r. " 
 
 ,t. . r ■ ♦ 
 
 !-: 'M,| 
 
 ^ i\'\ I "1-^ ' 1 ! 
 
 I". 
 
 <U iJ 
 
 y; 
 
 
 1 .!•' - 
 
 ( ( 
 
 r I < 
 
 jh 'i^^ H. <1 ! "^ "^ 
 
 
 'I'V). I.! 
 
 ,i /" 
 
 , I ' 
 
 
 r>i'iJ':y 
 
 mM'y ^'A'>^i'- 
 
 1;,.r 
 
 iV^ I'Jjii*! .. 'I 
 
 
 
 
XV^< 
 
 «.t>^ 
 
 ^i i¥ ®VoIo5ifa/ 
 
 PRINCETON, N.J. 
 
 '4^. 
 
 '* 
 
 % 
 
 Presented by Dr. Joh--n De.Witt 
 
 BX 8990 .A8 G4 1871 
 
 Reformation principles 
 exhibited 
 
Iff 
 
 I 
 
 
 :-^; 
 
 V. 
 
 •;.v>:^^'':v 
 
 A- ^T- 
 
 -.^t' 
 
 * -i-.-#^- 
 
 *'i?-^. 
 
 '. :■ :• • -*\ ■•V'i.,JP^'«v-v^-^'- ■■■,-■■ 
 
 
 
 if 
 
 
 
REFORMATION PRINCIPLES EXH 
 
 <$ 
 
 DECLARATION AND TESTITOl^ 
 
 BEING THE , JUL 101919 
 
 StViV?> 
 
 EEFOEMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 
 
 NORTH AMEBICA. 
 
 " Whereto we have already attained, let U3 walk by the eanie rule ; let us mind 
 the same thing." 
 
 " Bind up the Testimony, seal the Law among my disciples." 
 
 "And they overcame— by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their 
 Testimony," 
 
 SIXTH EDITION. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 LEE, SHEPARD AND DILLINGHAM. 
 
 1871. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Chapter Page 
 
 I. Of God 7 
 
 II. OfMan lo 
 
 III. Of Divine Revelation I2 
 
 IV. Of Human Reason 15 
 
 V. Of the Fall of Man 17 
 
 VI. OfElection 20 
 
 VII. Of Christ the Mediator 22 
 
 VIII. Of the Holy Spirit 26 
 
 IX. Of the Covenant of Grace 28 
 
 X. Of Christ's Satisfaction 33 
 
 XI. Of the Gospel Oflfer 38 
 
 XII. Of Regeneration '41 
 
 XIII. OfFaith 44 
 
 XIV. Of Justification 54 
 
 XV. Of Adoption 50 
 
 XVI. Of Repentance 58 
 
 XVII. Of Sanctification 62 
 
 XVIII. Of Perseverance in Grace 68 
 
 XIX. Of the State of Men after Death 71 
 
 XX. Of Christ's Headship 75 
 
 XXI. Of the Christian Church 78 
 
 XXII. Of Church Fellowship 83 
 
 3 
 
4 CONTENTS. 
 
 XXIII. Of the Government of the Church .... 86 
 
 XXIV. Of Christian Worship 90 
 
 XXV. Of the Sacraments . 97 
 
 XXVI. Of Religious Fasting and Thanksgiving . . . 100 
 
 XXVII. Of Oaths and Covenants 103 
 
 XXVIII. Of Marriage loS 
 
 XXIX. Of Civil Government 112 
 
 XXX. Of the Right of Dissent from a Constitution of Civil 
 
 Government 119 
 
 XXXI. Of Church Discipline 123 
 
 XXXII. Of Ministerial Visitation and Catechising . . . 125 
 
 XXXIII. Of Testimony-Bearing 128 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Adopting Act 133 
 
 Terms of Ecclesiastical Communion .... 135 
 
 Formula of Queries 137 
 
New York, May 15, 1806. 
 
 The Presbytery resumed the consideration of the Draught 
 of a Testimony with the Amendments. A member was 
 called upon to pray for divine direction. After prayer, the 
 Moderator put the question. Approve or disapprove of the 
 Draught as now amended? The members answered unani- 
 mously. Approve. 
 
 The Court do therefore approve and ratify this Testimony, 
 as the Testimony of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in 
 the United States of North America. 
 
 William Gibson, 3Ioderator. 
 
 John Black, Clerk. 
 
 The General Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian 
 Church in North America, being in session in the city 
 of New York, on the 17th day of October, 1848,— 
 
 Resolved^ That a Fourth Edition of the Declaration and 
 Testimony be published, and that the Book of Discipline 
 be appended to it. 
 
 Attested by 
 
 John N. McLeod, Stated Clerk. 
 
 The General Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian 
 Church in North America, being in session in Cincin- 
 nati, Ohio, on the 25th of May, 1870,— 
 
 Resolved, That this Sixth Edition of the Declaration and 
 Testimony be published. 
 Attested by 
 
 John N. McLeod, Stated Clerk. 
 5 
 
DECLARATION AND TESTIMONY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 OF GOD. 
 
 1. There is one infinite, eternal, self-existent, 
 independent, omniscient, omnipresent, and un- 
 changeable Being, who is the Creator, the Pre- 
 server, and the Governor of all creatures v^hich 
 
 exist. 
 
 Deut. vi. 4. The Lord our God is one Lord. Job xi. 7. 
 Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out 
 the Almighty unto perfection ? Ps. xc. 2. From everlasting to 
 everlasting thou art God. Ex. iii. 14. God said unto Moses, 
 I AM THAT I AM. Ps. cxlvii. 5. Great is our Lord, and 
 of great power ; his understanding is infinite. 1 Kings viii. 
 27. Behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot con- 
 tain thee. Mai. iii. 6. I am the Lord, I change not. Rev. iv. 
 11. Thou hast created all things. Heb. i. 3. Upholding all 
 things by the word of his power. Ps. ciii. 19. His kingdom 
 ruleth over all. 
 
 2. This only true and living God hath, in and 
 of himself, all goodness, glory, and blessedness ; is 
 a most pure Spirit, invisible, almighty, most wise, 
 most holy, most free, most absolute, most just, most 
 gracious and mercifuL 
 
 7 
 
5 OF GOD. 
 
 Jer. X. 10. The Lord is the true God ; he is the living God, 
 and an everlasting King. Acts vii. 2. The God of glory. Ps. 
 cxix. 68. Thou art good and doest good. Rom. ix. 5. Who is 
 overall, God blessed forever. 'John iv. 24. God is a spirit. 1 
 Tim. xi. 17. Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, 
 the only wise God, be honor and glory forever and ever. 
 Amen. Rev. iv. 8. Holy, holy, holy. Lord God Almighty. 
 Ps. cxv. 3. He hath done whatsoever pleased him. Eph. i. 11. 
 Who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. 
 Ex. xxxiv. 67. The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long 
 suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy 
 for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and transgi-ession, and sin, 
 and that Avill by no means clear the guilty. 
 
 3. God is unto himself all-sufficient, deriving no 
 help or glory from any of his creatures ; but man- 
 ifesting his own glory by them, unto them, and 
 upon them, having sovereign dominion over them, 
 to do to them whatsoever it pleaseth him ; and, by 
 a holy and w^ise providence, directing and disposing 
 of them, and all their changes and actions, without 
 any violence to their nature, according to the im- 
 mutable counsel of his own will. 
 
 Job xxii. 2. Can a man be profitable unto God ? Rom. xi. 
 36. For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things : 
 to whom be glory forever. Dan. iv. 35. He doeth according 
 to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants 
 of the earth. Acts xv. 18. Known unto God are all his 
 works from the beginning of the world. Matt. x. 29. Are 
 not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall 
 not fill on the ground without your Father. 30. But the 
 very hairs of your head are all numbered. Acts xxvii. 24. So 
 God hath given thee all them that sail with thee. 31. Except 
 these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved. Acts ii. 23. Him 
 being delivered by the detemiinate counsel and foreknowl- 
 
OF GOD. y 
 
 edge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have cru- 
 cified and slam. 
 
 4. The One infinite and eternal God subsists in 
 three distinct divine persons — the Father, the Son, 
 and the Holy Ghost, all equal ; the same in sub- 
 stance, in power, and in glory. 
 
 Matt, xxviii. 19. Baptizing them in the name of the Father, 
 and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. 2 Cor. xiii. 14. The 
 grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the 
 communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen. 1 
 John V. 7. For there are three that bear record in heaven, the 
 Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost ; and these three are 
 One. 
 
 We therefore condemn the following errors, and 
 
 testify against all w^ho maintain them : 
 
 1. "That this world is eternal, or caused by a 
 fortuitous concourse of atoms, without the agency 
 of an intelligent Creator. 
 
 2. " That there are more Gods than one. 
 
 3. "That God hath not determined by an un- 
 changeable decree, every event which comes to 
 pass. 
 
 4. "That God doth not, by a particular prov- 
 idence, govern all his creatures and all their ac- 
 tions. 
 
 5. "That it is not criminal to be discontented 
 with any providential dispensation. 
 
 6. " That there is no distinction of persons in the 
 Godhead ; but that man can demonstrate the im- 
 possibility of the existence of three persons in the 
 unity of the infinite and incomprehensible Godhead." 
 
10 OF MAN. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 OF MAN. 
 
 1. Man is created with a rational and immortal 
 soul, capable of ascertaining that God his Maker is 
 worthy of being loved, feared, and served ; and he 
 is accountable unto God for all his emotions, ex- 
 pressions, and actions. 
 
 Is. i. 18. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the 
 Lord. Matt. x. 28. Fear not them which kill the body, but 
 are not able to kill the soul. Rom. i. 19. Because that which 
 may be known of God is manifest in them. 21. When they 
 knew God they glorified him not as God. Chap. ii. 6. Who 
 will render to every man according to his deeds. Matt. xii. 
 36. But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall 
 speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. 
 
 2. Man is a free agent, unrestrained in his voli- 
 tions by the immutable decree of God, although it 
 is not possible for him in any instance to avoid 
 fulfilling that decree : the divine commandment is 
 the rule of his conduct, and after the death of the 
 body he shall be judged by a righteous God accord- 
 ing to his works. 
 
 James i. 13. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am 
 tempted of God. 14. But every man is tempted when he is 
 drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Heb. vi. 17. Wherein 
 God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise 
 the immutability of his counsel. Deut. xii. 32. What tiling 
 soever I command you, observe to do it ; thou shalt not add 
 thereto nor diminish from it. Heb. ix. 27. It is appointed unto 
 men once to die; but after this the judgment. 
 
