Till- LlliKAKV OI rill' O/iio Church History Society. I'ih'en by Bpsides the main topic this boolt ali,o treats of On Mgr \ Subject On fag. Sllhjril 0 ^ 1- r\\ '7 . r . OA^.r-6^'^. JUL 17 1929 HISTORY %„«„.*^ HURON PRESBYTERY, SHOWING THE WORKING OF THE PLAN OF UNION FROM ITS INCEPTION IN 1801 TILL AFTER THE REUNION IN 1870; ALSO THE SPIRIT OF THE PRES- BYTERY REGARDING RELIGIOUS, GENERAL, AND NATIONAL INTERESTS; WITH BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF SOME MINISTERS, AND SKETCHES OF THE CHURCHES. COMPILED AND WRITTEN BY REV. R. BRADEN MOORE, D.D, PHILADELPHIA : PRESS OF WM. F. FELL & CO., 1220-1224 8ANS0M STREET. 1892. PREFATORIAL Somewhere about the year 1885, on motion of Rev. W. T. Hart, Rev. R. B. Moore was appointed historian of Huron Presbytery. The idea in this appointment was that a condensed history should be prepared from the records of the past years, the same reported to the Presbytery, and then preserved, while additional matter from year to year should be added thereto, this also to be reported at the regular meetings of the body. The writer, who was the person appointed to this office, entered upon the duties assigned him. In reviewing the older records he became greatly interested, and soon found himself penning much more than was originally intended. The matter, how- ever, seemed to him to be worthy of preservation as history; and as, if he adhered to the original idea, he would have to pass by the doings of the body, the things that were its real life, and that intoned it all the way along with living interest, he concluded, out of his own pleasure, to give his work the wider range. He found it an agreeable thing to seek other helps besides the bare records, that he might know the minis- ters, the churches, and the real thought and life of the actors in the Presbytery, He gave his heart and mind to the matter, went back to the beginning, and entered into sympathy with those noble actors in their struggles, in their Presbyterial meet- ings, and in their efforts to resolve and to do the things that God would have them do. He has, in imagination, been with them as they planted the churches, as they watched over their early struggles to grow into strength and usefulness, and as they went forward earnestly in the discharge of duties both agreeable and unsavory. He has been interested in their dis- cussions and resolutions upon important subjects; has been iv PBEFATORIAL. charmed to see how generally they were right and wise in their decisions, and how they seem to have been under a never- failing Divine guidance. Especially has the subject of the " Plan of Union," that Plan that in the early years of this cen- tury united Congregationalism and Presbyterianism in so great and noble a work as the evangelization of the then Western wilds, but which was also the instrument which did so much toward dividing the Presbyterian Church in 1837, — especially has this " Plan of Union " been studied with interest. Its rela- tion to the Western Reserve and to Huron Presbytery, as the churches in the Reserve and in the Presbytery were founded upon this " Plan," has been carefully noted. And we must here confess that while for years there was in this Presbytery the struggle — a struggle which no people outside of these bounds, or of others similar, could possibly clearly realize, ever in operation to be true, on the one hand, to the great ideal of Presbyterianism, and as true, on tlie other, to the Plan of Union, to which churches and ministers were under so great obliga- tion, we have been held fast by a sense of glowing admiration as we have seen how the fathers and the holy men of this body have been all the while, in their heart of hearts, true as human being-s could be to the actualities of their environments. Thev were bound to certain lines of Presbyterial conduct by the " Plan of Union." To their sense of duty in the circumstances, and to each and all of the churches included, they were " true as steel." Yet they loved the Presbytery and the General Assembly, and, with an intensified sadness and grief, lamented the great disruption of 1837. They were better Presbyterians than the General Assembly thought they were. After " the excision," while in the New School body, they were still under the Plan of Union ; and never was a body of men — a body changing all the while as to some of its constitu- ent members — more true to the circumstances of the situation than was this Presbytery. Their hearts were true, as they viewed their relation, to the Missionary Boards on the one hand, and, on the other, to that article of agreement which originated PBEFATORIAL. V in the year 1801, and to which nearly all the churches in this body had some relation. The relation of the body and of most of the churches to several of the American Boards or societies continued through a large part of their history as New School organizations; and the Presbytery was beautifully true on down the years until, in the Providence of God, relief so surely came, and Presbytery and churches were left with a clear course before them, and nothing to hinder them from being in the fullest sense Presbyterian. The way was thus, while up to the very last the Presbytery remained true to its abiding sense of duty, prepared in this region for the blessed reunion of 1870 ; and since that time all things have moved forward in the regular Presbyterian groove. Our interest in all this history has led us onward. We have taken our place with these men in their deliberations, and have in heart said "Amen ! " when they have adopted some excellent resolutions and have spoken out on the great ques- tions of the day. To us the deliberations have been those of wise and good men. We have admired and loved the men we have never seen face to face. We have lived in many a Pres- byterial meeting with them as we have been reading or writing ; and as we have been interested or have admired, we have written. This is our only apology for having written so much. The history has grown upon our hands, and we have felt that it ought to be preserved to the churches and read by them, and that those of the present day and of the future ought to know what the holy men who have gone to glory endured, enjoyed, spoke, and did while here in the flesh and as members of Huron Presbytery. We have, therefore, ventured to send forth this book. We only hope that many who read it may be half so much benefited in the reading as we have been in the writing ; for nothing brings richer revenues of pleasure to our heart than, as we look into the words and acts of men, to be able to feel that noble hearts and heavenly grace have been behind the words and the acts. And to the Presbytery this book is affectionately dedicated. R. B. Moore. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I— ANTECEDENT HISTORY. First Churches and Ministers in Western Reserve, 1 ; " The Falling Exercises," 3; "The Plan of Union," 5; "Peculiar Ecclesiasticism, " 8; Difficulty First Felt, 8 ; Grand River* Presbytery, 9 ; Presbytery of Portage, 9 ; Huron Presbytery, 10 ; Early Preaching in Huron County, 10. CHAPTER II.— HURON PRESBYTERY FROM 1823 TO 1830. Presbytery Organized, 13 ; The Constitution, 14 ; Confession of Faith, 18 ; The Covenant, 20 ; Articles of Practice, 21 ; Design of all this, 23 ; Other Busi- ness, 25 ; Meetings of 1824, 26 ; Western Reserve College, 27 ; 1825, 28 ; Synod of Western Reserve, 29 ; 1826, 31 ; Questions Raised, 32 ; Care for the Poor, 32 ; 1827, 34 ; Special Interests, 35 ; List of Churches, 36 ; 1828 to 1829, 36 ; Milan Church, 37 ; Important Questions, 38 ; The Sabbath School, 39 ; Temperance, 40 ; Penitentiary Chaplain, 40 ; Need of Ministers, 41 ; Prayer for the Assembly, 41. CHAPTER III.— FROM 1830 TO 1837. Ministers and Churches, 43 ; Judicial Case of Elder Crocker, 44 ; Constitutional Changes, 45 ; Cleveland Presbytery Formed, 46 ; Rev. Alvan Coe, 48 ; Rev. Alfred H. Betts, 50 ; Rev. Simeon Woodruff, 54 ; Ministers and Churches in 1831, 56 ; Law for Receiving Ministers, 57 ; Huron Classical Institute, 59 ; Ministers and Churches in 1832-36, 65 ; Rev. James Robinson, 65 Rev. Loren Robbins, 66 ; Other Ministers, 66 ; Rev. A. Newton, 67 Dismissals and Deaths, 68 ; Other Additions of Men and Churches, 68 Rev. Joseph Crawford Disciplined, 68 ; Other Cases of Casuistry, 69 ; New Confession of Faith, 70. CHAPTER IV.— THE IMPENDING CRISIS. First Troubled Waters, 72 ; Home Missions and Cincinnati Convention, 74 ; Rise of Oberlinism, 81 ; Slavery, 83 ; The Plan of Union, 85 ; The Boards and Societies, 88 ; The Chief Ground of Complaint, 89 ; Father Conger Defended, 91 ; "The Excision" — Was it Justifiable? 91 ; Huron Presbytery on the Excision, 94. vii viii CONTENTS. CHAPTER v.— FROM 1837 TO 1842. Rev. Stephen J. Bradstrcet, 98 ; Mini.sters after the Exci.sion, 99 ; Churches in 1838, 99 ; Some Changes, 100 ; Sloughing off of People and Churches, 101 ; Loraiu Presbytery Added, 102 ; Roll of Ministers in 1840, 103 ; Roll of Cliurehes in 1840, 103 ; Changes in 1840, 104 ; Mauniee Presbytery Added, 104 ; Roll Changes in 1841, 104 ; Death of Rev. F. Child, 105 ; Some Judi- cial Cases, 105 ; Rev. E. P. Salmon Tried, 105 ; Ca.se of H. C. Taylor, 107 ; Rev. II. Cowles, 108; Rev. B. Woodbury, 109; Un.sound Doctrine, 110; Three Good Men Rejected, 110; Oberliu Perfectionism, 112 : Benevolence and Knowledge, 128. CHAPTER VI.— FROM 1842 TO 1844. A Dissatisfied New Member, 130; Unsatisfactory Constitutions, 132; Changes in 1842, 132 ; Death, lustallations, and Dissolutions, 133 ; Huron Divided, Elyria Formed, 133 ; The Presl)ytery of Elyria, 134 ; Rev. Hubbard Law- rence, 134 ; Presbytery of Maumee Erected, 135 ; Results in Miuistei-s and Churches, 136. CHAPTER YIL— FROM 1844 TO 1860. Presbyterial Bounds and Changes, 137 ; Rev. B. B. Judsou Dies, 139 ; Records in 1845, 138 ; In 1846, 139 ; In 1847, 140 ; Syuodical Exceptions, 140 ; Changes in 1848, 141 ; Rev. Everton Judson Dies — Memorial, 142 ; Changes in 1849 and 1850, 147-48; Rev. N. W. Fisher Dies, 147 ; Western Reserve College Aided, 147 ; Tiffin Church Withdraws, 148 ; Changes in 1851, 149 ; The Sandusky Church Withdraws, 150 ; 1852, 153 ; Rev. F. S. White, 153 ; 1853 and 1854, 154 ; Rev. A. K. Barr Suspended, 155 ; 1855-56-57, 156 ; Attica Church Dissolved, 157 ; Johnson Ford, 157 ; The Dutch Clnirch of Sandusky, 158; 1858, 1859, 1860, 160; Confession of Faith and Covenant, 160. CHAPTER VIII.— FROM 1844 TO 1860. Important Questions. I. Neglectful Removing Communicants, 161. II. Communicants without Saving Experience, 162. III. Secret Societies, 163. IV. Divorce and Other Ques- tions, 165. V. 3Iilan Church Records, 167. VI. The Pastoral Relation, 172. VII. Doctrinal Strictness and Liberality, 174 ; Baptism, 174. VIII. Slavery, 180; Memorial to General Assembly, 187. IX. The Plan of Union and the American Home 3Iission Society, 193. X. Education for the Ministry, 200. CHAPTER IX.— FROM 1861 TO 1870. I. Chronicles of 3Iinistcrs and Churches, 204 ; The Sandusky Church, 204 ; Further Receptions and Dismissals, 206 ; Presbytery of Elyria Dissolved, 207 ; From 1867 to 1869, 208 ; 1870, 209 ; Rev. A. Newton, D.P., and the Norwalk Church, 210 ; Meeting of September 13, 1870, 211. II. State of the CONTENTS. ix Countnj, 212. III. State of the Churches, 219 ; Thoughts for the World, 220 ; Help for Rev. H. S. Taylor's Church, 220 ; A Good Year, 221 ; Church Enterprise, 223 ; The Confession SimpliHed, 223. IV. TJie Reunion, 224 ; Readjustment of Preshytery, 229. CHAPTER X.— FROM 1871 TO 1892. I. The New Status, 231. II. Chronicles of this Period, 232 ; Lyme Church, 233 ; 1873 to 1882, 234-237 ; Rev. E. Bushnell, D.D., 237 ; Rev. J. H. Walter, 238 ; Dr. Bushnell and Mr. Walter, 238 ; Resume of Record, 239 ; 1882 to 1892, 239-44. III. Death and 3Iemoriat, 244 ; Rev. H. S. Taylor, 244 ; Rev. Eldad Barber, 244 ; Rev. Joel Talcott, 246 ; Rev. Enoch Conger, 247 ; Rev. Andrew Huntington, 253 ; Elder Jairus Kennan, 253 ; Rev. E. R. Chase, 254 ; Rev. Alfred Newton, d.d., 254; Dr. Bushnell's Memorial Address, 256; Rev. Marcus Palmer, 260 ; Rev. Wm. Dewey, 261 ; Rev. Lemuel Bissell, D.D., 262. IV. Unpleasant Duties, 266 ; Plymouth Trouble, 267 ; Other Cases, 267 ; Clyde Church and Rev. A. M. Meili, 267 ; Other Cases, 273. V. Revivals, 274 ; No Traveling Evangelist Employed, 276 ; The Work in 1857-8-9, 279 ; Revival of 1872-3, 282. VI. Care for the Weaker Churches, 285; Various EflForts Made, 287 ; Rural Population, 288 ; Action of 1873 ; Visitation of Churches, 293 ; Action of 1886. VII. Temperance : The Cru- sade, 300 ; The Second Amendment, 301. VII. The Sabbath : Commend the Postal Department, 303 ; Overturing the Synod. 304. IX. Revising the Confession, 305. X. Social Amusements, 307 ; The Prevailing Judgment of Presbytery, 308. XL 3Iissionary Spirit, 309 ; Ladies' Missionary Societies, 309 ; Presbyterial W. F. M. Society, 310 ; Presbyterial W. H. M. Society, 312 ; System Observed, 313 ; Worship by Offerings, 314 ; Comparative Sta- tistics, 315. XII. Green Spring Academy, 317. XIII. The 3Iinisters^ fleet- ing, 322. XIV. Summary, 327 ; As it Now Stands, 328. PART II.— HISTORY OF THE CHURCHES, 329. The Peru Church, 329 ; Milan Church, 333 ; Melmore Church, 347 ; Tiffin Church, 355 ; Norwalk Church, 366 ; Monroeville Church, 376 ; Republic Church, 381 ; Church of Fremont, 389 ; Olena Church, 399 ; Church of Huron, 403 ; The Bloomville Church, 410 ; Sandusky Church, 417 ; McCut- chensville Church, 427 ; Fostoria Church, 433 ; Green Spring Church, 441 Church of Clyde, 448 ; Elmore Church, 455 ; The Church of Genoa, 459 Church of Graytown, 463 ; Chicago Church, 464 ; Church of Steuben, 469 Other Churches, 471 ; The Church of Lyme, 474 ; Denominational Results, 483. APPENDIX. A. The Melmore Church. B. Names, 485. HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. CHAPTER I. ANTECEDENT HISTORY. The nineteenth century has been a period of pecuHar interest. There have been great developments in the scientific and material world. The Church also has had its encouraging features, in the way of growth and advancement. Progress has been made toward evangelizing the world. This has been a missionary period ; and Northern Ohio has been in living touch with the rest of the world in its varied interests, and perhaps especially so as regards those that are religious. This highly-favored region has both felt the influence of Christian institutions and has helped to establish them at home and abroad; and the history of its churches and people for the space covered by the last ninety-two 3^ears, is most worthy of our thoughtful attention. At the beginning of this century there was but one church in Northern Ohio. There was in the Western Reserve a total population of only 1144. In the year 1800 there were two ministers just entered upon their sacred work ; and during that year one church was organized. This was the Presby- terian Church of Youngstown, Mahoning County. Its first pastor was Rev. Wm. Wick, who had begun to preach at that place, occasionally, in the latter part of 1799. At this time, the whole of the Western Reserve formed but one county, called Trumbull, and Warren was the county seat. The other minister who began to preach on the Reserve in 1800, was 1 1 2 HISTORY OF in: RON PRESnVTKRV. Rev. Joseph Badger, wliose name will frequently appear in this history. He was a Congregationalist, sent out by the Missionary Society of Connecticut. The Rev. Wm. Wick was a Presby- terian, belonging to the Presbytery of Ohio. He was born on Long Island, N. Y., June 29th, 1768. From a brief account of him, given in the "History of Washington Presbytery, Pennsylvania," by Rev. W. F. Hamilton, d.d., we learn that the family removed to Washington County, Pennsylvania, at an early day. He studied at Cannonsburg Academy ; was one of the founders of Franklin Literary Society in that institu- tion, in 1797 ; read theology under Dr. John McMillan ; was licensed by the Presbytery of Ohio, August 28th, 1799, and was ordained by the same Presbytery, September 3d, 1800. He died at Hopewell, Pennsjdvania, March 29tli, 1815, in the 47th year of his age ; and pursuant to his request was buried at Youngstown, Ohio. He had been married before he began to study for the ministry. Half of his time as a pastor was devoted to the church of Youngstown, the other half to Hope- well. Mr. AVick and Mr. Badger entered their fields not far from the same time. Thus, in the year 1800, began Presbyterianism and Congre- gationalism to work for the Master, side by side, and to mould the character of the growing pojailation of North- eastern Ohio. They not only worked side b}^ side, but hand in hand. In beautiful harmony these two denominations con- tinued, for years, to labor together on this interesting field, where the people were hungry for the Gospel, and where the population was rapidly increasing. So remarkably united were the}^ in the one grand object of missionary enterprise, to Christianize communities, homes, and individuals, that a proposition was made, on the part of the Missionary Society of Connecticut, to the Presbytery of Hart- ford, of the Synod of Pittsburg, to the effect that if the Pres- bytery would furnish ministers for the Reserve, the Connecti- cut Society would support them. Mr. Wick, a Presbyterian, ANTECEDENT HISTORY. 3 was himself, to some extent, it is said, supported by the Con- necticut Society. This spirit of co-labor resulted, so early as 1801, in the adoption of what has been ever since known as the " Plan of Union " for the organization of churches in the Western Reserve, of which further notice will be taken here- after. Other ministers followed the two above named, year after year, until in 1810 there were eight on this' field, with nineteen churches organized. In this decade the population of the Reserve had increased from 1144 in 1800, to 16,241 in 1810. Presbyterians and Orthodox Congregational ists were, as a rule, the first Christians who occupied this region. Other denominations, however, soon began to come in. The Metho- dists especiall}'^, were not long in finding an opening, and the}' have borne a part in the " evangelization of the wilderness." Considering the first two denominations named, of the churches organized some were more strictly Presbyterial, and others more purely Congregational in polity. The form of govern- ment in each case was decided largely by the ecclesiastical preferences of the minister who organized the church and the prevailing sentiment of the majority of the people who composed it. We have not been able to learn the number of members gathered into these churches during the early years of their history, but we are told of some very noteworthy revivals that occurred in this region and in Western Pennsylvania in the years 1802 and 1803. There were scenes, under the preaching of the Word, among the most remarkable of the kind on record. Sinners were overwhelmed with a sense of sin and of their lost condition, distressed because of their hardness of heart and their enmity to God. Christians would become overpowered by a sense of God's holiness and love. And both saints and sinners, under the mighty power of God's truth and grace, would fall prostrate and helpless, and in many instances would remain so for a considerable time. Many were converted and added to the churches, and the 4 HISTORY OF nVROX PRESnVTEIiV. churches were quickened to a deep and earnest life. These scenes were known as " the falling exercises." To many per- sons they were hard to understand, and many looked upon them doubtfully. Yet, the prevailing belief of Christians was that God was at work in them, and that many souls were graciously saved. This we must believe from the facts that the preaching was the essential Gospel truth, at least in many noted instances, and there was much earnest prayer on the part of Christians — sometimes the whole night being thus occupied ; and then the results were such as are characteristic of a genuine work of grace. The Rev. Mr. Badger says of his own preaching at this time, and in connection with this remarkable work, that " he endeavored, in all his sermons, to hold up to the sinner's mind the doctrines of total depravity, repentance as a present duty, submission to God, faith in the Redeemer as the only possible way of salvation, with practical application." " All addresses to the passions were carefully avoided." The same writer says that those Avho were so deeply exer- cised and prostrated, never lost their senses ; their minds were unusually active, and they were in excellent condition to receive instruction ; and they were uniformly instructed that there was no religion in merely falling down. " Those who obtained hope spoke of the purity of the law, and of the nature and tendency of sin ; and many seemed to be swallowed up in views of the justice and glory of the divine government, and the plan of salvation." And one who took great pains to answer the inquiry. Why do they fall ? says : " It seems to be nothing more than the effect of the affec- tion of the mind. In the case of the impenitent it was caused by the overwhelming conviction of their sins, and God's holiness and justice ; and in the case of Christians, by some peculiarly clear and impressive views of the glory of God's character, or of some feature in the plan of salvation." There can be little doubt that many were prepared in this work of grace, mysterious as it was in its external aspects, for THE PLAN OF UNION. 5 work in the Lord's great cause, and that thus were the founda- tions laid for blessed results which were manifest in after years. During the first decade the greatest harmony seems to have prevailed in the work of the churches throughout the Reserve. Up to that time, and for years after, the two denominations were so near together in doctrine that but little difficulty was felt by members of the one in going into a church belonging to the other. THE PLAN OF UNION. The harmony of operation in church work upon this field was secured by the " Plan of Union," under which the two denominations were united. There was here a type of church government which was new to the world. It was not Congre- gationalism ; it was not Presbyterianism ; it was an effort at the combination of the two. It has been fitly called " Presby- terialized Congregationalism." It was a form of government developed by what appeared to be the exigency of the times and of the field. It seemed to be necessary. It was adopted under the impulse of the noblest Christian spirit, under the conviction of both Presbyterian and Congregationalist " that Christians agreeing in doctrine and spirit, and differing only upon points of church polity, when planting new churches in troublous times and in the Western forests, could not afford to cling too closely to their forms of government." In those times, and in this region, the rivalry of sectarianism would have been unfortunate. Congregationalist settlers were coming from New England ; Presbyterians were coming from Pennsylvania and Virginia. They were planting their homes side by side. By far the larger part of the ministers during this early period, especially from 180G to 1812, were Presby- terian. But the larger part of the settlers were Congrega- tionalists. Scarcely in any place would the numbers have warranted the organization of two churches, the one Congrega- tionalist, and the other Presbyterian. The spirit that prompted concession on both sides was certainl}' admirable, and this was 6 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. then the spirit of the two denominations throughout the land. As we have already stated, as early as the year 1801, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, and the Congre- gationalist General Association of Connecticut, adopted the famous Plan of Union for these Western Missionary fields. It was promulgated and sent forth anew in 1806, as follows : — THE PLAN. " With a view to prevent alienations, and to promote union and harmony in those new settlements which are composed of inhabitants from Presbyterian and Congregationalist bodies:" 1st. "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 inhabi- tants of the new settlements who hold the Presbyterian, and those who hold the Congregational form of Church govern- ment." 2d. " If, in the new settlements, any cliurch of the Congre- gational order shall settle a minister of the Presbyterian order, that church may, if they choose, still conduct their discipline according to Congregational principles, settling their difficulties among themselves, or by a council mutually agreed upon 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, provided both parties agree to it ; if not, to a council consisting of an equal number of Presbyterians and Congregationalists, agreed upon by both parties." 3d. " If a Presbyterian Church shall settle a minister of Congregationalist principles, that church may still conduct their discipline according to Presbyterian principles, excepting that if a difficulty arise between him and his church, or any member of it, the case shall be tried by the Association to Avhich the said Minister shall belong, provided both parties THE PLAN OF UNION. 7 agree to it ; if not, by a council, one-half Congregational, and the other half Presbyterian, mutually agreed upon by both parties." 4th. " If any congregation consists partly of those who hold the Congregational form of discipline, and partly of those who hold the Presbyterian form, we recommend 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 committee 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 to give judgment on such conduct. " And, if the person condemned by their judgment be a Pres- byterian, he shall have leave to appeal to a Presbytery ; if a Congregationalist, he shall have liberty to appeal to the body of male communicants of the church. " In the former case the determination of the Presbytery shall be final, unless the church consent to a further appeal to the Synod, or to the General Assembly. And in the latter case, if the party condemned shall wish for a trial by mutual council, the case shall be referred to such council. " And, provided the said standing committee of any 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." Such was the Plan of Union under which the churches and Presbyteries of Northeastern Ohio were originally organized. It contemplated Presbyteries to which Presbyterian ministers and churches might belong, and Associations to which Congre- gationalist ministers might belong. There was, however, no such Congregational Association, and the Congregationalist ministers, as a rule, connected themselves with the Presbytery. Originally the Presbytery of Hartford, afterward changed to Beaver, covered the whole territory of the Western Reserve, without limit in the western direction. This Presbytery belonged to the Synod of Pittsburgh ; and to 8 lUSTOHY OF HURON rRESBYTKnV. it most of the ministers and many of the clmrclies, both Pres- byterian and those of a mixed cliaracter, belonged. " PECULIAll P]CCLESIASTICISM." Such was what has been justly called the " peculiar ecclesi- asticism " of the Western Reserve. There was charity in it, there was piety, and a truly catholic spirit. And yet it could hardly be hoped that the waters would continue to run smoothly, or that the time would never come when the Con- necticut brethren would stop to "inquire whether the milk from their Congregational cows might not be being churned into Presbyterian butter," and " vice versa." Resulting from this Plan of Union there were peculiar forms of constitution for new presbyteries, and of Confession of Faith and Covenant for admission of members to churches. From these, and from Presbyterial By-laws, and from the Plan of Union itself occasional questions of difficulty would be raised, especially by new ministers coming from other regions wliere a different state of things existed. The difficulty of maintain- ing in j^erpetuity such an ecclesiasticism became more and more manifest, until there came the unfortunate excision of 1837, and the final discontinuance of the Plan of Union by the happy reunion of the two branches of the Presbyterian Church in 1869. DIFFICULTY FIRST FELT. The danger began to be felt, about the year 1812-13, in the agitation of the question of an ecclesiastical organization for the Reserve. Congregationalists longed for an Association on strictly Congregational principles. The Church vessel was not far from threatening shoals or breakers. Fortunately, how- ever, the ministers felt themselves bound by the Plan of Union, and dreaded the result of forming such an Association. " The anxious inquiry, What shall be done?" was propounded again and again, among ministers and churches, at home, and PRESBYTERY OF PORTAGE. 9 in the Presbytery, the Synod, the General Assembly, and among the Congregational churches of New England. The result was that the ministers and churches finally con- cluded to propose the organization of a Presbytery in accord- ance with the principles of the Plan of Union. In this proposition it was contemplated that the ministers should be subject to the rules and discipline of the Presbyterian Church without exception, but that the churches should enjoy the immunities guaranteed them by the Plan of Union. Thus, in a truly Christian spirit, the possible dangers were, for the time, happily tided over ; again the waters ran smoothly. GRAND RIVER PRESBYTERY. In accordance with this proposition, and a request from the Presbytery of Hartford, the Synod of Pittsburgh, in October, 1814, directed that the Presbytery of Hartford be divided and a new presbytery formed from it, to be known as the Presby- tery of Grand River, and to include the whole of the Western Reserve, except six townships in the southeast corner, and with undefined limits on the west. The Presbytery of Grand River was accordingly organized on November 8, 1814. This was the beginning of a new career for the churches of Northern Ohio. In the main, it was a prosperous and happy career. PRESBYTERY OF PORTAGE. On the 7th of October, 1818, the Synod of Pittsburgh again drew the dividing line. The Grand River Presbytery was divided, and from it was constituted the Presbytery of Portage. In it was included all that part of Grand River Presbytery lying west of the east line of Portage and Cuyahoga Counties. This Presbytery was organized at Hudson, December 8, 1818. The membership was small. The Presbytery of Grand River, from which it was formed, had reported to the General 10 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. Assembly, in May previous, but 12 ministers, 25 congregations, and 652 comnuinicants. From this number the Presbytery of Portage was talcen. But the growth must have been encourag- ing in the years immediately following, as in 1825 the Grand River Presbytery reported 15 ministers, 36 congregations, and 1337 communicants. HURON PRESBYTERY. The next division of the territory made was in the organiza- tion of the Presbytery of Huron, which was formed from the Presbytery of Portage. And here, having given this account of the earlier workings of the two denominations, we enter more directly upon the history of Huron Presbytery. The churches of this Presbytery, and the Presbytery itself, were the outgrowth of what we have attempted briefly to describe. The churches and the Presbytery were organized upon the basis of the Plan of Union ; and the whole history of these interven.ing years lias been more or less characterized thereby. EARLY PREACHING IN HURON COUNTY. Quite early in the century the extreme western part of the Reserve began to All up with an intelligent population. Large numbers of them came from Connecticut. The region of country now embraced in the counties of Huron and Erie, and containing 500,000 acres of land, was granted by the State of Connecticut to those of her citizens, and they were many, who had suffered losses at home during the Revolutionary War. During this war, and more especially in the years 1777 and 1779, the British soldiers made raids into Connecticut and burned a number of her towns and villages. To compensate those who thus suffered these 500,000 acres of land were donated ; and for this reason this tract of country w^as called " the fire lands." It is a beautiful land, rich in soil, and greatly attractive to EARLY PREACHING IN HURON COUNTY. 11 the husbandman. Doubtless, in consequence of these facts — land granted, and of the best quality — settlers, as early as the year 1808, began rapidly to come in to make their home in these western wilds. At this time the survey of " the fire lands " had been com- pleted, and the Indian title thereto had been amicably settled and extinguished. All difficulties in the way of possession having been removed, one township after another, beginning with the year 1808, was soon occupied by settlers, and the foundations were being laid for the towns, villages, and institu- tions. Huron County, embracing the whole " fire land " territory, was created by act of the Legislature, February 7, 1809. It was not, however, to be immediately organized. In 1811 the Legis- lature passed an act for its organization, but owing to the War of 1812 the county was not really organized until 1815. By this time most of the townships were already settled. By the year 1817 all of them were settled except two. All of the settlers were not from Connecticut ; a number were from other States. Yet as so many of them were from Connect- icut and her adjoining States, it was but natural that the sym- pathies of the Missionary Society of Connecticut should follow them. And very soon the ministers of the Gospel are on this ground, ready to comfort and encourage, and to lay their foun- dations for religious training and culture. We find that, encouraged and sustained by the Eastern Society for Missions, the Presbyteries of Grand River and Portage were sending out to this new and hopeful region their good men to preach the Gospel, and families who had been accustomed to it at the Eastern home were giving the message a glad welcome. These presbyteries were missionary presby- teries. Their ministers only waited till there was a small nu- cleus of people to receive them and to be gathered into organ- izations, when they came. The facts collected show that Rev. Joseph Badger preached in the county as early as 1810, and that by the year 1817 12 HISTORY OF Jfrh'OX PRESBYTERY. there were upon this territory at least four ministers — Rev. John Seward, Rev. Joseph Treat, Rev. A Ivan Coe, and Rev. William Williams. The Rev. Lot B. Sullivan and the Rev. A. H. Betts follow within a year. Before the organization of Huron Presb3^tery, in 1823, there had been at least eleven churches organized by these men within the limits of Huron County. The fact that the members of these churches were so gen- erally from New England gave them all more or less of a Congregationalist character. But few of them are connected with the Presbytery now. Yet the County of Huron, though not originally, nor now, embracing the whole of the Presbytery, has always been a very important part of its territory. The name of the county became the name of the Presbytery, and the original County of Huron is tlie only one of the four counties that originally constituted the presbyterial territory that now belongs to it. CHAPTER II. HURON PRESBYTERY FROM 1823 TO 1830. The Presbytery of Huron was organized on the 18th of November, 1823, at Brownhelm, in Lorain County, Ohio. It was formed from the Presbytery of Portage, in accordance with an act of the Synod of Pittsburgh. On the 8th of October, 1823, said Synod resolved : " That the petition of the Presbytery of Portage, praying for a division, be granted, and that the following ministers, viz. : Simeon Wood- ruff, Alvan Coe, Israel Shailer, Lot B. Sullivan, and Alfred H. Betts, with the congregations in the Counties of Cuyahoga, Medina, Lorain, and Huron, be erected into a new presbytery, to be called by the name of the Presbytery of Huron, to meet at Brownhelm on the third Tuesday of November, to be opened with a sermon by the Rev. Simeon Woodruff, who is to preside until a moderator be chosen, or by the next senior member in case of his absence." Accordingly, at the time named, and the place, the Presbytery was organized. Only three of the five ministers named were present, namely — Israel Shailer, Lot B. Sullivan, and Alfred H. Betts. The churches in Brownhelm, Florence, Eldridge, Cleveland, Euclid, Strongville, Wakeman, Fitchville, Clarksfield, Troy, Milan, and Brecksville were represented by delegates. Deacons S. James, John Beardsly, N. Chapman, E. Taylor, I. D. Crocker, G. Whitney, B. S. Hendrick, R. Palmer, S. Husted, S. B. Fitch, L. Scott, and J. Wait. It will be seen that only a part of the churches were repre- sented. Only six of the eleven already organized in Huron County had a commissioner present ; and it is probable that a similar fact existed regarding the other counties. 13 14 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTER V. The Rev. Simeon Woodruff being absent, Rev. Israel Shailer, the next Senior member, acted as moderator, and, presumably, preached the sermon. Ministers Lot B. Sullivan and Israel Shailer, and also Rev. Caleb Pitkin — who, being present from the Presbytery of Portage, had been invited to sit as a corresponding member — and delegates James and Taylor, were appointed a Committee on Bills and Overtures. The special duty of this Committee was to prepare and present a Constitution, with rules and form of Covenant, for the Presbytery and churches. On the following day, after Presbytery had opened at 9 o'clock A. M., this Committee made its report. After " expressing their approbation in general of the Confession of Faith and dis- cipline of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church," they proceed to say : " That yet, owing to their peculiar situa- tion, they deem it advisable that the Presbytery adopt a Con- stitution." They then present a Constitution, consisting of twenty-three articles, to which were added eigliteen articles for the regulation of the Presbytery while in session, and a Confession of Faith, and Covenant, and articles of practice for the churches under their care. The report, with all these articles, was adopted, and became the law for the Presbytery and the churches. THE CONSTITUTION. The first article provides for the two regular meetings of the body in each year, and the second designates the offices that shall be filled in the Presbytery and the Standing Committee, while the third provides for special meetings that may be called. The document then proceeds to say that " the licensing of candidates, the ordination and installation of ministers over, and dismissing them from, the churches shall be by the Presby- tery." To protect the churches during the recesses of the body, and at the same time neither to hinder them from securing suitable ministerial services nor to put incoming ministers to THE CONSTITUTION. 15 unreasonable trouble, the Standing Committee was appointed. This Committee was to consist of not less than two nor more than six ministers. Their dut}^ was to examine the credentials of ministers and licentiates who might desire to labor in any of the churches, and, U2:)on being satisfied respecting their qualifications to preach the gospel, they were to recommend them to the churches. Their recommendation, however, was onl}' designed to extend to the next stated meeting of Pres- bytery. Licentiates under the care of the Presbytery were declared to be amenable to it for their preaching and their moral conduct. And when one of them desired to itinerate without its bounds, he was required to apply to the body for permission, or, in the recess, to the Standing Committee. The permission was to specify the time of absence, and if given by the Com- mittee was to be signed b}^ two of them, who were to report the fact to the Stated Clerk. Also, when a licentiate, bearing such permission, should desire to itinerate within the limits of any other presbytery or association, he was directed to exhibit his credentials to the proper authorities in such presbytery or association, that he might in proper manner be commended to the churches. And when the removal was intended to be permanent it was to be by a letter of dismissal from the one body to the other. Article X declares : " That when any minister proposes to join this Presbytery it shall be the duty of the Presbytery to satisf}^ themselves respecting his religious sentiments and conduct, and admit or reject as they shall deem expedient. The Presbytery shall also satisfy themselves respecting the religious sentiments and Christian practice of any church before admitting it into this body." The eleventh article requires ministers, in organizing churches, to instruct them respecting the rules of the Pres- bytery and the importance of churches being connected with some ecclesiastical body. And it was declared that churches 16 III STORY OF HURON FRESH VTERV. formed by the ministers of the Presbytery, and witliiii its limits, were to be considered as under its care. It was, however, provided that individual ministers and churches belonging to the Presbytery might adopt either the Congregational or the Presbyterian form of government and discipline. When churches which adopted the Congregational form had decided a case of discipline, and either party was aggrieved, appeal might be made to the Presbytery. Yet the authority of the Presbytery only extended to the churches, and not to the individual members. The appeal could not be carried to the General Assembly or to the Synod. The Presbytery was declared to be the " standing council of the churches under its care, to whom all cases of difficulty, in which counsel is desired, shall be referred, unless permission be obtained from the Presbytery to call a select council." In all cases of trial the evidence on both sides was to be fairly taken and recorded by the judicatory, and then, in cases of appeal, this evidence was to be presented to the superior judicatory as the ground of decision. The aim of the Presbytery in its Constitution was to main- tain a becoming authority over its ministers and churches. It was the predominant idea in the body that the churches had the oversight of their members, and therefore both minister and people might be Congregationalist. But so far as the body at large was concerned, the Presbytery had the oversight of both churches and ministers. It was therefore declared that no church belonging to the body should give a call for settlement to any minister until he had been approved by the Presbytery or by two of the Stand- ing Committee ; and that no candidate for the ministry could be ordained by the Presbytery until he had put himself under its care, nor could a minister be installed till he had joined the body. Every church belonging to the Presbytery was expected to be represented in its meetings by one delegate, and their church records were required to be presented to the Presbytery THE CONSTITUTION. 17 each year for examination. A yearly report was also expected from all regarding revivals, family prayer, the religious in- struction of children, the observance of the Sabbath, and attendance on public worship. Article XVIII makes the interesting provision that at each stated meeting any religious question of importance, upon which any member may want light, shall be considered. A preacher and a substitute were to be appointed to deliver a discourse at the next meeting, and one or more theological questions, or passages of Scripture, were at each stated meeting to be adopted for discussion at the next. This article was nullified in 1830, but out of it originated the " Ministers' Meeting,'' which was organized in 1837. After the usual provision for devotional exercises in connec- tion with the Presbyterial meetings, the last two articles of this Constitution require that " these regulations shall be read to the Presbytery annually," and that all additions thereto and alterations shall be proposed at a stated meeting at least four months before made, and that they shall not be adopted without the concurrence of two-thirds of the members present ; but the twelfth article, allowing individual ministers and churches to adopt either the Congregational or the Presbyterian form of government and discipline, " should never be affected by any additions or alterations which these regulations may receive." After the adoption of these clear and comprehensive articles of the Constitution, the Presbytery proceeded next to adopt the eighteen articles of parliamentary rules and requirements to be observed by the officers and members while in session. It is not deemed important that these articles should be here re- corded. Much more important, and essential to a true history of the Presbytery, is the Confession of Faith and Covenant which were to be used by the churches in the reception of new mem- bers, and the Articles of Practice which were to be observed by churches and members in their general life. These should be given just as they were adopted by the Presbytery and as they were to be addressed to the candidate for church membership. 2 18 HISTOnV OF HURON PRESBVTERV. CONFESSION OF FAITH. Article I. — " You believe that there is one God, the Creator, Preserver, and Governor of all things, — that He is self-existent, independent, unchangeable, infinite in mercy, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth?" Article II. — " You believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments were given by inspiration of God, — that they contain a complete and liarmonious system of divine truth, and are the only perfect rule of religious faith and practice ? " Article III — " You believe that there are three persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, — that these three are in essence One, and in all divine perfections equal?" Article IV\ — " You believe that God governs all things ac- cording to His eternal, and infinitely wise, purpose, so as to render them conducive to His own glory and the greatest good of the universe, and in perfect consistency with His hatred of sin, the liberty of man, and the importance of the use of means ? " Article V. — " You believe that God at first created man in His own moral image, consisting in righteousness and true holi- ness,— that he fell from that holy and happy estate by sinning against God ; and that since the fall of Adam all mankind come into the world with a disposition entirely sinful ? " Article VI. — " You believe that, with reference to the fall of man, God did from eternity appoint the Lord Jesus Christ, His only and well-beloved Son, Mediator, who assumed our nature and made atonement for sin, — that God can now consistently exercise mercy toward sinners, and that He will pardon all those who repent and believe the Gospel ? " Article VII. — " You believe that as all men, in their natural state, reject Christ, God did, from eternity, choose some of the human race to salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth ; and that all those whom He has thus chosen He will renew and sanctify in this life, and keep them CONFESSION OF FAITH. 19 by His power through faith unto salvation ; and that all those whom He has not thus elected are left to pursue their own chosen way, and suffer the punishment of their sins ? " Article VIII. — " You believe that Christians are justified freely by grace through faith, and that, although the}^ are thus freely justified, still, the law of God, as a rule of duty, remains in full force, and that all men are under obligations perfectly to obey it ? " Article IX. — " You believe that personal holiness is the cer- tain effect of the renewing operations of the Holy Spirit, and affords to believers the only Scriptural evidence of their justifi- cation and title to the heavenly inheritance ? " Article X. — " You believe that men are free and voluntary in all their conduct, that the requirements of God are perfectly reasonable, and that sinners are inexcusable for impenitence and unbelief? " Article XI. — " You believe that the visible Church of Christ consists of visible saints, who publicly profess their faith in Him, and that baptized children so belong to the Church as to be under its care and instruction ? " Article XII. — " You believe in the divine appointment of the Christian Sabbath and of the sacraments of the New Testa- ment, Baptism and the Lord's Supper, which all are under obligation, in the exercise of faith, to observe ; and that it is the duty of parents to dedicate their children to God in bap- tism, and train them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord?" Article XIII. — " You believe that the soul is immortal, and that at the last day Christ will raise the dead and judge the world in righteousness; that all who die impenitent will go away into endless punishment, and the righteous be received in heaven to enjoy eternal felicity? " These questions being asked by the minister and being answered in the afiirmative by the candidate, then followed — 20 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. THE COVENANT. " You, viewing yourselves subjects of special divine grace, do now, in the presence of God, angels, and men, renounce the service of sin and choose the Lord Jehovah to be your God and eternal portion, the Lord Jesus Christ to be your only Saviour, and the Holy Ghost to be your Sanctifier and Com- forter? You promise to take God's holy AVord for your direc- tor}^ and by divine grace to comply with all its injunctions? You solemnly engage duly to observe all the ordinances of the gospel ? You promise to encourage family prayer and instruc- tion ; the seasonable dedication of children to God in baptism and to govern and restrain from vicious practices and company all who may be under your care ? You promise to maintain daily secret prayer, statedly to attend on the Lord's Supper, and to remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy? You promise to refrain from unnecessarily associating with the vicious and from vain conversation ; and, finally, to watch over the members of the Church, and, if necessary, to reprove them with Christian meekness and brotherly love ; to submit to the watch and discipline of this Church, endeavoring in all things to promote its prosperity and to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called ? " Relying on divine grace, thus you covenant with God and this Church ? " The candidate for membership having assented to tliis solemn covenant, the members of the Church were expected to indicate their reception of such candidate in the following manner : — " We, then, the members of this Church, do cordially receive you into our communion and fellowship. We welcome you as members of the body of Christ, and as fellow-travelers to His rest. We promise, by the grace of God, to watch over you with meekness and love, and, by counsel and prayer, to help you forward in the way to heaven. And we pray God that we may live together as brethren, glorify Him on earth, and finally ARTICLES OF PRACTICE. 21 join the Church triumphant in heaven, there to unite in the praise of God and the Lamb." The church was to be led in this, their part of the covenant, by the minister ; and upon its conclusion the candidates covenant- ing were recognized as received into full communion. In view of such solemn and significant covenant we can well imagine that many a sacred scene has been witnessed in the churches of this Presbytery. The profession of faith in Jesus was a thing not lightly to be made. The entrance to the Church was to be kept sacred ; and when the truly regenerate were read}^ to take this covenant, after making thoughtfully the preceding confession of their faith in the great fundamental and essential truths of God's Word ; and when such regenerate ones, and the church, as led solemnly by the faithful minister, would enter into such a covenant, there must often have been the realized presence of the living God ; and angels must have hovered near, while all hearts were moved to a rich sense of the glory of Christ and the power of saving grace. ARTICLES OF PRACTICE. These articles were designed as a sort of Constitution for the individual churches, defining the ruling powers in the church and their duties, the steps to be taken in the reception of. members, and the treatment of Christians who were members of other churches, and the general duties of those who were members of the local church in the daily Christian life. These articles are as follows : — Article I. — " This church shall have a Standing Committee, chosen from among their number, consisting of not less than two and not more than seven, whose duty it shall be to take cognizance of public offenses, and to manage the prudential concerns of the church." Article II. — " All persons applying for admission into this church, except by letter from sister churches, shall be examined 22 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. in the presence of the church, and if they give satisfactory evidence of Christian character, they shall, in ordinary cases, be publicly propounded at least two weeks before their reception." This article originally, and until 1830, required the same process whether the applicant came by letter or otherwise, and it must have been so that both this and the preceding article were designed especially for churches adopting the Congrega- tional form of government. A Presbyterian church would have its bench of elders, before whom offenses would be tried, and by whom candidates for membership would be examined. Article III. — " This church deem it inconsistent with duty to admit members of distant churches j-esiding in this vicinity to occasional communion, in ordinary cases, for a longer period than one year." This article w^as designed to meet the unreasonableness of those church members who might come into a community and neglect or refuse to unite with the church for years, or per- petually, and who yet might desire to participate in an occa- sional communion. Article IV. — " This church consider it the duty of male heads of families, and, when circumstances do not render it improper, for females, daily to read the Scriptures and pray in their families. They also recommend to heads of families that singing praises to God, when it can be performed with pro- priety, be considered a part of family worship." Article V. — " This church consider it an important dut}' of heads of families to instruct and govern their children, and all under their care, agreeably to the AVord of God, endeavoring to restrain them from evil practices and from vicious company, and directing them, by parental authority, to attend, whenever circumstances will permit, catechetical lectures appointed by the pastor of the church." Article VI. — " This church consider it their duty to pay special attention to their baptized children, and agree that parents and others, who are members of this church, having the more innnediate care of such children, shall be accountable DESIGN, CHARACTER, AND EFFECT. 23 to the church for their religious instruction and government so long as they continue members of their families, and for any evident neglect of these duties shall be liable to discipline, as for any offense whatever." Article VII. — " This church consider the collecting of hay or grain on the Sabbath, attending to any part of the business of making sugar, the visiting of friends, except in cases of sick- ness, and the prosecution of journeys on that day, without special necessity, a violation of Christian duty." The evil against which this last article was directed will very readily suggest itself to a thoughtful mind. We have but to think of the new country, the harvest or the sugar-making season, and the desire for social life and conversation, and we see an immense temptation against which these Church Fathers would guard the churches. DESIGN, CHARACTER, AND EFFECT. It is evident, as Dr. Alfred Newton has said, that this Constitution, with all these articles of rule and doctrine, covenant and duty, " was not designed to conflict with the Confession of Faith" of the General Assembly, "but was rather a supplement to that article." It resulted from the Plan of Union, and the desire to keep the churches with differing denominational tendencies in harmony. It gave liberty to individual ministers and churches, while belonging to the Presbytery and subject to its control, to choose their own mode of government and discipline. It Avas in harmony with the action of the General Assembly and the General Association. The Synod of Pittsburgh, when in session, reviewed the whole, and at the time raised no objection. And, on the whole, there was nothing in these articles that could be regarded as denominationally objectionable except what was clearly implied in the " Plan of Union " itself. Besides, these brethren showed themselves, in the adoption 24 HISTOnV OF HURON PRESBYTERY. of their Constitution, Covenant, and Confession, to be extremely particular to guard against any error in doctrine or practice, either in the Presbytery or in the churches. Ministers could not be made without thorough examination upon both doctrine and conduct. And they could neither come nor go without proper credentials. They must become subject to the Presbytery before the}'- could receive a call to one of the pastorates, and the churches must acknowledge the Presbytery before they could be regarded as under its care. So far, if no farther, there was pretty good Presbyterianism. In the churches themselves there was such liberty that there might be either good Presbyterianism, or just as good Congre- gationalism. So far as the doctrines expressed in the Con- fession of Faith were concerned, they were unquestionably sound, and most richly and beautifully orthodox. On the existence and nature of God, the Trinity, the creation and the Divine government, the fall and depravity of man, the Divinity and mediatorship of Christ, the election of grace, justification by faith, the atonement and the permanency of Christian character, the freedom of the will and the work of the Holy Ghost, the Church and the Sacraments, and on the Sabbath and the final judgment, this Confession of Faith which the Huron Presbytery placed in the hands of these churches, whether Congregational or Presbyterian, was so clear and so orthodox that the Westminster Confession could not find much occasion for casting stones. And when we read the Covenant which the new communi- cant was expected to make, along with the confession of his faith in Jesus, how strong, how beautiful and solemn it is ! And then when we see how clearly the relation of baptized children to the church is presented, and the duty of the parents to their households, and the duty of the church to both parents and children, we are apt to exclaim, as under a sacred influence, " Would that we had a little more of this doctrine and covenant and practice now ! " And yet it could hardly be expected to be otherwise than OTHER BUSINESS. 25 that ministers and people, coming from regions where there existed no such condition of things and no such Constitution, other than the Confession of Faith and the Book of Discipline of the General Assembly, would raise the question ; " How far has the recognized Constitution of the General Assembly authority in this Presbytery and in these churches ? " Some allowance ought to be made for early training and for human nature. OTHER BUSINESS. In addition to adopting this Constitution and Covenant, which was the main work of the first meeting of the Presby- tery, the body received the certificate of the Rev. Stephen J, Bradstreet, from the Presbytery of Londonderry, desiring to become a member. Upon the testimonial of his good standing as a minister, the Presbytery proceeded to examine him upon his religious experience and sentiments and his knowledge of theology, and being satisfied they welcomed him as a member. The Rev. Lot B. Sullivan was then chosen the first stated clerk of the Presbytery. Finally, Rev. Stephen J. Bradstreet, just received, and Rev. Alfred Betts were appointed to write for the next meeting upon the question, " What does the Holy Ghost do for those who are converted that He does not do for those who are not don- verted?" The Rev. Messrs. Shailer and Sullivan were appointed to write for the same meeting on the question, " What is meant by the word ' creation ' in Rom. viii, 19-23 ? " Also, the Revs. Woodruff and Betts were appointed to write on the question, " Is it consistent with the principles of religion for professors to engage in lawsuits with one another ? " These appointments were made in accordance with the eighteentli article of the Constitution, which requires that one or more theological questions or passages of Scripture should be appointed for discussion at each stated meeting. 