worship, or for the transaction of its disciplinary af- fairs, is the foundation of all its authority. It was on this ground that George Fox so often exhorted his fellow-believers to hold their meetings in the power of the Lord ; all waiting and striving to know Christ Jesus brought into dominion in their own hearts, and his Spirit leading and guiding them in bV liviug present e mighl I"- fell t<» pn side over their assemblies. In a church thus gathered, we cannot doubt, thai the I U d condescends to be in the midst, qualifying the members to worship the Father of spirits, iii spirit and iu truth, or enduing them with wisdom rightly to manage the business which' may engage then- attention. Nor can we question that bo far as they are careful to act in his wisdom and under his direction, their conclusions, being in con- formity with his * ill, have his authority for their sanction and support. The discipline of the Society Of Friends, established in conformity with these views, embraces four grades of meetings, con- nected with, and dependent upon, each other. First, the preparative meetings receive and prepare the business for the monthly meetings, which are composed of one or more preparative meetings, and rank next in order above them ; in these the executive department of the discipline is chiefly lodged. The third grade in- cludes quarterly meetings, which consist of several monthly meetings, and exercise a supervisory care over them, examine into their condition, and advise or assist them as occasion may require ; — and lastly, the yearly meeting, which includes the whole, possesses exclusively the legis- lative power, and annually investigator the state of the whole body, which is brought before it by answers to queries, addressed to the subordinate meetings. In each preparative meeting there are usually two or more Friends of each sex, appointed as overseers of the flock, whose duty it is to take cognizance of any im- proper conduct in the members, and en- deavor by tender and affectionate labor^to convince the offender, and bring him to such a sense of his fault as may lead to sincere repentance and amendment. Vio- lations of the discipline by members are reported by the overseers to the prepara- tive meetings ; and from thence, if deemed necessary, to the monthly meeting, where a committee is usually appointed to en- deavor to convince and reclaim the delin- quent ; and if this desirable result is not produced, a minute is made declaring the disunity of the meeting with his conduct and with him, until he is brought to a 284 HISTORY OF THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS OR QUAKERS. sense of his error, and condemns it in a satisfactory manner. From the decision of a monthly meeting, the disowned per- son has the right of appeal to the quarterly meeting, and if that gives a judgment against him, he may carry his case to the yearly meeting also, where it is finally determined. The women have also over- seers, appointed to extend Christian care and advice to their own sex ; and like- wise preparative, monthly, quarterly, and yearly meetings, in which they transact such business as relates to the good order and preservation of their members ; but they take no part in the legislative pro- ceedings of the society ; and in difficult cases, or those of more than ordinary im- portance, they generally obtain the judg- ment of the men's meetings. There are also distinct meetings for the care and help of the ministry, composed of ministers and elders, the latter being prudent and solid members, chosen spe- cially to watch over the ministers for their good, and to admonish or advise them lor their help. In these meetings the men and women meet together ; they are called meetings of ministers and elders, and are divided into preparative, quarterly, and yearly. There are at present in the society ten yearly meetings of Friends, viz., London and Dublin, in Great Britain and Ireland. New England, held at Newport, Rhode Island ; New York, held in that city ; Pennsylvania and New Jersey, held in Philadelphia ; Maryland, held in Balti- more ; Virginia, held in that state, at Cedar Creek and Sumerton, alternately ; North Carolina, held at New Garden in that state ; Ohio, held at Mount Pleasant ; and Indiana, held at Richmond in Wayne county. These include an aggregate of from one hundred and twenty to one hun- dred and fifty thousand members. The doctrines of the society may be briefly stated as follows. They believe in one only wise, omnipotent, and ever- lasting God, the creator and upholder of all things, visible and invisible ; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, the mediator between God and man ; and in the Holy Spirit which pro- ceeded from the Father and the Son ; one God blessed for ever. In expressing their views relative to the awful and mys- terious doctrine of " the Three that bear record in heaven," they have carefully avoided the use of unscriptural terms, in- vented to define Him who is undefinable, and have scrupulously adhered to the safe and simple language of Holy scripture, as contained in Matt, xxviii. 18-19, &c. They own and believe in Jesus Christ, the beloved and only begotten Son of God, who was conceived of the Holy Ghost, and born of the Virgin Mary. In him we have redemption, through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins ; who is the ex- press image of the invisible God, the first born of every creature, by whom all things were created that are in heaven or in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, dominions, principalities or pow- ers. They also believe that he was made a sacrifice for sin, who knew no sin, nei- ther was guile found in his mouth ; that he was crucified for mankind, in the flesh, without the gates of Jerusalem ; that he was buried and rose again the third day, by the power of the Father, for our justi- fication, and that he ascended up into hea- ven, and now sitteth at the right hand of God, our holy mediator, advocate, and in- tercessor. They believe that he alone is the redeemer and saviour of man, the captain of salvation, who saves from sin as well as from hell and the wrath to come, and destroys the works of the devil. He is the Seed of the woman that bruises the serpent's head, even Christ Jesus, the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. He is, as the scriptures of truth say of him, our wisdom, righteousness, justifica- tion, and redemption ; neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we may be saved. The Society of Friends have uniformly declared their belief in the divinity and manhood of the Lord Jesus : that he was both true God and perfect man, and that his sacrifice of himself upon the cross was a propitiation and atonement for the sins of the whole world, and that the remission of sins which any partake of, is only in, and by virtue of, that most satisfactory sacrifice, and no otherwise. Friends believe also in the Holy Spirit, or comforter, the promise of the Father HI8T0M OF THE 80CIETY. OF FRIENDS OR Ql \ K I . K - whom Chiist declared he would tend in ime, to lead and guide his followers into all truth, to fetch them all things, ami to bring all thing! to their remem- biance. A manifestation of this Spirit they believe is given to every man to profit withal; that it convicts for sin, and, as attended to, gives power to the soul to overcome and forsake it; it opens to the mind the mysteries of' salvation, enables it BSVingly to understand the truths re- corded in the holy scriptures, and gives it the living, practical, and heartfelt expe- rience of those things which pertain to its everlasting welfare. They believe that the nving knowledge of God and Christ cannot be attained in any other way than by the revelation of this spirit ; — for the apostle says, " What man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him ? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that we might know the things which are freely given to us of God." If therefore the things which properly ap- pertain to man cannot be discerned by any lower principle than the spirit of man : those things, which properly relate to God and Christ, cannot be known by any power inferior to that of the Holy Spirit. They believe that man was created in the image of God, capable of understand- ing the divine law, and of holding com- munion with his Maker. Through trans- gression he fell from this blessed state, and lost the heavenly image. His pos- terity come into the world in the image of the earthly man ; and, until renewed by the quickening and regenerating power of the heavenly man, Christ Jesus, mani- fested in the soul, they are fallen, degene- rated, and dead to the divine life in which Adam originally stood, and are subject to the power, nature and seed of the serpent; and not only their words and deeds, but their imaginations, are evil perpetually in the sight of God. Man, therefore, in this state can know nothing aright concerning God ; his thoughts and conceptions of | spiritual things, until he is disjoined from this evil seed, and united to the divine light, Christ Jesus, are unprofitable to himself and to others. Hut while h entertaini these ra i the lost and undone condition of man in the (all, the society does not believe that mankind are punishable fbf Adam's sin, or that we partake of his guilt, until we make it our own by transgression of the divine law. BfUl God, who out of his infinite love sent his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ into the world to taste death for every man, hath granted to all men, of whatever na- tion or country, a day or time of visitation, during which it is possible for them to partake of the benefits of Christ's death, and be saved. For this end he hath com- municated to every man a measure of the light of his own Son, a measure of grace or the Holy Spirit — by which he invites, calls, exhorts, and strives with every man, in order to save him ; which light or grace, as it is received and not resisted, works the salvation of all, even of those who are ignorant of Adam's fall, and of the death and sufferings of Christ ; both by bringing them to a sense of their own misery, and to be sharers in the sufferings of Christ, inwardly ; and by making them partakers of his resurrection, in becoming holy, pure and righteous, and recovered out of their sins. By which also are saved they that have the knowledge of Christ out- wardly, in that it opens their understand- ings rightly to use and apply the things delivered in the scriptures, and to receive the saving use of them. But this Holy Spirit, or light of Christ, may be resisted and rejected ; in which then, God is said to be resisted and pressed down, and Christ to be again crucified and put to open shame ; and to those who thus resist and refuse him, he becomes their condem- nation. As many as resist not the light of Christ Jesus, but receive and walk therein, it becomes in them a holy, pure and spir- itual birth, bringing forth holiness, right- eousness and purity, and all those other blessed fruits which are acceptable to God, by which holy birth, viz.: Jesus Christ formed within us, and working his works in us, as we are sanctified, so we are jus- tified in the sight of God ; according to the apostle's words ; " But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." Therefore, it is not by our works wrought in our will, nor yet by good works considered as of them- selves, that we are justified, but by Christy who is both the gift and the giver, and the cause producing the effects in us. As he hath reconciled us while we were ene- mies, so doth he also, in his wisdom, save and justify us after this manner ; as saith the same apostle elsewhere : " Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost ; which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Saviour, that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs ac- cording to the hope of eternal life." We renounce all natural power and ability in ourselves, to bring us out of our lost and fallen condition and first nature, and con- fess that as of ourselves we are able to do nothing that is good, so neither can we procure remission of sins or justifica- tion by any act of our own, so as to merit it, or to draw it as a debt from God due to us ; but we acknowledge ail to be of and from his love, which is the original and fundamental cause of our acceptance. God manifested his love toward us, in the sending of his beloved son, the Lord Je- sus Christ, into the world, who gave him- self an offering for us and a sacrifice to God, for a sweet smelling savor ; and having made peace through the blood of the cross, that he might reconcile us unto himself, and by the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot unto God, he suffered for our sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us unto God. In a word, if justification be considered in its full and just latitude, neither Christ's work without us, in the prepared body, nor his work within us, by his Holy Spirit, is to be excluded ; for both have their place and service in our complete justifi- cation. By the propitiatory sacrifice of Christ without us, we, truly repenting and believing, are, through the mercy of God, justified from the imputation of sins and transgressions that are past, as though they had never been committed ; and by the mighty work of Christ within us, the power, nature and habits of sin are de- stroyed ; that, as sin once reigned unto death, even so now grace reigneth, through r!Lrlit there >s one Lord and one faith) so there it bul one baptism, of which the wafer baptism of John was a figure. The baptism which belongs to ihe gospel, the I of Friends belief es, is M Dot Ihe putting away the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward ( rod, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ." This answer of a good conscience can only be produced by the purifying operation of the Holy Spirit, transforming and Renewing the heart, and bringing the will into con- formity to the divine will. The distinc- tween Christ's baptism and that of water is clearly pointed out by .John: " I indeed baptize you with water unto repent- ance, but he that eometh after me is migh- tier than I, whose sliocs I am not worthy to bear, he shall baptize you with the Holy (I host and lire, whose fan is in his hund, and ho will thoroughly purge his floor and gather his wheat into the garner, hut he will barn up the chaff with unquenchable lire.*' In conformity with this declaration, the society holds that the baptism which now saves is inward and spiritual ; that true Christians are " baptized by one Spirit into one body ;" that " as many as are baptized into Christ have put on Christ ;" and that " if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature : old things are passed away, behold all things are become new, and all things of God." Respecting the communion of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Society of Friends believes, that it is in- ward and spiritual — a real participation of his divine nature through faith in him, and obedience to the power of the Holy Ghost, by which ihe soul is enabled daily to feed upon the flesh and blood of our crucified and risen Lord, and is thus nourished and strengthened. Of this spiritual com- munion, the breaking of bread and drink- ing of wine by our Saviour with his disci- ples was figurative ; the true Christian sup- per being that set forth in the Revelations : t: Behold, I stand at the door and knock : if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him, and he with me." A- the Lord •!• su i d< clan !. M Without me, 3 e can do nothing,*' the Friends holds the doctrine that mi do nothing thai tends to the glorj i and his own salvation without the imme- diate assistance of the Spirit of Christ; and that this aid is especially Di the performance of the highest act of which he is capable, even the worship of the Aimigbty. This worship must be in spirit and in truth ; an intercourse I i the soul and its great Cn ator, hi hi< h is not dependant upon, or necessarily connected with, any thing which one man can do for another. It is the practice therefore of the society to sit down in solemn silence to worship God; that each one may be en- gaged to gather inward to the gift of divine grace, in order to experience ability reve- rently to wait upon the Father of spirits, and to offer unto him through Christ Jesus our holy Mediator, a sacrifice well pleasing in his sight, whether it be, in silent mental adoration, the secret breathing of the soul unto him, the public ministry of the gospel, or vocal prayer or thanksgiving. Those, who are thus gathered, are the true wor- shippers, " who worship God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confi- dence in the flesh." In relation to the ministry of the gospel, the society holds that the authority and qualification for this important work are the special gift of Christ Jesus, the great Head of the church, bestowed both upon men and women, without distinction of rank, talent, or learning ; and must be re- ceived immediately from him, through the revelation of his spirit in the heart ; agree- ably to the declarations of the apostle : " He gave some apostles, and some pro- phets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the purifying of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ" — " to one is given by the Spirit, the word of wisdom, to another the word of know- ledge, by the same Spirit ; to another faith ; to another the gifts of healing — to another the working of miracles, — to another pro- phecy— to another discerning of spirits ; to another divers kinds of tongues ; to another the interpretation of tongues : — but all these workcth that one and the self- same Spirit, dividing to every man sevc- 288 HISTORY OF THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS OR QUAKERS. rally as he will." "If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God ; if anv man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth ; that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ." Viewing the command of our Saviour, " Freely ye have received, freely give," as of lasting obligation upon all his minis- ters, the society has, from the first, stead- fastly maintained the doctrine that the gos{>el is to be preached without money and without price, and has borne a con- stant and faithful testimony, through much suffering, against a man-made hireling ministry, which derives its qualifications and authority from human learning and ordination ; which does not recognise a direct divine call to this solemn work, or acknowledge its dependence, for the per- formance of it, upon the renewed motions and assistance of the Holy Spirit. Where a minister believes himself called to reli- gious service abroad, the expense of ac- complishing which is beyond his means, if his brethren unite with his engaging; in it and set him at liberty therefor, the meet- ing he belongs to is required to see that the service be not hindered for want of pecuniary means. The Society of Friends believes that war is wholly at variance with the spirit of the gospel, which continually breathes peace on earth and good -will to men. That, as the reign of the Prince of peace comes to be set up in the hearts of men, nation shall not lift up sword against na- tion, neither shall they learn war any more. They receive, in their full and literal signification, the plain and positive commands of Christ: "I say unto you that ye resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite-thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also," — " I say unto you, love your enemies ; bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you and per- secute you, that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven." They consider these to be binding on every j Christian, and that the observance of them I would eradicate from the human heart those malevolent passions in which strife and warfare originate. In the same manner, the society be- lieves itself bound by the express com- mand of our Lord : " Swear not at all," and that of the apostle James : " But above all things, my brethren, swear not ; neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath ; but let your yea be yea and your nay nay, lest ye fall into condemnation ;" and therefore, its members refuse, for conscience' sake, either to administer or to take an oath. Consistently with its belief in the purity and spirituality of the gospel, the society cannot conscientiously unite in the obser- vance of public fasts, and feasts, and holi- days, set up in the will of man. It be- lieves that the fast we are called to, is not bowing the head as a bulrush for a day, and abstaining from meats or drinks ; but a continued fasting from every thing of a sinful nature, which would unfit the soul for being the temple of the Holy Ghost. It holds that under the gospel dispensation there is no inherent holiness in any one day above another, but that every day is to be kept alike holy; by denying our- selves, taking up our cross daily and fol- lowing Christ. Hence it cannot pay a superstitious reverence to the first day of the week ; but inasmuch as it is necessary that some time should be set apart to meet together to wait upon God, and as it is fit that at some times we should be freed from other outward affairs, and as it is reason- able and just that servants and beasts should have some time allowed them for rest from their labor; and as it appears that the apostles and primitive Christians used the first day of the week for these purposes : the society therefore, observes this day as a season of cessation from all unnecessary labor, and for religious re- tirement and waiting upon God ; yet not so as to prevent them from meeting on other days of the week for divine worship. The society has long lx>rne a testimony against the crying sin of enslaving the human species, as entirely at variance with the commands of our Saviour, and the spirit of the Christian religion; and likewise against the unnecessary use of intoxicating liquors. Friends believe magistracy or civil gov- ernment to be God's ordinance, the good ends thereof being for the punishment of evil-doers, and the praise of them that do HI8T0M OF THE SOCIETY OP FRIEND S OH CJ Wl VKEKS. well. While they fed themselvi strained bj the pacific principles of the gospel from joining in an) warlike mea- sure* to pull down, set up, or defend any particular government : thej consider it a duty i<» live peaceably under whatever form of government it shall please Divine Providence to permit to be set up over them : to obey the laws SO far as they do not violate their consciences; and, where an active compliance would infringe on their religious scruples, to endure patiently the penalties imposed upon them. The society discourages its members from ac- cepting posts or offices in civil government which expose them to the danger of vio- lating our Christian testimonies against war, oaths, esc, and also from engaging in political strife and party heats and dis- believing that the work to which we are particularly called, is to labor for the spread of the peaceful reign of the Messiah. It also forbids its members to go to law with each other; enjoining them to settle their disputes, if any arise, through the arbitration of their Brethren; and if pecu- liar circumstances, such as the cases of executors, trustees, &c, render this course impracticable or unsafe, and liberty is ob- tained to bring the matter into court, that they should on such occasions, as well as in suits with other persons, conduct them- selves with moderation and forbearance, without anger or animosity ; and in their whole demeanor evince that they are under the government of a divine principle, and that nothing but the necessity of the case brings them there. In conformity with the precepts and examples of the apostles and primitive believers, the society enjoins upon its members a simple and unostentatious mode of living, free from needless care and expense ; moderation in the pursuit of business ; and that they discountenance music, dancing, stage plays, horse races, and all other vain and unprofitable amuse- ments ; as well as the changeable fashions and manners of the world, in dress, lan- guage, or the furniture of their houses; that, dail) li\ ing in the t: 1 1 id and under the power of th<- cross of I which crucifies to th<- world and all its the) may snow forth a conduct and conversation becoming their ( Christian pro- feasion, and adorn the doctrine of God «>ur Saviour in all things. In the yjear 1 827, a portion of the mem- bers in some of the American yearly meet- ings, seceded from the society, ana set up a distinct and independent association, but still holding to the name of Friends. The document issued by the first meeting they held, bearing date the 21st of 4th month, 1827, and stating the causes of their se- cession, says, " Doctrines held by one part of society, and which we believe to be sound and edifying, are pronounced by the other part to be unsound and spu- rious.1' The doctrines, here alluded to, were certain opinions promulgated by Elias Hicks, denying or invalidating the miraculous conception, divinity and atone- ment of our Lord Jesus Christ, and also the authenticity and divine authority of the holy scriptures. These, with some other notions, were so entirely repugnant to the acknowledged and settled principles of the society, that endeavors were used to prevent the promulgation of them. The friends and admirers of Elias Hicks and his principles were dissatisfied with this oppo- sition to their views ; and after some years of fruitless effort to get the control of the meetings of Friends, they finally withdrew and set up meetings of their own. In this secession some members in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Ohio and Indiana yearly meetings, and a few in New Eng- land went ofT from the society. In the others ; viz., London, Dublin, Virginia and North Carolina, no separation took place. This new society, (commonly known by the appellation of Hicksites, after the name of its founder,) being still in existence, claiming the title of Friends, and making a similar appearance in dress and language, some notice of the separa- tion seemed necessary, in order to prevent confusion. 37 HISTORY OF THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS BY WILLIAM GIBBONS, M.D., WILMINGTON, DELAWARE. Note. — In the following sketch, I have given what I believe to be the doctrines of that portion of the Society of Friends of which I am a member. No doubt there are different opinions among them, as there were among primitive Friends, on some subjects not reducible to practice, or in regard to which we cannot appeal to experience, and which, in reference to scripture, may be differently understood. I alone am responsible for what I have written — the society having no written creed. William Gibbons. Wilmington, Del., 7th month, 1843. ORIGIN OF THE SOCIETY. The Society of Friends originated in England about the middle of the 17th cen- tury. The chief instrument in the divine hand for the gathering and establishment of this religious body was George Fox. He was born in the year 1624. He was carefully educated according to the re- ceived views of religion, and in conform- ity with the established mode of worship. His natural endowments of mind, although they derived but little advantage from the aid of art, were evidently of a very supe- rior order. The character of this extra- ordinary man it will not, however, be necessary here to describe with critical minuteness. The reader, who may be desirous of acquiring more exact infor- mation on this head, is referred to the journal of his life, an interesting piece of autobiography, written in a simple and unembellished style, and containing a plain and unstudied narration of facts. By this it appears, that in very early life he indulged a vein of thoughtfulness and a deep tone of religious feeling, which, in- creasing with his years, were the means of preserving him, in a remarkable de- gree, free from the contamination of evil example by which he was surrounded. The period in which he lived was distin- guished by a spirit of anxious inquiry, and a great appearance of zeal, on the subject of religion. The manners of the age were nevertheless deeply tinctured with licen- tiousness, which pervaded all classes of society, not excepting professors of reli- gion. Under these circumstances, George Fox soon became dissatisfied with the mode of worship in which he had been educated. Withdrawing, therefore, from the public communion, he devoted himself to retirement, to inward meditation, and the study of the scriptures. While thus engaged in an earnest pursuit of divine knowledge, his mind became gradually enlightened to discover the nature of true religion ; that it consisted not in outward profession, nor in external forms and cere- monies, but in purity of heart, and an upright walking before God. He was in- structed to comprehend, that the mean? by which those necessary characteristics of true devotion were to be acquired were not of a secondary or remote nature ; that the Supreme Being still condescended, as LA of P.SDuval,Pblada ilia® mi HISTOR\ OF THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. I in former days, to communicate bis \\ ill immediately t<> the soul of man, through the medium of his <>\\ a I [0I3 Spiril ; and thai obedience to the dictates of this in- ward and heavenlj monitor constituted the basis of true piety, and 1 1 1 * - onlj cer- tain ground of divine favor and acceptance. The convictions, thus produced in his own mind, he did not hesitate openly to avow. In defiance of clerical weight and influence, he denounced all human usurpation and interference in matters of religion, and boldly proclaimed that " God was come to teach his people himself." The novelty of his views attracted general attention, and exposed him to much obloquy; but his honesty and uprightness won him the esteem and approbation of the more can- did and discerning. Persevering, through every obstacle, in a faithful testimony to the simplicity of the truth, lie found many persons who, entertaining kindred impres- sions with himself, were fully prepared not only to adopt his views, but publicly to advocate them. The violent persecution which they encountered, served only to invigorate their zeal and multiply the number of their converts. United on a common ground of inward conviction, en- deared still more to each other by a par- ticipation of suffering, and aware of the benefits to be derived from systematic co- operation : George Fox and his friends soon became embodied in an independent religious community. Such is a brief history of the rise of the people called Quakers : to which I will only add, that the society continued to increase rapidly till near the end of the seventeenth century, through a most cruel and widely-extended persecution. Between the years 1650 and 1689, about fourteen thousand of this people suffered by fine and imprisonment, of which num- ber more than three hundred died in jail ; not to mention cruel mockings, buffetings, scourgings, and afflictions innumerable. All these things they bore with exemplary patience and fortitude, not returning evil for evil, but breathing the prayer, in the expressive language of conduct* " Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do !" The testimonies for which they principally suffered, were those against a hireling priesthood, tithes and oaths; against doing homage to man it ith ami knee \n and i'j^\n 1 u m. flattering titles and compliments, and the plural Dumber to a tingle person. I am next to speak of their religious principles, which are found embodied in their testimonies. DOCTRINES OP THE SOCIETY. The Society of Friends has never formed a creed after the manner of other religious denominations. We view Christianity es- sentially as a practical and not a theoreti- cal system ; and hence to be exemplified and recognised in the lives and conduct of its professors. We also hold that belief, in this connexion, does not consist in a mere assent of the natural understanding, but in a clear conviction wrought by the Divine Spirit in the soul. (1 John v. 10.) For that which here challenges our belief involves a knowledge of God ; and no man knoweth the things of God but by the Spirit of God. (1 Cor. ii. 11.) Again, religion is a progressive work : " There is first the blade, then the car, and after that the full corn in the ear." (Mark iv. 26.) "And some there are who have need of milk, and not of strong meat ; and every one that uselh milk is unskilful in the work of righteousness : for he is a babe." (Heb. v. 12, 13.) Seeing, therefore, that there are different growths and degrees of knowledge in the members of the body, we cannot but view the practice of requiring them to subscribe to the same creed, or articles of faith, as a pernicious cxcrcsence ingrafted on the Christian system. And hence we prefer judging of our members by their fruits, and leaving them to be taught in the school of Christ, under the tuition of an infallible teacher, free from the shackles imposed by the wisdom or contrivance of man. Our testimony to the light of Christ ivithin. — We believe a knowledge of the gospel to be founded on immediate revela- tion. (Matt. xvi. 18; 1 Cor. ii. 10, 11,12; John xiv. 26.) Being the antitype of the legal dispensation, it is spiritual as its author, and as the soul which it purifies and redeems. (Rom. i. 16.) Under the gospel dispensation, the tempel, (1 Cor. v. 19; Acts vii. 48,) altar, (Heb. xiii. 10,) 292 HISTORY OF THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. sacrifices, (1 Pet. ii. 5,) the flesh and blood, (John vi. 53 — 63,) water and fire, (John vii. 37, 38; iv. 14 ; Matt. iii. 11,) cleans- ing and worship, (John iv. 23, 24,) are all spiritual.* Instituted by the second Adam, the gospel restores to us the privileges and blessings enjoined by the first ; the same pure, spiritual worship, the same union and communion with our Maker. (John xvii. 21.) Such are our views of the Christian religion; a religion freely offered to the whole human race, (Heb. viii. 10, 11,) requiring neither priest nor book to administer or to illustrate it, (1 John ii. 27; Rom. x. 6, 7, 8;) for all outward rites and ceremonials are, to this religion, but clogs or cumbrous appendages, God himself being its author, its voucher, and its teacher. (John xiv. 26 ; 1 Cor. ii. 9 — 12.) These are not speculations or no- tions, for we speak of what we do know, " and our hands have handled of the word of life." (1 John i. 1.) Such is a summary of the religion held and taught by the primitive " Quakers ;" from which I descend to a few particulars, as a further exposition of their and our principles. The message which they received is the same given to the apostles, that " God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all," (1 John i. 6, 7) : and their great fundamental principle to which they bear testimony is, that God hath given to every man coming into the world, and placed within him, a measure or manifestation of this divine light, grace, or spirit which, if obeyed, is all-sufficient to redeem or save him. (John iii. 19, 20 ; i. 9 ; Tit. ii. 11 ; 1 Cor. xii. 7.) It is referred to and illus- trated in the scriptures, by the prophets, and by Jesus Christ and his disciples and apostles, under various names and simili- tudes. But the thing we believe to be one, even as God is one and his purpose one and the same in all, viz., repentance, re- generation, and final redemption. It is called light — of which the light of the natural sun is a beautiful and instructive emblem ; for this divine light, like the * Vide Christian Quaker, Phila. edition, 1824, p. 52. I. Pennington, vol. i. p. 360 ; vol. ii. pp. 115, 116, ^81, 282. Whitehead's Light and Life of Christ, pp. 48, 49. natural, enables us to distinguish with in- dubitable clearness all that concerns us in the works of salvation, and its blessings are as impartially, freely, and universally dispensed to the spiritual, as the other is to the outward creation. It is called grace, and grace of God, because freely bestowed on us by his bounty and enduring love. (John xiv. 16, 26.) It is called truth, as being the substance of all types and shadows, and imparting to man a true sense and view of his con- dition, as it is in the divine sight. It is called Christ (Rom. viii. 10 ; x. 6, 7, 8) ; Christ within, the hope of glory (Col. i. 27) ; the kingdom of God within (Luke xvii. 21) ; the word of God (Heb. iv. 12, 13); a manifestation of the Spirit, given to every man to profit withal (1 Cor. xii. 7) ; the seed (Luke viii. 11) ; a still small voice (1 Kings xix. 12); because most certainly heard in a state of retirement, but drowned by the excitement of the pas- sions, the rovings of the imagination, and the eager pursuit of worldly objects. "And thine ear shall hear a word behind thee saying, This is the way, walk ye in it — when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left." It is compared to a " grain of mustard seed, the smallest of all seeds," being at first little in its appearance ; but, as it is obeyed, growing and extending like that plant, until it occupies the whole ground of the heart, and thus expands into and sets up the kingdom of God in the soul. (Luke xiii. 19.) For the like reason it is compared to " a little leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal,* until the whole was leavened," or brought into its own nature. (Luke xiii. 21.) This unspeakable gift, through the infi- nite wisdom and goodness of the divine economy, speaks to every man's condition, supplies all his spiritual need, and is a pre- sent and all-sufficient help in every emer- gency and trial. To the obedient it proves a " comforter," under temptation a " moni- tor," and -a " swift witness" against the transgressor. It is a " quickening spirit" * A measure was two and a half gallons ; the , quantity of meal was, therefore, nearly one 0 bushel. ! HISTORY DF THK 80CIKTt OF KKIKNDS. ... [|„. indifferent ; " like a refiner's :i,l [ike fuller's soap, purifi ing the unclean ;M and ;,s ;| M hammer to the heart of the obdurate sinner; and in all, tn infallible teacher, and guide to \ irtue antl holinei Ami as there are diversities of opera- tions and administrations, so also there tre diversities of rifts bestowed on the members of the body : (1 Cor. xii. 4-12 :) *ly Spirit, oi I • in ( 'hrist. " The Son can do DOth I himself," said Chrisl ; and again, " I can of mine own self do nothing, n (John v. 1 '•', >tt) ;) and in another place, "The Father thai dwrllrth in me be doeth the work, (John \iv. 10 ;) " As my Father hath taught me, I speak these things,91 (John viii. 28;) "Even as the Father said unto me, so I speak," (John xii. 50.)4 We reject the common doctrines of the 7/7////// and Satisfaction, as contrary to reason and revelation, and for a more full expression of our views on these subjects. we refer the inquiring reader to the works below cited. f We arc equally far from owning the doctrine of " imputed righte- ousness," in the manner and form in \\hi< h it is held. We believe there must be 8 true righteousness of heart and life, wrought in us by the Holy Spirit, or Christ within ; in which work we impute all to him, for of ourselves we can do nothing. Neither do we admit that the sins of Adam are, in any sense, imputed to his posterity ; but we believe that no one incurs the guilt of sin, until he transgresses the law of God in his own person. Dcut. i. 39 ; Ezek. xvii. 10-24; Matt. xxi. 16; Mark x. 14, 15, 16; Rom. ix. 11.) In that fallen state, the love and mercy of God are ever extended for his regeneration and redemp- tion. God so loved the world, that he sent his only begotten Son into the world, in that prepared body, under the former dis- pensation, for the salvation of men. And * See also John iii. 34 ; v. 26, 36 ; vi. 38, 57 ; vii. 16; viii. 28, 42; xii: 49; I. Pennington, vol. iii. pp. 61,62,236; Whitehead's Light and Life of Christ, p. 35 ; Thomas Zachary, p. 6 ; William Penn, vol. ii.pp. 65, 66 ; Edward Bur- rough, p. 637; William Baily, pp. 157, 158: Stephen Crisp, pp. 75, 76. f William Penn's " Sandy Foundation Shak- en," passim ; I. Pennington, vol. ii. pp. 115, 116, 427; vol. iii. pp. 32, 34, 54, 61, 62, 135, 226, 236; Job Scott's " Salvation by Christ," pp. 16, 22, 24, 25, 29, 30, 35; Christian Quaker, pp. 34. 135, 199, 262, 276, 350, 354, -369, 405; William Penn's Works, fol. ed. vol. ii. pp. 65, 66, 420, 421; vol. v. p, 385; William Baily, pp. 157, 158 ; T. Story's Journal, p. 385 ; Fox's Doctrinals, pp. 644, 646, 664, 1035. 294 HISTORY OF THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. it is through the same redeeming love, and for the same purpose that, under the " new covenant," he now sends the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, a mediator and inter- cessor,^) reconcile us, and render us obe- | dient to the holy will and righteous law of God. We believe that all, that is to be savingly known of God, is made manifest. or revealed in man by his Spirit, (Rom. i. 19 ;) and if mankind had been satisfied to rest here, and had practised on the knowledge thus communicated, there would never have existed a controversy about religion, and no materials could now have been found for the work, of which this essay forms a part. (Deut. xxviii. 15, 29.) Our testimony concerning the Scrip- tures.— We believe that the scriptures have proceeded from the revelations of the Spirit of God to the saints ; and this belief is founded on evidence furnished by the same Spirit to our minds. We expe- rience them to be profitable for doctrine, | for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. But as they are a de- 1 claration from the fountain only, and not | the fountain itself, they bear the same inscription as the sun-dial : " Non sine lumine" — useless, or a dead letter, with- out light ;* because the right interpreta- tion, authority and certainty of them, and, I consequently, their usefulness, depend on the assurance and evidence of the same Spirit by which they were dictated, given to the mind of the reader. (2 Cor. iii. 6.) For, although we believe that we may be | helped and strengthened by outward means, such as the scriptures, and an au- thorized gospel ministry : yet it is only by the Spirit that we can come to the true knowledge of God, and be led " into all truth." Under these several considera- tions, we cannot accept these writings as the foundation and ground of all religious knowledge, nor as the primary rule of faith and practice ; since these high at- tributes belong to the divine Spirit alone, by which the scriptures themselves are tested. Neither do we confound cause and effect by styling them the " Word of God," which title belongs to Christ alone, * Phipp's " Original and Present State of Man." the fountain from which they proceeded. (Eph. vi. 17; Heb. iv. 12; Rev. xix. 13.) Our testimony on Divine Worship, the Ministry , tj-c. — We believe that they, that worship the Father aright, must wor- ship him in spirit and in truth, and not in a formal manner. (John iv. 24.) Hence, when we meet together for public worship, we do not hasten into outward perform- ances. (1 Pet. iv. 11.) For, as we believe that of ourselves, and by our own natural reason, we can perform no act that will be acceptable to God, or available to our own advancement in righteousness, with- out the sensible influence of his good Spirit (1 Cor. xii. 3.) : much less can we, without this divine aid, be useful to others, or minister at set times, seeing that this essential requisite is not at our command. Therefore it is our practice, when thus met together, to sit in silence, and with- draw our minds from outward things, to wait upon God, and " feel after him, if haply we may find him." (Psalm xlvi. 10.) And in these silent opportunities we are often strengthened and refreshed to- gether by his heavenly presence. (Matt, xviii. 20.) This manner of worship we believe to be more acceptable to our great Head, " who seeth in secret," than set forms of prayer or praise, however spe- cious, performed in the will of man. (1 Cor. ii. 13 ; Luke xii. 12.) Yet we do not exclude the use of a rightly qualified min- istry, but believe it to be a great blessing to the church. Nor do we exclude vocal prayer, when properly authorized ; though we bear testimony against the custom of appointing times and persons for this solemn service by human authority ; be- lieving that without the immediate opera- tion of the divine power, " we know not what we should pray for as we ought." (Rom. viii. 26.) I have before stated it as our belief, that outward rites and ceremonies have no place under the Christian dispensation, which we regard as a purely spiritual ad- ministration. Hence we hold that the means of initiation into the church of Christ does not consist in the water-bap- tism of John, which decreasing rite has vanished (John iii. 30) ; but in Christ's baptism, (Matt. iii. 11,) or that of the HISTORY OF THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. Holy Spirit; the fruits of which aw pe- nce and the new birth. Neither do pa believe thai spiritual oommunioci baa l,r maintained between Christ and dm church, by the use of the outward** ele- ments" of bread and wine, called the " sup- ■er,M which is the type or shadow only; but that the true communion 18 that alluded to in the Revelations: u Behold 1 stand at the doer and knock : ii* any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, ami will sup with him, and he with me." A hireling ministry, or the practice of taking money lor preaching, we testify against, as contrary to the plain precept and command of Christ, " Freely ye have received, freely give." Further, we hold thai to constitute a minister of Christ re- quires a special gift, call, and qualification from the blessed Master, and that neither scholastic divinity, philosophy, nor the forms of ordination, confer in any degree cither ability or authority to engage in this service of Christ, (1 Cor. ii. 4, 5, 13,) who has forewarned us that without him we can do nothing for ourselves. (John xv. 5.) As we believe that gifts in the ministry are bestowed by the Head of the Church, so we presume not to limit him in the dispensation of them, to any condi- tion of life, or to one sex alone ; seeing that male and female are all one in Christ. And this liberty we look upon as a fulfil- ment of prophecy, having received abun- dant evidence of its salutary influence in the church. (Acts ii. 16, 17 ; xxi. 9.) Our testimonies against war, slavery, and oaths, are generally well known, and have their rise in the convictions of the spirit of truth in our minds, amply con- firmed by the precepts and commands of Christ and his apostles, to which we refer the reader. W o condemn frivolous and vain amuse- ments, and changeable fashions and super- fluities in dress and furniture, shows of rejoicing and mourning, and public diver- sions. They are a waste of that time given us for nobler purposes, and are in- compatible with the simplicity, gravity, and dignity that should adorn the Chris- tian character. We refrain from the use of the plural number to a single person, and of com- pliments in our intercourse with m< n, u.h having their origin in flattery , and u to nourish a principle, the antagonist or that humility and meekness, which, after tli«- example of Christ, ought to attach to his disciples. We also decline giving the common names to the months and days, which have been bestOWed on them in honor of the heroes and false gods of an- tiquity, thus originating from superstition and idolatry. We inculcate submission to the laws in all cases where the " rights of conscience'" are not thereby violated. But as Christ's kingdom is not of this world, we hold that the civil power is limited to the mainte- nance of external peace and good order, and therefore has no right whatever to interfere in religious matters. OF THE DISCIPLINE OF THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. The purposes of our discipline are, the relief of the poor, the maintenance of good order, the support of our testimonies, and the help and recovery of such as are overtaken in faults. In the practice of discipline, we think it indispensable that the order recommended by Christ himself be invariably observed : " If thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother ; but if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be estab- lished. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church." (Matt, xviii. 15, 16, 17.) To effect the salutary purposes of dis- cipline, meetings were appointed at an early period of the society, which, from the times of their being held, were called quarterly meetings. It was afterwards found expedient to divide the districts of those meetings, and to meet more fre- quently ; whence arose monthly meetings, subordinate to those held quarterly. At length in 1669, a yearly meeting was es- tablished, to be held in London, to super- intend, assist, and provide rules for the whole. Previously to this time, general meetings had been held occasionally. 296 HISTORY OF THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. A monthly meeting is usually composed of several particular congregations, situated at convenient distances from each other. These ate. called preparative meetings ; because they prepare business for the monthly meetings. It is the business of the monthly meeting to provide for the subsistence of the poor, and for the educa- tion of their offspring; to judge of the sincerity and fitness of persons appearing to be convinced of the religious principles of the society, and desiring to be admitted into membership ; to excite due attention to the discharge of religious and moral duty ; and to deal with disorderly mem- bers. Monthly meetings also grant to such of their members, as remove into other monthly meetings, certificates of their m -mbership and conduct, without which tli v cannot gain membership in such in tings; and they grant certificates to ministers concerned to visit neighboring meetings in the service of the gospel, set- ting forth that their concern has been laid before their own meeting and approved of. Each monthly meeting is required to ap- point certain persons, under the name of overseers, who are to take care that the rules of our discipline be put in practice ; and, when any case of delinquency comes to their knowledge, to visit the offending member, agreeably to the gospel rule be- fore mentioned, previously to its being laid before the monthly meeting. When a case is introduced, a committee is appointed to visit the offender, to en- deavor to convince him of his error, and to induce him to condemn or forsake it. If this be done to the satisfaction of the meeting, a record is made accordingly, and the case is dismissed. If not, he is disowned from membership. In disputes between individuals, it has long been the decided judgment of the society, that its members should not sue each other at law. It therefore enjoins on all to end their differences by speedy and impartial arbitration, agreeably to rules laid down in the discipline. If any refuse to adopt this mode, or having adopted it, if they refuse to submit to the award, they are liable to disownment. To monthly meetings also belongs the allowing of marriages ; for our society has always scrupled to acknowledge the au- thority of priests, or hireling ministers, in the solemnization of this rite. Those, who intend to marry, inform the monthly meeting of their intentions, when a com- mittee is appointed both from the men's and women's meeting, to make inquiry if the parties are clear from other similar engagements ; and if found to be so, the consent of parents or guardians being shown, the marriage is allowed by the meeting. It is performed in a public meeting for worship, or in a meeting held at the house of one of the parties, towards the close of which they stand up, and solemnly take each other for husband and wife. The certificate is then signed, read, and attested. A committee appointed by the monthly meeting attends the marriage to see that it be orderly accomplished, moderation observed, and to deliver the certificate to the recorder. Of such mar- riages the meeting keeps a record, and also of the births and burials of its mem- bers. Births and burials are unaccompanied with rites and ceremonies. At burials a solemn pause is made, and an opportunity afforded for those who may be concerned, to communicate their exercises. Several monthly meetings compose a quarterly meeting. At the quarterly meet- ing are produced written answers from the monthly meetings to certain queries res- pecting the conduct of their members, and the meeting's care over them. The fol- lowing are the principal subjects thus regu- larly brought into view by the queries : Attendance of all the meetings, with punc- tuality ; clearness from disorderly conduct therein ; prevalence of love and unity ; absence of tale-bearing and detraction ; speedy endeavors to heal differences ; careful education of children ; their fre- quent reading of the scriptures ; their restraint from reading pernicious books and from corrupting intercourse ; absence of traffic in ardent spirits, and of the use of them as a drink ; avoiding places of diversion, and the frequenting of taverns ; observance of. temperance in other res- pects; providing for poor members, and schooling their children ; faithful support of testimony against oaths, an hireling ministry, war, fraudulent or clandestine trade, dealing in prize-goods and lotteries ; Hl>ntK\ OF THE SOCIETY <>r FRIENDS , •.,,-,. to Ihw within their circumstano b, and to keep t<> moderation in trade ; punc- tually to promises, uiui just payment of dents; timely attention to such as give ground for uneaainesi in these respects j dealing with offenders in the proper spirit ami R tthout delay, lor their help, ami when iry to disown, seeking right author- ipporl of sehools under the care of the meeting. At thecloee of the answers to the mieries, certain advices are read in the preparative and monthly meetings, in the conclusion of which Friends are enjoined to conduct the affairs of their meetings in4* the peaceable' spirit and wis- dom of Jesus, with decency, forbearance and love vi' each other." \ Bummary of the answers to the a is made out in the quarterly meet- ing, and forwarded to the yearly meeting, thus setting forth the general state of society. Appeals of disowned persons, from the judgment of the monthly meet- ings, are brought to the quarterly meetings tor revision. It is also the business of these meetings to assist in any difficult cases that may be presented by the monthly meetings, or where remissness appears in the care of these bodies over their members. The yearly meeting lias the general superintendence of the society within the limits embraced by the several quarterly meetings of which it is composed ; and therefore, as the accounts which it re- ceives discover the state of inferior meet- ings, as particular exigencies require, or as the meeting is impressed with a sense of duty, it gives forth its advice, makes such regulations as appear to be requisite, or excites to the observance of those al- ready made, and sometimes appoints com- mittees to visit those quarterly and monthly meetings which appear to be in need of* immediate advice. Each yearly meeting forms its own discipline. Appeals of dis- owned members from the judgment of quarterly meetings are here finally deter- mined. A brotherly correspondence, by epistles, is maintained with other yearly meetings. As we believe that women may be rightly called to the work of the ministry, we also think that to them belongs a share in the support of our discipline ; and that boom parts of it, wherein ih< ii concerned, devolve on them with peculiar propriety. Accordingly, they nave monthly, quarterly, and yearlj meetings of then- ov, n, held at tin time With those of the men, hi it .separately, and without the power of making rules. In order that ministers ma\ have the tender sympathy and counsel of those, who by their experience in religion, are quali- fied for thai service, the monthly m< are advised to select BUch, from both under tin- denomination of elders. These, together with the approved ministers, have meetings peculiar to themselves, called "meetings of ministers and eldei which they have an opportunity of exciting each other to the discharge of their re- spective duties, and of extending advice to those who may appear to need it, without needless exposure. Such meetings generally held within the compass of each monthly, quarterly, and yearly meeting. They are conducted by rules prescribed by the yearly meeting, and have no au- thority to make any alterations of, or ad- ditions to the discipline. The members of the select meeting, as it is often called, unite with their brethren in the meetings for discipline, and are equally amenable to the latter for their conduct. Those who believe themselves required to speak in meetings for worship, are not immediately acknowledged as ministers by their monthly meetings ; but time is taken for judgment, that the meeting may be satisfied of their call and qualification. It also sometimes happens that such, as are not approved, obtrude themselves as ministers, to the grief of their brethren. But much forbearance is used towards these, before ihe disapprobation of the meeting is publicly expressed. In order that the yearly meeting may be properly represented during its recess, there is a body called the Meeting for , Sufferings, or Representative Committee, ; composed of a certain number of members appointed by each quarterly meeting. It is the business of this meeting to receive and record the account of sufferings from refusal to pay fines and other military de- mands, sent up annually from the quarterly meetings ; to distribute useful religious books ; to advise or assist our members 38 298 HISTORY OF THE GERMAN REFORMED CHURCH. who may incline to publish any manu- script or work tending to promote the cause of truth, or the benefit of society; and in general to act on behalf of the yearly meeting in any case where the welfare of the body may render it needful. It keeps a record of its proceedings, which is an- nually laid before the yearly meeting. Except this meeting and the meeting of ministers and elders, all our members have a right to attend the meetings of business, and to take part in the proceedings ; and they are encourged to do so. We have no chairman or moderator, and the duty of the clerks is limited to recording the proceedings. We decide no question by vote, but by what appears to be the sense of the meeting. In matters which elicit a difference of sentiment, personal and censorious remarks are discouraged, and care is taken to exercise a spirit of con- descension and brotherly love. Thus it often occurs in our meetings, that defer- ence to the views and feelings of a few consistent members will prevent the body from adopting a measure in which there is otherwise great unanimity. The Yearly Meetings of New York, Genessee, Baltimore, Ohio, and Indiana, hold an epistolary correspondence with the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, according to ancient practice. But the Yearly Meeting of London has declined this intercourse since the separation in 1827. HISTORY OF THE GERMAN REFORMED CHURCH. BY LEWIS MAYER, D. D., YORK, PA. The German Reformed Church, as its name imports, comprises that portion of the family of reformed churches who speak the German language and their descendants, and as such is distinguished from the French Reformed, the Dutch Re- formed, &c. It embraces the reformed churches of Germany and of the German part of Switzerland, and their brethren and descendants in other countries, par- ticularly in the United States of Amer- ica. The founder of this church was Ulric ZwiNOLl, a native of Switzerland. He was born on the 1st day of January, 1484, at Wildhaus, a village of the ancient county of Tokkenburg, then a dependency of the Benedictine Abbey of St. Gall, under the guardianship of the canton of Schweitz, but, since 1803, included in the new can- ton of St. Gall. About the time of Zwingli's birth, the people of Tokkenburg had effected their emancipation from the condition of serfs to the saintly abbey, and now breathed the air of freedom in all its delightful freshness ; and the future reformer, in- haling the same enlivening air from his infancy, and growing up to manhood under its influence, became the champion of liberty, in all the forms in which the human mind is by nature free. Possessing talents of a high order, and cultivated by the best education which the times could afford, and a lofty genius could attain ; taught, at the same time, by the Spirit of God, and guided by him into a knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus ; I iEUCM %'WIMUM HISTOID OF THE GERMAN REFORMED nil KCII 290 |i rose upon the word a burning ami shining light, and showed i<> bewildered roping in tin- darkness of a long night, the way to God, whoss mercy they sought, and the path to heaven, for which the) sighed. I ►ark clouds often intercepted the light ; t'tit its beam hurst forth again in their wonted brightness; the truth pre- vailed, snperstitution gave way, and the church arose in her Strength, the letters felling from her hands, and occupied the place which God had assigned her as the bride of bis Son, and the parent of true piety and virtue. The first principle of the German Re- formed Church is contained in the propo- sition; "The Bible is above all human authority, and to it alone must every ap- peal be made." This principle Zwingii first announced in 1516, when he was yet pastor of the Church of Glaru9 ; from it he went forth in all his subsequent investi- gations of religious truth, and in all his public instructions : and when he reformed the church, after his establishment in Zu- rich, he swept away from her ritual, as well as from her doctrinal system, all that the Bible did not authorize, either by an express warrant or by an implied one. The interpretation of the Bible he left, where God had left it, to the judgment and the conscience of every man who can apprehend the meaning of words, and compare one passage with another ; and if the truth could not be ascertained in this way, he felt assured that neither the fathers, nor the Pope, nor a general coun- cil, could be trusted as interpreters of the sacred oracles ; for these, he knew, had no better way. The Reformed Church differed, at first, from the Lutheran in nothing but the sin- gle point only of the Lord's Supper. In the conference at Marburg in 1529, which had been procured by the Landgrave of Hesse for the purpose of healing the breach between the Saxon and the Swiss divines, and where Zwingii and Gfcolampadius disputed with Melancthon and Luther, this was the only point on which they did not agree. Neither did they differ concerning the whole subject of the eucharist, but con- cerning only the import of the words, " This is my body,'1 " This is my blood." Zwingii took them as a trope, and under- stood them t<> mean that the bread sign or figure of the Lord's body, and the w me of his blood. Luther insisted en .-i literal meaning, and contended that th words were the irrefragable testimony of the Lord himself, that his material bod\ and blood pjere really present in and with the bread and wine, and were received, together with them, by the communicant ; and to fix this notion, lie maintained that, like the bread and wine, tin- body and blood of Christ were received, not by faith, but by the mouth; not by the believer only, but by every communicant. The Reformed regarded this difference as unessential, and acknowledged their opponents as brethren in Christ, whom it was their duty to receive. Luther classed it with the essentials of Christianity, and would not admit that those who denied the real presence were Christians at all. Zwingii proffered his hand to Luther and besought him with tears to receive him as a Christian brother, saying that there were no people in the world with whom he would delight more to have fraternal communion than those of Wittemburg. Luther refused his hand and turned away. In her subse- quent history, the Reformed Church often sought the same fraternity, and made some consessions for that object ; but she was as often repelled ; and her anxiety for a reunion subjected her to the epithet of Gern-Bruder, i. e. Would-be-brethren. The doctrine of predestination, which at a later period became a prominent sub- ject of controversy between the two churches, was held by all the reformers, unless Haller, the reformer of Berne, and Bullinger, Zwingli's successor in Zurich, be exceptions. Luther contended for it, in its rigid Augustinian form, in his tract De Servo Arbitrio. Melancthon also maintained it in the earlier editions of his Loci Communes Theologici ; a system of divinity which long continued to be the text-book of theological students in the Lutheran church. Controversy on this subject between theologians of the two churches first arose in 1561, when Zan- chius and Marbach, two divines of Stras- burg, took opposite sides ; and such was still the prevailing sentiment of that period, that this strife could be composed by sub- mitting to the contending parties, as the 300 HISTORY OF THE GERMAN REFORMED CHURCH. terms of peace, an ambiguous form of word-, which each might interpret as he pleased. Long after this time, Melanc- thon's theory of synergism^ or co-opera- tion of the human will with divine grace in the sinner's conversion, was condemned as heresy in the Lutheran Church; and in the synergistic controversy between the Philipists, or followers of Melancthon, and the rigid Lutherans, while the former as- cribed to the human will a power to co- operate with the Holy Spirit in the act of conversion, the latter not only denied this power, but maintained in all its rigor the Augustinian doctrine of absolute predes- tination. (See Plank's Gesch. der Protes- tant ischea Tlicohgie,¥>K\ OF THE GERM \.\ REFORMED (III K< II 301 The influence .»f the school <>f ( 'akin |1 l>v the i lerman as well as l>\ the other Reformed churches. The preachers u ho came from Geneva brought with them the doctrine and the spirit of the Dei re- former, and diffused them through the churches over which they presided ; and Calvinism thus became every where tri- umphant Out of Switzerland, Zwingli, silent in death thai came, alas! too soon, was by degrees neglected and forgotten; and even in his own country his spirit was chicked and his doctrine modified by this foreign influence. Calvin differed from Zwingli chiefly on three points, viz., on the Lord's Supper, on church-government, and on religious lib- rty. On the first point of difference Calvin took a position that was less offensive to the Papists than the doctrine of Zwingli, and presented to the Lutherans a middle ground upon which they might unite with the Reformed. Zwingli had taught, that to cat the flesh of Christ and to drink his blood, was simply to believe in him, and thereby to obtain pardon and eternal life. Calvin, on the contrary, maintained a real participation of the material body and blood of Christ, of which he considered the partaking of the bread and wine the visible sign and seal. He distinguished between believing in Christ and partaking of his flesh and blood, and made the lat- ter consequent upon the former. This participation of Christ's body and blood, he viewed as necessary to spiritual and eternal life. It is confined to the believer, and is effected, he thought, by the agency of the Holy Spirit, who elevates the be- liever, by means of his faith, to Christ, in heaven, and makes him, in a myste- rious manner, a participant of the Lord's body and blood ; and we thus become united with Christ, so that we are flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone, and con- stitute one body with him, which is go- verned by one and the same spirit. He differed from Luther in separating Christ from the bread and wine, and denying the presence of his body and blood in or with those elements. A consequence of this was, that a communicant might re- ceive the elements without receiving the body and blood of Christ ; and this, he held, was the case of all who wen tute of true faith. (See Calvin's Institutes, Book IV. chap, .w ii.) Zwingli, Beemg the abuse of church- power in the Roman hierarchy, and find- ing 00 authority for it in the holy scrip- tun s, subjected the church to the civil authority, in a Christian state, in all things relating to its government, which are not at variance with the divine word. Calvin separated the church wholly from the state, claimed for it the power of self. government, and lefl to Secular rulers nothing more than the duly of protection and sustenance, as nursing fathers and nursing mothers. Zwingli taught the doctrine of absolute predestination as well as Calvin and the other reformers j* but he did not impose it as an article of faith upon his church. Opposite opinions were, therefore freely entertained ; and even his successor, Henry Bullinger, is claimed as an asserter of the universality of divine grace. In the Canton of Bern, particularly, contro- versy on this subject ran high. " The preachers and professors at Lausanne, who were friends of Calvin," says Schrock, "demanded a general synod, and author- ity to excommunicate, that they might suppress the opinions which they opposed ; but the Senate of Bern rejected this eccle- siastical tyranny, as Haller called it." — (See Schrock's Kirch. Gesch. sett der Ref., vol. v. p. 179.) Calvin did not tol- erate the theories on this subject to which his own was opposed. Such, however, was the credit of Cal- vin, and such his perseverance, that he succeeded in 1549, notwithstanding the reluctance of the Swiss, to procure the formal reception of his doctrine on the Lord's Supper, in Switzerland, and a few- years later, to obtain for his doctrine of predestination a recognition as an article of faith, in the same country. But, with all his credit, he could not persuade the Swiss to accept his form of church govern- ment. The rulers wrere not willing to * Dr. Mosheim errs in asserting the contrary, as the reader will perceive who will take the pains to examine this reformer's writings. See the extracts from his works published by Vo- gelin and Usteri, vol. i. part i. chap. v. p. 187, &c. 302 HISTORY OF THE GERMAN REFORMED CHURCH. relinquish to the church the power which 1 they possessed ; and the Reformed Can- tons still retain that ecclesiastical polity which they received from the hands of ZwinglL In Germany, as well as in Switzerland, the supreme authority in the church re- sides in the civil government. The im- mediate administration of church power is vested in a consistory or ecclesiastical council, (kirchenrath*) which is a mixed body of clergy and statesmen. The cler- gy of a given district constitute a chapter or classis, and at the head of each of these bodies is an inspector or superin- tendent, whose office is somewhat similar to that of a bishop in Episcopal churches. f Several chapters or classes compose a i synod ; and two or more particular synods may form a general synod ; which may either consist of delegates from the lower judicatories, or embrace all the clergy of the Reformed Church in the same country, or in several contiguous countries. In Switzerland, the clergy of the two can- tons of Zurich and Thurgau, and of the Rhinethal, now included in the canton of St. Gall, constitute one synod, at the head of which is the pastor primarius of the Great-Minister in Zurich, who bears the title of Antistes. The Reformed Churches of Germany have elders and deacons, who are chosen for limited periods. The elders constitute a presbytery, who, in conjunction with the pastor, administer the spiritual government of the congrega- tion. The deacons are charged with the temporal affairs, particularly with the care of the poor ; but where the number of elders is small, the deacons take part with them in the spiritual administration. The inspectors exercise a supervision over the clergy, the congregations and the schools of their respective districts, and report to the consistory, whose decision is final, if not arrested by the act of the su- preme civil authority. In some countries, as in the principality of Nassau, whose ecclesiastical constitution was taken from that of Holland, classes and synods have legislative authority. In others, as in the • Or Consistorium f In Switzerland the chapter has at its head the decanus or dean. county of Lippe, their meetings are held only for their own improvement in Chris- tian knowledge and piety. In the Re- formed German part of Switzerland, the congregations are without elders and dea- cons. What are there called deacons are preachers who assist the principal pastor in the larger churches. The absence of the presbytery or body of elders, is com- pensated for by the Kirclien- Stilistcutek, a sort of sub-consistories, whose duty it is to watch over the morals of the church members, and to correct abuses in the conduct of life. The ecclesiastical assem- blies of this country are composed of the clergy only. The same is the case in Germany, except in those countries, as in the principality of Nassau, whose church polity is derived from Holland or Geneva. Admission to the privilege of full com- munion in the church is obtained by the rite of confirmation, which is preceded by a course of instruction in Christian doc- trine. The catechumens solemnly devote themselves to the service of God by a public profession in the presence of the congregation, and are thereupon received by the imposition of hands and prayer. In the case of unbaptized adults, baptism im- mediately precedes the imposition of hands. The -use of this rite rests upon expediency, no divine authority is claimed for it ; still less is it viewed by the Reformed Church, as it is by the Church of Rome, in the light of a sacrament. The doctrinal system of the German Reformed Church is contained in the Hei- delberg Catechism — so called from Heidel- berg, the capital of the Lower Palatinate, or Palatinate of the Rhine, where it was first published, in the reign of the Elector Frederick III., in the year 1563. It was adopted, as a symbolical book, soon after its publication, by almost all the Reformed Churches in Europe, and became particu- larly the symbolical book of the Reformed in Germany. This formulary observes a singular moderation on some points upon which the several parties in the Protestant churches differed, or respecting which good men might entertain different opinions. The wise elector selected for the composi- tion of this work two men, of whom one, Zacharias Ursinus, was a disciple of Me- lancthon ; and the other, Caspar Olevianus, HISTORY OF THE GERMAIN REFORMED nil RCH. 303 a disciple of Calvin ; and having himself embraced the doctrine of Zwingli, he pre- sided in their deliberations. The resull was whit all moderate men denied) a compromise. The catechism presented t<> all these parlies a common ground of union. The doctrine of election is placed in the background, and presented in a form which th<- Philipist as well as the Calvinisl could easily receive. On the Lord's Supper it unites the theories of Zwingli and of Cal- vin, with the latter of whom MelancthOD ssentially agreed. It is silent about the imputation of Adam's sin to his pos- terity, hut leaves an open door for the in- troduction of that theory. The atonement is made general where it says that Christ here the wrath of God against the sins of all mankind ; but nothing is said to forbid a limitation of it to the elect in its actual effect. It asserts the total inability of the un regenerate to do any good until he is regenerated by the Spirit of God ; but it leaves room for the Philipist to say, that when the Holy Spirit would regenerate us, the human will may resist or assent to his operation. If it were objected, that assent- ing before regeneration wrould be a good work, he might reply that it was not in the proper sense good ; or that it was not completed before regeneration was com- plete ; and this answer was sufficient for the object contemplated, if it satisfied himself. Though the theory of Calvin on the Lord's Supper was generally received in the church, that of Zwingli always had many friends ; it has been many years gaining ground, and, if we be not greatly mistaken, is now predominant, at least in the United States. The doctrine of absolute predestination to eternal life has never been fully estab- lished as an article of faith in the German Reformed Church. In different sections of the church it has from time to time been variously modified, and in some wholly rejected. Though constituted an article of faith in Switzerland, by the consensus of 1554, and confirmed by the Synod of Dort, in 1618-19: it was, nevertheless, so far supplanted by the opposing theories in 1675, that a necessity was deemed to exist for a new Formula Consensus of the Swiss divines to sustain it. Nor did this new Confession maintain its authority verv after many conflicts it fell before the influence of the French and tl man schools about the year L722, when subscription to it «•- aa ,i to !,<• required. (See Schrock'a Kirch, Getch. roL riii. p. 661, &c.) In Germany the decrees of the Synod of Dorl were never received in some of the states, as Brandenburg, Anh.ilt, and Bremen ; in others they have long since lost their binding authority ; and tl, man Reformed Church is now, in relation to the doctrine of absolute election, where Zwingli left it. Calvinism is again reviv- ing in the church, both in Europe and America ; but the doctrine of Melancthon, or, what is essentially the same, the doc- trine of Arminius, on this point, is predo- minant, and the theory of absolute predes- tination is generally regarded, by the laity at least, with horror. The German Reformed Church in the United States was founded by emigrants from Germany and Switzerland. Her origin may be dated about the year 1720. The principal seat of the church in her infancy was eastern Pennsylvania ; though settlements were made also, and congre- gations formed, at an early period, in other states, particularly in the Carolinas, Vir- ginia, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York. Her doctrinal system is derived from Germany and Switzerland ; but her ecclesiastical polity is formed after the model of the Reformed Dutch Church of Holland, by whom she was nurtured and protected in her infant state, and to whom she owes a large debt of gratitude. The Heidelberg Catechism is the only symbolical book of the church in the Uni- ted States, though both in Germany and Switzerland she has others besides ; and, in the first named country, adopts also the Lutheran Confession of Augsburg, as altered by Melancthon, in the tenth arti- cle, relating to the Lord's Supper, in the later editions that were published under his direction. Subscription to the catechism, by can- didates for the ministry, is not required at their ordination ; a verbal profession of the doctrine of the church being deemed suffi- cient. A professor of theology is required, at his ordination, to affirm to the following declaration : 304 HISTORY OF THE GERMAN REFORMED CHURCH. " You, N. N., professor elect of the Theological Seminary of the German Re- formed Church in the United States, ac- knowledge sincerely, before God and this assembly that the holy scriptures of the Old and New Testament, which are called the canonical scriptures, are genuine, au- thentic, inspired, and therefore divine scrip- tures ; that they contain all things that re- late to the faith, the practice, and the hope of the righteous, and are the only rule of faith and practice in the church of God ; that, consequently, no traditions, as they are called, and no mere conclusions of reason, that are contrary to the clear tes- timony of these scriptures, can be received as rules of faith or of life. You acknow- ledge, farther, that the doctrine contained in the Heidelberg Catechism, as to its sub- stance,* is the doctrine of the holy scrip- tures, and must, therefore, be received as divinely revealed truth. You declare sin- cerely that, in the office you are about to assume, you will make the inviolable di- vine authority of the holy scriptures, and the truth of the doctrine contained in the Heidelberg Catechism, as to its substance,* the basis of all your instructions. Y'ou declare, finally, that you will labor accord- ing to the ability which God may grant you, that, with the divine blessing, the students entrusted to your care may be- come enlightened, pious, faithful, and zeal- ous ministers of the gospel, who shall be sound in the faith." The government of the church is Pres- byterian. All ordained ministers are equal in rank and authority. Licentiates are not pastors, or ministers, but candi- dates for the ministry ; they cannot ad- minister the sacraments, nor be delegates to synod, and have no vote in the classical assemblies. Each congregation is governed by its consistory or vestry, which is usually com- posed of elders and deacons, and of which the pastor of the church may, or may not, be a member. In chartered congregations the consistory is a legal corporation, with which the charter often joins others, be- sides elders and deacons, as counsellors, or trustees ; and all these usually vote by * The clause, as to its substance, is stricken out in the revised constitution. custom, and by authority of the charter, on every question that comes before the body. The clergy residing within certain bounds constitute a classis, which must consist of at least three ministers. A classis meets statedly once a year, and may resolve, or be called by its president, to hold a special meeting, as often as urgent business may demand it. The pre- sident is elected annually, and presides in the meeting of classis, for the maintenance of order, as primus inter pares. Every pastoral charge is entitled to a lay dele- gate, who must he an elder, and has the same right to deliberate and vote in the classis as the clerical member A majo- rity of the whole number, of which at least one half must be ministers, constitute a quorum ; and every question is decided by a majority of those actually assembled. The synod is composed of the clerical and lay delegates appointed by the classes. It meets statedly once a year, and may assemble in special meetings by its own appointment, or by the call of its presi- dent. The president of synod is in like manner elected annually. A classis con- sisting of not more than six ministers, is entitled to one minister and one lay dele- gate to represent it in synod. A classis having more than six, and not more than twelve ministers, may be represented by two ministers and two lay delegates ; and in the same ratio increasing for any larger number. Six ministers and six elders, from a majority of the classes, may con- stitute a quorum, as the constitution now provides. A general convention of all the minis- ters and lay delegates of the whole church can be authorized by an act of synod, and not otherwise. An appeal can be taken from the con- sistory to the classis, and from the classis to the synod, whose decision is final. The German Reformed Church in this countrv is now spread over the whole of Pennsylvania and Ohio, and over portions of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and New York. There is a church in the city of New Orleans ; others formerly subsisted in New Jersey, South Carolina, Tennes- see, and Kentucky ; and some members UlsToin OF THE fiERMAN RKFORMKU CHURCH. are still scattered over the several states of the I moil. Tins chureh is «lix Itl« -*I Info two bodies, winch maintain a friendly correspond- soce, bill arewhoily independent of one another. Bach is governed by a synod and its lower judicatories^ The eastern portion of the church is the original and parent body : and its synod, existing before the other, bears the title of "The Synod of the German Re- fanned Church in tin' United States." Its territory extends in Pennsylvania \\< -'- ward to the Alleghany mountains ; north- ward it includes portions of New York ; and on the south, Maryland, Virginia and Carolina. It has under its jurisdiction ten (lasses, viz : Philadelphia, Goshcn- boppen, Bast Pennsylvania, Lebanon, Susquehanna, Zion, Mercersburg, Mary- land, Virginia, and North Carolina. The number of ministers and licentiates, in connection with this synod, was, in 1842, agreeably to the statistical report of that year, one hundred and forty-one.* Of this number thirty-two were without a pastoral charge : and of these, sixteen were disqualified by age or other causes ; eight were engaged in the service of the church as teachers, editors, or agents ; and eight were expectants, or otherwise employed. The number of congregations reported, was four hundred aud sixty -six. f From six pastoral stations the number was not reported. The whole may be esti- mated at five hundred. This synod has under its care, or pa- tronage, a theological seminary, founded in 1625; a grammar school, commenced in 1832; and a college, established in 1836. All these institutions are now located permanently at Mercersburg, a pleasant village, in Franklin county, Penn- sylvania, and are in a flourishing state under able professors and teachers. Two spacious edifices have been erected for the seminary and grammar school, the former of which is occupied also by the students of college. Measures are in progress for the erection of a suitable college edifice. The site chosen for it, as well as the situ- ations of the other buildings, is picturesque * In 1846 one hundred and sixty-nine, fin 1846 four hundred and ninety-five. and takihriou . Th hi ars the name of Mar hall ( ' s mark of respect for the memory of the late John Mar-hall, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of sthe I a\ted States. It is governed by a board -Of trustees, a majority of whohi are ministers or members of the German Reformed ( Ihurch. Subordinate to this synod an- a board of foreign missions, a board of domestic missions, and a hoard of education, which is also the hoard of visitors of the theo- logical seminary: but these institutions are yet in their infancy. The Hoard of Foreign Missions, which is of quite recent origin, has under its care but one mission, with a single station, and one missionary family. The mission is at Broosa, in Asia Minor, the same which was lately under the care of the Xev, cas- tle Presbytery in the Presbyterian Church. The missionary family are the Rev. Ben- jamin Schneider and his wife. The busi- ness of foreign missions is transacted through the American Board of Commis- sioners for Foreign Missions, with whom a connection forthat object has been formed. The Board of Domestic Missions have hitherto done but little in their appropriate office ; but they have created a printing establishment, which is rendering very important service to their church. In addi- tion to other printing, they publish two religious newspapers : the " Weekly Mes- senger of the German Reformed Church,'' a weekly paper of large size, in the English language, of which about 3000 copies are issued every week : and the " Christliche Zeitschrift," a semi-monthly in the Ger- man language, of which upwards of 1700 copies are issued every fortnight. The establishment is located at Chambersburg, Franklin county, Pennsylvania, where a convenient edifice has been purchased for its accommodation. It is under the immediate control of the executive committee of the board, whose locality is in the same place.* The Board of Education are charged with the care of beneficiary students, who are in a course of preparation for the gos- pel ministry in the church. They have under their patronage about thirty benefi- ciaries. It is now (1847) a separate establishment. 39 30G HISTORY OF THE GERMAN REFORMED CHURCH. The western part of the church is located principally in Ohio and Pennsylvania, but extends also into the adjoining states, and has for its field the entire valley of the Mississippi. About the year 1810, or 1812, the Rev. Jacob William Dechfcul was sent by the synod as a missionary to the State of Ohio, and located himself at Miamisburg, in Montgomery county. 1 [e was followed by the Rev. Thomas Win- ters, George Wcis, and others, who were willing to cultivate that long neglected soil. Prior to their settlement there was in all that region only one German Re- formed minister, the Rev. J. Larose, who was not then in connexion with any eccle- siastical judicatory. In 1919, the Classis of Ohio was formed, and in 1S23 or 1824, the majority of the classis separated from the parent body, and formed themselves into an independent judicatory, under the title of " The Synod of Ohio." In 1836 the Classis of Western Pennsylvania, ob- tained permission to unite with the Synod of Ohio, which now bore the title of " The Synod of Ohio, and the adjoining States ;" and by a late act, this synod, which had pre- viously been subdivided into three district synods, received a new organization agree- ably to the plan of the constitution of the eastern church. The western church is now divided into classes, and its synod is a dele- gated body composed of the representa- tives of the classes.* * The Classes (in 1846) were those of Miami, Lancaster, Columbiana, Sandusky, Westmoreland and Erie. The statistical tables of 1842, published as an appendix to the minutes of the east- ern church of the same year, states the number of German Reformed ministers in the west to be lifty-one.* The congrega- tions reported were in number two hun- dred and fourteen. Nine pastoral stations had made no report. f If these stations average (bur congregations each, the whole number will be two hundred and fifty. Some of the ministers preach to from eight to twelve congregations; only two limit their labors each to one ; and only live others do not exceed three. This synod has long contemplated the establishment of a theological seminary in the west. An institution of this kind was actually commenced some years ago ; but after a very brief experiment it failed. It will, however, doubtless be revived at no distant day. The western church needs an institution nearer home than Mercers- burg, and will feel the want of it more and more, as her numbers increase and her borders are enlarged. It will be im- possible without it, to keep pace, in the supply of ministers, with the rapid increase of population in the west ; and it will be equally impossible, without a thorough education of her ministers, to maintain the dignity of the pulpit in her communion, amidst the growth of knowledge and re- finement in the community. * In 1845 it is given at seventy-two. f In 1845 two hundred and fifty-four. From six pastoral stations no report had been re- ceived. HISTORY OF THE JEWS \M> THEIR RELIGION. HISTORY OF THE JEWS AND THEIR RELIGION. BY THE REV. ISAAC LEESER, FASTOR OF THE HEBREW FORTUGUESE CONGREGATION, PHILADELPHIA. \Vhi:\ we endeavor to trace the origin of the civilization which rules with its be- qI sway the mightiest nations of modern times, and none more so than the inhabiting the United States of America, we shall soon discover that it must b;> ascribed to a great moral influ- ence which had its birth in the gray ages of antiquity. For, disguise it as you will, seek with candor or prejudice, you must at length arrive at the conclusion, that the sources whence the modern rules of moral government are in the main drawn, is the same which refreshed the Chaldcean shep- herd when he first felt moved to peril his all in the cause of that truth which his high-reaching intellect had discovered ; that is to say, the truth of the existence of one Supreme, who created all and sustains in his mercy all that his power has called into being. — This source of light we call divine revelation, and it is contained for us, who live at this day, in the pages of that priceless book which we call the Bible. Long indeed, however, had this Bible, >'irce of truth, to struggle against the furious assaults of pagan superstition ; long even after the establishment of Chris- tianity was the leaven of ancient usages too powerful for the simple truths of the Word of God ; but with all this, triumph is gradually perching upon the banners of divinely illuminated reason ; and with the certain, though slow, progress of mankind in the path of science and enlightenment, it is not to be doubted that pure religion will also become more and more the rule of lite for the sons of man. There may be, and in truth are, many retrogressions; we find indeed that from some unforeseen causes, such as luxury, devastating wars, the irruption of barbarous nations, man- kind have appeared, and to this day do appear, to deteriorate in certain periods ; but upon the whole every age becomes wiser than its predecessor through the light of experience and by a knowledge of the evils which others had to endure. The storms through which civilization has pe- riodically to pass, purify it from the stag- nant air which entire repose would neces- sarily create around it ; for it has to share the fate with every other gift which has been bestowed upon mankind, of being endan- gered if it is not constantly watched, and guarded against the enemies which have been wisely placed around our happiness, that we may not fall into inaction and effeminacy. The Jews, and their predecessors the Israelites, have been always regarded with suspicion, and not rarely with aversion, by those who hold opinions different from them ; but if an enquirer were to look with the eye of truth into the source of this suspicion and of this aversion, he would be disappointed, for the honor of mankind, to find that both are without sufficient ground to warrant their being indulged in by any person who can lay the least claim to intelligence. One would suppose that the Judreophobia must be ow- ing to some monstrous doctrines which the Jewish religion contains, which would render its professors dangerous to the state as unsafe citizens or rebellious subjects, by teaching them to imbrue their hands in blood, or to plunder the unwary of their possessions. Perhaps calumny has as- sorted these things; perhaps ignorance may have imagined that this could be so. But hew stands the case? In the days when the wealth of many nations was not estimated by the gold and silver in their houses, and by the ships which bore their products upon the face of the ocean, but by the multitude of their herds and flocks and of " the ships of the desert" the patient and burdensome camels, and the toilsome asses, and the number of their household : there arose a man in his beginning as simple as his countrymen, as unostentatious as any shepherd of them all. He was called Abraham ; and lived in that fruitful country once known as Chald;ea. Around him every one seemed to have forgotten the existence of oxe Creator ; for gross idolatry, or the worship as gods of things which have no power to save, was the prevailing vice of mankind. It is well to inquire, whether notions of right and wrong based upon such pre- mises can be of real utility to man ? whether a belief in gods full of human vices, according to the ideas even of their worshippers, can inspire the virtues which are the basis of true civilization I The candid reasoner will answer in the nega- tive : for debasing conceptions of worship will naturally debase the understanding, and one is but too apt to excuse in himself what he discovers or fancies to exist in the being to whom he looks up with respect and adoration. This being premised, it will be readily conceded that at the ap- pearance of Abraham the pervading popu- lar opinions were unfriendly to the ad- vancement of civilization ; and that there- fore his promulgating contrary views, granting that he did so, was no evidence of his being an enemy to the general wcl- fire. Let us then see, what did Abraham do ? Disgusted with the follies surround- ing him on all sides, convinced that the works of human hands were not proper objects of worship : he resolved in his heart to look from the creature to the Cause, and thus he brought himself to adore the Creator; since there is every where ap- parent the same principle as the foundation and origin of all that exists. Full of this sublime thought he left his native land, his father's roof, and wandered to the smiling country of the South, where the most hor- rible superstition had established itself in the shape of human sacrifices to the de- vouring .Moloch. It was here he pro- claimed the " God who is the living God and everlasting King," and exhibited in his conduct that neighborly love, that re- gard for justice and righteousness, which compelled even the followers of a senseless system, if system it may be called, to look upon him who had come among them a stranger, who had made publicly known his attachment to a worship which they | knew not, as " a prince of God in the I midst of them." What now were the principles of Abraham? Simply these: first, the belief in the existence of one God, who made heaven and earth ; secondly, obedience to the dictates of this God ; thirdly, accountability to this God for all deeds by intelligent creatures ; fourthly, charity and neighborly love; and fifthly, the exercise of evenhanded justice. We will not insist that there are no other prin- ciples involved in the doctrines of Abra- ham ; but we give these points merely to convey a general idea of what he did in the fulfilment of his mission. Let us now examine briefly the effect such a svstem must have, if generally adopted and gene- rally carried out in practice. "Without the belief in a superior Power there cannot be imagined a being great enough to exer- cise any control over the actions of man ; the Being to be adored must be eternal, universal, and uniform. Now precisely such a God Abraham proclaimed. The God of the scriptures is from the begin- ning; He made all that exists; He is of unending endurance, surviving all that can ever appear in the world ; He is in every imaginable part of the creation — no space can limit Him, no obstacles can bar out his presence ; and finally, He is uni- form— there are no disturbing causes which can diminish his power, weaken his energies, or abridge his wisdom ; there are no discoverable means to divide Him into parts, or to add aught to his greatness, HISTORY OF THE JEWS \M> THEIR RELIGION. felicity, or perfection, for everj thing ii A existing onlj b) his will and sui- This ( tod, according to A.bra- h.tm's doctrines, has given certain instruc- trans to his creatures, which, since Be is of wisdom, must be necessarily and immutable in their ten- dencies and nature. Farther,the Creator expects that those who have a knowledge of his enactments will, under pain of ac- countability, and with a certainty of re- compense, endeavor to obey strictly what they arc certified to he the will of their (led. Then again these enactments, as far as mankind are concerned, demand that every man shall love his neighbor, and dispense to all, whom he can reach, acts of kindness which he himself would desire to receive in the hour of his need. Hut such a system would be in- complete without the superaddition of that principle with which the Creator governs >rld, and this principle we call " Justice ;" this therefore too was engraft- ed upon Abraham's creed, and he is prais- ed for the certainty that he would com- mand his house after him to exercise this principle in their intercourse with others. That Abraham was viewed with preju- dice by those who profited by the super- stition of the times, is but too probable ; that the priests who ke'pt the people in ig- norance with regard to the true nature of the Deity should hate a man who cast, so to say, their idols to the ground, by in- forming every one who came to him of the pure ideas he had of the Creator, is as certain as that the doers of evil hate those whose conduct is a perpetual rebuke to their iniquity ; that the tyrants who go- verned by debasing the mind of their subjects, who caused themselves to be looked upon as superior to the mass of mankind, did not relish the presence of the philosopher whose system rendered all men equal m obedience, in hope, as creatures of the same Father, admits of not the smallest doubt, for the general ac- knowledgment of these views would, if not destroy the power of kings, greatly circumscribe the same, and make men jealous of their rulers. We do not won- der, therefore, that the new civilization, as we will term it, could not advance very rapidly in the then state of the world ; it contradict d i *erj thing which m sinned as true bj so man] inti n sled per- sons, and offered to no one individual an] prominence among those who submitted to its rule. Nevertheless it is not to Be doubted, that the entire Bystem ofmooV rn civilization is based upon tin- early dawn- ing thereof in the person of Abraham, which we have sketched as above. U- though the constitutions of the various countries, where an enlightened liberty prevails, do not in all cases recite a be- lief in the existence of one God and a .sub- jection to his laws : they in the main ac- knowledge these ideas in legislation and jurisprudence no less than in domestic life. In short, the Abrahamic discoveries, so to term them, in the ethical sciences, have become the standard of public liberty, the safeguard of justice, and the prop of pri- vate life, wherever science has succeeded in dispelling the reign of ignorance, and where an enlightened worship has chased away the dark clouds of superstition. Under many appellations the God of Abraham is invoked ; climes the farthest asunder send forth praises to the Ever- living ; and prayers ascend to Him from Ethiopia's sons and from the children of the Andes, no less than from the fair Cir- cassian race ; and the mighty Name is indeed glorious among the Gentiles. When Moses appeared on earth to ac- complish what Abraham had commenced, it was not a new theory which was pro- claimed, but a confirmation of the ancient covenant. The idea of belief was not en- larged, because there could be no addition to the simplicity and truth of its first in- ception ; the creed of Abraham was one God, sole, uniform, eternal ; and Moses could not add to or diminish from this un- changeable truth. What then was AI » bj mission ? It was the establishment of a consistent code of laws in consonance with the acknowledged universality of the Almighty power. The Lord, in the code of Moses, became the chief of a civil state, in which the people were citizens and equals under the banner of obedience to the divine will ; there was no one equal to the Lord, there was no one above the reach of the laws. Whoever was raised to dignity among his people, held a power delegated from on high with the concur- 310 HISTORY OF THE JEWS AND THEIR RELIGION. rence and sufferance of the governed ; ami when the ruler ceased to shape his course by the statutes which had been pre- scribed for the government of the whole people, lie at once lost the authority which he had abused, at times by direct divine interference, at times by the simple action of the people ; of this the scriptures give so many examples that it is needless to quote them here, where we are confined to a very limited space. But in connection with the civil code based on religion, there was another object in the legislation of Moses ; and this was the uniting of the belief in the unity of the divine Essence with outward, tangible rites, which should ever remind the people to whom they had been given of the truth which they had inherited from their fathers. It is obvious that neither pictures nor the works of the chisel could effect this great end. For in the commemorative works of art, to be thus produced, the Deity also, the princi- pal agent in all these transactions, would have to be represented ; and how could this be done? Where could we possibly find a likeness or an image to figure Him by ? He, who is without bodily confor- mation, without outward shape, could He be shadowed forth by the puerile invention of genius, — puerile, when compared with his greatness and purity ? And besides, admit that it were possible ; still how would it have comported with divine wisdom to have permitted symbolical re- presentations of his Being, at a time when images were the objects of adoration to all the world ? Would not the recipients of the law also have soon lapsed into the folly of venerating the symbols, instead of the Deity which they personified? Wisely, therefore, did the law proscribe graven images or any representation, "because that we saw no figure whatever on the day the Lord spoke with us at Horeb from the midst of the fire." On the other hand, acts once past fade from the memory of the recipients and actors themsevles ; how much more is it but too certain that succeeding ages will not know of the great things that were done before their days. How beautifully therefore did the Lord provide for the remembrance of the great acts which He did for Abraham's sons when they went forth from Egypt. He bound the recollection of these mighty deeds to the observance of many ceremo- nials and festive institutions, which by their constant recurrence should as con- stantly remind the people of the causes, why they were ordained. Let us instance the Passover. The household of every believing Israelite is purified from all leaven ; new utensils, different from those in general use, are procured ; bread of a different nature than that used during the other parts of the year is introduced ; and with the first evening of the festivals pe- culiar ceremonies are observed, which from their striking nature will always arrest the attention. Imagine now an in- quisitive child following with eager eye his parents in their various acts of puri- fying and arranging the household, in their observance of the ceremonies relating to the feast, and he will naturally ask : " What is this service unto you ?" And then, what a noble theme has the intelli- gent and pious father for dwelling on the goodness of the Lord, how He in his might broke the chain of captive fore- fathers— how He humbled the idols and their worshippers — how He proved his almighty power before the eyes of unbe- lieving men — how He demonstrated that he alone is the Creator and Ruler of the universe — and how he ordained a law of duties and observances, inasmuch as " He commanded us to do all these things, that it may be well with us all the days, and to keep us alive, as we see this day." In brief, the ceremonies, as Mendelssohn ob- serves in his Jerusalem, are the constant topics of living instruction, which by exci- ting the attention of the inquirer, afford a constant theme and an ever-recurring oc- casion to expatiate upon the noble truths of revealed religion, to prevent them being misunderstood by the fixedness and ob- scurity of outward symtols, and of being lost bv want of requisite memorials. In consequence of this union of doctrine and acts the Israelitish people became contradistinguished from all other portions of mankind, by a peculiarity which ex- posed them at once to the animadversion and suspicion of the world. They were men who believed not in the gods ; they had no images to represent what they worshipped, and they refused to mimgle BI8T0RY OF THE JEWS \\l> tiikik RELIGION. ..II i ml social enjoyment with those irho believed no< in their code, I fence then- sprung up a species of repugnance Of the heathen towards the Israelites ; they accused them of atheism, because they re- jected a plurality of gods ; they were shocked at what was conceived their im- piety, because they honored not images of the divinities of the world ; and they charg- ed them with unsociality, because they could not, consistently with their faith, mingle over the wine cup and the festive hoard with their gentile neighbors. It is needless to argue, at this late day, the folly of these views. The worship of one God is surely no atheism; the absence of im- ages is no impiety; and the ceremonial restrictions upon the Israelites have been long since justly regarded as the main props for the upholding of the monotheistic doctrines of Abraham and Moses; they preserved entire a people to whom the truth had been confided by the Creator himself; and nation after nation has more or less taken up the same belief, and fol- lowed as divine the precepts which the code of Israel contains. It is not to be denied that the Jews themselves have not duly honored their divine law ; they have often been rebellious ; they have frequently thrown off the yoke ; they have again and again walked in the ways of the heathen ; still, will any one deny that they were the first, and for a long time the only, nation who believed truly in the Creator alone ? who possessed and have transmit- ted to the world at large a code of laws which is the best safeguard of liberty ? the only true standard of justice? Look at the decalogue ! it is called the moral con- stitution of the world ; and where do you find precepts so just, so simple, so cogent, embraced in so few words ? Admit they are divine, (certainly we do not claim to have invented them;) still, who possessed them before all other nations? Do we then boast unjustly, when we aver that our law is the fountain of modern civiliza- tion ? that whatever was good in heathen ideas had to be purified by the legislation of Moses? Surely we are correct in this assertion ; and sure we are that the en- lightened Christian and philosopher will gladly admit the truth of a position which scarcely admits of a doubt. It' heathen communitiei then looked w Ufa disdain ;ind contempt upon lh<- UUSOI iable Israelites and accused them of impiety : •< man acquainted w ith the operations of the human heart, will say thai their ignorance of revelation was a natural caUSS of the aversion for a system which, in point, contradicted their free no! ■ belief and conduct; since heathenism al- lowed any addition to the catalogue of their deities, ad 'uifutihim, and permitted all those acts of licentiousness which dis- graced their Olympus. But what can Christians allege for continuing that silly prejudice which had its birth in periods of darkness? Do they believe in the exis- tence* of a Being, the holiest, the purest, the best that the imagination can conceive, who is the author of all ? So do we. Do they believe in the revelation of the Most High? So do we. Do they believe themselves accountable for all acts done by them in contravention to the declared will of God ? So do we. Do they hold to the sublime aphorism, " Love God above all, and thy neighbor like thyself?" So do we. Is there not sufficient agreement in our respective systems for us all to meet on common ground, and prove that we are indeed children of a common Parent? servants of the same God ? " But no," say the bigots, " the Jews do not agree with us in all points ; they believe not in a mediator, they reject our Messiah, and hold themselves bound by a religion of ceremonial works, long since abrogated, at the coming of Christ ; hence we must endeavor to convert them, or condemn them to the pains of an everlasting dam- nation for their unbelief." The premises are indeed true : we totally reject the idea of a mediator, either past or to come ; wc reject him whom the Christians call their Messiah ; and we assert that for our part the law is of the same binding force as it was in the beginning of its institution. But what has that to do with the prejudice of the world against us ? Are our views so monstrous as to excite the wrath of the world against us ? Let us see : we assert \ that the Diety is one and alone ; that hence no mediator, or an emanation from the Creator, is conceivable. But why should this be a cause of prejudice against us, since the evident words of the Bible 312 HISTORY OF THE JEWS AND THEIR RELIGION. teach this doctrine, as we understand the scriptures ? For thus it says, " Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is ORi,n (Beat, vi. 4.) "Know therefore, this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord he is God, in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath ; there is none else." (Ibid. iv. 39.) " See now, that I, even I, am He, and there is no God with me : I kill, and I make alive ; I wound and I heal ; neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand." (Ibid, xxxii. 39.) " Wherefore, thou art great, O Lord God : for there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears." (2 Samuel vii. 22.) " That all the people of the earth may know that the Lord is God, and that there is none else." (1 Kings viii. 60.) " For thou art the glory of our strength : and in thy favor our horn shall be exalted. For the Lord is our defence : and the Holy Oxe of Israel is our king." (Psalm j lxxxix. 17, 18.) "Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen : that ye may know and be- i lieve me, and understand that I am He ; | before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, | am the Lord, and beside me there is no j Saviour." (Isaiah, xliii. 10, 11.) "I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy trans- gressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins." (Ibid. 25.) " Thus saith the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of Hosts ; I am the first, and I am the last, and beside me there is no god." (Ibid. xiiv. 6.) " But Israel shall be saved in the Lord an ever- lasting salvation." (Ibid. xlv. 17.) " Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth ; for I am God, and there is none else." (Ibid. xlv. 22.) " In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory." (Ibid. 25.) We will not multiply texts, in the limited space neces- sarily assigned to this article, and be con- tent with the few already given, selected at random almost, from the ordinary ver- sion of the Bible, with but one exception. friend from these and many others, that the scriptures teach an absolute, not a relative unity in the Godhead, that the same Being, who existed from the begin- ning, and who called forth all that exists, the Lord God of Hosts, is the sole Legis- lator and Redeemer of all his creatures. We contend that a divided unity, or a ho- mogeneous divinity composed of parts, is nowhere spoken of in the Old Testament, our only rule of faith, and that nothing, not contained therein, can become by any possibility matter of faith and hope for an Israelite. We know well enough that some ingenious accommodations have been invented by learned men to reconcile tin- above texts with the received opinions of Christianity ; but we have always been taught to receive the scriptures literally ; we assert that the law is not allegorical ; that the denunciation of punishment against us has been literally accomplished ; and that, therefore, no verse of the Bible can in its primary sense be taken otherwise than in its literal and evident meaning, especially if this is the most obvious, and leads to no conclusion which is elsewhere contradicted by another biblical text. Xow nothing is more evident than that the unity of God is the fundamental principle of the Bible Revelation ; since it was contrived, to use this word, by divine wisdom, to counteract the frightful follies of polythe- ism, which had overspread the world. We then say, if God be absolutely ozse, if He is not conceivable to be divided into parts, if there is no Saviour beside Him : it fol- lows that there can be no personage who could by any possibility be called "son of god," or the mediator between God and man. An independent deity he cannot be, neither can he be an associate ; and if he be neither, how can he be more a media- tor than any other creature ? since one man cannot atone for the sins of another ; as we are informed in Exodus, xxxii. 33 : " And the Lord said unto Moses, Whoso- ever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book," which evidently teaches that every sinner has to make atonement for himself, and can obtain pardon only through the undeserved mercy of the Lord. If now the mediator is not the Creator himself, he cannot offer an atonement, nay not even himself; and if he could, h'e would be equal to the One from whom all has sprung, and such a being is impossible, in accordance with the testimony of the Bible. From this it follows, that we Jews can- HI8T0IU OF THE JEWS AM) THEIR RELIGION. not admit the divinity of the Messiah of Christians, dot confide in his missioo upon unitarian principles, since the books con- taining ao account of his life all claim for him the power of mediatorsh\p, it' not an equality with the Supreme, both of which .v q reject as unscriptural, It- then there has been as yet no mani- festation of the divine will in respect to a repeal of the law (since we cannot believe a mere man to have by simple preaching and the exhibition of miracles, even ad- mitting their authenticity, been able to ab- wliat (\m\ so solemnly instituted : ) iio claim that the whole ceremonial ami religious as well as civil legislation of Sinai is to this day unrepealed, and is uently binding on us Israelites, the proper recipients of the Mosaic code, as on the day ofjts first promulgation. in this manner acknowledge and maintain that we do not believe in the mediatorship, nor in the mission of the ih of the Christians, nor in the ab- rogation of the Mosaic law of works. But we nevertheless contend that this rejection of the popular religion is no cause for the entertainment of any ill-will against us, nor for the efforts which some over-zeal- ous people every now and then make for our conversion. We have already ex- hibited above, how the belief of Abraham, enlarged by Moses, and now acknowledged by the Jews, is one of purity and morality, and one which presents the strongest pos- sible supports for civil society, especially a government based upon principles of equality and liberty of the person. We challenge contradiction to this position, which we sustain as impregnable both to the shafts of witticism, and the attacks of cold reasoning. We therefore say, that our presence in any community cannot work any injury to those who differ from us in religion, since we are peace-loving and loyal, wishing to do to others those acts of benevolence which we may desire to claim from them in our day of need ; and that our speculative opinions cannot work any injury to the systems which exist around us, inasmuch as we do not seek to aggrandize ourselves at the ex- pense of others, and abstain from weaken- ing the religious impressions of other sects, unless it be in self-defence. For the truth of this we appeal to the history of the United States, France and Holland, where lb.' Jen - have for man) y sn enjoyed entire Libert) ef conscience, without any injury to other denominations or (J* at large. We iaj , that we endeavor to instil principles of honesty in our people; and hence that but few indeed are ever brought to the bar of justice or encumber the poor and workhouses to the disgrace of their name and the reproach of their fellows in belief.* So much with respect to unjust prejudice. But with regard to the efforts at conversion they are equally senseless. To the Jew his existence is a manifestation and evident display of the divine power. How must a Christian re- gard it ? Let us see. " Who had the Bible first ?" The Jews. " Who was se- lected by God as the people to bear wit- ness of this being ?" The Jews. " To whom did the Lord promise love and pro- tection ?" The Jews. " To whom did he say that they should never cease to be a people?" The Jews. It then follows that Providence must have had, and conse- quently still have, some great and general object in preserving the Jews from anni- hilation, and this must be acknowledged upon Christian grounds, since Christians too admit the truth of the scriptures. Suppose now all the Jews were converted, which however is an idea not to be ad- mitted, their existence would of a certainty- be at an end ; for it requires no reasoning to prove that their religion is their only preservative in their scattered state among all nations. We, as a distinct class of men, have always been the best evidence of the truth of revelation ; for our being in existence with the possession of a dis- tinct code of laws founded upon reason and truth, in ages of darkness and false- hood, can only be accounted for upon the supposition, that the laws and doctrines which are so wise and true must have * The writer of this has lately had an op- portunity of conversing, whilst travelling, with one of the police magistrates of the city of New York, where the largest portion of our people in this country is settled ; and he as- sured him that but seldom are Jews brought before him for any charge whatever, even petty crimes, though the number of poor Is- raelites in New York is proportionately great 40 314 HISTORY OF THE JEWS AND THEIR RELIGION. sprung from the only Source of wisdom, to wit, the Author of all. Whilst, there- lore, the Israelites maintain their identity ; whilst they continue steadfast to Moses and the prophets : there will always he an unanswerable argument in favor of re- velation to the sceptical unbeliever. But, once blot out our memorial ; let our name be only a matter of history, and our exist- ence the subject for the antiquarian's re- searches : and you have destroyed the very evidence on which your system must rest for support, although as Christians you claim a new revelation for the opin- ions of divine things which you entertain. Still more than all this, all such attempts, as we have just alluded to, are acting against Providence; He called Abraham out of Chaldsea, and promised him, that in his seed all the families of the earth should be blessed ; He chose Isaac, and confirmed to him the covenant of Abra- ham ; He loved Jacob, and assured him the blessings of Abraham and Isaac ; He appeared to Moses and told him : "lam the God of thy father, the God of Abra- ham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob," (Exod. iii. 6 ;) and all these pro- mises are to be made void by the exter- mination of the distinctive character of Jacob's descendants 1 how are they to be distinguished as " the people of God," as the sons of Israel, if they mingle with you in communion of worship and inter-mar- riages, and become with you one people ? One would think that the many abortive attempts at force, at persuasion, at bribe- ry, had all been tried in vain long enough to prove that, if God wishes our destruc- tion, these are not the means to effect it ; and still the world is but little wiser for all these failures, and the same routine, all except the slaying of Jews, is gone over again at this day, to bring about the conversion of our people, as was done in former times. One country will not ad- mit our people to an equality of rights ; another, more barbarous yet, although Christian, enlightened and highly civilized, restricts the number of Jews in its domi- nions, permits only a certain number to .marry, and confines our existing popula- tion to certain, and these very narrow, limits in the towns where they dwell ; elsewhere they are taxed for the right of protection — oven the food they consume becomes an especial source of revenue to the government; in other places again annot hold landed estates; other countries will not admit them within their boundaries; whilst every where, even in free and enlightened America, other de- nominations combine for the purpose of bringing about their conversion, and raise funds and form especial societies to bring about this consummation so devoutly de- sired by many. Who does not s< e, that such proceedings are only too well calcu- lated to keep alive prejudices, unfounded and unjust, against the sons of Israel ? Every one knows the influence which ministers of religion have over their flocks ; and if the heads, then, constantly pray for the conversion of the Jews ; if they constantly league together for this purpose ; if they hold them up as children of damnation for their unbelief: it would be wonderful indeed if the masses did not feel a certain aversion for those men whose obduracy and unbelief cause so much pain and labor to the good men whom they are accustomed to regard with love and vene- ration. Where we are known, our cha- racters and our course of life will be al- ways the best answers to all complaints, and the best defence against all supposed charges. But in communities even where we are most numerous, there are many who are necessarily unacquainted with us and our opinions ; and still they may have an important bearing upon our hap- piness and welfare ; we are therefore anx- ious that they should not hold an unwor- thy opinion of us or our creed. Besides this, we venerate the name of Israel, we hold dear the bond which entwines our destiny with the lot and the fame of the great ones of old ; and therefore, even if there were no personal disadvantage con- nected with the prejudice against ourselves, we would prize it beyond all could we have the happiness of witnessing among the world at large a proper appreciation of the services to religion, to science, to government, to order, to humanity, which mankind owes to the patriarchs, the pro- phets, the doctors, the martyrs of the house of Israel. We ask for no preroga- tive from the world ; our faith is one of opinion, and can flourish as well under histoid *»r riu: .ii:ws ami thi;ik religion. 81fi :: i . u hen in command of em- our God can and doei shield uSj whether we ere afflicted or in prosperit) : ask to !><• lefl alone undisturbed in the profession of those peculiar opinions which we claim to be the emanation of the Supreme Being ; we ask <>!' all, to let da pursue the even tenor of our way, as good citizens and faithful subjects to the laws of the land; and np one will ever have cause to complain thai the Jews, as such, have interfered with his rights, or diminished in the least the full exercise of his political or religious privileges. THE DOCTRINES OF THE JEWS. Properly speaking, the Jews have no ion of faith j they hold the whole Word of God to be alike fundamental, and thai in sanctity there is no difference be- tween the verses "And the sons of Dan, Hushim," (Gen. xlvi. 23,) and "I am the Lord thy God," (Exod. xx. 2.) The whole Bible has the same immortal, infallible Author; consequently whatever He has written for our instruction must be equally h< »ly. To us the things handed down may appear unimportant ; but we do not know what great truths may be connected with the simplest word embraced in the Bible. The believing Israelite, therefore, searches the scriptures as the most mysterious, the holiest gift, although the text is so evident as to afford a sure guide to his steps through his earthly pilgrimage, and to point his way to heaven. He endeavors to find in the pages thereof the best account of the ways of God with man, and a solution of the question, " What does the Lord ask of me ?" Nothing therefore can be unim- portant to him which has been written by his almighty Father, and every word he finds recorded there he must accordingly receive as his rule of faith. Let it be un- derstood, that the Israelite's religion, though based on faith, is not a theoretical system, but one of action and duties ; for when the Lord revealed himself on Mount Sinai it was a practical course of life He pointed out in preference to a system of belief or matters of credence. Without faith, or a sincere conviction, in other words, of the truth of God and his law, no one would to a certainty obey a code which, in every step he takes, places some n rti iction upon Ins conduct or pursuits, Neverth< V m i life .an he mi asured by the standard of the lawj which is only rich m si Qtiments, hut pom- in deeds; This In 1 1 1 L_r il> it is self-evident i hat the ideas which an the foundation of our religion must spring out of the law and the revelation which we have received for our guidance ; and the whole scries oi* doctrines which is evolved by B study of the law and the prophets must be accepted by all Israelites as the truth which they ought implicitly to confide in; since the ideas of religion cannot he less true, than the duties with which they stand in connection, are the infallible will of God. All this would give us then the doctrine " that the whole Bible is the faith of the Israelite." But, though to the thinking and pious such a reference might be enough, there would be many a one who would find it difficult to trace sufficiently clearly the doctrines of the Bible amidst the mass of duties on the one hand, and narrations and predictions on the other, which the various books of scripture so bountifully contain. Pious men therefore have endeavored to con- dense the biblical dogmas for the use of the nation at large, in order to afford at first sight a comprehensive view of all that, which according to our received mode of interpretation we are obliged to believe in with an entire faith as children of Israel. Nevertheless it must be understood that these dogmas, or Articles of Faith, though universally admitted as true, have never yet become a test of a Jewish ex- perience ; since it is enough for us if we admit the truth. of the whole Bible, which of itself includes the belief in what have been termed " the Articles of Maimonides," which learned doctor was probably the first who reduced his religion to a limited num- ber of fundamental principles, without thereby excluding the necessity of believ- ing implicitly whatever other doctrines might otherwise be drawn from the sacred Text. In other words, whatever princi- ples are deducible from Holy Writ, and whatever doctrines the Bible contains, are one and all subjects on which no Israelite can conscientiously permit himself to spe- culate, much less to doubt ; and the arti- cles of faith are therefore nothing but a 316 HISTORY OF THE JEWS AND THEIR RELIGION. summary, serving to classify in a simple mariner the chief and evident deductions from the scriptures. Having premised this, to avoid giving B false s iew of our creed, of which no trace as an entire system can be discovered in so many words, either in the Bible or in the writings of our early doctors : we will proceed to lay down the three great bases of our belief: I. We believe in the existence of the Deity, the Creator of all things. II. We believe in the existcnee of a re- velation by the Creator of his will. III. We believe in the existence of a just system of reward and punishment, or a full accountability for all our acts. Being compelled to condense as much as possible in this article, we cannot go over a great number of arguments to prove, what is otherwise so self-evident, that these three principles are the sole rational foundation of all religion ; since the belief in the Creator gives us a Supreme Being to worship ; a revelation furnishes us with a knowledge of what He requires at our hands ; and, lastly, the existence of an equitable system of accountability places before us the most urgent motives for obe- dience to whatever we are certified to be the will of God. But the Bible reveals to us ampler de- tails of doctrines, in part especially appli- cable to us as Israelites to whom the law was first given, and partly of universal applicability. Of the latter we have gen- erally assumed thirteen cardinal principles which are the key of our theological views ; they are — 1. The belief in an almighty Creator, who alone has called all things into being, and still continues to govern the world which He has made. 2. The belief in the absolute and per- fect unity of the Creator, that He is there- fore indivisible in every sense of the word, always the same, who was, is, and ever will be, unchanged as from the beginning. 3. The belief in the incorporeality of the Creator, that He is not a material being, and cannot be affected by accidents which affect material things. 4. The belief in the absolute and perfect eternity of the Creator. 5. The belief, that the Creator is the sole being to whom we should pray, since there is no one who shares his powers, that we should address our prayers to him. 6. The belief in the truth of all the words of the prophets. 7. The belief in the truth of the pro- phecy of Moses, and that he was the greatest of all the prophets and wise toed who have lived before him or will ecu after him. 8. The belief in the identity of the law , which we now have, and that it is un- , changed, and the very one which v\as given to Moses. 9. The belief in the permanency of the law, and that there has not been, nor will . there ever be, another law promulgated by the Creator. 10. The belief in the omniscience of the Creator. 11. The belief that the Creator will re- ward those who keep his commandments, i and punish those who transgress them. 12. The belief in the coming of the King Messiah, who is to accomplish for the world and Israel all that the prophets have foretold concerning him. And 13. The belief in the resurrection of the dead, when it may please the Almighty to send his spirit to revive those who sleep imthe dust. It were easy enough to prove all the above from scripture passages ; but it is deemed unnecessary in this mere summary of our faith, nothing doubting but that the inquirer will look for farther light in works treating especially on this important sub- ject. It will be seen that a distinctive feature in our belief is " the permanency of the law revealed on Sinia through Moses the father of the prophets," which precludes the admission of any new reve- lation, or the abrogation of the old cove- nant. Another, " the belief in the absolute unity of God," with the addition that " there is no being but the Creator to whom we should pray," precludes the admissi- bility of a mediator, or the mediating power between God and us mortal sinners of any being whose existence the imagi- nation can by any possibility conceive as possible. We think and maintain that these principles are legitimate deductions ! of the text of Holy Writ ; and we must [ therefore, if even on no other grounds, , HISTORY OF THE JEWS \M) THEIR RELIGION. the principle* and doctrii es or ( Ihris- . which teach, first, thai a new cove- ,, ,,u ; made between God and mankind other than the revelation at i sondl) , that there is a me- . in emanation of the Deity, through whose merita only man can be absolved from Bin, and through whose intercession prayers will be accepted. All this is for- eign to our vi»-w of scriptural truth, and as such we reject it, and hold fast to the doctrines which we have received from our lath Th<- Messiah whom we expect is not to god, not a part of the godhead, nor >f god in any sense of the word; hut simply a man eminently endowed, like and the prophets in the days of the Bible, to work out the will of God on earth in all that the prophets have predicted of him. 1 tiling, we believe, will be the signal for universal peace, universal freedom, uni- versal knowledge, universal worship of the One Eternal; objects all of high import, and well worthy to be attested by the visible display of the divine glory before the eyes of all flesh, just as was the presence of the Lord manifested at Sinai, when the Israel- ites stood assembled to receive the law which was surrendered to their keeping. In the days of this august ruler the law, Which was at first given as " an inherit- ance of the congregation of Jacob," will become the only standard of righteousness, of salvation, for all mankind, when will be fulfilled to its fullest extent the blessings conferred upon Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that " in their seed all the families of the earth should be blessed." We believe, farther, that the time of this great event is hidden from our knowledge, and is only known to the Creator, who in his own good time will regenerate the earth, remove >rship of idols, banish all erroneous beliefs, and establish his kingdom firmly and immovably over the hearts of all sons of man, when all will invoke Him in truth, and call him God, King, Redeemer, the One who was, is, and will be, for ever and ever. We believe that the time may be distant, thousands of years removed; but we confidently look forward to its coming, in the full confidence that He who has so miraculously preserved his people among si many trials and dangers, is able and willing to fulfil all ll< has promised, and thai Ins power will torrefy accomplish whit his goodness his foretold; and thai ll«- will not reel in#the fiilfilment of word, till all the world shall acknowled his power, and o;ix.-l inc. n id to Ins holy Name from the rising of the even unto his setting ; when the alta falsehood shall crumble and the dominion of unbelief !»<• swept from the face of the earth. THE JEWS IN THE UNITED 8TATE& From the Bmallness of the numb our people, compared with the rest of man- Kind, it will he readily understood that, comparatively speaking, but few Jews will be found in America. Still despite of this fact, they are found in every portion of the Union, with the exception almost (for there are a few even there,) in the northern range of states. Probably the first settle- ment of Jews took place in New Amster- dam, when it was under the Dutch govern- ment, about 1660. They no doubt were Spaniards and Portuguese who, like their brethren who were settled in Holland, fled from the bloody Inquisition to seek refuge under the equitable protection of the laws of the Batavian republic. The writer of this has learnt that a correspondence is yet in existence which took place between the Israelites and the Dutch authorities in New Amsterdam ; but he has never seen it, wherefore he is unable to say anything with precision farther than he has stated above. This much, however, he believes certain, that the number of our people did not increase rapidly, since we are not friendly to making proselytes, and owing to the great difficulties emigrants of our persuasion must be exposed to in new communities on account of the duties of our religion. Be this as it may, but one synagogue was needed in New York, till about 1827, when a second one was established in the central part of the city. Since that, period four other congre- gations have been organized, and all the places of worship, though so rapidly mul- tiplied, are frequently over-full, so as to require temporary meeting places. The number of Jews in the city of New York, is said to be about 10,000\ and rapidly in- creasing bv emigration from Europe, owing 318 HISTORY OF THE JEWS AND THEIR RELIGION. to the oppressive laws en forced against us in many countries as stated in a prece- ding part of this article. There are two congregation^ in Albany, and one or more in the country, of which, however, I have too vague information to say any thing with certainty. A few years before the American revo- lution a congregation assembled in New- port, Rhode Island ; but with the falling off of the business of that place, after the conclusion of the peace of 1783, the Jew- ish population left it by degrees, some going to New York, some to Richmond, and others to different other towns. There are a synagogue and burying ground, both said to be in good order, — a legacy having been left by the son of the former minister, Touro, to keep them from falling into decay. In Pennsylvania Israelites were settled long before the revolution in various places. But, I believe, that no regular congregation was organized till about 1780, when the occupation of New York by the British induced many from that place to come hither with their minister, Gershom Mendes Seixas ; and a syna- gogue was erected upon the site of the present building, and consecrated about the 'fall of 1781. There are now three congregations in Philadelphia, numbering about from 1500 to 1800 souls; one con- gregation is at Easton, one in Hanover, and considerable settlements in Franklin county, Bucks, and elsewhere, which will no doubt be organized as congregations before long. In Maryland the Jews were, until lately, excluded from a participation of equal rights ; but soon after the repeal of their disabilities, many Europeans joined the former few settlers, and there is now a considerable congregation of about 1500 souls in Baltimore, where there is a syna- gogue. There are also a few families in Frederick, Hagerstown, &c. In Virginia the Jews settled about 1780, or even earlier; but their number is small in that state ; and there are but two con- gregations in the whole state, and both at Richmond. Others dwell at Petersburg, Norfolk, Lynchburg, Wheeling, but they amount in the whole state to scarcely more than 600. In North Carolina, where the constitu- tion excludes us from the rights of citizens, tlurc ape but a few families. But in South Carolina we are much more numerous, and Israelites are found in all parts of the state; still there is but one regular congregation, at Charleston, where there is a handsome synagogue ; the congregation was organized in 1750. In Georgia there is a synagogue in Sa- vannah. The first Jews came over soon after General Oglethorpe, in 1733; but they have never been very numerous ; though it appears from present indications that many European emigrants, and per- sons from the north will, it is likely, soon seek a home in that state. In the southern and western states the arrival of Israelites is but recent ; still there is a congregation at Mobile ; another, numbering about 125 families, in New Orleans ; another at Louisville ; two at Cincinnati ; one or two in Cleaveland, and one at St. Louis. There are probably others, but they have not become gene- rally known. A small congregation also has recently been formed at New Haven, in Connecticut, probably the only one in the New England States, unless Boston be an exception. We have no ecclesiastical authorities in America, other than the congregations themselves. Each congregation makes its own rules for its government, and elects its own minister, who is appointed without any ordination, induction in office being made through his election, which is made for a term of years or during good beha- vior, as it may meet the wish of the ma- jority. As yet we have no colleges or public schools of any kind, with the ex- ception of one in New York, under the direction of the Rev. Samuel M. Isaacs, one in Baltimore, and another in Cincin- nati, and Sunday schools for religious in- struction in New York, Philadelphia, Rich- mond, Charleston, Columbia, S. C, Sa- vannah, and Cincinnati. There can be no doubt that something will be done for edu- cation, as soon as we have become more numerous. The American Jews have but one religious periodical, and this is printed in Philadelphia ; it is called " The Occi- dent and American Jewish Advocate," and appears monthly. .. - ■ - . Liik-oFP S.Duval, Phuad? AMTHIT ILi HJ T 53 H M UI8T0RY OP Tin: BVANOBLICAL LUTHERAN CHI RCH. 819 In .ill our congregations where the ne- . demands it, then- are ample pro- visions made for the support of the poor, and we endeavor to prevent, if possible, ;m\ Israelite from being sent to the poor house, or to sink into crime for want pf the means of subsistence. Upon the whole, we have increased in respect within the last five years j and we invoke the i>l< -ml' of I [eaven that No may prosper onv undertaking give us the meant to '_ri"\\ bo grace and piety, thai we may be able to show the world the true effects of tin- law of God upon the lift of a sincere Israelite, which must render him acceptable to his neigh- bors of every creed, and a worthy servant in the mansion of bis heavenly rather*. HISTORY OF THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH.* BY S. S. SCHMUCKER, D. D., GETTYSBURG, PA. The name of Martin Luther, now fami- liar to almost every schoolboy, forms one of the most prominent waymarks in the history both of the world and the church. It has immortalized his age among the generations gone by ; and one can hardly hear it pronounced without being at the same moment transported back to the scenes and events of that ecclesiastical revolution which shook Europe to its very centre, and from the cell of a monastery opened upon the world that dawning of science and truth which shall shine on, with unwaning brightness, to its perfect day. But while all recognise the name of the Reformer, and its connection with the past and present condition of Christendom in • The following sketch of the Lutheran Church is compiled almost entirely from seve- ral publications of the Rev. Dr. S. S. Schmuck- er, Professor of Theology in the Theological Seminary, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, from an excellent article in the American Quarterly Register, by the Rev. Mr. Harris of Boston, which is derived principally from the same source, and from the Lutheran Almanac of 1843. the general : few, comparatively, are well acquainted with the history of his peculiar opinions and those of the past and present generations of his followers. In reviving our own and our readers' acquaintance with our Lutheran brethren, we introduce to the friends of the Redeemer of lost men, an ancient, honored, and most efficient branch of that church which he ransomed with blood, and which he employs in car- rying forward the triumphs of his grace over sin and the powers of darkness.