OP MAN. 11 
 
 3. Man, entirely dependent on God for his being, 
 preservation, thoughts, and works, and bound to 
 perfect obedience to whatever God commands, is 
 nevertheless sinful in his disposition, criminal in 
 every part of his conduct, incapable of ascertaining, 
 without supernatural aid, the extent of his own guilt 
 and depravity, or a method of reconciliation with a 
 holy and just God. 
 
 Acts xvii. 28. For in him we live, and move, and have our 
 being. Rom. iii. 19. Now we know that what things soever 
 the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law ; that 
 every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become 
 guilty before God. Eph. ii. 3. And were by nature the chil- 
 dren of wrath. 5. Even when we were dead in sin. 1 Cor. 
 i. 21. The world by wisdom knew not God. Chap. ii. 14. But 
 the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. 
 Prov. xxix. 18. Where there is no vision the people perish. 
 
 We therefore condemn the following errors, and 
 testify against all who maintain them : 
 
 1. "That man has no soul distinct from his 
 bodily organization. 
 
 2. " That he is necessarily impelled to choose or 
 act as an unconscious machine. 
 
 3. " That he can will or act independently of the 
 purpose or the providence of God. 
 
 4. " That he is not exposed to punishment from 
 God, on account of his evil disposition and criminal 
 conduct. 
 
 5. " That the light of nature is sufficient to direct 
 him to the highest perfection and happiness of his 
 nature." 
 
12 DIVINE REVELATION. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 OF DIVINE REVELATION. 
 
 1. The eternal God can, in consistency with his 
 own glorious perfections, and with the nature of 
 man, make known to the human mind doctrines 
 and facts, which could not have been discovered by 
 any other method. 
 
 Is. Ixiv. 4. For since the beginniiig of the world, men have 
 not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, 
 O God, besides thee, what he hath prepared for him that 
 waiteth for him. 1 Cor. ii. 11. For what man knoweth the 
 things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him ? even 
 so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. 
 
 2. God hath, from time to time, made known to 
 men his will, respecting the salvation of sinners, and 
 hath authorized certain persons, qualified for the 
 work, to communicate a Divine Revelation to man- 
 kind, specifying the only method of escaping eternal 
 punishment on account of sin, and accompanied 
 with sufficient evidence of its authenticity. 
 
 Heb. i. 1. God, who at sundry times, and in divers manners, 
 spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in 
 these hist days spoken unto us by his Son. Eph. iii. 9. And 
 to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, 
 which from the beginning of the world hath b3en hid in God, 
 who created all things by Jesus Christ. 
 
 3. It hath pleased God, in condescension to hu- 
 man wants and weakness, to inspire, and infallibly 
 to o^uide, chosen men to commit to writino; the Rev- 
 
DIVINE REVELATION. 13 
 
 elation of his Will, for the instruction and comfort 
 of his Church in the world. 
 
 2 Tim. iii. 16. All Scripture is given by inspiration of 
 Gocl, and is j^rofitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, 
 for instruction in righteousness. 17. That the man of God 
 may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. 
 
 4. All the books of the Old and New Testaments, 
 and these only, are given by inspiration of God ; 
 they contain a complete system of faith, and a per- 
 fect rule for our direction in all the duties of life ; 
 unto these Scriptures nothing is at any time to be 
 added by new revelations of the Spirit, or tradi- 
 tions of men. 
 
 2 Pet. i. 21. Holy men of God spake as they were moved 
 by the Holy Ghost. Ps. cxix. 105. Thy word is a lamp unto 
 my feet and a light unto my j^ath. John v. 9. Search the 
 Scriptures. Rev. xxii. 18. For I testify unto every man 
 that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book. If any 
 man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the 
 plagues that are written in this book. 
 
 5. Eational arguments, drawn from the miracles 
 which were wrought to attest the Divine Mission 
 of the inspired writers, the fulfilment of prophecy, 
 the sublimity of the doctrines, their divine efficacy, 
 the purity of the precepts, and from the scope of 
 the whole, being to give all glory to God, are use- 
 ful in opposing infidels, and are sufficient to pro- 
 duce a rational persuasion of the truth of Chris- 
 tianity : But the influence of the Holy Spirit on the 
 heart is necessary to give to any man that full 
 
14 DIVINE REVELATION. 
 
 assurance, and comfortable sense of the divine 
 authority of the Holy Scriptures, which is included 
 in a saving faith. 
 
 1 John V. 9. If we receive the witness of men, the witness 
 of God is greater. 1 Thess. ii. 13. For this cause also thank 
 we God without ceasing ; because when ye received the word 
 of God, which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word 
 of men, but, (as it is in truth,) the word of God, which effec- 
 tually worketh also in you that believe. 
 
 6. Tliere is a variety in the style and manner in 
 which different parts of the Bible are wTitten : The 
 sacred penmen used means of information, and 
 employed different talents, and peculiar modes of 
 expression ; but in all they wrote, they were infal- 
 hbly guided, as to matter and manner, by the Holy 
 Ghost. Translations may be imperfect ; but the 
 genuine text of the Old Testament in Hebrew, and 
 the New Testament in Greek, is infallible. The 
 Holy Ghost, speaking in the Scriptures, is the 
 supreme Judge in all matters of religion. 
 
 2 Pet. iii. 16. In which are some things hard to be under- 
 stood. Chap. i. 21. For the prophecy came not in old time 
 by the will of man ; but holy men of God spake as they were 
 moved by the Holy Ghost. Verse 19. A more sure word of 
 prophecy : whereunto ye do well that ye take heed. Matt. v. 
 18. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one 
 jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be 
 fulfilled. Is. viii. 20. To the law and to the testimony ; if 
 they speak not according to this word, it is because there is 
 no light in them. 
 
 We therefore condemn the following errors^ and 
 testify against all who maintain them : 
 
HUMAN REASON. 15 
 
 1. " That a Divine Revelation is impossible, or 
 unnecessary. 
 
 2. " That the Old and New Testaments are not 
 the word of God. 
 
 3. " That the Old Testament is not the word of 
 Christ, and of equal authority with the New. 
 
 4. " That there can be any errors in the Bible. 
 
 5. " That any inward light can set aside the ob- 
 vious meaning of the Scriptures; 
 
 6. " That ecclesiastical authority, the writings, 
 or traditions of the ancients, can be admitted in 
 whole, or in part, as the supreme judge of religious 
 controversy." 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 OF HUMAN REASON. 
 
 1. The exercise of Reason, with respect to Reve- 
 lation, is lawful and necessary. God addresses man 
 in the Scriptures as a rational creature : the faculty 
 of reasoning is the gift of God ; and men are bound 
 to exercise it in searching the Scriptures, in ascer- 
 taining all the ideas which the word of God con- 
 veys to man, and drawing inferences for the direc- 
 tion of faith and manners from Scripture doctrines; 
 and these inferences, as well as the express words 
 of Revelation, are of divine authority. God hath 
 spoken nothing the full force of which he did not 
 comprehend. 
 
16 HUMAN REASON. 
 
 1 Sam. xii, 7. No\r, therefore, stand still, tliat I may rea- 
 son with you before the Lord. Eccles. vii. '25, I applied mine 
 heart to know, and to search, and to seek out wisdom and the 
 reason of things. 1 Pet. iii. 15. And be ready always to give 
 an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope 
 that is in you. Acts vi. 2. It is not reason, that we should 
 leave the word of God and serve tables. 
 
 2. Human reason cannot previously determine 
 what God should or should not reveal. There are 
 in the Scriptures doctrines which unassisted rea- 
 son could never have discovered ; and yet, when 
 revealed, are perfectly intelligible by the human 
 mind. 
 
 Is. xl. 13. Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or, 
 being his counsellor, hath taught him? 1 Cor. i. 20. Where 
 is the wise ? Where is the scribe ? Where is the disputer 
 of this world ? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of 
 this world? Ps. cxix. 130. The entrance of thy words giveth 
 light : It giveth understanding unto the simple. 
 
 3. There are taught in the Sacred Oracles doc- 
 trines which human reason cannot fully compre- 
 hend. The fact, that they are taught in the Scrip- 
 tures, is perfectly intelligible. What these doc- 
 trines are, and that they are not inconsistent with 
 any other truths, may be ascertained by reason. 
 These doctrines are to be received on the authority 
 of God. There is no perception, of which the 
 mind is capable, more certain, than that God is 
 incapable of mistake or falsehood. 
 
 1 Tim. iii. 16. And without controversy great is the mys- 
 tery of godliness. Verse 9. Holding the mystery of the faith 
 
THE FALL OF MAN. 17 
 
 in a pure conscience. Tit. i. 1. And the acknowledging of 
 the truth which is after godliness. 2. In hope of eternal life, 
 which God, that cannot lie, promised. 
 
 4. The veracity of God, and not the reasonable- 
 ness of any doctrine, is the ground of our faith. It 
 is the work of the gospel to cast down reasonings 
 against the knowledge of God, and bring into cap- 
 tivity every thought unto the obedience of Christ. 
 
 1 Cor. ii. 5. That your faith should not stand in the wis- 
 dom of men, but in the power of God. 2 Cor. x. 5. Casting 
 down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself 
 against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity 
 every thought to the obedience of Christ. 
 
 We therefore condemn the following errors, and 
 testify against all who maintain them. 
 
 1. " That reason is the proper standard of reli- 
 gious truth. 
 
 2. " That any doctrine contained in the Scrip- 
 tures is unreasonable. 
 
 3. " That there is no incomprehensible mystery 
 taught in the Holy Scriptures." 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 OF THE FALL OF MAN. 
 
 1. Man was created an intelligent, active being, 
 having a living and immortal soul, and a body 
 which had no tendency to sickness or death. His 
 
18 THE FALL OF MAN. 
 
 principal glory was his having tbs image of God 
 drawn upon his soul, and this image chiefly con- 
 sisted in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. 
 
 Gen. ii. 7. And the Lord God fonned man of the dust of the 
 ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of Hfe ; and 
 man became a living souh Chap. i. 27. So God created man 
 in his own image. Eccles. vii. 29. God hath made man upright. 
 