26 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. The Presbytery of Huron thus began, at its first meeting, an interesting custom which has characterized it through the greater part of its history — the regular discussion of important questions — a custom interesting and valuable to ministers, and surely beneficial to the churches, though not present at the discussions. Thus ended the first meeting of the newly organ- ized Presbytery. The foundations had been laid, and laid mainly on the rock of God's truth. MEETINGS OF 1824. At the meeting of November 18, 19, 1823, the Presbytery was fairly organized. The next stated meeting was held at Dover, in Cuyahoga County, February 17, 1824. At this meeting Mr. John McCrea, a licentiate from the Presbytery of Grand River, was received, ordained to the min- istry, and installed pastor over the church of Dover. Rev. Lot B. Sullivan was released from the pastorate of the Union Presbyterian Society in Lyme and vicinity, for want of support. After hearing the reports from the churches, such a sense of the low state of religion in the Presbytery prevailed that the 29th of April following was recommended to the churches to be observed as a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer. And at the following meeting, August 17th, the question was raised, "May not valuable improvement be made in the mode of preaching in this i)art of the country, and if so, what improve- ment ? " The ministers Woodruff and Sullivan were appointed to write upon it. In addition to this, at the same meeting, after having dis- cussed the questions, " Is it justifiable, under any circum- stances, for a member of a church to permit balls to be attended in his house ? " and, " Why do those who appear to be Chris- tians come to such different conclusions in their researches of the Scriptures?" two of the brethren were appointed to write on the question : " Is there a difference between redemption and atonement? If so, in what does it consist?" WESTERN RESERVE COLLEGE. 27 WESTERN RESERVE COLLEGE. At the meeting of February 17th an interest was developed in the effort, which had its beginning about the year 1822, to establish a collegiate institution on the Western Reserve. The Presbyteries of Portage and Grand River had already had the matter before them, and had been preparing the way for such an institution. Indeed, the foreshadowing of the coming event may be seen so far back as April IG, 1803, when the Legislature of Ohio passed an act " incorporating the Trustees of the Erie Literary Society." From that time onward, one step after an- other had been taken in the matter of higher education, until the question of locating and founding a college came fairly before the Presbyteries. The two Presbyteries above named had alread}^ on hand something of an " Educational Fund," and the Presbytery of Huron, at their meeting in February, 1824, received from Rev. Mr. Fenn, clerk of the Board of Managers of this Fund, a com- munication requesting the appointment of two ministers and two laymen to meet with the said Board, in Aurora, on the first Wednesday of June, to confer with the commissioners from the other two Presbj^teries with reference to the best course to be pursued by the Managers of "the Fund." In compliance with this request, Messrs. Woodruff and Brad- street, ministers, and Harmon Kingsburrj^ and Elisha Taylor, laymen, were appointed on this commission. They reported at the stated meeting, August 17, 1824. Their report was a recommendation from the Convention held in Aurora, to attempt to establish a collegiate institution, and a request that the Presbytery choose two ministers and two lay- men for trustees, and also two ministers and two laymen to assist commissioners from the other two Presbyteries in locating the institution. In accordance with this report and request, the Presbytery elected for trustees Messrs. Woodruff and Brad- street, ministers, and Henry Brown and Harmon Kingsburry, laymen. For commissioners of location they elected Revs. 28 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. A. H. Betts and Lot B. Sullivan, with laymen Samuel Coles and David Gibbs. The institution was located at Hudson, Portage County, and was chartered in 182(5 under the name of " Westeim Reserve College." Most of the Trustees were members of the three Presbyteries then in existence. " It had their hearty co-operation, depended on them mainly for pecuniary assistance, wdiile it aimed to provide the means of a thorough education for young men, particularly those who sought the ministry." " Yet the College had no organic connection with Presbytery, or Association, or any other ecclesiastical body ; but stood inde- pendent and alone." Huron Presbytery has always felt a deep interest in this Institution. At various times it has contributed, through its churches, to its financial support. In 1849, under special effort, and through the agency of Rev. Alfred New^ton, there was con- tributed about $9000. 1825. On the 12th of January, 1825, a special meeting of Pres- bytery was held at Strongville to install Rev. Simeon Woodruff, who had been called to the pastorate of that church. From this year Presbytery began to grow, not only in the increase of ministers, but also of churches. During the first meeting of the body Rev. Stephen Bradstreet had been added to the roll, and at the first meeting in 1824 Mr. John McCrea had been received as a licentiate, and his name was added to the roll by his ordination to the ministry. Now, in 1825, the church of New Haven, which had been organized April 16, 1824, requested to be taken under care o^ the Presbytery. It seems, however, that the Confession of Faith and Covenant of this church needed some doctoring before it would conform to the Articles of Organization of the Presbytery, and a com- mittee of six brethren were appointed to visit the church and SYNOD OF WESTERN RESERVE. 29 endeavor to convince the people of the expediency of making some change. There was no full report of this committee, so far as indicated by the records, until the 20th of February, 1827, at which time the church was received, thus showing that the Committee had been successful. A church was also, during this year, organized at Elyria. Its articles of Confession of Faith and Covenant were found in order, and the church was received under Presbyterial care. It is not to be understood that the Presbytery absolutely required the Constitution of the churches to be literally after the pattern given by the Presbytery. They must, however, so far conform as not to conflict in doctrine or in practice with the articles adopted by Presbytery. This new church of Elyria had extended a call to the Rev. Daniel Lathrop, of the Presbytery of Hartford, to become its first pastor. Mr. Lathrop, after his examination in theology, literature, and experimental religion, was received into Huron Presbytery, and then installed according to the call. It was in this year, at its meeting, February 15th, that the Rev. Enoch Conger was, after due examination, received from the Presbytery of Susquehanna. For many years did he remain to labor among the churches, in seed time and harvest, until his name became among many of them a household word. Several licentiates were granted recommendations to vacant churches with the hope of eventual permanent settlements. SYNOD OF WESTERN RESERVE. Another epoch in the history of the Presbytery was marked during this year. In accordance with the united request of the three Presbyteries of Grand River, Portage, and Huron, the General Assembly, in May, 1825, resolved "that these three Presbyteries be detached from the Synod of Pittsburgh and constituted a new Synod, to be designated by the name of " The Synod of Western Reserve ;" that they hold their first meet- 30 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. ing at Hudson, on the fourth Tuesday of September, at 11 o'clock A. M. ; and that the Rev. Joseph Badger preach the synodical sermon and act as moderator till another be chosen ; or in case of failure, then the oldest minister present shall officiate in his place." The Rev. Joseph Badger, it will be remembered, was the second minister who began to preach on the Western Reserve, Rev. William Wick being the first. Agreeably to the appointment of the General Assembly, on the 25th of September, 1825, the Synod of Western Reserve met in the Presbyterian church in Hudson, and was opened by Rev. Mr. Badger with a sermon on 2 Cor. iv, 5 : " We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord." The new Synod was organized, and Huron Presbytery entered into new relations. Its associations in other respects were still the same, but now it was no longer a part of the staid old Synod of Pittsburgh. These Presbyteries and churches that were under the Plan of Union were now somewhat more than before severed from those that were established upon the Confession of Faith of the Assembly pure and simple. At this time, according to Rev. William S. Kennedy, the Presbytery of Huron numbered 9 ministers, 29 congregations, and 605 communicants. According to the Presbyterial Records there were not more than 19 churches. The 29 probably means, as the words may indicate, simply congregations, or places of preaching. The members of Presbytery felt that some change was necessary in their missionary operations, as some of the churches were much of the time without preaching. They desired that each church should have the means of grace statedly, from the same minister, at least from one-fourth to one-half of the time, where the people were able and disposed to pay accordingly. They requested the Synod to take the matter into consideration, and, if according to their mind, to bring it before the Mission- ary Society of Connecticut. And further, to meet the end in view, the Presbytery resolved to classify the weaker churches, combining them in such a way as that several of them together 1826. 31 might support a minister. This arrangement was also deemed necessary in regard to sending delegates to the annual meet- ings of Synod. 1826. On the 22d of February, 1826, Mr. Stephen Peet, a licentiate of the Hartford Association, who had been commended to preach to vacant churches, received, through Presbytery, a call to be- come pastor of the Euclid Congregation. After all the exami- nations and trial exercises in his case were satisfactorily passed, he was made a member of Presbytery by ordination, and then installed pastor of said church. At the same time, Mr. John Beach, a licentiate of the Pres- bytery of Otsego, was, by letter, taken under the care of this body. It was found that the Church of Peru had made some alterations in their articles of Organization and Covenant, since being received under care of the Presbytery. A Presby- terial letter was addressed to the said church, calling attention to this fact, disapproving of several articles in the change, and expressing the hope that the importance of making due correction would be seen upon consideration, and attended to with meekness and affection. No further trouble or action on the part of the Presbytery appears in the matter. But it seems that there were Presbyterian churches and ministers within the bounds of the body, not connected with it. This was a serious matter, the reasons for which are not given. A committee, consisting of Rev. E. Conger, with Elders Smith and Clark, was appointed to consider what means ought to be taken with regard to such ministers and churches. On the recommendation of this committee, the Presbytery resolved, " that it was expedient to invite such ministers and churches to unite with them, and should they decline to do so, then the ministers should be reported to the body to which they belong ; but, with respect to the churches, if they belong to no ecclesi- astical body, the Presbytery had no further duty." 32 HISTORY" OF HURON PRESBYTERY. QUESTIONS RAISED, At the meeting of August 15, 1826, several questions, char- acteristic of the times, were raised, and answered. One was : " Whether a Congregationalist church, without deacons, has a right to discipline a member?" Answered in the affirmative. Another was : " Whether the officers and leading members of a church have a right to leave tlieir own cliurch services to attend those of another denomination, when they have no preaching? " The answer to this was : " That it is highly im- proper for any of the members of our churches to leave their own meetings on the Sabbath, whether they have preaching or not, to attend the preaching of other denominations, unless occasionally, and for special reasons." CARE OF THE POOR. Still another question was : " Ought not the Church to support its own poor ? " In answering this question, a committee, consisting of Min- isters Lathrop and McCrea, with Elder Fuller, made an able and certainly satisfactory report. They speak of the subject involved as one that ought to engage the attention of the Christian community. They refer to other societies, whose fundamental principles are of a standard far below that of the Christian religion, who do make provision for the support of their own poor, spurning the idea of becoming dependent upon the charities of the public. And they ask : " Shall not the Church of Christ — the Church, actuated by the spirit of enlarged benevolence — provide for her own ? Shall she see them pine away and die in poverty, or be thrown back upon the world from which they have sepa- rated ? " They discuss the subject from the Scriptures, and in view of the difficulties that may be raised ; and they press the paramount duty resting upon the Church to look after her own eesumA 33 poor, and this, notwithstanding the fact that the members may be taxed to support the poor in general. " We owe it to Christ and we owe it to one another." They conclude their report with a resolution, which the Presbytery heartily adopt : " That whereas, should a case of extreme indi- gence occur in one of our feeble churches, the burden would be very heavy : therefore, this Presbytery earnestly recommend to all the churches under its care, to lay by in store for this pur- pose, as God shall prosper them ; and annually, in the month of August, to send up to the Presbytery their collections, to con- stitute a fund, to be under the direction of the Presbytery, to be appropriated when occasion shall require, for the relief of indigent saints within our bounds." Verily these brethren were thoughtful men — understanding a great principle of the doctrine of Christ. If the noble spirit breathed in these words were in all the churches, as it should be, the work and charities of other societies, which are after all not really charities, and some of them not claiming to be so in truth, would be put to shame. Under proper regard of the church for her poor the light of Christ's holy charity would ever shine to bless and to elevate, and also to attract as well. The church's influence and work in this direction, as it is, no mortal can measure. There is nothing else like it, or, for a moment, to compare to it. But she might be more nearly per- fect if she would think and act as these dear brethren seem to have thought, and to have desired the churches to think and act. RESUME. On the 31st of October, 1826, the Rev. Amasa Jerome, after satisfactory answers to questions on theology and Christian experience, was received by letter from the North Association of Litchfield, Connecticut, and w^as installed Pastor of the church of Wadsworth. At this same meeting the first letter of dismissal to one of the original members of the body was given. The Rev. Lot B. Sullivan was dismissed to the Pres- bytery of Buffalo. 34 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. 1827. On the 20th of February, 1827, the churches of Waynes- field and Ebenezer requested to be taken under care of the Presbytery. After they had given full satisfaction respecting their doctrines and practices in church matters they were so received. It was at this time also that the church of New Haven, having corrected her Confession of Faith and Cove- nant, was received. Mr. Bradstreet reported to this meeting of the body that a church had been organized in the Township of Ruggles by the Rev. Eph. T. Woodruff, of the Presbytery of Grand River and a missionary of the Connecticut Society for Missions, and Rev. Ludovicus Robbins, of the Presbytery of Portage, without the concurrence of any member of Huron Presbytery. He stated that this was clearly out of order, and contrary to the instructions which Mr. Woodruff had received from the Missionary Society of Connecticut. The Presbytery agreeing that this action was contrary to all Presbyterian law and custom, as well as against the rules of the Missionary Society, Resolved : " to direct the Stated Clerk to send a state- ment of the facts to the General Board of Missionaries on the Western Reserve." As it was doubtless only an oversight on the part of the Missionaries, it would be but necessary to call their attention to the offense. Mr. Isaac Van-Tassel, a candidate for the ministry, was received from the Presbytery of Grand River, and having passed all his examinations and trial exercises, he was licensed to preach the gospel within the bounds of the Presbytery. At an adjourned meeting on the 24th of July, 1827, Rev. E. Conger was installed pastor of the church and society of Lyme and Ridgefield, and on the following day Mr. John Beach, licen- tiate, was ordained and installed pastor of the church of Peru. Rev. Joseph Edwards was, August 21st, 1827, after the usual examinations, received from the Presbyter}"^ of Onondaga. The church of Brunswick, on account of its feeble state, was united with that of Strongville. SPECIAL INTERESTS. 35 The first article of the Constitution of the Presbytery was so changed that afterwards the winter meetings would fall on the third Tuesday of January each year instead of February ; and for the first time in the history of this body the Stated Clerk began to be paid. It was decided to give him a yearly com- pensation of five dollars. There is no intimation that the good brother's conscience compelled him to decline the same amount of " back salary " for one year which was also voted him ; or that the churches raised the cry of " salary grabber " if the back pay were received. SPECIAL INTERESTS. So early as 1827 did Huron Presbytery begin to show her interest in the welfare of the enslaved blacks of the land. Her first manifestation, however, of such interest was in her action regarding the American Colonization Society. The claims of this Society were brought to her attention. The ministers and others declared their sympathy with the object in view, and ministers and churches were recommended to form local societies and to take up collections for the same. At the same time an outlook was kept to the regions still farther west in need of missionary operations, and the Indians were not forgotten. One of the original members of the Presbytery, Rev. Alvan Coe, was commended to the American Board of Foreign Missions for evangelical w^ork among the Chippewas, near the outlet of Lake Superior. Among this race of people this body has had, during the most of its history, at least one missionary seeking their evangelization. In regard to the work in the churches at home there is, from the beginning, a manifest solicitude that ministers and churches be found faithful and their work successful. At this time the question of revivals and the best method of promoting them came under discussion. A report, expressive of the views of the Presbytery upon the subject was prepared and adopted, and ordered to be published in the weekly papers. Thus did 36 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. the brethren seek to gain the attention of the churches to the " great concern." LIST OF CHURCHES. In 1827, just four years after the organization of the Presby- tery, the number of the congregations was thirty-two, though no notice appears of some of them as to wlien they were received under care. Of the thirty-two, some were organized churches and others simply congregations, or points where preaching was more or less regularly conducted. These congregations and churches were : Strongville, Rich- field, Brownhelm, Cleveland, Brooklyn, Lyme, Elyria, Dover, Euclid, Greenfield, Granger, Wellington, Peru, Eldridge, Florence, Wakeman, Medina, Brunswick, Bath, Brecksville, Columbia, Portland, Milan, Clarksfield, Fitchville, Harrisville, Ridgeville, Sheffield, Waynesfield, Ebenezer, New Haven and Wads worth. 1828-9. On the 15th of January, 1828, Rev. Randolph Stone, from the Presbytery of Grand River, and Rev. Ludovicus Robbins, from that of Portage, were duly examined and received into Presbytery. Mr. Harvey Lyon, a student of Princeton Theological Semi- nary, passed all the examinations and trials required, and was licensed to preach the gospel. He was, on the 21st of May following, ordained to the full work of a minister, and then installed Pastor of the church of Vermillion on the next day. This church of Vermillion does not appear in the foregoing list. It was, however, organized February 20, 1818. Rev. Joseph Badger had preached in the vicinity in 1810. The first house of worship was erected in the spring of 1828, about the time that Mr. Lyon was inducted into the ministry, and became the first pastor of this church — Princeton Man, Con- gregational Church. In 1828, the churches of Ruggles, Hinkley, and Avon were added to those already under care of MILAN CHURCH DIFFICULTY. 37 Presbytery, as was also that of Melmore. These, with the church of Vermillion, would increase the list of churches to thirty-seven. On the 20th of August, 1828, Rev. James Robinson was received from the Presbytery of Columbus. He had been preaching in the bounds of Seneca County for a few months, and upon his reception, he and Rev. E. Conger were appointed to organize a church in the vicinity of Melmore before the next stated meeting. The church was organized October 13, 1828. At a called meeting, October 28 of this year, the Rev. Joel Talcott was received from the Council of Hartford, Connecticut, and installed pastor of the united church and congregation of Wellington and Brighton. On the 20th of January, 1829, a church was organized at Penfield ; rather, it was reported upon that day, and received under care of the body. On the day following. Rev. Xenophon Betts was received from the Association of Fairfield, Connecti- cut. On the 8th of April, he was installed Pastor of the church of Wakeman. On the 28th of April, Mr. Isaac Van Tassel was, after due process of examination and trial exercises, ordained as an Evangelist. August 19th, Rev. S. V. R. Barnes was received from the Presbytery of Rochester. On the same day the pastoral rela- tion existing between Rev. Amasa Jerome and the church of Wadsworth was dissolved ; as also that between Rev. J. Beach and the church of Peru. MILAN CHURCH DIFFICULTY. A difficulty had arisen in the church of Milan on account of the church having, after considerable discussion, changed its form of government from the Congregational to the Presby- terian. It seemed necessary that a presbyterial committee visit the church and seek to reconcile the parties; which the com- 38 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. mittee appointed tliouglit they had been able to do upon visit- ation. The government remained Presbyterian, to the satis- faction of most of the members. In the settlement of the trouble, it was decided that any who were hot satisfied should, upon request, have letters of dismissal to any other sister church. As, however, the church had changed its form of government without notice to, or consent of the Presbytery, a feeling to some extent prevailed in the Presbytery that in this regard they had acted unwisely. Resolutions to this effect, and that no church ought so to do, were adopted at the next meeting of the body. IMPORTANT QUESTIONS. During the sessions of Presbytery in 1828, some important questions were discussed, and action taken thereon. One ques- tion was : " What course should be pursued by our churches with members of Presbyterian and Congregational churches elsewhere, residing among them and neglecting to unite with them ? " It was decided that the church within which such persons reside should show them their duty, and if they still persist in neglecting it, report them to the church to which they belong. The facts here aimed at were doubtless results from the mixed relation of the churches. Some Congrega- tionalists and some Presbyterians were not quite satisfied with this state of things. They were so strongly denominational that they allowed the fact that the church was not one wholly of their order, to excuse them from connecting themselves with it. It was not the church exactly of their former love. Another subject related to those church members who refuse to contribute their due proportion to the support of the gospel. This is always one of the most unpleasant of questions to handle. Such men will be found here and there. And they are a heavy drain on Christian charity. They are often a bugbear in the eyes of the world. What can be done with them for their own good and the comfort of others? Well, THE SABBATH-SCHOOL. 39 the Presbytery of Huron, in solemn assembly, concluded to say that, " Inasmuch as the privileges of the gospel are both a public and private benefit, and as the covenant obligations of professors of religion bind them to aid in the extension of Christ's kingdom, therefore those church members to whom God, in His providence, has given the ability, and who with- hold that support which it is in their power to give to the preaching of the gospel, ought to be regarded as guilty of a violation of common justice, a breach of the covenant, and of the sin of covetousness, which is idolatry, and should be dealt with as for other offenses." THE SABBATH-SCHOOL. The idea and work of the Sabbath-school were not so prom- inent in the Church in that day as now. There was more made then of the instruction and worship of the home and of the Catechism. The matter of wholesome family influence and training was urged upon the churches, and parental responsi- bility was pressed upon fathers and mothers, while children were held to be a part of the Church. Yet the importance of the Sabbath-school, especially for the children of the world, as well as for all, both old and young, was coming to be more and more felt among Christian leaders. In this region it was so. A general interest was taken in this modern branch of church work. It came up for its share of thought and speech in the conferences of Huron Presbytery, and the question was raised and put under discussion as to what might be the best methods for promoting the interest and success of the Sabbath-school work. This, along with the Sabbath itself, and its proper observ- ance, was often before the meetings of this body. These men saw a great deal to lament in the desecration of the Lord's day ; and again and again they would call the attention of the churches to it. While they declared their solemn belief in the sacredness of the holy day, they condemned all manner of public 40 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. and private desecration, and asked each other what could be done to bring the people up to a higher standard of Sabbath observance. TEMPERANCE. The sentiment of the churches and people was not so high then upon the subject of Temperance as it is now, and yet these fathers and brethren were in the front ranks of the then rising and growing Temperance army. They saw the curse of drink. It would now and then even get into the churches. It has always been so. It gets into almost every sort of society and endear- ment. Upon this general subject high ground was taken. The Presbytery expressed itself in full accord with the sentiment and action of the General Assembly, regarding the evils of intemperance, and appointed a day of fasting and prayer, with special reference to this sin. They recommended to the mem- bers of the churches to make no use of ardent spirits, except when prescribed by a judicious and temperate physician. Thus, upon these great themes, so awfully important, the Presbytery of Huron, along with the great bod}'' of our Presbyterian and Congregational Zion, were abreast of the times. May we not say, they were in advance of the times ? Charity, public and private, morality, public and private, and everything that might be supposed to be excellent for the bodies and the souls of men, engaged their thoughtful and prayerful attention. Fasting and prayer they sometimes resorted to, feel- ing that there was alarming need of the help that cometh from God only. PENITENTIARY CHAPLAIN. A letter was presented to the body at its meeting, May 20, 1827, from Rev. James Hoge, d. d., Corresponding Secretary of the Board of Missions of the Synod of Ohio, requesting aid in the support of a chaplain in the Ohio State Prison. As these men seldom, if ever, refused to respond to a proper call for help, they did not refuse in this case. They recommended to PRAYER FOR THE ASSEMBLY. 41 the churches to take up collections for this object, and a treas- urer was appointed to receive the funds that might be collected. NEED OF MINISTERS. At the same time, while ready to aid in support of a prison chaplain, there was in the Presbytery a feeling of a general need of more ministers of the Word. This feeling was deep and earnest. In view of the increasing population of the country, and of the destitution of many places, it was regarded as of immense importance that, with all possible rapidity, the number of well-qualified preachers of the gospel should be increased. They believed in ministers duly fitted for their work, and to give practical direction to their wishes and prayers, they resolved to support at least one beneficiary in the course of education for the gospel ministry, if a suitable man could be found within their bounds ; and they made efforts to find the man. The first one thus supported was Mr. Joseph W. Barr. Others came along in due time, and they were aided. PRAYER FOR THE ASSEMBLY. There is to be noted in the acts of this body a disposition to harmonize and to sympathize with the General Assembly in its deliverances and its responsibilities ; and, therefore, when the Assembly recommended to the churches to spend a due propor- tion of the first day of that body's sessions in prayer for and with it, the Presbytery take up the recommendation, and send it down to the churches. They believed in God as the hearer of prayer, and they believed that the Great Judicatory of the Church needed His aid. They, therefore, resolve that, when it is about to enter upon its deliberations, they, in their churches, will, an- nually, unite in beseeching God to grant unto it His gracious presence, and to pour out His Spirit upon the churches, and upon the world ; and they commend to the churches, and to individual Christians, the observance of the day, and to fix 42 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. upon the same time witli the Assembly for secret devotion and for public worship, so far as that might be possible. There is in this a manifestation of a devoted Christian spirit, and of a deep interest in the great work of the church in the land, with the feeling that God must be looked to in fervent prayer for His guidance and blessing. CHAPTER III. FROM 1830 TO 1837. The Presbytery of Cleveland was organized in 1830. By this act the Presbytery of Huron was quite materially decreased. From this time until the excision of 1837 may constitute a distinct era in the history of this body. As the Cleveland Presbytery was, however, not formed until near the close of the year, we shall, before noting that event, be under the necessity of carrying down to that time the records concerning MINISTERS AND CHURCHES. On the 21st of January, 1830, there came into the Presbytery one of the most noted men who have figured in its history. He was only a member for about eighteen years, yet those years were full of activity and of good fruits. This was the Rev. Everton Judson. He was received by letter, with the usual examinations, from the South Association of Litchfield County, Connecticut. On the same day Rev. Henry Cowles was received from the North Association of Connecticut. April 14th the pastoral relation between Rev. H. Lyon and the church of Vermillion was dissolved. The same was done with the relation existing between Rev. Isaac Shailer and the congregation of Richfield, on the 17th of August. On the 11th of February of this year, 1830, the church of Norwalk was organized. The organization was effected by the Revs. Betts, Lathrop and Beach, and there were nine members. Its form of government is said to have been both Congrega- tional and Presbyterian. About the same time a church was organized at Westfield. 43 44 HISTORY OF IlUnOX PRESBYTERY. On tlie 18th of August, Rev. Amusa Jerome was dismissed to the North Association of Litchfield, Connecticut, from which he had originally come. It seems pretty certain that Mr. Jerome was never fully satisfied with his Western relationship, and that he was considerably lacking in the elements of a good Presbyterian. lie gave the Presbytery much concern by his habitual absence from the meetings of the body, and even neglected to answer letters written him on the subject. He did, however, receive a letter of honorable dismissal. At this date the pastoral relation between Rev. D. W, Lathrop and the Church of Elyria was dissolved. The church in Euclid was granted the permission of the Presbytery to adopt what was known as the Accommodation Plan of Church Government, agreeably to the action of the General Assembly, and the General Association of Congrega- tionalists in commending this plan. JUDICIAL CASE OF ELDER CROCKER. From this church in Euclid there came up at this session of the Presbytery the first judicial case tried by it. The case most probably resulted from the unsettled and uncertain state of the church government. They had undertaken to discipline Elder Jedadiah D. Crocker. The result was a difficulty which was finally referred to Presbytery, with the request that they decide it. Charges had been preferred against Mr. Crocker of refus- ing to aid in support of the means of grace, and of substan- tially slandering the pastor. There were several other items, but these two only were sustained. After a tedious trial by the session, three ministers, who were present, were requested to aid in the final settlement of the case. They proposed terms of agreement, which were adopted by the session and agreed to by Mr. Crocker. But the church members were not satisfied with the settlement. The difficulties increased and threatened to result seriously. Mr. Crocker himself was not satisfied, though he had assented to the terms proposed. He asked a CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES. 45 letter of dismission. He had neither been condemned nor acquitted. In this state of the case the Presbj^tery was requested to investigate and render its decision. A committee, appointed to consider and report the best course to be pursued, recom- mended that the whole settlement of the case by the session be declared null and void, and that Presbytery proceed to try the case by hearing the recorded testimony on both sides. This was done, and some additional statements were heard from Mr. Crocker and others present. After which a committee, con- sisting of Messrs. Lathrop, Betts, and Shepard, being appointed for the purpose, brought in a minute expressive of the views and the final action of the body upon the case. Mr. Crocker had been adjudged guilty of the two charges above named, and the result was that he was suspended from the privileges of the Church, and tenderly but faithfully admonished by the Mod- erator to repent of his wrong and to return to duty. From this action of the Presbytery Mr. Crocker appealed to the Synod. There, although he did not obtain a reversal of what had been done, yet he did secure a result so favorable to himself, that some exceptions were taken to the records of the Presbytery in the matter. What the exceptions were the records of the Presbytery do not state. CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES. Three changes, not wholly unimportant, were made in the constitution of the Presbytery in this year, 1830. One was in regard to the discussion of moral and Scriptural questions of importance at the stated meetings. The business of the body, owing to the increase in the number of churches and minis- ters, had become so great as to make these discussions any longer impracticable ; therefore, the eighteenth article, requiring that at each meeting ministers be appointed to write on some important question or some Scriptural passage was repealed. And thus ended a ver}^ interesting part of the Presbyterial pro- ceedings. This was, however, revived in better form a few 46 JTISTOEY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. years later, when what has long been known as " the Minis- ters' Meeting " was organized. This was for nearly fifty years one of the very interesting and profitable features of this body. A second change in the Constitution related to the times for the stated meetings. They had been held first in February and August; tlien in January and August; then the change was made fixing the date of the regular meetings at the second Tuesday of April and the second Tuesday of September. These are the dates at which the Presbytery meets now. The third change was not really an alteration of the Consti- tution, but a declaration that it would not be contrary to it, nor to the rules of practice for the churches, that any church should add to their rules an article requiring entire abstinence from all intoxicating drinks as a condition of membership, pro- viding all the present members agree to it and to be governed by it. The expediency, however, of such action was left to the discretion of the individual churches. It is believed that some of the churches did adopt such an article, and that total abstinence did become a term of communion. This was so in a number of the churches. CLEVELAND PRESBYTERY FORMED. The end of the year 1830 marks one of the changes through which Huron Presbytery has passed. At its organization it embraced the four counties, Huron, Cuyahoga, Lorain, and Medina. The increase of the population during the seven years of its existence, but more especially the large extent of its territory, seemed to make some change necessary. The population of the Western Reserve had increased from 1144 in 1800 to 112,346 in 1830. It had nearly doubled during the brief history of Huron Presbytery. The organized churclies had increased from one in 1800 to 98 in 1830. The ministers had multiplied from two in 1800 to 72 in 1830. A due proportion of this increase belonged to this Presbytery, em- bracing, as it then did, the four counties. CLEVELAND PRESBYTERY FORMED. 47 There were in this body, just before the division of the terri- tory, 22 ministers and 41 congregations. Considerably more than half of these congregations were organized churches. Sev- eral of them only had an existence of a few years, when they ceased to be on the roll. On the 18th of August, 1830, the Pres- bytery adopted an overture to the Synod of Western Reserve, which was to be in session in the October following, " to erect a new Presbytery, to be called the Presbytery of Cleveland, to con- sist of the following ministers, namely : Joseph Edwards, Simeon Woodruff, Israel Shailer, S. V. R. Barnes, A. H. Betts, D. W. Lathrop, John McCrea, Stephen Peet, Harvey Lyon, and Joel Talcott, with the congregations that lie in the counties of Cuyahoga, Medina, and Lorain ; the first meeting to be held at Dover, on the last Tuesday of October following, at 2 o'clock p. M., Mr. Edwards to preach the sermon and to pre- side as Moderator until another shall be chosen." This peti- tion was granted by the Synod, and the new Presbytery was erected. By this change the number of ministers in Huron Presby- tery was reduced to eleven and the number of churches to thirteen, with Florence and Monroeville (Ridgefield), and per- haps several other points where religious services were held and where churches were soon to be organized to be added. The territory of this body was reduced almost to Huron County, then including Erie County, as the sole ground of its operations. This was not exactly the case, as the ground west and somewhat south was as yet unoccupied by any other Pres- bytery, and several of the churches, being in this region, were therefore outside of Huron County, and there was room for extension in these directions. The church of Ruggles was in Ashland County and Melmore was in Seneca ; and several other points in Seneca were already being evangelized, espec- ially by Rev. James Robinson. One of the twenty-two ministers before the division, Amasa Jerome, returned to Connecticut, leaving the ten above named to constitute the Presbytery of Cleveland. Of the eleven who 48 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. remained with Huron Presbytery, but one, Alvan Coe, had be- longed to it at its original formation. Of the ten who consti- tuted the ministry of Cleveland Presbytery, three, namely, Simeon Woodruff, Israel Shailer, and Alfred H. Betts, were original members of Huron. Of the life and character of Mr. Shailer we find no records from which to gather a satisfactory knowledge. Of the other three we have biographical sketches, which merit a place in these pages. REV. ALVAN COE. We take the following mainly from the " History of Huron County, Ohio : "— " Mr. Alvan Coe emigrated from Massachusetts to Huron County prior to the War of 1812, and remained in Huron or Vermillion until its close. He then removed to Vernon, Trumbull County, where he subsequently married the daugh- ter of General Smith. He entered the ministry, and was licensed by the Presbytery of Grand River in the year 1816. He soon after removed to Greenfield, fixing his resi- dence at ' the Centre.' He was commissioned a missionary by the Connecticut Missionary Society, and commenced itinerat- ing among the churches in this and adjoining counties. " Coming frequently in contact with the Indians, his heart was moved in view of their benighted condition. With a view of civilizing and Christianizing them, he, in the year 1818, estab- lished an Indian school at Greenfield Centre. He built a house for the purpose, and collected about twenty-five or thirty boys of the Wyandotte and other tribes then in this region, whom he taught, fed, and clothed at his own expense, with such con- tributions, mainl}'- of provisions, as the presentation of his work prompted his many friends to give. In the spring of 1820, finding the enterprise pecuniarily burdensome, he ap- pealed to the Presbytery of Portage, which embraced his field of labor, for a recommendation of his work to the churches for aid in sustaining it, and invited the Presbytery, then in REV. ALVAN COE. 49 session at Lyme, to visit the school, that its members might satisfy themselves as to the success of his experiment. The visit was not made, but the Presbytery endorsed the philan- thropic enterprise and heartily recommended it to the churches ujider its care. Several years after, when the Western Mis- sionary Society established a mission near Perrysburg, on the Maumee, Mr. Coe transferred his school to that point, and carried it on a short time, when it passed under the care of the American Board. " Mr. Coe then began his missionary labors among the various Indian tribes. In 1827 he was recommended by the Presbytery of Huron to the American Board of Foreign Missions for evangelical work among the Chippewa Indians, near the outlet of Lake Superior. Thither he went, and continued his labors among that people for several years. *' When he left Greenfield, his wife returned to Vernon, where her parents still lived, and Mr. Coe enjoyed but little of her society, so constantly was he engaged in his chosen work. His sympathy for the condition of the Indians, and his desire for their amelioration, amounted almost to a monomania. It is said that during his labors among them he adopted, to some extent, their customs and conditions of living. He would deny him- self the common necessities of life to relieve their wants. " He once had occasion, while residing in the Lake Superior region, to go from a mission to a military station, which ordinarily required a journey of about three days. He started with a supply of food, but divided it among some destitute Indians whom he met on the way. He was longer on the journe}'' than he expected to be, and became greatly exhausted before reaching his destination. Knowing the Indian's habit of subsisting on the bark of trees to appease hunger, he tried the plan, and ate the bark of an oak, which nearly cost him his life. When he reached the military post he was in a condition of great distress, and it was some time before he fully recovered from the effects of his imprudence. " The Indians became greatly attached to him, and regarded 4 50 HISTORY or HURON rUESBYTERY. liim with veneration. He exercised a ])otent influence for good over them during his association with them, but his mission was unsuccessful in accomplishing any permanent results. " While in charge of the school in Greenfield, the father of one of his Indian pupils came from Sandusky to visit the school. Before returning, he called at the house of Alden Pierce, who was operating a small distillery in the neighbor- hood. The Indian was offered a glass of whisky, but he refused at first, saying ' Pappoose say Mr. Coe tell him good Injun no drink whisky; he go up good place. Bad Injun drink whisky ; he go down bad place ; big burn ; ' and then, looking wistfully at the liquor, added, ' Injun don't know. May he ' (moving the cup slowly to his lips) * Mr. Coe, he lieJ " Mr. Coe was finally prevailed upon to accept the charge of a church in Trumbull County, but consented only on condition that he be allowed to make an annual visit to the Indians. " He then, in 1838, changed his Presbyterial relation from Huron to Trumbull Presbytery. After that time, however, his face was seen occasionally in this Presbytery advocating the claims of the American Board and the wants of those in need of the gospel." REV. ALFRED H. BETTS. Of this minister, who, at the formation of Cleveland Presby- tery, was severed from Huron, though in a few years he was, by another change, returned, Rev. A. Newton, d.d., has left the following memorial : — " Among the names that were most frequently spoken with reverence and respect by all classes when I first came to this country, forty years ago (in 1835), was that of Alfred H. Betts. With the good of all denominations it was a household word, a synonym for everything kind, benevolent, useful. As soon as my personal acquaintance with him began I understood the secret. I found him to be all that I had heard. There was in him a rare spirit of true benevolence. He had drank deep at JiEV. ALFRED H. BETTS. 51 the fountain of his Divine Master, and it overflowed in a life of untiring devotedness to His cause. He had chosen the profes- sion of medicine, which he practiced for seven years in Danbury, Connecticut, where he resided after he left his native town of Norwalk, of that State. There he manifested that earnest desire to do good which was the supreme law of his being. Not content with doing the measure of good which he could do incidentally in his profession, he made special and direct efforts to promote religion among the poor and lowly. He gathered a company of colored people together, to whom he read ser- mons and explained the Scriptures, although, through extreme diffidence, he did not pray in public. Nor was it until he had been a professor of religion for several years that he could be prevailed upon to perform this duty. Even in his family devotions he used the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer. " Moved by the spirit of benevolence, he decided to leave his native State and remove to this Western country, which at that time (1817) was attracting the attention of immigrants. He came with his family to Florence, where he immediately estab- lished a meeting at a private house which soon attracted a large number of people, and was the means of spiritual quickening to many who had enjoyed religious privileges at the East. He did not profess to be a preacher of the gospel, as he had never been inducted into the sacred office. But at the suggestion of some of his brethren, he left his work and family at Florence and spent seven months at Hudson with Rev. W. Hanford, in close study for the ministry. " Having obtained a license, he was prepared to engage fully in the work, which he 2:>rosecuted with unwearied diligence, in Florence and the neighborhood, until he removed to Brownhelm. Over the church in this town he was ordained and installed pastor in 1821. For fourteen years he sustained this relation, laboring a part of the time elsewhere. In 1835 failing health compelled him to seek a release from his pastoral connection. Not yielding, however, to despondency, he girded himself anew for his work, and went into whatever field God seemed to call 62 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. him to occupy. If he could not find a place to preach in, he would engage as a distributor of the Bible or other religious books. lie was employed in 1841 by the Huron County J^ible Society to canvass its field and .supply books, a labor which he performed to tlie entire satisfaction of the Board of Managers. His self-forgetful, self-renouncing s|)irit was manifested in every way. " If there was any feeble church struggling for existence, Dr. Betts was sure to be its helper, giving his time, his labor, and his money, without any regard to compensation. He did not seem to think of that. His chief, all-absorbing inquiry seemed to be, ' Can I do any good ? ' The fault of excessive benevo- lence is a rare one among even the best of men. I have thought, as the instances of some of his benefactions have come to my knowledge, that Dr. Betts was one of the uncommon class. " The pains he took to qualify himself for increased useful- ness in the ministry evinced the same unfaltering purpose to do good. Though not favored with a college education, yet he made very respectable acquisitions in the kind of knowledge which had a bearing on the work of his life. He probably had studied to some extent the Latin language preparatory to his medical profession, but it was not until he came to this region that he studied Greek and Hebrew. Amid all the distractions of family cares and the duties of a pastor in such a field, and the want of suitable means of instruction, he yet gained such a knowledge of the Greek Text and the Hebrew Bible as to put to blush not a few of our regularly educated theologians. He learned Hebrew after he was fifty years old. " He was always bent on getting knowledge of the Scriptures, that he might be a more able and useful expounder of the con- tents. Hence, he was diligent and painstaking in our 'Min- isters' Meetings.' So long as he could attend them he was sure to be present, and he always contril^uted to make them inter- esting. " It was not my fortune to hear him preach more than once or twice, but from what I knew of his view of preaching and from EEV. ALFRED H. BETTS. 53 the testimony of others, I judge that its grand virtue was a simple, direct, kicid presentation of the Word of God in its natural connections. He had no ambition to shine as a great preacher or an ingenious sermonizer. As I have heard one of his earl}' hearers say, he seemed to want to hide liimself behind the Bible. His sermons were rather expository than topical, although he was abundantly able to discuss the great doctrines of theology or any other religious theme instructively. " He was strongly attached to what he regarded the cardinal doctrines of the Bible, the expression of which is to be found embodied in the \¥estminster Catechism. It was this that made him impatient of those who teach another gospel. And while he could give the right hand of fellowship to all who love our Lord Jesus in sincerity, of whatever name, his love for that form of doctrine by which his own Christian life was sustained made him somewhat cautious of those who adopted other forms of expression, if not other views. Yet as life waned his Christian charity expanded, and he appreciated more clearly the position and the work of other Christian de- nominations. " As a man, a neighbor, a friend, there was much in him to attach and win. Who could look upon that benevolent coun- tenance and witness the overflowing of that genial spirit with- out feeling himself drawn toward the man? " His death was a consistent termination of such a life. There were no raptures, no ecstatic joys, no visions of coming glory, which he could communicate to his friends. The nature of his disease, which produced a lethargic state of the system, prevented nearly all expression of his feelings. Nor was any dying testimony needful. He had borne his life-long testi- mony for God. He had shown beyond all doubt that he was a follower of that Saviour who went about doing good, and who taught, ' It is more blessed to give than to receive.' Yet he knew whom he had believed. He felt himself in the arms of Jesus, and he sank awa}' to his rest as the sun gently sinks beneath the horizon — gone, but not lost ; set, to rise in glory." 54 HISrOHY OF 11 r RON I'RESBYTERY. Sucli is tlie testimony of one who knew him well. Mr. Beits returned to Huron Presbytery in 1830, by another change in the Presbyterial bounds. He continued as a part of this body, and as one of the men interested in the Ministers' Meetings, as in all the work of tlie cliurches, until a third change again placed him within other Presbyterial bounds. This was in 1842. He died and was buried at P)rownhelm on the Otli of Sep- tember, 1860. REV. SIMEON WOODKUFF. From the work of Rev. William 8. Kennedy, " The Plan of Union," we take the following sketch of Mr. Woodruff: — " Rev. Simeon Woodruff was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, July 26, 1782. His studies preparatory to entering college were pursued at the acadeni}^ in his native town. He gradu- ated at Yale College in 1809, and left Andover Theological Seminary in 1812, a licentiate. " While at Andover he was an associate with Samuel J. Mills, Gordon Hall, James Richards, and others, who were pioneers among the 3'oung men of this land in the foreign mis- sionary enterprise, and his mind became deeply imbued with a similar spirit. During this period he became a member of that society of young men, formed at W^illiams College, in which a pledge was given that members would devote themselves to the missionary cause among the heathen if Providence should indicate that to be the ])ath of duty. For some time Mr. Woodruff expected to spend his days on heathen ground ; but soon after commencing to preach, in 1812, he relinijuished that object, and turned his attention to the new and destitute settle- ments of the West. For a young man of promising talents to devote himself to a mission as far west as Ohio was then re- garded by many in New England as an enterprise involving as great sacrifice as it is now to go to the Sandwich Islands or the Empire of China. " In compliance with the request of the Trustees of the Mis- REV. SI3IE0N WOODRUFF. 55 sionary Society of Connecticut, Mr. Woodruff was ordained as an evangelist at Washington, Connecticut, on the 21st of April, 1813. He had been appointed to the field of New Con- necticut, or Western Reserve, and on the 10th of May set out on horseback for his destination. " On the 9th of July he arrived at Mr. Badger's cabin, in Austinburg. He preached his first sermon in Ohio on the following Sabbath at Mentor, and on the Wednesday following reached the house of Rev. Mr. Seward, at Aurora, Portage County. Mr. Seward, in the course of their interview, remarked to him, with tears in his eyes : ' I rejoice to see you here, but knowing your youth and the difficulties of your work, 1 rejoice with trembling.' On the 25th of the same month Mr. Wood- ruff preached in Esquire Wright's barn, in Talmadge, and soon after received a unanimous call from the church in Talmadge to settle over them as pastor. ' Never before,' says he, ' did I witness such earnest desire to enjoy the gospel ministry.' The salary proposed in the call was two hundred dollars, to be paid in provisions. Doubtful as to his duty, and reluctant to decide, while earnestly seeking the Lord's direction he spent several months in missionary labor, and then accepted the call. On the 13th of May, 1814, he was installed Pastor of the Congre- gational Church in Talmadge. This relation continued for nine years and four months. Much of Mr. Woodruff's time, however, during these years was spent in missionary labor among the feeble churches. The church in Talmadge grew and prospered, and, largely through Mr. Woodruff's influence, an academy was built. " In September, 1823 — about two months before the organi- zation of Huron Presbytery — he resigned this charge, and labored most of his time as a missionary until January 12, 1825, when he was installed pastor over the church and society of Strongville, Cuyahoga County. " Here again he was instrumental in building up a large and flourishing church. Here also he secured the erection of an 66 HISTORY OF HURON RRESBYTERY. academy and a large church edifice. This pastoral relation also continued nine years and four months. " Besides being, as is believed, the instrument of many con- versions to God, Mr. Woodruff laid the foundation of an order of things in each of those places which will long remain to bless the people who may dwell there. " In January, 1837, he was installed pastor of the church in Worthington, Franklin County. In the fall of 1838 this rela- tion was dissolved, and he removed with his large family to Bainbridge, Berrien County, Michigan, where he labored in the service of the Missionary Society of Connecticut till his death, which occurred on the 28th of August, 1839. "Mr. Woodruff was married September 29, 1817, to Miss Mary Granger, of Talmadge, who became the faithful partner of his life, sharer of his toils, and the surviving guardian of his children. She proved to be a woman of more than ordi- nary character — resolute, energetic, persevering, and inflexible in her faith in God. " To these parents there were born thirteen children, nine of whom grew to maturity. They were respectably reared and educated, notwithstanding the difficulties of the times. They had the advantage of thorough religious instruction. For all this much was due to the faithful mother and wife, who had the pleasure of seeing them all take respectable positions in life. One of the daughters became the wife of Rev. E. Bush- nell, D. D., so long and helpfully known in Huron Pres- bytery." MINISTERS AND CHURCHES IN 1831. The Presbytery of Cleveland having been organized, the constituent parts of Huron Presbytery remaining were as fol- lows : — Ministers, E. Conger, S. J. Bradstreet, J. Beach, Xenophon Betts, E. Judson, J. Robinson, A. Coe, Ludovicus Robbins, R. Stone, J. Van Tassel, and Henry Cowles. LAW FOR RECEIVING MINISTERS. 