* " The Lutheran Church is indebted for her name to the derision of the Catholics. The distinguished Papal theologian, Dr. Eckius, the opponent of Luther and Carl- stadt, in the celebrated disputation at Leip- sic, in the year 1519, wishing to show his contempt for Luther and his cause and not dreaming whereunto this matter of the Reformation would grow, first stigmatized the friends of the reformer as Lutherans, with the same feelings with which we speak of the Owenites and Fanny Wright Quarterly Register, of 1843, p. 378. 320 HISTORY OF THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH. men of our day. Th#term being regarded i as a happy conceit, was soon spread among the enetaie& of the cause ; and its friends, though opposed to it in principle, re- sponded to the name, because they were nc»t ashamed of their leader. Thus George, the Margrave of Brandenburg, when re- proached for being a Lutheran, indignant- ly and nobly replied : " I was not baptized in the name of Luther, he is not my God and Saviour, I do not believe in him, and am not saved by him ; and therefore, in this sense I am no Lutheran. But if I be asked, whether with my heart and lips I profess the doctrines which God restored to light through the instrumentality of his blessed servant, Dr. Luther, I neither hesitate nor am ashamed to call myself a Lutheran. In this sense I am, and as long as I livejf will remain a Lutheran." But the name officially adopted by the Lu- theran reformers was that of the Evange- lical Church, that is, the gospel church, in antithesis to the legal ritual of the Old Tes- tament, the very name recently adopted by the united Lutheran and Reformed Church in Prussia. Luther himself, like the great apostle of the gentiles, protested most de- cidedly against the use of his name as the Shibbolet of a sect, and it is to be re- gretted that his advice was disregarded.* " The Lutheran Church in this country has, in common with that of the German Reformed, also been distinctively termed the German church. This designation must not be understood as implying the limitation of the worship of either of these churches to the German language. It is known to the intelligent reader, that in different countries the services of the Lu- theran Church are conducted in the Swe- dish, the Norwegian, the Danish, the Ice- landic, the Russian and the French, as well as in the English and German lan- guages. Yet it is true, that as Germany was the cradle of the Reformation, she was also the primitive seat of that church, which grew out of the Reformation in the land of Luther. Germany is still the most extensive seat of Luthcranism. No other foreign country is therefore fraught with such interesting and hallowed asso- * Schmucker's Portraiture of Lutheranism, pp. 8, 9. ciations to the great mass of American Lutherans as Germany, the mother of the Reformation, the cradle of Lutheranism, the land where our fathers proclaimed the gospel of salvation, where Spener sowed the seed of truth, where Arndt preached and wrote and lived his ' True Christian- ity,' where Franke wrought his works of love, and where believing Luther poured his prayer of faith into the lap of God ! But it is not only to Lutheran minds that Germany is encircled with interesting as- sociations. Although the populace are too little acquainted with the fact, yet what intelligent scholar does not know that the Germans constitute one of the most distinguished branches of the human family, and that at different periods through- out the two thousand years of their na- tional history, they have excelled in all that is truly noble and praiseworthy in heathen virtue, or interesting in the fruits of an enlightened and active Christian piety ? Germany was originally inhabited by a heroic and martial people, whose origin is enveloped in some obscurity. Their language and religion point us to Asia. They certainly proceeded from the north of the Euxine Sea, and, known by the names of Scythians, Teutones, Franks, &c, overspread all western Eu- rope. The English are, both as to lan- guage and population, in part descended from one of these German tribes, the Saxons, who at an early day conquered Britain and formed the Anglo-Saxon race, from whom a portion of our citizens are descended. When first visited by the Romans, about the time of our Saviour, the Germans had already for ages in- habited the country, and had lost all traces of their earliest history. Divided into many independent tribes, and often engaged in intestine wars, each tribe ac- knowledged no laws but those enacted by the majority at a general council. Far removed from the refinement and literary character of the Romans, they were alike free from their licentiousness and effemi- nacy. Hospitality and conjugal fidelity were prominent characteristics of the Germans ; and a promise, given to friend or foe, they held inviolable, even at the risk of life. They cherished a firm be- lief of the immortality of the soul, and of H1ST0M OF THE i:\ ANGELICAL L\ fHERAN CHI R< H liitmv retribution. The) were indeed polvtheists, bul their religion was ef the siildmi They neither bowed down to idols, nor worshipped in temples made with bands, bul offered their devotions in i, under the broad canopy of \s the Roman historian, led their e confined in temples, or tented by idols of wood or stone."* In the time of Julius Oaasar the Romans marked them out for conquest; but after repeated attempts to subdue them, they ted, and they relinquished the object about the thirteenth year of the Christian era. Subsequently, after nu- merous internal dissensions and external wars between their different tribes and the Romans, the latter, with the Saxons, un- der the Kmperor Probus, succeeded in conquering the Franks and the Alemanni, two of the principal German nations, about A. D. *J70. This conquest, however, the last of a political character which Rome achieved, was not permanent. In the fifth century) the Roman empire was as- saulted on all sides by the northern and eastern barbarians, who rapidly spread their ravages and conquests over all Europe. " Of the different tribes of this numer- ous family which overspread all western Europe, those only retain the name of Germans in modern history, who reside in the territory denominated Germany. Their martial spirit rendered difficult the introduction of Christianity among them, which was however effected, at least in name, successively among the different tribes, from the third to the eighth cen- tury. The forgiving and submissive spirit of the gospel gained a tardy victory over their warlike minds ; as was stri- kingly illustrated in the instance of Clo- vis,f King of the Franks, a tribe that settled in Gaul. On one occasion, whilst Remigius was preaching to them, and depicting in glowing colors the sufferings of the Saviour when suspended on the cross, the king, no longer able to restrain his spirit, cried out in the midst of the * Schmucker's Portraiture, pp. 10, 11. t Clovis belonged to the German, Salian tribe ; Henke, vol. i. p. 387. ition, - \h, it' I had been then with my Pranks, the F< s ihould not have crucified the Lord)1 Unhappily the Christianity first introduced among them was strongly tinctured with the corrup- tions of Rome, and iii the progn the Germans participated extensively in the increasing superstitions and degene- racj which reigned ai the fountain head. But in the providence of God it was re- served for this heroic and undaunted people, to take tin- lead in breaking the bonds by which Europe had for ages been held in subjection. ■ Whilst,' says the distinguished Lutheran historian, Dr. Mos- heim, ' the Roman pontiff slumbered in security at the head of the church, and saw nothing throughout the vast extent of his dominion but tranquility and sub- mission, and while the worthy and pious professors of genuine Christianity almost despaired of seeing that reformation, on which their ardent desires and expectations were bent : an obscure and inconsiderable person arose, on a sudden, in the year 1517, and laid the foundation of this long- expected change, by opposing with un- daunted resolution his single force to the torrent of Papal ambition and despotism. This remarkable man was Martin LutJier, of Eisleben, in Saxony,* an Augustinian monk, and professor of theology in the university which had been erected at Wit- tenburg a few years before.' It was this interesting people, after they had thrown off the yoke of Rome, and, through the instrumentality of their countryman Lu- ther and others, received the pure and unadulterated word of God, that consti- tuted themselves a reformed, an evangel- ical church, which has been denominated Lutheran."! " In the year 1507, at the age of twen- ty-four years, in the seclusion of monastic life, Luther, by what we call accident, but, in reality, by the ordering of Him whose empire is universal, found among the musty tomes of the convent library a long-neglected Latin Bible. This imme- diately became his daily counsellor. The light of inspired truth soon disclosed to him the errors and deficiency of the * Mosheim, vol. iii. p. 25. f Schmucker's Portraiture, pp. 12-14. 41 322 HISTORY OF THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH. Romish creed, even before he could plainly discern the more excellent way. His at- tainments placed him, the following year, in a situation which compelled him to ac- quire a knowledge of the Hebrew lan- guage. In the year 1517, while engaged in the performance of his duties of a pro- fessor and ecclesiastic, particularly at the confessional, he discovered the influence i of Rome's corrupt system of indulgences. He refused absolution to those who pleaded them as a substitute for penance. This of course led them to complain to the friar from whom they had procured them. A violent controversy ensued between the friar and Luther, which ultimately brought the Reformer to an open rupture with the See of Rome. At two of the principal universities, as well as at the Papal court, the indignation of the church was ex- pressed by a public conflagration of his published writings. And in return, Lu- ther, after previous notice, and in the pre- sence of an immence concourse of specta- tors, committed the authoritative books of the Roman hierarchy, together with the condemnatory bull of the pontiff, to the flames. The Papal bull was renewed, accompanied by a sentence of excommu- nication ; but its reception served only to show its diminished power against the ad- vancing public sentiment. Recourse was now had to the civil authorities ; and the assembled princes and nobles of Germany were urged to bring the Reformer to their bar for trial. A summons was issued ac- cordingly ; and Luther, notwithstanding the remonstrance of influential and power- ful friends, fearlessly placed himself at their tribunal. Here again the public sympathies were with him. His reception was marked with a higher degree of en- thusiastic attention and favor, than that of the emperor himself. When confronted with his prosecutors, he respectfully but firmly maintained the stand he had taken; avowed himself the author of the writings which bore his name ; boldly vindicated the truth of his opinions , and refused to recant, unless convinced and refuted from the scriptures themselves. He left the council unmolested, but was followed by a royal edict of condemnation. And though placed for a time in confinement for his security, by the hand of friendship, he did not cease his labors to expose and refute the corruptions and heresies of Papal Rome, and in defence of the doctrines which he had espoused and promulgated. In the meantime, almost every city of Saxony embraced his doctrines, and the principles of the Reformation spread and : prevailed. On his return to \\ itt< mburg, the place of his residence, he resolved | that the ' lamp of life,' the scriptures, | which had illumined and scattered the darkness of his own mind, and which he ! had in part translated into German, at Wartburg, in his confinement, should be given to the community around him ; pub- lishing and circulating each portion as soon as it was revised or translated, until in the course of twelve years the whole was completed. The people soon began to see the contrast between the laws of Christ's kingdom and those of the Roman hierarchy ; and both princes and their subjects openly renounced the Papal su- premacy. Wrath was kindled against them to the uttermost. The Vatican thun- dered its anathemas ; the civil power was extended to crush the heresy and its advo- cates together; but it was all in vain ; ' so mightily grew the word of God and pre- vailed.' Luther maintained his stand against both the civil and ecclesiastical hostility; till, in 1524, seven years after he commenced the work of reform, he threw aside the monastic dress, assumed the garb of a preacher, abjured his vow of celibacy and united himself in marriage with a mm, which caused the impotent rage of his adversaries to burn with still greater fury. The German princes, how- ever, either from political or religious mo- tives, treated him with clemency. Many of them were his firm friends ; and the Elector of Saxony, who had been his con- stant patron, instituted measures by which the Lutheran religion was established throughout his dominions."* Unhappy divisions, however, arose among the reformers themselves. And while the doctrines which Luther taught became popular even in France and Eng- land : these divisions weakened their cause at home, and put arguments against them into the mouths of their enemies. Re- Quarterly Register, pp. 379, 380. HI8T0RY OF THE EVANGELICAL LI THBRAN < ill RCH. re made to turn the polit- ical influence of the country against the Reformation and its friends, and in Lo2ft rman I u'ci proceeded to adopt mea- to check its pr These were .1 by that portion of the I uet \\ ho were favorable to the cause of reform j an. I when they found that their remon- strances availed nothing, they entered a solemn pr< -test against the proceedings, and appealed to the emperor and a future council. Hence arose the oame I'uotest- v\r. which has ever since distinguished the other portions of the Christian world from the adherents of the Church of Rome. At a subsequent Diet, held at irg, Melancthon, who had hcen di- rected to prepare a statement of the doc- trines of the reformed, presented the cele- brati d confession of their faith, which has since been known as the "Augsburg -ion/' The opposition of the Pa- i this gave rise to another contro- : to quell which, imperial edicts and the secular power were put in full requisi- | tion. This led to political union and re- j sistance on the part of the Protestants, j and an alliance between them and the gov- ernments of France and of England, whose sovereigns having each a personal pique against the German emperor, were disposed to fan this flame of political dis- cord. All attempts to abolish heresy by force were now relinquished by the empe- ror, and a truce followed, during which the principles of the Reformation made still farther advances. Many who had feared to avow their enmity to the Pope, now publicly renounced their allegiance to him, and whole cities and provinces of Germany enlisted under the religious standards of Luther. Various unsuccessful attempts were made by the emperor and the Roman Pontiff to terminate the religious controversies, through the space of several years, during which a revised confession of the Protest- ant faith was prepared by Luther, com- monly known as " The Articles of Smal- cald," which usually accompanies the pub- lished creeds and confessions of the con- fessions of the Lutheran Church. The emperor and the Protestants also proposed various methods of reconciliation, but these were uniformly defeated by the ar- tifices of the Romanists. At length, wea- ried with the opp the Proti on the oik- hand, and of the Pap the other, to every measure proposed for settling their disputes: lie began to listen to the suggestions of the Pontiff I the controversies by tin- force of arms. Tin' Elector of Saxony and the Landgrave of II sse, who were the chief support. r> of the Protestant cause, made correspond- ing arrangements for defence. I'm before the commencement of these sanguinary conflicts, Luther died in peace in his native town, (Kisleben,) Feb. 18, 1546, aged 62 years. The first cout<--t resulted in the defeat of the Protestants, chiefly through the perfidy of the nephew of the elector. Discouragement and gloom seemed now to gather around their cause. Through fear and by compulsion, they were made to yield up the decision of their religious dis- putes to a council to be assembled by the Pope. The providence of God interposed at this juncture. A rumor of the plague in the city where they were convened caused them to disperse, and the emperor could not prevail on " his Holiness" to re- assemble them. The Popedom, however, having in 1548, passed into other hands, measures were taken for convening an- other general council. The Elector of Saxony, perceiving some mischievous de- signs on the part of the emperor against the liberties of the German princes, de- termined to crush his project and his am- bition. He secretly directed the Saxon divines not to proceed as far as Trent, the place of assembly, but to stop at Nurem- berg. He also formed a secret alliance with the king of France, and several of the German princes, for defending and se- curing their liberties ; and in 1552, he marched with a powerful army agains' the emperor at Inspruck, who finding him- self unexpectedly, and without prepara- tion, in the power of the Protestant chief- tain was compelled to accede to such terms as the latter should propose ; and the result was the ratification of the treaty of Passau, which was considered by the Protestants as the basis of their religious freedom. By the terms of this treaty a Diet was to be assembled in six months to determine an amicable settlement of the controversies. This Diet after much delay at length met at Augsburg, in the year 324 HISTORY OF THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH. 1555, and brought their long-continued troubles to a peaceful termination. After various and protracted discussions, it was finally enacted by the Diet, on the 25th of September of that year, " that the Protestants who adopted the Augsburg Confession should, for the future, be con- sidered as entirely free from the jurisdic- tion of the Roman Pontiff, and from the authority and supervision of the Roman bishops ; that they were at perfect liberty to enact laws for themselves on all matters pertaining to their religious sentiments, discipline and worship; that all the inhabit- ants of the German empire should be allowed to judge for themselves in religious concerns ; and to join themselves to that church whose doctrine and worship they deemed the most pure and consonant to the spirit of true Christianity ; and that all who should injure or persecute any person under religious pretences, and on account of their opinions, should be treated as enemies of the empire, invaders of its liberties, and disturbers of its peace."* It was from the church thus reformed, indoctrinated and established, that the Ger- man Lutheran Christians in the United States descended. " After the establish- ment of the Lutheran Church in Germany, by the labors of Luther, Melancthon, and others, about 1525, when the Elector John of Saxony first publicly adopted the amended system, the Lutheran doctrines were introduced into Sweden by the instru- mentality of Olaus Petri, in 1527, under the sanction of King Gustavus Vasa Eric- son. Into Denmark the Lutheran doc- trines were fully introduced in 1527, in the reign of Frederick, after some prepa- ratory steps by Christiern II. The Lu- theran Church is also established in Nor- way, Lapland, Finland, and Iceland, and has some congregations in Hungary, France, and Asia. According to the best authorities, the Lutheran population in the world in 1836, was as follows :f Prussia, Austria, Snxony, Wurtemberg, Hanover. 8,000,000 2,250.000 2.000,000 1,125.000 1,000,000 * Quarterly Register, p. 381. fSee the Berlin (Prussia) Kirchenzeitung of 1836. The other German States, France, Denmark, » Norway and Sweden, Russia in Europe, Russia in Asia, Poland, - Netherlands, Turkey in Europe, England, Italy. - United States, 2,000,000 1.500,000 2,000.000 4,000,000 2,500,000 100,000 500.000 120,000 15,000 40:000 500 600;000 In Russia, there were 820 Lutheran churches in the year 1835, and 493 Lu- theran ministers. The United Brethren (Moravians,) though peculiar in their church govern- ment, have always retained the Lutheran Confession of Augsburg, as their symbol, and may be regarded as a branch of the Lutheran Church.* The whole Lutheran population in the world has been estimated by the best au- thorities at from 27 to 30,000,000. " The earliest settlement of Lutherans in this country, was made by emigrants from Holland to New York, soon after the first establishment of the Dutch in that city, then called New Amsterdam, which was in 1621. This fact, which is of some historic interest, rests upon the authority of the venerable patriarch of American Lutheranism, Henry Melchior Muhlenberg. ' As I was detained at New York, (says he in his report to Halle,) I took some pains to acquire correct information con- cerning the history of the Lutheran Church in that city. This small congregation took its rise almost at the first settlement of the country. Whilst the territory yet belonged to Holland, the few Low Dutch Lutherans were compelled to hold their worship in private ; but after it passed into the possession of the British, in 1664, liberty was granted them by all the suc- cessive governors to conduct their worship publicly without any obstruction. 'j" The * See Schmucker's Popular Theology, p. 48, ed. 5th. f The Lutheran Herald, vol. iii. No I, con- tains the following particulars : " Indeed, so great was the number of Lutherans, even at this time, that the very next year, 1665, after the English flag had been displayed from Fort Amsterdam, they petitioned for liberty to send to Germany a call for a regular pastor. This petition Governor Nicols, of course granted* and in February, 1669, two years arter he had left the government, the Rev. Jacobus Fabri- cius arrived in the colony and began his pas- HISTORY OF THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN (III RCH ahmenl of Lutherans was therefore little more than a century after the . of America l>\ < 'olumbus, in thin a few yean of the landing of the Pilgrims on Plymouth Rock, 1 620, rod whilst the Thirty Years' Warf was raging in Germany, and threatening to exterminate Protestantism from Europe. Their first minister was Jacob Fabriclus, win arrived in l(>iw. bul after eight years1 labor, left them and connected himself with the Swedish Lutherans.} The names of his immediate successors we have not found; but from 1703 to 1747, their pas- tors were the Rev. Messrs. Palkner, from 1703 till 1725, Berkenmayer, and Knoll, and subsequently Rochemdahler, Wolf, Hartwick, and others. The first church (a log building) was erected 1671, and Mr. Muhlenberg says, it \vras in a dilapi- date when it was taken down and its place supplied by one of stone, in the time of Mr. P>< rkenmayer. The cause of the emigration from Holland we have not seen stated ; but it may easily be conjec- tured, as the emigrants left that country a few years after the famous Synod of Dort (1619,) and whilst the government was enforcing the intolerant decrees of that body.§ " To this settlement succeeded that of the Swedes on the Delaware, in 1836, about ten or twelve years after that in toral labors." " On the 13th of October, 1669, Lord Lovelace, who had succeeded Governor Nicols, publicly proclaimed his having receiv- ed a letter from the Duke of York, expressing his pleasure that the Lutherans should be tol- erated." * It is now highly probable that America was not first discovered by Columbus; but Green- land had been visited by Eirek, the Red, and New England by Biarni Heriulphson, the for- mer in 982, the latter in 985. See Discoveries of the North Men. f This most memorable of all the wars in the history of Protestantism, which deluged Germanv in blood, and had it not been for the magnanimous aid of Gustavus Adolphus. and his brave Swedes, would perhaps have extir- pated Protestantism from the earth, was com- menced in 1618, and ended in 1648. t Fabricius took charge of the Swedish church at Wicaco, now Southwark. Philadel- phia, wbere he labored fourteen years, during nine of which he was blind. He died 1692. § Schmucker's Retrospect, pp. 5-7. Vu \ the arrival oi the Pilgrims at PIj mouth. This colony was firai contemplated during tin- reign of Gustavus Adolphus, and was Bancti id by that enlightened and illus- trious king. It was delated by the com* mencement of fix- Thirty ) ■ trs' War in Germany; l>ur after Sweden's noble* bearted monarch had poured oul his life's- blood <>n the plains of Lutxen, it h vived and executed under the auspices of his distinguished prime minister ' »v n- Btiern. For many years this colony pros- pered, hut receiving no accessions from the parent country, it never in- much in numbers ; the rising generation commingled with the surrounding English and Germans, and at the present day the Swedish language is entirely abandoned in their worship. For many years men* ministers, who were generally men of sterling character, were in habits of the most friendly intercourse and ecclesiasti- cal co-operation with their German Lu- theran brethren; but the prevalence of the English language, having early placed them under obligation to our Episcopal brethren who supplied them with ministra- tions in that language, these churches, three or four in number, have successively fallen into Episcopal hands. ■ " The third settlement of Lutherans in this country was that of Hie Germans, which gradually spread over Pennsylva- nia, Maryland, Virginia, and the interior of New York and the Western States. The grant of Pennsylvania was given to Penn by Charles II. in 1680; and from this date, till about twenty years after- wards, many hundreds of families emi- grated to Pennsylvania. The tide of German emigration, however, fairly com- menced in 1710, when about 3000 Ger- mans, chiefly Lutheran, oppressed by Romish intolerance, went from the Pala- tinate to England in 1709, and were sent bv Queen Anne to New York the suc- * That these churches have dwindled away to almost nothing, would seem to appear from the fact that when their present amiable rec- tor, the Rev. J. C. Clay, was elected, Dec. 5th, 1831. the entire number of votes given, was. at the Wicaco church (Philadelphia) 16, at Up- per Merion 29, and at Kingsessing 37. (Clay's Annals, p. 133.) {26 HISTORY OF THE EVANGELICAL IJTHERAX CHURCH. ceeding year. In 1713, one hundred in fifty families Bettled in Schoharie; and in 1717. we find in the Colonial Records of Pennsylvania, that the governor of the province felt it his duty to call the atten- tion of the ' Provincial Council' to the fact ' that great numbers of foreigners from Germany, strangers to our language and constitution, had lately been imported into the province.' The council enacted, that every master of a vessel should report the emigrants he brought over, and that they should all repair to Philadelphia within one month to take the oath of allegiance to the government,* that it might be seen whether they were ' friends or enemies to his majesty's government.' In 1727, the year memorable alike for Francke's death, and the origin of the Moravians, a very large number of Germans came to Penn- sylvania from the Palatinate, from Wur- temberg, Darmstadt and other parts of Germany. This colony was long desti- tute of a regular ministry ; there were however some schoolmasters and others, some of whom were probably good men, who undertook to preach ; and as many of the emigrants brought with them the spirit of true piety from Germany, they brought also many devotional books and often read Arndt's True Christianity and other similar works for mutual edifica- tion, f For twelve years, from 1730 till the arrival of the patriarch of American ' Lutheranism, Dr. Henry Melchiar Muh- lenberg, the Swedish ministers kindly labored among the Germans, as far as their duties to their own churches ad- mitted. But before we pursue the history of this colony any farther, our attention is claimed by " The fourth settlement of Lutherans in this country, who established them- selves in Georgia, in 1733, and to desig- nate the gratitude of their hearts to the God who had protected them, styled their location Ebenezer. These emigrants were from Saltzburg, formerly belonging to Bavaria, and restored to the Austrian dominions at the peace of 1814. Perse- cuted at home by those enemies of all * Colonial Records, vol. iii. p. 18. j- See Hallische Nachrichten, p. 665. righteousness, the Jesuits,* and by Ro- mish priests and Romish rulers, this band of disciples sought a resting place in these western wilds, where they could worship God according to the dictates *of their con- sciences, under their own vine and fifj tree, without molestation or fear. Through the instrumentality of Rev. Mr. Urlsper- ger, of Augsburg, who was a correspond- ing member of the British Society for the Promotion of Christianity, pecuniary aid was afforded by that liberal and noble- minded association, and the oppressed Saltzburgers were enabled to reach the place of their destination. Happily, they were immediately supplied by two able and faithful pastors, Messrs. Bolzius and Gronau. The latter was taken away by death after twelve years' labor among the emigrants, but Bolzius was spared to the church about thirty years. In 173$ these colonists erected an orphan-house at Ebenezer, to which work of benevo- lence important aid was contributed by that distinguished man of God, George Whitefield, who also furnished the bell for one of the churches erected by them. The descendants of these colonists are still numerous, and are connected with the Lutheran Synod of South Carolina and adjacent states. " Soon after the above colonization, numerous Germans coming from Penn- sylvania and other states, settled in North Carolina, f who enjoyed the labors of many excellent servants of Christ, Nussman, Arndt, Storch, Roschen, Bern.hard, Sho- ber and others, and whose descendants constitute the present numerous churches in the Carolinas. " In 1735, a settlement of Lutherans was formed in Spottsylvania, as Virginia was then sometimes called,^: which we suppose to be the church in Madison county of that state. Their pastor, the Rev. Mr. Stoever, visited Germany for aid, and, together with several assistants, obtained three thousand pounds, part of which was expended in the erection of a church, the purchase of a plantation and * Heinsius' unparteiische Kirchenhistorie, vol. iii. p. 291. j- Shober's Luther, p. 137. t Hallische Nachrichten, p. 331. HI8T0R\ OF THE B\ ANGELICAL LI THERAN CHI RCH. pork it for the Bupport «'f their minuter, and the balance expended for a . , or ooneumed in the aspen td.- town.4 Ajs might hav< been expected, , irch seems never t<> have enjoyed >f our Father in heaven. " In L739, a fen Germans emigrated to Waldoborough, Maine, to whoae aumber aa addition of 1600 souls was made thir- teen yeara afterwaida. But the title to tlu' hmd given them by General Waldo : unsound, many left the rolony, and its numbers have never greatly in- !. For many years they enjoyed the pastoral lul>ors, successively of Rev. - ihaeflec (from 1762,) Croner (from 1785,) and Ritz, and since 1811, are under the charge of Rev. Mr. Star- man, i all these colonies, that which in the providence of God has most increased, and has hitherto constituted the great body of the Lutheran Church in this country, is that in the .Middle States, Pennsylvania, interior New York, Maryland, &c, whose history was traced in its proper place till 1742. This waa a memorable year for the Lutheran Church. It was rendered so by the arrival of Henry Melchior Muhlen- berg, whose high intellectual and moral qualifications, whose indefatigable zeal and long life of arduous and enlightened labor for the Master's cause, constitute a new era in the history of our American Zion, and justly entitle him to the appellation of patriarch of the American Lutheran Church. There had indeed been Luther- ans in Pennsylvania sixty years earlier. There had been churches built at New Hanover, and near Lebanon (the Berg- kirche) where the Rev. Mr. Stoever la- bored in 1733, and at York in 1734. In Philadelphia also the Lutherans had wor- shipped jointly with their Reformed breth- ren in an old log house in Arch Street. * Hellische Xachichten, p. 331. j Heinsias speaks of a colony of Swiss Lu- therans, who, tired of Romish oppression, also sought refuge in this western world. They came by way of England, under the direction of Col. Pury, who established them in a place called after himself Purysburg. This colony, if we mistake not, was in South Carolina, but we have not been able to find any account of its progress or present condition. (Heinsius' Kirchengeschichte, vol. iii. page 291.) Hut in general thei had enjoyed do lar miniatrYj until i ', i .'. xd h oame to tins country with qualifications of the highest order. Eiis education waa of the serj firal ch - In addition to Ins knowledge of Greek and Hebrew, he spoke Bnglish, German, Eiollandieh, French, Latin, and Swedish. But what was still more important, he waa educated in the school of Francke, and had im- bibed a large portion of boa heavenly spirit. Like Paul, he had an ardenl Baal for the salvation of ' his brethren, his kins- men according to the flesh.1 He first landed in Georgia, and spent a week with the brethren Bolzius and Gronau, to re- fresh his spirit and learn the circumstances of the country ; and then pursuing his course by a dangerous coasting voyage, in a small and insecure sloop,* which had no accommodations for passengers, he arrived in Philadelphia, Nov. 25, 1742. Having reached his place of destination, and surmounted the opposition of Count Zinzendorf, who, under the assumed name of Thurnstein, had passed himself off as a Lutheran minister and inspector,! he was cordially received, and entered OH his labors with comprehensive and well- directed views for the benefit of the whole church. He continued to labor for near half a century, with indefatigable zeal. Whilst Edwards was co-operating with the extraordinary outpourings of God's spirit in New England, and the Wesleys were laboring to revive vital godliness in England ; whilst Whitefield was doing the same work in England and America, and the successors of Francke were labor- ing to evangelize Germany ; Muhlenberg * During this voyage all on board endured many privations ; and being delayed and tossed about by contrary winds, suffered much for want of water. So great was the destitu- tion of water, that even the rats ate out the stoppers of the vinegar hottles, and by insert- ing their tails, extracted the cooling liquid, and drew them through their mouths. And some of these animals were also seen licking the perspiration from the foreheads of the sleep- ing mariners. (Hallische Nachrichten, p. 9.) f The writer has in his library a volume of sermons, published in Budingen, 1746, evi- dently by Count Zinzendorf, the title page of which represents their author to have been Lutheran Inspector and Pastor in Philadelphia in 1742. S2e HISTORY OF THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH. was striving with similar zeal and fidelity to do the work of God among his German brethren in this western world. Of him, as also of some of his earliest associates, it may he truly said, that ■ he was in journcyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by his own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilder- ness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren, in weariness, and painful- ness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, and in cold and nakedness.' He preached in season and out of season, in churches, in dwellings, in barns, and in the open air, until at last that divine Master, whom he so faithfully served, received him into the society of the apostles and prophets at his right hand, October 7, 1787.* " Such was Muhlenberg. Throughout his long life he was regarded by all as the leader of the Lutheran phalanx, as the father of the Lutheran Church in this country. Although we see no necessity for attaching a season of grateful acknow- ledgment of the divine goodness, to any specific date, as it is at all times proper ; yet if such a date be sought, no one more appropriate could be found than the year of Muhlenberg's call to this work, (Sep- tember, 1741,) or his actual arrival in this country in 1742. " Muhlenberg was soon joined in the American field by other highly respecta- ble men, of excellent education and of spirit like his own ; the greater part of whom were in like manner sent from Ger- many, such as Brunnholtz and Lemke, 1745 ; Handshuh, Hartwick, the generous founder of the seminary that bears his name, and Weygand, 1 748 ; Heinzelman and Schultz, 1751 ; Gerock, Hausil, Wort- man, Wagner, Schartlin, Shrenk, and Rauss, 1753; Bager, 1758; Voigt and Krug, 1764; Helmuth and Schmidt, 1769; and Kunze, 1770. In company with Mr. Brunnholtz came also Messrs. N. Kurtz and Schaum, who were ordained in 1748, and were among the most faithful and use- ful of our ministers. The former was the father of the venerable servant of Christ whom we are permitted this morning to Schmucker's Retrospect, pp. 9-11. welcome in our midst, the oldest Lutheran minister in the United States, bereft of late of the partner of his life, himself yet kindly spared amongst us as a relic of a former generation. The increase of min- isters was slow. When the first synod was held, in 1748, there were only eleven regular Lutheran ministers in the United States.* Three years after that time the number of congregations was rated at about 40, and the Lutheran population in America at 60,000. " The greater part of these men were indefatigable in their labors. Numerous and arduous were the difficulties in their way. The population was unsettled, ever tending farther into the interior ;f intem- perance had already made sad havoc in the land ; the semi-civilized habits so na- tural to pioneers in colonization, the vari- ous frolics, the celebrations in honor of Tammany, the Indian chief, &c, which were then extensively observed, were for- midable obstacles to religion. Inadequate ministerial support; difficulty of travelling from want of roads in many directions ; and not unfrequently the tomahawk and scalping-knife of the Indian impeded their progress. I cannot stop to tell the soul- stirring story of many an Indian massa- cre. A single instance, from the pen of Father Muhlenberg himself, may teach us alike to appreciate the security of our wor- ship and the bitter cost at which our fathers provided it ; may teach us that we are reaping the fruits of their sweat and blood. The case was that of a man whose two grown daughters had attended a course of instruction by Mr. Muhlenberg, and been solemnly admitted by confirmation to the communion of the church. This man afterwards went with his family some distance into the interior to a tract of land which he purchased. When the war with the Indians broke out, he removed his family to their former residence, and occa- sionally returned to his farm to attend to his grain and caftle. On one occasion he went accompanied by his two daughters * In 1743, Naesseman, the Swedish minis- ter, reported to Sweden, that there were at that time twenty German Lutheran congregations in America. (Heinsius, iii. p. 687.) f Muhlenberg states that in five years, half his congregation had changed. H18T0RY OF I Hi: EVANGELICAL LI THERAN nil RCH. days there, and bring away nome wheat ()" Frida} evening, afief the wagon had been loaded] and i ?< rj read) for their return on the morrow, his daughters complained thai ll anxious and dejected, and were Impressed with the idea thai thej were ■oon to die. Thej requested then- father to unite with them in Bulging the familiar ( rerman funeral h\ mn : * W ho knows how near mv end may bet'* alter which tiny commended themselves to God in prayer and retired to rest. The light of the suc- ceeding morning beamed upon them, and ail was yel well. Whilst the daughters were attending to the dairy, cheered with the joyful hope of soon greeting their friends, and being oul of danger, the father wmt to the field for the horses, to prepare for their departure home. As he was passing through the field] suddenly he saw two Indians, armed with rifles, tomahawks, and scalping-kniyes, rushing towards him at full speed.' The sight so terrified him, that he lost all self-command, and stood motionless and silent. When they were aboul twenty yards from him, he suddenly, and with all his strength, exclaimed, 'Lord Jesus, living and dying I am thine.' Scarcely had the Indians heard the words ; Lord Jesus,' (which they probably knew as the white man's name of the 'Great Spirit,') when they stopped short, and ut- tered a hideous yell. The man ran with almost supernatural strength into the dense forest, and by taking a serpentine course the Indians lost sight of him and relin- quished the pursuit. He hastened to an adjoining farm, where two German fami- lies resided, for assistance. But on ap- proaching near it, he heard the dying groans of the families, who were falling beneath the murderous tomahawk of some other Indians. Having providentially not been observed by them, he hastened back to learn the fate of his daughters. But, alas ! on coming within sight, he found his house and barn enveloped in flames ! Finding that the Indians had possession here too, he hastened to another adjoining farm for help. Returning armed, with several men, he found the house reduced •The veil-known German hymn, J' weiss wie nahe mir mein Ende.'" Wer to ashes, and th<- Indie || aidesl daughter had been almost entirely burnt up, a fev remains only of her body found ! And aw fill to relate, tin- h the scalp had been col from her head, and her bod) was horribly mangled from head to fool with the toma- hawk) was yet living ! ' The poor worm,' says Muhlenberg, lwas yel ablet all the circumstances of the dreadful • After having done bo, Bhe requested her Hither to stoop down to her that ahe might give him a parting kiss and then go to her dear Saviour ; and alter she had impress* d her dying lips upon his cheek, she yielded her spirit into the hands of that Red' em- < Ivea for the promotion of their own denominational interests ; while the open and exclusive efforts of Catholics, the sworn and ina- lienable devotees of a foreign despot, to keep themselves separate from all others, and to bend state funds and political in- fluence to the accomplishment of this ob- ject, have scarcely, until of late, received a passing notice, except by lure and there a solitary pen. But while the vital and indestructible distinction between Catholics and Protestants, the fruit of the Reforma- tion, is thus boldly and tenaciously main- tained by the former, the latter are too prone to treat the distinction as a mere nullity, as if its transfer to American soil could annihilate it. , The salutary influence of this general organization in the Lutheran Church was soon felt in every department of her in- terests. Some of the permanent benefits which have sprung from it are, the forma- tion of a scriptural formula of government and discipline ; a selection of psalmody of a higher order, both as to devotional sentiment and composition, than any pre- viously used ; a theological seminary and a college. The theological seminary was established in 1825, and went into opera- tion the following year. Its beginning was feeble, but by the efforts of its faculty and friends, it has become a fountain of rich blessings to the church. Upwards of two hundred ministers have gone forth from this institution preaching the word. Its edifice, which is of brick, four stories in height, 100 feet in length, and 40 in breadth, and the dwellings of its profes- sors, also of brick, are situated about a quarter of a mile from the village of Get- tysburg, Pa., 114 miles from Philadelphia, 180 from Pittsburg, and 52 from Balti- more. Its faculty are the Rev. Samuel S. Schmucker, D. D., Professor of Didactic and Polemic, Homiletic and Pastoral T1 e- ology, and Chairman of the Facultv ; Rev. Charles P. Krauth, D. D., Piofessor of HISTOR\ OK THE i:\ ANGELICAL LI THERAIS (III RCH. 831 l Philolog) and Bx< ge i ; and \. 1 1 . \. \|., Professor of Bib* jteraturc and the German Km It has a library of 8000 volunv -, consist- of almost ever] I ■ •• Pennsylvania College*' is established and located at the same place, as an aux- iliary to the Seminary, ami w* to promote liberal education among the descendants mans in the I United Stales."' It be- ind that some of the applicants for admission into the theological seminary were deficient in classical attainments, the beard resolved, Maj its, L 827, to estab- lish a preparatory school, to be under their direction, and appointed IV Schmuckcr and the Rev. John Herbst, to a teacher, and carry their resolu- tions into effect. The Rev. D. Jacobs, A. L9 chosen, and in June 1827, the school went in'o operation. From this humble beginning, it rose gradually in importance and influence. In 1829,itwas changed into a gymnasium, and in 1831, the number of students had so much in- I and its prospects become so flat- tering, that measures were adopted, chiefly through the exertions of Dr. Schmuckcr, to obtain a charter from the Legislature, ag it into a college.-!" The institution was organized in July 1832, under the above title. It went into operation in October following. In the fall of 1834, it received a president, the Rev. C. P. Krauth, D. D., and subsequently the professorships were all filled by the successive election of Professors Baugher, Jacobs, Reynolds and Smith. So that the present faculty cm !-!■>'-; of the president, four professors, ecturer on anatomy and physiology, and two tutors in the preparatory depart- ment. It has also a well selected library, to which annual accessions are made ; be- sides the two libraries of the two literary societies and the German society. The number of students has annually increased, and the catalogue of 1847, reports 176. In establishing the seminary and college, and in sustaining the General Synod, there was a noble band of co-workers engaged, * See Quarterly Register, and the Lutheran Almanac, 1842. f See Lutheran Almanac, for 1842. including, at a later da) , mail) ■ •!' die alumni of the seminary itself. Amos \ who were contemporaneous with I h-. Behmucker, at the commend m miliary, and active in its establish- meni and support, deserve to be parti) u- l.nlv named, tin- Uev. Dr. B. Kurt/., who made a successrul tour through < rermanj , Denmark, Arc., to collect funds and books for the institution, Dr, 0, P. Krauth, J)r. I). F. Schaeffer, Rev. J. Herbst, I Keller, Uev. .1. Rufhrauf, Sr., and Dr. J. ( J. Schmuckcr of York. It ought not to be overlooked, that from her earliest history the Lutheran Church has held learning in the greatest rever- ence, as the instrument of her emancipa- tion from the thraldom of the dark The Universities of Jena and Konigf Wittenberg and Leipzig, were among the first testimonials of her zeal in this r And had her early pastors in this country had the courage and the means for imi- tating their ancestors, and founded the institutions which now adorn and bless the American branch of this venerable portion of the church, her influence and success would have placed her now among the foremost of the "sacramental host." As it was, " in addition to their pastoral labors, several of the clergy occupied im- portant posts in literary institutions." Dr. Kunze, of whom Dr. Miller of Princeton says, " his oriental learning has long ren- dered him an ornament of the American republic of letters," was German professor of the Greek, Latin, and Hebrew lan- guages in the University of Pennsylvania, established in 1779. In 1785, Dr. Hel- muth was appointed to the same station. And they were confessedly as learned men as any connected with the institution.* In the same year " Messrs. Helmuth and Schmidt, then pastors in Philadelphia, commenced a private seminary, and for twenty years continued, so far as their numerous pastoral duties would permit, to instruct candidates for the Lutheran ministry ; but old age, and eventually death also, terminated these efforts. "f In I?1"?, the Legislature, out of gratitude for the revolutionary services of the Germans, * Retrospect, p. 16. fSchmucker's Retrospect, p. 23. 331 HISTORY OF THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH. and respect for their industry and excel- lence as citizens, endowed a college in Lancaster for their special benefit, to be for ever under their control. Of this in- stitution, Dr. Muhlenberg, then pastor in Lancaster, was chosen president. And in 1791, the same body passed an act ap- propriating 5000 acres of land to the flourishing free school of the Lutheran Cnurch in Philadelphia, in which, at that time, eighty poor children were receiving gratuitous education.* An incident illustrative of German in- tegrity is connected with the early history of their Philadelphia churches, and is worthy of notice. A debt due by the church to several mechanics was paid by the trustees in continental money at the time when that currency was good and at par value. Not long after, however, it depreciated and became nearly worthless ; when without any obligation legal or moral, but merely that no one should be a loser through their instrumentality, they repaid the debt in specie. It is also an interesting fact, that in the same church, as early as 1604, a flourishing Sabbath school, numbering two hundred scholars, with forty teachers, was in active opera- tion ; showing that religion was then pros- pering among them. In addition to the Seminary and Col- lege at Gettysburg, there is also a Literary and Theological Institute at Columbus, within the bounds of the Ohio Synod ; another at East Hart wick, Otsego county, N. Y., another in the village of Lexing- ton, South Carolina, under the charge of the Rev. Dr. Hazelius, and under the pa- tronage of the Synod of North and South Carolina, and another at Springfield, Ohio, under the charge of the Rev. Dr. E. Kel- ler. All these institutions have for their object, the preparation of candidates for the holy ministry, and are all free from debt and flourishing, though not independ- ent of the aid of the churches. There is also an institution for the education of poor orphan children, called the "Em- maus Institute," located at Middletown, Dauphin Co., Pa., and liberally endowed by Mr. George Fry ; but the funds have Schmucker's Retrospect, p. 16. been greatly diminished by former un- faithful managers and pretended heirs, and even until the present time, very little has been accomplished by it. The Parent Education Society was formed in 1835, by a convention of minis- ters and laymen at York, Pa., during the session of the General Synod. They seem to have assembled and acted with great una- nimity and definiteness of purpose, as their session continued but two days, in which time a constitution was adopted, and the ne- cessary ofiicers elected. The total receipts from its formation to March 1, 1842, (se- ven and a half years,) amounted to up- wards of 821,200. The number of its beneficiaries to May 1, 1842, was 120; of whom 35 are now in different stages of their preparatory course ; 38 have entered on their work; 16 have withdrawn, several of whom are still aided by congregations ; 10 discontinued as incompetent; and 6 have terminated their mortal pilgrimage. From the Minutes of the General Synod for 1645, we add the following general Statistical view of the Evangelical Lu- theran Church in the United States. The first thirteen of the following dis- trict Synods, are connected with the Gene- ral Svnod. Embracing Min Con. Com. 1. Svnod of W. Penna, in Sept. 1844, 43 128 14053 2. Svnod of Mar viand, in Oct. 1844, 30 62 6664 3. Svnod of S. Carolina, in Nov. 1844, 30 40 2784 4 Hartwick Synod, in June 1844, 15 25 3000 5. Synod of New York, in Sept. 1844, 35 36 6000 6. Svnod of Virginia, in May 1845, 20 40 2415 7. Svnod of the West, in Oct. 1844, 27 60 3657 8. English Synod of Ohio, in Sept. 1844, 46 140 6504 9. Alleghany Svnod, in Sept. 1844, If. 69 6811 10. Synod of W. Va. in May 1844, 7 17 1044 11. Svnod of E. Penna. in Oct. 1844, 23 52 5207 12. Svnod of N. Carolina, in May 1845, 11 21 2093 13. Svnod of Miami. Ohio, in April 1845, 17 36 1923 14, Pennsylvania Synod, in May 1845, 68 224 est'd 32274 est'd 15. £. Te. Dist. Synod of O in 1844, 22 80 8000 16. Z\ W. D. Synod of O. i„ 1844, 40 130 13000 17. Z> i Engl. D. Svnod of O in 1844, 9 35 5000 18. Frankean Svnod, N. Y. in June 1845, 27 40 3000 10. Svnod of Michigan, in 1844, 4 7 500 20. Synod of Pittshurg, in June 1845, 15 45 2500 21. Synod of Tennessee, 29 90 est'd 7200 est'd 22. Synod of Indiana, in Oct. 1843, 13 30 2000 Total, 540 1367 135031 GOVERNMENT AND DISCIPLINE. This was a subject over which the early Reformers could exert little or no influ- HISTORY OP THE BV \ v.i.i.h ' \i. LI fHERAH OH1 ft n Bbrts in breaking the spiritual despotism, could not change the political constitutions b) s hich lurch and the State were joined to- gether il>r mutual accommodation. I ^i K* ■ all the other established churches «>f Europe, therefore, the Lutheran was prevented from adopting her scriptural and inds« pendent system of discipline. The con* sequence has been, that in the different kingdoms and provinces of Europe, their systems of ecclesiastical government are \er\ various and inefficient ; in no section retaining strictly the principle of ministe- rial parity, with perfect freedom from state control. Qn their arrival in this country, that impediment no longer obstructed their zeal for improvement in ecclesiastical go- vernment and discipline. "They at once adopted the form which Luther and Lu- theran divines generally have always re- garded as the primitive one, viz. : the parity of ministers, the co-operation of the laity in church government, and the free voluntary convention of synods." Such was the character of the first synod held in Philadelphia in 1748, six years after the arrival of Muhlenberg. It was com- posed of a due proportion of lay dele- gates, who took an equal part with the clergy in the transaction of business. The laity were also united in the calling of ministers. An instance illustrative of this occurred in 1748, on the occasion of the settlement of the Rev. Nicholas Kurtz. " After his examination by Messrs. Muh- lenberg, Brunnholtz, Handschuh,and Hart- wick, we are told, the elders and deacons of the church in which he had labored as a licentiate, were called on to sign his vocation." Speaking of a synod held in 1760, at New Providence, a village then the place of his residence, and now called Trap, after the Rev. Mr. Gerock had preached a German sermon in the forenoon, and the excellent Provost Wrangle of the Swedish Church, an English discourse in the after- noon, Muhlenberg says : " After the close of public worship all the ministers con- vened at my house, and held a biblical colloquy {colloquium biblicum) on the | essential characteristics of genuine repent- ' ance, faith, and godliness ; in which they '•ndeavored to benefit each other according to the i a them, b) communi< \\v results "i" their on d ezperien self-examination, so that il h< erins and delightful season. The residue of Up evening was spent in singing spiritual hymns and psalms, and in conversation about the spiritual condition of our churches \ and so short did the time ap- pear, 'hat it was three o'clock in the morn- ing before we retired to rest. < >h, (Ik- adds) how delightful it is when ministers, stand- ing aloof from all political ami part] tests, seek to please their Lord and Master JesUS I 'heist , and have at heart the welfaal of their churches and the souls entrusted to their care; and are willing rather to sutler reproach with the people of God, than choose the treasures of Egypt."* In the discipline of the church, Muhlen- berg adopted virtually the Congregational mode ; calling on the members to vote in the case of restoring a penitent offender, after a public acknowledgment or confes- sion. And the most rigid and scriptural course was adopted and pursued for main- taining the purity of the church. Public excommunication was administered to the immoral, and the most scrupulous precau- tions were observed to prevent their intru- sion within its hallowed precincts. " In 1772, Helmuth, in order more effectually to prevent the approach of unworthy members, introduced the practice of re- quiring all who desired to commune, to communicate their names to him before- hand. The register of names was read before the congregation, and those of im- moral members publicly erased." In the Lancaster church, and in the church of Philadelphia, as early as 1663, power was given to the pastors to reject all immoral members from the sacramental table. With the advance of her other interests, the American Lutheran Church has con- tinued to foster and defend this vital part of her system. In describing its present state, Professor Schmucher says, " The government and discipline of each individ- ual church is essentially like that of our Presbyterian brethren. Our synods also, in structure and powers, most resemble their presbyteries, having fewer formali- ties in their proceedings, and frequently * Hall. Nach. p. 855. ;*34 HISTORY OF THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH. couching their decisions in the form of re- commendations. Our General Synod is wholly an advisory body, resembling the consociations of the Congregational churches in New England. In addition to these regular ecclesiastical bodies, con- stituting our system of government, we have special conferences for- the purpose of holding stated protracted meetings. These are subdivisions of synods, contain- ing ordinarily from five to ten ministers each, who are annually to hold several protracted meetings within the bounds of their district. The chief object of these meetings is to awaken and convert sinners, J and to edify believers by close practical preaching. This feature mainly resembles the quarterly meetings of our Methodist brethren, and presents to pious and zealous ministers who are thirsting for the salva- tion of souls, the most direct opportunity they can desire to glorify God and advance his scriptural kingdom. Yet all these meetings are to be conducted as the scrip- tures enjoin, ' decently and in order.' This system of government is not yet adopted by all our synods ; yet its general features, with perhaps a greater admixture of Congregationalism, substantially per- vade those synods also which have not yet united with the General Synod."* DOCTRINAL VIEWS. At the commencement of the Reforma- tion, all Protestants, as has been stated, were called Lutherans by the Papists, in contempt and derision ; but subsequently they adopted and gloried in the title, because Luther was the great leader in that work. Afterwards, as other Reformers arose, their followers were called the Reformed, in distinction from the immediate followers of Luther. This name was first adopted in France, as early as 1521. The dis- tinction, however, was afterwards con- nected with a difference in sentiment res- pecting the presence of Christ's material * Quarterly Register. This Formula of Gov- ernment and Discipline maybe found annexed to the English Hymn Book of the General Synod, as also to the Popular Theology of Dr. Schmucker, by whom (excepting the latter part, relating to the General Synod) it was com- posed. . body in the sacramental elements, and on some minor points ; those who adopted Luther's peculiar views were called Lu- therans, and all other Protestants, " the Reformed." There has been a difference | of opinion among different writers respect- ing Luther's doctrinal views, some main- taining that lie lived and died firm in the Augustinian or Calvinistic faith on the subject of the divine decrees,* others affirming that his views on the distinguish- ing doctrines, set forth by the Acts of the Synod of Dort, were always unadjusted and inconsistent with each other, and that long before he died, he preached the sen- timents on these points which his succes- sor Mclancthon and his followers since have held. All agree, however, that in the beginning Luther's views on predesti- nation and other kindred doctrines were fully Augustinian. There has also been a difference of representation with regard to Luther's views respecting the corporeal presence in the eucharist ; some contend- ing that the language of the Lutheran symbols on that subject, viz.: "That the body and blood of Christ are actually pre- sent under the form or emblems of bread and wine, and dispensed to the communi- cants," (Augsburg Confession, German, Art. 10,) means the real presence, some- times termed consubstantiation. Others, and especially our American Lutheran brethren, maintain that this language is not stronger than that employed on the same subject by the English reformers, whose meaning nevertheless has always been admitted to be a spiritual presence only ; and that on the subject, the view of the Lutheran church have not unfre- quently been misapprehended and mis- stated, f It is indeed true, that she did * See Hawe's Church Hist., vol. ii. See the note appended to this article, p. 403. -j- From this, and the following statements, the intelligent reader will perceive, what gross misrepresentations are circulated in this coun- try, ignorantly we trust, by the publishers of Buck's Theological Dictionary, and by such living authors as Mr. Goodrich, (in his Eccles. Hist.) who represent the Lutheran church of the present day, as resembling the Roman Catholics more nearly than does any other protestant church ! After the repeated publi- cations, made by the Lutherans in this coun- try, it is unworthy of professed historians to HI8T0RY OP THE r.\ ANGELICAL LI TIIKKW CHI RCH. >ns "ii this topic different from the other churches. This difference iwever bj do means so lz: r« ;i t as is -nt supposed l>\ the less intelligent the community. Calvin and the earl) English reformers, employed Ian- nearly, and in some cases, quite as strong as thai found in the Lutheran sym- bols. The Augsburg Confession affirms, ••that the body and Mood of Christ are actually »>r truly present (vere adsint,) and the ( Jen nan copy adds, under the form or emblems of bread and wine and dis- pensed to the communicants."* Calvin employs language about as strong: he Bays, " in the mystery of the supper, by the emblems of bread and wine, Christ is really exhibited to us, that is, his body and Hood, in which he yielded full obe- . in order to work out a righteous- r us; by which in the first place, we may, as it were coalesce into one body with him, and secondly being partakers of the substance of himself, also be strengthened by the reception of every blessing."! ^n tne Episcopal church, Cranmer, one of her earliest and ablest reformers, in the reign of Henry VIII, published his translation of the catechism of Justus Jonas with amendments, in 1548, to which he professed to adhere till his death, :f and in which he uses this lan- guage : " Christ saith of the bread ■ this is my body ;' and of the cup he saith ' this is my blood.' Wherefore we ought to believe that in the sacrament we receive truly the body and blood of Christ. For God is Almighty, he is able, therefore to do all things what he will."§ His friend and fellow martyr, Ridley, at his last trial says : " I acrree that the sacrament is the transmit to yet another generation these here- ditary statements. * Augsburg Confession, Art. x. f Dicoi gitur in coenoe mysterio per symbola panis et vini Christum vere nobis exhiberi, adeoque corpus et sanguinem ejus, in quibus omnem obedientiam pro comparanda nobis jnstitia adimplevit: quo scilicet, primum, in unum corpus cum ipso coalescamus ; deinde partieipes substantias ejus facti, in bonorum omnium communicatione virtut?m quoque sentiamus. — Inst Hut. Lib. iv. c. xvii. 11. * See his works ii. 430, iii. 13, 279, 344, and Hook s Discourse, p. 9G. § Hook, p. 96. very true and natural bod) and blood of ( Ihrist, even thai which was born of the Virgin Mary, which ascended into beav< a. which sitteth on the right hand of < tod the Father, which shall come from thence to judj e the quick and tin- dead, only I differ in tho way and manner of beii It is admitted, these same writers pr<»- IcsM'd to mean a spiritual presence, Bfl so did also the Lutheran reformers, who explicitly declare in the Fbrnwula Concor- dur,^ " By that word (spiritually) we ex- clude those Capernaitish notions concern- ing a gross and carnal presence, whioi have been attributed to our churches by the sacramentarians, in defiance of all our public protestations against them. And when we use this term (spiritually) we wish to be understood, as signifying that the body and blood are received, and eaten, and drank spiritually in the Lord's supper. For although the participation is effected by the mouth, the manner in which it is done is spiritual." At the pre- sent day it is pretty generally agreed by protestants, that to talk of the spiritual presence of a material body, or the spir- itual eating and drinking of a material body and blood, is to employ language that conveys no distinct ideas. We, however, cheerfully concede that the other protestant denomination relin- quished these views of their early reform- ers, more speedily, and with less contro- versy than did the Lutheran church. It was indeed reported that Luther himself shortly before his death, in a confidential conversation with Melancthon, acknow- ledged that he had gone too far in regard to the eucharist. But, much as we should be pleased to believe that our great and good reformer had made such an ac- knowledgment, the evidence appears un- satisfactory ; or at most he may have ad- mitted, that he had exhibited too much warmth in the controversy, or overrated the importance of his peculiar views 4 At the present day whilst some shades of difference exist in the Lutheran church, * Hook's Discourse, p. 39. -[•Art. vii. No. xxi. p. 604. i It is said. Melancthon communicated the fact to Professor Alesius, of Leipsic. from whom Pfuhlman, one of his students, heard it :33G HISTORY OF THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH. all are permitted to enjoy their opinions in peace, and the most generally received view is ; "That there is no presence of the glorified human nature of the Saviour, either substantial or influential ; nor any- thing mysterious or supernatural in the eucharist ; yet, that whilst the bread and wine are merely symbolic representations of the Saviour's absent body, by which we are reminded of his sufferings, there is also a special spiritual blessing be- stowed by the divine Saviour on all worthy communicants by which their faith and Christian graces are confirmed."* It should therefore be distinctly under- stood, that the American Lutheran Church no longer requires of Iter members assent to the doctrine of the real presence of the Saviour in the eucharist/\ Indeed, le- niency in respect to human creeds, is one of her present general features. She rejects the authority of the Fathers in ec- clesiastical controversy, to which the Re- formers injudiciously appealed, and fully adopts the principle that the Bible alone should be the standard of faith, and the umpire in all religious discussions. On this point, Professor Schmucker, our guide in this synopsis, has the following re- marks : " It is the practice of the Lutheran Church in this country not to bind her ministers to the minutice of any human creed. The Bible, and the belief that the fundamental doctrines of the Bible are taught in a manner substantially correct in the Augsburg Confession, is all that is required. On the one hand, we regard it as certain, that if we would be faithful to the injunction ' not to receive any who come to us bringing another doctrine,' an examination of applicants for admission among us is indispensable. Such an exa- mination is virtually a requisition of their creed, that we may compare it with our own. Now whether the articles to which we require their assent be few or many, be written or oral, they are a creed ; and obviously its reduction to paper presents some material facilities in the examination. A written creed therefore seems necessary * Popular Theology of Dr. Schmucher, ed. 5, p. 303. f Protraiture, p. 40. to the purity oT the church. On the other hand, history informs us that for several hundred years after the days of the Apos- tles, no other creed was used in the whole church than that called the Apostles' Creed, because admitted by all to contain the principal doctrines taught by the Apostles. This creed embodied only the cardinal doctrines of the gospel, which all the so called orthodox denominations of the pre- sent day do actually believe ; and yet the assent to these few doctrines did, for cen- turies after the Apostolic age, secure ad- mission to any and every part of the uni- versal church on earth." " The duty of all parts of the Christian church seems to be to return to the use of shorter doctri- nal creeds as tests of ecclesiastical, min- isterial, and sacramental communion. This noble course the Lutheran Church has already virtually taken, by requiring as- sent only to the fundamental doctrines of the Augsburg Confession, together with an approval of our principles of govern- ment and worship."* This extract may serve to show the polity of our Lutheran brethren on this point. As our object is simply to present a condensed view of American Luther- anism from their own standard authorities, we have no space for comments on any part of the system. The reader ought not to suppose, how- ever, that, because the Lutheran Church has adopted the leading principle already stated, she has no regard to those other formularies of doctrine which her founders prepared, and maintained as of vital im- portance in their day. " There are in- deed," says Dr. Mosheim,f " certain for- mularies adopted by this church, which contain the principal points of its doctrine, ranged, for the sake of method and per- spicuity, in their natural order. But these books have no authority but what they derive from the scriptures of truth, whose sense and meaning they are designed to convey." " The principal books," says Professor Schmucker, " here referred to as subsidiary to the Bible, were of two classes; first, the confessions of the primitive cen- turies, the so called Apostles' Creed, the * Portraiture, pp. 55, 56. f Eccl. Hist, vol. iii. p. 208. HISTORY OP THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH 337 \„-,i. hi. I the Ithanaaian ( Sod- feaston, i»\ which tin- Lutheran Church established her identity with the church of ipoatolk and succeeding ages; and ■econdly, the Augsburg Confession; the ApoJog} or Defence of this confession; the Smalcald Articles by Luther, and also his ( iatechisms." " The following are the leading doctrines of the Lutheran Church, as set forth in the Augsburg Confession, and adopted by *h whole body of Lutherans in this country : 1. The Trinity of persons in the one God, That there is one divine essence, which is called, and is God, eternal, in- corporeal, indivisible, infinite in power, wisdom, and goodness ; and yet that there are three persona who are of the same essence and power, and are co-eternal: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." 2. Ths proper and eternal divimi '// of d Jesus Christ. " That the Word, that is the Son of God, assumed human nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin Mary, so that the two natures, human and divine, inseparably united into one person, constitute one Christ, who is true God and man.'' 3 . Tlie tin iversal depravity of our roxe. " That since the fall of Adam, all men who are naturally engendered, are born with a depraved nature, that is, without the fear of God, or confidence towards him, but with sinful propensities." By natural or original or innate depravity, the great body of Lutheran divines under- stand " that disorder in the mental and bodily constitution of man, which was in- troduced by the fall of Adam, (Rom. v. 12,) is transmitted by natural generation from parent to child, (John iii. 6.) and the result of which is, that all men, who are naturally engendered, evince in their ac- tion, want of holiness and a predisposition to sin," Gen. vi. 5 ; viii. 21. "Without the admission of such a disorder in the human system, no satisfactory reason can be assigned for the universality of actual transgression amongst men."f 4. The vicarious and unlimited atone- * Portraiture, p. 20. f Schmncker's Popular Theology, p. 144, ed. 5th. * Schmucker's Popular Theology, p. 162, 163. f Ibid. p. 169. mens, -That the Bon of God truly suf. fered, was crucified, died, and was buried, that be ought reconcile th<- Father to us. and be a sacrifice no! only fbi original Bin, but also for all the actual sins of men. Thai he also sanctifies those who believe in him, by tending into their hearts the I loly Spirit, w ho governs, consoles* quicks ens, and defends them against the d< vil and the power of sin." " The work of Christ maybe regarded as tli»- vicarious endurance of incalculable suffering, and the exhibition of perfect righteousness, |,y which full atonement was made and salva- tion purchased for the whole world, to be offered to them on conditions; made pos- sible by divine grace to all who hear the gospel. The Lutheran Church also re- gards fallen man as incapable of perform- ing these conditions of salvation (repent- ance and faith) prescribed in the gospel, without the gracious aid of God ; but maintains, that this necessary aid consists in the means of grace and the invariably accompanying influences of the Holy Spirit, for the sincere (not perfect) use of which all men possess the entire ability, (physical and intellectual,) and the sincere and persevering use of which is always, sooner or later, made effectual to the ac- complishment of the above conditions of salvation."* 5. Justification by faith alone. " That men cannot be justified before God by their own strength, merits, or works ; but that they are justified gratuitously, for Christ's sake through faith ; Or, justification, more amply defined, is that forensic or judicial act of God, by which a believing sinner, in consideration of the merits of Christ, is released from the penalty of the divine law, and is declared to be entitled to hea- ven, "f The faith here spoken of, usually termed justifying faith, is that voluntary act of the illuminated and evangelically penitent sinner, by which he confides in the mercy of God through Christ for sal- vation, on the terms offered in the gospel. Its exact nature is that of confidence, trust or reliance on God, and is similar to the confidence of a child in an affectionate 43 338 HISTORY OF THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH. parent, or of one friend in the known ' character of another. It includes 1st. A knowledge^ or belief of the character of God, and especially of the Saviour as de- serving of our confidence; 2d. Feelings of approbation and delight in this charac- ter especially as developed in the gospel plan of salvation ; and 3rd. A volition to accept the offers of mercy on the terms proposed, that is, to act in accordance with this belief and feeling, and to surren- der the soul entirely, unconditionally and eternally to God."* 6. Necessity of a lioly life and good works as a fruit of faith. "That this faith must bring forth good fruits ; and that it is our duty to perform those good works which God commanded, because he has enjoined them, and not in the expec- tation of thereby meriting justification before him." 7. Divine appointment of the holy Ministry and Sacraments. " That in order that we may obtain this faith the ministerial office has been instituted, whose members are to preach the gospel, and administer the sacraments (viz. Baptism and the Lord's Supper.) For through the instrumentality of the word and sacra- ments as means of grace, the Holy Spirit is given, who in his own time and place, produces faith in those who hear the gos- pel message, viz., that God for Christ's sake, and not on account of any merit in us, justifies those who believe in Christ." 8. Final judgment and eternity of future retributions. " That at the end of the world Christ will appear for judg- ment ; that he will raise all the dead ; that he will give to the pious and elect eternal life and endless joys, but will condemn wicked men and devils to be punished without end." FORMS OF WORSHIP AND CHURCH ORDER. In her rites of worship the Lutheran Church in Europe employs liturgies, " differing in minor points, but agreeing in essentials," similar to those of the Pro- testant Episcopal Church, except in exten- * Schmucker's Popular Theology, p. 197, 198. sion, being not more than one third as long. In this country, a short uniform liturgy has been Adopted, the use of which, however, is left to the option and discre- tion of each minister, as " he may de< m most conducive to edification." The festivals of Christmas, Good Fri- day, Easter, the Ascension, and Whitsun- day, are retained and observed in the Lutheran Church as commemorative of the " fundamental facts of the Christian religion," and for the purpose of leading her clergy to preach annually on the events which they severally represent. She also maintains the institution of in- fant church membership and baptism, and in connection with it, the rite of confirma- tion. And, as from the beginning, so now, she extends her parental care and vigi- lance over the religious education of her baptized children. " It is regarded as the duty of every minister occasionally to con- vene the children of each congregation for instruction in the catechism. Annually, also, and if necessary oftener, the minister holds a series of meetings with those who are applicants for admission to sacramen- tal communion, or, as in reference to the infant baptism of the applicant, it is called confirmation, and for all who feel a con- cern for their salvation." " Every suc- ceeding meeting is occupied in conversa- tional lectures on experimental religion, and in examination of the catechumen on the fundamental doctrines and duties of religion, as contained in the Bible and Luther's Catechism." " At the close of these meetings, which are continued through from six to twelve weeks, once or twice each week, and in the last, if convenient, daily, the church council are convened to examine the catechumens on their qualifi- cations for sacramental communion." " Although in the hands of an unconvert- ed minister, this duty, like all others, will be mere formality, and attended with little profit, yet we have never met, nor do we expect to meet, a pious minister, who faith- fully practised this system, who did not regard it as a most blessed and successful method of bringing souls to Christ."* It is not surprising that the earliest re- formers should be slow to abolish every * Portraiture, page 31. IllsToin OFTHE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAM CHURCH. and form of Romanism to which :l,,\ had been bo long and bo zealously attached. Luther, after he had begun t<> tee the extern* of its corruptions, and i<> ozpose them, did not at once tear himself ,iu,i\ (Vom Hi*' church in which In- had been nurtured, but Buffered long and much before he renounced tin* jurisdiction of the Pontiff. His immediate followers also re- tained ral years many of their ancient Buperstftions, as exorcism in bap- tism, the wafer in the Lord's Supper, and private confession. These, however,espe- dally in the United States, have hen ex- purgated even iii form, from the Lutheran Church. The last mentioned, (private ision,) it ought to be observed, as retained by the Lutherans, had no affinity to the vile principles and practice of the | isional, viz. : that to the . as to God's vicegerent, all the thoughts and feelings, as well as actions, must he detailed, in order to ob- tain pardon ; and that the priest has power to dispense such pardon. But the Re- formers had established what they deemed a necessary custom preparatory to com- munion, that of a private interview be- tween the pastor and each communicant, in which the latter gave an account of his religious experience, trials, hopes, &c., for the purpose of receiving such counsel and instruction as his peculiar state of mind and heart might require. This practice they injudiciously denominated confession. "But even this custom has been almost entirely abandoned in this country, and the preparation for communion consists in a public preparatory discourse, public and united confession of sins, and rehearsal of the promises of divine mercy ; similar to the preparatory exercises of other churches ; except, that, as in the Episcopal Church, they are generally conducted according to a form." Respecting the order of the church, Dr. Mosheim says, " The government of the Lutheran Church seems equally removed from Episcopacy on the one hand, and from Prcsbyterianism on the other, if we except the kingdoms of Sweden and Den- mark, which retain the form of ecclesias- tical government that preceded the Re- formation, purged indeed from the super- stitions and abuses that rendered it so odious." Dr. Maclaihe (the Iran adds, M The Archbishop of I p mate of Sweden, and the only arch among the Lutheran - f1 and hi •• reir< - nues do not amount to more than £400 yearly, while those of th<- bishops an proportionally small." ' Vi* free inquiry, and perficial \ iev< i <>n the great an initlis of revelation, when ever) form of wild conjecture and fanciful speculation is embodied into b theory, and finds numer- ous advocates and followers: and when, amidst it all, the " Man of Sin" is looking with renewed courage to this western con- tinent and its heterogeneous population, as the lasl hope of his tottering throne : it is a matter of gratulation lint we have here a remnant of that people who stood fore- most in the contest which crippled hit power at the maturity of its strength, and liberated mind and empire from his yoke of ignorance, superstition and oppn May the spirit and zeal of Him wh<>-<- name they bear, abide with them, and arm them to meet the arrogant demands of Papal Rome in this land of their adoption, as he did in the land of their an< We particularly rejoice in that feature of their ecclesiastical system which provides for the culture of piety in the heart, and for the religious training of the young, particularly of their baptized children. On this point, their example administers a just rebuke on the practice of too many Pro- testant churches, who with them profess the rite of household baptism, but treat it as a nullity. We trust that with this ex- ample before them, in connection with the exclusiveness of the Romanist towards their children and adults in shutting them out from the light of truth : such churches will not only profess, but act upon the be- lief, that the baptismal covenant with chil- dren imposes upon the parents and the church the duty of their careful and con- stant religious training. With her high estimate of the value and necessity of learning in her ministry, the early catechetical instruction of her children, and her strict regard to the vitals of Christian experience, the American Lutheran Church cannot fail to exert a high and holy influence in the cause of truth, and the religious welfare of our nation, and shine as a luminary of the first magnitude in the constellation of our American Zion, We bid her God-speed in her progress onward and upward, till the distinctions of earth are merged in the church of the First-born in heaven, and our mutual toils and conflicts terminated 342 HISTORY OF THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH. H in one triumph, one song, and one ever- lasting rest."* NOTE On Luther's Calvinism, From Dr. Schmucker,s Portraiture of Luthcr- anisrn, p. 82., Sfc. As this is a subject on which it is easy to err, and on which men of Christian spirit and learning have entertained different opinions, it may be useful to devote a few moments to its elucidation. It is of no use here to quote pas- sages from Luther's works teaching the doc- trine. Luther's former adhesion to the Augus- tinian view of this subject is admitted. In reply to the passages so often appealed to from Luther's work to Erasmus, which was written in the earlier part of his life, about twenty-one years before his death, when he had not yet laid off many of the Romish and Augustinian opinions which he subsequently rejected; we might present hundreds of pas- sages teaching and implying the contrary opinion. We present a single specimen, care- fully translated by us, from Walch's edition (the best) of Luther on the Galatians. We select this that those who have the old Eng- lish translation of this excellent work, may compare it, and see how uncertain a guide such translations are on disputed points. "And all the prophets foresaw in Spirit, that Christ would be the greatest sinner, whose like never appeared on earth. For as he is made a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, he is not an innocent person and with- out sin, is not the Son of God in his glory, but he is a sinner for a season, forsaken of God, Psalm viii. 6. He bears the sin of St. Paul, who was a blasphemer, a persecutor and inju- rious ; of St. Peter who denied Christ ; and of David, who was an adulterer and a murderer, and caused the name of the Lord to be blas- phemed among the gentiles. In short, he is the person who hath taken upon himself, and bears in his own body all the sins of all men in the whole world, who ever have lived, are now living, or who shall hereafter live; not as if he had himself committed those sins, but being committed by us, he took them on his own body, in order to make an atonement for them with his own blood."f We might refer the reader to a work entitled " Lutherus Luthera- nus," of 700 pages 8vo, consisting entirely of extracts from his works, showing that on all the distinguishing points between Calvinists and Lutherans, Luther occupied the ground subsequently maintained by his followers. But * Quarterly Register. t See Walch's edition of Luther on the Galatians, p. 27(*>. " In summa. er ist die Person, die nn ihrern Leibe trtujt, und auf sich ?elaben hat alle Sunden nller Menacben in der ^;in- zen Welt, die da peweson. noch rind, und Beyn werden." See also the common English version, p. %254. obviously even this would not settle the point. The only impartial and decisive course is to examine all his works, and also all his cor- respondence, according to their date, and trace the gradual change in his opinions. This, according to the unanimous testimony of all Germany, no man has ever done more impartially than the celebrated Dr. Plank, Professor of Theology at Gottingen, in the preparation of his invaluable work, entitled, "History of the Rise, Changes, and Formation of onr Protestant System of Doctrines, from the commencement of the Reformation till the In- troduction of the form of Concord." (1580.) The entire impartiality and great ability of this work, which cost the author twenty years of labor and investigation, are conceded by all parties. The result of his examination may be seen in the following valuable quotation, which, whilst it fully sustains the positions of this discourse, also renders it intelligible, how such a diversity of sentiment might naturally exist on this subject. "Nevertheless, the Lu- theran divines did not, for a long time, see proper to take any notice of it, (viz : of the prominence and full development given to this doctrine by Calvin, and of its introduction into the Swiss churches ;) and even the zealots of Lower Saxony, who had taken occasion from the Geneva ' Consensus,' to renew the contest concerning the Lord's Supper, observed a per- fect silence on this incalculably more impor- tant doctrine, although Calvin appeared to urse them the more explicitly to its adoption. Melanchthon alone declared to him, that al- though he would not quarrel with him about it, he would never consent to adopt his (Cal- vin's) views on predestination.* But the si- lence of the other Lutheran divines on this subject, although it might appear to have been the result of indifference, was owing to a very satisfactory reason, of which the greater part of them were well aware. It cannot be denied, that the Augustinian theory of predes- tination had already been forsaken by the Lu- theran church. Yet her divines could not but feel, that they had changed their ground. The fact could not be concealed, that Luther had once embraced this doctrine in its full rigor, and even zealously defended it against Eras- mus, and that his early adherents, including even Melanchthon himself, had at first done the same. It is indeed true, they could prove that the doctrine was not long retained, and that Luther himself had abandoned it ! But even this concession would give an advantage to an opponent in this dispute, which they were utterly unwilling to concede to Calvin. They therefore determined, rather not to dis- pute with him on this subject at all. But there was 'another reason, which probably aided in causing them to keep silence on this subject. The greater part of Lutheran divines * Melanchthon did not even answer the first letter o£ Calvin, in which he requested his assent to the doctrine. See Calvin's epist. p. 133. 153. HI8T0M OP l Hi: EVANGELICAL 1. 1 THERAN CHI RUH Lather himself) receded from the \ unian theory of predestination, eery Srobably without themselves being tally aware ! result had been brought about They (band themselves removed from it, before they ihed to be ; and it was Melanchthon, and no one else, who had produced the change. lit the fitSt unproved edition o[ h. and doubtless still earlier in his oral lectures, he had proposed a theory, which, both in its principles and consequences, was m direct contradiction to the Aogastinian view. This contradiction, which .Melanchthon him- self took no pains to bring to light, was, how- ever, at first not generally perceived Hence several of the principles of his new theory lopted with the less apprehension, es- pecially as each one of them, considered by itself, appeared to be incontestibly true, both according to reason and Scripture. Thus his cardinal ideas of the divine election of all men in Christ, of the universality of divine grace, of the extension of the atonement and merits of Christ to all men, had been embraced by nearly all the divines of their party, and by Luther himself, before they perceived that their views oi an absolute decree of God, and the Augastinian doctrine of predestination were utterly irreconcilable with them. But, when at last they made the discovery, they found their position in several respects an embar- l one, and were unable immediately to extricate themselves. They felt unwilling, not only so suddenly to abandon a doctrine which they had professed; but even to aban- don it at all. They were conscious that Au- gusttn's doctrine of predestination appeared to be yiseparably connected with some other parts of his system, such as the total inability of man to do any thing good, which they were firmly determined never to relinquish. On the other hand, they « retain the feature M theory, Which they had adopted, and WtTt tfa brought into a dilemma, which they coald not bal leeL The greater pari of their divines now adhered to the view of Melanchthon, that (;<>d desires and strives to bestow salvation on all men m and through Christ, from which it necessarily followed, that his cerning the destiny of each individoal not be absolute. Bal they at the sam< retained the opinion of AogUStine, that de- praved man can do nothing at all in ti; of his salvation, cannot exert even the feeblest effort of his will ; which seemed just as neces- sarily to imply that the salvation or damnation of each individual, could be decided only by an absolute decree of God. Some of them probably had an impression, that there must be some method of avoiding the last mentioned inference; but their views were indistinct. Hence it happened, that during the Synergis- tic controversies some of them again embraced the Augustinian theory in full. The greater part of them, however, believed that all they wanted was a more systematic adjustment and connection of the opinions they enter- tained, and this conviction was undoubtedly the principal reason for that caution, with which, in direct opposition to the polemic spirit of that age, they evaded a controversy on this subject. It was, therefore, not until 1561, that a formal dispute on this subject oc- curred between the Lutheran and Calvinistic divines, the occasion of which was the cele- brated Zanchius, at that time professor of the- ology at Strasburg." Here, then, is a correct and impartial statement of the facts in the case, which never has been, and never can be successfully controverted. 344 HISTORY OF THE LATTER DAY SAINTS. HISTORY THE LATTER DAY SAINTS BY JOSEPH SMITH NAUVOO, ILLINOIS. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, was founded upon direct reve- lation, as the true church of God has ever been, according to the scriptures (Amos iii. 7, and Acts i. 2.) And through the will and blessings of God, I have been an instrument in his hands, thus far, to move forward the cause of Zion. There- fore, in order to fulfil the solicitation of your letter of July last, I shall commence with my life. I was born in the town of Sharon, Wind- sor county, Vermont, on the 23d of De- cember, A. D. 1805. When ten years old, my parents removed to Palmyra, New York, where we resided about four years, and from thence we removed to the town of Manchester, a distance of six miles. My father was a farmer, and taught me the art of husbandry. When about fourteen years of age, I began to reflect upon the importance of being prepared for a future state ; and upon inquiring the place of salvation, I found that there was a great clash in religious sentiment ; if I went to one society they referred me to one place, and another to another ; each one pointing to his own particular creed as the " summum bonum" of perfection. Considering that all could not be right, and that God could not be the author of so much confusion, I determined to inves- tigate the subject more fully, believing that if God had a church, it would not be split up into factions, and that if he taught one societv to worship one way, and ad- minister in one set of ordinances, he would not teach another principles which were diametrically opposed. Believing the word of God, I had confidence in the declara- tion of James, " If any man lack wisdom let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him." I retired to a secret place in a grove, and began to call upon the Lord. While fervently engaged in supplication, my mind was taken away from the objects with which I was surrounded, and I was enrapt in a heavenly vision, and saw*two glorious personages, who exactly resem- bled each other in features and likeness, surrounded with a brilliant light, which eclipsed the sun at noonday. They told me that all the religious denominations were believing in incorrect doctrines, and that none of them was acknowledged of God as his church and kingdom. And I was expressly commanded to " go not af- ter them,"' at the same time receiving a promise that the fulness of the gospel should at some future time be made known unto me. On the evening of the 21st Septem- ber, A. D. 1823, while I was praying unto God and endeavoring to exercise faith in the precious promises of scrip- ture, on a sudden a light like that of day, only of a far purer and more glorious ap- pearance and brightness, burst into the i room ; indeed the first si^ht was as though ! the house was filled with consuming fire. i The appearance produced a shock that HISTORY OK THE LATTER 1>\\ SAINTS affected the whole body. In ■ moment ;i itood before me surrounded i\ yet greater than thai with which I was already BurrouudecL Tins messenger proclaimed himself to be an angel of God, sent to bring the joyful tidings, that the covenant \\ hich ( rod made wild ancient Israel was at hand to be lul« filled; that the preparatory work for the second coming of the Messiah was spewed* ily to commence; thai the time was at hand for the gospel in all its fulness to be preached in power, unto all nations, that a people might be prepared for the millen- nial reign. 1 was informed that I was chosen to be an instrument in the hands of God to bripg about some of his purposes in this glorious dispensation. I was informed also concerning the aboriginal inhabitants of this country, and shown who they were, and from whence tiny came; — a brief sketch of their ori- gin, progress, civilization, laws, govern- ments, of their righteousness and iniquity, and the blessings of God being finally withdrawn from them as a people, was made known unto me. I was also told there was deposited some plates, on which was engraven an abridgment of the records of the ancient prophets that had existed on this continent. The angel appeared to me three times the same night and unfolded the same things. After „ having received many visits from the angels of God, unfolding the majesty and j glory of the events that should transpire 22d of September, A. D. 1827, the angel of the Lord delivered the records into my hands. These records were engraven on plates which had the appearance of gold ; each plate was six inches wide and eight inches long, and not quite so thick as common in. They were filled with engravings in Egyptian characters, and bound together in a volume, as the leaves of a book, with hree rings running through the whole. The volume was something near six inches in thickness, a part of which was sealed. The characters on the unsealed part were small and beautifully engraved. The whole book exhibited many marks of an- tiquity in its construction, and much skill in the W ith lb'- i iii«1 a curious instrument which the ancients called " I run and Thummim," which consisted of two transparent stone ■ set in the rim on a bow fastened to n breastplate. Through the medium of the I rim and Thummim I translated the record, by the gilt and power of I '"d. In this important and interesting book the history of ancient America is unfolded, from its first settlement by a colony that came from the tower of Babel, at the ecu- fusion of languages, to the begiryn, the tilth century of the Christian era. We are informed by these records, that America, in ancient times, has been in- habited by two distinct races of people. The first were called Jaredites, and came directly from the tower of Babel. The second race came directly from the city of Jerusalem, about six hundred years before Christ. They were principally Israelites, of the descendants of Joseph. The Jaredites were destroyed, about the time that the Israelites came from Jerusa- lem, who succeeded them in the inherit- ance of the country. The principal nation of the second race fell in battle towards the close of the fourth century. The remnant are the Indians who now inhabit this country. This book also tells us that our Saviour made his appearance upon this continent after his resurrection ; that he planted the gospel here in all its fulness, and richness, and power, and blessing ; that they had apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, and evangelists ; the same order, the same priesthood, the same ordinances, gifts, powers, and blessing, as was enjoyed on the eastern continent : that the people wrcre cut off in conse- quence of their transgressions ; that the last of their prophets who existed among them was commanded to write an abridg- ment of their prophecies, history, &c, and to hide it up in the earth, and that it should come forth and be united with the Bible, for the accomplishment of the pur- poses of God, in the last days. For a more particular account, I would refer to the Book of Mormon, which can be pur- chased at Nauvoo, or from any of our travelling elders. As soon as the news of this discovery 44 346 HISTORY OF THE LATTER DAY SAINTS. was made known, false reports, misrepre- sentation and slander flew, as on the wings of the wind, in every direction; my house was frequently beset by mobs, and evil designing persons ; several times I was shot at, and very narrowly escaped, and every device was made use of to get the plates away from me; but the power and blessing of God attended me, and several began to believe my testimony. On the 6th April, 1830, the "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints," was first organized, in the town of Man- chester, .Ontario Co., State of New York. Some few were called and ordained by the Spririt of revelation and prophecy, and began to preach as the Spirit gave them utterance, and though weak, yet were they strengthened by the power of God ; and many were brought to repentance, were immersed in the water, and were filled with the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands. They saw visions and pro- phesied, devils were cast out, and the sick healed by the laying on of hands. From that time the work rolled forth with as- tonishing rapidity, and churches were soon formed in the States of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri : in the last named slate a con- siderable settlement was formed in Jack- son county ; numbers joined the church, and we were increasing rapidly ; we made large purchases of land, our farms teemed with plenty, and peace and happiness were enjoyed in our domestic circle and through- out our neighborhood ; but as we could not associate with our neighbors, — who were, many of them, of the basest of men, and had fled from the face of civilized society to the frontier country, to escape the hand of justice — in their midnight revels, their sabbath-breaking, horse-ra- cing, and gambling, they commenced at first to ridicule, then to persecute, and finally an organized mob assembled and burned our nouses, tarred and feathered and whipped many of our brethren, and finally drove them from their habitations ; these, houseless and homeless, contrary to law, justice, and humanity, had to wan- der on the bleak prairies till the children left the tracks of their blood on the prai- rie. This took place in the month of November, and they had no other cover- ing but the canopy of heaven, in that in- clement season of the year. This proceed- ing was winked at by the government ; and although we had warrantee deeds for our land, and had violated no law, we could obtain no redress. There were many sick who were thus inhumanly driven from their houses, and had to en- dure all this abuse, and to seek homes where they could be found. The result was, that a great many of them being de- prived of the comforts of life, and the ne- cessary attendance, died ; many children were left orphans ; wives, widows ; and husbands, widowers. Our farms were taken possession of by the mob, many thousands of cattle, sheep, horses, and hogs were taken, and our household goods, store goods, and printing press and types were broken, taken, or otherwise destroyed. Many of our brethren removed to Clay county where they continued until 1836 (three years) ; there was no violence of- fered, but there were threatnings of vio- lence. But in the summer of 1836, these threatening betran to assume a more se- es D rious aspect ; from threats, public meet- ings were called, resolutions were passed, vengeance and destruction were threaten- ed, and affairs again assumed a fearful attitude ; Jackson county was a sufficient precedent, and as the authorities in that county did not interfere, they boasted that they would not in this ; which on appli- cation to the authorities we found to be too true ; and, after much violence, priva- tion, and loss of property, we were again driven from our homes. We next settled in Caldwell and Davies counties, where we made large and exten- sive settlements, thinking to free ourselves from the power of oppression by settling in new counties, with a very few inhabi- tants in them ; but here we were not al- lowed to live in peace; and in 1838, were again attacked by mobs ; an exterminating order was issued by Governor Boggs, and under the sanction of law, an organ- ized banditti ravaged the country, robbing us of our cattle, sheep, horses, hogs, &c. ; many of our people were murdered in cold blood, the chastity of our women was violated, and we were forced to sign away our property at the point of the sword ; and after enduring every indignity that HISTORY OF THE LATTER DM BAIN I'S. oouki !><• heaped upon us by an inhuman, ungodly band of Marauders, — from twelve to fifteen thousand souls, men, women, and children, were driven from their own .1 from lauds for w Inch the) bad warr intee deeds, to wander houseless, friendless, and homeless, (in the depth of winter,) as exiles on the earth, or to seek an asylum in •■■ more genial clime, and among b less barbarous people. Many sickened and died in consequence of the cold and hardships they had to en- dure, many wives Were left widows, and children orphans and destitute It would take more time than I am able : your service, at present, to describe the injustice, the wrongs, the murders, the bloodshed, thefts, misery and woe that have been committed upon our people by the barbarous, inhuman, and - proceeding of the State of Mis- souri. And 1 would refer you, and the readers of your history who may be de- sirous of further information on this topic, to the evidence taken on my recent trial the Municipal Court ofNauvoo, on Saturday, July 1st, 1843, on a writ of pus, which is published in pam- phlet form by Messrs. Taylor & Wood- ruff, of this city. After being thus inhumanly expelled by the government and people from Missouri, we ibund an asylum and friends in the State of Illinois. Here, in the fall of 1839, we commenced a city called Nau- voo, in Hancock county, which* in De- cember, 18 41), received an act of incor- poration from the Legislature of Illinois, and is endowed with as liberal powers as any ci:y in the United States. Nauvoo, in every respect, connected with increase and prosperity, has exceeded the most sanguine expectations of thousands. It now contains near 1500 houses, and more than 1 o,000 inhabitants. The charter contains, amongst its important powers, privileges, or immunities, a grant for the 11 University of Nauvoo," with the same liberal powers of the city, where all the arts and sciences will grow with the growth, and strengthen the strength of this beloved city of the " saints of the last days." Another very commendatory provision of the charter is, that that portion of the citizens subject to military duty are or- ganized into a bodv of independent mili- tary men, styled the ** Nauvoo Legion,11 officer holds the ran . is commissioned lieutenant-general. 'I I.:- legion, like other independent bod troops in this republican governmei the disposal of the i lovernor of tin • and President of the United States. There is also an act of incorporation lor an agri- cultural and manufacturing u as well as the Nauvoo I h >use A - tlell. The temple of < rod, now in the I of erection, being already raised one story, and which is 120 feet by B0 (bet, of stone, with polished pilasters, of an entii order of architecture, will be a splendid house for the worship of God, as well as an unique wonder for the world, it being built by the direct reveration of Christ for the salvation of the living and the dead. Since the organization of this church its progress has been rapid, and its gain in numbers regular. Besides these United States, where nearly every place of noto- riety has heard the glad tidings of the gospel of the Son of God, England, Ire- land, and Scotland, have shared largely in the fulness of the everlasting gospel, and thousands have already gathered with their kindred saints, to this the corner-stone of Zion. Missionaries of this chureh have gone to the East Indies, to Australia, Ger- many, Constantinople, Egypt, Palestine, the Islands of the Pacific, and are now preparing to open the door in the exten- sive dominions of Russia. There are no correct data by which the exact number of members composing this now extensive, and still extending, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints can be known. Should it be supposed at 150,000, it might still be short of the truth. Believing the Bible to say what it means and mean what it says ; and guided by- revelation according to the ancient order of the fathers to whom came what little light we enjoy ; and circumscribed only by the eternal limits of truth : this chureh must continue the even tenor of her way, and " spread undivided, and operate un- spent." We believe in God the Eternal Father, 348 HISTORY OF THE LATTER DAY SAINTS. and in his son Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost We believe that men will be punished for their own sins and not for Adam's transgression. We believe that through the atonement of Christ all men may be saved by obe- dii ace to the laws and ordinances of the gospeL We believe that these ordinances are : 1st, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ ; 2d, Repentance; 3d, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins ; 4th, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. We believe that a man must be called of God by " prophecy, and by laying on of hands," by those who are in authority to preach the gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof. We believe in the same organization that existed in the primitive church, viz., apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evan- gelists, &c. We believe in the gift of tongues, pro- phecy, revelation, visions, healing, inter- pretation of tongues, (Sec. We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly ; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God. We believe all that God has revealed, all that he does now reveal, and we be- lieve that he will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the kingdom of God. We believe in the literal gathering of Israel, and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes. That Zion will be built upon this continent. That Christ will reign person- ally upon the earth, and that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisal glory. We claim the privilege of worshipping Almighty God according to the dictates of our conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may. We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates ; in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law. We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed we may say that we fol- low the admonition of Paul ; " we believe all things : we hope all things :" we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is any thing virtuous, lovely, or of good report, or praiseworthy, we seek thereafter. Notk. — The Editor of the Pu.m Ekklcsia sent Joseph Smith a copy of his book in the spring of 1844. In a letter dated Nauvoo, 111., June 5th, 1844, Smith acknowledges the re- ceipt of the work, and concludes : " 1 shall be pleased to furnish further information, at a pro- per time, and render you such service a* the work, and vast extension of our church may demand, for the benefit of truth, virtue, and holiness. Your work will be suitably noticed in our paper for your benefit." Smith never redeemed his promises. He, and his brother Hyrum Smith, were killed in jail, at Carthage, Illinois, June 28, 1844, under the following circumstances : — Sometime previous to the death of the Smiths, difficulties had arisen among the Mormans. A new paper was started in Nauvoo, entitled, Nauvoo Expositor, which very soon became obnoxious to the dominant party. The Com- mon Council, of which Joseph Smith was pre- sident, ordered the Nauvoo Expositor to be de- stroyed, which was accordingly done. For this illegal procedure a warrant was issued by the proper authorities against Smith and others for a riot. From a former disregard to the authority of the state on the part of Smith, the people of the vicinity of Nauvoo became much excited — and the question whether Smith, though es- teemed a prophet by his own, should set the laws and authority of the state at defiance, be- came one of fearful import ! The militia of the adjacent counties having been assembled, some two or three thousand in number, and some armed bands from Missouri and Iowa, having congregated in the vicinity of Nauvoo : Governor Thomas Ford, apprised of their in- tention to commit violence upon the Mormons, and dreading its consequences, repaired in person to the scene of action, and promptly allayed the impending storm for a short time. On Monday, June 24th, 1844, Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum, receiving assurances from Gov. Ford of protection, in company with some of his friends, left Nauvoo for Carthage, Hancock county, to surrender themselves as prisoners, upon a process which had been pre- viously issued, and was then in the hands of the public officer to be executed. About four miles from Carthage, they were met by Cap- tain Dunn and a company of cavalry, on their way to Nauvoo, with an order from Gov. Ford for the state arms in possession of the Nauvoo Legion. Lieut. General Joseph Smith having endorsed upon the order his admission of its service, and given his directions for their de- livery, returned with Capt. Dunn to Nauvoo, for the arms thus ordered by Gov. Ford to be Hi-roKY OF THE LATTER l>\\ BAINTH. lurrendtrad Tlw arms iia\ ins been given op, t>. >t ti parties again started for Carthage, where : ired .it twelve o'eloek ;it [light The Smiths were imprisoned in what is called the 'a room of the jail. Gov. Ford permitted •I. Is of the Smiths to visit them. The •a as secured by a guard. On the morn- ihe 97th, Gov. Ford discharged ;i part OS the troops innler his command, ami pro- ooodod witli a portion of the residue, a single company only, t>> Nauvoo ; leaving the jail, the prisoners, ami several of their friends, guarded by seven or eight men, and a com- pany of about sixty militia, the Carthage Grays, nils distant m resen <•. About So'clock P.M., June 97th, the guard stationed at the pri- son was overpowered by an armed mob in disguise, the jail was broken and entered, Joseph and Hyrum Smith were wantonly killed. Soon alter the death of the Smiths, Dr. Hie hards, a prominent follower, who had ac- companied the accused to jail, transmitted to Nauvoo the following note, undersigned by Oov. Ford: Twelve o'clock at night, June 27th, Carthage, Hamilton's Tavern. To Mrs. Emma Smith, and) Maj. Gen. Dunham, &c. ) The Governor has just arrived, and says that all things shall be inquired into, and all risht measures taken. I say to all the citizens of Nauvoo : My brethren, be still, and know that God reigns — don't rush out of the city — don*l i ash t" < 'ai thas j at bora . prepared for an attack fi i M ouri mobbers. i [overnor will render every assistance possible He has sent out orders for troops. Joseph and Hyrum are dead — but not Carthage people. The guards were there :i 1 believe we will prepare to remove the hoihes a^ soon as possible. The people of the county are greatly excited ; ana fear the Moi tnons will come oul and take reng I have pledged my word that the Merman* will sta\ at home, (as soon as tin formed,) and no violence will be done on their part Say to my brethren in Nauvoo, " In the name of the Lord be still — be patient," — only let such friends as choose, come here to see the bodies. Mr. Taylor's wounds are dresse I. and not serious — I am sound. William Richards, John Ta>/h/r, Samuel If. Smith. Defend yourselves until protection can be furnished. — June 27, 1844. Thomas Foun, Gov. and Commander-in-Chief. June 28th, at 3 o'clock, P. M., several thou- sands assembled, and the bodies of the Smiths, followed by Samuel H. Smith, brother of the deceased ; Dr. Richards, Mr. Hamilton of Car- thage, and others, in a wagon, guarded by eight men, were escorted into the city, and taken out at the Nauvoo house. The bodies of the deceased were buried with military honors. This is the end of prophet Smith. The fate of his followers is reserved for the future historian. — I. D. R., Editor. 350 HISTORY OF THE MORAVIANS. HISTORY OP THE MORAVIANS. OR MORE PROPERLY UNITAS FRATRUM OR UNITED BRETHREN'S CHURCH. BY L. D. VON SCHWEINITS, LATE SENIOR CIVILIS OF THE CHURCH OF U. F. United Brethren, or Unitas Fratnon, or sometimes called Moravians, were ori- ginally formed by the descendants of the Bohemiam and Moravian Brethren, who, being persecuted for their religious tenets, and non-conformity in their native country, founded a colony, under the patronage of Count Zinzendorf, on an estate of his called Berthelsdorf, in Upper Lusatia, in the year 1722, to which colony the name of Herrn- hut was given, on account of its situation on the southern declivity of a hill called Hutberg. It was not until the number of emigrants from Bohemia and Moravia, who there found an asylum, had considerably in- creased, and many religiously disposed persons from other quarters, attracted by their pious zeal and their sufferings, had settled among them, that the diversity of sentiments, perceptible among so many zealous Christians of various modes of thinking, suggested to them the propriety of some general agreement concerning faith and rules of conduct. Accordingly, under the guidance of Count Zinzendorf, * This article was originally prepared by Rev. Mr. Sc+iweinitz, and has the sanction of the Board of the Moravian Church. who, from an early age had entertained an idea of constituting a Christian com- munity on the model of the primitive apos- tolic congregations, certain articles of union were proposed among them, which, leaving all the distinctive doctrines of the various Protestant denominations of Christians en- tirely out of question, adopted as articles of faith only those fundamental scripture truths in which they all agree, and at the same time introduced a system of social compact and church discipline resembling that of the ancient church of the Mora- vian Brethren, and intended to form a so- ciety in some degree such as the primitive churches are represented to have been. All the inhabitants of Herrnhut, after mature consideration, adopted this social scheme and these statues, by the name of a brotherly agreement, and pledged them- selves mutually to its observance, in the year 1727, and thus formed the first stock of the present society of United Brethren. Count Zinzendorf was justly in some mea- sure considered the founder of the society, to which he thenceforward devoted his whole life, property and energy. It will be readily conceived, however, more especially after observing that further emigrations from Bohemia and Moravia were checked by M«a? MSCflDIk&S *L!WHi9©®ra¥J :_ HISTOID OK THE \HH! \\ I \\>. 85J anient Bl an early |»'ii- ..1, [hat th'' descendants of the emigrants, tl tail day, constitute bul a small portion of tin- present society, Individuals from .'ill Prstostant denominations, coinciding in the fundamental doctrines of Christianit) com- mon to all, and professing a desire t" lead a truly Christian lili-, as members of such ■ community, under its peculiar regula- were from the beginning admitted among them, without renouncing their original church and creed. On the con- trary, to facilitate the maintenance of their connection with their original churches, tli'- society expressly includes three dif- ferent tropes or modifications within its pale : the Lutheran, the Reformed, and the .Moravian, which latter comprises all other Protestant denominations. Experience has taught that these differences, among per- sons so intimately associated, vanish of themselves to such a degree, that the ori- ginal idea of these tropes is now main- tained only as an evidence of the principle of their union, while its practical conse- quences have become altogether imper- ceptible. The United Brethren, however, continue strenuously to object to being considered a separate sect or denomination, because their union is exclusively founded on gene- ral Christian doctrines, and their pecu- liarities relate solely to their social organi- zation, which is intended only to facili- tate their joint purpose of putting truly Christian principles of life and conduct into actual practice. They consequently admit of no peculiar articles of faith, con- fining themselves altogether to regulations of conduct and discipline. As a body they have at all times, when required by go- vernments to point out their creed, pro- fessed general adherence to the Confession of Augsburg, as most congenial to the views of a majority ; and although they do not pledge their ministers to an express adoption of its articles, it is agreed among them not to insist upon any doctrines utterly repugnant thereto. They avoid dis- cussions respecting the speculative truths of religion, and insist upon individual ex- perience of the practical efficacy of the gospel, in producing a real change of senti- ment and conduct, as the only essentials in religion. They consider the manifestation i m ( 'hrist as intended to be tin- most bene- ficial revelation of the Deity t<> the human race; and in consequence, the) make the life, merit-, act-, irords, suffering death of the Saviour, the principal theme of their doctrine, while they carefully avoid entering into any theoretical disqui- sitions on the mysterious essence <>f the Godhead, simply adhering to the words of scripture. Admitting the sacred scriptures as the only source of divine revelation, they nevertheless believe that the Spirit of God continues to lead those who h< I in Christ into all further truth; not by revealing new doctrines, but by teaching those, who sincerely desire to learn, daily better to understand and apply the truths which the scriptures contain. They be- lieve that, to live agreeably to the gospel, it is essential to aim in all things to fulfil the will of God. Even in their temporal concerns they endeavor to ascertain the will of God ; they do not, indeed, expect some miraculous manifestation of his will, but only endeavor to test the purity of their purposes by the light of the divine word. Nothing of consequence is done by them, as a society, until such an ex- amination has taken place : and, in cases of difficulty, the question is decided by lot, to avoid the undue preponderance of in- fluential men, and in the humble hope that God will guide them rightly by its deci- sion, where their limited understanding fails them. In former times the marriages of the members of the society were, in some re- spects, guarded as a concern of the society, as it was part of their social agreement that none should take place without the approval of the elders ; and the elders1 consent or refusal was usually determined by lot. But this custom was at length abandoned ; and nothing is now requisite to obtain the con- sent of the elders, but propriety of conduct in the parties. They consider none of their peculiar regulations essential, but all liable to be altered or abandoned whenever it is found necessary, in order bettor to attain their great object — the promotion of piety. Such alterations are effected through the medium of their synods. The society early undertook to propa- gate the gospel among heathen nations. 352 HISTORY OF THE MORAVIANS. The success of their attempt in this respect is generally known, and a great propor- tion of their energy is at this day devoted to this object. In the prosecution thereof, circumstances occurred which, combined with the increase of their numbers, and certain difficulties in their way at Herrn- hut, induced the society to plant colonies, on the plan of the mother society there, in different parts of Germany, England, Hol- land, America, &c, all of which, together, now constitute the Unity of the Brethren. Each individual colony, called a place congregation^ is independent in its indivi- dual concerns, under the superintendence, however, of the Board of General Direc- tors of the Unity ; which superintendence, in England and America, is administered by subordinate local boards, in respect to all things not of a general nature ; but they are responsible to the General Board of the Directors, at present seated at Ber- thelsdorf, near Herrnhut, and denominated the Board of Elders of the Unity. The appointments of all the ministers and offi- cers of each community rest exclusively with this board. In England and America, however, these are committed to the local boards. To them is further committed the direction of all general objects of the whole society, such as their heathen mis- sions, the support of superannuated minis- ters and their widows, and the education of the children of such of these as are without means of their own. For, as the principles and circumstances of the society prevent them from allotting a greater salary to any officers, than their decent maintain- ance requires, those among them, who are not possessed of fortunes, cannot lay by any thing for their old age, or for the edu- cation of their children ; the charge of these, therefore, devolves upon the whole society. The economical affairs of each indivi- dual community are administered by one of the elders of that particular community, with the concurrence of a committeeelected biennially from among the inhabitants, generally by the votes of all the male members, or by an intermediate body thus elected. The objects for which each community has thus to provide are, the erection and maintenance of a church, the support of the active ministers and other officers, of proper schools, and all other things ne- cessary for the well-being of the commu- nity, and the preservajion.'of good order: while the individuals composing it, are as entirely independent in their private pro- perty as any other person whatever — each carrying on his particular business, for his own profit, and upon his own responsibility. A contrary impression, viz. : that there exists a community of goods among them, is still very prevalent, especially in Ame- rica. This is attributable to the fact, that, when their colonies in America were com- menced, it. was for some years found ne- cessary to combine the efforts of all the members, in order to maintain themselves amid their difficulties ; and, although each individual retained the absolute disposal of any property, formerly his own. their joint earnings, for the time, went into a common stock, from which the daily necessities were supplied. This unnatural state of things, however, continued no longer than it was imperiously necessary. Many other erroneous conceptions have become preva- lent, concerning the economical concerns of this society. The original members of it had nothing to depend on but their in- dustry. Count Zinzendorf and some of his nearest connexions sacrificed the whole of their estates in the various undertakings, missions, and colonies. As the society grew, numbers of wealthy members af- forded liberal aid ; but the society never had any actual funds, upon which they could depend. Individual members bor- rowed the necessary sums, upon their own credit. These funds were invested, partly in commercial undertakings, partly in landed estates, and various manufactures, and the profits applied to pay the expenses of the society. Upon the death of Count Zinzendorf, (he died, 1760,) it. was found that a debt had accrued, greatly exceeding the value of all the available investments. A sepa- ration of interests now took place. Each individual community assumed a propor- tionable share of the assets and debts, and thenceforward undertook the management of its individual concerns, and to provide for its own necessities by means of an in- stitution, operating very much in the man- ner of a savings bank, termed the Dia- HISTORY OF THE MOK \V! \Vs. <;>„,/ oi" bach oommunity. Moneys were up, under the special superintend* oboq of the elders, ami of the committee mentioned, and invested ; tin' p*o- ,vr,i-i went r-> defray ih'- disbursements of that particular oommunity ; the under- standing was, that, if tin- avails were such as t.» leave any thing to ho disposal of tfter defraying their own expenses, Buch surplus was to go to aid other communities, whose means might not be so ample, or to assist the general concerns. Thus, in post communities of the United Brethren, certain trades or manufactures are carried on lor their benefit, as such. By these means, together with the voluntary annual subscriptions of the members towards the maintainance of the ministers, and the support oi' the church and schools, the necessary funds are raised for defraying the charges on the particular communities, and for certain proportionate contributions, which each is expected to furnish to that fund of the Unity, which is established for the support of the superannuated ministers and other officers, and their widows, as well as the education of their children. The funds required in each community, for the purposes of police and conveniences, are raised by regular taxes on the house- holders, assessed by the committee before mentioned. The rest of the assets on hand, at the death of Count Zinzendorf, was put under the control of a special board of elders of the Unity, and the pro- ceeds applied to discharge the debt before mentioned. The disbursements required by the missions among the heathen are supplied by voluntary contributions. The greater part of the annual amount at the present time is furnished by persons not connected with the society. Some few of the West India missions are in part sup- ported by the industry of the missionaries, and those in Labrador by a commercial establishment trading thither under the guidance of a society established at Lon- don. In the United States, there is a so- ciety for propagating the gospel among the heathen, incorporated by several states, and consisting of members of the United Brethren's Church. This society has re- cently acquired large funds, by the bequest of one of its members. All these re- sources flow into the common fund, which is administered, and the mis rionai i cern in general managed, by another <|... pertinent of the Board of Blders of the Unity, called the Missionary Department, A third department of tins hoard is termed the Department of Education. This has charge, not only of the subject of the edu- cation of children throughout the society generally, hut, in a special manner, of those who arc educated .at the public ex- pense. In many of the communities of the Uni- ted Brethren in Germany, England, and America, boarding schools for the educa- tion of young persons of both sexes are established, in which not only their youth, but a great number of others, are in- structed in useful sciences and polite ac- quirements. For many years these schools have sustained, and still maintain, a con- siderable reputation both in Europe and America. At Niesky, in Upper Lusatia, the Unity maintains a higher classical in- stitution, where those receive a prepara- tory education, who intend to embrace the liberal professions, or to be prepared for the ministry. The latter complete their studies in a college situated at Gnadenfeld, in Silesia, which serves the purposes of a university. Similar institutions, upon a smaller scale, are established at Fulnec for the English, and at Nazareth for the American portion of the Unity. These are, properly speaking, theological semi- naries only. Young men, desirous of de- voting themselves to the medical or other learned professions, resort, of course, to the public universities of their respective countries. In the three departments of the Board of Elders of the Unity, before alluded to, taken collectively, the direc- tion of the whole Unity is concentrated. This board, however, is responsible to the synods of the society, which meet at stated times, generally at intervals of from seven to twelve years, and from whom all its authority emanates. They arc composed of bishops and certain other general offi- cers of the society, such as the members of the Board of Elders of the Unity for the time being, and of the representatives chosen by each individual community. At these meetings, a revision of all the con- cerns of the society and its parts takes place, and such alterations are adopted as 45 354 HISTORY OF THE MORAVIANS. circumstances seem to require. They are terminated by the appointment of a new Board of Elders of the Unity. The following is a sketch of the mode of life of the United Brethren where they form separate communities, which, how- ever, is not always the case ; for, in many instances, societies belonging to the Unity arc situated in larger and smaller cities and towns, intermingled with the rest of the inhabitants, in which cases their pecu- liar regulations are, of course, out of the question. In their separate communities, they do not allow the permanent residence of any persons as householders who are not members in full communion, and who have not signed the written instrument of the brotherly agreement, upon which their constitution and discipline rest ; but they freely admit of the temporary residence among them of such persons as are will- ing to conform to their external regula- tions. According to these, all kinds of amusements, considered dangerous to strict morality, are forbidden, as balls, dancing, plays, gambling of any kind, and all pro- miscuous assemblies of the youth of both sexes. These, however, are not debarred from forming, under proper advice and parental superintendence, that acquaint- ance which their future matrimonial con- nexions may require. In the communities on the European continent, whither, to this day, numbers of young persons of both sexes resort, in order to become members of the society, from motives of piety and a desire to pre- pare themselves to become missionaries among the heathen, and where, moreover, the difficulties of supporting a family greatly limit the number of marriages, a stricter attention to this point becomes ne- cessary. On this account, the unmarried men and boys, not belonging to the fami- lies of the community, reside together, under the care of an elder of their own class, in a building called the Single Brethren's House, where, usually, divers trades and manufacturers are carried on, for the benefit of the house or of the com- munity, and which, at the same time, fur- nishes a cheap and convenient place for the board and lodging of those who are employed as journeymen, apprentices, or otherwise, in the families constituting the community. Particular daily opportuni- ties of edification a»-e there afforded them ; and such a house is the place of resort, where the young men and boys of the families spend their leisure time, it being a general rule, that every member of the society shall devote himself to some use- ful occupation. A similar house, under the guidance of a female superintendent, and under similar regulations, is called the Single Sister's House, and is the com- mon dwelling-place of all unmarried females, not members of any family, or not employed as servants in the families of the community. Even these regard the Sister's House as their principal place of association at leisure hours. Indus- trious habits are here inculcated in the same way. In the communities of the United Breth- ren in America, the facilities of supporting families, and the consequent early mar- riages, have superseded the necessity of Single Brethren's Houses ; but they all have Sisters' Houses of the above descrip- tion, which afford a comfortable asylum to aged unmarried females, while they furnish an opportunity of attending to the further education and improvement of the | female youth after they have left school. I In the larger communities, similar houses afford the same advantages to such widows as desire to live retired, and are called Widows' Houses. The individuals resid- ing in these establishments pay a small rent, by which, and by the sums paid for their board, the expenses of these houses are defrayed, assisted occasionally by the profits on the sale of ornamental needle- work, &c, on which some of the inmates subsist. The aged and needy are sup- ported by the same means. Each divi- sion of sex and station, just alluded to, viz. : widows, single men and youths, single women and girls, past the age of childhood, is placed under the special guidance of elders of their own descrip- tion, whose province it is to assist them in good advice and admonition, and to attend,. as much as may be, to the spiri- tual and temporal welfare of each indivi- dual. The children of each sex are under ' the immediate care of the superintendent of the single choirs, as these divisions are termed. Their instruction in religion, HISTORY OF THE Mui; \\ I VN8. mill m all the necessary branches of liu- iii.iii knowledge, in good schools, carried i irately for ench sex, is under the sntjcsmJ superintendence of the stated mi- iii-t.-r of em h community, and of the Board of Blders. Similar special elders arc .1 to attend to the spiritual welfare .w' the married people. All these elders, of both sexes, together with the staled minister', to whom the preaching of the geepel is chiefly committed, (although all other elders who may be qualified parti- cipate therein,) and with the persons to whom the economical concerns of the community are entrusted, form together ird of Millers, in which rests the government of the community, with the concurrence of the committee elected by the inhabitants for all temporal concerns. This committee superintends the observ- ance of all regulations, has charge of the police, and decides differences between individuals. Matters of a general nature are submitted to a meeting of the whole community, consisting either of all male members of age, or of an intermediate body elected by them. Public meetings are held every evening in the week. Some of these are devoted to the reading of portions of scripture, others to the communications of accounts from the missionary stations, and others to the singing of hymns or selected verses. On Sunday mornings, the church litany is publicly read, and sermons are delivered to the congregation, which, in many places, is the case likewise in the after- noon. In the evening, discourses are de- livered, in which the texts for that day are explained and brought home to the particular circumstances of the commu- nity. Besides these regular means of edi- fication, the festival days of the Christian church, such as Easter, Pentecost, Christ- mas, &c., are commemorated in a special manner, as well as some days of peculiar interest in the history of the society. A solemn church music constitutes a promi- nent feature of their means of edification, music in general being a favorite employ- ment of the leisure of many. On particu- lar occasions, and before the congregation meets to partake of the Lord's Supper, they assemble expressly to listen to instru- mental and vocal music interspersed with h\ rim, in which the whole co joins, while they partake to cup of oofiee, tea, <>r chocolate, and light cakes, in token of fellowship and brotherly union. This solemnity is called a Love Feast, ami is in imitation of the custom of the AgaptM in the primitive Christian churches. The Lord's Supper is cele- brate I at intervals, generally by ;ill com- municant members together, under very solemn and but simple rid s. I morning is devoted to a solemnity of 8 peculiar kind. At sunrise, the congrega- tion assembles in the grave-yard ; a ser- vice, accompanied by music, is celebrated, expressive of the joyful hopes of immor- tality and resurrection, and a solemn com- memoration is made of all who have, in the course of the last year, departed this life from among them, and " gone home to the Lord" — an expression they often use to designate death. Considering the termination of the present life no evil, but the entrance upon an eternal state of bliss to the sincere disciples of Christ, they de- sire to divest this event of all its terrors. The decease of every individual is an- nounced to the community by solemn music from a band of instruments. Out- ward appearances of mourning arc dis- countenanced. The whole congregation follows the bier to the grave-yard (which is commonly laid out as a garden,) ac- companied by a band, playing the tunes of well-known verses, which express the hopes of eternal life and resurrection, and the corpse is deposited in the simple grave during the funeral service. The preser- vation of the purity of the community is entrusted to the Board of Elders and its different members, who are to give instruc- tion and admonition to those under their care, and make a discreet use of the es- tablished church discipline. In cases of immoral conduct, or flagrant disregard of the regulations of the society, the fol- lowing discipline is resorted to. If expos- tulations are not successful, offenders arc for a time restrained from participating in the holy communion, or called before the committee. For pertinacious bad conduct, or flagrant excesses, the culpable indi- vidual is dismissed from the society. The ecclesiastical church officers, gen- erally speaking, are the bishops, through 356 HISTORY OF THE MORAVIANS. whom the regular succession of ordina- tion, transmitted to the United Brethren through the ancient Church of the Bohe- mian and Moravian Brethren, is preserved, and who alone are authorized to ordain ministers, hut possess no authority in the government of the church, except such as they derive from some other office, being most frequently the presidents of some board of elders ; the presbyters, or ordained stated ministers of the commu- nities, and the deacons. The degree of deacon is the first bestowed upon young ministers and missionaries, by which they are authorized to administer the sacra- ments. Females, although elders among their own sex, are never ordained ; nor have they a vote in the deliberations of the Board of Elders, which they attend for the sake of information only. It now remains to give some account of the number and extension of this so- ciety, which are often strangely exaggera- ted. On the continent of Europe, together with Great Britain, the number of persons living in their different communities, or formed into societies closely connected with the Unity, does not exceed thirteen or fourteen thousand, including children. Their number in the United States falls somewhat short of six thousand souls. Besides these there are about three times this number of persons dispersed through Germany, Livonia, &c, who are occa- sionally visited by brethren, and strength- ened in their religious convictions, while they have no external connection with the Unity. These cannot be considered mem- bers of the society, though they may maintain a spiritual connection with it. The numbers of converts from heathen nations, are regularly reported, and do not now exceed 40,000 souls, comprehending all those who are in any way under the care of the missionaries. Indeed it never was the object of the society to attempt the Christianization of whole nations or tribes, as such must be a mere nominal conversion. They profess to admit those only to the rite of baptism who give evi- dence of their faith by the change wrought in their life and conduct. On this account, they have every where introduced among their heathen converts a discipline similar to their own, as far as circumstances per- mit. It would be preposterous to conceive that the peculiar views, and the regula- tions of a society such as that of the Uni- ted Brethren, could ever be adopted by any large body of men. They are exclu- sively calculated for small communities. Any one desirous of separating from the society meets with no hinderance. The following is a succinct view of the principal establishments of the society. In the United States, they have separate com- munities, at Bethelem, Nazareth, and Litiz, in Pennsylvania, and at Salem, in North Carolina. Bethelem is, next to the mother community at Herrnhut, in Germany, their largest establishment. Besides these, there are congregations at Newport, in Rhode Island, at New York, at Philadelphia, Lan- caster and Y'ork ; at Graceham in Mary- land ; and several country congregations scattered through Pennsylvania, the mem- bers of which chiefly dwell on their plan- tations, but have a common place of wor- ship. There are four of this description in North Carolina, in the vicinity of Salem. The whole number of congregations is twenty-two; of these there are ten village congregations, four city, and eight country congregations. The number of pastors and assistant pastors is twenty-four ; two bishops, two administrators, four wardens, and four principals of schools. The total number of members, at present, in the United States, is about six thousand. In England, their chief settlements are Fulnec in Yorkshire, Fairfield in Lanca- shire, Ockbrook in Derbyshire. Congre- gations exist likewise in London, Bedford, Bristol, Bath, Plymouth, Haverfordwest, together with a number of country congre- gations in divers villages. In Ireland, they have a considerable congregation at Grace- hill, in the county of Antrim, and small congregations at Dublin, Gracefield, and Ballinderry. On the continent of Europe, Herrnhut, Niesky, and Kleinwelke, in Upper Lusatia ; Gnadenfrey, Gnaden- berg, Gnadenfeld and Neusaltz, in Silesia; Ebensdorf, near Lobenstein ; Neudicten- dorf, in the duchy of Gosna, Konigsfeld, in that of Baden ; Neuwied on the Rhine; Christianfeld, in Holstein ; Zeyst, near Utrecht, in Holland ; and Sarepta, on the confines of Asiatic Russia, are the names HI8T0RY OP THE METHODI8T SOCIETY. of iheif iqwinitri communities; besides which we organized Bocieliea at Berlin, Rutdorf, Potsdam, Konigsberg, Norden in Prieslsjid, Copenhagen, AJtona, Stock- holm, Gottenburg, St, Petersburg, and Moscoa . Their principal missions among the heathens at this time are the following: among the negro slaves in the three 1 Danish West India islands ; in Jamaica, St. Kitts, Antigua, Barbadoes, Tobago, and in Suri- nam, among the same description of per- sons ; in Greenland, among the natives of that desolate region; in Labrador, anions the Esquimaux; at the Cape of Good I [ope, :o. hiii^ |||(. Hottentots and Caflrea ; and in North America, among the Dela- ware Indians in Upper Canada and in the li id i;ui Territory, and among the Chero- kees in Arkansas. It is a general princi- ple of the society, thai their social organi- sation i^ in no case to interfere with their duties as citizens or subjects of govern- ments under which they live, and wher- ever they are settled. They have always supported a good reputation, and been generally considered valuable members of the community, on account of the moral and industrious habits successfully incul- cated by their system. HISTORY OF THE METHODIST SOCIETY. BY THE REV. W. M. STILWELL, NEW YORK. The society was first composed of a number of members seceding from the Methodist Episcopal Church in the city of New York, in the year 1820, together with several of the trustees. It had its origin from the circumstance of the ruling preacher, so called, insisting on receiving the money collected in the different churches under his charge, through stew- ards of his own appointment, instead of by the trustees appointed according to law, and in accordance with the practice of the church in all time previous, together with certain resolutions passed by the New York Annual Conference of Ministers, to petition the legislature for a law recogni- sing the peculiarities of the church disci- pline, by which the whole properties of the church would have been placed under the supervision and control of the body of ministers, who according to their disci- pline, from the bishop, downwards, are, to take charge of the temporal and spiritual business of the church. A church was erected, and about 300 members organized, under one preacher, the Rev. William M. Stilwell, who withdrew from the travelling connection, and assumed the pastoral charge of them, which he retains until this pre- sent year, (1843.) In the course of the three years following, they had erected two other places of worship, and formed a discipline, in which the general principles, as taught by the Methodists, were recog- nised ; but in the government of the church there was a difference : 1. No bishop was allowed, but a president of each annual conference was chosen yearly, by ballot of the members thereof. 