 2. God created man male and female ; and hav- 
 ing purposed that this first pair, Adam and Eve, 
 should have a numerous ofispring, he appointed 
 Adam the public head and representative of all 
 mankind, and entered into a covenant with him in 
 behalf of himself and all his posterity. In this 
 covenant God promised to the whole human family 
 eternal life and happiness (with the preservation 
 of men in their natural holiness), upon condition 
 of Adam's perfect obedience in his state of proba- 
 tion, and threatened eternal misery (implying the 
 total depravity of their nature), in case of disobe- 
 dience ; pointing out to Adam, at the same time, 
 the tree of hioivledge of good and evil, as the special 
 sign of his probationary state, and prohibiting him 
 to eat of its fruit. 
 
 Gen. i. 27. Male and female created he them. Acts xv. 18. 
 Known unto God are all his woiivs from the beginning of the 
 world. Gen. i. 28. And God blessed them, and God said 
 unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. 
 Kom. V. 14. Adam — who is the figure of him that is to 
 come. Gal. iii. 12. And the law is not of faith. But the 
 man that doeth them shall live in them. Gen. ii. 17. In the 
 day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. 
 
THE FALL OF MAN. ' .19 
 
 3. Adam consented to the terms of this cove- 
 nant ; and having violated the condition of it, by 
 eating the forbidden fruit, involved himself, and all 
 his posterity descending from him by ordinary gen- 
 eration, in guilt and ruin. 
 
 Rom. V. 18. By the offence of one, judgment came upon all 
 men to condemnation. 1 Cor. xv. 22. In Adam all die. 
 
 4. Mankind are all now, by nature, the children 
 of wrath, conceived in sin, brought forth in iniquity, 
 sunk in total depravity, become mortal in their 
 bodies, subject to disease and pain, incapable of do- 
 ing any thing spiritually good, in a state of enmity 
 against God, and condemned to endless misery in 
 the world to come. 
 
 Eph. ii. 3. And were by nature the children of wrath. Ps. 
 li. 5. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity ; and in sin did my 
 mother conceive me. Eph. ii. 1. Dead in tresj^asses and sins. 
 Rom. V. 17. By one man's offence death reigned. Chap. vi. 23. 
 For the wages of sin is death. Chap. viii. 7. Because the car- 
 nal mind is enmity against God : for it is not subject to the 
 law of God, neither indeed can be. 8. So then, they that are 
 in the flesh cannot please God: Gal. iii. 10. Cursed is every 
 one that continueth not in all things which are written in the 
 book of the law to do them. 
 
 We therefore condemn the following errors, and 
 testify against all who maintain them : 
 
 1. "That Adam was not a covenant head and 
 representative to all his posterity. 
 
 2. " That none of Adam's posterity is esteemed 
 guilty or condemned on account of his first trans- 
 gression. 
 
20 OF ELECTION. 
 
 20. " That fallen man is not so depraved but he 
 is able to please God, and offer acceptable worship 
 in his own natural strength." 
 
 CHAPTER VL 
 
 OF ELECTION. 
 
 1. Jehovah, according to his own most wise coun- 
 sel, and for his own glory, hath, from all eternity, 
 unchangeably determined the final state of all his 
 creatures. 
 
 Acts XV. 18. Known unto God are all his works from the 
 beginning of the world. Prov. xvi. 4. The Lord hath made 
 all things for himself. 
 
 2. In order to make a glorious display of his own 
 infinite excellences, he hath eternally elected, in 
 Christ Jesus, a definite number of mankind, sinners, 
 unto everlasting holiness and happiness; and in his 
 sovereign pleasure, passing by the rest, he hath, on 
 account of their sins, ordained them to everlasting 
 condemnation. 
 
 Eph. i. 4. He hath chosen us in him before the foundation 
 of the world. 11. Being predestinated according to the pur- 
 pose of him who workelh all things after the counsel of his 
 own will. Rom. ix. 22-23. What if God, willing to show 
 his wrath, and make his power known, endured, with much 
 long suffering, the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, and 
 that he might make known the riches of his glory on the 
 vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory. 
 
OF ELECTION. 21 
 
 3. God did perfectly foreknow all the effects 
 which all the second causes which he appointed 
 should produce. But it is not on account of the 
 foreseen faith or goodness of any man, that God 
 predestinated him to everlasting life. 
 
 Ps. cxlvii. 5. His understanding is infinite. Rom. ix. 11. 
 For the children being not yet born, neither having done any 
 good or evil, that the purjiose of God according to election 
 might stand, not of v^orks, but of him that calleth. 18. There- 
 fore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom 
 he will he hardeneth. 
 
 4. In the Decree of Election are included all 
 the means necessary to the salvation of sinners, in 
 a manner perfectly consistent with the attributes 
 of God, and the faculties which he hath given to 
 the human mind. 
 
 Eph. i. 5. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of 
 children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good 
 pleasure of his will. Ps. ex. 3. Thy people shall be willing 
 in the day of thy power. Rom. viii. 30. Moreover, whom he 
 did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called, 
 them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also 
 glorified. 
 
 We therefore condemn the following errors^ and 
 testify against all who maintain them : 
 
 1. " That God created anything without determin- 
 ing what should be its final end and condition. 
 
 2. " That election to eternal life is founded upon 
 the foreseen improvement of the means of grace. 
 
 3. " That election means no more, in Scripture, 
 
22 CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 
 
 than the choice of some persons, as church mem- 
 bers, to external privileges. 
 
 4. " That it is unjust in God to choose some sin- 
 ners to salvation, and leave others, no more sinful 
 than they, to suffer merited condemnation. 
 
 5. " That any of the Elect shall be eternally lost, 
 or any except the Elect finally saved." 
 
 CHAPTEK VII. 
 
 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 
 
 1. It pleased God, in his eternal purpose, to 
 choose and ordain the Lord Jesus Christ to be the 
 only Mediator between God and man, and to con- 
 stitute him the public Head and Representative of 
 all the Elect. 
 
 1 Tim. ii. 5. For there is one God, and one Mediator be- 
 tween God and man, the man Christ Jesus. 1 Pet. i. 20. Who 
 verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world. 
 Eph. 1. 22. And gave him to be the head over all things to 
 the church, which is his body. 
 
 2. Christ the Mediator is the Second Person in 
 the Godhead — the true and eternal God, equal 
 with the Father — having the names and all the per- 
 fections of God ascribed to him — the Creator, the 
 Preserver, and Governor of all the creatures which 
 exist ; and equally with the Father and the Holy 
 Spirit, the object of the worship both of angels and 
 men. 
 
CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 23 
 
 1 John V. 20. And we know that the Son of God is come — 
 This is the true God. Phil. ii. 6. Who being in the form of 
 God thought it not robbery to be equal with God. Rom. ix. 
 5. Christ came, who is over all, God blessed forever. Heb. i. 
 3. Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express 
 image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of 
 his power. 6. And again, when he bringeth the first begotten 
 into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship 
 him. 8. But unto the Son he saith, thy throne, O God, is for- 
 ever and ever. Rev. v. 11. And I heard the voice of many 
 angels round about the throne, and the beasts and the elders. 
 12. Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was 
 slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, 
 and honor, and glory, and blessing. 13. And every creature 
 heard I, saying, blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be 
 unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb 
 forever and ever. 
 
 3. Jesus Christ our Lord is the eternally begot- 
 ten Son of God ; he is not called the Son of God 
 on account of his office or his human nature, but 
 is naturally, necessarily, and eternally the Son of 
 the Father. 
 
 Heb. i. 5. Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. 
 Prov. viii. 22. The Lord possessed me in the beginning, of his 
 ways, before his works of old. 23. I was set up from ever- 
 lasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. 30. And 
 I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him. John i. 
 14. And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begot- 
 ten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John iii. 16. God 
 so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that 
 whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have ever- 
 lasting life. 
 
 4. The eternal Son of God did, in the fulness of 
 time, assume into an inseparable union with his 
 
24 CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 
 
 Divine Person, a human nature (soul and body), 
 being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, 
 in the womb of the virgin Mary, and born of her, 
 yet without sin. 
 
 Gal. iv. 4. God sent forth his Son, made of a woman. Heb. 
 ii. 17. Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made 
 like unto his brethren. Luke i. 31. Behold, thou shalt con- 
 ceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his 
 name Jesus. 32. He shall be great, and shall be called the 
 Son of the Highest. 33. And he shall reign over the house 
 of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. 
 35. The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of 
 the Highest shall overshadow thee : therefore also that holy 
 thing that shall be bom of thee shall be called the Son of God. 
 Heb. vii. 26. For such an high-priest became us, who is holy, 
 hannless, undefiled, sej^arate from sinners. 
 
 5. Jesus Christ, as Mediator, is God-man, in one 
 person and two natures, whole, perfect, and dis- 
 tinct, inseparably joined together, without compo- 
 sition or confusion. 
 
 1 Tim. iii. 16. God was manifest in the flesh. John i. 14. 
 And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Rom. 
 ix. 5. Of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is 
 over all, God blessed forever. Matt. xxvi. 38. My soul is ex- 
 ceeding sorrowful, even unto death. Heb vii. 24. But this 
 man, because he continueth forever, hath an unchangeable 
 priesthood, 
 
 6. God manifested in the flesh will never cease 
 to be the Mediator ; but as the Prophet, the Priest, 
 and the King, shall remain through eternity in full 
 possession of the glory of God, the Head of his body 
 the church. 
 
CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 25 
 
 John xvii. 5. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with 
 thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before 
 the world was. Heb. i. 3. Being the brightness of his glory, 
 and the express image of his person. Rev. xxi. 23. And the 
 city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine on 
 it, for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the 
 light thereof. Acts iii. 23. A prophet shall the Lord your 
 God raise up unto you — him shall ye hear. Heb. v. 6. Thou 
 art a priest forever. Rev. xix. 16. King of kings, and Lord 
 of lords. 
 
 7. Jesus Christ in his human nature was anointed 
 with the Holy Spirit above measure, and thoroughly 
 furnished for executing the work of the mediatorial 
 office, which he voluntarily undertook, having been 
 appointed thereunto by God. 
 
 Acts X. 38. God anointed Jesus of Xazareth with the 
 Holy Ghost. John iii. 34. For God giveth not the Spiiit by 
 measure unto him. Chap. vi. 57. As the living Father hath 
 sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me shall 
 live by me. 
 
 We therefore condemn the following errors, and 
 testify against all who maintain them : 
 
 1. " That Jesus Christ is no more than a creature. 
 