57 The churches were, Norwalk, Fitchville, Clarksfield, Vermil- lion, Peru, Lyme, Milan, Eldridge, Ruggles, Greenfield, San- dusky, Wakeman, and Melmore, besides the congregations, not yet organized, at Florence, Monroeville, and other points. On the 13th of April, 1831, the names of Rev. E. P. Salmon, from the Central Association, of Hampshire, Massachusetts; Rev. J. H. Russ, from the Mountain Association, of Massachu- setts, and Rev. Samuel Dunton, from the Oneida Association, New York, w^ere in the usual manner added to the roll. On the 14th, Mr. Loren Robbins, a licentiate of the Andover Association, of Massachusetts, was received, examined, and ordained to the ministry. Thus the roll of ministers was in- creased to fifteen, while the organized churches numbered thirteen, with an indefinite number of points where services were conducted. On the 14th of September, however. Rev. Ludovicus Rob- bins was dismissed to the Presbytery of Ontario, leaving the number of ministers fourteen. LAW FOR RECEIVING MINISTERS. It had been the aim of this body, from its organization, to be careful in the reception of those to be invested with the ministerial office; therefore, all candidates, licentiates, and ministers, coming from any religious bodies whatever, were subjected to an examination upon religious experience and life and upon theology before they could be received or or- dained. In its Constitution the Presbytery had declared its right and duty to know the religious character and sentiments of minis- ters who would become members of it, and the right to accept or to reject. And no church under the care of the body had the right to give a call for settlement to any minister until he had been approved by the Presbytery or by two of its Standing Committee ; and there could be no installation of a minister or 58 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. ordination until the applicant had put himself in due relation to the hody. These requirements up to this point seem to have been faith- fully observed. None had been received, licensed, or ordained without the due process of examination, no matter from what body they came or what letters they brought. Yet the Presby- tery was willing to conform to even stricter rules in this matter if the same was deemed b}'- the higher courts to be advisable. In the Form of Government of the Presbyterian Church, in Chapters XIV and XV, it is required of candidates in the Presbytery and already under its care, before they can be licensed to preach the Gospel, to declare that the}'' believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God and only infallible rule of faith and practice, and that they sincerely receive and adopt the Confession of Faith of this Church as containing the system of doctrine taught in the Holy Scriptures. Then they promise to study the peace, unity, and purity of the Church, and to submit themselves, in the Lord, to the government of the Presbytery. In addition to these requirements for licensure, the candidate for ordination was called upon to declare that he approved of the government and discipline of the Presbyterian Church in these United States, and that so far as he knew his own heart he had been induced to seek the office of the holy ministry from love to God and a sincere desire to promote His glory in the Gospel of His Son ; and then he was expected to promise to be zealous and faithful in maintaining the truths of the Gospel and the truth and purity of the Cliurch, whatever per- secution or opposition might arise to him on that account ; and also to promise to be faithful and exemplary in all matters of personal piety and private life, as well as in all the relative and public duties of his office. The General Assembly in 1S30 declared that in their judg- ment every licentiate, coming from any corresponding ecclesi- HURON CLASSICAL INSTITUTE. 59 astical body to any presbytery, should be required to answer in the affirmative these questions to be put to our own candi- dates for licensure, and that in like manner every ordained minister of the Gospel, coming from any church in correspon- dence with the General Assembly by letter, should be required to answer in tlie affirmative these questions to be addressed to our own licentiates when about to be ordained to the sacred office. Huron Presbytery, at their meeting next following this de- liverance of the Assembly, resolved upon a compliance with the action. They declared their purpose in the future to require all licentiates and ordained ministers, coming from other eccle- siastical bodies not connected with the Presbyterian Church, wishing to unite with them, to answer the same questions as referred to above, and in the same manner as though they were to be licensed or ordained by this Presbytery, before they could be received as members. There appears to have been no opposition to this resolution from any member of the body. HURON CLASSICAL INSTITUTE. Regard to the importance of an educated ministry has ever been a prominent feature of the Presbyterian Church. Huron Presbytery was in full sympathy with the Church at large in this matter, and, besides, there was a feeling that the demand for more ministers was pressing, and that something should be done to encourage and help young men to secure the proper qualifications for the sacred office. As the result of this feel- ing, the Presbytery, at its meeting September 13, 1831, delibe- rated upon the matter of establishing a classical school within ^ their own bounds, and a committee was appointed to devise and carry into effect measures for the accomplishment of this object. This committee consisted of D. Higgins, E. Conger, John Seymour, John Fuller, E. Judson, Philo Clark, X. Betts, John Beach, E. P. Salmon, B. Sturtivant, M. Farwell, and Ebenezer 60 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. Andrews. To these twelve were afterward added eight others: George G. Baker, S. J. Bradstreet, Samuel Diinton, A. B. Harris, E. Lane, Almon Ruggles, M. C. Sanders, and Asa Sanford. The twenty were constituted the Board of Trustees. The Committee of twelve reported at the next meeting of Pres- bytery, on November 29th, that the measure met with quite general approbation throughout the county, and that liberal pecuniary pledges had been proposed in several places for the purpose of securing the location. But in view of the superior advantages of Milan, and in further consideration of the sum of $2000, pledged to aid in securing lands and buildings for the school, this place was re- commended as the best location for the proposed institution. The recommendation was adopted. The school was located at Milan, and was to be called " The Huron Classical Institute." The Board was appointed and directed to secure the erection of suitable buildings, and to put in operation, upon a broad and liberal plan, an academical institution where youth of both sexes could receive a polite English and classical educa- tion. The Presbytery define in full the purposes of the school, and guard carefully against the danger of teachers of unsafe religious belief or character being employed; and, to secure its successful operation, they assumed the responsibility, incurred by their committee, of raising for it $400 annually for five years. In consequence of this action in founding this school. West- ern Reserve College was advised not to attempt to raise funds in the bounds of Huron Presbyter}^ for some time. The Rev. Eldad Barber has left a concise history of this in- stitution, of which he was the first principal, which we here give in his ow^n language : — " The Huron Institute owes its existence to extensive revi- vals of religion in the churches of Huron Presbytery in the years 1830 and 1831. The Rev. Messrs. Judson and Conger, who were especially active in these revivals, having attended pro- tracted meetings in most of these churches, became acquainted "with a number of young men among the converts whom they HURON CLASSICAL INSTITUTE. 61 felt it important they should encourage to enter upon a course of study for the ministry. There was at that time no school west of Hudson, on the Reserve, where young men could be prepared for college. This led Mr. Judson to engage earnestly in the enterprise of founding an institution where young men could be fitted for college, and where, in some special instances, they could pursue such a course of study as would enable them to enter a theological seminary, and also where the youth of both sexes within the bounds of the Presbytery could enjoy the advantages of a first-class high school or academy. " The subject was brought up in the Presbytery and earnestly discussed, and a Board of Trustees was appointed, consisting of twenty men, who were believed to be the most deeply interested in the cause of education, selected from all parts of Huron County. At the next session of the Legislature, in the winter of 1831-2, an act of incorporation was obtained by which this Board of Trustees, nominated by the Presbytery, was incorporated, with power to fill their own vacancies, and making the Principal of the institution, ex-officio, a member. The corporate name was the Huron Institute. It was proposed to raise $4000 at the start for the purpose of securing a site and erecting a building for the use of the institution. Of this sum the people of Milan, on condition that the institute should be located there, agreed to raise one-half, and the churches of Huron Presbytery were expected to furnish the other half. "Mr. Judson, as agent for the Board, entered earnestly upon the work of securing the proposed sum. He could assure all the churches in the Presbytery that it would be greatly to their interest to have such an institution within their bounds, where their sons and daughters could be educated at much less expense than by sending them abroad. He succeeded in raising the amount proposed in the churches, and the people of Milan more than redeemed their pledge of $2000. " But the Institution grew too fast. Other buildings were urgently needed to carry out the original plan of a boarding- house and a workshop. The Huron Institute was founded on 62 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. tlie Araniial Labor System, so popular at tliat day, affording facilities for all those who wished it for laboring a part of each day. The contracts for the land and the Institute building to be erected thereon exhausted the S400(X and then additional improvements led to the accumulation of a debt tliat was long a source of vexation to the Board, and was finally canceled by the sale of a part of the Institute grounds and the boarding- house. It led also to the assumption by the Principal of the Institute of the pecuniary responsibility of providing for the department of instruction from the income from the tuition bills. This responsibility, assumed temporarily in the enthu- siastic ardor of building up the Institute, was never removed, but left as an inheritance to his successor. " The Institute building could not be finished before Novem- ber, 1832. But as there was a class of ten or fifteen young men wishing to commence at once a course of preparation for college, and as several families in Milan were anxious that the school should be opened that spring, it was resolved to com- mence the exercises immediately, with such accommodations as could be secured in the village. " The Rev. E. Barber was appointed Principal, and he came to Milan and opened the Institution the 20th of April, 1832. The room at first occupied was in the office of J. Smith, Esq. Six students only were present the first week, but before the close of the quarter twenty-five were enrolled. The second quarter commenced with thirty-six scholars, too many to be accommodated in the small room at first occupied, and a larger room was obtained in the upper story of a house, then called the Harknesfi House. The building was not quite ready to be occupied at the commencement of the third quarter, and for a few weeks the law office of R. P. Hopkins, Esq., was obtained. " In December one room on the second floor of the Institute building was finished and immediately occupied, and although in other parts of the building the sounds of the saw and hammer were heard for several weeks, yet the annoyance of such sounds in study and recitation hours was cheerfully HURON CLASSICAL INSTITUTE. 63 borne in view of the superior advantages our new room afforded. " The catalogue of this first year of the Huron Institute has 90 names on its roll — 46 males and 44 females. Of this number 14 were studying Latin and Greek with a view of fitting themselves for college. Eight of them entered upon a college course. The Institute was highly prospered during the second and third years of its course. " The catalogue of the third year numbered 127, of whom 28 were in the classical department, 55 in the English depart- ment, and 44 in the female department. Of this first class fitted for a college course at the Institute, 14 entered upon such a course, 11 graduated from college, of whom five entered the ministry, four entered a theological seminary without gradu- ating from college, four devoted themselves to teaching, three became lawyers, and four physicians. " It has been already stated that the Principal, soon after com- mencing the school, took upon himself the pecuniary responsi- bility of furnishing the necessary instruction from the avails of the tuition bills. This was done to encourage the Board to complete the necessary buildings in addition to the one already under contract, viz. : a workshop and a boarding house. The tuition was fixed by the Board at four dollars per quarter in the classical department, and at three dollars per quarter in the English and female departments. The whole income for the first year was less than $400, out of which $150 was paid for assistant instruction. It was deemed expedient to make special sacrifices at that time in order to place the Institution in the most favorable condition and reduce the expenses to students as low as possible. In this effort the Principal was aided and encouraged ver}^ much by many of the families in the village, who, at much inconvenience to themselves, took stu- dents to board at the low rate of one dollar or one dollar and a quarter per week, and furnished many places where they could pay their board by rendering some assistance in the fam- 64 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. ily. No student was ever refused admission, or ever dismissed because too poor to pay tuition. " Mr. Henry Ballantine, a graduate of Atliens University, Ohio, Avas employed as assistant teacher one year, from Novem- ber, 1832. Mr. Ballantine subsequently studied theology, and spent nearly thirty years of his life as a missionary in India. Mr. Benjamin Judson succeeded him as assistant teacher, and continued in that capacity until the spring of 1835. Mrs. C. B. Stuart was employed as the first assistant in the female department, and Miss E. A. Hubbard succeeded her in the spring of 1834, and continued until the autumn of 1835. " In consequence of severe and long protracted sickness, the Principal, in the summer of 1835, resigned his position, and Mr. S. C. Hickok was appointed in his place. Mr. Hickok con- tinued till April, 1839, and then resigned. In 1843 Mr. Henry W. Williams was elected principal of the Institute. In 1848 Rev. Lemuel Bissell took charge of the school and con- tinued two years. Mr. Robert Bliss, of Boston, then became principal, but dismissed the school after two weeks and returned East. The cause assigned by the secretary of the Institution was, ' home sickness.' Mr. T. S. Bradley, of Auburn Theological Seminary, next took charge of the school in 1850- 51. Mr. Nathan Barrows, Mr. Dwight Sayles, and :Mr. John McKee were employed successively as Principals till 1857. " In 1858 the Trustees leased the Institute building for a term of years to Rev. Asa Brainard and S. F. Newman, for the purpose of a normal school, which has continued in successful opera- tion till the present time (1868), and is now under the superin- tendence of the last-named gentleman. " It is difficult to tell the number of students that prepared for college at the Institute. There was a large number, not a few entering the ministry." The building has, during all these years, until 1888, been occui)ied, with but short intermissions, as a school of some kind — either as an academy or a normal school. In 1858 it EEV. JAMES ROBINSON. 65 passed from the special regard of the Presbytery. It was, in its day, an institution fruitful of great good. MINISTERS AND CHURCHES, 1832-]836. On the 10th of April, 1832, Rev. Eldad Barber was received from the Presbytery of Columbus, entering immediately upon his duties as Principal of the Huron Institute. On the same day. Rev. John Beach was dismissed to the Presbytery of De- troit, and Rev. H. Cowles to that of Grand River. The Rev. David Smith was received from the Presbytery of Erie on the 11th of September. On the 7th of January the church of Florence was organ- ized, and on the 22d of April was organized the church of Scipio (Republic). The church of Tiffin, though organized February 13, 1830, and probably temporarily constituted as early as 1828, appears, by its delegate and records, for the first time in Presbytery April 9, 1833. The church of Venice (Attica) was formed September 24, 1833 ; and the church of Lower Sandusky (Fremont), Novem- ber 30, of the same year. October 8th, Mr. Elroy Bascom, a licentiate from the Middle- sex Association, was received, and, after the usual process, his name was added to the roll by his ordination to the Gospel ministry. REV. JAMES ROBINSON. In this same year, 1833, September 11th, Rev. James Robin- son was dismissed to the Presbytery of Richland. Mr. Robin- son had been, for over five years, one of the useful men in the Presbytery. He came from the Presbytery of Columbus. He had gathered a congregation of worshipers in the region of Melmore, Seneca County. He reported this fact to the first meeting of Huron Presbytery that he attended when he be- came a member of it ; and in connection with Rev. E. Conger 5 66 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. he organized there a church, on the 13th of October, 1828, with twenty-seven members. He also gathered together the con- gregation of Presbyterians in Tiffin in the summer of 1828, and organized there a church on the 13th of February, 1830, witli sixteen members. The church of Republic was also, in part, the fruit of his missionary labors. There are yet those in Tiffin who remember his appearance, his manner of preaching, especially his long sermons, and his character. He is said to have been a man of very respectable and ministerial appearance. His clothing was neat and be- coming ; his manners were polished and affable. He was an earnest, able, and faithful minister of the Word — a man well suited to the work of a pioneer in the Master's kingdom. We have been told also by an old resident who knew him well that he was a fine singer, and rendered not only enjoyment but also help to the new communities in giving instruction in this art. EEV. LOREN ROBBINS. Quite different were the impressions left by Rev. Loren Rob- bins. He had come from the East in 1831 as a licentiate, and was ordained by the Presbytery. He only remained, however, for about a year, when he returned to the East and settled there, without any regard to his Presbyter)^ Some correspondence was had with him, or rather letters were written to him, regard- ing his disorderly conduct. To this he paid but little attention. He seems not to have at anytime asked for a letter of dismissal, and never received one. As nothing could be done with him. his name was eventually dropped from the roll. OTHER MINISTERS. During the year 1834 three ministers were added, namely : Rev. Thomas Kennan, from the Presbyter}^ of St. Lawrence; Rev. Chapin R. Clarke, from the Presbytery of Cayuga, and Rev. Stephen Saunders, from the Presbytery of Bedford. BEV. DR. NEWTON. 67 These were all received on the same day, September 10th. In 1835 five ministers were received and enrolled. On the 13th of January, at a special meeting in Bloom, Rev. J. W. Beecher was received from the Union Presbytery, Tennessee, and on the same day Mr. John IMcCAitcheon, a licentiate of the Presbytery of Columbus, who had been preaching within the bounds of Huron Presbytery for more than a year, as an evangelist, was received by letter, examined, and then ordained to the ministry. April 14th, Rev. Bennet Roberts wasireceived from the AVash- ington County Conference, of Maine. September 30th, Rev. Joseph Crawford was received from the Presbytery of Bath, and on the same day ]\Ir. Alfred Newton, a licentiate of the Western Association, of Xew Haven, Con- necticut, was received, and became a member of Presbytery by his ordination to the ministrv. REV. ALFRED NEWTON. This brother, Mr. Newton, came to the Presbytery in his youth to take charge of the church of Norwalk. Over this church he was installed as pastor, and here he remained, a faithful minister, for more than thirt^^-five years, when he re- signed the pastorate. After this he still abode in Norwalk, loved and honored, until the Lord called him to his rest and reward, at a good old age. Several of the ministerial members of the Presbytery at this present time remember the endeared name and the pleasant face of Dr. Alfred Newton, and to those of us who do, he thus stands as the only link connecting the present with the past. He belonged to the early and the trying history of this bod}^ We have seen him and loved him, but we never saw one of those whose names appear before his upon the Presbyterial roll. 68 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. DISMISSALS AND DEATH. Three ministers were, in 1835, dismissed to otlier bodies: April 15th, Rev. Elroy Bascom, to the Presbytery of Athens ; July 15th, Rev. Chapin R. Clarke, to tlie Presbytery of Cleveland ; July 15th, Rev. John II. Russ, to the Presbytery of Cleveland ; and on the 3d of June the Presbytery were called upon to chronicle their first removal of a member by death. On that day Rev. Stephen Saunders died. He had been a member of the body for only about nine months, and no further record is made of the man beyond the simple fact of his death. OTHER ADDITIONS OF MEN AND CHURCHES. In 1836 two ministers were added. April loth, Rev. Joseph Edwards was received from the Presbytery of Cleveland, and on the same da}'' Rev. Alvan Nash was received from Portage Presbytery. On the 14th of July he was installed pastor of the church of Sandusky. August 20, 1834, the church of Ripley was organized. January 13, 1835, the church of Bloom was organized. November 13, 1835, the church of Perrysburg was organized. February 10, 1835, the church of Huron was organized. April 30, 1835, the church of Bronson was organ- ized. September 19, 183fi, the church of Bellevue was organ- ized, and on the 13th of April, 1836, Rev. Bennet Roberts was dismissed to the Presb3^tery of Athens. REV. JOSEPH CRAWFORD DISCIPLINED. The Presbytery, on the 21st of June, 1836, performed the unpleasant duty of subjecting one of the ministers of the body to a trial for misdemeanor. Rev. Joseph Crawford had only been received in the September previous. Now he comes before his brethren to meet, in solemn session of a judiciar}' court of the Lord Jesus, the charge of unchristian conduct, in neglect- ing the house of God, neglecting family prayer, and permitting OTHER CASES OF CASUISTRY. 69 ardent spirits to be used on his premises. These were certainly serious charges to be brought against any professing Cliristian, and especially against a minister. They were not all sustained in the trial. Some explanations were made which seemed to })alliate somewhat the facts that were proven, and even admitted. And yet enough was proven and left unpalliated to require a solemn reproof and admonition from the Presbytery, which w^as given. Unfortunately, as so often happens, the reproof did not result in a radical change in the man. He never was of any benefit to the Presbytery or to the Church. He continued to be a crooked stick, perhaps not attempting to preach much, for some years, when the same charges were renewed. OTHP]R CASES OF CASUISTRY. It would seem that somewhere there were difficulties between brethren in the churches, and perhaps some were appealing to the world to help to a settlement of the difficulties. As a result, the question was brought to the Presbytery and their judgment solicited thereon — " Whether a Christian lias a right to go to law with a brother ? " The answer returned by the body was that one should never do so until all other possible means of redress had been employed, and that redress of all grievances should first, and mainly, be sought in the Church, as between brother and brother. The matter of the desecration of the Sabbatli also demanded attention, and great sorrow was expressed in view of the appalling extent of this sin, and the churches were enjoined to bring to account those members w^ho were guilty of it, while all unnecessary traveling and visiting on the Lord's Day was condemned. In this connection the attention of the Presbytery was called to the fact that a minister from another body, a Rev. Mr. Curry, of the Presbytery of Mechlenburgh, Kentucky, on his way as a Commissioner to the General Assembly did openly desecrate 70 HISTORY OF III RON I'RESIiYTERY. the Sabbath. Tliis he did l)y traveling on that day, and with- out any excuse, in a })ul)Hc conveyance from ]\ran.stield to Tort- land. The Presbytery, after hearing the facts and considering the question of duty, passed a resolution directing their stated clerk to inform the stated clerk of the said Presbyter}- of Mechlenburgh that Mr. Curry had so conducted himself on his way to the Assembly. With this discharge of duty, the case of this erring traveler here endeth, so far as the Huron Presbytery was concerned. The case, however, was duly attended to in Kentucky. The brother acknowledged his error, and, by proi)er confession, made satisfaction to his Presbytery, of which fact report was made to the stated clerk of this bod3^ NEW CONFESSION OF FAITH. There had been some talk as to the propriety of revising the Confession of Faith and Covenant prepared at the organization of the Presbytery for use in the Congregational churches. There had also developed a disposition to make all the churches more homogeneous, both in doctrine and government, and at the April meeting in 1833 a resolution was adopted recommending each church to become so organized as to afford to each mem- ber the privilege of being disciplined according to his own choice, either as a Congregationalist or Presbyterian. In the Constitution of some of the churches of both classes this would require some change, but it was believed to be in ac- cordance with the Plan of Union, which the Presbytery, and the churches also, were supposed to have in view. For the revision of the Confession of Faith and Covenant, a committee had been appointed in April, 1832, consisting of Messrs. Conger, Judson, and Elder John Seymour. This Com- mittee reported a Confession and Covenant prepared by them, at the next meeting of the bod}-, in September. After some discussion of the report it was decided to defer the whole NEW COiVFESSIOX OF FAITH. 71 matter to the next stated meeting, in April, 1833, and another committee was appointed, consisting of Messrs. Bradstreet, Dunton, and Elder Parish, whose duty was to prepare another Confession of Faith, containing such doctrines only, with the Scripture proofs, as evangelical and enlightened Christians of all denominations receive, and such only as are fundamental and essential to salvation. The idea underlying all this would go far toward making an}^ Confession of Faith or distinct Creed un- necessary if fully exemplified, as certain doctrines regarded as fundamental by many are not even believed by some others. It is probable that the brethren discovered that such a Creed would, of necessity, leave out so much as to be about valueless. In due time this Committee reported, and both reports being now before the Presbytery, a third committee, consisting of the chairmen of the former two, with four others added, was ap- pointed to compare the two Confessions and, if possible, agree upon one which they could commend for the adoption of Pres- bytery. In September, 1833, this Committee, having succeeded in an agreement, presented a revised Creed and Covenant, which, after careful consideration, was adopted. The changes made in the former Confession of Faith are so few that the new one hardly deserves to be called a revision. The number of articles of belief are the same in both, and the substance and sentiment are exactly the same, except that in Article 7, regarding election, the statement in the old that " all those whom He has not thus elected are left to pursue their own chosen way, and to suffer the punishment due to their sins," is wanting in the new. In the last three articles there is a change of place only. In the Covenant the change made was not material. The doctrines and spirit of both the Creed and the Covenant remain soundly Calvinistic. Most of the articles are such that most enlightened Christians can receive them, and are so clearly Scriptural that all should. Another committee was appointed to select and arrange the proof texts from the Scriptures, and publish the whole, so as to be within reach of all the churches. CHAPTER IV. THE IMPENDING CRISIS. There is to be observed in tlie records of Huron Presbytery a loyal disposition toward the General Assembly. The acts of the Assembly were noted and approved, and, where occasion called for it, they were commended to the churches. There were several respects, however, in which great difficulties were felt to be in the way of full accord with all that was ex- pected of the Presbytery and of the cliurches. It was an irre- pressible fact that the churches were partly Congregational, and the Presbytery earnestly sought to be true to the terms of the " Plan of Union " and to the circumstances of their situa- tion. As the years sped onward, and as the pressure from abroad increased, the difficulties were evidently multiplying. The Presbytery could not meet all the expectations of the Pres- byterian Church throughout the land, nor could they satisfy the demands of Congregationalism. FIRST TROUBLED WATERS. The first time the acts of the General Assembly were ques- tioned was in the year 1828. The waters then seem to have been just a little ruffled, and the difficulties of the situation are becoming manifest. As would appear from the records, the occasion was not a very serious one. Doubtless there was more in it than lies upon the surface. The Assembly was at least thought to be pressing upon the toes of the Presbytery. The matter in hand had reference to sessional reports which were to be prepared for the Presbytery, and wiiicli were to constitute the substance of the 72 FIRST TROUBLED WATERS. 73 Presbyterial report to the Assembly. The higher judicatory had sent down its form for such reports, and required that in the column headed " Missionary Funds" all moneys collected for any evangelical mission should be inserted, and particularly all sums collected for the Board of Missions under the care of the General Assembly, for the American Home Missionary Society, and for the American Board of Commissioners for For- eign Missions. In addition to this, full directions were given for all other items in the sessional reports to the Presbytery, Then it w^as further added, " That the stated clerk of each session is directed to make out, in each year, the sessional re- port to Presbyter}^ up to the 1st of April, and transmit the same to the stated clerk of that Presbytery to which the session be- longs; and the stated clerk of Presbytery, on or before the 1st day of May in each year, was required to transmit by mail to the stated clerk of the General Assembly a Presbyterial report, bearing date of April 1st, prepared from the sessional reports, according to the foregoing directions." There was something in these requirements that did not meet the favor of the members of Huron Presbytery. This body, on the 20th of August, 1828, declared "that, in their opinion, the stated clerks of sessions and of Presbyteries can properly be directed only by the judicatories to which they respectively belong; and that the General Assembly, in their direction to these officers, as recorded in their printed minutes, have as- sumed a jurisdiction which they do not possess, and have trans- cended the powers vested in them by the Constitution of our Church." They declared further, " that the local situation of the churches under their care was such as to render a compliance with the directions of the Assembly, above referred to, impracticable." What the special points in the difficult}^ were is not made clear, or where the unreasonableness of the Assembly's require- ments lay is not specified. The Presbj^tery was giving its con- tributions to the American Boards, and not to that of the Gen- eral Assembly, and some of the churches did not have a session. 74 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. or 11 stated clerk of session, wlio would feel the obligation to respond to the requirements sent down to such officers. These facts were doubtless in the minds of the members of the Pres- bytery when they spoke of the " local situation of the churches under their care," and they doubtless regarded the requirement as somewhat of the nature of a general inquisition. In three 3'-ears from this time we find a resolution before the body de- claring that thereafter it should not be required of their churches, in making their statistical reports, to give any account of their benevolent contributions. This was, however, indefinitely post- poned, as was also another resolution requiring all committee- men in the churches to be ordained as elders before they could again sit as commissioners in the Presbytery or tlie Synod. The former of these resolutions would have been resistance to the Assembly; the latter would have been the nullification of the " Plan of Union." At all events, we have in this action of the Presbytery, in 1828, a slight admonition of the fact that Presbyterians in gen- eral, and especially those unacquainted with the state of things in the Western Reserve, could not see in all respects just as the men in the midst of the mixed relation of the churches, and in churches which had been so largely aided by the American Home Missionary Society, or its predecessor on these grounds, the Missionary Society of Connecticut, must and did see. HOME MISSIONS AND CINCINNATI CONVENTION. The subject of home missions was one which was destined to create no little vexation throughout the churches, and especially in the church judicatories. It was during these years, constantly harassing in the Assembly, in the Synods, and in the Presbyteries. The desire to evangelize the Western country, with its grow- ing populations, was one which found a place in the minds of ministers and churclies. But there was conflict as to the organ- izations through which the object was to be attained. There H03IE MISSIONS AND CINCINNATI CONVENTION. 75 was the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions, which was organized in 1816 and reorganized in 1828, and to which, in 1829, the Synod of Pittsburgh, which had borne the " stile of the Western Missionary Society" since 1802, and which had been, in all those years, carrying forward missionary operations in the West, transferred its work and its funds. And there was the American Home Missionary Societ}', which had been organized in 182G by the union of several independent missionary associations. Both of these organizations were looking toward the West, seeking and finding men to occupy the opening fields and money to support them. The American Society claimed the support of all the churches, not only of those that were Con- gregational, but also of the Presbyterian, the Associate Reformed, and the Dutch Reformed ; and it received aid largely from all of these sources, supporting also missionaries of these various denominations. The Presbyterian Board claimed, in its efforts, the support of the Presbyterian churches and the Presbyteries which were under the care of the General Assembl3^ Efforts had been made toward peace and harmony, in the belief that both the Board and the Society could labor for the same object, in the same regions, without detriment to each other, and wishing each other God's blessing. These efforts had failed. Naturally enough, and surely justly enough, Presbyterians determined to keep alive their own Board, which was the older, and which had, as the Western Missionary Society, been carrying forward missionar}^ operations in the West since 1802, as early as the Missionary Society of Con- necticut. It was, however, felt that great evils were resulting from the conflicting action of the Board and the Society, and that something should be done to promote, in greater harmony, the interests of Christ's Kingdom in the regions under considera- tion. This all-absorbing subject came before the General Assembly 76 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. of 1831. Tliere was great division of sentiment. The feeling, indeed, in that body reached high fever lieat. Eacli of the great missionary organizations had its friends. Many desired that the Presbyterian Board should give place to the American Society, and thought that more good could be accomplished by one great, united society than by the two organizations. An effort was made to amalgamate the two. All plans to this end, however, failed. Finally, a committee of compromise was ap- pointed. This Committee reported according to the desire of the friends of the American Society. The leading thought in their report was that the Presbyteries and churches in the West should really settle the matter by coming to some agreement in conference among themselves as to what was best. The full report of this Committee was as follows : — " In view of existing evils, resulting from the separate action of the Board of Home Missions of the General Assembly and the American Home Missionary Society, the General Assembly recommends to the Synods of Ohio, Cincinnati, Kentucky. Tennessee, West Tennessee, Indiana, and Illinois, and the Presbyteries connected with the same, to correspond with each other, and endeavor to agree upon some plan of conducting domestic missions in the Western States, and report the result of their correspondence to the next General Assembly ; it being understood that the brethren of the West be left to their free- dom to form any organization which, in their judgment, may best promote the cause of missions in those States ; and, also, that all the Synods and Presbyteries in the valley of the Missis- sippi may be embraced in this correspondence, provided they desire it." It was also resolved by the Assembly that the existing Board of Missions be reappointed. A large majority of the body adopted the above paper. In accordance with this action of the General Assembly the Presbytery of Huron, at its meeting in September, 1831, re- ceived a notice signed by Rev. J. Thompson, chairman of the committee to whom the matter had been eventually referred HOME MISSIONS AND CINCINNATI CONVENTION. 77 to make arrangements for a convention, calling the convention to meet in Cincinnati on the 23d of November following. They also, along with this notice, received a circular from the Presby- tery of West Lexington regarding the organization of the con- vention. This Presbyter}^ had proposed a plan for the said organization which had been endorsed b}'- several other presby- teries and by the Committee of which the Rev. J. Thompson was chairman. In the plan it was declared " desirable and expedient that all the Presbyteries in the valley be represented ; that their representation be upon the ratio to which they are entitled in the Assembly ; that if distant presbyteries send a less number than their ratio the}^ still should be entitled to their full vote ; that if any presbytery be unable to send dele- gates it should forward an answer to the question, ' To what plan for conducting missions in the valley of the Mississippi would your Presb3'tery give the preference?' and that no delegate be sent who has not been regularly ordained to the ministry or eldership, after taking the prescribed obligations to the Constitution." Upon this notice and circular a committee of Presbytery, com- posed of Messrs. Judson, Higgins, and Hamilton, reported a j)aper, which was adopted, in which is expressed a deep interest in the object of the action of the General Assembly in pursu- ance of which the proposed convention was called. The answer of the Presbytery is also given to the question proposed : " To what plan of conducting domestic missions in the Western country would your Presbytery give the preference?" The answer is, " We are decidedly of opinion that the interests of religion, the cause of the Presbyterian Church, and the necessity of the moral wastes of the West require that an association or society for domestic missions should be formed, having its centre of operations in Cincinnati or some other convenient place in the Western country; that this societ}' should be formed by the delegates to the convention while they are together ; that an Executive Committee or Board of Directors be appointed to enter immediately upon the business of the 78 HISTORY OF HURON PRESnVTERV. society; and that such committee or directors, elected from time to time at the stated meetings of the society shouhl be author- ized to manage all the business of the society during its recess ; and that the society, when formed, should be auxiliary neither to the American Home Missionary Society nor to the Assem- bly's Board of Missions, but co-operate with both or either of them on such terms as may be mutually agreed upon by the Western Society and the above-named board and society." Such an organization, they believed, would effectually remove the evils alluded to in the resolutions of the General Assembly. Two ministers, Messrs Conger and Betts, and two elders, D. Everett and H. M. Clarke, were appointed to attend the conven- tion ; and it was decided that in case of the failure of these delegates, tlie Rev. D. W. Lathrop, of the Presbytery of Cleve- land, was authorized to act in their behalf on any question that might come before the convention. The Cincinnati Convention met at the appointed time. On the third day of its sessions a proposition was made to organize a Western Board of Missions similar to that suggested in the above action of Huron Presbytery. It was, however, rejected by a vote of forty -one to twenty-eight. (3ther suggestions were tried and defeated. Finally, after the sessions of six days, the result was embodied in the following minute : — " Whereas, It appears from the report of the Committee to receive and report all written communications to the Conven- tion, that of the Presbyteries in the valley of the Mississippi, fifteen, entitled to forty-two votes, have not been heard from ; that one, entitled to two votes, is in favor of the American Home Missionary Society ; that one, entitled to four votes, is in favor of both Boards as they now exist ; that two, entitled to eight votes, are in favor of an independent Western society ; that one. entitled to two votes, is in favor of ecclesiastical supervision : and that seven, entitled to twenty-two votes, are in favor of the General Assembly's Board in its present oganization ; and " Whereas, Twenty Presbyteries, entitled to seventy votes, being actually present in the Convention, a plan for the estab- HOME MISSIONS AND CINCINNATI CONVENTION. 79 lishmeiit of a Western Board of Missions, under the care of the General Assembly, after full discussion, has been rejected by a vote of forty -one to twenty-eight ; and as it appears to the Convention, from these facts, that no arrangement into which we can possibly enter is likely to reconcile conflicting views on the subject ; that, so far from healing divisions, or restoring peace to the churches, by any new expedients, they would only tend to multiply the points of difference and increase the evil ; therefore, "Resolved, That, under these circumstances, -they deem it inexpedient to propose any change in the General Assemblj^'s mode of conducting missions, as they fully approve of ihat now in successful operation ; and that the purity, peace, and prosperity of the Presbyterian Church materially depend on the active and efficient aid the Sessions and Presbyteries under its care may afford to the Assembly's Board." This minute was adopted by fifty-four ayes to fifteen noes. Whether the delegates from Huron Presbj'tery were present in the Convention or not has not been recorded. The Rev. D. W. Lathrop, who was to represent them in case of their absence, was present, and stood very decidedly with the minority in their views and actions. Great dissatisfaction was felt by the minority with the course and results of the Convention. Mr. Lathrop was present at the next April meeting of Huron Presbyter}^, when the minutes of the Convention came up for review, possibly, however, as a silent spectator. A committee, consisting of Messrs. Barber, Cowles, and Edwards, was ap- pointed to prepare a report expressive of the views of Presbytery upon what had been done. The sympathies of the body were with the minority, and they were greatly out of patience with the vicAvs of the majority. They had honestly hoped that neither the Board of the Assembly nor the American Society should be victorious in the Convention, but that an independent missionary organ- ization for the West should be effected, to be upon friendly terms with botli of the others and to co-operate with them. 80 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. Tliis, tliey tlioii<2;ht, was tlie way to peace and to successful missions. The friends of the Presbyterian Board were, liow- ever, in the majority, and the Board was in the end sustained. The disappointment of the Presbytery was very strongly expressed in the report of the Committee. They declare that they regard the action of the majority as a departure from the spirit of the resolution of the Assembly authorizing the Con- vention, and from the known views of a large proportion of the Presbyterian churches in the West ; such a departure as ought effectually to prevent the decisions of the Convention from having any weight in the missionary action of the next General Assembly. And they especially deprecated, as a violation of their most sacred obligations as Presbyterians and as Christians, any measures tending to the result, as they supposed, aimed at by the majority, of the exclusion from the bounds of the Presby- terian Church of a Society which had under the blessing of God, so extensively and so largely benefited this Church in the Valley of the Mississippi, and whose operations were, even at that time, so signally blessed of God, as the American Home Missionary Society. These views of the Presbytery were placed in the hands of their commissioners to the Assembly. But the great contro- versy was in a sense terminated by the action of the Conven- tion. After that the Board of Home Missions was to be regarded as an established fact, and it was to pursue its work independently in the Western country. The sympathy of Huron Presbytery for the American Board was both natural and Christian. The whole of the Western Reserve was in a sense Connecticut territory, and the Missionary Society of Connecticut had from the first of the century sought to plant churches on these grounds. Men had been sent out and supported in their missionary work, and Presbyterians had been supported by the same Society and in the same territory. The Presbyteries owed more than they could tell to this Society, and Huron Presbytery realized the debt with grate- RISE OF OBERLINISM. 81 ful remembrance. And as the American Society came in eventually to cover the same ground and to pursue the same work, the good men of the Presbytery and of the churches felt that it would be inconsistent in them now to abandon the parent that had so long, and in times of great trial, nourished and encouraged them. Who can fail to see their situation or to honor their motive ? RISE OF OBERLINISM. Not only did the members of Huron Presbytery find occa- sion to differ with presbyteries and synods in other parts of the land, but at home, on the Western Reserve and in their own vicinity, troubles and forebodings of division were beginning to arise. They came evidently from both the Congregational and the Presbyterian sides. There were many of both denomi- nations who were not satisfied with the " Plan of Union " arrangement for presbyteries and churches. The dissatisfaction was growing. Much of the trouble doubtless came from out- side pressure, but it was beginning to develop within. In Huron Presbytery, however, nearly, if not quite, all the min- isters and churches hoped that no divisions would occur. It was in 1833 that Oberlin College was founded. Rev. John J. Shipherd, who was pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Elyria, resigned the charge, in 1832, that he might devote his time to laying the foundations for an institution of learning. Mr. Shipherd was a man of earnest Christian spirit, a man of faith and of prayer, and what he desired was to secure a truly Christian college with truly Christian surroundings. He cer- tainly did lay the foundations for an institution whose influence for good has been very widely and powerfully felt. The school was opened on the 3d of December, 1833. From the beginning its progress was encouraging. Without any such direct design on the part of its founders, along with its development there came increasing dangers to the peace and unity of the churches. This fact could no longer be disguised, and without intimating 82 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. anything like blame toward the Oberlin men or measures, on the 15th of April, 1835, a strong approval was voted upon the following memorial, which was brought before several of the Presbyteries : " We, the undersigned ministers of the Gospel on the Western Reserve, deprecating a division among brethren, to whicli, in the present aspect of things, there appears to be a tendency, would respectfully suggest, as the means of prevent- ing it, the immediate and complete organization of the Theo- logical Department of the Western Reserve College, and the appointment of the Rev. Charles G. Finney, of New York, as one of the professors." This resolution, unanimously adopted, was ordered to be signed by the INEoderator and Clerk and forwarded to the Presi- dent of Western Reserve College. Mr. Finney, in his autobiography, refers to an invitation to accept a professorship in this institution. But the times were then not a little troublesome, and he was wanted also at Ober- lin. About this time there had been a breaking up of Lane Seminary on account of the prohibition by the trustees of the discussion of the slavery question by the students. Rev. Asa Mahan, of Cincinnati, one of the trustees of the Seminary, had stoutly resisted the prohibition of free discus- sion. In January, 1835, he and Rev. John J. Shipherd went to New York to persuade Mr. Finney to go to Oberlin as Professor of Theology there. They assured him that the disaf- fected students of Lane would become his pupils — that they had themselves proposed to go to Oberlin if he should accept the call. The desire at both Hudson and Oberlin to secure Mr. Finney was very strong. The strife was, evidently, somewhat warm. But Mr. Finney went to Oberlin, and this plan of the Pres- bytery, and of others, to prevent the breaking up of existing relations was defeated. What might have been the result had Mr. Finney gone to Hudson, different from what it was upon the Presbyterianism of the Western Reserve, Avho can tell ? There was an awakening of Congregationalism and a quick- SLAVERY. 83 ening of denominational zeal, and the effects were realized to some extent in Huron Presbytery. It is true that both Mr. Mahan and Mr. Finney " were Pres- byterian in their church connections before going to Oberlin, and had no special leaning to Congregationalism," yet, in 1834, a Congregational church had been organized at Oberlin ; and, although received under the care of the Cleveland Presbytery, this church was represented by delegates in the Convention, in September, 1836, when a Congregational Association for the Western Reserve was organized. This organization was con- summated at Oberlin, there being present nine ministers and thirty-four lay delegates, representing twenty churches. The Oberlin church then withdrew from the Presbytery, and in a few years all the professors of the College had united with the Association. This was the beginning of that disintegration and separa- tion which continued its progress for many years, even down to the reunion of 1870, and beyond that. SLAVP]RY. No other question, in those years, so agitated the nation as did the subject of slavery, and in no part of the country was the interest more deeply felt than in the Western Reserve. The Presbytery of Huron was by no means indifferent. There the slave found most cordial sympathy, and the slave- holder strong condemnation. The Presbytery was ever ready to pass such resolutions as a high Christian sentiment and the exigencies of the case seemed to demand. On the 13th of April, 1836, certain documents were received from the Presbytery of Chillicothe, embodying some strong anti- slavery resolutions passed by that body, whereupon, at the recommendation of a committee, consisting of Rev. E. Judson, Rev. E. Barber, and Elder James Boyd, the following declara- tion was made: — " Whereas, The subject of slavery is exciting a deep interest 84 HISTORY OF HURON PREHBYTERY. throughout our country ; and whereas, the discussion of it, at the present time, has an important bearing, not only on the re- lation of master and slave, but also upon our own constitutional rights as citizens of a free State, and upon our relations as members of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ ; therefore, " Besolved, 1st. That the time has come when this Presbytery can no longer, with propriety, withhold an expression of its opinion upon the merits of the question. " 2d. That, as citizens of a free Republic, we feel it to be our duty to insist upon the right guaranteed to us Ijy the Consti- tution of the United States and by this State, to discuss freely, w^hen we please, the merits of the whole question of Slavery." The body then proceeds to adopt the resolutions of the Presby- tery of Chillicothe as its own sentiment. These resolutions condemned the giving or bequeathing of slaves, to children or others, as property ; the selling to a slave his own liberty, except when he had been bought at his own request and had failed to remunerate his master ; the offering to a slave his liberty only on condition that he leave the country ; the refusing to give to an emancipated slave a reasonable compensation for his labor, when the master is able to do so, and turning him out to the world wdien he wishes to stay as a tenant or hire- ling ; the advertising of a reward for a runaway slave when he has been guilty of no other crime than running away ; the apprehending of a slave who is endeavoring to escape from slavery ; the keeping of slaves in ignorance, and preventing them from learning to read the Word of God, and manifesting a desire to keep them from the house of God, excluding them from a seat in it, and from the Lord's table, with white people. The Presbj'^tery also assure the brethren of Chillicothe Pres- bytery that they will stand by them in the defense of these resolutions in the General Assembly or elsewhere. This was the only Presbytery that so heartily endorsed the paper sent out by the Chillicothe brethren, as appears from the history of that body by Dr. Galbraitli. This subject of slavery figures largely in the disturbances of THE PLAN OF UNION. 85 the time in churches, presbyteries, synods, and Assembly. It may have had some influence, as is claimed by some and denied by others, in the final action of the Assembly of 1837. In that body there were Southern men, and many excellent Northern men, who were indignant against the extreme anti- slavery spirit that was burning strongly in the regions covered by the obnoxious synods. The Synod of Western Reserve, especially, was known to be largely anti-slavery ; and the foregoing resolutions show the attitude of Huron Presbytery regarding this irrepressible trouble. That some influence was felt from this source we can readily believe, though there were many Old School men who were as decidedly anti-slavery as the New ; and there were New School men who sought to avoid extremes as much as did any of the Old, and even sought to exercise restraint upon the subject in the Assembly. THE PLAN OF UNION. Slavery was, however, by no means the chief trouble in the Church at that time. The real difficulty grew out of the " Plan of Union." It was in that arrangement as the fowl is in the Qgg. The plan was an honest, earnest. Christian effort to have two great denominations coalesce and to continue to work together as though they were one without becoming one. Good had resulted throughout the Western Reserve from its earlier operations. The time really was when it seemed to be so much a necessity that the Christian spirit which conceived and adopted it in both Congregationalist and Presbyterian can only be commended. This " Plan of Union " had its day in the uniting of the two denominations into one ecclesiasticism, and in keeping alive, organizing, and helping the growth of feeble churches where neither one of the denominations could have done so well. But when we think of it fairly, remember- ing the weakness of human nature and the strength of sectarian prejudices or of denominational principles — prejudices or 86 JflSTORy OF ITU HON PUKSIiYTERY. principles that may be kept in subjection to jxilicy or {)ru(lence during the time of weakness, but which become hirger and stronger as tlie ability and opportunity to maintain them increase, — we can hardly wonder that difficulty should arise. Indeed, the wonder would be in the other direction. We may say that it should never have been so,, and that most of the ministers and churches under the " Plan of Union " were satisfied and were working along successfully. Still, it was not so with all, and could hardly be always so with any wdiere there w^as a strong element of the two denominations. There is a difference between Congregationalism and Presby- terianism. There was less difference in 1801 than there is now or was in 1837. The difference is not confined wholly to church government, but, as the result of this, reaches out into Christian doctrines. There has always been a large degree of sound Calvinism in the Congregationalist Church. Some of the able defenders of true doctrine have been in that body. But there is a tendency to latitudinarianism in creed and preaching which is more manifest to-day than it was when the " Plan of Union " was adopted. There has always been pre- sumed to be more liberty in this denomination than in the Presbyterian. The differences were felt by both ministers and people. Of both classes new men were ever coming from Congregationalist New England on the one hand, who said, " These churches and Presbj^teries and this Synod are not Congregational." And, on the other hand, new men, ministers and people, were coming from Presbyterian regions and churches who would as naturally say, " These churches and Presbyteries and this Synod are not really Presbyterian." So the fact is that the " anomalous ecclesiasticism " of the Western Reserve was between two fires — two fires threatening it from without and kindling a third fire from within. We are told of one Presbyterian minister who was so dissatisfied wath the state of things that he soon sought more congenial regions. How many others, both Congregational and Presby- THE PLAN OF UNION. 