2. All ordained ministers, whether travelling or not, were allowed a seat in the annual conferences. 3. Two lay delegates from each quarterly 358 HISTORY OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. conference could sit in the annual confe- rence, with the ministers. 4. No rules or regulations for the church could be made unless a majority present were lay mem- bers. 5. A preacher could remain with a congregation as long as they agreed. 6. Class meetings, love feasts, &c, were to be attended ; the leader of each class being chosen by the members. 7. The property of the societies, to be vested in trustees of their own choice, and the minister to have no oversight of the temporal affairs of the church. They prospered greatly for a few years, when some of the preachers and people, being desirous to have a more itinerant connection, thought it best to unite with a body of seceders from the Methodist Episcopal Church, who held a convention in Baltimore, and took the name of Pro- testant Methodist Church : since which the Methodist Society have not sought to en- large their body so much, as to supply such congregations as may feel a disposi- tion to enjoy a liberty, which the other bodies of dissenting Methodists, as well as the Methodist Episcopal Church, do not see fit to grant to the laity. At the present time they have three annual conferences, and are prosperous according to the efforts made, perhaps as well as other churches. The above may be considered a sufficient notice of the " Methodist Society," and persons wishing farther information will find it in a small work entitled " Rise and Progress of the Methodist Society," printed in New York, 1822. HISTORY OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH BY THE REV. NATHAN BANGS, D. D., NEW YORK. It is well known that the founder of Methodism, under God, was the Rev. John Wesley, a presbyter in the Church of England, who, after his own conversion, set out with a simple desire to revive pure and undefilcd religion in the church of which he was a member and a minister. Of the several steps by which he was led to adopt the measures he did, it is not ne- cessary particularly to make mention ; as in this sketch it is designed to notice those events only which more especially relate to the rise and progress of Methodism in America. It is therefore sufficient for our purpose to remark, that Mr. Wesley com- menced his work in the University of Ox- ford, where he had been educated, in the year 1739, and that from there it spread in different directions, throughout Great Britain and Ireland, until by one of those providential occurrences, which mark all human events from which great results have their origin, it was introduced into this country. That Mr. Wesley was actuated by a pure desire to revive and spread experi- mental and practical godliness, is most evident from all his actions, from his nu- merous writings, and much more from the following general rules which he drew up for the. government of his societies in 1743, and which still remain the same in Europe and America, except the item on slavery, which was inserted by the American Con- ference in 1784, and the one on drunk- enness, which has been altered for the Litli:of P.S Duval, Pblaia ILi!¥,i 3 meet the minister and th anls of the societj once ■ m ek, in Order, a. To inform the minister <>f any that are sick, or of any that walk disorderly, and will not Ix; reproved ; A. To pay to the ■tewardt what they bare received of their several cmi the week preceding. 4. There is one only condition pr< \ ioiis- ly required Of those who desire admission into these societies, viz., "a desire to flee from the wrath to conic, and to be §av< d from their sins;" but arherever this i's really fixed in the soul, it will be shown by its fruits. It is therefore expected of all who continue therein, that they should continue to evidence their desire of sal- vation, First, by doing no harm ; by avoiding evil of every kind, especially that which is most generally practiced. Such as The taking of the name of God in vain ; The profaning the day of the Lord, either by doing ordinary work thereon, or by buying or selling ; Drunkenness, or drinking spirituous liquors, unless in cases of necessity ; The buying and selling of men, worsen, and children, with an intention to enslave them. Fighting, quarrelling, brawling ; broth- er going to law with brother ; returning evil for evil, or railing for railing; the using many words in buying or selling; The buying or selling goods that have not paid the duty ; The giving or taking things on usury, i. e., unlawful interest ; Uncharitable or unprofitable conversa- tion, particularly speaking evil of magis- trates or of ministers ; Doing to others as we would not they should do unto us ; Doing what we know is not for the glory of God ; as, The putting on of gold and costly ap- parel ; The taking such diversions as cannot be used in the name of the Lord Jesus ; The singing those songs, or reading those books which do not tend to the knowledge or love of God ; Softness and needless self-indulgence ; 360 HISTORY OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. Laying up treasure upon earth ; Borrowing without a probability of paying ; or taking up goods without a probability of paying for them. 5. It is expected of all who continue in these societies, that they should continue to evidence their desire of salvation, Secondly, by doing good; by being in every kind merciful after their power, as they have opportunity — doing good of every possible sort, and, as far as is pos- sible, to all men ; To their bodies, according to the ability which God giveth, by giving food to the hungry, by clothing the naked, by visiting or helping them that are sick, or in prison ; To their souls, by instructing, reproving, or exhorting all we have any intercourse with : trampling under foot that enthusi- astic doctrine, that u we are not to do good, unless our hearts be free to it." By doing good, especially to them that are of the household of faith, or groaning so to be : employing them preferably to others ; buying one of another ; helping each other in business, — and so much the more, because the world will love its own, and them only. By all possible diligence and frugality, that the gospel be not blamed. By running with patience the race which is set before them ; denying them- selves, and taking up their cross daily ; submitting to bear the reproach of Christ ; to be as the filth and offscouring of the world ; and looking that men should say all manner of evil of them falsely, for the Lord's sake. 6. It is expected of all who desire to continue in these societies, that they should continue to evidence their desire of salvation, Thirdly, by attending upon all the or- dinnnces of God : such are, The public worship of God ; The ministry of the word, either read or expounded ; The Supper of the Lord ; Family and private prayer; Searching the scriptures; and Fasting or abstinence. 7. These are the general rules of our societies; all which we are taught of God to observe, even in his written word, which is the only rule, and the sufficient rule, both of our faith and practice. And all these we know his Spirit writes on truly awakened hearts. If there be any among us who observe them not, who habitually break any of them : let it be known unto them who watch over that soul, as they who must give an account. We will admonish him of the error of his ways ; we will bear with him for a sea- son. But, if then, he repent not, he hath no more place among us. We have de- livered our own souls. Efforts have been made and are now making to restore the rule relating to I drunkenness to the phraseology in which Mr. Wesley left it ; but as these rules are declared to be unalterable by the restric- tive regulations which bind the action of the General Conference, except on the recommendation of three-fourths of all the members of the several annual confer- I ences who shall be present and vote on | such recommendation, and then by a vote , of two-thirds of the General Conference : a sufficient number of votes has not been ! procured to effect the alteration. With these introductory remarks we proceed to a few historical sketches of the rise and progress of Methodism on this continent. The first Methodist society in America, was established in the city of New York, in the year 1766. The circumstances attending this event were somewhat pecu- liar, and mark the providence of God over his people, in a very striking manner. A few pious emigrants from Ireland, who, previously to their removal, had been members of the Methodist society in their own country, landed in this city. Among their number was Mr. Philip Embury, a local preacher. Coming among strangers and finding no pious associates with whom they could confer, they came very near making " shipwreck of faith and a good conscience." In this state of religious declension they were found the next year on the arrival of another family from Ire- land, among whom was a pious " mother in Israel,"' to whose zeal in the cause of God they were all indebted for the revival of the spirit of piety amoni: them. Soon after her arrival she ascertained that those, who had preceded her, had so far departed HI8T0Itt OP THE METHODI8T EPISCOPAL CHI RCH. B6I from their " first k>ve,M aa to be mingling in the frivolities and amusementa of t i i « - world. Tii" knowledge of this painful : her indignation ; and, with a ,.iirh deserves commemoration, she suddenly entered the room in which they were assembled, seized the pack of cards with which they were playing, and threw them into the fire. She then addressed f to them in tonus of expostulation, and turning to .Mr. Embury, she said: M Yon must preach to us, or wo shall all go to bell together, and God will require our blood at your hands!'1 This pointed appeal had its intended effect, in awaken- ins his attention to tin- peril of their con- ilition. Yet, as if to excuse himself from the performance of an obvious duty, he tremblingly replied: "I cannot preach, for I have neither a house nor congrcria- tion." M Preach in your own house first, and to our own company," was the reply. Feeling the responsibility of his situation, and not being able any longer to resist the importunities of his reprover, he con- sented to comply with her request, and accordingly he preached his first sermon " in his own hired house," to five persons only. Tli is, it is believed, was the first Methodist sermon ever preached in Amer- ica. As they continued to assemble together for mutual edification, so their numbers were gradually increased, and they were comforted and strengthened by " exhort- ing one another daily." Notwithstanding the fewness of their number, and the se- cluded manner in which they held their meetings : they very soon began to at- tract attention, and they accordingly found that they must either procure a larger place, or preclude many from their meet- ings who were desirous to attend. This led them to rent a room of larger dimensions in the neighborhood, the ex- pense of which was paid by voluntary contributions. An event happened soon after they began to assemble in this place, which brought them into more public no- tice, and attracted a greater number of hearers. This was the arrival of Captain Webb, an officer of the British army, at that time stationed in Albany, in the State of Xew York. He had been brought to the knowledge of the truth, under the searching ministry of the Rev. John Wes- lej , in the city of Bristol, I, about the year, 17<>~>; ami, though a military eharacter, luch was Ins thirst for the vation of immortal souls, th.it be a constrained to declare unto them the lov- ing kindness of ( fad, His lirst appearance as a stranger among the u little flock" in the city of .\.w fork, in his military costume, gave them some uneasiness, as they feared that he had come to "spy out their liberties," off t<> interrupt them in their solemn assem- blies ; but when they saw him kneel in prayer, and otherwise participate with them in the worship of God, their fears were exchanged for joy, and on a farther acquaintance they found Captain Webb had " partaken of like precious faith" with themselves. He was accordingly invited to preach. The novelty of his appearance in the badges of a military officer, excited no little surprise. This, together with the energy with which he spoke in the name of the Lord Jesus, drew many to the place of worship, and hence the room in which they now assembled, soon became too small to accommodate all who wished to assemble. But what greatly encouraged them was, that sinners were awakened and converted to God, and added to the little society. To accommodate all who wished to hear, they next hired a rigging-loft in William Street, and fitted it up for a place of wor- ship. Here they assembled for a consi- derable time, and were edified in faith and love, under the labors of Mr. Embury, who was occasionally assisted by Captain Webb. While the society was thus going for- ward in their " work of faith and labor of love" in New York : Captain WTcbb made excursions upon Long Island, and even went as far as Philadelphia, preaching, wherever he could find an opening, the gospel of the Son of God ; and success attended his labors, many being awakened to a sense of their sinfulness through his pointed ministry, and were brought to the " knowledge of salvation by the remission of sins." In consequence of the acces- of numbers to the society, and the eon- tinual increase of those who wished to hear the word : the rigging-loft became also too 46 362 HISTORY OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. small, and they began to consult together ' on the propriety of building a house of ; worship. But in the accomplishment of this pious undertaking, many difficulties were to be encountered. The members in the society I were yet but few in number, most of them j of the poorer class, and of course had but a limited acquaintance and influence in the community. For some time they were in painful suspense. But while all were deliberating on the most suitable means to be adopted to accomplish an ob- ject so desirable : the elderly lady, whose pious zeal has been already mentioned, while earnestly engaged in prayer for direction in this important enterprise, re- ceived, with inexpressible sweetness and power, this answer, I, tJie Lord, will do it. At the same time a plan was sug- gested to her mind, which, on being sub- mitted to the society, was generally ap- proved of, and finally adopted. They proceeded to issue a subscription paper, waited on the mayor of the city and other opulent citizens, to whom they explained their object, and received from them such liberal donations, that they succeeded in purchasing several lots in John Street, on which they erected a house of worship 60 feet in length, by 42 in breadth, calling it, from respect to the venerable founder of Methodism, Wesley Chapel. This was the first meeting-house ever erected for a Methodist congregation in America ; this was in the year, 1768 ; and the first ser- mon was preached in it, October 30, 1768, by Mr. Embury. This, therefore, may be considered as the beginning of Metho- dism in this country. While this house was in progress, feel- ing the necessity of a more competent preacher, they addressed a letter to Mr. Wesley, urging upon him the propriety of sending them the needful help. So zealous were they in this good cause, that, after describing at large the general state of things here, they say : " With respect to money for the payment of the preach- ers' passage over, if they could not pro- cure it, we would sell our coats and shirts to procure it for them." Such an appeal had its effect. Mr. Wesley immediately adopted measures for complying with their request, and two preachers, namely, Richard Boardman and Joseph Pillmore, volunteered their services ibr America ; and Mr. WTesley sent with them fifty pounds, " As," he says, " a token of our brotherly love." These were the first regular itinerant preachers who visited this country ; and they landed at Gloucester point, six miles below Philadelphia, October 24, 1769. They immediately entered upon their Master's work, Mr. Boardman taking his station in New York, and Mr. Pillmore in Philadelphia, occasionally exchanging with one another, and sometimes making excursions into the country. WTherever they went, multitudes flocked to hear the word, and many were induced to seek an interest in the Lord Jesus Christ. About the same time that Mr. Embury was thus laying the foundation for this spiritual edifice in New York, and Cap- tain Webb was, to use his own words, " felling the trees on Long Island," and some other places : Mr. Robert Straw- bridge, another local preacher from Ire- land, came over and settled in Frederick county, Maryland, and commenced preach- ing " Christ and him crucified" with suc- cess, many sinners being reclaimed from the error of their ways by his instrumen- tality. After spending some time in Phi- ladelphia, preaching with great fervor and acceptance to the people, Mr. Pillmore paid a visit to Mr. Strawbridge, in Mary- land, and endeavored to strengthen his hands in the Lord. He also went into some parts of Virginia and North Caro- lina ; and wherever he went he found the people eager to hear the gospel, to whom lie preached with success, and formed some societies. On his return to Phila- delphia, under date of October 31, 1769, he addressed an encouraging letter to Mr. Wesley, in which he states that there were about one hundred members in so- ciety in that city, which shows the good effects of Captain Webb's labors among that people. Mr. Boardman, on his arrival in New York, found the society in a prosperous state under the labors of Mr. Embury. On the 24th of April, 1770, he addressed a letter to Mr. Wesley, in which he in- forms him that the house would contain about 700 people, and that he found a HISTORY OF THE METHODI8T BPI8C0PAL CHI RCH ■ tiling people to hear, and the pros- rery irhere brightening before him. local preachers occasionally came mil were employed with various de- of useiuln Prom tliis encouraging representation of things, Mr. Wesley was induced to adopt measures for furnishing additional laborers in this part of the Lord's vine- yard. Accordingly, the next year, 1771, .Mr. Francis Asbury, and .Mr. Richard Wright, offered themselves for this work, Snare accepted by Mr. Wesley, and sent with the blessing of God to the help of their brethren in America. They landed in Philadelphia, October 7, 1771, and immediately repaired to the meeting, and heard a sermon from Mr. Pillmore, whom they found at his station and in his work. They were most cordially received. " The people,*1 says Mr. Asbury, " looked on us with pleasure, hardly knowing how to show their love sufficiently, bidding us welcome with fervent affection, and re- ceiving us as angels of God." On his arrival, Mr. Asbury, who had been appointed by Mr. Wesley to the general charge of the work, commenced a more extended method of preaching the gospel, by itinerating through the country, as well as preaching in the cities ; by which means a more diffusive range was given to the work of God. His energetic example excited the others to a more zeal- , ous activity in the cause, and hence many new societies were established, and brought under disciplinary regulations. In Kent county, Maryland, and various places in Virginia and North Carolina, through the labors of Mr. Strawbridge and Robert Williams, preaching was commenced; and these places were visited by Mr. As- bury and Mr. Pillmore, the latter of whom visited Norfolk, Virginia, and penetrated into North and South Carolina ; nor did he stop until he reached Savannah, Geor- gia. In this way the work of reformation went on until the arrival of Mr. Rankin, in June, 1773, who, being appointed to supersede Mr. Asbury as general superin- tendent, held the first conference in the city of Philadelphia, July 4, 1773, at which time there were 10 travelling preachers, and 1160 members in the va- rious societies.. At this conference, they adopted the Wealeyan plan of stationing ilw preachers, and taking minutes of their doings. Tin- fust rowing house in tbe city of Baltimore was built early in the year 17"; i. It appears that God blessed the labors of his servants tins year, and that they extended their labors into the State of Mew Jersey, and into various places in the states before mentioned; tor we timl that at the next conference, which was held May 25, 1774, in the city of Phila- delphia, they had so increased that there were returned on the minutes 17 travel- ling preachers, and 2073 private members. During this year, Messrs. Boardmaa and Pillmore left the continent, and return- ed to England ; the former, who had much endeared himself to the people by his truly Christian deportment, and faithfulness in preaching, never to return ; the latter soon came back, was admitted and ordained a minister in the Protestant Episcopal Church, in which he remained until his death. Through the labors of Mr. Wil- liams, the work extended to Petersburg, Virginia, and from there over the Roanoke river some distance into North Carolina ; so that three preachers were sent from the conference into that part of the vineyard, and towards the close of the year a most remarkable revival of religion followed their efforts. Such were the blessed effects of their evangelical labors, that they had increased, as was found at the next con- ference, to 3148, and the number of preachers was 19. No one individual contributed more to extend the work of God on every hand, than Mr. Asbury, who travelled exten- sively and labored most indefatigably for the salvation of souls, devoting his whole time and attention to this holy work. Others, to be sure, imitated his noble exam- ple, among whom was Mr. Shadford, whose labors were greatly blessed ; as also the Rev. Mr. Jarrat, a pious and evangelical minister of the English Church, who en- tered heartily into the work, giving the | weight of his influence in favor of experi- mental and practical godliness, and assisted the Methodist preachers much by his cordial co-operation with them, as also by- administering baptism and the Lord's 364 HISTORY OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. Supper, to the children and members of their congregations. And though the minds of the people began to be much ex- cited on the subject of the war which was then approaching ; they were blessed with one of the most remarkable revivals of religion which had ever been witnessed in that part of the country, or, indeed, in any other portion of America. An account of this great work, written by Mr. Jarret, was published and extensively read at the time. God began now to raise up men in this country to preach that gospel which they had found u to be the power of God unto salvation." Among others, we find Free- born Garrettson, whose name appears on the minutes of conference of 1776, and who became one of the most zealous and successful ministers of the Lord Jesus. It is not to be supposed that this great work would go on without opposition. The lukewarm clergy and the wicked of all classes manifested their hostility in a variety of ways ; but they were so far from retarding the work, that their persecution only tended to add a fresh stimulus to the fervent zeal of God's servants, and to make them more bold and courageous in the cause which they had espoused. In the year 1776, after the revolutionary contest had commenced, persecution against the Metho- dist missionaries found a pretext in the fact, that most of them were from England, and that some of them had manifested a partiality for their king and country, and moreover that they were all under the direction of a leader who had written against the American principles and mea- sures. In consequence of this, all the English preachers, except Mr. Asbury, returned home before the close of the year 1777, and early in the year 1778, he was obliged to seclude himself from public ob- servation, which he did by retiring to the house of Judge White, a pious member of the society, in the State of Delaware, where he remained, only occasionally visiting his friends and preaching private- ly, for about one year. He was not the only sufferer during that troublesome time. Mr. Freeborn Garrettson was whipped, thrown from his horse, bruised and mangled, and finally cast into prison, for preaching the word of life. Mr. Joseph Hartley, also, was persecuted in a variety of ways, and at I last imprisoned. Their friends, however, interceded for them, the hearts of their enemies were softened, and finding no just j cause for their condemnation, they were j liberated, and soon they preached the gos- pel with such power, that in those very places where the persecution had raged, God poured out his Spirit, and thousands were converted to God, among whom were many of their most violent persecutors. During the war of the revolution, as might be expected, the preachers and people had to contend with a variety of difficulties ; some places, particularly New York and Norfolk, had to be abandoned entirely, and others were but partially supplied. Yet they held on their way, and God owned and blessed their pious efforts ; so that at the conference of 1783, at the close of this sanguinary conflict, they had 43 preachers, and 13,740 pri- vate members ; so greatly had God pros- pered them, even in the midst of war and bloodshed. We come now, in 1784, to a very im- portant era in the history of Methodism. The independence of the United States had been achieved, and acknowledged by the powers of Europe ; and the churches in this country had become totally separated from all connection with the hierarchy of England, the Methodist societies as well as others. Hitherto the Methodist preachers had been considered merely as lay-preach- ers, and of course had not authority to administer the ordinances; and hence the members of the societies had been depen- dent upon other ministers for the rite of baptism and the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. This had created so much dis- satisfaction among them that, contrary to the wishes and advice of Mr. Asbury and many others, some of the southern preach- ers, in the year 1770, had ordained each other, and began to form a party to whom they administered the ordinances. Through the persuasive influence of Mr. Asbury and those who believed and acted with him, these malecontents had desisted from their disorderly proceedings ; and now, at the close of the revolutionary struggle, they united in urging upon Mr. Wesley the necessity and propriety of his adopting histoid OF THE METHODI8T BPI8UOPAL cm RCH. • i aflbrd them relief. Though he had hitherto resisted .-ill solicitations to exercise the power with which he fully believed the great I lead of the ( )hurch li.nl id him, to ordain preachers for the benefit *>f his own societies, because he ilnl not wish to disturb the established or- der of things in the Church of England : vet now, that that church had no longer any jurisdiction in thifl country, he felt himself at full liberty, as he did not inter- fere with any man's right, to set apart iin'ii whom he judged well qualified for that work, to administer the sacraments to the Methodists in America. Accordingly, on the 2d day of September, in the year of our Lord, 1784, assisted by other pres- byters, he consecrated Thomas Coke, LL. 1.)., a presbyter in the Church of England, as a superintendent, and likewise ordained Richard Whatcoat and Thomas Vasey to the office of elders, and sent them over to America, with instructions to organize the societies here into a separate and indepen- dent church, furnishing them, at the same time, with forms of ordinaiion for deacons, elders, and superintendents, and likewise with forms for administering baptisms and the consecration and administration of the elements of the Lord's Supper. Being thus furnished with proper credentials, Dr. Coke, in company with Messrs. What- coat and Vasey, sailed for this country ; and at a conference which was called for the express purpose of considering the plan prepared by Mr. Wesley, convened in the city of Baltimore, December 25, 1784, the measures were unanimously approved of; Dr. Coke was recognised in his character of superintendent ; Mr. As- bury was unanimously elected a joint superintendent with him ; and, on the 27th day of the same month, he was consecrat- ed by Dr. Coke, assisted by several elders, having been previously ordained deacon and elder, to his high and responsible office. Twelve others of the preachers were elected and consecrated deacons and elders, and three to the order of deacon. Mr. Wesley had also sent an abridgment of the Book of Common Prayer, contain- ing the forms of service above mentioned, and also twenty-five articles of religion, accompanied with various other rules for the regulation of the ministers and mem- bars of the newly-formed church, all of which won- adopted by th<- conference. Being thus regularly organized, the) wont forth to their work with renewed faith and zeal, and were ev< ry where re- ceived by the people in their proper char- acter, as accredited ministers of the Lord Jeaus, duly authorised to administer the ordinances of God's word, and to perform all the functions belonging to their holy office. As this organization has frequently been assailed as being unscriptural, and con- trary to primitive usage: it may !><• well to state a few of the arguments on which it rests for support. 1. In the first place, there appeared to be a loud call for these measures, arising from the general state of things in this country. As to the clergy of the English Church, the most of them had fled from the country during the stormy day, and those who remained, with very few excep- tions, were fit for any thing rather than for ministers of the gospel. From the hands of these men the Methodists were unwilling to receive the ordinances. As to the Presbyterians and Congregation- alists, they would neither baptize the chil- dren unless at least one of the parents pro- fessed faith in their doctrines, nor admit these to the communion table, unless they became members of their church. The Baptists were more rigid than either, as they would admit none to church-fellow- ship unless they had been baptized by im- mersion. To none of these conditions could the Methodists conscientiously sub- mit. Hence a necessity, originating from the state of things in this 'country, com- pelled them either to remain destitute of the ordinances, to administer them with unconsecrated hands, or to provide for them in the manner they did. 2. Those who laid hands on Messrs. Whatcoat and Vasey, namely, Mr. Wes- ley, Dr. Coke, and Mr. Creighton, were all regular presbyters in the Church of England ; and those who laid hands on Dr. Coke, and thereby set him apart for a superintendent of the Methodist Episcopal Church in America, were also presbyters, regularly ordained to that order and office in the Church of God. 3. It appears manifest, from several 3GG HISTORY OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. passages of scripture, particularly Acts xiii. 1, 2, and 1 Tim. iv. 14, and the tes- timonies of the primitive fathers of the church, that presbyters and bishops were of the same order, and that they originally possessed and exercised the power of or- dination. 4. The doctrine of an uninterrupted succession from the Apostles, in a third order, made such by a triple consecration, as distinct from and superior to elders, has been discarded by many of the most emi- nent ecclesiastical writers, as resting upon no solid foundation, not being susceptible of proof from any authentic source. 5. Mr. Wesley possessed rights over the Methodists which no other man did or could possess, because they were his spir- itual children, raised up under his preach- ing superintendence, and hence they justly looked to him for a supply of the ordi- nances of Jesus Christ. 6. Therefore, in exercising the power of ordination, and providing for the or- ganization of the Methodist societies in America into a church, he invaded no other man's right, nor yet assumed that which did not belong to him. 7. Hence he did not, as the objection which this argument is designed to refute supposes, ordain either presbyters or a bishop for the English Church, or for any other church then existing, but simply and solely for the Methodist societies in Amer- ica ; and, therefore, in doing this neces- sary work, he neither acted inconsistently with himself as a presbyter of the Church of England, nor incompatibly with his frequent avowals to remain in that church, and not to separate from it. 8. For, in fact, in organizing the Me- thodist Episcopal Church he did not sepa- rate either from the English or Protestant Episcopal Church ; for the former had no existence in America, and the Methodist Episcopal Church was organized three years before the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States. Hence he acted perfectly consistently with himself, with all his avowals of at- tachment to the Church of England, while he proceeded to organize a church here ; for, while he did this, and thereby estab- lished a separate and independent church in America, where the English Church had no jurisdiction, where both the politi- cal and ecclesiastical power of England, was totally annihilated, and where the Protestant Episcopal Church had then no existence, he and his people in England still remained members of the Church of England. Nor did he invade the rights of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the least degree, seeing it had no existence at that time in the United States. 9. While the scriptures are silent in respect to the particular form of church government which should be established, they certainly allow of an episcopal form, because it is not incompatible with any known precept or usage of primitive Christianity. 10. This is farther manifest from the acknowledged fact that the apostles and evangelists did exercise a jurisdiction over the entire church — presbyters, dea- cons, and people ; though at the same time there is no proof that as to ministerial order, they were higher than presbyters. 11. Distinguishing, therefore, between the power of ordination and the power of jurisdiction, we may see how an epis- copal government may be created by a presbyterial ordination, and hence justify the act of Mr. Wesley and his associates in- setting apart Dr. Coke to the office of a superintendent. 12. Another argument in favor of these measures arises out of the character of the men engaged in this business. As for John Wesley, it is almost superfluous to say anything in his commendation, as his qualifications for a minister of the Lord Jesus, his deep experience in the things of God, the evangelical character, and the astonishing success of his ministrations, place him beyond the reach of censure, and elevate him high in the estimation of all who know how to estimate true worth of character. As to Dr. Coke, for about six years previous to his sailing to America, he had given evidence of an entire devotion to the cause of God, of a genuine experience of divine things, and of his ardent attach- ment to the cause of Methodism as pro- mulgated by Mr. Wesley. Mr. Creighton was a presbyter of the Church of England, a man of sound un- derstanding and of deep piety. HISTORY OF THE METHODI8T EPI8COPAL ('III RCH. the men, all regularly ordained preebj ten of the < Ihurch of Eng- land, who consecrated Messrs. NVhatcoal and Vaaey, and then they assisted in the consecration of Dr. Coke to the office of a superintendent. An. I as to Mr. Francis Asbury, be had famished the most indubitable evidence of his qualifications to till the oilier to which he was called both by the appoint* men1 of Mr. Wesley and the unanimous if his brethren, those very brethren who had home witness to his conduct for it bout eleven years, during which time he had made "full proof of his ministry," and whose subsequent life fully justified the wisdom of their choice. These arc the facts, expressed in as tew words as possible, on which we found the validity of our church organization, of our ministerial orders, and the scrip- tural character of our ordinances. Having so particularly detailed the his- tory of this church thus far, our subse- quent narrative must necessarily be brief, as the space allotted to this article will not allow of a very minute presentation of facts. Being thus regularly organized, and furnished with proper credentials as min- isters of the Lord Jesus, they went forth to their work with greater confidence than ever, and the Lord abundantly blessed their labors to the awakening and conver- sion of souls. New circuits were formed, new societies were established, and be- lli vers were " built up upon their most holy faith." And as they thus spread abroad in every direction, over such a large surface of country '. it became in- convenient for the preachers all to as- semble annually in one conference for the transaction of business ; hence several conferences were held the same year, at suitable distances from each other, at which the superintending bishop attended, presided over their deliberations, ordained such as were elected by the conferences to the order of deacons or elders, and ap- pointed the preachers to their several stations and circuits. The first General Conference was held in the year 1792. The necessity for this arose out of the increase of their work, the incompet ncj of the m r< ral an- nual conferences to form rule- and lations in harmony one with the other, which should !)<■ banding apon the whole, and the utter impracticability of then all coming together at the same t i 1 1 n • and place to do their business. To i' the inconvenience arising out of ih of things, the annual confer* aces had agreed that there should be a General Conference held once in four years, to be composed of all the travelling eld lull connection, to whom should be mitted the entire authority of making rules for the regulation of the church. At this General Conference a secession was made, headed by James O'Kelly, B presiding elder in Virginia; becfeuse he was dissatisfied with the bishop's power of stationing the preachers, and pleaded for an appeal to the Conference. This caused considerable disturbance for a sea- son, in some parts of Virginia and North Carolina; but he very soon lost his influ- ence, and his party became scattered, and finally came to naught ; while the Method- ist Episcopal Church went on its way in- creasing in numbers and influence. At this time there were 266 travelling preach- ers, and 65,9S0 members of the church. Circuits had been formed and societies es- tablished throughout nearly every State and Territory in the Union, and also in Upper Canada, the whole of which was under the able and energetic superintend- ing of Bishop Asbury, who travelled from six to seven thousand miles annually, preaching generally every day, and on the sabbath twice or thrice. In 1800, Richard Whatcoat was elected and ordained a bishop, and immediately entered upon his work, and greatly as- sisted Bishop Asbury in his arduous la- bors. Such was the increase of members and preachers, that it was found quite incon- venient for even all the elders to assemble in General Conference quadrennially ; and hence in 1808, measures were adopted to form a delegated General Conference, to be composed of not less than one for every ■even of the members of the annual con- ferences, nor more than one for every five, to be chosen either by ballot or by seni- ority ; at the same time the power of this 363 HISTORY OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. delegated conference was limited by con- stitutional restrictions. The first delegated conference assem- bled in the city of New York, in the year 1812, in which Bishops Asburv and Mq- Hendree, the latter of whom had been elected and consecrated a bishop in 1808, presided. In 1816, Bishop Asburv died, | and in the same year, at the General Conference held in Baltimore, Enoch George, and Robert R. Roberts, were elected and consecrated bishops. In 1619, the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church was formed. Its object was " to assist the several an- nual conferences to extend their mission- ary labors throughout the United States and elsewhere." This society has con- tributed mightily to diffuse the work of God, in the poor and destitute portions of our own country, among the aboriginal tribes of the United States and territories, among the slaves of the South, and South- west, and it has sent its missionaries to Africa, to South America, and even to Oregon, beyond the Rocky Mountains ; and thousands will doubtless rise up at a future day and praise God for the bles- sings they have received through the in- strumentality of this godlike institution. In this way the good work has con- tinued to spread until now, 1643, when there are 4,286 travelling, and 7,730 local preachers, and 1,068,525 private mem- bers of the church, including exhorters, stewards, class leaders, and trustees. This great prosperity, however, has not been unattended with difficulties from without, as well as within the church. Various individuals have arisen at differ- ent times, who have become dissatisfied with the government and some of the usages of the church, and not being able to effect an alteration in conformity to their wishes, have finally seceded and at- tempted to establish separate communities. The most considerable of these, beside that of James OTvelly, already mentioned, i was that which took place in 1830, when ! the " Methodist Protestant Church" was formed by a convention of delegates, as- sembled by previous arrangement, in the city of Baltimore, in which they provided for a mixture of lay and clerical influence in the government, both in the legislative, judicial, and executive departments; in the mean time abolishing Episcopacy, and substituting, in the place of bishops, presi- dents of their Annual and General Con- ferences, to be elected whenever those bodies may assemble for the transaction of business. They hold fast, however, all the fundamental doctrines of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and likewise retain the use of class and quarterly meetings, love-feasts, and the sacramental services, annual and general conferences, and an itinerant ministry. Another secession has just commenced, ostensibly on the abolition principles and movements ; but they manifest the like hostility to those features of our govern- ment growing out of the Episcopal form, and seem determined to establish one more in conformity with their views of equal rights and privileges. How far these brethren may realize their wishes, remains to be seen. It is certainly an evidence of the strong con- victions with which all the leading doc- trines of the Methodist Episcopal Church have been received, that none of the se- ceding bodies have abjured any of these ; and so far as they may succeed in propa- gating them, we wish them all success, while we cannot but think, that they would have given them a still wider circulation had they remained quietly and firmly at- tached to their brethren, and continued to work in the " old ways." Be this as it may, the Methodist Episcopal Church so far from being shaken by these thrusts at her peculiarities, or retarded in her career of usefulness, has seemed to assume greater stability, and much to increase in her pros- perity ; and this, doubtless, she will do, so long as she keeps " a single eye" to the glory of God, and aims simply and solely, as it is believed she has done heretofore, for the salvation of a lost and ruined world. DOCTRINES. The following articles of faith contain all the cardinal doctrines of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and are declared, by the restrictive regulations which limit the powers of the General Conference, to be unalterable. HISTORY OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL (111 Kill. I. or RtfA in th* Unlii Trinity.— There is but om> living and true God, everlasting, without body or parte, of in- finite power, wisdom, ami goodness, the maker ami preserver of all things, visible and invisible. And in unity of this (i.ul- Jic.i.l there are three persona of one sub* Stance, power, and eternity: — the Father, ,i, and the I loly Ghost, II. Of the Word, or Son of God, who was made very Man. — The Son, who is th ■• Word of the Father, the very and eternal God, of one substance with the Pat her, took man's nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin ; so that two whole and perfect natures, that is to say, the God- head and manhood, were joined together in one person, never to be divided, whereof is one Christ, very God and very man, who truly suffered, was crucified, dead and buried, to reconcile his Father to us, and to be a sacrifice, not only for original guilt, but also for actual sins of men. III. Of the Resurrection of Christ. — Christ did truly rise again from the dead, and took again his body, with all things appertaining to the perfection of man's nature, wherewith he ascended into heaven, and there sitteth until he return to judge all men at the last day. IV. Of the Holy Ghost.— The Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father and the Son, is of one substance, majesty, and glory with the Father and the Son, very and eternal God. V. The Sufficiency of the Holy Scrip- tures for Salvation. — The Holy Scrip- tures contain all things necessary to sal- vation ; so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation. By the name of the Holy Scripture we do understand those canonical books of the Old and New Testament, of whose au- thority was never any doubt in the Church. The Names of the Canonical Books. — Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Du- teuronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, the First Book of Samuel, the Second Book of Sa- muel, the First Book of Kings, the Second Book of Kings, the First Book of Chroni- cles, the Second Book of Chronicles, the Book of Ezra, the Book of Nchemiah, the Booh of Esther, the Booh of Job, the Psalms, the Proverbs, Ecc of the Preacher, Cantica, or Songs <•!" Solomon, Pour Prophets the greater, Twelve Proph< In the less : all the books of the New ' nient, as thej are commonly received, we do receive and account canonical. VI. Of tlic Old Testament.— The Old Testament is not contrary to the New ; for both in tin; Old and New Testament everlasting life is offered to mankind by Christ, who is the only .Mediator between God and man, being both God and man. Wherefore they are not to be heard who feign that the old fathers did look only for transitory promises. Although the law given from God by Moses, as touching ceremonies and rites, doth not bind Chris- tians, nor ought the civil precepts thereof of necessity be received in any common- wealth : yet, notwithstanding, no Chris- tian whatsoever is free from the obedience of the commandments which are called moral. VII. Of Original or Birth Sin.— Ori- ginal sin standeth not in the following of Adam, (as the Pelagians do vainly talk.) but it is the corruption of the nature of every man, that naturally is engendered of the offspring of Adam, whereby man is very far gone from original righteous- ness, and of his own nature inclined to evil, and that continuallv. VIII. Of Free Will.— The condition of man after the fall of Adam is such, that he cannot turn and prepare himself, by his own natural strength and works, to faith, and calling upon God ; wherefore we have no power to do good works, pleasant and acceptable to Godr without the grace of God by Christ preventing us, that we may have a good will, and work- ing with us, when we have that good will. IX. Of the Justification of Man. — We are accounted righteous before God, only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by faith, and not for our own works or deservings : — wherefore, that we are justified by faith only, is a most whole- some doctrine, and verv full of comfort. X. Of Gorxi Works.— Although good works, which are the fruits of faith, and follow after justification, cannot put away our sins, and endure the severity of God's judgments : yet are they pleasing and 47 370 HISTORY OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. tble to God in Christ, and spring out of a true and lively faith, insomuch that by them a lively faith may be as evi- dently known as a tree is discerned by its fruit. XI. Of Works of Supererogation. — Voluntary works, besides, over and above God's commandments, which are called works of supererogation cannot be taught without arrogancy ami impiety. For by them men do declare that they do not only render unto God as much as they are bound to do, but that they do more for his sake than of bounden duty is required ; whereas Christ saith plainly, "When ye have done all that is commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants. XII. Of Sin after Justification. — Xot every sin willingly committed after justi- fication is the sin against the Holy Ghost, and unpardonable. Wherefore, the grant of repentance is not to be denied to such !; as fall into sin after justification : after we have received the Holy Ghost, we may 'depart from grace given, and fall into sin, and, by the grace of God, rise again and amend our lives. And therefore they are to be condemned who say they can no more sin as long as they live here ; or j deny the place of forgiveness to such as j truly repent. XIII. Of the Church.— The visible I Church of Christ is a congregation of faithful men, in which the pure word of God is preached, and the sacraments duly administered according to Christ's ordi- nance in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same. XIV. Of Purgatory. — The Romish doctrine concerning purgatory, pardon, worshipping, and adoration, as well of images as of relics, and also invocation of saints, is a foul thing, vainly invented, and grounded upon no warrant of scrip- ture, but repugnant to the word of God. XV. Of speaking in the Congregation - xh a Tongue as the People under- ■7. — It is a thing plainly repugnant to the word of God, and the custom of the primitive Church, to have public prayer in the Church, or to minister the sacra- ments, in a tongue not understood by the people. XVI. Of the Sarraincnts. — Sacra- ments, ordained of Christ, are not only badges or tokens of Christian men's pro- fession ; but rather they are certain signs of grace, and God's good will toward us, by which he doth work invisibly in us, and doth not only quicken, but also strengthen and confirm our faith in him. There are two sacraments ordained of Christ our Lord in the gospel ; that is to say, Baptism and the Supper of the Lord. Those five commonly called sacraments ; that is to say, confirmation, penance, or- ders, matrimony, and extreme unction, are not to be counted for sacraments of the gospel, being such as have partly grown out of the corrupt following of the Apostles — and partly are states of life allowed in the scriptures, but yet have not the like nature of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, because they have not any visible sign, or ceremony ordained of God. The sacraments were not ordained of Christ to be gazed upon or to be- carried about ; but that we should duly use them. And in such only as worthily receive the same, they have a wholesome effect or operation ; but they that receive them un- worthily, purchase to themselves con- demnation, as St. Paul saith, 1 Cor. xi. 29. XVII. Of Baptism, — Baptism is not only a sign of profession, and mark of difference, whereby Christians are distin- guished from others that are not baptized ; but it is also a sign of regeneration, or the new birth. The baptism of young chil- dren is to be retained in the Church. XVIII. Of the Lord's Supper.— The Supper of the Lord is not only a sign of the love that Christians ought to have among themselves one to another, but rather is a sacrament of our redemption by Christ's death : insomuch that, to such as rightly, worthily, and with faith receive the same, the bread which we break is a partaking of the body of Christ; and likewise the cup of blessing is a partaking of the blood of Christ. Transubstantiation, or the change of the substance of bread and wine in the Supper of our Lord, cannot be proved by Holy Writ, but is repugnant to the plain words of scripture, overthroweth the na- ture of a sacrament, and hath given occa- sion to many superstitions. The body of Christ is given, taken, and eaten in the Supper, only after a heavenly HISTORY OF THE METHODI8T EPISCOPAL < II i RCH. :;-. I and spiritual manner, Vnd the means, whereby t } «* - bodj of Christ Is received tnd oaten in the Supper, is faith. The sacrament of the Lord's Supper vras not by Christ's ordinance reserved, carried about, lifted up, or worshipped, \l\. Of both kinds.— The cup of the Lord is uot to be denied to the lay people; for both the parts of the Lord's Supper, by Christ's ordinance and commandment, ought to be administered to all Christians alike. \ \. Of the one Oblation of Christ fin* is/in! upon the Cross. — The offering of Christ, once made, is that perfect redemp- iton, propitiation, and satisfaction for all the sins of the whole work!, both original and actual; and there is none other satisfaction for sin but that alone. Wherefore the sacrifice of masses, in the which it is commonly said, that the priest doth offer Christ for the quick and the dead, to have remission of pain or guilt, is a blasphe- mous fable, and dangerous deceit. XXI. Of t/ie Mar singe of Ministers. — The ministers of Christ arc not com- manded by God's law either to vow the estate of single life, or to. abstain from marriage ; therefore it is lawful for them, as for all other Christians, to marry at their own discretion, as they shall judge the same to serve best to godliness. XXII. OftJie Rites and Ceremonies of Churches. — It is not necessary that rites and ceremonies should in all places be the same, or exactly alike : for they have been always different, and may be changed according to the diversity of countries, times, and men's manners, so that nothing be ordained against God's word. Who- soever, through his private judgment, wil- lingly and purposely doth openly break the rites and ceremonies of the church to which he belongs, which are not repug- nant to the word of God, and are ordained and approved by common authority, ought to be rebuked openly, that others may fear to do the like, as one that offendeth against the common order of the church, and woundeth the consciences of weak brethren. Every particular church may ordain, change, or abolish rites and ceremonies, so that all things may be done to edifica- tion. Will. OJ the Rulen of the United SUUet "I Aiii'tiin. — 'I'll.- president, the congress, the general assemblies, tli tremors, and the councils of state, , by tli<- Rev, John Dickens, who was the first book-steward, and was at that time stationed in the city of Phila- delphia, where the hook business was be- Lcnii. Its commencement was very small, lor it had no capital to begin with, except about six hundred dollars, which John Dickens lent to the Concern, to enable it to commence its benevolent operations. It has gone on from that time, however, gradually increasing the number and va- riety ofits publications, until it has reached its present enlarged dimensions. Its loca- tion is 200 Mulberry Street, in the city of New York. The entire establishment is under the control of the General Conference, who elect the agents and editors, and appoint the Book Committee, to the general super- vision of which, together with the general superintendence of the New York Confer- ence, all its concerns are committed during the interval of the General Conference. Here are published a great variety of books on theological, historical, scientific, and philosophical subjects, Bibles and Testaments, Commentaries upon the Holy Scriptures, a Quarterly Review, and a Weekly Religious Journal, Sunday School books, and tracts, all of which have an extensive circulation throughout the United States and Territories. There is also a branch establishment at Cincinnati, Ohio, where all the works issued at New York are sold, and, some of them re-published ; two periodicals are issued, one monthly, called the Ladies' Repository, and the other weekly, called the Western Christian Advocate and Jour- nal. These have a wide circulation, par- ticularly in the Western States and Terri- tories, and are doubtless doing much good. In addition to these there are four week- lv papers : one at Richmond, Va. ; one at Charleston, S. C. ; one at Nashville, Tenn., and another at Pittsburg, Pa., published under the patronage of the General Con- ference ; and two others, one at Boston, Mass., and the other at Geneva, N. Y. ; the former is published under the patron- age of the New England, Providence, t Maine, and \ • 1 1 irrfpshire I and the latter on ita on a n These, it ii believed, are exerting a highly favorable influence on the community, in proportion to their circulation rei pectively, which, though not as large as the others, is very considerable. The primary object of this ; lishmeht, is identical with the preaching of the gospel, namely, to spread scriptural holiness over the land, by bringing sinners to the "knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus," and the building of believer in their most holy faith." Whatever pe- cuniary profits may arise from th of books, are devoted to the noblest of purposes, to the support of indigent and worn-out preachers, and the widows and orphans of those who have fallen in the itinerant field of labor. For this pur;> was it established, and for this same bene- volent purpose it is now kept in operation. EDUCATION. It is not to be supposed that a man of that expanded intellect by which Mr. John Wesley was distinguished, and who owed so much of his celebrity to the education which he received, first from his mother, and then from the academy, and which was completed at the University of Oxford, would be indifferent to the cause of educa- tion. Accordingly we find him, at an early period of his ministry, exerting himself in establishing a school at Kimis- wood, in the principles of Christianity, combining, as far as practicable, piety and knowledge together. This, though estab- lished at first chiefly for the benefit of the sons of itinerant preachers, has received youth from other sources, and has gone on prosperously to the present time ; and the Wesleyan Methodists in England have added another, called Wood house Grove School, which is accomplishing the same benevolent and enlightened object ; and finally they have established a theological institute, for the instruction of those young candidates for the Christian ministry, who are not immediately wanted in the itine- rant ranks. At the conference at which the Metho- dist societies in this country were organized into an independent church, a plan for the 370 HISTORY OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. establishment of a college was adopted, and immediately after the adjournment of the conference, it was published; and Dr. Coke and Bishop Asbury set them- selves to work to carry it into effect by soliciting subscriptions, and selecting a site for the buildings. They finally succeeded in erecting a brick building, 80 feet in length and 40 in width, in the town of Abington, about 25 miles from the city of Baltimore, a spot of ground which gave a delightful and commanding view of the Chesapeake Bay, and of the country for twenty miles around. The college was opened for the reception of students on the 10th day of December, 1785, and continued in successful operation until the 7th of December, 1795, just ten years, lacking three days, when the whole was consumed by fire. A second, which was soon after erected in Baltimore, shared the same fate. These calamitous circumstances attend- ing their first efforts to establish a college, threw a damper over the minds of its friends, and indeed induced Bishop Asbury to think that the Methodists were not called to labor in the cause of education. The whole subject was therefore laid aside, except some ineffectual efforts to found some district schools, and the establish- ment of some charity schools, for more than twenty years. This general apathy in the cause of education, together with the fact that Methodist ministers were ad- mitted into the Christian ministry without any specific literary qualifications, induced a belief in the public mind generally, that the Methodists were enemies, or at least indifferent to the cause of education ; and it must be confessed that there was too much ground for this belief, as many cer- tainly manifested, if not hostility, yet a great lukewarmncss upon this subject. This, however, was not. the case with all. Some of the most pious and enlight- ened of the preachers and people, mourned over this state of things, and they at last made an effort to rescue the church from this reproach. The first was made in 1817, by some friends in the city of Bal- timore, who commenced a literary institu- tion under the name of the " Asbury Col- lege ;" but this soon went down, much to the disappointment and mortification of its friends and patrons. In 1817, an academy was established in New Market, under the patronage of the New England Confer- ence, which succeeded and was finally re- moved to Wifbraham, Mass., and it con- tinues in successful operation to this day. In 1819, the Wesley an Seminary was commenced in the city of New York, under the patronage of the New York Conference, which was finally removed to White Plains, and still continues to bless the rising generation with its in- structions. At the General Conference in 1820, the subject of education was referred to a committee, who made a spirited report in favor of the two academics already in operation, and recommended that all the annual conferences should adopt measures for the establishment of seminaries within their bounds. The adoption of this report by the General Conference, had a most happy effect in diffusing the spirit of educa- tion throughout its bounds. But still there were many obstacles to be removed, and much apathy to be overcome, some mani- festing an open hostility to the cause, while others looked on with cold indiffer- ence. In 1823, Augusta College, in Kentucky, was commenced, and it has gone forward with various degrees of prosperity to this day. In 1824, an academy was commenced at Cazcnovia, New York State, under the patronage of the Oneida Conference, Avhich has prospered from that day to this. In 1827, another was established at Rcadfield, Maine, under the patronage of the Maine Conference, on the manual labor system, and it has gone on success- fully to the present time. About the same time an academy was established in the bounds of the Mississippi Conference, which has done much to dif- I fuse the spirit of education in that region of country. The report which was adopted by the General Conference of 1828, in favor of education, did much to excite the friends of the cause to persevering diligence in this grand enterprise. In 1831, three colleges were founded, namely : The Wesley an University, lo- cated in Middletown, Connecticut ; Ran- HISTORY OF THE METHODIST EPI8COPAL CHURCH. dolpfc Macao College, in Boydston, Meek- len burgh county, Virginia; and La Grange, \ :li Alabama. These have all been thus far carried forward with success, though sometimes laboring under ember- rassmenl for lack of adequate endow- ments. In 1888, two other colleges were estab- lished, namely: Dickinson College, at Carlisle, Pa., and Allegheny College! in BfeadvtlJe, Pa. They hare both continued with various degrees of prosperity, but still need more funda to put them upon a permanent foundation. Another academy was established about the same time at Lima, Livingston county, . N. Y., which is still in a prosperous state. In 1834, Lebanon College was founded at Lebanon, Illinois, under the patronage of the Illinois Conference, and it continues to prosper, though somewhat embarrassed for want of more ample endowments. The Troy Conference Academy, located at Poultney, Vermont, was commenced the same year, and it has been carried forward with much success to the present time though it is oppressed with a heavy debt, which the conference is exerting itself nobly to liquidate. In 1835, a Classical Manual Labor School was commenced in Covington, Georgia, and another for the education of females, both of which are still in success- ful operation. In 1836, The Emery Col- lege was founded. These literary insti- tutions arc all under the patronage of the Georgia Conference. In 1837, The Indiana Asbury Univer- sity was commenced, and is still in opera- tion. This was undertaken by the Indiana Conference. The Amenia Seminary was established about this time. It is located in the town of Amenia, Duchess county, New York, and it has very much prospered from that day to this. Two, namely, Henry and Charles Col- leges, were founded in 1839, under the patronage of the Holston Conference, and they are still prosecuting their labors with success. Tn the same year, St. Charles College was commenced, under the patronage of the Missouri Conference, which promises much usefulness in thai region of < try, The Cokesberg Manual Labor School, in the bounds of the South Carolina Con- ference, \\a> begun about the same time. Tun academies wen- also commenced in l *-M!>, one male, and tin- other female, in the bounds, and under th<- patronage of the New Jersej Conference; and the Newbury Seminary, and New Market Seminary, under the patronage of the New Hampshire Conference, were 1 >« -*i n n about (he same time. These ate all ful- filling the hopes of their friends. The Newbury Seminary has a theological de- partment attached to it. In 1841, the Transylvania University, in Lexington, Kentucky, was transferred to the Methodist Church, and is now in a prosperous condition. These make no less than thirteen col- legiate institutions, which arc under the patronage of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States. In addition to these a college has been commenced under favorable auspices in Rutersville, in the Republic of Texas, which has received a large endowment in land from the state, and it bids fair to be rendered a great blessing to that infant republic. There are a number of academies be- sides those above enumerated, which are under Methodist influence, and which are so far patronized by the conferences, with- in the bounds of which they are located, that the conferences appoint boards of visiters, and recommend them to the pa- tronage of their brethren and friends. It will be seen by the above, that the Methodist Episcopal Church has made an efFort to redeem herself from the reproach which had been cast upon her, not without some show of reason, of being indifferent to the cause of education. And if she shall exert her energies to sustain those institutions of learning which she has so nobly begun, by more ample endowments, she will do her part towards shedding on the youth of our land the blessings of sound knowledge and a liberal education. These, combined with experimental and practical piety, will tend to cement our Union more | firmly together, and to raise us to honor and respectability among the nations of I the earth. 48 378 HISTORY OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. BIBLE, SUNDAY SCHOOL, AND TEM- PERANCE CAUSES. In these benevolent enterprises, this church has taken an active part. She lias a Sunday School Union of her own, in which she endeavors to do what she may in training up the youth entrusted to her care in the knowledge of the holy scriptures, and in the practice of piety and virtue. In addition to Sunday school books and tracts, and a Sunday school library, in which are found some of the choicest books in the English language in the various departments of knowledge, particularly adapted to youth, she prints The Sunday School Advocate, a semi- monthly periodical, well calculated to attract and instruct the youthful mind, and containing lessons suited to teachers and superintendents of sabbath schools. In the great Bible cause, she unites her energies with the American Bible Society, many of her ministers being agents of this catholic and truly benevolent institu- tion, and they have free access to her pulpits for the purpose of pleading its cause, and taking up collections for its support. In the temperance reformation, as a church, she stands foremost in the ranks, always having made it a term of church- fellowship to abstain from " intoxicating liquors, unless in cases of necessity." And though this rule was somewhat re- laxed in its practical effects, when the temperance reformation commenced, and though she did not immediately see the necessity of uniting with the American Temperance Society in all its plans of operation : yet, no sooner did she per- ceive that many of her members were in- dulging in moderate drinking, and that therefore there was a danger of their 11 running into the same excess of riot" with those who were gratifying their ap- petites with intoxicating drinks, than she iifted up her warning voice against the deadly poison, and united with all those who declared in favor of a total abstinence from all intoxicating liquors as a bever- age ; and it is believed that the pernicious practice is now nearly banished from the church, and hopes are entertained that soon it will be so entirely. From the facts contained in the above brief view of the history, the doctrines, the government, and the usages of the Methodist Episcopal Church, it will be seen I humbly trust, that she has con- tributed much towards the conversion of the world, and that, if permitted to go on in her career of usefulness to the souls and bodies of men, her ministers and members shall not be wanting, in that day when God shall " come to make up his jewels," in some share of that glory which shall be given to those " who turn many to righteousness." STATISTICS. The following table will show the in- crease or decrease, from year to year, of ministers and members, since the first conference held in America, in the year 1773. The number of travelling preach- ers includes the superannuated as well as effective. Year, Number of preachers. Members. Increase. Decrease. 1773 10 11G0 1774 17 2073 913 1775 19 3148 1075 1776 24 4921 1773 1777 30 6968 2047 1778 29 6095 873 - 1779 49 8577 2482 1780 42 8504 73 1781 54 10539 2025 1782 59 11785 1246 1783 83 13740 1955 1784 83 J 4988 1348 1785 104 18000 3012 After this year the white and colored | members were returned in separate col- ! umns, and then the whole were added together, to make the sum total, which method will be followed hereafter. Year. Preach- Whites. Color- ed. Total. • In- ers. crease. < 1786 117 18791 1890 20681 2(-81 1787 133 21949 3893 25842 5161 17P8 166 30809 6545 37354 11512 1789 196 35019 8243 43262 5908 1790 0-J7 45949 11682 57031 14309 1791 250 503F5 12884 63269 5638 1792 266 52109 13871 65980 2711 1793 269 51416 16227 67643 1063 1794 301 52794 13814 66008 1795 313 48121 12170 60291 1796 293 45384 11280 56664 1797 262 46445 12218 58663 1999 1798 267 47867 12302 60169 1506 1799 272 49115 12236 61351 1182 1800 287 51442 13452 64894 3.543 1801 307 57186 15688 72874 7980 r>,- 1035 6317 3627 HI8T0R? OF THE METHODIST EPI8COPAL CHI RCH. WhJtM. Ooloi « T'.N> 1813 TIN) 171443 12 .".'I 914307 18950 i>M 881 48431 911199 3178 i~i.» 7I>1 1.11-7 811165 38 1816 BBS 171931 43304 314335 3970 1811 710 181449 (341 1 924858 10518 1818 748 1HM77 39150 921)027 4774 18] 1 819 ■.MI7.">'» 30174 949994 11997 18*) -V, 319333 40558 959890 18966 1831 !»;? 2*h>87 4305'J -'-mi, 91256 18*9 1106 959643 411477 297029 15876 1833 ISM 867618 4 1999 313540 15518 18* 1979 880427 48096 328523 15983 1823 13H 218658 49531 348195 19678 1888 1406 30 >550 51334 360834 19689 1881 1576 327932 54965 381997 81113 1886 1849 33 '■">:(:< 59394* 41H!h.>7 36930 1889 1 - IT :{-jii7'.» 6506 i 4 177411 39816 1-430 1900 4025451 73599 479153 28410 I83J 9010 437021 76090 513114 36961 8800 47-J304 76229 5 1.-5113 35470 1633 •j »im 519196 8i UK) 599736 51143 1834 9883 553134 85IS50 63878 1 39048 1833 2758 566957 85571 652528 13744 1830 2999 5iv4!»74 83271 050245 2283 Tr lis yea r and t he sul )sequer it yea: 's the * The number of Christian Indians arc includod in this and the subsequent number of colorud members. Dumber of I < »<-.-*! preacher! w* re returned in the minutes of the conference*, and they are accordingly let down in ,-t Boparate co- lumn in tli<- yean which follow : Tra. I-n. | • lon-.l. 1" i. . V.nr. Pn d r, i WhilM ebon 3147 1837 4954 570133 649809 1443 1838 3333 5793 615312 81331 41,717 1830 355i 5656 650351 99109 1 10459 53910 |S||) 3681 6330 (i'.^777 96668 795445 ..r -i, 1841 3865 6893 748449 104476 s;,."ii> :.: 17:1 1843 ion 7111 B03988 109913 913091 bOU63 1843 4280 7730 i)3(,73(i 131789 1,068535 154), 24 Add to these the travelling preachers (426G), which are not included in the above enumeration, and the grand total is 1,072,811. The above facts are taken from W( -s- ley's Work's, 7 vols. 8vo. ; More's Life of Wesley, 1 vol. 8vo. ; History of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 4 vols. 12mo.; Asbury's Journal, 3 vol. 8vo. ; Minutes of Conferences, 2 vols. 8vo. ; Methodist Dis- cipline, 1 vol. 24mo. ; and Original Church of Christ, 1 vol. 12mo. ;80 HISTORY OF THE METHODIST PROTESTANT CHURCH. HISTORY OF TEE METHODIST PROTESTANT CHURCH BY THE REV. JAMES R. WILLIAMS, OF BALTIMORE. AUTHOR OF THE HISTORY OF THE METHODIST PROTESTANT CHURCH. The Methodist Protestant Church com- prises all the associated Methodist churches in these Ignited States, and numbers, at the present time, November, 1843, sixty thousand communicants, thirteen hundred ministers and preachers, twenty-two an- nual conference districts, and possesses upwards of a half million of church pro- perty, acquired since her organization. Her first General Convention, at which the church was regularly organized, was held in 1S30, in the city of Baltimore, State of Maryland. There were in atten- dance at the convention eighty-three min- isterial, and lay representatives, from the following states : New York, Pennsyl- vania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Ohio, New Jersey, and the District of Columbia. These repre- sented about five thousand members of the respective associated Methodist churches, a large majority of whom had withdrawn from the Methodist Episcopal Church, on account of her government and hostility to a lay representation ; she not only hav- ing withheld representation from the peo- ple, but actually denied that they have any right to representation. Moreover she had claimed for her itinerant ministry, exclusively, as of divine right, and with- out any authoritative control from the | church, not merely the administration, but the sole right of expounding and main- taining, 1. Gospel doctrines, that is, a right to preach, and teach whatever they may please to admit into their creed as gospel doctrines. 2. Ordinances, that is, to set up whatever worship, sacraments, and services, they may deem conformable to the gospel ; and 3. Moral discij'linc, that is, to admit and expel, censure and suspend, whomsoever they please in the church of God, and for whatever causes to them shall seem meet. These unwar- rantable claims were preceded and fol- lowed by the expulsion of nearly eighty ministers and members of the Methodist Episcopal Church in different parts of the United States, who advocated a change in the church government, and opposed the Popish claims of the itinerant ministers and bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The above cited claims and expulsions produced numerous secessions in different parts of the United States, and the organi- zation of several annual conferences, of associated churches. These, respectively, elected their representatives, who assem- bled as above stated in the city of Balti- more, and framed a constitution and disci- pline for the government of the entire as- sociation. The basis on which the govern- ment is founded, embraces two very im- portant particulars : First — M The Lord Jesus Christ is the only Head of the Church,. and the word of God is the suffi- cient rule of faith and practice, in all things pertaining to godliness." Secondly — " A written constitution establishing the form of Government, and securing to the min- isters and members of the church, their H18T0M OF THE MBTH0DI8T PROTE8TANT CHI RCH. and privileges, on an equitable plan of representation, is essential to, and the i ml of < Christian liberty." The constitution is preceded bj ■ set of elementar) principles, m hichma) be viewed as a bill t'i' rights. These bind the church |0 the laws of Christ ; secure the rights of private judgment ami the expression of opinion ; protect church membership ; de- clare the principles Dii which church trials shall he conducted, and guard against un- righteous excommunications; point out the residence of Legitimate authority to mike and enforce rules and regulations, lor the proper and wholesome government ol the church. The constitution recog- nises the rights and secures the interests of both ministers and laymen, and grants an equal representation to both. By this provision, made permanent under consti- tutional law, the entire association is fairly represented in the General Conference, which is the legislative department of the church. The executive, legislative, and judicial departments are kept distinct, and in each and all of them, the laity have their due weight, and equal power with the ministers. The government is, there- fore, representative, and admirably bal- anced in all its parts. The General Conference is assembled every fourth year, and consists of an equal number of ministers and laymen. The ratio of representation from each annual conference district, is, one minister and one layman for every thousand persons in full membership. This body, when assem- bled, possesses power, under certain re- strictions, to make such rules and regula- tions for the government of the whole church, as may be necessary to carry into effect the laws of Christ ; to fix the com- pensation and duties of the itinerant min- isters and preachers, and the allowance of their wives, widows, and children ; and also the compensation and duties of the book agent, editor, &c, and to devise ways and means for raising funds, and to define and regulate the boundaries of the respective annual conference districts. The respective annual conferences as- semble annually, and are composed of all the ordained itinerant ministers ; that is, all ministers properly under the stationing authority of the conference ? and of one delegate from each circuit and station, within the bounds of the district, for each of its itinerant ministers. The annual conferences respectively are invested with power to elect a president annually — to examine into the official condud o|' ;.il their members — to receive l>v Note such ministers and preachers into the confer* ence as come properly recommended by the quarterly conference of their circuit or station — to elect to orders those who are eligible and competent to the pastoral ofHce — to hear and decide on appeals from the decisions of committees appointed to try ministers — to define and regulate the boundaries of circuits and stations — to station the ministers, preachers, and mis- sionaries— to make such rules and regula- tions as may be necessary to defray the expenses of the itinerant ministers and preachers and their families. The annual conferences, respectively, have authority to perform the following additional duties : 1st. To make such special rules and regu- lations as the peculiarities of the district may require ; provided, however, that no rule be made inconsistent with the consti- tution— the General Conference to have power to annul any such rule. 2d. To prescribe and regulate the mode of station- ing the ministers and preachers within the district ; provided always, that they grant to each minister or preacher stationed, an appeal, during the sitting of the confer- ence. And no minister or preacher to be stationed longer than three years, succes- sively, in the same circuit, and two years, successively, in the same station. 3d. Each annual conference is clothed with power to make its own rules and regula- tions for the admission and government of colored members within its district ; and to make for them such terms of suf- I frage as the conferences may respectively deem proper. Each annual conference is required to keep a journal of its proceed- ings, and to send a copy to the General Conference. The quarterly conferences are the im- mediate official meetings of the circuits and stations, and assemble quarterly, for the purposes of examining the official charter of all the members, consisting of the trustees, ministers, preachers, exhort- ers, leaders and stewards of the circuit or 382 HISTORY OF THE METHODIST PROTESTANT CHURCH. station ; to grant to persons properly quali- fied, and recommended by the class of which he is a member, license to exhort or preach ; to recommend ministers and preachers to the annual conference to travel, and for ordination ; and to hear and decide on appeals made by laymen from the decision of committees on trial. The leaders' meeting is peculiar to sta- tions, and is composed of the superintend- ent of the station, the stewards and the leaders. The superintendent is the minis- ter who has the charge of the station. The stewards are appointed by the male members of the station to receive and dis- burse the collections made in the classes and the church. The leaders are elected by their respective classes and represent them in the leaders' meeting. This meet- ing is the organ of reception of members into the church, and the dispenser of re- lief to the poor through the hands of the stewards. In the circuits, persons are received into full membership by vote of the society. Class leaders, stewards, trus- tees, exhorters, and private members, when charged with immorality or neglect of Christian duty, are duly notified by the superintendent, sufficient time being al- lowed to make preparation for their de- fence, and the right of challenge is granted to extend to any number of the committee not exceeding the whole number originally appointed. The committee of trial is ap- pointed in the following manner. The superintendent nominates two persons in full membership and good standing, over the age of twenty-one years. The class, of which the accused is a member, nomi- nates two more male members in like standing, those four persons select a fifth, and the five persons thus chosen, consti- tute a competent court of trial. The above particulars constitute a brief sketch of the origin and system of the Methodist Protestant Church. She has progressed with an even steady pace, maintained peace in all her borders, and has contributed her share of usefulness towards the general good. As a seceding church from the Methodist Episcopal, she entertains no unfriendly feelings to that denomination of Christians. The doc- trines taught by both churches, the means of grace and mode of worship being simi- lar, the only difference lies in govern- ment : the Methodist Episcopal Church rejecting lay representation and adopting an unlimited episcopacy ; while the Me- thodist Protestant Church admits lay re- presentation and a parity in the ministry. These points of difference, though very great, are deemed not sufficient to justify an alienation of Christian affection ; there- fore, the two churches are one in Christ Jesus, and are both laboring to promote the interests of the Redeemer's kingdom among men, and are to be viewed as two branches of the great Methodist family in Europe and in this country. For further particulars, the reader is referred to the Discipline, to Williams's History of the Methodist Protestant Church, and to Samuel K. Jennings' " Exposition." HISTORY OF THE REFORMED METHODIST cm KK1 0FT1IK KEFORMED METHODIST CHUKCIF. the heart from all sin, tad ng the whole soul into communing with hun, naturally begets faith in God, as a living God : and the clear and abi- •n\ ictiou that ( rod is faithful to one promise, naturally leads to confidence in all his promises. ditions of Fellowship and Membership, — The Reformed Methodists hold these as the same, or make them run parallel in admitting membess to their so- cieties. The " fruits of righteousness witnessed by taking up the cross and fol- lowing Christ," says the Discipline, " shall be the only test of Christian fellowship." All who " walk according to this rule," arc, on application, received into the church : its ministers are required to sub- scribe to their articles of religion, but per- sons are received to membership on the simple test of their experience, without requiring an assent to all the doctrines of the Discipline. The Church of Christ is a spiritual body. They are made one, brought into spiritual sympathy, not by the letter of a creed, or by the subscribing to certain doctrines, but by the Spirit of God. Hence the Reformed Methodists hold that a union of spirit should be made indispensable to a union of Christians in visible church bonds ; and when that union is broken, the spirit of love departed, then there should be a dissolution of the con- nection. Consequently, the Reformed Me- thodists hold that the door out of the Church should be the same as into it — that as evidence of sins forgiven and heart renewed, is the only condition of admis- sion to the church, so the want of these continued fruits is regarded as sufficient occasion for expulsion. They believe this term of church membership is the only one on which a living spiritual church can be maintained. Their views of Christian fellowship are equally liberal with respect to other Churches. They hold that all of the children of God have a right to all the ordinances of God's house in all places of his people — and that no rite dependent on human sanction, can lawfully bar a Chris- tian from the table of the Lord. Baptism is administered to all, according to their consciences, and enforced upon none, and in no case made a test of church-fellow- ship. POLITY of THE REFORMED METHO- DIST cm KCH. That the polity of the Reformed Me- thodist Church may I*- the better under- si I, we shall examine it under thi ferent heads. 1. The ( %urch. — The local churchfl ■re regarded as the origin of power. All officers in the church must derive their authority from the people, either bj rect election or by their d chosen for the expressed purpose. A number of believers may ordain for themselves elders or bishops, and do all things nee* - constitute themselves a church of Christ. Acting upon this principle iii the infancy of their organization, the Reform d Me- thodist connexion set apart a few of their number by prayer and the laying on of the hands of a committee, to the office of elder. They hold this as a right which a local church may, in cases of necessity, exercise — but still as a prudential regula- tion, have placed the ordination of elders in the hands of the annual conferences. Churches arc divided into classes accord- ing to their numbers, with a leader for each class, chosen by themselves. The churches have the right of selecting their own ministers, the ministers the right of selecting their own fields of labor, without the interference of a higher foreign or cen- tral power, and this with respect to length of time and salary. The Annual Conferences. — An annual conference is composed of delegates from all the churches in a given district, the number of delegates from each church or circuit being proportioned to their num- bers. Ministers may be chosen delegates, but are not delegates by virtue of their office. The object of the annual confer- ence is to transact business which equally interests all the local, primary bodies — such as the examination of preachers as to their moral character, gifts and useful- ness, the ordination of elders, the provision of ways and means for missionary opera- tions, the support of feeble and destitute churches, and general objects of common interest. These conferences are held an- nually, and ordinarily hold their session three or four days. The annual confer- ence has power to withdraw fellowship from a disorderly church, but no power to 49 386 HISTORY OF THE REFORMED METHODIST CHURCH. interfere with the internal affairs of any church, except for unchristian conduct. At the annual conference circuits are sometimes formed, and preachers engaged to supply them ; but conference has no power to station a preacher contrary to his own, and the wishes of the people. Ordination is performed by a committee of elders chosen by the annual conference, the candidates for orders first being elected to orders by the annual conference. The General Conference. — The Gene- ral Conference is composed of delegates from the annual conferences, the number of delegates from these conferences are in proportion to the respective numbers of their church members. The General Conference has power to revise the Disci- pline under certain limitations. It can pass no rule giving to preachers power over the people, except such as belongs to them as ministers of the word. The alter- ations in Discipline must, before they go into effect, first be recommended by three- fourths of the annual conferences, or after the General Conference has passed upon them, receive their ratification. General Conferences are held at the call of annual conferences, not periodically, and the dele- gates to them are chosen at the session of the annual conferences next preceding the General Conference. Such is the outline of the articles of religion and church polity of the Reformed Methodist Church. We pass next to a brief notice of their progress. And here we would premise, that a cause however good, and principles however wisely adapted to an end, cannot progress with- out an appropriate instrumentality. The first Reformed Methodists had not money, and as for talent, however good it might have been in its uncultivated state, they had not the refinements of the schools of learning or divinity with which to com- mand attention. They were poor men, men with families dependent upon their own hands for bread, living among the peaks of the Green Mountains. However, some of them by application have become able ministers of the New Testament. Of the original number of the seceders, four have been regarded as leading men in the denomination, and have contributed much by their devotion and self-denial to raise up and perpetuate this body of re- formers. Elijah Bailey, father of the writer, was a native of the town of Douglas, Mass., but immediately after his matrimonial al- liance with Miss Lydia Smith, removed to the town of Rcadsborough, Vt.; this mountainous region being the Elysium of the " Far West," to the people of Massa- chusetts. He was accompanied by his brother, James Bailey, and Ezra Amadon, his brother-in-law, both of whom in course of time became useful preachers of the Reformed Methodist Church. Elijah Bailey was a young man of so- ber habits, of a contemplative turn of mind, but indebted to a few weeks in the common school of his times for his edu- cation ; to which should be added the in- structions received from his grandfather Phillips, a man of great soundness of moral principle and variety and richness of maxims of law and morality, with whom Mr. Bailey passed the greater por- tion of his juvenile years. Being bred a Congregationalist, he knew not the power of godliness, though a strict observer of its form, until the Methodist preachers came into Vermont. He was among the first fruits of their labors ; was awakened, convicted, and received into their society, and continued an acceptable member of the Methodist Episcopal Church up to the year 1814. In this wilderness country he became the father of eleven children, whom he reared by the sweat of his own brow, from the products of a small Green Mountain farm, and the trade of a cooper. He was a staunch JefTersonian in politics, was for sixteen years a justice of the peace of the town of Rcadsborough, and at the same time a member of the assem- bly from that town. In the legislature of that state those lessons of democracy, early inculcated, were more clearly ex- plained and more firmly fixed; and it is to this course of mental and moral train- ing that he was afterwards led to question the justice of the Methodist Episcopal form of church government, and ably to defend religious democracy, not only from the genius of Christianity, and the precepts of the New Testament, but from the in- alienable rights of man. Up to the lime of the secession from the Methodist Epis- . m IllsTOKV OF THE REFORMED METHODIST < in KCIf. copal < 'liiu-.-ii, he was but i local preacher, •. opposed bj his family connexions (or attempting to exercise the ministry of the word without a regular of literary and theological training. Hut immediately after the organize!* •:. Reformed Methodist Church h ordained elder, an office which he has continued to fill, up to the present time; . :poemg him the inclemency of all seasons of the year, and that, too, with no other pecuniary compensation than such as friends from time to time might contribute. To His self-denying labors, labors unrequited ex- cept with spiritual blessings upon his own sou!, is the cause of Reformed Methodism indebted, as much, if not more than to any other one. Although past forty-live years of age he fore he entered upon an itinerant life, few men have travelled more extensively in preaching the gospel, in the regions between Cape Cod on the east, Ohio on tiie west, Canada on the north, and Pennsylvania on the south. James Bailey, brother of Elijah, has likewise occupied a conspicuous place in the progress of this branch of Methodists. In preaching talent, though inferior to Elijah Bailey, and not so well versed in the conference business and the exposition of intricate questions, he is a sound divine, and will doubtless have many souls as seals of his ministry in the great day of accounts. He is a man of indomitable perseverance, always laborious and never discouraged ; more local in his labors, with a wife who has been confined to her sick room for nearly forty years ; to him the cause is indebted for some of its best societies in central New York. Ezra Amadon, another of the original seceders, is, in the true sense of the word, a nursing father. Of strict integrity and universal love for the cause, surrounded by a large family of connexions, he has been a pillar in the cause of reform in western New York. His words are al- ways few and to the point, his counsels safe and conciliatory, he enjoys himself best when servant of all, and the instru- ment of good ; a truly great man in the affections of his acquaintances, but of humble pretensions. Ebenezcr Davis was likewise of the formed Mi fturvh. I V think, a native of Vermont, still r- tato, and has stood fin m the l.« - ginning as "DI8T , when the providence of « fad opened the iraj for them to labor together, they most harmoniously drei I - racaer as true yoke-fellows, and scarcely Jul they strike a blow, but that a powerful revival attended the effort ll<- was indeed •• ■ son of thunder," whose powerful ap- peals touched the most stony heart Failing in the "community*1 project, tended do doubt to subserve the cause, which they had so nearly at heart They ware scattered, and in their scattered con- dition have accomplished more than they would have done if confined to one spot as a centre of operations. This attempt to build up a permanent community was an unwise move, and is now universally so regarded by the persons interested. So the fathers think ; and some of their sons, now that property associations and com- munities are heralded as the sovereign panacea of the ills of human society, look back to that time with an instinctive dis- like to such schemes for human improve- ment. Reformed Methodism was planted in Upper Canada by the Rev. Messrs. War. Lake and E. Bailey, some time in 1817 or lsl 3. Here they soon found faithful co-laborers in the persons of Rev. Messrs. Robert and Daniel Perry. The history of the revival which followed their first labors in this province would be most in- structive, affording one of the most inter- esting instances, of the conversion of hard- ened sinners, found in modern history of revivals. Instances of slaying power were common. Infidels feared and trem- bled in view of the manifest tokens of the divine presence. In the state of New York, worthy co- laborers soon came to the aid of " the fathers," whose piety and devotion have placed them high in the affections of the people with which they stand connected. But our limits will not allow us to notice them particularly. The Reformed Methodists, up to the year 1837, labored under the inconve- nience of having no periodical organ. In the year 1837, the " South Cortland Lumi- nary'" was started, edited by the writer. This paper was started by the New York Conference, but was soon made the organ of the whole church. The press in the i 939, was removed to Faycttcville, V \ ., and tool the riam< " J Luminary," edited as before. In the (all of L841, an asao iation was formed be* tween the Reformed Methodi Methodists, and local bodies of w .■ Methodists, the object of which was to awl each other, without merging the various bodies in one church. By the terms of this association, the name of the Luminary was changed to that of the ••■ Methodist Reformer," the Reformer to be th of the association, but still the press to be the property of the Reformed Methodists. The Reformer was started in Fayettevillo, but removed to Utica, in the fall of 1842 ; and after the organization of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, May, 1843, by an ar- rangement between the Reformed Metho- dists and the Wesleyans, on the associa- tion principle, the Reformer subscription list was transferred to the True Wesleyan, published at Boston, Massachusetts, as a preliminary step to a union of the two bodies. Six: years only of the time of the existence of the Reformed Methodist body, they had the advantages of the press. Rev. E. Bailey had, however, written two works, one, " Bailey on the Trinity," and "Thoughts on Government," previous to this. The Reformers are still distinct in their organization, but bound to the Wesleyan Methodists by the ties of sympathy in principle and mode of church polity, and likewise by an association which secures mutual advantages, and it is contemplated that at no distant day, they will be lost in the Wesleyan Methodist Church. Such is but a meagre outline of the history of this body of Methodists. It has often been tauntingly said, I Why, you Reformers have done nothing 1" We have, truly, nothing of which to boast. But considering the material with which they commenced, the number, men, want of schools and an educated ministry, the opposition which a body must meet, that has the plainness to intimate that the Methodist Episcopal Church needs reform- ing, and the actual opposition, to say nothing of outright slander from that quar- ter : the wonder is greater that they have done as much as they have. The actual number in a denomination is not the true 390 HISTORY OF THE REFORMED METHODIST CHURCH. standard of the good they are accomplish- tag. The Reformers have been the in- struments of the conversion of thousands who, in consequence of their itinerant habits, have sought a home in other churches. One whole conference went off in Ohio, and joined the Methodist Pro- testant Church. Some ten years since, more than one half of the ministers of the .Massachusetts Conference, and several societies, seceded and joined the Protestant Methodists. Then, again, it requires some humility and attachment to princi- ple to induce men to stand long with a small and persecuted people. Reformers have had secedcrs from them — I will not call them apostates — and all these things taken into the account, we have abundant reason to thank God that our labor has not been altogether in vain. I might have added, under the head of " articles of religion," that the Reformed Methodist Church has always had an article against war, offensive and defensive. I add it here, for I have aimed to give every " radical" as well as " fanatical" trait in the history of this people. For i^ the public have any interest in the history of this branch of the Church of Christ, they arc most interested in those portions where- in they differ from others. And surely, we neled be ashamed of nothing but our sins. And I must add another fact : it might be expected that a body formed upon the democratical principle of the Reformed Methodist Church would be anti-slavery in I its character. The Reformed Methodists have from the beginning had Mr. Wesley's general rule with respect to " buying or selling men, women and children, with an intention to enslave them," and not that spurious interpolated one now in the Dis- cipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church ; and when the recent anti-slavery discus- sion sprung up, this body was prompt to respond to this effort to rid the church and country of this " sum of all Yillanics." They soon added an article to the Disci- pline, excluding apologists for this sin against " God, man, and nation," from the church. And we are happy to add, that they have great harmony on this question. In conclusion, Mr. Editor, I shall thank you for allowing space in your History of the whole Church, for transmitting to pos- terity the brief record of this body of ' Christians which I have furnished ; but ' ■ the haste with which it has been written, t and amidst the pressing cares which at | present devolve upon me, and the want of statistics and records, I must beg to urge [ as an apology for deficiencies. HI8T0R1 OP THE TR1 I WE8LEYAIS METHODIST CHURCH. HISTORY OF THE TRUE WESLEYAN METHODIST CHURCH BY THE REV. J. TIMBERMAN, PASTOR OF THE FIRST TRUE WESLEYAN METHODIST CHURCH, CITY OF NEW YORK. The polity of the original Wcsleyan societies rested upon the principle that their illustrious founder had a right to con- trol every minister and preacher, and every member of his societies, in all mat- ters of a prudential character. As he himself states, he had the exclusive power to appoint, when, where and how, his societies should meet ; and to remove those whose lives showed that they had no de- sire to flee the wrath to come ; and this power remains the same, whether the peo- ple meeting together were eight hundred or eight thousand. He exercised a simi- lar power over the preacher^, to appoint each, when, where and how to labor, and to tell any, " If I see causes, I do not de- sire your help any longer." Mostly, the members of these societies were members of the Church of England; some were members of the dissenting churches. Mr. Wesley was a minister of the Church of England, and as such he died ; and with very few exceptions, his preachers were laymen. He was their tutor and governor. He was the patron of all the Methodist pulpits in England and Ireland for life : the sole right of nomination being vested in him by the deeds of settlement. He was also the patron of the Methodist so- cieties in America, and as such, he is ac- knowledged by the Methodist Episcopal Church as its founder. That he is the author of the Episcopacy of that church, is questioned by some for the following reasons: 1st. It was not until some years after the institution of Episcopacy, in 1784, that Mr. Wesley's authority was alleged as its basis. But without any mention of Mr. Wesley, the itinerant preachers de- clared in their first minutes : " We will form ourselves into an Episcopal Church," &c. 2d. Mr. Wesley alleged no other authority than himself to ordain ministers, but his right as a presbyter. 3d. He so- lemnly forbid Mr. Asbury to assume the title of bishop in his letter to Mr. Shinn, dated London, Sept. 20th, 1788, in which he says : " One instance of this, your greatness, has given me great concern. How can you, how dare you sufFer your- self to be called a bishop ? I shudder at the very thought. Men may call me a man, or a fool, or a rascal, or a scoundrel, and I am content ; but they shall never, with my consent, call me a bishop. For my sake, for God's sake, for Christ's sake, put a full end to this." Signed, John Wesley. 4th. Some of the first symp- toms indicative of dissatisfaction with the new economy were evinced by those preachers^ who were well acquainted with Mr. Wesley's sentiments on this subject, and had themselves been made to feel the tremendous power of this economy among Methodists, namely, Episcopacy. On no question have they been so equally di- vided. No changes, however, have been effected. The Episcopacy still maintains its prerogatives in their original integrity. In 1824, memorials and petitions were presented to the General Conference, com- 392 HISTORY OF THE TRUE WESLEY AX METHODIST CHURCH. plaining of the government being so con- stitute! and administered, as to exclude the local preachers and the lay members from every sort of participation in their own government, as Methodists. But some of these petitioners were satisfied with the plea of expediency ; still the most of them took the ground of right. All of them claimed a representative form of govern- ment. The Conference replied, that they knew no such right, nor did they compre- hend any such privileges. From that time the controversy assumed a new character, the result of which was the call of a con- vention of all Methodist families, to a re- presentative form of church government, to be held at Baltimore. Maryland, in No- vember, 1828. Here, a provisional gov- ernment, under the formal articles of asso- ciation, was adopted, to continue for two years ; after which, another convention was also held in Baltimore, and continued its sessions from the 2d to the 23d of No- vember, 1830. One hundred and twelve persons were elected as members, eighty- one of whom attended. A constitution and discipline were adopted ; called, " the Constitution and Discipline of the Protes- tant Methodist Church." In this, much contemplated by Reformed Methodists was gained, and prosperity greatly attended said church. But many things contem- plated by True Wesleyans were not yet gained ; for the true founder of Wesleyan Methodism was not only opposed to the Episcopal form of church government, as it exists in America among the Metho- dists, but also to slavery as it exists in this country. And yet this vile system is cherished by both Episcopal and Protes- tant Methodists ; therefore, both churches are still agitated by those who were not one in sentiment upon Episcopacy and slavery. True Wesleyans and some of the chief mm are engaged in this latter reform with Mr. Hervcy, who calls this system of slavery the vilest system ever seen beneath the sun. In the Methodist Episcopal Church, Mere Rev. Leroy Sun- derland, Orange Scott, Luther Lee, J. Morton, E. Smith, C. Prindle, &c In the Protestant Methodist Church, were Rev. John Crocker, Hiram Mackee, R. McMurdy, G. Pegler, Dr. Timberman, J. Culver, izc. These, with a host of others from different associated Methodist Churches, united in calling a convention of ministers and laymen, for the purpose of forming a Wesleyan Methodist Church, free from Episcopacy, intemperance and j slavery ; which convention was held at Utica, New York, on May 31st, 1643. I And after many days' peaceful delibera- j tion, the glorious design of this convention was accomplished, viz., the formation of a Discipline, called " the Discipline of the Wesleyan Methodist Church in America," granting to all men their rights, and mak- ing them free and equal, according to the word of God and the preamble of the De- claration of Independence of these United States. They also organized six annual conferences, including the chief portions of the Northern and Eastern States, con- nected with which, are many interesting societies, and talented ministers and preachers, which number about twenty thousand members, and about three hun- dred itinerant ministers and preachers, besides a greater number of unstationed ministers and preachers. Thus much for the history of this branch of the Church of Christ. We now come to notice se- condly, the doctrines of the True Wes- leyan Methodist Church. ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES. 1. A Christian church is a society of believers in Jesus Christ, assembled in any one place for religious worship, and is of divine institution. 2. Christ is the only Head of the Church ; and the word of God the only rule of faith and conduct. 3. No person who loves the Lord Jesus Christ, and obeys the gospel of God our Saviour, ought to be deprived of church membership. 4. Every man has an inalienable right to private judgment, in matters of religion ; and an equal right to express his opinion, in any way which will not violate the laws of God, or the rights of his fellow- men. 5. Church trials should be conducted on gospel principles only; and no minis- ter or member should be excommunicated except for immorality, the propagation of unchristian doctrines, or for the neglect HISTORY OF THE TR1 B WESLEY \\ METHODIST cm RCH. of iluii.-s enjoined by the #ord of riic pastoral or ministerial office and duties are iA' divine appointment, and all elders in the church <>t" God sre equal ; hut ministers are forbidden to lord it ever i's heritage, or to have dominion over the faith of the saints. 7. The chunh has a right to form and enforce such rules and regulations only; as arc in accordance with tin- holy scrip- . and may be necessary, or have a tendency, to carry into effect the great m of practical Christianity. B. Whatever power may be necessary to the formation of rules and regulations is inherent in the ministers and members of the church ; but so much of lhat power may he delegated from time to time, upon a plan of representation, as they may judge necessary and proper. b\ It is the duty of all ministers and members of the church to maintain godli- and to oppose all moral evil. 10. It is obligatory on ministers of the gospel to be faithful in the discharge of their pastoral and ministerial duties; and it is also obligatory on the members to esteem ministers highly for their work's sake, and to render them a righteous compensation for their labors. ARTICLES OF RELIGION. I. Of Faith in the Holy Trinity. — There is but one living and true God, ever- lasting, of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness : the Maker and Preserver of all things visible and invisible. And in unity of this Godhead there are three persons of one substance, power, and eternity, the Father, the Son (the Word), and the Holy Ghost. 11. Of the Son of God.— The only be- gotten Son of God was conceived of the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was cruci- fied, dead, and buried, to be a sacrifice, not only for original guilt, but also for the actual sins of men, and to reconcile us to God. III. Of the Resurrection of Christ. — Christ did truly rise again from the dead, taking his body, with all things apper- taining to the perfection of man's nature, 50 wherewith 1 [e a ■■< nded into heaven, and there sitteth until ll«- shall return to judge all men at the last dav. IV. Of the ll»h. Ghost.— The Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father and the Son, very and eternal ( Jod. V. The Sufficiency of the Holy S tuns for Salvation. — The holy scriptures contain all things necessary to salvation ; so that whatsoever is nol pad therein, nor may he proved thereby, is not to be re- quired of any man, that it should be be- lieved as an article of faith, or be th necessary or requisite to salvation. In the name of the holy scriptures, we do un- derstand those canonical books of th<- Old and New Testament, of whose authority there is no doubt in the Church. The canonical books of the Old Testa- ment are : Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, the First Book of Samuel, the Se- cond Book of Samuel, the First Book of Kings, the Second Book of Kings, the First Book of Chronicles, the Second Book of Chronicles, the Book of Ezra, the Book of Nehemiah, the Book of Es- ther, the Book of Job, the Psalms, the Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Songs of Solo- mon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Oba- diah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Mal- achi. The canonical books of the New Tes- tament are : Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, the Acts, the Epistle to the Romans, First Corinthians, Second Corinthians, Gala- tians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, First Thessalonians, Second Thcssalo- nians, First Timothy, Second Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, First Peter, Second Peter, First John, Second John, Third John, Jude, Revelation. VI. Of the Old Testament.— The Old Testament is not contrary to the New ; for both in the Old and New Testament everlasting life is offered to mankind through Christ, who is the only mediator between God and man, wherefore they are not to be heard who feign that the old fathers did look only for transitory promises. Although the law given from God by Moses, as touching rites and cere- monies, doth not bind Christians, nor 394 HISTORY OF THE TRUE WESLEYAN METHODIST CHURCH. ought the civil precepts thereof of neces- sity be received in any commonwealth ; yet, notwithstanding, no Christian whatso- ever is free from the obedience of the ten commandments, which are called the moral law. VII. Of Relative Duties. — Those two great commandments which require us to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, and our neighbors as ourselves, contain the sum of the divine law, as it is revealed in the scriptures, and are the measure and perfect rule of human duty, as well for the ordering and directing of families and nations and all other social bodies, as for individual acts, by which we are re- quired to acknowledge God as our only supreme ruler, and all men created by Him, equal in all natural rights. Where- fore all men are bound so to order all their individual and social acts, as to ren- der to God entire and absolute obedience, and to secure all men the enjoyment of every natural right, as well as to promote the greatest happiness of each in the pos- ■ session and exercise of such rights. VIII. Of Original or Birth Sin.— Original sin standeth not in following of Adam, (as the Pelagians do vainly talk,) but it is the corruption of the nature of every man, that naturally is engendered of the offspring of Adam, whereby man is wholly gone from original righteous- ness, and of his own nature inclined to evil, and that continually. IX. Of Free Wi/l—Tho condition of man after the fall of Adam is such, that he cannot turn and prepare himself by his own natural strength and works, pleasant and acceptable to God, without the grace of God by Christ working in us, that we may have a good will, and working with us when we have that good will. X. Of the Justification of Man. — We are accounted righteous before God, only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, by faith, and not for our own works or deservings ; wherefore that we are justified by faith only, is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of com- fort. XL Of Good Works.— Although good works, which are the fruit of faith, and follow after justification, cannot put away our sins and endure the severity of God's judgments : yet are they pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ, and spring out of a true and lively faith, insomuch as by them a lively faith may be as evidently known as a tree is discerned by its fruit. XII. Of Sin after Justification. — Not every sin willingly committed after justifi- cation, is a sin against the Holy Ghost, and unpardonable ; wherefore, repentance is not denied to such as fall into sin after justification ; after we have received the Holy Ghost, we may depart from grace given, and fall into sin, and by the grace of God, rise again to amend our lives. And therefore they are to be condemned, who say they can no more sin, as long as they live here ; or deny the place of for- giveness to such as truly repent. XIII. Of Sacraments. — Sacraments ordained of Christ are not only badges or tokens of Christian men's profession ; but they are certain signs of grace, and God's good will toward us, by which he doth work invisibly in us and doth not only quicken, but also strengthen and confirm our faith in him. There are two sacraments ordained of Christ our Lord, in the gospel ; that is to say, Baptism and the Supper of our Lord. XIV. Of Baptism. — Baptism is not only a sign of profession, and mark of dif- ference, whereby Christians are distin- guished from others that are not baptized ; but it is also a sign of regeneration or the new birth. The baptism of young chil- dren is to be retained in the church. XV. Of the LorcVs Supper. — The Supper of the Lord is not only a sign of the love that Christians ought to have among themselves one to another, but rather it is a sacrament of our redemption by Christ's death ; insomuch that, to such as rightly, worthily, and with faith receive the same, it is made a medium through which God doth communicate grace to the heart. XVI. Of the one Oblation of Christ finislwd on the Cross. — The offering of Christ, once made, is that perfect redemp- tion and propitiation for all the sins of the whole world, both original and actual ; and there is none other satisfaction for sin but that alone. Wherefore, to expect sal- vation on the ground of oui own works, or by suffering the pains our sins deserve, HI8T0RY OF Tin: TIM i: WE8LEYAIS METH0DI8T CHI RCH. either in the present «>r future state, if de> ■i\ io Christ's offering for us, and a L»rous deceit. Mil. Of tint Rite* and Ceremonies rches. — It is not necessary thai ind ceremonies should in all places be alike j for the) have always been dif- ferent, and may be changed according to the diversity of countries, times, and in oi's manners, so that nothing be or- dained against God's word. Every par- ticular church may ordain, change, or abolish rites and ceremonies, so that all things m iy !><• done to edification. Will. Of the Resurrection of the /)(■/ >lv. XIX. Of the General Judgment. — There will be a general judgment at the the knowledge of this, thej ,1 it with all their might, insisting thai the bouse should be made over to the Conference, or they would publish them in the newspapers, ss imposing on the public, as they were no! Methodists. 1 low- ever, trie building went on, and when finish- ed, they invited Francis Asbury, then Bishop of the Methodisl Episcopal ( Ihurch, to open the house for di\ ine service, which invitation he accepted, and tin* house WSJ named Bethel. (See Gen. chap* 28.) 11 It was now proposed by the resident elder, (J, MV.) that they should have the church incorporated, that they might re- ceive any donation or legacy, as well as enjoy any other advantages arising there- from ; this was agreed to ; and in order to save expense, the elder proposed drawing it up for them. But they soon found that he had done it in such a manner as en- tirely deprived them of the liberty they expected to enjoy. So that, by this strata- gem, they were again brought into bondage by the Methodist preachers. " In this situation they experienced grie- vances too numerous to mention ; at one time the elder (J. S.) demanded the keys of the house, with the books and papers belonging thereto ; telling them at other times they should have no more meetings without his leave, and that the house was not theirs, but belonged to the Methodist Conference. Finding themselves thus em- barrassed, they consulted a lawyer, who informed them, that by means of supple- ment, they could be delivered from the grievances under which they labored. The congregation unanimously agreed to sign the petition for a supplement, which the Legislature of Pennsylvania readily grant- ed ; and they were liberated from the dif- ficulties which they experienced for many years. They now hoped to be free from any other perplexity ; but they soon found that their proceedings exasperated their opponents. In order to accommodate mat- ters they proposed supplying them with preaching if they would give 8600 per year to the Methodist Society. The con- gregation not consenting, they fell to $400; but the people were not willing to give more than $200 per year. For this sum they were to preach for them twice a week during the year. But it proved to be only -;\ or iev( ii timi i»s such preachers as w< re nol acceptable to the Bethel people, end n« for the i stablishmcnl i Labor School, and an agenl employed in collecting funds to establish anoth of the Alleghany Mountains^ Sin organization of the A. M. E, Church, it has had four bishops, namely : I Richard Allen, who was ordained in 1816 j Bishop Monis Brown, who was ordained in L828 ; Bishop Edward W'a- ters, who u;n ordained in i I Bishop William P. Quinnj who v, dained in 1^-14. The first and third are dead, the second is superannuated, and now 77 years of age; the last is actively engaged in the oversight of the churches. And may the great Head of the Church, who has led us thus fer, still continue to shed the dews of his grace upon this little branch) until it shall become like the ce- dars of Lebanon in strength, and like the garden of the Lord in beauty, and fer- tility. HISTORY OF THE AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, BY REV. JOHN J. MOORE, PHILADELPHIA, PA. A compendious account of the rise, pro- gress, doctrines, government, and statistics of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in America, commonly known by the title of the Zion Wesley Methodist connection. I. History. II. Doctrines. If I. Government, IV. Statistics. I. History. — The mother Church of said denomination, commenced her for- mation in the city of New York, in A. D. 179G. From the following circumstances, the colored members connected with the Methodist Episcopal Church, (White,) in the city of New York, being considerable in number, and being limited in their Christian privileges and usefulness among themselves : not being privileged to im- prove their religious talents, on the account of those popular prejudices, existing against colored people, therefore they determined, from the suggestions of some of the most pious and intelligent of them, the propri- ety of having meeting among themselves, which they did, with the consent of Bishop Asbury (Francis) : for the full particulars of this movement, see History of said 400 HISTORY OF THE AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. connection, by Rev. Christopher Rush, published in New York. The leading men in this movement, were Francis Ja- cobs, William Brown, William Miller and others too tedious to name. In a short time after the commencement of this sepa- rate plan of worship, they secured a place of worship, where they held stated meet- ings; there were three licensed preachers, that conducted these meetings, with the permission of the white Bishop Asbury; they held their meetings on Sabbath, in the intermediate time of preaching in the white church ; for the persons of color principally composing those meetings, were members connected with the white Metho- dist Church, and had to give their atten- tion there, at its proper hours of worship, thus for several years they worshipped in this way ; the white Church being their proper and permanent place of worship, but privileged to worship among them- selves, in such places as they could secure for that purpose ; which places of worship they had frequently to change from con- tingencies. In A. D. 1799, their number of mem- berships having greatly increased, and their disadvantages likewise, in the white Church. They therefore thought of build- ing a house of worship for themselves, and to become a body corporate to themselves, distinct from the white Church, and ac- cordingly a meeting of the colored breth- ren was called to consult on the matter : for the particulars in this move, see His- tory of said Church, by Rev. C. Rush, page 11. The following were some of the leading men in this movement, George E. Moore, Thomas Sipkins, David Bias, Geo. White, Thomas Cook, John Teesman, George Colling. After mature reflection on the subject, they determined to be a body corporate, separate from the whites but under the government of the Methodist Episcopal Church ; they also determined to be titled the African Methodist Episco- pal Church ; in this purpose they suc- ceeded, and became a body corporate, separate to themselves, but governed by the discipline of the white Methodist Church. Being successful in procuring a lot of ground on the corner of Church and Leonard streets, they succeeded in erect- ing a Church on it, where the Zion Church now stands, in the city of New York ; the house was dedicated October, A. D. 1800, and titled the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. When the white ministers of the Methodist E. Church found that the colored brethren were determined upon becoming a separate society, they appoint- ed Rev. John McClaskcy, at their general conference, (who was a stationed elder in the city of New York,) to effect a stipula- tion with the trustees of the A. M. E. Zion Church, to secure the government spiritual part of said church to the general confer- ence of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and secure a union between the two bodies, so as to give the general conference ec- clesiastical control over the former, from time to time. Accordingly he met them, (the trustees) on his mission, and in con- cert with them, he framed an article of agreement to that effect ; for said article of agreement, see History of African Metho- dist Episcopal Church in America, by C. Rush, pages 17-24. An instrument was then drawn up by the trustees, to present to the master in Chancery, to obtain a charter of incorporation, which they re- ceived from the master in Chancery, as follows : In pursuance of an act, entitled an Act to enable religious denominations of this State, to appoint trustees, who shall be a body corporate, for the purpose of taking care of the temporalities of their respec- tive congregations, and for other purposes, therein mentioned, passed this 6th day of April, A. D. 1784. Public notice was given in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, (called Zion Church) of the city of New York, in the state of New Y'ork, as the aforesaid law directs ; and we, the subscribers, being nominated, and ap- pointed agreeably to the foresaid act, in- spectors for an election held in our place of meeting, the 8th day of September, A. D. 1800, do report and declare the fol- lowing persons duly elected by a plurality of voices, to serve as trustees for the said church, viz : Francis Jacobs, George Collins, Thomas Sipkins, George E. Moore, George White, David Bias, Peter Williams, Thomas Cook, William Brown, which said persons so elected, and their successors in office, shall forever be styled and denominated, HISTORY OF THE AFRICAN METHODI8T EPISCOPAL CHI RCH. 401 the irihiivs of the corporation' of the African Methodist Bpiscopal Church in of New York. .1 under our bands ami seals this the fifth day of February* one thousand ei rhl hundred and one his Peter X Williams, mark. Francis Jacobs. State of New York, 55. on the sixteenth day ol' February, A. I). 1801, before me personally came Peter Williams ami Fram-is Jacobs, to me known to be the persons within described, and who exe- cuted the within conveyance, who duly acknowledge the same, and there being no material erasures or interlineations therein, I do allow it to be recorded. [signed] James M. Hughes, Master in Chancery. Recorded in the office of the Clerk of the city and county of New York, in lib. No. l,of incorporations of religious denom- inations, page 28, this ninth day of March, A. D. 1801. [signed] Robert Benson, Clerk. Thus the African Methodist Episcopal Church, was established distinct from the whites in their temporalities, (government of) but under the spiritual government of the white General Conference. Thus they remained for a number of years, during which time, their efforts to promote the kingdom of Christ, were crowned with the utmost success. In A. D. 1820, the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, (white) met according to usual mode, during the sitting of which several resolutions were passed in that body, which were considered, by the more pious and wise portion of members, as detrimental to the general prosperity of the Methodist Episcopal Church, but they had the majority in favor of their passage. The most important of those resolutions, was a resolve that a petition be drawn up and subscribers obtained by the preachers, and the said memorial to be presented to the legislature of New York, praying them to pass a special act, on the incorporation of religious bodies, to suit the peculiarities of the Methodist discipline, giving the preachen more power over the temporal!" ties of said Methodisl Bpiscopal Church; this resolution was highly objectionable t<> many of the ministers, common officiary, ami bit) of said church, and created great dissatisfaction, which resulted in ;i schism in the » r 1 i . I church. The trusters of the African Methodist Bpiscopal Church, hearing of this movement, were equally dissatisfied ; also the entire officiary and laity of s;iiil church, knowing that it would deprive the trustees of the right of the control of the temporalities of the church, and effect the general prosperity of their church. The trustees therefore called a meeting to consult on the subject, and to adopt such measures as might avert the impending danger ; after the trustees meet- ing, the entire officiary were convened, to consult on the matter, then the laity, with all of which there was a concomitancy of conclusions, as to the impropriety of this movement of General Conference ; (white) and also as to the danger of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, if she con- tinued in connection with the white bishops and conference for further particulars in the case. See History of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, by Rev. C. Rush, pages 40 — 45. — On Friday even- ing, July 21st, A. D. 1820. The official members of said church were convened pursuant to a call, and after duly consid- ering the case, they unanimously agreed upon the following : Whereas, a very grievous Resolution was passed in the last general conference of the M. E. Church, and acted upon by the annual conference of the New York district, the substance of which was, that a memorial be drawn up, and subscribers obtained by the preachers, and the same to be presented at the next session of the State Legislature of New York, praying it to pass a special Act of incorporation to suit the peculiarities of the Methodist dis- cipline ; to give the preacher more au- thority to exercise their functions in the Church ; and so change the present man- ner of conducting the temporalities of the said Church, that the trustees or stewards appointed, (according to the contemplated mode of the above memorial,) will hold the property of the society, for the preach- ers in conference instead of the members 51 402 HISTORY OF THE AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. of the society. Upon the event of the *s of this move; of the General Con- ference of the M. K. Church, our Church, our property will be transferred into the hands of Methodist preachers in Confer- ence. Therefore, Resolved, that we cannot receive any longer, a preacher from the Methodist Episcopal Conference, nor any service from them, as respects church govern- ment ; as we are highly dissatisfied with their proceedings in the above case. Be it further Resolved, that a commit- tee of three be appointed to inform the Presiding Elder of the district, or the ruling Elder of New York city, of the above resolutions of this Meeting; the following were the committee: George Col- lins, Thobias Hawkins, William Brown. It was also Resolved, that William M. Stil well, our present Elder from the white conference, continue his services with us the remainder of this year. Thus was the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church disconnected with the white Bish- ops and conference. In a short time after this, in the same year, measures were adopted by the A. M. E. Church, to es- tablish their own government. (In which they met with little or no opposition from the white Methodists : for the particulars of which, see History of said Church, by C. Rush.) They proceeded to the establishment of their ecclesiastical government, 1st, by the election of Elders to take pastoral charges, as there were no ordained minis- ters among them to take pastoral charges ; as they had applied to the white Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church to ordain two ministers, which application was neg- atived, therefore, they were necessitated to take Mr. Wesley's plan of necessity, and elect Elders, which was done with entire consent of the Church, and with the assistance of Wiliiam M. Stilwell, (Elder of the Protestant Methodist church, who was ordained in the Methodist Episcopal church, and seceded from Methodist Epis- copal church in its chism) the church elected two Elders, Abraham Thompson, James Varick. 2d, They proceeded to appoint a committee to form a discipline from the discipline of the Methodist Epis- copal church, which they succeeded in after considerable labor. The committee was composed of the following : James Varick, George Collins, Charles Anderson, Christopher Rush ; their discipline was completed and adopted on the 20th of Sep- tember, A. D. 1620, in the city of New York. Thus they progressed for one year, par- tially organized, as the now known con- nections during the progress of the said year. Asbury church, distinct from Zion, (which was raised by William Miller while disconnected with Zion church,) formed a connection with Zion Church, under her new govervment. Also, the same year, two other societies, from New Haven, Ct., and Philadelphia, Pa., formed a connection with the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, in New York ; subsequent to which, the same year, application was made to the white Bishops and Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church, to es- tablish an Annual Conference for the Afri- can Methodist Episcopal Church, to be under the presidency of a white bishop, which application was negatived by Bishop McKendree and the New York Annual Conference : for the particulars in this case, see the History of the African Metho- dist Episcopal church, by C. Rush. — From the failure of this move, the ministers of the A. M. E. church, (composed of the above named distinct societies,) met, ac- cording to arrangement, on the 21st June, 1821, to hold their first Annual Confer- ence, in Zion Church, in the city of New- York. Joshua Soul, then elder, now bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and Dr. Wm. Phebus, were invited to attend the meet- ing, which they did. Dr. Wm. Phebus was elected president of the conference jrro ex viso. Joshua Soul was appointed secre- tary, and the conference commenced ac- cordingly. The number of ministers in attendance were 22, the number of mem- bers reported at the conference were 1426 ; the financial receipt 35 dollars : thus was the first Annual Conference of said de- nomination. The next movement of said Church was the ordination of its elders, (which had only been elected) by the im- position of hands, which was succeeded in at the next Annual Conference, in June 17, 1822. James Covel, Sylvester Hutch- H18T0R\ OF THE AFRICAN METHODIST EPI8COPAL CHURCH. mi- mi .hi. I William M. Stilwell, (all reg» ular elders of the Methodisl Protestant Church|) were solicited to assist in the or- dination of elders, which they cordially oonsented to, and three elders wen or- dained during the conference sitting : the following were the persona : Abraham Thompson, James Varick, Leven Smith. Thus were established the Discipline, An- nual Conference and the ordination of the said church; thus the Annual conference convened, for seven years successively, at each of which conventions, it appointed its president. At the Annual Conference, May 15, 1838, the Rev. Christopher fcush, was elected the permanent superintendent tor four years. Thus was fully establish- ed the African Methodist Episcopal Church in America, II.— DOCTRINES. — FIRST FAITH. OF THEIR 1. They hold the doctrine of three persons in the Eternal Godhead, the Holy Trinity, these three, equal in power and glory, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; the Son, the Eternal Logos, which was made flesh and dwelled among men, being God and man in the person of Jesus Christ, who possessed two natures in one person, never to be completely separated. That he was born of the Virgin Mary; that he suffered in this world, was cruci- fied, dead, and was buried, and rose again and ascended into Heaven, having made full Redenqrtion for all men, on the con- ditions of obedience to God. That He will Judge the world in the last day. They also believe that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son, by which the souls of men are justified, and their nature sanctified. 2. They hold the doctrine of the suffi- ciency of the Scriptures, with the Holy Spirit for salvation ; also the validity of the thirty-nine canonical books of the Old Testament, also the twenty-seven of the New Testament. 3. They also admit the doctrine of hu- man depravity, as the consequence of the fall, or original sin. That man, in his natural state after the fall, was totally unable to do any thing acceptable with God, without his grace, by which he is brought into his favor. I. They bold the doctrine of n j" i towards Goo* , also good works j but though they ;iiv the fruits <»f faith, ami follow after justification, yet the) cannot put away our sins, but wc produce good works, as "in- duty to ( Sod ; and then the menu of ( Ihrist are bestowed upon us. "». They believe in justification by faith in the merits of Jesus i Ihrist. (i. In the doctrine of faith as the gill of (•i'il, out must lx) put into exercise by man, 7. Also the doctrine of sanctification pr Christian perfection ; that is, that a Chris- tian can have a conscience void of offence toward God and man, that Ik; can order his conduct so before God and man as not to encourage his carnal nature in the least j then the Holy Spirit is bestowed richly upon him, forming in him a new nature, in opposition to his carnal ; thus his spiritual nature becomes predominant ; God ruling upon the main altar of the heart ; then he is sanctified, or entirely consecrated to the service of God. 8. They believe in a possibility of sin- ing after justification or sanctification. 9. They discountenance the doctrine of superogation ,* also the doctrine of pur- gatory. 10. They believe in the sacrcments ; the Lord's Supper ; Baptism ; and Holy Matrimony : a. The sacrament of the Lord's Supper they believe substantially to be the seal of our obligation, to obey and serve God with all our hearts. That it is the great memorial of the death and passion of Jesus Christ, by which our souls are re. freshed in hope of eternal life through Christ. Also, that the humble penitent who truly repents, is entitled to its benefits, as much so as those who have been jus- tified. b. Baptism : that it is a sign or seal of faith in Christ, or faith in the Christian Religion ; it is also the sign or seal of the regeneration of the heart ; also a sign ol membership of Christ's kingdom : as to its subjects, children or adults ; adults who are true penitents. Children are entitled to it because they are classed among Christian believers ; substantially, by the scriptures, they are entitled to it as mem- bers of Christ's kingdom .; they are en- 404 HISTORY OF THE AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. tided to it as being truly among the rege- nerates. As to the mode, any one is equally important. 