 2. " That the Mediator does not possess the same 
 nature with God the Father. 
 
 3. " That the Sonship of Christ is not necessary 
 and eternal. 
 
 4. '' That the Mediator has not a true body and 
 a reasonable soul. 
 
 5. " That the man Christ Jesus could have been 
 influenced by any bias contrary to holiness. 
 
26 THE HOLY SPIRIT. 
 
 6. " That the Divine nature is not personally 
 united to the human nature. 
 
 7. " That the human nature is blended or min- 
 gled with the Divinity. 
 
 8. " That the human soul of Christ did exist 
 previously to the incarnation. 
 
 9. " That Jesus Christ is not a distinct person 
 from the Father and the Holy Spirit. 
 
 10. " That God-man, the Mediator, is not entitled 
 to the worship of angels and men." 
 
 CHAPTER Vin. 
 
 OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 
 
 1. The Holy Spirit is a Divine Person, who 
 understands, wills, and acts, in teaching, witnessing, 
 sealing, sanctifying, and comforting. 
 
 Luke xii. 12. The Holy Ghost shall teach you. Rom. viii. 
 16. The Spirit beareth witness with our spirit. Eph. iv. 30. 
 The Holy Spirit wherewith ye are sealed. 2 Thess. ii. 13. 
 God hath chosen you to salvation, through sanctification of 
 the Spirit. John xiv. 16. I will pray the Father, and he will 
 give you another Comforter, even the Spirit. 
 
 2. The person of the Holy Spirit is naturally and 
 necessarily distinct from the person of the Father, 
 and from the person of the Son : and it is his per- 
 sonal property, that he eternally proceeds from the 
 Father and the Son, in a manner which is incom- 
 prehensible by man. 
 
THE HOLY SPIRIT. 27 
 
 1 Pet. i. 2. Elect according to the foreknowledge of God 
 the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience, 
 and sprinkling of the blood of Christ. 2 Cor. xiii. 14. The 
 grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the com- 
 munion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen. John 
 XV. 26. The Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father. 
 Gal. iv. 26. The Spirit of his Son. 
 
 3. The Holy Spirit is equal in perfection and 
 glory with God the Father, and our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, and equally the object of religious worship ; 
 the Author of life, vegetative, animal, and rational, 
 the Preserver and Sanctifier. 
 
 Psalm cxliii. 10. Thy Spirit is good. 1 Cor. ii. 10. The 
 Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. 1 
 Pet. iv. 14. The Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you. 
 Matt, xxviii. 19. Baj^tizing them in the name of the. Father, 
 and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Gen. i. 2. The Spirit 
 of God moved upon the face of the waters. Job xxxiii. 4. 
 The Spirit of God hath made me. Psalm civ. 30. Thou 
 sendest forth thy Spirit, they are created, and thou renewest 
 the face of the earth. Job xxxiv. 14. If he gather unto him- 
 self his Spirit and his breath, all flesh shall perish together. 
 Rom. XV. 16. Being sanctified by the Holy Ghost. 
 
 We therefore condemn the following errors^ and 
 testify against all who maintain them : 
 
 1. " That the Holy Spirit is no more than a 
 Divine attribute. 
 
 2. '- That he is a creature. 
 
 3. " That he is essentially inferior to God." 
 
28 COVENANT OF GRACE. 
 
 CHAPTEK IX. 
 
 OF THE COVENANT OF GRACE. 
 
 1. God, from all eternity, having foreseen the 
 fall of man, by the breach of the covenant of works, 
 and having predestinated some sinners to everlasting 
 life and happiness, did enter into a Covenant of 
 Grace, to deliver them from an estate of sin and 
 misery, and bring them into a staXe of salvation by 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 1 Thess. V. 9. For God hath not appointed us to wrath ; 
 but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. Tit. i. 2. 
 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised 
 before the world began. Is. xlii. 6. And will give thee for a 
 covenant of the people. 
 
 2. The Covenant of Grace is an agreement 
 between God, in the person of the Father, and the 
 Lord Jesus Christ as the pubUc Head of elect sin- 
 ners, in which God engages to bestow eternal life 
 and glory upon all the Elect, on condition that 
 Christ shall fulfil all righteousness as their Repre- 
 sentative. 
 
 Zech. vi. 13. And the counsel of peace shall be between 
 them both. John vi. 57. The living Fatli^r hath sent me, and 
 I live by the Father. 1 Cor. xv. 22. For as in Adam all die, 
 so in Christ shall all be made alive. 23. Christ the lirst fruits, 
 afterward they that are Christ's. Is. liii. 10. When thou shalt 
 make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. 11. 
 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied. 
 
 3. This is, unto us, a covenant of Promise, in 
 which God, being moved thereunto, not by any 
 
COVENANT OF GRACE. 29 
 
 excellency in the creature, but by his own love and 
 grace, promises to all whom Christ represented, all 
 the good things of which they shall have need in 
 the present and future states of existence. 
 
 Is. lix. 21. As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith 
 the Lord, my Spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I 
 have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor 
 out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy 
 seed's seed, from henceforth and forever. Rom. viii. 32. He 
 that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, 
 how shall he not with him also freely give us all things ? 2 
 Cor. i. 20. For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in 
 him, Amen, unto the glory of God by us. 
 
 4. All the promises of God to the Elect are 
 made upon condition that Christ shall fulfil the law, 
 and satisfy Divine Justice, as their Substitute, so 
 that the condition, upon which the things promised 
 shall be conferred, is not to be performed by the 
 Elect, but by the Surety ; and that same establish' 
 ment, which is to them a Covenant of free Grace, is 
 to him a Covenant of Redemption. 
 
 Is. liii. 5. But he was wounded for our transgi-essions, he 
 was bruised for our iniquities ; the chastisement of our peace 
 was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 10. 
 When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall 
 see his seed, he shall prolong his days ; and the pleasure 
 of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Heb. vii. 22. Jesus 
 made a surety of a better testament. Chap. ix. 15. He is the 
 Mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death, for 
 the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first 
 testament, they which were called might receive the promise 
 of eternal inheritance. Chap. x. 5. Sacrifice and offering thou 
 wouldst not. 9. Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O 
 
30 COVENANT OF GRACE. 
 
 God. 10. By the which will we are sanctified, through the 
 ofiering of the body of Christ, once for all. 
 
 5. Christ Jesus our Lord, having fulfilled the 
 condition of the Covenant of Grace, has purchased 
 a right to have all the promises applied in their 
 true spirit and design to all his people, and has 
 consequently received from God all fulness, that he 
 might himself dispose of all the promised blessings, 
 as purchased benefits to his spiritual seed. 
 
 Eph. i. 7. In whom we have redemption through his blood. 
 Heb. ii. 9. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower 
 than the angels, for the sufiering of death, crowned with glory 
 and honor. Chap. i. 2. Whom he hath appointed heir of all 
 things. Luke xxiv. 49. And behold, I send the promise of 
 my Father upon you. 2 Cor. i. 20. For all the promises of 
 God in him are yea, and in him, Amen. Chap. iv. 15. For all 
 things are for your sakes. Col. i. 19. For it pleased the 
 Father that in him should all fulness dwell. John i. 16. And 
 of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. Matt, 
 vi. 32. For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need 
 of all these things. 1 Cor. iii. 21. For all things are yours. 
 22. Things present, or things to come, all are yours. 
 
 6. Jesus Christ, the Mediator between God and 
 man, makes of the Covenant of Grace a testa- 
 mentary dispensation to all his people ; and, as by 
 his death he fulfilled what he undertook as our 
 Representative to God, so also he hath sealed and 
 ratified the dispensation of God's grace to man, as 
 his own proper testament, which he ever lives to 
 execute and administer. 
 
 Luke xxii. 29. And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my 
 Father hath appointed unto me. Heb. vii. 22. By so much 
 
COVENANT OF GRACE. 31 
 
 was Jesus made a surety of a bfetter testament. Chap. viii. 6. 
 He is the Mediator of a better covenant, which was estabUshed 
 upon better promises. Chap. ix. 16. For where a testament 
 is, there must also, of necessity, be the death of the testator. 
 24. For Christ is not entered into the holy place made with 
 hands — but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence 
 of God for us. Chap. x. 16. This is the covenant that I will 
 make with them — I will put my law into their hearts. 21. 
 And having an high priest over the house of God, 22. let us 
 draw near with a true heart. 
 
 7. The Covenant of Grace being formed with 
 Christ as a Federal Head, all the Elect are in him, 
 as their Representative, a party with God in the 
 covenant, and to this each individual shall consent, 
 when effectually called, to choose the Mediator as 
 his Representative in particular; every true be- 
 liever has to say, God hath made with me an ever- 
 lasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure. 
 
 Is. Iv. 3. Incline your ear, and come unto me ; hear, and 
 your soul shall live ; and I will make an everlasting covenant 
 with you, even the sure mercies of David. 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. 
 He hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in 
 all things and sure. 
 
 8. Every blessing, which God promises to bestow 
 upon believers,and every thing which they receive in 
 time, and through eternity, comes through the chan- 
 nel of the Covenant of Grace, and is purchased for 
 them by Christ's obedience unto the death ; never- 
 theless, the grace of God, as well as that of Christ, 
 shines forth in our salvation, inasmuch as the Sa- 
 viour himself is the gift of God to man, and the 
 evidence of God's infinite mercy, grace, and love. 
 
32 COVENANT OF GRACE. 
 
 1 Cor. iii. 21. Therefore let no man glory in men ; for all 
 things are yours. 23. And ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's. 
 2 Cor. i. 20. For all the promises of God in him are yea, and 
 in him, Amen. John iii. 16. For God so loved the world, that 
 ho gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in 
 him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Rom. v. 21. 
 Even so might grace reign through righteousness. 
 
 9. The goodness of the Elect is not the cause of 
 their being taken into this covenant, neither is faith, 
 repentance, sincere obedience, nor any other thing, 
 except the righteousness of the Surety, the condi- 
 tion of it ; but God has promised, in this covenant, 
 to bestow on all the Elect, faith, repentance, and 
 holiness, as well as happiness ; and Christ, their 
 glorious Head, enables them to believe, repent, and 
 live a life of sincere godliness. 
 
 Tit. iii. 5. Not by works of righteousness which we have 
 done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing 
 of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. 6. Which 
 he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour. 
 7. That being justified by his grace we should be made heirs, 
 according to the hope of eternal life. Jer. xxiii. 6. This is 
 the name whereby he shall be called. The Lord our Right- 
 eousness. Phil. i. 29. For unto you it is given in the behalf 
 of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his 
 sake. Heb. xii. 2. Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. 
 