87 terian, did this we are not informed. If we may judge from the frequency of ministerial changes, there were quite a number whose preferences were elsewhere. From the book left us by Rev. William Kennedy on " The Plan of Union," we gather some facts and suggestions. He says • " The fraternal union and harmony of the churches in the Reserve was not seriously interrupted before the year 1832. Occasionally, even from the first, a zealous sectarian, but recently arrived, would put forth a feeling plea for the eccle- siasticism of his fathers. A few hoped in time to see the union system give way to exclusive Presbyterianism or to pure Congregationalism. " The subject began to be agitated mainl}^ by new men coming into the Reserve who had little knowledge of the origin or history of the churches. A crusade was preached against all denominationalism, while again Congregationalism was defended as against Presbyterianism. The conflict waxed warmer and warmer, until, in 1836, the Oberlin movement arose, resulting in the formation of a Congregational Union for the Western Reserve. "Most of the Congregationalism of the Reserve, however, found less affinity with the movement than with Presbyte- rianism, and remained in its former position. " The years 1836-7-8 formed a stormy and trying time for the Synod. Earnest, faithful men and churches knew not what to do." ..." They hoped there would be no schism — hoping against hope. Many Congregationalists were restless under what they regarded as Presbyterianism. On the other hand, a large pro- portion of the General Assembly were denouncing the Synod of the Reserve for its Congregational irregularities." As already stated, the Plan of Union was promulgated by the Assembly and by the Congregationalist body in 1801, and for a long time both parties were satisfied with it. But suspi- cions and doubts began to arise. The denominational feeling was growing, and it ceased to cherish, in its vigor, the charita- 88 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. ble spirit out of which the I'hm of Union had grown, and so the coming event was casting its shadow before it. THE BOARDS AND SOCIETIES. One manifestation of the feeling described above had regard to the benevolent boards and societies. Many were heartily tired of the co-operative system, and Presbyterians were be- coming more anxious to control their own missionary opera- tions. The matter was not confined to home missions, nor was the trouble here settled by the Cincinnati Convention. The churches on the Reserve, naturally enough, as we have seen, gave and continued to give their benevolent contributions to the American Home Missionary Society, to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and to the American Education Society. To each and all of these benevo- lent organizations the Presbytery of Huron was strongly attached. They expressed themselves so again and again, and pledged themselves to sustain them by their prayers and their gifts. This was not according to the wishes and hopes of the large part of the Presbyterian body. For a time no objections had been raised or, perhaps, contemplated. But the Assembly had organized its own Board of Home Missions in 1816, and reorganized it in 1828, and was actively and prosperously prosecuting the work of home missions. The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was organized in 1810. Presbyterians espoused its cause and con- tributed to its funds, and by it some valuable Presbyterian foreign missionaries were sent out and supported. In 1817, however, the General Assembly resolved to enter upon foreign missionary work as a body, uniting with the Dutch Reformed Churches, and established " The United For- eign Missionar}" Society " at New York. In 182G the American Board proposed the union of the two organizations. The Assembly consented, and directed that CHIEF GROUNDS OF COMPLAINT. 89 contributions be made by the churches to the American Board. This amalgamation proved unsatisfactory to Presbyterians. The feeling largely prevailed that foreign missions was essen- tially a Church work, and should be controlled by the Church, and not by any individual society. In consequence of this feeling, the Western Foreign Missionary Society was organized by the Old School Synod of Pittsburg in 1831, with Dr. Elisha Swift as its corresponding secretary. It was reorganized by the Assembly in 1832. Eventually the Board of Foreign Mis- sions was established by the General Assembly in 1837. The Assembly's Board of Education was organized in 1819, and as the Presbyterian body had its own Boards of Home and Foreign Missions and of Education, it was but natural that there should be felt some dissatisfaction with presbyteries and churches contributing to the board and societies controlled by the Congregationalist body, and withholding from those that were under the care of the same General Assembly to which they were supposed to be subject. CHIEF GROUNDS OF COMPLAINT. But the chief grounds of dissatisfaction had regard to dodrine and church polity. There was doubt of loyalty to Presbyterian- ism and of the Calvinistic soundness in faith of these presbyte- ries, and although the ministers themselves, and the churches in these regions, felt that, in the main, there could be no rea- sonable ground of complaint upon this score, yet there surely were exceptional cases in which there were both disloyalty and unsoundness of doctrine. Mr. Kennedy, who writes largely in de- fense of the Synod of Western Reserve and of the Plan of Union, says : " It is to be admitted that the Plan of Union, in that by it Congregational ministers were received upon certificate in the same manner that members from one presbytery were re- ceived by another, had temporarily introduced a small hetero- dox element into the fellowship of the Presbyterian Church." He claims, however, that the heterodoxy of the Synod, as such, could only be believed by those who were misinformed. 90 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. It is to be admitted, then, that there were such cases, and it is but reasonable to believe that though the noteworthy cases of the kind were not very numerous, they were yet like the dead fly that spoileth the ointment — they gave occasion of censure against the body of Avliich they were members. We cannot find that there were any such instances of unsoundness in Huron Presbytery. They would not have been long sustained if there were. The laws of this body regarding the reception of ministers were very strict. Peculiar care seems, from the very first, to have been observed to prevent heterodoxy of teaching. No matter where ministers came from they were examined in religious experience and doctrinal views, and re- quired to assent to the Westminster Confession of Faith before they were received. The constant aim of this Presb3'tery was to be sound in the faith in the true Presbyterian sense. But the chief point, and most insisted upon in the General Assembl}^ looked back of the state of things that seemed then to exist. This was what was regarded as " the original unconstitu- tionality " of the act of the Assembl}^ which first endorsed the " Plan of Union." That there was truth in this complaint can hardly be denied. It was surely a break in Presbyterianism. It was also a trespass upon pure Congregationalism. The particularly odious feature in the practical working of the Plan — though this, perhaps, would not have been so much insisted upon, had it not been for the supposed or real unsound- ness of creed and the sympathy with Congregational church polity which were developing — was the admission of Congrega- tional deacons and " committee men " into ecclesiastical bodies upon equality of privilege and authority with regularly or- dained elders of the Presbyterian Church. It was upon the ground of the unconstitutionality of the " Plan of Union " that extreme measures were justified. It was believed to have been productive of disloyalty to Presbyterianism and to sound Calvinism. The fact we can hardly think of questioning i-;, that tliere THE EXCISION— WAS IT JUSTIFIABLE? 91 was one kind of Presbyterianism for the Plan of Union Pres- byteries and churches, and another for the rest of the world. Yet, as we study the records and the men of Huron Presby- tery, we cannot but feel that, as to this body of men, they were in faith honestly striving to be faithful to the conditions of their situation. They so felt, themselves, and they stood nobly together. FATHER CONGER DEFENDED. Just before the action of the Assembly of 1837, these minis- ters were surprised and pained to learn that one of their own number so loved and honored as the Rev. E. Conger — a man whom persons yet living remember as a Calvinist of the most decided type — had been denied permission to labor within the bounds of another presbytery on account of alleged defection from the standards of the Presbyterian Church in respect to its doctrine, government, and discipline. His brethren came to his defense, with all their hearts, in a resolution " that they had the most undoubted evidence of his soundness in the faith and his conformity to the standards of the Presbyterian Church, and the fullest confidence in him as a minister of Jesus Christ ; and they did most cordially recommend him to the confidence of the churches where he was then laboring, and to any and all Presbyterian churches in the United States. Such was, to say the least, their confidence in each other, in their own soundness in the faith, and in their loyalty to the standards of the Presbyterian Church. A fact was developed in the Assembly that of 139 churches in the Synod of Western Reserve, only thirty were Presby- terian; but it is to be said that of these fifteen, or fulbj one- half, belonged to Huron Presbytery. THE EXCISION— WAS IT JUSTIFIABLE? The way had been preparing for several years, amid stormy scenes, for the Exscinding Act, which came in the Assembl}' of 1837. It was a fact wliich was to go down to posterity that 92 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. the Presbyterian Church was divided. The tiling to us now seems to partake of the nature of the awful, and there is little doubt that it was felt to be so to the great and, we believe, good leading actors in the scene then. The responsibility that men bore, when by one act they could sever the Church in twain, was simply awful ; but the responsibility on the other side was just as great. The first objective point of the resolutions of the Assembly was " the abrogation of the Plan of Union," which was the cause of the existing troubles. In striking at this, the first blow smote off tlie Synod of the Western Reserve. The abrogation was carried by a vote of 143 to 110. Then, after some earnest discussion, a resolution was adopted, declaring " that, by the operation of the abrogation of the 'Plan of Union' of 1801, the Synod of the Western Reserve is, and is hereby declared to be, no longer a part of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America." This resolution was adopted by a vote of 132 to 105. In the same manner and for the same reasons three other synods were exscinded. If posterity dare to sit in judgment upon these acts of these great men of the Church, what shall we say ? As the Assembly of 1801 was responsible for the Plan of Union, influenced by a noble charity, with the extension of Christ's kingdom as the one object in view, might not the Assembly of 1837, had the same charity prevailed, have done a better thing than to use the exscinding knife ? All this is open to argument and to diversities of sentiment. We might all agree that a more becoming and Christian course would have been a voluntary and friendly division of the Church. An effort was made in this direction, and a Commit- tee of Consultation appointed, and at one stage of their delibe- rations they seemed about to agree. But this effort was des- tined to failure. The voluntary separation was regarded as impossible, and the only thing then to do was either to go on as they were or to force the division. And it ought not to be THE EXCISION— WAS IT JUSTIFIABLE? 93 difficult to decide between perpetual disquietude and commo- tion and the course adopted by the Assembly. It would seem as clear now as it did then that the separation was the only loay to 2ieace, the only way, though it required years to bring it about, to the state of things existing to-day — reunion and un- doubting harmony in the great Presbyterian household, and fraternal fellowship and concourse with the Congregational ist body. The fraternal feeling was desired even in those trying times. More than once was this desire openly expressed. In the Assembly of 1837 a resolution was adopted recommending the cultivation of friendly relations with the Congregational churches, even while abrogating the Plan of Union. There was doubtless more prayer and more grace and real charity in that Assembly than the exscinding knife would sug- gest. The result was simply inevitable from the operations of the Plan of Union. In saying this, we need not condemn the Assembly of 1801, or of 1806, or the Association that conceived and adopted it. There was a sad muddle, and in this world great muddles, if settled at all, are usually settled by some severe and apparently unkind action. Yet in this case we have to remember that a large amount of true Presbyterianism, with orthodox ministers and churches, was left to struggle, without the aid or sympathy of the Assem- bly, with difficulties that were peculiar to their environments. The Assembly sought to guard against wrong in this direction, and left the door open to every minister and every church that would show loyalty and orthodoxy. But the result of the ex- })eriences of years and the force of circumstances were not and could not be estimated as they affected many of these churches. So that while it was not true of all the ministers and churches in the exscinded synods, by any means, yet it was true of some, as expressed by Mr. Kennedy, that " the unsuspecting family of churches that had grown up under the Plan of Union, without suspicion of illegitimacy or consciousness of offense, were suddenly appalled to find themselves cast out, as chil- 94 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. dren of the bondwoman, without name or inheritance." The feehiig that pervaded many hearts was one of deep sorrow and of painful regret. HURON PRESBYTERY UPON THE EXCISION. Such was the fact with regard to this body. There was sor- row and deep regret. The position of these ministers and churches during the few years of ordeal was sometimes trying, and great anxiety was felt for the churches and for the cause of Christ. There ivas fear of disaffection, and of consequent disaster. The desire and prayer were intense that all should still hold together, and together brave the storm. But who was to an- swer the question — What is to be done next ? There was agi- tation, and there were consultations between the ministers. Finally it was decided to call the Presbytery together. This was done by the Moderator, Rev. Alvan Nash, and the body met at Lyme, on the first of August, 1837, at which time the Mode- rator stated that, " Having learned, through the public journals, that the Synod to which they belonged, together with the Synods of Utica, Geneva, and Genesee, are by acts of the late General Assembly cut off from being any longer a portion of the Presbyterian Church ; and having also seen a notice, un- der the sanction of the Presbytery of Cayuga, of a convention at Auburn, New York, on the 17th inst., of delegates from all the Presbyteries thus cut off and from other portions of the Presbyterian Church who sympathize with them, to deliberate upon tlie measures to be adopted in their present circumstances, he liad, with the advice of another member of Presbytery, re- quested them, by letters missive, to meet at this time and place, to deliberate and act on the business of sending delegates to the proposed Convention." A committee, consisting of Messrs. Conger, Barber, Betts, and Sturtevant, was appointed to report some appropriate action for the body to take at that time. A report was made and adopted, which declares " the act of the Assembly to be impolitic and HURON PRESBYTERY UPON THE EXCISION. 95 wrong, unconstitutional, unscriptural, unchristian, and revolu- tionary ; and yet the purpose is avowed of aiming to clierish no other than charitable and brotherly feelings toward those who have thus wantonly disturbed the peace of Zion, and thrown many of their brethren and of the churches of the Lord into most trying circumstances." These men declare further that, while they cannot feel that they have merited these things at the hands of their brethren, they yet acknowledge therein the righteous judgment of God for their unfaithfulness in His service, and they recommend to the churches humble and earnest prayer for Divine direction. They then decide to send delegates — Rev. Alvan Nash and Mr. John Seymour — to the Convention at Auburn, New York, recommending to all churches, meanwhile, to remain steadfast until the result of the Convention be known. At the next meeting of Presbytery, September 13, 1837, this Committee reported their attendance upon the Convention at Auburn. Their report was accepted and their actions were approved. This Convention may be regarded as the birth of the New School General Assembly. But the Presbytery went further. At this September meeting, Messrs. E. Judson, E. Conger, and E. Barber were appointed, and directed to inquire into the state of the Presbytery in respect to the allegations brought against the Synod of Western Reserve in the General Assembly. They reported " that an examination of the facts in the case show that most of the said charges have no applicability to the ministers and churches belonging to the Huron Presby- tery, and that such is the case will appear from the following, namely : — " 1st. In relation to the form of government in the churches : the Presbytery of Huron has under its care twenty-five churches. Of these fifteen have ruling elders appointed and ordained agreeably to the Form of Government, Chapter 13. The remaining ten are organized on the Accommodation Plan. " 2d. Resj^ecting progress of views in favor of the Presby- 96 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. terian form of government, so far is it from Ijeing true that Congregationalism is increasing, the only changes have been from the Congregational form to the Presbyterian ; and all the churches organized within our bounds in tlie last seven years, amounting to eleven in all, have been organized on the Presbyterian plan. " 3d. The Presbytery, at their next annual meeting after the Assembly adopted, in 1830, the rule requiring all ministers coming from other ecclesiastical bodies to give their assent to the questions in the Form of Government, Chapters 14 and 15, expressed their approbation of the doings of the General Assembly, and all members received since that date by letter and all ordained by this Presbytery have, without exception, answered said questions in the affirmative. " 4th. No evangelist has ever, at any time, labored as such among our churches, and all protracted meetings that have been held liave been conducted by the pastors and stated sup- plies of our congregations, with the exception of one meeting in a church which has since withdrawn from our connection. " 5th. The doctrinal errors alleged are not known to be held by any member of this body. " 6th. No irregularities of practice, such as described in the General Assembly, have been known to exist within any of our churches." Finally, they say : " We are ready to meet any regularl}' insti- tuted process of discipline, commenced and carried forward agreeably to the forms laid down in the Book of Discipline, and we have no doubt that such a trial, conducted with a kind. Christian spirit and candor, would result in a full and honor- able acquittal. And until such trial is had and we be constitu- tionally condemned, we are resolved to assert and maintain our rights as a constituent part of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America." This is a full and clear statement of the facts as they appeared to the members of this body, and the records of the Presbytery appear fully to sustain the declarations. HURON PRESBYTERY UPON THE EXCISION. 97 It is shown how these fathers of Huron Presbytery had aimed to be true and loyal Presbyterians, and how confident they were in their own integrity and soundness of creed and practice. If these were the facts generally throughout the exscinded Synods — and there were those who believed they were so — it would be difficult to regard the excision in any other light than as a mistake and a wrong, especially so when we remember the position of these Synods, and the Assembly itself, in the matter of the Plan of Union. It is, however, more than probable that all the presbyteries could not have shown up their case in so clear a light. It was a difficult thing to do, but Huron Presbytery did aim to be true to her environments, remembering both the " Plan of Union " and the General Assembly. Her sympathies were, almost to a man, with the American Board and the American Societies, and to these she devoted her benevolent contributions. This was perhaps the strongest fact that could have been proven against her. In this she was more loyal to Congregationalism than to Presbyterianism. Her de- fense for this would naturally be her position under the Plan of Union, and the sources from which her financial help had mainly come. The members of the Presbytery, and doubtless the churches, were saddened — almost dismayed. Yet they stood together, and firmly, by what they regarded as the right in the case. The above given statement regarding themselves they ordered to be sent to the Cincinnati Journal for publication, that the world might know their belief and their practice. But the deed was done. The General Assembly had cut off from her body the Synod of Western Reserve. Huron Presby- tery was a part of that Synod, and, guilty or innocent, she went with the part exscinded. There, by force of circumstances and by strong sympathies, her lot was cast, and with the year 1838 she begins a new era in her history. She is henceforth, until 1870, a New School Presbyterian body of ministers and of churches. 7 CIIAP^J^EH V. FROM 1837 TO 1842. During the sadly eventful year of 1837, various changes were made in the Presbytery. Two churches were added to the roll, namely, Hartland organized July 12t]i, and Green Creek, which was organized in October. The pastoral relation existing between Rev. X. Betts and the church of Wakeman was dissolved on the first of February, and on the same day Mr. Betts was installed at Lyme. Also, on that day, Rev. Abijah Blanchard was received from the Presbytery of Genesee. On the 23d of May, Rev. E. Judson, having greatly changed his views in regard to the importance of the pastoral relation, was installed pastor of the church at Milan. On the 24th of May, Mr. B. B. Judson was ordained to the ministry and made pastor of the church of Ruggles. April 12th, Rev. David Smith was dismissed to the Presbytery of Maumee. March 14th, Rev. J. W. Beecher was granted a letter to the Presbytery of Grand River. On the 9th of June occurred the second death of a minis- terial member of this bod3^ At that time it seems not to have been the custom to make any special record of the life or character of ministers when removed by death. In this case we find the simple statement on the records : — REV. STEPHEN J. BRADSTREET, Died June 9, 1837. We only know of Mr. Bradstreet that he was born in 1794, that he was the first minister added to the original five mem- 98 CHURCHES IN 1838. 99 bers of the Presbytery, and that he came by letter from the Presbytery of Londonderry. His name figures prominently in all the acts of the body as one of its faithful and punctual members. He was for fourteen interesting years a member, and died not far from the time of the act of the General Assembly which made so many sad hearts. MINISTERS AFTER THE EXCISION. The first meeting' of the year 1838 was held at Lyme, on the 10th and 11th of April, at which time the Presbytery was com- posed of the following ministers : — Joseph Edwards, Joseph Crawford, E. Conger, Abijah Blan- chard, Alvan Nash, Xenophon Betts, E. Judson, Eldad Barber, Samuel Dunton, E. P. Salmon, John McCutchen, A. Newton, B. B. Judson, Alvan Coe, Thomas Kennan, L. Robbins, and David Higgins, added April 10, 1838. CHURCHES IN 1838. The Presbytery starts its new era with the following churches : — Lyme, Greenfield, A^ermillion, Milan, Fitch ville, Peru, San- dusky, Huron, Wakeman, Norwalk, Tiffin, Scipio (Republic), New Haven, Bloom, Melmore, Bellevue, Fremont, Ruggles, Florence, Ripley, Perrysburg, Green Creek, Eldridge (Berlin), Monroe ville, Attica, Bronson, Hartland, Birmingham. There were, therefore, seventeen ministers and twenty-eight churches at this time. Only twenty-three churches and seventeen ministers, with 1126 communicants, were reported to the General Assembly of 1837. The Presbytery in their resolutions, however, regarding the acts of the Assembly, say they have twenty-five churches. Two were added between September, 1837, and April, 1838. The above names are all found upon the roll, and we are at 100 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. least within one of being (juite correct in saying that there were seventeen ministers, twentv-eiglit churches, and 1103 commu- nicants. The church of Wakeman had withdrawn from tlie Presby- tery, declaring itself independent. But soon it requested to be again taken under care of the body. This was done on the 11th of April, 1838, and the name enrolled as given above. (3n the 12tli of September, the churcli of Plymouth was received, organized within the borders of Richland County. This church sooner or later, if not immediately, takes the place of the New Haven Church, which is dropped, without mention of what became of it, from the roll. It liad a short existence. SOME CHANGES. July 24th, Rev. A. Newton, having preached for the church of Norwalk for about three years as stated supply, was duly installed as pastor of that people. On the same day the pastoral relation existing between Rev. Alvan Nash and the church in Sandusky was dissolved, and he was dismissed to the Presbytery of Portage. September 12tli, Rev. Alvan Coe was dismissed to the Presby- tery of Trumbull. September 21st, three ministers were received : Rev. Lyman Barrett, from the Presbytery of Bath ; Rev. Jonathan B. Parlin, from the St. Lawrence Consociation, and Rev. Ferris Fitch, from the Presbytery of Grand River. On the 15th of January, 1839, Rev. A. Blanchard was dis- missed to the Presbytery of Detroit. April lOtli, Rev. J. A. Hart was received from the Presby- tery of Delaware. September 11th, Rev. E. S. Scott was received from the Presbytery of Grand River. On the same day, September 11, 1839, Mr. Jonathan Cochran and John E. Sherwin were, after the usual examinations and trial exercises, licensed to preach the gospel. SLOUGHING OFF OF PEOPLE AND CHURCHES. 101 On the 13tli of November Licentiate Francis Child was ordained, and then installed pastor of the church of Greenfield. On the 14th and 16th of May, respectivel}^, pastoral relations were consummated between the Rev. J. A. Hart and the church in Sandusky City, and between the Rev. Ferris Fitch and the church of Lower Sandusky (Fremont). SLOUGHING OFF OF PEOPLE AND CHURCHES. So early after the excision as 1839 there was not only a dis- position manifest on the part of some communicants, still attached to the Old School party, to drop out of their church relations — some doing so without requesting dismissal to any other church (in which cases the churches were directed simply to enter notice of the fact upon their records) — but there was a disposition shown in some churches to slough off from the Presbytery. The church of Bellevue did this, as did also the church of Wakeman a second time, both going to the Congregational body. Several others followed in the course of time. In fact, it was very early manifest that the New School Presbytery would either have to give up its loyalty to Presby- terianism quite generally or be compelled to endure trials and losses through the existing and now developing Congregational tendencies in some of the churches. Some of the same difficulties were to be experienced in the exscinded body from Congrega- tionalism which had been felt in the Church at large before the excision. The difference was that the strongly Congregational churches withdrew, in this case, from the Presbytery. Yet there was one case of presbyterial excision. The church of Fitchville, which had, from its origin, been a source of annoyance to the body by its disorderly constitution and its disorderly conduct, being largely independent of Presbytery, was finally cut off from its relation. A committee was, however, immediately appointed to visit Fitchville, and to organize there a Presbyterian church if considered prudent. This Committee did organize, as there were some Presbyterians who desired it, on the 6th of 102 HISTORY OF UUUOX rRKSBYTERY. June, 1>S39, a Presbyterian church with twenty-six members and three ruling ehlers. Tliis organization after a time erected a neat sanctuary. There was, however, continued rivalry be- tween it and the Congregationalist church, until, in 1850, the matter is again before the Presbytery in the form of a request that the Presbyterian church be dissolved. To this there was a protest on the part of some members of the church. The whole procedure was evidently in the interest of an Inde- pendent organization which had sprung up in the place. The Presbytery, after due consideration, declined to disorganize the church, and the request that it do so was for the present with- drawn. But within less than two years the name of the church of Fitchville ceases to be on the roll of the Presbytery. The Congregationalists had taken the field, purchased the Presby- terian house of worship, and secured, doubtless, most of the membership. This Congregationalist church is now in a flourishing condition. LORAIN PRESBYTERY ADDED. The Presbytery of Huron was somewhat weakened, though not really to an alarming extent, by the falling off of churches and people to Congregationalism. But the Presbytery of Lorain, which had been formed from the western part of the Presby- tery of Cleveland, suffered much more, owing to the proximity and influence of the Oberlin Institute and the efforts to pro- mote Congregationalism. Eventually, the churches in the eastern part of Huron, under the immediate shadow of Oberlin, withdrew, all of them, to that denomination. But so much was Lorain Presbytery weakened in this way that she memorialized the Synod, requesting dissolution. This request was granted, and on the 21st of September, 1839, the said Presbytery was dissolved, and the ministers, licentiates, and churches of the same were directed to be attached to the Presbytery of Huron. The result of this act was tliat eleven ministers and eleven ROLL OF CHURCHES, APRIL U, 1840. 103 churches, with five licentiates, were added to Huron, making the number of ministers thirty-two, of churches thirty-five, of communicants 2025, and of licentiates seven. Two of the licentiates were dismissed on the 15th of January, 1850, leaving the number five. The Rev. F. H. Brown was received January 14, 1840, from the Presbytery of Cayuga, and on the same day installed at Brownhelm. THE ROLL OF MINISTERS IN 1840. The ministers then numbered, on the 14th of April, thirty- two, as follows : E. Conger, X. Betts, B. B. Judson, David Higgins, A. H. Betts, D. W. Lathrop, E. Judson, E. P. Salmon, S. Dunton, L. Robbins, E. Barber, T. Kennan, J. McCutchen, Jos. Crawford, A. Newton, L. Barrett, J. B. Parlin, F. Fitch, J. A. Hart, E. S. Scott, E. J. Leavenworth, Wm. Salisbury, James Ellis, Jos. Edwards, H. Cowles, J. J. Shipherd, L. H. Loss, 0. Eastman, N. W. St. John, F. Child, F. H. Brown, and John Monteith. ROLL OF CHURCHES, APRIL 14, 1840. During 1839 the churches of Bellevue and Wakeman had withdrawn to the Association ; the names of New Haven and Perrysburg are dropped, leaving, with the eleven additions from Lorain, thirty-five churches, as follows : Lyme, Ver- million, Milan, Sandusky, Peru, Greenfield, Berlin, Ruggles, Melmore, Norwalk, Tiffin, Monroeville, Florence, Republic, Attica, Lower Sandusky, Ripley, Bloom, Huron, Bronson, Hartland, Green Creek, Birmingham, Plymouth, Fitchville, Columbia, Rochester, Amherst, Brownhelm, Ridgeville, Charles- ton, Grafton, Pennfield, Elyria, and AVellington. To these was added, July 7, 1840, the church of Amherstville, making the number thirty-six. 104 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. CHANGES IN 1840. On the 9tli of February Mr. Robert Cochran, licentiate, was dismissed to the Lorain County Association. June 9th, the pastoral relation between Rev. X. Betts and the church in Lyme was dissolved. July 14th, Rev. Wm. Salisbury was dismissed to the Presby- tery of Medina. September 9th, Rev. Solomon Stevens was received from the Presbytery of Genesee. November 18th, Mr. J. C. Sherwin, licentiate, was ordained and installed pastor of the church of Berlin. On the same day Rev. Seth Smalley was received from the Presbytery of Cayuga. December 2d, Rev. John McCutchen was installed pastor of the church in Republic. MAUMEE PRESBYTERY ADDED. The Synod of Western Reserve, on the 20th of September, 1840, in view of the small number of ministers in the Presby- tery of Maumee, dissolved that body, and its ministers and churches were added to the Presbyter}' of Huron. By this act of Synod, four ministers, Joseph Badger, Isaac Van Tassel, Benjamin Woodbury, and J. H. Francis, with five churches, Maumee, Plain, Defiance, Waterville, and Toledo, were added to this body, and the territory was extended to a full length of at least 120 miles. The church of West Milgrove was added August 28, 1841. With these churches there came to the Presbytery of Huron about three hundred communicants, making the aggregate, in this body, of ministers, thirty-eight ; of churches, forty-two, and of communicants, 2300. ROLL CHANGES IN 1841. On the 10th of June Mr. Jonathan Cochran, licentiate, was ordained and installed pastor of the church of Charleston. SOME JUDICIAL CASES. 105 June 9th, Rev. H. Cowles was dismissed to the Lorain Asso- ciation. June 9th, Mr. E. R. Tucker, licentiate, was received from the Andover Association, Massachusetts, and on the same day was ordained and installed pastor of the church of Defiance. At the same time Rev. Setli Smalley was dismissed to the Presbyterian Congregational Convention of Wisconsin. September 14th, Rev. Stephen Barrett was received from the Presbytery of Portage, and on the 26th of October he was in- stalled pastor of the church of Lyme. September 14th, Rev. J. J. Shipherd was dismissed to the Lorain County Association. September 15th, the pastoral relation between Rev. John McCutchen and the church in Republic was dissolved ; that be- tween Rev. L. H. Loss and the church of Elyria was also dis- solved on the same day. October 26th, Mr. George Bigbee was taken under care of Presbytery and licensed to preach the gospel. On the same day Rev. Ansel R. Clarke was received from the Presbyter}'' of Portage. During the month of October the church of Hartland was dissolved and its members dismissed to Fitchville or to Clarks- field, as each one might make choice. DEATH OF REV. F. CHILD. In addition to above changes, on the 30th of September, 1841, another death occurred among the ministers. On that day the Rev. F. Child was called to his reward, and at the fol- lowing meeting of the Presbytery an appropriate minute was adopted and ordered to be placed upon the records. SOME JUDICIAL CASES. No. l.—Rev. E. P. Salmon D'ied. The comfort of the Presbytery was interrupted during the year 1838 by the trial of one of the ministers. Rev. E. P. Sal- mon. He himself called the attention of the body to the fact 106 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. that charges of falseliood were preferred against him by one of the members of tlie Peru church, which he was then serving, and that others had united against him in the charges. He desired an investigation. Presbytery met and went through the process of a tliorougli and tedious examination of the charges and facts against Mr. Salmon. The result was a unani- mous decision of the body that the charges were not sustained. But the conviction prevailed that, nevertheless, Mr. Salmon merited reproof and admonition for the imprudent use of lan- guage and for imprudence in business transactions. The reproof was administered, while at the same time the attention of the session of the church of Peru was directed to the fact that Mr. Alonzo Edwards, the leading accuser of Mr. Salmon, was deserving of their censure for his disorderly and unchristian efforts to fasten guilt upon his minister. The session accordingly, without, however, any fair process of trial, censured Mr. Edwards and removed him from the office of deacon, which he held. This resulted in a complaint to the Presbytery and a further hearing in that body. This matter, so far as Mr. Edwards was concerned, was eventually settled by the session rescinding its action, and giving him a letter of dismissal to the church of Lyme, Avithin whose bounds he had removed. But, so far as Mr. Salmon was concerned, the trouble was not yet ended. He was not a man to forget a wound or to allow a difficulty to rest in quiet. He was censorious and impulsive in his self-determination, making trouble both for himself and for others, regarding neither time nor place, and yet he had his friends, who were ready to stand by him and to follow his leading. As the result of his nature, he was, about two years after his first trial arraigned a second time at the bar of his Presbytery, and tried upon the charges of using harsh and slanderous lan- guage to such persons as he regarded as opposed to him ; of falsehood in various instances ; of improper meddling with the church of Peru, striving to destroy its peace and prosperity ; of SOME JUDICIAL CASES. 107 having disregarded the admonition and reproof of Presb3'tery rendered to him at the former trial ; and of having used the pulpit in the discussing of his own private quarrels. After a fair and full investigation, these charges were all sus- tained, and Mr. Salmon was suspended from the ministry for one year, and longer, unless he gave satisfactory evidence of sincere repentance. He was also forbidden, in case he should appeal to Synod, to preach until the appeal should be issued by the Synod. Mr. Salmon gave no sign of repentance, but utterly ignored the authority of the Presbytery, continuing to discharge the functions of a gospel minister, pretending to have authority from some Congregational Association in New England, with which, however, at the time of his suspension he had no con- nection. A judgment but partially reasonable must assent to the righteousness of the Presbytery when, in September of the following year, 1841, they did solemnly depose Mr. Salmon from the ministerial office and excluded him from the fellowship of the Church ; and the same assent must be given to the act of the body when, a few years later, after Mr. Salmon had found his way into an association, and an overture was presented asking, " Can this Presbytery recognize as a Gospel minister one who has been suspended by it, but who is now in good stand- ing in another ecclesiastical bod}'-, without having given to this body any evidence of repentance?" they gave the only answer to be given, " that the Presbytery cannot recognize such an one as a Gospel minister." Judicial Case No. 2 — H. C. Taylor. The Presbytery, in 1840, had under its care a licentiate, Mr. H. C. Taylor, who became involved in a case of disorderly con- duct, which affected his character as a prospective minister and required investigation. This was conducted, however, by a committee, and the Presbytery did not find a trial necessary. Mr. Taylor was so unwise as to engage with others in an act of violence upon a man named Norton. He made open confes- 108 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. sion of the fact that a conii)any of whicli he was a part liad apprehended the man Norton in the vicinity of OberHn, in the night, and having adjudged him guilty of writing licentious letters and of attempting to seduce several young ladies, they had through one of their number — not Mr. Taylor himself — inflicted upon his back twenty-five lashes. This is one of those cases in regard to which there is room for diversity of opinion. If the man Norton were guilty as charged, he certainly deserved all he received. If he wa« innocent, his self-appointed judges deserved it themselves. It is unfortunate that the laws of the State do not mete out a due penalty for such licentious attempts upon virtue as Norton was charged with, and that in cases like this, and some others, there is sometimes a temptation to resort to the court of Judge Lynch. And yet we know that this judge sometimes makes fearful mistakes. The case must be a very extreme and a very clear one to warrant a wise and good man in giving him any endorsement. Is such a thing ever justifiable ? It was surely a bad beginning for a young man to make, as a minister of the Lord Jesus, to become an active participant in such a transaction, though the man w\as doubtless guilt}'. Mr. Taylor not only admitted the fact, but confessed the wrong of his action and expressed regret therefor ; yet, notwithstanding this, the Presbytery judged it best to revoke his license to preach the Gospel. They, no doubt, did wisely. They knew the facts and the man. Mr. Taylor afterward appeared before the body desiring to make statement of his case. He was heard on a reconsideration of the act of revocation. A committee reported a paper of some length upon the subject, which was adopted, but which, from neglect, was not placed upon the records. The license to preach was, however, not restored. Judicial Case No. 3 — Rev. H. Coivles. Out of the above investigation there grew the necessity for another. This also was carried to its conclusion by a com- mittee. Mr. Cowles, it appears, made some statements in SOME JUDICIAL CASES. 109 Presbj'-tery which led to the appointing of a committee to correspond with him regarding his own relation to the " Oberlin outrage," as the Norton difficulty was called. Mr. Cowles had evidently not agreed with the Presbytery in their disposition of the case of Mr. Taylor. He had himself been somewhat forward in the condemnation of the man Norton. It was charged that he had said in encouragement of the treatment he received : " If you catch him use him roughly, and send him out of town." This he might have said without being far in the wrong. To get clear of a vile character, even with some rough handling, might not be a bad thing. But Mr. Cowles became involved in difficulty with the Presbytery regarding the matter. He disagreed with them, and wrote some things for the Oberlin Evangelist which seriously impugned the Presbytery. The difference of opinion between INIr. Cowles and his brethren was very positive. Difficulties, once started, do not easily find a resting-place. The sum of the whole matter was a muddle. The muddle, with some strong statements made, required elucidation, both for the honor of Mr. Cowles and for that of the Presbyterv as well. Mr. C. eventually prepared and presented a full, explanatory, and apologetic statement of his own language and conduct in the case, which was accepted by the Presbytery as satisfactory. Not long after the difficulty was thus happily settled, Mr. Cowles requested a letter of dismissal to the Lorain Association, which was, of course, granted. This also did Rev. J. J. Shipherd ; and the men, both able and excellent, found their own place in congenial Congregational pastures, thus ending their connection with Presbytery. Judicial Case No. 4 — Rev. B. Woodbury. In addition to these unpleasant cases, when the Synod attached the Presbytery of Maumee to that of Huron, that bod}^ also directed Huron Presbytery to take up and issue the 110 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. case of Rev. B. Woodbury, against whom charges had been preferred in the Presbytery of Maiimee and im])roperly pro- ceeded with. The Presbytery went forward to obey the direction of the Synod, and began the year 1841 with a resolution to commit the case to a committee, who were to take depositions and in due time report. The report was made in April, and revealed the facts that a difficulty existed in the church of Plain, and that Mr. Woodbury was held, in some way, responsible for it. But the Committee were satisfied that the origin of the trouble was to be found elsewhere, and that, as Mr. Woodbury had made such acknowledgments as became him before the Presby- tery of Maumee, and these acknowledgments were read before the church of Plain, and as they seemed to the Committee to be fully satisfactory, they thought it right and best that the matter be dismissed from further adjudication. The recommen- dation was adopted and the case dismissed. Ministers with no intentional wrong upon their part, and with but little real wrong in heart or act, may sometimes become involved in serious difficulty. In such cases a Presbyterial investigation proves a blessing. UNSOUND DOCTRINE. It is interesting to note the watchful care of the Presbytery, at this period of its history, over the ministers and churches, in the desire to keep out, not only evil practices in life, but un- sound doctrine and questionable ministerial methods. THREE GOOD MEN REJECTED. In the year 1840 Mr. John Dodd, a licentiate of the Lorain Association and a student at Oberlin, and two other young men, brothers, named E. H. and James H. Fairchild, appeared before the Presbytery, desiring to be received under its care and to be licensed to preach the Gospel. The brothers Fair- child were members of the church in Brownhelm, which was THREE GOOD MEN REJECTED. Ill then connected with the Presbytery, but they were also Ober- lin students. Mr. Dodd was examined before the body of ministers and elders. The other two were referred to a committee, consisting of Rev. E. Conger, Rev. A. Newton, and Mr. Birch, an elder or deacon from the church of Milan. The results were the same in all three cases. The young men were all candid in their answers to questions. They were believers in some of the then accepted doctrines at Oberlin regarding " Christian perfection " and sanctification, and in the Oberlin methods. To these views and methods the majority of the Presbytery were very decidedly opposed. They were so strongly opposed to those doctrines and ways that, when the two young men appeared before the Com- mittee, they were simply asked if they believed " in the doc- trines taught at Oberlin and in their way of doing things." The answer given to this question settled the whole matter of their reception. "The Committee thereupon reported adversely to their examination." The report was, after some vigorous discussion, sustained by a majority vote. They were rejected as men " whose sympathies," as the Committee expressed it, " were found to be decidedly with other ecclesiastical associa- tions." The decision was made in view of the state of things in the churches, and under the weight of the opposition to the doctrines of the Oberlin Institute. And for these reasons alone it was judged by the Presbytery that it would not be best to receive and license these young men. They were all noble and worthy men, and men every wa}^ worthy of a place in the Presbytery, except that in their views of certain doctrines and methods they and the body were at variance. They found their places elsewhere, and devoted their lives to the Master's work. Mr. Dodd eventually became a Presbyterian minister, laboring as such in the State of New York until the year 1864, when he died, leaving, as is sup- posed, a son, who to-day succeeds him in the Presbyterian ministry. As for the other two, who were not even examined beyond the one decisive question, they both arose to distinction 112 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. in usefulness and honor in the Church of ("hrist. The one was Rev. E. H. Fairchild, d.d., President of Berea College, Ky., where he died in the year 1889. The other was no less a per- son than the loved and esteemed Rev. Jas. H. Fairchild, d.d., formerly President of the Oberlin College, and now a teacher of theology in that Institution. Mr. Dodd, even after the Presbytery had declined to receive him under its care, requested permission to labor in the churches within its bounds. But upon a report made b}' Messrs. Con- ger, Judson, and Davidson, it was decided that inasmuch as to permit him to labor in the churches would virtually be taking him under Presbytcrial care as a licentiate, and as the dissemi- nation of such sentiments as he had avowed before the body had been productive of commotion and evil in many of the churches, as it so seemed to these brethren, it was therefore deemed inex- pedient to grant the request. We are glad to note the evidence that God's grace was in the heart of the three young men, and that He led them, accepted their work, and blessed them. OBERLIN PERFECTIONISM. In addition to the above, and intimately associated therewith, it was deemed necessary on the part of the Presbytery to give some expression of its position regarding those certain doctrines that were being promulgated from Oberlin. It has been generally known in this region that Dr. Finney and President Mahan — earnest, strong and worthy Christian men of the Oberlin Institute — held and freely advocated certain peculiar views in regard to sanctification. The subject itself is one that ought to interest the mind and heart of every child of God, and should be considered in the light of the clear teaching of God's Word. The doctrines entertained by these devoted men were those of " Christian Perfection " in this life, and were of the strong and extreme type of these doctrines. They had occasioned no little adverse criticism, both from Congregationalists and Pres- OBERLIN PERFECTIONISM. 113 byterians, but especially from tbe more conservative of the latter denomination. The peculiar views prevailed largely in Oberlin, and they were adopted by many of the students of the Institute and by its particular friends elsewhere ; and doubtless to a considerable extent affected, one way or another, the sur- rounding regions. Perhaps here and there an adherent of the Presbytery was disposed favorably to these erroneous views. They had been preached in some of the churches, and the preaching had not been without its influence. It w^as but natural that the Presbytery of Huron should fall under suspicion and become subject to the charge of holding the unsound doctrines which were so earnestly propagated in the immediate vicinity. This would be so especially in the minds of Old School Presbyterians, who had for some years been in doubt of the orthodoxy of this whole region. Many of this class, both near at hand and elsewhere, as well as mem- bers of other communions, did suspect the Presbytery of being in sympathy with much of the then questionable Oberlinism. This was, however, far from being the case. None were more decidedly opposed to these doctrines than those men near at hand, wdio heard and knew most of them, and saw and felt most of their effects. None were better able to judge of them by their fruits, and by knowing what they were, and then com- paring them with the Word of God, than were they ; and this the ministers of this Presbytery did. And knowing that they were regarded with suspicion, they deemed it expedient to allay the suspicion and to set themselves right before the world. They, therefore, on the 15th of April, 1841, adopted a very strong and decided paper upon these Oberlin doctrines, and ordered it to be published in the Ohio and the New York Ob- servers, thus giving the church in the land to know their true position. The paper is as follows; the preamble explains the reason of its adoption : — " Whereas, The impression exists somewhat extensively 114 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. that the Presbyteries of the Western Reserve approve of tlie peculiar doctrines inculcated in the Oberlin Institute; "And Whkkkas, This impression is known to exist with re- gard to this Presbytery in particular, within whose bounds the Institute is located ; " And, Whekeas, This Presbytery does not ai)prove of said doctrines, but regards them as contrary to the Word of God, and of dangerous tendency ; " Therefore we deem it a duty we owe to ourselves, to the churches under our care, and to the Christian community at large, to make known our sentiments in regard to them, and for this purpose we adopt the following resolutions : — " Resolved, 1st. That the doctrine of ' Perfect Holiness,' or ' Entire Sanctifi cation,' as held by the professors in the Oberlin Institute, and propagated through the Oberlin Evangelist is a dangerous error, and contrary to the Word of God. " Resolved, 2d. That the argument in support of this doctrine, from the ' New Covenant,' involves the error that every believer is perfectly sanctified at the moment of believing, and that no one is a believer who is not thus sanctified." In this resolution there is reference made to Mahan's " Chris- tian Perfection," pp. 29-35, and to the Oberlin Evangelist, vol. i, page 105. In the latter we find, as presented by Dr. Finney, in substance, his doctrine of Perfection. He refers to the Old Covenant, and maintains that it was an oufivard cove- nant ; that it was a broken covenant ; that it was designed to develop sin ; " by it is the knowledge of sin " ; and that it could not make perfect. Then he refers to the New Covenant, main- taining that it is " the effectual sanctification by the Spirit ; that it is an inward covenant, the indwelling of the Spirit of God writing the law in the heart, begetting and maintaining the very obedience required by the Old Covenant; that, while the Old was broken, the New shall not be broken by those w^ho re- ceive it ; that, while the Old was the strength of sin, the New^ is the death of sin. He quotes a great many scriptures in proof OBERLIN PERFECTIONISM. 115 of his position, such as Exekiel xxxvi, 25-27 : " Tlien will I sprinkle clean water upon 3'ou and ye shall be clean : from all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you; and I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them."' Also, Romans vi, 2 : " How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein'^ " And Gal. vi, 16 : " Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh." These scriptures, with many others of like character and force, are quoted, and then the question is asked, " What do these passages mean, if they do not teach a death to sin'! " The declaration is made that " this is not spoken of a future state of existence, but of saints in this world," and " if these passages do not contain an account of a state of entire sanctification," then Dr. Finney " believes there are none in the Bible that contain such an account, either in reference to this world, or heaven itself." Again, he says : " If these passages do not speak of a state of entire sanctification, then there are none that speak of a state of entire depravity. If to be dead in trespasses and sins is not a state of total depravity, then I do not know that total depravity is taught in the Bible. But if to be dead in sin is total de- pravity, then to be dead to sin must be total or entire holiness." This, of course, involves the error that every truly regenerate soul is perfectly holy. This was not at first the avowed belief of Dr. Finney. In his earlier preaching, even at Oberlin, he was so far from being a " Perfectionist," that he declared that he would go a hundred miles on his hands and knees to see a man that was living without sin. But the special doctrine that, in 1837-40, prevailed was, that there is a special experience, which is within the reach of any Christian, which translates him into a state of perfect sanctification. But the views advo- cated by Dr. Finney involved more than this, and eventually he avowed more than this. In defining regeneration, he says : " It implies an entire present change of moral character ; that is, a change from entire sinfulness to entire holiness." But to meet the fact wliich is clearly against him, that 116 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. if there be any regenerate souls, he would have to walk more than a hundred miles to find one of them living without sin, he gives the Obcrlin idea of wJiat ottire mticfijication is. He asks, " What do we understand by Christian Perfection, and what does the law, which is holy, just and good, require ? " These questions he thus answers : " The law does not require that we should love God as much as we should be under obligation to love him had we a perfect knowledge of all our relations ; nor in the same degree of love tliat we should have rendered had we never abused our powers by sin ; nor the same love that we might have rendered had we as much knowledge of God as we might have gained if we had always improved our time in the acquisition of knowledge." Keeping the law as might justly be expected of us in view of our actual condition and relations, in which we are at present found, this is Christian Perfection. " The New Covenant is perfection itself." But the perfection of holiness is only such a perfection as a weakened, sin-blinded, and actually erring son of man, who is, nevertheless, regenerate, can and does exhibit. The requirement of God's holy law comes down to accommodate itself to the regenerate man, so that however imperfect in fact, he may still think of himself as dead to sin in the sense of being perfectly holy. Two men, therefore, who are greatly different in Christian morality, may yet both of them be per- fectly sanctified, because one of them has been more sunken in sin and ignorance before his conversion than the other, and therefore the law cannot expect so much of him. This was in substance the doctrine of sanctification as given in the Oberlin Evangelist, a magazine started for the pur[)Ose of promulgating these views — and in Mahan's " Christian Perfection," which aroused the fathers and brethren of Huron Presbytery to say that " it involved the error that, as main- tained by the argument from the New Covenant, every be- liever is perfectly sanctified at the moment of believing, and that no one is a believer who is not thus sanctified." With the doctrine as given above — and fairly as we believe OBERLIN PERFECTIONISM. 117 — before us, we can see the reasonableness and force of the several resolutions. " Resolved, 3d. " That while the doctrine professedly aims to secure a higher standard of holiness, its legitimate effect is to lower the standard." This was assumed to be true in view of the claim that the law accommodated itself to the man. The standard lowered itself. " Besolved, 4th. That one of the most deplorable tendencies of this doctrine is to fritter down, and practically annul, the law of God as a rule of duty." Under this resolution the Oberlin Evangelist is again re- ferred to, as is also President Mahan's book. In the Evangelist we read : " The inquiry is, not what does the law demand of angels, of Adam, previous to the fall ; not what it will de- mand in a future state of existence ; not what it will demand of the Church in some future period of its history on earth, when the human constitution, by the universal prevalence of correct and thorough temperance principles, may have acquired its pristine health and powers ; but the question is, " What does the law of God require of Christians now, in all respects, in our circumstances, with all the ignorance and debility of body and mind which have resulted from the intemperance and abuse of the human constitution through so many generations ? " " The law levels its claims to us as we are, and a just expo- sition of it, as I have already said, under all the present circumstances of our being, is indispensable to a right appre- hension of what constitutes entire sanctification." Dr. Finney here adds : " To be sure, there may be danger of frittering away the claims of the law, and letting down the standard." And then he goes on to answer, so that the Pres- bytery have partl}^ but used his own words in their objections to the doctrine. " Resolved, 5th, That the sentiment held in connection with this doctrine, that the testimony of consciousness is sufficient 118 HISTORY OF HURON PREHBYTERY. evidence in a particular case of tlie actual attainment of entire sanctitication, is false and tends directly to oj)en the floodgates of licentiousness and fanaticism." Dr. Finney had said, that, " With the law of God before us as our standard, the testimony of consciousness, in regard to whether the mind is conformed to that standard or not, is the highest evidence which the mind can have of a present state of conformity to that rule. It is a testimony which we cannot doubt an}^ more than we can doubt our existence." If this be so, then consciousness becomes the umpire, and the man relying upon it may feel satisfied with himself, and assert his claim to perfection. The probability is that some cases of looseness of habit and fanaticism had been witnessed by the members of the Presbytery. At any rate they thought tliat such would be the legitimate result of the sentiment. " Resolved, 6th, That the principle of interpreting the prom- ises, assumed by the advocates of this doctrine, is a virtual de- nial of the doctrine of special grace, and the saints' j-tersever- ance." The reference here is to a sermon by Dr. Finney, on the text, " Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall," in which his language is calculated to leave an impression that he makes too little of the doctrine of special grace. He is often nearer the truth than he seems to be. In his closing remarks in this sermon he presses to an ap- parent extreme the idea that no Christian, nor saint, nor angel in Heaven, can ever be in a state of unconditional justification, and that the conditions are wholly with the creature. He does not mean to ignore the grace of God, for he claims in all his teaching that the new covenant is God's Spirit in us. But he leaves the idea of special grace, back of all that the man does, too much out of sight, while urging the conditions of justifica- tion, of a state of grace and of final perseverance. He says of those who have had the idea that some promise of Christ would keep them, and who have afterwards fallen into sin, and who consequently have been discouraged and OBERLIN PERFECTI0NIS3I. 119 have been tempted to entertain thoughts of doubt, that " mis- understanding the promise, and leaving out of view the con- dition, was the foundation of the assumption that Christ was pledged for your perseverance in holiness. You expected of Christ what he never promised, except upon a condition that you have not fulfilled." The truth in all this is perfectly clear. Alas for the Christian who forgets the conditions, to watch, to pray, and to take heed lest he fall ! But the sermon goes on : " To this view of the subject it has been objected that, if this is true, the promises of the gospel amount only to this, that Christ will keep us if ive ivill keep our- selves. To this I answer : That in a very important sense this is true. I have formerly felt this objection strongly myself, and was strongly inclined to, and even entertained, an opposite opinion. What, I asked, can the promises of the gospel mean nothing more than this, ' I ivill keep him who will keep himself?