11. They believe that rites and cere- monies of churches may vary as necessity may require. 12. That Christian men may make civil oath to sustain truth and justice. They admit that it is the privilege of Christians in their religious exercises, to enjoy themselves physically to any extent that docs not infringe upon moral or na- tural law ; they do not admit that their religious enjoyment or impulse should be circumscribed by the mere feeling or customs of the common refinement of our present age. SECOND OF THEIR PRACTICE. 1. The entire consecration of the Chris- tian Sabbath. 2. They practice entire temperance, all use of spirituous liquors are prohibited except in case of necessity. 3. They are to avoid all traffic in sla- very, in any way. 4. They are to avoid fighting, quarrel- ing, and brawling, and breaking all civil law, one with another, maintaining a peaceable deportment. 5. They are to avoid all evil retalia- tion. 6. To observe the strictest honesty and justice in all dealings, without the use of many words, in buying or selling, not giving or taking any thing on usury or unlawful interest. 7. To avoid uncharitable or unprofit- able conversation, doing to others what we would have othersdo unto us. 8. Practice nothing but what they con- ceive to tend to the glory of God, avoiding the wearing of costly apparel and gold ornaments, singing songs, reading novels, and all unnecessary self-indulgences, lay- ing up treasure upon earth ; borrowing without a probability of paying; taking up. goods without a probability of paying for them. 9. To do all the good they can, by being merciful according to their power ; by clothing the naked, feeding the hungry ; helping them that are sick or in prison ; instructing all they have any intercourse with to do good, especially to them that are of the household of faith, or groaning so to be, employing them in preference to others, buying and selling one 0f another, helping each other in business; also in- structing children in Christian theory and practice. 10. Submiting to bear Christian re- proaches, suffering men to say all manner of evil of us falsely for the Lord's Bake. 11. They practice regular attention to all the ordinances of the Lord : such as the public worship of God ; the ministry of the word either read or expounded ; the Supper of the Lord ; family and pri- vate prayer ; searching the scriptures. These are the principal doctrines of the faith and practice of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in America. III. GOVERNMENT.— FIRST ECCLESIAS- TICAL ORDERS. 1. The order of spiritual functionaries consists in a superintendent, who is elected to his office every four years by the suf- frage of the members of the general con- ference ; at the expiration of his term, he is re-elected, or another in his place ; he must be an elder previous. His business is to preside at the general and annual conferences ; to ordain deacons and elders in the church with the assistance of other elders, also to appoint the preachers of each annual conference to their pastoral charges; and also to travel round the general connection, as often as pcssillc ; he has no regular stipulated salary, but his compensation is anomalous. 2. Functionary, is the Eldership, (the highest of holy orders, as resting upon divine appointment of orders in the Chris- tian Church,) he is elected by the Annual Conference to receive holy orders, and then ordained by the superintendent, as- sisted by elders. His office is to take pastoral charges wherever the superin- tendent may appoint him, to preach on the same as often as practicable, admin- ister the sacrament, to baptize and marry, to preside at Quarterly Conferences, give statistics of his charge annually, and give licenses to preach; his salary is anomalous. 3. Deacon : he is elected to receive this order by the Annual Conference, (after HISTORY OF THE AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHI R< H. 105 i.,. i, M travelled two yeari in the itia- araney,) t ! i« - 1 1 ordained l>> the wperin- tendent, \\ itii the elder's assistance. His \t to preach at the requisition of the elder "i whose charge he is, to assist in tin- administration of the eucharist, to bap- ,;i.| administer matrimonj , and to try disorderly members in the absence of the elder, I. I license d preacher, he receives his authority from the Quarterly Conference, ;u concert with the elder. His duty is to preach at the requisition of the pastor of the charge where he resides. His ser- are gratuitous. ."). Exhorter, his licenses arc given by the elder, and Quarterly Conference; his duty is to exhort, without selecting par- ticular texts, ilis services are gratuitous. 6, Are class leaders, whose duty it is to take charge of from twenty to thirty lay members, to meet them weekly for religious instruction, exhortation, correc- tion, or reproof. They are elected by the Quarterly Conference, annually. 7. Arc temporal functionaries. They are trustees and stewards, and are elected annually, generally by the Quarterly Conference, or by the male members of the society with which they are connected, as the society may determine in its con- stitution. Their business is to control the temporalities of the society, to make or grant bargains for it, to receive and dis- burse all its monies, properly. Thus ends the official department of said church. SECOND. — THE CONVENTIONAL DE- PARTMENT. 1 . The General Conference. — This body convenes every four years, is com- posed of all the travelling ministers of the connection. Its power is to elect the su- perintendent, to confirm any ruler or rulers of general government of said church, that may have been proposed and acted upon by the several Annual and Quarterly Conferences of the sole con- nection. 2. The Annual Conference. — This body convenes annually, and is composed of the travelling ministers of a district. Its business is to 6v< r look the moral con- duct of its membt rs, to elect candidate* for boh "id' i a, to receive candidal probation, and int<> full membership; to I » t » pose tli'- establishm< nl of new d to tin- ( ieneral ( !onien nee, also t<> receive statistics of its pastoral ministers, and to try and expel immoral m< mb 3. The Quarterly Conference, — This body meets quarterly, and is comp the entire officiary over which it holds jurisdiction. The minister holding p. la- teral charge presides over if. Its duty is to look over the moral conduct of the of- ficiary, to try and expel immoral mem- bers, to propose any articles for • government to the Annual Conference, for their legislation, &c. 4. Trustees' Meeting. — This body con- venes monthly, and is composed of the trustees and stewards of a church. Its duty is to look over the temporalities of the society of their jurisdiction, to see that there is a proper disbursement of their monies, and proper grants of bar- gains, &c. 5. Leaders' Meeting. — This body meets monthly, and is composed of all the class leaders and class stewards. Its business is to report, to the pastor in charge, the moral conduct of the laity of the church, and to report deaths, marriages and sick. IV. STATISTICS. The African M. E. Church, in Ameri- ca, (in A. D. 1847,) had two general su- perintendents, Christopher Rush and \\\\- liam Miller, the latter of whom died some time since, and the election of another is delayed for the General Conference in 1848. It has also four Annual Confer- ences, one established in New York, in 1821 ; one in Philadelphia, established in 1823; one in Boston, Mass., established in 1845, and one in Baltimore, Md., estab- lished in 1845. These conferences extend their influence into some eleven states of the Union, the District of Columbia, and also Nova Scotia. It has 75 travelling ministers, from 150 to 200 local preachers and exhorters, also 5000 lay members, and 50 churches, with a great many con- gregations without churches. 406 HISTORY OF THE MEXXOMTES. HISTORY OF THE MENXO.MTES BY- CHRISTIAX HERR. Tjii: names of (Ecolampadius, Luther, Zwinglius, Melancthon, Bucer, Bullinger, Calvin, and others, whom God in his pro- vidence raised up as humble instruments to reform, to no small extent, abuses which had crept into I he church, are fami- liar to almost every ordinary reader ; while that of Menno Simon is little known, although he was cotemporary with Luther, Zwinglius, and others, and with some of whom he had personal interviews — with Luther and Melancthon, in "Wittenberg; with Bullinger, at Zurich ; and at Stras- burg, with Bucer. In an article necessarily brief as this must be, the question, Whether the Men- nonites are descendants from the Wal- denses ? cannot be discussed. The testi- mony, however, of Dr. Ypeij, Prof- Theology at Groningen, and a member of the Dutch Reformed Church, may here be appropriately introduced, on this point. In a work written by the Professor, published at Breda, 1S13, he says : " We have now seen that the Baptists, who were formerly called Anabaptists, and in later times Mennonitos, were the original Waldenses: and have long in the history of the Church received the honor of that origin/' This testimony is borne from high official au- thority in the Dutch Reformed Church. The Mennonites freely acknowledge that thev derived their name from Menno * This article has been prepared by the aid of the Rev. Christian Herr, of Peqn°a, Lan- caster county, a Bishr>p in the Slennonite Church, and has his approbation. — En. Simon, a native of Witmarsum, born in Frieslrmd, A. D. 1495. He, as well as all his cotemporaries, was educated a Ca- tholic, and in his twenty-fourth year, he undertook the duties of a priest in his father's village, called Pinningum, in Fries- | land : although in utter darkness of mind and worldliness of spirit, yet not without some tenderness of conscience and appa- rent piety. In 1530, he was induced to examine the Xew Testament for himself. " I had not,'' says he, " proceeded far therein, before I discovered that I was de- ceived/' His mind was completely changed : lie renounced his former views, and embraced the doctrines of the Xew Testament, and which he zealously advo- cated. He now commenced to travel, with a view to consult with some of his cotempo- raries, such as Luther, Bucer, Bullinger, and others ; having done so, he strenuously opposed the Munsterites. " He condemn- ed," says Mosheim, " the plan of ecclesi- astical discipline of the Munsterites, that was founded on the prospect of a new kingdom, to be miraculously established by Jesus Christ on the ruins of civil go- vernment, and the destruction of human rulers, and which had been the pestilential source of such dreadful commotions, such execrable rebellions, and such enormous crimes."" Menno Simon plainly foresaw to what horrid extremities the pernicious doctrines of the Munsterites were calculated to lead eim, Eccl. History, roL ii. p. 132. Lith of PS Duval.fkilaA in® sum©:: HISTOm OF Till] MKNNOMTKS. 407 the inconsiderate and unwary ; neverthc- i there were many piout souls irbo ha.i been nisled by tins pernicious sect, but who had renounced ell oonnectionand ioterOOUree with them, and as there Were etfo others, descendants of the ancient Waldenses, all of whom were as dispersed sheep of the house of Israel : Menso, at their earnest solicitation, assumed among them the rank .and functions of a public teacher. That be was calculated to dis- charge the duties of Ins office, is evident from his success. " He had," says Mos- heim, "the inestimable advantage of a natural and persuasive eloquence, and his learning was sufficient to make him pass for an oracle in the eyes of the multitude. He appears, moreover, to have been a man of probity, of a meek and tractable spirit, gentle in his manners, pliant and obse- quious in his intercourse with persons of all ranks and characters, and extremely zealous in promoting practical religion and virtue, which he recommended by his ex- ample, as well as by his precepts. A man of such talents and dispositions could not fail to attract the admiration of the people, and to gain a good number of adherents wherever he exercised his ministry."* From 15.37, Menno Simon, in the capa- city of a public teacher, commenced tra- velling from one country to another, amidst pressures and calamities of various kinds, and was constantly exposed to the imminent danger of falling a victim to the severity of the laws. He first visited East i and West Friesland, the province of Gro- ningen, thence he directed his course to Holland, Guelderland, Brabant, Westpha- lia, and continued through the German provinces that lie on the coast of the Baltic Sea, and penetrated as far as Livonia. " In all these places his ministerial labors were attended with remarkable success, and added a prodigious number of fol- lowers."f He labored assiduously till the close of his life. He died at Frcsenburg, near Oldeslohe, January 31, 1561. His object was reformation, and the spiritual edification of his fellow-men, which he accomplished to an unparalleled extent. He purified the doctrines of the * Mosheim, Eccl. History, vol. ii. v. 132. -j- Mosheim. Anabaptist! — some of them be reel others he excluded, who wen- tainted with the Munsterke bares] . 1 le (bunded many communities in various parti of Europe. Prom the year 1687) to the beginning of the present century, man) of the M- n> nonites were sorely persecuted in Europe. They were compelled to flee from one country to another, and consequently have been dispersed. Some went t" Russia, Prussia, Poland, Holland, Denmark, and many, on the invitation of the liberal- minded William Penn, transported them* selves and families, into the province of Pennsylvania, as early as A. J). 1 683. Those who came in that year and in 1698, settled in and about Germantown, where they erected a school and meeting house in 1708. In 1709, other families from the Palati- nate, descendants of the distressed and persecuted Swiss, emigrated to America, and settled in Pequea Valley, then Ches- ter, now Lancaster county. Among these were the Hcrrs,Meylius, Kcndigs, Millers, Oberholtz, Funks, Powmans, and others. They settled in the midst of the Mingo or Conestoga, Pequea, and Shawanese In- dians, where under unpropitious circum- stances, they improved lands. The first who settled here were soon joined by others, who came to America, in 1711, 1717, 1727, and at a later period. Before the year 1735, there were probably rising of five hundred families settled in Lancas- ter county. For some time they held their religious meetings, and school, in the same rude buildings. As a body, in this country, the Mennonitcs have spent little money in erecting stately buildings as churches, or for schools. Economy and comfort being their chief aim, they dis- card ornament. Their religious views were at an early date, and since, misrepresented, and no small degree of prejudice excited against them. To allay such unfounded preju- dices, they had " The Christian Confes- sion of Faith, &c, containing the chief doctrines held by them, translated into English, and published at Philadelphia, in 1727." In the preface to that publica- tion, they say — " that the Confession of Faith of the harmless and defenceless Christians, called Mennonites, is as yet 408 HISTORY OF THE MENNONITES. iittlc known, &c. : so that the greatest portion of people doth not know what they believe and confess of the word of God, and bv reason of that ignorance, cannot speak and judge rightly of their confes- sion, nor of the confessors themselves; nay, through prejudice, as a strange and unheard of thing, do abhor them, so as not to speak well, but oftentimes ill of them. Therefore it hath been thought fit and needful to translate, at the desire of some of our fellow-believers in Pennsyl- vania, our Confession of Faith into Eng- lish, so as for many years it hath been printed in the Dutch, German, and French languages ; which confession hath been well approved of, both in the Low Coun- tries and in France, by several eminent persons of the Reformed religion ; and therefore it hath been thought worth the while to turn it also into English, that so those of that nation may become ac- quainted with it, and so might have a bet- ter opinion thereof, and of its professors ; and not only so, but also that every well- meaning soul might inquire and try all things, and keep that which is best." This confession, which is given below, was, at that time, (1727), approved and | received by the elders and ministers of I the congregations of the people called Mennonites. " We do, (say they,) ac- knowledge and hereby make known, that we own the Confession. In testimony whereof, and that we believe the same to be good, we have subscribed our names : 11 Shipack — Jacob Gacdtschlack, Hen- ry Kolb, Claes Jansen, Michael Zigeler. Germantown — John Gorgas, John Cone- rads, Clas Rittinghausen. Conestoga — Hans Burgholtzer, Christian Heer, Bene- dict Hirchi, Martin Bear, Johannas Bow- man. Great Swamp — Velte Clemer. Manafant — Daniel Langenccker, Jacob Beghtly." ARTICLES OF FAITH. The leading Articles of the Christian Feiith of the Ch arches of the United Flemish, Friesland, and other Men- nonites, and tJiose in America, adopted A. D. 1632. Of (rod, of the Creation of all things and of Man. — Since it is testified, that without faith it is impossible to please God, and that whosoever would come to God, must believe that God is, and that he is a rcwarder of all those who seek him; we therefore confess and believe, according to the scriptures, with all the pious, in one eternal, omnipotent, and in- comprehensible God : the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ; and in no more or none other; before whom there was no God, nor shall there be any after him ; for from him, by him, and in him, are all things ; to whom be praise, honor, and glory for ever and ever : Amen. (Heb. xi. 6 ; Deut. vi. 4 ; Gen. xvii. 1 ; Isa. xlvi. 8 ; Job. v. 7 | Rom. xi. 36.) We believe in this one God, who works all in all ; and confess that he is the Crea- tor of all things, visible and invisible ; who, in six days, created heaven and earth, the sea and all that is therein ; and that he governs and upholds all his works by his wisdom, and by the word of his power. (1 Cor. xii. 6 ; Gen. i. 1-28 ; Acts xiv. 14.) Now, as he had finished his work, and had ordained and prepared every thing good and perfect in its nature and proper- ties, according to his good pleasure, so at last he created the first man, Adam, the fattier of us all ; gave him a body, formed of the dust of the earth, -and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, so that he became a living soul, created by God after his own image and likeness, in righteousness and true holiness, unto eter- nal life. He esteemed him above all creatures, and endowed him with many and great gifts ; placed him in a delight- ful garden, or paradise, and gave him a command and a prohibition ; afterwards he took a rib from Adam, made a woman, and brought her to Adam for a helpmate, consort, and wife. The consequence is, that from this first and only man, Adam, all men that dwell upon the earth have descended. (Gen. i. 27 ; ii. 7 ; v. 1 ; ii. 18 ; xvii. 22 ; Acts xvii. 26.) IT. Of the Fall of Man.— AVc believe and confess, according to the tenure of the scriptures, that our first parents, Adam and Eve, did not remain long in the glo- rious state in which they were created ; but being deceived by the subtlety of the serpent and the envy of the devil, they lllsToKV OF THi: MENNONITES. log ,-sn.-(| the high commandment of ,n,l disobeyed their Creator ; by which disobedience sin altered the world, and death by sin, which has thus passed upon ;ill men, in that all have Binned, ami incurred tin- wrath of(3od and con- demnation. They were, therefore, driven 6T (i"«l (»nt of paradise, t«» till tin- earth, to toil for sustenance, and t<> cat their bread in the sweat of their face, till they Bhould return to the earth whence they had been taken. And that they, by this one BUI, fell so far as to he separated and estranged from God, that neither they themselves, nor any of their posterity, nor angel, nor man, nor any other creature in heaven or on earth, could help them, K'deem them, or reconcile them to God ; hut they must have been eternally lost, had not (rod, in compassion for his crea- ture-, made provision for them, interpo- sing with love and mercy. (Gen. iii. 0 ; Rom. v. 12; Gen. iii. 23; Psalm xlix. 8. !): Rev. v. 1, 5; John iii. 16.) III. Of the Restoration of Man by the promise of Christ's coming. — Concerning >toration of the first man and his posterity, we believe and confess, that God, notwithstanding their fall, transgres- sion, sin, and perfect inability, was not willing to cast them off entirely, nor suffer them to be eternally lost ; but that he called them again to him, comforted them, and testified that there was yet a means of reconciliation ; namely, the Lamb with- out spot, the Son of God, who was ap- pointed for this purpose before the foun- dation of the world, and was promised while they were yet in paradise, for con- solation, redemption, and salvation unto them and all their posterity ; nay, from that time forth was bestowed upon them by faith ; afterwards all the pious fore- fathers, to whom this promise was fre- quently renewed, longed for, desired, saw by faith, and waited for the fulfilment, that at his coming he would redeem, liber- ate, and release fallen man from sin, guilt, and unrighteousness. (John i. 29 ; 1 Pet. i. 19; Gen. iii. 15; John iii. 8; ii. 1; Heb. xi. 13, 39; Gal. iv. 4.) IV. Of the Coming of Christ, and the Cause of his Coming. — We further be- lieve and confess, that when the time of his promise, which all the forefathers anxious!} expected, was fulfilled, the pro. miaed Messiah, Redeemer, and Saviour, proceeded from ( led, was a at, and ac- cording to the predictions of the prophets, and the testimony of the evengi lists, came into the world, nay, \\;i- made manifest in the tlcsh, and thus the Word was made flesh .-nid man; that he was COBCeived by the Virgin Mary, who was espouse*] to Joseph, of the House of I)a\id ; and that she brought forth her first-bom Sob at Bethlehem, wrapped him in .swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger. (John iv. 85 j xvi. 28; 1 Tim. iii. 15 j John i. 14; Matt. i. 22; Luke ii. 7.) We confess and believe, that this is he whose going forth is from everlasting to everlasting, without beginning of days, or end of life; of whom it is testified that he is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last ; that he is the same, and no other, who was provided, promised, sent and came into the world, and who is God's first and only Son, and who was before John the Baptist, Abra- ham, and prior to the formation of the world ; nay, who was the Lord of David, and the God of the universe, the first born of all creatures, who was sent into the world, and yielded up the body which was prepared for him, a sacrifice and offering, for a sweet savor to God ; nay, for the consolation, redemption, and sal- vation of the whole world. (Micah v. 1 ; Heb. vii. 3 ; Rev. i. 8, 18 ; John iii. 16 ; Heb. i. 6; Rom. viii. 32; John i. 30; Matt xx. 11, 41 ; Col. i. 15.) But as to how and in what manner this worthy body was prepared, and how the Word became flesh, we are satisfied with the statement given by the evangelists : agreeably to which, we confess, with all the saints, that he is the Son of the living God, in whom alone consist all our hope, consolation, redemption, and salvation. (Luke i. 30, 31 ; John xx. 30, 31 .; Matt. xvi. 16.) We further believe and confess with the scriptures, that when he had fulfilled his course, and finished the work for which he had been sent into the world, he was, according to the providence of God, delivered into the hands of wicked men ; that he suffered under Pontius Pilate ; was crucified, dead, and buried ; rose again f>2 410 HISTORY OF THE MENONNITES. from the dead on the third day ; ascended to heaven, and sits on the right hand of the majesty of God on high ; whence he will come again to judge the living and the dead. (Luke xxii. 53 ; xxiii. 1 ; xxiv. 5, 6, 51.) And also that the Son of God died, tasted death, and shed his precious blood, for all men ; and that thereby he bruised the serpent's head, destroyed the works of the devil, abolished the handwriting, and obtained the remission of sins for the whole human family ; that he became the means (author) of eternal salvation to all those who, from Adam to the end of the world, believe in and obey him. (Gen. iii. 15; John iii. 8; Col. ii. 14; Rom. v. 18.) V. Of the Lav: of Christ — the Gospel or the New lestcunait. — We believe and confess, that previous to his ascension, he made, instituted, and left his New Testa- ?nc?it, and gave it to his disciples, that it should remain an everlasting testament, which he confirmed and sealed with his blood, and commended it so highly to them, that it is not to be altered, neither by angels nor men, neither to be added thereto, nor taken therefrom. And that, inasmuch as it contains the whole will and counsel of his heavenly Father, as far as is necessary for salvation, he has caused it to be promulgated by his apostles, mis- sionaries, and ministers, whom he called and chose for that purpose, and sent into all the world, to preach in his name among all people, and nations and tongues, tes- tifying repentance and the forgiveness of sins ; and that consequently he has therein declared all men, without exception, as his children and lawful heirs, so far as they follow and live up to the contents of the same by faith, as obedient children ; and thus, he has not excluded any from the glorious inheritance of everlasting life, except the unbelieving, the disobedient, the obstinate, and the perverse, who de- spise it, and, by their continual sinning, render themselves unworthy of eternal life. (Jer. xxxi. 18 ; Heb. ix. 15 ; xvi. 17 ; Matt. xxvi. 27 ; Gal. i. 8 ; 1 Tim. vi. 3 ; John xv. 15; Matt, xviii. 19; Mark xvi. 13; Luke xxiv. 4, 5; Rom. viii. 17; Acts xiii. 46.) VI. Of Repentance and Reformation. — We believe and confess, since the thoughts of the heart are evil from youth, and prone to unrighteousness, sin, and wickedness, that the first lesson of the New Testament of the Son of God, is repentance and reformation. Men, there- fore, who have ears to hear and hearts to understand, must bring forth fruits meet for repentance, reform their lives, believe the gospel, eschew evil and do good, desist from sin and forsake unrighteousness, put off the old man with all his works, and put on the new man, created after God in righteousness and true holiness ; for nei- ther baptism, supper, church, nor any other outward ceremony, can, without faith, regeneration, change or reformation of life, enable us to please God, or obtain from him any consolation, or promise of salvation. But we must g) to God with sincere hearts and true and perfect faith, and believe on Jesus Christ, according to the testimony of the scriptures ; by this living faith we obtain remission or forgive- ness of sins, are justified, sanctified, nay, made children of God, partakers of his image, nature, and mind : being born again of God from above, through the in- corruptible seed. (Gen. viii. 21 ; Mark i. 15; Ezekiel xii. 1; 1 Col. iii. 9, 10; Eph. iv. 21, 22; Heb. x. 21, 22; John vii. 38.) VII. Of BajJtis?n. — As regards bap- tism, we confess that all penitent believers, who, by faith, regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost, are made one with God and written in heaven, must upon their scriptural confession of faith, and reformation of life, be baptized with water,* in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, agree- ably to the doctrine and command of Christ, and the usage of his apostles, to the burying of their sins ; and thus be received into fellowship with the saints ; whereupon they must learn to observe all things which the Son of God taught, left to, and commanded his disciples. (Matt, xviii. 19, 20; Rom. vi. 4; Mark xvi. 15: Matt. iii'. 15; Acts ii. 28; viii. 11 ; ix. 18 ; x. 47 ; xvi. 33 ; Col. ii. 11, 12.) VIII. Of the Church of Christ.— -We * The Mennonites baptize by pouring water upon the head of the person baptized. — Ert. HlsToKY OF Tin: WENN0NTTE8 •ill believe ami confess there ia ■ risible Church of God j namely, those who, as mentioned, do works meet for re- pentance, have true faith, and received ■ true baptism, are made one with God in heaven, ind received into fellowship of the saints here upon earth : those we profess tie the chosen generation, the royal priest- hood, the holy nation, who have the wit- nsss that they an* the spouse and bride of Christ; nay, the children and heirs of everlasting life; a habitation, a tabernacle, a dwelling-place of God in the spirit, built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Christ being the chief corner- stone (upon which his church is built) — this church of (lie living God, which he bought, purchased, and redeemed with his own precious blood, with which cliurch, according to his promise, he will always remain to the end of the world, as protec- tor and comforter of believers, nay, will dwell with them, walk among them, and so protect them, that neither floods nor tempests, nor the gates of hell shall pre- vail against or overthrow them. This church is to be distinguished by scriptural faith, doctrine, love, godly walk or deport- ment, as also by a profitable or fruitful conversation, use and observance of the true ordinances of Christ, which he strictly enjoined upon his followers. (1 Cor. xii. 1 ; 1 Pet. ii. 9 ; John iii. 29 ; Rev. xix. 7; Tit. iii. 6, 7; Eph. ii. 19, 20, 21 ; Matt. xvi. 18; 1 Pet. i. 18, 19; 2 Cor. vi. 16 ; Matt. vii. 35.) IX. Of the Election and Office of Teachers, Deacons, and Deaconesses in the Church. — As regards offices and elec- tions in the church, we believe and con- fess, since the church cannot subsist in her growth, nor remain an edifice without officers and discipline, that, therefore, the Lord Jesus Christ himself instituted and ordained offices and ordinances, and gave commands and directions, how every one ought to walk therein, lake heed to his work and vocation, and do that which is right and necessary ; for he, as the true, great and chief Shepherd and Bishop of our souls, was sent and came into the world, not to wound or destroy the souls of men, but to heal and restore them ; to seek the lost ; to break down the middle wall of partition ; of two to make one ; to gather together out of Jews, Gentiles, and all nations, a Ibid to have fellowship in his name; for which, in order that ni.no might err or <;<» astray, ho laid down Ins c>\\ ii life, ami thus made a v. their salvation, redeeming and releasing thrm, when there waa no one t<> help or assist. (1 Pet. ii. 29; .Matt. mi. 1 !i ; xviii. 11 ; Eph. ii. 18 J Gal. iii. 28 J John x. 9 ; xi. 15 ; Ps. xlix. 8.) And further, that he provided his church, before his departure, with faithful ministers, evangelists, pastors and teach" ers, whom he had chosen by the Holy Ghost, with prayers and supplications, in order that they might govern the church, feed his flock, watch over them, defend, and provide for them ; nay, do in all things as he did, going before them, as he taught, acted and commanded ; teaching them to do all things whatsoever he com- manded them. (Eph. iv. 11 ; Luke x. 1 ; vi. 12, 13; John ii. 15; Matt, xxviii. 20.) That the Apostles, likewise, as true fol- lowers of Christ, and leaders of the church, were diligent with prayers and supplica- tion to God, in electing brethren, provid- ing every city, place or church, with bishops, pastors and leaders, and ordaining such persons as took heed to themselves, and to the doctrine and flock ; who were sound in the faith, virtuous in life and con- versation, and were of good report, both in and out of the church, in order that they might be an example, light, and pat- tern, in all godliness, with good works, worthily administering the Lord's ordi- nances, baptism and supper, and that they might appoint in all places, faithful men as elders, capable of teaching others, or- daining them by the imposition of hands, in the name of the Lord ; further, to have the care, according to their ability, for all things necessary in the church ; so that as faithful servants, they might husband well their Lord's talent, gain by it, and consequently save themselves and those who hear them. (1 Tim. iii. ; Acts i. 23, 24 ; Tit. i. 5 ; 1 Tim. iv. 14, 16 ; Tit. ii. 1, 2; 2 Tim. ii. 2; 1 Tim. v. 2.) That they should also have a care for every one, of whom they have the over- sight ; to provide in all places deacons, who may receive contributions and alms, 412 HISTORY OF THE MENNOMTES. in order faithfully to dispense them to the necessitous saints, with all becoming hon- esty and decorum. (Luke xix. 13. Of deacons, Acts, v. 3-6 ; of deaconesses, 1 Tim. v. 9 ; Rom. xvi. 1 ; James i. 27.) That honorable and aged widows should be chosen deaconesses, who, with the deacons, may visit, comfort, and provide for poor, weak, infirm, distressed and in- digent persons, as also to visit widows and orphans ; and further, assist in taking care of the concerns of the church, according to their ability. And further respecting deacons, that they, particularly when they are capable, being elected and ordained thereto by the church, for the relief and assistance of the elders, may admonish the members of the church, being appointed thereto, and labor in word and doctrine, assisting one another out of love with the gift received of the Lord ; by which means, through the mu- tual service and assistance of every mem- ber, according to his measure, the body of Christ may be edified, and the vine and church of the Lord may grow up, increase, and be preserved. X. Of the Holy Supper. — We likewise confess and observe a breaking of bread, or supper, which the Lord Jesus Christ instituted with bread and wine before his j passion, did eat it with his Apostles, and commanded it to be kept in remembrance i of himself; which they consequently 1 taught and observed in the church, and I commanded to be kept by believers, in re- membrance of the sufferings and death of : the Lord, and that his body was broken, and his precious blood was shed for us, and for the whole human family ; as also the fruits thereof, namely, redemption and everlasting salvation, which he procured thereby, exhibiting so great love towards sinners, by which we are greatly admon- ished to love one another, to love our neighbor, forgiving him, as he has done unto us, and we are to strive to preserve the unity and fellowship which we have with God and with one another, which is also represented to us, in the breaking of bread. (Acts ii. 46.) XI. Of Washing the Saints' Feet.— We also confess the washing of the saints' feet, which the Lord not only instituted and commanded, but he actually washed his Apostles' feet, although he was their Lord and Master, and gave them an ex- ample that they should wash one another's feet, and do as he had done unto them : they, as a matter of course, taught the believers to observe this as a sign of true humility, and particularly as directing the mind by feet-washing, to that right wash- ing, by which we are washed in his blood, and have our souls made pure. (John xiii. 4-17; 1 Tim. v. 10; Gen. xvii. 4; xix. 2 ; xxiv. 32 ; xliii. 24.) XII. Of Matrimony or State of Mar- riage.— We confess that there is in the church, an honorable marriage between two believers, as God ordained it in the beginning in paradise, and instituted it be- tween Adam and Eve ; as also the Lord Jesus Christ opposed and did away the abuses of marriage, which had crept in, and restored it to its primitive institution. (Gen. i. 27 ; Matt. xi. 4.) In this manner, the Apostle Paul also taught marriage in the Church ; and left it free for every one, according to its pri- mitive institution, to be married in the Lord, to any one who may consent ; by the phrase, in the Lord, we think it ought to be understood, that as the patriarchs had to marry among their own kindred or relatives, so likewise the believers of the New Testament are not at liberty to mar- ry, except among the chosen generation and the spiritual kindred or relatives of Christ ; namely, such and no others, as have been united to the church, as one heart and soul, having received baptism and stand in the same communion, faith, doctrine, and conversation, before they become united in marriage. Such are then joined together according to the ori- ginal ordinance of God in his church, and this is called marry inn. in the Lord. (1 Cor. v. 11; ix. 5; Gen. xxiv.; xxviii. ; 1 Cor. vii. 39.) XIII. Of the Magistracy. — We believe and confess, that God instituted and ap- pointed authority and a magistracy for the punishing of the evil-doers, and to protect the good v as also to govern the world, and preserve the good order of cities and coun- tries ; hence, we dare not despise, gainsay or resist the same ; but we must acknow- ledge the magistracy as the minister of God, be subject and obedient thereunto in HisTom of thi: mennomtes. all nod work*, specially in all thin m' | i ( lod's law, w ill ami command- ment ; :ils«> faithfully pay tribute and tax, and render thai which is due, even as the s.>n of God taught and practised, and commanded his disciples to do; that it is our duty, constantly and earnestly to pray t.» the Lord for the government, its proe- . and the welfare of the Country, that we may live under its protection, gain a livelihood, and lead a quiet, peaceable life, in ill godliness and sobriety. And further, that the Lord may reward them in time and eternity, for all the favors, benefits, and the liberty we here enjoy under their praiseworthy administration. (Rom. xiii. 1-7 ; Tit. in. 1 ; 1 Pet. ii. 17 ; Matt. xxii. 21; 1 Tim. ii. 1.) XIV. Of Defence or Revenge. — As re- gards revenge, or defence, in which men resist their enemies with the sword : we believe and confess, that the Lord Jesus Christ forbade his disciples his followers, all revenue and defence, and commanded them, besides, not to render evil for evil, nor railing for railing, but to sheath their swords, or in the words of the prophet, " to beat them into ploughshares." (Matt. v. 39-44; Rom. xii. 14; 1 Pet. hi. 9; Isa. ii. 4 ; Mic. iv. 3 ; Zech. ix. 8, 9.) Hence it is evident, according to his example and doctrine, that we should not provoke or do violence to any man, but we are to seek to promote the welfare and happiness of all men ; even, when neces- sary, to flee, for the Lord's sake, from one country to another, and take patiently the spoiling of our goods ; but to do violence to no man : when we are smitten on one cheek to turn the other, rather than take revenge or resent evil. And, moreover, that we must pray for our enemies, feed and refresh them when they are hungry or thirsty, and thus convince them by kindness, and overcome all ignorance. (Rom. xii. 19, 20.) Finally, that we should do good, and approve ourselves to the con- sciences of all men ; and according to the law of Christ, do unto others as we would wish them to do unto us. (2 Cor. iv. 2 ; Matt. vii. 12; xii. 7.) XV. Of Oaths or Swearing. — Respect- ing judicial oaths, we believe and confess, ! that Christ our Lord did forbid his disci- ples the use of them, and commanded them that they should n<-t swt bi af all ; hut that yea ihouk] l><- yeaj and Day, nay. Hence we infer, 'hat all Oaths, greater and minor, are prohibited ; and that we must, .i of oaths, confirm all our promises and as- sertions, QA) , all our declarations or testi- monies, m every ca-e, with the word ijxi in that which is yea ; and with nay in that which is nay; hence we should always and in all cases perform, keep, follow, and live up to our word or engagi men! as fully as if we had confirmed and established it by an oath. And we do this ; we have the confidence that no man, not even the ma- gistrate, will have just reason to lay a more grievous burden on our mind and conscience. (Matt. v. 34, 30 ; James v. 12 ; 2 Cor. i. 17.) XVI. Of Ecclesiastical Excommunica- tion or Separation from the Church. — We also believe and profess a ban, excom- munication, or separation, and Christian correction in the church, for amendment, and not for destruction, whereby the clean or pure may be separated from the unclean or defiled. Namely, if any one, after having been enlightened, and has attained to the knowledge of the truth, and has been received into the fellowship of the saints, sins either voluntary or presump- tuously against God, or unto death, and falls into the unfruitful works of darkness, by which he separates himself from God, and is debarred his kingdom ; such a per- son, Ave believe, when the deed is manifest and the church has sufficient evidence, ought not to remain in the congregation of the righteous ; but shall and must be sepa- rated as an offending member and an open sinner ; be excommunicated and reproved in the presence of all, and purged out as leaven ; and this is to be done for his own amendment, rnd an example and terror to others, that the church be kept pure from such foul spots ; lest, in default of this, the name of the Lord be blasphemed, the church dishonored, and a stumbling-block and cause of offence be given to them that are without ; in fine, that the sinner may not be damned with the world, but become convicted, repent and reform. (Isa. lix. 2 ; 1 Cor. v. 5, 12 ; 1 Tim. v. 20 ; 2 Cor. x. 8 ; xiii. 10 ; James v. 8, 9.) Further, regarding brotherly reproof or admonition, as also the instruction of those 414 HISTORY OF THE MEXXOXTTES. who err, it is necessary to use all care and diligence to observe them, instructing them with all meekness to their own amend* ment, and reproving the obstinate accord- ing as the case may require. In short, that the church must excommunicate him that sins either in doctrine or life, and no other. (Tit. iii. 10; 1 Cor. v. 12.) XVII. Of Shun?iing or Avoidi?/g the Separated or Excommunicated. — Touch- ing the avoiding of the separated, we be- lieve and confess, that if any one has so far fallen off, either by a wicked life or perverted doctrine, that he is separated from God, and consequently is justly se- parated from and corrected or punished by the church, such a person must be shunned, according to the doctrine of Christ and i his apostles, and avoided without partiality by all the members of the church, espe- cially by those to whom it is known, whether in eating or drinking, or other similar temporal matters ; and they shall have no dealings with him : to the end that they may not be contaminated by in- tercourse with him, nor made partakers of his sins ; but that the sinner may be made ashamed, be convicted, and again led to repentance. (1 Cor. v. 9, 10, 11 ; 2 Thess. iii. 14; Tit. iii. 10.) That there be used, as well in the avoid- ance as in the separation, such modera- tion and Christian charity as may have a tendency, not to promote his destruction, but to insure his reformation. For if he is poor, hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, or in distress, we arc in duty bound, according to necessity, and agreeably to love and to the doctrine of Christ and his apostles, to render him aid and assistance ; otherwise, in such cases, the avoidance might tend more to his ruin than to his reformation. (2 Thess, v. 14.) Hence we must not consider excommu- nicated members as enemies, but admon- ish them as brethren, in order to bring them to knowledge, repentance, and sor- row for their sins, that they may be re- conciled with God and his church ; and, of course, be received again into the church, and so may continue in love to- wards him, as his case demands. XVIII. Of the Resurrection of the Dead, and the last Judgment. — Relative to the Resurrection of the Dead, we be- lieve and confess, agreeably to the scrip- tures, that all men who have died and I fallen asleep, shall be awakened, quicken- ed, and raised on the last day, by the in- 1 comprehensible power of God ; and that ;; Be, together with those that are then alive, and who shall be changed in the twinkling of an eve, at the sound of the I last trumpet, shall be placed before the judgment seat of Christ, and the good be separated from the wicked; that then every one shall receive in his own body according to his works, whether they be good or evil ; and that the good and pious shall be taken up with Christ, as the blessed, enter into everlasting life, and obtain that joy, which no eye hath seen, nor ear heard, nor mind conceived, to reign and triumph with Christ from ever- lasting to everlasting. (Matt. xxii. SO, 31 ; Dan. xii. 12 ; Job xix. 26, 27 ; John v. 28; 2 Cor. v. 10 ; 1 Cor. xv.; Rev. xxi. 11; 1 Thess. iv. 13.) And that, on the contrary, the wicked or impious shall be driven away as ac- cursed, and thrust down into utter dark- ness ; nay, into everlasting pains of hell, where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched ; and that they shall never have any prospect of hope, comfort, or re- demption. (Mark ix. 44.) May the Lord grant that none of us may meet the fate of the wicked : but that we may take heed and be diligent, so that we may be found before him in peace, without spot and blameless. Amen. Done and finished in our United Churches, in the citv of Dortrecht, 21st April, A. D. 1632 ; 'subscribed : Dortrecht — Isaac de Koning, John Ja- cobs, Hans Corbryssen, Jaques Terwen, Nicholas Dirkson, Mels Gylberts, Adriaan Cornelisson. Zeeland — Cornelius de Moir, Isaac Claasz. Middleburg — Bastian Wil- lemsen, John Winkelmans. Vlissingen — Oillaert Willeborts, Jacob Pennen, Lieven Marynesz. Zierich — Anthony Cornelli- son, Peter Jansen Zimmerman. Gorcum — Jacob Van der Heyde Sebrechts, Hans Jansen van de Kruysen. Arnhem — Cor- nelius Jahnsen, Dirk Ronderson. Rot- terdam— Balten Centen Schoomaker, Mi- chel Michelsson, Israel van Halmael, Henry Jahnsen Appeldoorn, Andries Luck- en, jr. Amsterdam — Tobias Govertson, HISTOID OF Tin: Mi:\MiMH>. ii a M . \ iraharn I tirkson, . !'. ■• i- Jahnsen van S ii — Christian de kmiing, Johannes v. Harlem — Johannes Doom, Peter . I »i rk Wouters Kolcnkamp, Peter :i. Schiedam — < ornelius 1!<.iu, Lamberl Paeldink. Btokziel — ClaesClae; Petersi n, I >irk Rendersen, Utrecht — Hermann Segerts, John Hend« •. I I inii I I I'l-iis, Abra- ham Spronk, William von Brockhuysen. Pommd — Wilhelm Jansen van Exselt, rt Spiering, Germany — Peter van . Anthony Hans. Krevelt — Her- man op de Gran, Wilhelm Kreynen, The foregoing articles are received and maintained by all the Mennonites through- out the United States, Territories, and in Canada, wherever they have heen dis- persed ; for, since the first immigration of the Mennonites to this country, they have read over a great portion of Penn- sylvania, where large bodies of them are found in Lancaster county, in Bucks, Chester, Philadelphia, Montgomery, Dau- phin, Cumberland, Juniata, Mifflin, Frank- lin, York. Westmoreland, and some other inties, and also in Maryland, Ohio, In- ! diana, New York and in Canada. The Mennonite congregations in Penn- sylvania are divided into three general circuits, within each of which, semi-annual | conferences, consisting of bishops, ciders or ministers, and deacons, are held for the purpose of consulting each other, and devising means to advance the spiritual prosperity of the members. A similar conference is held in Ohio, where the Mennonites are very numerous, consist- ing, however, principally of foreign im- migrants who have settled there within the last thirty years. The members of the congregations in Indiana are princi- pally from Switzerland. In Canada they have from fifteen to twenty places where religious meetings are held ; their semi- annual conferences are alternately held at Waterloo, Clinton, and Markham. Bishops, < ld( ■ «-..iis. Mil- usually chosen !•■ Tin ir pastors neither stipulated salarit s, nor any kind neration for preaching the gospel, <>r in attending tc» the functions of their « mcc. Their number of ministers, membei gregations, and houses of public worship, in America, has been variously estimated : hni the exact number of m< mbcra cannot be given,4 as they keep no among them for that purpose. In this they bold the same views as they do in giving alms, when our Saviour says (Matt, vi.): u Take heed thai ye do not your alms,'' &c. >,, they believe it would not be acceptable in the sight of God to make a public display of the number of their communicants, as they know the Head of the Church of God, namely, Jesus Christ, sees and knows who arc his children in the whole world. Furthermore, they bear in mind the confession of King David, declaring himself that he greatly sinned by causing Israel to be numbered. (2 Sam. xxiv.) * In a letter to the editor from Shem Zook, who is well-informed in the religious statistics of the Mennonites, he says, when speaking of the Mennonites, "their number in the United States has been computed at 120,000." This estimate, we think, is too high. So far as we can ascertain, they have about ninety-five ministers in Pennsylvania, one hundred and eighty places of public worship; in Virginia, from thirty to forty ministers, about thirty-five places of worship. In Maryland, Ohio, In- diana, and New York, probably eighty-five i ministers, and one hundred and thirty places of worship. In all America, about two hun- dred and thirty or forty ministers, and rising of four hundred places of public worship, and between fifty and sixty thousand members. The whole Mennonite population may proba- bly exceed 120,000; but they have "not that number of communicant members. They are distinguished above all others for their plainness in dress, economy in their do- mestic arrangements; being frugal, thrifty, and withal very hospitable. They take in strangers ; treat them kindly without charge. They suffer none of their members to become a public charge. — Ed. 4L6 H18T0RT OF THE REFORMED MENNONITE SOCIETY. HISTORY OF THE REFORMED MENNONITE SOCIETY* BY THE REV. JOHN HERR. STRASBURG, LANCASTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. HISTORY. The Mennonite denomination derived irs name from Menno Simon, a very zeal- ous and successful reformer ; but, owing to the manner in which he and his fol- lowers were persecuted, and his doctrines and views misrepresented, through the malice of his papistical adversaries, his name was never handed down to posterity, side by side with that of Luther, Calvin, and others ; though it must be admitted, he did as much towards the enlightening of mankind, and contended with adver- saries as powerful, as ever impeded the progress of Luther, and all those illus- trious personages, whose names shed such a lustre on the history of the Reforma- tion. But as there is required a history of the Reformed branch of the Mennonite Society only, it will not fall within the design of this sketch, to trace her history to that dark and superstitious period, when the earth was daily drenched with the blood of the righteous. How long the followers of Menno, ad- hered to the doctrines he had inculcated — how long they practised his precepts, and guarded with a jealous eye those divine truths, that he had promulgated, is not ex- actly known ; but we are informed from * This article has the sanction of the Rev. John Herr, of Strasburg, a Bishop of the So- ciety Ed. a source which cannot be doubted, that soon after the persecution ceased, there was a gradual falling off from their former purity, and that they did not carry into effect the doctrines they had formerly taught and professed. From this it is evident, that they became, by degrees, more and more corrupted. It was when viewing their fallen state, and on reflecting how they had deviated from the path in which they had formerly trod ; how they resisted minor evils, though they were instructed that the New Testa- ment showed expressly, that Christ taught his disciples to resist no evil whatever ; in short, it was when contrasting their con- ditions now, with what they professed then, that a few individuals contemplated the design of restoring them to their former purity. They, for this purpose, met re- peatedly, and exchanged in simplicity of heart the sentiments of their minds. They warned the Mennonitcs of their delusion ; but as they were unwilling to be convinced of the errors under which they were la- boring, and as those few enlightened souls found it impossible to take part in their proceedings, as long as they remained in their denied condition, they found it neces- sary to' renovate and renew the whole Mennonite doctrine. They accordingly razed the rubbish to the foundation, on which they commenced building the church of Christ anew. This happened in the year 1811 ; and as their number was con- HI8TORY OF THE REFORMED MENNONITE BOCIE1 I ■117 tiunalJv on the increase, they found it n-'- py, after much prayer, supplication, ami submission to the will of God, to ap- point one, from amongal their number, to tuperintend this deairable work. But ai re all aware that the undertaking win of no ordinary kind, and each one being impressed with the conviction that ha \s,is too feeble to take the lead in ex- poaing the evils that arise I'roin holding the laws of God at defiance, and from bring- ing perverted and sinful souls from dark- OtO light, they, as may be readily supposed, kit considerable diffidence about making a choice. It was, for a long time, their general theme for discussion at their private meetings ,• but, on finding that it was unnecessary to delay it any longer, and being convinced of the necessity of appointing one to fill the ministerial sta- tion, they made a choice, which devolved upon John Herr. It was a grievous task — as he himself expresses it — but, owing to the conviction that he had been called by the Almighty to exert himself to the utmost to re-establish the fallen state of the church, and to the powerful appeals and pressing solicitations of his fellow- laborers, he found himself unable to refuse. And now that they were fairly in the field, they invited the public, and com- menced operations with redoubled vigor ; and though public opinion has pointed the finger of scorn at their perseverance and exertions ; and though their doctrines were despised by the ignorant multitude, and the difficulties they had to surmount not a few, they nevertheless removed every ob- stacle that was intended to impede their progress, fearless and undismayed ; and notwithstanding the predictions to the con- trary, by certain individuals, success has crowned their efforts. Before concluding the first part of this sketch, it will not be amiss, perhaps, to give the reader a passage from the Illus- trating Mirror, page 393, written by John Herr. Speaking about his entering on his min- isterial duties, he says : " At last I con- sented to put my talent to usury, accord- ing as God imparted to me the measure of faith, by the influence of his Spirit ; to him alone be the praise, who has at all times comforted and supported me in all my in- firmities under Which 1 have frequently groaned* \ at, from the depth of m I thank the everlasting ( rod, through .'< aui Christ, who granted me bleaaiag, power and i ucccss in speaking ln^ wordi without timidity, and made it fruitful '" Ihe bearti of many, who, by the bearing of the word, have been brought to believe; yea, have been turned, through Jeans, from darkneaa to light, and from the power of Satan to God. So I began to labor at this holy city and temple, not only with the word of repentance and faith, but also with the holy baptism, supper, foot-washing and all the apostolical ordinanees, and to join the fallen and acattered stones together again for a spiritual body and temple of the Lord. Moreover, the Lord of mercy rendered me assistance, by the word of his power, in bringing the rough and unshapen stones from the mountain of sublimity and carnal reason ; which stones, through the hidden power of the Holy Spirit, were, and daily are, changed or dressed, and made brilliant by the rays of eternal light ; to the eternal and only wise God, the Fa- ther of mercies and all good, be alone the honor and the praise, through Jesus Christ, for ever and ever, Amen." DOCTRINE. Regarding the doctrinal points, it be- comes necessary to state that the articles of their Confession of Faith have been modified and condensed, as much as is allowable, without destroying the sense, in order to make it as brief and perspicuous as possible. A representation of the chief Articles of their Christian FaitJt, as taught and practised in their Church. 1. They believe, and confess, accord- ing to scripture, in one Eternal, Almighty, and Incomprehensible God, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and no more, and no other; who works all in all, and is the Creator of all things visible and invisible; and that he created our first parents after his own image and likeness, in righteous- ness and true holiness, unto eternal life; and that he endowed them with many and great gifts, and placed them in paradise, and gave them a command and prohibition. 53 418 HISTORY OF THE REFORMED MENNOMTE SOCIETY. 3, They brieve and confess, that our first parents were creiited with a freewill, susceptible of change ; and that they were at liberty to fear, serve, and obey their ( Valor, or disobey and forsake him ; and ! that, through the subtlety of the serpent, and the envy of the devil, they trans- gressed the command of God, and dis- olxncd their Creator ; by which disobe- dience sin and death came into the world, and thus passed upon all men. They also believe that, by this one sin, they were driven from paradise, became so far fallen, separated, and estranged from God, that neither they nor their posterity, nor any other creature in heaven or on earth, could redeem or reconcile them to God ; and that they would have been eternally lost, had not God interposed with his love and mercy. 3. They believe and confess, that God, notwithstanding their fall and transgres- sion, did not wish to cast them away, and have them eternally lost ; but that he called them again to him, comforted them, and testified that there was yet a means of reconciliation ; namely, that the Son of God, who was appointed unto this purpose before the foundation of the world, and who was promised unto them and their posterity, for their reconciliation and re- demption, while yet in paradise, from that time forth was bestowed upon them bv faith. 4. They believe and confess, that when the time of the promise was fulfilled, this promised Messiah proceeded from God, was sent, and came into the world, and thus the Word was made flesh and man ; they also believe, that his going forth is from everlasting to everlasting, without beginning of days, or end of life: that he is the beginning and the end, the first and the last ; and, also, that he was God's first and only Son, and who was the Lord of D ivi 1, and the God of the world. Thev further believe, that when he had fulfilled his course, he was delivered into the hands of the wicked ; was crucified, i\'^<\. and buried ; rose again on the third day, ascended to heaven, and sits on the risrht hand of the majesty of God ; from whence he will come again to judge the quick and th^ dead. And that through his death, and the shedding of his blood for all men, he bruised the serpent's head, destroyed the works of the devil, and ob- tained the forgiveness of sins for the whole human family. 5. They believe and confess, that pre- viously to his ascension he instituted and l» ft his New Testament, which he con- firmed and sealed with his blood, and commended it so highly to his disciples, that it is not to be altered, nor added to, nor diminished. And that, inasmuch as it contains the whole will of his heavenly Father, he has caused it to be promul- gated over the earth, and appointed Apos- tles, missionaries, and ministers, to teach it in his name to all people, nations, and tongues ; and has therein declared all men his children and lawful heirs, provided they live up to the same by faith. 6. They believe and confess, that the first lesson of the New Testament of the Son of God is repentance and reforma- tion ; hence it is their opinion, that men must reform their lives, believe in the gos- pel, desist from sin, forsake unrighteous- ness, sacrifice the old man with all his works, and put on the new man created after God in unsullied holiness. 7. As regards baptism, they confess, that all penitent believers, who by faith, regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost, arc made one with God, must, upon their scriptural confession of faith, and re- formation of life, be baptized with water, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, agreeably to the doctrine and commandment of Christ ; whereupon they must learn to observe all which the Son of God taught and com- manded his disciples. 8. They believe and confess a visible Church of God ; namely, those that are made one with God in heaven, and re- ceived into the fellowship of the saints here on earth. They also confess, that the same are the chosen people, the royal priesthood, the holy nation, and the chil- dren and heirs of everlasting life, a dwell- ing-place of God in the spirit, built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Pro- phets, Christ being the chief corner-stone, upon which the church is built ; and this church must be known, by her obedience to her supreme Head and King; in all matters of faith to obey him, and to keep |H8T0R\ OF THE REFORMED \fENNONITE SOCIETY. 418 mmandments ; and mid bride i; ather, mother, nnd all company, and yields herself to the will (»i* her bridegroom, bo all the true children of God, must separate from all btae worship, flee from the voice of stran- gers, and give ear unto n<> one, except Christ and his commissioned minis! !'. With n gard to the offices and el v- fthe church, they believe and con- fess, that the l.m-A Jesus Christ himself instituted and ordained offices, and ordi- nances, and gave directions how every one should do that which is right and ncces- s.uv; and further, that he provided his church, before his departure, with minis- ters, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, in order that they might govern the church, watch over his flock, and defend and pro- vide for it ; and that the Apostles likewise elected brethren, and provided every city, place, or church, with bishops, pastors and s ; and that they always had to be sound in faith, virtuous in life and conver- sation, and of good report both in and out of church, in order that they might be an example in all good and virtuous deeds. 10. They also confess, and observe a breaking of bread or supper, which Christ instituted with bread and wine before his suffering, cat it with his apostles, and commanded it to be kept in remembrance of himself, which they consequently taught and practised in the church, and command- ed to be kept by all true believers in re- membrance of the sufferings and death of the Lord ; and that his body was broken, and his precious blood shed for the benefit of the whole human race ; the fruits of which are redemption and everlasting sal- vation, which he procured thereby, mani- festing such great love towards sinners, by which all true believers are greatly admonished to love one another, even as he has loved them ; and as many grains are united together into one bread, and many grapes into one cup of wine : so shall they as many members be united into one body, and all partakers of the same bread ; and without this union of spirit, and true holiness, no one can be admitted to this holy supper. 11. They also confess the washing of the saints' feet, because the Lord not only commanded it, but actually washed the is iheii Lord and Master ; and by so do Lr.-i\i- them an example, which th< titated to follow. 1 1 icj bi - lieve it their duty to consider with pro- found meditation, how the blessed Son of God humbled himself, not only in washing his disciples' feet, but much rather, be- cause he washed and purified our Bonis, with his precious blood, from all the pol- lution of eternal damnation. 12. With regard to marriage, thi lieve there is in the church an honorable marriage, between two believers, as God ordained in the beginning in paradif instituted it between Adam and Eve ; as also Christ opposed and reformed the abuses that had taken place, and restored it to its original condition. They further believe, that as the patriarchs had to marry among their own kindred, so like- wise, the followers of Christ arc not at liberty to marry, except such, and no others, as have been united with the church as one heart, and one soul, and stand in the same communion, faith, and doc- trine. 13. They confess and believe, that God instituted and appointed authoritv and the magistracy as a punishment for evil-doers, and a protection for the good ; hence they dare not gainsay or resist it ; but must acknowledge the magistracy as the minis- ter of God, be subject and obedient in all things, not repugnant to God's law and commandments ; also faithfully pav tribute and tax, and render that which is due, as Christ taught, practised, and commanded his disciples to do; and also, that it is their duty to pray constantly for the pros- perity of the government and welfare of the country. They further believe that, as Christ avoided the grandeur of this world, and conducted himself as an hum- ble minister, none of his followers must discharge the duties of a magisterial office, or any branch of it, following, in this, the example of Christ and his apostles, under whose church these specified offices were not administered ; and as they are in- structed not to hold any worldly office whatever, thev likewise think themselves deprived of the liberty of elevating others to a magisterial, or any other office. 14. Concerning the spiritual kingdom 420 HISTORY OF THE REFORMED MENNONITE SOCIETY. of Christ, they confess and believe, that it is not of this world ; and that he dissuaded all his ministers and followers from all worldly power, forbidding the same, and instituted a diversity of offices in his church, whereby the saints may be joined together, so as to build up the body of Christ ; and that they must not be equipped with carnal weapons ; but, on the contrary, with the armor of God, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, in order that they may be enabled to fight against, and overcome flesh and blood — the allurements of the world and sin — and thus, finally to overcome and receive, through grace, the crown of everlasting life, from this our Eternal King, as their recompense and reward. 15. As regards revenge, they believe and confess, that Christ did forbid his dis- ciples all revenge and defence, and com- manded them not to render evil for evil ; hence they consider it evident, according to his example and doctrine, that they should not provoke, or do violence to any man, or enter into any legal process, but seek to promote the welfare and happiness of all men ; and that they should pray for their enemies, feed and refresh them when hungry or thirsty, and thus convince them by kindness, and overcome all ignorance by doing unto others, as they would that others should do unto them. 16. Respecting oaths, they believe and confess, that Christ did forbid his disciples the use of them, and commanded that they should not swear at all. Hence they in- fer, that all oaths, greater or minor, are prohibited ; and that they must, instead of this, confirm all their declarations, asser- tions, and testimonies with the word, yea in that which is yea, and nay in that which is nay. Hence they should always perform, follow, keep and live up to their words, as though they had confirmed them with an oath. 17. They also believe and confess a ban, separation, and Christian correction in the church, whereby the pure may be distinguished from the defiled. Namely, if any one, who has embraced religion, and attained the knowledge of truth, sins either voluntarily or presumptuously against God or unto death : they believe that such a person, when the church has sufficient evidence of the case, cannot re- main in the congregation of the righteous ; but shall and must be separated, excom- municated and reproved in the presence of all, and considered as an oflending member and open sinner ; in order that lie may be an example and terror to others, and that the church may remain pure and undcfiled. And concerning brotherly reproofs and admonition, they consider it necessary to instruct them with all meekness to their own amendment, and reprove the obstinate, according as the case may require. 1 8. Respecting the avoiding of the sepa- rated, they believe and confess, that if any one, by a wicked life, or perverted doc- trine, has separated himself from God, and consequently from the church, he must be shamed, according to the doctrine of Christ and his Apostles, and avoided without par- tiality, by all members of the church unto whom it is known, whether in eating, drinking, or other similar matters ; and that they should have no dealings with him ; for the purpose of making the sin- ner ashamed, be convicted, and called to repentance. It is also their belief, that there should be used in the avoiding, as well as in the separation, such moderation and Christian charity, as may have a tendency to insure his reformation ; hence they do not con- sider them as enemies, but admonish them as brethren, in order to bring them to knowledge, and be reconciled to God and his church. 19. Relative to the resurrection of the dead, they believe and confess, agreeably to scripture, that all men that have died, shall be awakened, quickened, and raised on the last day, by the incomprehensible power of God ; and that these, together with those that are then alive, who shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye at the sound of the last trumpet, shall be placed before the judgment seat of Christ ; and that the good will be separated from the wicked : that then every one shall re- ceive in his own body, according to his works, whether they be good or evil ; and that the good or pious shall be taken up with Christ, as the blessed, enter into ever- lasting life, and obtain that joy, which no eye hath seen, nor ear heard, nor mind Lilh: of P. S. Duval, Plulad* ;AITOIIIL ^WIlIIi@S©0 HISTORY OF THE NEW Juki SALEM, 01 m:w OHBUTIAH < BUHI 11. 491 jn with Christ from ever- to everlasting. And that, <>u the contrary, the wicked shall I*- driven away as accursed, and thrust Down to outer darkness, and into rerlasting pains of hell, where the worn) dieth not, and the fire is not quenched; and that they shall have no! any prospect of hope, comfort, or redemption. These, as brieflv stated above, are the chief articles of their general Christian faith, which they teach and practise uni- versally in their churches and among their members, which in their conviction are the only true Christian faith, which the Apos- tles taught, nay testified with their death, and some also sealed with their hlood ; wherein they willingly abide, live, and die, that they may with them attain to salva- tion by the grace of the Lord. Respecting the statistical part of this sketch, it becomes necessary to say, that they never deemed themselves at liberty to keep an accurate account of their mem- ben ; because they do not wish to a great display respecting their numbers, but they believe all that is nee. ssary, is to have their nam* i recorded in the book of Ufej and because they read (2 Sain. wiv. and l ('bron. xxi.) that the anger of the Lord was kindled against David for num- bering his people, SO that he sent a lenoe which destroyed seventy thousand. The number of churches, however, that have been organized in different parts of the country, are as follows : Lancaster county — where the reforma- tion first commenced — Montgomery coun- ty, Dauphin county, Cumberland county, Franklin county, Pennsylvania ; Richland and Wayne counties, Ohio; Wayne county, Indiana; Eric county, and Livingston county, New York ; and in the province of Canada; besides which, there are num- bers scattered through the adjoining coun- ties, that have never been regularly or- ganized. The churches above stated are all pro- vided with ministers, deacons, pastors, &c. HISTORY OF THE NEW JERUSALEM, OR NEW CHRISTIAN CHURCH BY A LAYMAN OF THAT DENOMINATION. This body of Christians accepts the doctrines and theological writings of the late Hon. Emanuel Swedenborg* as a * Emanuel was the son of Jesper Swedberg, : bora near Fahlun, Sweden, 1653. Jesper was i several years chaplain to the army of a regi- rational and authoritative exposition of scripture. The general ignorance re- ment of cavalry, finally bishop of Slcara. West Gothland, and "many years superintendent of the Swedish mission established in England and America. He died in 1735. 428 HISTORY OF THE NEW JERUSALEM, OR NEW CHRISTIAN CHURCH. specting this author ; the true nature and object of his works; and the character of his followers may justify a fuller exposi- tion of these and some other collateral points, than would otherwise Qomport with the plan of this History, or than would he try in the case of churches of longer standing, and hence better known to the community. But before proceeding to a sketch of its faith, it is proper to announce, that this church refuses to be regarded as one of the many different sects into which the general body of Christians is unhappily divided ; but claims, as the name imports, to possess an entirely new dispensation of doctrinal truth, as compared with any of the systems which at present prevail. 1 A new church !' will the reader ex- claim in wonder or indignation : — ' and to j supersede the one established by Christ in person ! ! Have we not the lawful suc- cessor of Peter, Prince of the Apostles, the Vicar of Jesus Christ on Earth — empow- ered to declare true doctrine and deter- mine controversies in Reli savs the Emanuel Swedberg was born in Stockholm, January 29, 1668. He enjoyed early the ad- vantages of a liberal education, and being na- turally endowed with uncommon talents for theacquirenient of learning, his progress in the sciences was rapid and extensive. "His youth was marked by an uncommon assiduity and application in the study of philosophy, mathematics, natural history, chemistry, and anatomy, together with the Eastern and Eu- ropean languages. He had an excellent me- mory, quick conceptions, and a most clear judgment." In 1716. he was appointed by Charles XIT., Assessor Extraordinary of the Metallic Col- lege. In 1719, he was ennobled by Queen Ul- rica Eleonora, when he assumed the name of Swedenborg, and took his seat with the Nobles of the Equestrian order, in the Triennial As- sembly of the States. He was made a fellow by invitation" of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Stockholm, and had a like honor conferred on him by foreign societies. He is distinguished in the literary, scientific, and theological world, by his numerous publi- cations in the Latin language, which give proof of great genius and profound erudition. He closed his eventful life in London, March 29th, 1772, in the 85th year of his age. He lived in much esteem with the bishops and nobles of his own country ; and his acquaint- ance was sought after by the most distin- guished characters in various parts of Europe, with many of whom he continued to corres- pond till his death. The Rev. Thomas Hartley, a clergyman of the Church of England, Rector of \Yinwick, England, who was intimately acquainted with Swedenborg, in a letter to a friend, bears this testimony of him: "It may reasonably be supposed, that I have weighed the character of Swedenborg in the scale of my best judg- ment, from the personal knowledge I had of him, from the best information I could pro- cure concerning him, and from a diligent perusal of his writings ; and according thereto, I have found him to be the sound divine, the good man, the deep philosopher, the universal scholar, and the polite gentleman." — Editor. Romanist. ' Nay,' says the Episcopalian, 1 the Apostles were equal in authority among themselves. Our Bishops are their legitimate successors — the chain of descent having never been broken — and they have preserved the christian doctrine entire, or restored it when corrupt.' ' And we,' say Protestants of another, tyre, ' thanks to the glorious Reformation, are free from the tyranny alike of Pope and prelate : we have the Word of God in our own language, and each one is at liberty to draw his doctrine from the source.' ' Your churches were but half reformed,' say others still, ' In the exercise of that very freedom which you have failed to use, we have attained the true light." Thus various are the voices in remon- strance, however they may unite at the close in the enquiry: 'Where then can be the necessity of a new dispensation ? — or show of reason for a pretension which by implication condemns — not one, but all other churches extant?' And we meet the question at the threshhold. The rea- sons are many. We can here cite but a few — and even these cannot be given without reference to opinions of other Christians, from which we dissent. We would, therefore, premise that we desire such reference and such dissent may not be interpreted into any want of respect to their holders as such ; since erroneous opinions may be innocently adopted or retained, where there has been no full col- lation of conflicting systems. There was a time when the followers of our Lord were of one heart and one mind} but now we see them hopelessly sundered into Romanists on the one hand, and Greeks and Protestants on the other ; and the latter rent into many-colored and uncompromising factions. And if there HISTORl OF THE NEW JERUSALEM, OR NEM CHRI8TIAN CHURCH eming union among them, neutral spectators still think or fear, ause the) love each other in >re, but Rom - less. VVh il is the object of any church, but to preserve and pro- the truth for the sake of j And has the former Christian church done Conceding for the present, what ■one of us ma) actually believe, that there baa been an uninterrupted succession of Bishops at Rome, from Peter to Pius IX. : — or that the line from the Apostles ge- nerally has! been somewhere preserved through all vicissitudes: as it may also have been from Aaron to Caiaphas, or from Mahomet to the present Mufti at Constantinople, — the requisition is not fully njet. Quis custodier, custodes ipsos ? Hive they been faithful to their trust? Have they kept in purity what was com- mitted to their charge? Or, while they have been careful to preserve and adorn the casket, may not its most precious jew- els have been purloined and substituted by counterfeits ? ' The priest's lips verily keep knowledge, and we should seek the law at his mouth.' But what, if the Oracle when consulted remains dumb, or gives forth an uncertain sound ? nay, forbids our hearkening to any other voice ? While we acknowledge with Protestants, tint the Church of Rome had become utterly corrupt in doctrine and practice before the Reformation, the radical differ- ences among themselves show that they cannot all be right. Nor will it avail to as>nrt that they agree in fundamentals. We know of no such accordance in any one doctrine, either as to the nature of God, the character and wants of man, the mode of divine interposition, or the Inspi- ration of the Scriptures. Granting that each sect has retained some truth, — and were there not a portion in the worst, we should not, as we do, see good men in every one, — the true si/stem of doctrine has been lost. The true ideal of Christian character has also been forgotten, if it was ever fully known. Thinnce more : A Religion, some of whose principles are yet undeveloped, or a part o( whose teachings is merely above the present apprehension of its professors, is one thing ; A Religion which is mysterious in its own nature is another, and very different, A Religion of the latter kind, whose fundamental dogmas are unintelli- gible mysteries — however its existence may be protracted by the force of circum- stances— carries within itself the seeds of dissolution. The sage observer must see the tendency of such a faith, and if he permit himself to reason on it, may predict, as its inevitable issue, different results, akin to Popery — to Formalism — to Indif- ferentism, or Infidelity, — or else to incura- ble schisms — according to the several classes of character on which it is brought to bear. For, in such a one, from the nature of the human mind, numerous questions must arise, and beget contro- versies. If these are ever authoritatively determined, it must be by dicta which to some minds will appear arbitrary. To such authority the timid or indifferent may submit, especially when a pretence of Infallibility has been long assumed and conceded. Others, who, if not indiffer- ent to truth of doctrine, leave such dis- putes to be settled by the Clergy, and lay more stress on outward forms of govern- ment and Worship, may take refuge in a milder Communion. But many will still remain, who, in default of convincing reasons, will persist in dissenting; and yet for their own conclusions, where po- sitive or opposite, they can often have nothing better than doubtful or probable grounds ; thus are their weapons retorted and the differences perpetuated. Apart from these considerations, it might have been inferred from Sacred Scripture itself, that the True Religion in 54 all its comprehensive depth was not of- fered, nor, for sufficient n ■ • n its mysteries fully explained to the primitive Christians. Said our Lord to In. pies, < I have many things to my unto you, but you cannot bear them //'///•.' 4 The time will come when I will show you plainly of the Father.' (John xvi. 12, 25.) In the effort to understand what was already written, doubts and questions did arise, — and on this very subject. Instead of acknowledging their present ignorance, angry controversies did ensue. Too faithless to trust the promise of their Lord, or too impatient to wait until they had rendered themselves worthy of the true and only solution — decisions were made, and by Authority ; — but such de- cisions as darkened counsels by words without understanding ! This authority, by slow gradations, grew up into a Spirit- ual Despotism which overshadowed all Christendom, and yet was never so firmly established but that there always had been rebels against the pretended Infallibility of Rome. That the antagonist systems of the Reformation did not give universal satisfaction, is proved, as well by the re- maining strength of the Papacy, as by the growth of numerous bodies of Dis- senters where freedom of religion is al- lowed, or by secret Infidelity where it is not. All these felt that something — that much was wrong, though none of them penetrated to the root of the evil ; — and by their unskilful attempts at Reform, created fresh difficulties of their own. Without some further light, or the disturbing in- fluence of political causes, the various classes of mind and character might have revolved forever in the old circle of con- troversies, without materially changing their relative ' positions, or satisfactorily determining one of the vexed questions of theology. Shall Christians, then, who profess to believe that the mercy of the Lord is infinite, and that neither the gates of hell, nor yet the treason or apostacy of one or more of its branches shall pre- vail against His Church — start back with incredulity from the bare suggestion, that, in this her day of distraction and wan- dering, a new guide should be raised up? Nor should her present lamentable condition occasion either surprise or des- 42G HISTORY OF THE NEW JERUSALEM, OR NEW CHRISTIAN CHURCH. pair. Himself had predicted the decline oi' that dispensation, and its utter over- throw from its foundations*; and that he would come again. (Matt, xxiv.) And the prophet of the future fortunes of the Church saw in vision ' the Holy City, New Jerusalem, descending from God out of heaven, like a bride adorned for her husband ;' — ' the tabernacle of God with men.9 (Rev. xxi. 1-5.) 'The kingdoms of this ivorld become the kingdoms of our Lord.' (xi. 15.) It is for the fulfilment of this promise, that we believe all things are now ready. It is for this hope's sake, nay, confidence, that he has come — not in person, as many are even now looking for him — but in the power and glory of the spiritual meaning of his Word, which has heretofore been clouded by the literal sense, (Matt. xxiv. 30,) that we are de- nounced as enthusiasts or worse. Is a prophecy ever understood until accom- plished ? When he does come, is it prob- able that the world in general will be aware either of the fact or mode of his appearance ; or believe it, if true ? (Matt. xxiv. 44 ; Luke xviii. 8.) In all religious inquiries, the principal object should be the knowledge of God. As, if clear ideas are wanting here, all subsequent reasoning is darkened and perplexed, if not entirely vitiated. We suppose few will be found at the present day to deny, at least in words, that God is one, and God is good ; and that this is discoverable from his works. But the Christian is asked yet another question, — and surely when aided by Revelation, his answer should be full and exact, — ' Who then was that dread, mysterious one that walked the earth more than eighteen cen- turies since ; and whose appearance was the signal for a contest of opinions, which has widened and extended to our own day ?' We do not care, even if our space permitted, to rake into ecclesiastical his- tory, among the ashes of forgotten here- sies, whose authors ' would not have this man to reign over them.' Let us descend to more recent times. The Master him- self, when here, inquired of his disciples, 'What think ye of Christ?' and the question is re-echoed through the long tract of ages. ' He is one of three divine persons, each of whom by himself, is God,' says the Athanasian. ' Be it so,' says the Arian, ' if you grant that his is a derived divinity.' ' He is one of three differences,' says Archbishop Tillotson. ' Or of three subsistences," says Seeker from the same chair. ' One of three dis- tinct cogitations,' says Lc Clerc. ' He is one of three sometvhats," says the mathematical! Dr. Wallis. Sirs, we do not understand you ; nor can we accom- pany the logic which would put a differ- ence between three separate divine per- sons, and three distinct gods ! ' Your ob- jection is natural,' says Priestley ; ' he was a good man : a prophet, if you will : but still the son of Joseph and Mary, and naturally fallible and peccable as you or I.' ' I go farther,' says Mr. Belsham, ' and assert that his too partial biogra- phers may have suppressed certain por- tions of his private history, which would have proved him actucdly guilty of com- mon frailties.' Sirs, your statement, though irreverent to our ears, is intelligi- ble; but it contradicts the general tenor and many express declarations of Scrip- ture. ' We would offend neither prejudice nor reason,' says the transcendental Uni- tarian ; ' We believe in but one God, and neither affirm nor deny the divinity of Christ ; but we do accept him as our teacher.' Very good apology for a lover of mystery, all of whose honors, however, you disclaim. 'We are not required to express an opinion,' says John Locke, or Alexander Campbell, and as Thomas Hobbes had said before either ; ' suffi- cient it is, if we believe, with the primi- tive Christians, that Jesus is the Messiah, the Saviour of the world.' Very well, and who is the Messiah ? It is plain, that, on a point of such im- portance, statements so various or inade- quate cannot be satisfactory to all minds. And should any unsatisfied inquirer put the question to us, we answer, without ambi- guity, equivocation, evasi n or reserve, He was God manifest in the flesh. We know, we conceive of, we worship no other ; we pray to no other for his sake. We have an apostle's assertion that " in him dwells all the fulness of the HISTOm OP THE NEW JERU8ALEM, OR NEW CHRI8TIAN CHURCH / ,-' and Ins own, that i //////, aeeth the Father :' and thai he 1 1 : > 1 1 1 ' nil power in / ami on earth.'11 The Deist ami the Pan- theist believe la a God diffused through all ipaee. This is the Christian'! God — in a human form : visible t'> Ins disciples after his Resurrection: and since thru, to th<' menial eye of every ( 'hristian. Xhe anthropomorphism that is to be shunned, is not that which ascribes body and parts to the Deity, (lor the human • As ihis Is the fundamental doctrine of the system, the reader may desire a more especial and extended reference to passages of Scrip- ture, which are thought to prove it. We offer the following as sufficient though incomplete. 1. Thnt God is one: Ex. xx. 3; Deut. vi. 4; Mark xii. 29 ; Matt. xix. 17; xxiii. 9 ; 1 Cor. vui. 4 ; Gal. iii. 80; Mark xii. 33; 2 Kings xix. 15 ; Deut. xxxii. 39 ; Isa. xlv. 5 ; Zech. xiv. 9. 2. Jesus is the bridegroom and husband of his Church, and the Redeemer of his people. Matt. ix. 15; xxv. 1,5,6; John iii. 39; Rev. xix. 7; xxi. 2. 9 ; 2 Cor. xi. 2; — Com. Isa. liv. 5; Jer. xxxi. 32; Hos. ii. 2, 7, 18; Luke xxiv. 21 ; Gal. iii. 13 ; 1 Pet.i. 18; Rev. v. 9 ; Eph. i. 7 ; II. -h. ix. 12. 3. The Creator and Redeemer or Saviour are one and the same. Isa. xlv. 21, 32; xliv. 6; xliii. 3, 11; xlv. 15; xlix. 26; lx. 16; xii. H; xliii. 14; xliv. 24; xlviii. 17; xlvii. 4; xlix. 7 ; liv. 8 ; lxiii. 16; Jer- i. 34 ; Hos. xm. 4 ;— Com. with Matt. i. 21 ; Luke ii. 11 ; John IT. 42 ; Phil. iii. 20 ; 1 Tim. i. 15 ; 2 Tim. i. 10 ; Tit. i. 3. 4 ; ii 13 ; iii. 7 ; 2 Pet. i. 1, 11 ; ii. 20 ; iii. 2. 18; 1 John iv. 14; Acts iv. 12; Rev. xix. 10. 4. John was the Precursor of Jehovah. Isa. xl. 3 ; Mai. iii. 1 ; iv. 5 ; Com. Matt. xi. 10, 14. 5. Jesus is Jehovab. Ex. iii. 14 ; Com. John viii. 58 ; Isa. vi.; Com. John xii. 38 — 41; Jer. xxxiii, 5. 6; Rev. xxii. 6 & 16. 6. Christ is God. Isa. ix. 6; John i. 1, 14 : Rev. i. 8 ; Phil. ii. 6 ; 1 John v. 20 ; Rom. ix. 5; Col. i. 16, 17; 1 Tim. iii. 16 ; Tit. ii. 13 ; Eph. ii. 1 ; Com. Ps. xxiv. 10; 1 John iii. 16 ; Jude 25 ; Isa. xlviii. 12 ; & Iii. 4 ; Com, Rev. i. 11,13,17; iv, 8; xxii. 12, 13; xvii. 14; xix. 16; i. 6 ; iv. 10, 11 : Com. v. 8, 12, 13. 7. Jesus and the Father are one. John x. 30; xii. 45 ; xiv. 6, 7, 8, 9. 8. The Father dwells in the Son and the Holv Spirit proceeds from him. John xiv. 10; xv. 26 ; xvi. 7 ; xx. 22 ; Col. ii. 9. 9. Jesus Christ has all Goodness, Wisdom and Power, is omnipresent. Mark x. 17; Luke i. 35 ; Heb. vii. 25 ;— Col. ii. 3 ; Matt. xii. 25; John ii. 24, 25; vi. 64; Matt. xi. 12; xxviii. 18; — xviii. 19. 10. And is therefore God. — 1 John v. 20. farm is the original type from which .-ill organized im-m the malignant paeons of Anger, Wrath, and Revenge, from which, surely, one being in the universe ought to b lint (hither — what wai the true ch ter "t" man, ami tin becoming incarnate I ' 1 le is n defiled in all the faculties and p.:, soul and body J1 says a particular I ' utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good, and wholly inclined to all evil.' Even if not a reflection Ofl his Maker, docs not this statement leave man irresponsible? 'The new-born in- fant,' says the Pelagian, ' is as pure as was the first man before the fall — the con- sequences of whose sin are confined to his own person.' If so, what need of a Redeemer ? and why do all inevitably de- generate ? To return — what did he do or* our behalf while here? and what connexion is there between his obedience and suffer- ings and our benefit ? ■ lie died that he might rise again,1 and ' thus bring life and immortality to light,' says the I rian ; and so far truly. ' He died to exhibit God's hatred of sin,' says Dr. Murdock. 'He did something,' says Coleridge, ' we do not and cannot know what, beyond its effects ; and it is not proper that the various metaphors by which Paul would illustrate the manifold consequences of the redemptive act, should be set up as separate and substantive doc- trines.' ' Some have attempted to trace the connexion, but we do not perceive that it is explained in Scripture,' says Bishop Butler, with the modesty of a great man who was not a dogmatist. ' How is this,' says the rigidly orthodox, ' need anything be plainer ? Our salvation teas bought and sold. Man having disobeyed the law, its honor required that punishment should fall somewhere, to avert the wrath of the Father, who could not else be just and merciful. The son of God undertook to mediate between us and the Father, became incarnate, obeyed, suffered penalty and in our stead ; and thus paid the infi- nite debt we had contracted to the law. It is not altogether certain whether he paid it to the Law, the Father, or the Devil ; but he rose, ascended, and now intercedes 429 HISTORY OF THE NEW JERUSALEM, OR NEW CHRISTIAN CHURCH. with tlif Father, for the sake of his merits, wounds and sufferings, to have mercy on the elect, who, if they will only believe all this, will have their sins blotted out, and his merits imputed to them,' &c. 'It is impossible to enumerate all the objections which justly lie against this whole alleged proceeding.* Enough, that no ingenuity can reconcile it, either with the unity of the Deity or his attribute of Justice. Nor are we singular in rejecting it as having no foundation either in reason or Scripture properly interpreted. We regret that we can only glance at what we would offer in lieu thereof, as the true doctrine, and which is largely dwelt on in the writings of our author ; and, in order to this, the reader will pardon a slight apparent di- gression. All things in the universe, which are according to divine order, have relation to Goodness or Truth ; those which have departed from this order, to Evil or False- hood. God himself is Love and Wisdom, the correlatives of the two former, (1 John iv. 8 ; v. 6 ; John xiv. 6 ;) and this is that likeness in which man was created. The constituents of the human mind are the Will and the Understanding ; the for- mer, the seat of the Affections — the latter of the Thoughts. And the Soul itself is not an ethereal vapor, nor a bundle of Ideas or of Faculties, nor simply the result of bodily Organization ; but a sub- stantial Form (the image of God) recep- tive of goodness and truth, which are Spiritual light and heat, from their source ; or of their Opposites from below. When the internal man has been deformed from the latter cause, the great object of Regen- cratioit is to restore its lost symmetry. This is the grand end of Providence in maintaining a Church on earth ; and all minor events are overruled to its further- ance. The Platonic idea, that, ' As Beauty is the virtue of the body, so Virtue is the beauty of the mind,' and which has been regarded as a rhetorical metaphor, is thus a most emphatic truth. And ideas themselves are not the airy, evanescent things, the intangible abstractions, set forth by modern metaphysicians; but may * Many of them are drawn out in the work- entitled ' Job Abbot,' hereinafter mentioned. and ought to be presented to the mental eye in correspondingyorws, and thus they do appear in that world which is freed from the trammels of Time and Space. We gather from the allegorical language of the first chapters of Genesis, that the early race of men on this earth held di- rect communication with their Maker, who either taught them what was for their good by a sensible internal dictate, or enabled them to read it in the outward Creation, whose significance was then understood ; that, in the use of Freedom and Reason, without which they would not have been Men, and which they exercised as if from themselves, they attained a high degree of wisdom and virtue ; that, although these, together with life itself, were gifts continually received from Jehovah, by virtue of their anion with him, in process of time, and because it did not so appear to them, they began to call this in ques- tion, and fell at length into the amazing fallacy that these were all their own and self-derived. Here was the origin of evil. Is it asked, ' Why was this per- mitted?' we answer, ' It could not have been prevented without the destruction of mankind.' Sin is necessarily incidental to every probationary system. Until we upset the axiom, 'That it is impossible for the same thing to be and not to be at the same time,' it is no derogation from Omnipotence to say, that it could npt do things so contradictory as to convert man into a machine and still preserve his free- dom. We do not suppose that the fall was sudden or total, but the degeneracy was gradual ; and in time it became ne- cessary, in order to his preservation, that the relation of man to his Maker should be changed. The immediate intercourse was now suspended as dangerous, and all the communion from thence forward to the incarnation was through the intervention of an ano;el. (Gen. xlviii. 16; Ex. iii.2; xxiii. 20-23; Is. lxiii. 9; Hcb. xii. 29.) To meet his successive declensions, and continue the possibility of salvation, suc- cessive Churches were provided of Divine Providence — the germ of a new one, be- fore its predecessor had become corrupt or inadequate. Throughout this long in- terval, the free-will of man, which con- sisted in his being placed in equilibrio HISTORY OF THE NF.w JERU8ALEM, OR NEW CHRISTIAN CHI RCH a | I .in. I evil influences, with power t>> yield to either, was presenred. Still tli.- ungrateful, rockleea race, having oooe turned their backs on the 's<>n, wan* dered farther into the gloom — forgot their God — Bunk to the lowest depth consistent with humanity, when liberty itself was threatened by a preponderance of the evil influence, which, from oppressing the spirits, had Com© tO possess the very OOtHet of men! Ami o ■ Matt x\ii. 31, 32 j Phil. i. 21, *J:i; Lake wiii. U ; com. Rev. ii. 7 ;) and the former rises up a spiritual body, in a spiritual world, adapted to its new and permanent condi- tion. (Luke xvi. 22-4 ; ix. 30 ; 1 Cor. xv. 44 ; Rev. xxii. 8, 9.)* Indeed, the spirit is the man himself; and most men, being of mixed character, enter, at death, the Intermediate State, or first receptacle of departed spirits. Here dissimulation is not long permitted. The hypocrite is stripped of his mask — erring piety is instructed in the truth. After abiding for a period suf- ficient to develope the real state, the indi- vidual is advanced to heaven, or descends to hell, and becomes an ' Angel' or ■ Devil' accordingly. We know of no other classes entitled to those names respectively* (Judg. xiii. G, 10, 11 ; Dan. ix. 21 ; Micah xvi. 5 ; John xx. 12 ; Rev. xxi. 17 ; xxii. 8, 9.) We recognize no other intelligent and ra- tional beings in the universe, but God, and the human race in perpetual progress or descent. We cannot conceive of an hybrid, apocryphal, winged order superior to men ; lest of all would we ascribe, with Milton, some of the highest attributes of divinity to the Devil ! The two grand divisions of human kind are those which are marked by a preponderance of the Affections or of the Intellect. Within these limits the modifications of character are innumer- able. As many classes are formed in the other life, where like consorts with like. Here, too, a like distinction is drawn be- tween the kingdom of the good and the kingdom of the Wise. And we are told there arc three gradations in each, answer- * For a full discussion of this and some other points of doctrine to which we can here but little more than advert, we would refer the reader to ' Noble's Appeal in behalf of the New Church.' tli ■ tin< ind, or to thoi i racteriatic ia n ^p' ctn m, or simple ( Obedience to a bat ia good and true. Ami analogous dificn aces and tain among the Internals. Such ia b sketch of the principal doe. trim s which Swedcnborg has drawn from the //'' e of thai book whidh all Christians acknovt ledge as the rcp< of their faith. And we cannot but b in this connection, to the manner in which it has been degraded even by th< ie who claim to think with reverence of it as the charter of their freedom. We are pained to hear of the Poetry o^ the Ilebrc the Eloquence of this prophet ; of the simple or more philosophical narrative of that historian or evangelist. We are- in- dignant at the results of the slashing prin- ciples of biblical criticism and hcrmeneu- tics in the hands of German Rationalists. Do our fellow-Christians know what the boldest of them have conceded to these sappers and miners? have they any defi- nite idea of what Inspiration is ? of what it is to say of any book that it is the Wosn of God ? We certainly do not believe that all the tracts bound up in our Bible can claim that grand designation ; but think we have a criterion for determining the products of the ' divine afflatus' from all the works of man.* The reader has now a specimen of the views of men who are reported to set plates at their tables for their dead friends ! and to converse familiarly with Peter and Paul ! ! — by those who perhaps find it * The books of the Word are the Pentateuch, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, the Psalms and all the Prophets in the Old Testament; and the four Evangelists and Revelation in the New. The other books (except the Canticles and Apocrypha) contain the truth — are often quoted by Swedenborg in proof of his doc- trines— are useful to the church — and are writ- ten with as high a degree of inspiration as writers generally ascribe to those enumerated, but do not contain the internal sense, in a con- nected or divine series. The book of Job con- tains an internal sense, being written accord- ing to the Science of Correspondences, which was known to the ancient people on this earth, but does not come within that connected and intimately related series of divine truths which | makes the Word an infinitely complex and harmonious whole. 43:2 HISTOKY OF THE NEW JERUSALEM, OR NEW CHRISTIAN CHURCH. more convenient to divert public attention from this faith than to refute it. We know not how many can be found to credit such dull fictions ; but if, among the entire body of SwedenbOrg's followers one such vo- luntary fool could be discovered, it would only prove that he did not understand his own doctrine, which teaches the impossi- bility of seeing spiritual objects with the natural eye; and declares that the veil be- tween that world and this is never removed except by Providence, and for sufficient reasons. Would that our space permitted us to fill up the above outline with the rich va- riety of subaltern truths, at once new and suggestive, with which his works abound, and all of which are germain to the lead- ing doctrines. We leave the rest to the Rev. Wm, Mason, of England, who gives the estimate of this system by a plain but vigorous and undebauched intellect, which had tried several others and examined all: 1 Here was a new system of doctrine presented to him, not to be blindly believed, but rationally understood- — a system which inculcated the divinity of Jesus Christ without a mystery, and which, neverthe- less, rejected the supposed vicarious sacri- fice with all its horrors and injustice, and vindicated the Scriptures from the charge of setting it forth ; a system which gave a new view of the inspiration of the Scrip- tures, and which, if it could be established by conclusive evidence, would prove them indeed the ' Word of God,' by raising them to that true and real dignity which that magnificent title implies — the dignity of being in every part of it, the repository of infinite goodness and infinite wisdom. . . . . A new intellectual and moral world opened upon his delighted view. He found he was able to see the Lord Jesus Christ as ' God over all blessed for ever,' without qualification, or reservation, and in a clear and glorious light, without a single over- shadowing cloud of mystery or contradic- tion. Without going back to tripersonal- ism, he could now embrace a new scrip- tural doctrine of the Divine Trinity, and one perfectly free from every blemish of contradiction, and thus could entertain far more exalted ideas of his Saviour than he was ever able; to form while he was a be- liever in the three persons in the Godhead. He could also now see his God as on, because one Divine Person, and in the aspect of love and mrivy imm< nsely ex- ceeding his utmost efforts so to behold his Maker, while, as a Unitarian, he endea- vored to think of God as a Bcnevolefit Somewhat, diffused like an etheral essence through infinite space. Indeed, lie was delighted to find that whatever is ;_ood and useful, whatever is lucid and consistent, in other systems of Christianity, is harmo- niously brought together in its proper ar- rangement and connection, in the doctrines of the New Church, so that those doctrines may be regarded as embracing all the re- vealed truths deduced from the Holy Word by all denominations of Christians, puri- fied from all admixture of error and hu- man invention. He found the divine au- thority and sanction, the unchangeable ncss of doctrine, and the infallibility of inter- pretation, which is the boast of the Roman Catholic, combined with the utmost free- dom of investigation ; so that the general doctrines of the New Church may be re- garded as invisible ' bands of love,' (Hos. xi. 4,) by which the Father of mercies holds and guides his children, v\hilc he tenderly suffers them freely to expatiate hither and thither into all the particulars involved in the articles of their faith, with- out wandering away from the grand funda- mental principles of all true religion, that God is one, and God is good. He found the great principle of the Protestant, that the Scriptures are the only rule of a Chris- tian's faith and practice, earnestly c< in- tended for, and yet perfectly harmonized with the Catholic doctrine of authority and uniformity, abstractedly considered. He found that nothing is required to be believed in the New Church, but what may be clearly drawn from, and confirm- ed by, the literal sense of the Word ; and that the important duty of searching the Scriptures, which is thus individually to be performed, in order to the formation of a real and sincere faith, is blessed with a sure and unerring guidance, which has all the effect of a voice from heaven, while it is congenial with the freest exercise of the understanding, and clear of all mischiefs of priestly dictation, and the liability to contradictory decisions of erring and changeful men. He saw that, while the i i if 'I'M!' NEW JEE ' OR m:v. | \\ cm tantiation the member of the Neu Church is enabled :i how the I .ord is i iho holy sup] it re- • that divine institute n to the un- ;l and unmeaning ceremony which it is made to be by some. lie found in hurch an equally determine d adherence to the belief of what is thought l.d with that which is nKini- by Trinitarians, but combined with ;• opening of the mysterious • of Scripture, and which by Trinitarians an- implicitly believed without being un- 1. lie found h»rc the freedom of sion, the demand for reasonable . and the determination to I nothing but what is rationally prow d to ho true, as instanced in the tone of the Unitarian and Sceptic, but combined with a full and fair answer to that demand, to the lull satisfaction of sound reason, acting the influence of true humility, and a supreme love of what is good and pure and spiritually useful. He found vital and inward religion, so exclusively vaunted by Evangelicals, and the inward waiting on and communion with the Spirit, so much cultivated by the followers of George Fox, (here duly regarded and combined with just philosophical views, practical princi- ples, and moral habits, founded in the deepest reverence for the Scriptures, so that the internal affections are thus brought down, and firmly fixed in a corresponding external. He found the supremacy of moral principle and practice over doctrine, as contended for by the moral philosopher and Utilitarian, in full operation under the designation of charity, or the love of use for the Lord's sake ; so that the external principle of morality derives interiorly from the spiritual mind, and thus from the Lord, an interior principle of spiritual life, by which it is made spiritually alive, and is exalted to a conjunction with the source of all good. He found an entire and uni- versal reference of all things to God, and which is aimed at by the Predestinarian, accomplished in an enlightened trust in a particular and overruling Providence, resting on clear, rational, and scriptural grounds, and yet perfectly free from all the objections which justly lie against the Calvinistic doctrine of predestination and human Libert) and rationality . i the doctrine of free-it ill assert* i clearl} exhibited, without in the least degree from a i dependence oil the I f life and power. I le was cnabli alike a tabula to all the systematic theo> >f his time, throughout his early life. I lis was no revh .-il <•(" Sabelliani any other heresy : h< ness of them ail. I [e aspired nol to be the head of 1 [e nev( r persuaded any one to embrace the doctrines he taught; but, having given them to the press, he left them to the divine providence of the Lord, from whom thev proceeded, and who, he doubted not, would make them ' accomplish that which he pi and cause them to ' prosper in that where- unto he had sent them.' Neither was literary fame his object. I lis name which had accompanied but two of his smaller volumes, was appended to his last and crowning work only at the instance of a friend. Nor did fear induce concealment. He boldly fronted the danger, when bis person was threatened with violence or exile, and his writings with suppression. To crown the whole, when, on his dying bed, and conjured by his friend to speak with candor, he avouched, as in the pre- sence of heaven, the truth of all he had written. To those who profess to give his doc- tri?ics a fair hearing, yet feel a repugnance to his supernatural pretensions, we can say, that nearly the whole of his present disciples can sympathize with them, for it was in spite of the latter that they yielded their faith to the former. It was not till they had sought a good reason why they should not receive them, that they found none, but much internal evidence instead — both of their truth and value.* We know * The 'Memorable Relations' (as they are called) of Swedenborsr, were not designed to gratify an idle curiosity. They contain noth- ing stranger than many of the memorable re- lations of Scripture, and nothing which, when their true character and object are andei ousrht to repel from the perusal of his other writings. The light which they throw on the constitution of man and the laws of the Spiri- tual world soon divests them of what usually startles the novitiate reader. So that, if any were needed, they furnish the corrective to their own supposed tendencies. That the pre- sent is a state of probation : that character is the aggregate result of habits formed or innate tendencies unopposed: that the character pos- sessed at death is carried into the other life, the individual reaping there what he sowed 438 HISTORY OF THE NEW JERUSALEM, OR NEW CHRISTIAN CHURCH. too well the spirit of this Sadducecan age, not to appreciate such an obstacle. And yet none who receive the Scripture can deny the possibility of such communica- tions— besides that, during life, he gave proof of such knowledge on other subjects, satisfactory to judicious persons previously incredulous.* To such as concede this possibility, and have not closed their minds against evidence, we present the argument in a nutshell. Our Lord, before his ascension, an- nounced a judgment to come. We need not state with what accompaniments Chris- tians have anticipated this scene. If, then, the material body rise not again ; if the material earth be never destroyed ; (and we invite their attention to the proof of both ;) where can this judgment take place but in that world to which the spirits of men are hastening ? If there, could it be visible to the natural eyes of men ? If not, may it not leave been already accom- plished ? For aught they can tell, it may be so. And if so, of course it must be important that men on earth be apprised here, — are parts of the common faith. If then, there be neither angel or demon other than the spirits of men departed: if they inhabit a world of their own, never to resume their bodies of flesh : if intercourse between those who have gone before and those who remain be- hind were possible to the prophets, it is possi- ble to men of all ages. — Not that it is desirable to all, or to be sought by any, or permitted ex- cept in rare cases. The capacity, potentially possessed by all, is never conferred solely as a privilege; but, on the few individuals who, since the fall of man, have found themselves gifted with it, it has been imposed as a quali- fication for the better discharge of some duty. If sought from improper motives, or irregu- larly obtained, we are taught that it is ex- tremely dangerous ; and that, in such cases, the reports from thence are by no means to be credited. It is, however, desirable to possess some authentic intelligence of the land to which we are hastening, in addition to the brief hints given in Scripture; and some account of the effects in the other life of principles inherited or confirmed in this. This knowledge is more- over essential to the elucidation of many parts of the word of God. For thes^ purposes alone, as we believe, was it granted to Swedenborg, and through him to us. The reader will ex- cuse this hasty glance at a topic which has been so generally misunderstood, and the sub- ject of endless misrepresentation. * In proof of this, see II -hart's Life of Swe- denborg, or Noble's Appeal, sec v. part 2d. of it ; or else it would not have been pre- dicted. How could the information be imparted, except by a voice from heaven; or by some credible individual, who was permitted to witness it ? If, then, from the changed and changing state of the world, we believe this last to have been the case : are not objectors bound to show that his testimony on this and other allied topics has internal evidence of falsehood, and no analogy to what we already know to be true ? Swedenborg was a philosopher ; it is not probable that he was self-deceived. Swedenborg was of independent fortune ; he had no vulvar motive to deceive. He was, moreover, a gentleman ; he would not, if he could. He was of sincere and simple manners ; he could not, if he would. Nay, he well knew, that, for a time, his name would be cast out as evil ; and yet he shrunk not from his high mission. He did not, like Anthony or Bernard, mace- rate himself with penance until reason was driven from her throne. And if Imagina- tion— that universal solvent of such diffi- culties— is to account for all the pheno- mena in his case : we must still say that she has wrought greater marvels in him, than in any other man known to history. Every lawyer knows that it is the most difficult of feats to frame the briefest cir- cumstantial narrative, which shall be at once fabulous and consistent ; and shall he be called ' impostor' or ' insane' in whose thirty volumes, published through twenty-seven years, no scrutiny has ever discovered a contradiction ?* and that too, when he never speaks conjecturally, or with doubt, but announces his views with all positive directness 1 We can conjec- ture the bearing of his friend of forty years, — the Swedish Prime Minister, Count Hopken, — towards such as would inquire of him concerning * the amiable enthu- siast !' as he might have asked in turn : ' What sort of specimen of that tame mon- ster they expected to find in this man of prodigious learning and science, — of which he was yet the master and not the slave, — whose unsullied honor, whose knowledge of mankind and affairs, and varied expe- * The assertion of Dr. Pond to the contrary notwithstanding, whose allegations to this effect are easily met and explained away. HISTORY OP THE \i:w ji:i;i SALEM, OR M".w CHRI8TIAIS CHI RCH. id made him the compan- »f princes and ndbfc §, of men and heroes ; and a hoee memory w is honored with exalted eulogy, through the n presentative of the highest scientific bod} of his country \H And the reproof would probably (all powerless on such hearers, who, forgetting that a fair tablet is better for inscription than a blotted would still be incredulous, that the man who was called to illuminate all the dark places of theology, should have been trained iu such a school. 1 1 re, then, we might rest our case; but there is .-mother aspect in which it should he viewed. This faith has nothing to fear from the progress of knowledge in any of its branches. The advance of science never can expel the Deity from his own Universe, while we believe that • Preserva- tion is continual Creation.' Discoveries in geology have no terrors for us. We do not believe that the world was made out of nothing, or in six natural days ; nor do we undertake to account for a literal flood over the highest mountains ; or the impossibilities of a literal ark. Modern views of astronomy — with which all the eloquence of Chalmers cannot re- concile modern views of the atonement — are but part and parcel of our faith. See- ing no reason why Jehovah, if he took flesh at all, should not assume it here, we offer them good and abundant reasons why he should ; as also why the Word, which, in its letter, was written on this earth, in its spirit may be useful to men of all worlds of which he is Lord. The nascent sciences of Phrenology and Mesmerism, should they ever be established, could find a place in this catholic system. For though it is not known, as has been some- times said, that Swedenborg discovered the leading principle of the former, there is nothing in it to contradict his views ; and the higher phenomena of the latter, while they are readily explained by his philosophy, have been supposed in turn to throw a light on the supposed mysteries of his own case. In truth it is here alone that we can find — what we seek in vain * See the Chevalier Sandel's Eulo^ium on Swedenborg, before the Swedish Academy of Sciences. bere — cl< m if the natti operation of Mind, a perfect 13 stem of Philosophy combined with a perfe tern of Religion — though the form 1 to ho popularized and illustrated to th<- common apprehension. I lenee al the laws of nature he ultimately traced to their source in the power and providence of Deity. Here, too, at last may we hope to fmd a 'Standard of Taste;' just and comprehensive canons of criticism in the Arts; and, in comic oew litera- ture expository of the whole; and much of the old defecated, and presented with a new aspect and meaning. It may serve to suspend the force of prejudice, so far at least as to induce in- quiry, if the reader is informed that, for many of our views deemed most singular or obnoxious, we have the sanction of pre- cedent or authority in other and respect- able quarters. We say nothing of the fact that many texts of Scripture hereto- fore cited to confirm favorite tenets, have been separately surrendered as irrelevant by candid critics. Some bolder spirits, in different communions, have dared to wan- der from their standards on one point of doctrine and another, without being hunted for heresy, where they were regarded as substantially loyal. Others again have renounced so many of their public te- nets, or adopted so many new ones, as to leave the remainder without consist- ency. It may not be aside from our purpose to gather up a few of these testi- monies, both from individuals and classes of men. The Unitarian refuses to acknowledge more than one God, or to deny his good- ness ; and so far we must own he is right, while we regret that he persists in wor- shipping an abstraction. The ancient phi- losophers universally taught that ' from nothing nothing could come,' and they generally, as well as several moderns, be- lieved in the perpetuity of the earth. There is a striking similarity between the hypo- thesis of Buffon and Laplace, that ' the planets proceeded from the sun,' and the previous statements of Swedenborg to the same purport. The modern school of geology has disturbed the literal interpre- tation of the first chapter of Genesis. The main argument of Peyrere in his hypothe- 440 HISTORY OF THE NEW JERUSALEM, OR NEW CHRISTIAN CHURCH. sis of « the Preadamitcs' which produced such b appearance, has ■luted. Sir William Jones needed that the first eleven chapters may be allowed figurative without injury, and perhaps with advantage to the literal truth of the other narrative parts of Scrip- hire. Many have said the same of the first three. Antiquarian researches in China and India — among the ruins of and of Central and Southern Ame- rica, have led many to doubt the estimate of literal chronologers as to the age of society. Dr. Pye Smith has recently re- volted against the current notions of the flood. Several oriental systems ; Platon- ists of all times, particularly of the Alex- andrian School ; Philo ; certain Mystics, (so called,) Fcnelon among them, recog- nise the doctrine of a Spiritual Sun, within which the Divinity dwells, and the emana- tion thence of all things. What else means that most brilliant thought of all antiquity — ' Truth is the body of God, and light is his shadow?' That the Deity is in human form, was a part of every ancient faith, until corrupted by the Greek philosophy, — of all "Mythology — of Tcrtullian, and per- haps other Fathers of the church. That the soul was in the same form, was set forth by the same authorities — by Maca- rius and other Fathers — more recently by Shakspeare, Spenser, Young, and is now the spontaneous faith of the unperverted popular mind throughout the world. That angels and demons were once men, was the belief of Pythagorus, some of the latter Platonists, of Clement of Rome, and Ori- gen. We know not how many have taught the existence of ' guardian' and ' tempting spirits.' Scaliger and Semler have both exposed the misinterpretation of the refer- ence in Judc (6) to the Apocryphal book of Enoch. Grotiua and Hebcr have re- cognised ' the Devil ' of Scripture as a collective term for the infernal powers in gregate ; and Chalmers, Hurd, and Harris,* have spoken of our Lord's com- bat with them while in the flesh as a prin- cipal means of redemption. That the Scriptures contained a spiritual sense, was the well-nigh universal opinion before the Reformation, and of multitudes * In his Great Teacher. since ;* though they have not always as to what it was. Not poets alone, but the finer spirits in every age, have (1 a i bm spondence between natural and spiritual things. The general repug- f mankind to the Jews as a concurs with this system in pronoun, their peculiar characteristics as a nation. Xor are we careful to defend against the infidel the atrocious acts public and private of certain characters in the Old Testament, which were permitted because of their representative import. The repeated con- troversies on the Trinity among the Or- thodox themselves, leading to various con- clusions, indicate a want of clear concep- tions on that fundamental point. Some who have examined the collections of Bull, Whiston, and Burton from the Ante-Ni* cene Fathers, know that many of their testimonies will bear an interpretation fa- vorable to this doctrine. Who has not read the heart-rending prayer of Dr. Watts, in which he gave vent to the agonies oc- casioned by the common dogmas on this subject ; and that he ultimately reached a view very similar to our own? The late Edward Irving, in the zenith of his fame and before his unhappy fall, taught the true doctrine of our Lord's human nature. Schwenkfeld asserted the Omnipresence of his risen body. Adam Clark denied the eternal sonship of Christ, (as also does a distinguished theological professor of our own country,) and admitted Granville Sharpe's rule of the Greek article, though inconsistent with other portions of his creed. ' The Discipline of the Secret,' as we believe, was neither the acknowledg- ment of Transubstantiation, nor solely the giving the Apostles' Creed as a password among Christians, but rather the true doc- trine of the Lord, held by the Gnostic or perfect Christian, and which the catechu- mens and others less advanced, were not prepared to receive. Sir Thomas Browne, Jeremy Taylor, Locke, Conycrs Middle- ton, Coleridge, Brougham — and many others deny that Miracles are the best proofs of a divine mission. There are those who will boldly pro- nounce that no one can be a Christian * See Noble's Plenary Inspiration of Scrip- ture, Lee. i. "- JER! SALEM, OR NE^ I I IN Cill KCH. | :i who d >noment. W ben ; J] have I so. Km. I Rom. ! h ive reflected whether ::, ■ parable of the prodig il prov< a their it such an one as themselves ; thej may be prepared to hear, i ic Taylor has recently told us that the works of the Fathers befo xhibil few traces of the doctrine ; thai William Law, ( Jcjeri Ige, 1 Eartley, [rving ami many m >re in England — innu- merable in ( iermany — 1 h-*. Bellamy, Mur- and Beman, the late learned Bishop of Pennsylvania, and several orthodox periodicals in this country — all reject the ordinary scholastic statement. 'Justifi- cation by faith alone,' is discarded by the new Oxford School ; as is also * imputed ." &c. by many New Eng- land divines, who still adhere to its kindred fallacies. The more sober and ial theologians arc every where be- ginning to teach, though in other terms, thai Re : aeration is gradual, during man's ration; Sir J. Mackintosh d< Conscience itself to be of gradual forma- tion:— Jeremy Taylor, the invalidity of a death-bed repentance. Locke, Dr. Thomas Burnet and Sir II. Davy denied the resur- rection of the material body, and Taylor, in his 'Physical Theory,' has virtually done the same, by stripping the risen body of all the properties of matter. Nearly all the Fathers believed in a separate place for departed souls before the last judgment ; and many writers have since seen the ne- cessity of such an intermediate state, other than purgatory. A sensible change has be 'i wrought in the opinions of the more intelligent as to the nature and causes of the joys of heaven and the pains of hell. It is not mere rhodomontade to say that ' Vice is its own punishment, while virtue is its own exceeding great reward ;' and that neither retribution is arbitrary. Such was the doctrine of the Stoics and Pla- tonists, and of many subsequent moralists, as Shaftesbury and Cumberland. It is the basis of the phrenological philosophy, and of the Univcrsalist's religion, though, in this last, carried to a suicidal extent. Isaac Taylor has recently — as had seve- ral less popular authors before him — ex- posed the vulgar error, that prion! ire Christianity offered the highest attainable , model of purity or intelligence. 1 1 Taylor and U at ties themselves were mi I Lord's second coining ; and th others d with little ceremony the current notions of a Millennium and his persona] reij n, I lammond and Si Paber tell us that the ' denotes an improve I the church on earth. John Robinson, the P the New England churches, believed that 1 more light was yet to break oul of God's Word,' ■ did Dr. Watt i. And, to say nothing of several popular I writers, Thomas Carlyle Ins written mi this point, as though he barely re- ntiment of the New Church/ ogous to the important doctrine of ' de- is the common, though mutilated idea of a f scale of beings.' The is dimly shadowed forth in the philosophy of Plato — as also of the Rosicrucians. Dcs Cartes' Occasional Causes, Male- branche's ' Seeing all things in God,' Hume's denial of material causation, arc all approximations to the truth; as are many things in the philosophical collec- tions of Cudworth and Stanley. There is much also in transcendentalism — hibited in the writings of Kant and i ling, of Cousin, of Coleridge and Carlyle — which we can readily approve as we understand them, though not the tendency of the system as a whole. We instance their ideas of Time and Space, of Free- dom, of Reason, of the Spiritual, as a higher power than the sensual understand- ing, or natural mind. The last writer disclaims all knowledge of the works of Swcdenborg until of late ; but his masters, we know, had read them to some extent. Coleridge knew something of them directly, and much at second hand. The instances might be greatly multiplied — though Swc- denborg himself rarely or never quotes from others, except statements of the doc- trine he designs to refute. But enough? Fragments of truth have been dispersed with every wind, and drifted to every shore ; here only do we sec them em- bodied in their original and beautiful sym- metry. Particles of the previous ore are widely diffused ; but where else is that * See Sartor Resartus, Book III. Chap. 1,2,7. 50 442 HISTORY OF THE NEW JERUSALEM, OR NEW CHRISTIAN CHURCH. spiritual mercury which shall purge and collect it from the heaps of dross in which it is buried.* Since the outburst of infi- delity, in the last age, there lias been more than a partial return to a sense of religion. Though much indifference still prevails, it is chiefly among those to whom, in any form, it would prove an irksome restraint; or with another class who will not be trammelled * « The man of moderation, who at this day takes a coup (Toeil of the entire field of polem- ics, must find something to disapprove in every sect ; and if he allies himself to any one, it must be on the principle of a • choice of evils.' And this reflection may serve to account in part for the inveteracy of religious differences. In ages past, the body of Truth was torn to pieces and the limbs dispersed to the four quarters of the Earth. Each religious sect, then, finds a plausible pretext for its dis- sent in the weak or vulnerable points of its neighbor : and for its separate organization, in the supposed possession of some truths which the others have not. , In the discussion of their differences, for want of an accredited umpire, they are all driven into some extreme opinions. For the same reason, the line being once drawn, the diversities become more marked with each generation. And in their mutual recriminations, an impartial observer must needs conclude that ' they seem to know each other very well, for that each gives a very cor- rect account of the other.' Hence also it may appear, why former peace-makers have been unsuccessful : why divisions have been rather multiplied in spite of their laudable efforts to heal them : and that it is vain to hope for their future composition by such agency. The end- less quiddities, in the discussion of which their respective champions had perplexed them- selves and their readers, — nay, numerous ques- tions of real moment could not be adjusted by them. Their very axioms were often falla- cious— their principles of interpretation un- settled— or the requisite information wanting. Here the fallacy of the first was laid bare, and what was doubtful or lacking in the others ascertained or furnished. What I wanted was not half-truths, but a system of truth ; and such I found this. Viewed in any aspect — from any stand-point, there it was, perfect as a Gre- cian Statue. Not only are the defects of other systems here supplied ; their redundancies are retrenched: Jheir exaggerations chastened: what was awry, straightened. Hence also it is, that the weapons with which those who should have been friends have so long annoy- ed each other, rebound from the shield of the New Churchman, and here therefore, we may hope is the true ground on which all their dif- ferences,pregnant with such infinite mischief, may ultimately be compromised. — < Reflec- tions of an Enquirer after Religious Truth.' M.S. with the peculiarities of the authorized creeds. For those, the clergy do battle manfully, even while the walls are crumb- ling around, but do not find the laity, in all cases, coming so promptly to their aid as in time past. There is, in truth, a very general disposition to waive them, and seek others, in which parties may agree. And the wise observer of the signs of the times, who is at the same time acquainted with this faith, may perceive much in the tone of ordinary conversation that par- takes of it ; and, that our whole current literature forms or\e grand revolt against those offensive peculiarities, and exhibits much that is germain to the teachings of this rational and catholic system. And why is this not more generally seen 7 It is because there is not in all literature a question on which, with a few honorable exceptions, unlawful arts of controversy have been so uniformly em- ployed. The policy of silence has been sometimes observed by those who affected a contempt they did not feel. Where this was broken, men who would fain bethought just, not content with the whole quiver of sophistry, have resorted to poisoned weapons. In proof of this we might refer the reader to almost any one of the as- saults, or to such passages as are met with in the apologies of the church.* It be- comes not any class of Christians, to speak of themselves. But they may offer the testimony of a decided though liberal opponent as to the effect of their doctrine on the holders. 1 Whether it be owinsj to the direct in- * It would really seem to have been a part of a regular system of tactics, to credit every idle tale brought against Newchurchmen, and to repeat without shame mis-statements often refuted. We instance the fact that to this day, the followers of John Wesley continue to re- print his libel — would that we could charac- terize it by a milder term — on the character and works of Swedenborg, though the personal charges were disproved at the time, in part by his own witnesses ; and the semblance of ar- gument arising from mutilated quotations, promptly refuted. We pretend not to say Avhether he was wholly imposed on by others, or in part by his own credulity and prejudice, from which his most ardent admirers must admit he was not wholly exempt. We are willing to adopt the more charitable suppo- sition. w;v OF THE \i:\\ JBR1 SALEM, OR M'.W CHRI8TIAN CHURCH. ; i: fluencei of their faith, or to tin- operation of prudential motives, or to the fact that this religion is not adapted to attract an) l>ut spiritually minded men, certain it is, that the disciples of the Ww I Shurch, as a bod) , have generally exhibited a more consistent holiness in their lives and con- Venation than any other .see! with whieh we are acquainted, and this notwithstand- ing a laxity on one point' of their moral code, whieh might seem to authorize an occasional deviation from the strict line of rectitude. And not only so, but this church is also marked by an onward ten- dency, a progressive spirit, too often wanting in sects of higher pretensions. The propulsive elements of Christianity — Liberty, charity, and truth are largely mixed up with their system. They arc • Frcm this it -would appear that a writer, otherwise commendable for his spirit, has per- mitted himself to be affected by a calumny as contemptible as it has been industriously spread We will not stain the pages of this Work with the details. The primitive Chris- tians had to endure worse. We will barely say that Swedenborg has asserted gradations in the vice of impurity, from the casual com- merce necessarily tolerated by law to the dam- nable sin of adultery; andhas, therefore, been charged with a relaxation of morals ! We have a short answer : It is not true. No com- prehensive moralist, any more than the physi- cian, can altogether omit such topics. The Bible itself has not. All are not required to know them, though every father of a family should. Our author has neither made dis- tinctions without a difference, nor confounded things essentially diverse. There is a sin not unto death ; and while the least will injure, some will wound past recovery. He has but recognised the justice of distinctions long known to the civil law and public conscience of Christendom. Had the charge been true, the effects of such principles could not have been concealed, but would have been mani- fested in a body of Christians known to the world for more than half a century. Many have asserted, none have done half so much as he, to explain the sanctity of the marriage tie; none have so clearly shown the hideous effects of the opposite vices. No Christian can tolerate such things in himself. The dif- ferences were stated for the benefit of merely natural men, in their efforts to reform. But enough, and more than we intended here. From the nature of the subject, it is evident that we cannot be forward to take the initia- tive in this discussion. The friend of justice who may be willing to pursue the enquiry, is commended to an impartial perusal of the not a seol who tuppoi e thai n ligi \>\ spasms, or that < i med w ithin i>\ one com ulsive effort of the soul, i religion is not one which stops sh given standard; it is of that kind which maketh wiser and better every day. The) are pre-eminently an improving race.' ('uki-iivn Ia\mim;k, Novem- ber, 1888.) This is doubtless more than justice, if predicated of all its professors; but that such is its tendency, if permitted to have its legitimate influence, we cannot doubt. Are we not then justified in hoping that the ideal of a true, well-balanced Chris- tian may be again restored and carried to even higher perfection than has yet been realized ? And yet this is a liberal doc- trine. It docs not damn for mere error work of Swedenborg by which it is pretended to justify the charge. It was, we believe, first publicly uttered in England, in 1819, by a Mr. Pike, of Derby, in a document, made up in great part of garbled quotations from the work in question ; and repelled in 1822, by Mr. Hindmarsh, in his ' Vindication, &c.' It was successively renewed there by a Mr. Roebuck in 1838 ; (who was triumphantly refuted by the several replies of Messrs. Bayley, Goyder, and 'an Examiner/) — and in 1840, by Rev. Geo. Gibbon, curate of Ramsboltom, who was answered by Mr. Smithson, Editor of the ' In- tellectual Repository.' Pike's Pamphlet with additions was reprinted by a clergyman of New England, and secretly circulated in that region for years. It was again met by Rev. Samuel Worcester, in his • Remarks on seve- ral common Errors, concerning the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg.' Nothing daunted by the repeated discomfiture of similar assail- ants, we have a revival of the same slander in the recent ' Lectures' of Professors Woods and Pond. The former has been most victoriously overthrown by Prof. Bush in his ' Reply, &c.' — to whose work we confidently refer the reader as containing all the materials for forming a judgment in the case. Dr. Pond's Remarks have been noticed by a critic in the N. J. Magazine, (Boston) for Oct. 1846, and may yet be further exposed. It is worthy of remark that not one of these writers has di- rected his attack against former defences : or so much as alluded to them: or had the magna- nimity to retract his errors when clearly point- ed out. Did these gentlemen hope to carry their point by dint of hardy and reiterated as- sertion? or do they presume that all readers will be content with examining one side — that which falls in with their prejudices 1 And such are the opponents with whom we have most generally had to deal ! 444 HISTORY OF THE NEW JERUSALEM, OR NEW CHRISTIAN CHURCH. of the lxad. It arms against a thousand panic fears ; promotes a spirit of cheerful piety; fixes and simplifies the objects of the affections ; while it encourages an intelligent activity in all useful chan- In this it accords with the spirit of the age, which protests against gloomy dogmas and demands a show of reason for its faith. Under this system, priestly domination never can attain a dan- gerous ascendancy. And though that function will ever be required in the church, its holders can aspire to nothing more than to become helpers of our faith and examples to the flock. And chiefly because such knowledge is no longer too high for laymen, who may seek and find it without stint, and readily attain enough to check any such spirit in its birth. He then who proves his to be the * Re- ligion of good sense,'* should not be met as an Ishmaelite, whose hand is against every man ; but rather as a guide through a tangled forest, or the peace-maker, who shows a common ground, on which friends long at variance can meet. Is the Bible so very plain without a doctrine to direct the reader ? Why then do not all earnest seekers find the same way ? To us there seems a peculiar propriety in one man's being empowered to expound what many wrote. Prophets, evangelists, and apos- tles, appeared at intervals. Their several messages, all unknown to themselves, constitute one Word of God. For ages it stood an enigma, which resisted every effort of self-derived intelligence to elicit its meaning. Were it not better, then, that one heaven-taught scribe should show the harmony of the several parts and their concurrence to one great end ? And those, who refuse to acknowledge his cre- dentials as an authorized ambassador, have to account for the phenomenon of an impregnable system of theology, rising up symmetrical and complete under the hands of a man until then devoted to other pur- suits. But why, we farther ask, should any object to our worshipping the Lord? Though we have a surer method of proving the Scriptures to be his word, we * See the work of Mr. Edouard Richer, with this title. reject not the grammarian's or critic's art. And we see nothing oh the face of the \< w Testament record of the sayings and acts of Jesus, unworthy of Divinity itself. We think it no degradation to The Su- preme to assume a temporary disguise, if by so doing he could save a world which was last sinking into night, as a perpetual seminary of heaven ; and by the same means render the loss of any other for- ever impossible. Here, then, is the true * end of controversy ;' for here every le- gitimate question is fully and fairly an- swered. How much logic does it require to lead the orthodox, who protest that they believe in but one God, yet assert the di- vinity of Christ, to the conclusion that he must be that God ? And will not the Uni- tarian in time review his opinions, and consider of a doctrine which, while it avoids the errors which he has rejected, leaves the divinity of the Saviour consist- ent with the unity of the Deity ? Thus it may be seen that the fundamental princi- ples of our system are very plain, and yet meet the wants of the heart. And though its higher truths will task the strongest intellect, we assure such a one that in his long progress he need have no- thing to unlearn ; but, in added know- ledge or diversified application, will find ever new delight. For the literary, scientific, and official career of Swedenborg, and for the titles of his earlier publications, we would refer the reader to any accessible biography. It is sufficient to observe here, that, with the exception of a small volume of poems and two classical dissertations, they relate chiefly to subjects of pure or mixed math- ematics, or certain branches of physics. For twenty years before his attention was exclusively given to sacred studies, his speculations dwelt chiefly on the higher philosophy of nature and of man. The works, which, during this interval, he gave to the world — save two extensive treatises on subjects connected with his department of Assessor of the Royal Board of Mines — all partook of that character, and won for him a European reputation among the scientific of his day. They arc severally HISTORY OP THE NEM JERUSALEM, OR NEVl CHRISTIAN CHURCH i i;, entitled, ' Phitoeophj reason piling the Infinite and the Final Cause of I • Phe Principles of Natural Thii •'I'ln' Animal Kingdom,1 and ' Economy of the Animal Kingdom;* the last inclu- ding ;i dissertation on Psychology — as the I ■ i hi tin' Mechanism of the Inter- course between the Soul and Body.1 Being written in Latin, they have ever since been favorably known to a learned few; but having been translated and well edited, are now presented in an English dress to the public, who will thus be enabled to judge whether those judicious or partial a are to be credited, who say they neither are, nor are likely to he super by any thing since written on the same subjects. Besides these, he had projected and in part executed a number of other in completion of his Physiology and Psychology — as also of his philoso- phical theory of nature ; but the manu- scripts were left unpublished by himself — though yet, as we hope, to be drawn from their long repose. His very remarkable book, ' The Wor- ship and Love of God,' may be regarded as the transition stage between his philo- sophical and theological writings, — as par- taking of the nature of both, — though it is not very clearly characterized by its title. Not an especial exhortation to a life of piety and prayer, it is rather an eloquent descant on the creation of the world, and the original state of man ; and wants nothing but measure to constitute it a poem of the highest order of excellence — its charms being the more abiding, in that its substance is truth. Himself always regarded his whole pre- vious course and mental discipline as an unconscious preparation for the important spiritual function, which occupied the last twenty-nine years of his life — from 1743 to 1772. \Yc mean the writing and pub- lishing the series of works which unfold the truths of the new dispensation. These may be conveniently thrown into four classes — Doctrinal, Sacred Metaphysics or Divine Philosophy, Expository, and lastly, treating of the nature and laws of the spiritual world and the state of man after death. Besides these there are also certain posthumous publications of each kind. Of the first class, the small tract, entitled ' The .V u I I leaverrl) Doctri w in min- iature of the entin I leading heads of doctrine were afterwards expanded into separate ti l( !on- cerning the Lord,' 'The Sacred Scrip- b,' • Life,1 ' Charity,' fee. 