 We therefore condemn the following errors, and 
 testify against all who maintain them : 
 
 1. " That Christ is not the Representative of any 
 definite number of mankind. 
 
 2. "That God has formed no covenant with 
 Jesus Christ as our public Head and Saviour. 
 
Christ's satisfaction. 33 
 
 3. "That there are, besides the Covenant of 
 Works, two distinct covenants ; one, a Covenant 
 of Eedemption made with Christ ; and the other, a 
 Covenant of Grace made with iis, distinct from the 
 Covenant of Eedemption. 
 
 4. " That Faith is the condition of the Covenant 
 of Grace. 
 
 5. " That God's gracious promises are suspended 
 upon conditions to be performed by man. 
 
 6. " That God promises any favor to sinners in 
 any other w\ay than through the purchase of Christ." 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 OF CHRIST'S SATISFACTION. 
 
 1. In every display of his grace, God preserves 
 the lustre of his holiness and justice. The har- 
 mony of his attributes necessary to the eminence of 
 his perfection, requires that a complete satisfaction 
 be made for all the sins of those who shall be saved. 
 
 Rom. V. 21. Grace reions throu2:h risrhteousness. Psalm 
 Ixxxv. 10. Mercy and truth are met together : righteousness 
 and peace have kissed each other. Heb. ix. 22. And without 
 shedding of blood is no remission. 
 
 2. The Lord Jesus Christ, as the public Head of 
 his Elect, assumed a human nature, perfectly holy, 
 in which he, in the roorti of his people, fulfilled the 
 law, and suffered its penalty; making a perfect 
 
 3 
 
34 Christ's satisfaction. 
 
 atonement for all their sins, by offering himself as 
 a sacrifice unto God. 
 
 Heb. X. 5. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he 
 saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast 
 thou i^repared me. 9. Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. 14. 
 For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are 
 sanctified. Chap. vii. 26. For such an high priest became us, 
 who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. 
 
 3. Christ did not in any sense suffer for the sins 
 of all mankind, nor did he lay down his life to make 
 an atonement for an indefinite number of sinners. 
 There is indeed an infinite sufficiency in his sacri- 
 fice to save the whole world, had it been designed 
 to produce that effect; but in the purpose of God 
 and in the undertaking of Christ, it was not con- 
 templated that he should make atonement for any 
 except those who were elected in him to everlasting 
 life : these only he represented, and these only 
 shall be saved through his redemption. 
 
 John X. 14. I am the good Sliepherd, and know my sheep. 
 15. And I lay down my Ufe for the sh-eep. 26. But ye believe 
 not, because ye are not of ray sheep. 27. My sheep hear my 
 voice, and I know them. 28. And I give unto them eternal 
 life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them 
 out of my hand. 29. My Father which gave them me is 
 greater than all, and none is able to pluck them out of my 
 Father's hand. 30. I and my Father are one. Is. xlii. 2. The 
 Lord is well pleased, for his righteousness' sake he will mag- 
 nify the law and make it honorable. Rom. iii. 25. Whom 
 God hath set forth to be a propitiation. Acts xx. 28. The 
 church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. 
 John xvii. 9. I pray not for the world, but for them which 
 
Christ's satisfaction. 35 
 
 thou hast given me ; for they are thine. 10. And all thine 
 are mine, and mine are thine. Rev. v. 9. And they sung a 
 new song, saying, Thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to 
 God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and peo- 
 ple, and nation. 
 
 4. The reprobate world, by means of their con- 
 nection with God's Elect, who live among them, or 
 may descend from them, are partakers of some ben- 
 efits which flow from Christ's death ; the gospel 
 Revelation meliorates the state of society ; Divine 
 judgments are sometimes averted for the sake of 
 the saints ; the peace and prosperity of nations are 
 furthered by the providence of God over his peo- 
 ple ; benevolence and temperance are promoted 
 by ecclesiastical discipline; the world is continued 
 under its present economy until all the Elect are 
 brought to salvation : these and similar benefits, of 
 which the ungodly partake, are necessary conse- 
 quences of Christ's purchase and care of his church, 
 foreseen by God, in forming the system of grace, 
 having been predestinated from eternity. 
 
 Is. xlv. 1. Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, 
 whose right hand I have holden to subdue nations before 
 thee. 2. I will go before thee, and make the crooked places 
 straight. 3. And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, 
 and hidden riches. 4. For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel 
 mine elect. Matt. v. 13. Ye are the salt of the earth. 14. Ye 
 are the light of the world. Chap. xiii. 29. But he said. Nay ; 
 lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat 
 with them. Is. Ixv. 8. Thus saith the Lord, as the new wine 
 is found in the cluster, and one saith. Destroy it not, for a 
 blessing is in it : so will I do for my servants' sake, that I 
 
36 Christ's satisfaction. 
 
 may not destroy them all. Matt. xxiv. 22. And except those 
 days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved : 
 but for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened. Jer. 
 xxix. 7. And seek the peace of the city, whither I have 
 caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the 
 Lord for it : for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace. Gen. 
 xxxix. 5. The Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's 
 sake. Gal. vi. 10. As we have, therefore, opportunity, let us 
 do good to all men, especially unto them who are of the 
 household of faith. Gen. xviii. 26. And the Lord said, If I 
 find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare 
 all the place for their sakes. Psalm .Ixxv. 3. The earth and all 
 the inhabitants thereof are dissolved : I bear up the pillars 
 of it. Heb. xi. 7. By faith, Noah prepared an ark to the 
 saving of his house. Gen. ix. 11. And I will establish my 
 covenant with you ; neither shall there any more be a flood 
 to destroy the earth. Is. vi. 13. As a teil-tree, or as an oak, 
 whose substance is in them when they cast their leaves, so the 
 Holy Seed shall be the substance thereof. 
 
 5. Christ has redeemed all the Elect, soul and 
 body, from the curse of the Law, and has purchased 
 for them all the comforts promised in God's word ; 
 and every believer has a new covenant right, 
 through the precious blood of Christ, to every thing 
 necessary for body and soul, in time and through 
 eternity. 
 
 Eph. i. 7. In whom we have redemption through his blood. 
 1 Cor. vi. 19. What ! Know ye not that your body is the tem- 
 ple of the Holy Ghost ? — and ye are not your own, 20. For 
 ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your 
 body, and in your spirit, which are God's. 1 Cor. xv. 44. It 
 is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. 45. The 
 last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Ver. 21. For since 
 by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the 
 
Christ's satisfaction. 37 
 
 dead. 2 Cor. i. 20. For all the promises of God in him are 
 yea. 1 Tim. iv. 8. Godliness is profitable unto all things, hav- 
 ing promise of the life that now is and of that which is to 
 come. Matt. vi. 11. Give us this day our daily bread. 31. 
 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? 
 What shall we drink ? or. Wherewithal shall we be clothed ? 
 32. For your heavenly Father knoweththat ye have need of 
 all these things. 33. And all these things shall be added 
 unto you. Rom. iv. 13. For the promise that he should be 
 the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, 
 throuo;h the law, but througjh the riojhteousness of faith. 16. 
 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace ; to the end 
 the promise might be sure to all the seed — which is of the 
 faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. 1 Cor. iii. 22. 
 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, oi 
 death, or things present, or things to .come ; all are yours. 
 Acts ii. 46. Did eat their meat with gladness and singleness 
 of heart. 1 Tim. iv. 3. IMeats which God hath created to be 
 received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know 
 the truth. 4. For every creature of God is good — if it be 
 received with thanksgiving: 5. For it is sanctified by the 
 word of God and prayer. Deut. xxviii. 5. Blessed shall be 
 thy basket and thy store. 1 Cor. x. 31. Whether, therefore, 
 ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of 
 God. Heb. xi. 6. But without faith it is impossible to please 
 him. 
 
 We therefore condemn the following errors, and 
 testify agcainst all who maintain them : 
 
 1. " That God saves sinners without ajiy atone- 
 ment. 
 
 2. " That Immanuel died merely as a martyr. 
 
 3. " That Christ died equally for all mankind. 
 
 4. " That Christ died for no person in particular, 
 but that the atonement is indefinite. 
 
38 THE GOSPEL OFFER. 
 
 5. " That the sacrifice of Christ is not a perfect 
 and complete satisfaction to Divine Justice, and 
 fully adequate to our eternal redemption. 
 
 6. " That Jesus Christ did not purchase temporal 
 benefits for believers. 
 
 7. "That Christ purchased any benefit for the 
 reprobate." 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 OF THE GOSPEL OFFER. 
 
 1. The Gospel is the Revelation, which God 
 has given to man, of the plan of salvation by a 
 Redeemer : this is glad tidings, worthy of all ac- 
 ceptation by sinners. 
 
 Acts XV. 7. That the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the 
 Avord of the gospel and believe. 1 Tim. i. 15. This is a faith- 
 ful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus 
 came into the world to save sinners. 
 
 2. Preaching the Gospel consists in the offer of 
 salvation through Christ to sinners, accompanied 
 with such an explanation of the various . parts of 
 God's word as may tend to persuade men to receive 
 Christ as a Saviour, and to live and walk in him. 
 
 2 Cor. V. 20. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as 
 though God did beseech you ; we pray you in Christ's stead 
 be ye reconciled to God. Matt, xxviii. 20. Teaching them to 
 observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. Is. Iv. 
 1. Ho every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. 2. 
 Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread, 
 
THE GOSPEL OFFER. 39 
 
 and your labor for that which satisfieth not ? 3. Incline your 
 ear, and come unto me ; hear, and your soul shall live. 
 
 3. The Gospel offer is not a declaration to any 
 individual sinner, that his particular name is in the 
 Book of Life ; it is not immediately founded upon 
 the decree of election, but upon the commandment 
 of God, authorizing the minister of the gospel to 
 offer Christ and all his benefits to sinners, as such, 
 however aggravated their crimes may have been, 
 accompanied with information that every one who 
 accepts the offer shall be saved. 
 