^ Much consideration and prayer, with searching the Word of God, have led me to the conviction that this is the exact truth, and this opinion is in exact keeping with the whole providen- tial government of God. So that He saves only those who will save themselves. Nor does this in the least degree set aside or depreciate the grace of God ; nor at all deny or set aside any correct idea of the sovereignty of God ; nor does it touch the question of the perseverance of the saints." It was certainly not Dr. Finney's thought to deny special grace, nor the saints' perseverance. But as he used language which was extra -Scriptural when he said, while seeking to impress the duty of observing the conditions of blessing, that " Christ ivill save only those who will save themselves,^' and placed in the background the grace of God toward his elect, it ap- peared to the members of Huron Presbytery that he was virtually denying these great doctrines. " Resolved, 7th. That the views held in connection with this doctrine, respecting the carnal nature of man, are calculated greatly to diminish a sense of the evil of sin, and to lead men 120 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. to place undue reliance on mere bodily austerities for its removal." It is probable that in the excited state of the church in tlie neighborhood, and of some in the ministry, this resolution would have more, from conversations and from some sermons, to give it validity than would appear from anything written by either President Mahan or Dr. Finney. Yqt there are refer- ences to utterances by the latter in the Evangelist. We find such as these : " All sin then does just so much towards crip- pling and curtailing the powers of body and mind, and ren- dering them, by just so much, incapable of performing the service they might otherwise have rendered." " Perfect sanctification does not imply the same strength of holy affections that Adam may have exercised before he fell and his powers were debilitated by sin. It should never be for- gotten that the mind, in this state of existence, is wholly dependent upon the brain and physical system for its devel- opment. For myself I have very little doubt that the human constitution is capable of being very nearly, if not entirely, renovated from the evils of intemperance by a right under- standing of, and an adherence to, the laws of life and health. If this is so, the time may come when obedience to the law of God, will imply as great strength and constancy of affection as Adam was capable of exercising before the fall. But if not, then no sucli thing is implied in perfect sanctification as was to be expected of Adam." He blames the body for the sin in the world, and for much of the backsliding of Christians. He says he never made any perceptible advance in real piety himself, until his ill health turned his mind to look at the physical causes of spiritual bondage. He says : " I am fully convinced that the flesh has more to do with the backsliding of Christians than either the world or the devil." He asks : " Is it not true that the ignorance and silence of 0 BERLIN PERFECTIONISM. 121 the ministry in respect to the influence of the flesh, and the means of keeping the body under and bringing it into subjection are leaving the church quietly to slumber over these inevitable causes of backsliding ? " " Almost every person, whether he is aware of it or not, is in a greater or less degree a dyspeptic, and suflering under some form of disease arising out of intemperance. And I would humbly ask. Is it understood and proclaimed by ministers, that a person can no more expect healthy manifestations of mind in a fit of dyspepsia than in a fit of intoxication ? " Who can doubt the importance and truth of much of this. The difficulty is, that when brought in in connection with the doctrine of entire sanctification, and when the weakness of the body and the constitutional infirmities of a man are presented as a reason why the law of God has no right to require very much of him, and when the man is told that, yet, far short as he may come of being what Adam may have been, he may still regard himself as perfectly holy; when this is the case, it seems to the members of the Presbytery that such views, in this connection were calculated to diminish the sense of the evil of sin, and to lead men to place undue reliance on mere bodily austerities for its removal. Remove the bodily infirmity and the way to Heaven will be easy. Subdue the body and be holy. " Resolved, 8th. That the views expressed on justification are contrary to the Scriptural and Protestant doctrine of justifica- tion by faith, and necessarily involve the doctrine that man is not justified by faith alone, but by works." The doctrine of justification by faith alone, which was the doctrine of the members of the Presbytery, the Protestant doc- trine, was that whenever one truly believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, he was pardoned, justified by faith. They would refer to such scriptures as these to sustain their views : " He that believeth is not condemned," '' There is now therefore no con- demnation to them that are in Christ Jesus," " A man is justi- fied by faith without the deeds of the law," " Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every man that believeth," etc. 122 IIISTOIIY OF IlUnOX I'RESnYTEUY. Dr. Finney, however, in the sermon before referred to on the text, " Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall," uses some remarkable language, as it appeared to these brethren. He says, " No one act of faith, nor any other exer- cise, can render salvation from sin or hell unconditionally cer- tain." This certainly would be true if there was to be but one act, and nothing more ; but he proceeds : " Sanctification, justi- fication, and final salvation are all put upon the same ground, and it cannot be true that men are justified any farther than they are sanctified; or that they are, or ever can be, saved any farther than they are cleansed from sin. Gospel justification is generally defined to be pardon and acceptance ; but can a soul be pardoned any farther than he is penitent or obedient? The distinction that is commonly made, then, between instantaneous justification and progressive sixnctification must be without foun- dation." Dr. Finney uses the above remarkable language, when he might have said, consistently wdtli the Bible, and with his own preaching before this time, and with his declaration after this time, that whosoever believeth, and just when he believeth, on the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved. He said, a few years afterward that " regeneration implied an entire present change of moral character ; that is, a change from entire sinfulness to entire holiness." And certainly where there is the one act of real faith, saving faith, there is regeneration. Here, however, in the above declarations he appears, to the members of Huron Presbytery, to involve the denial of the Scriptural and Protestant doctrine of justification by faith, and he certainly does. He advocates a doctrine of justification through sanctification. A man must be purified before he can be pardoned and accepted. If this be true, then holiness must come before forgiveness. " Resolved, 9th. That much of what is claimed as new by the advocates of these peculiar views is nothing else than what our orthodox churches have ever received as most important truth, particularly in reference to the promises of the Gospel and the possibility of attaining perfection ; and that the blending of ORERLIN PERFECTIONISM. 123 these old and admitted truths with their novelties, in the man- ner done by them, is uncandid and unfair, and is calculated greatly to mislead the popular mind. " Resolved, 10th. That we have the lamentable evidence of the evils resulting from tlie Oberlin doctrines, measures, and spirit in the divisions and strifes they have occasioned in many of our churches, and in their tendency to unsettle the minds of Christians in regard to some of the most important doctrines of the Gospel, to break the established and wholesome rules of church order, and to destroy pastoral relations. " 11th. That it is inconsistent for any one holding these sen- timents to call himself a Presbyterian or a Congregationalist of the New England stamp ; and that it is inexpedient for this body to receive such into its connection. " 12th. That those members of our churches and ministers of this body who hold these doctrines ought, as honest men and Christians, peacefully to leave these bodies and unite with those whose sentiments harmonize with their own. " 13th. That Presbytery deem it inexpedient that the churches under its care should employ those ministers who are known to entertain these sentiments." Thus boldly and pointedly did Huron Presbytery come up to the defense of its own churches and its doctrine, repudiating, as the exigencies seemed to demand, doctrines which they re- garded unscriptural and injurious. There was in the body, so far as recorded, no direct opposi- tion to the views expressed in these resolutions — no denial of the facts or disagreement regarding the doctrines held. There was, however, a minority protest, signed by three ministers, L. H. Loss, John Monteith, and J. A. Hart, and by six others. Homer Johnson, Samuel Moss, Hiram Hall, Ch. L. Cook, I. Curtis, and Jacob Minton. The grounds of this protest were, that the resolutions were personal ; that they specified the insti- tution and the individuals who taught the repudiated doc- trines ; that there was danger that their action would be attrib- uted to party hostility and intolerance ; that one or more of 124 HISTOItY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. the persons specially pointed out were nieinl)ers of the Presby- tery, and that they were thus advised to leave the body on penalty of forfeiting their reputation as honest men and as Christians ; and that thus their judicial condemnation was forestalled wdiile as yet no charges had been tabled and no opportunity given for self-defense ; and finally, that while they believed in free discussion of all doctrines, they yet thought it wrong to make the discussion the vehicle of reproach and scandal to those who differ with us by publishing sentence against them without giving the documents condemned a fair and extensive examination. These protestants claimed, furthermore, in the outstart of their protest, that they themselves had presented a paper, as a substitute for the one passed by the body, which would have covered the whole ground to be covered, without the admission of any of these objectionable features. They had, in the fear that trouble in the churches would re- sult from the adoption of the paper proposed, presented to the body a substitute. It was a very brief one, stating the impres- sion that was abroad concerning the Presbytery, and then de- claring the doctrine of perfect and permanent holiness in this life to be unscriptural and of dangerous tendency, and that, in opposition to this doctrine and its affiliated errors, they con- tinued to adhere steadfastly to their own standards. This was a repudiation of the false doctrine, and yet it seemed to the majority that the public interest, the reputation of the Presbytery, the good of the churches, and the circum- stances required something more full, strong, and pointed than this. They postponed the adoption of the majority paper to hear and consider this one, and then, having adopted the for- mer, they admitted the latter to a place on the records. It had at least the virtues of honesty, plausibility, and reason in several respects. The body deemed it worthy of a reply. Messrs. A. H. Betts, E. Judson, and H. Brown, as committee, reported the reply which was adopted. They declare that they felt it needful to OBERLIN PERFECTIONISM. 125 answer the protest because it was the first time such a document had ever been put upon their records, which had exhibited for so long a time the most perfect harmony of sentiment among the members, and because the protest was calculated to leave a wrong impression upon those who might read it. They say that those not acquainted with the facts might be- lieve that the substitute was sufficient to meet the exigencies of the case ; but that which did not aim directly at the point where the difficulty existed surel}'^ could not meet it. Such a disclaimer, they say, might have given relief to those who were in doubt of the orthodoxy of the Presbytery, but it would have been impotent against those who have so often blinded the minds of the churches by professing to hold doctrines which were but little, if any, different from our own standards. They did not presume to judge unwarrantably any member of the body ; but, if there were any who held to doctrines so erroneous, they thought it but Christian honesty that they peaceably withdraw. They did not want any, as they seem to think there had been such, who would mislead the people by claiming that the views they preached were in harmony with the stand- ards, when they were not, to continue within the Presbyterial jurisdiction. They did not specify any of their own number as holding these false doctrines, but they evidently had a point in view besides merely satisfying those who were in doubt of the orthodoxy of the Presbytery. They wished to pass resolu- tions that would not be impotent at home if there were an un- sound member or two. They would say to such, " You ought, in justice to yourselves and to our churches, to leave us in peace." In the cases where the resolutions adopted were per- sonal, reference is made to published and acknowledged docu- ments, and to men who counted it their honor that they held the repudiated sentiments. Such men should take no offense. Therefore, the Presbytery had but little fear that any, who looked at the facts and the whole transaction, would give credit to the cry of persecution, or party spirit, or hostility. As for the churches, it was desirable that they understand what the 126 HISTOIiV OF HURON PRESBYTERY. false doctrines were, in what respects they were false, whence they had been i)roniulgated, and to be put on their guard against them. Therefore it was deemed necessary by the ma- jority of the body to give full and pointed expression to the whole subject. The main difference between the majority and the minority was one of prudence and expediency, rather than of doctrinal view or sentiment. These views regarding entire sanctification were helping to draw the lines, in this part of the Reserve, between the Pres- bytery and the Association. Such views could stand and be tolerated in the Association, while they could not be encour- aged in the Presbytery. We therefore observe that, within a short space of time, several of the ministers — Rev. J. J. Ship- herd and Rev. H. Cowles — transfer their relations from tlie latter to the former, and they went without any sense of stain upon their good name in any direction. It appears but just to Oberlin, and the great and good men who have held sway there, and». those who are to-day standing in her gates, that the following lines, from the pen of President Fairchild, should be inserted here. He says : " These views (of sanctification) were held forth as something new — not in the sense that they were not apostolic or scriptural, but in the sense that they had been lost sight of in the general teachings and experience of the Church. The Christian community generally received them as something not only new, but as false and mischievous ; and thus a discussion arose, and spread far and wide, and warnings and testimonies against error were uttered by leading men and by presbyteries, on the subject of the ' Oberlin heresy,' and for years it was a question whether the Oberlin Church and Oberlin men should liave a recognized standing witli any religious body in the land. The pressure from without tended to the establishment of an Oberlin sect. This tendency was wisely resisted here. It was thought better to accept, for the present, mere toleration, and wait for the future and God's providence to bring a heartier fellowship. OBERLIN PERFECTIONISM. 127 That day came at length, either from a change here or abroad, or, as is most probable, from a better understanding on both sides. " The visible impulse of the movement to a great extent ex- pended itself within the first few years. The special experi- ences connected with it became less prominent and less sought after. Those who had enjoyed these experiences, especially those whose characters commanded most confidence, seldom alluded to them as peculiar, or as separating them from the great body of Christian people. Their views of the gospel were enriched and they could speak of a living and present Saviour, because they had seen him and felt his power. Those who went out as preachers under the impulse of fresh experience, came at length to see that the old gospel contained their message, and they found it more useful to present the present and living Saviour than to set forth sanctification as a special theory or special experience. " So far as I am informed, not one among them all continued for any length of time to be recognized as a preacher of these special views. They did not repudiate their former views, and have never done so ; but they probably found them less diver- gent than th6y supposed from the common faith. They could preach the truth as it is in Jesus more effectively than by giving to their doctrine the odor of Christian perfection or the higher life. Whatever the motive that operated, the result was as has been stated. " At home, if I have not misapprehended the case, there came to be less confidence in the style of Christian culture involving a special experience, which the movement intro- duced. It became more and more a matter of doubt whether the seeking of sanctification as a special experience was, on the whole, to be encouraged ; and it was not in general an occasion of satisfaction when a young man gave himself up to seek ' the blessing; ' and when he obtained what seemed to him to be the thing he sought, there came to be less confidence that he had made substantial progress. It was found that such experiences were not always associated with the most stable and symmetri- 128 HISrORY OF HJ'RON PRESBYTKKV. cal character. Indeed, if I have rightly observed, it came at length to be the fact, more than at first, that persons of less balanced character were more likely to share in the special ex- perience. " It soon appeared that persons who had not partaken of the peculiar experience in its extensive forms were just as earnest and effective Christian workers in the different departments of Christian labor as those who were supposed to be especially ftivored." BENEVOLENCE AND KNOWLEDGE. During these several years the Presbytery was not only en- gaged in trying offenders, and warning against unsound doctrine, but also was seeking courageously to help the churches and people up to higher ground in the way of actual progress. The subject of benevolence comes under notice. It was felt to be desirable to bring the churches up to the idea of intelli- gent, systematic, and harmonious efforts to promote the in- terests of the several benevolent societies which were recognized and aided by the Presbytery. It was also thought to be greatly important to diffuse relig- ious knowledge. This they would do by supplying the desti- tute with the Bible; and they would introduce for the help of families, congregations, and Sabbath-schools, libraries of stand- ard religious books. They did not run after light works of fiction, but sought for such works as would instruct in the great doctrines of divine truth. They wished to promote in any way they could the disposition of the people to read, not only the Bible, but good, wholesome, solid religious literature. They always, in their acts and deliverances, had an eye to the diffusion of knowledge. A properly religiously educated people they said, would be likely before all others, to make sub- stantial and exemplary Christians and citizens. And for this purpose nothing is better than good books. Along with this was the desire to encourage and aid the feeble churches in sustaining pastors. This no Presbytery can OBERLIN PERFECTIONISM. 129 afford to lose sight of. Feeble churches must be expected to help themselves, to do their duty in the matter of securing and paying for the means of grace. The grace itself no man can pay for, nor is expected to. It is forever free. But the means the people must seek to secure. Yet without help such churches often become discouraged ; they feel the want of sympathy, and sometimes they are left to pine away and die, when help at a proper time would have nursed them into a self-supporting life. These ministers and elders said : " We will encourage and aid such churches in securing the ministry of the Word," and they said they would encourage the stronger churches to raise funds for the American Home Missionary Society, and for the benevolent organizations of the Church. Of course they would not discourage the weaker ones from contributing also. An appropriate committee was appointed to take all these desires into consideration, and to devise such means, and measures as would most likely secure these objects. They were authorized to establish, if possible, a depository of Bibles and standard religious books, and to employ an agent to pre- sent the objects aimed at to the churches and individuals. In addition to all this, about this time — 1840-1841 — a very strong and valuble paper is adopted by the body on the subject of Temperance, and another on the Sabbath, both of which papers will be found further on in this volume, as well as a decision upon the subject of Baptism. CHAPTER Vr. FROM 1842 TO 1844. Notwithstanding the trying circumstances recorded in the foregoing chapter, the work of the ministers and churches pro- gressed. They mainly held together, and the body pursued its way as a New School Presbytery under the Plan of Union. A DISSATISFIED NEW MEMBER. We have said that occasionally a new man, either a Congre- gationalist or a Presbyterian, would manifest dissatisfaction with the government of this body and would long for other realms. It was in the year 1843 that one of tliese men, a Presbyte- rian this time, with the ism in his very blood, came from a region where the Plan of Union did not exist, and, perplexed at finding a Constitution for the Presbytery distinct from the one in the " Assembly's Confession of Faith," and not a little dissatisfied with the fact, he raised the following question : " Is the Constitution of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in force in this Presbytery any further than it coincides with the Constitution and rules of this body? If so, what parts of the Presbyterian Book of Doctrine, Government, and Discipline are in force, and what are not? " This question seems to have been surcharged with motive. It meant, doubtless, more than was on the surface of the words. It could not well be ignored, as no doubt the spirit of the inquirer was good ; and so, to satisfy the brother, it was referred to a committee, of which Rev. E. Judson was the chairman. They were to report at the next stated meeting. They did so, and their view of the difficulty was adopted by the Presbytery, as 130 A DISSATISFIED NEW 3IEMBER. 131 follows : " The Presbytery of Huron was organized originally in accordance with the Plan of Union, and possesses a mixed character, partly Presbyterian and partly Congregational. Its Constitution was adopted with reference to the mixed charac- ter of the body. This Constitution was submitted to the Synod of Pittsburgh, as a superior judicatory, and approved by them. It hence became a law, and, so far as any of its precepts con- travene the law of the Synod, or of the General Assembly with which that Synod was connected, they had become supe- rior to that law, their approval by the Synod amounting, to the Presbytery, virtually to a repeal of such rules as contravene our Constitution." If the minister who raised the question was, as we have sup- posed, an uncompromising Presbyterian, holding the laws of the General Assembly as binding before all other rules, he would not be greatly comforted as a member of Presbytery with this answer. Yet he could not but regard it as a plain answer. It simply stated the facts as they had been in exist- ence since the organization of the body and the approval of its Constitution by the Synod of Pittsburgh. The Presbytery was a compromise. It compromised the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church with Congregationalism. That was sim- ply what the Plan of Union was — a compromise. The Sjmod endorsed the act. It could not then do otherwise. The Gen- eral Assembly, itself, had prepared the way in its promulgation of the Plan. The Presbytery wanted to be Presbyterian. It was so mainly. It did not lose sight of the General Assembly, of the Westminster Confession of Faith, or of the Book of Discipline. But it did regard the terms of the Plan of Union as so binding, and their own relations and environments as so peculiar, that where there might seem to be any conflict or dif- ference between the strictly Presbyterian rules and those re- quired by the Plan of Union, the Presbyterian rules had to give way. They simply felt that they could not help that. It was only when a new member looked at all the facts, and duly considered the mixed state of things, that he could under- 182 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. stand the Constitution for the cliurclies and the Constitution for the Presbytery, and know where he was standing and what was to be expected of him, that is, especially, if he was a Presby- terian. Yet in all these years it is interesting to notice how ministers were occasionally dropping off from Presbytery to the Association, and how, once in a while, a church would go also. A natural process was bringing about a change. Congrega- tionalists were finding their own place, and the Presbytery of Huron was finding less and less trouble with the Plan of Union, and was becoming more strictly Presbyterian. UNSATISFACTORY CONSTITUTIONS. Occasionally, in the history of this body, we have found cases of newly organized churches seeking to be under the care of the Presbytery which had adopted very unsatisfactor}'^ Con- stitutions. Such churches had invariably to be visited by a committee and their Constitution corrected before their names could be enrolled. We have already named several of such cases. In April, 1843, the Church of Margaretta made application for reception ; but the above-named difficulty was in the way of a favorable reply. The church was requested to adopt the formula prepared by the Presbytery. For some reason there was delay in this, and the enrollment did not take place for some time afterward — September, 1845. CHANGES IN 1842. During this year the church of Freedom was added to the roll of churches, having been organized during the latter part of 1841 or in the early part of 1842. It had twelve members, and was reported to Presbytery April 13th, when it was received under care of the body. HURON DIVIDED; ELYBIA FORMED. 133 At the same time the church of Pennfield withdrew. June 1st the name of Rev. Ebenezer Sperry was added from the SufReld South Association, Mass. June 28th the Rev. J. P. Cowles was received from the Wor- cester Association, Mass. The following ministers were dismissed : Rev. E. Scott, April 13th, to the Presbytery of Grand River ; Rev. Joseph Edwards April 13th, to the Western Reserve Association ; Rev. S. Ste- vens, May 31st, to the Presbytery of Cleveland; the Rev. J. H. Francis, September 14th, to the Hartford South Association. DEATHS. Rev. David Higgins died on the 19th of June, and the Rev. Lyman Barrett on the 13th of September. INSTALLATIONS AND DISSOLUTIONS. Rev. J. B. Parline was installed pastor of the Monroeville Church, June 1st. Rev. E. Conger was installed pastor of Ply- mouth Church, May 31st. R.ev. E. Sperry pastor of the Peru Church, June 28th. The pastoral relation between Rev. B. B. Judson and the church of Ruggles was dissolved on the 31st of May. HURON DIVIDED ; ELYRIA FORMED. When the Presbyteries of Lorain and Maumee had been ' added to Huron the whole length of this body was not less than 120 miles — too large for reasonable convenience. So, early as 1842, a desire was therefore expressed, and carried to the Synod, to divide it again. The Synod, accordingly, at its meeting on September 25th of the above year, did erect a new Presbytery, taking from Huron the county of Lorain, together with the eastern range 134 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. of townships of Erie and Huron counties, and tliey gave the new body the name of THE PRESBYTERY OF ELYRIA. By this act Huron Presbytery was decreased by tliirteen minis- ters, namely : X. Betts, J. Monteith, N. W. St. John, E. Barber, A. H. Betts, F. H. Brown, E. J. Leavenworth, D. W. Lathrop, J. Cochran, James Ellis, O. Eastman, A. R. Clarke, and J. P. Cowles. These all went to the Presbytery of Elyria, and with them went also ten churches, namely : Columbia, Ridgeville, Rochester, Charleston, Amherst, Elyria, Brownhelm, Welling- ton, Amherstville, and West Millgrove. This change left the Presbytery of Huron with seventeen ministers and twenty-nine churches. The church of Grafton had been dismissed to the care of the Medina Presbytery, Pennfield had retired, and Hartford had been dissolved. REV. HUBBARD LAURENCE. At the meeting of the body, April 11, 1843, the roll was accordingly corrected, and almost the first act done thereafter was to receive Mr. Hubbard Laurence, a licentiate of the Pres- bytery of Dayton. Mr. Laurence is the only name now among us who can date his connection with the Presbytery so far back. When the Presbytery of Maumee was erected he fell to that body, but afterward again found his place in Huron, where, though not now a member, he is frequently yet seen, support- ing a green old age, and showing that he has still an interest in the Lord's cause and kingdom. On the 16th of May Rev. C. L. Watson was received from the Presbytery of Galena, who also went out at the erection of Maumee. April 11th Rev. H. Smith had been received from the Eastern Association of Michigan. PRESBYTERY OF MAUMEE ERECTED. 135 On the 4th of January, 1843, the church of Sherman was organized, and that of Montgomery near the same time. The names of both were enrolled at the April meeting. PRESBYTERY OF MAUMEE ERECTED. It was felt that the Presbytery of Huron was still too large, and at the first meeting in 1843 a proposition was made to ask the Synod again to divide the body. On the 13th of September a committee previously appointed reported an overture, which was adopted, asking the Synod to divide the Presbytery of Huron so as to form a new Presbytery, including in it all the ministers and churches belonging to Huron west of the west line of Seneca and Sandusky counties, to be called the Presbytery of Maumee. The Synod at its next meeting, in Cleveland, on the 22d day of September, in accordance with this petition, did authorize and direct the erection of the Presbytery of Maumee. After this change the Presbytery of Huron was reduced to its present boundaries almost. It then embraced the counties of Huron and Erie, except the eastern range of town- ships in these two counties, and the counties of Ottawa, Sandusky, and Seneca. This has been substantially its dimen- sions ever since. The only change since made was in 1866, when, at the dissolution of the Presbytery of Elj^ria, the eastern range of townships in Erie and Huron Counties were again added. This was done, however, without adding anything to the number of churches, except those of Birmingham, Florence, Ruggles, and Vermillion ; and these have since all, with several others, gone to the Association, as Congregationalism has possessed the field in those townships. Several churches were added in 1870, but they were all churches within the county of Seneca, already in the territory of the Presbytery. The extent of the Presbytery is now about fifty miles east and west, by about twenty-five or thirty miles north and south. 136 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. RESULTS IN MINISTERS AND CHURCHES. With the Presbytery of Maumee, at its organization, there went from Huron five ministers, namely, Joseph Badger, B. Woodbury, C. L. Watson, Isaac Van Tassel, E. R. Tucker, and with these was one licentiate, Hubbard Laurence. Rev. Joseph Badger was one of the first two ministers who preached in the Western Reserve, one of the first who ever preached in the territory of Huron Presbytery, and he was one of the first who ever preached in the vicinity of Fremont. His name has some connection with a number of churches and a number of presbyteries. To Maumee there were also set off the following seven churches, namely, Maumee, Defiance, Plain, Toledo, Waterville, Montgomery, and Freedom. There were then left to Huron, April 9, 1844, after the reception on that day of Rev. Marcus Palmer, fifteen ministers, namely, T. Kennan, E. Conger, E. P. Sperry, S. W. Barrett, E. Judson, F. Fitch, A. Newton, J. B. Parlin, H. Smith, J. C. Sherwin, S. Dunton, J. A. Hart, L. H. Loss, B. B. Judson, and Marcus Palmer. There were, at the same date, eighteen churches, namely, Plymouth, Greenfield, Milan, Huron, Berlin, Attica, Lower Sandusky, Lyme, Bloom, Norwalk, Sandusky, Fitchville, Eden, Bronson, Monroeville, Peru, Ripley, and Sherman. Besides these were five other churches, whose relation to the Presbytery at that time seems to have been somewhat uncertain. These were Tiffin, Maxville, Margaretta, Green Creek, and Scott. Of these Margaretta (Castalia) was received under care of the Presbytery, February 9, 1845. Green Creek, Maxville, and Scott drop out; and Tiffin again, in April, 1845, returns — to be again in a few years lost to this Presbytery. CHAPTER VII. FROM 1844 TO 1860. The Presbytery, now settled to the five counties of Huron, Erie, Ottawa, Sandusky, and Seneca, minus the eastern range of townships in Huron and Erie counties, begins its new era with fifteen ministers, eighteen churches, and fourteen hundred and twenty-six communicants. On the 10th of April, 1844, Mr. H. S. Taylor, a licentiate of the Presbytery of Portage, was duly received, and, after the usual examinations and trial exercises, he was, on the day following, ordained as an evangelist to go as a missionary to India. On the same 10th of April Rev. Marcus Palmer was received into the body. He came satisfactorily, though somewhat irregularly. He had no letter from the body to which he had belonged, that body having ceased to exist. It was known as the Cherokee Association. Mr. Palmer had been a missionary among the Indians. In the absence of the usual letter he gave satisfactory testimonials of his ordination and ministerial char- acter, and he assented to the questions proposed to candidates for ordination, and was accordingly received. At the same time Rev. Merrit Harmon was received from the Presbytery of Ontario. On the 17th of April Mr. Gould C. Judson, licentiate, was received from the New London Association, and on the 11th of September his license was renewed. This renewal became necessary by virtue of a resolution, which was made part of the Constitution of the body, adopted in the April preceding : " That every license hereafter granted to any individual to preach the Gospel shall expire by its own 137 138 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. limitation within two years from its date, to be renewed or not at the discretion of the Presbytery, the same rule in substance to apple to licentiates coming from other ecclesiastical bodies." On the lltli of April, 1844, the pastoral relation existing between Rev. J. A. Hart and the church of Sandusky was dis- solved, and Mr. Hart was dismissed to the Presbytery of Medina. On the 8th of May the relation between Rev. F. Fitch and the church of Lower Sandusky was dissolved. On the 10th of September Rev. L. Loss was dismissed to the Beloit District Association. 1845. An unusual number of new members were received during the year 1845. On the 8th of April Rev. H. C. Dubois, who had been per- mitted the year previous to labor among the churches, was received from the Presbytery of Angelica. On the 10th of September five others were received, namely, Rev. Moses H. Wilder, from the Presbytery of Medina ; Rev. .John W. Whipple, from the Presbytery of Marion ; Rev. .James Campbell, from the Presbytery of New Lisbon ; Rev. Erastus Cole, from the Presbytery of Medina ; and Rev. Leverett Hull, from the Presbytery of Angelica. There were, however, four dismissals to other bodies. On the 8th of April Rev. Marcus Palmer, to the Presbytery of Elyria ; September 9th Rev. S. Dunton, to the Presbytery of Troy ; September 20th Rev. F. Fitch, to the Presbytery of Cleveland ; October 14th Rev. S. W. Barrett, to the Presbytery of Cleveland. Mr. Barrett was at the same time released from the pastorate of the church of Lyme. On the 19th of September Licentiate G. C. Gould was dis- missed to the Presbytery of Medina. REV. B. B. JUDSON DIES— 1846. 139 REV. B. B. JUDSON DIES. This brother had reported himself as having been for four years unable to work, and with little hope of ever being able, on account of ill-health, again to engage in the service of the ministry. He asked to be retired and that his name be dropped from the roll. This request raised the question of the right to " demit the ministry." A committee, consisting of Messrs. Newton, Coe, and Brooks, was appointed to consider some appropriate action. They re- ported, in due time, " that the subject presented a new question, involving important principles of Presbyterian order, and one in which it was desirable that there should be harmony of views among our several Presbyteries." The subject was, there- fore, referred to Synod for consideration and decision. Mr. Judson, however, in a short time was removed by death, and the subject ceased to have any personal importance. The death of Mr. Judson occurred in the early part of the year 1846. His brethren testified to his worth as a member of Presbytery, to his influential life, and his peaceful death, as sustained by the grace of God. 1846. Rev. A. K. Barr was received from the Presbytery of Rich- land April 4th. Mr. Sanford R. Bissell was, on the 29th of July, received as a candidate for the Gospel ministry from the Presbytery of Cincinnati, and was licensed to preach upon the same day. Mr, H. N. Bissell, licentiate, was received from the Presby- tery of Portage on the 14th of April, and on the first day of December he was ordained and installed pastor of the church of Lyme. Rev. Erastus Cole was installed pastor of the church of Huron May 19th. The pastoral relation between Rev. E. P. Sperry and the church of Peru was dissolved April 14th. 140 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. May 19th Mr. George Bigbee, who had gone into other business, returned his license to preach and ceased to have any relation to the Presbytery. December 1st Rev. James Campbell was dismissed to the Presbytery of Marion. 1847. In this year there occurred the following dismissals: — Rev. M. H. Wilder went to the Suffolk South Association, Mass., January 26th. Rev. J. N. Whipple to the Presbytery of Marion, April 14th, and on the 20th of October Rev. J. Crawford, who had passed through a judicial trial by the Presbytery, and who had been censured and admonished, was now a second time charged with the neglect of both public and family worship and with violating the Sabbath. In this state of affairs he asked per- mission to resign his ministerial office and obtained the permission, and his name was dropped from the roll. SYNODIC AL EXCEPTIONS IN MR. CRAWFORD'S CASE. To the above action, in quietly permitting Rev. J. Crawford to retire, exception was taken by the Synod, " as discharging a minister from his ordination vows without regular process, while gross delinquencies were admitted." It was a just exception. It was in violation of the require- ments of the Book of Discipline to release Mr. Crawford without trial, and it was against the judgment of the Presbytery as expressed at other times ; and yet it was a case which was not so easy of solution. Mr. Crawford admitted the facts in each charge, but plead justification, his ill health being his chief ground of self-exculpation. What was the Presbytery to do? They were not sure the thing to do was to try him on his own confession and then silence him. They were not content that things in his case should go on as they had been going for several years, while he was in reality already outside of the ministry. PRESBYTEBIAL CHANGES IN J84S. 141 The shortest way, and surely the easiest, was to let him go, as he wished, and this was what they did. The apparent probabilities are that it would have been legitimate, and not very uncharitable, to have taken the due process of discipline and then to have retired Mr. Crawford from the ministry. There could have been no Synodical exception to that. RESUME. April 14, 1847, Rev. J. B. Parlin had the relation between himself and the church of Monroeville dissolved. January 26th Rev. Jonathan Cochran was received from the Presbytery of Elyria. April 14th Rev. F. Putnam was received from the Presbytery of Mansfield. Same day Rev. C. M. Ransom was received from the same body, and also Mr. J. M. Hays, a licentiate, was received from the Presbytery of Portage. He was ordained and installed at Peru October 5th. Mr. Flavel S. White, a licentiate, was received from the Presbytery of Portage September 7th, and on the 20th of October he was ordained, and installed at Fremont. October 5th Rev. L. A. Sawyer was received from the Presbytery of Franklin. PRESBYTERIAL CHANGES IN 1848. Changes were made in this year by the following receptions, dismissals, and deaths : — February 15th Rev. N. W. Fisher was received from the Presbytery of Geneva. April 4th Rev. A. D. Chapman from the Presbytery of Franklin. Rev. N. W. Fisher was, on the day of his reception, installed pastor of the Congregational church of Sandusky. On the 29th of June Rev. C. N. Ransom was installed at Republic. On the 4th of April the pastoral relation between Rev. E. Conger and the church of Plymouth was dissolved. 142 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. On the 15tli of February Ilev. E. P. Sperry was dismissed to the Presbytery of Elyria. REV. EVERTON JUDSON DIES— MEMORIAL. On the 20th of August, 1848, Rev. Everton Judson passed by death from the Church militant to the Church triumphant. In a brief memorial prepared by Messrs. Newton and Conger, the Presbytery, " while bowing in profound submission to that Divine Providence whose ways are past finding out, most deeply deplore the event which had removed from them a warm-hearted friend, a judicious counselor, an able advocate of the truth, and a faithful fellow-laborer in the work of the ministry." Mr. Judson was one of the interesting and useful men of the Presbytery. He was characterized hy great earnestness in whatever he undertook, and by a rich, beautiful, land child-like faith in his blessed Redeemer. He had been a member of the Presbytery for nineteen years, and had been one of the most active and influential men in the body. He was greatly helpful in educational work, and was identified in each of the special efforts of the Presbytery in this direction. He was also one of the most efficient of pastors, and was a man of more than ordinary power in revival work. His own church, at Milan, passed through a succession of interesting and deep works of grace during his pastorate. And as the Presbj^terial Academy w^as in Milan, and under the special oversight of Mr. Judson, there is no doubt that many of the students were there blessed of God and fitted to enter upon lives of great usefulness as the result. Four years after his death, in 1852, a biography, containing over two hundred pages, was published by E. P. Barrows, giving a full history of the man and his work. In 1876 his warm personal friend. Rev. A. Newton, D.D., gave to the Presbytery a briefer sketch, wdiich we deem worthy PRESBYTERIAL CHANGES IN 184S. 143 of being a part of this history. We therefore transcribe it without alteration. He says : — " Intimately associated in the history of this Presbytery with the name of E. Conger is that of Everton Judson. He was born in Woodbury, Connecticut, December 8, 1799. Trained by pious parents, he became a member of the Church at the age of twenty -one years. Wishing to qualify himself for more extensive usefulness, he resolved on obtaining an education. Endowed with great activity and energy of mind, he fitted him- self for the Sophomore Class in Yale College in a year and a half He maintained a very respectable standing as a scholar, and graduated in the largest class that had then ever been in the College, in the year 1826. " He studied theology at New Haven the two following years, and was licensed to preach the Gospel. A part of the year 1829 he spent in the Southern part of this State in the service of the American Sunday School Union, forming Sunday schools and furnishing them with libraries. It was during this excur- sion that he formed an extensive acquaintance with the minis- ters and leading members of churches in the State, gained a knowledge of the Western habits and modes of life, and learned to preach extempore — a practice which he found of very great service in the subsequent part of his ministry. " He commenced his labors in Milan on the 1st of No- vember, 1829. Entertaining the idea, which was beginning to be somewhat prevalent among the churches and ministers in the West, that the pastoral relation was of little importance, he continued as a stated supply for several years. His good sense and sound judgment, however, led him to change his opinion, and at the unanimous request of his people he was installed as their pastor in May, 1837. " He was elected a Trustee of Western Reserve College in 1842, and his efficient services in that relation were of great value to the institution. Perhaps nowhere beyond the bounds of his congregation in Milan was his loss more deeply felt or more sincerely deplored. 144 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. " During the nineteen years of his ministry he was instant, in season and out of season, devoting all his physical, intellectual, and moral energies to the great work of his life. The results of this faithful labor he was, in great measure, permitted to see. Under his judicious management and well-directed efforts the church went on, increasing in numbers and strength from year to year, until the membership of thirty, at the beginning of his ministry, became more than two hundred. Repeatedly had it enjoyed refreshing influence from on high, and scarcely had a communion passed without additions to its members. " The mental endowments of Mr. Judson were of a high order. His hurried preparation for college, which he was often heard to lament, disqualified him, in a measure, for those critical investigations which make the finished scholar. But he had a comprehension, a quickness and force of intellect, which enabled him readily to seize the most intricate subject and reduce it to its elements. If there was one mental trait by which he was distinguished above most men, it was the power of seeing almost at a glance the relations and bearings of any question that was under discussion, or any measure that was proposed for adoption. " The rapidity of his judgment was like intuition. His power, too, of combination was almost equally rapid. He was almost never in doubt how to act in an emergency, but would form a plan, suggest a method of procedure, on the spur of the occasion, which would generally prove as well adjusted in all parts and as well adapted to accomplish the object as if it had been the study of hours, or even of days. It was these mental acquirements, combined with a ready command of forcible language, which gave him so much influence in deliberative assemblies. This, combined with an open and frank disposi- tion, which knew no concealment, inspired great confidence in his opinions and suggestions. It was this trait, too, I may re- mark, that gave him an air of dogmatism, and made some who did not know him well think him harsh and overbearing. " Good sense, sound judgment, practical wisdom, were PRESBYTERIAL CHANGES IN ms. 145 marked characteristics of Mr. Judson's mind. This saved liim from being carried about by every wind of doctrine. With a heart intent, as his was, on doing good, with a sensi- bilit}^ so keenly alive to the welfare of his fellow-men, and thrown, as he was, amid the exciting scenes of revivals and measures of reform in education, morals, and religion, without that good sense and sound judgment which looks on all sides of a subject, he would early have adopted many of those meas- ures and courses of action which proved so disastrous in their influence upon the churches and the cause of religion. " Indeed, there was a time when he did partially adopt the views of some of the reformers of that day. But he soon saw the gulf toward which they were tending, and had not only the good sense to perceive his error, but the magnan- imity to acknowledge it and the moral courage to change his conduct. As a preacher Mr. Judson had few superiors ; his style was clear, concise, and direct. While his sermons did not display a critical acquaintance with the original languages of the Bible, nor a fondness for metaphysical disquisition, they were enriched in an unusual degree by illustrations drawn from history, the natural sciences, and common life. " Very few men had more power over an audience, and very few sermons left a deeper impression than did his. " As a pastor he was laborious and faithful. He kept an eye on all the members of his flock, and was ever engaged in plans and efforts for their spiritual welfare. " He deeply felt the importance of an exemplary and holy walk in those who profess the religion of Jesus Christ. Hence, he aimed not only to bring converts into the Church, but to improve the religious character of those who were already members. In the discharge of his duty he was not only faith- ful, but greatly successful. Under his ministrations, blessed of God, many were added to the Church, and a vast amount of good done in various ways which the Omnipotent Mind only can estimate. " It was while he was engaged in extraordinary efforts in 10 146 HISTORY OF Hl'IiOX PRESBYTERY. preaching to his people on the evidences of lievelation, in the winter of 1847, that he was attacked with an apoplectic fit in the pulpit, from the effects of which he never recovered. " His last hours were in beautiful harmony with the even tenor of his life. His was a religion of deep-seated principles, resembling the equable flow of a majestic river rather than the dashing impetuosity of a mountain stream. His dying con- duct, like his living, bore the impress of holiness to the Lord — a confidence, a child-like trust in his Heavenly Father. " His mind was calm and peaceful, resting wholly on the Great Sacrifice for acceptance with God. ' With regard to my own feelings,' he said to me a few days before he died, ' })er- haps no human language can better express them than Top- lady's hymn : — ' "Wlien langour and disease invade This trembling house of claj', 'Tis sweet to look boj'ond my pain, And long to fly away." ' " He added, ' I would except the word long, and substitute the word luait, for it would seem presumption in one so much encompassed with infirmities as I am to long to fly away.' * Tell the brethren of the ministers' meeting and of the Pres- bytery,' said he, * that I thank them for the confidence they have reposed in me. I have loved to labor with them, and to be associated with them. Tell them to be earnest, earnest in the work of the Lord. Express to my people my dying obligations to them for the long-continued confidence and love they have manifested toward me, notwithstanding my many infirmities. If I have been in any degree useful, I owe my usefulness, in a great measure, to the manner in which the church has stood by and sustained me. Remember me affectionatel}^ to the youth of this congregation, and say, especially to the young members of the church, that I honor them in their constancy and faithfulness in God's service. Tell my congregation to meet me at the judgment seat of God. Say to all that the great W. B. COLLEGE AIDED. 147 truths which I have preached to them sustain me now, and are adequate to all my wants. I am satisfied that the views I have entertained, both in regard to doctrines and measures, are sub- stantially correct, and the errors I have combated appear to be magnified rather than diminished.' " On Sabbath morning, August 20th, 1848, the tolling of the funeral bell announced to the people of Milan that Everton Judson, the faithful pastor, the eloquent preacher, the judi- cious counselor, and the warm-hearted friend had passed away." RESUME— ] 849-50. During the year 1849 Mr. C. W. Clapp, a licentiate, was received from the Presbytery of Portage, and the Rev. Newton Barrett from the Presbytery of Cleveland, both on the 16th of January. On the 17tli of January Mr. Barrett was installed pastor of the church of Milan. On the 3d of April Rev. M. Harmon was dismissed to the Presbytery of Washtena, Michigan. REV. N. W. FISHER DIES. On the 2d of August this brother was removed by death. He had been in the Presbytery only a few months over a year. He had been received on the 15th of February, 1848, and installed pastor of the church at Sandusky. Notice is taken of his death, and expressions made as to his character, and the usual consolatory resolutions are placed upon the records. W. R. COLLEGE AIDED. This was not an eventful year in the Presbytery. The gen- eral routine of Church work was conducted as usual. Aside from this, the most important work done was the raising of about $9000 for Western Reserve College. This was all given by the churches and people under the care of this body. It 148 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. was chiefly the result of the personal eftbrts of Rev. A. New- ton. He canvassed the churches, making a special plea that liberal things be done for this institution, which was their own College, and which they had not aided largely in a pecuniary way heretofore, because their efforts had been turned espe- cially toward the founding and support of their own Pres- byterial Academy at Milan. CHANGES IN 1850. During the year 1850 the following changes were recorded : April 3d the pastoral relation existing between Rev. E. Cole and the church at Huron was dissolved, and Mr. Cole was dismissed to the Presbytery of Medina. On the same day the same relation existing between Rev. C. N. Ransom and the church at Republic was dissolved. Rev. L. A. Sawyer was dismissed to the Presbytery of Water- town, and the name of S. R. Bissell, licentiate, was ordered to be dropped from the roll, he having gone to anotlier body. August 21st Rev. F. Putnam was dismissed to tlie Presby- tery of Dayton ; and Mr. C. W. Clapp, who had been received the year before, as a licentiate, from the Presbytery of Portage, was ordained and installed pastor of the Monroeville Church. September 3d Rev. Hiram Smith was dismissed to the Pres- bytery of Elyria, and Rev. Jonathan Cochran to the Presbytery of Monroe. September 20th Rev. Seth H. Waldo was received from the Presbytery of Cleveland. TIFFIN CHURCH WITHDRAWS. It was during this year that the church of Tiffin, at the time under the ministry and influence of Rev. R. B. Bement, who had been permitted to labor in the bounds of Huron Presbytery, withdrew to the Old School Assembly. There was at the time considerable, and some very decided, dissatisfaction 1851. 149 in the church in view of the action, and the Presbytery was not well pleased thereat. A committee was directed to visit the church and counsel with them regarding the matter. They did so, treating the church, however, in the most brotherly spirit, and upon finding the question already decided, they per- mitted the church to go to the Old School body without further trouble on their part; and they advised the minority, who were opposed to the movement, to make no difficulty in the case. There is reason to believe that the minority paid due regard to this wise counsel and made no further trouble, but in doing so at least a large part of them withdrew from the organization. It is more than probable that the church of Tiffin was for many years afterward, and is to this day, a weaker church than it would otherwise have been. At all events, in a strong and growing city, it remained a weak and struggling church until some years after the reunion of the two branches of the great Presbyterian family. It was in a sense alone, having cut itself off" from the association, and, therefore, from the sympathy of the churches of the surround- ing towns and country. 1851. On the second of April Rev. C. A. Ransom was dismissed to the Union Association, of Hillsboro, N. H., and Mr. C. B. Sheldon, licentiate, was received from the Presbytery of Portage. On the 8th of April Mr. Lemuel Bissell, licentiate, was received from the Presbytery of Portage, and was ordained on the following day at Milan, with a view to the work of a missionary under the American Board of Foreign Missions. Mr. Bissell went out soon after to his field in India. He was the representative of the Presbytery in foreign mission work, his name remaining upon the roll of the body for forty years, when he died, on the 28th of May, 1801, at Mahableshwar, India. On the 7th of May, 1851, Rev. A. D. Chapman was installed pastor of the churches of Melmore and Bloom, and Rev. C. J. Pitkin was received from the Presbytery of Trumbull. 