'The True Christian Religion,1 contain- complete body of theol< ■: trasted with those of both < atholii Protestants, was the last he published, it having been preceded by a ' Brief I sition1 of the doctrine, and followed by a [lis, or Appendix.1 To the elass may he referred 'The Ctivine Love and Wisdom,' ' Divine Providence,' * In- flux, or the Nature of the Intercourse between Soul and Body,' and the ' on ' Conjugal Love.' The third and far the largest portion of his works, embracing about two thirds of the whole, comprise 'Arcana Ccclestia,' (an exposition of the internal sense of Genesis and Exodus,) ' Apocalypse Revealed,1 and 'Apocalypse Explained7 — the last a posthumous publi- cation, though prepared by himself for the press. Another tract gives briefly 'The Internal Sense of the Prophets and Psalms:' and there has been recently published from his IMSS. an exposition of the remaining historical books of the Word according to the same principles. Besides these there is a small tract, enti- tled 'The White Morse of The Apoca- lypse.' The first and third of these named above, incidentally explain a large portion of Scripture besides that of which they expressly treat. And the writings entire contain the meaning of the whole. It is very commonly supposed that most of his books are such as would properly come under the fourth class; though, in truth, they make scarce a tenth of the series. The distinct treatises are on ' Heaven and Hell,' ' The Last Judgment,1 which, he says, took place in 1757, and ' The Earths in the Universe.' Many things of the same kind are interspersed through his other works, as also through his Spiritual Diary, the publication of which, for the first time, is just com- pleted. All the theological works put forth by SweoVnborg himself (two or thn cepted) were first translated into English 44G HISTORY OF THE NEW JERUSALEM, OR NEW CHRISTIAN CHURCH. by the Rev. John Clowes, of the Church of England, and, for sixty -two years, rec- tor of St. John's, Manchester; a man, who, with distinguished talents and learn- ing, is believed, from the concurring tes- timony of all who knew him, to have Hindi' as great progress in the regenerate life as any one of his day. He embraced these principles after his ordination ; and was of that class of Newchurchmen who, without suppressing his sentiments, or preaching or praying in violation of them, did not think it necessary to abandon his former connections, unless required to do so by his ecclesiastical superiors. And the subject was brought to the notice of his Bishop, (the late Dr. Porteus,) who, on full conference with him, declined either to remove or censure him. Rare and most honorable example of spiritual integrity on the one side, and liberality on the other ! The Apocalypse Explained was translated by the Rev. William Hill, hereinafter mentioned. The complete series have received a French version, a German in part, though all are not pub- lished in either language. We learn that they are in course of being rendered in Spanish. The Latin style of Sweden- borg, which, in his other works, is always classical, sometimes ambitious, is here only remarkable for its didactic simplicity, clearness, and precision, except in por- tions, where the nature of the subject compels him to adopt a higher strain. It is known that there are disciples of Swedenborg in Russia, Sweden, Denmark, several of the German States, Switzer- land ; in France, Great Britain, and some of her colonies ; in the United States ; in several of the West India Isles ; and at one or two points in South America. On the Continent of Europe they generally continue, in the absence of religious toler- ation, attached to their national churches. In France and England there are two classes : those who remain thus undis- tinguished, and those who have separated. Their numbers, except in the last case, are difficult to be ascertained, though thought to be greater than the public gen- erally are aware of. From hence it would appear that this doctrine has not made very rapid progress in the world. While its adherents admit the fact, it does not shake their faith in the truth of the system. As much might have been an- ticipated from the tardy reception which awaited innovations in other branches of knowledge, though both true and impor- tant. We were also taught by our author that, for a time, but few would believe his report ; that the church in its infant state, would remain, as it were, in the wilder- ness : and encounter peculiar opposition from the Protestantism which prevails. Other churches, we know, were for a long season maturing, before they took the place of their predecessors, which did not recede until they had ceased to answer the purposes of such an institution. And in an enlarged view of the history of one which is to endure for ever, a few centu- ries even of infancy dwindle to a point. The wonder rather is, that it has not been whelmed beneath the tide of obloquy, and every species of persecution short of actual violence, which it has met from surrounding communions ; or that it should have grown to its present size under such disadvantages. This church has had neither wealth, nor rank, nor power, nor patronage, nor the prestige of popularity on its side. And against all these it has declined to use some df the ordinary means of propagation — it being a cardinal maxim with its teachers ■ al- ways to respect the freedom of others,' and not to press on them truths which they were not prepared to receive, and of which such had better remain in igno- rance, lest they should profane them. In the state of the world since this doctrine was first given to it, it was not to be ex- pected that principles so new and so repugnant to its most cherished opinions would readily receive its serious attention. It is not probable that those who are be- netted round with the accumulated sophis- tries of fifteen centuries, will as yet break their bands — or until further collision among the fragments of the old Christian church shall have still more proved to their members the weakness and uncer- tainty of their respective tenets, and force them to seek a safer refuge. Had Swe- denborg claimed his doctrine as his own, or had its moral requirements been more compromising, the case might, have been different. As it is, nothing but its intrin- iRY OF THE NEW JER1 8ALBM, OR NEW CHRISTIAN CHURCH 44^ istained, as we believe, by the especial care of Divine Providence, condary cause, the protection of princes and the countenance of honora- ble and virtuous men of the world, could ■ nabled it to survive Buch repeated and combined assaults, it may be suffi- cient, if the truth can be simply preserved, called into requisition at ;i more favorable juncture. The uniform and unequivocal declara- tion of Swedenborg was, that lhis doc- trine1 v aled from Heaven.1 But not, therefore, follow that lie anti- I any thing like a revolutionary, certainly not an immediate change in the church organization then extant. Their several doctrines had been once partially reformed: why not again and entirely? led his own adherence to the Lutheran Communion to the last. His views were freely imparted to the Bishops of his own country. But as Germany had been the Cradle of the Reformation ; and Britain was then, as now, the centre of Protestant activity : his works were presented to the Ecclesiastical Authorities of both countries. Thus as Christianity had been first offered to the Jews, so was New-Christianity held out to the Chris- tians. They were in general coldly re- ceived by the dignitaries, who have ever been ultra-conservative. The God of Heaven desires only a voluntary service ; nor were there wanting some who dared to render it. From a few of the inferior clergy and more of the laity the boon had met a more grateful reception. These weary of all other teaching, recognized this new and brilliant light. These men were not ignorant of the past, or of what still survived ; and yet they accounted this wonderful body of doctrine as the greatest spiritual treasures — committed, though it might be, to earthen vessels. They regarded it as a complete Rule of Faith, and, when considered in that aspect, as probably the last hope of the world. On them, therefore, under Providence, seemed to devolve the responsibility of providing an organization which should diffuse and preserve for posterity what had afforded such perfect satisfaction to themselves. A torch had been thrown to the church in its hour of darkness. Those who should nave be n and cherish its flomc, had n< shrunk from it. What th< 1 ned to a no dreaded to see it expire, or to provoke Its withdrawal, hut to pi without the sanction of their superiors, and to commit it f>r safe keeping to less timid or more faithful hands .' in a word, to a N'>,s Priesthood who by holding up the same might call together 1 Church.' But a new priesthood must have a new origin. And though human expedients should be exhaust divine interposition is invoiced, — to an appeal were they now virtually shut up. A few of those who had long cher- ished this truth in private, men of clear heads and of strong purpose, met in Lon- don in 1787* to take the steps necessary to this end. Two of their number, who had been disciples of Wesley and preach- ers in his connexion, now offered them- selves as ministers of the New Faith. To this the assembled friends had given their assent. But some one must be selected to perform the ordination. In choosing an individual for this purpose by lot, they felt justified as well by the precedent re- corded in Acts i. 23-6, as by the necessity of the case. The lot fell on Robert Hindmarsh, one of the twelve, who, as he had originated the movement, convoked the first meeting in 1783, and suggested their former proceedings, so now he was called to discharge the further office of ordaining according to an appropriate form, the first public proclaimcrs of that doctrine of which himself also continued to be the intrepid advocate and most con- spicuous champion. * In December, 1783, a meeting of the ad- mirers of Swedenborg' s writings was called in London by advertisement. Five individuals assembled. Wishing to promote the know- ledge and practice of the doctrines contained in those writings, they continued their meet- ings for the purpose of reading and conversa- tion, at regular intervals during several years, by which time their number had increased to something more than thirty. At length, in April, 1787, they resolved to form themselves into a more regular Society: in May drew up rules for its guidance : and, a minority havinsr determined on a step which the others thought premature — viz: public worship by a separate ministry — proceeded, in July, to the ordination mentioned in the text. 146 HISTORY OF THE NEW JERUSALEM, OR NEW CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Such was the commencement, in a se- parate form, so far as is known, of the New Christian Church: though public worship was not hold until the month of January following. From those who wore then invested with her priesthood, have been derived in regular succession most of the ordinations which have since taken place in England and America; it being neither necessary or proper to make a new origin by a fresh appeal to the lot, without extreme difficulty of ace those who were then clothed with the pro- per authority — the Divine Providence having apparently concurred with the act of its first depositories. Thus far the labor to diffuse and to de- fend the truths and doctrines of the New Church has not been altogether in vain. They have been propagated by individual effort in conversation and correspondence ; by associations for ' reading and enquiry ; by parental instruction and Sabbath schools ; by preaching,' both regular and missionary ; by courses of lectures ; by circulating the works of Swedenborg, periodicals, tracts and larger books in their illustration. It is not deemed law- ful to resort to declamation or persuasion. Rut the truth is stated plainly — some- times in contrast with common errors — and left to produce its own effect on the mind of the hearer. As a general rule, controversy is shunned ; discussion never ; and when, as has often happened, she has been compelled to put on her armor, it has been most frequently in defence. And those who wish to know whether she has been able to repel the attacks of Roman* ists, Unitarians, Calvinists, and Church- men ; and give a reason for her faith. : are confidently referred to ' Clowesrs Letters to a Member of Parliament,'1 to 1 Hind marsh's Letters to Priestley,"- to 1 Noble's Appeal,'3 to * Clissold's Letter to Archbishop Whateley,'4 and toProf. Push's Reply to ! }r. Woods.5 Whatever else the reader might find in these works, in none of them would he be offended with the grossness or asperity which too frequently characterize such productions. Wie doubt not, instead, that he would be struck with the spirit of Christian gentleness and can- dor, which animates strength of argument, adorned with the graces of eloquence or of a vigorous and classical style. Besides the abo\e, there has all along been waged a straggling war of pamphlets, in which charges have been regularly met, when- ever a respectable name stood sponsor to their truth. And we arc perfectly will- ing, that the success of our cause should be periled on the extant labors of her champions. In a few instances, she has departed from her usual line of policy, and carried the war into hostile territory, without however losing sight of justice or good temper. * Job Abbott,'6 is a general review of all the systems recognized in England, and is equally applicable to this country. Clissold's ' End of the Church"7 proves by citations from the highest au- thorities among the Orthodox their irre- concileablc variations of opinion as to what is truth on every great question of doctrine. His ' Apocalyptical Interpre- tation'8 shows the ill-success which has attended the numerous efforts to remove the obscurity from that book, and which he infers is impossible except on the prin- ciples of Swedenborg. Espy's * Con- trast'9 draws a parallel between the lead- ing tenets of the New Church and those of the ' Westminster Confession.' Hind- marsh's 'Church of England Weighed'10 criticises ' the Thirty-nine Articles.'* And we cannot think that any intelligent reader could arise from a fair perusal of works, and say that the existing Christian parlies have nothing more to do in defence of their several systems. The first person who introduced the doctrines of the New Church into the United Slates, was a Mr. Glen — not per- haps the most suitable individual for such a mission — who delivered lectures on the subject in Philadelphia, and a few other places, in the year 17S4. His efforts seem to have met with but partial success ; though some, who first received them from him, subsequently imparted them to others. A more prudent, and in all respects better qualified advocate was the Rev. William Hill, an English clergyman, who visited * The order of the appearance of the above works was as follows: i,(1799); 2,(1792); 3, (1826); f,(1839); 5, (1817); 6, (1841); 7, (1841); 8,(1841); ( 9f (1835); 10,(1846.) HISTORY ok Tin: \i:w JERUSALEM, OR NEW CHRI8TIAN CHURCH i uitrv at two different periods from 1704, to 180 i. I le preached \\ ith ac- ceptance in many towns of Massachusetts, and in some ft' the Atlantic cities ; and, both by his character and address, aided in drawing the attention of others to the ■Ubjec! Which lay neatest his own heart. The lirst American minister was ordained in 1798, since when, the number of those who favor these views, chiefly gathered out of other denominations, has gradually IS treased to something more than 6000: not a very strong proof that they are suited to the taste of the credulous or en- thusiastic. In nearly every instance their reception is supposed to have been the result of comparative examination and against predilection. There are now ies in Boston, New York, Philadel- phia, Baltimore, Cincinnati, and some minor towns in the eastern, western, and southern portions of the Union, to the number of fifty-two, besides isolated indi- viduals, or small numbers, in more than three hundred different places. When Washington, on his retirement from office, returned a civil answer to a congratula- tory address of his fellow-citizens of the New Church, it was probably thought a great stretch of condescension ; and. per- haps an equal exertion of good nature, when, at the instance of a legal friend, Robert Morris and Benjamin Franklin subscribed for the chief doctrinal work of Swedenborg. When, however, in process of time, it was whispered that more than one member of royal and noble houses of Europe, and several individuals high in civil and military employment, were sup- posed to have secretly admired these views ; when it was farther told, that, at one period, fifty ministers of the established Church of England, and many in different parts of the continent, were inoculated with the same ; as also that certain philo- sophers and literati, who had heard of the ' cor inscrutabile in a politic head,' knew more of them than they were willing to avow : it was kindly supposed to be * not quite so clear a case that there was no- thing in it.' Its ecclesiastical polity, at first very general and simple, has been successively enlarged and improved with the growth of the church, until the body is now perhaps as well organis d as could b while its members are so few and chs- . The clergy — at present near forty in number — are divided into the three or- ders of Ministers, Pastors, and Ordaining Ministers. The second, in addition to the duties of the first, performs others usually indicated by his title, and also sdn the holy supper. The peculiar duty of the third is to institute societies, ordain other ministers, and preside at the meetings of the representative bodies of the church.* Within a small district this is called .an Association. Within a larger — a Con- vention. The corresponding body in Eng- land is termed a Conference. The clergy sit in the same body with lay-delegates from societies, or individuals, but matters purely ecclesiastical are referred to them alone. The ordaining ministers arc not confined to a particular district in the ex- ercise of their functions, nor is the priest- hood regarded as indelible ; as some who once officiated have resigned without other disqualification. A numerous clergy, though desirable, where they can be sus- tained in the discharge of their duty, is not so indispensable to the spread or con- firmation of a doctrine so intelligible and at first naturally addressed to the reading classes, and which, we think, commends itself to the sincere and diligent seeker of truth. For now that the press is more efficient and more used, it may be made to perform, and perhaps better, much of their otherwise appropriate duty. For twenty years or more, the church was annually represented in one Convention. In a territory so extended, this was found inconvenient to those at a distance, and there are now three such bodies, the East- ern, (which was the General,) the Middle, and Western, based on principles soine- v/hat modified by the state of the church. The first is a representation of societies. The other two arc associations both of societies and individuals for the promotion of general objects. * When a society is without a Pastor, some fit individual is sought, who, under the desig- nation of < Leader' shall stand as its general Representative— shall read the service— and aid otherwise in imparting instruction so far as this may be done without invading the pro- vince of the clergy. 57 400 HISTORY OF THE NEW JERUSALEM, OR NEW CHRISTIAN CHURCH. It ought, however, to be stated, that the organization above mentioned, is espe- cially that of the Eastern or General Con- vention— the other two Conventions, which are in fact general also, without the name, not having as yet definitely settled the whole of their ecclesiastical order. It is hoped that in time there will be a body, meeting less frequently, delegated from the different territorial divisions of the Union.* Most of the societies, both in Europe * We believe that the writings of Sweden- borg contain the truth on all subjects of which they treat. But clear as they are on funda- mental doctrines, their full meaning is not im- mediately apparent to his readers, including as they do the usual variety of minds, and educated, as many of them have been, under diverse influences. A sensible progress has been hitherto made by the church in general as well as by individuals, in the knowledge both of what they teach and what they enjoin : — the natural fruit of experience and of the changes around her. There is room then for amicable discussion as to subordinate views and matters of form or expediency. Indivi- duals may perceive certain things as true or desirable for which the minds of their brethren are not yet prepared. But regarding them as rather conducive to the efficiency or symmetry of the body than as essential to its being, are content to await the maturity of public opinion before urging their adoption. A church which is struggling to acquire a position in the world, but which is based on the * voluntary princi- ple,' not only for the support of its institutions, but for all its faith and practice, must appear somewhat variable in its progressive as- pects. From the above may be drawn a further in- ference. Precedent, however conducive to the harmonious development of a system and its stability afterwards, is not so sacred with us as with some others. We look rather before than behind. We endeavor to do what appears to be best for the present juncture, but if error or mistake should intrude itself into our pro- ceedings, we are not deterred by precedent from correcting it in future. A step not well considered may be taken, and that again lead to others. It may not be desirable or possible to retrace the whole. In that case, the maxim factum valet, fieri nun debet, prevails. We ac- cept indeed the principle of ' development' of which so much has been said of late — to a certain extent. We admit a development, not of dangerous errors or of tyrannical assump- tions— but of forms and machinery which should proceed pari passu with the growth and wants of the church. and this country, use a form of worship, public and private. That first used in England, was a modification of the Na- tional Church service. They have now, after several changes, one that better ex- presses their doctrinal views. The pre- sent American service is simple, and con- sists entirely of selections from Scripture, with chants and glorifications ; but the V w ( 'hurch is not confined to any exter- nal form or ritual whatever. Its doctrines admit of every variety in this respect, and inculcate only that unity which is pro- duced by charity. Hence, almost every form has prevailed in this country, and even now, some societies use hymns and parts of the English Liturgy in their wor- ship. The New Jerusalem 'Te Deum' — once used in the public service both in England and America, afterwards discon- tinued and again, as Ave hope, to be re- vived— is perhaps the sublimest of invo- cations. Communication with the Church in England has been regularly kept up, and through this, with the Continent — of late years more directly. The translations j and collateral works heretofore used by ; us, have been mainly of British product, and many of the former are still used by those who prefer the English to the Amer- ican. Next to those of the latter already mentioned, the best known are those of Mr. Clowes, who, besides his translations, during his long life published many vol- umes of sermons, and other works, chiefly expository, all characterized by the unc- tion and other spiritual graces of the man. The English Conference, besides its suc- cessive liturgies and other ritual forms, has compiled catechisms and collections of hymns. Manuals of devotion have been prepared by Mr. Hill, (published in 1828,) and by Mr. Mason, (2d edit., IS 10.) Other popular treatises are Hindmarsh's 'Seal,' (1815,) and ' Compendium,' (1 51 G,) Arbouin's ' Regenerate Life,' ' Crcdibilitv of Swedenborg,' (1828,) T. Goyder's ' Key to Knowledge,' (1S39,) D. G." Goy- der's 'Book of Practical Piety,' (1840,) ' N. C. Preacher,' (1837,) a collection of sermons by various ministers, Hudson's ' Discourses on the Deliverance, &c. of the Israelites,' (1809,) Siblv's 'Exposi- tion of Daniel,' (1840,) Noble's 'Pie- im OP Tin: NEW .11:1:1 SALEM, OR M:\\ CHRI8TI \\ CHI RCH | nary I '(182 ind *L stums,' 16.) The American contributions to r the Association, which is far more comprehensive — no less indeed than 'the study, development and dissemination of Science upon the philosophical principles ,»t' Swedenborg :' ami the christianization of the former, and the reconciliation of Philosophy with Religion, whose discord- ance is now so apparent, and the source of so much evil. In the cultivation of this im- portant field, it is hoped that the number of minds able to co-operate, will be in- creasing throughout the world, and during an indefinite future.* After all, though much literary labor, in proportion to the means, has already been performed, in- calculably more remains to be done. A word or two before we conclude, principally on certain points of casuistry, as to which (strangely enough !) we have been misunderstood. Religious freedom is the inalienable right of every man, and for its use he is responsible to God alone. Civil liberty, though the means of the greatest blessings to those who are worthy of it, can only prove a curse to such as are not ; and it is not desirable that it should be enlarged hastily or farther than the nations are qualified for its use : though we rejoice that the means of such preparation are increased in number and efficiency, and that the spirit of the age is, to avail itself of them more than in time past. Strictly as the Christian should refrain from avenging his private wrongs, and much as he should desire public peace ; till the world is regene- rated, the injustice of governments and nations, will give frequent occasions of war. In such cases, it is legitimate to employ means of defence ; and we accept the general sentiment « that the only way to avoid it is to be ever prepared for it.' * While we write, Mr. Wm. B. Hayden has, in his • Review of Dr. Pond,' baffled with a vigorous ease the assault of the latter on the philosophical reputation of Swedenborg. The Newchurchman party spirit, a h ' principh ai not really at stake; to yield obedience to a protecting government, whereVei science will permit; not hastily to mn a in organic law ; and faithfully to discharge any public duties to which ho may be Called. \n private lili: we avoid singularity in matters indifferent. We affect none in language, dr. manners1. We have do sumptuary laws: hut leave each one to graduate his ex- penses by the scale of his ability and sta- tion in society, and to select his friends and associates among the virtuous and intelligent of every name. We have no respect for affected solemnity, needless austerity, or will-worship of any kind. We do not deem it necessary for Christ- ians of every age to refrain from public amusements and social recreations. The love of self and the world, against which Divine Wisdom has warned us, we take to be something more and other than any of these things. He who will shun the evils forbidden in the decalogue, as sins against God, and cultivate the opposite virtues, will find enough to occupy him without distracting his attention with tin- commanded observances. Though, with our views, we cannot but have an abiding sense of the Divine Presence, and of the necessity of regeneration to future happi- ness : yet the calm and rational delight we take in contemplating religious truths, does not inflame us to enthusiasm in pub- lic Worship. We must own, too, that we take little pleasure in frequenting the temples of other Christians, where we are not certain that our prayers are directed to the same object ; where we hear so much that grates on our sense of truth, and so little that accords with the su- premacy of Him we worship — though we willingly co-operate with them in the spread of the Bible, the promotion of any point of public morals, or measures of general utility. For a like reason we read but little of the current theology of the day, except as an index of the state of religious opinion. In our conferences with others on religious topics, we prefer to use other language than that of Scrip- ture, (except the plainest,) seeing our ap- prehensions of its meaning are generally 454 HISTORY OF THE NEW JERUSALEM, OR NEW CHRISTIAN CHURCH. so different. And while we seek the mol- lia tempora fundi, we do not indiscrimi- nately press the matter of religion on the attention1 of all unbelievers, or at all times. Such of us as have leisure to devote to literary pursuits, or inquiry into truth, always seek to unite therewith some use- ful occupation. There is a good deal of technical phraseology in the works of our author, which sounds strange to a novice ; but its meaning is easily learnt, and it is used in a steadfast sense. We are some- times asked whether we ascribe ' Infalli- bility' to Swedenborg ? — As a personal at- tribute— No. We believe him to have been sound in his memory and other fac- ulties : a competent and credible witness of * things seen and heard :' that being en- lightened for the purpose as no other man was ever before, he could rationally per- ceive the truths contained in the Word of the Lord, and that the inferences drawn by him therefrom are logically correct : and that he has embodied these in his various writings with such simple perspi- cuity, that a candid reader, under the guidance of his general doctrine, need never mistake his meaning. And thus it was, as we believe, that ' he was Provi- dentially guarded from Error.' Lastly, we do not look upon death as in itself so terrible an event, and think that no Christian should. Neither do we indulge in passionate grief for our departed friends,— our natural feeling for their loss being generally mitigated by our concep- tions of divine truth and mercy, and of the nature of the other life. If any of these ' peculiarities' are thought so offen- sive as to be without precedent or pre- tence of reason, we must bear the impu- tation with what grace we may. In reviewing what we have written, we find we have treated with freedom, but we hope with fairness, the principles of other professed followers of our Lord; sure we are without any feelings of hostility to in- dividuals who have held and still hold them — for many of whom we entertain high respect. It is with us a principle to recognise and honor goodness wherever we meet with it ; though we cannot but regret that, in this our age, it is so oflen allied to or accompanied by so much error. And this feeling we are bound to cherish even though it be not reciprocated. From oifr own position we survey the state of the world, intellectual, political, and reli- gious, and think we see in all those depart- ments marked and strong tendencies to- wards a better order of things. Magnus ab integro sec lor urn nascitur ordo. And though we live in a period of transition : the anxiety, of which all must partake at such a season, is alleviated in our case by the assurance that He who is at the helm, having eternal and glorious ends in view, orders or permits only such events as can be converted to their promotion. Now that other systems are breaking up around us, we would most respectfully invite our countrymen to give this a fair considera- tion, and not to condemn it unheard or from the representations of its enemies alone. Fraud, violence, menace, fashion, the favor of princes, diplomacy, have all tried in vain to reunite Protestants on some one basis ; wrangling polemics and verbal critics have succeeded as little. In our conscience we believe that in this con- fusion worse confounded, none but the Author of our faith could tell us what it is ; and this we doubt not he has done through a qualified agent. He who re- ceives ' The True Christian Religion,' as here delineated, cannot but smile at the pretensions of Rome. For her expositions or superintendence he can have no possi- ble use ; and the ' brutum fulmen' of her anathema will fall harmless at his feet. Such is the bread which we have been invited to cast upon the waters. We dis- miss it to the care of Providence, and the justice of our readers. Should they de- sire a more full and formal sketch of doc- trine than the rapid outline of the text, we subjoin the Articles of Faith as set forth by the English Conference and adopted by the Church in America. Swedenborg tells us in his Treatise on Divine Providence, (No. 259.) 'There are three essentials of the Church, the acknowledgment of the Divine of the Lord, the acknowledgment of the sanctity of the Word, and the life which is called charity ; according to the life, which is charity, every man has faith ; from the Word is HI8T0BY OP Tin: m:u JERUSALEM, OR m:\\ 0HHI8TIAN CHI RCH l.v, tin- knowledge of what lift matt be; and tram the Lord is reformation and salva- tion, [ftbete three had been as the essen- tials of the Church, intellectua] dissensions Would not have divided, hut onlj \an<- done, because they are of the devil, and from the devil. •I. That good should be done, because they arc of God, and from God. 5. \nd that these should be done by man as from him- self; but that it should be believed, thai they are from the Lord, with him and through him. The two first are of faith, the two next are of charity, and the fifth is of the conjunction of charity and faith, thus of the Lord and man.' THE ARTICLES THEMSELVES ARE AS FOLLOWS: 1. ' That Jehovah God, the Creator and Preserver of heaven and earth, is Love It- self, and Wisdom Itself, or Good Itself, and Truth Itself: That he is One both in Essence and in Person, in whom", never- theless, is the Divine Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which are the essen- tial Divinity, the Divine Humanity, and the Divine Proceeding, answering to the soul, the body, and the operative energy in man : And that the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is that God. 2. ' That Jehovah God himself descend- ed from heaven, as Divine Truth, which is the Word, and took upon him Human Nature for the purpose of removing from man the powers of hell, and restoring to order all things in the Spiritual world, and all things in the Church : That he re- moved from man the powers of hell, by combats against and victories over them, in which consisted the great work of Re- demption : That by the same acts, which were his temptations, the last of which was the passion of the cross, he united, in his Humanity, Divine Truth to Divine Good, or Divine Wisdom to Divine Love, and so returned into his Divinity in which he was from eternity, together with, and in, his Glorified Humanity ; whence he for ever keeps the infernal powers in sub- jection to himself: And that all who be- lieve in him, with the understanding, from the heart, and live accordingly, will be saved. 3. ' That the sacred Scripture, or Word 456 HISTORY OF THE NEW JERUSALEM, OR NEW CHRISTIAN CHURCH. of God, is Divine Truth Itself; containing a Spiritual sense heretofore unknown, whence it is divinely inspired and holy in every syllable; as well as a literal sense, which is the basis of its spiritual sense, and in which Divine Truth is in its ful- ness, its sanctity, and its power : thus that it is accommodated to the apprehension both of angels and men : That the spiri- tual and natural senses are united, by cor- respondences, like soul and body, every natural expression and image answering to, and including a spiritual and divine idea : And thus that the Word is the medium of communication with heaven, and of conjunction with the Lord. 4. ' That the government of the Lord's Divine Love and Wisdom is the Divine Providence ; which is universal, exercised according to certain fixed laws of Order, and extending to the minutest particulars of the life of all men, both of the good and of the evil : That in all its operations it has respect to what is infinite and eternal, and makes no account of things transitory but as they are subservient to eternal ends ; thus, that it mainly consists with man, in the connection of things temporal with things eternal ; for that the continual aim of the Lord, by his Divine Providence, is to join man to himself, and himself to man, that he may be able to give him the feli- cities of eternal life : And that the laws of permission are also laws of the Divine Providence ; since evil cannot be prevented without destroying the nature of man as an accountable agent ; and because, also, it cannot be removed unless it be known, and cannot be known unless it appear : Thus, that no evil is permitted but to pre- vent a greater ; and all is overruled by the Lord's Divine Providence, for the greatest possible good. 5. ' That man is not life, but is only a recipient of life from the Lord, who, as he is Love Itself, and Wisdom Itself, is also Life Itself; which life is communicated by influx to all in the spiritual world, whether belonging to heaven or to hell, and to all in the natural world ; but is received dif- ferently by every one, according to his quality nnd consequent state of reception. 6. « That man, during his abode in the world, is, as to his spirit, in the midst be- tween heaven and hell, acted upon by in- fluences from both, and thus is kept in a state of spiritual equilibrium between good and evil ; in consequence of which he en- joys free-will, or freedom of choice, in spiritual things as well as in natural, and possesses the capacity of either turning himself to the Lord and his kingdom, or turning himself away from the Lord, and connecting himself with the kingdom of darkness : And that, unless man had such freedom of choice, the Word would be of no use, the Church would be a mere name, man would possess nothing by virtue of which he could be conjoined to the Lord, and the cause of evil would be chargeable on God himself. 7. * That man at this day is born into evil of all kinds, or with tendencies to- wards it : That, therefore, in order to his entering the kingdom of heaven, he must be regenerated or created anew ; which great work is effected in a progressive manner, by the Lord alone, by charity and faith as mediums, during man's co- operation : That as all men are redeemed, all are capable of being regenerated and consequently saved, every one according to his state : And that the regenerated man is in communion with the angels of hea- ven, and the unregenerate with the spirits of hell : But that no one is condemned for hereditary evil, any further than as he makes it his own by actual life ; whence all who die in infancy are saved, special means being provided by the Lord in the other life for that purpose. 8. ' That Repentance is the first begin- ning of the Church in man ; and that it consists in a man's examining himself, both in regard to his deeds and his inten- tions, in knowing and acknowledging his sins, confessing them before the Lord, supplicating him for aid, and beginning a new life : That to this end, all evils, whether of affection, of thought, or of life, are to be abhorred and shunned as sins against God, and because they proceed from infernal spirits, who in the aggre- gate are called the Devil and Satan ; and that good affections, good thoughts, and good actions, are to be cherished and per- formed, because they are of God and from God : That these things are to be done by man as of himself; nevertheless, under the acknowledgment and belief, that it is HI8T0R1 OF THE OMISH OR AMIMI CHI RCH, from the Lord, operating in aim and by h I,, : Thai BO far as man slums (\ Hi u >ms, so far iIk-v are removed, remitted, or forgiven; so far also he does good, not from himself, l>nt from the Lora, and in the Mme degree he loves truth, has faith, ami is a Spiritual man: And that the I )e- calogue teaches what evils an* sins. !». • That Chanty, Faith, and Good Works are unitedly necessary to man's salvation; since charity without faith, is not spiritual hut natural ; and (kith with- out chanty, is not living but dead; and both charity and faith without good works, arc merely mental and perishable things, because without use or fixedness : And that nothing of faith, of charity, or of good works is of man ; but that all is of the Lord, and all the merit is his alone. 10. ' That Baptism and the Holy Sup- per are sacraments of divine institution, ami are to be permanently observed ; Bap- tism being an external medium of intro- duction into the Church, and a sign repre- sentative of man's purification and regen- eration ; and the Holy Supper being an external medium, to those who receive it worthily, of introduction, as to spirit into heaven, and of conjunction with the Lord, of which also it is a siijn and seal. II. ' Th it immediate! . death, winch is only a putting off of the m bodj , never to be resumed, man in a spiritual or substantial body, in which he continues to Live to eternity ; in I; if his ruling affections, and thence his lif<-, have h«on good; and in hell, if his ruling affections, and thence his life, have been evil. L2, ' That now is the time of the Second Advent of the Lord, which 1-^ .a coming, not in Person, but in the pow< r and of his Holy Words That it is attended, like his first coming, with the restoration to order of all things in the spiritual world, where the wonderful divine operation, com- monly expected under the name of the Last Judgment, has in consequence been performed ; and with the preparing of the way for a New Church on the earth, — the first Christian Church having spiritually come to its end or consummation, through evils of life and errors of doctrine, as fore- told by the Lord in the Gospels : And that this New or Second Christian Church, which will be the Crown of all Churches, and will stand forever, is what was repre- sentatively seen by John, when he beh -M the holy city, New Jerusalem, descending from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.' HISTORY OP THE OMISH OR AMISH CHURCH, BY SHEM ZOOK, MIFFLIN COUNTY, PA. Cbnsn or Amish, is a name which was, in the United States, given to a society of Mennonites, but who are not known by that name in Europe, the place from which they originally came. In many parts of Germany and Switzerland, where they are still considerably numerous, they arc there sometimes, for the purpose of dis- tinction, called Hooker Mennonites, on ac- count of their wearing hooks on their 58 458 HISTORY OF THE OMISH OR AMISH CHURCH. clothes ; another party of Mennonites being, for similar reasons, termed Button Mennonites, The principal difference be- tweeo these societies consists in the former being more simple in their dress, and more Strict in their discipline. In their religious forms of worship, the different denomina- tions of Mennonites vary but little from other Protestants. They consider the scrip- tures as the only rule of faith, and main- tain that the surest mark of the true church is the sanctity of its members. They have regular ministers and deacons, who are not allowed to receive fixed salaries; in their religious assemblies, however, every one has the privilege to exhort and to expound the scriptures. Baptism is ad- ministered to adults only, infants not being considered proper subjects, and is admi- nistered by pouring water upon the head of the subject. The Lord's Supper is ad- ministered in commemoration of the death of our Saviour. It is considered unlawful to take an oath on any occasion, as well as to repel force by force ; and they con- sider war, in all its shapes, as unchristian and unjust. Charity is with them a reli- gious duty, and none of their members are permitted to become a public charge. Great injustice has been done the Men- nonites by Protestant as well as by Catholic writers, by imputing to them doctrines which they never held with regard to the incarnation of Christ and the Millenium, or personal reign of Christ upon earth. That Menno Simon was charged with en- tertaining peculiar and unwarranted opin- ions respecting these matters is true, (doc- trines which we deem improper to mention, but an account of which may be found by referring to article Anabaptists, in the En- cyclopaedia Americana ;) but it is well known to all who are acquainted with the writings or works of Menno Simon, that if his written declarations are to be re- ceived as an evidence of his opinions, then the said charges are entirely gratuitous and without foundation in fact. The Men- nonites have also been charged with having originated with the Anabaptist of Munster; and have frequently been confounded with the followers of Bockhold, John of Ley- den, and David Joris. This charge is equally and totally incorrect. It is not denied that many of those who have been misled by these fanatics, ultimately joined the Mennonites ; but they were not ad- mitted into their society until they had wholly repudiated the wild and fanatical notions of the Munsterites. The many, and often bitter, controversies which took place during the time of the Reformation, not only between Catholic and Protestant writers, but often between the Protestants themselves, added to the fact that the history of the Mennonites has hitherto been written by writers of other sects, readily account for the mis-statements and incorrect accounts respecting the origin, history, and religious opinions of the Men- nonites. The name Amish or Ornish was derived from Jacob Amen, a native of Amenthal, in Switzerland, and a rigid Mennonite preacher of the seventeenth century ; but that he was not the founder of a sect will be evident from the fact, that the society who are in the United States wrongfully called Amish or Ornish, still rigidly adhere to the Confession of Faith which was adopted at Dortrecht, in Holland, A. D. 1632, (before the time of Jacob Amen,) by a General Assembly of ministers of the religious denomination who were at that time and in that place called Mennon- ites, (after Menno Simon, an eminent preacher and native of Friesland, in Hol- land,) but who were, (as has been well established by writers of the seventeenth century,) prior to that time, at different periods, known by the names of Henri- cians, Petrobrusians, and Waldenses. The number of the milder Mennonites in the United States is computed at 120,000, while that of the rigid Mennonites is not supposed to exceed 5000. J Pliilail! <£J@3HIW OA3L^nHTo HISTORY OF THE PRESB VTERI \.\ CHT'ROH. HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH BY JOHN M. KREBS, D.D. PASTOR OF THE RUTGERS STREET CHURCH, NEW YORK, AND TERMANENT CLERK OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. I. DOCTRINE, WORSHIP, AND GOVERN- MENT. The published " Constitution of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America," sets forth at large the system of doctrine, mode of worship, and form of government, adopted by this church. The Doctrines are contained in the " Confession of Faith," and in the "Larger and Shorter Catechisms," and are those which are popularly denominated " Cal- vinistic." This distinctive title is appro- priated to this system, not because Calvin invented it, but because, among all the modern advocates of it, he was undoubt- edly the most profound and able, and be- cause it has suited the policy of some to endeavor to convey the idea that this system was unknown until Calvin began to propagate and defend it. In the Confession of Faith there are many doctrines in which the Presbyterians agree with their brethren of other denomi- nations. In regard to all that is embraced in that formula concerning the being and perfections of God, the Trinity of persons in the Godhead, the divinity, incarnation and atoning sacrifice of the Son of God, &c, they may be said to hold substan- tially in common with all sects who de- serve the Christian name. But with re- spect to the true state of human nature before God, the doctrine of sovereign, un- conditional election to eternal life, the doctrine that Christ died in a special sense for his elect people, the doctrine of justifi- cation by the imputed righteousness of Christ alone, of sanctification by the spe- cial and invincible power of the Holy Spirit, and of the perseverance of the saints in holiness, they differ very mate- rially from many who bear the Christian name. In short, with regard to what are commonly called the " five points" dis- cussed and decided in the Synod of Dort, the Confession is opposed to Arminianism, and coincides with the Calvinistic system maintained by that body. These evangelical doctrines, as they are taught in the Word of God, were revived and held with singular unanimity by all the churches which arose out of the Re- formation, as appears very evidently from a comparison of the various creeds and confessions which were framed and pub- lished by them. Those who on the Con- tinent adhered to Martin Luther in his ritual views and observances, and the An- glican prelatists as well as the Reformed Churches of France, Germany, Switzer- land, Holland and Scotland, equally adopted the tenets since denominated Cal- vinistic, their differences having relation mainly to the administration of ecclesiasti- cal affairs, the parity of the Christian ministry, and their subordinate topics. And the history of the church and of the world, (as a constant development of this 460 HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. great principle, that truth is in order to goodness, its great touchstone, in its tenden- cy to produce holiness, and that there is an inseparable connection between faith and practice, truth and duty,) together with the admission of some of the most eminent scholars and divines, and eloquent writers of later days, even of those who by no means favored Calvinism, are an irrefra- gable testimony to the benign influence ex- erted by this much-abused system, on the illumination and salvation of those who cordially embrace it, and on the moral character and deportment, the knowledge and freedom, and the general prosperity and happiness of every community where it has prevailed.* * " By many ignorant and prejudiced per- sons, a very foul, but a very false allegation, both before the time of the Synod of Dort, and also down to the present day, has occasion- ally been advanced against the Calvinistic system. That system has been set forth as offering a premium for gross immorality, as inculcating in the case of the vainly pre- sumptuous, an unhallowed security, and as advocating, to the certain ruin of the constitu- tionally despondent, all the wrild recklessness of utter and uncontrolled desperation. Hence, in the way of summary, we have been gravely assured that, according to the Calvinistic scheme of interpretation, the elect, no matter what may be the obstinate ungodliness of their lives, must be finally saved even in their impenitence, while the reprobate, no matter what may be the devoted holiness of their conversation, even in their godly pen- itence must be finally damned. Nothing can be more unfounded than this vulgar allega- tion. " Calvinism really teaches, that the elect, even though they may be humbly doubtful of their own individual election, after their effectual calling, however speckled with the remains of human corruption, will always lead holy and devoted and godly lives ; while the reprobate, even though they may madly and contemptuously presume upon their own imagined security, will always show their true character, either by an indulgence in habitually unhallowed practice, or by an utter deadness to every sentiment of vitally influen- tial religion." — Judic. Synod. Dordrech. Con- clus. Cap. V. "This invariable association of holiness with election, and of unholiness with reproba- tion, is assuredly the special badge of Calvin- ism ; and for the abuse of the system by the profanely licentious, that scheme is no more responsible, than any other scheme can justly The forms of worship are simple and scriptural, consisting in praise, prayer, and the reading and preaching of the be made responsible for its own particular and disallowed perversion. "The dogma, if such a dogma be held even by the wildest Antinomian, that an individual fearlessly and securely may sin, because with- out evidence, or rather against evidence, he has fondly persuaded himself that he is one of the elect — that dogma is a mere perversion of the Genevan system. A pious Calvinist — and among doctrinal Calvinists have been num- bered some of the best and the wisest and the most holy men who have ever adorned the Catholic Church — a pious Calvinist would shrink from it with horror and disgust. So far from sanctioning the blasphemous absurdity, on the real principles of his own scheme, he would be the first and the foremost to consider its maintainance, by any pretended Calvinist, as a black mark indicative of the wretched perverter's own reprobation. He would say — Whatever may be the secret purpose of God in regard to effectual calling, no man can claim to be of the number of the elect to glory, unless as a clear evidence of his election, he can show a life devoted to his Saviour and in- stinct with fruit-producing holiness. As hon- est men, we are bound, in the measure of our opportunity, faithfully to investigate doctrinal truth ; but then, we are equally bound to ab- stain from the offensive shamelessness of un- merited calumny." — Faber^s Primitive Doctrine of Election, B. I., chap. vi. sec. 2. As the most powerful body of European refugees from prelatical cruelty, who originally settled in the United States, were inflexible Calvinists ; and as they have impressed their character upon all the national attributes of our republic : it is indispensable accurately to comprehend the cardinal principles of Calvin- ism in its operation and results, among the en- tire body of its genuine disciples in this coun- try— the original Anglican Puritans, the Scot- tish and Irish Presbyterians, the Baptists, and the Reformed Dutch and Germans. In addition, therefore, to the previous testimony of Mr. Faber, three separate witnesses are adduced ; and as neither of them are Calvinists, the four combined historiographers must be admitted as proof equivalent to moral demonstration. Calvin. — The author of the biographical no- tice of " Calvin," in the Encyclopedia Brittan- nica, among other expressions laudatory of the exalted virtues, noble talents, and trans- cendant erudition of the French Reformer, thus characterizes him and his most illustrious compeer. Luther and Calvin are " twin stars, the brightest of that constellation of lights by whose effulgence were dispelled the long night of darkness, under the cloud of which the en- ergies of mankind suffered eclipse ; and having emerged, they shone forth with a brilliance HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN (III K'll. I'.l irord of God, Thej are regulated ac- cording tot prescribed M Directory," but ■: iiuinitcl) controlled by the stereo- and glory unparalleled in tht history of 1 1 1 * - world." The same writer also mentions, am chief points which distinguish the system of Calvin from that of the other Reformed Churches, — the independence of the church of the civil power, and the spiritual presence of Christ in the sacrament "of the Lord's Supper." — Encyclopaedia Britannica, article C>i.vi\. The Puritans. — Mr. Bancroft, in his HistorV of the United States, exactly coincides with Mr. Maranlay and other critics, who have illu- mined the world by their splendid lucubrations in the Edinburgh Review. The American narrator's evidence being so unexceptionable, a few sentences are extracted. It must be premised, however, that he uses the terms Calvinism and Puritanism, in the doctrinal \ iew, as identical. '•Puritanism was religion struggling for the people ; the shelter, said its enemy, for the noble principle of liberty. It was its office to engraft the new institutions of popular energy upon the old European system of feudal aris- tocracy and popular servitude. The good was permanent. The outward emblems were of transient duration. The effects of Puritanism display its true character. Ecclesiastical tyranny is of all kinds the worst. Its fruits are cowardice, idleness, and poverty. Puritan- ism was a life-giving spirit. Activity, thrift, and intelligence followed in its train." "The political character of Calvinism, which with one consent, and with instinctive judgment, the monarchs of that day feared as republicanism, and which Charles II. declared a ' religion unfit for a gentleman,' is expressed in a single word — Predestination. Did a proud aristocracy trace its lineage through genera- tions of a high-born ancestry, the republican Reformer brought down the record of the no- blest enfranchisement from ' the book of life.' His converts defied the opposing world ; and standing serenely amid the crumbling fabrics of centuries of superstition, they had faith in one another ; and the martyrdoms of Cambray, the fires of Smithfield, and the surrender of benefices by two thousand nonconformist Presbyterians, attest their perseverance. Such was the system which for a century and a half assumed the guardianship and liberty for the English world. " To advance intellectual freedom, Calvin- ism absolutely denied the 'sacrament' of or- dination: thus breaking up the great monopoly of priestcraft, and scattering the ranks of su- perstition. To restrain absolute monarchy in France, in Scotland, and in England, it allied itself with the decaying feudal aristocracy which it was sure to outlive ; to protect itself typed form maaded liturgy, Sot condemning either the principle <>i" the u^<: of a liturgy, the Preabyterian Church, nevertheless, from a conviction that the practice of confining ministers to set or fixed forma of prayer lor public worship, derirea no ararranf from the spirit and examples of th<' a/ord hi* God, nor from ill'- practice of the primitive church, and that it is, mop unprofitable, burdensome to Christian liberty, and otherwise inexpedient, disap- proves of such restriction ; but she has, against the feudal aristocracy it infused itself into the mercantile class and the infen try; and to secure a life in the public mind, in Geneva, and in Scotland, wherever it gained dominion, it invoked intelligence for the peo- ple, and in every parish planted the common school. " Calvinism overthrew priestcraft ; Calvin- ism saw in goodness infinite joy, in evil infi- nite wo ; and recognizing no other abiding distinctions, opposed secretly, but surely, hereditary monarchy, aristocracy, and bond- age. Massachusetts owned no king but the King of heaven ; no aristocracy but of the re- deemed ; and no bondage but the hopeless, in- finite, and eternal bondage of sin. Calvinism invoked intelligence against Satan, the great enemy of the human race ; and the farmers and seamen of Massachusetts nourished its college with corn and strings of wampum, and in every village built the free school. Thus had the principle of freedom of mind first as- serted for the common people, under a reli- gious form, by Wiclif, been pursued; until at last it reached a perfect development, coin- ciding with the highest attainment of European philosophy." — Bancroft's History of the United States, vol. i. pp. 279, 289, 290, 460, 469 ; vol. ii. pp. 459—463. One more testimony is appended. It is of the highest value; because it is the conclusion of an essay, the design of which is this : ex- pressly to invalidate and disprove the Calvin- istic theory of the divine government both in providence and grace. Practical Tendency of Calvinism. — " From the earliest ages down to our own days, if we consider the character of the 'ancient Stoics, the Jewish Essenes, the modern Calvinists, and Jansenists ; when compared with that of the Epicureans, the Sadducees, Arminians, and the Jesuits; we shall find that they have ever excelled in no small decree in the practice of the most rigid and respectable virtues ; and have been the highest honor of their own ages, and the best models for imitation to every age succeeding." — Encycloy&dia Britannica, arti- cle Phedestinatiox. 4G2 HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. at the same time, made such provision in her " Directory" for the service, that it may be performed with dignity and pro- priety, as well as profit, to those who join in it, and that it may not be disgraced by mean, irregular, or extravagant effusions. The Presbyterian Church, moreover, prescribes no canonical vestments for her ministers ; possesses no altar, but only a communion table ; and instead of kneel- ing at the Lord's Supper, the communi- cants sit ; she rejects lay-baptism, and godfathers and godmothers, and the sign of the cross in baptism ; and she repudi- ates all saints' days, and observes the Lord's day as the sabbath and as the only season of holy time commanded to Chris- tians. In all these matters, it is believed that she is sanctioned by the scriptures, the practice of the primitive church, and the principles of the purest churches of the Reformation ; while her own history and experience furnish a confirmation of the value of her practice, which she fears not to compare with that of any other religious community, in its influence, (as well as the influence of her doctrines and discipline,) on the order and decorum of public wor- ship, on the purity in the faith of her ministers, on the edification of the wor- shippers, and on the sanctification of their hearts and lives. The plan of government rests on these avowed and cardinal principles : — That God alone is Lord of the conscience, and hath left it free from the doctrine and commandments of men, which are in any thing contrary to his word, or beside it in matters of faith or worship. That the rights of private judgment, in all matters that respect religion, are universal and unalienable. That it is not even desirable to see any religious constitution aided by the civil power, farther than may be ne- cessary for protection and security, and at the same time be equal and common to all others. That, in perfect consistency with the above principle of common right, every Christian church or union or asso- ciation of particular churches, is entitled to declare the terms of admission into its communion, and the qualifications of its ministers and members, as well as the whole system of its internal government which Christ hath appointed. That our blessed Saviour, for the edification of the visible church, hath appointed officers, not only to preach the gospel and admin- ister the sacraments, but also to exercise discipline, for the preservation both of truth and duty, by censuring or casting out the erroneous or scandalous, accord- ing to the rules contained in the word of God ; that, nevertheless, there are truths and forms with respect to which men of good characters may differ, and in all these it is the duty both of private Chris- tians and societies, to exercise mutual for- bearance towards each other. That the character, qualifications, and authority of church officers are laid down in the holy scriptures, as wrell as the proper method of their investiture and institution ; yet the election of the persons to the exercise of this authority in any particular society is in that society. That all church pow- er, whether exercised by the body in gen- eral, or in the way of representation by delegated authority, is only ministerial and declarative ; that is, the holy scrip- tures are the only rule of faith and man- ners,— no church judicatory having the right to make laws to bind the conscience, by virtue of their own authority, but only to judge upon laws already made, and common to all who profess the gospel ; and all their decisions should be founded on the revealed will of God ; and that ecclesiastical discipline must be purely moral, or spiritual in its object, and not attended with any civil effects ; and it can derive no force whatever, but from its own justice, the approbation of an impar- tial public, and the countenance and bless- ing of the great Head of the Church uni- versal. It is farther held by Presbyterians, that Christ has appointed and established in the holy scriptures a certain definite form of government for his Church ; that, how- ever many particular churches may be constituted, they are not independent so- cieties, but are connected parts of one body ; that the actions and operations of the several parts should be in subordina- tion to the whole ; that this being an or- ganized body, it is furnished with officers for the purpose of communicating instruc- tion, and for the orderly government of HISTORY OF THE PRE8BYTERIAN CHURCH. I ; that these officer I I instituted b) Christ, the onlj I lead of the Church, before he Left the world; tine of them were, at first, end >wed with extraordinary powers; but- the ordi- nary ami permanent officers of the ( Ihurch — as organized by the apostles, after the model of the Jewish Synagogue, which was undoubtedly Presbyterian, — are pas- tors or teachers, eiders who rule, ami dea- cons who have charge of the alms for the poor; that as to bishops and presbyters, the holy scriptures make no difference be- tween them ; these, like other names there- in applied to the ministers oi the gospel, being applied promiscuously and indiffer- ently to the same officers ; that the same character and juicers being also, in the scriptures, ascribed interchangeably to bishops and presbyters, it is plain that they arc identical both as to their order and their name; and therefore all the ministers of the gospel, although described by different names and titles which desig- nate their various functions, are of equal official rank. That the apostles indeed were invested with authority over all the churches and all the other ministers ; but as they have no successors in their inspi- ration and miraculous gifts, by which they were qualified to exercise such a power over their brethren, so they have no successors in that plenary authority, which Christ committed to them ; but, since their departure out of the world, all regular pastors and teachers in the Church of Christ are equal in authority, no one being invested with powrer to rule over his brethren in the ministry, although each is appointed a ruler as well as an instructor over the flock of which he has been regu- larly constituted a bishop ; and the pres- byterate being the highest permanent office in the Church, every faithful pastor of a flock is successor to the apostles in every thing in which they were to have any successors, and is scripturally or- dained with the " laying on of the hands of the presbytery ;" that the difference which, in after ages, sprung up, has no foundation or vestige in the sacred record ; that the gradual introduction of prelacy within the first four centuries, was not only practicable, but one of the most na- tural and probable of all events ; how it came i t difficult I and the most Competent judge and pro- found inquirers into early history, have pronounced that it actually ' that all argument! which our Epi brethren profess to d\ rive from scripture in favor of their system, are perfect}) QU- gatory, and do not yield it the least solid support; that while the advocates for pre- lacy^ or diocesan episcopacy, have mainly relied on the fathers, the fathers of the first two centuries are so far from furnish- ing a single passage which gives even a semblance of aid to the episcopal cause, that, like the scriptures, they every where speak a language wholly inconsistent with it, and favorable only to the doctrine of ministerial parity ; that the great body of the reformers and other witnesses for the truth, of different ages and nations, with one voice, maintained the same doctrine, as taught in Scripture, and in the primi- tive church ; and that even the most con- spicuous English Reformers, while they assisted in organizing an episcopal estab- lishment in their own country, defended it on the ground of human expediency and the will of the magistrate, rather than that of divine right ; and they acknowledged the foreign churches, which were organ- ized prcsbyterially, to be true churches of Jesus Christ ; that the Church of England, and those churches which have imme- diately descended from her, stand abso- lutely alone in the whole Protestant world, in representing bishops as an order of clergy superior to presbyters ; all other Protestants, even those who adopt a sort of prelacy, having pronounced it to be a mere human invention ; that some of the most learned and pious bishops and other divines of the Church of England, have utterly disclaimed the divine right of dio- cesan episcopacy ; and have declared that they considered a great majority of the clergy of that church, in later as well as earlier times, as of the same opinion with themselves ; and, that such like various, abundant, and explicit testimony, not only establishes in the most perfect manner the validity of the Presbyterian ordinations and ministry, but it goes farther, and proves that they are superior to the Epis- copal, as beim? more scriptural, more con- formable to primitive usage, and possess- 404 HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. ing more of that whole character which is fitted to satisfy an humble, simple-hearted, Bible Christian. Therefore, although some zealous advocates for the divine right of diocesan episcopacy charge them with schism, for being out of the communion of their church, and denounce our minis- try and ordinances as invalid : Presby- terians may well receive such charges and denunciations with the same calm, un- moved, dispassionate, and conscious supe- riority, that they feel when a partisan of the Papacy denounces them for rejecting the supremacy of the Pope, and questions the possibility of their salvation out of the Church of Rome. And as the church is one body : so, for the wise and orderly government of the whole, it is expedient to have a gradation of courts or judicatories, from the autho- rities which pertain to a particular church, through as many gradations as may have been established, up to the highest judica- tory which can be assembled, with con- venience, for the decision of all matters, according to the word of God, which may relate to the welfare and increase of the church. And it is accordingly held to be agreeable to the scriptures that the church be governed by congregational, presbyte- rial, and synodical assemblies. These are severally composed, both of ministers, or those elders whose office it is to preach the gospel and administer the sacraments, as well as to bear rule ; and Ming ciders, whose office has been un- derstood by a great part of the Protestant Reformed Churches, to be designated in the holy scriptures by the title of " go- vernments," and of those " elders who rule well," but do not labor in the word and doctrine. Hence is derived the name " Presbyterian," from the Greek words npcafivrcpos and TrpecrPurcpiov, which, as they occur in the New Testament, respectively signify an elder and a body of ciders, or a presbytery. The offices of a particular church, when it is fully organized, are a bishop, or pas- tor,— or more as the case may be — a bench of ruling ciders, and a bench of deacons. The pastor, or pastors, and the ruling ciders, compose the church session. To this body is confided the spiritual go- vernment of the congregation ; for which purpose, they have power to inquire into I lie knowledge and Christian conduct of the members of the church ; to call be- fore them offenders and witnesses ; to re- ceive members into the church; to ad- monish, to rebuke, to suspend, or exclude from the sacraments those who are found to deserve censure ; to concert the best measures for promoting the spiritual in- terests of the congregation; and to appoint delegates to the presbytery and the synod. Appeals may be made from their decisions, to the presbytery, and carried up to the higher judicatories. The business of the deacons is to take care of the poor ; and to them may be properly committed the management of the temporal affairs of the church. The ruling ciders and the dea- cons are ordained, or solemnly set apart, to their respective offices, by a bishop. All the ministers, (being not less than three in number,) and one ruling elder from each congregation, within a certain district, are formed into a presbytery. This body has power to receive and issue appeals from church sessions, and refer- ences brought before them in an orderly manner ; to examine and license candi- dates for the holy ministry ; to ordain, instal, remove and judge ministers ; to ex- amine and approve or censure the records of church sessions ; to resolve questions of doctrine or discipline seriously and rea- sonably proposed ; to condemn erroneous opinions which injure the purity or peace of the church ; to visit particular churches, for the purpose of inquiring into their state, and redressing the evils that may have arisen in them ; to unite or divide con- gregations at the request of the people, or to form or receive new congregations ; in general to order whatever pertains to the spiritual welfare of the churches under their care ; and to appoint delegates to the General Assembly. A synod is a convention of all the bish- ops, and one ruling elder from each con- gregation within a larger district than a presbytery ; and must include at least three presbyteries. The synod has power to receive and issue all appeals regularly brought up from the presbyteries ; to de- cide on all references made to them ; to review the records of presbyteries, and approve or censure them ; to redress UISTOR\ OF THE PRESBYTERIAN <'HI RCH. whatever has I" i a done by presbyteries nry to order ; to take effectual care that p] i observe the constitution of the church ; to erect new presbyteries, and unite or divide those winch were !><■- fore erected ; and generally to take such order with respect to the presbyteries, sessions, and people under their care, as may be in conformity with the word of God, ami tin' established rules, and which tend to promote the edification of the church. The General Assembly is the highest itory of the Presbyterian Church. It represents in one body all the particular churches of this denomination) and consti- tutes the bond of union, peace, correspond- ent', and mutual confidence, among all our churches. It consists of an equal de- m of bishops and elders from each presbytery in the following proportion, viz : each presbytery consisting of not than twenty-four ministers, is en- titled to be represented by one minister and one ruling elder ; and each presbytery consisting of more than twenty-four min- isters, is entitled to be represented by two ministers and two elders ; and in the like proportion for every twenty-four ministers in any presbytery. These de- legates are styled commissioners to the General Assembly. This body is empowered to receive and issue all appeals and references which may be regularly brought before it from the inferior judicatories ; to review the records of every synod, and approve or censure them ; and to give their advice and in- struction in all cases submitted to them in conformity with the constitution of the church. To it also belongs the power of deciding in all controversies respecting doctrine and discipline ; of reproving, warning, or bearing testimony against error in doctrine, or immorality in prac- tice, in any church, presbytery or synod ; of erecting new synods when it may be judged necessary ; of superintending the concerns of the whole church ; of corres- ponding with foreign churches, on such terms as may be agreed upon by the as- sembly and the corresponding body ; of suppressing schismatical contentions and disputations ; and, in general, of recom- mending and attempting reformation of manners, and the promotion of charity, truth,andholine88,throughaJlthechurchea under its care, The General Assembly is required to meel al least once in every year. And v. hen the whole business thai ms ■ come before it, has been finished, and tin; time and place for the next meeting ap- pointed, it is dissolved ; and another ( rene- ral Assembly, chosen in like manner, is required to meet as its successor. For carrying out the objects of organi- zing these various judicatories, the (insti- tution has prescribed a body of rules, ad- justed with great care to the various emer- gencies to which they arc to be specifically applied, and constituting a very admirable code, under which the rights and freedom of every minister and member are intended to be guarded against injustice and oppres- sion, while it has an efficient tendency to require obedience to the laws of Christ, on the part of all persons in our commu- nion, and of restraining the disorderly, and excluding the contumacious and the impenitent. Before any overtures or regulations, proposed by the General Assembly, to be established as constitutional rules, can be obligatory on the churches, the assembly must transmit them to all the presbyte- ries, and receive the returns of at least a majority of them, in writing, approving thereof. II. HISTORY. For centuries before the Reformation, the wh61e territory of nominal Christendom, with the solitary exception of the Alpine wilderness between Gaul and Germany and Italy, was covered with gross dark- ness and superstition, and oppressed by spiritual, and civil and ecclesiastical des- potism. The occurrence of that splendid and benign event, was the occasion of re- viving the truths and institutions of primi- tive Christianity, and thus, of restoring civil and religious liberty. It is remarkable that wherever the Re- formation pervaded, and in whatever de- gree it made progress, both on the conti- nent of Europe and in the British Isles, there was an entire agreement among the Reformers, with respect to the truths of 59 4G6 HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. the evangelical system. The great doc- trine of justification by faith, together with all those correlate! truths which make up the harmonious system, subsequently known by the name of Calvinism, every Where prevailed ; and however different Emm f Luther and Melancthon, learned the doctrines of the Reformed faith, and taught them to Ins countrymen, till his testimony was scaled with the blood of martyrdom, A. D. l-Vj-\ Wishart gave an additional im- pulse to the sacred cause, equally by his teaching and his death. Several of the Popish priesthood were converted, and aided in converting others. John Knox caught up the same testimony ; and though, by the commanding power of his genius, and the, unconquerable energy of his char- acter, he caused the voice of religious reformation to be heard throughout the kingdom, equally by prince and peasant, in the palace and the cottage : still it was simply and essentially a religious reforma- tion, taking its form and impress directly from the word of God alone, encountering at every step the formidable opposition of civil powers and political intrigues, instead of receiving from them its bias and its ex- ternal aspect. Believing that God's word contained the only authoritative direction for doing God's work, the Scottish re- formers made their sole appeal, ' to the law and to the testimony ;' and though they respected the great continental Re- formers, they sought the principles of doc- trine, discipline, and government, from no foreign model, but from the holy scrip- tures alone. Thus it was that the Church of Scotland framed its Confession of Faith, and its First Book of Discipline, and met, in its first General Assembly, for its own government, in 1560, seven years before it had even received the sanction of the to lose their formal distinctive character alto- gether, but they were prepared beforehand to do so, from the fact that, at that early period the old leaven of Presbyterianism, which the Puritans of England so generally adopted, had not lost its vitality under those influences and circumstances which had given such a pre- ponderance to Congregationalism in New Eng- land, as Presbyterianism had had over it in Old England, about the times of the Westminster Assembly. Prom il i : iii n had Counter the world's opposition; m its growth it received little or pothinj worldly admixture; and when it n somewhat of a matured form, it still stood opposed t<> the world's corrupting influ- ence."— Hetherington. James VI., in ordi i uniformity in religion throughout his dominions, and to obtain for himself that supremacy in ecclesiastical affairs which he foresaw he could never obtain over a free General Vssembly, bent all his resources of craft, treachery, and force, to subvert Presby- terianism and substitute Episcopacy, his accession to the throne of England, (as James I.,) he partially succeeded, in utter disregard of the sentiments of the great majority of the Scotch, in procuring the appointment of bishops, the introduction of certain rites and ceremonies, and the partial suppression of General Assemblies. His unhappy son, Charles I., under the counsels of Laud, attempted to complete the work which his predecessor had be- gun. The Scots were thoroughly roused to resistance. The Assembly of 1638, threw off the modified Episcopacy which had been foisted on the church ; and its act was confirmed by the Scotch Parlia- ment in the following year. A successful stand was made by the nation against the army raised by Charles to coerce them. The Westminster formularies were adopt- ed by the General Assembly, and ratified by Parliament. And Presbyterianism, which was indeed the religion of the whole nation, maintained its ground until 1660. Then, upon the accession of Charles II., renewed attempts were made by that profli- gate monarch and by the minions of Pre- lacy, to subvert Presbytery. These at- tempts brought on a violent struggle, which lasted for twenty-eight years, — the blackest period of Scottish history, — when the ma- licious bigotry that sought to dragoon the church into Episcopacy was checked. The principles which, half a century before, had contributed to bring on that "Great Re- bellion," as courtly and prelatical writers have called it, and which was crushed for a season, by the accession of Charles II., still lived ; "and being farther stimulated by tli- verv persecutions of that insolent tyranny which in the flush of success be- '1 468 HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. came more resolute to quell them, they spread abroad more extensively and pow- erfully than eyer, both in England and Scotland. The Revolution of 1688, was effected; James II. was expelled from the throne, and William and Mary established thereon, by the almost unanimous suffrages of the British people ; and thus was a more secure basis laid for the enjoyment of civil and religious liberty. Then, the Presby- terians of Scotland had peace. The Presbyterian Church in Ireland was mainly the offspring of Presbyterian emi- gration from Scotland, and, as in the sis- ter kingdom, it grew up under severe per- secutions and sufferings. The Presbyterian Church in the United States, derives its lineage from the Pres- byterians both of Ireland and Scotland. It is true, as has been before stated, that Presbyterianism was the form, not only of the Church of Scotland, but also of the Reformed Churches on the continent of Europe, and indeed of the Puritans of England about the time of the Westmin- ster Assembly ; and contributions from all these sources have been made at va- rious times to the elements of the Ameri- can Presbyterian Churches. But still, it is unquestionable, that the early founders of this church were principally Scotch and Irish Presbyterians. In like manner, the Church of Scotland was more than any other their model, in the whole ar- rangement of their judicatories, and in their whole ecclesiastical nomenclature, with few exceptions. And on this ac- count, the Presbyterian Church in this country has always been popularly and appropriately regarded as the daughter more especially of the Church of Scot- land. The persecutions which drove so many of the early settlers to this country fell, in the first instance, heaviest on the Inde- pendents and Quakers ; and when it came upon the Presbyterians, (at least those of Scotland,) it did not drive them so gene- rally from their own country ; but led to a protracted struggle for liberty at home — a struggle which, as we have seen, was eventually crowned with success. The opportunities at that time to migrate were also few and far between, and a very small number only could take their flight ; and hence, until the revolution in 1688, but few Presbyterians had become residents of the then British provinces in America. And as they did not at first emigrate in large bodies, but came, as a general rule, as individuals, or in small companies, they did not occupy by themselves extensive districts of country, but settled in the midst of other denominations. Thus, scattered as they were, it was only gra- dually that they became sufficiently nu- merous in any one place to form congre- gations, or to associate in a presbyterial capacity. From the period of the accession of William and Mary to the British throne, the Presbyterians began to remove from Scotland and northern Ireland, to Ame- rica. The first Presbyterian Church in the colonies which now can -be dis- tinctly traced, was organized at Philadel- phia, a short period before the commence- ment of the eighteenth century, and almost coeval with it was the formation of four or five churches on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay. The primary ecclesiastical union of the American Presbyterians occurred in 1706, when the Presbytery of Philadelphia was formed. It consisted of seven ministers — Samuel Davis, John Hampton, Francis McKemie,* and George McNish, all from Ireland, and residing in Maryland — Na- thaniel Taylor, settled at Upper Marl- borough, and John Wilson, officiating at Newcastle, both from Scotland — and Jede- diah Andrews, of Philadelphia, from New England. To whom was added John Boyd, stationed at Freehold, the first can- * Francis McKemie was the first Presby- terian minister on the western continent. He seems to have been one of the Christians who had experienced much opposition and perse- cution for the truth's sake, during the reigns of Charles II. and James II., in Ireland. His characteristics eminently qualified him for a pioneer in those colonies where the bigoted Prelatists had the sway. He possessed hand- some intellectual endowments, with dauntless fortitude, a commanding extemporaneous elo- quence, and a burning zeal for the gospel. In New York, in January, 1707, he was ille- gally arrested and imprisoned by the colonial governor, for the heinous crime of preaching the gospel. The admirable defence which he made upon that occasion, resulted in his ac- quittal and deliverance. HISTORY or THE PRESBYTER! W Mil RCH. \. ordained by that preaby- . on October 29, W06. \ :i to the official Btatemenl i if the Preebytery of Philadelphia^ in their to the Presbytery of Dublin, dated September, 17 10, the whole number of the ned Presb) terians at thai time is thus given : " In Virginia, one small con- on at Elizabeth river, with some few families in Rappahannoc and York, In Maryland, fburj in Pennsylvania, fivej and in the Jerseys, two ; with some places \ \ rork." This enumeration may profitably be contrasted with the statistical view of our Presbyterian Church, accord- ing to the returns of 1843; which are ex- clusive of all the other correlative Pres- byterian communities. After the presbyterial organization of those ministers and churches, their num- bers and stability rapidly were augmented. They manifested much solicitude to col- lect the scattered people " favoring our way," who were opposed to the " Episco- pacy established by law." To secure an efficient ministry, they wrote to Sir Ed- mund Harrison, an influential noncon- formist of London ; to the Synod of Glas- gow ; to the Presbytery of* Dublin ; to Cotton Mather ; and to Mr. Reynolds, a prominent Independent minister of Lon- don, desiring their co-operation and aid. That correspondence is an interesting re- lic of the early times of the Presbyterian Churches in the United States, and is also an honorable memorial of all the par- ties. The Presbytery of Philadelphia having become much enlarged ; and in conse- quence of the increasing migration of per- sons from Scotland and Ireland having also become widely scattered : it was de- cided, at their meeting in September, 1716, to subdivide their body into " four subor- dinate meetings or presbyteries ;" all of which were constituent members of the general bodv thenceforward denominated the " Synod of Philadelphia." By that divi- sion, the Presbytery of Philadelphia com- prised six ministers with their churches ; the Presbytery of Newcastle, six ministers and their churches; the Presbytery of Snow- hill, three ministers and their churches ; and the Presbytery of Long Island, two ministers and their churches, with the an- ticipated immediate addition of oth tions. The firsl meeting of the Synod of Phil- adelphia was held in that city, September 17, 17 17, and embodied thirteen minis- ters, with six elders. At the meeting of the Synod of Phila- delphia, in 171s, a striking memorial of William Tenneni is recorded. It con- tains the reasons which he offered con- cerning his withdrawmenl from the blished church in Ireland. The ordered "that his reasons be inserted in the synod book, ad-futuram rei memo- Ham"* In the year 1718, the Synod of Phila- delphia renewed their solicitations to the Presbytery of Dublin, and the Independent ministry of London for additional preachers and other missionary assistance ; at which period they state their number to be twen- ty -three ministers and three probationers. At the meeting of the synod in 1721, there was made a declaration that the Presbyterians in America, had exercised the Presbyterian government and disci- pline, according to the practice of " the best Reformed Churches, as far as the nature and constitution of this country will allow." The circumstances which caused that resolution do not appear. Six ministers protested against it ; but at the * "The reasons of William Tennent for his dissenting from the established church in Ire- land, delivered by him to the synod, held at Philadelphia, September 17, 1718: 1. Their government, by bishops, archbishops, deans, archdeacons, canons, chapters, chancellors, and vicars, is wholly unscriptural. 2. Their discipline by surrogates and chancellors in their courts ecclesiastic, is without a founda- tion in the word of God. 3. Their abuse of that supposed discipline by commutation. 4. A diocesan bishop cannot be founded, jure divino, upon Paul's epistles to Timothy or Titus, nor any where else in the word of God, and so is a mere human invention. 5. The usurped power of the bishops at their yearly visitations, acting all of themselves, without consent of the brethren. 6. Pluralities of benefices. 7. The churches conniving at the practice of Arminian doc- trines inconsistent with the eternal purpose of God, and an encouragement to vice. Besides. I could not be satisfied with their ceremonial way of worship. Those. &c..have so affected my conscience, that I could no longer abide in a church where the same are practised. " "William: Texxkxt.*' 470 HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH meeting of the synod in 1722, the dispu- tants agreed upon four articles — " Pres- byteries, synods, and church-officers have executive power of church-government : they may decide upon the circumstantials of church-discipline. Synods may com- pose directories. Appeals may be made to the superior judicatories, who should determine them." There is, however, an equivocal clause, which says, " Provided, that those ' Acts' of the ecclesiastical judi- catories shall not be imposed upon such as conscientiously dissent from them." l£ the year 1728, an overture was pre- sented to the Synod of Philadelphia, res- pecting subscription to the " Confession of Faith, Catechisms, &c," which was referred to the next synod. Although the Westminster Assembly's Confession of Faith and Catechisms always had been the only standard of faith, rites, government, and discipline : yet the book itself had never been formally announced as the creed and the directory of the American Presbyterians. The overture of 1728, was designed to supply that alleged defi- ciency, which produced, in the following year, " The Adopting Act," which was a very important measure in its subsequent application to the authorized theological and practical system of the American Presbyterian Churches. The entire docu- ments are found in the volume of Records containing the proceedings of the Synod of Philadelphia. At the meeting of the synod in 1735, it was directed, " That each presbytery have the whole Adopting Act inserted in their presbytery book." Notwithstanding those apparently uniform avowals on the part of the synod of their undivided opinion, and of their obvious intention : yet there seems to have been a dissatisfaction among a portion of the churches respecting the true meaning of the synodical declaration. Therefore to silence all cavils, the Synod of Philadelphia, in 1736, reiterated their testimony in an emphatic announcement, which was " approved nemine contradi- ce?ite." That avowal was perfectly explicit, and was the cardinal rule and test of a Pres- byterian's creed. Although the Presbyterians were di- vided into two bodies from the year 1745 to 1758, yet upon the final agreement of the two synods at the latter period, in the terms of their union they adopted this clause, as the first article of their compact : " Both synods having always approved and received the Westminster Confession of Faith and Larger and Shorter Cate- chisms, as an orthodox and excellent sys- tem of Christian doctrine, founded on the word of God : we do still receive the same as the confession of our faith ; and also adhere to the plan of worship, government and discipline, contained in the Westmin- ster Directory ; strictly enjoining it on all our ministers and probationers for the min- istry, that they preach and teach accord- ing to the form of sound words in the said confession and catechisms, and avoid and oppose all errors contrary thereto." In 1737, the synod prohibited the mem- bers of one presbytery from preaching to the congregations within another presby- tery, " without a regular invitation." The object of this rule was to restrain minis- ters, who travelled about preaching during the " great revival," from holding meetings in those places where, as the itinerants declared, there was a " graceless minister and a lukewarm presbytery." Moreover, in 1738, the synod resolved, that every candidate for the ministry should have a diploma from a college in Europe or New England, or a certificate of competent scholarship from a committee of the synod. Protest. — In the following year, the opponents of those measures presented an " Apology for dissenting from those two new religious laws." In that paper they assert, that there is a parity or equality of power among ministers ; that a presby- tery, or the smallest association of minis- ters, has power to ordain ; and that they have authority to judge of the qualifica- tions of candidates. The synod's claim to jurisdiction in the examination of candidates for the ministry was contested with great earnestness and some personal acrimony ; and the Pres- bytery pf New Brunswick formally pro- tested against the power which the synod asserted. In 1741, a counter protestation was presented to the synod, which in- cludes many historical illustrations of that period. It contains a denunciation of the " unwearied, unscriptural,anti-presbyterial, HISTORY OF THE I'KEslJYTERl \.N nil RCII. 171 ritable, and divisive practices of the protesting brethren and their adherents.'1 The document is Inserted entire in the Re- oorda of the Synod of Philadelphia. The strife increased, until, in 1746, it was terminated by the organization of the Synod of New V ork. J)r. Hodge thus accurately decides on this topic : " The majority were influenced by a sincere desire to si cure an adequate- ly educated ministry; and the minority, by the belief that the operation of the rule would be inimical to the progress of reli- gion. The conduct of tlic New Bruns- wick Presbytery was precisely analogous to that of the Cumberland Presbytery, who refused to comply with the constitutional provisions as to the qualifications of can- didates. It was not diversity of opinion as to doctrine or discipline, but loss of confidence, and alienation of feeling re- specting the revival of religion." During the separation of the two synods, nothing of peculiar interest occurred, ex- cept the gradual enlargement of the num- ber of ministers and churches, and the con- stant ineffectual attempts to promote an agreement between the dissidents. The differences of opinion upon the non-essen- tial topics which had separated them, at length having wisely been obliterated, both synods dissolved, and the members of each assembled and constituted but one body, under the title of the " Synod of New York and Philadelphia ;" which ap- pellation they retained until the year 1788, when they divided themselves into four synods, preparatory to the first meeting of the General Assembly in 1789. For the quarter of a century preceding the formation of the Synod of New York and Philadelphia, the Presbyterians grad- ually increased in that part of the She- nandoah Valley of Virginia, around and above the southern termination of the Peaked Mountain. During that period they were much harassed by the adhe- rents of the Church of England in the province. In 1738, the Synod of Phila- delphia applied to Mr. Gooch, then Lieu- tenant-Governor of Virginia, on behalf of their brethren, who returned a favorable answer, particularly respecting the scat- tered people who resided west of the Blue Ridge. The settlement of that district and the organization of those church* form an and memorable portion of th<- early history of American Presbyterian- ism, Everj obstacle was adopted t<» thwart the ministerial labors and of the Presbyterian preachers, and to em- barrass and distress them and fil- iated disciples." These facts are virtually implied in the formal application of the Synod of Philadelphia to the colonial au- thorities on behalf of their suff h- ren. They also arc matters of family re* cord among the members of the Pro by- terian churches in those States ; as, since the commencement of the present century, some of the primitive settlers then sur- vived. Their immediate descendants now constitute the main body of the elder Presbyterian congregations in Western Virginia. The Synod of New York and Philadel- * Stith, in his history of Virginia, p. 148, re- cords that, in 1618, it was enacted by law, that " Every person should go to church on Sundays and holy days, or lie neck and heels that night, and be a slave to the colony the following week." For the second offence he was to be a " slave for a month ;" and for the third offence, he was to be in bondage "for a year and a day." By a law of the year 1642, the very time when the prelatical hierarchy was subverted in Britain, it was enacted, that " No minister shall be permit- ted to officiate in this country, but such as shall produce to the governor a testimonial that he hath received his ordination from some bishop in England ; and shall then subscribe to be conformable to the orders and constitutions of the Church of England ; and if any other per- son, pretending himself to be a minister, con- trary to this act, shall presume to teach or preach, publicly or privately : the governor and council are hereby desired and empowered to suspend and silence the person so offend- ing ; and upon his obstinate persistance, to compel him to depart the country with the first convenience." Dr. Miller, in his Life of Rodgers, having recited the preceding anti-christian enact- ments, adds, " We are accustomed to smile at what are called the Blue laws of Connecticut; but it wrould be difficult to find anything in them equal to the first act above mentioned." To which may be subjoined, that the source of the Virginia laws was bigoted intolerance, and the result of them, infidelity and irreligion, which still exist after the lapse of a century ; while the laws of Connecticut originated in a devout solicitude for the glory of God and the spiritual welfare of men ; and that the general effects of them appeared in the benign u fruits of righteousness." 472 HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. phia, at their primary meeting in 1758, comprised ninety-two ministers ; who agreed that all their " differences and disputes should be laid aside and buried without future inquiry." The " Plan of Union" was unanimously approved ; and the principles included in that compact hai constituted, from that time, the foun- dation upon which all the Presbyterian churches have been erected. At that period there must have been t additions, by migration, to the Pres- rian denomination ; as eight ministers more are reported in 1759, than in the preceding year, and the progressive en- largement of the churches continued until the commencement of the Revolutionary war. Indeed, of the religious population south of New England, during the exist- ence of the Synod of New York and Philadelphia, the Presbyterians must have increased more than any other denomina- tion. The Episcopalians in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Vir- ginia, and Carolina, almost disappeared. The Methodists, also, in consequence of John Wesley's opposition to the American Revolution, and the flight of the preachers to England, scarcely retained their num- bers throughout the national contest. The Baptists did not develop their enterprise as they subsequently have done. The Presbyterians, however, maintained the meetings of their ecclesiastical bodies rear- ularly, although with fewer numbers, and amid the interruptions which unavoidably accompanied the public agitation ; but, during the thirty years prior to the forma- tion of the General Assembly, by the num- ber of emigrants from Scotland and the north of Ireland, the churches were both enlarged and multiplied. In 1789, there were one hundred and, eighty -eight Pres- byterian preachers, and four hundred and nineteen churches ; of which two hundred and four were destitute of the stated ministry and ordinances. The historical circumstances worthy of distinct remembrance, in connexion with the Presbyterian churches, previous to the formation of the General Assembly, may thus be specified in alphabetical order. Almost all of them were of a per- manent character, in connection with the ecclesiastical polity of the denomination. Bibles and Religious Books. — As many of the Presbyterians were widely scattered, and it was impossible to answer the call for ministerial help : the synod, at several periods, distributed large quan- tities of the holy scriptures, and the works of Baxter, Doddridge, and others, among the hungry people famishing for " the bread of life." Domestic Missions. — In the year 1767, that interesting topic was discussed, and a plan was adopted to provide the instru- ments and means to execute the benevo- lent design ; but the noble project was impeded by the subsequent political con- vulsions, and continued partially in abey- ance until the formation of the " Standing Committee of Missions" in 1805. Fasts and Pastorcd Letters, with re- ference to the Revolutionary War. — The members of the synod during the period that " tried men's souls," from the com- mencement of the collision with Britain respecting the Stamp Act, until the treaty of peace, in 1782, were decided adherents of religious and civil liberty. Indeed this was the case with all Presbyterians of all denominations in the country. They were the sons of sires who had suffered for freedom in the Old World ; and upon the renewal of attempts to bring the colo- nies under that despotism in Church and State, from which they had fled, one heart seemed to animate all classes and bodies of these sturdy opponents of tyrannical bigotry. From the journal of a conven- tion held by delegates from the Presbyte- rian and Congregational Churches, for some years before the breaking out of hostilities, it appears that great apprehen- sions were entertained of an attempt to establish the Church of England in this country, with all the odious and oppres- sive powers exercised by the bishops in that country. No more devoted Whigs were found in America than the people and ministers of every name in this land, who eminently unite the principles of that magnificent motto, " A Church without a ,bishop, and a State without a king." They went heartily into the cause of liberty. The pulpit and the press, the senate chamber and the battle-field, their murdered bodies, desecrated churches, and ravaged dwellings, bore witness to their HI8T0RV OF llli: PRESBYTER! \\ CHI RCH. al,and the special hate of the ruth- It as invad . \ , a (further illustration • ■ r- , the Bubject, the writer hopes toM*- par- doned, for quoting from himself: " In framing the constitutions of some of the old thirteen Btates, or in settling their po- lity as Independent states, the separation of religious establishments from the state was, in some measure, the result of for* mal petitions to that effect, from large bodies of the clergy, Such was the fact, with respect to th<' Presbyterian ministers of Virginia. It was so in New York. Those nun who have been stigmatized as the e ratty intriguers for a union of Church and State, were men, — now speaking of Dearly all the great evangelical denomina- tions of the time, and especially of the Congregationalists and Presbyterians, — were men foremost in the works and con- flicts of patriotism, in ' those days that tried men's souls.' It was Presbyterianism as to doctrine, and even a modification of it as to government, which settled New England, and made it the garden it is. And, without disparaging others, the Pres- byterian Church may claim a large share of that influence which has produced the order, happiness, and prosperity of the middle and western portions of this coun- try. Presbyterianism is eminently a sys- tem of public and private virtue. Pa- triotism owns it as her own ally and friend. To her, civil and religious liberty, under God, owe much of their present large extent. She sent these fountains of blessedness through England in despite of the Tudors and the Stuarts ; her own Scotland cherishes her as the guardian of the freedom which she purchased for that land with her blood, and for the Lordship of Christ in his own heritage in that land, she has perilled every temporal immunity ; her principles and valor are indelibly in- terwoven with the self-denying and suc- cessful struggles with which Holland vin- dicated her liberties from the oppressions of ' kingly and of priestly tyranny ;' — and in the war of the American Revolu- tion, the daring and generous heroism of her sons, her members and her ministers, in this land, stands nobly emblazoned among the soldiers, the statesmen and the patriots of those times. When others proved traitors and fled, or fought the battles of tyranny, they stood faithful. " \\ hen the Declaration of Independence was under debate in the Continental Con- . doubts and forebod whis- pered through thai hall. The 1 1 tated, wavered, and fbra while, the liberty and slavery of t J * * - nation appeared to hang in even scale. It was then an aged patri- arch arose ; a venerable and Btately form ; his head white with the frost of Every ej e went to him v. Ith the qui of thought, and remained with the fixed- oess of a polar star. He cast on the as- sembly a look of inexpressible interest and unconquerable determination ; while on his visage, the hue of age was lost in the flush of burning patriotism that fired his cheek. ' There is,' said he, when he -aw the House wavering, ' there is a tide in the affairs of men, — a nick of time. We per- ceive it now before us. To hesitate, is to consent to our own slavery. That noble instrument upon your table, which insures immortality to its author, should be sub- scribed this very morning by every pen in the House. He that will not respond to its accents and strain every nerve to carry into effect its provisions, is unworthy the name of a freeman. For my own part, of property I have some— of reputation more. That reputation is staked, that property is pledged on the issue of this contest. And although these gray hairs must soon descend into the sepulchre, I would infinitely rather they should descend thither by the hands of the public execu- tioner, than desert, at this crisis, the sacred cause of my country.' Who was it that uttered this memorable speech, potent in turning the scales of a nation's destiny, and worthy to be preserved in the same imperishable record in which is registered the not more eloquent speech ascribed to John Adams on the same sublime occa- sion ? It was John Witherspoon, at that day the most distinguished Presbyterian minister west of the Atlantic Ocean, the father of the Presbyterian Church in the United States. " Those men had suffered too much from the abuses of this adulterous union, and especially from the arrogance and bigotry of the prelatical establishments, even in the colonial state, to wish for the 60 •174 HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. continuance of the union of Church and State. They had faith in their holy reli- gion, and in the God who revealed it, to believe that lie would prosper it without state patronage ; and all they claimed wa> protection." The pastoral letters of the synod at this time inculcate much well-timed admoni- tion, and urgently advise all the churches to betake themselves to the throne of grace, there to seek their God, who was their only refuge and strength, and their very present help in time of trouble. Literary Institutions. — Emulating the example of their Calvinistic brethren, the Puritans, the Presbyterians ever have man- ifested a quenchless solicitude for the ad- vancement of literature, and especially for the dissemination of the " light and the truth." The " Log College" at Neshami- ny, although Mr. Tennent's private insti- tution, was the incentive to more combined effort, and was the pioneer for the Newark Academy, and the Philadelphia and Nas- sau Hall Colleges. Union with other Denominations. — In the year 1766, a proposition was made in the Synod of New York and Philadel- phia, for a correspondence with " the Con- sociated Churches of Connecticut" — and the matter was continually under discus- sion until the Revolution commenced, — after which the subject was disregarded until the General Assembly resumed the consideration of it in 1790. In the year 1764, the Reformed Dutch Classis of New Brunswick, having com- plained of the conduct of some of the Presbyterian ministers, the Synod of New York and Philadelphia determined " to enter into an amicable correspondence upon subjects of general utility and friend- ship between the churches." A joint conference of delegates of the Presbyterian, Reformed Dutch, and Asso- ciate Reformed Synods, was held in Oc- tober, 17S5 ; which resulted in the pro- motion of more confraternity between those three denominations. Universalism. — One of the latest mea- sures of the Synod of New Yrork and Philadelphia was, to bear their testimony against the heresy propagated by them who deny the doctrine of future punish- ment. As the assertion of the boundless malignity of sin, and the never-dying anguish of the impenitent, is a solemn part of the Presbyterian faith, and the knowledge of that fact should be reite- rated : the important declaration of the synod is here inserted. — " Whereas the doctrine of universal salvation, and of the finite duration of hell torments, has been propagated by sundry persons who live in the United States of America ; and the people under our care may possibly, from their occasional conversation with the pro- pagators of such a dangerous opinion, he infected by the doctrine : the synod lake this opportunity to declare their utter ab- horrence of such doctrines as they appre- hend to be subversive of the fundamental principles of religion and morality ; and therefore earnestly recommend it to all their presbyteries and members to be watchful upon this subject, and to guard against the introduction of such tenets among our people." The above particulars refer more direct- ly to the external relations of the Presby- terian churches ; the others of a perma- nent character belong to their interior dis- cipline. Candidates for the Ministry. — The controversy among the members of the synod was prolonged during two meetings in 1761 and 1762. It was founded upon the "propriety" and the "rigid,''' and the " equity" of demanding of the candi- date an account of his personal religious exercises, and then making his statement the criterion of admitting or rejecting him. The whole subject was finally transferred to each presbytery, to act upon and decide as they considered most proper and evan- gelical. This question was also propounded for the decision of the synod in 17S3 : — u Whether a person without a liberal edu- cation may be taken on trial, or be licensed to preach the gospel 1 The ques- tion being put, it was earned in the nega- tive." A similar inquiry was made of the synod in 1785, in these words : " Whether in the present state of the church in Ame- rica, and the scarcity of ministers to fill our numerous congregations, the synods or presbyteries ought therefore to relax, in any degree, in the literary qualifications required of intrants into the ministry ? And j HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTER! \N UN RCH. it i is ,-:im- .1 in thf by B great m. — In 1771, a plan for the education of the poor and pious youth for the ministry »>t* the gospel was submitted to the synod, and imanhnoiislv approved. The object, however, seems to hare been forgotten during the turbulent times which followed; but subsequently it was revived, and by its benign operation it has been the chief means, through which the increasing demands of the churches and the people in the western settlements have been sup- plied with the ministry of the word and evangelical ordinances. Ministers, — The admission of ministers from Britain and Ireland was a matter of peculiar difficulty, on account of the known and avowed Anti-Calvinistic principles of many of them. Great dis- crepancy of opinion existed, concerning the application of any precise regulation to the applicants. In 1773, the topic was formally introduced in a rule precluding the reception of any foreign ministers by the presbyteries, without the previous ap- probation of the synod. Many were dis- satisfied with this restriction ; and the fol- lowing year, the rule was mitigated. In 1782, on the restoration of peace, the subject was resumed; and in 1784, a general monition was addressed to the pres- byteries and churches, warning them of their duty. Finally, the General Assem- bly adopted a plan which united caution with confraternity, and in accordance with it the presbyteries now decide. Marriage. — The matrimonial relation has been one of the most prolific subjects of polemical discussion and appellate scrutiny in the ecclesiastical bodies of the Presbyterian churches. At the very first meeting of the Synod of Philadelphia, the marriage of a man with his brother's widow was the subject of a reference. From that day to this time, one hundred and twenty-five years, the precise mean- ing of the fourth section of the twenty- fourth chapter of the Confession of Faith, has been disputed by the ecclesiastical bodies; for they have adjudicated one year ; rescinded on another occasion ; re-enacted on a third ; nullified on a fourth ; referred back on the fifth ; adopted an equivocal decision on a sixth ; and i irtn.'illy expunged, after a protracted d Prom the proceedings of the eld ods and die Oi im iral Assembly it appears that their decision has been required on the following examples s marriage, after the proof of adultery ; th<- marriage of B brother's widow; the marriage of a half brother's widow; the marriage of a bro- ther's and sister's relicts; the marriage of two sisters in succession, or of a de- ceased wife's sister; the marriage of a wife's brother's daughter; the marriage pC a wife's half brother's daughter ; the marriage of a wife's sister's daughter ; and the marriage of a man who had not been legally divorced from his wife, in a case of long protracted obstinate desertion. In the year 1761, the Synod of New York and Philadelphia decided that the marriage of a brother's or a sister's relict, and of a deceased " wife's sister" were un- lawful, and debarred all such delinquents from the communion of the church. But in 1772, concerning the marriage of a wife's brother's daughter, the synod ap- parently relaxed from their prior judg- ment. At the meeting of the synod in 1779, the marriage of a deceased wife's sister was introduced, and in 1782, the applicants were formally pronounced " ca- pable of Christian privileges." The sen- tence of the synod produced so much dissatisfaction, that, in 1783, they adopted a long explanatory statement, which cer- tainly exhibits contradictions, against which a strong protest was entered on the synodical record. The marriage of a deceased wife's sis- ter has also been an inveterate theme of polemical strife during the whole half century, since the organization of the General Assembly ; and is still the sub- ject of "doubtful disputation." It has re- cently been revived, through the case of one of their ministers, who, having mar- ried the sister of his former wife, was condemned by the presbytery to which he belonged ; and the General Assembly, after a protracted debate, affirmed the de- cision. But the party who are in favor of such marriages resuscitated the subject in the year 1843 ; and the question is now litigating : Whether the fourth section in the° twenty- fourth chapter of the Confes- 476 HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. sion of Faith shall be expunged, or ex- plained so as to authorize the marriage of two sisters in succession? Kim-cry. — This topic also, like that of marriage, has been a prolific source of contention. The primary notice of it is found in the proceedings of the Synod of New York and Philadelphia, in 1786, under the form of two questions — " Whether the children of slaves held by church members should be baptized?" and " Whether the children of Christian professors, enslaved by irreligious men, ought to be baptized!" The synod re- plied in the affirmative. In the year 1787, the matter was in- troduced before the synod in a more direct manner, and the result of their de- liberation appeared in a testimony against it, and an urgent recommendation to " all their people, to procure the abolition of slavery in America." That " opinion" was reiterated in 1793 ; and in 1795, in reply to a petition, the same decision was con- firmed, with a specific condemnation of all the traffic in slaves. At that period the Confession of Faith, Catechisms, &c, were published by order of the General Assembly. To the one hundred and for- ty-second question of the " Larger Cate- chism" was appended a note containing a definition of " man-stealing," with scriptu- ral proofs. During the twenty years which followed, that note seems to have been overlooked; but in 1815, the subject of slavery was JJrought before the Gen- eral Assembly, by a reference from the Synod of Ohio, and a petition from Vir- ginia. The General Assembly then re- iterated their declarations of 1787, 1793, and 1795. But in the following year, 1816, " the note connected with the scrip- ture proofs in answer to the question in the Larger Catechism, WThat is forbidden in the eighth commandment? in which the crime of man-stealing and slavery is dilated upon," was ordered to be omitted in all " future editions of the Confession of this church." The subject occupied several sessions of the General Assembly, in 1816, 1817, and 1818, at which last meeting, that body issued a long declara- tion, entitled " A full Expression of the Assembles views of Slavery." From that period, the disputatious theme has remained, in a great measure, sub sile?ztio) among the Presbyterian ecclesiastical bodies. The closing paragraph of Dr. Hodge's History is so suitable as a peroration to the history of Presbyterianism, down to the dissolution of the Synod of New York and Philadelphia, that it is extracted as the termination of that part of this narra- tive. " The effects of the Revolutionary war on the state of our church were ex- tensively and variously disastrous. The young men were called from the seclusion of their homes to the demoralizing atmos- phere of a camp. Congregations were broken up. Churches were burned, and pastors were murdered. The usual min- isterial intercourse and efforts for the dis- semination of the gospel were, in a great measure, suspended, and public morals in various respects deteriorated. From these effects it took the church a considerable time to recover ; but she shared, through the blessing of God, in the returning pros- perity of the country, and has since grown with the growth, and strengthened with the strength, of our highly favored na- tion." The fiest General Assembly met in 1789, and the subsequent history of Ame- rican Presbyterianism is chiefly a memo- rial of the more efficient and extensive development of the evangelical features and the " ecclesiastical polity," which already have been delineated. However, there are four influential topics connected with the latter periods of the Presbyterian Churches which must be recorded. The plan of correspondence and union eventually included the General Associa- tion of Connecticut, the General Conven- tion of Vermont, the General Association of New Hampshire, the General Associa- tion of Massachusetts, and the Consocia- tion of Rhode Island, with the Reformed Dutch General Synod, and the Associate Reformed Synod. The great object of it was to combine these ecclesiastical bodies and the churches whom they represented in a closer fraternity, and to enlarge their Christian intercourse, both as ministers and for the entire denominations. From the period of the first agreement the sys- tem has been continued with little inter- ruption. HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTER1 \\ nil RCR 171 But i more distinct notice ia requisite concerning the MPlanof Union between Presbyterians and Congregationaliata in tli, New Settlements,*1 whieh was adopted In 1 BOX. Thia plan was designed to ex- tinguish any difficulties arising from a dis- agreemenl among Congregationalisms and Presbyterians, so that they might all unite in the support of the ministry and sacred institutions j aa their faith, order of wor- ship, and principles of church government substantially were one — there being only ■ M difference of administrations." By that compact, a Presbyterian church might call a Congregational minister, and vice If one body of Presbyterians and another of Congregationalists chose to unite as one church and settle a minister, each party was allowed to exercise disci- pline, and regulate its church affairs ac- cording to its own views, under the gene- ral management of a joint standing com- mittee ; and one of that committee, if chosen for that purpose, had M the same right to sit and act in the presbytery, as a ruling elder of the Presbyterian Church." Under the operation of that " Plan of Union," hundreds of churches were formed in the States of New York and Ohio, during the period from 1801, to 1837. About the commencement of the nine- teenth century, a remarkable religious awakening was manifest through a wide extent of the then " Far West." New congregations were formed with exhilarat- ing rapidity. To supply the ministerial destitution, it was resolved to secure the aid of men of piety and talents, although without a classical education, and to or- dain them as missionary evangelists and pastors. Among the members of the Presbytery of Transylvania some opposed the measure ; but as that body soon after- wards was divided, that portion of the body denominated the " Cumberland Pres- bytery" proceeded to license and ordain preachers who had not acquired a know- j ledge of the ancient languages, and of the other subjects of a collegiate course of study. The synod finally took cognizance of their proceedings, and appointed a "commission" to visit them, who sum- moned the presbytery, with their licen- tiates, candidates, and exhorters, to ap- pear before them. When the commission met, they alleged a variety of < against the presb) ter) , all of whic comprised within two general Btatements : — that they licensed M men to preach who had not been examined on the langi and that their licentiates had been required to adopt the Presb) terian ( onfession of Faith partially, or "as far as they believed it to agree with God's word." The presbytery justified themselves upon the ground of the " extraordinary emergency," the example of other presby- teries, and of the New Testament, which neither by example nor precept condemns the calling into the Christian ministry those whom the synod's commission deno- minated " unlearned and ignorant men." They also maintained that their candidates did not deviate in doctrine from any essen- tial or important doctrine taught in the Confession of Faith. The synodical " com- mission" demanded, that the whole of the licentiates and candidates, under the care of the Cumberland Presbytery, should be transferred to them for re-examination. The presbytery spurned at the exaction, as destructive of their privileges and in- dependence ; and the young preachers and exhorters also denied the jurisdiction of the " commission," when summoned be- fore them. Thus the controversy re- mained during four years ; until, in Feb- ruary, 1810, three of the ministers, as they said, " protesting against the uncon- stitutional and unprecedented acts of the synod, and of the General Assembly who justified them," constituted a separate presbytery, " known by the name of the Cumberland Presbytery." They required of all candidates and licentiates, that they " receive and adopt the Confession and Discipline of the Pres- byterian Church," except any " fatality taught under predestination ;" and the re- quisition of an academical education. The " Cumberland Presbyterians" have prodigiously multiplied. They now form a very influential religious community in the western districts of Kentucky and Tennessee. In the year 1810, there was an increas- ing disposition for a closer union displayed by some of the most influential ministers and elders, and other members among the Associate Reformed body to combine with 478 HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. the Presbyterians. Eventually the mea- sure was proposed with ecclesiastical for- mality : and alter considerable negotiation, a large portion of the Associate Reformed Synod resolved upon that measure. That course produced a collision among them. The party who wished to unite with the other Presbyterians embodied themselves with the larger community in 1822 ; but their proceeding was attended by subse- quent embarrassment. It involved the two denominations in litigation, which was not compromised, until after a vexatious dis- pute that continued during several years, and which terminated their ecclesiastical " correspondence and union." In many aspects the disruption of the American Presbyterians which occurred in 1838, is one of the most interesting occurrences in the religious annals of the western continent. The narrative of the successive events which finally produced the separation of the conflicting parties, with their organization into two distinct communities, both bearing but one name, and both claiming to be the genuine inte- gral body which had been subdivided, would combine a very instructive chapter of ecclesiastical history. The collision ostensibly included two principal topics of controversy — didactic theology, and church government and dis- cipline. Prior to the year 1830, some laxity re- specting the admission of ministers had been displayed by some of the presbyte- ries, thereby opening a wide gate for po- lemical disputation. But at that period the First Presbyterian Church of Philadel- phia called Mr. Barnes, then minister of the church at Morristown, to be their pas- tor. The case was submitted to the Pres- bytery of Philadelphia, at their meeting in April^ 1830. A long discussion ensued, which in- volved both theological doctrines and also points of discipline in reference to the cor-. relate rights and duties of the presbyte- ries. The origin of the debate was a ser- mon previously published by Mr. Barnes, entitled "The Way of Salvafion," to which objections were made, that it promulged opinions adverse to the Presbyterian " Con- fession of Faith and Catechisms." The call, however, finally was admitted, ac- companied by a protest signed by twelve members; and the usual formalities with the Presbytery of Filizabethtown having been fulfilled, Mr. Barnes became the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia. A " complaint" was made to the Synod of Philadelphia by the minority of the Presbytery of Philadelphia, based on their protest of the preceding April ; and after the consideration of the whole subject, the synod, by a decisive majority, referred the examination of the sermon by Mr. Barnes, entitled " The Way of Salvation," with the cognate topics, to the presbytery. That body, in November, 1830, complied with the synodical direction : announced their disapprobation of the doctrines pro- mulged in the sermon, and appointed a committee to visit and confer with Mr. Barnes, thereby to remove the difficulties which existed among them. Moreover, another subject of conten- tion had arisen, respecting the admission of persons into the Presbytery of Phila- delphia. A " complaint" against the rule of the Presbytery of Philadelphia, en- forcing an examination of all persons who desired admission into that body was pre- sented to the synod, who referred that subject to the General Assembly of 1632, with a protest by twenty-two ministers. To accommodate Mr. Barnes, and those who sustained him, the Assembly consti- tuted the Second Presbytery of Philadel- phia ; which act the synod resisted as un- constitutional, and refused to enrol the members as part of the synod at their next meeting ; which produced new " com- plaints, protests, and remonstrances," for review by the General Assembly of 1833. The General Assembly of the year 1833, reversed the proceedings of the Synod of Philadelphia, by confirming the acts of the previous year ; which brought up the whole controversy before the synod at their annual meeting. In the interim, a new principle of presbyterial consocia- tion had been announced and acted on, by a departure from the usual geographical limits for presbyteries. It was denominated, in polemic technology, " elective affinity." The synod annulled the proceeding of the Assembly, and having dissolved the then Second Presbytery of Philadelphia, and Qed the members with their old as- ded to sever the whole il presbyter) l>\ a geographical line, dram q frotn easl to wesl through .Market . in the city of Philadelphia. At the same meeting of the sj n< >d a " Protest and Complaint'1 against tin1 rule respecting the examination of ministers or licentiates, de- airing admission into the Presbytery of Philadelphia] ami the synodical virtual approbation of that rule, were recorded I'm- transmission to the General Assembly of 1884, The Bynod, however, had in- troduced another subject of conflict, by the formation of their new presbytery : feo that there existed the Seco/id Presbytery of Philadelphia, organized by the General Assembly, and the Seco/ul Presbytery constituted by the synod. About the same time the Synods of Cincinnati and Pitts- burg formally interfered in the collision, by impugning the proceedings of the Gene- ral Assembly in reference to the Presby- tery of Philadelphia. The vacillating course of the General Assembly during some years, with the various attempts to compromise, as either of the parties seemed to acquire the pre- ponderance, — for the actual division among the ministers and churches was avowed — constantly augmented the strife in pungency and amplitude. To place the matter in a form which could not be evaded, Dr. Junkin, of the Presbytery of Newton, directly charged Mr. Barnes with holding erroneous opinions, as declared especially in his " Notes on the Romans." The case occupied the Second Presbytery of Philadelphia for some days, when that ecclesiastical body acquitted Mr. Barnes of " having taught any dangerous errors or heresies contrary to theWord of God," and the Confession of Faith and Cate- chisms. From that decision Dr. Junkin appealed to the Synod of Philadelphia who met in 1835. Prior to that period, the Synod of Delaware, which had been erected by the Assembly to include the Second Presbytery of Philadelphia, was dissolved, and that presbytery was re-in- corporated wTith the Synod of Philadelphia. When Dr. Junkin's appeal came before the synod, according to the constitutional rule, the record of the case made by the presbytery appealed from, was required. Thej refused to submit the original copy of the proceedings to th (The synod, however, proceeded with the in- ition upon the proofs that th< of the charges, evidence, and proceedings laid before them, was an autbeoti of the presbyteriaJ record, Mr. Barnes refused to appear in his own defence, upon the plea that as the presbytery to which be belonged, and who had acquitted him, would not produce their " attested record11 of the proceedings in his case, tb " whatever might be the issue,11 must be unconstitutional. After nearly three days1 discussion, the synod reversed the decision of the Second Presbytery in the case of Mr. Barnes, " as contrary to truth and righteousness," and declared, that the errors alleged were contrary to the doc- trines of the Presbyterian Church, and that they contravened the system of truth set forth in the word of God ; and they suspended Mr. Barnes from the functions of the gospel ministry. Against which decision, Mr. Barnes entered his complaint and appeal to the General Assembly of 1836. The synod then dissolved the Second Presbytery of Philadelphia, which had been organized by the General Assembly, and also the Presbytery of Wilmington. The General Assembly met in 1S36, and those various " appeals," " com- plaints," and " protests," were discussed. That body rescinded all the acts of the Synod of Philadelphia — they absolved Mr. Barnes from the censure and suspension pronounced by the Synod of Philadelphia. They erected their former Second Presby- .tery anew, as the Third Presbytery of Philadelphia — they restored the Presby- tery of Wilmington — and they virtually proclaimed, that the positions avowed by Mr. Barnes are evangelical, and consistent with the Presbyterian Confession of Faith and Catechisms. The alienation between the two parties had constantly been increasing ; but after the proceedings of the Synod of Philadel- phia in 1835, and the measures of the General Assembly of 1836, it was mani- fest, that a decisive struggle would be made at the meeting of the General As- sembly in 1837. The strict interpreters of the Confession of Faith had been in a 430 HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. minority of the Assembly in the years 1881, 2, 3, 4, and 1S36. They therefore invited a convention to meet in Philadel- phia, a week anterior to the opening of the General Assembly of 1837. The conven- tion included one hundred and twenty-four members, most of whom also were dele- gates to the Assembly, and they continued in session until the General Assembly was organized. To that body the convention transmitted the result of their deliberations in a document entitled their " Testimony and Memorial."' They bear testimony — I. Against sixtce?i doctrinal errors. II. Against ten departures from Pres- byterian order. III. Against five declensions in Chris- tian discipline. They emphatically declared, in refer- ence to the distracted church, among ministers and people, that mutual confi- dence is gone, and is not to be restored by temporizing measures. IV. They then propose the " Method of Reform;' 1. The immediate abrogation of the " Plan of Union" with Congregationalists, adopted in 1501. 2. The discontinuance of the American Home Missionary, and American Educa- tion Societies. 3. The severance of all churches, pres- byteries, and synods, which are not strictly organized on Presbyterian prin- ciples. 4. The examination of all licentiates and ministers on theology and church government : and the requirement of an " explicit adoption of the Confession of Faith and form of Government." 5. The separation from the Presbyte- rian Church of all presbyteries and synods, which are known to consist chiefly of unsound or disorderly mem- bers. 6. A caveat to be sent to all the na- tional societies respecting their agents, that they should not interfere with the order and principles of the Presbyterian churches.* * Doctrinal Errors. — The minute specifica- tion of the disputed themes of theolcsy was reserved for this point, because the "Test - mony and Memorial'' of 1837, constituted the formal basis of the proceedings in the Assem- The General Assembly of 1S37, met, and, the adherents of the Convention having a decisive majority in that body, promptly acceded to the requests of the Memorial. They abrogated the " Plan of Union" between Presbyterians and blv of that year ; and also because the cata- logue comprises the objections included in I the protest offered to the Presbytery of Phila- delphia, in April, 1830; the "errors" enume- rated in the western memorial of 1834; and the charges of Dr. Junkin, in 1835. The Convention of 1837 thus announce — We hereby set forth in order some of the doctrinal errors, against which we bear testi- mony. I. God would have been glad to prevent the existence of sin in our world, but was not able, without destroying the moral agency of man ; or, that for aught which appears in the Bible to the contrary, sin is incidental to any wise moral system. II. Election to eternal life is founded on a foresight of faith and obedience. III. We have no more to do with the first I sin of Adam, than with the sins of any other parent. IV. Infants come into the world as free from moral defilement, as was Adam, when he was created. V. Infants sustain the same relation to the moral government of God in this world as brute animals, and their sufferings and death are to be accounted for, on the same princi- ple as those of brutes, and not by any means to be considered as penal. VI. There is no other original sin than the fact that all the posterity of Adam, though by nature innocent, or possessed of no moral character, will always begin to sin when they begin to exercise moral agency. Original sin does not include a sinful bias of the hu- man mind, and a just exposure to penal suf- fering. There is no evidence in scripture, that infants, in order to salvation, do need re- demption by the bloru of Christ, and regene- ration by the Holy Ghost. VII. The doctrine of imputation, whether of the guilt of Adam's sin, or of the righteous- ness of Christ, has no foundation in the word of God, and is both unjust and absurd. VIII. The sufferings and death of Christ were not truly vicarious and penal, but sym- bolical, governmental, and instructive only. IX. The impenitent sinner by nature, and independently of the renewing influence or almighty energy of the Holy Spirit, is in full possession of all the ability necessary to a full compliance with all the command.- of God. X. Christ never intercedes for any but those who are actually united to him by faith ; or Christ does not intercede for the elect until after their regeneration. XI. Saving faith is the mere belief of the HI8T0R\ OF THE PRESBYTER1 \N UH RCH. II They adjudged that i •:' G n . I reneva, . ami the Western Reserve were •went parts" of the Presbyte- n in ( Ihurch. The operation! of the American Home Missionary, and of the American Education Societies were ex- cluded from their churches, and the Thini Presbytery of Philadelphia was \ ed. The ag twelve months were 1 by both parties to preparation for My of 1338. By custom it g upon the permanent and stated to make up the list of the mem- f God, and not a grace of the Holy Spirit. XII. Regeneration is the act of the sinner himself, and it consists in a change of his governing purpose, which he himself must produce, and which is the result, not of any direct influence of the Holy Spirit on the heart, but chiefly of a persuasive exhibition of the truth, analogous to the influence which one man exerts over the mind of another; or re- generation is not an instantaneous act, but a progressive work. XIII. God has done all that he can do for the salvation of all men, and man himself must do the rest. XIV. God cannot exert such influence on the minds of men, as shall make it certain that they will choose and act in a particular manner, without impairing their moral agency. XV. The righteousness of Christ is not the sole ground of the sinner's acceptance with God ; and in no sense does the righteousness of Christ become ours. XVI. The reason why some differ from others in regard to their reception of the gos- pel is, that they make themselves to differ. The Convention pronounced these "errors unscriptural, radical, and highly dangerous," which in " their ultimate tendency, subvert the foundation of Christian hope, and destroy the souls of men." The Convention, on church order and dis- cipline, particularly specified as practices of which they complained: The formation of presbyteries founded on doctrinal repulsions as affinities. The refusal of presbyteries to examine their ministers. The licensing and ordination of men unfit for want of qualifica- tion, and who deny fundamental principles of truth. The needless ordination of evangelists without any pastoral relation. The want of discipline respecting gross acknowledged er- rors. The number of ministers abandoning their duties for secular employments, in vio- lation of their vows. The disorderly meet- ings of members and others, thereby exciting discord and contention among the churches. lit their comm that purpose, anterior to the commence- men! of the sessions. These officers omitted all reference to the d( from the presbyteries comprised in the lour synods which bad been i from the ecclesiastical statistics by the previous Assembly. When the motion was made that the commissions from these presbyteries should be received, the moderator refused to recognize the mo- tion, or the parties on whose behalf it was made After a short interval of disorder, the minority, (including both the advo- cates of the synods who were excluded by the Assembly of 1837, and the com- missioners from those synods,) united in disclaiming the authority of the modera- tor, and proceeded to organize by them- selves ; and having elected another mod- erator and clerks, the whole of the dis- sentients from the acts of the Assembly, in 1837, immediately withdrew, in a body, to the edifice occupied by the First Pres- byterian Church of Philadelphia. The majority retained their seats until the temporary confusion ceased, when they proceeded to their ecclesiastical business according to the prescribed ordinary forms. The trustees and other corporate bodies among the Presbyterians possess much valuable property, for their seminaries and missionary institutions. Some time after the separation in 1839,had been con- summated, the question, in whom that property was legally vested, was carried into the civil courts of Pennsylvania, in which state the trustees were incorporated. The Trustees of the General Assembly are elected by the General Assembly, who may change one-thifd of the number every year. The seceding Assembly elected one-third of the board as new members. When they claimed their seats at the board they were refused admission. A suit, therefore, was commenced, to obtain possession of the offices from which, as they contended, they were illegally ex- cluded. The cause excited intense inter- est, and was primarily decided in favor of the claimants ; for the true question liti- gated was this : Was the body who refused to acknowledge the four several synods the true Assembly of the Presbyterian Church? An appeal to the Supreme 61 482 HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. Court was entered from the adjudication of the inferior tribunal. The superior court reversed the sentence of the lower court; and granted a new trial, with a construction of the law which in effect precluded the plaintiffs from obtaining their object, and the suit was withdrawn. Thus, so far as the legal decision in Pennsylva- nia operates, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States are recognised as that body, represented by their trustees who, in law, still hold that title, with its common property. The effervescence of the strife now has almost disappeared; and the two bodies of American Presbyterians are actively pursuing their own course. According to their statistical returns, they have increased during the six years from their separation, nearly one-third m actual numbers. More- over, when we contrast the diversified ad- ditional instrumentalities to promote the Redeemer's kingdom, which have been put in operation by them, since their di- vision in 1838 ; it is manifest, that, in capacity for the Lord's work, they have doubled their usefulness and enterprise. Thus, from the smallest beginnings, when the little companies of the " Pres- byterian Pilgrims" who first came to America, as it were, but with a " staff," here laid the foundations of this church, and reared it under manifold difficulties and annoyances, encountering obloquy and even persecutions : it has grown under the protection and favor of Providence, oft sharing the dews of the Holy Spirit, en- larging its borders in this genial land, and exerting a happy influence on the world, until now it has " become two bands." Although not of this distinct denomina- tion, the Reformed Dutch and German Reformed Churches in the United States, are Presbyterian and Calvinistic. Their standards of doctrine are the Articles of the Synod of Dort and the Heidelberg Catechism. The Reformed Presbyterian Church, or Covenanters, the Associate Church, and the Associate Reformed Church, and the body which separated from us in 1838, adopt the Westminster Standards as the symbols of their faith and order ; — the last specified body having the same constitution as the Presbyterian Church, with the exceptions of the restric- tion which they have since put to the powers of the General Assembly, and of the substitution of triennial for annual General Assemblies. And all these distinct denominations, in- cluding the Cumberland Presbyterians, and some smaller denominations, although for various causes they are arranged in separate bodies, compose a great Presby- terian family in the United States, which comprises upwards of four thousand min- isters and nearly six thousand churches, and comprehends a population of three or four millions who, cither as communicants or worshippers, arc associated with them. III.