 Deut. xxix. 29. The secret things belong unto the Lord our 
 God ; but those things which are revealed belong unto us. 
 Mark xvi. 15. Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel 
 to every creature. Acts ii. 22. Ye men of Israel, hear these 
 words ; Jesus of Nazareth — 23. Him ye have taken, and by 
 wicked hands have crucified and slain. 38. Repent, and be 
 baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the 
 remission of sins ; 39. For the promise is unto you and to 
 your children. 40. Save yourselves fi-om this untoward gen- 
 eration. Mark xvi. 16. He that believeth and is baptized 
 shall be saved. 
 
 4. Preaching the Gospel does not consist in 
 promising salvation to all who hear it, or in afiirm- 
 ing that Christ has redeemed each of them ; but 
 in a free and full offer of a Saviour to every indi- 
 vidual, declaring that he who believeth shall be 
 saved, and he who believeth not shall be damned ; 
 there is no inconsistency between the doctrine of 
 particular redemption and an unlimited Gospel 
 offer. 
 
40 THE GOSPEL OFFEll. 
 
 John X. 15. I lay down my life for the sheep. 26. But ye 
 believe not because ye are not of my sheep. 37. If I do not 
 the works of my Father, believe me not ; 38. But if I do, 
 though you believe not me, believe the works, that ye may 
 know and believe that the Father is in me and I in him. 
 Matt. xxii. 4. All things are ready, come unto the marriage. 
 12. How camest thou in hither, not having a wedding gar- 
 ment ? 11. For many are called, but few are chosen. John 
 iii. 36. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life ; and 
 he that believeth not the Son shall not see life ; but the wrath 
 of God abideth on him. Rev. xiv. 4. These were redeemed 
 from among men. Mark xvi. 15. Preach the Gospel to every 
 creature. 
 
 5. Every assertion contained in the Gospel is 
 true, independently of man's works or faith, and 
 every promise of the Gospel shall be fulfilled, 
 because God is true ; the fulfilment of the promise 
 depends on Christ's righteousness as the only con- 
 dition, and all the blessings promised shall be dis- 
 tributed precisely in the order and connection in 
 which the promises are made, to all for whom Christ 
 suffered, and upon whom he bestows saving faith. 
 
 Ps. xxxiii. 4. For the word of the Lord is right ; and all his 
 works are done in truth. Heb. x. 23. He is faithful that prom- 
 ised. Chap. ix. 15. And for this cause he is the Mediator 
 of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemp- 
 tion of the transgressions that were under the first testament, 
 they which are called might receive the promise of eternal 
 inheritance. Joshua xxi. 45. There failed not aught of any 
 good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the house of 
 Israel : all came to pass. 
 
 We therefore condemn the following errors, and 
 testify against all who maintain them : 
 
REGENERATION. 41 
 
 1. " That the Gospel is a new and more easy 
 Law, which, accommodated to human depravity, 
 promises salvation, upon condition of faith and 
 repentance, as constituting the proper title to its 
 blessings. 
 
 2. " That eternal life is promised to any sinner, 
 without respect to faith in Jesus Christ. 
 
 3. " That the Gospel is not to be preached to 
 sinners, as such. 
 
 4. " That the Gospel offer consists in declaring 
 to sinners, that Christ has redeemed each of them 
 in particular. 
 
 5. " That the unlimited offer of the Gospel is 
 inconsistent with the doctrine of particular redemp- 
 tion." 
 
 CHAPTER XIT. 
 
 OF REGENERATION. 
 
 1. The effectual application of the Holy Spirit 
 is necessary to render any sinner a partaker of the 
 spiritual blessings purchased by Christ. 
 
 Rom. viii. 2. The law of the Spirit of life, in Christ Jesus, 
 hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 9. Now 
 if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. 1 
 Cor. ii. 14. But the natural man receiveth not the things of 
 the Spirit of God. 
 
 2. The Holy Spirit applies the benefits of redemp- 
 tion to all the Elect of God, renewing the soul after 
 
42 REGENERATION. 
 
 the image of God, enlightening the understanding, 
 and directino; the affections of the heart to God in 
 Christ Jesus. 
 
 1 Cor. ii. 10. But God hath revealed them unto us by his 
 Spirit. John xiv. 26. The Holy Ghost whom the Father will 
 send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all 
 things to your remembrance. Rom. viii. 6. To be spiritually 
 minded is life and peace. 
 
 3. Regeneration is the infusion of a new prin- 
 ciple of life, by the Holy Ghost, on account of 
 Christ's atonement, into an elect soul, previously 
 dead in trespasses and in sins ; in order to enable 
 the sinner to embrace the gospel offer and to 
 become united to Christ by faith. 
 
 Tit. iii. 4-7. But after that the kindness and love of God 
 our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteous- 
 ness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved 
 us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy 
 Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ 
 our Saviour; that being justified by his grace, we should be 
 made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 
 
 4. The human soul, although in its nature an 
 active spirit, is absolutely incapable of contributing 
 to its own regeneration ; but, in relation to this 
 change, is as passive as it was in its own creation. 
 
 John iii. 3. Except a man be born again he cannot enter 
 into the kingdom of God. Eph. iv. 24. The new man, which 
 after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. John 
 iii. 8. So is every one that is born of the Spirit. Eph. ii. 5. 
 Even when we were dead in sins hath quickened us, together 
 
REGENERATION. 43 
 
 with Christ. 9. Not of works, lest any man should boast, 
 10. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus. 
 
 5. No previous discipline, of any kind whatever, 
 can so prepare the sinful soul as to give unto it any 
 bias toward holiness ; regeneration is supernatural 
 and instantaneous. 
 
 James i. 18. Of his own will begat he us. Prov. xvi. 1. 
 The preparations of the heart in man are from the Lord. 
 John i. 13. Which were born not of blood, nor of the will of 
 the flesh, nor of the willof man, but of God. 
 
 We therefore condemn the following errors^ and 
 testify against all who maintain them : 
 
 1. "That Regeneration is no more than the 
 influence of a rational argument producing moral 
 suasion. 
 
 2. " That Regeneration is no more than baptism 
 by water rightly administered. 
 
 3. " That any preparatory work can predispose 
 the soul for Regeneration. 
 
 4. " That Regeneration is not a blessing of the 
 covenant of grace, purchased by Christ. 
 
 5. " That the soul is active in its own Regener- 
 ation. 
 
 6. "That the' influence of the Holy Ghost in 
 Regeneration is dependent upon the exercise of 
 man's free will." 
 
44 FAITH. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 OF FAITH. 
 
 1. God hath purposed that union with Christ 
 in his righteousness should be established through 
 Faith. The Redeemer hath provided by his death 
 for having the grace of Faith bestowed upon the 
 Elect, in order to unite them to him ; and the Holy 
 Spirit, accordingly, regenerates each of Christ's 
 ransomed ones, enabling them to receive Jesus 
 Christ by Faith, as their public Head and only 
 Saviour. 
 
 Rom. iii. 25. Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation 
 through foith in his blood. 26. That he might be just, and 
 the justifier of him which believeth. Phil. i. 29. Unto you 
 it is given in the behalf of Christ — to believe on him. Acts 
 xiii. 48. And as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. 
 2 Cor. ii. 13. Having the same spirit of faith — we also believe. 
 
 2. Faith is the first and immediate act of the 
 regenerate soul, under the powerful influence of 
 the Holy Ghost, embracing Christ as offered by 
 God in the gospel to sinners. 
 
 John i. 12. But as many as received him — even to them 
 that believe on his name. 13. Which were born — of God. 
 Eph. ii. 5. When we were dead in sins, hath quickened us 
 together with Christ. 8. For by grace ye are saved through 
 faith. 1 Cor. xii. 13. For by one spirit are we all baptized 
 into one body. Gal. iii. 26. For ye are all the children of God 
 by faith in Christ Jesus. 1 John iii. 23. And this is his com- 
 mandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son 
 Jesus Christ. Zech. xii. 10. And I will pour upon the house 
 
FAITH. 45 
 
 of David the Spirit of grace, and they shall look upon me 
 whom they have pierced, and mourn. 
 
 3. The infinite sufficiency of Christ to save, the 
 freeness of the gospel offer, the unlimited extent 
 of the invitation to come to him for salvation, the 
 authority of God commanding all to receive him, 
 and the infallible promise of salvation to as many 
 as do receive him, constitute the proper ground of 
 Faith. 
 
 Heb. vii. 25. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the 
 uttei-most that come unto God by him. Is. Iv. 1. Come ye, 
 buy and eat — without money and without price. 7. Let 
 the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his 
 thoughts ; and let him return unto the Lord, and he wall have 
 mercy upon him. Rev. xxii. 17. And whosoever will, let him 
 take the w^ater of life freely. 1 John iii. 23. This is his com- 
 mandment, that we should believe. Chap. v. 13. These things 
 have I written unto you that believe, that ye might know that 
 ye have eternal life. 
 
 4. The proposition to which God demands the 
 sinner's assent is true, independently of man's belief 
 It is not* that he shall have eternal life in Christ ; 
 but that Christ and salvation are freely offered to 
 him. True faith, however, although it implies ne- 
 cessarily an assent to this proposition, chiefly con- 
 sists in embracing the gospel offer, and thus appro- 
 priating the salvation which it contains. 
 
 John viii. 26. He that sent me is true; and I speak to the 
 world those things which I have heard of him. 46. And if I 
 say the truth, why do ye not believe me? Chap. vi. 64. But 
 there are some of you that beUeve not. For Jesus knew from 
 
46 FAITH. 
 
 the beginning who they were that believed not. Chap. vii. 
 37, 38. Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let 
 him come unto me and drink. He that befleveth on me, as 
 the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of 
 living water. Chap. vi. 69. And we believe and are sure that 
 thou art that Christ the Son of the living God. Rom. x. 10. 
 With the heart man believeth unto righteousness. John vi. 
 53. Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of 
 the Son of man and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. 
 
 5. Every true believer shall most certainly be 
 saved, but an assurance that he is in a state of 
 grace, and shall be saved, is not inseparably con- 
 nected with true Faith in every believer's heart; 
 nevertheless every Christian may, in the proper use 
 of means, attain to it, and it is his duty to give all 
 dilio-ence to make his callino; and election sure. 
 
 Rom. viii. 1. There is, therefore, now no condemnation to 
 them which ai^ in Christ Jesus. Ps. Ixxvi. 6-10. I commune 
 with mine own heart. Will the Lord cast ofi" for ever? Doth 
 his promise fail for evermore ? Hath he in anger shut up his 
 tender mercies ? And I said, This is my infirmity. 2 Pet. i. 
 10. Wherefore, the rather, brethren, give diligence to make 
 your calling and election sure. 
 