160 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. On the 3d of September the pastoral relation existing between Rev. J. M. Hayes and the church of Peru was dissolved, as was also the same relation between Rev. J. C. Sherwin and the church of Berlin. Mr. Sherwin was dismissed to the Presbytery of Minnesota. Mr. C. B. Sheldon was, on October 7th, ordained and then installed pastor of tlie church of Republic. Rev. M. Thompson was received from the Presbytery of Franklin on this day, and on the 8tli of September, 1852, lie was dismissed to the Presbytery of Fort Wayne. THE SANDUSKY CHURCH WITHDRAWS. The church of Sandusky city, which was Congregational in its government and now influenced by Oberlinistic views of slavery, notified the Presbytery in April that it had withdrawn from it, " on account of the connection of the Presbytery with slavery," This is one of those instances which show how strangely differently different men will view the same subjects. The church of Sandusky had overtured the Presbytery the pre- ceding year for some further action on the then troublesome subject. One, upon looking over the matter at this da}', would suppose that the Presbytery had done already what was wise and right, to clear its skirts of this great sin. The papers already issued upon the subject, and again and again repeated, though not rabid, but designed to be earnest, while rational, were strong denunciations of the sin of holding slaves, of keeping them in ignorance, etc., etc. They seemed to the good and wise men of the body itself to be as strong as they could well be and still be reasonable ; and yet they were not strong enough to meet the views of some extremists. The church of Sandusky seems to have thought that the Presbytery had not yet washed its garments of this crime, and was tlierefore still in some sort of relation with it, though the members had again and again declared it to be a crime against men and a sin against God. And, this being the case, the THE SANDUSKY CHURCH WITHDRAWS, 151 church, to be herself clear in the matter, must wholly with- draw her fellowship. But we must not overlook the agitated state of the times nor the peculiar influences then at work, and how hard it is at such times and under such influences for even rational and prudent men to see alike or to keep their heads straight. It was not an unusual thing in that day for a church to take action that indicated the impulse of strong feeling rather than well-balanced judgment, and especially so when led by a minister of an impulsive rather than a sober, thinking char- acter. It had been just the year before, 1850, that Henry Clay's Omnibus Bill had been passed by the national legisla- ture. This bill was designed by its distinguished author to be a compromise, and therefore a peace measure. But it included the notorious " Fugitive Slave Bill." This set many Northern hearts on fire. It was too much even for many well-balanced minds to endure. Most Northern men, irrespective of party alliance, had been content to feel that slave-holding was not any particular concern of theirs. They did not wish to see it extended into new Territories, but they did not care to feel that they were responsible for it where it was. This was not so with all by any means. There had for some years been the persistent anti-slavery agitators. They were in Ohio. Their influence was felt and their voices heard on the Western Reserve. And now, when by a national law Northern men were required to assist in the cruel hunt of the fugitive slave, the ability of these agitators to stir the hearts of men in opposition to the whole slave system was increased an hundred- fold. The Northern mind rebelled against the idea of turning poor, ill-treated-slave catcher. The excitement became intense in some regions, and the cry went up for "personal liberty," both for the slave and for the white man wdio was expected to catch him. It is to be remembered that it was just at this time, when church courts were expected to make their voice to be heard, that the Sandusky Congregational church became displeased with the action, or the want of action, of the Huron Presbytery. 152 irTSTORY OF irrnox presbytery. We arc left to conjecture as to just wliat the point of trouljle was, in the minds of these Sandusky brethren, against tlie Presbytery. This church had petitioned the body to memori- ahze the General Assembly in regard to slavery. The Pres- bytery had responded to the petition. They had said, however, in their memorial to the A-ssembl}', that while they regarded the holding of slaves as sin, which should subject the slave- owner to discipline and to exclusion from the Church, yet they admit that there might be slave-owners who, doing all they could for their slaves and toward their eventual freedom, were not criminal. They then request the General Assembly to advise all the Presbj^teries connected with it to institute a thorough examination of all the churches under their care, respectively, considering the ownership of slaves as "prima facie " evidence of wrong until proof of innocence is furnished, and to exercise discipline with all such members as are found guilty of the sin. It would surely appear that the Presbytery had exculpated itself by such resolutions, as it was so entirely without the bounds of the slave region. What could the Presbytery do, beyond agitating and condemning the system, to release the poor slave ? This these men were all willing and urgent to do. What could or what did the church of Sandusky more than this ? It might express itself a little more strongly, though scarcely more rationally or in better spirit. But men in that day, standing just where this Presbytery did, were subject to reproach, sometimes bitter, too, from both sides. There were those who complained that they went too far in their outcry against the slave-owner ; and there were those who, like the Sandusky cliurch, condemned them for not going far enough. As we look backward to the scene now, knowing what we have been taught in the awful providence of God toward the South, and toward the whole Nation, we are ready to excuse, and even to justify, a great deal of the anti -slavery fire. The men and women who were carried against the system as b}' a EEV. F. S. WHITE. 153 storm of condemnation, were certainl}^ more in harmony with the purpose and providence of God than the multitudes who were indifferent, or who sought to excuse so great an evil in the land. As a nation, we see the whole matter now with other eyes and with other feelings than those of the days before the war, and we condone the griefs and trials of the determined anti-slavery agitator. We even revere his name. Yet since the storm is over and the clouds have cleared away, does it not appear that those earnest, wakeful, and prudent fathers and brethren of Huron Presbytery were about right upon this subject? Here were men full of Christian zeal for humanity, holding slavery to be a high crime, willing to do anything to end it that a sense of right and compassion for the poor bondman would indicate, and yet whose zeal did not run away with wisdom and sound judgment. 1852. On the 7th of April Rev. S. R. Lockwood was received from the Presbytery of Erie, and on the same day the pastoral rela- tion existing between Rev. N. Barrett and the church of Milan was dissolved. On the 8th of September Mr. H. C. Taylor, another licentiate, was received from the Presbytery of Portage. REV. F. S. WHITE. On the 29th of June the pastoral relation existing between Rev. Flavel S. White and the church of Fremont was dis- solved. Mr. AVhite was born in Williamsport, New York, October 3, 1817. At the age of twenty he removed to Malone, New York, and four years later became a resident of Cleveland, Ohio. At the age of twenty-seven he comj)leted his course of theological study at Western Reserve College. In September, 1845, he was married to Miss Harriet H. Fuller, of Malone, New York. He came to the church of Fremont in May, 1846, and on the seventh of September, 1847, he was received by the 154 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. Presbytery of Huron as a licentiate from the Presbytery of Portage. On tlie 20th of October following he was ordained and installed pastor of this church. After serving the church till June, 1852, his voice failed, and he found it necessary to retire from the active work of the ministry. He remained, however, in Fremont, entered into business, and continued in business until his death. He was successful, and was ever a highly-esteemed citizen of Fremont. His successes were not attained through methods unworthy of a Christian man. He was a just man, full of faith and of good works. He was help- ful to the community and to the church. He never actually demitted the ministry, but was granted the relation of an hon- orably retired minister, his name continuing on the roll of Presbytery till his death. His material means, of which the Lord endowed him somewhat liberally, were not withheld from the Church when needed. He was one of the large contributors to church erection and improvement. He was a man of very considerable ability, and had the providence of God continued him in the ministry, he would in this calling, no doubt, have been one of the successful of God's servants. He died on the 1st of February, 1890. 1853. April 6th Rev. Hiram Smith, a former member, was again received from the Presbytery of Elyria. On the 7th of September Rev. A. D. Chapman was released from the charges of Bloom and Melmore and dismissed to the Presbytery of Franklin. September 16th Rev. Newton Barrett was dismissed to the Presbytery of Portage. On the same day Rev. S. R. Bissell was received from the Presbytery of St. Joseph. 1854. On the 3d of January Mr. C. H. Taylor was ordained and installed pastor of the church at Huron. April 5th the pastoral relation between Rev. H. N. Bissell and the church of Lyme was dissolved. 1855. 155 April 18th Rev. F. A. Deming was received from the Pres- bytery of Portage and installed pastor of the church of Berlin. On the same day Mr. A. Hartpence, a licentiate from the Presbytery of Cincinnati, was received, and on the 31st of October following he was ordained as an evangelist. KEY. A. K. BARR SUSPENDED. Rev. A. K. Barr was by common fame, and on his own confes- sion, found guilty of appropriating what did not belong to him. The case was so clear that on the 6th of September, 1854, he was suspended from the gospel ministry. Owing to renewed lapses this suspension was never removed. Mr. Barr, as had been the case with Mr. Crawford, a former suspended member, continued to give the Presbytery trouble. It seemed to be in him to do wrongly. He ceased, under the suspension, to preach, and justified the suspension, while he labored in distributing Bibles and tracts. But he again violated the laws of Christian propriety, was visited by a committee, and made humble and apparently honest confession. He was borne with, though still under surveillance, until September, 1859, when the committee to whom his case was referred reported that they had had an interview with him, and that such were his confessions that, in their judg- ment, he should be restored to the ministry. But before another meeting of the body God, in His providence, had re- moved Mr. Barr by death. On the 5th of September Rev. Henry A. Rossiter was re- ceived from the Marietta Association, and in just one year from that date he was dismissed to the Presbytery of Green- castle. 1855. April 4th the pastoral relation between Rev. C. H, Clapp and the church of Monroeville was dissolved, and Mr. Clapp was dismissed to the New Haven Central Association. On the same 156 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. day Rev. H. N. Bissell was dismissed to the Presbytery of Detroit. September 4th the pastoral relation between Rev. C. B. Shel- don and the Republic church was dissolved, and Mr. Sheldon was dismissed to the Minnesota Association. 1856. April 2d Rev. A. Hartpence was dismissed to the Presbytery of Trumbull, and Rev. John McCutchin was received from the Presbytery of Maumee, Rev. Francis Hendricks from that of Chemung, and Rev. Charles Richards from that of Catskill. On the 3d of September Rev. J. M. Hayes was dismissed to the Association of Wisconsin. October 6tli Rev. Solomon B. Gilbert was received from the Franklin Association of Massachusetts. He died in May of the following year, 1857. On the 6th of October Mr. J. H. Walter, licentiate, was re- ceived from the Presbytery of Cincinnati and was ordained and installed pastor of the Milan Church. 1857. On the 8th of April Rev. E. Bushnell was received from the Presbytery of Grand River, and on the 12th of May he was in- stalled pastor of the church at Fremont. April 8th Mr. J. B. Fowler, a licentiate of the Presbytery of Cincinnati, was received and ordained as an evangelist, and Rev. F. Hendricks was dismissed to the Presbytery of Harris- burg. On the 12th of May the pastoral relation existing between Rev. F. A. Deming and the church of Berlin was dissolved. September 2d Rev. J. B. Parlin was dismissed to the Pres- bytery of Dubuque. ATTICA CHURCH DISSOLVED. 157 ATTICA CHURCH DISSOLVED. At the September meeting, in 1857, held at Olena, Rev. E. Conger, who had been appointed at a previous meeting to visit the church of Attica, with authority to exercise his judgment as to what should be done with that church, reported that he had consulted with the members at an appointed time, and that they had concluded, in view of the weak and unpromis- ing condition of the organization, to give letters of dismissal to each other, and that the church should be dissolved, and so they acted. This church had had a struggling existence. It had, how- ever, as its leading spirit a man, Mr. Jonathan Ford, of great excellence of character. Mr. Ford was a sterling Presbyterian, and for years he sought to keep alive the church which was dear to him. Yet he could associate and work with the good of other denominations ; and for the remaining twenty -four years of his life he did cast his lot mainly with the Church of the United Brethren. He was born in Rensselaer County, New York, June 9, 1796. He made profession of his faith in Christ in his youth. He erected a log cabin in Attica, and moved into it in the year 1828. Through his efforts the Pres- byterian Church was organized in Attica in October, 1833, by Rev. E. Conger and Rev. E. Judson, at about which time Mr. Ford was ordained as an elder. He was also chosen superin- tendent of the Union Sabbath-school in the same year. This position he held for twenty-five years, when defective hearing caused him to resign. A house of worship was erected in Attica in 1840 by a com- bined effort of Lutherans, Presbyterians, and others. This house, being unfinished and unpaid for, was put to sale. Mr. Ford, fearing the loss of a place of public worship, purchased it in his own name, paying for it the sum of three hundred and fifty dollars. He afterward had it reseated and improved. In the course of time it became the house of worship of the United Brethren Church. In this church Mr. Ford found his home. 158 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. In its Sabbath -school and prayer-meeting he was active, and sup- ported the public means of grace. He was, however, in spirit and faith always a Presbyterian. He died on the 29th of December, 1881, aged eighty-five and one-half years. In this sanctuary, which he had helped to build, which he had owned, and in which he worshiped in the spirit of broth- erly union, his funeral services were conducted by Rev. R. 1>. Moore, who officiated at ]\Ir. Ford's request. THE DUTCH CHURCH OF SANDUSKY. At the September meeting of 1857 a committee, consisting of Messrs. Newton, Conger, Walter, Watson, and Bemis, who had been appointed in April to confer wdth the Reformed Dutch Church of Sandusky, which had applied to be taken under the care of the Presbytery, reported. They stated that they had met the male members of the church, together with their minister, Rev. Mr. Kuss. They had learned that the church was once connected with the Tiffin Classis, but, becoming dissatisfied with this connection on account of the Puseyitic tendencies of Dr. Xevin, a prominent member of the Synod, they had left that Classis, and had joined a Classis in Michigan. They had applied for aid in support of a minister to the General Synod in New York ; but, although encouraged to expect it, had uniformly been disappointed. They were burdened with a heavy debt in attempting to build a church, which was yet unfinished. They had a minister of good character and standing as an evangelical and pious man. With great difiiculty they could raise only about gne hundred dollars toward his support. Finding themselves disappointed in not receiving aid from New York, they felt that they must give up all hope of sus- taining themselves as a church unless they could obtain aid from some other source. Under these circumstances they had unanimously resolved to leave the Classis of Michigan and to unite with the Presby- 1858. 159 tery, if the Presbytery would receive them and do what they could to procure them assistance. The Committee had made diligent inquiry as to the ortho- doxy and religious character of the church. They had found that their Confession of Faith was substantially like their own, that they used the Heidelberg Catechism in the instruction of their children, which they regarded as Calvinistic in doctrine, and that they had a good name as a church in the Christian community of Sandusky. They regarded regeneration as the only proper basis of church membership. The organization consisted of about forty members. They were heartily desir- ous of being taken under care of the Presbytery, and were willing to adopt the Confession of Faith and Discipline of the body. After this report it was concluded to receive them immedi- ately, without waiting for their formal dismissal from the Classis of Michigan, which would require some time. They were, therefore, received under the name of " The First German Pres- byterian Church in Sandusky City, Ohio." A committee was afterward appointed to visit this church, presumably with a view to assisting them in their financial straits. They failed to do so in due time, and on the 1st of April, 1859, the Presbytery received a notice through the Stated Clerk that the church had returned to the Tiffin Classis. Consequently the name was immediately dropped from the roll of the body. 1858. During this year the following changes were recorded : — April 7th Rev. Samuel Montgomery was received from the Presbytery of Meadville ; and on the 22d of September Rev. •James B. Sheldon was received from the Presbytery of Elyria. April 7th Rev. Seth R. Waldo was dismissed to the Presby- tery of Knox, and Rev. C. H. Taylor was released from the pastorate of the Huron church and dismissed to the Presby- tery of Alton. 160 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. September 22d Rev. F. A. Deming was dismissed to the Presbytery of Wabash, and Rev. Charles Richards to the Pres- bytery of Maumee. FROM 1859 TO 1800. No changes are recorded for the year 1859, but in the year 18G0, on the 14th of April, Mr. F. L. Rossiter, licentiate, was received from the Presbytery of Cincinnati. A call was placed in his hands to become the pastor of the church of Huron. The call was accepted, and on the 15th of May he was or- dained and then installed pastor of said church. On the same 15th of May Rev. J. Everts Weed was received from the Pres- bytery of Franklin. CONFESSION OF FAITH AND COVENANT. During the progress of events recorded in this chapter, in the year 1854, the Presbytery had the Confession of Faith and the Covenant, designed for the use of churches in the reception of members, prepared for publication, with proof-texts under each doctrine set forth. This, together with a brief history of each of the churches under its care, the body had printed and distributed throughout the churches. This was done for the instruction of the members and fami- lies, that all who had thoughts of uniting with any of the churches might be able to do so with full intelligence of what they were doing. CHAPTER VIII.— FROM 1844 TO 1860. IMPORTANT QUESTIONS. I. NEGLECTFUL REMOVING COMMUNICANTS. We have already observed that as early as 1828 the Presby- tery felt itself called upon to take some action regarding per- sons who were members of Presbyterian or Congregational churches elsewhere but who, now residing in the bounds of churches in this Presbytery, yet neglect to unite with them. The decision at that time was that such professing Christians should be shown their duty, and then if they still persist in their neglect they should be reported to the churches to which they belong. Now, again, in 1845, the general question, which still vexed some of the churches, was raised by an overture to the body : " What shall be done in regard to those church members who remove from our bounds into others, and those who remove from other bounds into our own, without taking letters with them and uniting with the church within whose bounds they have located ? " The answer of the Presbytery, as they adopted the report of a committee consisting of Messrs. Judson, Conger, and Parlin, was that it is the duty of churches to which removing mem- bers belong to see that they take with them letters of dismis- sion to the churches within which they expect to reside, and if the members neglect to take such letters, they should be written to and persuaded to remove their church relations ; and if all reasonable efforts fail, then the name of the member shall, at the expiration of two years, be erased from the roll of the church. In regard to the members of other churches residing within 11 161 162 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. the limits of any of the churches belonging to the Presbytery, the rule of the Presbytery has been to debar from occasional communion after a residence of one year, unless in cases where good reasons exist for neglecting the change of relation. Of this rule the cliurches were reminded. There appears to have been occasion for the rule and for its enforcement. New comers would sometimes hesitate a considerable time before deciding to cast in their lot with a church if its polity happened to be not purely Congregational, or strictly Presbyterian, as the case might be, to suit the preference of the new comer. And yet such persons might be disposed to participate in the Sacra- mental service. The results would be discouragement to the church, and increasing indifference, on the part of the neglect- ing person, to the duties of the church relation and to other calls of the Christian life. These facts, staring the ministers and churches in the face, might well call for some special action. II. COMMUNICANTS WITHOUT SAVING EXPERIENCE. Another somewhat perplexing question was raised by an overture from one of the churches : " What shall be done with those members of church who give no evidence of Christian character, and yet are guilty of no disciplinable offense, but who wish to have their relation with the church dissolved ? " This serious question was referred to a committee consisting of Messrs. Conger, E. Judson, J. Seymour, and P. Adams. They were unable to report any definite answer. They felt that there are few cases of the kind noticed in the inquiry which are not modified by such circumstances as render it impossible to lay down any general rule of action. And thus the matter was left. This was throwing the whole responsibility of decid- ing in such perplexing cases back upon the officers of each church. They were to decide each case upon its own merits. This report of the committee, and its adoption by the Presbytery, shows a little want of courage or of thought. We can hardly avoid looking for some wholesome counsel from such a com- SECRET SOCIETIES. 163 mittee, and from this usually thoughtful and courageous Pres- bytery, upon the question of opening the door out of the church and releasing from their Christian vows those who become neglectful or who come to be dissatisfied with their Christian experience. Only a few years later, in 1858, in reviewing the Milan church records, they take quite a dif- ferent view of the matter. They declare then that a church is not authorized to strike off the name of a church member in good and regular standing, at the request of the member, because he thinks he is not a Christian. They say that such a principle is unknown to either the Congregationalist or the Presbyterian Church, and inconsistent with the nature of the covenant entered into by every church member. HI. SECRET SOCIETIES. In 1845 an overture from the session of the church of Bloom ville calls for a deliverance upon the subject of secret societies. This subject was at that time giving some trouble in that church. How many of its members had united with such a society we know not, or whether more than one or two. A son of one of the members, and himself a member of the church, had done so. It was a great source of dissatisfaction to the elders and the father, and also a matter of very doubtful propriety to others. The result was the overture to the Pres- bytery asking, " What course shall be pursued with those members of Church who join secret societies — as the Odd Fellows, etc." The committee to whom this question was referred consisted of Messrs. Judson, Newton, and West. Upon their report the Presbytery declared that while, in their opinion, the influence of such societies is generally not favorable to the cultivation of the Christian graces, yet they were of the opinion that it is inexpedient for either the Presbytery or individual churches to attempt any general action or to adopt any general rules on the subject. 164 HISTORY OF HURON PRKHBYTERY. This disposition of the question, in 1845, was not satisfactory to the Bloomville church. Tliey had lioped for a fuller and a more decided expression. They wished for some action that might help to stay the rising tide that was beginning to bear Church members into the secret orders. Accordingly, in the year 1846, they again overtured the body for further expression of its views and judgment, both upon this subject and the question of slavery. They secure a hearing. Upon the subject of secret societies Rev. E. Judson is again chairman of the committee, and with him there were associated Rev. Mr. Hull and Elders Patterson and Ford. They said in their report that " while they should regret that members of the Church should unite with secret societies, as they could see no valid inducements to a Christian to seek such fellowship, yet they were not prepared to say that simple membership, where it does not result in any known un- christian conduct, is a proper matter of church discipline. Yet, where members of the Church have formed a connection of the kind and it becomes an occasion of grief or wounding to their brethren, they were of the opinion that the spirit of the Gospel would require that such persons should abandon such connection for the sake of their grieved brethren. And, tinall}^ they would leave the matter of discipline in such cases largely with the individual churches." This was the action of the Presbj^tery, and the final one, upon this subject ; a subject which has at various times agitated the Church of Christ, and a subject which, there is great reason to fear, is yet to awaken great concern in the minds of Christian people everywhere. The spirit of secret fraternity and bond is on the increase in this land. Many seem to be possessed with it to such a degree as to make them foolish, as they become members of a number of such orders. With many, there can be no doubt, it is their religion. It is, at least, allowed by them to supplant the Church. The men of our land to-day who are members of secret orders are numbered b}'' the hundreds of thousands. There are over 600,000 Free Masons, as many Odd DIVORCE, AND OTHER QUESTIONS. 165 Fellows, and half as many Knights of Pythias — 1,500,000 in these three orders, and these are not all. Multitudes of our young men are passing by the Church to find their home in such societies. The numbers in these orders are increasing j^early, and while it is certainly true that among them are many earnest Christians, yet, it is the testimony of many pastors of churches that the secret society interferes with the Christian life, is often made a substitute for the Christian faith, and must, therefore, interfere with the great work of the Church in manifold ways. The question is waiting for an answer : What is to be done to stay the march of this great, selfish fascination and to turn the tide of desire, in both men and women, that runs thitherward, into the Church of the Redeemer ? The answer of Huron Presbytery to the Bloomville over- ture at that time was certainly wise, as the overture itself indicated wisdom and thought. The answer was the best that could then be given. Those bodies who have taken the higher ground, and have counseled the excision of all secret society men from the Church, have not yet proven, however nearly right they may be in principle, that their course has helped the cause of Christ or of the truth so far as can now be seen. It has at least not helped their own denomination. But when we remember that of 7,000,000 of the young men in our land 5,000,000 never attend the sanctuary, and that the secret socie- ties are continually on the increase, we may gravely ask whether the answer of the past to the overture, which to some minds now swells up before the Church, will be the truest and best answer in the future, or at least the only answer ? IV. DIVORCE, AND OTHER QUESTIONS. In 1847, as some one or more of the licentiates of the Presby- tery had been seeking the right to perform the marriage cere- mony, it was deemed necessary to notify such licentiates that, as they were not in the full and legal sense ministers of the 166 jiisronv of iiuron presbytery. Gospel, it was both contrary to tlie statutes of Olno and at variance witli the long-estabHslied usages of the Presbyterian and Congregational Churches that they should officiate in the solemnization of marriage ; and they were advised no longer to apply to the courts for license to do so. In 1848 some one of the churches, troubled on the subject of dancing, wished to know whether parents who were mem- bers of churches, and who encouraged or suffered their children to attend dancing schools, balls, and cotillion parties, were to be considered as covenant breakers and dealt with accordingly. A paper in answer to this inquiry was prepared by a committee of which Rev. A. Newton was the chairman. The paper was reported and adopted at the next meeting of the bod}'-, but was not placed upon the records. We can onl}' conjecture that its tenor was against the dancing school and the ball ; and we know that it did not settle the vexing question. A few years later, in 1857, the Presbytery were beginning to feel the importance of a subject which, in these later days, is having so much attention in periodicals and ecclesiastical courts — that of divorce. The separation of husband and wife was an evil hardly so frequent or so permanent then as now, yet there was enough of it to awaken sorrow and solicitude and to call for the con- sideration of Christian assemblies. Some one, whose name is not given, presented a request that Presbytery would call the attention of tlie Synod to the laws of the State in relation to divorce. The request secured a response, and the Rev. John McCutchen, probabl}' the brother who had introduced the subject, was directed to prepare an overture to the Synod upon it. The Synod, no doubt, took some action in the matter ; but man and wife continue to quarrel; divorces, in increasing numbers, continue to be granted ; sorrow and shame are the result; and the evil will probably continue in its enlarged form until men and women give more earnest thought to the prior question of marriage ; until marriages are more generally the result of true affection, and of wisdom in the consideration MILAN CHURCH RECORDS. 167 of the fitness of each party for the other, and until the States of this Union shall have resolved to meet the evil of divorce with a strong and a Scriptural law — a law that will forbid the remarriage to any other party of the man or woman who has been once divorced, except it be the innocent party, and in a case where the release has been granted to that party on the one only Scriptural ground for divorce. V. MILAN CHURCH RECORDS. At the meeting of Presbytery at Plymouth, in April, 1857, certain exceptions were taken to the records of the Milan church, and an overture on certain points was presented to the Presbytery in connection with the exceptions reported by the committee on the records. The whole matter was referred to a special committee consisting of Messrs. Newton, Gilbert, and Bemis. They were not expected to report until the next stated meeting. At the next meeting the final conclusion was not yet reached, and Rev. E. Conger was added to the committee. The final report was made in April, 1858, and action taken thereon. In order to understand the whole matter in controversy it is necessary to remember that the church of Milan, while in every way one of the best in the Presbytery, was one of a mixed order. It was partly Congregational and partly Presbyterian. Some part of its time it was under the one form of government and part of its time under the other. Though the Presbyterian order finally prevailed, it was not always so. The items in the records to which exceptions were taken are these : — " Whereas, Mr. George W. Mears and his wife have for some years past neglected the ordinances of God's house, and have been frequently labored with, but in vain ; and whereas they both desire that their names be dropped from the list of membership ; therefore, "Resolved, That they be considered as no longer members of this church." 168 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. To this action was added a resolution made by Mr. Barney, whicli, though not adopted by the church or its officiary, was nevertheless placed upon the church records. The resolution stated : — " That, believing church government is designed for the benefit of each and all of the members, and that two cannot walk together except they be agreed ; therefore it is "Resolved, That any member of this church in good and regular standing may, on signifying his wish to withdraw from the church, have his name erased, and he may be dis- charged from further covenant obligations." To these two items, very naturally, exceptions were taken by the Presbytery. The one actually released a man and his wife from their obligations to lead a Christian life, at their request. The other item proposed to do this in general. It said to any man who wanted out of the church, " We release you from all your covenant obligations." This last item was not adopted as the rule by which the church proposed to go in the future ; but it was placed upon the records, indicating that it might have some influence, and that it had its friends. The overtures to the Presbytery suggested by these items in the records of the church of ]\Iilan were these : — " 1st. Is it allowable to strike off the names of church mem- bers, in good and regular standing, at their request, if they declare that they are not Christians and that they were de- ceived?" " 2d. Are Congregational churches under care of Presbytery bound by the rules of Presbytery, or the Confession of Faith, in the process of discipline?" In the answer the exceptions to the records and these two overtures were to be considered together, and the action of the Presbytery upon the whole was as follows : — " 1st. Congregational churches, under care of Presbytery, are not bound by the rules of Presbytery in process of discip- line any farther than such rules coincide with Congregation- alism." MILAN CHURCH RECORDS. 169 " 2d. The resolution of Mr. Barney embodies a principle un- known to either the Congregational or Presbyterian Churches. It is inconsistent with the nature of the covenant entered into by every member, and in its ultimate effects is subversive of church order and discipline." "3d. The church is not authorized to strike off the names of church members in good standing." " 4th. The mere declaration of a member that he is not a Christian, and w^as not W'hen he joined the church, does not justify an exclusion from the church ; nor does any neglect of duty or wrong-doing justify the church in cutting off a mem- ber, even though he may acknowledge the offense and waive a formal trial. As one of the important ends of church discip- line is the reformation and return to duty of the erring brother, it is highly important that the church use all proper means for this purpose, and therefore it ought in any case to go through the regular process of discipline, as prescribed in the Book of Discipline and Practice observed by Presbyterian and Congrega- tional churches generally." This last article was not intended to mean that in no case should a member be cut off from the Church, but that none should be so dealt with, except after due process of discipline and after proper trial. The act must be done according to law, for the good of the man and the honor of the Church. In the first article, of this action of the Presbytery, there appears to be a justification of those men who, in that day, condemned the Plan of Union on the ground that it gave away to Congregationalism everything that was distinctively Presbyterian. It is true that the Congregationalists, on the other hand, claimed that they were surrendering all to Presby- terianism, and that their denomination was the loser in the Union. Yet it must be clear, as illustrated in this case of the Milan church and the decision of the Presbytery regarding it, whatever else we ma}'' say of the Plan of Union, that it did give away to Congregationalism whatever, in the process of discipline, was distinctively Presbyterian. The article says as much. 170 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. That was tlie cliief trouble, unavoidable with the Plan, perhaps with any ])lan. It placed Presbyterians in a position that re- strained them at home, while it caused the turning of their benevolent contributions into channels that were rather Con- gregational than Presbyterian. This was the fact as between the New School Presbyterians and the Congregationalists, as it had been before the excision as between the latter and Presby- terians generally. To put the matter in a form that will occasion least dispute: It produced facts and conditions that awakened doubt and dis- satisfaction in the great outside Presbyterian world, while, on the other hand, when viewed from the Congregationalist standpoint, its conditions and results were not satisfactory there. In regard to the rest of the Presbytery's deliverance in the Milan Church case, and, indeed, in regard to it all, there can hardly be a reasonable question as to its correctness of judg- ment. The idea that a church court, high or low, can release a man from his covenant obligations to God, while from the standpoint of humanit}'^ it may appear commendable, will hardly bear a moment's serious thought. And this is a correct view of the question. A man, in be- coming a nominal Christian, covenants to be the Lord's, to love, trust, and obey Him. His vows, whether made in secret or in public, are vows to God. The Church, therefore, if a man violate his vows in open transgression, may by the Divine permission and requirement, after due process, cut that man off from its fellowship. It may do so for its own purity and honor, and also as a means of eventually reclaiming the man, as well as a warning to others. But to release any man, transgressor or no transgressor, from his covenant obligations to God, to set him free from his vows to be faithful to the Lord and to His Church, which seems to be the idea of those asking release from church membership, the Pope only, we think, would have the courage for that. MILAN CHURCH RECORDS. 171 It is a sad and pitiable case to be in, to feel that one has been deceived and had never been a Christian in reality, even though a profession of saving faith has been made. But what is the man to do ? Is it not the worst of unwisdom for him to abandon the ordinances he has vowed to observe, and then to make his own growing indifference the sole ground on which he would be released from all his sacred obligations ? And is it not the last thing for the Church to do, to say to that man, " We hereby release you ; go in peace " ? Rather, let the man take the alarm his condition warrants him to feel ; let him hasten to prayer and to the bearing of his cross in surrender to God ; let the Church urge and entreat him to this, never failing to remind him that the vows of God are upon him, and that no tribunal on earth can release him from those vows, and that the Lord waits to receive and to help him. This course, properly pursued by the Church and duly re- garded by the man, is surely most of all likely to lead to repentance and to reclaim the man, while it is also the most healthful in its effect on the Church. The other course is sometimes adopted by churches and people. It is regarded as the shortest, easiest, and the most charitable way of discipline. In this way we seem to avoid collision, and to be acting most kindly and in harmony with the other organizations and societies of earth. But so doing we forget that the Church stands on a plain far above any other society, and that the Word and Spirit of God and the high charity of Christ are to be our guide in all our dealing with fellow-disciples. The idea of so releasing a church mem- ber was, perhaps, as little in harmony with the spirit of Con- gregationalism as with Presbyterianism ; and so the Presbytery say it is a principle unknown to either of the denominations, as well as inconsistent with the nature of the covenant entered into by every church member. 172 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. VI. THE PASTORAL RELATION. Several times in the history of this body there is interest manifested in the constitution of pastorates and in their con- tinuance. In 1855, in dissolving the pastoral relation between Rev. C. H. Clapp and the Monroeville church, occasion is taken to lament that this relation seems to be so lightly esteemed and so frequently sundered. The presbyters say that while they do not claim the right to interfere in the private concerns of the churches, yet they believe that the true interest, both of ministers and churches, demands that the pastoral relation should be regarded as a permanent one, and should not be dissolved for slight causes. They further claim the right to advise in the matter, and they complain of the ministers and churches for practically dis- solving their relations before seeking their counsel. It was certainly something to cause regret in those days, as now, to some extent, that this solemn and sacred relation should, in so many cases, be of so short duration. Some of the ministers, and also of the people, did not look upon the pastorate as having anything like permanence about it. Some of the ministers, as Rev. E. Judson, were led to change their views of this matter after a few years of experience. But one of the most regretful facts in the history of the Pres- bytery is the very short and uncertain duration of pastorates. For a number of years two and three dissolutions of such rela- tions occur almost annually. It is wearisome to record the perpetual reception and dismission of ministers, and the installations and dissolutions of relations. So little seems to be permanent, or to wear the appearance, in this respect, of strong Presbyterianism. The weakness of most of the churches, their mixed character, and the uncertainty of pastoral support, must be given as the rational way of accounting for it. There were several of the churches stronger at the start, and growing stronger, in which the pastorates were of longer duration. THE PASTORAL RELATION. 173 In 1859 the General Assembly expressed a hope that the matter of having the pastoral relation constituted between ministers and churches should not be overlooked. In response to this expression, as its force was recognized, the Presbytery resolved to recommend to the churches to establish this rela- tion whenever and wherever the providence of God, reasonably interpreted, should open the way. To this subject General Assemblies have more than once or twice called attention. It is a leading idea in the Presbyterian system and polity that the pastorate should be constituted in the regular way, and that the stated supply arrangement should be the exception. Underlying the idea of the pastorate is the thought of perma- nency of relation, as also of intimacy and reality ; and although there has not been strict adherence to this ideal in the practice of many ministers and churches, yet the belief in the ideal has never been abandoned, and its importance is very often brought home to the minds of ministers, and the desire is expressed by assemblies, synods, and presbyteries that the practice may become more general, and that pastorates may be of longer duration. In Huron Presbytery there has generally been some weak- ness upon this point. There has been more or less of the stated supply practice ; but especially here the pastorates, wdien regularly constituted, have been of brief continuance. Many pas- torates have not endured beyond a year, or two or three years. There have been at least three noteworthy exceptions to this statement. In the case of Dr. Newton and Norwalk the relation of minister and people continued for over thirty-five years ; in the case of Rev. J. H. AValter and the church of Milan it continued for twenty-seven years, and in that of Dr. Bushnell and the church of Fremont for twenty-five years. Others have con- tinued for five or ten years. But many of the churches have experienced great frequency of change. And the imperfections resulting from want of conformity to the true Presbyterian ideal have often been realized and expressed. It is evident that those churches, as Norwalk, Milan, and 174 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. Fremont, which were willing and able to have the relation con- stituted, and which have with the least frequency sought the dissolution of it, are the churches which have been most sub- stantial and successful. VII. DOCTRINAL STRICTNESS AND LIBERALITY. It has ever been the clearly defined purpo.se of this body to stand faithfully by the doctrines of the Presbyterian and the Congregational Churches. And yet while adhering as closely as possible to the articles in the Creed, there has always been a large degree of liberality, as is manifest in many of the deci- sions and deliverances of the Presbytery. Part of this liber- ality would result, naturally, from the Plan of Union, on the basis of which the Presbytery and the churclies were organized. Part of it, however, was rather the characteristic of the body and of most of the men who composed it. It was at no time an inconsistent or unreasonable liberalit}^ There were the limitations of truth and of correct action, which were not to be trespassed for any consideration. The strictness was fairly tested on the one hand, and the liberality illustrated on the other, by the various overtures that were introduced at dif- ferent times upon the subject of BAPTISM. 1. In 1832 there was an overture regarding the validity of baptism performed by a Catholic priest. This inquiry was answered in the negative. The Presbytery did not believe that such baptism should be regarded as having any validity ; and, therefore. Catholic converts uniting with any of the churches under its care should be rebaptized. 2, In 1840 one of the churches inquired, " Is it expedient or proper to baptize by immersion a believer in Christ who has been baptized by sprinkling in infancy, with which baptism in infancy the conscience of the subject is not satisfied ? " BAPTISM. 175 It is not presumed that the question provoked any very pro- longed discussion. The heads of the brethren were, at any rate, clear and their deliverance satisfactory. The report of a committee on the subject was adopted. That report said : " It is not expedient nor proper to thus rebaptize a subject, and for these two reasons : — " 1st. Baptism, being an initiatory ordinance, when once law- fully administered, it is not to be repeated to the same indi- vidual. " 2d. Baptism cannot be administered as proposed in the overture without implicitly nullifying this ordinance as admin- istered in infancy, and thus treating as a nullity the doctrine of infant baptism." 3. In 1848 a double overture was presented to the body, ask- ing : " Shall those who cannot consent to our article of faith respecting infant baptism be admitted to our churches as mem- bers ; and shall those who cannot assent to our article of faith regarding the doctrine of election be received into our churches as members ? " These were two distinct overtures, but prob- ably both from the same source. To both Presbytery gave its answer, prepared for its adoption by a committee of which Rev. E. Conger was the chairman and Messrs. Hayes and Adams the associate members. They set forth the importance of both these doctrines, and declare that they are unwilling that the articles of faith should either be changed or their action suspended for the sake of multiply- ing members, as that would only be to admit an element of weakness. They, therefore, deem it inexpedient to admit such members, as they would not desire members strongly preju- diced against the faith of the Church, and as suspending any of the articles of faith for the sake of some individuals tends to produce confusion in the Church and uncertainty in the minds of others as to what is our foundation. There is dan- ger, too, they say, of opening the door to errorists ; and then there is no stopping place. If one or two articles are sus- pended, why not others ? And still further, placing their 176 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. Christian charity side by side with their doctrinal integrity, they say there are other churches, evangehcal in their general character, to which such persons can go and find a more natural home. Besides, they would not exclude such persons from communion and fellowship, but would welcome them on occasions. Finally, however, if a church should think any case extra- ordinary, and should choose to receive such as cannot subscribe to our articles, they should first, by all means, take pains to instruct them in the truth, and to have good evidence that they will not be captious nor troublesome, nor tr}^ to bring our doctrines into disrepute; and they enjoin upon any ministers or churches who may have failed to practice and enforce these articles of doctrine that they at once return to the duty of their true regard and observance. This is certainly a remarkable deliverance. It ma}^ be a question as to how many of our presbyteries would adopt it now, and how many of our churches would decline to receive members who do not receive the articles in the Confession of our Faith. And yet this deliverance is beautiful for its consistency and its charity throughout. Its spirit would not differ nmch from the minds of ministers and elders generally in the Presbyte- rian Church. These men of Huron Presbytery would " hold fast the form of sound words," and, as here named especially, the doctrines of infant baptism and election, as sacred and important things. They were not willing that their force should be weakened for the sake of mere numbers. They were not willing that either of these doctrines should be a dead letter in any of tlie churches ; and they would not open the door to error. They meant to hold fast and to preach the doctrines of the Presby- terian Church, including the doctrines named above. They did not wish to be trammeled by members who would not receive the doctrines, especially by such as were disposed to be captious. They said, with beautiful consistency, there are other BAPTISM. 177 Churches where such persons can be more at home, and where they had better go ; and they were wiUing to fellowship with such Churches as Christian. All this is simply unquestionable in its rightness and in the exaltedness of its standpoint. Let Churches and people have a creed and then let them be thoroughly consistent with it and true to it, and their religion will be of a higher order. But questions "in these days" do not often come up in just the form in which we find them in these overtures. If they were to arise and to await a candid answer, and one in every way a believer in the Baptist doctrine on the subject of baptism were to think of uniting with a Presbyterian church, he would, in most cases, be advised to go to a Baptist church instead. And if one, an Arminian, a decided opposer of Calvinism, were to think of uniting with a Presbj^terian church, he, also, would in most cases be advised to find a congenial home in one of the Arminian churches. These are cases which are not likely often to occur. Such persons, of a positive belief, would most likely find their own place. The general rule in the churches of Huron Presbytery, however, as in Presbyterian churches generally, is now not to ask applicants for membership whether they believe in this or that special doctrine. They are not examined upon the denominational creed. They may come in doubt and com- parative ignorance of the special dogmas, to learn them after- ward. The Confession of Faith, even that for years in use in the churches of this body, or the Catechism, is not a test of qualification for membership. The one thing held to be requisite, as in Apostolic times, is an evidence of repentance toward God and of faith in Our Lord Jesus Christ. The matter of adjustment to the creed is allowed to take care of itself or to be looked to afterward. And yet it is not for a moment to be thought that the creed is of little moment. The Presbytery and the denomination, while liberal in the reception of members and while charitable 12 178 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. toward other denominations, encouraging the freest inter- communion and co-operation, yet adheres to its strictness in insisting that its teaching and governing force, its ministers and its elders, shall be men only who can freely subscribe to its great system of doctrine in whole and in part. 4. Again, in 1859, an overture was received by the Pres- bytery inquiring : " Would a minister of the Presbyterian Church be authorized to immerse a candidate for admission into one of our churches when such candidate believed this to be the only mode?" The answer to this overture, without violating consistency with any former utterance of the Pres- bytery, was given in the affirmative. It was so given on the assumption that the conscience of a sincere believer might be involved, and that so firmly might he believe in immersion as the only proper mode of baptism that his conscience could only thus be set at rest. It is liberality that will yield in such a case as this and authorize the baptism to be performed according to the faith of the subject. This is not unreasonable liberality, and in a very Jew instances the practice has been accordingly. There have been several cases in which, in baptism, there has been even more of a strain upon the belief of the officiating minister than in such as this, here contemplated. It is right and duty to hold the conscience in high regard and to yield to its demands when consistency will at all permit. The doctrine of the Presbytery, and of the Congregationalist Church as well, on the subject of baptism is that it signifies the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and that it is, therefore, Scrip- turally and most appropriately performed by the sprinkling or pouring of water on the subject. The views of ministers and people on this subject are not undefined or doubtful, but clear, fixed, and decided, as the Scriptures bearing upon the case seem to them most satisfactorily to warrant. When, therefore, one of tlie ministers should baptize a person by immersion he could only do so by yielding to the supposed demands of the contrary belief in an extreme case to satisfy BAPTISM. 179 the conscience of an honest subject. This it is supposed one may do in a peculiar case. There are two considerations that would interfere with this liberality except in a clear case of the kind supposed. The first is that often it has been found, after fair testing of the case in hand, that the whole trouble with the individual was one of prejudice or blind preference, with- out the heart or conscience in its relation to Christ being seriously involved. An honest investigation of the subject of baptism has brought relief, and sprinkling has been accepted as the Scriptural mode. The other consideration, against immersion b}'- Presbyterian hands, is the one generally given, namely, that if the person be so decidedly a Baptist in his faith, and if he can find a Baptist minister to immerse him and a Baptist church to join, there he had better look. It is admitted, however, that there are cases in which every other consideration, aside from that of baptism, would urge the subject into the Presbyterian Church ; and as Presbyterians do not make the mode of baptism the essential matter, and as they do, whether consistently or not, recognize as baptism the immersion in water by a proper person, of a proper subject, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, they may in a peculiar case so administer the ordinance. Yet we say that the Presbytery was consistent with its own history in this deliverance regarding immersion. The over- ture now under consideration was materially different from the one of a former meeting of the body when the answer was in the negative. Then not only the mode was involved, but also the question of the re-baptism of one already baptized by sprinkling in infancy. These were two things, and quite distinct. The answer in the one case might be in the affirmative. In the other it could not be so. When only the mode was the ques- tion, and the conscience of the subject seemed to require it for his peace, the Presbytery said, " The person may be immersed." But when the subject to be immersed had already been bap- 180 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. tized by sprinkling, recognizing him as having been Ijorn within the pale of the visible Chiircli, and when to immerse him now would be to ignore the sprinkling as null and void, and to ignore the relation of children born of Christian parents to the Church, and to set at nought God's covenant of promise, then, clearly, consistency required the Presbyterian ministry to say, emphatically, No ! The ministers and elders of Huron Presbytery would be liberal up to the last point of consistency and a sound regard for the truth. But they knew when and where to stop. They could not, for the sake of liberality, ignore great underlying principles of Christian doctrine and precept, and they did not. 5. One more overture demanded the attention of the Pres- bytery on the subject of baptism. This came up in the year 1866. The question was: "Whether the baptism of the chil- dren of parents who have made no profession of faith in Christ is valid ? " This was, of course, answered in the negative. Baptism, whether of infant or adult, is presumed to mean something, to have some significancy. If the adult have no faith to profess, what can his baptism signify to him ? If the infant have no relation to the Church, and no Christian care and nurture is guaranteed to it by its parents, what can its baptism signify ? And if the parents are not Christians, what relation can their child have to the Church, and what assurance can they give for its Christian nurture? So, even though some ministers in some denominations do freely administer baptism to the children of unchristian pa- rents, yet it can only be an empty, meaningless performance, and a degrading of the sacrament. VIII. SLAVERY. We have seen that prior to the excision, as early as 1836, the Presbytery felt that the time had arrived when they could no longer, with propriety, keep silent on this subject, and SLAVERY. 