— STATISTICAL. According to the statistical tables, ap- pended to the minutes of the General As- sembly, for 1843, the Presbyterian Church in the United States comprises 19 synods, or 105 presbyteries, 1434 ministers, 183 licentiates, 314 candidates for the minis- try, 2092 churches, and 159,137 mem- bers in communion. The existing institutions of the Presby- terian Church must be concisely described. They may generally be divided into those connected with education, or literature, or missions. ' Education. — This department com- prises colleges, theological seminaries, and the " Board of Education." Colleges. — The establishments of learn- ing at the following places, although not absolutely connected with, or directly con- trolled by Presbyterians exclusively, are generally considered as under their super- vision, or arc chiefly sustained by them : New York. — Hamilton College ; Union College, at Schenectady ; New York Uni- versity. New Jersey. — Nassau Hall, at Prince- ton. Pennsylvania. — Jefferson, at Cannons- burg ; Washington College ; La Fayette, at Easton. Virginia. — Hampden Sidney, in Prince Edward county; Washington, at Lexing- ton. North Carolina. — University of North Carolina, at Chapel Hill ; Davidson, at Mecklenburg. South Carolina. — South Carolina, at Columbia. HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTER1 \\ cm RCH. . — I m\. \ ishville, K xtucky. — Centre, at Danville. 0 >. — Miami University, al Oxford. / • " -. — South I lanover < Joll< '// Seminaries, — At Prince- too, New Jersej ; Western, at Allegheny, Pennsylvania; (Jnion^in Prince Edward county, Virginia; Southern, at Columbia, South Carolina J Indiana, at New Albany, Indiana, B - I tjf Education. — The formal commencement of the work of education for the ministry, was the result of the pro- ceedings of the General Assembly in 1806, when that duty was assigned to each pres- The inefficiency of the system induced the General Assembly, in 1819, to form the "Board of Education;" but during the interval until 1829, there was not the adequate result which was neces- sary to supply the demands for ministers. A new organization was then made ; and the consequence lias been manifested in a large augmentation of the funds, and a proportionate incrense in the number of theological students maintained during their preparatory course. Thirteen hundred and fifty young men have been assisted in their studies for the gospel ministry. Two-thirds of the for- eign missionaries, and nearly one-half of the domestic missionaries, with a large proportion of the pastors of the Presby- terian churches at this time, have been in- troduced to the ministry through the aid of the " Board of Education." Literature. — This department com- prises the miscellaneous publications, which are expressly devoted to promulge the doctrinal principles, and to defend the government and discipline of the Presby- terian churches. There is a quarterly periodical, by Presbyterian writers, entitled the Biblical Repertory and Theological Review, which is devoted almost exclusively to disquisi- tions strictly religious, or to those which have a close affinity with them, either on Christian ethics or ecclesiastical history. Several weekly newspapers are issued by them, and very extensively dispersed. The Presbyterian, at Philadelphia ; the Presbyterian Advocate, at Pittsburg, Penn- sylvania ; the Presbyterian of the West, at Springfield, Ohio ; the Protestant and 1 [erald, at Frankfort, EG ntu Icy ; the Watchman of the South, at Richmond, Virginia ; and the Observer, at ( !harlestoo, South ( Carolina. /; : ■ r blicaUon. — [n addition to these miscellanies . tl, I irians have organized a most important and efficient society, denominated the Presbyterian Board of Publication, which was instituted for the purpoaa of disseminating standard volumes of theology and ecclesiastical his- tory, and also tracts that elucidate and de- fend Presbyterianism. This hoard, which is elected by the General Assembly, has printed nearly fifty tracts, doctrinal, ritual, on Popery, historical, and for youth. Nearly one hundred and thirty works have already been issued by the Presby- terian Board of Publication, which may thus be classified : Biographical, nineteen ; devotional, eight ; doctrinal, twenty ; ex- perimental, seventeen; historical, seven- teen ; polemical, sixteen ; practical, five ; prophetic, five ; and works adapted for youth, eighteen. The benign fruits, which this powerful typographical machinery is producing, can be estimated only by re- membering the moderate price at which the works are sold, and the high character of the volumes themselves, a few of which are enumerated in the order in which they originally were published. Brooks's Mute Christian ; Halyburton's Great Concern ; Life of John Knox ; Char- nock's Discourses on Regeneration ; Guth- rie's Christian's Great Interests ; Lime Street Lectures ; Bradbury's Mystery of Godliness ; Flavel's Divine Conduct ; Charnock's Discourses on the Attributes of God ; Owen on the Holy Spirit ; Char- nock on Christ Crucified ; Owen on Justi- fication ; Calvin's Institutes, translated by John Allen ; Owen on Indwelling Sin ; Sibbs's Souls' Conflict ; Lorimer's History of the French Protestants ; McCrie's His- tory of the Reformation in Italy and Spain ; the British Reformers, with their Lives, twelve volumes ; Daillie's Use of the Fa- thers ; Mead's Almost Christian ; Char- lotte Elizabeth's English Martyrology, and the Lives of the British Reformers, separate from their writings. The beneficial influence, under the di- vine auspices, which must result from the unrestricted dissemination of these and similar invaluable Christian productions, throughout the Republic, and especially among the House) told of Faitli, far tran- scends our utmost imagination ; and the ex- hilarating anticipation cannot be otherwise expressed, than in the Psalmist's urgent petition, " O Lord, we beseech thee, send now prosperity !" Amen. Missions. — This portion of the philan- thropic labors of the Presbyterian churches is conducted by two distinct agencies and boards of managers. Domestic. — The primary arrangements for Home Missions, under the committee appointed by the General Assembly, were comparatively restricted in extent and lan- guid in their operations ; until in 1828, the present efficient system was adopted, through which " there has been a gradual but constant increase in the number of missionaries, the amount of funds col- lected, the interest excited, and the good accomplished." Three hundred missiona- ries are now employed, while the prospect of usefulness in spreading the gospel never was more promising than at the present period. Signal success already has at- tended the work under the divine blessing ; and every heart must exult in the glorious prospect, that " the righteousness" of Zion " shall go forth as brightness," and " the salvation" of Jerusalem " as the lamp that burneth." Foreign. — " The first mission to the heathen, established by the Presbyterian Church, was among the Indians on Long Island, in the year 1741. David Brainard was the second missionary. His ordina- tion took place in the year 1744, and the fields of his remarkable labors were at the forks of the Delaware, on the borders of the Susquehanna, and at Crossweeks in New Jersey. From that period, in- creasing attention was given to this great subject, and various missionary societies were formed in which Presbyterians largely participated. This was particu- larly the case in the United Foreign Mis- sionary Society, which after a brief career was eventually merged in the c American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mis- sions.' " Notwithstanding, many Presbyterians were solicitous that their own churches should separately engage in the mission- ary work. In consequence of which, " In the year 1831, a determined and ac- tive effort was made by the Synod of Pittsburg, to awaken the church to a sense of her duty in this respect, by the organi- zation of the ■ Western Foreign Missionary Society.' This society met with so much favor, that the General Assembly in 1835, resolved to engage the whole church in an enterprise worthy of her character and resources. The ' Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions,' was organized in the year 1S37, under favorable auspices, and to it was made an entire transfer of all that pertained to the Western Foreign Missionary Society." " The experiment has succeeded, and the smiles of God have rested on that in- stitution. Flourishing missions have been established among various tribes of Amer- ican Indians, in Western Africa, Northern India, and China, and all the operations are carried on with great ability." In Northern India, there is a synod of American missionaries in connection with the General Assembly ; comprising the Presbytery of Allahabad, of six ministers — the Presbytery of Furrukabad, of four ministers — and the Presbytery of Lodiana, of five ministers. The Board of Missions issues two monthly periodicals, the " Mis- sionary Chronicle," and the " Foreign Missionary ;" which are extensively dis- persed, and effectually sustain the solici- tude that is experienced to " send out the light and the truth." The foregoing article claims to be but little more than an authentic compilation. The writer has freely copied and incorpo- rated with his own language, the language of such of his authorities as suited his purpose, without specific notice. He takes this place to acknowledge his obli- gations of this sort to the authorities on which he has thus drawn, viz : The Con- fession of Faith ; Edinburgh Encyclopae- dia ; Miller's Christian Ministry, and Presbyterianism ; Histories of the West- minster Assembly, by Hetherington, and by the Presbyterian Board of Publication ; and Hodge's Constitutional History of the Presbyterian Church. He has also re- ceived very essential aid from the Rev. George Bourne, in the sedulous explora- history OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHI RCH. tiona of the official documents and records of the Presbyterian Church, and other reliable authorities, and in the arrange- ind principal composition of that pari <>t" ili«- histoi tch which com- mences \\ ith the formation <>(' the P terj of Philadelphia, and in 1 1 1 * - pn tion of the statistical department HISTORY THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH BY JOEL PARKER, D.D. PASTOR OF THE CLINTON STREET CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA. The character and peculiarities of the Presbyterian Church, may be learned from the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America : con- taining the Confession of Faith, the Cate- chisms, and the Directory for the worship of God ; together with the Plan of Govern- ment and Discipline as amended and rati- fied by the General Assembly at their session in the first Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, in May, 1840, and the annals of the church found in the pub- lished reports of the proceedings of its ecclesiastical judicatories. This church does not differ very materially in doctrine and worship, or in ecclesiastical govern- ment and order, from any of the great family of anti-prelatical churches that sprung from the Reformation, and which are commonly termed Calvinistic. It acknowledges no authority in things pertaining to the doctrines and duties of the Christian Church, but the revealed will of God as found in the sacred Scrip- tures. It maintains — That God alone is Lord of the con- science, and hath left it free from the doc- trine and commandments of men, which are in any thing contrary to his word, or, beside it in matters of faith, or worship ; that the rights of private judgment in all matters, that respect religion, are univer- sal and inalienable, and that no religious constitution ought to be aided by the civil powers farther than may be necessary for protection and security, and at the same time be equal and common to all others. That in perfect consistency with the above principle of common right, every Christian church, or union, or association of particular churches, is entitled to de- clare the terms of admission into its com- munion, and the qualifications of its min- isters and members, as well as the whole system of its internal government which Christ hath appointed ; that in the exer- cise of this right, they may, notwithstand- ing, err in making the terms of communion either too lax or too narrow ; yet, even in this case, they do not infringe upon the liberty or the rights of others, but only make an improper use of their own. That our blessed Saviour, for the edi- fication of the visible church, which is his body, hath appointed officers, not only to preach the gospel and administer the sa- craments, but also to exercise discipline, for the preservation of truth and duty ; and, that it is incumbent upon these offi- cers, and upon the whole church, in whose 466 HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. name they act, to censure or cast out the erroneous and scandalous ; observing, in all cases, the rules contained in the word of God. That truth is in order to goodness ; and the great touchstone of truth is its ten- dency to promote holiness ; according to our Saviour's rule, " By their fruits ye shall know them." And that no opinion can be more pernicious or more absurd, than that which brings truth and falsehood upon a level, and represents as of no con- sequence what a man's opinions are. On the contrary, that there is an inseparable connection between faith and practice, truth and duty. Otherwise it would be of no consequence either to discovor truth or to embrace it. That while the above principle is highly important, yet it is necessary to make effectual provision that all who are ad- mitted as teachers be sound in the faith. Nevertheless there are truths and forms, with respect to which men of good cha- racters and principles may differ. And in all these cases it is the duty, both of pri- vate Christians and societies, to exercise mutual forbearance towards each other. That though the character, qualifica- tions, and authority of church officers are laid down in the holy scriptures, as well as the proper method of their investiture and institution ; yet the election of the persons to the exercise of this authority, in any particular society, is in that society. That all church power, whether exer- cised by the body in general, or in the way of representation by delegated autho- rity, is only ministerial and declarative ; that is to say, that the holy scriptures are the only rule of faith and manners ; that no church judicatory ought to pretend to make laws to bind the conscience in vir- tue of their own authority ; and that all their decisions should be founded upon the revealed will of God. Now though it will easily be admitted that all synods and councils may err, through the frailty that is inseparable from humanity : yet there is much greater danger from the usurped claim of making laws, than from the right of judging upon laws already made, and common to all who profess the gospel ; although this right, as necessity requires in the present state, be lodged with fallible men. That if the preceding scriptural and rational principles be steadfastly adhered to, the vigor and strictness of its discipline will contribute to the glory and happiness of any church. Since ecclesiastical dis- cipline must be purely moral or spiritual in its object, and not attended with any civil effects, it can derive no force what- ever but from its own justice, the approba- tion of an impartial public, and the coun- tenance and blessing of the great Head of the Church Universal. These catholic and liberal views, are the basis upon which the structure of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, rests. It does not regard itself as the Church, but only as a particular branch of the Catholic or Universal Church of Christ, which consists of all those persons in every nation, together with their children, who make profession of the holy religion of Christ, and of sub- mission to his laws. It regards Papacy and Diocesan Episcopacy as great usurpa- tions of ecclesiastical power, and highly- unfavorable to the dissemination of the pure gospel, and uncongenial with our re- publican institutions. Y'et, while Presby- terians believe that the parity of the clergy, and a representation of the laity in the officers denominated ruling elders, are im- portant features of the Apostolic Church, clearly discernible in the New Testament, they do not deny the validity of ordinances, because mixed with the errors and usurpa- tions of prelacy. On the contrary they dare not disown any church which holds Christ the head, and which is by him made the instrument of edifying spiritual be- lievers, and extending substantial Chris- tianity. The officers of the Presbyterian Church are bishops or pastors, ruling elders, and deacons. " The pastoral office is the first in the church both for dignity and useful- ness." The person filling this office is de- signated by different names in the New Tes- tament, names expressive of various duties. As he feeds the flock of God, he is called their pastor or shepherd. As he has the oversight of a congregation, he is called their bishop or overseer. As he is expected to exhibit the gravity and wisdom of age, he is called a presbyter or elder. As he is sent a messenger to the church, he is HISTORY OF Till) l'KMMn I'KKIAN ( Hi Kill. termed ill angel. As ho is entrusted with - of reconciling sinners, he is spoken tu smbas \m\ as ho dis« . spiritual blessings, he is railed a trd of the mysteries of i rod. Ruling riders are i lected by the people at th< ir In conjunction with the pastor they exercise discipline. They are designated in the scriptures un- der the title of governments, and of those Who rale well, hut who do not labor in the word and doctrine. are aUo regarded as distinct in the church. Their official duty is the care oi' the poor, and the reception and disbursement of the charities of the congregation. These duties arc often per- formed by the ciders, and it is not deemed indispensable that deacons should be ap- pointed, unless the interests of the congre- gation demand it. The session consists of the pastor or 5, and the ruling elders of a congre- gation, and is the primary judicatory of the church. The pastor is its presiding officer, called the moderator. This court, thus constituted, has power to watch over the spiritual interests of the congregation, to inquire into the Christian deportment of the members of the church, to call be- fore them offenders, and also to investigate charges presented by others, to receive members into the church, to admonish, to rebuke, to suspend, or to exclude from the sacrament of the Lord's Supper those, who are found to deserve censure, accord- ing to the different degrees of their crimi- nality. It is the business of the session also to appoint a delegate from its own body to attend with the pastor, the higher judicatories of the church. It is required to keep a fair record of all its proceedings, as also a register of marriages, baptisms, persons admitted to the Lord's table, deaths and other removals of church members, and to transmit these records to the pres- bytery for their inspection. A presbytery consists of all the minis- ters and one ruling elder from each church, within a certain district. Three ministers, and as many elders as may be present, are necessary to constitute a quorum. The presbytery has power to receive and issue appeals from church sessions, and refer- ences brought before them in an orderly manner ; to examine and h> i dates for the holy mini-'. . in- stall, remove and judge ministers; to amine, and approve or censure, tin of ehurch sessions ; tor doctrine or discipline, seriously ami rea- sonably proposed; to condemn enonei opinions, which injure the- purity Of pi of the church ; to visit particular churches, for the purpose of inquiring into their state, and redressing the evils that may have arisen in them; to unite or divide congregations, at the request of tl. pie, or to form or receive new conj tions ; and in general to perform whatever pertains to the spiritual welfare of the churches under their care. The presby- tery also keeps a full record of its pro- ceedings ; and its doings are subject to the revision of the synod, which is a court of appeal standing in a similar relation to the presbytery with that of the presbytery to the church session. A synod is a convention of the bishops with one elder from each church in a larger district ; it must include at least three presbyteries. The synod is the court of the last resort in all cases of a judicial nature, so that the whole appellate juris- diction of the church is limited to its final decision as a Provincial Assembly ; having supreme control in its own appro- priate sphere, though subordinate to the General Assembly, as to the review and constitutional oversight of its acts. The synod reviews the records of pres- byteries, approving or censuring their pro- ceedings, erecting new presbyteries, unit- ing or dividing those which were before erected, and taking a general care of the churches within its bounds, and proposing such measures to the General Assembly, as may be for advantage to the whole church. The General Assembly is the high- est judicatorv of the Presbyterian Church. It is not necessary to Presbyterian go- vernment, nor is any court higher than the presbytery ; but it has the advantage of representing all the congregations of this denomination in one body. It is con- stituted of an equal delegation of bishops and elders, in the proportion of one min- ister and one elder from each presbytery : and these are styled, commissioners to the General Assembly. 488 HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. Since the session of 1840, the Assem- bly exercises no judicial power, as it had formerly done, the synod now being the highesl court of appeal. In other respects the General Assembly possesses powers analogous to those of the inferior courts, in reviewing the records of synods, and approving or censuring them. It also gives advice on subjects brought up to it in an orderly and consistent manner ; and constitutes a bond of union among all the churches. To the General Assembly also, belongs the power of deciding in all controversies respecting doctrine and dis- cipline ; of reproving, warning, and bear- ing testimony against error in doctrine, or immorality in practice in any church, presbytery, or synod ; of erecting new synods when it may be judged necessary ; of superintending the concerns of the whole church ; of corresponding with for* eign churches, on such terms as may be agreed upon by the Assembly and the cor- responding body ; of suppressing schisma- tical contentions and disputations ; and, in general, of recommending and attempting reformation of manners, and the promo- tion of charity, truth, and holiness, through all the churches under their care : pro- vided, that all these powers and relations of the Assembly shall be construed as ex- clusive of all the proper appellate juris- dictions of the church, in cases of a judi- cial nature. No modification of the con- stitution, or of constitutional rules can be introduced by the General Assembly, till such modifications shall have been trans- mitted to the presbyteries, and written an- swers approving of the same shall have been returned by at least a majority of them. The sessions of the General As- sembly arc held regularly once in three years. The synods meet annually, and the presbyteries once in six months. There are provisions also, in the form of government, for convening any one of these judicatories for a special meeting, if any special exigencies shall demand such a step. The public worship of God in the Pres- byterian Church is not conducted by a prescribed liturgy. This church thinks it obvious that no forms of prayer, no pre- scribed liturgies were used in apostolic times, and she dares not introduce human inventions into the mode of her worship. It cannot be supposed that Paul kneeled down on the shore, when he parted with his friends at Tyre, and read a prayer from a book ; or that Paul and Silas used a prescribed form when they prayed at midnight in the prison at Philippi. The Lord's Prayer forms no objection to these views, because it is not given in the same words by any two of the Evangelists. Besides, it contains no clause asking for blessings in the name of Christ, which our Saviour himself solemnly enjoined upon his church, before he withdrew his per- sonal presence. In the subsequent in- spired history we find no allusion to this form of prayer, nor any reference to either saying or reading of prayers, both of which modes of expression are natural for those who employ precomposed forms. Socrates and Sozomen, respectable eccle- siastical writers of the fifth century, both declare, that in their day, " no two per- sons were found to use the same words in public worship." And Augustine, who was nearly their contemporary, declares in relation to this subject, " There is free- dom to use different words, provided the same things are mentioned in prayer." In forming her " Directory for the Pub- lic- Worship of God," the Presbyterian Church regards the holy scriptures as the only safe guide ; therefore she does no more than to recommend a judicious ar- rangement of the several parts of the public service, throwing upon the pastor the re- sponsibility of preparing himself for a pro- per and edifying performance of those acts of worship, which shall be suited to the ever-changing wants of the congregation. The sacraments of the church are re- garded as being two only : baptism and the Lord's Supper. The former is ordi- narily performed by Presbyterians by ap- plying the water to the subject, though they do not deny the validity of immersion. Baptism is administered to adult believers and their infant offspring; but none are admitted to participate in the Lord's Sup- per who have not given evidence of per- sonal piety, and of understanding the signi- ficance of the ordinance. No rite is looked upon as possessing any intrinsic influence. Presbyterians do not believe that an influence of a myste- HI8T0R\ OF THE PRESBYTER] \\ Mil RCH. Kin. I puses from the hands of the . into the spiritual nature of one s.-t apart by them to the sacred office. On the contrary they regard the call to tne ministry as proceeding from God, The candidate professes t<> have been moved by tlif Holy spirit to desire the sacred ofioe. He declares that he does, as fox at he knows his own heart, seek die office of the holy ministry from love to God, and a linoere desire to promote his glory in the gospel ot* his Son. When the pres- bytery is satisfied that these professions have been made sincerely, and understand- they impose hands upon the candi- date as a solemn recognition of one, whom they believe God has by his providence and grace " put into the ministry." They deny also that any mysterious grace accompanies the water in baptism, or that the bread and wine in the Lord's Supper possess any new qualities after a blessing has been invoked by the offi- ciating clergyman. They look for no other influence from religious rites than that, which results from a wise adaptation for enforcing truth, by striking symbols, and creating hallowed associations. They deprecate the doctrine of the transmission of a power to human hands to create min- isters at will, or to convey certainly any grace to sinners, as tending to inflate the ministry with pride, to impart to them an influence which God never intended, and to sink the people into a degrading super- stition. From the same apprehension of the evils of superstition, and from the want of a warrant in the word of God, they reject Godfathers and Godmothers, and the sign of the cross in baptism, and holy days, and kneeling in the Lord's Supper and bowing at the name of Jesus, and the rite of confirmation, and the efficacy of con- secrated grounds in the burial of the dead. The doctrines of the Presbyterian Church are Calvinistic. They are so called, not because Calvin invented them. They were the doctrines of all the leading Reformers ; of the Waldenses, for five or six hundred years before the Reformation ; of Augustin and the primitive Church, and especially are they distinctly exhibited in the word of God. This system of doc- trine is clearly set forth in the Westmin- ster I Jonfi i f Faith, and the I . and Shorter < Satechi Without pretending to expound fully the great principles, more amply uniblded in the standards of the church, we ma briefly, thai the Presbyterian Church maintains that, since the fell of Adam, and in consequence of his lapse, all nun are naturally destitute of holiness, alien- ated entirely from God, and justly Subject to his eternal displeasure. The plan of man's recovery from this state is, from first to last, a system of unmerited grace. The mediation of Jesus Christ, including his instructions, his example, his sacrifice on the cross, his resurrection, ascension, and intercession, are the means of bring- ing men back to God. Yet these means would be without efficacy, if there were not revealed to man a gratuitous justifi- cation through the merit of our Saviour's sacrifice, and if the Holy Spirit did not by his own invisible agency cause sinners to accept a free pardon and salvation. Hence the provisions of mercy are gratuitous, not only depending on the sovereign grace of God, but the disposition to accept these provisions is produced by a sovereign in- terposition of the divine Spirit. It is evi- dent, from scripture, and from daily ob- servation, that all are not saved ; and, consequently, that it was not the original purpose of Him who never changes his plans of operation, to bring all to repent- ance and faith in the Redeemer. " Known unto God are all his works from the be- ginning of the world. All the dispensa- tions of his grace, as well as of his provi- dence, and among the rest the effectual calling and salvation of every believer, entered into his plan from all eternity." " Yet so as that thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures, nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established." It is undeniable that these views may be perverted and misrepresented, and ren- dered odious by drawing inferences from them which Presbyterians do not allow. For such perversions those of no creed are responsible. If we might refer to a single argument in which the distinguish- ing peculiarities of the doctrines of the Presbyterian Church are most triumphantly 02 490 HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. maintained, it should be that masterly homily of the Apostle Paul, or rather of the Holy Spirit, dictated to the apostle as his amanuensis, comprised in his Epistle to the Romans. Whatever odium has been cast upon the Presbyterian Church for holding Cal- vinistic doctrines, it ought to be remem- bered that the honor of bearing it does not belong to them. It belongs to all the Re- formers, to the symbols of the Synod of Dort, the Heidelberg Confession and Cate- chism, and the Thirty-nine Articles of the Established Church of England, and of the Episcopal Church in this country. If the English Church has fallen into such a spiritual state that the Earl of Chatham was justified in saying, " We have a Popish liturgy, a Calvinistic creed, and an Arminian clergy ;" and if the churches on the continent of Europe have sunk to a lower condition, because a vigorous dis- sent has not infused a little spiritual life into the establishments : surely the Pres- byterians of Scotland and America are not worthy of very severe censure for keeping alive, at the same time, the doc- trines of Calvanism and the spirit of piety. The genius and character of the Pres- byterian Church, in the United States of America, has been modified by a union of churches possessing some varieties of feature, while agreeing in the great lead- ing principles of Presbyterian government and Calvinistic doctrine. In 1689, the Presbyterian and Congregational denomi- nations in Great Britain consummated a union of the two denominations, adopting what they call the Heads of Agreement, embracing a few cardinal principles which were to govern them in their fraternal in- tercourse. This Presbyterian and Con- gregational union, sent over one of their number, the Rev. Francis McKemie, as a missionary to the new settlements in Ame- rica. This devoted missionary, who had previously labored here with apostolic zeal, and who has been properly styled the fa- ther of Prcsbyterianism in America, in con- nection with six others, viz., Messrs. McNish, Andrews, Hampton, Taylor, Wilson, and Davis, In 1704, or 1705, formed the first presbytery in this coun- try, the Presbytery of Philadelphia. This presbytery was formed upon the princi- ples that governed the London association, and was composed partly of Presbytciian and partly of Congregational churches. The Prcsbyterianism was that of the Church of Ireland, and was more flexible in its character than that of the Scottish Kirk. It more easily coalesced with the Congregationalism of the English Puritans. The Rev. Mr. Andrews, the first pastor of the first Presbyterian Church of Phila- delphia, was a Congregational Presbyte- rian. That church was under the care of the presbytery sixty-four years before they elected ruling elders. Presbyterian- ism gradually extended itself till, in 171G, the Synod of Philadelphia was formed out of the Presbyteries of Philadelphia, New Castle, Snow Hill, and Long Island. The Church of Scotland, instead of imbibing these principles which resulted in the Union of 1689, and in the establishment of a modified Prcsbyterianism in America, solemnly bore their testimony against re- ligious toleration. In 1724, those min- isters from Scotland who, in the language of Dr. Miller, " were desirous to carry into effect the system to which they had been accustomed, in all its extent and strictness," began to insist that the entire system of the Scottish Church be received in this country. The collisions thus oc- casioned at length subsided in the Adopt- ing Act of 1729, the liberal principles of which were embodied in the following lamzua^e : " Although the svnod do not claim or pretend to any authority of im- posing our faith on other men's consciences, but do profess our just dissatisfaction with, and abhorrence of such impositions, and do not only disclaim all legislative power and authority in the church, being willing to receive one another as Christ has re- ceived us to the glory of God, and admit to fellowship, in church ordinances, all such as we have ground to believe that Christ will at last admit to the kingdom , of heaven ; yet, we are undoubtedly ! obliged to take care that the faith once delivered to the saints be kept pure, and uncorrupt among us, and do therefore agree, that all the ministers of this synod, shall declare their agreement in, and ap- probation of the Confession of Faith, with the Larger and Shorter Catechisms of the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, as HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTER1 \\ UN Kd! 10] niiil and necessary arti- forms, and sound words and i> of ( Christian doctrine, & c, \ m- f we ,| >, also, agree thai the presbyteries shall take care not to admit any candidate, but what declares his agreement in opin- ion with all the essential and necessary articles of said Confession. And in case any minister or any candidate shall have any scruples with regard to any article of said Confession or Catechisms, he shall declare his sentiments to the presbytery or synod, who shall, notwithstanding, admit him to the exercise of the ministry within our bounds, if they shall judge his scruples or mistakes to be only about articles not essential and necessary in doctrine, worship, and government. And the synod do solemnly agree, that none of us will traduce or use any opprobrious terms towards those who differ from us in those extra-essential and not necessary points of doctrine, but treat them with the same friendship, kindness, and brotherly love, as if nothing had happened." After some years this spirit of concilia- tion and charity gave place to a determina- tion on the part of some, to enforce the more rigid forms of the Scottish Church. This led to the first great schism of the Pres- byterian Church in 1741, and to the for- mation of the Synod of New York, in 1745. In 1753, which was fifteen years after the separation, the Synods of New York and Philadelphia were united. No cause of disunion had been removed, except that greatest cause of division : ambitious men and evil tempers ; for when the re- union took place, they agreed to adopt the Confession of faith, Catechisms, and Di- rectory, as they had been adopted in 1729. In 1766, eight years after the union of the synod under the name of the Synod of New York and Philadelphia, that body proposed a convention of dele- gates of the pastors of the* Congregational, Consociated, and Presbyterian Churches in North America, which was held an- nually for ten years, when it was inter- rupted by the American Revolution. In 1788, the General Assembly was organ- ized, and in 1790, the Assembly " being peculiarly desirous to renew and strength- en every bond of union between brethren so nearly agreed in doctrine and forms of worship, as the Presb} terian and ( gational Churches evidently are, do re- solve that the ( 'ongn Rational ( ihurcbes of V w Bngland, be invited to renew their annual convention with the clergy of the Presbyterian Church." This resolution led to the adoption of the plan of corres- pondence with the I Congregational bodies of New Bngland, which is Mill in exist- ence, and according to which •■ preacher travelling from one body to the other, and properly recommended, shall be received as an authorized preacher of the gospel, and cheerfully taken under the patronage of the presbytery or associa- tion, within whose limits he shall find employment as a preacher." These conciliatory proceedings led to unexampled success in extending the Presbyterian Church, and in 1801, the General Assembly devised some new " regulations to promote harmony in the new settlements." These regulations were proposed to the General Association of Connecticut, and met with their cordial concurrence. They may be found under the title of" A Plan of Union," &c., in the Assembly's Di- gest, p. 297, as follows, viz. : " Sec. 5. A plan of Union between Presbyterians and Congregationalists in the new settlements, adopted in 1801. " The report of the committee appointed to consider and digest a plan of govern- ment for the churches in the new settle- ments was taken up and considered ; and after mature deliberation on the same, approved as follows : " Regulations adopted by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America, and by the General Associa- tion of the State of Connecticut, (provided said Association agree to them,) with a view to prevent alienation, and promote union and harmony, in those new settle- ments which are composed of inhabitants from these bodies. "1. It is strictly enjoined on all their missionaries to the new settlements, to endeavor, by all proper means, to promote mutual forbearance and accommodation, between those inhabitants of the new set- tlements, who hold the Presbyterian, and those who hold the Congregational form of church government. 492 HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. " 2. If in the new settlements, any church of the Congregational order shall settle a minister of the Presbyterian order, tint church may, if they choose, still con- duct their discipline according to Congre- gational principles, settling their difficul- ties among themselves, or by a council mutually agreed on for that purpose : but if any difficulty shall exist between the minister and the church, or any member of it, it shall be referred to the presbytery to which the minister shall belong, pro- vided both parties agree to it ; if not, to a council consisting of equal numbers of Presbyterians and Congregationalists, agreed upon by both parties. " 3. If a Presbyterian church shall settle a minister of Congregational prin- ciples, that church may still conduct their discipline according to Presbyterian prin- ciples ; excepting that if a difficulty arise between him and his church, or any member of it, the cause shall be tried by the association to which the said minister shall belong, provided both parties agree to it; otherwise by a council, one -half Congregationalists and the other half Presbyterians, mutually agreed on by the parties. " 4. If any congregation consists partly of those who hold the Congregational form of discipline, and partly of those who hold the Presbyterian form, we re- commend to both parties that this be no obstruction to their uniting in one church, and settling a minister : and that, in this case, the church choose a standing com- mittee from the communicants of said church, whose business it shall be to call to account every member of the church who shall conduct himself inconsistently with the laws of Christianity, and give judgment on such conduct ; and if the person condemned by their jndgment be a Presbyterian, he shall have liberty to ap- peal to the presbytery ; if a Congrega- tionalist, he shall have liberty to appeal to the body of the male communicants of the church : in the former case the deter- mination of the presbytery shall be final, unless the church consent to a further ap- peal to the synod, or to the General As- sembly ; and, in the latter case, if the party condemned shall wish for a trial by a mutual council, the case shall be referred to such council. And provided that the said standing committee, of such church, shall depute one of themselves to attend the presbytery, he may have the same right to sit and act in the presbytery as a ruling elder of the Presbyterian Church. " On motion, resolved, that an attested copy of the above plan be made by the stated clerk, and put. into the hands of the delegates of this Assembly to the General Association, to be by them laid before that body for their consideration ; and that if it should be approved by them, it may go into immediate operation." This plan was acceded to by the Gen- eral Association of Connecticut, and its practical working was remarkably har- monious for more than thirty years. Du- ring this period, the Presbyterian Church was extended with unexampled rapidity. " The Plan of Union" operated in form- ing churches of the mixed character con- templated by this scheme. But the clergy were generally favorable to Presbyterian government ; and as its representative feature agreed so well with the nature of our civil institutions, and secured all the substantial advantages of Congregational- ism, the churches almost uniformly be- came Presbyterian in full, at no distant period from the date of their formation. In 1803, the Synod of Albany was con- stituted from the Presbyteries of Albany, Oneida, and Columbia. Through this synod the Plan of Union extended its united forces with the rolling flood of population over the beautiful regions of western New York. Within a few years the Presbyteries of Onondaga, Cayuga, and Geneva, were successively organized, constituting an extended western limb of the Synod of Albany. The last named three presbyteries were then, by a division of the Synod of Albany constituted into the Synod of Geneva. This body extended itself to the shores of Lake Erie and the Niagara river. In 1805, this extensive synod was divided by the General Assembly, and the Synod of Genesee was erected from the western portion. Thus the Synod of Albany, where the Plan of Union first begun to operate, became three large synods, in- cluding thirty-four presbyteries before HIST0R1 OF THE PRE8BYTER1 \.N CHI RCH. itionalism was rapidly de- clining over all thai region, and tome whole presbyteries ecarcel} contained one church on (In- principles contemplated by the Plan of Union. This scheme for pro- moting harmony had accomplished the work for which it was designed ; it had moulded the mixed mass into a compara- tively homogeneous Presbyterian commu- nity. It was perhaps well that the Han of Union should he abrogated. Presby- terianism was so thoroughly established, that no other consequences could well re- sult from the change, except perhaps, the falling hack of a ivw churches to pure Congregationalism. Ye\ the very success of this plan be- came the occasion of separating the Pres- byterian Church into two great bodies of nearly equal numerical force. But while the Plan of Union became the occasion of this rent, it was by no means the cause of it. There were two parties in the church. There always had been from the time that McKemie and his associates formed the Presbytery of Philadelphia in 1705. The English Puritan and the Scotch elements that were commingled in the association formed in England between the Presbyte- rian and the Congregational denomina- tions, were transplanted into America. In this compound the Puritan influence was at first predominant. But a large share of the English immigration fell na- turally into the Congregational Churches of New England, while nearly all the Scotch as naturally dropped into the Pres- byterian Church. Hence the Scotch ele- ment became more and more influential, as it came to bear a greater proportion to the whole body. Hence too the " old side" and the " new side," and the divi- sion of 1741. These parties possessed in their common symbols of faith, and in their common attachment to free non-prc- latical principles, affinities of sufficient force to draw them together in some sys- tem of Christian co-operation. Yet there were differences, which like the repulsion existing between the particles of matter, when brought near to one another, resisted any thing like a complete coalescence. The appellations "old side" and " new side," and "old school" and "new school," have bean justly complained ol roganl claim fbi themselve on the pai t <.( terming tin in id school," and as evincing an attempt to caal odium upon their brethren as baying Lee rence for scriptural teaching, ami the an- cient paths 01 ( 'hrislianilj. . The terms Scotch part), and Puritan party, cannot be reasonabl} objected to, because cadi party glories in its own an- cestry in this respect. The differences of these two parties in their native characteristics, are pretty well understood. The Puritan is satisfied with maintaining the great leading truths of the Calvinistic faith, and is ready to waive minor differences, and to co-operate with all Christian people in diffusing evangelical piety. Hence, though the mass of our Puritan people preferred Congregational government, they looked calmly on, while hundreds of their ministers, and thousands of their church members were becoming thorough Presbyterians. The Scotch, on the contrary, were of a more inflexible character. They too loved Calvinistic doctrines, and if they had less zeal than the Puritans in diffusing our religion, and in acting for the regeneration of our coun- try and the world, they were second to no other people on earth in these respects. The differences in doctrine between the two had respect mainly to three points of explanation of great facts in the Calvinis- tic system. They both agreed that the whole race of Adam were sinners by na- ture. Many of the Scotch school main- tained that sin was literally infused into the human soul prior to any moral agency of the subject. Many of the Puritan party alleged that, this was not the mode by which all men became sinners, but that it was enough to say that there were certain native propen- sities in every descendant of Adam, which naturally and certainly induced sinful ac- tion with the commencement of moral agency. Many of the Scotch party maintained that the atonement of Christ is intended as a provision for the elect alone. The Puri- tan party asserted that the atonement is made for the race as a whole, so that it may be truly said to every lost sinner, after he shall be shut up in the eternal 494 HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. prison, " You might have had salvation; Christ purchased it for you, and proffered it to you in all sincerity." The Scotch party maintained, that un- converted sinners were perfectly unable, in every sense, to comply with the re- quirements of the gospel. The other party alleged, that " God hath endued the will of man with that natural liberty, that it is neither forced, nor by any absolute necessity of nature, determined to good or evil." Many individuals were found, on both sides, that pushed these views to an extreme ; but far the greater proportion of the clergy, in each party, were content to preach the gospel faithfully to their respective flocks, with so little of the con- troversial spirit, that the greater part of their intelligent hearers, did not understand that there was any perceptible difference in the theology of the two schools. In- deed, the division cannot be said to have taken place on theological principles. Nor did the difference of measures for promoting religion exert any influence di- rectly in producing the separation. The people of western New York were a staid New England population. When some irregularities sprung up among them, strong remonstrances were called into exercise in their own community, by this infringement of the uniform and long es- tablished order to which they had been accustomed. But, the same irregularities that produced unhappy excitements there, are, at this day, exceeded, by far, in many portions of the Presbyterian Church, that have been wholly moulded by the Scotch party. We have known a church, in a village of western New York, thrown into great excitement, because a member was admitted to the communion of the church, with only one week's probation, after his first expressing a hope in Christ. This, too, when the man was a respectable citi- zen, a regular attendant upon the sanctu- ary, and of most blameless morals. Such were the habits of the Christian commu- nity, that great anxiety was created by what was there deemed so hasty a step in the reception of a convert to the ordi- nances of the church. Yet the writer of this article has witnessed in the state of Kentucky, under the Scotch system, an instance of a woman's coming to what was, untastefully enough, called an " anx- ious seat," on Saturday evening, indicating there and by that act, for the first time, that she was impressed with the great truths of the gospel ; and yet she was re- ceived to the church the next day, without creating even surprise among the people. This was not a new measure at the West, because the people were accus- tomed to it. It would probably be looked on as an act of hurried fanaticism in the most extravagant Presbyterian church in western New York, at the present day. The causes of the division lay back of any serious differences in doctrines or mea- sures. The Domestic Missionary Society, in New York, was a voluntary associa- tion, sending its missionaries to the new settlements of our western frontiers. The General Assembly also employed mission- aries to labor upon the same field. Some friends of domestic missions in New Eng- land and New York, conceived of a noble project for increasing the efficiency of the domestic missionary movement. It had been satisfactorily proved by the munificence of an individual, that the sum of one hundred dollars, given to a feeble congregation, would operate as an encour- agement to the people, to secure a continu- ous dispensation of the gospel among them. After some communications from one to another, among distinguished Christian philanthropists, the Domestic Missionary Society was merged in the American Home Missionary Society, formed in New York, in 1826. This society enjoyed a success which the missions of the General Assembly had never possessed. The reasons were obvious. According to its plan of operations, every one hun- dred and sixty-two dollars, secured the planting of a missionary for one year, over a feeble church. Its funds were col- lected by soliciting from the benevolent considerable annual donations to its trea- sury. Many wealthy Christians contri- buted a sum sufficient to support one, two, three, or more missionaries. On the plan of the Assembly, every missionary cost its mission four hundred and sixty-six dollars. Its collections, too, Mere mainly sought for in small sums. " The fifty HISTOIU OF THE PRESBYTER! \N <• brought into question with any intelligent, uncommitted bean their preaching. Three distinguished pro- secutions for heresy were instituted ;i^ a of carrying out the designs of the Scotch part re the ca the Rev, George Duffield, of Carlislej the Rev, Albert Barnes, of Philadelphia ; and the Rev. Lyman Beecher, D. D., i cinnati. These prosecutions were carried On with great Zeal for several years; that of Mr. Harncs lasted .>ix years; hut all proved signal failures. T: a tone of moderation and piety in the church, which would not allow such men to be deposed as heretics. These efforts were accompanied by a warm resistance of voluntary associations in the work of missions, and in educating young men for the sacred office ; and also by a complaint of extravagance and new measures in the region where "the Plan of Union" had exerted its influence. It cannot be denied, indeed, that extrava- gances existed in western New York ; but they were extravagances of which the other party had no right to complain, and of which they would probablyr never have heard, if the Puritan party had been as much accustomed to camp meetings, and anxious scats, and hasty admissions, as extensive regions of the church under the control of the Scotch party had been. The Scotch party was doubtless sincere in magnifying every cause for apprehen- sion in regard to the doctrines, and the order of the other portion of the church. Good men accustomed to great influence very easily believe, that if power passes from their own hands, it will be exercised with less discretion. The moderate party had the advantage in point of numbers ; but they had less of esprit du corps, less of organization as a party, and less disposition to contend. The Scotch party organized themselves by conventions and appeals through the press, representing the church as being in ex- treme danger from heresy in doctrine, and innovations upon established order. The feelings to which they appealed were a 49G HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. warm regard for Presbyterian order and doctrine. The Puritan party really be- lieved that it was unjustifiable to attempt to meet these war-like preparations by de- monstrations of the same character. They thought, il* they still devoted their ener to the cause of missions, and the progress of piety in our own church, and in the country at large, God would protect their cause. The General Assembly of 1837, con- vened in Philadelphia. It was distinctly understood, previously to the meeting, through a convention of that party, that if they could secure a majority, some mea- sures would be adopted which would dis- able, ever thereafter, the moderate party in the church. The desired majority was obtained. They first abrogated the Plan of Union, and then declared four synods, viz : those of Ulica, Geneva, Genesee, and the Western Reserve, out of the Pres- byterian Church. The " Plan of Union" did not make these four synods, it only- made the people Presbyterians, and the General Assembly constituted the synods. When " The Plan of Union" was abrogat- ed, it became obvious that those churches, which were partly or wholly Congrega- tional, must lose their connection with the presbyteries ; but how synods and pres- byteries lost their Presbyterian character by the removal of what little remnants of Congregationalism had remained in them till that time, it is difficult to conceive. In- deed it is quue 'manifest that the whole movement was made, as was admitted by a principal leader of the party at the time, for the simple purpose of preventing a future majority of the other party. These four synods, comprising about five hun- dred ministers, and six hundred churches, and sixty thousand communicants, were attempted to be cut off from the Presbyte- rian Church, because, if the opposing party was not thoroughly broken by such an excision, the Scotch party would never have a majority on that floor again. After passing these resolutions, the ma- jority took effective measures to retain the records, and the funds of the church, by passing an order requiring the clerks to pledge themselves not to receive the commissioners from the exscinded svnods, in the formation of the next Assembly. The Puritan party learning that if the moderator and clerks should assume to carry out the unconstitutional acts of 1837, in the organizing of the Assembly of 1838, it would be clearly a conspiracy to deprive them of their rights, appeared by their commissioners and organized the Assembly, at the appointed time and place, in a legal and constitutional manner. The Scotch party also organized, and each body proclaimed itself the regular consti- tutional " General Assembly of the Pres- byterian Church of the United States of America." The party that had exscinded the four synods to secure to themselves a future majority, retained all the funds and property of the church, amounting to more than three hundred thousand dollars. The General Assembly in its session in 1838, appointed six new trustees, in ac- cordance with the act of Corporation, passed by the Legislature of Pennsylvania, in 1799. The new trustees thus appoint- ed, instituted a process in law, requiring of the trustees who had been superseded " To answer to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, by what warrant they claimed to have, use, and enjoy the fran- chises and privileges of Trustees of the General Assembly." - After a full and impartial trial before a jury, a verdict was rendered in favor of the plaintiffs — the Puritan party : " that is," as explained by the presiding judge, " the Assembly which held its sittings in the First Presbyterian Church, (a portion of which had been cut off in 1837, with- out trial,) was the true General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, in the United States of America, under the charter." The counsel for the defendants applied to " the Supreme Court in Banc " for a new trial. After hearing the cause, Chief Justice Gibson ordered a new trial. Va- rious delays occurred. The General As- sembly is satisfied with the moral effect of the decision rendered by a jury of their countrymen, and has withdrawn the suit. The reasons for this withdrawment are various.. First, the General Assembly is willing to sacrifice something, and even much, for peace. But the great object of the trial has been secured. The Consti- tutional party definitely offered to leave all the funds in the hands of the exscind- IllsT<)K\ OK Till: PRESBYTERIAN <'IIIK('II. i;tv, if they would allow the separa- i be ■ ilirisio/i of the church rather than an expulsion «»t" nearl y DOS third part of the whole, bo that its church property should oot be at the merry of the exscind- behever even a small minority might Bee lit to rise up and claim it from those who had produced it tO Secure to them- selves and their children the ordinances of the gospel. This they utterly refused. The Assembly preferred to secure the right to the churches which they had built, by testing their right to be considered the law s; according to the charter. The result is known. Ancnlightencdcourt and jury, before whom the merits of the cause on both sides were fully and ably manifested — the only tribunal where THE CAUSE BVEE WAS TRIED UPOW ITS KERIT9 — were prompt and unanimous in our favor. After the new trial was or- dered, several suits were commenced, by small minorities attempting to take, by course of law, the sanctuaries which our people had erected before the division. Every one of these cases that came to an issue was decided in our favor. The award of the Court in Banc, Chief Justice Gibson presiding and pronouncing the opinion of the court, in the case of the Presbyterian Church of York, Pennsylva- nia, while it has for ever settled the occu- pancy of church property in that State on the proper basis, has so clearly treated of the main question at issue, between the parties in the action we have withdrawn, and so correctly in the main has it eclair- cised and settled them, that we are com- paratively content with the award, inas- much as IT EXPLAINS, QUALIFIES, AND IN EFFECT MORALLY OVERRULES, THE POSI- TIONS before advanced, by the same court, on the motion previously " affirmed absolute," for a new trial. In that award, allusion is distinctly had to those positions, as leading to the abso- lute affirmance of the motion ; and this result is explained as follows : " It was not because the minority were thought to be any thing else than Presbyterians, but because a popular body is known only by its government or head. * * * Indeed, the measure [the exscinding violence] would seem to have been as decisively revolution- ary, as would be an exclusion of particular "6i from the F< leral I fnion, for tip adoption of an anji-repubUcan form I f government. ****** That th< 1 1 School party acceded to th" privilej propertj of the Assembly, iras not be- cause it was more Presbyterian than the other, hut because it ws \ ; for had it been the weaker, it would have been the party excluded.*1 The Scotch party retain the funds and properly. Individuals of the party have intimated a willingness to restore as much of these funds as was contributed by the Puritan party. There is no doubt, thev would be more happy if it were done ; but how to perform that which they desire, they find not. The funds are of little consequence. The period of deep excite- ment has passed away. Some great ad- vantages have accrued from this unhappy division of brethren. The accusations of heresy have ceased, and events have shown that either party would gladly strengthen itself with receiving to its arms any clergyman of good standing in his present position. An interchange of pub- lic service in one another's churches has already commenced, and there is every reason to hope that the time is not distant, when the kindest and most fraternal inter- course will prevail universally between these two branches of the Presbyterian family. Names are of minor consequence ; yet they exert an influence ; and the present relations of these two bodies demand the exercise of Christian courtesy and kind- ness in the appellations by which they shall distinguish one another. The Gen- eral Assembly of the Puritan party has been termed the Constitutional General Assembly, to distinguish it from those of the exscinding body, and this has been justified on the ground that the jury so decided. But it is to be remembered that a final decision has not been had, and it is adapted to wound the feelings of some to fix such appellations upon the two par- ties. They are now two churches. The division may be advantageously contem- plated as one of the events ordered by an all-wise Providence. The Assembly of the Scotch party holds its sessions annually. That of the Puritan party meets only once in three 498 HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. years. There r Tin: CUMBEILAlfD PRB8BTTBWAH OBI BOB. equal ' ' ;<- prayer ii that both may and only provoke one another to love and good works, and that all those churches who hold Christ the head may unite their energies againel all those forms of sin that resist the pr of our common ( Ihristianity. In preparing the abore article, thoughts and language have been taken from such sources of Information as were aocessibsi to us. In doing tliis it was lees trouble and more favorable to typographical beau- ty, and to rendering the whole readable, to avoid frequent quotation marks and Botes in the margin. Acknowledgments are doe t«» the ( Confession of Faith, chisma, and Directory of the Pi Church ; The Assembl} ' D .1 >r. Hill's and Dr. M H of th< Presbyterian Church; Dr. Miller's Trad on Presbyterianism, and his article on the same subject in the Religious Bncycl dia : Judj R ' ( Charge to the Jury on the trial of the ( Ihurcfa case ; Letter of the Committee ad interim of the General As- sembly, and the Decision of Chief Justice Gibson in the case of the Church of York, Pennsylvania. HISTORY OF THE CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH BY REV. HERSCHEL S. PORTER, A. M. PASTOR OF THE FIRST CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA. In presenting a concise view of the ori- gin, the doctrines, the practice, and the pre- sent extent of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, it will be the object, to make an impartial statement of such general facts as may be deemed important to the reader. Minutiae and detail could not be expected in a history of this character. It is the wish of the writer, to divest himself of every thing like prejudice, and to present the facts in such a manner as to wrong no one, and to do entire justice to all con- cerned. Ecclesiastical history, taken as a whole, or in its several parts and divi- sions, should be regarded as Christianity teaching by example. It is to be hoped, therefore, that none will look upon the subject as unprofitable and barren. The light of ecclesiastical and profane history enables us to determine accurately, the origin of all the religious denomina- tions of Christendom, — such as the Catho- lics, the Episcopalians, the Lutherans, the Baptists, the Quakers, the Presbyterians, the Methodists, and many others that might be mentioned. Some of these are of greater, others of less antiquity. None of them can trace their origin farther back than the fifth century; some of them, not more than one or two hundred years ago. The following was the occasion of the origin of the Cumberland Presbvtcrian Church. In the close of the last century, and in the beginning of the present, the moral and religious condition of Kentucky and Tennessee presented a melancholy aspect. As early as 1770, or thereabouts, Daniel Boone, the great western pioneer, at the head of some daring adventurers, explored 500 HISTORY OF THE CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. this portion of the United States, then a vast forest, filled with frightful savages. At the close of the war of Independence, a tide of emigration poured into this fron- tier country. This emigration was chiefly from Virginia and the Carolinas. Such was the rapidity of it, that, in 1702, Ken- tucky was admitted into the union as one of the states of the confederacy ; and Tennessee in 1796. Of course, there could be but few schools or churches, in either of these young states, at this period. There were but few ministers of the gospel in proportion to the population. Under such circumstances there could, of course, be but little moral restraint, or religious influence. In addition to this, vital piety was at a low ebb in the Presbyterian churches in this part of the United States. On the restoration of Charles II. in England, spiritual and Bible religion suf- fered a great shock in that country. The baleful influence extended to the colonies. The Wesleys and Whitefield were raised up, in England, to reform this state of J things. Those pious men visited this country. But their visits were confined, for the most part, to the atlantic coast and cities. Catching some of the spirit and zeal of these noted reformers, the Tenants, con- 1 nected with " Log College," Pa., effected a complete reformation, in the Presbyte- rian churches, in the Middle and New England states. This reformation, violent, and for a time causing serious divisions, did not extend to the churches of the Pres- byterian persuasion, to any great extent, in the southern states. This view of the subject, bearing in mind the quarter whence the people of Tennessee and Kentucky emigrated, in connection with other existing circumstances, will lead us to the conclusion that vital Godliness was at a low ebb in those new states. The history of the times, as well as the recollections of the old settlers, confirms this. The great doctrine of the New Birth was but little understood by the mass of the church members, and but seldom heard preached from the pulpit.* Immorality marked the conduct of church members. Both the clergy and the laity were in the habit of drinking intoxi- cating liquors to excess. Whilst this state of things existed in the church, of course we could look for nothing but the most daring impiety in those who were out of its pale. The Sabbath was violated. The lowest and most disgusting forms of gaming were carried to the greatest excess. Pro- fanity, that American sin, prevailed in all circles of life. The writings of Paine and Voltaire had reached those distant and then frontier parts of the New World, cor- rupting many a heart, and blinding many an eye. Infidelity has long been the plague and curse of our vast western frontier. In those wilds, this poisonous Upas tree shoots up with a noxious growth. Would the churches, instead of spending their time in wrangling about Apostolic succes- sion, and their antiquity, spend their energies in distributing, in those destitute regions, such books as are among the Bridgewater Treatises, or among those published by the Tract Society, or as the works of Paley and Brougham on Natural Theology, what amount of good might be effected ! Where such a state of things as this prevails, it will require neither common men nor common measures to effect a reformation. It required Luther, and Lu- ther's measures, to effect the Reformation. It required John, and John's preaching, to lead the Jewish nation to repentance. The warrior accommodates his mode of war- fare to the enemy and the country. The church should profit by the example. Nothing is more common than to hear clergymen, who have never travelled ten miles beyond the boundary of their own flock, and their thoughts not half so far, * Rev. James M-Gready, a talented clercrv man of the Presbyterian church, had preached a length of time before he knew any thing, ex- ; perimentally, of the New Birth- After preach- ing, on one occasion, he overheard a pious elder, in a conversation, regretting that he should be preachins: to others, when he was himself a stranger to the first principles of re- ligion. This led him to reflection. He ex- amined his situation ; he felt that he was an unconverted man. Not long elapsed before he experienced a change of heart. After this, he became a very efficient preacher. He often preached the necessity of the New Birth to members of the church. Something similar to this is related of Mr. "Wesley. H1>T<>K\ OF THE CI MBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHI RCH. condemning, by the wholesale, all reli- w hich the) ha\ e not been in the habil of practising. Paul made himself all things to all men, thai he might win souls to Christ. At Athens, he quoted from heathen poets; ;it Jerusalem, ir >m tin- proph Rev, James M'Gready and other pi<>us individuals of the Presbyterian Church, were the instruments under ( rod, of break* ing up the fatal slumbers of tin' church, and thereby working a ("011)1)1010 moral reformation in that portion of the vineyard of God in question. They mourned in secret; they wept in public ; the} prayed; they preached ; tney expostulated. They came together in religious conferences. They entered into solemn covenants to observe pertain hours in concert at a throne of Grace. Like Elijah on the mount, they were not discouraged when they had prayed once, and no answer came. Again they prayed. Still they repeated their prayers. More than to the seventh time they prayed. The successful minister has always been a man of prayer. Such were Baxter, Whitefield, and the Tenants. At length favorable symptoms of the presence of God's grace and spirit, were seen in several congregations. The in- terest increased. It soon spread to other conn-relations and neighborhoods. One general concern about the subject of reli- gion, pervaded every breast. That there were excesses in this revival of religion, none would deny. So there have been in almost all works of grace, in all ages and all countries. There is no human blessing which is not capable of perversion. Usually, the greater the blessing, the greater the ca- pability of perversion. We must, at pre- sent, be content to take things as we find them. But, the abuse of a prac- tice in some cases, is no good reason to neglect it.* * Much has been said concerning the physi- cal results of excessive and immoderate ex- citement in some instances, connected with this revival. I allude to bodily contortions and convulsions. In some cases these were ex- cessive. But they were never looked upon as a part of religion. They were rather regarded as a curse. Like most excitements, they were regarded as somewhat contagious. The whole Thi - religious influence n tu surrounding countie , bul to unround- ing stairs. The demand for mini aid every daj in The c#y \\;is, 11 come over and help u>." There ■• possibility of those few ministers supply* ing the demand. They labored with tohc industry and fidelity : yet the de- mand seemed to incn The life of the frontier minisb r has always been one of the greatesl toil. Jl»-, literally, takes his life 111 his hand and goes forth over the wildem- the lost sheep. He endures hunger, fa- tigue, thirst, and cold. He passes moun- tains and streams without roads or bridges. Under such circumstances were these men laboring. Often were their hearts grieved when they could not comply with the re- quest of some distant family, or destitute neighborhood or church, to go and break to them the bread of life. To the pious soul, it is truly an affecting sight to see people deprived of the means of grace, who have a disposition to improve them. Our Saviour is said to have been moved with compassion, when he saw the multi- tude scattered as sheep, without a shep- herd. What was to be done under these circumstances ? This was the inquiry of many an anxious heart. After much deliberation and even hesi- tation, it was agreed, that, in view of the of this occurred not in the Cumberland Pres- bvterian Church, but in the Presbyterian Church. These exercises of tumbling, and falling down, were common during the last century, in the Presbyterian Churches, in the Middle and New England States. In Scotland, the same has occurred. Once, in the General Assembly, whilst in session in Edinburgh. For information on this subject, see President Ed- wards' excellent treatise on Revivals of Reli- gion; and also a small volume published by Rev. Dr. Miller, of Princeton, New Jersev, en- titled, » Log College." This " Log College" contains materials for one or more volumes of great interest. Rev. James Smith, has pub- lished the most extended history of the Cum- berland Presbyterian Church, yet extant. This history of Mr. Smith, otherwise possessing some merit, gives an undue prominence to these bodily exercises. In view of this, and other representations of a similar character, this note has been added. The subject, in it- self, is of no importance at this day. And, but for what has been published to the world, no notice would have been taken of it. 502 HISTORY OF THE CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. a ministerial destitution, it would be right and proper to set young men apart to the ministry, who did not enjoy a clas- Bical education. Some three or four, whose piety and talents seemed to justify the step, were encouraged to prepare writ- ten discourses and present them to Tran- sylvania Presbytery, in the limits of which the revival occurred. Previous to being licensed, they were examined on literature and Theology, and adopted the Confession of Faith of the Presbyterian Church, with the exception of what they believed to be fatality, taught under the name of predestination and elec- tion. Here we see a departure from the book of discipline in two things. First, individuals inducted into the ministry with- out a classical education. This has been a matter of frequent occurrence in the Presbyterian Church, both before and since that period. Individual cases could be mentioned, if it were necessary. Some of the most popular preachers of that church have not enjoyed a classical edu- cation. So of all the churches. Many of our most distinguished statesmen have had only an English education. A know- ledge of the dead languages is, doubtless, of great advantage to the clergyman, pro- viding it be thorough. But, the way in which the languages are often studied by Theological students, is not only a waste of time, but a waste of time at the ex- pense of a knowledge of the mother tongue, without which, none can profitably preach the Gospel. The second departure was the adoption of the Confession of Faith, excepting one of its leading articles. Mental reserva- tions in the adoption of the Confession, have long been practised in the Presbyte- rian Church. It is known that the New and Old School divisions of the Presbyte- rian Church assert, that they hold to widely different doctrines ; yet they both adopt the same Confession of Faith. Here then, if the Confession be understood, are mental reservations on the part of one, or perhaps of both of these divisions. It has sometimes been affirmed that the original grounds of dispute between the Cumberland Presbyterian and the Mother Church, were the subject of education. This is not true. The subject of a classi- cal education was one part of the dispute; a great and important doctrine the other. It was in October, 1802, that the can- didates in question, after warm opposition from some of the members, were licensed by Transylvania Presbytery. These young men should not be looked upon as illiterate novices. They passed a favorable exam- ination on Literature and Theology, by a scrupulous and jealous Presbytery. They were men of capacity and liberal acquire- ments. They had already proved their aptness to teach in their pious labors, in various destitute neighborhoods. They boldly confront the Presbytery, and say they cannot believe one of the articles of the Confession, because they think it at variance with the word of God. Such was the character of these men who have too often been called ignorant and illiterate. Tacitus, the Roman historian, in pouring contempt and scorn on the early Chris- tians, has proved to posterity one thing : that is, though he possessed a great mind, yet it was swayed by the worst prejudices. If Tacitus regarded the early Christians with no other feelings than contempt, pos- terity, on that subject, has no other feel- ing than pity for the great historian. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the Puritans were a common mark of ridi- cule for every popular writer. . . The Puritans have lived to see their enemies, through their own arts and policy, become highly contemptible. Of all language, satire and ridicule are the most dangerous. It is, as though one were to shoot arrows perpendicularlv into the air, which would be in danger of fall- ing on his own head. The individuals who were licensed by the presbytery, just referred to, in due process of time, were regularly ordained to the whole work of the ministry. It was in October, 1802, that Kentucky Synod divided Transylvania Presbyterv, and created a new one, called, Cumberland Presbytery. It will be borne in mind by the reader, that the body of Christians afterwards driven to secession, and now known as Cumberland Presbyterians, took their name from this new Presbytery. Cumberland Mountains and Cumberland River, names borrowed from England, and of hijrh historical renown in that HISTORY OF THE CUMBERLAND PRE8DYTERIAN CHI Rl II. country, will readily enough suggest the origin of this title, Cumberland Presby- tery, Tin- Dames Presbyterian, Episco- palian, and Congregationalist, have re- ference to certain modes of church govern- ment. Roman Catholic, Arminian, and Qreek Chtirch, to the localities of their origin. Baptist, to a certain mode of Bap- tea, Methodist, to a certain regularity in practice. Hie Lutherans, burrowed their name from Luther. The term Quaker, was originally, one o\' contempt. A name, in itself, is nothing. It is the spirit, doctrine, and practices of a church which should be an object of re- gard. At the fourth meeting of the Cumber- land Presbytery, in 1804, a small minor- ity, consisting of three, transmitted a re- monstrance to Kentucky Synod, complain- ing of what they termed irregularities in licensing and ordaining the individuals above referred to, which solemn acts, it will be borne in mind, had been officially done by the Presbyterian Church. Two of the three remonstrants, afterwards left the Presbyterian Church. The one be- came a New Light ; the other was sus- pended and deposed for becoming a Pela- gian. This is mentioned, to show the origin of that persecution, that at first was gotten up against Cumberland Presbytery: and since has been kept up, from certain quarters against the Cumberland Presby- terian Church. If there be heresy in all this matter, it is among the opposers, not the opposed. In this world, the few origi- nate, whether it be good or evil ; the mass merely follow in the train, without ques- tioning the justice or injustice of their pursuit. When a current is once set in a certain direction, it is strange what a length of time it takes to turn its course. Such is the imperfection of human nature. But little was said on the subject of the remonstrance, until the succeeding meet- ing of the Synod, when a commission was appointed to examine the matter of variance. The Commission proceeded to execute its task. Cumberland Presbytery, with all its candidates and licentiates, was cited to appear before the commission. A little moderation and charity now7, would have been of th<- utmost value. It i oui matter to attempt to coerce men, either political!) or ecclesiastically. In the le between thai country and I Britain, for independence, we hare a Rcation of this, \\ had \ er maj I ■ of man's selfishness andlove of this world, nothing is BO dear to him, at last, B8 "pin- ions, lie will forego all things (or naked opinions; things that can neither b< nor felt, nor weighed. The Puritans for- Book home, country and all for then reli- gious opinions. So did the early Chris- tians. No force, no connexion, can the good man to abandon his principles. The Commission should have had a better knowledge of human nature, than, with hope of success, to have pursued the course they did. The Presbytery was called upon to surrender all the men whom it had licensed and ordained, for re-exam- ination. Both the Presbytery and the persons demanded, refused compliance, upon the solemn conviction that it was wrong. This refusal was not dictated by a stubborn, unyielding, perverse disposition of heart, but was the result of conscientious con- victions. Some of them had flocks. These they dearly loved. Others were preach- ing on the itinerant plan, in totally desti- tute regions. Those churches and regions without their laborers would be entirely destitute. Their labors had been blessed. This, the remonstrants, the Synod, and the Commission knew. But they were useful, in what some termed, an irregular way. The disciples stopped one from casting out devils, because he did not follow them. The Scribes and Pharisees murmured because Christ cured diseases on the Sabbath day. In both cases irreg- ularity was complained of. The regret of the old Austrian General was, not so much that Napoleon defeated him in every engagement, but that it was done in an irregular way, and in opposition to the established tactics of the day. It cannot be supposed, that those who opposed the proceedings of Cumberland Presbytery, except such as afterwards be- came New Lights and Pelagians, were in heart, opposed to the conversion of souls, and the extension of the glory of Christ. This would not be intimated. Such an 504 HISTORY OF THE CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. intimation would be highly uncharitable. Their opposition was, to what they termed, ami no doubt thought too, irregular pro- ceedings. They were wedded to modes and forms. With .such persons there is no want of proper feelings, but of large and liberal views of things. The reformer in religion, and the man who makes dis- coveries in improvements, in science, never fail to be branded with every odious epithet. Power never fails to intoxicate. Man never is placed in greater temptation than when in a position of unlimited power. There is the place where human nature is seen in its nakedness and worst forms of depravity. Unlimited power has always been too much for the church ; when this has been in its possession, the fires of persecution have been lighted up. It must be evident to the reader, that the authority given to this Commission, was misplaced. All the men, whom Cum- berland Presbytery had licensed and or- dained, were silenced with as much au- thority, as if though a Nuncio had come from the Vatican. This is not all ; the Presbytery was peremptorily ordered to appear before the Synod at its next meeting. This whole proceeding is unprecedented. Men, who had been regularly licensed and ordained, against whom no allegation, either of immorality or heresy, was made, were silenced, and that by a commission from a synod. The situation of the interdicted Presby- tery was extreme. One part of the preach- ers silenced : the other under a formal citation to appear before the Synod. Those who were silenced knew not what to do. The others were filled with uncertainty and inquietude. One general gloom cov- ered the face of all. Every breast heaved with sorrow. All was despondency and uncertainty. When the minister beheld the people without a pastor, his grief rose higher. When the people looked upon the minister, their gloom and despair grew darker. All, old anil young, parents and children, partook in the common grief. Even the irreligious felt the influence. Cumberland Presbytery, at this period, embraced a large extent of territory. There were numerous churches, preaching and missionary stations in its limits. The churches seemed to spring up with the rapidity of the growth of the country. Some of these ministers, who were si- lenced, according to the customs of the times, had charge of several churches located in different neighborhoods. Those Licentiates travelled over extensive dis- tricts of country, preaching and exhorting • very day. When the Commission is- sued its prohibition, their appointments were days and weeks before them. There were engagements for baptism, the ad- ministration of the Lord's Supper, for so- lemnizing marriages, organizing churches, instituting new preaching stations, meet- ing with serious persons, and receiving individuals into the communion of the church. All was frustrated. With sad and mournful hearts and weeping eyes, would these pious men go and relate to assembled congregations what had taken place. It is impossible for us, at this distance of time, to realize the melan- choly state of things which really existed. It would savor of extravagance to relate the whole. There is no greater curse, than to de- prive a pious people of the means of grace. There could be no sorer evil, than to prohibit the godly minister from preaching the gospel to anxious, listening, famishing, starving souls. After several months of painful suspense and anxiety, the members of the proscribed presbytery came together in the capacity of a coun- cil. It was agreed to petition the Gen- eral Assembly, hoping to find a redress of grievances from that venerable body. It was also agreed that they should act, not as a Presbytery, but as a council, until an answer could be obtained from the Assembly. In this there is nothing violent or hasty. There is a moderation highly commendable. The great object in thus associating themselves together in the capacity of a council, was, to keep themselves and their congregations to- gether. They held occasional meetings for con- ference. Most, or all of them, now re- sumed their labors. The ordinances were again administered, and their labors were abundently blessed. Amid all their dis- couragements and embarrassments, they had the gratification of seeing the plea- sure of the Lord prosper in their hands. IIISTOM OF THE CI MBERLAXD PRESBYTERIAN (III RCH In i||,' mean lim<-, the petition of the Council was laid before the Assembly, in •i in Philadelphia. That body al ould not act in the because it had not been regularly appealed singular that such an allegation should have come from that reverend body. How could they be appealed to in any other way I A part oi' the presby- tery silenced j tin' other part summoned by an illegal Commission, to appear be- fore the synod to answer certain allegata. The Council appeared before the Assem- bly in the only way that it could. There was no other channel of appeal. Kentucky .Synod was advised by the Assembly to review its proceedings. This amounted to a tacit admission on the part of the Assembly, that the proscribed Presbytery was right in its proceedings; else why this revision of proceedings recommended. Private intimations were given to the aggrieved party, that in pro- cess of time ample amends should be made them. This was confidently relied upon. It gave every encouragement. Whatever may have been the nature and original intention of these private intima- tions, it is certain they proved fallacious in the end. It cannot be doubted but that there was sincerity in this unofficial in- formation. But why it was not made good, at this distance of time, probably, cannot be determined. Whether there was a change of members in that high judicature of the church, or whether there was a sacrifice made to what wras es- teemed policy, is equally difficult to de- cide. The Synod, in compliance with the re- quest of the Assembly, reviewed its for- mer proceedings. The result was, a con- firmation of what had previously been done. This took place in 1807. It will be borne in mind, that Cumberland Pres- bytery was, in fact, dissolved by the Commission. At this time it was offi- cially dissolved by the Synod. After this dissolution, Transylvania Presbytery was ordered to settle the matter in dispute, with the Council. The natural tendency of this was to inflame and irritate. In this, though, we see the Council recognized as a responsible body. It is not treated in tins case \\ itfa t] daiu duo ;i publican "i- heathen, hut with the decorum of an orderly, talented, body. Unfortunately* this kind of treat- ment was tin- from uniform. In ls()H, the Council sent another pe- tition to the General Assembly, hut were again informed that that body could take no acti«»u on the case, 1- cause an appeal had nut been brought to them from & n- tucky Synod. Singular information this! I lad matters remained to this hour, iii an unsettled state, it is not probable that any appeal would have gone up from the synod. It would not have been their policy. Injustice, it should be remarked, that some of the most distinguished cler- gymen of the Presbyterian Church, both sympathised with the council, and be- lieved that their conduct was altogether justifiable under the circumstances. Had they promptly and decidedly justified and defended in a public manner, the proceed- ings of the interdicted presbytery, final division might have been prevented. Of- ten it is the case, that an unwillingness to assume responsibility, or espouse mea- sures of temporary unpopularity, works almost infinite evil. To this hour there arc many of both schools of the Presby- terian Church who candidly affirm that the proceedings against this presbytery were violent, ill-judged, and out of place. It must be borne in mind by the candid reader, that in all churches there are many bad and designing men. The good possess many imperfections. Hence, it behooves us to exercise the charity of the gospel. In 1809, a letter from Kentucky Synod, was laid before the General Assembly, in session in Philadelphia, in reference to the action the synod had taken against Cum- berland Presbytery. The Assembly took judicial action on the contents of this let- ter, and justified the proceedings of the synod in the case. Though the Assem- blies of 1807 and 1809, had decided that they could not act on the case, because it had come up by letter, and not by appeal from synod ; yet, in 1809, when the mat- ter came before the Assembly, by letter, and not by appeal, the excision of Cum- berland Presbytery from the Presbyterian Church, took place. 64 506 HISTORY OF THE CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. At a recent period, in another portion of the United States, we have witnessed the same venerable body off a larger number of churches and ministers, than in this case. And this body, in turn, for a time, was deprived of all its church property, by a body of people which it was disposed to look upon as a schismati- cal fragment. Things in the moral, like fluids in the physical world, have a ten- dency to seek their level. It is not unfrc- quently the case, that a man's own sins punish him. The evil example he sets infects others ; they, in following it, injure the author of it. The news of the Assembly's action was received with astonishment, by the mem- bers of Cumberland Presbytery. They had anticipated, altogether, a different result. To this, they had been led by previous intimations from the Assembly. Of course, in feelings, they were totally unprepared for such a decision. It was a stroke of the heaviest disappointment. After the first feelings had subsided, they began to think of future action. Those faithful men could not think of abandoning their churches, their preaching stations, and their sacred callings. What should be done? This was the anxious inquiry of many a heart. They could not think of going to other churches ; they were Presbyterians. They felt that they could be nothing else. Classical education, and what they believed to be the doctrine of fatality, taught under the names of election* and reprobation, could not be essential to Presbyterianism. Pres- bytery was something distinct from both ; or, it could adopt both in a modified form. It was agreed to meet in the capacity * The doctrince of unconditional election and predestination was not taught in the Chris- tian church, till the fourth century. Augus- tine, bishop of Hippo, in Africa, was the author of it. He was partly educated at Car- thage, partly at Rome. He was thoroughly versed in Greek literature and philosophy. At Milan, he was a teacher of rhetoric. Fatality was an ingredient of nearly all the ancient systems of philosophy. Did he not derive from the Porch and the Academy, those doc- trines of fatality, which he engrafted on the Christian system, and called Predestination 1 May this not be the origin of all Predestina- tion, which is identical with fatality! of a council. It was in August, 1809, they met. All agreed that they should hold together. There was a difference of opinion as to the mode of future opera- tion. Part were in favor of constituting, immediately, an independent Presbytery. Some hesitated and entertained scruples. The final conclusion, unanimously agreed to, was, to appoint two commissioners, to propose terms to Transylvania Presbytery and the Synod. Notwithstanding so many failures, still they hoped to effect an amicable adjustment of their difficulties. Their object was peace. They were wil- ling to pursue any course to achieve this. Ambition was the least of all their char- acter. Establishing a new denomination had not entered into their thoughts. To do good, was, what they were laboring for. They wished to keep their churches together, to see souls converted, and the cause of Christ progress. The two commissioners proceeded, and presented the terms of the council to the presbytery and the synod. They were heard with indifference. Totally failing, they returned with the unwelcome tidings to their brethren. Again, the inquiry was, what shall we do? Each looked upon the other in anxious suspense. All fert that it was a crisis. Every one felt a weight of responsibility. They fasted and prayed. They sought wisdom from above. They were not the men to waver and shrink from duty, when they knew what it was. To abandon all — they could not think of it. To go forward was a great undertaking. But, they were ready for this, as soon as they were convinced that it was duty. It seemed that they were shut up to the. course. There was but one way. The Red Sea must be crossed ! In the fear of God, three members of the Council, Rev. Messrs. Finis Ewing, Samuel King, and Samuel M'Adam, pro- ceeded solemnly, under a firm conviction of duty, to constitute a new presbytery. The presbytery thus constituted, called itself Cumberland Presbytery, from which has grown the present Cumberland Pres- byterian Church. Subjoined is the record of their consti- tution : " In Dickson County, State of Tennes- see, at the Rev. Samuel M' Adam's, this HI8T0M OF THE CI MBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHI RCH. »th .lav ofFeburary, im<>. We, Samuel i), Finis Ewinff, and Samuel King, regularly ordained ministers of the Pin >• d Church, agaiosl whom do charge of immorality or heresy has ever ■ shibited before any judicature of the church, hai log Waited in vain for more than lour years, in the meantime pi tition- ing tlie General Assembly, for a redress of grierances, and a restoration of OUT violated rights, have, and do hereby agree, and determine, to constitute ourselves into a Presbytery, known by the name of Cumberland Prjesbytbxy, on the fol- lowing conditions : M All candidates for the ministry, who may hereafter be licensed by this Presby- tery, and all the licentiates or probation- ers who may hereafter be ordained by this Presbytery, shall be required, before being licensed and ordained, to receive and accept the Confession of Faith and Disci- pline of the Presbyterian Church, except the idea of Fatality that seems to be taught under the mysterious doctrine of Predes- tination. "It is to be understood, however, that such as can clearly receive the Confession of Faith without an exception, will not be required to make any. Moreover, all licentiates, before they are set apart to the whole work of the ministry, or ordain- ed, shall be required to undergo an exami- nation in English Grammar, Geography, Astronomy, Natural and Moral Philoso- phy, and Church History. It will not be understood that examinations in experi- mental religion and theology will be omitted. The Presbytery may also require an examination on any part, or all, of the above branches of knowledge before grant- ing license, if they deem it expedient." Though there were only three ordained ministers, Messrs. Ewing,* King, and * Rev. Finis Ewing, one of the founders of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, whose likeness accompanies this work, was born in the state of Virginia. His parentage was highly respectable. At an early period of life he emigrated to the then new state, Kentucky. In that portion of this state, originally em- braced in the limits of Cumberland Presbytery, is a large family connexion of his, many of them distinguished for their talents and re- putable standing in society. Mr. Ewing be- came pious, and entered the ministry in early I M'Adam, in this original constitution, yet there irere a Dumb r of candidal) licentiates, who placed ti. under re of tli'- Presbj V rj . < ,,;. dainejd ministers afterward came into the ikh organization. It wna not the ... of these men to form a new de- nomination, but they were (breed u> it, after waiting and petitioning lor a r< of grievances, in vain, for many yean. The hand of Providence was i vid« ntly manifest in the formation of this infant denomination. Reconciliation could only he effected by adopting the Westminster Confession, to do which, the seceding party must have abandoned principles dearer to them than life. The subsequent progress of this Presbytery, evinced that the hand of heaven approved the steps taken in its organization. The ultimate result of mea- sures of this nature, must be regarded as an index pointing to the approbation, or disapprobation of Providence. The advice life. Probably he was not more than thirty, or thirty-five, at the constitution of the first Pres- bytery. But owing to the nature of the times in which he lived, his experience was greater than his years. After remaining a number of years in Logan county, and preaching with great success, he emigrated to the state of Mis- souri. Probably, had he consulted his own feelings, this step would not have been taken. But, as subsequent facts have proved, this was for the good of the infant denomination, so dear to his heart. The same success accom- panied his ministry in Missouri. He exerted a very extensive influence in that young and growing state. His death occurred in 1842. It took place after a very short illness. He died as he lived, in the faith of the gospel. The accompanying print is a very correct likeness, and indicates a man of intellect, ori- ginality, and independence of thought. He was no less distinguished as a preacher than a writer. A volume published by him, a number of years ago, entitled, " Ewing's Lec- tures," possess more than ordinary merit. These lectures treat of a number of doctrinal, and practical subjects of religion, in a very clear, scriptural, and concise manner. A num- ber of manuscripts were left by him at his death. Rev. F. R. Cossitt, D. D.. editor of the "Banner of Peace," Lebanon, Tennessee, as I learn, is about to publish a complete edition of Mr. Ewing's works, together with a life of him. This is much to be desired. Mr. Ewing's cor- respondence with Rev. Dr. Miller, Princeton, New Jersey, is said to be valuable, as throwing light on the origin of the Cumberland Presby- terian Church. 508 HISTORY OF THE CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. of Gamaliel was correct. He said, let the Apostles alone, if their counsel, or work were of men, it would come to naught ; but if of God, it could not be overthrown. By reference to the record of constitu- tion, it will be seen that these men were not despisers of human learning. They examine their candidates, and licentiates, on the various branches of English litera- ture. They were desirous of sending out men of sense, learning, and piety, to preach the Gospel. It is known to all, that when a term of reproach is attached to a person, or body of people, however innocent, it often ad- heres an incredible length of time. Though the term of reproach be as light as a feather, yet it adheres with all the tenacity of a feather to tar or glutinous substances. The politician often has the tact to turn such things to his own favor. It is not so in religion. The only course is patient en- durance, following the example of Christ, when reviled, not reviling agjain. No man can, in sincerity, who is acquainted with the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, say that it is now, or ever has been, op- posed to education. We shall presently see the reverse of this. Objections, with apparent sincerity, have been urged against the origin of this denomination. These objections call in question the genuineness of its ecclesiasti- cal existence. The men, it is said, who founded it, were under synodical censure, sanctioned by the action of the General Assembly. Peter and the Apostles who set up the Christian church, on the day of Pentecost, were under the censures of the Jewish church. Luther was excommu- nicated and anathematized by the reputed successor of St. Peter at Rome. The same censures and curses, it is presumed, rest with their full energy, to this hour, on the whole Lutheran church. When Henry VIII. revolted from the See of Rome, and established what is now termed the Episco- pal church, censures were thundered forth from the Vatican. Wesley, censured and excommunicated, established the Method- ist church. In the recent unfortunate di- vision of the Presbyterian church, each party claims to be the true Presbyterian church, and, of course, looks upon the other as a schismatic body. In this way all Protestant denominations are of doubt- ful and spurious origin. So is the Catholic church. For the Greek and Latin churches for a long time contended, each, that it was the true church, and that the other was a heretical fragment. The Pope and the Patriarch, from Rome and Constanti- nople, pronounced their censures, and ex- communications, one against the other. The best church, and the most apostolic, is the one whose doctrines and practices are the purest. Faith, without works, is dead. Without charity, churches, as individuals, are but as a sounding brass, or tinkling cymbal. Now, that the new Presbytery, or pro- perly speaking, the new denomination, had assumed an independent existence, was to come the hour of trial. No period in the history of the Independence of the United States, from the declaration of rights, in 1776, to the present time, formed such a crisis, as from the conclusion of peace in '83, to the adoption of the Federal Con- stitution in '89. A sense of danger, Bri- tish wrongs and outrages, and the excite- ments of the times, had, during the strug- gle for Freedom, held the colonies together. But, during the period referred to, they were as a rope of sand, or as the coopers vessel without hoops. There seemed scarce a cementing principle to exist, save the prudence of the people. When the parent is bereft, by the hand of death, of a child of affection and promise, at first, the very excess of grief, produces a kind of excite- ment, that enables him the better to bear the loss of his child. But, when the first deluge of grief begins to subside, there is a painful depression that threatens to crush all the energies of the soul. Now, that all the circumstances accom- panying the unfortunate rupture had passed away, and the body of men who had so long and so painfully been oppressed in their ecclesiastical connection, stood alone as a distinct denomination, it might natur- ally be expected that a day of trial was at hand. Some predicted their speedy dissolution-; others, that they would run into the wildest heresies and excesses. Their best friends feared the worst conse- quences. They, themselves, under the pressure of great responsibilities, gave wav, as would be natural enough, to occa- histoid OF THE CI MBERLAND PRE8BYTERIAIS (III RCH. M.-n.ii despondency and painful fan bod- The ulf freqi* nt occurrence, The anxiet) , of course, after to hear the late of friends and re- lations, would produce Bolicitude and i \- eiteilient. The Indians w.-p. BWamUDg on the southern and west in frontiers, with destructive violence. Women and children were massacred. Houses were fired over the heads of the sleeping inhab- itants. Desolation and ruin were over many a new settlement. Riot and murder, in those vast forests, seemed to revel and dance to the savage yell and horrid war songs of the Indians. Some of the preachers, infant churches, and preaching stations, were in the neighbor- hood of these frightful excesses. All high and immoderate excitements are unfriendly to religion. The horror and confusion of a plague, such as the cholera, a few years ago, seems to have a dissipating religious effect. The labors of these men were very much retarded from these causes. Yet they continued, so far as they could, extending the borders of Zion. Under these disadvantages they preached, with much success, in various parts of the new States. Another difficulty they encountered. It was the want of preaching houses. The denomination, wherever it would go, w7ould have no church edifice to enter and preach. This difficulty Whitefield and the Wesleys had to encounter. "We have heard much of their field preaching. When the son of man, a greater than any human preacher, was ejected from the synagogue, he stood on the mountain, and the sea shore, and preached. We have lately seen the Free Church of Scot- land ejected from its houses of worship. In some new settlement they would find no houses of worship, belonging to any denomination. Hence, the origin and necessity of grove and out-door preaching in connection with the history of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. If there be a place in this world favorable to religious feeling and thoughts, it is the vasF, the dense, the silent forest. The 65 514 HISTORY OF THE CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. dim aisles, the gorgeous light from stained windows, the ancient pile, and the deep tones of the organ inspire not half the religious solemnity that the silent forest does. In these forests, on a rudely con- structed pulpit, the preacher would deliver sermons, in apostolic zeal, to listening hundreds, and in many cases, not to ex- agcratc, to listening thousands. While the holy man spoke the truths of eternity, with the greatest solemnity, and the peo- ple heard with feelings of profoundest in- terest, often would the Holy Spirit move on the hearts of the people, as the wind, the emblem of the spirit, caused the branches and leaves of the trees to move, under which they sat. A night scene here was peculiarly impressive. Inured to hardships, the worshipers thought it no exposure thus to worship the great God of the universe. The parks and squares in some of our Atlantic cities, illuminated with gas, during the summer season, pre- sent scenes justly to be admired. A ver- dant forest, filled with trees of the growth of centuries, shooting forth their branches into heaven, brilliantly illuminated, re- sounding with songs of pious worshipers, presented a scene that would make an im- pression on any one who had a heart to feel. There was an awful and solemn grandeur in such scenes as these. The result of things, in many cases, justified the measures. Houses of worship, con- gregations, and the established means of grace, would soon be seen as the fruit of such proceedings. The Synod constituted in 1813, remain- ed the highest judicature of the Cumber- land Presbyterian Church, for a period of some fifteen or sixteen years. During this period, converts, churches, ministers, and presbyteries multiplied with amazing rapidity. There were eighteen Presby- teries extending over the states of Ken- tucky. Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, and Missouri. In 1S29, the bounds of the Synod had become so ex- tensive, that it was thought advisable to form a General Assembly. This step was nearly unanimous. Though there were some who had scruples, doubts, and even objections to it. Since that, those diffi- culties have been cleared from the minds of those persons. if we examine the history of the Pres- j byterian Church in this country, we will find that it has many points of resem- i blance to the denomination whose pro- gress we are now tracing. Seven minis- ters, in 1706, met and formed themselves into a Presbytery, called Philadelphia Presbytery. This is like the constitution of Cumberland Presbytery, when viewed in all of its circumstances. In 1716, this Presbytery met and subdivided itself into four Presbyteries, and of these constituted a synod, known as Philadelphia Synod. In 1721, six ministers of this synod enter- ed a protest against former illegal proceed- ings, as they termed them. It was not till 1728, by what was term- ed " The Adopting Act," that the West- minster Confession of Faith was, by the Synod of Philadelphia, declared to be the Creed and Directory of the American Presbyterians. A longer delay this, than we see in the similar proceedings of the Cumberland Presbyterians. The proscription of Xew Brunswick Presbytery, and the subsequent organiza- tion of New York Synod, are precisely analogous to the proceedings against Cum- berland Presbytery. The grounds of difference between Xew Brunswick Pres- bytery and the Synod, were the Educa- tion of the ministry, revival measures and church government. The Synod had de- cided that no man, in their connection, should be ordained without a diploma from some college of Europe or Xew England. To this, and the other matters in dispute, the Presbytery objected. After the union of Xew York and Philadelphia Synods, the Evangelical party, that is, the pro- scribed Presbytery and Synod, prevailed in their practices, doctrines, and senti- ments, until at present they almost entirely prevail. Lo^ College was the hot bed of Xew Brunswick Presbytery, and the re- vival measures. From this Lof Philadelphia, ma into numerous Presbyteries and 8 with colleges, institutions, and .1 tions for the spread of tli«- Gospel, The man, who, in religion regards only the present, is blind, and cannot see afar off. The enlightened soul, on an eminence of contemplation, looks far into the future, and weeps, or rejoices^ according to what i ( Iregbn, the California-. T< KB . and the \ : 1 1 1 < • \ of the Ki<> Grande, the scene pro- bably of future nations, will all, no doubt, be inhabited by the Anglo-Saxi n race. Any efforts in any of those quarters to permanently establish the true principles of the Gospel, should be hailed by all with triumph. Probably, these reflections have been extended farther than will prove of interest to the reader. It is now time to turn attention to the great benevolent institutions of the day. These, have been very justly regarded as so many tests of the evangelical and or- thodox spirit of the different denomina- tions. The Cumberland Presbyterian Church, from its first existence, has taken a decided stand in support and favor of these. The General Assembly has re- commended the churches under its care, to co-operate with the American Bible, Tract, Missionary, Sunday School, and Temperance Societies. These recom- mendations have been observed. Of the truth of this, numerous agents can attest. The Assembly of May last, that met in Lebanon, Ohio, as the minutes will con- firm, were addressed by agents of the American Sunday School Union, and the Board of Foreign Missions. A meeting was held during the session of that body, in behalf of the Tract cause. There is but one opinion throughout the whole de- nomination, concerning these and similar moral institutions, which have for their object, the amelioration of the condition of the human family, and the extension of the glory of God. Recently, a Board of Foreign and Do- mestic Missions has been formed in con- nection with this denomination. It is the general wish to act on this subject in fu- ture, more efficiently and systematically. No foreign field has, as yet, ever been occupied by the Cumberland Presbyterians. 518 HISTORY OF THE CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. They have with success, in some cases, labored among the different Indian tribes.4 On the head of ministerial education, it will perhaps be proper to make a feu- general statements. This will be the more necessary, as some have seriously believcd, or at least have affected to be- lieve, that ministerial education with this denomination, was under par. Whenever ' this belief has been gratuitous, it has been malicious. When sincere, it has been with those of limited information. The clergy of the denomination show for them- selves to those capable of judging. There are some who have educations of the first order; some a medium, and others an in- ferior education. So it is in all churches. So it is in all professions. The workman employs such tools as will effect his ob- ject. He does not use the axe in break- ing stones, nor the hammer, or crow-bar, in felling trees. Practicing on this prin- ciple of common sense, the Cumberland Presbyterian Church has sent forth some laymen and evangelists, of inferior educa- tion on some points. These, in their field, have been useful. In many cases, more so than the pedant of no native intellect, retailing his second or third hand scraps and shreds of learning, without connec- tion or application. But, some of these - evangelists who have gone with a limited share of education, to some new or sparsely settled neighborhood, as knowledge would * Rev. David Lowry, has for a number of years, operated with success amons: the Win- nebago Indians, on the west side of the Mis- sissippi. Mr. Lowry has, a part of the time, held an agency under the United States Go- vernment. He was removed by President Tyler. He still prosecutes his labors with ac- tivity and zeal. As a preacher. Mr. Lowry ses talents of the first order, and has been useful in different states. As a writer, there are perhaps few or none in this country, of a Theological character, who excel him. His style is marked by vigor, perspicuity, and felicity of expression. His matter is every way equal to bis diction. It is to be hoped, beins: freed from the time-killing practices of civilized life, he will have leisure to write some works of general and lasting interest. It was. whilst President Edwards was among the Indians, that he wrote some of his most val- uable works. His work on the Will, among others, was produced at this time. And strange to tell, he was so poor he could not buy paper, but used old letters to write on I increase among the people, they would purchase books, read for practical pur- and in process of time, would be- come really men of learning. Dr. Clark, the Commentator, acquired his extensive education in a manner analogous to this. The learned blacksmith, studied at his anvil. The ancient Greeks and Romans, knew nothing of what we call colleges, in modern times. Their children were edu- cated under private tutors, or by them- selves. A good education can be acquired either at a college, or away from one. The man who has the greatest fund of available knowledge, is the best scholar, the world over, no matter how, or where attained. Literary institutions are good, when a good use is made of them. It is to be devoutly wished that there were more of them in our land, and that those already in existence were made a better use of than they are. The number of in- stitutions of learning under the auspices of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, sufficiently shows the literary character of both the clergy, and the great mass of the people. Reference to the Confession of Faith will show the literary qualifications re- quired of every one who enters the min- isterial office. That book suffers no can- didate to be ordained without a thorough English education. Before the hands of the Presbytery are laid on the head of any one in ordination, he is examined on experimental religion — on his internal call to the ministry — on natural and re- vealed Theology — on Astronomy — Ge- ography— English Grammar — Moral and Natural Philosophy, &c, &c. This is called for in all cases, as indispensable to exercising the ministerial functions. But the book of discipline prefers, in all cases, a classical education where it is possible. The framers of that book thought that there were some men who could not get a classical education, who should not be prevented from preaching. They thought there would be others who would -be so far advanced in life, that, if they had the opportunities, it would not be wise to take the time. There are, at this time, a number of young men at the different institutions of learninir, who are pursuing their studies HISTORY OF THE i I MBERLAND PRE8BYTERIAIN (III RCH. with a view of obtaining a thorough clas- sical education. Of these, the greatest Dumber, probably, is at Cumberland Uni- versity. Some twentj or thiftj are at this tunc pursuing their studies there with reference to the ministry . .\ book agency has recently been established at Louisville, Ky. This has for its object not only general circulation of valuable books and publications, but also to hold out facilities to writing, in this denomination, for the publication of any works produced.4 Facilities of this kind, it is hoped, will draw forth from obscurity some valuable writers. Proper circumstances never fail to call forth a multitude Of authors. Under the auspices of Mccenas, Virgil, Horace, and many others, flourished. During the reigns of James and Elizabeth, when the Court was an academy, England produced some of her mightiest authors. It must be confessed that the denom- ination in question has produced compar- atively few authors. With churches it is as with individuals and nations : they have a youth, a manhood, and an old age. Youth, in all, is the time for ac- tion. Greece had its heroic age, in which Hercules and Theseus flourished. Then followed a more sober, /effecting period, in which Sophocles, Eschylus, Euripides, Herodotus, Xenophon, and Thucidides flourished. The same is true with re- spect to Rome. It was not till near the close of the Republic that writers of emi- nence began to make their appearance. The first two hundred years of the Chris- tian era scarce produced any valuable writers in the church. After this, a short time, a swarm of them appeared. It had been good for the cause of religion if many of them had never appeared, or that they were used with more judgment * Rev. Reuben Burrows has written a book on Baptism, that is in considerable demand. Rev. Milton Bird has recently written an able work on the doctrine of election. Rev. Robert Donnell has produced more than one work of merit. All from him is replete with sound sense. His " Miscellaneous Thoughts" contain lucid and comprehensive expositions of many points in theolosy. It is to be hoped that Mr. Donnell's life will be spared, and that his pen will be active. and discretion in the pn ( hu country has produced vei merit and distinction. Tne n vious. The enlightened read* r will, doubtless, not take it amiss if h bi af« firmed that education in g< neral, in this country, is superficial. In England, Ger- many, and ether Buropt an country a, it is much more thorough. Properly < ered, this is no disparagement to this country. Its age considen d, probably no country on the globe ex© Is it in point of education, and superior writers. The youth of sixteen, who writes like a sage of fifty, will, probably, at fifty, write like a dotard. The same remark applied to a nation, is equally true. It is not to be wondered at that the Cumberland Presbyterian Church has not, as yet, pro- duced many writers. The period, in the ordinary course of things, has not yet arrived for writing. It has been the pe- riod for action. Among the clergy of this denomination there have not been any instances of heresy. A remarkable harmony in doc- trinal beliefs has existed. This has been the case, whilst in other churches, many of the clergy have shot madly into the wildest and most extravagant heresies. We have witnessed, within the last few- years, some of these ministers arraigned before their several spiritual courts, pass- ing through the most perplexing trials, under allegata of the wildest heresies. It cannot be doubted but the propensity of writing books has been the cause of much of this. In no science, save medicine, is there such an endless disposition to theo- rize, as in theology. There are no grounds for theory in either. For the former is based on actual observation and experience ; the latter, on plain revelation from God. But what has here been stated, is not intended as an opinion in opposition to theological works, or theo- logical writers. It is a mere reference to the abuse of them. It would be good for the cause of religion if it had many such advocates as Chalmers and D'Aubigne. The Cumberland Presbyterian Church is mainly confined to the Southern and Western portions of the United States. From the Lakes on the North, and the Gulf of Mexico on the South, it is nu- 520 HISTORY OF THE CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. merous. A few churches and ministers at different points, are to be found east of the Alleghany Mountains. It is not to be expected, in a church like this, extended over so large a terri- tory, and many portions of it sparsely settled, that the number of communi- cants can be accurately ascertained. In some of the new states the means of communication are very imperfect. But we can determine accurately enough. On the authority of the Assembly, which met in May, 1847, at Lebanon, Ohio, there were 17 synods, 63 presby- teries, 800 congregations, 650 ministers, 200 licentiates, 150 candidates for the ministry, and over 100,000 communi- cants. The number of communicants in some estimates has been placed consider- able higher than this. The lowest esti- mate has here been stated. Estimating four children, and other adherents, to each , communicant, which, it will be acknow- ledged is a very low estimate, there will be found 500,000 persons connected with this branch of the Redeemer's Kingdom. Allowing three persons to each commu- nicant, which is a still lower estimate, there are 400,000 persons in its connec- tion. In a growing country, and a pro- gressive age, a sufficient number of per- sons this, to wield a powerful moral, intellectual and religious influence. With due dependence on the God of providence and grace, energetic efforts and wise counsels, future prospects are highly encouraging. Such is an account submitted to the reader, of the origin, progress, doctrines, and present extent of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. It is as minute and extended as a work of this nature would admit. The facts can be relied on as true, having been taken from authentic sources. It has been composed amid a press of pastoral duties, at snatches and intervals. It is presented, such as it is, to an enlightened and charitable Christian public. If allusion has been made to the doctrines and practices of other denomi- nations, it has been done out of no ill design. Every church has a right to present to the world its own doctrines and practices, and show wherein these differ from others. HIBTOm OF THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIANS, a- . CHI ROH. HISTORY OF THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIANS, COMMONLY STYLED COVENANTERS. BY THE REV. R. HUTCHESON, PASTOR OF THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CONGREGATION, AT BRUSH CREEK, ADAMS COUNTY, OHIO, JULY, 1847. All who give attention to the history of the church, know something of the sufferings of the martyrs in Scotland, under the tyranny of the house of Stuart : and all who love the truth in its purity, admire the men who so earnestly con- tended for it, — who " loved not their lives unto death." The principles for which they contended, as these are set forth in the formularies of the Church of Scot- land, and illustrated by the history of their times, are worthy of the most care- ful study, not only of the private Christian, but of the divine, and the civilian : for while they contended most strenuously for the honor of God, they sought, as a part of that honor, the full establishment of the rights of man. They had in common with many others, bound themselves to God and one another in covenant : first, in the National Covenant of Scotland ; and again in the Solemn League and Covenant of the three kingdoms, Scot- land, England, and Ireland, framed in 1643, and renewed, 1648. The church and the nation, the rulers and the people, had mutually and voluntarily entered into these solemn vows ; but the majority soon violated them, disowned them, and joined together in persecuting those who ad- hered to these sacred engagements, who were, on account of that adherence, called Covenanters. For a very inter- esting account of these people, see the History of the Covenantors in Scot la na\ published by the Presbyterian Board, in two volumes, Nos. 76 and 77. See, also, Traditions of the Covenanters, in three series, and Annals of the Persecution in Scotland from the Restoration to the Revolution ; all published by the same Board. For the principles they contended for, see the Cloud of Witnesses. Reformed Presbyterians claim to be the lineal descendants of those Cove- nanters, adhering to the same principles, however far they may come short in faithfully carrying out their application. They have a Synod in Scotland, one in Ireland, and one in the United States, besides a number of congregations and scattered societies in the British provinces in North America. The Reformed Presbytery was consti- tuted in America, for the first time, in the year 1774, by three ministers, the Rev. Messrs. John Cuthbcrtson, William Linn, and Alexander Dobbin, with ruling elders. 522 HISTORY OF THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIANS, &c, CHURCH. These ministers had been sent over from Europe, in order to organize the Church in America. During the persecution, several mem- bers of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, left their native country, to seek an asylum in the* western world. These, and their descendants were found collecting into praying societies, as they were wont to do in their own land, upon the footing of the Reformation principles in the beginning of the 18th century. They kept them- selves distinct from the other worshipping societies which they found formed, or form- ing in the land, judging them no way dis- posed to enter into the full spirit of the covenanted reformation. Mr. Cuthbcrt- son arrived in America, from the Re- formed Presbytery of Scotland, in the year 1752. Twenty years did Mr. Cuthbert- son serve alone, the Church in America. He visited the different societies which were farmed throughout the colonies, on reform- ation principles, and animated them to perseverance. Exposed to danger almost constantly from the servants of the British crown, who were then endeavoring to con- firm over the American colonies, the doubly grievous yoke of tyranny and Episcopacy ; he endeavored to inspire his friends with confidence in the justness of their cause, and with hopes that God in his providence would, in his own time, deliver them. In the year 1774, Messrs. Linn and Dobbin, were sent to the country by the Reformed Presbytery of Ireland: upon their arrival a judicatory was constituted, and the Re- formed Presbyterian Church put on a re- gular appearance, as an organized visible society in the colonies of America. This regular organization was soon lost by a union of the Reformed Presbytery and the Associate Presbyteries ; by which, instead of combining two denominations into one, a third was formed of some parts of the other two, known by the name of the Associate Reformed Church. This new church has adopted the names of both the bodies from which it was formed. The union was completed in 1782, after having been five years in agitation. A great part of the church joined their min- isters in the schism from their former con- nexion, and united in this new body with secedcrs, who had also irregularly departed from their former ecclesiastical brethren. Those who did not join, turned their at- tention again toward Europe, and called for ministerial assistance, which could not be immediately obtained. They were again reduced to their private fellowship meet- ings ; but they did not however, despair, even at their lowest state. They expected help ; and, they received it. Rev. James Reid was sent as a missionary, by the Re- formed Presbytery of Scotland, to exa- mine the affairs of the church in the Uni- ted States ; and after having travelled from Carolina to New York, and remained several months in America, he returned to Europe in the summer of 1790. Mr. McGarragh was ordained by the Reformed Presbytery of Ireland, for the Church in America, and arrived in South Carolina about the year 1791. The Rev. William King was commissioned with instructions to join Mr. McGarragh, and arrived in the United States, in 1792. Rev. James McKinney from the Reformed Presbytery in Ireland, arrived in 1793. Mr. McKin- ney possessed talents admirably adapted to the situation of the church at that time. He possessed an intrepidity of character, which could neither be seduced by friend- ship, nor overawed by opposition. His powers of mind, his extensive knowledge, and capability of enduring fatigue, emi- nently qualified him for his Master's work. Through his instrumentality, the church rapidly increased in the States of Penn- sylvania and New York. Rev. William Gibson arrived from Ireland, in 1797, ac- companied by Messrs. Black and Wylic, who had completed a collegiate education in the University of Glasgow, and were preparing for the work of the ministry. The church was again by the goodness of her exalted King, favored with a regu- lar organization. The Reformed Presby- tery of the United States of North Ame- rica, was constituted in the city of Phila- delphia, in the spring of 1798. Mr. King died before the meeting of this court ; but the Presbytery was soon increased. Messrs. Donelly, Black, Wylic, and McLeod, were licensed to preach the gospel in 1799. In the course of two years, they were all or- dained to the ministry, and had the care of fixed pastoral charges. The constitution of the Reformed Pres- \:\ OF Till! REFORMED PRESDYTERIANS, A ., CHI RCH. hi Church in the United Stab fully recognized b) the ecclesiastical judi- catories "i" the Bame church in Scotland, and in Ireland; a friendly correspondence stablisned between the three Pn ibj - teries; and some encouragement afforded ■ iving ministerial help at ■ future period. In the year 1800, the Presbytery enacted that no slave-holder should be re- tained in their communion. A committee appointed the same year to visit the South- ern States, and regulate the concerns of that pari of the church, abolished the prac- tice of holding slaves among church mem- hers. No slave-holder is since admitted to their communion. In May, 1806, the Presbytery issued the Testimony of the Reformed Presbyte- rian Church in (lie United States of America. This work consists of two parts ; the first, historical, exhibiting the church as a visible society, in covenant with God ; and pointing out precisely the situation which they themselves occupy as a distinct part of the church universal. The second part is a Declaration of the doctrines held by them, and an enumera- tion of the errors which they reject. It has ever since been contemplated, and is now in progress of preparation to publish a third part, containing arguments in de- fence of the doctrines, and making a par- ticular application of the principles of the testimony. All who would understand the doctrines of the church, must become ac- quainted with the Testimony. At the same session, (May, 1806,) two acts were passed by the Presbytery, which are important, as containing practical di- rections for the conduct of individual mem- bers of the church — an act respecting giving oath, when summoned before the constituted authorities of the nation — and an act respecting serving as jurors in courts of justice. These acts and the reasons for them, and corresponding prac- tice, present some of the distinctive fea- tures of the Reformed Presbyterians, and called forth all their exertions, in preach- ing, writing, and conversation, in their own defence. In consequence of the extended field over which the ministers and the people were scattered, the Presbytery was divided into three committees for transacting busi- and the Presbytery met biennially. \t a meeting held in Philadelphia, that judicatory was dissolved, and the i ten with the delegated elders, being as- sembled, agn ed !•» con titute a synod. The senior minister, Rev. William Gib- son, being called upon for that purpose, did constitute with prayer in th the Lord Jesus, the only Kin-: and I !■ of the Church, the Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in America, on the 24th of May, 1809. The deeds of the Presbytery were all recognized by the synod; and the former committers wen erected into Presbyteries. Thus the church was lengthening her cords, strengthening her stakes, and stretching forth the cur- tains of her habitation. A brief sketch like the present, will not admit of a full development of her pro- gress, and the changes through which she has passed. To the general reader it will be more interesting to know something of her distinctive features ; wherein she dif- fers from other members of the great Presbyterian family — children of the same Father, between whom there should be no strife ; but, alas ! they have grievously fallen out by the way. A prominent, distinctive feature of this church, is, that her members will not own allegiance to the government of any nation which refuses allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ, — the Prince of the Kings of the earth. And as they do not find any na- tion rendering allegiance to Him, they re- main in the character of aliens, neither voting for officers, holding offices, sitting on juries, nor taking the oath of naturali- zation ; whether in the United States, Great Britain, or any other nation yet known. This practice is based on the following doctrines : 1. That the Lord Jesus Christ as Me- diator, has committed to him all power in heaven and in earth, as the vicegerent of the Father ; and governs all creatures and all their actions for his own glory and our salvation, as Head over all things to the Church, which is his bodv. Mat xxviii. 18; Eph. i. 20, &c. ; Phil. ii. 8, &c. ; Heb. ii. 8. 2. That submission is due to the media- tory authority, from all the intelligent 524 HISTORY OF THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIANS, &c, CHURCH. creatures of God ; men, not only as saints and church members, but also in every possible relation and condition, are under obligation to subserve his gracious pur- according to his law. The holy BAgela minister under his directions to the heirs of salvation. Ps. ii. 10, &,c. ; Phil, ii. 10; Ileb. i. G, 14. Nations in their national capacity are not excepted. \i. Divine revelation is given to direct men in all their situations and relations, in civil as well as in religious things. Isa. viii. 20 ; 2 Tim. iii. 16 ; 1 Cor. x. 31. 4. It is the duty of all men voluntarily to form civil societies, establishing such authority as may best tend to preserve order, liberty and religion among them ; and it is lawful for them to model their constitutions of government in such a manner as may appear most suitable to them ; provided, such constitutions in their principles and distribution of power, be in nothing contrary to the divine law. Ex. xviii. 21, &c; Deut. i. 13 ; xvi. 18 ; xvii. 14, &c; Prov. xxi. 3 ; Jer. xxx. 21 ; Ezek. xlv. 9 ; 1 Tim. ii. 2. 5. God, the supreme governor, is the fountain of all power and authority, and civil magistrates are his deputies. In the administration of government, obedience is due to their lawful commands for con- science sake : but no power, which de- prives the subject of civil liberty — which wantonly squanders his property and sports with his life— or which authorizes false religion, (however it may exist ac- cording to divine Providence,) is approved of, or sanctioned by God, or ought to be esteemed or supported by man as a moral institution. Rom. xiii. 1-5 ; Prov. xxix. 2, & xxviii. 15 ; Ps. ii. 2, & xciv. 20 ; Hos. viii. 3, 4; Rev. xiii. 1, & xii. 9, & xvii. 12, &c. 6. Civil society being a voluntary asso- ciation, the nation is not bound to admit to all its peculiar privileges, every person who may reside within the reach of its powers ; nor is every person dwelling within the limits of a nation, under obli- gation to incorporate with the national society. Every government has the right of making laws of naturalization^ and every individual possesses the right of ex- patriation, and both these rights are to be exercised in conformity to the law of God, the supreme ruler and judge. Gen. xlvii. 4; Num. x. 29, & xv. 15; Deut. xxiv. 17, & xxiii. 8 ; Acts xxi. 39, cc xxii. 27, &c; Jas. iv. 12. 7. It is the duty of Christians, for the sake of peace and order, and in humble resignation to God's good providence, to conform to the common regulations of so- ciety in things lawful ; but to profess alle- giance to no constitution of government which is in hostility to the kingdom of Christ, the Head of the Church, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Jer. xxix. 4-7 ; Ps. exxxvii. 