 6. It is dangerous for sinners to persuade them- 
 selves that they are interested savingly in the prom- 
 ises of the gospel without solid ground for their 
 assurance. No man may conclude that he is in a 
 gracious state and shall be saved, without a knowl- 
 edge of the marks of grace described in the Scrip- 
 tures, a consciousness that he possesses these marks, 
 and an application of the appropriate promises in 
 
FAITH. 47 
 
 which God declares that such persons shall be 
 
 saved. 
 
 Jas. ii. 20. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith with- 
 out works is dead ? 2 Cor.xiii. 5. Examine yourselves whether 
 ye be in the faith, prove your own selves : Know ye not your 
 own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be 
 reprobates ? 1 John iv. 13. Hereby know we that we dwell 
 in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. 
 Rom. viii. 38, 39. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor 
 life, nor angels, norprincipahties, nor powers, nor things pres- 
 ent, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other 
 creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, 
 which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 
 
 7. The want of this assurance evidences a crim- 
 inal neglect of self-examination and a deficiency in 
 spirituality, but is not unbelief, unless it arises 
 from doubting God's promise of perseverance in 
 grace : unbelief consists in rejecting the testimony 
 and 'offer of God, not in doubting of the exercise 
 of a man's own heart: the testimony of God is 
 infallible, but the testimony of the soul respecting 
 its own state is often doubtful and false. 
 
 2 Cor. xiii. 5. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus 
 Christ is in you? 2 Pet. i. 8, 9, 10. For if these things be in 
 you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be bar- 
 ren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and hath forgotten 
 that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore, the rather, 
 brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure. 
 Is. 1. 10. Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obey- 
 eth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness and hath 
 no light ? Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay 
 upon his God. Rom. iv. 20, 21. He staggered not at the prom- 
 
48 FAITH. 
 
 ise of God through unbelief — being fully persuaded that what 
 he had promised he was able also to perform. Psalm Ixxxviii. 
 14. Lord, why castest thou off my soul ? Why hidest thou 
 thy face from me? 15. While I suffer thy terrors I am dis- 
 tracted. 16. Thy fierce wrath goeth over me. Psalm Ixxiii. 
 13. Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my 
 hands in innocency. 22. So foolish was I and ignorant. 23. 
 Nevertheless, I am continually with thee. 25. Whom have 
 I in heaven but thee ? and there is none upon earth that I 
 desire besides thee. 
 
 8. The strength of Faith is ascertained by its 
 fruits — - the love, the zeal, the holiness, the faithful- 
 ness it produces ; and not by the confidence which a 
 man may have of his being in a safe state. We 
 often perceive those who are truly pious and faith- 
 ful, possessed with doubts and fears respecting them- 
 selves, while the careless, the presumptive, and the 
 enthusiastic, appear full of assurance that they are 
 the favorites of heaven. 
 
 Matt. XV. 22. And behold a woman of Canaan cried unto 
 him, saying. Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David. 
 23. And he answered her not. 25. Then came she and wor- 
 shipped him, saying, Lord, help me. 26. But he answered and 
 said, It is not meet to take the children's bread and cast it to 
 dogs. 27. And she said. Truth, Lord : Yet the dogs eat of 
 the crumbs which fall from their masters' table. 28. Then 
 answered Jesus and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith. 
 Is. 1. 11. Behold all ye that kindle a fire, that compass your- 
 selves about with sparks ; walk in the light of your fire, and 
 in the sparks that ye have kindled : this shall ye have of mine 
 hand, ye shall lie down in sorrow. Matt. vii. 22. Many will 
 say to me in that day. Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in 
 thy name ? 23. And then will I profess unto them, I never 
 
FAITH. 49 
 
 knew you. James ii. 18. Show me thy faith without thy 
 works, and I will show thee my faith by my works. Heb. ii. 
 14. Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and 
 blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same. 15. 
 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their 
 lifetime subject to bondage. 
 
 We therefore condemn the following errors, and 
 testify against all who maintain them : 
 
 1. " That an unregenerate man oan believe to 
 the saving of his soul. 
 
 2. " That any unbeliever shall be saved. 
 
 3. " That Faith is no more than a rational con- 
 viction of the authenticity of the Sacred Scriptures. 
 
 4. " That Faith is no more than the assent of 
 the human mind to the truth of the speculative 
 doctrines of the Scriptures. 
 
 5. " That Faith consists in a man's persuading 
 himself that he has been elected to everlasting life. 
 
 6. "That Faith consists in a man's persuading 
 himself that he has been redeemed by the death 
 of Christ. 
 
 7. "That the appropriation of Christ, as he is 
 offered in the gospel, is not essential to faith. 
 
 8. " That a full assurance of salvation is insepa- 
 rably connected with saving faith, so that a believer 
 cannot be without it. 
 
 9. "That fear respecting the piety of a man's 
 
 own heart is the sin of unbelief, or the samQ with 
 
 rejecting the testimony of God concerning his 
 
 Son." 
 
 4 
 
50 JUSTIFICATION. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 OF JUSTIFICATION. 
 
 1. God did from eternity decree to justify the 
 Elect in Christ ; and Christ did in the fulness of 
 time die for their sins, and rise again for their justi- 
 fication ; nevertheless, they are not justified until 
 they are united to Christ by faith. 
 
 Rom. viii. 30. Moreover, whom lie did predestinate, them 
 lie also called ; and whom he called, them he also justified. 
 Chap. iv. 25. Who was delivered for our offences, and raised 
 again for our justification. Chap. iii. 26. That he might be 
 just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. 28. 
 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith. 
 
 2. Every one of God's Elect is, in the time ap- 
 pointed in the council of peace, apprehended of 
 Christ by his Spirit, as one of his redeemed children; 
 is regenerated, and thereby enabled to embrace the 
 Saviour ; and thus through faith becomes one with 
 Christ in the covenant of grace, and acknowledging 
 Jesus as his head and representative, is justified 
 from all his sins. 
 
 John vi. 37. All that the Father giveth me shall come unto 
 me ; and him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. 
 l^hil. iii. 9. The righteousness which is of God by faith. 12. 
 That for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. John 
 i. 12. Them that believe in his name. 13. AVhich were born, 
 not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of 
 man, but of God. Eph. ii. 5. Even when we were dead in 
 sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. 8. By grace ye 
 are saved through faith. 
 
JUSTIFICATION. 51 
 
 3. Justification does not make a person virtu- 
 ous any more than condemnation makes a person 
 criminal; it is a legal sentence, declaring the sin- 
 ner acquitted from the guilt of sin, although the 
 sinner, personally considered, is ungodly; yet being 
 united to Christ, he has a perfect righteousness 
 imputed to him, and thus, by an act of God's free 
 grace, all his sins are pardoned, and he is received, 
 as righteous in Christ the head, to the full favor 
 of God. 
 
 Rom. viii. 38. Who shall lay anything to the charge of 
 God's elect ? It is God that justifieth. Chap. iv. 5. Belie veth 
 on him that justifieth the ungodly. Chap. iii. 22. The right- 
 eousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ, unto all, 
 and upon all that believe. Chap. iv. 6. Even as David also 
 describeth the blessedness of the man unto Avhom God 
 imputeth righteousness without works, 7. saying. Blessed are 
 they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. 
 
 4. No sinner can be justified in the sight of 
 God on account of any merit in his faith or in his 
 works ; but the believer, having Christ's perfect 
 righteousness imputed to him, is perfectly justified 
 at once ; this sentence, declaring him righteous in 
 the surety, can never be reversed, all his future 
 transactions notwithstanding. 
 
 Rom. iv. 4. Now to him that worketh is the reward not 
 reckoned of grace but of debt. 5. But to him that worketh 
 not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith 
 is counted for righteousness. 6. Unto whom God imputeth 
 righteousness without works. 8. Blessed is the man to whom 
 the Lord will not impute sin. Chap. y. 8. While we were 
 
52 JUSTinCATION. 
 
 yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9. Much more then being 
 now justified by his blood, we shall be saved. Chap. viii. 1 
 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are 
 in Christ Jesus. 
 
 5. The Redeemer has purchased a perfect right 
 to the justification of every individual for whom 
 he became surety ; possessing this right, he unites 
 the sinner to himself through faith, in order to 
 have him justified ; the elect sinner, embracing the 
 Saviour by faith, has then, and not till then, in his 
 own possession a full and perfect title to the pardon 
 of all his sins, to be received into the favor of God, 
 to be delivered from the law as a covenant of works, 
 and to be sanctified and glorified. 
 
 Rom. iv. 25. Who was delivered for our offences, and raised 
 again for our justification. Phil. i. 29. For unto you it is 
 given in the behalf of Christ — to believe in him. Heb. xii. 2. 
 Looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. 
 Rom. iv. 24. But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed if 
 we believe. John iii. 18. But he that believeth not is con- 
 demned already. 36. The wrath of God abideth on him. 
 
 6. The union of a believer with Christ is not 
 merely an agreement with the principles of reli- 
 gion and a love to the Saviour, which may be 
 termed a union of sentiment and affection, but consists 
 principally in the oneness of a person with his rep- 
 resentative : it is upon the principle of this repre- 
 sentative, oneness, that the believer is in law perfectly 
 entitled to salvation. 
 
 1 Cor. xii. 27. Now ye are the body of Christ and members 
 in particular. Gal. iii. 28. For ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 
 Chap. ii. 20. I am crucified with Christ : nevertheless I live ; 
 
JUSTIFICATION. 63 
 
 yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. Rom. v. 18. Therefore as 
 by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to con- 
 demnation ; even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift 
 came upon all men unto justification of life. 2 Cor. v. 21. For 
 he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we 
 miojht be made the riohteousness of God in him. 
 
 7. Those who are justified may sometimes suffer 
 from doubts and fears, because their sanctification 
 is not in this life complete ; but they cannot fall 
 into condemnation ; it would be an act of distribu- 
 tive injustice in God to condemn a justified person 
 to eternal misery ; and yet the grace of God reigns, 
 through righteousness, in our justification, inasmuch 
 as he established the covenant of grace, accepted a 
 substitute for our sins, provided his own beloved 
 Son as that substitute, and bestowed upon us the 
 grace o^ faith in Christ for justification. 
 