181 that they should insist upon their right to discuss its merits freely ; and they then condemned the buying, selling, owning, bequeathing, and apprehending of a slave as a sin and a scandal, as also the keeping of such persons in ignorance. This protest against the institution was renewed in 1843. Again, in 1846, the subject is brought up by an overture from the church of Bloomville. A committee, consisting of Rev. E. P. Spery, Rev. M. H. Wilder, and Mr. John Seymour, reported a paper, which was adopted. They expressed the belief that the body had already done all it could do, without transcending its authority, for the extinction of slavery ; yet, for the satisfaction of the churches, and the more distinctively to define its position, they would add to their former testimony the following : — " Resolved, 1st. That the sole right of judging of the quali- fication of membership in our churches is in the church itself, and Presbytery has no right to prescribe rules to limit their action. " 2d. That the past action of this body is a sufficient guar- anty that the ministers who hold slaves for gain cannot be admitted to membership in this body. " 3d. That so long as we bear suitable testimony against the sin of slavery, with the view this Presbyter}^ entertains of the powers of the General Assembly, we do not regard our con- nection with the body as involving us in any justification of the sin." These resolutions were adopted because there were those who did not think that the Presbytery had gone far enough in their opposition to slavery. These men did not intend, however, to stand in any doubtful light upon this subject. They wished the churches and the world to understand them, and they wished to clear their own skirts of all the sin and responsibil- ity for the great evil, and yet they were not disposed to be car- ried beyond their measure or to act unreasonably. They said plainly, and they repeated it, that American slavery is a great sin against God and a crime against man. They said they 182 HISTORY OF HURON FRESH YTERY. would not admit a selfish slaveholder into tlieir body. But they further said that their authority was limited by place and circumstance. They could not shut a man out of the Church in the South because he held slaves, or for any other cause. They did not believe tliat the Cleneral Assembly could do that. They could bear their testimony against the sin and tlie crime, and having done this openly, they felt that they were not in- volved in the evil. The time had not yet come for them to do more than this. , And yet in September of the very next 3'ear, 1847, this sub- ject again agitates the Presbytery. This time the wakening seems to be greater than ever before, and the language used shows a disposition to advance in the crusade against what appears more than ever to be a crime, and one determined to make aggressions in our land. The brethren at this time re- solved : — " That they believed it to be tlie duty of every Christian organization plainly and unequivocally, yet in Christian kind- ness, to express their views on all moral subjects, fearlessly exposing and condemning sin, and sustaining and encouraging virtue. " That if any sinful practice has so far prevailed as to draw to its support ministers of the Gospel or members of the visible Church of Christ, there is the greater reason to cry aloud and spare not. " That, notwithstanding the oft-repeated views of this Pres- bytery in opposition to slavery, yet, as the evil still exists, and as efforts are still made for its further extension and perpetuity, they felt constrained again to add their warning admonition and reproof, declaring — " That tliey viewed the system of slavery, as it existed in the United States, as at war with every principle of right, especially with that plain, fundamental law^ of love, ' As ye would that others should do to you, do ye even so to them.' It recognizes immortal beings as property, and treats them as articles of commerce. It extends over them a separate and oppressive SLAVERY. 183 code of laws that deprives them of their social and civil rights, and holds them liable to the most cruel abuses of irresponsible power. It deprives them of the right of marriage — the first civil right given by a beneficent God to man as the foundation of all others. It deprives them of all control over their own persons, their offspring, and the fruit of their own labor. It denies to them intellectual culture, and withholds from them the gift of their Heavenly Father — the precious Bible. It de- nies to them the right to worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences, and requires unconditional submis- sion to human will, even when opposed to the plain commands of God. And the right thus to degrade and oppress a particu- lar race is defended upon principles which would apply with equal justice to any other portion of the human family. " With such a system they declare they can have no sym- pathy ; but after a careful examination of its character and effects, and making every deduction which the largest charity can require, they were constrained to regard it as an outrage upon the rights and happiness of their fellow-men for which there was no justification or apology. Nor could they shut their eyes to those far-reaching claims which seek to subject the freedom of speech and of the press to its controlling power, and to bring other portions of our country under its blighting and withering curse that have been hitherto free from its pol- luting touch. " They could, therefore, sustain no relation and perform no act that would give countenance to the system or imply indif- ference to its multiplied enormities. Against it, therefore, as a mass of complicated and flagrant wrong, they would record and proclaim their solemn protest, especially against those per- versions of the Sacred Oracles by which it is attempted to make their Divine Author the patron and protector of a system so repugnant to their principles and spirit. " Entertaining these views of slavery, and believing that every violation of right is a sin against God, the}'', as members of the Presbytery, could not admit to membership in the body, nor 184 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. invite to their fellowship or communion, those who participated in the unrighteous system." This was quite a step in advance of any previous deliver- ance of this body on this subject. It not only denounced the sin of holding slaves, but, so far as the Presbytery was con- cerned, it practically excommunicated the slaveholders. There were, at the time, some men under the care of the New School General Assembly who were in the South and were participants in this crime, and the Presbytery said : " We can- not fellowship with them. We cannot sit with them at the Lord's table." They did add, however, to this sweeping utterance these words : " This strong language is not intended to apply to those who have actually and in good faith offered, and still do offer, liberty to their slaves upon the best terms to the slaves that the laws of the State where they live will permit, and who are ex- erting their influence for the repeal of the -laws by which slavery is sustained." The committee who reported these slashing and yet most eloquent resolutions were Rev. E. Cole, Rev. H. C. Dubois, and Mr. Farewell. Their author is not named. But as Mr. Fare- well was directed to secure their publication in the Ohio Ob- server, and in other papers, there is at least a probability that he was the man. At this time slavery was loudly demanding public notice. It was the national agitation. The very air was full of it. It was the subject of the school-house debate, and the national legislative halls were resonant with it. Men everywhere were warming into eloquence both for and against the system. The Church of Jesus could not if it would, and it did not seek to be kept entirely outside of this whirl of controversy. Some did insist that it was purely a political question, and that the pulpit'and the Presbytery, or the Church Council, had noth- ing to dojwith it. Still, it would be heard of, both from pulpit and from Church judicatory. Men full of the spirit of Christ, and knowing well the reading between the lines of His Sacred SLAVERY. 185 Word, insisted that it was a moral question, that slavery was a sin and a crime in which both the nation and the Church were participating. They said it must be condemned, and that by condemning it they must wash their hands of it, or be guilty, even though they were not the owners of the slaves. The heart of the nation and of the Church was awake, and there were thoughts against the cruel system of human bond- age, and against its effects on the families of the slaveholder, that would not down — would not be quiet until the questions then pressing, " Shall slavery continue?" and " Shall it extend to the new States and Territories?" were answered in some way, and once for all. In these resolutions of Huron Presbytery, the declarations of other religious bodies, and in the earnest battles that were fought from year to year in the General As- sembly, as well as in the utterances of the press, the politician, and the civilian, men might have heard with prophetic ear the rumblings of the thunder that became so loud, so terrible, in after years. He who then put his ear to the ground might have heard the tramp of the oncoming legions of carnage and death. He might have lifted his eyes to see the rising of that cloud that became afterward so dense and so full of woes to the whole nation. Yes, that sin of slavery was the crime of the nation, and the skirts of the Church had not been clear of it, and it must be visited upon us as a people. It was only three and a half years after this utterance by the Presbytery that the Sandusky Congregational Church declared its withdrawal from the body " because of its connection with slavery." As we have noted, that church had asked the Presby- tery to memorialize the Assembly regarding this evil. The Presbytery had responded, requesting the General Assembly to advise all the Presbyteries connected with it to institute a thorough examination of all the churches under their care, respectively, considering the ownership of slaves as prima facie evidence of wrong until proof of innocence is furnished, and to exercise discipline with all such members as are found guilty of the sin. AVith this expression of the Presbytery, in addition 186 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. to what had been previously given on this subject, before it, the church still withdrew, feeling that not enough had been done. The trouble may, however, have been with the Assem- bly rather than with the Presbytery. But the Presbytery was not yet done with this question. Almost yearly there was something to be said upon it until in 1857, when it seems specially to press upon their attention. It has been said b}'^ some one " that no question is settled till it is settled right." This was surely true of the question of slavery, and we are not surprised to find discussions and resolutions upon it frequently as the years come and go. In April, 1854, a commuuication was received from the Presbytery of Winchester, Va., in regard to memorializing the Assembly on this subject. The Winchester Presbytery were opposed to the Assembly's taking any further action upon this vexed question. They believed that it had no i:)Ower in the matter, and they sought to prevent any further unacceptable deliverances by that body. They had, therefore, sought to influence Northern Presbyteries, before the meeting of the Assembly, in this direction. The Presbytery of Huron were not in sj^mpathy with the Winchester brethren in this regard. They gave them a courte- ous answer, declining to join hands with them, and indicating that they might even take the opposite course. They said that they had not moved the General Assembly to its actions on this subject ; but that, as things were then, all considered, especially in view of recent developments in Congress, they were not pre- pared to forestall all future action, or to indicate what the future course of the Assembly ought to be. The eyes of these ministers and laymen were upon the national legislature, upon the movements of the South, and upon the developments of Providence ; and it might ere long be the thing for the General Assembly to do, to speak out in stronger words than ever before against this evil and against its upholders. To this conclusion, onl}- three years later, in 1857, they did SLAVERY. 187 come, and instead of seeking, according to the will of the Southern Presbytery, to restrain the action of the Assembly, they sent up to that body an earnest and clear-cut overture? calling upon it for most decisive action. This overture is in keeping with all the other declarations of this Presbytery upon this subject, only being more advanced, as the times seemed to demand. And as it is their last special deliverance upon the subject we feel that it should be pre- served in its entirety upon the pages of this chronicle. It is as follows : — MEMORIAL TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. " Dear Brethren : In memorializing your body on the subject of slavery, we beg leave to submit the following facts and con- siderations : — " 1. The General Assembly nearly forty years ago bore the most decided testimony against the system of American slavery. The well-known action of 1818 declares that the voluntary enslaving of one part of the human race by another is a gross violation of the most precious and sacred rights of human nature ; it is utterly inconsistent with the law of God, which requires us to love our neighbor as ourselves, and is totally irre- concilable with the spirit and principles of the Gospel of Christ. It also affirms that it is manifestly the duty of all Christians who enjoy the light of the present day, when the inconsistency of slavery both with the dictates of humanity and religion has been demonstrated and is generally seen and acknowl- edged, to use their most earnest and undivided endeavors to correct the errors of former times, and as speedily as possible to efface this blot on our holy religion and to obtain the com- plete abolition of slavery throughout Christendom, and, if possible, throughout the world. " 2. Since the division of the Church, in 1837, the subject has been repeatedly and fully discussed in the General Assem- blies, and the conclusions reached in each case have been in entire harmony with these principles. The course uniformly 188 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. pursued has been but the proper carrying out of them so far as was deemed practicable. " 3. The means used by the Assembly have hitherto been advisory and hortative. It has borne explicit and frequent testimony against the evil, and has exhorted all the slaveholders within its communion to cease from this sin. For almost twenty years it has exercised its advisory function against this evil as it has against no other, and yet the evil remains without abatement. " 4. In order not to confound the righteous with the wicked in their condemnation of American slavery, the Assembly, in 1850, carefully drew the line between lawful and unlawful slaveholding, declaring the former to be that which was ren- dered unavoidable by the laws of the State, the obligations of guardianship, and the demands of humanity ; all other kinds to be unlawful and wicked, and deserving of ecclesiastical cen- sure as any other crime. " 5. At the Assembly of 1853 a report of a committee on slavery was adopted, in which is the following passage : ' To correct misapprehensions which may exist in many Northern minds, and to allay causeless irritation by having the real facts in relation to this subject spread before the whole Church, it is recommended earnestly to request the Presbyteries in each of the slaveholding States to take such measures as may seem to them most expedient and proper for laying before the next Assembly, in its sessions at Philadelphia, distinct and full statements touching the following points : — " ' 1st. The number of slaveholders in communion with the churches under their jurisdiction, and the number of slaves held by them. " ' 2d. The extent to which slaves are held by unavoidable necessity, enforced by the laws of the State, the obligations of guardianship, and the demands of humanity. " ' 3d. Whether a practical regard, such as the Word of God requires, is evinced by the Southern churches for the sacred- ness of the conjugal and parental relations as they exist SLAVERY. 189 among the slaves ; whether baptism is duly administered to the slaves professing Christianit}' ; whether slaves are admitted to equal privileges and powers in the Church courts ; and, in general, to what extent and in what manner provision is made for the religious well-being of the enslaved.' " 6. To this reasonable request the Southern Presbyteries refused to respond. Some of them, as that of Winchester, not only refused to give the desired information, but demanded silence on the subject of slavery as the condition of remaining connected with the Assembly. " 7. Slaveholders to a great extent avow their determination to hold on to the system, accepting it as it is, with all its evils justifying it as authorized by the Bible, claiming that, like the relation of husband and wife, and parent and child, it is wrong, not as a relation or as an institution, but in its abuses. (See speeches of Messrs. Ross, Boyd, Holly, and Read, in the General Assembly of 1856, and the letters of Ross to Barnes.) " 8. The General Assembly of 1856 clearly pointed out the method by which slaveholding, so far as it is sinful, can be constitutionally reached, and the slaveholder subjected to dis- cipline. " 9. The conviction is deepening in the community, and is intensified by the events now occurring, that the Church in all its branches should rid itself as soon as possible of all connec- tion with slavery, which the highest judicatory of the Church has pronounced sinful. It is the solemn belief of an increasing number of judicious men, who have hitherto forborne to urge the subject on the Assembly, that the time has come when the constitutional power of the Assembly should be authoritatively used in the removal of this sin from the Church. "We therefore respectfully and earnestly request of the Assembly that they proceed forthwith to exercise their power in reference to this subject, according to the method pointed out in the Book of Discipline, Chapter VII, Section 1, Articles 5 and 6, and in conformity with the majority report adopted at New York in 1856." 190 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. Such was the memorial sent up to the General Assembly from this comparatively small body of ministers and elders. The name of the author who penned it is not given, but it was evidently a man with a clear head and an earnest mind and heart. The General Assembly, which met in Cleveland, Ohio, only a few weeks afterward, did adopt a strong and somewhat lengthy paper on this subject. It was largely in accord with the sentiment of Huron Presbytery. Against it the Southern ministers and elders, to the number of twenty-two, offered a protest. They protested, they said, " because, while past Assemblies had asserted that the system of slavery was wrong, they had heretofore affirmed that the slaveholder was so con- trolled by State laws, obligations of guardianship, and humanity that he was, as thus situated, without censure or odium as the master. This averment in the testimony of past Assemblies had so far satisfied the South as to make it unnecessary to do more than protest against the anti-slavery part of such testimony." But they protested now, "that the present act of the Assembly was such an assertion of the sin of slavery as degraded the whole Southern Church — an assertion without authority from the AVord of God or the organic law of the Presbyterian body." They protested " that such action was, under the then present conditions, the virtual excsinding of the South, whatever the motives of those who voted the deed." They regarded " the action as unrighteous, oppressive, un- called for, the exercise of usurped power, destructive to the unity of their branch of the Church, hurtful to the North and to the South, and adding to the peril of the Union of these United States." Such were the facts that followed this memorial of the Pres- bytery to the Assembly. In reading the memorial it is to be borne in mind that just at that time, from 1854 to 1860, and before, the South was SLAVERY. 191 bending all her energies to extend her dreadful system. The effect of the Abolition agitation had been to break up the old Whig party in politics. That party had been too slow in its movements toward any relief of the slave in his cruel bondage. As a party it was not in favor of abolition. It, at best, would regulate and prevent the extension of the evil thing. But most of the Abolitionists had come out of that party, and men had continued to come out of it until the party had become powerless. The Republican party was organized as the result. It was more decided as against the slave system, and yet it was not committed to abolition. It served, however, to draw the lines more sharply between the friends and the foes of slavery. It was composed of Whigs, Free-soilers, and some former Democrats who opposed the further extension of slavery. The Buchanan and Fremont Presidential campaign was one of the warmest in the nation's history, resulting in the election of Mr. Buchanan, he receiving 174 electoral votes from nineteen States, while Mr. Fremont received 114 votes from eleven States — one State voting for Mr. Fillmore, the candidate of the " Know Nothing " party. The Kansas-Nebraska Bill had become a law, giving the majority of the j)eople in each Territory the right to say whether they should enter the Union as a free or as a slave State. This bill disregarded the Missouri Compromise, which had pro- hibited the extension of slavery to any Territory of the United States north of 36° 30', north latitude. Then had begun the rush of parties to get first control of the lands. Multitudes poured into Kansas especially, from Mis- souri on the one hand and from the New England States largely on the other. The first party were determined to make Kansas a slave State, the other as determined to make it free. The result was a fearful state of things — the outbreak of civil war, the loss of lives, and the agitation of the whole land. It was evident that the question of the abolition or the extension of slavery was reaching the point of culmination. The Republican party, which had been formed as the result, 192 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. directly, of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, was defeated in 1856; but it had four years in which to prepare for the contest in 18G0. These were years full of interest, and big with results to our nation. In the midst of this storm of agitation Huron Presbytery was a wakeful and watchful observer. The ministers and elders, and the people, too, were ready to speak and to act as conscience and the love of God and humanity dictated. Occu- pying the western part of the Western Reserve, this body was right upon the line through which many a hunted slave made his escape from his bondage, and sometimes these good people knew what was transpiring. Every man in the Presbytery saw and felt in his heart of hearts the galling injustice of the Fugitive Slave Law, and with all his soul he resented it. Not one was willing to be directly or indirectly chargeable with any part of the blame of the terrible crime of American slavery. The scenes which were being transacted over the land spurred them on to speak aloud and to act ; and they were a unit. In some of the presbyteries and in the General Assem- bly there were differences and divisions. There were, as we have seen, even Southern presbyteries represented in the As- sembly, participants in the sin and crime, wdio threatened to abandon the Assembly unless they were left undisturbed in their possessions. And there were Northern presbyteries and churches over which division and ruin seemed to hover because of this raging conflict. Not so, however, was it with Huron Presbytery, or, so far as we can learn, with any of her churches. Here there was unity, earnestness, and the deep feeling of humanity toward the downtrodden, and withal there was wisdom. The words of Dr. Newton are full of justification in view of every recorded utterance of this body on this subject, and in view of their last intensely earnest and advanced deliverance in the midst of this most exciting time. He says : " Though this decided anti-slavery feeling pervaded the churches of the THE PLAN OF UNION AND THE HOME 3fISSI0N SOCIETY. 193 Presbytery, they were saved from that extravagant course of measures by which so many at the North were divided and ruined." And he adds : " The wheels of Providence were mov- ing forward with accelerated motion. In four years and six days from the time of this last deliverance the booming cannon that opened on Fort Sumter sounded the knell of American slavery." IX. THE PLAN OF UNION AND THE AMERICAN HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY. Again, in 1853, the Plan of Union and the steadfastness of the Presbytery to it received another test. The General Assembly had been co-operating in all its home missionary work with the above-named Society. This was a voluntary Society, and in no way responsible to the General Assembly, and it was found by experience that an important part of the work of cliurch extension, which belonged to the Assembly and the presbyteries, could not be reached by an agency in common with another denomination. A similar feeling existed in regard to the foreign mission work and the American Board of Foreign Missions. There was a desire in the minds of some, and growing, that the home missionary work should be managed through the Assembly's own organi- zations, and that such work should be regarded as among their own legitimate and necessary functions. The result was that, with a desire and purpose still to co-operate with the American Home Missionary Society, the Assembly organized its own Church Extension Committee. The object of this Committee was to develop the interests of Presbyterianism, and to afford relief to missionaries that could not be afforded under the co- operative rules of the American Society. The Assembly then called upon the churches connected with it to contribute to the work of the Committee. Such a call came to Huron Presbytery. It was understood to be a call for contributions to aid, especially, in the direction of Presbyterian 13 194 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. effort and growtli. It was not so designed, yet it proved to be a test of a peculiar nature upon some of the churches. The Presbytery felt this to be so, and also felt that the condi- tions and the obligations that had rested upon and governed them for so long were not to be lightly regarded. They, there- fore, said, in reply to the action of the Assembly, " that, in view of their present ecclesiastical relations, or of the Plan of Union between Presbyterians and Congregationalists, they deem it inexpedient to recommend any measures which will tend exclusively to benefit either of these denominations." The relation of the ministers and churches of the Western Reserve to the Plan of Union must, at times, have been some- what trying to some of them, as it imposed on them a restraint forbidding denominational development, while the}'' had their denominational preference. That was so in regard to mission- ary operations and contributions. Yet Huron Presbytery aimed to hold steadfastly to both the Plan of Union and the General Assembly. A proposition had been made in the Synod of Western Reserve to withdraw from the General Assembly and to become an independent body. The reasons for this proposition do not appear, but it may be safely presumed that it resulted from dissatisfaction in the Assembly in consequence of some effect of the Plan of Union, and it may be presumed, also, that the proposition had more Congregationalist than Presbyterian sup- porters. Be that as it may, the Presbytery of Huron expressed itself as decidedly opposed to any such measure. This body was strongly Presbyterian, and was becoming more and more so as the churches tliat were strongly Congregational were dropping off to the Association. The ministers and churches were not willing to separate from the Assembly, and yet they were closely scrupulous not to do anything in violation of that arrangement upon the basis of which the churches and the Presbytery had been organized. They, therefore, felt that they could not recommend for special contributions the work of the Presbyterian Church Extension Committee. In this there was THE PLAN OF UNION AND THE HOME MISSION SOCIETY. 195 a consistency, and a consistency of purpose, which continued even after all obligation to Congregationalism had ceased. They awaited the time when, in the clear providence of God, such relief would come that they could without restraint devote their gifts and energies more in the direction of denominational development, both at home and abroad. It is important, in the meantime, that we keep in view the exact relation of the Presbytery to the Home Missionary Society. This body was from its organization interested in home missions. At first, and before its organization, the region under its care was missionary ground. Then the interest was mainly receptive. The churches were aided. They were founded and for some years supported mainly by the Missionary Society of Connecticut. In 1824 the Western Reserve Domestic Missionary Society was organized. Its object was to conduct missionary opera- tions on the territory covered by the Western Reserve Synod. In 1826 the American Home Missionary Society was formed, and in 1830 the Western Reserve Society united with it. From it aid was received, and to it the contributions of the churches were given. The vital interests of the Presbytery were, there- fore, bound up, to a great extent, in the Society. There was a feeling of obligation, and through all the difficulties of an ecclesiastical nature which retarded the operations of this Soci- ety the Presbytery ever manifested sympathy with it and a strong desire and purpose to stand by it. But, as difficulties had manifested themselves under the As- sembly, before the excision, from 1831 or 1832 and onward, in the way of dissatisfaction with this Society because of its volun- tary nature and its relation to the two bodies, and its being in no way responsible to the Assembly, so similar difficulties eventually arose under the New School Assembly, growing out of this same double relation of the Society and the fact that much of the Assembly's denominational work could not be done through it. The first evidence of this found in the records of the Presbytery was, as seen above, in 1853. 196 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. But, again, in 1859 the attention of this body was called to the matter of church extension in such a way as to involve the interests of the Missionary Society. In the Assembly of that year a committee report was adopted in which we find these sentences : " The number and magni- tude of the cases for which the American Home Missionary Society cannot or does not provide make it imperative upon us largely to swell our contribution to the church extension scheme. " The Presbyteries of Alton, Bloomington, and Chicago com- plain of the action of the American Home Missionary Society in withholding appropriations from churches connected with presbyteries that employ exploring agents without the commis- sion of the American Home Missionary Society, and from such as are connected with presbyteries the churches of which do not contribute to the full measure of their ability to the treas- ury of the Society." The American Society had explained that the principles by which it was governed made such action on their part neces- sary. The Assembly regarded the explanation as a denial of the right of presbyteries to appoint on their own authority one or more exploring missionaries within their bounds, and as an assertion that it was a sufficient reason why the Society should withhold aid from the feeble churches of a presbytery, that other churches of that presbytery did not contribute to the Society to the full measure of their ability. The result was that the Assembly adopted the following paper : — " Whereas, The Presbj^terian Church in the United States of America, represented in this General Assembly, has hitherto prosecuted the work of domestic missions principally through the agency of the American Home Missionary Society ; and " Whereas, Complaints have been made to the Assembly from year to year, and with increasing earnestness, of the mode in which that agency has been conducted, particularly in the Western and Northwestern States and Territories ; therefore Resolved; That a commission is hereby raised, consisting of THE PLAN OF UNION AND THE HOME MISSION SOCIETY. 197 Rev. Jonathan F. Stearns, d.d., and ten others (whose names are given) to ascertain by a thorough investigation the facts in the case and to procure such other information as ma}^ be in their power relating to the history of our connection with the work of home missions and our present relations to it, also to learn the principles and modes of administration of the American Home Mission Society over the entire field of its operations, and to submit the whole, well authenticated, to the next General Assembly." Upon this action of the Assembl}^ the Presbytery of Huron, still true to its old affection and purpose, recommended to the churches to contribute to the American Home Missionary Society as heretofore, and at the same time to aid the church extension movement according to their ability. This action would cut them off from aid from the American Society according to its principles of government, because it required as a condition of aiding any church in any presbytery that the presbytery contribute to it all that its churches gave to home missions. It is quite evident that the ecclesiastical harness was rubbing somewhat, and that the Presbytery was trying to do two things — to be true and loyal to two sides. This state of things could hardly last very long. There was trouble in the air. The brethren were already feeling it. But they would not cross the bridge till they came to it. They came to it, or it came to them, on the 16th of October, 1859, though it required two years to cross it. At that date, at a meeting of the body during the session of the Synod at Elyria, a communication was received from Rev. D. H. Allen, D.D., on the part of the commission appointed b}'' the General Assembly, containing the following significant inquiries : — " 1. Have there occurred within your bounds any causes of complaint in respect to the Home Missionary Society, as having failed to act with entire impartiality toward the two denomina- tions interested in that Society ? If so, please state the case or 198 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. cases in full, with such evidence as would be necessary to establish the facts in an ecclesiastical court. " 2. Are there any reasons in the action of the rules of the Society in your bounds why the system of co-operation between us and the Congregationalists should be either modified or abandoned ? If so, what are they ? " These inquiries indicate that such was the state of the case, as between the two denominations in relation to the Missionary Society, that the time had about arrived when it would be best to dissolve the relation, and that each should prosecute its missionary operations on its own independent basis and sup- ported by its own churches. Two cannot walk together after they have ceased to agree. To both of the above inquiries, however, the Presbytery gave to Dr. Allen a negative reply. But just two years later, in 1861, at a meeting held during the sessions of Synod at Norwalk, a full and satisfactory answer to both questions was given ; and at the same time the final action of the Presbytery was taken in relation to the American Home Missionary Society, and that relation was dissolved. In the meantime, between the meetings of the Presbytery in 1859 and 1861, the General Assembly had decided upon its own plan of missionary operations, and the question became one of loyalty or disloyalty to the Assembly and to the Pres- byterian Church. There was but one step to take to cross the stream, and it was taken. A committee had been appointed in this attitude of affairs to suggest a suitable action for the body to take. This committee, consisting of Rev. E. Conger, Rev. A. Newton, and Elder James Boyd, made their report, which was adopted, in which the old relation was given up and the plan of missionary operations recommended by the Assembly to the churches under its care was adopted. In this final action of the Presbytery upon this subject there is exhibited a noble. Christian spirit, as so kindly and gratefully they recognize the relations and helps of the past, and then fall into line, as the way was now clear, with the more decided THE PLAN OF UNION AND THE HOME MISSION SOCIETY. 199 Presbyterian polity and work in efforts to be made in the ex- tension of the Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour in this land. They say : — " Resolved, 1. That we acknowledge, with gratitude to God, our obligations to the American Home Missionary Society for the assistance it has rendered to our feeble churches, nearly all of which have been aided by this noble institution. " 2. That during the whole period of its connection with our churches it has dealt out its benefactions with an impartial hand ; and that we have never had the least occasion to com- plain of any action of the Society within our bounds as a reason why the system of co-operation should be abandoned. " 3. Nevertheless, since difficulties have arisen between this Society and some of our presbyteries and churches at the West, and since these difficulties have increased every year, rendering co-operation more difficult, and since a majority in both de- nominations seem to think a separation desirable, and, finally, since the General Assembly has devised and matured a plan for conducting home missions within its own bounds and by its own independent action, it is desirable that our churches should conform to this in their home missionary'' operations. We think this course may be taken without any hostility to our Congregational brethren, with whom we are so closely bound by doctrinal views and historical associations, and in whose prosperity we shall ever rejoice. " 4. That while we recommend the adoption of the Assem- bly's plan to all our churches, we wish each church and each individual to act with perfect freedom as to the direction of funds contributed to the cause of home missions." Thus ended, in the most Christ-like spirit, the relation of Huron Presbytery with the Society of Home Missions, that had been conducted so long conjointly by the Presbyterian and Congregationalist bodies. 200 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. X. EDUCATION FOR THE MINISTRY. At the same meeting of the Presbytery in Norwalk, the body decided that they would in future also conform, in their opera- tions for education for the ministr}', to the plan indicated by the Assembly for that purpose. We have already noticed that in 1828 the want of an in- creased number of properly qualified ministers of the Gospel was felt. The increase of the population and the general religious destitution awakened the feeling that vigorous efforts should be put forth to secure the increase. And Huron Presbytery then determined to support at least one beneficiary in the course of education for the ministr}^, provided one of approved character and talents, needing assistance, could be found within the Presby terial limits. A committee was appointed to look after the man and the funds for his support, and in 1829 the committee reported a student, who was approved, and the churches were asked to contribute twelve and a half cents per member for his support in the course of his study. Thus a beginning was made in this direction. In 1830 Rev. Ansel R. Clark, Agent of the American Edu- cation Society, located at Boston, appeared before the Presbytery and presented the claims of that organization. After hearing his address the body manifested deep interest in the operations of the Society, and commended it to a permanent place in the hearts and contributions of the churches. Through this medium chiefly the churches contributed for a time, both those that were Congregational and those that were Presbyterian, to the cause of ministerial education. The chief work of this Presbytery, however, for some years, in this direction, was in the aid given to the Milan Institute and to the Western Reserve College, both of which institutions were founded with special reference to aiding young men, with the ministr}^ in view, to secure on reasonable terms a suit- able education. As for the Education Society, there was no systematic or EDUCATION FOR THE MINISTRY. 201 stated presentation of the subject, and the interest in it gradu- ally declined until 1857. Then a recommendation from the General Assembly seems to have brought the matter anew and strongly to the minds of the ministers and elders. Only the year before the Assembly had established its own Permanent Committee on Education, and now it presses the subject upon the attention of the presbyteries and churches. The Presbytery was in session at Toledo during a meeting of the Synod, when a committee, previously appointed, made their report. It declared that they could not neglect this cause without failure in duty to the Great Head of the Church and without impairing the Church's energy and efficiency ; and as the General Assembly had urged the duty upon all the presbyteries and sessions under their care, and as little or nothing had been done on this field for this object for nearly twenty years, they, therefore, resolved to recognize it as a solemn duty to enter immediately upon the work. A commit- tee was appointed, consisting of ministers Newton, Walter, and Bushnell, to be called the Standing Committee on Education for the Ministry. Their duty was to superintend the whole work, dividing the field into three parts, and each member giv- ing to one part his special attention. They were to see that the subject was brought before the congregations and that col- lections were taken up each year. That there might be no ground for dissatisfaction in any of the churches, it was decreed that the money collected might be sent either to the Assembly's Permanent Committee, in New York, or to the treasurer of the Synodical Committee, in Hud- son, or to the treasurer of the American Education Society, in Boston, at the option of the donors. It was also a part of the work of this committee, so far as they might be able, to look up young men who might be suit- able candidates for the ministry and to press uj^on them the duty of giving themselves to the work. They were to examine and recommend, in the vacations of Presbytery, such young men as might require assistance from 202 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. the funds at the disposal of the Assembly, and to exercise over them sucli pastoral supervision as miglit be practicable while they were pursuing their studies. The manifest point of weakness in this action was that the moneys collected might be scattered into the several different channels, some churches sending their contributions to Boston, others to New York, and still others to Hudson. This difficulty was doubtless largely remedied by the action of the Presbytery several years later. In April, 1860, Rev. E. Bushnell, from the Standing Com- mittee, whose duty was to report annually, made the following statements and suggestions, which were accepted and approved by the Presb3^tery : — " The Committee on Education report that at the meeting of April, 1859, the collections for the year then closing had not been paid, and therefore no complete report could be made. Since that time the collections for the two years have been received, amounting to $246.67. For the year 1858-9 the amount was $92.00; and for the year 1859-60 it was $154.67. Previous to April, 1858, funds were paid to the Sy nodical com- mittee from the churches. Last year that committee expressed to the committee of this Presbytery a desire to be relieved of one of their beneficiaries who had come from one of our churches. Accordingly, subsequently to the meeting of Pres- bytery one year since, your committee decided to appropriate funds to him instead of sending them to the Synodical committee. '' But it may prevent difficulties in future to enlarge the instructions originally given to this committee by the adoption of the following resolution, which we recommend, namely : ' that hereafter no moneys shall be appropriated to any bene- ficiary until he shall have been regularly received under the care of this body as a candidate for the Gospel ministry.' " The committee beg leave to say that in their opinion a good beginning was thus made in the work of education ; a great advantage was gained by having the benefactions of the EDUCATION FOR THE MINISTRY. 203 churches thus collected into one channel, even though they were not applied in the same places. The committee becomes the agent of the churches and the churches act in concert." This plan met the hearty approval and co-operation of the members of Presbytery. The committee had charge of the annual collections for education in the churches, and of the disbursements thereof to the candidates for the ministry. Several young men received the aid thus furnished who were afterward faithful and success- ful workers in the Master's cause. In 1861, when the Presbytery separated from the American Home Missionary Society, it also decided to conform, in future, in operations for education for the ministry to the plan indi- cated by the General Assembly. This was when the Assembly had completed its general plan of education and communicated it to the Presbyteries. The action of Huron Presbytery in this case, as in the matter of home missions, indicates the feeling and purpose to act in all respects in harmony with the denom- ination of which it was a part. It indicates a disposition toward denominational centralization. It did not, however, result in any marked difference of procedure in the matter of education. The practice was not abandoned of mainly appropriating the funds collected for this object to the candidates that were under care of the body. This we learn from the general statement given by Dr. A. Newton, who, as one of the committee, was conversant with the facts, and from the fact that there were candidates, at least two at one time, who were aided by this committee through funds collected from the churches. But this was doubtless in har- mony with the above action and with the understanding of the Assembly's Permanent Committee, to whom reports were made of what was being done from year to year by the Presbytery. This method of operation continued until the reunion in 1870, since which time collections for ministerial education are sent to the Board of Education at New York, from which Board candidates receive their aid. CHAPTER IX. FROM 1861 TO 1870. From the beginning of the war to the completed reunion of the two branches of the Presb3^terian Church may be regarded as another period of this history. And we may here give : — I. THE CHRONICLES OF MINISTERS AND CHURCHES. On the 3d of April, 1861, Rev. John McCutchen was dis- missed to the Presbytery of Elyria. On the 12th of October Mr. J. D. McCord, a licentiate from the Congregational Council of Cincinnati, was received, and on the 16th of September, 1862, he was ordained and installed pastor of the church of Peru. April 1, 1862, Rev. S. D. Smith was received from the Pres- bytery of Dayton. April 2d Mr. George Fitch was taken under the care of Pres- bytery as a candidate for the ministry. On the 30th of the same month Mr. Franklin Noble was received as a licentiate from the Presbytery of the District of Columbia. THE SANDUSKY CHUKCH. The meeting of the Presbytery on the 30th of April, at which Mr. Noble was received, was held at Sandusky, and for a special purpose. Mr. S. Miner, representing the Presbyterian church of that place, presented an application of the said church to be received under the care of Huron Presbytery. 204 THE SANDUSKY CHURCH. 205 In April, 1851, as already noted, the Sandusky Congrega- tional Church had withdrawn from the body. On the 18th of November, 1852, twenty-six members of the Congregational church, having obtained letters of dismissal, withdrew from it to organize a Presbyterian church. These persons had been formerly Presbyterians, and they were not satisfied with the course of things in the above-named church. They made application to the Old School Presbytery of Richland, and were organized under its care and by a com- mittee from it consisting of Rev. John Robinson and Rev. Mr. Dickey. Mr. Dickey preached the sermon on the 11th of December, 1852. This church was under the care of Richland Presbytery until the Old School Presbytery of Western Reserve embraced this territory, including, also, the Tiffin church, when it be- came a part of that body. It had, therefore, been an Old School organization until the meeting of April, 1862. Resulting from thoughts on the state of the country at the time, and especially because some of the members had conceived the idea that the Old School body was not outspoken enough on the question of slavery, there had grown up a desire for transfer to the New School Presbytery. This desire was presented by Mr. Miner, and the change was effected without difficulty, though a considerable proportion of the church would have preferred to have continued in their former Old School relation. The Presbytery of Huron found that the orderly steps had been taken with a view to the transfer, and immediately granted the request, received the church, and admitted its delegate to his seat as a member. A unanimous call was then presented to Mr. Franklin Noble to become pastor of the church. Mr. Noble declared his readi- ness to accept the call ; whereupon Presbytery proceeded to examine him in all the parts of his studies with a view to his ordination, and, being satisfied with the examinations and the trial exercises, they ordained him to the work of a gospel min- 206 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. ister, and installed him pastor of the Presbyterian church of Sandusky. FURTHER RECEPTIONS AND DISMISSALS. On the 3d of Septeml^er, 1862, Rev. J. B. Parlin was received from the Presbytery of Dubuque. On the same day Rev. R. S. Lockwood was dismissed to the Presbytery of Erie. September 2, 1863, Rev. J. B. Fowler was dismissed to the Presbytery of St. Joseph. In 1864, on the 26th of April, Rev. D. E. Wells was received from the Presbytery of Steubenville, and the Rev. S. Jewett, on the 28th of June, from the Presbytery of Miami. The pastoral relation existing between Rev. Y. Noble and the church of Sandusky was dissolved on the 28th of June. At the meeting of the body, September 7th, the Rev. Lemuel Bissell, one of the Presbytery's two foreign missionaries, being on a visit from his foreign field, upon request, gave an inter- esting account of his field and his work. On the 5th of April, 1865, Rev. S. Jewett and Rev. F. Noble were dismissed, the former to the Presbytery of Dubuque, the latter to the Litchfield North Association. Rev. J. E. Weed, also, was dismissed to the Presbytery of Marshall. ■ On the same day Rev. J. D. McCord was released from the pastorate of the church of Peru. September 6th Mr. W. M. Newton, a licentiate, was received from the Presbytery of Cincinnati, and, after the usual exami- nations and exercises, he was ordained to the work of an evan- gelist, entering upon the work of supplying the churches of Bloom ville and Melmore. October 14th Rev. Hubbard Laurence was received from the Presbytery of Elyria, and Rev. George H. Fullerton from the Presbytery of Columbus. October 31st Rev. W. T. Hart was received from the Presby- tery of Madison, to take charge of the church of Lyme. PRESBYTERY OF ELYRIA DISSOLVED. 207 On the 6th of September, this year, Rev. J. B. Parlin was dismissed to the Mitchell's Association of Iowa, the Rev. Hiram Smith to the Presbytery of Cold Water, and the pas- toral relation between Rev. F. L. Rossiter and the church of Huron was dissolved. On the 31st of October Rev. George H. FuUerton was in- stalled pastor of the church in Sandusky. April 4, 1866, Rev. N. C. Coffin was received from the Pres- bytery of Dayton, and Mr. Wesley Fay was taken under care as a candidate for the ministry. On the 1st of ISIay another candidate for the ministry, Mr. Robert Cutler, was duly received. On the same day the Committee on Home Missions reported the church of Berlin as having withdrawn from the Presbytery, whereupon the name of said church was dropped from the roll. Rev. F. L. Rossiter was dismissed to the Presbytery of Co- lumbus, Wis., and Rev. J. D. McCord was installed pastor of the church of Plymouth. September 25th Rev. D. E. Wells was installed pastor of the church of Monroeville. PRESBYTERY OF ELYRIA DISSOLVED. At the meeting of the Western Reserve Synod in the fall of 1866 the Presbytery of Elyria was dissolved and from it there were added to Huron Presbytery the following ministers and churches, namely : the ministers and churches in the eastern townships of Erie and Huron counties, and one church in Ashland County. Ministers : Eldad Barber, Marcus Palmer, •Joel Talcott, and John McCutchen, with Madison Elliott in Lorain County. Churches : Birmingham, Florence, A^'ermillion, and Ruggles. Thus the boundaries of this body were again changed ; and as the church of Ruggles in a few months withdrew to the Association, leaving no organization in Ashland County in care of the Presbytery, it may be regarded as the final settle- 208 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. ment of the territorial limits. In the early part of the follow- ing year a proposition was made, in accordance with the desire of the Presbytery of Maumee, to have the boundaries of the Presbytery so changed as to annex the churches of Fremont and Clyde to the Presbytery of Maumee. But the objections of the Presbytery of Huron prevailed, and the change was not made. FROM 1867 TO 1869. On the Gth of April, 1867, the church of Clyde was organized by Rev. E. Bushnell and Rev. George H. Fullerton, with twelve members. On the lOtli of April it was received under care of the Presbytery ; at which date the church of Ruggles was dis- missed to the Congregational Association and its name dropped from the roll. April 10th Rev. H. B. Dye was received from the Presby- tery of Trumbull. October 16th the church of Green Spring was received by letter of transfer from the Presbytery of Western Reserve. November 26th Rev. J. B. Smith was received from the Presbytery of Oxford. On the same day Rev. G. H. Fullerton was released from the pastorate of the Sandusky church and dismissed to the Presbytery of Cincinnati. On the 15tli of April, 1868, two young men under the care of the Presbytery as candidates for the ministry, Mr. Heber A. Ketcham and Mr. George F. Fitch, were, after the usual exami- nations and trial exercises, licensed to preach the Gospel. At the same time Rev. S. D. Smith was dismissed to the Pres- bytery of Franklin ; the pastoral relation between Rev. J. D. Mc- Cord and the church of Plymouth was dissolved, and he was dismissed to the Presbytery of St. Joseph. The pastoral relation between Rev. D. E. Wells and the church of Monroeville was dissolved, and ]\Ir. Wells was dismissed to the Presbytery of Winona; and Rev. Hubbard Laurence was dismissed to the Presbytery of Cleveland. September 9th Rev. M. Keiffer, d. d., was received from the 1810. 209 Tiffin Classis of the Reformed Church by letter, he having first assented to the constitutional questions specified in the Confes- sion of Faith. Dr. KeiflFer had, for a time, been supplying^ the Sandusky church, and on the 24th of September, having accepted a call to become pastor, he was installed. This relation between Dr. Keiffer and the church of San- dusky was of but short duration. He was a fine preacher, a man of more than mediocre ability, and for a while was quite popular in that church. But owing to some strong presenta- tion of doctrinal subjects, especially regarding the Divine sovereignty, he awakened dissatisfaction, which resulted in the dissolution of the pastoral relation on the 14th of April, 1869, after a continuance of less than seven months. He was dis- missed to the Mercersburg Classis of the Reformed Church. At this time, April 14, 1869, Mr. H. A. Ketcham, licentiate, was transferred to the Presbytery of Cinciimati. July 27th the other licentiate, Mr. George B. Fitch, was dismissed to the same body. April 14th Rev. Andrew Huntington was received from the Oneida Association. September 15th Rev. J. K. Kost was received from the Richland Presbytery, and on the 30th of November he was installed pastor of the church of Plymouth. On the same day Rev. J. B. Smith was dismissed to the Presbytery of Logans- port. 1870. The year 1870, the year of transfer and change of boundaries and relations after the now effected reunion, opens up a new era in the history of this body. On the 13th of April there were received two ministers — Rev. James McCoy from the Presbytery of Dayton and Rev. Joseph Edwards from that of Alton. April 26th Rev. T. D. Bartholomew was received from the Presbytery of Indianapolis. 14 210 HISTORY OF ]WRON PRESBYTERY. DR. A. NEWTON AND NORWALK CHURCH. On the 5th of July of this memorable year the Presbytery was called upon to perform an act which could not be done withuot some painful thoughts. Rev. Alfred Newton, d.d., had been one of the most beloved of the ministerial brethren. It was a pleasure to his co-presbyters that he had been honored with the appointment to preach the opening sermon at the organization of the new Synod of Toledo on the 21st of June — which sermon he did preach, from the words, " And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me." But Dr. Newton was beginning to show some of the physical effects of age. He had been pastor of the church of Norwalk for thirty-five years. He had been an affectionate and faithful pastor and an able minister of the Word. He was loved and honored by his own people, by the people of Norwalk, and wherever he went, universally. Yet it seemed to him best that he resign the charge he had held so long, and the Pres- bytery was called upon to hear the offer of his resignation and reasons therefor, and to act upon the matter according to their best judgment. Around such pastorates many facts and considerations of most tender and sacred interest cluster, and even though age and necessities newly arisen may demand it, yet thinking ministers and elders cannot dissolve the relation without tender sympathy for the dear old pastor and with those older church members whose hearts will be sorely tried in the event. In this case, while dissolving the relation, the Presbytery appointed a committee, consisting of Rev. E. Bushnell, d.d., and Rev. H. B. Dye, to draft a suitable minute relative to the case, to be presented at the next met^ting of the body. The minute was reported at the time appointed. It was adopted and placed upon the records. It is as follows : — " In dissolving the pastoral relation between Rev. A. Newton, D.D., and the church at Norwalk, after its continuance for a 3IEETING OF SEPTEMBER 13, 1S70. 