1-9 ; Acts iv. 19 ; -Mat. vi. 10 ; Heb. xii. 26 ; Micah iv. 8, 13. According to these principles, Reformed Presbyterians consider themselves bound to bring civil institutions to the test of God's holy word, and reject whatever is in opposition to that rule. They approve of some of the leading features of the constitution of government in the United States. It is happily calculated to pre- serve the civil liberty of the inhabitants, and to protect their persons and property. A definite constitution on the representa- tive system, reduced to writing, is a right- eous measure, which ought to be adopted by every nation under heaven. Such constitution must, however, be founded on the principles of morality ; and must in every article be moral, before it can be re- cognized by the conscientious Christian as an ordinance of God. When immorality and impiety are rendered essential to any system, the whole system must be rejected. Presbyterian Covenanters perceiving im- morality interwoven with the General and the States' constitutions of government in America, have uniformly dissented from the civil establishments. Much as they loved liberty, they loved religion more. Anxious as they were for the good of the country, they sought that good, where alone it can be found, in the prosperity of Zion ; for " righteousness exalteth a na- tion, but sin is a reproach to any people." Their opposition to the civil institutions has been the opposition of reason and of piety ; the weapons of their warfare are arguments and prayers. There are moral evils essential to the constitution of the United States, which render it necessary to refuse allegiance to the whole system. HISTORY OF THE REFORMED PRE8BYTERIAN8, a... (Ill RCH In this ivniarkal-le instrument, there L8 contained no acknowledgment of the being or authority of God — there is no acknow- ledgment of the Christian religion, nor sed submission to the kingdom of Messiah. It gives support to the enemies of the Redeemer, and admits to its honors and emoluments, Jews, Mahommedans, Deists, and Atheists. It establishes that system of robbery by which nun arc held in slavery, despoiled of liberty, property, and protection, It violates the principles of representation, by bestowing on the slaveholder an influence in making laws lor freemen, proportioned to the number of his own slaves. This constitution is, Notwithstanding its numerous excellencies, in many instances inconsistent, oppressive and impious. Since its adoption in 1789, the members of the Reformed Presbyterian Church have maintained a constant testi- mony against these evils. They have refused to serve in any office which im- plies an approbation of the constitution, or which is placed under the direction of an immoral law. They have abstained from giving their votes at elections for legisla- tors, or officers who must be qualified to act, by an oath of allegiance to this im- moral system. Those who wish to know the clauses of the constitution to which they make objection, and their reasons for objecting to them must become acquainted with the publications of their ministers, many of whom hold the pen of the writer. To those who may not have access to their writings, the following references may serve some purpose. 1 . The preamble is objected to, because it pays no regard to the glory of God, as the end of establishing the government, and because it does not propose to secure liberty to all the inhabitants, in .which things it is at variance with the following scriptures, among many others : 1 Cor. x. 31 ; Col. iii. 17 ; Lev. x. 25, and Hos. viii. 4. 2. The ratio of representation, article 1, section 2, clause 3, is objected to, be- cause it makes an invidious distinction between certain persons styled " free," and " all other persons ;" contrary to the following scriptures : Lev. xxiv. 22 ; Num. xv. 16; Deut. xvi. 20; Ps. cxv. i c, : U:,. i \ iii. <; i i ;,-. I . I \\u. 'Jo. \\. ( Injection i* made to • < ction 9, clan-' 1 , of th<- same article, b< . Compar ; 5, with •J Sam. \\i. I. This duty of < "V' oanti i !1 < \- i mp lifted in the I'm/ h I 'lip- National Covenant of Scotland, and the S 1.. ague of Scotland, England and Ireland, held a conspicuous place in the reforma- tions by w hich tin Be lands p guished. The National Covenant of Scotland is a masterly exposure and condemnation of Popery, by which it was driven out of Scotland. If ought to be studied by all Protestants, even in these days of in ed knowledge. " The Solemn i. exhibits a basis of union for several churches, which modern unionists would do well to copy. True there arc some things in these documents peculiar to the time and place where they were framed, but these peculiarities no way hinder the application of their principles in any land at any time. This last document we give entire : re- proaches have been heaped upon it; let it speak for itself. The Solemn League axd Covevwt for reformation and defence of re/ Hgi Ion, the honor and happiness of the King, and the peace and safety of the three kingdoms of Scotland, England, and Ireland. (Jer. I. 5 ; Prov. xxv. 5 ; 2 Chron. xv. 15 ; Gal. iii. 15.) We, Noblemen, Barons, Knights, Gen- tlemen, Citizens, Burgesses, Ministers of the Gospel, and commons of all sorts, in the kingdoms of Scotland, England, and Ireland ; by the providence of God, living under one king, and being of one Reform- ed religion, having before our eyes the glory of God, and the advancement of the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the honor and happiness of the king's majesty, and his posterity, and the true public liberty, safety, and peace of the kingdoms, wherein every one's private condition is included : And calling to mind the treacherous and bloody plots, conspi- racies, attempts and practices of the ene- mies of God, against the true religion and professors thereof in all places, especially in these three kingdoms, ever since the reformation of religion ; and how much 523 HISTORY OF THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIANS, Ac., CHURCH. their rage, power, and presumption, are of late, and at this time increased and ex- ercised, whereof the deplorable state of the church and kingdom of Ireland, the distressed state of the church and kingdom of England, and the dangerous state of the church and kingdom of Scotland, are pre- sent and public testimonies, we have now at last, (after other means of supplication and remonstrance, protestation, and suffer- ings,) for the preservation of ourselves and our religion from utter ruin and de- struction, according to the commendable p.ractice of these kingdoms in former times, and the example of God's people in other nations, after mature deliberation, resolved and determined, to enter into a mutual and Solemn League and Covenant, wherein we all subscribe, and each one of us for himself, with our hands lifted up to the Most High God, do swear, I. That we shall sincerely, really and constantly, through the grace of God, endeavor, in our several places and call- ings, the preservation of the Reformed Religion in the Church of Scotland, in doctrine, worship, discipline, and govern- ment, against our common enemies : the reformation of religion in the kingdoms of England and Ireland, in doctrine, wor- ship, discipline, and government, accord- ing to the word of God, and the example of the best reformed churches, and shall endeavor to bring the churches of God in the three kingdoms to the nearest con- junction and uniformity in religion, con- fession of faith, form of church govern- ment, directory for worship, and cate- chising, that we and our posterity after us, may, as brethren, live in faith and love, and the Lord may delight to dwell in the midst of us. II. That we shall, in like manner, without respect of persons, endeavor the extirpations of popery, prelacy, (that is, church government, archbishops, bishops, their chancellors and commissaries, deans, deans and chapters, archdeacons, and all other ecclesiastical officers depending on that hierarchy,) superstition, her schism, profaneness, and whatsoever shall be found contrary to sound doctrine and the power of godliness, lest we partake in other men's sins, and thereby be in dan- ger to receive of their plagues ; and that the Lord may be one, and his name one, in the three kingdoms. III. We shall with the same sincerity, reality, and constancy, in our several vo- cations, endeavor, with our estates and lives, mutually to preserve the rights and privileges of the parliaments, and the lib- erties of the kingdoms ; and to preserve and defend the king's majestic person and authority, in the preservation and defence of the true religion, and liberties of the kingdoms ; that the world may bear witness with our consciences of our loyalty, and that we have no thoughts or intentions to diminish his majesty's just power and greatness. IV. We shall, also, with all faithful- ness, endeavor the discovery of all such as have been, or shall be, incendiaries, malignants or evil instruments, by hin- dering the reformation of religion, divi- ding the king from his people, or one of the kingdoms from another, or making any faction or parties amongst the people, contrary to this League and Covenant ; that they may be brought to public trial and receive condign punishment, as the degree of their offences shall require or deserve, or the supreme judicatories of both kingdoms respectively, or others having power from them for that effect, shall judge convenient. V. And whereas the happiness of a blessed peace between these kingdoms, denied in former times to our progenitors, is, by the good providence of God, granted to us, and hath been lately concluded and settled by both parliaments; we shall, each one of us, according to our place and interest, endeavor that they may re- main conjoined in a firm peace and union to all posterity ; and that justice may be done upon the wilful opposers thereof, in manner expressed in the preceding article. VI. We shall, also, according to our places and callings, in this common cause of religion, liberty, and peace of the king- doms, assist and defend all those that en- ter into this League and Covenant, in the maintaining and pursuing thereof; and shall not suffer ourselves, directly or in- directly, by whatsoever combination, per- suasion, or terror, to be divided and with- drawn from this blessed union and con- junction, whether to make defection to HISTORY OF THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN8, Ac., CHURCH. itnurj part, or oureelvea to a detestable Indifference and neutrality, m i 186, which ao much concemeth the glory of <•"<), the Rood of the kingdom, and honor of the kmi,' ; hut shall, all the dayi <»f our lives, zealously and constantly continue therein against all opposition, ami promote the same according to our power, against all acts and impediments whatsoever; and what we are not ahle ourselves to suppress or overcome, we shall reveal and make known, thai it may he timely prevented or removed. All which we shall do as in the Sight of God. And because these kingdoms are guilty of many sins and provocations against (led. tnd his Son, Jesus Christ, as is too manifest by our present distresses and dangers, the fruits thereof; we profess and declare before God and the world, our un- feigned desire to be humbled for our own sins, and for the sins of these kingdoms : especially, that we have not, as we ought, valued the iciest imable benefit of the Gos- pel ; that we have not labored for the pu- rity and power thereof; and that we have not endeavored to receive Christ in our hearts, nor to walk worthy of him in our lives, which are the causes of other sins and transgressions so much abounding amongst us : and our true and unfeigned purpose, desire and endeavor, for ourselves and all others under our power and charge, both in public and in private, in all duties we owe to God and man, to amend our lives, and each one to go before another in the ex- ample of a real reformation, that the Lord may turn away his wrath and heavy in- dignation, and establish these churches and kingdoms in truth and peace. And this Covenant we make in the presence of ALMIGHTY GOD, the searcher of all hearts, with a true intention to perform the same, as we shall answer at that great day, when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed ; most humbly beseech- ing the Lord to strengthen us bv his Ho- ly Spirit, for this end, and to bless our desires and proceedings with such suc- I cess as may be deliverance and safety to -his people, and encouragement to other S Christian churches groaning under, or in danger of, the yoke of anti-christian ty- ranny, to join in the same or like associa- tion and covenant, to the glorv of GOD, the enlargement of the kingdom of Ji i I it i;i r, and the peace and tranqui Christian kingdoms .'ind commonwealths. A third distinctive feature of Cov< ers, is that every member is required to attend b social fellowship meetin prayer and christian conference. Many ( Christians of other denominations consider this both a duty and a priviN- e, yet but lew attend to it. Covenanters view it in tii-- light of a divine ordinance not to be neglected : for which they have a warrant in the following scriptures: Mai. iii. 1 f> ; Matt, xviii. 20 ; John xx. 10 ; Col. iii. l(i ; Heb. x. 25, and Song viii. IS. A fourth distinctive feature of Cove- nanters is, that while they recognize the validity of ordinances administered by other denominations of Christians, and acknowledge those denoninations as breth- ren, yet they cannot join, cither statedly or occasionally, in the communion of any other Church, by waiting on its ministry, either in word or sacraments, while they continue opposed to their declared senti- ments. The strictness of their discipline is con- sidered by some as amounting to a dis- tinctive feature : and they are most stren- uous advocates of the Book of Psalms of divine inspiration, to the exclusion of all other compositions, in the worship of God. In the cause of foreign missions, little has been done till now, that a mission is preparing to set out for Hayti. This island was explored last winter by Rev. J. B. Johnston, of Logan County, Ohio ; and Port au Prince has been selected as the point on which to establish a mission. In home missions much has been done and is doing. They have a Theological Seminary in Cincinnati, under the care of Dr. J. R. Wilson. Thirteen students were in at- tendance last session. Two Periodicals are engaged in advo- cating and disseminating the principles of the Church. One in Newburgh, estab- lished in 1837, Rev. M. Roney editor, is entitled " The Reformed Peesbyte- rian." The other in Philadelphia, com- menced in 1845, Rev. J. M. Wilson editor, is entitled " The Covenanter." Although the number of ministers and congregations is increasing every year, all fcT 530 HISTORY OF THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIANS, &c, CHURCH. meet in one Synod; the subordinate synods w^re abolished in 1840. There are five Presbyteries', designated as fol- low-. New York presbytery, Rochester, presbytery, Pittsburg presbytery, Lakes presbytery and Illinois presbytery. In 1 6 1">, the Synod consisted of 58 members — ministers and elders. Had all the min- isters been present and a full delegation of elders, the number would have been 74. The following is the statistical table of three Presbyteries in 1845. The largest Presbytery and the smallest having made no returns : NEW YORK PRESBYTERY. Congregations. Ministers. Fami- lies. Commu- nicants. Craftfrirarg, Vt. S. M. Wilson, 27 80 Byegata and Burnet. Jas, M. Beattie, 59 139 Coldenham. Jas. W. Shaw, 42 96 Newborgb, M. Honey, 55 103 1st. Cong. N. York, Jas. Chryatie, 70 180 2nd. Cong. N. York, A. Stevenson. 105 319 Cherry St., Philada. 2nd. Cong. Philada. J.M. Wilson, 90 301 S. O. Wylie, 35 94 Vacant congregations, some of tchich have since obtained pastors : — Topsham, Argyle, Albany, Kortwright, Bovina, Baltimore, White Lake, Conococheague. LAKES PRESBYTERY. Congregations. Ministers. Families. Communi- cants. Miami, Utica, Krushcreek, Southfiold, J. B. Johnson, A. McFarland, R. Hutcheson, Jas. Niell, 51 47 41 21 123 116 95 38 Vacant congregations, some of which have since obtained -pastors : — Beech- woods and Garrison, Cincinnati, Jona- than's Creek, Sandusky, Cedar Lake. ILLINOIS PRESBYTERY. Congregations. Elkhorn, Old Bethel, Bethel, Hloomington, Princeton. ") Walnut Ridge, j* Ministers. wTsi^\ Jas. Wallace, H. Stevenson, Jas. Faris, J. J. McClurkin. Families. Communi- cants. Too 113 120 76 25 35 Vacant congregation : — St. Louis. Missionary/ Stations : — Edwardsville, Staunton, Springfield, Hennipen, Chili, Jacksonville, Virginia Grove, Iowa City, Prairieville. The following arc the Terms of Com- munion in the Reformed Presbyterian Church, in North America. 1. An acknowledgment of the scrip- tures of the Old and New Testaments to be the word of God, and the only rule of faith and manners. 2. An acknowledgment that the whole doctrine of the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Catechisms, larger and shorter, are agreeable to, and founded on the Scriptures. 3. An acknowledgment of the divine right of one unalterable form of Church government and manner of worship — and that these are for substance justly exhi- bited in that form of Church government and the Directory for worship, agreed on by the assembly of Divines at Westmin- ster, as they were received by the Church of Scotland. 4. An acknowledgment that public Covenanting is an ordinance of God, to be observed by churches and nations, under the New Testament dispensation ; — and that those vows, namely, that which was entered into by the church and kingdom of Scotland, called the National Cove- nant, and that which was afterwards en- tered into by the three kingdoms of Scot- land, England and Ireland, and by the Reformed Churches in those kingdoms, usually called the Solemn Leacue and Covenant, were entered into in the true spirit of that institution — and that the ob- ligation of these covenants extends to those who were represented in the taking of them, although removed to this or any other part of the world, in so far as they bind to duties not peculiar to the British isles, but applicable in all lands. 5. An approbation of the faithful con- tendings of the martyrs of Jesus, and of the present Reformed Covenanted churches in Britain and Ireland, against Paganism, Popery and Prelacy, and against immora constitutions of civil government, together with all Erastian* tolerations and perse cutions which flow therefrom ; as contain ing a noble example for us and our pos terity to follow, in contending for all di vine truth, and in testifying against al *Erastian : from Thomas Erastus, a German divine, born 1523, died professor at Basil, 1583, who denied the authority of the church to ab- solve and discipline its members. The pas- toral office, according to him, was only per- suasion, like a professor of science over his students, without anv power of the kevs an- nexed. I. D. R. Editor. HISTORY OF THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. contrary enta which may axis! In tfc rupt constkutiona of either church or state, \:i approbation of the doctrines con- tained in the Testimony of the Reformed .vriati Church in North America, of truth and opposition to error. The - with due subord i in the Lord to the authority of the of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in North America, and a regular I conversation, form the lends of <>ur eccle- siastical union. HISTORY OF THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, BY THE REV. JOHN N. M'LEOD, D. D., NEW YORK. The Reformed Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, derives her origin from the old Reformation Church of Scotland. Her history, therefore, down to the period of her organization in this country, is necessarily involved in that of the parent church herself. It deserves re- membrance to her honor, that Scotland was among the last of the nations to sub- mit to the usurpation of the Church of Rome. Until the beginning of the eleventh century, she possessed a Christian church which maintained her spiritual independ- ence, and refused to bow to the Papal su- premacy. But Antichrist at length pre- vailed, and substituted his ruinous formal- ism for the ancient Christianity. From the beginning of the eleventh to that of the sixteenth century, " darkness covered the earth, and gross darkness the people" of insular as well as continental Europe. With the sixteenth century, however, commenced that glorious revival of evan- gelical religion, the Protestant Reforma- tion. Scotland felt its influence, and awoke from her slumber. John Knox of famous memory, had lighted his torch at the can- dle of God's word, which had just been rescued from under the bushel where Anti- christ had hidden it for a^es. He carried it through his native land, and her nobles, her people, and many even of the priests of Rome, were enlightened in the truths of the gospel. In the year 1560, Popery was abolished ; the Bible was declared free to all ; a Confession of Faith, containing an admirable summary of divine truth, was prepared ; a book of discipline, de- claring the government of the church to be presby terial, was adopted ; and all ranks of men in the nation bound themselves to each other and to God, in a solemn co- venant engagement, to maintain and per- petuate the Reformation which had been established. This is what is usually de- nominated in Scottish history the M first reformation," or reformation from Popery. And thus arose the Reformed Presbyterian Church. For more than thirty years after this period, the church enjoyed great tem- poral and spiritual prosperity. But from the year 1592 to 1688, her history, with the exception of a twelve years' interval of rest and triumph, is one of warfare and suffering. Her most powerful enemies were unprincipled civilians. They sought to make her a mere engine of state policy, an instrument of their own despotism ; and when she would not submit, they attempt- ed to coerce her by the sword. During 532 HISTORY OF THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. the greater part of the reigns of James VI., and his son and grandson, the first and second Charles, the Reformed Presby- terian Church was struggling for existence against the power of the state, which as- sumed an antichristian supremacy over her, and proceeded to dictate to her the doctrine, worship, and order she should receive and observe under pain of impri- sonment, banishment, and death. Adversity tests the character of systems as well as of men ; and never was the worth of the Reformed Presbyterian sys- tem more signally manifested, than during the period the church was in the furnace of affliction. Thousands maintained her principles in the face of the persecutor. The life and power of godliness was most remarkably displayed, and multitudes of holy martyrs sealed with their blood the testimony which they held. Of the interval of relief to which re- ference has already been had, it is suffi- cient to say, that it was the period between 1638, and 1650 : the era of the Solemn League and Covenant ; of the Westminster Assembly of divines ; of the revolution which dethroned the first Charles, and as- serted those principles of civil and reli- gious liberty, which all enlightened Chris- tians and statesmen now regard as axiom- atic and undeniable. This is the period of what is usually styled the " second re- formation," and it was for a strict adher- ence to its principles that Cameron and Renwick, and their valiant coadjutors, were called to pour out their blood on the high places of the field. To these princi- ples, as of universal importance and ap- plicability, Reformed Presbyterians still avow their attachment. In the year 1638, William of Nassau was called to the throne of the three king- doms. Pie proceeded, among the first acts of his reign, to give a civil establishment to religion in his dominions. Episcopacy was established in England and Ireland, and Presbytery in Scotland, by the sole authority of the king and parliament, even before the assembly of the church was permitted to meet. And thus the old prin- ciple of the royal supremacy over the church was retained, and incorporated with the very vitals of the revolution settlement. The object of the civil rulers was, as usual, to make the church a tool of the .State. Into an establishment of this description the old consistent Covenanters could not go. They stood aloof and dis- sented from it as imperfect, Erastian, and 1 immoral. The principal objections which I they urged against incorporation with the ; revolution settlement, were : 1st. That the I Solemn League and Covenant, which they | considered the constitution of the empire, was entirely disregarded in its arrange- ments,— and 2d. That the civil rulers usurped an authority over the church, which virtually destroyed her spiritual in- dependence, and was at variance with the sole headship of the Redeemer himself. The world has just witnessed the spectacle of the large majority of the Scottish es- tablishment becoming " dissenters" on this very ground : a testimony that the old Reformed Presbyterians were right. For more than sixteen years they remained without a ministry ; but they were not discouraged. Though a small minority, they organized themselves into praying societies, in which they statedly met for religious worship. They exercised a watch- ful care over the moral and religious de- portment of each other. They fostered the spirit of attachment to Reformation principles, and waited until God would send them pastors. And at length they were gratified. In the year 1706, the Rev. John McMillan acceded to them from the established church. In 1743, he was joined by the Rev. Mr. Nairne, from the Secession Church, which had been recently organized, and they with ruling elders constituted the " Reformed Presby- tery." Through this, as the line of their connection with the ancient church, the Reformed Presbyterians in this country received their present ministry. They had, however, a ministry as well as a people in the North American colonies, before the Reformed Presbytery in Scot- land was organized by the Rev. Mr. McMillan and his coadjutors. In the same series of persecutions which drove the Huguenots of France and the Puritans of England to these shores, many of the Scottish and Irish Reformed Pres- byterians, were banished from their native lands, and scattered among the American colonies. In crossing the ocean and chan^- HISTORY OF THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN their aid, tiny w< re found with their chil- dn ii collected mi" praj ing societies^ and fbatering with care the principles of civil ami religious freedom, tor which they and their ancestors had suffered. Though the name Covenanter, like that of Puritan, w;is given them by way of reproach, they did not refuse it. Esteeming it th< ir honor to be in covenant with God and with one another, to do their whole duty, they accepted the designation, and even at- tempted in a public manner, to practise the thing which it indicates. In the year 17 13, aided by the Rev. Mr. Craighead, who had acceded to them from a synod of Presbyterians, organized a few years be- fore, the Covenanters in the colony of Pennsylvania, proceeded to enter into a solemn public engagement to abide by and maintain their principles. This transac- tion served to promote union among them- selves, and to keep them distinct from the other religious societies which were form- ing around them. The Reformed Presbyterian has ever been a missionary church. The presby- teries of that name in Scotland and Ire- land saw the promising field beyond the ocean, and hearkening to the Macedonian cry that came from their brethren there, they sent them the aid they desired. In 1752, the Rev. Mr. Cuthbertson arrived in America from the Reformed Presbytery of Scotland. He served the church alone for nearly twenty years, and was greatly instrumental both in promoting the piety of those among whom he labored, and fostering the spirit of opposition to British tyranny, which ultimately demanded and secured the independence of these United States. Being joined by Messrs. Linn and Dobbin, from the Reformed Presbytery of Ireland, in 1774, a presbytery was con- stituted, and the church took her stand as a distinct visible community in the North American colonies. In the year 1776, the declaration of American independence took place. It was hailed with joy by Reformed Presby- terians. They were opponents of the Bri- tish government from both principle and feeling, and in proportion to their numbers contributed largely to th i i;. volution. They took an active pari in the war. Some of them were members of the conventions which established 'In- states' constitutions, and subsequently of their legislatures; and although ti defects in the new government, tb dially recognised it as legitimate, and U\ rEKIAIS * IK K« II social P/orshipi in which the wbol gregation should join; the book »>f Psalma, which are of » i 1 x i 1 1 * - inspiration, is Irell adapted t«» the state of the church, and of ■ \iT\ Bsember: jn all ages and circum- stances ; and these Psalma, to the exclu- sion of all imitations and uninspired com- positions, are to Ix* usitl in social Wor- ship." The Reformed Presbyterian Church has never insisted on the use of any par- ticular version of the book of Psalms, any further than that BUch version was pre- ferable to all others. Her principle is, that the matter of the church's praise should be exclusively songs of inspiration, in the best attainable translation. On the subject of sacramental commu- nion the principles of the church are, that such communion is the most solemn, inti- mate and perfect fellowship that Chris- tians can enjoy with God and one another; that when Christians are associated to- gether in a church state under a definite creed, communion in the sacraments in- volves an approbation of the principles of that creed ; and that as the church is in- vested with authority, which she is bound to exercise, to keep the ordinances of God pure and entire : sacramental com- munion is not to be extended to those who do not approve the principles of the par- ticular church or submit themselves to her authority. In maintaining these prin- ciples the Reformed Presbyterian Church docs not design to unchurch any other religious denomination, or deny the Chris- tianity of its members. She recognizes the validity of the ordinances of all Chris- tian communities who hold the divine Head, and the plenary inspiration of his word. She rejoices to know that these contain many of the saints of God, who have fellowship with him and with one another at the table of the Lord, and she is willing to co-operate with them to the extent of her ability, in promoting the common Christianity. But she does not feel at liberty to allow every man to be the judge of his own qualification for scaling ordinances, to dispense these or- dinances to such as do not assent to her religious principles, or whom she could not submit to her discipline were they found violating their Christian obligations. ( )n tin- subject of i ' nrm ///, tb Reformed P in ( !hurch < \ tcstiiii a sentiment thai has sometimes been attributed to her, "that ci\ il government is founded in [ But she affirms," that civil society, to- gether with iis order, has its foundation in the natural constitution of man, and his external relationships in life; that it was instituted by the Creator ••in<] Ruler of the world immediately for tin- good of man, and ultimately for the divine glory ; and that the principles of God's moral law are the supremo standard according to which human society is obliged to regulate and conduct its affairs." And again, " that though civil society and its governmental institutions are not founded in grace, yet it is the duty of Christians to endeavor to bring over civil states tiie influence of the grace of the gospel, and to persuade such states to put themselves in subordination to Immanuel, for the protection and furtherance of the interests of religion and liberty." And again, in applying these principles to the constitution and government of the United States, she further declares, " that in a land where peculiar religious charac- teristics have never been extensively in- troduced into civil deeds of constitution ; where there is no apostacy from estab- lished and sworn to reformation ; where the constitutional evils complained of are simply omissions, not fundamental to the existence and essential operations of civil society ; where no immoral engagement is required, and no pledge either demanded or given to approve of or perpetuate de- fects ; where fundamental principles of the social state, moral in their nature, are adopted; where a testimony against de- fects is admitted, and the way left open, constitutionally, to employ all moral means to obtain a remedying of defects : the same obstacles stand not in the way of a Christian's entrance into civil communion, as do in a land where, such religious char- acteristics having been adopted, covenant- ed, and sworn to, but, having been de- parted from, upon the ruins of a reformed system, one of an opposite character has been introduced. And further, that under a testimony against defects, circumstanced as above stated, the Christian may con- 536 HISTORY OF THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. sistcntly enter into the civil fellowship of the country where he resides, using his liberty on a moral basis to seek the im- provement of the social state." And again, the church has declared, "that the acts and legislation of this church have at all times authorized all connection with the civil society and insti- tutions of the United States, which does not involve immorality." The position, then, which the Reformed Presbyterian Church in theUnited States is understood to occupy towards the go- vernment of the country, is simply this, believing that a representative democracy is the ordinance of God, she approves of its republican form and character. She perceives no moral evil in its constitution. She finds it promoting the best interests of the citizen, and throwing the shield of its protection over the Church of Jesus Christ ; and therefore she leaves her mem- bers at liberty to incorporate with it by becoming its citizens and assuming its offices, if they can do so in consistency with their own conscientious convictions. But she insists that no immoral man should be invested with office ; that the Bible is the rule of official administration as well as private conduct ; and that civil rulers, in common with all other characters, are responsible to Jesus Christ as the " Prince of the kings of the earth, and Governor among the nations." Some Reformed Presbyterians have, from time to time, entertained the opinion that the constitution and government of the United States is essentially infidel and immoral, and that therefore they should be dissenters from both. And, principally on the ground of maintaining this opinion, in the year 1833, a number of ministers with adherents seceded from the General Synod or the church, and formed a sepa- rate organization. But the position of the church is as above stated. (See " Testi- mony," second and third editions, and " Proceedings of Synod," Pittsburg, Au- gust, 1835.) On the subject of covenanting, from the prominence given to which in their sys- tems, Reformed Presbyterians have often beeu called " Covenanters," the following requisition is made in the fourth article of their Terms of Communion: — "An acknowledgment that public social cove- nanting, upon proper occasions, is an ordi- nance of God ; and that such moral deeds as respectsjthe future, whether ecclesiasti- cal or civil, are of continued obligation, as well upon those who are represented in the taking of them, as upon those who ac- tually covenant, until the ends of them be effected." In common with other Christians, Re- formed Presbyterians believe that every individual believer is in covenant with God for himself personally, and that the Church of God is a covenant society, whose mem- bers are solemnly engaged to God, and one another, to do their whole duty. But in addition to this, it is their sentiment that, on special occasions of commanding importance — such as a time of great and threatened danger to the interests of church and state, or of attempted extensive re- formation in the church — men may and ought, both as individuals and by com- munities, to combine together, and mu- tually pledge themselves, under the solem- nity of an oath to God and one another, to sustain the right and oppose the wrong, in both civil and religious things. When such solemn pledge respects the future, it is binding on the individual or community which gives it, until its whole object be accomplished. Passing by the many in- stances of public social covenanting which occur in the history of the Hebrews under the Old Testament, an exemplification of the principle is presented in the famous League of Smalkalde, formed by the Lu- therans in 1530, when they pledged them- selves to one another and to God to main- tain and defend the Reformed religion against all its enemies. And there is another still more perfect and remarkable, in the Solemn League and Covenant, in which the friends of civil and religious liberty combined their energies to protect and secure the dearest interests of human- ity against the civil despot and religious persecutor. Society, at the time it was formed, was in a revolutionary condition. In the state, absolute anarchy seemed about to take the place of the civil despotism, which had for some time prevailed; and the very existence of the Protestant reli- gion in the British empire was threatened. In this emergency the friends of liberty HI8T0M OF Till: REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHI .-,,, i !,nti» ii.ul recourse t<> G ,,/ pubk covenant*! relief and encouragement. The} com- mitted themselves to God, and to one another b) the \\ ill of ( rod. Under the shield of the Solemn League and Cove- nant, th'1 Assembly of Divines at West- minster sat, and prepared the Confession of Faith and Catechisms for the world. It furnished the rallying point for the best friends of religion and Liberty while Eng- land was in anarchy, and Scotland in the grasp of the persecutor; and in its spirit many of the English Puritans and Scottish and Irish Reformed Presbyterians emi- grated to America, and gave their aid in making our country what it is. American Reformed Presbyterians approve of the great principle of com f>i nation for good under the oath of God, which this transac- tion illustrates, and hold themselves in readiness, when the exigencies of the time may demand, to exemplify it themselves as the age, country, and special circum- stances of their condition require. Reformed Presbyterians are scattered over the middle and Western States, and have a few congregations in the South. Their ministers possess much of the mis- sionary spirit, and spend a considerable portion of their time in preaching the gos- pel to the destitute of all descriptions, be- yond the bounds of their own immediate congregations. The practice of exposi- tory preaching prevails universally among them ; they will be found " lecturing," as it. is styled, over entire books of the Bible, as a stated part of the service of the Sab- bath ; and as errors and delusions arise, and are propagated in society, they are anions* the first to enter into an examina- tion of them, and utter the warn i them. 'I'll-- ministrj of Hi- Ri i terian Church bai ah its members men emim nl for talent, learning, and public spirit, nrho in proportion to their number, have had a share of the literary laboi honors of the country, Among the peo- ple, meetings for prayer and Christian conference, weekly and monthly, are statedly observed. Family worship, and attention to the moral and religious in- struction of th'- youth, as well as a p r- Bonal deportment becoming the gospel, are required of them as qualifications lor sa- cramental privileges. They have but few- endowments for religious or benevolent purposes, but are liberal in the support of the gospel, both at home and abroad. It is left to others to speak of the religious character, of both ministers and people. But it may be said in gratitude to the God of all grace, that he has not left them without a witness of his presence and ap- probation ; but that from year to year he has given them the assurance, that he is employing their instrumentality as a dis- tinct religious community, for the main- tenance of his truth, the conversion of sinners to Jesus Christ, and the prepara- tion of many saints for the celestial glory. The Reformed Presbyterian Church in the United States, is under the direction of a General Synod composed of six presbyteries, one of which is established among the heathen in Northern India. And she numbers at present, thirty or- dained ministers, eight licentiates, ten stu- dents of theology, fifty-one organized con- gregations, and about five thousand com- municants. Lb 538 HISTORY OF THE RESTORATIOMSTS. HISTORY OF THE RESTORATIONISTS. BY THE HON. CHAS. HUDSON, M. C. Restoratioxists believe that all men will ultimately become holy and happy. They maintain that God created only to bless ; and that, in pursuance of this pur- pose, he sent his Son to " be for salvation to the ends of the earth ;" that Christ's kingdom is moral in its nature, and ex- tends to moral beings in every state or mode of existence ; that the probation of man is not confined to the present life, but extends through the mediatorial reign ; and that, as Christ died for all, so, before he shall have delivered up the kingdom to the Father, all shall be brought to a parti- cipation of the knowledge and enjoyment of that truth, which maketh free from the bondage of sin and death. They believe in a general resurrection and judgment, when those who have improved their pro- bation in this life will be raised to more perfect felicity, and those who have mis- improved their opportunities on earth will come forward to shame and condemnation, which will continue till they become truly penitent ; that punishment itself is a me- diatorial work, a discipline, perfectly con- sistent with mercy ; that it is a means employed by Christ to humble and subdue the stubborn will, and prepare the mind to receive a manifestation of the goodness of God, which leadeth the sinner to true re- pentance.* That God was the rightful sovereign of the universe is a truth which no one will • Encyclopaedia of Religious Knowledge. deny ; and that he had a moral as well as a natural government, will be conceded by every believer in divine revelation. But man, the subject of this moral govern- ment, rebelled against Heaven, and set the laws of his Maker at defiance. In this defection, which was moral in its charac- ter, the whole world was involved. They had all gone out of the way ; there was none good, no not one. Now, it was to heal this moral defection, to subdue this rebel universe, and to bring all to true allegiance, that the kingdom of Christ was instituted. This lets us at once into the nature and extent of the Redeemer's king- dom, and shows most clearly the object of his reign. The defection was universal. It reached back to the commencement of time, and onward to the consummation of all things. It consisted in an alienation of heart and a perverseness of mind. It was, in a word, a moral epidemic, affecting every individual of our race. Such was the na- ture and extent of the disease ; and the cure must be co-respondent. Christ's kingdom, then, is moral in its nature, and universal in its extent. It is not an empire over matter, but over mind. He was placed at the head of this kingdom, not to exercise mere physical power, and thus subdue sinners by brute force ; not to operate upon men mechanically, and by the application of natural laws to restrain their outward actions. No ; he was in- that he might vested with regal authority HISTORY OF THE RRSTO RATION ISTS. t»v the employment of moral meant sub- due the 8TU propensities, and implant vir- tuous affections in the heart — thai he might induce men to return to their allegiance, become reconciled i" ( rod, and own him as their lawful sovereign. His kingdom is purely moral — the r* >t 1 of his empire is persuasion, anil the Bword he wields is the •word ef the Spirit. By an exhibition of his Father's love, by a display of the joys of heaven, by kind entreaty and stern re- buke, by promises and threatenings — by these, and means BUch as these, lie assails a rebel universe. With such weapons he will subdue our unregencrate hearts, and re-establish the: reign of* righteousness throughout the vast empire of the King Eternal. The nature, design, and extent of Christ's kingdom involve each other. His king- dom being moral, must apply to every moral being. Being clothed with autho- rity to put down rebellion, it must extend to as many as have rebelled. Being sent to heal the leprosy of sin, the healing medicine must be applied to as many as are diseased. No reason can be assigned for the establishment of this reign, which will not apply equally to every individual of our race. Did it flow from the love of God ? That love is universal, and em- braces the whole intelligent creation. Was it to bring men to their rightful Sovereign ? All were estranged from God by wicked works, and needed alike this reconciliation. Was it to subdue rebellion, so that the laws of God might be obeyed, and his character respected? Our whole species had revolted from heaven, and were alike in opposition to the reign of God. Every reason therefore, which can be assigned for the establishment of the mediatorial kingdom, shows that that kingdom includes the whole offspring of Adam. There is another consideration which proves beyond a doubt the universality of the Redeemer's kingdom. The very idea of a kingdom^ supposes laws, and these laws are binding upon all the subjects. No sovereign, how great soever may be his power, or extensive his dominion, has a right to command the obedience of a sin- gle individual who is not a subject of his kingdom. The Czar of Russia, potent as he is, and absolute as his power may be, has no right to extend h inch beyond his dominion. yVherev< r you limit his kingdom, you limit h: t<> command obedi< □ principle applies to the di\in<- gOVerntTM tit. J< >hovah himself in the plenitude of his power, has no moral right to extend his authority beyond his own kingdom. Hi right to command obedience is unlimited, simply because his kingdom lias no bounds. If yoil could limit, the one you would at the same lime limit the other. To whom then does Christ address his laws ' Who are under obligation to obej those moral precepts which /lowed from the lips of the dear Redeemer? The true answer to this question determines the extent of his king- dom. And surely there can be no dis- pute on this subject. Every enlightened Christian will allow that his precepts are universally binding ; that every human being, from our first progenitor down to his latest descendants, is under obligation to obey all known gospel requisitions, and ascribe glory to God and the Lamb. This settles the question in the most satisfac- tory manner, and proves beyond contro- versy that the kingdom of Christ is uni- versal. From this view of the subject it appears that the kingdom of Christ is moral or spiritual in its nature, unlimited in its ex- tent, and benevolent in its design ; that it was instituted by God to put down rebel- lion, and to bring all his creatures to the worship and enjoyment of himself. Do you ask from what scriptures we prove these positions? we answer, from the whole Bible. They are the fundamental principles of divine revelation. That all have sinned, and that Christ came to save sinners, is the summary of the Old Testa- ment and the compendium of the New. The very existence of the Christian scrip- tures show that Christ came to save sin- ners, and reconcile to God a world lying in wickedness. The Gospels prove it without the Epistles, and the Epistles without the Gospels. You may expunge from the New Testament any verse you please, any chapter you please, or any book you please, and the residue will clearly sustain these positions. Nay, you may expunge from the New Testament any five books you please, and you leave 540 HISTORY OF THE RESTORATIONISTS. the positions we have stated untouched. They are deeply interwoven with the whole Pfew Testament They constitute the hones and sinews, the letter and spirit, the life and soul of the Christian scriptures. Take from the New Testament the im- portant facts that Christ came to save sinners, that his kingdom is moral in its nature, and extends over all, and you sap the foundation of the gospel — you extract the life-blood of the living oracles of God. We do not rely upon particular texts, so much, as upon the pervading spirit of the Bible. We draw our conclusions from the whole rather than from a part. One argument 0f this character will outweigh a hundred arguments founded on particular passages or isolated expressions. When we reason from particular texts, the argu- ment frequently turns upon the meaning of a single term ; and as words have dif- ferent significations, we are somewhat liable to mistake the import of a term, and hence all arguments of this sort are more or less uncertain. But where we draw our argument from the fundamental principles of the word of God — where the conclusion results from the very being of scriptures, and any other conclusion would oppose the whole design of revelation, we arrive at the highest degree of moral cer- tainty. But if there is any charm in particular passages, any thing like ocular demonstra- tion in the precise phraseology of the scriptures, we can produce a multitude of passages in support of our views. We are told that Christ came " to save sinners," " to be for salvation to the ends of the earth," " to be the Saviour of the world;" that he " died for our sins," " for the sins of the whole world ;" that there was given to him a " kingdom, that all people, na- tions, and languages should serve him ;" that he " will reconcile the world to him- self," " swallow up death in victory," and bring " every creature in heaven and on earth to confess him to be Lord to the glory of God the Father." This phraseo- logy, with which the Bible is filled, con- curs with all the great principles of divine revelation, in sustaining the views we have expressed concerning the nature, design, and extent of the Redeemer's kingdom. There is one passage to which we will call especial attention. Christ says to Pilate, " My kingdom is not of this world." This passage, taken in connection with the circumstances which called it forth, shows most conclusively the nature of his empire. Judea at that time was subject to the Emperor of Rome, and was ruled by a Roman governor. Before Pilate, this Roman governor, the Jews accused the Saviour. Knowing that the Romans sus- pected them of conspiring against their authority, and of intending to raise up a prince of their own who should deliver them from the Roman yoke, they brought Jesus before Pilate, and accused him of being, or pretending to be, a temporal prince, and of course an enemy to the Romans. Pilate interrogated him on this subject — " Art thou the king of the Jews ?" In answer to this Jesus replies, " My king- dom is not temporal, but spiritual — not secular, but moral." Our Saviour did not mean to say that his kingdom did not exist in this world, but that it was not worldly in its character. He meant to inform Pi- late that his government was of such a nature as would not in the least interfere with his ; that his business was not to lead armies to battle and to victory, but to teach men to subdue their evil passions ; that he came not to deliver his people from the Roman yoke, but to redeem them from the bondage of sin and Satan. The view we have taken of this sub- ject shows that the kingdom of Christ has no reference to climates, states, or worlds, but is the same at all periods of time, and in all modes of existence. His kingdom does not apply to one world to the exclusion of the other. It commences in this state of being, but it is not bounded by our temporal existence. The reign of Christ has no reference to our tempo- ral existence, he takes no cognizance of our earthly being as such. We are his subjects, not temporally and corporally, but morally and intellectually. The death of the body does not in the least affect our allegiance to him, or alter the relation he' sustains to us. In all states and worlds, where we are moral and in- tellectual beings, we are the citizens of his realm, and the subjects of his king- dom. If we look at the origin or design, na- HI8T0RY OF THE RESTO RATION I8TS. tun- or extent of Christ's kingdom, \\<- shall U- led irresistibly to the conclusion thai it extends into a future life. In whit then did this kingdom ori'_'i- What gave rise to the n .. mcr I It resulted from the goodness of God, The divine Teacher himself, says that "God so loved the world, that be gave his only bt Tlir missiou of Christ then origi- nated in divine benevolence. And this unpurchased benevolence existed from eternity, fills all space, extends to all worlds and all beings. It was moreover manifested to the world, when they were M dead in trespasses and sins." And un- less we limit the goodness of God to the brief period of human existence, we must allow that the kingdom of grace extends into a future life. The nature of Christ's kingdom con- firms this opinion. We have already Been that his kingdom is a moral kin£- dom ; that he sways his empire not over our bodies, but our minds. If his empire were temporal, its operations would cease with our temporal existence; if his sway were to be exerted over our bodies merely, it would cease with our natural lives. But his kingdom relates to our moral and intellectual existence. And do these cease at temporal death 1 Does man cease to be an intelligent being, when he changes the mode of his existence ? Does he cease to be accountable to his God, when he throws off this frail body ? Certainly not. Man is a moral and an intelligent being in the future world, and as such is a sub- ject of Christ's kingdom. The design of the gospel kingdom ab- solutely requires that it should extend to all worlds, where sinful beings are found, and that it should continue till its end be accomplished. Every consideration which could have prompted the divine Being to constitute this kingdom, or his Son to ac- cept the trust committed to him, applies to a future life as much as to the present. And besides, if we look at the great object which the gospel has in view, we must allow that it is not limited to our present mode of existence. The gospel is de- signed to destroy sin and to reconcile all men to God ; but this is not accomplished in this world. Does sin put off its sin- fulness by pM"ng the Sun lv oat Then the gospel m tend into a future 1.' tbject i-> not attained. U the enormity of sin inci \>\ temporal death .' N«»t in the Why then is not man the subject of mercy as much after death as I We cannot for the bono; I • allow that death hounds his empire. I' lw a total defeat on the part of t! tain of our salvation, to permit every rebel subject who happens to pass the o\ death, to remain in rebellion to eternity. And further; the multitudes wl. before the advent of Christ, and ti. heathen lands who have never heard of him, and infants and idiots in countries where the gospel is known, are all the subjects of Christ's kingdom. But they die without even knowing that they have such a Prince. How can they in any rational sense of the term be said to be Christ's subjects, unless his kingdom ex- tend beyond death ? How can they be accountable to him of whom they know nothing ? or " how can they believe on him of whom they have not heard?" We have already seen that the kingdom of Christ is universal, that all men are given him of the Father, and that he extends his laws over the whole human family. But practically this cannot be true in this life. His reign can effect none but those who hear of him, are made acquainted with his laws, and are subdued by their converting influence. In what practical sense are the heathen the subjects of Christ's kingdom in this state ? They do not obey his laws, for they do not know them ; they have no faith in his name, for they have never heard of him. This is true of a vast majority of the human family. From the creation to the present time, not one in ten thousand while on earth, has ever heard of the name of Christ. Now with what propriety can the scriptures teach that all men are given to Christ, and that his kingdom in- cludes every human being, if his reign is confined to this world ? These scriptures can have no tolerable sense, if the reign cf Christ be limited to our temporal exist- ence. Thus we see that every view, which we can take of the subject, leads us to re- 542 HISTORY OF THE RESTORATIONISTS. ject the popular notion that the mediato- rial kingdom begins and ends here in time. We must give up all our notions of the nature, extent, and design of Christ's kingdom, supported as they are by the living oracles of God, or reject that opin- ion which limits the grace of the Holy one of Israel to our earthly existence. We are told on the authority of an in- spired apostle, that this world does not bound the reign of the Redeemer. St. Paul says, " Whether we live, we live unto the Lord ; or whether we die, we die unto the Lord. Whether we live there- fore, or die, we are the LordV For to this end Christ both died and rose and re- vived that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.1' Here we are expressly told that the living and the dead are the Lord's, and that Christ died and rose that he might possess them. But how can Christ be Lord of the dead, if the means of grace are confined to this world ? We allow that he may be Lord of the dead, inasmuch as he will raise them from the grave, and bring them to the bar of his judgment-seat. But this cannot be the only sense in which he is their Lord or Ruler. We have already shown that his kingdom is moral, and that its object is to change the character, and renovate the heart. But the resur- rection, self-considered, is a mere physi- cal process, and can accomplish no end in the kingdom of grace. As it does not of itself renovate the heart, so of itself, it can never bring about that subjection which is the ultimate object of the Sa- viour's mission. The same may be said of the judgment, if it inflicts an endless punishment. It can do nothing towards improving the mind, subduing the unholy affections, or regenerating the heart — the grand object for which the Messiah's kingdom was ordained. If Christ is Lord of the dead only, as he will raise them to life, and adjudge them to an endless punishment, he is not the Lord of them in any sense, that will subserve the great object of his mission. We must then allow that Christ is Lord of the dead in some benevolent sense — in some sense which will improve them in virtue and happiness ; or else allow that he died on the cross and arose from the dead to attain an object which has nothing to do with the design of his mission. That Christ did continue his labors in a future life, is evident from the testimony of St. Peter. He informs us that the gos- pel was preached to the dead ; that Christ after his crucifixion went and preached to the inhabitants of the old world, who were disobedient in the days of Noah. This passage appears to me to be decisive on this subject. I am aware of the dif- ferent expositions which have been given of this passage, and I am equally aware that they contradict the apostle in almost every particular ; and that, if such lati- tude is taken in expounding the word of God, we can make the sacred volume teach what we please. In the popular theology of the day, death is made to occupy a very com- manding position. One class of Chris- tians contends that death destroys all sinfulness, and introduces all men into heaven in a moment ; the other that it cuts off the means of grace, and fixes the character for eternity. Both of these representations make death more powerful than the Lord Jesus Christ. The one supersedes the gospel, the other defeats it. The former makes death the saviour, the latter the destroyer of a great part of mankind. But the ad- vocates of both these systems seem to mis- take the nature of Christ's kingdom. They seem to forget that man is a moral being, and that his character is affected by moral and not by physical causes. They appear to regard our holy religion as a mere physical engine, and man as a piece of passive machinery. They de- grade the gospel by confounding it with the laws of nature, and thus detract from the honor of Christ. They both ascribe to death, a mere physical operation, the power of affecting character. The for- mer supposes that death will convert the most abandoned in an instant into the confirmed saint, so that he will be for ever beyond the reach of all punishment, and be in -the enjoyment of the most per- fect bliss ; the latter supposes that death so corrupts the sinner as to place him in an instant beyond the reach of mercy, and to consign him to infinite, intermi- nable anguish. But it is strange, passing HISTORY OF THE RESTOH • il men with tip' scriptur i mda can ke tin- nature of the gospel, .'is to degrade this spiritual, divine, life-giving system, below the frigid laws which govern senseless matter! I' is surprising that death should be thought •ut as to supersede or defeat the mission of Christ, when the scriptures declare thai he came to destroy death, and him that hath the power of death ! The position that death places us be- yond the reach of mercy, is ill direct op- position to the system \ . is be end wee these terms ;uv loose in their signification, and are frequently uaed in a limited sense ; that the original terms being often used in the pluraJ number, clearly demonstrates thai the period, though indefinite, is limited in its \cr\ nature. They maintain that the meaning of the term must always be sough* in the 8ubjecl to which it is applied; and that then- is nothing in the nature of punishment which will justify an endless sens It is hardly necessary to enter into an elaborate argument to sustain the positions here laid down. It has been shown again and again by some of the brightest orna- ments of the church, that the terms ren- dered everlasting and for ever are indefi- nite in their signification, and are used with great latitude. Instances have been produced in which the Hebrew word olam occurs in the Old Testament, in connexion with terms and phrases, the literal render- ing of which would be, " for ever, and farther? "for ever and ever, and far- ther," " for ever, and beyond it ;" — a cir- cumstance which plainly shows that the word is used in a limited sense. In many places olam is rendered ancient and old, and applied to landmarks, people, paths, places, times, nations, &c. (See Prov. xxii. 28 ; Isa. xliv. 7 ; Jer. xviii. 15 ; Ezek. xxxvi. 2 ; Ps. Ixxvii. 5 ; Deut. xxii. 7 ; Isa. Ixiii. 9; Job xxii. 15 ; Prov. xxiii. 10.) This term is also rendered, any, long, any time, long time, long home, long dead, &c. All of which clearly proves that an absolute eternity cannot be the signification of the term in these passages. The term in the New Testament which corresponds with olam in the old, is aion, and is variously rendered. Paul speaks of walking according to the course of this world, of the ages to come, and of the mystery hid from ages and generations. In these passages aion is translated course and ages, and consequently is used in a limited sense. The same term is rendered world in nearly thirty passages of scrip- ture. The apostle speaks of " the god of this world? " the ruler of this world? " the princes of this world? and the * Encyclopaedia of Religious Knowleds rid ? of ' liven d from the pre* ni < ? and of being "conformed t<> this world? We also read of the end of the world, of which occurred bt fort the u orl ' i.-id before the foundation of tin world; also, from the & of the world, and since the world began. We also read of the world* in the plural, and even of the ends of the worlds. dor. iv. J ; Bpb. v. K'; l Cor. Gal. i. 4 ; Kern. xii. 2 ; 1 Cor. ii. 6, and many other texts.) In \\\<-s<- and many Other texts, aion is rendered world, and hence must have a limited signification ; for it would be absurd to speak of tide eternity, of the 'end of the eternity, &c. We would pursue this subject farther, but it is thought unnecessary. Every intelligent believer in the doctrine of end- less misery will readily allow, that these terms are very frequently, if not general- ly, used in a limited sense. These terms are allowed to have a great latitude of signification — sometimes they are used in an endless sense, and sometimes in a limited sense. It is manifest then that they can prove nothing in this controversy. We admit that these terms are in a few instances applied to the misery of the wicked ; but they do not and cannot of themselves prove this misery to be endless. The word is of doubtful signification, and its meaning must be sought in the context, or determined by the subject, or from other passages. The advocates of inter- minable punishment show the weakness of their cause, by resting it upon terms which they themselves allow to be of doubtful signification. In fact, the argument founded upon the words, for ever, everlasting, ccc, if it were sound, would overthrow the whole gospel dispensation. The Jew can employ it against Christianity with as much force, as the believers in endless misery can employ it against the restoration. The gospel itself professes to supersede the legal dispensation, and rests its claims upon the fact, that the priesthood of Aaron, and the rites of the law were never do- signed to be perpetual. But the Jew will tell you that the terms everlasting, eternal, and for ever, are applied in nearly a hun- dred instances to the rites and ceremo- 6 several other pass- ages, where the same word occurs twice, and where all will admit that the * not the same in each case. In Romans wi. 25, 2(>, Paul speaks of the "mystery which was kept secret since the world be- gan, but is now made manifest, according to the commandment of the everlasting God." In this passage the word in (pies- tion occurs twice ; in one case it is ren- dered icorlrf, and in the Other everlasting. In the latter case the term has an endless sense, because it is applied to the Deity ; in the former case it is used in a limited sense, because the passage speaks of the beaming of the world. In Titus i. 2, the apostle speaks of eternal life which God promised before the warld began. Here again the same word occurs twice. Once it is rendered eternal and applied to life, and consequently is used in an end- less sense ; and once it is rendered uarld, and must be used in a limited sense, for it would be an absurdity to speak of the beginning and end of eternity. In Habak. iii. 6, the word " everlasting" is twice em- ployed ; once it is applied to the moun- tains, which the passage declares, " were scattered," and once to the ways of God, which we know are unchangeable. We have here three several instances in which the terms rendered everlasting and for ever are twice employed in the same passage, by way of antithesis ; and yet every person will admit that the word has one meaning in one part of the sen- tence, and another meaning in the other. Why then may not the same term in the same construction be employed to denote an endless duration in the one case, and a limited duration in the other, in the 25th of Matthew, as well as in the 16th of Ro- mans, the 1st of Titus, or the 3d of Ha- bakkuk ? From what we have offered upon this subject, I think it follows most conclu- sively that the words rendered eternal and for ever, are loose and indefinite in their meaning; and that we must look at the subject to which they are applied, in order to determine their sense in any given case. It has also been shown that there is noth- 548 HISTORY OF THE RESTORATIONISTS. ing in the nature of punishment which would give an endless sense to the term, when applied to that subject ; but on the contrary, chastisement, the only punish- ment worthy of a merciful God, necessa- rily implies a limitation. But in contending for the final subjuga- tion of the world, we do not overlook the agency of man. It is no part of our creed that man is to be passive in the great work of salvation. We believe that all men will ultimately be made happy ; because we believe that all men will of their own accord bow submissively and become the willing subjects of the Prince of Peace. The free agency instead of constituting any objection to our views, is the medium through which the Spirit of God operates in bringing men to holiness and happiness. On any system of reli- gion, those who are saved, are saved will- ingly; and if one free agent can be brought to penitence without impairing his free- dom, the same may be true of all. Restorationists believe that the doctrine of the Restoration is the most consonant to the perfections of the Deity, the most worthy of the character of Christ, and the only doctrine which will accord with pious and devout feelings, or harmonize with the scriptures. They teach their fol- lowers, that ardent love to God, active benevolence to man, and personal meek- ness and purity, are the natural results of those views. Though the Restorationists, as a sepa- rate sect, have arisen within a few years, their sentiments are by no means new. Clemens Alexandrinus, Origen, Didymus of Alexandria, Gregory Nyssen, and se- veral others, among the Christian fathers of the first four centuries, it is said, be- lieved and advocated the restoration of all fallen intelligences. A branch of the Ger- man Baptists, before the Reformation, held this doctrine, and propagated it in that country. Since the Reformation this doc- trine has had numerous advocates ; and some of them have been among the bright- est ornaments of the Church. Among the Europeans, we may mention the names of Jeremy White of Trinity College, Dr. Burnet, Dr. Cheyne, Chevalier Ramsay, Doctor Hartley, Bishop Newton, Mr. Stone- house, Mr. Petitpierre, Dr. Cogan, Mr. Lindsey, Dr. Priestly, Dr. Jebb, Mr. Relly, Mr.Kenrick, Mr. Belsham,Dr. Southworth Smith, and many others. Jn fact the Res- toration is the commonly received doctrine among the English Unitarians at the pre- sent day. In Germany, a country which, for several centuries, has taken the lead in all theological reforms, the orthodox have espoused this doctrine. The Restoration was introduced into America about the middle of the eighteenth century ; though it was not propagated much till about 1775 or 1780, when John Murray and Elhanan Winchester became public advocates of this doctrine, and by their untiring labors extended it in every direction. From that time to the present, many men have been found in all parts of our country, who have rejoiced in this be- lief. This doctrine found an able advo- cate in the learned Dr. Chaunccy, of Bos- ton. Dr. Rush, of Philadelphia, Dr. Smith, of New York, Mr. Foster, of New Hamp- shire, may also be mentioned as advocates of the Restoration. Most of the writers, whose names are given above, did not belong to a sect which took the distinctive name of Restorationists. They were found in the ranks of the va- rious sects into which the Christian world has been divided. And those who formed a distinct sect were more frequently de- nominated Universalists than Restoration- ists. In 1785, a convention was organized at Oxford, Massachusetts, under the aus- pices of Messrs. Winchester and Murray. And as all who had embraced universal salvation believed, that the effects of sin and the means of grace extended into a future life : the terms Restorationist and Zhiivcrsalist were then used as synony- mous ; and those who formed that conven- tion adopted the latter as their distinctive name. During the first twenty-five years, the members of the Universalist Convention were believers in a future retribution. But about the year 1818, Hosea Ballon, now of Boston, advanced the doctrine that all retribution is confined to this world. That sentiment at first was founded upon the old Gnostic notion, that all sin origi- nates in the flesh, and that death frees the soul from all impurity. Subsequently some of the advocates for the no-future- HI8T0RY OF THE RESTORATIONISTS. punishment scheme, adopted the d. of materialism, and hence maintained that the soul was mortal ; thai the \\li«»l«' man died ■ temporal death, and thai the resur- rection was the grand event which would introduce all men into heavenly felicity. Those who have since taken to them- - i\i - the name of Restorationists, viewed these innovations as corruptions of the gospel, and raised their voices against them. But a majority of the convention having espoused these sentiments, no re- formation could he effected. The Restorationists, helieving these er- rors to ho increasing, ami finding in the connexion what appeared to them to be a want of engagedncss in the cause of true piety, and in some instances an open op- position to the organization of churches ; and finding that a spirit of levity and bit- terness characterized the public labors of their brethren, and that practices were springing up totally repugnant to the prin- ciples of Congregationalism, resolved to obey the apostolic injunction, by coming out from among them, and forming an in- dependent association. Accordingly, a con- vention, consisting of Rev. Paul Dean, Rev. David Pickering, Rev. Charles Hud- son, Rev. Adin Ballou, Rev. Lyman May- nard, Rev. Nathaniel Wright, Rev. Phile- mon R. Russell, and Rev. Seth Chandler, and several laymen, met at Mendon, Massachusetts, August 17, 1831, and formed themselves into a distinct sect, and took the name of Universal Restorationists. Since the organization of this associa- tion, they have had accessions of six or seven clergymen, so that their whole num- ber of clergymen in 1834, was estimated at fourteen, and the number of their so- cieties at ten or twelve. With all or nearly all these societies an organized church is associated. These societies are principally in Massachusetts, though there is a large society in Providence, Rhode Island, and one in New York city. The largest socie- ties are those of Boston and Providence. The Independent Messenger, a paper published weekly at Mendon, Massachu- setts, by Rev. Adin Ballou, is devoted to the cause of Restorationism. It ought also to be slated in connection with this, that there are several clergy- men who agree with the Restorationists in sentiment, \sh<> still adhere '«> the I salist connexion. And if we were '•> pr<-- sent a complete list of those arho believe that all men will ultimate!} b we might enumerate many of the I Unitarian and Christian clergymen. This ment prevails more er leas among the laity of ever} sect. The Restorationists are Congregationalists on the subject of church government In relation to the trinity, (itnnrment, and free trill, the Restorationists' views harmonize with those of the Unitarians. In relation to water bap/is///, they maintain that it may be administered by immersion, suffusion, or sprinkling, cither to adults or infants. They do not regard baptism as a saving ordinance ; and they are rather disposed to continue this rite from the example of Christ and his apos- tles, than from any positive command contained in the New Testament. They maintain that the sacrament of the Supper is expressly commanded by Christ, and should be open to all believers of every name and sect ; and while they admit that every organized church should have the power to manage its own private and local affairs, they recognise no power in any church to exclude believers of other de- nominations from the table of our common Master. The difference between the Restoration- ists and Universalists relates principally to the subject of a future retribution. The Universalists believe that a full and perfect retribution takes place in this world, that our conduct here cannot affect our future condition, and that the moment man exists after death, he will be as pure and as happy as the angels. From these views the Restorationists dissent. They main- tain that a just retribution does not take place in time ; that the conscience of the sinner becomes callous, and does not in- crease in the severity of its rcprovings with the increase of guilt ; that men are invited to act with reference to a future life ; that if all are made perfectly happy at the commencement of the next state of existence, they are not rewarded accord- ing to their deeds ; that if death intro- duces them into heaven, they are saved by death, and not by Christ; and if >hey are made happy by being raised from the j 550 HISTORY OF THE RIVER BRETHREN. dead, they are saved by physical, and not by moral means, and made happy without their agency or consent ; that such a sentiment weakens the motives to virtue, | tun-. and gives force to the temptations of vice ; that it is unreasonable in itself, and opposed to many passages of scrip- HISTORY THE RIVER BRETHREN, BY A FAMILIAR FRIEND. The unsettled state of affairs in Europe during the greater part of the seventeenth, and former half of the eighteenth century, subjected many German, French, Swiss and others, not only to the devastations consequent in the train of war, but also to sore persecutions, because they could not conscientiously change their religious opinions, so as to coincide invariably with those of the reigning Prince. The reli- gious complexion was not unfrequently influenced by the character of the rulers — as they changed, revolutions in religion look place. Of this, we have striking cases in Frederick II., Frederick III. and others. Frederick II., Elector Palatine, embraced the Lutheran faith : Frederick III. became a Catholic ; Lodovic V. re- stored the Lutheran church : his son, and successor was a Calvinist. These, in their turn, protected some, others they did not. — Besides these unpropitious changes, of being subjects of persecution, the Ger- mans occupied the unenviable position of living between two powerful belligerent rivals, whose element seems to have been war. During the period of the latter half of the seventeenth, and early part of the eighteenth century, Germans, as well as Swiss of several Protestant denominations, emigrated to the English colonies in Amer- ica— principally, however, to New York, and Pennsylvania, where every species of religion was protected. The latter pro- vince had, from its commencement, been an asylum of many persons whose pecu- liar opinions rendered them impatient of, or obnoxious to, their native governments : hence motives, not to be condemned, in- fluenced many to bid a long farewell to their Vatcrland — the enjoyment of reli- gious tolerance, and the certain prospect of bettering their temporal condition.* The principal Protestant denomination that emigrated from Germany were Men* nonites, some of whom settled at Ger- mantown as early as 16S3 ; Lutherans, German Reformed, Taufek 'German Baptists, or Brethren) Schwenkfeldcrs, and Moravians, all of whom had regularly organized congregations in Pennsylvania, prior to 1742. About the middle of the seventeenth century, 1651, Jeremiah Felbingcr, of Berlin, Prussia, wrote and published a book, entitled "Des Ciiristlichex Hand- buechlei^s,"! setting forth and ably * Prov. Rec, III. 341. f The preface to this book is dated, Berlin, August 20, A. D. 1651. HisTom or THE lvl\ i;k bketiikkn .,.,1 vindicating doctrines and sentiments \\ bich wtn subsequently embraced, and promuU gated by many ft' the Tatufi /', or t rerman About the year 17054 Alexander Mack, a native <>f Shriesheim, between Heidel- berg and Manheim, having been brought under the influence of that spirit which stored the bo called Pietists of Germany , commenced carefully and pray fully to ex- amine the .New Testament, to learn its requirements, — Seen others, alike influ- enced, united witli him and formed an association lor mutual edification. They resolved to lay aside all preconceived opinions and traditional observances, and to be governed by the undisputed precepts of Christ. The first consociatcs witli Alexander Mack, were George Grcbi, of Hcsse-Cas- sel ; Luke Fetter, of Hessia ; Andrew Boney, of Basil, Switzerland ; John Kip- ping of Wirtcinberg; Anna Margaretta Mack, Johanna Kipping, Johanna Noe- thiger or Mrs. Boney. On a close and diligent search of the scriptures, and a careful examination of authentic history of the primitive christian church, they arrived at the inevitable con- clusion, as they hopefully believed, that the apostles and primitive christians ad- ministered the ordinance of baptism to believing adults only, by trine-immersion.:]: And in conformity with this custom, they now resolved to be immersed as obedient followers of their Lord and Master, Matt, iii. lb'. The question now arose : Wlio is first to administer this sacred ordinance ? None of them, as yet, had been immersed. To this end, one of their number visited, in various parts of Germany, Mennonite con- * Felbinger's book comprises seven chap- ters : — I. Of the creation of man, his fall and resto- ration. II. Of receiving infants into the* visible chnrcb of the Lord. III. Of holy baptism. IV. Of church discipline. V. Of feet-washing. VI. Of the holy supper. VII. Of the prohibition of oaths, f Proud's His. Pa. II. 346. i Rechte aind Ordnungen des Hauses Gottes, by A. Mack, 1774. . ii I, to COOf i' with Hi- h touching the ordinance of baptism. Mam <»f the Mennonite* admitted thai tbi oance, performed by hnrflcn ion, if done from pure motives — love to the Saviour, was proper ; hut still maintained that if administered by pouring or aspersion, it was equally valid ; as no paiticulai has been prescribed. Mack and his consociatCS did not concur with the views of the Mennonites on this subject: they had determined to yield to their convictions, as to the result ofinvea- tigating the Scriptures and historical testi- mony. It was by common consent agreed, that Mack should assume the responsibility of baptising the small number of believers. However, as he conceived himself ^till unbaptized, he declined to comply, in this instance, with their ardent wishes. They now resolved to fast, and in prayer and supplication to a throne of grace, to ask God for directions. As did the Eleven, Acts i. 26, they now cast lots as to which of the brethren should be the first baptizcr. Lots were accordingly cast ; and he upon whom it fell, baptized one of the brethren. The baptized one, now baptized him by whom he had been baptized ; and the first baptizcr then baptized the others. But upon whom the lot fell to baptize first, has been studiously concealed to this day. For it had been previously agreed among themselves, never to disclose the name upon whom the lot should fall. " Sic gaben,'"' says Mack, " aber /otter (bland- er ihr Wort von side, class cs nicmand vcrratlien solltc, uchher der erste Taei/fer unter ihncn gcicescn da wit nicmand Ursaclte nehmen moechtc,sic irgend mach eincm Mcnschcn znnennen, widen sic solclic ThorJicit schon von Paido an den Corinthern bestrafct fit nd> rn ." They were baptized early in the morn- ing, in the river Eder, in Schwartzonau.* They now formally organized a church, consisting of believing adults only. Alex- ander Mack was chosen as their teacher. * On account of persecution at home, they resorted to Schwartzenau, in the country of Witgensteen and Creyfelt, in th? Dntchy of Cleves, belonging to the King of Prussia, where they had "libertv of mretin? without being disturbed. Proud's His. Pa., ii. 346. 55-; HISTORY OF THE RIVER BRETHREN. Their number soon increased, and grew to some importance, in the course of the first seven years. In 1715, besides a nu- merous congregation in Schwartzenau ; in the Palatinate, and other places, co- workers were raised to labor in the har- vest, in the persons of John Henry Kalk- loeser, of Frankmihal, a town in the Pala- tinate of the Rhine ; Christian Libe and Abraham Duboy, of Epstein, in Hesse- Darmstadt; John Nass, Peter Becker, of Dilsheim. With these were associated John Henry Trout, and his brother, Henry I Holtzappel and Stephen Koch ; the greater I part of them went in the first seven years, to Crcyfelt. John Henry Kalkloeser and Abraham Duboy, came to Schwartzenau, so did also George Balser Ganss, of Urn- stadt, a town in the district of Hesse ; and Michael Eckerlin, of Strasburg. The mother church left Schwartzenau for Serustervin, in Friesland, a province of Holland ; and thence in 1719, immigrated to Pennsylvania, where twenty families of them settled at, and about Germantown, where the church increased considerably, receiving members from the inhabitants along the Wissahickon, and from Lancas- ter county. In 1723, the members in Germantown and vicinity formed them- selves into a community under Peter 1 Becker, who was chosen official baptize r, and who, in succeeding years, collected i the dispersed brethren in Lancaster county , into a distinct society at Muclback, (Mill- creek.) Among the prominent members of the church here, was Conrad Beisel, i who was baptized in 1724, in Pequae creek, by Peter Becker. Beisel was after- wards the founder of another order of Ger- man Baptists, usually known by the name of D linkers ;* or more properly : Seventh' Den i German Baptists, at Ephrata, Lan- ; caster county. f Congregations were also organized un- | der the supervision of Becker, at Cones- toga creek ; and in Olcy, Berks county. In 1729, Alexander Mack, the Father of the first society, accompanied by a num- • Buck, Hendricks, and others, who follow the traditionary history of this denomination, style them Hunkers. f Article German Seventh-Day Baptists, by W. M. Fahnestock, M. D. ber of his consociates, arrived in this country. Im Jahr, 1729, says Peter Miller, in his Chronica Ephra : ist Alex- ander Mack, der Urstaender der Taeu- fer, samt den nebrigeu gcdachter Ge- meindc von Friesland abgcsetzt und in Pen nsylvanien angekommen* Peter Becker was a man of considerable property, much of which he devoted to the common use of the recently organized society. By his indefatigable exertions, and others elected as teachers, among them, churches were organized in various parts of Pennsylvania, and some in New Jersey. The German Baptists, or Breth- ren, as they called themselves, in common , with other religious denominations, grew j luke-warm, their number diminished rather | than increased with the population of the country.f A general lethargy prevailed on the subject of religion in the severa1 provinces, till about the year 1733, or '34, " when the spirit of God began extraor- * September 15, 1729, the Ship Allen, James Craigie, Master, from Rotterdam, arrived at Philadelphia with 126 passengers, consisting of 59 Palatine families — names and heads of j families are : Alexander Mack, Johannes Mack, Felte i Maok, Alexander Mack, jr., John Henrich Kalkloeser, Andreas Boney, William Knipper, I Jacob Lisley, Christopher Matter, Paul Libe- kip, Christopher Kalkloeser, Christian Cropp, Andreas Cropp, Jacob Cropp, Christian Cropp, jr., Hans Schlachter. Johannes Pellickhover, Johannes Kipping, Hans George Koch, John Michael Amwig, Hans Ulrich. Kisle, Ulrich Eley, Reinhart Hammer, Samuel Galler, Con- | rad filer, Hans Casper Kulp, John Martin j Crist, Hisbert Bender, Jacob Possart, Jacob I Wise, Christian Schneider, Hans Contee, Jo- hannes Flickinger, Felte Beecher, John Jacob j Hopbach, Johannes Mackinterfeer, Christian \ Kitsintander, Lenhart Amwigh, Mathias Sch- j neider, Joseph Prunder, Mathias Ultand, Jo- j hannes Prunder, George Hoffart, Johannes j Perger, Johannes Weightman, Philip Michael • Fiersler, Valentine Gerhart Hisle, Hans George Clauser, Henrich Holstein, Felte Ra- fer, George Fetter, John Jacob Knecht, Alex- ander Till, Henrich Peter Middledorf, David Lisley, Jacob Possart, Daniel Crop. Prov. Record, iii., p. 391, 392. f Proud, speaking of them, in 1765, says: They are a quiet, inoffensive people, not nu- merous, at present on the decline. — There are 419 families, 2095 persons, at 5 of a family, and 4 meeting houses in different parts of the pro- vince.— Proud's His. Pa., ii., 347. HI8T0RY OF THE RIVER BRETHREN. dinarily to est in and wonderfully to work among the people in various parts of the provinces;11 and produced great awaken- ii. I revivals of religion," which, as history and experience confirm, are tial, as it were by a sudden shock ellec- tually to counteract the Bkiggish tendency in the human mind, on the subjeet of re- ligion ; and, which have always been pro- duetive of the greatest good to the cause of pure and undetiled religion. This was the ease during the period of the Reforma- tion in Germany, Switzerland, Holland, France, Denmark, and England, which were at that time severally visited by co- pious showers of divine influence. From the day of the Great Aivakcni?ig, of 1740, a change in religious feeling and correspondent action came over society ; " for it appears from the history of reli- gious opinions and practices since 1733," that the most important practical idea then received prominence and power, and has held its place ever since, is the idea of the New Birth — the doctrine, in order to be saved, a man must undergo a change in his feelings and principles of moral ac- tion, which will be either accompanied, or succeeded by exercises of which he is conscious, and can give an account ; so that those who have been thus changed, may ordinarily be distinguished from those who have not.f The salutary effects of revivals were also experienced among the Germans:}: of Pennsylvania, during the last half of the past century. Among the several German denomina- tions, especially among the Mennonites, being the most numerous society in Lan- caster county, awakenings were more com- mon. Between sixty and seventy years ago, awakened persons of Mennonites, Lutherans, German Reformed, Brethren or Taeufer, " whose hearts were closely joined together — had a common interest, • The Great Awakening in the time of Ed- wards and Whitfield, in 1733, 1740, and other revivals in 1744, 1757, 1772, &c., in various parts of the provinces are alluded to here. f Tracey's History of the Revival of Reli- gion, &c. * It is a well known fact that the Germans are opposed to innovation; full of pious rever- ence for the views and customs of their an- cestors— not easily moved or excited. — Rauch. not only in regard t" the religion, but in each others individual edi- fication," and they met m the capacity of a social devout band, from bouse to bouse, to make prayer ami supplication ii.r the continued influence of God's Spirit — out of those social circles,4 was organized the Religious Association, now commonly known as the Rn a Bsm hju \. Tin' appellation they assumed, is "Bkethkkn," considering ;is Christ is their master, that they, as his disciples, "are all brethren" Matt, xxiii. 8 ; James iii. 1. Several societies in different parts of Lancaster county were simultaneously organized : one near the Susquehanna river; another on Conestoga creek. By way of local distinction, the latter were called the Conestoga Brethren, those on, or near Susquehanna, the River Brethren,] an appellation by which the society is now generally known, to distinguish its members from the German Baptists, or Brethren, first organized in Europe. As they keep neither written or printed records touching their ecclesiastical pro- ceedings, in the absence of these, oral history, or tradition alone can be relied on as to the precise time of their church or- ganization, and who were the first minis- ters among them. The concurrent testi- mony, however, among them is, that this denomination commenced during the revo- lutionary war. — Their first ministers were Jacob Engel, Hans Engle, C. Rupp, and others. At a later period some ministers and lay members of the Saufct united with them. Soon after the formal organi- zation of churches in Pennsylvania, Jacob Engel visited Canada, and at a later period, Ohio, to organize churches. Since which, the first churches have considera- bly increased, and congregations are now to be found in Bucks, Lancaster, Dauphin, York, Franklin, Westmoreland, and seve- ral other counties in Pennsylvania. — In several parts of Ohio, Indiana, and Canada West, — numbering several thousand mem- bers, and some fifty or sixty ministers. * Some of them joined in with the United i Brethren in Christ. f Some years ago they were occasionally called River Mennonites, from the circumstance that some of their first ministers had stood in connexion with the Mennonites. 70 554 HISTORY OF THE RIVER BRETHREN. Having not as yet* publicly adopted a printed compendium of essential doctrines to which every one, it would be expected to subscribe — appealing as they profess to do, to the Sacred oracles as their only guide in matters of Faith and probity — their distinctive doctrines cannot be pre- sented in this brief article. They believe, that their system of church government is taught in the Bible, and sanctioned by the usages of the apostles and primitive Chris- tians. The River Brethren recognize three orders of clergy : Bishops, Elders, and Deacons. 1 Tim. iii. 1,2; Acts xx. 28 ; 1 Tim. v. 17 ; 1 Pet. v. 1 ; Phil. i. 1 ; 1 Tim. iii. 8, 12, 13. Their ministers are chosen by votes ; and in some instances, when the votes for the several candidates are equally divided, they decide by casting lots. For this practice they refer to the Scriptures — Prov. xvi. 33, xviii. 18; Esth. iii. 7 ; Acts i. 26. None of their clergy receives a stipulated salary, or any pecu- niary remuneration, for services rendered in official capacity. In some instances, where the circumstances of the minister require it, the expenses incident in travel- ling, while visiting congregations and mem- bers, are borne by the congregations, but usually raised by voluntary contributions. Bishops, or as they are sometimes called in their vernacular tongue, Voile- Diener, have the general supervision of congregations within certain geographical limits, which they visit at least once a year. They labor in word and doctrine : attend at their Agapea, or Feasts of Charity, (Jude xii.) and their Koinonia, or Com- munion. 1 Cor. x. 16. Conduct the elec- tion of elders and deacons — perform all ministerial acts, baptize, ordain, and are present at the excommunication of church officers. In cases of emergency, and in the absence of a Bishop, these duties de- volve upon Elders. Bishops and Elders, or Mit-IIelfer, preach, baptize, minister at the Lord's Supper, 'Kuriakon Deijmon,) * Rising thirty years ago, a Compendium of doctrine had been drawn up by some of the ministers, and proposed for adoption ; but it was rejected by a majority of the meeting at which it had been proposed. Copies, in MSS., of this Compendium, it seams, are extant among some of the ministers. Communion, (Koinonia,) and perform the rites of marriage, when called on, and satisfied that no valid objections can be made as to the parties about entering into this important relation. The duty of Deacons, or Armon-Die- ner, is to take care of the secular affairs of the church ; keep an -oversight of the indigent members, widows, and orphans, provide them with such things as they severally need, from the common charity fund of the church. As a body, like the Mennonites, Friends, German Brethren, and several other de- nominations, they are opposed to war in all its features, as being at variance with the peace-breathing precepts of the Sa- viour, contrary to the teachings of the apostles, and incompatible with the prac- tise of primitive Christians. In support of their views on this subject, they cite the following Scriptures : — " I say unto you, that ye resist not evil." " Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy : But / say unto you love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you." — Matt, v. 39., &c. *" Blessed are the peace-makers : for they shall be called the children of God." —Matt. v. 9. " Have peace one with another." — Mark ix. 50. " See that none render evil for evil to any man." — 1 Thess. v. 15. " God hath called us to peace." — 1 Cor. vii. 15. " Follow after love, patience, meek- ness."— " Be gentle, showing all meek- ness unto all men." — " Live in peace." " Let all bitterness and wrath, and anger and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice." " Avenge not yourselves." — " If thine enemy hunger, feed him ; if he thirst, give him drink." — " Recompense to no man evil for evil." — " Overcome evil with good." They have, in support of their views, i examples from history. " Maximilian, as it is related in the Acts of Ruinart, was brought before the tribunal to be enrolled as a soldier. On the proconsul's asking his name, Maxi- milian replied, "I am a Christian and HISTORY OF THE RIVER BRETHREN. cannot fight**1 It ins, however, ordered that he should be enrolled, but be refused to serve, still alleging thai Ae wot a Qbristuui, He was immediately told that these was no alternative between bearing arms and being put to death. Hut his fidelity was not to be shaken i — m i cannot fight,'1 aaid he, " if 1 die/' He continued steadfast to his principles, and was consigned to the executioner. " The primitive Christians not only re- fused to be enlisted in the army, but when any embraced Christianity while already enlisted, they abandoned the profession, at whatever cost. Marccllus was a cen- turion in the legion called Trajana. While holding this commission, he be- came a Christian ; and believing, in com- mon with his fellow Christians, that war was no longer permitted to him, he threw down his belt at the head of the legion, declaring that he had become a Christian, and that he would serve no longer. He' was committed to prison ; but he was still faithful to Christianity. " It is not law- ful," said he, " for a Christian to bear arms for any earthly consideration ,*" and he was in consequence put to death. Al- most immediately afterward, Cassian, who was notary to the same legion, gave up his office. He steadfastly maintained the sentiments of Marcellus, and like him was consigned to the executioner. Martin, of whom so much is said by Sulpicius Severus, was bred to the profession of arms, which, on his acceptance of Chris- tianity, he abandoned. To Julian the Apostate, the only reason that we find he gave for his conduct was this : — " I am a Christian, and therefore I cannot fight." " These were not the sentiments, and this was not the conduct, of insulated individuals who might be actuated by in- dividual opinion, or by their private inter- pretations of the duties of Christianity. Their principles were the principles of the body. They were recognized and de- fended by the Christian writers their con- temporaries. Justin Martyr and Tatian talk of soldiers and Christians as distinct characters; and Tatian says that the Christians declined even military com- mands. Clemens of Alexandria calls his Christian contemporaries the " followers of peace," and expressly tells us " that the !>'• ■ « d none of the implements of war." Lactanu'us, another early Christian, . , " [| i m never Be lawful fox a righteous Dean to go to war/' About the < ml of the century, (Visas, one of th'1 OppOIM Christianity, charged the Christies refuting to bear arms i r> n in rase of necessity. Origen, the defender of the Christians, does not think of denying the fact; he admits the refusal, and justifies it, because war teas unlawful* Even after Christianity had spread over almost the whole of the known world, Tertullian, in speaking of a part of the Roman armies, including more than one-third of the standing legions of Rome, distinctly informs us that " not a Christian could be found among them." During the first two centuries, not a Christian soldier is found upon record. Not till the third century, when Chris- tianity became partially corrupted, are Christian soldiers found."* The church ordinances among the River Brethren, are Baptism, Feet-wash- ing, the Lord's Supper, and the Commu- nion. They reject infant baptism ; bap- tizing none but believing adults. Baptism they perform by trine-immersion, differing in this respect, from some other Baptists, who dip, or immerse the subject, once. Feet-washing, they confess to be an ordinance of Christ, which he himself ad- ministered to his disciples, and recom- mended by his example, to the practice of believers, in these words : — " If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet ; for I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you." — John xiii. 14, 15. Tlie LoroVs Supper — Kuriakon Dcip- non, or Agapai, is a meal or Feast, held by them previously to the Koinonia, i. e., Communion. The Agapa, or Feasts of Charity, they maintain were practised among the first Christians, with a view of cultivating mutual affection and friendly intercourse among the participants. f * Dymond. f It is customary among the River Brethren to invite members of good standing of other de- nominations, to participate with them on this occasion. * 556 HISTORY OF THE RIVER BRETHREN. " They maintain that this custom is de- rived from the fact that the Saviour insti- tuted the Co mm union, after the Stqiper, or the feast in which he had been engaged with his disciples, and that thence the early Christians derived the custom of observing such a festival, or supper, be- fore the communion." After supper, and immediately prece- ding Communion, they wash each others feet, according to the words and example of Christ. — John xiii. 14, 15. The Communion — Koi?wnia,* they view as an ordinance instituted by Christ in remembrance of himself, which all baptized believing persons should com- memorate till the coming of Christ, in remembrance, set forth by broken bread, and poured out wine, of the sufferings and death of Christ. — Matt, xxvii. 25 ; Luke xx. 19; 1 Cor. xi. 23, 24, 25. Annual Conferences are held in the Spring, at Easton, in Pennsylvania — a month or two later in Canada, at which Bishops, Elders, Deacons, and Lay-mem- bers attend, and take part in the transac- tion of the ecclesiastical affairs of the Church. All their meetings for the trans- action of church business, as well as for worship, except in a few places, are held in dwelling houses ; and, if the season * The Lord's Supper, as generally under- stood by Theologians, is known by several scriptural names, as found in the original: Kuriakon deipnou, 1 Cor. xi. 20 ; Trapeza Ku~ riou, 1 Cor. x. 21 ; Koinonia, rendered Com- munion, 1 Cor. x. 10. The ecclesiastical names of this sacrament are : Eulogia Eucharhtia. as used by Ignatius, Justin the Martyr, and Tertullian. Theodoret calls it Leitourgian. It is also called Sunaxis agia a collection of persons ; hence a holy col- lection for celebrating the Lord's Supper ; and finally the Lord's Supper itself. Musterion, thnsin, prosphora, &c, were applied to it. Knapp's Christian Theol., Sec. CXLIII, p. 437, London Ed. B. Haug's Allerthuemer der Christen, p. 428., Stuttgart Ed., 1785. admit, in barns, fitted up with appro- priate seats for the occasion. Their ministers officiate usually in the German language ; though a few of them preach in either language, if required. Several of them preach exclusively in English. Their ministry, in the par- lance of the day, is by no means an educated ministry — still, they are devo- ted, laborious and useful men — apparently, given much to self-denial. Their habits, of both ministers and lay-members, are simple and unostentatious. It is custom- ary among them to wear their beards unshorn. The writer cannot conclude this brief article without here noticing, what struck him, in the intercourse with this people, as a distinctive peculiarity of theirs from many other denominations. They are simple, plain and unassuming in their deportment ; zealous in maintaining, as all should, what they believe to be truth, they still manifest an unusual degree of kindness and Christian forbearance to- wards those who differ very essentially from them in matters of faith. They j reduce to practice, at least in respect to diversity of sentiment on minor points of religion, towards others, what the doc- trines of Christ enjoin upon all his disciples — forbearance ; for all have, if we are in the right, a claim upon our compassion. They avoid, what appears to have been forgotten by many, harshness and denun- ciation towards fellow Christians — for Jiarshness, instead of closing the breach occasioned by diversity of religious senti- ment, widens it. It has been well said — * " Amidst the din of controversy, and the jarrings of adverse parties, the opinions of the head are often substituted for the virtues of the heart, and thus is practical religion neglected." May all cherish in their minds a spirit of moderation and love towards their fellow Christians. HISTORY OF THE m'IIW ENKFELDER8. HISTORY OF THE SCHWENKFELDEES BY ISAAC SCHULTZ, BERKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. Schwenkfelders are a denomination of Christians, and are so called after Casper Schwenkfeld von Ossing, a Sile- sian knight, and counsellor to the Duke of Lignitz. He was born (seven years after the Saxon Reformer, Martin Luther, first beheld the light, in Eisleben) in Lower Silesia, A. D. 1490, in the principality of Lignitz. He studied several years at Co- logne and other universities ; he was well read in the Latin and Greek classics, as well as in the Fathers. He was a man of eminent learning. Alter finishing his uni- versity course, he was taken into service by the Duke of Munsterberg and Brieg, until he was disabled by bodily infirmities from attending to the business of the court. He then applied himself to the study of theology. About this time Luther com- menced the Reformation in Germany, which attracted Schwenkfeld's whole at- tention. Every circumstance in his con- duct and appearance was adapted to give him credit and influence. His morals were pure, and his life in all respects exem- plary. His exhortations in favor of true and solid piety were warm and persuasive, and his principal zeal was employed in promoting piety among the people ; he thus acquired the friendship and esteem of many learned and pious men, both in the Lutheran and Helvetic churches ; among these were Luther, Melancthon, &c, whom he held in high esteem, but was decided in his opinion that they still held several relics of Popery in their doc- trines. He differed from Luther and other friends of the Reformation, in three points. The first of these points related to the doc- trines concerning the Eucharist. Schwenk- feld, inverted these words : " rov-o can to owpa pov" (Matt. xxi. 26,) " This is my body," and insisted on their being thus understood : " My body is this," that is, such as is this bread which is broken and consumed ; a true and real food, which nourishes, satisfies, and delights the soul. " My blood is this," i. e., such in its effects as the wine, which strengthens and re- freshes the heart. The second point on which he differed from Luther, was in his hypothesis relating to the efficacy of the divine word. He denied, for example, that the external word, which is com- mitted to writing in the scriptures, was endowed with the power of healing, illu- minating, and renewing the mind ; and he ascribed this power to the internal word, which, according to his opinion, was Christ himself. His doctrine concerning the human nature of Christ, formed the third subject of debate between him and the Lutherans. He would not allow Christ's human nature, in its exalted state, to be called a creature, or a created substance, as such denomination appeared to him in- finitely below his majestic dignity, united as it is, in that glorious state, with the divine essence. On the first point of difference, Schwenk- feld wrote Luther twelve questions, con- cerning the impanation of the body of Christ. These Luther answered laconi- 558 HISTORY OF THE SCHWENKFELDERS. cally, but " in his usual rough style,"* ( told Schwenkfeld he should not irritate ; the Church of Christ; that the blood of ! those he should seduce would fall upon his head. Notwithstanding this, he still ex- postulated with Luther, and desired a candid examination of his arguments, which so irritated Luther that he wrote a maledictory letter to Schwenkfeld. Schwenkfeld was an indefatigable writer; he produced some ninety treatises and pamphlets, in German and Latin, on reli- gious subjects, most of which were printed, and are yet extant, though whole editions were confiscated and destroyed. He had an extensive correspondence all over the empire, with persons of every rank and description. The principal part of his letters was printed, and three large folio volumes thereof are still left. In his writ- ings, he displayed a penetrating discern- ment and good judgment, with a true Christian moderation. He often declared, in his writings, that it was by no means his object to form a separate church, and expressed an ardent desire to be service- able to all Christians, of whatever denomi- nation ; but his freedom in giving admoni- tion to those whom he thought erroneous in doctrine, brought on him the enmity, not of Papists only, but of some Protest- ants. His writings were prohibited to be printed, and such as had been printed were either confiscated or destroyed ; and he was obliged to wander from place to place, under various turns of fortune, to escape danger, and to flee from his persecutors, till death put an end to all his trials upon earth ; he died in the city of Ulm, 1562, in the 72d year of his age. His learning and piety are acknowledged by all ; and even his most bitter antagonists award him this praise. After his death, many, on having read and heard his views, and having embraced them, were known and called Schwenk- felders, and persecuted nearly as much as had been the deceased Schwcnkfelder * Luther, in his reply, said : " Kurtzum, en- tweder ihr, oder wir, mussen des Teufels lei- beigeri seyn, weil wir uns beyderseits Gottes Worts ruhmen," i. e. " In short, either you or we, must be in the bond-service of the devil, because we, on both sides, appeal to God's Word. himself. The greatest number of them were in Silesia, particularly in the princi- palities of Lignitz and Tour. The estab- lished clergy there, being Lutherans, re- sorted to various devices, and used every intrigue, to oppose them; in particular, if they assembled for religious worship, they were thrown into prisons and dungeons, where many of them perished. Such was often their unhappy fate. This was esr pccially their lot in 1590, in 1650, and at a later period. In 1719, the Jesuits thought the conver- sion of the Schwenkfelders an object worthy of attention. They sent mission- aries to Silesia, who preached to that people the faith of the emperor. They produced imperial edicts, that all parents should attend public worship of the mis- sionaries, and bring their children to be instructed in the holy Catholic faith, under severe penalties. The Schwenkfelders sent deputies to Vienna to solicit for tole- ration and indulgence; and though the emperor apparently received them with kindness and condescension : yet the Jesuits had the dexterous address to pro- cure another imperial edict, ordering that such parents as would not bring every one of their children to the missionaries for instruction, should at last be chained to the wheel-barrow, and put to hard labor on the public works, and their children should, by force, be brought to the mis- sionaries. Upon this, many families fled, in the night, into Lusatia, and other parts of Saxony, in 1725, sought shelter under the protection of the Senate of Gorlitz, and also of Count Zinzendorf — leaving behind them their effects real and person- al, (the roads being beset, in day time, to stop all emigrants.) They dwelt unmo- lested in their " late sought shelter" about eight years ; when, this protection being withdrawn, they resolved to seek a per- manent establishment in Pennsylvania. A number of them, in 1734, emigrated to Altona, a considerable city of Denmark, and Holland, thence to Pennsylvania, as will be seen from the sequel. The last mentioned edict was not put in its fullest rigor by the missionaries till after the death of Charles VI., when another edict was published threatening the total extermination of the remaining HISTORY OF THE >UI\\ ENKFELDEKR S( kwenkfelders, from which the) wen unexpectedly relieved b) Frederick, the >f Prussia, making a conquest of .'ill i, who immediately published an edict, in which he invited, b) proclama- tion, in 17 \'~, all the Schwenkfelders to return t<> Silesia, who had emigrated, and promised them their estates, with tolera- tion and protection not onl) in Silesia, hut in all other parts of his dominions — but none of those who had emigrated to Pennsylvania, ever returned. Still they kept up an important correspondence with European friends, near half a century y up to the time of the French Revolution. Having obtained permission from the crown 01 England to emigrate to Penn- sylvania, and their protection in Germany being withdrawn, they left Berthclsdorf and GorlitZ in April, 1734, for Altona, in Denmark, where they arrived May 17th ; thence they sailed for America, and after a tedious and long voyage they arrived at Philadelphia the 22d Sept, 1734, and on the 5th of October of the same year, seye? ral other families arrived. They settled principally in Montgomery, Berks, Bucks and Lehigh counties, Pennsylvania, where their grandchildren chiefly reside at pre* sent, on the branches of the Skippackand Perkiomen rivulets, in the upper, middle, and lower end of Montgomery, lower east part of Berks, and south corner of Lehigh. On their first arrival in Pennsylvania they held a " festival in grateful memory of all mercies and divine favors, mani- fested towards them by the Father of mer- cies ;" on which occasion, Father Senior George Wise, their pastor, conducted the solemnities. This commemorative festival has, since 1734, been annually observed by their descendants. Father Wise labored in sacred things but six years amongst them in Pennsylvania ; he departed this life in 1740. His successors were the Rev. B. Hoffman, A. Wagner, G. Wicg- ner, Christopher Shultz, sen., C. Kriebel, C. Hoffman, G. Kriebel, Mr. Kriebel, Mr. Shultz, B. Shultz, A. Shultz, and D. Shultz, assistants ; I. Shultz, and last, the Rev. C. Shultz, who died in March, 1843, aged 66 years. The latter was the grand- son of the Rev. Christopher Shultz, sen., of Hereford, who was distinguished as a scholar, and writer ; he was the author of their excell i ' hi, ' Compendium much esteem I, und divine, and a man of undoubted piety, by all sur- rounding denomination . And on account of his devotedness and his eloquence, he was repeatedly called by the Reformed, Moravians, Mennonites, and othi preach to them the gospi I of everlasting salvation. His motto was "Soli Dto Gloria^ < t Veritas vim '•/."" The present young candidates in the gospel ministry of the upper district, in Berks county, are the Rev. Joshua Schultz and William Schultz. In the middle and lower districts, the Rev. B. and A. Efueb- ner, and Rev. David Kriebel of Worces- ter, Montgomery county. Their pastors arc chosen by casting lots; but after be- ing chosen great attention is paid to their education : they are instructed in all the necessary branches pertaining to the gos- pel ministry. They number at present about three hundred families ; eight hundred mem- bers ; have five churches and school- houses. They form a respectable part of the German community of the counties above named. Some of them pursue agriculture, some manufactures, others are engaged in commercial enterprise. By their strict church discipline, they keep their members orderly, and pure from the contaminating influence of the corruptions so prevalent. They arc a moral people ; pious and highly esteemed by all who know them. They pay great attention to the education, the religious and moral training of their children. Many of them possess a respectable knowledge of the learned languages, Latin, &c. There is scarce a family among them that does not possess a well selected and neatly ar- ranged library, among which you find manuscript copies from their learned fore- fathers of the size of Melt's or Erasmus Weiehenhan's Postill, which they hold sacred on account of the purity of doctrine contained therein. In order fully to carry out their excel- lent arrangements, an election is held among them annually, in May, cither for elders, or trustees of schools, or overseers of their poor, and sometimes other officers. 560 HTSTORY OF THE UNITED BRETHREN IN CHRIST. They have not long since had their lite- rary and charity funds incorporated, en- trusted to a number of trustees and others, constituting a body corporate. Church meetings are held, when young and old attend, every Sunday forenoon, once in the upper, and once in the middle or lower district ; and every other Sunday afternoon, catechetical instruction is held, indoctrinating the young and old in the truths of the gospel. Their marriages and funerals are conducted as becomes Christians, upon strict temperance prin- ciples. At present, all teaching or preach- ing is principally, if not wholly, con- ducted in the German Iannjuafre. We introduce here what might, perhaps, have been more appropriately mentioned before. There is an existing ordinance among us not common with other Chris- tian denominations : the ordinance respects infants. As soon as a child is born, a preacher or minister is called in to pray for the happiness and prosperity of the child, admonishing the parents to educate their tender offspring; to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, according to the will of God. Parents generally bring their little ones into the house of worship, where the same ser- vice is performed ; praying, and singing some appropriate verses. We hold the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin. HISTORY OF THE UNITED BRETHREN IN CHRIST BY THE REV. WILLIAM HANBY, CIRCLEVILLE, OHIO. Tins denomination took its rise in the United States, about the year 1755, and is distinguished from the Old United Breth- ren or Moravian Church, by the additional phrase of " In Christ." In 1752, William Otterbein, a distin- guished German divine, came to America, being at that time a minister of the Ger- man Reformed Church ; he soon became convinced, after his arrival in this country, of the necessity of a deeper work of grace being wrought on his heart than he had ever, as yet, received. He accordingly rested not, day nor night, until he found the Lord precious to his soul, in the full and free pardon of all his sins. He imme- diately commenced preaching the doctrines of a spiritual and holy life. After having been persecuted for some years, for preach- ing the doctrines of the Reformation, he virtually withdrew from his mother church, and commenced laboring for the conver- sion of souls in connection with two Ger- man divines by the name of Beohm and Geeting, who had also deeply engaged in the work of Reformation. In 1771, Messrs. Asbury and Wright, came over from England, under the direction of the Rev. J. Wesley, and commenced as co- workers with these German brethren ; and so united were they at that time, in their labors of love, that one branch was called " Methodist," and the other " German Me- thodist ;" though the German brethren, at that time anticipated an organization of their own. In 1784, at the request of the Rev. F. Asbury, William Otterbein, as- sisted Dr. Coke, in his (Asbury's) ordina- - p: f Lifti: of PS. Duval, Phil' EHXTc Wo WfHIRll! HISTORY OF THE I vn:i> BRETHREN in CHRIST. tioo, who wai the first bishop in the Me? thodisl Episoopal Church in America. The number of German Brethren in- I rapidly, ami numerous societies Were formed, and the gracious work spread through the States of Maryland, Pennsyl- vania, and Virginia. Greal meetings were appointed annually, and on these occa- sions Otterbein would lay before the I > r« th- ren, the importance o( the ministry, and the necessity of their utmost endeavors to save souls. At one of these meetings, it was re- solved that a conference should be held, in order to take into consideration, how, and in what manner they might be most useful. The first conference was accordingly held in the city of Baltimore, Md., in 1789. The following preachers were pre- sent : William Otterbein, Martin Beohm, Geo. A. Geeting, Christian Newcomer, Adam Lohman, John Ernst, Henry Weidner. In the mean time, the number of mem- bers continued to increase, and the preach- ers were obliged to appoint an annual con- ference, in order to unite themselves more closely, and labor more successfully in the vineyard of the Lord ; for some were Presbyterians or German Reformed, some were Lutherans, others Mennonites, and some few Methodists. They accordingly appointed an annual conference, which convened in Maryland, in 1800. They there united themselves into a society which bears the name of " United Breth- ren in Christ," and elected William Otter- bein and Martin Beohm, as superintendents or bishops ; and agreed that each should act according to his own convictions as to the mode of baptism. The rapid in- crease of members and ministers was such, that the want of some general regu- lations, by which all should be governed, was deeply felt, for, as yet, they had no Discipline. It was resolved that a Gene- ral Conference should be held to accom- plish that object, in a manner not deroga- tory to the word of God. The members of this conference were to be elected from among the preachers, by a vote of the members throughout the whole society in general. The conferem ecordingl) in L81 ."), at Mount \'\< .1 .nit, r. in, nia, and after mature deliberation, a 1 1 - cipline was pn lented containing the dor. times and rules lor the gorernsaeof of the church. \^ Wilham I kterbein was the prii instrument under God, in (bunding the Brethren church, a few remarks in tefer- encc to this good man, may not be out of place here. He was born in Nassau DU- lingburg, Germany, on the 6th day of March,' 1720, and" died November 17th, 1813, in the 88th year of his age. Be resided 26 years in Germany, and 01 years in America ; all of which latter term he labored in the ministry. Be was considered a ripe scholar in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Philosophy, and Divinity. The following is a specimen of the exalted views entertained by Bishop Asbury, of this divine : " Is father Otterbein dead ? Great and good man of God ! An honor to his church and country ; one of the greatest scholars and divines that ever came to America, or born in it. Alas, the chiefs of the Germans are gone to their rest and reward — taken from the evil to come." (Asburifs Letter, under date of November, 1813.) The same reverend gentleman, in preach- ing the funeral sermon of Martin Beohm, in the same year, speaks thus of Otter- bein : " Pre-eminent among these, is Wil- liam Otterbein, who assisted in the ordi- nation of your speaker, to the superinten- dencyof the Methodist Episcopal Church. William Otterbein was regularly ordained to the ministry in the German Presbyte- rian Church. He is one of the best scho- lars and greatest divines in America. Why then is he not where he began ?" (alluding to his having to leave his old church because of persecution.) " Alas for us," says the bishop, " the zealous are necessarily so, those whose cry has been, i Put me into the priesfs office, that I may eat a morsel of bread V Ostcrwald has observed, < Hell is full of the si: alls of unfaithful ministers /' Such was not Beohm, such is not Otterbein ; and now, his sun of life is setting in brightness; behold, the saint of God leaning upon his staff waiting for the chariots of Israel." 71 562 HISTORY OF THE UNITED BRETHREN IN CHRIST. DOCTRINES. The doctrines of the Brethren Church, may be summed up in the following items : 1st. They believe in the only true God, tbe lather, Son, and Holy Ghost; that these three are one, the Father in the Son, the Son in the Father, and the Holy Ghost equal in essence or being with both. That this triune God created the heavens and the earth, and all that in them is, visible as well as invisible, and sustains, governs and supports the same. 2d. They believe in Jesus Christ, that he is very God and man ; that he became incarnate by the Holy Ghost in the Virgin Mary, and was born of her ; that he is the Saviour and Mediator of the whole human race, if they with full faith accept the grace proffered in Jesus. That this Jesus suffered and died on the cross for us ; was buried and rose again on the, third day, ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God to intercede for us, and that he shall come again at the last day to judge the quick and dead. 3d. They believe in the Holy Ghost ; that he is equal in being with the Father and Son ; and that he comforts the faith- ful, and guides them into all truth. 4th. They believe in a Holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the re- surrection of the body, and life ever- lasting. 5th. They believe that the Holy Bible, Old and New Testaments, is the word of God ; that it contains the only true way to our salvation ; that every true Christian is bound to receive it with the influence of the Spirit of God, as the only rule and guide ; that without faith in Jesus Christ, true repentance, forgiveness of sins, and following after Christ, no one can be a true Christian. 6th. They believe that the fall in Adam and redemption through Jesus Christ, shall be preached throughout the world. 7th. They believe also, that the ordi- nances, namely : baptism and the remem- brance of the sufferings and death of Christ, are to be in use, and practised by all Christian societies, but the manner of which ought always to be left to the judgment of every individual. The ex- ample of washing the saints' feet is left to the judgment of all to practise or not. GOVERNMENT. As brevity is desired, a few extracts, in substance, from the Constitution and General Rules of the Church, will be sufficient for present purposes. 1st. All ecclesiastical power, to make or repeal any rule of discipline, is vested in a General Conference, which shall con- sist of elders elected by the lay members of the whole church. 2d. General Conferences shall be held every four years, the bishops to be con- sidered members and presiding officers. 3d. The General Conference shall at every session elect one or more bishops, who shall serve as such for four years only, unless re-elected. 4th. No rule shall be passed at any time, to change the Confession of Faith as it now stands, or do away the itinerant plan. 5th. No rule shall be adopted that will deprive local preachers of membership in annual conferences. 6th. Free-Masonry, in every sense of the word, is totally prohibited and in no way tolerated in the Brethren Church. 7th. All slavery, in every sense of the word, is prohibited. Should any be found in our church, who hold slaves, they can- riot continue as members, unless they do personally manumit or set free such slaves. 8th. The vending or distillation of ar- dent spirits is prohibited in our church, for medical and mechanical purposes ex- cepted ; should any members be found dealing in the unholy traffic, they must desist or cease to be members. CONFERENCES. The Brethren Church have three orders of Conferences, to wit : quarterly, annual, and general. A quarterly conference meets every three months ; and is com- posed of all the class-leaders, stewards, exhorters, local and travelling preachers within the bounds of a circuit or station, with the- presiding elder at the head, as president. Annual conferences meet annually, and are composed of all the preachers within the specified bounds thereof, with the bishops as presiding officers. At annual HISTORY OF TIN: I'MTEI) BRETHREN IN CHRIST. conferences, the labors and moral deport- men! of all the preachen are examined, the bounderies of circuita and stations defined, applications to the ministry re- ceived or rejected, presiding riders elect- ed, preachers stationed, and elders or- dained.* Genera) Conference is the highest tri« tana] in the church, is the law-making department for the whole body, and is composed of elders elected by the laity of the church. Bach animal conference dis- trict is allowed to send three delegates to Genera] Conference. MINISTERS. The Brethren Church recognises but one order in the ministry, only that of ordained ciders, who, by virtue of their ordination, administer the ordinances of God's house, and solemnize the rites of matrimony. OFFICERS. Numerous offices are recognised in the church, such as class-leaders, stewards, preachers-in-charge, presiding elders, and bishops. It is the duty of leaders to attend strictly to the classes assigned them, and meet i them once a week for prayer or class meeting, and to admonish their members to lead a holy life. The duty of stewards is to attend to the pecuniary wants of the ministers. A preacher-in -charge, supposes two preachers to be on one circuit, and that he has the oversight, and it is his duty to attend to the general regulations of his circuit. A presiding elder is an officer elected by the annual conference from among the ordained elders, and it is his duty to travel over a specified number of circuits, and hold, as president, quarterly conference meetings, four on each circuit a year, and see that all the laborers under his charge, discharge their duty faithfully. * All candidates for the ministry, after hav- ing received license to preach, must stand a probation of three years, before they can be ordained as elders. Bishops ai tl superintend i the whole church, and preside at all annual and general conferences. BTATlSTIOa At the present time, the statistics of the church stand, as m-li as can \» < rrtknated, as follows, viz. : Bishops, - - 3 Annual Conferences, 9 Circuits, - 120 Churches, ... 1,800 Preachers, 500 Members, 65,000 Eight Home Missionary Societies, and one for tho benefit of the foreign field ; though but little has been done, as yet, for foreign missions. There are two church periodicals, one German, and the other English. The German is printed in Baltimore, Maryland ; the English, in Circleville, Ohio. Though the Brethren Church is as old as the Methodist Episcopal Church, yet it is comparatively small, owring to the fact, that until within the last twenty years, its religious exercises have all been conducted in the German language exclusively, or nearly so. Within the last twenty years the church has more than doubled its numbers. REMARKS. It will be perceived from the foregoing, that the government of the church is founded upon republican principles ; that an equal balance of power is secured be- tween the ministry and the laity. That there is a regular gradation from the lowest officer to the highest ; and that all the rulers are constituted by the ruled, and by them can be removed at pleasure. The subjects of the ecclesiastical law make their law, and can alter or amend the same as seemeth good to them. Perhaps no greater evil has ever existed in the Christian Church, than that of an undue power assumed and exercised by the ministry, and no evil should be more strongly guarded against. Preachers are men, in some respects like all other men, and, while on earth, have not ascended 564 HISTORY OF THE UNITED BRETHREN IN CHRIST. up on high ; and consequently should have some restraint thrown around them, as well as others. The church that invests in the hands of the clergy (be their appa- rent prosperity what it may) the right to make all law, and execute the same un- controlled, is in danger of that degrading monarchy, which has characterized Papal Rome for ages past. The particular doctrines which charac- terize the preaching of the Brethren, are : salvation through faith in the merits of a Saviour, by a true repentance and forgive- ness of sins ; holiness of heart, life and conversation. APPENDIX. BY THE REV. H. G. SPOYTH. The United Brethren in Christ origi- nated from William Otterbein, who was born and brought up by eminently pious parents, who afforded him a classical edu- cation—embracing a full study in divinity in Heilbron Europa ; where, as well as in this his adopted country, he stood de- servedly high as a scholar and a divine, of an unsullied reputation and an able ex- pounder of the word of God. He was solemnly ordained and set apart for the work of the ministry, in the German Re- formed Church. In the discharge of his pastoral duties, and in search of that truth which God requires in the inward parts, he found the pearl of great price, and ob- tained the pentecostal blessing, which was soon after he had entered the sacred office in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He enter- tained a holy and exalted view of the mag- nitude of the ministration of peace, and thought it no light thing to be a spiritual guide. His zeal in the church was great, and his manner of preaching was eloquent, persuasive and clear. Without restraint he sought to carry the truth to the sin- ner's heart. Many of his hearers became deeply affected, while others were filled with divine consolation. This state of things led him to hold special meetings for prayer, to afford him an opportunity to converse with all the serious persons, par- ticularly on the state of their minds, so he might exhort, comfort, or admonish each, individually, as the case might be. — Through William Otterbein prayer meet- ings were once more revived ; for be it remembered, the name as well as the holding of a prayer meeting was a some- thing unknown at that dark day. Thus the reformation commenced, and with it the rise and progress of the United Brethren in Christ. But this reformation of primi- tive Christianity brought alike with it its opposition from within and without the church. Here and there pulpits were de- nied and church doors closed against the so-called new doctrine — the doctrine of repentance and the new birth ; and the prayer meetings were, if not violently yet sharply opposed by men professing godli- ness. Attending a prayer meeting was the signal of reproach and church cen- sure. Otterbein thought that the people of God were not confined to any particular com- munity ; and although there were a divi- sion of churches — separated from each other, rather by tradition and non-essen- tial forms than otherwise — yet he believed that the love of God, shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost, is the same wherever it governs the affections, and it alone forms the true bond of Christian fellowship ; also freely admitting that there are many such, who, standing within the pales of different denominations, will nevertheless hold themselves spiritually joined in the bonds of Christian love, to all who are partakers with them in the like precious faith ; and that they, irrespective of forms or party name, should and may freely meet together around the sacra- mental table of the Lord's Supper. This again was resisted as by common consent by the different Christian churches and sects, as an innovation in the established order and usage of the time. His position was now peculiarly trying, and his conflict severe ; but he stood, prophet-like, nothing doubting, although single and alone, with a firm resolve to follow the direction of Heaven — comply- ing, with a willing mind, to its high de- mands— committing himself to the divine protection. He was not, however, suffer- ed long to stand alone. The Lord was pleased to call Martin Beohm, George A. Geeting, Christopher Grosh, Christian HISTORY OF THE UNITED BRETHREN i\ CHRI8T. \ mor, Andrew Zeiler, ( George Pfri- 111. r, John Neidig, Joseph Huffman, Jacob Hi. wins, and others. The pnrit\ and simplicity with which these nun preached the word of God, the fervency of spirit that animated them in exhorting the peo- ple every where to repent, the Io\e ;iml meekness which characterized their social intercourse with their fellow-men, won for them the esteem and friendship of many; and thus an effectual door was opened Unto them for the preaching and defence of the gospel! which no man as yet has been able to shut ; and we may truly say, not by might but by my spirit, said the Lord. Very many indeed were made the happy subjects of the converting grace of God. The number daily increasing, the peo- ple assembled themselves for the solemn worship of the Almighty, wherever they could, in private houses, in barns and groves, in order to afford the preachers, as well as the Brethren generally, an op- portunity to meet ; and they were then to be found over the states of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and what was then called New Virginia. Big meetings were resolved on ; the first was held in Lancaster county, Pa. Here perhaps for the first, and for many long years, an assembly of Christians met together from far and near, — Lutherans, German Reformed, Mennonites, Dunkers, and others, coming as with one accord and with one mind. Many of the Breth- ren were thus for the first time, happily brought together ; and as the meeting pro- gressed it increased in interest. Br. Beohm being of small stature, wearing his beard long, dressed in the true costume of a Men- nonite ; Win. Otterbein being a large man, showing a prominent forehead, on which one might see the seal of the Lord im- pressed ; when Beohm -had just closed a discourse, but before he had time to take his seat, Otterbein rose up, folding Beohm in his arms saying, " We are brethren." At this sight some praised God aloud, but most of the congregation gave place to their feelings by a flood of tears. This meeting, and the peculiar circumstances attending it, under the harmonizing influ- ence of the divine Spirit, in uniting a peo- ple of such various pre-existing orders, now again free from party strife and feel- ing, under the great I had of the Church, gave rise to the name of M I United Bn th< n 11 in ( 'hiit." \ oame which the church, some time after though! proper to adopt. The dawn and rise of the Brethr □ a a people, as to time, would take us bach to A. 1). 1)758. In the main, it was not a secession from, or a disaffection tO any particular church, but an ingathering of precious blood-bought souls. Nor was it the offering of another gospel or doctrine, than that of reconcilia- tion, repentance, and the remission of sins — Now while you hear his voice, the preacher cried. Yet all this was account- ed strange. William Otterbein, Martin Beohm, and all others with them, were given to understand that a persisting in such a course of teaching and preaching would and must produce a separation : they would and must be cast out. Otterbein dearly loved the church in which he had been brought up and or- dained a minister, and remained in it as long as a prospect remained of benefiting it ; but the hope eventually vanished. He had nothing to retract or to recall of what he had done, and what he was still doing as a faithful servant of his Lord ,* but the synod of which he had been a member thought otherwise, and the connexion be- tween them was many years previous to his removal from earth fully dissolved. The synod and church parted with him apparently with little sorrow or regret. But not so with Otterbein ; the dissolving of ties and relations so sacred and dear, and next to God and a good conscience, had possessed his affections and his heart, filled his soul with anguish and a weight of sorrow, that at times seemed to know no bounds ; tears would fill his eyes, and in big drops run down his cheeks, and then again as if he would lay hold of heaven, he would exclaim, " O how can I give thee up !" In these hours of dis- tress his best friends dared not attempt to comfort him. His closet exercises on the same could be known only to God alone. No conception can now be formed of what he suffered in mind for some years after this sad event. But as his was the night of sorrow, his also, was the joy of the morning. The Lord knows how to send comfort to his chosen ones. In one of 566 HISTORY OF THE UNITED BRETHREN IN CHRIST. those seasons of bereavement and wo, the Bible opened for the morning lesson on the 49th chapter of the Prophet Isaiah, beginning " Listen, O isles, unto me, and hearken ye people, from far ; the Lord hath called me from the womb ; from the bowels of my mother hath he made men- tion of my name. And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword ; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft ; in his quiver hath he hid me ; and said unto me, Thou art my servant," &c. The word and work run, thousands were blessed, and God was glorified. But the writer is admonished under existing circumstances to observe brevity, and must make one long stride. The time came when he was no longer able to travel, and leave Baltimore, and take up his accustomed route to attend big meetings ; but from the infirmities of his body, his mind seemed to gather strength, in pleading with God the more for the pros- perity of Zion. The deepest thought that for the last year of his life occupied his mind, was, " Shall the work stand and endure the fiery test ? And will it ulti- mately prosper in righteousness after my departure ?" A short time previous to his end, he sent for Brothers Newcomer and Bowlus, that he might see them once more, and in conversation with them as to the past and present state of religion and the church, he remarked, " The Lord has been pleased graciously to satisfy me fully that the work will abide." His benevolence knew no bounds. All he received, and all he had, he gave away in charities. The writer cannot conclude this short and imperfect narration better than with the tribute paid Otterbein by the late Bishop Asbury ; who said of him, " He was a good man full of faith and the Holy Ghost." The demise of Otterbein, Beohm, and Geeting, as to time, is : Martin Beohm was permitted to preach to within a short time of his death. His last illness was short ; he, feeling his end was nigh, raised himself up in bed, sang a verse, commit- ting his spirit unto God in solemn prayer, praising God with a loud voice, expired, March 23d, 1812, in the eighty-seventh year of his age, having preached fifty years. George A. Geeting quickly fol- lowed Beohm, which was on the 28th of June, same year, 1812. His illness was of but one night and a day, without much pain. Being sensible that his hour had come, he desired to be helped out of bed, which being done, he lined a verse and sang it with a clear voice, knelt down by the bedside, and offered up his last prayer on earth ; and in the full triumph of faith bid the world adieu, having preached forty years. Wm. Otterbein, as he was first, was also last of the three ; for the year 1813 closed the labors in the vineyard of the Lord of this holy man of God, full of years, of hope, and a glorious immortality. Soil Deo gloria. HI8T0M OF THE l NITED BOCIET1 OF BELIE\ ERS II I S T 0 It V OF THE UNITED SOCIETY OF BELIEVERS BY SETII WELLS AND CALVIN GREEN, OF NEW LEBANON, N. Y .' The United Society of Believers, or Milennial Church, commonly called Shakers, maintain, and with much plausi- bility, as they believe, that the apostolic church gradually degenerated, and ulti- mately became rather anti-christian under the secular protection of Constantine the Great, a Roman emperor in the fourth century, who, after having made a pro- fession of Christianity, was not baptized till he fell sick, A. D. 337, in which year he died in the vicinity of Nicomedia, after a reign of thirty-one years. They, how- ever, admit that notwithstanding an ex- tended degeneracy of true Christianity, God has, in every age, raised up witnesses to bear testimony against sin and the de- moralizing power of antichrist. They reckon among these witnesses the Cami- sars, or Camisards, or more commonly known as the French Prophets, whose origin is attributed by M. Gregoire to a certain " School of Prophets," in Dauphi- ny, conducted by a Calvinist named Du Serre. These prophets first appeared in Dauphi- ny and Vivarias, in France, 1688; in which year five or six hundred of them, of both sexes, professed to be inspired of the Holy Ghost ; and they soon amounted to manv thousands. When thev received, * The historical, doctrinal, and statistical facts of this article were furnished the editor by S. Wells and C. Green. The former, aged eighty years, has been a member of the society for half a century, who regrets his present inability to furnish an entire article. — Editor. what seemed to them to be, " the tpii prophecy" their bodies were greatly agi- tated— they trembled, staggered, and fell down, and lay as if they were dead. They recovered, twitching, shaking, and crying for mercy, in their assemblies, houses and fields. The least of their assemblies made up four or five hundred, and some of them amounted to even three or four thousand. About the year 1705, three of the most distinguished of their number: Elias Mar- lon, John Cavilier, and Durand Fage, left France, and repaired to England. Under the influence of this spirit, they propagated the like spirit to others, so that before the year was out, there were two or three hundred of these prophets in and about London, of both sexes, and of all ages.