211 period of thirty-five years, Presbyter}^ think it fitting, by dis- tinct and explicit record, — " 1st. To recognize tlie grace and oversight of the Great Head of the Church manifest in giving to the people of this charge the blessings of a permanent, steadfast ministry, and to this pastor the vigor to labor so continuously in the Gospel work. " 2d. To congratulate our brethren of the Norwalk church on all the fruits of this steady, substantial ministration of the Word, manifest in their enlarged numbers and material pros- perity. " 3d. To assure Dr. Newton of our high appreciation of such a ministry as he has passed in Norwalk, and our earnest prayer that his present bodily vigor may be continued to him yet many years. " 4th. To remind all parties concerned, not forgetting our- selves, that the time of our earthly service is rapidly passing by, and we are all called to renew our diligence that we may accomplish the Master's will and win His approbation." MEETING OF SEPTEMBER 13, 1870. The first meeting of the reconstructed Presbytery was held at Olena on the 13tli of September, and was opened with a sermon by Rev. J. H. Walter. At this meeting Rev. J. T. Pollock was received from the Presbytery of Dayton and Mr. H. H. Rice, a licentiate, from the Presbytery of New York. A call was placed in the hands of Mr. Rice from the church of Norwalk to become its j^astor, and he having declared his willingness to accept it, arrangements were made for his ordi- nation and installation, which took place, after due examination and process, at Norwalk on the 6th of October. On the 13th of September Rev. John McCutchen was dis- missed to the Presbytery of Marion. On the 29th of November Rev. D. W. Marvin was received 212 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. from the Consociation of Western New York. He took charge of the church in Clyde. By virtue of the reunion the names of Rev. R. B. Moore, pastor of the church in Tiffin, and Rev. Wm. McClaren, d.d., minister of the church in Fostoria, together with the churches of Tiffin, Fostoria, and McCutchensville, were added to the roll of Presbytery. II. STATE OF THE COUNTRY. At the time of the April meeting, in 1861, the nation was just on the eve of her great Civil War. In nine days from the time of that meeting the booming of cannon was lieard at Fort Sumter. At the time, and for the several months previ- ous, the country was in a ferment of agitation. These good ministers and elders, who, in common with so many others, had been bold in condemning the slavery of the South, de- nouncing it as a sin against God and a crime against man, might then have been wondering what was about to come of all this opposition and agitation, for which they were, in their measure, responsible. They might have been asking, and, if they could have seen just a little in advance, how earnestly they would have asked, "Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?" They might, indeed, have trembled at the possible results of some of their own words. But we have no reason to believe that even one of them fal- tered. They never for a moment doubted the justness or lamented the severity of their utterances. Slavery was all they had ever thought it to be, and God's providence, which is some- times dark, indeed, might in a manner unknown, or unthought of by them, bring about the deliverance of the poor black race. For He maketh darkness His pavilion. These brethren would think, and without doubt some of them did speak, of the de- liverance of Israel out of Egypt ; and in their hearts they said, *' The Lord is behind these scenes, which seem to make the very air heavy, and from the distance — may it not be far off — we STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 213 see the end of that cruel system of human bondage and the answer to our prayers, which have been going up with those of the bhick men themselves all over the South." It was, indeed, from under the cloud, and yet, somehow, there was a faith by which men seemed to see the signal of God's hand in the movements of the warrior and to hear His voice in the cannon at Fort Sumter. The tramp of the gathering of great opposing hosts was indescribably significant. Many hearts, and they were not all of them hearts that had, in religion and politics, set themselves against the slaveholder — many of them had been his friends and apologizers, — many hearts of various creeds said, almost instinctively, at the early stage of the conflict, " The slavery of the South is from henceforth a doomed institution." While the scenes of Sumter, through the States of the South, and at Washington were transpiring, and while the fly- ing of telegrams was stirring all hearts at the North with a new emotion, both of loyal and disloyal, the ministers of Huron Presbytery were going forward with their work. The church services were still conducted as usual, and prayers for the land and for the oppressed were still being offered, only, perchance, with more depth of heart and with more trembling of hope than before. There were no special presbyterial meetings called. The work of the pastors and of the churches simply went forward, in many respects, as usual. There was no meeting of Presbytery from the 3d of April, 18(31, till the 4th of September ; and we know that some scenes had transpired, in that time, to try the faith of the friends of God and of humanity. The first notice found upon the records of the interest felt by this body in the war then raging is in the report of this meeting held on the 4th of September. It is found in the nar- rative of the state of religion. There do not appear to have been at this time any special motions or discussions of the state of the country. There, perhaps, was no felt call for any- thing of that kind, as many men thought there was in other 214 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. church courts and assemblies. Did these men feel like stand- ing still to see the salvation of God ? That was wisdom, the wisdom of faith, and yet it was not a do-nothing wisdom either. In the narrative prepared for the Synod at this time it is stated that the people of the churches share in the excitement which grows out of the state of the country, and that some of the members are volunteers in the army of the United States. But, they go on to say, the general testimony is that the war tends to deeper and more solemn earnestness on the part of the churches. Those who were wont to attend the prayer-meeting were manifestly sensible that God was moving in the land, and the prayer-meetings were sustained, not particularly by large numbers, but with unwonted interest. The war thus appeared to be a source of quickening, rather than of coldness. These people and churches, encouraged and led by ministers earnest and loyal to God and countr}-, and who had aforetime been faithful to speak out against whatever they regarded as wrong, were not to be slack in their Christian zeal at such a time, a time when the glory of the nation was threatened. If they had spoken out boldly, and j^et charitably, on the subject of slavery, they had longed, and would still long, to see the time when the evil would cease from the land. They prayed to God as well as spoke to their fellow-men. A terrible state of things was now at hand for which they had not prayed ; and yet — who doubts it? — it was, after all, involved in their prayers. If we could see all things that do lie con- cealed from us when we pour forth our special supplications, many a time we would shrink back from tlie sight, and the very desire would tremble on our lips. 'Tis well we do not see as Jehovah of hosts sees. These men could only see and think as men ; but they were willing to accept the days as they came and went, freighted with whatever there might be in store for them and for the land. But they could not do this, they could not go forward to meet the coming invisibles, without prayer. Pastors were now willing to see their people, their friends, and brethren STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 215 enlist for the war. Ministers, elders, and others were willing to surrender their sons, and wives to give up their husbands, that whatever might lie in the womb of God's great purpose might be accomplished. In doing so they continued to pray more earnestly than ever. The ties of blood would spur theai to this anew, and in their devotions and by their faith they were enabled to feel that God's purpose, when it should ripen, and when the bitter bud were bloomed into the flower, would be one of glory to His name and of good to human kind. Weeping might endure for the night, but there would be joy in the morning. Thus the noise and din of war, that very state of things which in its nature is most calculated to harden the heart toward men and to chill Christian love and zeal in the home and in the church, had in this case, according to the narrative, the effect of bringing these men and many of their people nearer to the cross, and of giving them a new earnest- ness and a deeper solemnity. We have said that there did not appear to have been any special motions or discussions upon the state of the country at this meeting. There would not be much discussion where each heart throbbed in deep unison with all the rest. And yet there was a committee appointed, consisting of Rev. J. H. Walters, Dr. E. Bushnell, and James Boyd, to draft some action for the body to take. This committee made their report, which was very brief. They did not enter into many of the particulars of thought or view of the conditions as they might then have appeared. They simply satisfy themselves with heartily recommending the resolutions of the last General Assembly, that of the May previous. Thej^ adopt these resolutions, without recording them anew, each and all, as embracing their own views and sentiments upon the subject. We turn to the Minutes of that Assembly and read what they said, to know what Huron Presbytery said and thought in the hour of the nation's peril. That Assembly spoke under emotions that reached down to 216 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. the most deeply embedded lieart chord, and tlieir words were worth repeating and adopting by any body of men. They said in a paper, with preamble and seven resolutions, that as a portion of the people of the United States had risen up against the rightful authority of the Government, and were then in armed rebellion, and inasmuch as the Presbyterian Church, in her past history, had frequently lifted up her voice against oppression, and had shown herself a champion of constitutional liberty as against despotism and anarchy, they should be re- creant to their high trust were they to withhold their earnest protest against all such unlawful and treasonable acts. They said that inasmuch as they believed, according to their Form of Church Government, that God, the Supreme Lord and King of all the world, hath ordained civil magistrates to be, under Him, over the people for His own glory and the public good, and to this end hath armed them with the power of the sword for the defense and encouragement of them that are good and for the punishment of evil doers, there was, in their judgment, no blood or treasure too precious to be devoted to the defense and perpetuity of the Government in all its consti- tutional authority. They recommend to all pastors and churches to be instant and fervent in prayer for the President, and for all under him engaged in the struggle, and to pray more fervently than ever for the removal of slavery and all other evils, both social and political, which lay at the foundation of the existing national difficulties. This, in brief, was what the Assembly said, and the Presby- tery felt that they could say nothing better. After saying this, they then most earnestly recommend the day of prayer and fasting, wdiich had just been appointed by the nation's Chief Magistrate, to be observed in all the churches. The members of the Presbytery knew well the action of their General Assembly, and their churches knew it, and every heart endorsed it. They knew, too, the propriety of a day of fasting and prayer, and they did not stop to debate about that. STATE OF THE COUNTRY 217 The appointment had been made by Mr. Lincoln, the man who believed in God and in his Redeemer, who never issued a state paper or a message to Congress without in some manner re- ferring to God, the Ruler of Nations. He also believed in prayer, and now, when surrounded with clouds and darkness, and amid trials such as no President of this nation had been called to meet, he appoints a day and calls upon believers in God and in Christ to pray for him and for the bleeding nation. Devoutly the fathers and brethren of the Presbytery re- sponded : " We will, and we want our people to unite with us on that day of holy convocation and prayer for the country and her ruler." Thus, at this early stage of the conflict, there was both earn- estness and unity of desire for the preservation of the Union in its entirety, and for the deliverance from bondage of those whom greed and sin had enslaved under fetters too cruel and too vile to endure long under the increasing light from the cross of Christ. Again, both in the years 1862 and 1863, the Presbytery repeat their action of 1861 by endorsing the words spoken by the Assemblies of those years respectively ; and they thank God for the unanimity with which the Assemblies acted. In 1862 the General Assembly adopted a paper in which we find these words : — " We have great confidence in Abraham Lincoln and in his Cabinet, and in the commanders of our army and our navy, and the valiant men of this republic, prosecuting a holy war- fare under their banners ; and while we bless God that He has stood by them, and cheered them in what we trust will ever stand as the darkest days of our country's humiliation, and crowned them with many signal victories, and knowing that ultimate success is with God alone, we will ever pray that the last sad note of anarchy and misrule may soon die away, and the Old Flag of Our Country, radiant with stripes and bril- liant with stars, may again wave over a great, undivided, and happy people." 218 HISTORY OF IIURON PRESRYTERY. Again : — " Resolved /^XvdiwQ here, in deep humiliation for our sins and for the sins of the nation, and in heartfelt devotion, lay our- selves, with all that we are and have, on the altar of God and our country ; and we hesitate not to pledge the churches and Christian people under our care as ready to join with us in the same fervent sympathies and united prayers that our rulers in the cabinet and our commanders in the field and on the waters, and the brave men under their leadership, may take courage, under the assurance that ' The Presbyterian Church in the United States of America' are with them in heart and hand, in life and effort, in this fearful existing conflict." The Assembly, also, at this time addressed to Mr. Lincoln an approving and affectionate letter, in which are found these words : — " We believe that there is but one path before this people ; this gigantic and inexpressibly wicked rebellion must be de- stroyed ; the interests of humanity, the cause of God and His Church, demand it at our hands. May God give you His great support, preserve you, impart to you more than human wis- dom, and permit you ere long to rejoice in the deliverance of our beloved country in its peace and unity." In 1863 another lengthy paper was adopted in which the churches and ministers are exhorted to stand b}" their country, doing all in their power, at any sacrifice, waiting hopefully on Providence, patient and undaunted, "until, by the blessing of God, the glorious motto. One Country, one Constitution, and ONE Destiny, shall be enthroned as the sublime fact of the present, and the more sublime harbinger of the future." This spirit of unfaltering loyalty so unanimously manifested in the Assembly, and so eloquently expressed, found a perfectly hearty response in the Presbytery, and each of the papers adopted by the higher body was made also the action of the lower. The Presbytery, however, did not stop with expressions of loyalty to country and gratitude and prayer to God. They THE STATE OF THE CHURCHES. 219 encouraged everything, by word and act, that could in any way help the nation's cause, or bring support and comfort to " the brave defenders of our glorious Union." They responded to the calls for men to put on the soldiers' armor. They say in one of the narratives, that " The state of our country is more deeply affecting the churches and congregations than ever ; great numbers of the young men are being called away to mingle in the scenes of the fearful strife," leaving hearts at home solicitous and tearful. There was also a response to the calls of the Christian Com- mission, and very much was done in the various neighbor- hoods in the way of supplies for the health and comfort of the sick and wounded. And when the Commission sent out recommendations with reference to arm}^ chaplains, the Pres- bytery sought also to encourage that, most probably in the way of temporary service in that line of duty. They appointed a provisional committee having the matter in hand, and they entered upon a general agreement that in case any of the ministers should engage in the chaplain service, the others would supply his pulpit during his absence. And when Mr. Lincoln again recommended and appointed a day of fasting and prayer — the last Thursday of April, 1863 — in view of the darkness that just then overshadowed the nation, the ministers and elders seem to have entered into the spirit of the call, and convoked their congregations for the service. Thus it is to be seen that Huron Presbytery was loyal from centre to circumference, awake to the highest interests of the country, in full sympathy with the President and the suffering soldiers, and longing for the day when slavery would cease to blot the fair fame of the Republic. in. THE STATE OF THE CHURCHES. During the earlier years of this decade the narratives of the state of religion present the fact that in the midst of the ex- citements of war the churches were more than holding their 220 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. own. No revivals had occurred, yet some of the churches had enjoyed something like gentle refreshings. The Sabbath schools, the Bible classes, the study of the Catechism, and the manifestation of an awakened missionary spirit, indicated a hopeful state of things. THOUGHTS FOR THE WORLD. It is an interesting fact that in the midst of all that was transpiring in the land, in many respects so little resembling the spirit of the religion of the Meek and Lowly One ; in the solicitude for sons and brothers, and in patriotic care for the country, there w^as yet time and heart and faith for thought for the conversion of the world to God, and for the salvation of the lost in all lands. The General Assembly in May, 1862, had devoted earnest at- tention to the work of missions. They had called the ministers and churches to special, earnest prayer for mankind. At the September meeting of the Presbytery these proceedings of the Assembly were reviewed, and the action of that body, as they recommended the observance of the first JNIonda}' in January as a day of united prayer for the conversion of the world, the first week in January as a season of prayer for the revival of religion, and the last Thursday of February as a day of prayer for the institutions of learning and for the youth in our land — all this was heartily approved and the recommendations were adopted. Foreign missions were not forgotten, and home missions also received attention. Collections for these objects were urged upon the churches and were taken up as before, and the spirit of liberality was evidently developed from year to year. HELP FOR REV. H. S. TAYLOR'S CHURCH. In addition to this, to the calls for contributions for the Church at home and abroad, and for the suffering soldiers, a A GOOD YEAR. 221 special effort was made to respond to a request made by Rev. H, S. Taylor, a member of the Presbytery and a missionary of the Madura Mission in India, that aid be furnished to build a church within the bounds of his labors. The ministers and delegates at the April meeting in 1863 agreed to see to it that a subscription be raised in their several churches to aid Mr. Taylor, and the stated clerk was directed to inform the ministers then absent of this resolution. The amount raised for this object has not been stated, and we are left to conjecture what may have been the meaning of the action of the body at its next meeting in September, when the reports from the churches were received regarding it, and it was resolved to sus- pend further collections. Had the response been so abundant that it became necessary to cry " Stay, stay ! " or was there some other reason for this decision ? The courage of the ministers in these dark days, which enabled them to present to their congregations so many urgent calls for their contributions is, to say the least, worthy of esteem. But we know it was good for the people, and, besides, those were the days when money for such purposes was abundant. The demand was, through a wise Providence, met by the supply, and the nation and the churches were learning to give. A GOOD YEAR. The war was ended in 1865. Hearts were yet sore and pains were yet felt, but the end had come to the four years of strife and blood. When it did come all gave thanks to God, rejoicing. His people declared their confidence in Him anew. The Pres- bytery, from whose churches many had gone to the field of carnage and some to the soldier's grave, rejoiced in the nation's deliverance. They were also happily hopeful in view of the ever-brightening prospects of the great Church Reunion. There was great thankfulness and great hope and earnest prayer. Along with all this God's rich blessing hung over the churches, and very soon after the closing of the war the drops 222 JIISrORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. of blessing began to fall here and there. The dews had been gently distilling, as we have seen, even during the dreadful state of the country. •' The narratives all speak in hopeful, grateful terms; but the narrative adopted at the April meeting in 1S66 was an unusually lengthy one. It is one continuous story of the wonders God had wrought and of the deep and touching interest in the churches. Beginning very soon after the close of the war in 1865, the precious drops of Divine Grace began to fall upon several of the fields. But few of them, indeed, failed to receive some token of love and power. The dreary din and noise of conflict had been followed by the shoutings of " Grace, grace unto it ! " " Never before," says the thrilling narrative, " were our churches generally in a more prosperous condition." Eight of them had enjoyed marked revivals of religion. These were Plymouth, Lyme, Monroeville, Milan, Norwalk, Sandusky, Bloomville, and Republic. Fremont also had received some- thing of an awakening. The work at Plymouth and Milan seems to have been especially deep and extensive. Other churches of other denominations in the regions about were quickened, and to them, also, numbers were added. The narrative closes with the following summary : — " The Presbytery consists of seventeen ministers ; of these four are pastors, one is a pastor-elect, two are foreign mission- aries, four are stated supplies, one is agent, and five are without charge. " There are 15 churches belonging to the Presbytery. All but two or three of these enjoy the means of grace statedly and without dependence on the home missionary aid. One hundred and eighty-three persons have been added on profes- sion of their faith and 55 by letter. The whole member- ship now numbers 1390. Besides these there are between 100 and 125 converts who have not yet united with any of the churches. Eighty-four adults have been baptized and 50 infants. THE CONFESSION SIMPLIFIED. 223 " The expenditures of money for all purposes in the churches amounted to $21,390." This was not in the estimate of figures so great a work as many another region has reported ; yet, in itself, it was a great consummation. It revealed a happy religious condition, and, in view of it all, the heart of any child of God will be in sym- pathy with the Presbytery, when they exclaim, " Not unto us, O Lord ! not unto us, but unto Thy name be all the glory." The churches continued to be fairly prosperous until the re- union, when the number of members — in 1866, 1390 — was in- creased to 1728. CHURCH ENTERPRISE. Following upon this interesting condition of the churches, there was an awakened spirit of church enterprise manifested in the way of material improvement, in some of the most im- portant churches of the Presbytery. The congregations of Norwalk and Fremont replaced their old houses of worship with new, and both substantial and elegant sanctuaries. The church of Clyde erected for itself a comfortable church home. Olena had but several years previous erected a new house of worship, and in 1868 secured a com- fortable parsonage. Other congregations were repairing their sanctuaries. The church of Tiffin also — soon to be enrolled again, as in years past, under the care of Huron Presbytery — was taking trembling but vigorous steps to secure a new, a better, and especially a better-located, house of worship. THE CONFESSION SIMPLIFIED. In 1867 the church of Fremont overtured the Presbytery to recommend to the churches a more brief and simple form of Confession of Faith and Covenant, to be used in the reception of members on profession. The committee, consisting of Messrs. Walter and Hart, min- isters, and Mr. Kennan, elder, to whom the overture was 224 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. referred, did not deem it expedient to change tlie existing form in use in the Presbytery, but advised that churches that wished a change might adopt a form of their own, provided, however, that in no case should such form of Covenant or Confession con- flict with the Westminster Confession of Faith. To this wise decision and precautionary proviso the body agreed, and the privilege was granted to each church so desiring to shorten the process of receiving members on profession of faith. This is one of the differences now to be noted between the churches of tlie present time and those of a quarter or half century ago. Instead of tlie lengthy, catechetical, and doc- trinal examinations of earlier days, the disposition now is mainly to test candidates for church membership upon the question of their simple and saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This, together wdth the covenant engagement to be faithful to God and dutiful toward the Church and in the world, constitutes the main and only test in the examination and reception of church members. The first step in this direction was taken by this Presbytery when the right was granted to the several churches to decide for themselves what to expect of those making a profession of their faith. IV. THE REUNION. While the flames of civil war were raging, another matter of a very different kind was rising into being. It was the question of the reunion of the New and Old School branches of the Pres- byterian Church. Did the fact of the civil strife help it? It had its influence. The troubles over the slavery question w'ere being put out of the way. The Church of the South was withdrawn from the Church of the North ; and a kindred feeling drew^ the two branches of the one Church in the North closer to each other. The spirit of union was in the air. There were on both sides some good men who were slow to move. They must pick their way over every inch of the ground. We cannot fault them. THE REUNION. 225 On the other hand, there were multitudes in both branches of this great denomination who felt at once that reunion ought to come. Only they would be wise, and not too hasty. The feel- ing prevailed that the differences were not enough to keep the churches apart, and the hearts came together before the heads did. It was, however, a matter for reasoning. There were many localities where little churches of both branches were struggling to live and to grow ; and one must grow, if grow it did, at the expense of the other. Ministers and people were awaking to ask : " Why should this be so ?" And prayers were going up in spite of the terrors of war — yes, more earnest because of the war — with eyes upon this denominational sore. And out over the land thoughts and prayers merged into the general feeling that the differences were not simply little, they were nothing. Hearts and heads, of ministers and people, were learning to say, " Let us be one, for we are brethren." It did not take long for the members of Huron Presbytery — this little Presbytery that had been sadly grieved at the stroke of the exscinding knife, who felt and said that it had wTonged them, not knowing them — to say where they stood when the question of reunion was once raised. They seemed to have hailed the first warm breeze that blew in this direction with gladness and gratitude to God. They did not say much ; at least the records of the body were not burdened with words or with lengthy resolutions. They do say, however, that they approve of the steps taken in this direc- tion. They refer " with gladness to the correspondence which had been inaugurated between the two Assemblies, and express the hope that it may lead to most blessed results." Thus they set in with the first tide that was bearing toward reunion ; and they did not cease to ride upon each recurring wave until they had finally, after a few years of writing and speech-making, reached the object of their hope. We find upon their records no word of opposition, none that would even cause delay. It was not with them a personal 15 226 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. matter in any selfish sense. They had under their care all the Presl)yterian churclies within their bounds save one or two, and there was nowhere among them an Old School church to rival one of their own. They might even, and they did, lose several churches that went to the Congregationalist Association when tlic reunion came. But they wanted it for all that, be- cause it was right, and because they looked out to the Church as a whole in its work in this broad land and its work in be- half of missions. It was before them, as an object of hope, from 1863 until it finally came. At the April meeting in 1869, as it was just before the meet- ing of the two Assemblies, when the question might be decided, and as the Assemblies of the preceding year had sent down a proposition, or propositions, naming a basis for the reunion, upon which the presbyteries were expected to vote, this body gave its expression as follows : — " 1st. We do hereby signify to the General Assembly our consent to reunion on the basis overtured to the presbyteries by the last Assembly ; or on the basis of the standards pure and simple ; or according to the recommendation of our own reunion committee at their last meeting, as may be most satis- factory to the majority. " 2d. We also say to the General Assembly that in any case we shall always claim the right, according to the Constitution of the Church and 'the Plan of Union,' to deal with the Con- gregational churches now on our roll without interference from the higher judicatories of the Church." Rev. E. Bushnell, d. d., was the author of this paper. It will appear at a glance that the spirit of these two declarations is somewhat diverse, the one from the other. In the first the Presbytery is openly and heartily in favor of the reunion upon either proposed basis, as the majorit}^ of the two Assemblies might decide. But in the second declaration they, with a positive and de- termined spirit, set up their one right, in which they say that in any case they will not be interfered with by the higher judica- THE REUNION. 227 tories of the Church. This right they will carry with them into the reunion on any basis. This resolution looks more un-Presbyterian than it really is, and there is no doubt that the spirit that prompted it was the most noble and Christian. It must still be remembered that these ministers and elders, though really Presbyterian in heart and head, realized one obligation resting on them regarding the few Congregational churches which still hung to them. The rest of the great Presbyterian body might not sympathize with them in this, but in their hearts they purposed to be true. If there were but several of such churches which reunion might set out in the cold, these good men would say in substance : " While we will go heart and hand with the reunited Church, yet we cannot forsake or treat in other than the most honorable manner these several churches." They wanted the Assembly to think of that, and not to propose to interfere with their sense of right in this sacred matter. They felt the force of their own circumstances — circumstances which had been about the Pres- bytery all down its history — as the great outside world could not readily feel them. The one thing prominent in this declara- tion, and prominent in every act of Huron Presbytery where the matter had the least occasion to come up, is that this body realizes its own peculiar environments. There is this fact that makes the history of the Presbytery a unit. The body always remembers, as with a delicate moral sense, the one fact that it and its churches were organized under the " Plan of Union," and that this fact brought with it special moral and Christian obligations. These obligations held so long as Congregational churches continued to be a faithful and true part of the Presby- tery. So when they seemed to be self-willed these brethren simply meant to say : " We cannot set aside our high sense of right or the letter of law in our very Constitution, which binds us." If they were to be set free from the trammels imposed by the Plan of Union they wanted to be sure that they had acted honorably and right in the matter. They would not be untrue 228 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. to one little church which had for years been a part and a care of the body. It is a matter of gratitude, however, that this question of dealing with the few Congregationalist churches which had not already sloughed off from the presbyteries and set up for themselves found an easy and satisfactory solution. They were not in any case dealt with unkindly or to their loss, and we believe they have never complained. They had time given them to think and talk the matter over, and then they were to decide whether they would be thorouglily Congrega- tional or more decidedly Presbyterian. The several of such churches in Huron Presbj'tery relieved it of any difficulty or unpleasantness by simply, in the course of time, declaring for Congregationalism, and so by withdraw- ing from the Presbytery. This was done, we believe, in each case in the spirit of broth- erliness. Thus ended the incubus that had so long and so conscien- tiously been borne, of the historic " Plan of Union." It was to be henceforth a thing of the past. Congregationalism is now Con- gregationalism, and Presbyterianism is Presbyterianism. Still, there continues between the two great denominations a genuine fraternity, and ministers and members pass readily from one body to the other. The Presbytery accords a hearty w^elcome to the Congregationalist minister who comes into its membership and serves any of its churches. Any fear of independency that might have been suggested by the Presbytery's second declaration was never realized and was never intended. Upon the final question, sent down by the two Assemblies of 1869, of reunion upon the standard spure and simple, this body voted a hearty affirmative ; and then, when in the fall of 1809 the long-prayed-for reunion did become, under the blessing of God, an accomplished fact, ministers, elders, and churches immediately fell into line in the performance of the duties required by the terms of the reunion act. READJUST3IENT OF PRESBYTERY. 229 READJUSTMENT OF PRESBYTERY. Very soon the questions began to be asked : What are to be the new relations ? Where are to be the new presbyterial and synodical boundaries ? These questions were asked, in some instances, with a good deal of interest, as men would quite naturally have their prefer- ences. The members of Huron Presbytery hoped that they might be left largely in the old relationships of churches, Presbytery, and Synod. They preferred to be left with their old Synod of Western Reserve. Yet they were disposed to be submissive to whatever might be deemed the most satisfactory adjustment. This spirit of submission was found to be essential, as their faces had to be turned westward, and Huron Presbytery was to become a part of the new Synod of Toledo. The Presbytery, however, was allowed, greatly to her satisfaction, to remain undivided. The only change made was that this body calmly took to herself what she already enveloped, the churches of Fostoria, Tiffin, and Elmore, with McCutchenville, whose membership was largely within her bounds, although the house of worship was in another presbyterial territory, and ministers R. B. Moore, pastor of the Tiffin church, and William McClaren, d. d., pas- tor of that of Fostoria. This was the result of the action of the Synod of Toledo, which met at Lima, Ohio, on the 21st of June, 1870, b}'^ order of the General Assembly. At this meeting the committee appointed to consider the subject of the reconstruction of the presbyteries in the bounds of the Synod of Toledo, and to de- fine the boundaries thereof, reported that the Presbytery of Huron should consist of the ministers and churches of Huron, Erie, Sandusky, and Ottawa counties, including, also, the church of McCutchensville, in Wyandot County. Their report was adopted. This arrangement left the boundaries of the Presbytery unchanged, as the dissolution of the Presbytery of 230 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY Elyria, in 1800, luul already restored to tliis body the eastern range of townsliips in Huron and Erie counties. From first to last, through all the six changes through which the boundaries of the Presbyter}^ have passed, Huron County has remained as the rallying ground of the body. At one time this one county constituted the whole of the presbyterial terri- tory, though it then included what is now Erie County, which had also always been a part of this territory. Huron is, there- fore, appropriately the name of the body. As already seen, the reunion brought to this Presbytery two ministers and four churches. As the result, however, of this reunion, in course of time four churches withdrew to the Con- gregational Association ; another — that of Plymouth — was after- ward dismissed to the Presbytery of Wooster ; but with these churches all included in the readjustment the year 1870 closed. CHAPTER X.— FROM 1871 TO 1892. I. THE NEW STATUS. At the meeting of Presbytery, April 11, 1871, the roll reck- oned, as stated above, twenty-three ministers, and there were at this time three candidates for the ministry. The names of the ministers were as follows : H. S. Taylor, E. Conger, Marcus Palmer, Joel Talcott, A. C. Dubois, S. Mont- gomery, A. Newton, d. d., William McClaren, d.d., M. Elliott, D. W/Marvin, F. S. White, L. Bissell, E. Bushnell, d.d., A. Huntington, J. K. Kost, J. S. Edwards, J. H. Walter, R. B. Moore, J. T. Pollock, W. T. Hart, J. S. McCoy, T. D. Bartholo- mew, and H. H. Rice. Of these six were infirm and without charge, namely, E. Conger, M. Palmer, J. Talcott, A. C. Dubois, S. Montgomery, and A. Huntington ; one, F. S. White, was honorably retired ; one, A. Newton, was pastor emeritus, and was acting as agent for Hudson College ; two, L. Bissell and H. S. Taylor, were foreio;n missionaries in India. The other thirteen were all actively engaged, either as pastors or as stated supplies, in the Presbytery. There were twenty-two churches, namely : Fostoria, Marga- retta, Fremont, Plymouth, Milan, Monroeville, Tiffin, Lyme, Sandusky, Olena, Peru, Norwalk, Huron, Florence, Birming- ham, Bloomville, Melmore, Clyde, McCutchensville, Elmore, Republic, and Green Spring. These churches had in all 1728 members. Only one, Milan, had a membership of above two hundred. It had 204, Nor- walk 186, Fremont 180, and Sandusky 170. The smallest was Elmore, with ten members. The churches of Norwalk, Fre- mont, Tiffin, and Clyde had entered, or were about to tnter, new houses of worship. 231 232 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. Tlie contributions for benevolence reported for the then clos- ing year were: for home missions, $938; for foreign missions, $1038. To both of these objects the largest contributor was Tiffin church, which gave to home missions $471 and to for- eign missions $478 ; most of this was, however, the legacy of Mrs. Thomas Loyd, who had recently deceased. To the Board of Education there was given $1158, the church of Sandusky having given $481 of this. To publication there was contributed $189 ; to church erection, $84 ; to the Disabled Ministers' Fund, $51; to freedmen, $130; to the General As- sembly Fund, $93 ; to congregational expenses, $22,916, and to miscellany, $944. The whole sum amounted to $27,591. Of this sum the Boards received $3638. Thus the Presbytery of Huron, under the arrangements con- sequent upon the reunion, was fairly organized, with the above-named ministers, and read}-^ and disposed for aggressive work for the Master. There was a disposition to contribute to the various objects of denominational benevolence, and also to keep abreast of the times in material improvement at home. There was, however, room for great enlargement of view in regard to the kingdom of Christ and the measure of Christian giving in the churches. 11. CHRONICLES OF THIS PERIOD. Two ministers, H. S. Taylor and Eldad Barber, during the year 1871 passed from the roll by death. On the 12th of April Rev. H. B. T>yQ was dismissed to the Presbytery of Maumee, and Rev. W. M. Newton to that of Osage, Mo. On the 30th of May Mr, E. R. Chase, a licentiate, was received from the Elgin Association, of Illinois, and examined with a view to his ordination. He passed his examinations satisfactorily and was ordained at Clyde on the 20th of June following and took charge of the Clyde Church. On the 13th of October Rev. H. Laurence again became a member of the body, by letter from the Cleveland Presbytery. LY3IE CHURCH. 233 On the 10th of April, 1872, Rev. A. Newton, d. d., who had been the stated clerk of the body since 1851, resigned that position and Rev. E. Biishnell, d. d., was chosen to fill the office in his stead. On the same day Rev. Joseph Edwards was dismissed to the Presbytery of Cleveland, and as Rev. M. Elliott was really a member of that Presbytery his name was dropped from the roll of Huron. The Rev. R. B. Moore resigned the pastorate of the Tiffin church. On the 29th of April Rev. E. R. Chase was installed pastor of the church in Clyde, the Rev. S. C. Kerr was received from the Presbytery of Lima, and Rev. A. Baker from that of Rochester. On the next day, April 30th, at Fostoria, Mr. J. Emory Fisher, a licentiate, was received from the Presbytery of Fort Wayne, and, after the usual examinations, was ordained to tlie ministry, taking charge of the Fostoria church. LYME CHURCH. At the same time, the church of Lyme having requested at a previous meeting that her relation to the Presbytery be dis- solved, the request was considered and granted. This was a request resulting from the terms of the reunion between the two Assemblies. It had been specified, in order to avoid future misunderstanding, in the terms of the reunion that within a certain time the churches of a mixed order should either adopt the Presbyterian form of government or secede to Congrega- tionalism. The church of Lyme had been under the care of Huron Presbytery through almost the entire period of its history. Yet it was more Congregational than Presbyterian, and consequently it preferred to join the Association. During the year 1872 three ministerial names are dropped from the roll in consequence of death, namely, Rev. Joel Talcott, Rev. E. Conger, and Rev. A. Huntington. 234 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. In 1873 the following changes occurred : — Rev. J. Emory Fisher retired from the church of Fostoria. On the 3d of June Rev. David Vandyke was received from the Presbytery of Portsmouth and installed pastor of this church. At the same time Mr. J. J. Hawk, a licentiate, was received from the Presbyter}'' of Kittanning ; he was examined in part with a view to ordination ; his examinations were completed on the day following at Bloomville ; the whole was sustained and he was ordained and installed pastor of the united churches of Bloomville and Melmore. Rev. R. B. Moore was, June 4tli, dismissed to the Presbytery of Bellefontaine. June 17th Rev. S. C. Kerr was dismissed to the Presbytery of Columbus. September 10th Rev. C. K. Smoyer was received from the Presbyter}' of Alton and Rev. M. C. Williams from that of Rock River. Rev. J. T. Pollock was installed pastor of the church in Tiffin on the 28th of October. On the 10th of October Rev. Wm. McClaren, d. d., was dis- missed to the Presbytery of Marion. In 1874, April 15th, Rev. J. Emory Fisher was dismissed to the Presbytery of Fort Wayne and Mr. R. E. Cutler, a candi- date under care of Presbytery, was transferred to the Presbytery of Lyons. Death again removes a member, Rev. E. R. Chase, who died at Clyde May 25, 1874. On the 9th of September following Rev. A. M. Meili was received from the Presbyter}^ of Wooster that he might take charge, as stated supply, of the church of Clyde. October 8th Rev. C. AV. Wallace was received from the Presbytery of Saginaw. October 9th Rev. H. H. Rice was released from the pastorate of the Norwalk church. 1875. On the 14th of April two other of the churches that w'ere mainlv Congreerational withdrew to the Association. 1S75-1S7S. 235 These were Margaretta and Florence. On the same day Rev. H. Lawrence again leaves the Presbytery, going to Cleveland. Rev. H. H. Rice also was dismissed to the Presbytery of Sacramento. On the 4th of May Rev. J. J. Hawk was released from the pastorate of the churches of Bloomville and Melmore. August 15th the church of Graytown was reported to Pres- bytery as having been organized, and was taken under its care. Rev. B. B. Moore at this time returned with a letter from the Presbytery of Bellefontaine and again became a member of this body. On the 26th of October J. D. Williamson, a licentiate of the Congregational Association of Andover, w'as received and or- dained at Norwalk. On the 3d of October, 1876, he was installed pastor of the Norwalk Church. 1876. April 12th Rev. J. K. Kost was dismissed to the Presbytery of Ft. Wayne, Rev. D. W. Marvin to the Presbytery of Genesee, and Rev. J. J. Hawk to that of Kittanning. On the 13th of September Rev. Walton Pattinson was re- ceived from the Presbytery of Ft. Wayne. October 14th Rev. J. D. Gehring was received from the Tif- fin Classis of the Reformed Church. On the 12th of September the church of Genoa was received under presbyterial care, it having been organized in June previous by a committee consisting of Rev. A. P. Johnson, Rev. E. Bushnell, d. d., and Elder J. G. Jaeger. On the 13th of September the church of Plymouth, at its request, was tranferred to Wooster Presbytery. 1877. April 17th Rev. D. Van Dyke was released from the pastorate of Fostoria Church and dismissed to the Presbytery of Saginaw. September 12th Rev. J. D. Gehring was dismissed to the Presbytery of Milwaukee. 1878. April 9th Rev. A. P. Johnson was dismissed to the Presbyter}^ of Genesee, and on the 10th of April Rev. J. T. 236 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. Pollock was released from the pastorate of the church in Tiffin and dismissed to the Presbytery of Maumee. On the same day Rev. Joseph Hughes was received from the Presbytery of Fort Wayne. April 30th Rev. J. S. Axtell was received from the Presby- tery of Kittanning. October 11th Rev. A. Cone was received from the Presby- tery of Zanesville, and Rev. C. W. Wallace was dismissed to the Presbytery of Kalamazoo. October 29th Licentiate D. D. Bigger was received from the Presbytery of Logansport. 1879. On the 15th of April Mr. Bigger was ordained as an evangelist, serving the church in Tiffin, over which he was installed, the 8th of October following, as pastor. April 8th Rev. M. C. Williams was dismissed to the Presby- tery of Baltimore and Rev. T. D. Bartholomew to that of Saginaw. May 6th J. H. Snow^den, licentiate, w^as received from the Presbytery of Steubenville. He was examined, ordained, and installed pastor of the church in Huron. During the year 1879 the name of Rev. A. Newton, d. d., was dropped from the roll, he having died on the last day of 1878. 1880. During this year there were no changes in the mem- bership of Presbytery. The churches were reported to be in good condition financially and fairly progressive. Several of them — Tiffin, Norwalk, and Fostoria — had been bearing bur- dens of debt. The debts upon the first two named had been standing for some eight or ten years. These burdens, under the energetic efforts of the earnest pastors, with smaller burdens on several other of the churches, were all removed, opening wider the door of hope to the churches thus relieved. The following year, 1881, was marked with changes. There were three dismissals, one death, and two additions. April 13th Rev. A. Baker w^as dismissed to the Presbytery BEV. E. BUSHNELL, D. D. 237 of Los Angeles, Rev. A. M. Meili to the German Evangelical Synod of North America, and on the 14th of September Rev. A. Cone was dismissed to the Presbytery of Wellsboro. May 24th Rev. D. J. Meese was received from the Tiffin Classis of the Reformed Church, and, having already been serving the Sandusky church acceptably and successfully for several years, he was installed their pastor on the 27th of October. On the 14th of September Rev. William Foulkes was re- ceived from the Presbytery of Monroe, taking charge of the church of Fostoria as pastor-elect. On the 15th of February, this year, Rev. Marcus Palmer died. KEV. E. BUSHNELL, D. D. On the 13th of September, 1882, Rev. E. Bushnell, d. d., re- quested that the pastoral relation which had existed between himself and the church of Fremont for twent3^-five years be dissolved. He had been elected to the office of treasurer of Adelbert College of Western Reserve, at Cleveland, Ohio. This office he deemed it well for his health, and wise, to accept. The request w^as granted and the relation dissolved. Dr. Bushnell had served the Presbytery as its stated clerk for ten years, and, as he moved beyond the bounds of the body, he also re- signed this position, and Rev. J. D. Williamson was chosen in his place. Dr. Bushnell still, however, continued a member of the Pres- bytery till the following April, 1 883, when he was dismissed to the Cleveland Presbytery. The Presbytery of Huron expressed its deep regret at part- ing with so faithful and valued a member. He had belonged to it for nearly twenty-six years, nearly all this time pastor of the one church. And his character and standing were such that no one stood higher for scholarship, intellectual power, faith- fulness, or general influence in all presbyterial deliberations than did he. He was honored, loved, and always heard with inter- est when he spoke. He was a strong man, a guide and leader 238 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. in Presbyteiy, upon whom his younger brethren loved to de- pend for sound judgment. It is an interesting fact that Dr. Bushnell's wife is a worthy daughter of Rev. Simeon Wood- ruff, whose name is the very first upon the roll of the Presby- tery at its organization, and who was appointed by the Synod to preach the opening sermon and to preside until another moderator be chosen. He was also, in 1830, one of the first members of the Presbytery of Cleveland at its formation, and also one of the first of the Presbytery of Kalamazoo, in 1838, at its organization. REV. J. H. AV ALTER. On tlie 18th of October, 1882, Rev. J. H. Walter requested the dissolution of the pastoral relation existing between him- self and the church of Milan. The request was granted, and Mr. Walter was dismissed to the Presbyter}' of Cincinnati. He had served the church of Milan for more than twenty-seven years as its pastor. He was at the time of his leaving the only member of the Presbytery who had been in it so long, except the missionary in India, Dr. Bissell, and several others who had for some time been inactive. His pastorate at Milan had been both happy and successful. He was greatly beloved as a man, a minister of the Word, and as a presbyter. He is a man of very considerable ability and scholarship, a lovely Christian character, and a man of exceptional exaltedness and purity in his tastes and in all his words and actions. He accepted a call to the church of Pleasant Ridge, in the Presbytery of Cincinnati, and thither he went, entering upon a new field of labor, where he is yet serving his Master in his loved employ. DR. BUSHNELL AND MR. WALTER. Of these two men it cannot be unwise to say, while they yet live and are doing good work in other fields, that the impress of their character and work still abides upon Huron Presbytery. RESmiE. 239 Friendships of years' continuance and circumstances bring them into the line as the real apostolical successors of the four departed ones whose names have been so jDrominent in these pages — A. Betts, E. Judson, E. Conger, and A. Newton. If ministers who claim the right, before those of all other denomi- nations than their own, to be the successors of the first apostles could prove their claim so well as these two brethren could to the successorship of the four noble fathers named, they might have some real comfort in their claim. These men, both of them, may know that in leaving they were followed, and are still held, in loving remembrance by the churches which they served so long and so well, and by the Presbytery, where their presence was so long a power for good. RESUME. 1882. On the 18tli of October Rev. Walton Pattinson was dismissed to the Presbytery of Athens. November 14th Rev. C. E. Barnes was received from the Presbytery of Wooster. He had received, and now accepted, a call to the pastorate of the church of Fremont, and arrange- ments were immediately made for his installation, which ser- vice was performed a few days later by a committee appointed by the Presbytery. 1883. January 15th, Rev. J. H. Snowden was released from the pastoral relation existing between him and the church of Huron ; on the 28th of the same month he was dismissed to the Presbytery of Wooster. On the 10th of April Rev. S. Montgomery was dismissed to the Presbytery of Cleveland. April 11th Rev. W. L. Swan was received from the Presby- tery of Steubenville, and Rev. E. L. Dresser from that of Monroe. Mr. Swan accepted a call to the pastorate of the church of Milan and was installed September 12th. Mr. Dresser took charge of the church of Huron early in the spring of this year, but only as stated supply. 240 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. Rev. W. T. Hart, who was serving the church of Lyme at the time of its withdrawal from the Presbytery, continued to do so until the fall of 1881, when he removed to Bloomville as stated supply of the churches of Bloomville and Melmore. On the 12th of September, 1883, a call was placed in his hands from these two churches to become their pastor. He accepted the call and was installed on the 8th of April, 1884. The church of Clyde was made vacant by the removal of Rev. J. S. Axtell to Green Spring, and his assuming the charge of the Academy at that place. In a short time, however, Rev. H. P. Barnes, agreeing to accept a call to become pastor of this church, he was received from the Presbytery of Cleveland. His reception occurred on the 24th of October, 1883, and soon after he was installed by a committee of Presbytery. 1884. July 7th the pastoral relation that had existed for about nine years between Rev. .J. D. Williamson and the church of Norwalk was dissolved, and on the loth of the next April Mr. Williamson was dismissed to the Presbytery of Mahoning. Rev. William Foulkes was elected stated clerk of the Pres- bytery in his stead. 1885v On the 29th of September Rev. D. A. Heron was received from the Presbytery of Union. A call for his pas- toral services was placed in his hands from the church of Elmore, and he was immediately installed. Mr. Heron con- tinued to labor earnestly in this field for about two years, when the illness and death of his father called him away. The rela- tion was dissolved on the 10th of April, 1888. September 29th, 1885, Rev. E. L. Dresser was dismissed to the Presbytery of Central Dakota. November 2d Rev. H. P. Barnes was released from the pas- torate of the church of Clyde, and on the 12tli of April, 1887, he was dismissed to the Presbytery of Mahoning. December 3d Rev. J. M. Seymour was received from the Northern Indiana Association of Congregational Churches and Ministers. He was installed pastor of the church of Norwalk on the 14th of April, 188G. BESmiE. 241 1886. On the 13th of April Rev. J. S. Axtell was dismissed to the Presbytery of Lima. On the 17th of May Rev. W. T. Hart resigned the pastorate of the Bloomville and Mehnore churches, moved to Huron as pastor-elect, and was, after nearly two years' service in that church, installed as its pastor on the lOtli of April, 1888. September 15, 1886, the relation existing between Rev. D. J. Meese and the church of Sandusky was dissolved, and Mr. Meese was dismissed to the Presbytery of Wooster to accept a call to the church in Mansfield. December 27th Rev. M. DeWitt Long was received from the Presbyter}^ of Bellefontaine. He had already entered upon the work of supplying the churches of Bloomville and Repub- lic, these two churches having been joined together in one charge. The field composed of Melmore and McCutchenville churches were, after considerable delay and discouragement, finally suc- cessful in securing the services of a minister. Rev. William Smith accepted a call to become their pastor, was received into the Presbytery from the Reformed Church on the 10th of April, 1888, and was, on the 26tli of April following, installed at both places by a presbyterial committee. On the 1st of May, 1888, Rev. David Street began to supply the united churches of Clyde and Green Spring, and on the 25th of June he was received into the Presbytery from the Presbytery of Portsmouth. He was dismissed to the Presby- tery of Wooster April 8, 1890. On the 27th of December, 1886, Mr. W. J. Gerlach, a mem- ber of the Presbyterian church in Tiffin and a student in the Theological Seminary of Heidelberg College, in Tiffin, was examined on the subject of experimental religion and his reasons for desiring to enter the ministry, after wdiich he was taken under the care of the Presbytery as a candidate for the ministerial office. He continued to prosecute his studies, going, however, in a short time to Lane Seminary, at which place he 16 242 HISTORY OF HURON PRESBYTERY. graduated in due time, and was dismissed from Huron Presby- tery, in the summer of 1SS8, to accept a Michigan charge. He served quite satisfactorily the church of Genoa in tlie summer of 1887. On the 14th of September, 1887, Mr. Wayne P. Smith, a young man recently come from Latrobe, Penna., and now a member of the Presbyterian Church of Tiffin, after the usual examination in religious experience and reasons for desiring to enter the ministry was taken under care of the body as a can- didate for the sacred office. On the following 19th of the same month, Mr. G. A. Lawrence, a son of Mr. Minor Lawrence, an elder in the church of Peru, was also, after the usual examina- tions, received as a candidate for the ministry. In addition to these, Mr. James Putnam O'Brien, a member of the Second Congregational Church of Oberlin and an alum- nus of both the College and Seminary of Oberlin, was examined upon all the subjects requisite to entering the ministry. Part of his examination took place on the 19th of September, 1887, when he was taken under care of Presbytery as a candidate for the ministry. He had received a call to the united churches of Olena and Peru to become their pastor. The call was ac- cepted conditional upon the will and action of the Presbytery, and on the 31st of October the examinations w^ere completed ; these being sustained, together with the usual trial exercises, he was licensed to preach, then ordained, and installed pastor of the two churches, all on the same day. About this time Rev. Daniel E. Bierce entered upon the work of ministering to the church of Sandusky, and on the fol- lowing 10th of April, 1888, he was received into the body from the Presbytery of Fargo, Dakota. October 31, 1887, Pev. C. K. Smoyer was dismissed to the Presbytery of Southern Dakota. On the 21st of November, 1887, Rev. A. C. Dubois, whose name liad been upon the presbyterial roll for several years, died in California. He had been absent so long as to be unknown per- RESUME. 243 sonally to any of the members of the Presbytery save one. His name, however, was honored in the Presbytery where he had been a prominent actor. At the meeting of the Presbytery, April 10, 1