* The great subject of their prediction was, the near approach of the kingdom of God, the Jta^py times of the Church, and the millenial state. Their message was the acceptable year of the Lord. Among other prominent persons who had joined the French and English pro- phets, as they were then known, were James Wardley, and Jane, his wife, form- erly Friends, living at Bolton, Lancashire county. About the year 1747, a society was formed without any established creed, or particular mode of worship, professing perfect resignment, to be led and governed, from time to time, as the Spirit of God might dictate. The leading members of this society were James Wardley, Jane * Hughson's French and English Prophets. 568 HISTORY OF THE UNITED SOCIETY OF BELIEVERS. Wardlcy, John Townley and his wife, both of Manchester ; John Kattis, a distinguish- ed scholar ; but, it is said, did not retain his faith. Wardlcy and his wife Jane con- ducted their meetings. Jane having the principal lead in meeting was called " Mother.'' Some years after the formation of this society, a personage of no ordinary im- portance in the history of the United Be- lievers, connected herself with them — af- terwards known as Mother Ann. Ann Lee was born February 29th, 1736. At a marriageable age she entered the bonds of matrimony with Abraham Stanley. In 1758 she joined the society. " By divine inspiration she received a powerful testi- mony against the carnal nature of the flesh, and, through the spirit, declared it to be the root of human depravity, and the foundation of the fall of man. Her testimony on this subject was delivered with such mighty power and demonstra- tion of the Divine Spirit, that it was re- ceived and acknowledged as the greatest revelation of Divine Light that had ever been given to the society, and that it was beyond dispute the true gospel of Christ's second appearing."* This revelation was made in the year 1770, and from that period Ann was received and acknowledged by all the faithful members of the society, as their spiritual Mother in Christ ; and the true leader whom God had appointed for the society. Thenceforth she has ever been distinguished and known throughout the community by the address and title of Mother Ann. A few years after this extraordinary revelation, Mother Ann received a reve- lation from God to repair to America, where, as she prophesied, there would be a great increase and permanent establish- ment of the Church. Accordingly, as many as firmly believed her testimony, and could settle their temporal concerns and furnish necessaries for the voyage, concluded to follow her — They procured a passage at Liverpool, in the ship Maria, Captain Smith, and arrived at New York in 1774. Those who came with her, were her husband Abraham Stanley, Wells. William Lee, James Whittaker, John Parlington, and Mary, his wife ; John Hocknel, James Shepard, and Ann Lee, a niece of hers. In 1776, they settled in the town of Watervliet, seven miles from Albany. Here they remained in retirement till the Spring of 1780. In the beginning of this year, the society consisted, in all, of but about ten or twelve persons, all of whom came from England. Early in the Spring of that year, the people in this country, having heard their testimony, began to gather to them ; and from this time there was a gradual and extensive increase in numbers, until the year 1787, when those who had received faith, and had been faithful from the beginning, and who were the most fully prepared, began to collect at New Lebanon. Here the church was established as a common centre of union, for all who belonged to the society, in va- rious parts of the country. This still remains as the Mother-Church, being the first that was established in gospel order. And all the societies in the various parts of the country which are established upon the same gospel foundation, and governed by the same spirit and principles, are branches of the one Church of Christ. During a period of five years, from 1787, to 1792, regular societies were formed and established upon the same principles of order and church govern- ment, in the various parts of the Eastern States, where the testimony of the gospel had been received. The local situation of each society, and the present estimate of their numbers, may be stated as fol- lows : The first and largest society is at New Lebanon, situated about two and a half miles South of Lebanon Springs, in the county of Columbia, and State of New York, about twenty-five miles South-east from Albany, and contains at present between 5 and 600 persons, including old and young, male and female. There is also one at Watervliet, about seven miles' North-west from the city of Albany, in the same State. This was established soon after the church at New Lebanon, and contains about 200 mem- bers. One at Hancock, in the county of HisT<>K\ OF THE UNITED 80CIET1 «>r BELIEVER*. hire, and State of Massachusetts. This is situated about three miles South- east from New Lebanon, and live miles from Pittsfield, and contains ahoiit 800 members. One at Tyringham, aboul sixteen miles South from Hancock, in the same county, which contains about 100 members, One at Enfield, county of Hartford, Slate of Connecticut, about live miles East of Connecticut river, and eighteen miles North-easterly from Hartford, and contains about 200 members. One at Harvard, in the county of Worcester, and State of Massachusetts, about thirty miles North-westerly from Boston, which contains about 200 mem- bers. One at Shirley, county of Middlesex, in the same State, about seven miles West from Harvard, which contains about 150 members. One at Canterbury, county of Rock- ingham, in the State of New Hampshire, about twelve miles North by East from Concord, which contains upwards of 200 members. One at Enfield, county of Grafton, in the same State, about twelve miles South- east from Dartmouth College, which con- tains upwards of 200 members. One at Alfred, county of York, about thirty miles South-westerly from Portland, in the State of Maine, which contains about 200 members. One at New-Gloucester, county of Cumberland, in the same State, about twenty-five miles North-west from Port- land, which contains about 150 members. These were all the societies formed prior to the year 1805. But the greatest and most remarkable increase has been in the Western States. About the beginning of the 19th century a most extraordinary revival of religion, commonly called The Kentucky Revival, commenced in the Western States. This work was swift and powerful, and exhib- ited such evident proofs of supernatural power, that it excited the attention of all classes of people, and for a season bore down all opposition. This remarkable work extended through several of the Western States, and continued, with increasing light and power, about four years. D latter part of the >« ar i 804, man) of th<- subjects of this mighty work,were power- fully impressed with a belief that another snmmer would not past away without realizing a full display of thai ration from sin, for which they had been .so long and so earnestly pi which they had not >< it attained by all the light and power of the r< \ ival. Accordingly, near the close of the last mentioned year, the church at .\« I anon was impressed with a feeling t< messengers to visit the subjects of the revival in that country, and to open the testimony of salvation to them, provided they were in a situation to receive it. John Meacham, Benjamin S. Youngs and Issachar Bates, were selected for this im- portant mission. Without any previous acquaintance in the western country, or any correspond- ence with the inhabitants, these messen- gers set out on the first day of January, 1805, on a pedestrial journey of more than a thousand miles. They arrived in Kentucky about the first of March, visited a number of places where the spirit of the revival had pre- vailed, saw and conversed with many who had been the subjects of it, and felt some freedom to declare their mission. They then passed over into the state of Ohio, and proceeded on to Turtle Creek, so called, near Lebanon, in the county of Warren, where they arrived on the 22d of .March. They were providentially led to the house of a man of respectable character, and liberal education, who had been a leading character in the revival. Here they felt freedom to declare their mission and open their testimony in full, which was received with great joy. This man had before frequently testified, by the spirit, that the work of the latter day, which would usher in the kingdom of Christ, in that country, would commence in this place, and spread between the two Miamies. This place is situated between these two rivers, near Turtle creek ; and there the work did begin in reality, and he and his family were the first who embraced it. From thence it spread, and was cor- dially received by many of the subjects of the revival in that vicinity; and in a 72 570 HISTORY OF THE UNITED SOCIETY OF BELIEVERS. short time had an extensive circulation through that part of the state, and soon afterwards extended into Kentucky and Indiana, and was joyfully received by many, and violently opposed by many others. Indeed, the violence of opposition, in various places where the testimony was received, was often so great, that nothing short of Divine Power could have pro- tected the lives of these messengers, and rendered their testimony effectual. The testimony has mostly prevailed in the states of Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana, where societies have been established. There are at present, 1847, four societies in the state of Ohio : one at Union Village, in the county of Warren, about four miles west from Lebanon, and thirty north by east from Cincinnati. This is the oldest and largest society in the Western states, and contains perhaps 500 members. One at Water vliet, on Beaver Creek, in the county of Montgomery, about 22 miles north of Union Village, and six miles south-east from Dayton, which contains about 100 members. One at White Water, Hamilton county, 22 miles north-west of Cincinnati, containing about 150 members. One at North Union, about 8 miles north- east from Cleaveland, containing about 200 members. One at Groveland, Liv- ingston county, New York, about 4 miles south of Mount Morris, containing about 150 members. The three last named have been formed since the year 1824. There are also two in Kentucky, formed not long after that in Union Village. One at Pleasant Hill, in Mercer county, about seven miles easterly from Harodsburg, and 21 miles south-westerly from Lexing- ton, containing between 400 and 500 members. The other is at South Union, Jesper Springs, Logan county, about 15 miles north-easterly from Russellville, and contains between 300 and 400 members. One was formed at West Union, Knox county, Indiana, 16 miles above Vincen- ness, and contained about 200 members. But on account of the unhealthiness of the location, has been dissolved, and the mem- bers who resided there have removed to other branches of this community. There is, at present, a gradual increase of num- bers in the various branches of the com- munity, which are in a general state of prosperity, both temporally and spirit- ually. Mother Ann deceased at Watervliet, Sept. 8, 1784, and was succeeded in the leading authority of the society, by James Wiiittaker, who was received and ac- knowledged by the society as her true successor, and was known by the title of " Father James." Though after Mother I Ann's decease, there was a number whose faith and confidence centred in her, and j extended no further, who withdrew and left the society ; but there was no general apostacy, nor any great decrease of num- bers. The number of this community in Mother Ann's day, was far short of what it has "been for many years since. Under the administration of Father James, the affairs of the society were ably conducted, and all faithful believers found much spiritual increase, and were fully prepared to be gathered into united communities, which soon after took place. Father James deceased at Enfield, in Connecticut, July 20th, 1787, and was succeeded in the administration of the So- ciety by Father Joseph Meacham, who was a native of Enfield, and had formerly been a Baptist Elder and preacher, and held in much estimation — -Father Joseph was thence received and acknowledged as the true successor of Father James, and as the spiritual Father of the Society. Under his administration, together with others, as helps, both male and female, who formed the ministry, the people who had hitherto been scattered far and wide, were gathered into associations or communities, in which they since enjoy equal rights and privileges, in a unity of interest in all things, both spiritual and temporal, after the order of the primitive church. Wherever any branch of the Society finds a permanent location, this united interest is its ultimate order. Father Joseph deceased August 16th, 1796. Since that period, according to his directions, given by divine authority, the administration and leading authority has been vested in a Ministry, and confirmed by the general approbation of the Society. This Ministry generally consists of four persons, two of each sex. Concerning their mode of worship. This subject is generally greatly misun- HISTORY OF THE CMTEl) SOCIETY OF HELIEV1 r, 1 derstood. The people of tins Society do not believe that any external performance whatever, without the sineere devotion of the heart, with all the feelings of the soul, in devotion and praise to the Creator of all their powers and faculties, can be any acceptable worship to Him who looks at the heart But in a united assembly, a unity of exercise in acts of devotion to God, is desirable ; for harmony is beauti- ful, and appears like the order of Heaven. The people of this society were at first led into the manner of external worship by repeated operations of supernatural power and divine light. These operations were various, according to the various move- ments of the Spirit ; but they find that they were fully supported by the Scrip- tures. It will be difficult to describe all the various modes of exercise given in the worship of God at different times; because the operations of the Spirit are so various, that even the leaders are unable to tell beforehand, what manner will be given by the Spirit in the next meeting. Yet, in a regular meeting, where nothing extraor- dinary appears, they sometimes exercise in a regular dance, while formed in straight lines, and sometimes in a regular march around the room, in harmony with regular songs sung on the occasion. Shouting and clapping of hands, and many other operations are frequently given, all which have a tendency to keep the assembly alive, with their hearts and all their senses and feelings devoted to the service of God. Our • benevolent Creator has given us hands and feet as well as tongues, which we are able to exercise in our own service. And where a people are united in one spirit, we know of no reason why a unity of exercise in the service of God should not be attained, so as to give the devotion of every active power of soul and body as a free-will offering to the God of all good- ness, who has given us these faculties. When the Israelites were delivered from their Egyptian bondage, they praised God with songs and dances. (See Exod. chap, xv.) This was figurative of the deliver- ance of spiritual Israel from the bondage of sin. This dancing before the Lord was predicted by the ancient prophets. (See Jeremiah chap, xxxi.) See also the ac- count of David's dancing before the ark of the Lord. (See 9 Baml ri. 1 1) This is considered figurative of the spiritual ark of salvation, before wlneh, according to the faith of Cud's true witnesses, thou- sands and millions will yet rejoice in the dance. Sec also the return of the prodi- gal son. (Luke xv. 25.) \Y<; notice these figurative representations and pro- phetic declarations as evidently pointing to a day of greater and more glorious light, which in those days was veiled in futurity, and if this is not the commencement of such a day, then where shall we look for it ? The remarkable supernatural and spirit- ual gifts showered down upon the Apos- tles and primitive Christians on the day of Pentecost and onward, have not only- been renewed in this church and society, but extensively increased. See 1 Cor. chap, xii., " Diversities of gifts, but the same spirit." The gift of speaking in unknown tongues has been often and ex- tensively witnessed. The gift of melo- dious and heavenly songs has been very common. The gift of prophecy has been wonderful, by pouring forth a degree of light and understanding never before re- vealed to mortals. The gift of healing has been often witnessed, but not so com- mon as many other gifts. Touching their religious tenets : " they believe that the first light of salvation was given or made known to the Patriarchs by promise ; and that they believed in the promise of Christ, and were obedient to the command of God made known unto them, were the people of God ; and were accepted by him as righteous, or perfect in their generation, according to the mea- sure of light and truth manifested unto them ; which were as waters to the an- kles ; signified by EzekieFs vision of the holy waters, chap, xlvii. And although they could not receive regeneration, or the fulness of salvation, from the fleshy or fallen nature in this life ; because the ful- ness of time was not yet come, that they should receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire, for the destruction of the body of sin, and purification of the soul. But Abraham being called and chosen of God, as the father of the faithful, was re- ceived into covenant relation with God by promise ; that in him, and his seed, all the 572 HISTORY OF THE UNITED SOCIETY OF BELIEVERS. families of the earth should be blessed. And the earthly blessings, which were promised to Abraham, were a shadow of gospel or spiritual blessings to come. And circumcision, or outward cutting of the foreskin of the flesh, did not cleanse the man from sin, but was a sign of the spir- itual baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire. Which is by the power of God manifested in divers operations and gifts of the spirit, as in the days of the apostles, which does indeed destroy the body of sin or fleshy nature, and purify the man from all sin, both soul and body. So that Abraham, though in the full faith of the promise, yet as he did not receive the substance of the thing promised, his hopes of eternal salvation was in Christ, by the gospel to be attained in the resurrection from the dead. " The second light of dispensation was the law that was given of God to Israel, by the hand of Moses ; which was a far- ther manifestation of that salvation, which was promised through Christ by the gos- pel, both in the order and ordinances which was instituted and given to Israel, as the church and people of God, accord- ing to that dispensation which was as wa- ters to tJie knees — Ezek. xlvii. 4, by which they were distinguished from all the fami- lies of the earth. For while they were faithful and strictly obedient to all the commands, ordinances, and statutes that God gave ; approbated of God according to the promise for life, and blessing pro- mised unto them in the line of obedience ; cursing and death in disobedience. — Deut. xxviii. 2, 15. For God, who is ever jealous for the honor and glory of his own great name, always dealt with them according to his word. For while they were obedient to the commands of God, and purged out sin from among them, God was with them, according to his promise. But when they disobeyed the commands of God, and committed sin, and became like other people, the hand of the Lord was turned against them ; and those evils came upon them which God had threatened. So we see, that they that were wholly obedient to the will of God, made known in that dispensation were accepted as just or righteous. Yet as that dispensation was short, they did not attain that salvation which was pro- mised in the gospel ; so that, as it re- 1 the new birth, or real purification of the man from all sin, the laiv made nothing perfect — Heb. vii. 19, but was a shadow of good things to come — Cor. ii. 17. Heb. x. 1. Their only hope of eter- nal redemption was in the promise of Christ by the gospel, to be attained in the resurrection from the dead. " The third light of dispensation was the gospel of Christ's first appearance in the flesh, which was as waters to the loins — Ezek. xlvii. 4, and that salvation which took place in consequence of his life, death ,* resurrection, and ascension to the right hand of the Father, being ac- cepted in his obedience, as the first born among many brethren — Rom. viii. 29, he received power and authority to admin- ister the power of the resurrection and eternal judgment to all the children of men. So that he has become the author of eternal salvation unto all that obey him — Heb. iv. 9. And as Christ had this power in himself, he did administer power and authority to his church at the day of Pentecost, as his body, with all the gifts that he had promised them ; which was the first gifts of the Holy Ghost, as an in-dwelling comforter, to abide with them forever ; and by which they were baptized into Christ's death ; death to all sin : and were in the hope of the resurrection from the dead, through the operation of the power of God, which wrought in them. And as they had received the substance of the promise of Christ's coming in the flesh, by the gift and power of the Holy Ghost, they had power to preach the gos- pel, in Christ's name, to every creature ; and to administer the power of God to as many as believed, and were obedient to the gospel which they preached ; and to remit and retain sins in the power and au- thority of Christ on earth. So that they that believed in the gospel, and were obe- * It was, says a distinguished writer among them, that Christ should die, and visit the dark abodes of departed spirits, and return again amongst the living, that his triumphant victory over death and sin might be made known to all, his salvation proclaimed, and his govern- ment established as head over all things to the church. — Dunlavfs Manifesto, p. 78. — Editor. HISTORY OF THE I MTED SOCIETY OF BELIEVERS. tli'iit to that form of doctrine which waa taught them, by denying all ungodliness "y lust, and became entirely dead to the law, by the body of Christ, or power «'i' tin- I [oly ( rhost, were in the tra- vail of the resurrection from tin- dead, <>r kmption of the body — Rom. viii. 98, So that they who took up a lull CTOSfl against the world, Qesh, ami devil, ami who forsook all tor Christ's sake, ami followed him in the regeneration, by persevering in that line of obedience to the end, found the resurrection from the dead, and eternal salvation in that dispensation.* But as the nature of that dispensation was only as water to the loins, Ezek. 47, the mys- tery oi' God was not finished, but there was another day prophesied of, called the second appearance of Christ, or final and last display of God's grace to a lost world, in which the mystery of God should be fin- ished, Rev. x. 7, as he has spoken by his prophets, since the world began — Luke i. 70 : which day could not come, except there was a falling away from that faith and power that the Church then stood in — 2 Thess. ii. 3. 2 Tim. iv. 3. Dan. xi. 36 to 38. See Dan. chap. xii. Jn which Anti-Christ was to have his reign, whom Christ should destroy with the spirit of his mouth, and brightness of his appearance — 2 Thess. ii. 8. Which falling away, began soon after the apostles, and gradu- ally increased in the Church, until about four hundred and fifty-seven years, (or thereabouts) ; at which time the power of the holy people, or church of Christ was scattered or lost, by reason of trans- gression, Dan. xii. 7. viii. 12.; and Anti- Christ, or false religion, got to be estab- lished. Since that time, the witnesses of Christ have prophesied in sackcloth, or under darkness — Rev. xi. 3. And al- though many have been faithful to testify against sin, even to the laying down of their lives for the testimony which they held, so that God accepted them in their * They maintain that the human body is not the proper subject of the true resurrection ; but that the true resurrection promised in Christ, is the passing from the first Adam into the second. That Resurrection, a term used by sacred writers, is the same as Regeneration, and is a progressive work. — Dunlavys Mani- festo, p. 345, 356.— Editor. obedience, which they were faithful and j'l^t t.» life, "i- v.;dk up tO the ni< .inn of light and truth "i* Goo, revealed or inside known unto thera. But m it is written, that all thry that will live godly in Chri * Jesus, shall Buffer persecution ; and SO it has been: and these faithful witno < their livi's by those falsely called the church of Christ, which is anti-Christ. For the true church of Christ oev< secutcd any; but were inoffensive, harm- less, separate from sin. For the true church of Christ, taking up their cross against the world, flesh, and devil, and all sin ; living in obedience to God, they earn- estly contend for the same. Therefore, it may be plainly seen and known where the true church is. But as it is written, anti-Christ, or false churches, should pre- vail against the saints, and overcome them, before Christ's second appearance — 2 Thess. ii. 3, Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. And it was given unto him to overcome all kindreds, tongues, and nations — Rev. xiii. 7. And this is the state Christ prophesied the world of man- kind should be in, at his second appear- ance. See Luke xvii. 22, to end of the chap. And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the Soji of man, vcr. 30. Even so shall it be in the days when the Son of Man is revealed : Plainly referring to his second appearing, to consume and destroy anti- Christ, and make a final end of sin, and establish his kingdom upon earth — Isa, Ixv. 25. Jer. xxxi. 33, 34. Dan. ii. 44, and vii. 18, 27, and ix. 24. Oba. 21. Rev. xi. 15, &c. But as the revelation of Christ is spiritual, consequently must be in his people, whom he had chosen to be his body, to give testimony of him, and to preach his gospel to a lost world. " The fourth light of dispensation is the second appearance of Christ, or final and last display of God's grace to a lost world ; in which the mystery of God will be fin- ished, and a decisive work, to the final salvation or damnation of all the children of men : which according to the prophe- cies, rightly calculated and truly under- stood, began in the year of our Saviour, 574 HISTORY OF THE UNITED SOCIETY OF BELIEVERS. 1747,* (see Daniel and the Revelations) in the manner following : To a number, in the manifestation of great light, and mighty trembling, by the invisible power of God, and visions, revelations, miracles, and prophecies. Which has progressively increased with administrations of all those spiritual gifts that was administered to the apostles at the day of Pentecost : which is the comforter that has led us into all truth ; and which was promised to abide with the true church of Christ unto the end of the world. And by which we find baptism into Clirisfs death — Rom. vi. 4, death to all sin : become alive to God, by the power of Christ's resurrection, which worketh in us mightily. By which a dis- pensation of the gospel is committed unto us, and woe be unto us if we preach not the gospel of Christ ; for in sending so great a salvation and deliverance from the law of sin and death, in believing and obeying this gospel, which is the gospel of Christ ; in confessing and forsaking all sin, and denying ourselves, and bearing the cross of Christ against the world, flesh, and devil, we have found forgiveness of all our sins, and are made partakers of the grace of God, wherein we now stand. Which ail others, in believing and obey- ing, have acceptance with God, and find salvation from their sins as well as we. God being no respecter of persons, but willing that all men should come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved." Various opinions are abroad in the world respecting " MotJier Ann ;" but this society consider her as a vessel chosen of God to usher into the world the Divine Spirit of Christ, and thus to commence the dispensation of his second appearance : That this same Spirit, in divine elements of power and light, now dwells in his church, which is his visible body. And that this Christ, in the completed order of Father and Mother, can be found by every faithful soul, " without sin unto salvation," according to his promise to all who will pay the price which he sets, that is, to give up all in order to win " the pearl of great price." That this is the everlasting gospel which will extend through the world by increasing degrees, until it esta- • See Dunlavy's Manifesto, p. 405. — Editor. blishes the kingdom of the saints of the Most High to stand forever. The society at New Lebanon, is the principal one, and has served as a pattern for all the branches of this community, which have been established in various parts of the United States. In every place where the faith and testimony of this society has been planted, the same order and principles of government have been gradually established and maintain- ed ; so that the society and its members are now generally known ; and form the striking peculiarities which distinguish them from all other Christians, no person needs be deceived by imposters. They believe that no institution, nor any system of government, could be esta- blished which would be more compatible with truth, justice, reason and all the civil and religious rights of man, than the in- stitution of this society. The following primary principles constitute the basis on which this institution is founded, with all its movements and operations. I. Faith and principles of the Society at Neiv Lebanon, 1. Abstinence from all carnal and sen- sual passions, and a strict life of virgin purity, agreeable to the example of the Lord Jesus, and the recommendation and example of the apostle Paul. 2. Abstinence from all the party con- tentions and politics of the world. " My Kingdom is not of this world," said Jesus. 3. Abstinence from wars and bloodshed. " Follow peace with all men," is a divine precept ; and hence also the necessity of abstaining from all acts of violence to- wards our fellow men, and from all the pursuits of pride and worldly ambition. 4. Perfect justice and honesty in all our dealings with our fellow creatures. 5. A faithful discharge of all just debts, and all legal and equitable claims of every nature, as soon and as effectually as pos- sible ; thus fulfilling the apostle's pre- cept, " Ovve no man any thing but love and good will." 6. Do good to all men, as far as oppor- tunity and ability may serve, by adminis- tering acts of charity and kindness, and promoting light and truth among mankind. HWT0R1 OF Jin: I KITED BOCIET1 OP BELIEVER& 11 Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so t<> them." : . Agreeable t<> the example of tin- first Christian church, I«t tin' object of our labon bo directed to SUppOli and maintain i united and consecrated interest, as far and as soon as preparatory circumstances will admit, lint this is to In- done by the free will and voluntary choice of every member, as a sacred privilege, and not by any constraint or undue persuasion. The taith of the Society is firmly esta- blished in the fbregoipg principles, as the genuine basis of Christianity, emanating from Divine Light and Wisdom; these principles are supported by reason, and by the precepts and example of Jesus Christ and the primitive christians ; and they form a system of morality and reli- gion adapted to the best interest and hap- piness of man, both here and hereafter. II. Manner of receiving members, 1. Persons wishing to unite with this society must do it freely, according to their own faith and unbiased judgment. 2. No one is permitted to unite without a full understanding of all its obligations. 3. No considerations of property are made use of to induce any to join the so- ciety ; nor to prevent any from leaving. 4. No believing husband or wife is al- lowed to separate from the unbelieving one, except by mutual consent ; unless the conduct of the unbeliever is such as to justify a separation by the laws of God and man. Nor can any husband or wife, who has abandoned his or her partner, except as above stated, be received into communion with the society. 5. Every person wishing to become a member of this society, must rectify all his wrongs, and, as fast and as far as it is in his power, discharge all just and legal claims, whether of creditors or filial heirs. Nor can any person who does not conform to this principle, if a member of the insti- l tution, remain such. But the society is not responsible for the debts of any indi- vidual, except by agreement ; because such responsibility would involve a principle ruinous to the institution. 6. It is an established principle, that no difference is to be made in the distribution of parental estate among tfc nether tiny belong t" the soci< lv or not ; hut ;in equal dividend must be mad.-, e practical and consistent with reason and justice. 7. If an unbelieving wife separate from the believing husband by agreement, the husband must give her a \w>\ ami r able portion of his property, (if he hav any;) and if they have children who have arrived to years of understanding, suffi- cient to judge for themselves, and who choose to go with their mother, he must not disinherit them on that account. Though the character of this institution has been much slandered on this ground ; yet we boldly assert that the principle above stated has never been violated by this Society. 8. Idleness is incompatible with the principles of this Society. No member who is able to labor, can be permitted to live upon the labors of others. All are required to be employed in some manual occupation, when not engaged in other ne- cessary duties. Industry, temperance and frugality are prominent features in this institution. III. Manner of government. The leading authority of the Society is vested in a Ministry, generally consisting of four persons, including both sexes. These, together with the Elders and Trus- tees, being supported by the general ap- probation of those concerned, constitute the general government of the Society, in all its branches, and are invested with power to counsel, advise and direct in all matters of a spiritual or temporal nature, pertaining to their respective departments. The Ministry, together with the Elders, for the time being, are vested with power to appoint their successors, and other sub- ordinate officers, as occasion may require; to superintend the concerns of different families or departments of the community, to give and establish all needful orders, rules and regulations, for the direction and government of the different branches of the Society. But no rule can be made, nor any person assume a lead, contrary to the primitive faith, and the known and established principles of the Society. And 576 HISTORY OF THE UNITED SOCIETY OF BELIEVERS. nothing which respects the government, order and general arrangement of the So- ciety, is considered as fully established, until it has received the general approba- tion of the Society, or of that branch thereof which it more immediately con- cerns. No creed can be framed to bind the progress of improvement in this institu- tion. This would be incompatible with the true spirit of Christianity : for it is the faith of the Society, that the operations of divine light and wisdom are unlimited, and will forever continue to diffuse their benign and salutary influence, in extending divine knowledge and instruction, and bringing to perfection, in man, those principles which, in their Divine Source, are bound- less as eternity. No corporal punishment is approved of, nor any external force allowed to be ex- ercised over any rational person who has come to years of understanding. Com- pulsory power and personal coercion, are not considered compatible with the laws of Christ, over rational and intelligent beings, whose reason and understanding, if properly guided, are sufficient to direct their steps in the path of duty, without the aid of blind force and coercive power. The want of mental energy, in such persons, is rarely supplied by corporal force. The management of temporal affairs, in families holding a united interest, so far as respects the consecrated property of the Society, is committed, for the time being, to Trustees. These are appointed by the Ministry and Elders ; and being supported as aforesaid, are legally invested with the fee of the real estate belonmn:* to the So- All the consecrated property comes under their general charge, together with the oversight of all public business, and all commercial dealings with those without the bounds of the community. But all the transactions of the Trustees, in the use, management and disposal of this united interest, must be done in behalf, and for the joint benefit of the Society, including all the associated members, in their re- spective departments, and not for any per- sonal or private use or purpose whatever. And in all these things, they are strictly responsible to the leading authority of the Society for the faithful performance of their duty. It is also an established prin- ciple, that no Trustee, nor any member whatever, shall contract debts, of any kind, in behalf of the Society. IV. Order and Arrangement of the Society. Any person, rich or poor, who shall re- ceive faith in the testimony and principles of the Society, and voluntarily desire to become a member, after giving sufficient evidence of his or her sincerity, may be admitted on trial, by conforming to the established principles of the institution. The Society assumes no control over persons, property or children ; nor will it ac- cept any such control, unless by the request and free choice of the parties concerned. This community is divided into several different branches, generally called fami- lies. This division is generally made for convenience, and is often rendered neces- sary on account of local situation and other concurrent circumstances, which usually attend the arrangement of Believers into the order of families. But the proper division and arrangement of the Society, without respect to local situation, is into three classes or degrees of order, as fol- lows : 1. Those who unite with the Society in religious faith and principle ; but do not come into any temporal connexion with it. These live with their own families, if they have any, or provide places for themselves wherever it is most convenient. In such cases, husbands and wives take care of each other, and bring up their children, (if they have any,) hold their own interest, improve, use and dispose of their own property, and manage their affairs accord- ing to their own discretion. They may continue in this situation as long as they find it beneficial, as to their temporal cir- cumstances and spiritual improvement. But they are required to bear in mind the necessity and importance of a spiritual increase, without which they are ever ex- posed to fall back into the course of the world ; and they can maintain their union and connexion with the Society, so long as they conform to its religious faith and principles. Such persons are admitted to all the U=z HISTORY OF THE UNITED SOCIETY OF BEMKVI privilege! of religious worship and spiritual communion, oommon to Believers, and receive instruction and counsel from their leaders, according to their Deeds and cir« cumstances, whenever they feel if oeoes- nrj (>> apply lor it ; nor are they debarred from any privilege <>t' which their choice an.l local situation and circumstances will admit But being religious members of tin" community, they an- Qecessarily sub- ject to the spiritual direction of their loaders. If at any time they dosirc to make a donation to any religions or char- itable purpose of the Society, they arc at liberty to do so; provided they are clear Of debt, and their temporal abilities admit of it; but after having freely made the donation, they can have no more right to reclaim it, than the members of other re- ligious societies have to reclaim the like donations. Believers of this class are not controlled by the Society, as to their property, chil- dren or families; but act as freely, in all these respects, as the members of any other religious Society, and still enjoy all their spiritual privileges, and maintain their union with the Society ; provided they do not violate the faith and the moral and religious principles of the institution. No children are ever taken under the immediate charge of the Society, except by the request or free consent of those who have the lawful right and control of them, together with the child's own con- sent. No parents who join the Society arc required to give up their children ; nor are they always accepted when offered. Very few children are received into the Society in proportion to the applications made. Children taken into the Society are treated with care and tenderness. The government exercised over them is mild, gentle and beneficent, usually exciting in them feelings of affection, confidence and respect towards their instructors, not often found among other children, and which generally produces a willing obedience to what is required of them. The practical exercise of mildness and gentleness of manners, is early and sedulously cultivated among them. Churlishness, moroseness of temper, harshness of language, rough, unfeeling behavior, unkind, uncivil de- portment, and all mischievous and * propensities, are cautiously water* reproved ; great pains are. taken I them into the practical exercise of truth, honesty, kindness, [>enevolenoe, humanity and every moral virtue. 'I'll1' du' obedience to their instructors, respect to their superiors, reverence to the aged, and kindness and civility to all, are Strictly enjoined upon them. A good common school education is carefully provided lor thorn, in which they generally excel children of their OWl in the common schools of the country. Where traits of genius are discovered, their privilege of instruction is proportionately extended. They are early led into the knowledge of the sacred scriptures, in- structed in their history, and practically taught the divine precepts contained in them, and particularly those of Jesus Christ and the Apostles. They are always brought up to some manuel occupation, by which they may be. enabled to obtain a livelihood, whether they remain with the Society or not. 2. The second class, or degree of or- der, is composed of those persons who, not having the charge of families, and under no embarrassments to hinder them from becoming members of a family, in a united capacity, choose to enjoy the bene- fits of such a situation. These enter into a contract to devote their services, freely, to support the interest of the family of which they are members, so long as they continue in that order ; stipulating at the same time, to claim no pecuniary com- pensation for their services. But all the members of such families are mutually benefited by the united interest and labors of the whole family, so long as they con- tinue to support the order and institution thereof; and they are amply provided for in health, sickness and old age. These benefits are secured to them by contract. Members of this class or order, have the privilege, at their option, by contract, to give the improvement of any part or all their property, freely to be used for the mutual benefit of the family to which they belong. The property itself may he reclaimed at any time, according to the contract; but no interest can be claimed! for the use thereof; nor can any member 73 578 HrSTORY OF THE UNITED SOCIETY OF BELIEVERS. of such family be employed therein for wages of any kind. Members of this order may hold all their own property, so long as they find it beneficial, and choose ■ do; but at any time, after having sufficiently proved the faith and principles of the institution, to be able to act delibe- rately and understandingly, they may, if they ehoose, dedicate and devote a part, or the whole, and consecrate it forever, to the support of the institution. But this is a matter of free choice ; the Society urges no one so to do, and they are always ad- vised, in such cases, to consider the mat- ter well, so as not to do it until they have a full understanding of its consequences ; lest they should do it prematurely, and afterwards repent of it. Because when it is once done, there can be no just nor legal retraction. There have been many in- stances in which persons who have offered such dedication, have been put off or re- fused ; because it was believed that they were not duly prepared to make such con- secration, with sufficient discretion and understanding. 3. The third class or degree of order is composed of such persons as have had sufficient time and opportunity, practically to prove the faith and principles of the institution, and are thus prepared to enter fully and voluntarily, into a united and consecrated interest. These enter into a contract, and covenant to dedicate and de- vote themselves and services, with all they possess, to rlie service of God and the support of the institution forever, stipu- lating therein never to bring debt, nor damage, claim nor demand, against the Society, nor against any member thereof, for any property or service which they have thus devoted to the uses and purposes of the institution. No one is admitted into this order, until he or she has had suffi- cient experience, in the foregoing degrees, to prove the faith and principles of the Society, so as to be able to act with a full understanding of the sacrifices and effects of such dedication. No particular length of time is specified for such a preparatory experience ; but it generally requires some years. N. B. — Those who wish further infor- mation concerning this society, are re- ferred to a 12mo. vol. entitled, ' The Tes- timony of Christ's Second Appearing ;' also to ' Dunlavy's Manifesto,' and to a small 12mo. vol. entitled, 'A Summary view of the Millennial Church.' HISTORY OF 'I'll!: UNITARIAN CONGREGATIONAL] HISTORY OF THE UNITARIAN CONGREG ATIONALISTS BY THE REV. ALVAN LAMSON, DEDHAM, MASS. ANALYSIS OF THE ENSUING ARTICLE. 1. Doctrines of Unitarians. — Great distinguishing features of Unitarianism — Diversity of opinion among Unitarians — Views generally received among them — Character of God — Gos- pel of Jesus originated in his mercy — Unitarian views of his justice — Jesus Christ — Unita- rians believe him to be a distinct being from the Father, and inferior to him — The sort of evidence on which they rely for proving this — Assert the incredibility of the Trinity — Their view of the teachings of the scripture relating to the Son — The inference they make from the conduct of the disciples and others — Their views of Trinitarian proof texts — Of the conces- sions of Trinitarian Christians — Unitarians do not address Christ directly in prayer — Reasons for not doing it — Question of his nature — How regarded by Unitarians — His character and offices — True ground of reverence for Jesus, according to Unitarians — Unitarian views of the divinity of Christ — Their views of the Atonement — They do not, they contend, destroy the hope of the sinner, nor rob the Cross of its power — Unitarian views of the Holy Spirit — Of the terms of salvation — Of the new birth — How Unitarians speak of reverence for human nature — Need of help — Retribution for sin and holiness — Of the Bible — their reply to the charge of unduly exalting human reason. 2. History. — Unitarians do not profess to hold any new doctrine — What they affirm, that they are able to prove of "the Unitarianism of the ancient Church — Reference to modern Unita- rianism in Europe — American Unitarianism — Its date — Its progress, to the commencement of the present century — Its state during the first fifteen years of this century — 1815 an epoch in its history — First controversy — Its origin and results — Second controversy — First separation between orthodox and Unitarian Congregationalists. 3. Statistics. — Number of societies and churches — Other Unitarians besides Congregation- alists— Unitarian Periodicals — American Unitarian Association — Present condition and pros- pects of Unitarianism. The brevity we must study in this arti- cle will not allow us to give any thing more than a very meagre sketch of the views held by Unitarian Congregational- ists of the United States, and add a few facts concerning the history and recep- tion of these views, and the general sta- tistics of the denomination. DOCTRINES. Unitarianism takes its name from its distinguishing tenet, the strict personal unity of God, which Unitarians hold in opposition to the doctrine which leaches that God exists in three persons. Unita- rians maintain that God is one mind, one person, one undivided being ; that the Father alone is entitled to be called God in the highest sense ; that he alone possesses the attributes of infinite, unde- rived divinity, and is the only proper ob- ject of supreme worship and love. They believe that Jesus Christ is a distinct being from him, and possesses only de- rived attributes; that he is not the su- 580 HISTORY OF THE UNITARIAN CONGREGATIONALISTS. preme God himself, but his Son, and the mediator through whom he has ehosen to impart the richest blessings of his love to a sinning world. This must be called the great leading doctrine, the distinguishing, and, properly speaking, the only distinguishing feature of Unitarianism. Unitarians hold the supremacy of the Father, and the inferior and derived nature of the Son. This is their sole discriminating article of faith. On several other points they differ among themselves. Professing little rev- erence for human creeds, having no com- mon standard but the Bible, and allowing, in the fullest extent, freedom of thought and the liberty of every Christian to inter- pret the records of divine revelation for himself, they look for diversity of opinion as the necessary result. They see not, they say, how this is to be avoided with- out a violation of the grand Protestant principle of individual faith and liberty. They claim to be thorough and consist- ent Protestants. There are certain general views, how- ever, in which they are mostly agreed, as flowing from the great discriminating article of faith above mentioned, or inti- mately connected with it, or which they feel compelled to adopt on a diligent ex- amination of the sacred volume. Of the more important of these views, as they are commonly received by Unitarian Con- gregationalists of the United States, some account may be here expected. To do full justice to the subject, however, would require far more space than it would be proper for this article to occupy. We begin with the character of God. Unitarians, as we said, hold to his strict personal unity ; they are accustomed, too, to dwell with peculiar emphasis on his moral perfections, and especially his pa- ternal love and mercy. They believe that he yearns, with a father's tenderness and pity, towards the whole offspring of Adam. They believe that he earnestly desires their repentance and holiness ; that his infinite, overflowing love, led him, miraculously, to raise up and send Jesus to be their spiritual deliverer, to purify their souls from sin, to restore them to communion with himself, and fit them for pardon and everlasting life in his pres- ence ; in a word, to reconcile man to God, and earth to heaven. They believe that the gospel of Jesus originated in the exhaustless and unbought love of the Father ; that it is intended to operate on man, and not on God ; that the only obstacle which exists, or which ever has existed on the part of God, to the forgiveness of the sinner, is found in the heart of the sinner himself; that the life, teachings, and resurrection of Jesus, become an instrument of pardon, as they are the appointed means of turning man from sin to holiness, of breathing into his soul new moral and spiritual life, and ele- vating it to a union with the Father. They believe that the cross of Christ was not needed to render God merciful ; that Jesus suffered, not as a victim of God's wrath, or to satisfy his justice ; they think that this view obscures the glory of the divine character, is repugnant to God's equity, veils his loveliest attributes, and is injuri- ous to a spirit of filial trusting piety.* Thus all in their view, is to be referred prima- rily to the boundless and unpurchased love of the Father, whose wisdom chose this method of bringing man within reach of his pardoning mercy, by redeeming him from the power of sin, and establishing in his heart his kingdom of righteousness and peace. We now proceed to speak of Jesus Christ. As before said, Unitarians be- lieve him to be a distinct being from God and subordinate to him. The following may serve as a specimen of the process of thought, views, and impressions through which they arrive at this conclusion. We beg leave to state them, not for the pur- pose of argument, for we have no wish here to enter into any defence of Unita- rian sentiments, but simply that our views may be understood, and the more espe- cially, as we have reason to believe that they are often misapprehended. No more of argument will be introduced, and no more of the history of ancient and foreign Unitarianism, than appears necessary to put the reader in complete possession of the sentiments and position of the sect as it exists in this country. Unitarians do not rely exclusively, or I chiefly, on what they conceive to be the I intrinsic incredibility of the doctrine to HISTORY or 'I'm: UNITARIAN CONGREGATIONAL! which they stand opposed. Tiny take the Bible in their bands, as the] say, and Bitting down to read it, as plain unlettered Christians, and with prayer for divine illumination, they find thai the general tenor of its language either distinctly as- r necessarily implies the supremacy of the Father, and teaches the inferior and derived nature of the Son. In proof of this, they appeal to such passages as the following: "This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and ( 'hrist whom thou hast sent." (John xvii. 3.) " For there is one God and one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus." (1 Tim. ii. 5.) " My Fa- ther is greater than I." (John xiv. 28.) " My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me." (Ibid. vii. 16.) "I speak not of myself." (Ibid. xiv. 10.) " I can of my own self do nothing." (Ibid. v. 30.) " The Father that dwelleth in me he doeth the works." (Ibid. xiv. 10.) "God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye crucified, both Lord and Christ." (Acts ii. 36.) " Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour." (Ibid. v. 31.) They appeal to such passages, and generally to all those in which Jesus Christ is called, not God himself, but the Son of God ; in which he is spoken of as sent, and the Father as sending, appointing him a kingdom, " giving" him authority, giv- ing him to be head over ail things to the Church. Such passages, they contend, show derived power and authority. Again, when the Son is represented as praying to the Father, and the Father as hearing and granting his prayer, how, ask they, can the plain serious reader, resist the convic- tion, that he who prays is a different being from him to whom he prays? Does a being pray to himself? Unitarians urge, that passages like those above referred to, occurring promiscuously, are fair specimens of the language in which Jesus is spoken of in the New Testament ; that such is the common language of the Bible, and that it is wholly irreconcilable with the idea that Jesus was regarded by those with whom he lived and conversed, as the infinite and supreme God, or that the Bible was meant to teach any such doctrine. They do not find, they say, that the deportment of the discipl the multitudes towards JeSUS, the qu< they asked him, and the character of their Intercourse with him, Indicated am belief On their part, or any siipj that lie was the infinite Jehovah. We meet, say they, with no marks of that surprise and astonishmi nf which they must have expressed en being first made- ac- quainted with the doctrine, — on being told that ho who stood before them, who ate and drank with them, who slept and waked, who was capable of fatigue and sensible to pain, was in truth, the Infinite and Immutable One, the Preserver and Governor of nature. They contend that the passages gene- rally adduced to prove the supreme deity of Jesus Christ, fail of their object ; that without violence they will receive a dif- ferent construction ; that such construc- tion is often absolutely required by the language itself, or the connexion in which it stands ; that most of those passages, if carefully examined, far from disproving, clearly show the distinct nature and infe- riority of the Son. They notice the fact as a remarkable one, that of all the proof texts, as they are called, of the Trinity, there is not one on which, at one time or another, eminent Trinitarian critics have not put a Unitarian construction, and thus they agree that Unitarianism may be proved from the concessions of Trinita- rians themselves. To the doctrine of three persons in one God, Unitarians object again, its intrinsic incredibility. They say, that they can- not receive the doctrine, because in assert- ing that there are three persons in the Divinity, it teaches, according to any con- ception they can form of the subject, that there are three beings, three minds, three conscious agents, and thus it makes three Gods, and to assert that these three are one, is a contradiction. So too with regard to the Saviour, — to affirm that the same being is both finite and infinite, man and God, they say ap- pears to them to be a contradiction and an absurdity. If Jesus Christ possessed two natures, two wills, two minds, a finite and an infinite, they maintain that he must be two persons, two beings. Unitarians of the present day, as far as 582 HISTORY OF THE UNITARIAN CONGREGATIONALISTS. we know, do not think it lawful directly to address Christ in prayer. They think that his own example, the direction he gave to his disciples — " When ye pray, say, Our Father," — and such ex- pressions as the following, " In that day," that is, when I am withdrawn from you into heaven, " ye shall ask me nothing ; verily, verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name he will give it you," not only authorize, but absolutely require prayer to be addressed directly to the Father. To prove that the ancient Christians were accustomed thus to address their prayers, they allege the authority of Origen, who lived in the former part of the third century, and was eminent for piety and talents, and in learn- ing surpassed all the Christians of his day. " If we understand what prayer is," says Origen, " it will appear that it is never to be offered to any originated being, not to Christ himself, but only to the God and Father of all ; to whom our Saviour him- self prayed and taught us to pray." In regard to the metaphysical nature and rank of the Son, and the time at which his existence commenced, Unitarians un- doubtedly differ in opinion. Some hold his pre-existence, and others suppose that his existence commenced at the time of his entrance into the world. The question of his nature they do not consider as important. Some take this view. They think that the testimony of the apostles, the original witnesses to whom we are indebted for our knowledge of him, bears only on his birth, miracles, teach- ings, life, death, resurrection and ascen- sion, that is, on his character and offices, and that beyond these we need not go ; that these are all which it is important that we should know or believe ; that the rest is speculation, hypothesis, with which, as practical Christians, we have no con- cern ; that our comfort, our hope, our security of pardon and eternal life depend not upon our knowledge or belief in it. At the same time all entertain exalted views of his character and offices. In a reverence for these they profess to yield to no class of Christians. The divinity which others ascribe to his person, they think may with more propriety be referred to these. " We believe firmly," says one of the most eminent writers in the sect, " in the divinity of Christ's mission and office, that he spoke with divine authority, and was a bright image of the divine per- fections. " We believe that God dwelt in him, manifested himself through him, taught men by him, and communicated to him his Spirit without measure. " We believe that Jesus Christ was the most glorious display, expression, and representative of God to mankind, so that through seeing and knowing him, we see and know the invisible Father ; so that when Christ came, God visited the world and dwelt with men more conspicuously than at any former period. In Christ's words we hear God speaking ; in his mi- racles we behold God acting ; in his cha- racter and life, we see an unsullied image of God's purity and love. We believe, then, in the divinity of Christ, as this term is often and properly used." Unitarians do not think that they de- tract from the true glory of the Son. They regard him as one with God in affection, will, and purpose. This union, they think, is explained by the words of the Saviour himself: " Be ye also one," says he to his disciples, " even as I and my Father are one ;" one not in nature, but in purpose, affection and act. Through him Chris- tians are brought near to the Father, and their hearts are penetrated with divine love. By union with him as the true vine, they are nurtured in the spiritual life. In his teachings they find revelations of holy truth. They ascribe peculiar power and significance to his cross. To that emblem of self-sacrificing love, they teem with emotions which language is too poor to express. The cross is connected in the minds of Christians with the atonement. On this subject Unitarians feel constrained to differ from many of their fellow Christians. Unitarians do not reject the atonement in what they believe to be the scriptural mean- ing of the term. W'hile they gratefully acknowledge the mediation of Christ, and believe that through the channel of his gospel are conveyed to them the most precious blessings of a Father's mercy, they object strongly to the views frequently expressed, of the connection of the death 1II.ntoi;\ OF THE I MTAKIA.N CONGREGATIONAL Of Christ with tin- forgiveness of sin. They do not believe that thesuflbrio Christ were penal — designed to satisfy a principle of stem justice ; for justii they( does not indict suffering on the inno- cent to order to pardon the guilty; and betides, they believe that clod's justice is in perfect harmony with his mercy; that to separate them, even in thought, is greatly to dishonor him. They believe that however the cross stands connected with the forgiveness of sin, that connexion, as before said, is to be explained by the effects wrought on man and not on God. They believe that in thus teaching they do not rob the cross of its power, nor take away from the sinner ground of hope. To the objection that sin requires an infinite atonement, and that none but an infinite being can make that atonement, they re- ply by saying, that they find in their Bibles not one word of this infinite atonement, and besides, that no act of a finite being, a frail, sinning child of dust, can possess a character of infinity, or merit an infinite punjshment ; that it is an abuse of lan- guage so to speak ; and further, that if an infinite sufferer were necessary to make due atonement for sin, no such atonament could ever be made, for infinite cannot suffer ; that God is unchangeable, and it is both absurd and impious to ascribe suf- fering to him ; God cannot die ; and ad- mitting Jesus to have been God as well as man, only his human nature suffered ; that there was no infinite sufferer in the case ; that thus the theory of the infinite atonement proves a fallacy, and the whole fabric falls to the ground. Still is not the sinner left without hope, because he leans on the original and unchanging love and compassion of the Father, to whom as the prime fountain we trace back all gospel means and influences, and who is ever ready to pardon those, who through Christ and his cross are brought to repentance for sin and holiness of heart and life. Further, the Unitarians reply, that what- ever mysterious offices the cross of Christ may be supposed to possess, beyond its natural power to affect the heart, it must owe that efficacy wholly to the divine ap- pointment, and thus the nature and rank of the instrument becomes of no impor- tance, since the omnipotence of God can endow the wi ak ment with power to produce any « Sect plish by it. They quofc Bi bop Wb\ >n, a Trinita- rian writer, as saying that "all depends on the appointment pf God;" thai it will not do for us to qu< ition the propriety of any " means his gO< merely because we cannot see DOW it is fitted to attain the end;" that neither the Arian nor the Humanitarian hyp necessarily precludes "atonement by the death of Jesus." (Charge delivered in 1795.) By the Holy Spirit, Unitarians suppose is meant not a person, but an influence ; and hence it is spoken of as " poured out," " given," and we read of the " anointing" with the Holy Spirit, phrases, which they contend, preclude the idea of a person. It was given miraculously to the first disci- ples, and gently as the gathering dews of evening distils upon the heart of the fol- lowers of Jesus in all ages, helping their infirmity, ministering to their renewal, and ever strengthening and comforting them. It is given in answer to prayer, as Christ said : " If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children ; how much more shall your heavenly Fa- ther give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" (Lukexi. 13.) Unitarians believe that salvation through the gospel is offered to all, on such terms as all, by God's help, which he will never withhold from any who earnestly strive to know and do his will, and lead a pure, humble, and benevolent life, have power to accept. They reject the doctrine of native total depravity ; but they assert that man is born weak, and in possession of appetites and propensities, by the abuse of which all become actual sinners ; and they believe in the necessity of what is figuratively ex- pressed by the " new birth," that is, the becoming spiritual and holy, being led by that spirit of truth and love which Jesus came to introduce into the souls of his fol- lowers. This change is significantly called the coming of the kingdom in the heart, without which, as they teach, the pardon of sin, were it possible, would confer no happiness, and the songs of Paradise would fall with harsh dissonance on the ear. .3-1 HISTORY OF THE UNITARIAN CONGREGATIONALISTS. Unitarians sometimes speak of rcver- for human nature — of reverence for the soul. They reverence it as God's work, formed for undying growth and im- provement. They believe Ural it possesses a capable of receiving the highest truths. They believe that God, in various . makes revelations of truth and duty to the human soul ; that in various ways he quickens it ; kindles in it holy thoughts -mirations, and inspires it bv his life- giving presence. They believe that how- ever darkened and degraded, it is capable of being regenerated, renewed, by the means and influences which he provides. They believe that it is not so darkened by the fall but that some good, some power, some capacity of spiritual life, is left in it. But they acknowledge that it has need of help : that it has need to be breathed upon by the divine Spirit. They believe that i there is nothing in their peculiar mode of : viewing Christianity which encourages proscription ; encourages pride and self- exaltation. They believe that the heart which knows itself will be ever humble. They believe that they must perpetually look to God for help. They teach the necessity of prayer, and a diligent use of ' the means of devout culture ; they do not thus teach reverence for human nature in any such sense, they think, as would countenance the idea that man is sufficient to save himself without God : they pray to him for illumination, pray that he will more and more communicate of himself to their souls. They teach the blighting consequences of sin. They believe that in the universe which God has formed, this is the only essential and lasting evil ; and that to rescue the human soul from its power, to win it back to the love of God, of truth and right, and to obedience, to a principle of enlarged benevolence which embraces every fellow-being as a brother, is the noblest work which reli- gion can achieve, and worth all the blood and tears which were poured out by Jesus in his days of humiliation. While they earnestly inculcate the ne- cessity of a holy heart and a pure and benevolent life, they deny that man is to be saved by his own merit, or works, ex- cept as a condition to which the mercy of God has been pleased to annex the gift of everlasting life and felicity. Unitarian Congrcgationalists believe firmly in a fu- ture retribution for sin and holiness. There is nothing peculiar in the senti- ments which, as a body, they entertain of the Bible. They regard the sacred books of it as containing words of a divine reve- lation miraculously made to the world. They receive it as their standard, their rule of faith and life, interpreting it as they think consistency and the principles of sound and approved criticism demand. They make use of the common, or King James' version, as it is called, but, like all well-informed Christians, they think that a reverence for truth and a desire to ascer- tain the will of God, justify and require them, wherever there is any doubt about the meaning, to appeal to the original, or to compare other versions. In doing this, they say, that they do not fear that they shall be condemned by any intelligent Christian. In proof of their reverence for the Bible, they appeal to the circumstance that several of the ablest defenders of Chris- tianity against the attacks of infidels, have been Unitarians, a fact, say they, which they are confident no one acquainted with the theological literature of modern ages will call in question. To the charge that they unduly exalt human reason, Unitarian Christians reply by saying, that the Bible is addressed to us as reasonable beings, that reverence for its records, and respect for the natures which God has bestowed on us, and which Christ came to save, make it our duty to use our understanding and the best lights which are afforded us, for ascertaining its meaning; that God cannot contradict in one way what he records in another: that his word and works must utter a consistent language ; that if the Bible be his gift, it cannot be at war with nature and human reason ; that if we discard reason in its interpretation, there is no absurdity we may not deduce from it ; that we cannot do it greater dishonor than to admit that it will not stand the scrutiny of reason ; that if our faculties are not worthy of trust, if they are so distempered by the fall, that we can no longer repose any confidence in their veracity : then revelation itself cannot benefit us, for we have no reason HISTORY OF THE UNITARIAN UONUREtiATIONALI of its evidences or import, and air reduced at once to a .state of utter scepticism. ;. t < i nit t i i iij; minor differences, ere iding \ iewa of the Unitarian I Ion- Lionalists of the United States. They oo not claim to hold all these fiewi as peculiar to themsehres. Several of them they >hare in common with other claSSCH of Christians, or with individuals of other denominations. HISTORY. Of the history and statistics of Unita- rians in the United States, we have left ourselves little room to speak. The Uni- tarians of these days do not profess to hold any new doctrines. They speak of its antiquity and revival. The history of ancient Unitarianism, I must pass over, both as foreign to the object of this sketch, and a subject which would require more space than is assigned for our whole article. I will only state in a single paragraph what modern Unita- rians contend that they are able to prove in regard to the early prevalence of this doctrine. They begin by stating that the Jews before the time of the Saviour, were strictly Unitarian ; that it is a fact as well ascertained as any fact can be, that the Jewish Christians of the early ages were so also ; being believers in the simple hu- manity of Jesus ; that several of the early fathers recognise this fact ; and that this belief was not originally deemed heretical. They contend and profess to show, that all the fathers for more than three hun- dred years after the commencement of the Christian era, never fail of ascribing su- premacy to the Father, and held the strict and proper inferiority of the Son ; that they made him a distinct being from the Father, though many of them assigned him from all eternity a sort of metaphy- sical, or potential, existence in the Father as an attribute, that is, his wisdom or rea- son, which attribute took a separate per- sonal existence a little before the creation of the world, and became an agent of the Father in its formation. In this they differ from the Arians, who taught that he was created out of nothing. Unitarians affirm, that the germ of the doctrine of the Trinity • traced in the learned Platonizing converts, who brought it with them from boo! of human philosoph) ; th< t say that its origin i> thui in tin . satisfactorily explained : they contend that it was of gradual formation, and that they can trace in growth from Bgl it acquired something like its present form about the middle of the fifth century. These views' they think have been well established in modern writings, both in this country and in England. We now come to modern Unitarian- ism. The history of this, too, in i countries, we must dismiss in some half a dozen or a dozen sentences, stating merely a Ccw general facts. We discover traces of anti-trinitarian sentiments, in the early days of the Re- formation under Luther, and Unitarianism was openly avowed and defended by Cel- larius, a learned man, a native of Stutt- gard, born in 1499, and for some time united in warm friendship with Luther and Melancthon. Several of the learned contemporaries of Luther, in Germany and Switzerland, embraced the same sen- timents. Servetus, a native of Aragon, was burned as a heretic for his Unitarian- ism, at Geneva, in 1553. About the same time a society of Unitarians in Italy was broken up and dispersed by the In- quisition. A retreat was afterwards opened to them in Poland ; they had a college at Racow, numbering at one time more than a thousand students ; they had churches in all parts of the kingdom, and their sentiments were embraced by many of the chief nobility. There they flour- ished many years, and left behind them many monuments of their learning and zeal. They were banished from the kingdom in 1660. Some went to Eng- land ; some to different parts of Germa- ny ; and some to Transylvania, where they still exist as a distinct sect. Holland still contains a considerable number, and most of the pastors of Germany hold Unitarian sentiments. In England, they are traced back to the early" part of the sixteenth century ; but there as elsewhere, they were subject to severe persecution for their opinions, and some of them sealed their faith with their blood. The doctrine, however, was 74 586 HISTORY OF THE UNITARIAN CONGREGATIONALISTS. not suppressed, and English Unitarian- ism numbers a long line of learned men, the ornaments of their age and of human- ity. Among them we find the names of Emlyn, Whiston, Dr. Samuel Clark, Lardner, Price, Priestly, Lindsey, Aikin, Jebb, Rees, and many others, besides the three greater lights, Locke, Newton, and the poet Milton. Unitarian sentiments are now extensively diffused among the Presbyterians of England, and in the north of Ireland ; and Unitarian houses of ; worship exist in different places in Scot- | land. The last report of the American Uni- tarian Association, (May, 1842,) states the number of Unitarian Congregations in England at about 300 ; in Ireland, at 39 ; in Scotland, at 12. Of those who have renounced the Church of Rome in Hol- land, Switzerland, France and Germany, the same document affirms, that not less than one-half hold the Unitarian faith. American Unitarianism dates back, at least, to the middle of the last century. In a letter to Dr. Moore, dated May 15th, 1815, the older President Adams says, in reply to a statement that Unitarianism was then only thirty years old in New England, " I can testify as a witness to its old age." He goes back sixty-five years, and names some clergymen, and among others Dr. Mayhew of Boston, and Gay of Hingham, who were Unitarians. " Among the laity," he adds, " how many could I name, lawyers, physicians, trades- men, farmers !" There was, however, little open avowal of Unitarianism at this period, nor until after the American Rev- olution ; nor were there many congrega- tions professedly Unitarian until after the commencement of the present century, though as early as 1756, Emlyn's In- quiry into the Scripture Account of Jesus Christ, was republished in Boston, and extensively read. In 1785, the society worshipping at King's Chapel, Boston, adopted an amended liturgy, from which Trinitarian sentiments were excluded. Between that period and the end of the century, Unita- rian sentiments manifested themselves to a small extent in Maine, and Mr. Bently openly preached them in Salem, Massa- chusetts. The same sentiments were preached in the southern parts of the I state, in Plymouth and Barnstable coun- ties, in the latter of which there were many Unitarians. In the western part of Massachusetts, in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire, Unita- rianism had made but little progress. Out of New England, few if any traces of it were visible, except at Northumber- land and Philadelphia, where Dr. Priestly had made some converts. Thus closed the eighteenth century. But though, as before remarked, there was at this time but little open profession of Unitarianism, the general tone of think- ing and feeling in Boston and the vicinity, was decidedly Unitarian, or, at least, the current was strongly setting that way. During the first fifteen years of the present century, controversy on the sub- ject was seldom or never introduced into the pulpit, but Unitarianism was making silent progress. Many having ceased to hear the opposite sentiments inculcated, embraced it, often without any distinct consciousness of the fact. The term Unitarianism was then seldom heard in New England, those since called Unita- rians being then denominated Liberal Christians. The appointment of, one of them to the divinity professorship at Cam- bridge, in 1805, was the occasion of some controversy. The year 1815, formed an epoch in the history of American Unitarianism. The circumstances were briefly these : Mr. Belsham, in his Memoirs of Lindsey, pub- lished in London in 1812, had introduced a chapter on American Unitarianism, or as it was expressed, on the " Progress and Present State of the Unitarian Churches in America." This was republished in Boston in 1815, with a Preface by the American editor, the object of the republi- cation being to sound the alarm against Unitarianism on this side the Atlantic. The pamphlet was immediately reviewed in the Panoplist, an Orthodox publication of the day. The two publications caused great excitement. The Panoplist espe- cially, was complained of by Unitarians, as greatly misrepresenting their senti- ments, and containing many injurious aspersions on their character. A controversy ensued, Dr. Channing leading the way, in a letter addressed to HI8T0R1 OF THE UNITARIAN CONGREGATIONAL] the Rev. s. ('. Thacher, in which be charges the Panoplisi with the attempt to fasten on the Unitarian* of this country all the odium of .Mr. Belsham's peculiar . and replies to what he conceived to he other misrepresentations of tin- re- viewer, particularly to the accusation of hypocritical concealment, brought against the Unitarians. Several pamphlets were written in this controversy by Dr. Chan- ning, Dr. Samuel Worcester, of Salem, and some others, mostly in 1815. The tendency of this controversy was to draw a sharp and distinct line between the parties. The Panoplist had urged on the Orthodox the necessity of a separation " in worship and communion from Uni- tarians." From that time the exchange of pulpits between the clergymen of ortho- dox and liberal denominations, in a great measure, ceased, though all were not pre- pared for this decided step. Many con- gregations were much divided in opinion ; a separation was viewed by many as a great evil ; many were strongly opposed to it, but it now became inevitable. The Unitarian controversy, strictly so called, brought up the question of the rights of churches and parishes, respect- ively, in the settlement of a minister. Before the excitement on this subject had subsided, another controvery arose, occa- sioned by Dr. Channing's sermon, preach- ed at Baltimore, at the ordination of Mr. Sparks. This controversy embraced the doc- trine of the Trinity, and the doctrines of Calvinism generally, all of which were subjected to a very thorough discussion. Professor Stuart, of Andover, appeared in defence of the Trinity, and Mr. Andrews Norton in opposition to it, in an article in the Christian Examiner, subsequently en- larged and published in a separate volume, under the title, " A Statement of Reasons for not believing the Doctrine of Trini- tarians, concerning the Nature of God, and the Person of Christ." Dr. Woods, of Andover, defended the doctrines of Cal- vinism, and Dr. Ware, of Harvard Uni- versity, replied. There were several re- plications and rejoinders on both sides. A discussion was at the same time going on between Mr. Sparks of Baltimore, and Dr. Miller, of Princeton. By the time this controversy ml I 'i thodox and Unitarian I tionalisls were found to constitute t* tinet bodies. The ministers of both divi- lions, however, in Massachusetts, still an- nually met in convention as Cob tionalists, a name which belongs equally to both, hut have, elsewhere, little religious fellowship or communion. Such is the origin and history, SO far SI they can be given here, of the American Unitarians, viewed as constituting a dis- tinct class or denomination of Christians. They are mostly the descendants of the old Congregationalists of New England, and are still Congregationalists, the forms of which they value for what they regard as their scriptural simplicity, as well as from many ancestral associations. STATISTICS. It is difficult to estimate the number of Unitarians in the United States ; and of their character for intelligence, piety, and benevolence, it does not become us, in the present article, to speak. When they have no separate place of worship, they continue in many instances united in wor- ship with orthodox societies. From the Fifteenth Report of the Executive Com- mittee of the American Unitarian Asso- ciation (May, 1840,) it appears that the number of religious societies and churches professedly Unitarian, in Massachusetts, was then 150 ; in Maine, 15 ; in New Hampshire, 19 ; and out of New England, 36. The number has since increased, and is now estimated in all about 300. These are Congregational Unitarians, to whom this article refers. The same docu- ment assigns to the denomination called Christians, (who are also Unitarians,) in 1833, 700 ministers, 1000 churches, from 75,000 to 100,000 communicants, and from 250,000 to 300,000 worshippers. Besides the Congregational Unitarians, it is computed that there are now in the United States, about 2,000 congregations of Unitarians, chiefly of the sects called Christians, Universalists, and Friends or Quakers. Among the periodicals which utter Uni- tarian sentiments, at the present time, are the Christian Register, a weekly paper, 588 HISTORY OF THE UNITARIAN CONGREGATION ALISTS. commenced in Boston, in 1822 ; the Month- ly Miscellany of Religion and Letters, a monthly publication in Boston, commenced in 1829; and the Christian Examiner. The latter was originally issued under the name of the Christian Disciple, a monthly publication, commenced at Boston in 1813, under the superintendence of the late Dr. Noah Worcester. It continued under his charge until 1819, when a new series was commenced under different editors. This series terminated with the fifth volume, at the end of 1823. The work then took the name of the Christian Examiner, which is still continued, a number being issued every two months, the 34th volume being now in the course of publication. This work, which combines literature with theo- logy, has always sustained a high reputa- tion for learning and ability, — nearly all the more eminent Unitarians of the day having been, at different times, numbered among its contributors. The American Unitarian Association was founded in Boston, in 1825. An ex- tensive correspondence is carried on, and other business transacted by the general secretary of the Association ; and there are now several auxiliaries in different parts of the United States. The Association holds its annual meet- ings at Boston, in May of each year, at which the report of the secretary is read, after which various topics are discussed in speeches or addresses. The Association, through its Executive Committee, issues tracts monthly, of which the 16th volume is now in the course of publication. It furnishes temporary aid to small and destitute societies, and does something for domestic missions, particularly in the Western States. There is also a Book and Pamphlet Society, not under the control of the Association, but which co-operates, in some measure, with it, and distributes a large number of books and tracts. The last annual report of the Associa- tion speaks of the condition and prospects of the denomination, as in a high degree encouraging. Societies, it affirms, are multiplying in New England, and in va- rious parts of the South and West. If the spirit of active controversy in the sect is passing away, as some think, the import- ance of a living, practical faith, and an earnest piety, was never more deeply felt. The present year, active efforts have been made, and not wholly in vain, to raise funds to meet the wants of the denomina- tion, especially to educate young men for the ministry, to assist destitute societies, and support missionaries ; in different ways to promote the cause of spiritual Chris- tianity, and aid in building up the kingdom of the Redeemer in the world. HISTORY OP THE I N'I\ BRSALI 589 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSALISTS. BY THE REV. A. B. GROSH, UTICA, N. Y. Such is the general and approved name of that denomination of Christians, which is distinguished for believing that God will finally save all mankind from sin and death, and make all intelligences holy and happy by and through the mediation of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world. Anciently, believers in this sentiment were called by its opposers, " Merciful Doc- tors ;" and at a later day, "Hell-Redemp- tionists" and " Restorationers ;" and within a few years past, efforts have been made to create a distinction among them, by classing them as " Restorationists" and " Ultra-Universalists ;" — but the denomi- nation itself, though composed of all classes thus attempted to be distinguished and di- vided off, claims for itself the sole name of Universalist, and disclaims any other distinctive titleby which to be designated. The great general sentiment of the final, universal salvation of all moral beings from sin and death, in which this denomi- nation is united, and by which it is distin- guished, is termed JJniversalism / or, sometimes, by way of varying the phrase- ology, " the Abrahamic faith ;" because it is the gospel that was declared to Abra- ham— or, sometimes, " the Restitution," or, " the Restitution of all things," &c. But that the reader may have as full in- formation of this denomination and its faith, as the limits of this work will permit, I will state — First, the history of the sentiment peculiar to it. Second, the rise, progress, present condition, and prospects of the denomination in its collective capa- city. Third, a brief summary of the general views held by Universalists, and the principle scriptures on which they rely for support. L THE HISTORY OF THE SENTIMENT, OR DOCTRINE, OF UNIVERSAL SAL- VATION FROM SIN. The first intimation of God's purpose to destroy the cause of moral evil, and re- store man to purity and happiness, is con- tained in the promise that the serpent, (which represents the origin and cause of sin,) after bruising man's heel, (a curable injury of the most inferior portion of hu- manity,) should have its head bruised by the woman's Seed. (Genesis iii. 15.) A bruise of the head is death to the serpent, (and to what that reptile represents ;) and the destruction being effected by the Seed of the woman, shows man's final and complete deliverance from, and triumph over, all evil. In accordance with the idea conveyed by representing man's heel only, as being bruised, is the limitation of the punishment dAincly pronounced on the first pair of transgressors, to the duration of their earthly lives — (Genesis iii. 17, 19) — and the total absence of every thing like even a hint, that God would punish Cain, or Lamcch, or the antediluvians, with an infinite or endless penalty — and the institution of temporal 'punishment only, in the law given by Moses. And the intimation of the final, total destruction of the very cause of moral evil, and of all 590 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSALISTS. its works or effects, (or all sin,) is further explained and confirmed by later and more conclusive testimony, in which it is stated that Jesus would destroy death and the devil, the devil and all his works ; and that the grave (Hades, or Hell) and its victory, and death and its sting, (which is sin,) would exist no more after the re- surrection of the dead. (See Heb. ii. 14; 1 John hi. 8 ; and 1 Cor. xv. 54-57.) This brief intimation of the ultimate de- struction of evil, and man's salvation there- from, grew into that divine promise to Abraham and his descendants, which the apostle Paul expressly calls " the gospel," viz: that in Abraham and his seed, (which seed is Jesus Christ,) " shall all the fami- lies," " all the nations," and " all kindreds of the earth be blessed" — by being " turned away every one from iniquity," and by being "justified (i. e. made just) by faith." (Compare Genesis xii. 3, xviii. 18, xxii. 18, and xxvi. 4, with Acts iii. 25, 26, and Galatians iii. 8.) Christ being a spiritual Prince, and a spiritual Saviour only, and this gospel being a spiritual promise ; of course the blessings promised to all, in Christ, will be spiritual also, and not merely temporal. For all that are blessed in Christ, are to be new creatures. (2 Cor. v. 17.) Accordingly we find this solemn, oath-confirmed promise of God — this " gospel preached before due time to Abraham" — made the basis and subject of almost every prophecy relating to the ultimate prevalence, and universal, end- less triumph of God's moral dominion under the mediatorial reign of Jesus Christ. But if we would obtain a more perfect understanding of those prophetic promises, we must examine them in connection with the expositions given of their meaning, by the Saviour and his apostles, in the New Testament. One or two examples are all that can be given here. The subjugation of all things to the dominion of man, (Ps. viii. 5, 6,) is expressly applied to the spi- ritual subjugation of all souls to Jesus, by the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, who declares it a universal subjection ; (" for in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him ;") and \hat it is not the present phy- sical or external subjection, but the pros- pectively final, spiritual and internal sub- jection that is meant — " for we see not yet all things put under him," &c. (Heb. ii. 8, 9.) And in 1 Cor. xv. 24- 28, this subjection is represented as taking place after all opposing powers are put down, and the last enemy is de- stroyed— and it is connected with the sub- jection of all alike unto Jesus, and of Jesus unto God, and is declared to be, that God may be all that is in all ; — thus most emphatically and conclusively show- ing that nothing but a thorough, spiritual subjection of the whole soul to God can be intended. And that it is to be strictly universal, is evident, also, from the 27th verse, where God is expressly named as the only being in the universe who will not be subjected to the moral dominion of Jesus — thus agreeing with the testimony of Hebrews ii. 8, before quoted. Again : the promise of universal blessedness in the gospel, under the figure of a feast for all people, made on Mount Zion, and the swal- lowing up of death in victory, recorded in Isaiah xxv. 6-8, is very positively applied by the Apostle Paul to the resurrection of all men to immortality — thus showing its universality, its spirituality, and its end- lessness. (See 1 Cor. xv. 54.) And again; in Isaiah lv. 10, 11, God gives a pledge that his word will more certainly accomplish all it is sent to perform, than will his natural agents perform their mis- sion. In Isa. xlv. 22-24, he informs us that the mission of his word is, to make every knee bow, and every tongue swear allegiance, and surely say* that in the Lord each one has righteousness and strength. The apostle to the Gentiles, in speaking of the flesh-embodied Word of God, Jesus of Nazareth, in a very em- phatic manner confirmed the absolute uni- versality of this promise, by declaring that it included all in heaven, and in earth, and under the earth, in its promise of final salvation, by gathering them into Christ. (See Phil. ii. 9-11.) This acknowledg- ment of Jesus, as universal Lord or owner, is to be made by the influence of the Holy Spirit — (1 Cor. xii. 3 ; and Rom. xiv. 8, • The word *' one" being in italics, was sup- plied by the translators, and is no part of the original scripture Hl>Toi:\ OF THE I M\ ERSAL1 !>, compared writh John m. 37—89, and Phil, Ul. 21) — and is called rtioini:/ without which, indeed! il could nol be ■ true- spiritual Bubjectiou ami allegltDCe. (Col. i. 19, 'JO; and Eph. i. B-10.) Thus have we very briefly traced the rise and gradual development of the doc- trine of universal salvation, from its first intimation down to its (oil and (dear ex- position ; — thus proving thai it is, indeed, M the restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouths of all his holy prophets, Bince the world began" — (Acts iii. 21) — and the gospel which God " hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all tilings." This gospel of the great salva- tion, so abundantly testified to by the apostles of the Saviour, was undoubtedly the faith of the primitive churches. True, other matters more directly engaged the preaching and controversies of the early teachers ; for both Jews and Gentiles de- nied that Jesus was a divinely commis- sioned teacher, and that he rose from the dead after his crucifixion and burial — and many also denied the resurrection of the dead in general. But it is a fact clearly stated on the page of ecclesiastical history, and proved by the writings of the early Fathers themselves, that the doctrine of universal salvation was held, without any directly counter sentiment being taught, until the days of Tertullian, in A. D. 204 ; and that Tertullian himself was the first Christian writer now known, who as- serted the doctrine of the absolute eternity of hell-torments, or, that the punishment of the wicked and the happiness of the saints were equal in duration. Nor was there any opposition to the doctrine of universal salvation, until long after the days of Origen, (about A. D. 394,) — nor was it ever declared 'a heresy by the Church in general, until as late as the year 553, when the fifth General Council thus declared it false. But that the reader may have names and dates, we will here name a few of the most eminent Fathers, with the date of their greatest fame, who openly avowed and publicly taught the doctrine of Universalism. A. D. 140, the authors of the Sibylline Oracles; 190, Clement, President of the Catechetical School at Alexandria, the sf learn d and illustrious man ( trigen ; 18 a, the light of lbs Church in his da) , a boas reputati learning and sanctitj i many followers, and finally a great party, in the Christian Church, the most of whom (if not all) were decided believers and advo- cates of Universalism. Among uV will merely name, (for we In. for remarks,) Marcejlus, I'> i > 1 1 f - j * of Anryra, and Titus, Bishop of Bostra; A. I). 360, Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa, and (i: Nazianzcn, Archbishop of Constantinople ; 380, Theodore, Bishop of Mopsuestia, and Fabius Manus Victorinus; A. D. 390, the Origenists, the Gnostics, and the Msni- cheans generally held it about this time, and many eminent fathers whom we have not room to particularize. Those we have named quoted the same texts, and used many of the arguments in proof of the doctrine, that are now urged by Univer- salists. And it is a remark-worthy fact, that the Greek Fathers who wrote against endless misery, and in favor of Univer- salism, nevertheless used the Greek word aion and its derivatives, (rendered ever, for ever, everlasting, and eternal, in our common English version of the Bible,) to express the duration of punishment, which they stated to be limited — thus proving that the ancient meaning of these words was not endless duration when applied to sin and suffering. For instances, with re- ference to author and page, see the " An- cient History of Universalism, by the Rev. H. Ballou 2d" from which the foregoing very condensed statement is extracted. After existing unmolested, in fact, after being the prevailing sentiment of the Christian Church, for nearly 500 years — especially of that portion of the Church nearest Judea, and therefore most under the influence imparted by the personal dis- ciples of the Lord Jesus, — Universalism was at last put down, as its Great Teacher had been before it, by human force and authority. From the fifth General Coun- cil, in A. D. 553, we may trace the rapid decline of pure Christianity. During all the dark ages of rapine, blood and cruelty, Universalism was unknown in theory as it was in practice ; and the doctrine of ceaseless sin and suffering prevailed with- out a rival. But no sooner was the Re- 592 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSALISTS. formation commenced, and arts and learn- ing began to revive, and the scriptures to be read and obeyed, then Universalism again found advocates, and began to spread in Christendom. The Anabaptists of Ger- many and of England openly embraced it — many eminent men of worth, talents and learning, embraced and defended it — and it formed the hope and solace of hun- dreds of pious men and women of various denominations. Among many others who embraced and taught Universalism, we have room only to name Winstanley, Ear- bury, Coppin ; Samuel Richardson, author of" Eternal Hell Torments Overthrown;" Jeremy White, Chaplain to Cromwell, and author of " The Restoration of all Things ;" Dr. Henry More, Archbishop Tillotson, Dr. Thomas Burnet, William Whiston, Sir Isaac Newton, Dr. George Cheyne, Chevalier Ramsay, John William Petersen, Neil Douglass, James Purves, Dr. Hartley, author of " Observations on Man ;" Bishop Newton, Sir George Stone- house, Rev. R. Barbauld, and his wife, Anna Letitia Barbauld, the authoress ; many of the General Baptists, in England; the English Unitarians, almost universally — especially Drs. Priestley, Lindsey, Bel- sham, and others — and many eminent men in Holland, France, and Germany. In the latter named country, the sentiment has spread most generally, and is now- held by a vast majority of both the evan- gelical and the rationalist Christians : so much so, that Professor Sears has styled it " the orthodoxy of Germany ;" and Mr. D wight declares that there are few eminent theologians in that country but what be- lieve it. In the United States the senti- ment is held, with more or less publicity, among sects whose public profession of faith is at least not favorable to it : as among the Moravians, the German Bap- tists of several kinds, a portion of the Unitarians, a few Protestant Methodists, and even among the Congregationalists and Presbyterians, according to Professor Stuart's statement. And it will undoubt- edly continue to spread silently and un- seen, among the more benevolent and affectionate portions of all sects, as rapidly as true scriptural knowledge enlightens their minds ; until their prayers for the salvation of the lost shall find an answer- ing support in their hopes and their faith, and the modern, like the primitive Church, shall hold in its purity the doctrine of uni- versal salvation from sin and suffering. II. THE HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSAL- IST DENOMINATION, AND ITS PRE- SENT CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. As a denomination, Univcrsalists began their organization in England, about 1750, under the preaching of the Rev. John Kelly, who gathered the first church of believers in that sentiment, in the city of London. Mr. Kelly, and his congrega- tions generally, held to a modified form of the doctrine of the Trinity ; this has given a character accordingly to Universalism in Great Britain, which it does not possess in the United States. The Unitarians of Great Britain being very generally Uni- versalists, also, in sentiment and preach- ing, all who embrace Universalism in con- nection with the doctrine of the divine unity, join the Unitarians ; and hence it is, that the denomination does not increase as rapidly in Great Britain as it does in this country, though the doctrine is spreading there very extensively, and also on the Continent. Universalism was introduced into the United States as a distinctive doctrine, by John Murray. Mr. Murray had been converted from Methodism by the preach- ing of Mr. Kelly, and emigrated to this country in 1770, and soon after com- menced preaching his peculiar views in various places in New Jersey, Pennsylva- nia, New York, Rhode Island, and Massa- chusetts, and thus became the principal founder of the denomination. For a very interesting biography of Mr. Murray, we refer the reader to his Life ; and for a fuller history of the sentiment and deno- mination generally, and especially of Uni- versalism in America, than my limits will allow me to furnish, I refer the reader to the " Modern History of Universalism, by Rev. Thomas Whittemore." This, with the " Ancient History of Universalism," before referred to, will give a continuous history of the doctrine, from the days of the apostles down to A. D. 1830. In the United States, to which we now confine our very brief sketch, Universal- in.vroin of ill i : i \i\ eksali ism bad been occasionally sdv< from pulpit, and press, before the arrival of Murray. Dr. George De Beuueville, iiin'uw ii. Pa., a learned and pious man, was a believer, and probablj pub- lished thf edition of Seigvotk's " Ever- Gospel," a I di versa list work which appeared there in 1758. The Rev, Richard Clarke, aa Episcopalian, openly proclaimed it while rector of St. Philip's Church, in Charleston!, S. C, from L754, to 1750. Dr. Jonathan .May hew, CongregationaUst, of Boston, preached and published a sermon in its favor in 1762. Besides, the Tunkers (or German Baptists,) and Mcnnonists gener- ally, and some among the Moravians, (including Count Zinzendorf, who visited this country,) held it, though it is believed they did not often publicly preach it. But Mr. Murray was the first to whose preaching the formation of the denomina- tion can be traced. After itinerating several years, he located in Gloucester, Massachusetts, where the first Universal- ist society in this country was organized in 1779 ; and the first meeting-house, ex- cepting Potter's, in New Jersey, was erected Ihere by the same, in 1780, Shortly previous to this, other preachers of the doctrine arose in varoius parts of New England, among whom were Adam Strecter, Caleb Rich, and Thomas Barnes — and organized a few societies as early as 1780. Elhanan Winchester, celebra- ted as a preacher among the Calvinistic Baptists, and, next to Murray, the most efficient early preacher of Universalism, was converted at Philadelphia, in 1781. The most of these early preachers, thus almost simultaneously raised up of God, probably differed considerably from Mr. Murray, and from each other, on various doctrinal points, while they held fellow- ship with each other as believers in the common salvation ; and thus was proba- bly laid the foundation of that heavenly liberality of feeling among Universalists in this country, which led them to tolerate a diversity of religious opinions in their denomination, almost as great as can be found in all the opposing sects united ; and causes them to hold fellowship as Christians, with all who bear that name and sustain that character ; and as Uni- versalists, all < I who h i universal salvation from sm and death. i 'rom this fi eblc comm< qc< ment \\>- date the rii e of the Univi dent mi- nation on this contin at. Simi Iti with it, persecutions dark and fiero wei waged againal it by the religious world. I itions were comnm do d against our members in M and New Hampshire, to compel them to support the established sects, and to ren- der illegal the ministerial acts of OUf preachers, as marriage, & c. I years they were thua d, insulted, and subjected to v< xatious and expensive lawsuits, and denied the Christian name and sympathies, until they were com- pelled, in self-defence, to assume a de- nominational name and form, and at last even to publish to the world a written Profession of Faith : not to trammel the minds or bind the consciences of their members, but to comply with a requisition, and inform the world what they did believe and practise as a Chris- tian people. The first meeting of dele- gates (from probably less than ten socie- ties) for this purpose, was held in Oxford, Massachusetts, September 14th, 1785. They took the name of " Independent Christian Universalists." Their socie- ties were to be styled, " The Independ- ent Christian Society in , commonly called Universalists ." They united in a " Charter of Compact," from which we make the following brief extract, as ex- pressing the views and feelings of the denomination to this day. "As Christians, we acknowledge no master but Christ Jesus : and as disci- ples, we profess to follow no guide in spiritual matters, but his word and spirit; as dwellers in this world, we hold our- selves bound to yield obedience to every ordinance of man for God's sake, and we will be obedient subjects to the powers that are ordained of God in all civil cases ; but as subjects of that King whose king- dom is not of this world, we cannot ac- knowledge the right of any human au- thority to make laws for the regulation of our consciences in spiritual matters. Thus, as a true independent Church of Christ, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, we mutually 75 594 HISTORY OF THE I'MVERSALISTS. agree to walk together iu Christian fel- lowship, building up eai in our • holy faith, rejoicing in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, determinin ; l>v I oo more to be entangl d by i of bondag ."' On tl .; lation (Jesus Christ being the chief corner-stone) of freedom of opinion ai — this liberality and toleration of widely difT(?rinir and practices in non-essentials — ;md this world-wide, heavenly charity to the bro- therhood, and to all mankind — the denom- ination was then based : on that founda- tion it has thus far been builded up a holy temple to the Lord ; and on that founda hristian liberty, love, and truth, may it ever continue, until every soul God has created is brought into it as a lively spiritual stone of the universal building. '" The General Convention of th England States and others," which was recommended by the meeting of delegates above noticed, held its first session in Boston, in 1786, and met annually there- after. In 1S33, it was changed into the present " United States' Convention,"' with advisory powers only, and constituted by a delegation of four ministers and six lay- men, from each state convention in its fellowship. Rev. Hosea Ballou (yet living reen old age, and actively engaged in preaching and writing in .defence of the Restitution) was converted from the Bap- tists in 1791. His " Treatise on the Atone- ment," published in 180o, was probably the first book ever published in this coun- try that advocated the strict unity of God, and other views accordant therewith. That and h:s other writings, and his con- stant pulpit labors, probably have changed the theological views of the public, and moulded those of his own denomination into a consistent system to a greater ex- tent than those of any other man of this age, and in this country. In 1803, as before stated, the General Convention, during its session in Winchester, NT. H., was compelled to frame and publish the following Profession of Faith. It is the onlv ona that has ever been adopted and publisbel by that body: "I. Wc believe that the Holy Scrip- tures of the Old and New Testaments contain a revelation of the character and will of God, ! of the duty, interest, and final destination of mankind. " II. We believe there is one God, ■ Jesus Christ,- by Spirit of Grace, who will finally restore the whole family of mankind to holiness and happin " III. We believe that holiness and true happiness are inseparably connected ; and ight to maintain order, and practise good works, for these things are good and profitable unto men." In the unity of this General Profession of Faith, the entire denomination remained without any disturbance, until in when an effort commenced to create a division on the grounds of limited punish- ment after death, and no punishment after death. It finally resulted in a partial di- vision of a few brethren in Massachusetts, who held to punishment after death, from the main body, and the formation by them of " the Massachusetts Association of Re- storationists." But the great body of brethren agreeing with these few in senti- ment, refusing to separate from the deno- mination, and the few who did secede being nearly all gradually absorbed into the Christian (or Freewill Baptist) and rian denominations, or coming back to the main bodv, the Restorationist Association became extinct, and the division has ceased, except in the case of two or three preach- ers, and probably as many societies, which yet retain their distinctive existence in Massachusetts alone. Besides these, there are one or two societies in the United States, and perhaps as many prcaehers, who recused to place themselves under the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical bodies of the denomination, yet profess a full and heartv fellowship for our faith and general principles. Leaving the history of the denomina- tion, we cive the following statistics, to show within a small space the progress, past gain, and present condition of the de- nomination in several of the prineipal States of th* Union, and in the United States and Territories, and British Pro- vinces. Maine. — First soeietv organized in 1799, firs* association in 1^00, first meet- ing house erected in 1804, State Conven- HISTORY OF THE I .\ I \ BRN \I.i tion 01 I ' Perio- . 3 8 . lies,- 108 \I ting Houses, and 7<> Preachers. ipsUire. — Fira . L781 ; i, L824; first meeting house, •bout I ivention organized, It has now l State Convention, I Sunday School Association, '-' Sch , 6 • ii< lay .■> Meeti *, and 38 Preacl •int. — First society formecj, about Ration, t80 \ ; convention, It has now 1 Convention, ! ciations, 1 Periodical, 102 Societies, 76 50 P achers. Is. — First society, 1 7 7 ! » : first association, 1810; first meeting . 1780*; convention, . It now contains, 1 State Convention, 1 State Sun- - ^ciation, 9 Periodicals, 5 Associations, 1 1~> Societies, 124 Meeting 32 Preachers. '.-. — First society formed, 1805; first association, 1306 ; first meeting house, 1815; convention, 1S26. It has now 1 State C .i, 1 State Sunday School Association; a General Relief Fund, 16 Associations, a High School, a Theologi- cal School, 4 Periodicals, 252 Societies, 1G3 Meeting Houses, and 144 Preachers. Pennsylvania. — First society , 1781; first meeting house, about 1309 ; first as- sociation, 1829; convention, 1832. It has now 1 State Convention, 5 Associa- tions, 33 Societies, 15 Meeting Houses, and 29 Preachers. The advancement of the doctrine in the Eastern, Middle, and Western States, has been astonishing within the last few years. In the Southern States, its progress has been much slower. In the United States and Territories, there are now (in 1847) constituting and belonging to the Uniyer- salist denomination : 1 United States Con- vention, 1 Historical Society, with a val- uable Library; 18 State Conventions, (be- side 4 State Sunday School Associations, 2 State Missionary Associations, and 1 State Relief Fund,) 60 Ecclesiastical As- sociations, (beside 2 local Sunday School Associations, 3 local Missionary Associa- tions, and 3 Tract Associations,) 25 Pe- riodicals, including Annuals, 9 Schools . have been 25 . and 40 new preachers added during the- la I In l] h Pro- vinces in North America, combined, there i G - i-i 1 t Convention, 19 Stel Provincial cieties, 7 16 M- . tin 1 1 i, and 717 Preachers. The number of i congregations, and individual \,< scattered abroad, is very greal also. And from the past increase and n crating spread of the doctrine, aid is by all the benevolent feelings, holy de- sires, and humane tendencies of t1 its continued prosperity even unto a final triumph La certain to our minds, even were we not assured of that fact by the pro- ud prophecies of God recorded in Holy Writ. III. THE FAITH OF IJNIVERSALISTS, AND THE PRINCIPAL SCRIPTURE TEXTS RELIED ON FOR PORT. As we have before stated, the principles of Christian freedom of opinion and of conscience, and liberal toleration in all non-essentials, adopted by the founders of the denomination, arc practised by Uni- versalists at the present day. In religious faith we have but one Father and one Master, and the Bible, the Bible, is our only acknowledged creed-book. Rut to satisfy inquirers who are not accustomed to the liberal toleration induced by a free exercise of the right of private judgment, it becomes necessary to state in other than scripture language, our peculiar views on theological subjects. The General Pro- fession of Faith adopted in 1*03, and given above, truly expresses the faith all Univcrsalists. In that, the denomina- tion is united. The first preachers of our doctrine in this country, were converts from v denominations, and brought with them, to the belief of Universalism, many of their previous opinions, besides some whi picked up by the way. Murray held to the Sabellian view of the divine existence; and that man, being wholly punched in the person of the Saviour, by union with 596 HTSTORY OF THE UNIVERSALISTS. him, suffered no other punishment than what is the mere consequence of unbelief. Winchester was a Trinitarian of the " or- thodox" stamp, and held to penal suffer- ings. Both were Calvinistic in their views of human agency, and both believed in suffering after death. Mr. Ballon was Arian in his views of God's mode of sub- sistency ; but gradually abandoned the doctrine of the pre-cxistence of Christ, and became convinced that sin and suffering begin and end their existence in the flesh. Others, probably, differed somewhat in these and other particulars from these three brethren. But, very generally, Uni- versalists have come to entertain, what are commonly called, Unitarian views of God, of Christ, of the Holy Spirit, and of Atone- ; ment, at least there appears to be a very general similarity between us and the English Unitarians, not only on those sub- jects, but also on the nature and duration | of punishment, on the subject of the devil, : and demoniacal agency, and on the final salvation of all moral beings. The Rev. Walter Balfour, a convert from the Con- _ nationalist ministry, in Massachusetts, by his " Inquiries into the meaning of the original words rendered hell, devil, Satan, forever, everlasting, damnation, &c. &c," and more especially by his " Letters on the Immortality of the Soul," led some to adopt the opinion that the soul fell asleep at death, and remained dormant until the resurrection, when it was awakened, and raised in the immortal, glorious, and hea- venly image. But all, or very nearly all Universalists agree in the opinion, that all sin and suffering terminate at the resur- rection of the dead to immortality, when Death, the last enemy, shall be destroyed ; and sin, the sting of death, be no more ; and Hades (hell or the grave) will give up its victory to the Reconciler of all things in heaven, earth, and under the earth, unto God ; and God be all that is in all. (See 1 Cor. xv.) But, as before stated, they keep fellow- ship as Universalists with all Christians who believe in the final salvation of all intelligences from sin and death, whether, in other respects, they are Trinitarian or Unitarian ; Calvinistic or Arminian ; wheth^k they hold to baptism by immer- sion, sprinkling or pouring of water, or to the baptism of the spirit only ; whether they use or reject forms ; and whether they believe in punishment after death or not. In short, nearly all the differences of opinion which have rent the rest of Christendom into hundreds of opposing sects, exist in the Universalist denomina- tion, without exciting any division or even strife ; yea, they seldom cause even any controversy. Such is the harmonizing in- fluence of the doctrine of one Father, one Saviour, one interest, and one final destiny for the whole human family ! Universal- ists require, as the great evidence and only test that a professing Christian is what he pretends to be, the manifestation of the spirit of Jesus in his daily walk and con- versation— practical proofs that he loves God and man — that he has the spirit of Christ dwelling in his soul, as well as the light of truth in his understanding. "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, that ye have love, one to another," said Jesus ; and the only certain way to know that a man has such love, is to see it in his life and actions. No pro- fessions, no forms or ceremonies, can ever so well evince this love, as living it. Those who wish to obtain more full and definite information respecting our views, are referred to the following out of the many excellent works published on the subject, viz. : Ballou on Atonement ; Bal- lou on the Parables ; Whittemore on the Parables ; Whittemore's Guide to Univer- salism ; O. A. Skinner's Universalism Il- lustrated and Defended ; Pro and Con of Universalism ; Williamson's Argument for Christianity ; Williamson's Exposition and Defence of Universalism ; Ely and Thomas's Discussion ; D. Skinner's Let- ters to Aikin and Lansing ; Smith's Divine Government ; Winchester's Dialogues ,* Siegvolk's Everlasting Gospel ; Petitpierre on Divine Goodness ; (these four, and se- veral other good works, are published in the first ten numbers of the " Select Theo- logical Library," by Gihon, Fairchild & Co., Philadelphia— cost, only 81,00 for the ten numbers) ; Strceter's Familiar Conversations ; Balfour's Inquiry ; Bal- four's Second Inquiry ; Balfour's Letter's to Professor Stuart ; Paige's Selections from Eminent Commentators ; Sawyer's Review of Hatfield's " Universalism as It HISTORY OF THE I V\ EKSAL1 I , ;•' \ :•. i oiversalisl Beli i"; or .-my <>f our Domeioufl periodicals, paraph- & ■. \\ q dove, (for our limits forbid further remarks,) by giving the following scriptu- ral statement of our faith on several im- portant doctrines — ■ statement which has been widely circulated by our churches ami brethren generally, and which may therefore In- received with confidence, ss stating our sentiments correctly. .May we nil be instructed of God into the reception, love and practice of all divine truth, now and for evermore. I. We believe in one, supremo, and self- existent Cim\, who is love — the Creator, Preserver, and Benefactor of all things — her of the spirits of all flesh, and the Judge of the whole earth — whose every attribute and perfection is but a modifica- tion of his infinite and unchanging good- ness— of his impartial, unbounded and adorable love — and whose unending bene- volence and almighty power arc unceas- ingly directed to produce, ultimately, the greatest possible good of his intelligent creation.* II. We believe in one Lord, the " Me- diator between God and Men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all, to l)c testified in due time" — who is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world — being the promised Seed of the woman, and descended also from Abra- ham, to whom the promise was made. We believe this Mediator to be the Son of the living God, the Saviour of the world, the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of his person, who has revealed unto us the will of his Father, and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. We also believe that God endued this, his Son and Messenger, plenteously with all good gifts; gave him all power necessary to execute his mis- * Wishing to be as brief as possible, we must beg your labor to examine the following, among many other passages of scripture which might be quoted, to prove the foregoing, and further declare our views respecting our hea- venly Father. Please to consult them. Deut. vi. 4 ; Psalm Ixxxv. 10, and cxlvii. 5 ; Isa. xlv. 21, 22; Mai. ii. 10, and iii. 6 ; Mark xii. 29; John iv. 24 ; Acts xvii. 24-28 ; 1 Cor. viii 4-6 ; Eph. i. 11 ; 1 Tim. ii. £, 5; 1 John iv. 8, 16. nd communicated t<» him th< without meaauie, thai through him. is the w;iy, the truth, tli<- rcsurrccti thr life,) the \\hol<- human family | tin- in Adam, or th<- earthly ii.it iii* | finally be raiix-nn d from thfl : . bul ) i rom sin, delivered from mi- sery, and be raised t<> power, incorrup- (ion, BOLUTSSS, glory, and 1 with immortal LIFE (not death) and un- speakable felicity in the resurrection — for as all die in Adam, even bo. in Christ shall all he made alive. We further be- lieve that when Jesus has thus Been qf the travail of his soul and is satisfied, be \sill deliver up the kingdom to God, his i and be himself subject unto the 1 that God may be all in all.* III. We believe in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, and receive their doctrines as the rule of our faith, and their precepts as the guide of our practice. We believe them to contain a revelation of the character, will, and attri- butes of God, our heavenly Parent — of the mission, life, doctrines, and precepts of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour — and of the duty and final destination of man. Believing them to be thus profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and in- struction in righteousness, that the ser- vant of God may be thoroughly finish- ed unto all good works, and whoso that properly readeth them become wise unto salvation, we do most devoutly believe that every promise and every threatening made in them, and relating to a period yet future, will be fully performed and com- pletely fulfilled, to the honor, glory and praise of God, and to the benefit, satisfac- tion, and final salvation of man. We do not, therefore, believe that the Law (or threatcnings) is against the gospel (or pro- mises)— for the promises were first made unto Abraham, and the law was given to Moses four hundred and thirty years after- ward, not to annul, but to confirm the promises. Therefore will all chastisement but tend to produce the blessings promised * Proofs. — Isaiah liii. 11 ; Matt. i. 21 ; John i. 45; iii, 34, 35; vi. 37-39, and xv.i. 2. 3; Rom. xiv. 7-9 ; 1 Cor. vii. 6, and xv. ; Eph. i. 9, 10; Philip, ii. 10, 11; Colos. i. 14-20: 1 Tim. ii. 5, 6 ; 2 Tim. i. 10 ; Heb. i. 2, 3, and ii. 14; 1 John ii. 1, 2, iv. 14, and v. 10, II. 599 HISTORY OF THE UMVERSALISTS for all the nations, families, and kindreds . in Christ, the chosen seed. vrowing, however, and protesting against all merely human authority in ious belief — from that of the greatest council or highest dignitary, down to the humblest layman — and re- jecting the binding force of all man made creeds and confessions of faith, we ac- knowledge the Bible as our only creed, and claim for ourselves, what we freely grant to others, the privilege of reading and construing it, under divine aid, according to the teachings of our understandings and the dictates of our consciences.* IV. We believe that man, in his intel- lectual or spiritual nature, is the offspring of God — that, even when a sinner, he is authorized and commanded to call God his Father in heaven, and to pray to him for the forgiveness of his sins — that, though a backsliding child, yet he is called on to return to the practice of righteousness, be- cause God is " married unto" him — and though mankind are, by creation, t he- children of God, yet they may, in a more peculiar manner, become characteristical- ly the children of their Father which is in heaven, by imitating his impartial good- ness and universal perfections. We be- lieve that man is a moral agent, and as such an accountable being, — that he will certainly be punished for every crime he commits, and rewarded for every virtuous act he performs. We also believe that man was, by his Maker, " made subject to vanity," gifted with limited powers and faculties, and is, therefore, a finite being, capable of performing finite actions only — actions deserving none other than finite rewards and finite punishments. But, as man is the offspring of God, who has given us this life as a free gift, (it being * Proofs. — Gen. xii. 3, xviii. IS, xxii. 18, xxvi. 4, and xxviii. 14, compared with Acts iii. 25, 26; and Gal. iii. 15-22; Num. xxiii. 19, compared with Isa. lv. 8-13, and Heb. xii. 5- 14; 2 Cor iii. 17; and 1 Cor. vii. 23; Luke xii. 57 ; John xii. 48, and 1 Thess. v. 21. unearned and unpurchased by our exer- cise of faith, works, or other conditions,) contend that the immortal, incor- ruplibl<\ or endless life of holiness and enjoyment, which will be conferred on all mankind in the resurrection, will also be the free, unpurchased gift of our heavenly Parent. Believing thus, we contend that man's real and highest interest is to be virtuous ; inasmuch as virtue and happi- ness, on the one hand, and vice and misery, on the other hand, are as inseparably con- nected as cause and effect ; so that with- out a firm reliance on God and obedience to his commandments, there can be no real happiness — or, in other words, " fol- low after peace with all men ; and holi- ness, without which no man shall see [i. e. enjoy] the Lord."* V. Respecting the divine laws and pre- cepts given for the obedience of man, we believe they all may be summed up in this : " Love God supremely, your neigh- bour as yourself" — that " love is the ful- filling of the law" — that uin [not merely by~\ keeping the commandments there is great reward" — that all the penalties of God's law are designed to promote its ful- filment, and not its violation — to secure the reformation and obedience of its trans- gressors, and not their endless misery and disobedience — and that being framed by unbounded wisdom, with a perfect fore- sight of all its operations, and armed with almighty power, not one jot or tittle shall ever depart from it until it receives the endless, voluntary and hnppv obedience of every intelligent being in the uni- verse.f * Proofs. — Gen. ii. 7, Num. xvi. 2?, Mai ii. 10, and Heb. xii. 9, compared with Luke xi. 2, 4; Jerem. iii. 14, and James iii. 9; Matt. v. 43-48 ; Exodus xxxiv. 6, 7; Prov. xi. 21 ; xvi. 5, and Rom. ii. 5-13, Titus iii. 3-8, and Rom. viii. 19-24; Rom. xi. 6, compared with 29-36 ; Isa. lvii. 20, 21. and Gal. v. 22 ; 1 Cor. xv. j- Proofs. — Rom. xiii. 10 ; James i. 25 ; Ps. Ixxxix. 31-34; Isa. i. 5. 6 ; Prov. iii. 11,12; Ps. cvii. Ps. cxix. G7, 71, and Heb. xii. 11 ; Rom. viii 7-13 ; Matt. v. 17, 18. THE END. A DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE OF VALUABp BOOKS; PUBLISHED BY JOHN WINEBBfiNN$B, V. I). M., BARRISBURO. PA. HISTORY OF DENOMINATIONS: Second, Improved and Portrait Edition, just published and ready for delivery. Tins splendid and highly interesting work contains original histories of the rise, and progress, faith, and practice, localities, and statistics of 50 RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS, Written expressly for the work, by as many eminent and distinguished men, belonging to the respective denominations. It is likewise handsomely embelished with 24 SPLENDID PORTRAITS, of leading men, identified with the different leading persuasions. PRICE #2.50 PER COPY. A liberal discount will be made to traveling agents, who buy for cash and canvass thoroughly. RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE WORK. History of 50 Religious Denominations. — The design and object of this book is commendable, lis plan is intelligent, comprehensive and impartial. It will certainly be a volume of great value in the estimation of all who are interested in the Religious History of the United States. C. VV. SCHAEFFER, Pastor of the Ev. Lutheran Church, Harrisburg. I have looked over the " History of all Reli- gious Denominations in the United States, by Professors and Ministers," and found the article on the Roman Catholic Church, by Professor W. J. Walters, as far as it goes, a faithful exponent of Ca- tholic doctrine and discipline. The entire work is presented to the public in the most authentic and attractive form, and exhibits a practical commentary on the facility and confidence with which the most various and conflicting theories can be deduced from the Bible. J. B. PURCELL, Bishop of Cincinnati. The History of Denominations — Is a book much needed, and will supply a lack long felt in the community. The statements being furnished direct- ly by distinguished persons in the several chun hes ?epresented, must be correct, if there be truth in human testimony. I therefore wish you great suc- cess in your enterprise. A. ATVVOOD, Pastor of the Methodist E. Church, Harrisburg. History of Denominations. — 1 believe this work will be interesting to all such as wish to de- rive a correct knowledge of the various denomina- tions, they being, in this work, all permitted to epeak for themselves. DAVID WINTERS, Pastor of German Reformed Church, Dayton, Ohio. I concur with the Rev. Mr. Winters in the opin- ion which he has expressed with regard to the "History of Denominations," and would recom- mend it as an impartial and useful book. J. W. HALL, Pastor of the 3d street Presbyterian Church. History of Denominations. — In this beautiful octavo of 600 pages, are 50 original histories of £0 different religious persuasions, each one of which has been written by some intelligent and distin- guished member of the community. It is, there- fore, authentic in the highest degree, as far as it goes. It gives their history, their peculiar and their general views; and frequently a portion of the evi- dence on which they rest — it gives their statistics as far as they could be collected ; and is, therefore, worthy of a place in every library of a religious or ecclesiastic character. ALEX. CAMPBELL. President of Bethany College. John F. Immanuel Tafel, D. D., Librarian of the University of Tuebingen, speaking of the gene- ral merits of the work says: " Die Tusammen^et- zung eines solchen Werkes war gewiss ein schr guter Gedanke." i e. "The compiling of such a work was certainly a very good idea." Nothing could be more fair than this, letting every denomination tell its own story; and, so far as our knowledge extends, the Editor of the work has evinced the strictest impartiality, and the sternest integrity in carrying its plan out. It gives us much pleasure to express our confident expectations, that the publisher will produce a work, which will deserve and receive a wide extended circulation, and long continued approbation. D. CHORNIS, (1) Winebrenner's Publications. OPINIONS AND NOTICES OF THE PRESS. History of the Religious Denominations in the United States. — Containing authentic accounts of the rise and progress, faith and practice, localities and statistics, of the different persuasions; written expressly for the work, by fifty-three eminent au- thors, belonging to the respective denominations. Published by John Winebronner, V. D. M., Har- risburg, Pa. The publisher of this work deserves great praise for the effort to present, at one view, and in a nar- row compass, a history of all the religious denomi- nations. He has secured articles from the pens of eminent Divines and members of the different de- nominations, as far as possible. The plan is an ad- mirable one. We sincerely hope that this work will secure a wide circulation among all denomina- tions.— Christia?i Chronicle. have not had time to enter into a close, critical ex- amination of the work, but so far as respects our own religious society there can be no cause of complaint, this part having been prepared for the occasion by a competent hand, one of our own members, and, as we understand, obtained the sanction of our Meeting for Sufferings, previous to being forwarded for pub- lication.— The Friend. History of Denominations. — It was a happy thought that led to the production of the present work. That each denomination of Christians should be represented by some prominent member of is own body, telling their own story in their own words, was an important idea ; and if a judicious selection of writers has been made, the result must be a work, which, for fairness, fullness, and accu- racy, is without a parallel. We believe the work to be as well executed as happily conceived, — and that, considering the authoritative nature of its contents, it will be found a most valuable contribution towards the religious history of the country." — Church Re- view, New Haven, Co?inecticut, by Dr. A. B. Chapin. History of the Religious Denominations at pre- sent existing in the United States. — Containing authentic accounts of their Rise, Progress, Statis"- tics, Doctrines : written expressly for the works by eminent Theological Professors, Ministers, and Lay-members of the respective denominations. The title expresses the character of the work. In looking over the volume, it appears to us that the writers generally have displayed much research and ability in their articles, and making a very natural allowance for their partialities they have, we should judge, given very fair accounts. The account of the Presbyterian Church (Old School) is prepared by J. M. Krebs, D. D . , of New York, and is well execu- ted, evincing attention and labor on the part of the writer. We are pleased that the duty was entrusted to such able hands. The history of the New School Presbyterian Church is written by Joel Parker, D. D., of Philadelphia. He goes over much the same ground with the preceding, but viewed with a differ- ent eye. The article is skilfully drawn up. We regard the volume as valuable in its details, and as the best reference book for information, on the sub- ject treated, that we possess. — The Presbyterian. History of all Religious Denominations in the United States. — This is a large and handsome vol* ume, very neatly printed, and bound in substantial and excellent style. As a comprehensive history of the Religious Denominations in our country, and as a book of reference on all questions connected with their origin, doctrinal sentiments, government, and numbers, it will no doubt be regarded as a valu- able work. It occupies a place — a vacuum — in our religious literature, for which there is no substitute. And as there are very many who desire the informa- tion it contains, it will receive, we presume, an ex- tensive patronage. — Christian Observer. New Work. — A History of the Religious De- nominations in the United States. — The plan of this work gives it much superiority over most others of the kind, and guards it from the injurious carica- tures with which they abound. The view of each sect is given by one of its own members, and may be presumed to present, in a favorable light, the grounds on which each places its reliance. Believ- ing, as we do, that the barriers of separation held up between the different religious denominations and the consequent ignorance of each others convictions, are the unfortunate causes of much of the prejudice and animosity now, and heretofore existing in pro- fessing Christendom, we look with satisfaction on every new facility for becoming better acquainted with each other — and we are glad to find, from a hasty glance at the contents of this book, that so many of the writers seem willing to let the public judge of their principles without attempting to appro- priate to themselves merit, at the expense of others. Both divisions of the society of Friends are repre- sented— ours by Dr. Gibbons, the other by Thos. Evans. — Friends' Weekly Intelligencer. History of the Religious Denominations at present existing in the United States. — We esteem this volume as an exceedingly valuable accession to the ecclesiastical literature of our country. As a book of reference in relation to the history, doctrines and statistics of the religious denominations in the United States, it is decidedly the best that has been presen- ted to the American public. — Lutheran Observer. History of the Religious Denominations at present existing in the United States. — Of the great con- venience and utility in some respects of a work like this, there can be but one opinion ; and if it does not please every body, the fault is certainly not the pro- jector's, who " has done his part in giving each sect an opportunity of telling its own story, and in its own way." — Banner of the Cross, an Episcopal paper. History of the Religious Denominations. — The compiler of this history could not have performed a better service to the religious community. It fills a chasm which has long remained open. It occupies a field of inquiry and usefulness that has ere this been destitute. As a book of reference, it is invalu- able, and we now possess a volume which enables us to examine the history and creeds of all the known denominations of Christians in this country at a single glance, without having to consult and pore over various authors, and puzzle our brains to know where or how we shall obtain a true account of this, that, or (he other 6ect. We have not a sin- gle doubt but that this work, by its ready sale, wiil soon run through several editions. — Every christian family should have a copy. — Editor of the Baptist Record. History of all the Religious Denominations. — We History of all the Religious Denominations i*x the United States. — 1 his is an octavo volume of 600 pages, presenting the various Religious Denomina- Winebrenner'a Public ltioms. lions in th I 0 the number SJ their o* n a itnl iIk'ih. The ient concerning Roman Catholics is from the pea <>t Profaai * u Joeaph Waller, who, we donbl not. baa riven ;> faithful sketch ol oar history in the United states, ami ol our real principles. '1 fa adopted t>y ths compih r is the only just one, by which the tsnsia ol the various socialist ean be known. — Cat hoi if lit raid. History of the Uttigmmt Ih nominations. — This work tf made Up ofartiolea entirely original, written by ministers and laymen of various denominations in the United States, setting forth, in a concise man- ner, the origin, doctrines, church government, and statistics, &c, of the various churches to which they illy belong. The work will be one of great utility to the inquirer after truth. — There the reader may have at one glance a concise view of the entire church — he can view the peculiarities of each, and draw his own conclusion. This book should, doubtless, have a place in every man's library, and should be regarded as a standard Ecclesiastical Dic- tionary. WILLIAM HAN BY, Editor of the Religious Telescope. Kassfssa?, Thai are reoomnsnd the ' i/tat i mi,'' to our church members aa i worthy a pises in their li!>ran< *, aa contaii h not lull, r< preeentatjon "i the origin, doctrine, tl1 our church. ' ■ III tkt M, ■ ■ d Bretkn a m Christ, lh ' - , i ' /'■ ■■minntimi*. — This invaluable work embraces a II i*'ory <>t ill the Rel imina* tions in the United States. A work like tins re- quires no commendation from us ; the contributors are the most learned and eloquent DivineB in the land, and present a sufficient guarantee thai public expectation will not he disappointed. — L. C. J.I.- V1N, Editor of the Daily Sun. History of Denominations. — This work is a good one, and will doubtless do much toward making the sentiments of each sect more generally and more correctly known. It will, undoubtedly, become a standard work, and should be in every theological student's library. — Ex. cor. of the Christian Mes- senger. EXTRACTS OF LETTERS. I approve heartily of your intended publication. There can be little doubt of its success. It ought to succeed certainly. E. YEATES REESE. I think your plan a judicious one, of having the account of each denomination written by one of its own members. JARED SPARKS. I hope you will succeed well in the second edition of your history. No work could possibly be more desirable to me than the one you contemplate pub- lishing. We are in want of such a work, and hun- dreds can be sold. I wish you much success in circulating it. I will do all in my power for you. ISAAC N. WALTER, I am much gratified to hear of your enterprize, to present The Whole Church of the United Slates from authentic sources. A work much needed. W. M. FAHNESTOCK. THE WANDERING SOUL. 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Dr, William Taylor, a^- 1 the pastorate, but relinquished it. in 1873, to. dovote his time to the ice of medicine. For three year* church was und«r the direction of »n, "William Cariss, in the Centennial Ypar. it. secured the services of Henry S. Clubb. -who re- ,1 it* pastor for forty-fire years, until his death in 1921. man of forceful personality, born In Colchester, in 1S°.7. Clubb. before this country, in 1853, had been a member of the Concordiura, at in England, an experi- ment in simple and high-minded living modeled in part after the Brook Farm of New Kngland. A friend of Isaac Pitman, he had been a tpaeher of pho- nography ; at twenty he was engaged mpson as the editor of the official organ of the Briiish Vegetarian Society and. shortly after his arrival in thi<* country, he joined with th*» American Society, then in session at the Bible- ;2ua papBea jo aouBJuaiJ V sSua puBH 3UU js*^i "joouj pjttx •sdBJ^s japinoqs Wot 1* sa^^HO ad°laAU3 ui rsnsn uBifl a3p;aid sai^s aq* pun 9^«ioq«ia woui Sutuiuiu; /Lwpxojquia-puB-aoBi aq; '"uy Bi ^oosuisu SHI -sasiwaqo 002 J° <*rtoi3 l«Pads V OOXS l^nsnua s8Siui3ii33doiaAua vIA BCH 1 6, 1 9 Christian Church, on TL I pointing out I ding the then prfvi •holera epidemic if flesh food WtW ured. ; iher of : rial itafl Curing it SCtOII 'niuii, and publishing :i "Vegetarian Umanac." In 1855 be m - . s. with his wife, wh*re he ended founding a vegetarian co »ut, unable to withstand the hard f ti. nd. in 1857, began the publication of paper in Grand Haven, Michigan, rhere lie became a member of th« first ity council and one of the fra f ' its charter. AVhen the Civil "War roke out hn gained a comnv aptain in the Quartermaster's Corps, e.rved from 1SG2 to 1866, being wound- d at Corinth, while acting as an ajdp- e-camp to General Napoleon Buford. j 'he war over he returned to Grand | laven. founded another paper, and in | S71 was elected a State Sennror. Com- | ng to Philadelphia, in 1870. as the I epresentative of some of the Michigan Ipapers, he was called upon to eon- ;uct a service at the Bible-Christian Church. Invitation, previously tendered, o accept the pastorate, was renewed md accepted, and ten years later, when he Vegetarian Society of America was ecrrganized. be was among its promoters md selected as its president. During Clubb's pastorate, in 1891, the jdifice on Third street v. as abandoned —a pork packing establishment having HP become its neighbor, much to the an- J aoyancc of Us members — and °n attrac- stone edifice, of modern design, nrafi on Park Avenue, near 3?rks. There CluBb continued to .re".rh until 1010, when that edifice vas PoTd to the Christian Sc-pntists and be work of the Bil ian Church n <= -> rrill in in tha rh W ajaW) 'ioo\d pnoaas •auin4S0D aoaid-aaiq^ * Suiuijoj 's^ms v >