 Psalm xliii. 5. Why art thou cast down, O my soul ? And 
 why art thou disquieted within me? John v. 24. He that 
 heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath 
 everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation. Rom. 
 viii. 34. Who is he that condemneth ? It is Christ that died. 
 Chap. iii. 24. Being justified freely by his grace through the 
 redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 25. Whom God hath 
 set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to 
 declare his rio-hteousuess throusrh the remission of sins. 26. 
 That he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth 
 in Jesus. 
 
 We therefore condemn the following errors, and 
 testify against all who maintain them : 
 
 1. " That any of Adam's race is justified from 
 eternity. 
 
54 ADOPTION. 
 
 2. " That men are justified before God, either 
 in whole or in part, on account of a righteousness 
 wrought in them, or works done by them. 
 
 3. " That a man may be justified while an un- 
 believer. 
 
 4. "That faith itself is the ground of our jus- 
 tification. 
 
 5. " That there is any inconsistency between the 
 doctrine of justification by imputed righteousness 
 and divine grace. 
 
 6. " That Justification is incomplete in the pres- 
 ent life. 
 
 7. " That it would be no act of distributive in- 
 justice to punish believers eternally, Christ's atone- 
 ment and their own faith notwithstanding" 
 
 CHAPTER XY. 
 
 OF ADOPTION. 
 
 1. All those that are justified, God is graciously 
 pleased, in and through his only Son Jesus Christ, 
 to take into his family, and bless with the adoption 
 of sons ; by which they are admitted to an intimacy 
 with God, have his name put upon them, and 
 receive the spirit of adoption. They have a special 
 interest in God as a gracious Father, and enjoy 
 liberty of access to the throne of grace with bold- 
 ness. They are sealed to the day of redemption, 
 
ADOPTION. 55 
 
 and made partakers of the various privileges of 
 God's children here, and their inheritance hereafter. 
 
 1 John iii. 1. Behold what manner of love the Father hath 
 bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God ! 
 therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 
 Gal. iv. 4, 5, 6. But when the fulness of the time was come, 
 God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the 
 law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might 
 receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God 
 hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, 
 Abba, Father. Rev. iii. 12. And I will write upon him my 
 new name. 2 Cor. vi. 18. And will be a Father unto you, 
 and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord 
 Almighty. Eph. i. 13, 14. In which ye also trusted, after that 
 ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation : in 
 whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that 
 Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance 
 until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the 
 praise of his glory. 
 
 2. All the Elect, and they only, are, in their 
 respective times of love, adopted into the family 
 of God. The adoption of saints under the Old 
 Testament dispensation, was as perfect as that 
 under the New. Thej^ were, however, treated as 
 children under age. Still they w^ere children. 
 Under the New Testament, their service is more 
 spiritual and reasonable. God bestows his Spirit 
 more abundantly — gives more knowledge of, and 
 intimacy with himself — admits equal access from 
 every part of the world — allows greater boldness 
 in approaching him, and calls to more direct and 
 immediate views of the spiritual inheritance. 
 
56 ADOPTION. 
 
 Eph. i. 5. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of 
 children by Jesus Christ to himself j according to the good 
 pleasure of his will. Is. Ixiv. 8. But now, O Lord, thou art 
 our Father. Gal. iv. 1-3. Now I say. That the heir, as long 
 as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he 
 be lord of all ; but he is under tutors and governors until the 
 time appointed of the father. Even so we, Avhen we wei-e 
 children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. 
 Heb. vii. 19. For the law made nothing perfect, but the bring- 
 ing in of a better hope did ; by the which we draw nigh unto 
 God. Rom. xii. 1. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the 
 mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, 
 holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 
 Psalm Ixxii. 17. Men shall be blessed in him: all nations 
 shall call him blessed. 2 Cor. iii. 18. But we all, with open 
 face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed 
 into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit 
 of the Lord. 
 
 3. Justification and Adoption, although insepa- 
 rably connected, are nevertheless distinct from one 
 another. They are both acts of God's free grace 
 — they are both performed at once, and never re- 
 peated — they both spring from the mere good 
 pleasure of God, — and they both give a right to 
 all the privileges of the sons of God. Believers 
 only are the subjects of both, and the instrumental 
 cause in both is faith. In the economy of salva- 
 tion, while they both are the act of the Father, 
 Son, and Holy Ghost, yet are they more immedi- 
 ately the act of God the Father. 
 
 Rev. ii. 17. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of 
 the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in 
 the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth, saving 
 
ADOPTION. 57 
 
 he that receiveth it. Tit. iii. 7. That being justified by his 
 grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of 
 eternal life. Eph. i. 5. Having predestinated us unto the 
 adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to 
 the good pleasure of his will. Jer. iii. 19. And I said. Thou 
 shalt call me, My father; and shalt not turn away from me. 
 Gal. iii. 26. For ye are all the children of God by faith in 
 Christ Jesus. Zech. xiii. 9. I will say, It is my people ; and 
 they shall say. The Lord is my God. 
 
 4. Justification, however, has respect to those 
 who were guilty, and in a state of condemnation, 
 but whose sins are now pardoned, and their persons 
 accounted righteous. Adoption respects those who 
 were in a state of alienation — strangers to God and 
 to the household of faith — of the family of Satan, 
 and heirs of hell : but who, by this gracious act, 
 are brought near unto God — advanced to the high 
 honor of being made the children of God, the sons 
 and daughters of the Lord Almighty — have a right 
 to the protection of his providence — the support 
 of his bounty — the ordinances of his grace — the 
 enjoyment of his fellowship, and a right to God 
 himself They are placed in his family, and are 
 made heirs of all the promises, and joint-heirs with 
 Jesus Christ, of all the blessings of his purchased 
 redemption. The right conferred in Justification, is 
 a right of purchase, sustainable in law ; but that con- 
 ferred in Adoption, is a right of actual inheritance. 
 
 Eph. ii. 3. And were by nature the children of wrath, even 
 as others. 1 Cor. vi. 11. And such were some of you : but 
 ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in 
 
58 REPENTANCE. 
 
 the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Sph'it of our God. 
 Eph. ii. 12, 13. Thai at that time ye were without Christ, 
 being aUens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers 
 from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without 
 God in the world : But now, in Christ Jesus, ye, who some- 
 time were far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ. Rom. 
 viii. 17. And if children, then heirs : heirs of God, and joint- 
 heirs with Christ ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we 
 may be also glorified together. Gal. iv. 7. Wherefore thou 
 art no more a servant, but a son ; and if a son, then an heir 
 of God through Christ. Ps. xvi. 5, 6. The Lord is the portion 
 of mine inheritance and of my cup : thou maintainest my lot. 
 The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant j^laces ; yea, I have a 
 goodly heritage. 
 
 We therefore condemn the following error s, and 
 testify against all who maintain them : 
 
 1. " That men are not, by nature, estranged from 
 God, and of the family of Satan. 
 
 2. "That visible membership constitutes the 
 adoption of sons. 
 
 3. " That Adoption is merited by the creature, 
 and not an act of God's free grace. 
 
 4. " That ever the sonship, conferred in Adop- 
 tion, will or can be annulled by God." 
 
 CHAPTER XYI 
 
 OF REPENTANCE. 
 
 1. Believers, although in justification they are 
 delivered from the precept and penalty of the law 
 
REPENTANCE. 59 
 
 as a covenantor works, are still indispensably bound 
 to yield a perfect obedience to all God's command- 
 ments, as the rule of life and standard of holiness. 
 
 Rom. vi. 14. For ye are not under the law, but under grace. 
 ChajD. vii. 6. But now we are delivered from the law, that 
 being dead wherein we were held, that we should serve in 
 newness of spirit. Chap. iii. 31. Do we then make void the 
 law through faith ? God forbid. Yea, we establish the law. 
 
 2. Christians are not entirely free from innate 
 corruption, while they remain in this world ; but do 
 daily break the commandments of God in thought, 
 word, and deed. 
 
 Psalm It. 3. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my 
 sin is ever before me. cxix. 96. I have seen an end of all per- 
 fection: but thy command is exceeding broad. Rom. vii. 
 
 23. But I see another law in my members, warring against 
 the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the 
 law of sin which is in my members. 
 
 3. Divine grace influences all who are regener- 
 ated and justified in Christ, to hate sin, to love the 
 law of God, to strive against indwelling corruption, 
 and, pressing after perfect holiness of heart and 
 of life, to repent of all their transgressions. 
 
 Rom. viii. 2. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus 
 hath made me free from the law of sin and death. Chap. vii. 
 22. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man. 
 
 24. Oh, wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me from 
 the body of this death ? 25. I thank God, through Jesus 
 Christ our Lord : So then with the mind I myself serve the 
 law of God. 
 
60 REPENTANCE. 
 
 4. Kepentance is a saving grace wrought by the 
 Holy Spirit in all believers. They are enabled to 
 understand and lament the depravity of their own 
 hearts — they mourn on account of their weakness 
 and sinfulness — they love God, and esteem it hap- 
 piness to live righteously and godly. The exercise 
 of the grace of repentance chiefly consists in turn- 
 ing from sin unto God through Jesus Christ, with 
 that loathing of sin and thirsting for holiness, which 
 God by his grace produces in the souls of the 
 saints. 
 
 Acts xi. 18. Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted 
 repentance unto life. Jer. xxxi. 19. Surely after that I was 
 turned I repented, and after that I was instructed I smote 
 upon my thigh. Ezek. xxxvi. 31. Then shall ye remember 
 your own e^dl ways, and your doings that were not good, and 
 shall loathe yourselves in your own sight, for your iniquities 
 and for your abominations. 2 Cor. vii. 11. For behold this 
 selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what 
 carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, 
 yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement 
 desire, yea, what zeal. Jer. xxxi. 18. Turn thou me and I 
 shall be turned, for thou art the Lord my God. 
 
 5. Unconverted sinners may, and often do, ex- 
 ercise a natural Repentance. Considering sin in 
 general as the cause of misery, and particular crimes 
 as procuring dishonor, or pain, or loss, they are 
 sorry for sin, as it is an obstacle to the happiness 
 which they desire; but they have no hatred of it 
 as the opjDOsite of holiness, or as dishonoring to 
 God. 
 
REPENTANCE. 61 
 
 Matt, xxvii. 8. Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when 
 he saw that he was condemned, repented himself. 2 Cor. vii. 
 10. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to 
 be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. 
 
 6. Evangelical Repentance implies union with 
 Christ and true faith, but is not the ground of 
 pardon, although the exercise of it precedes the 
 joy which intimations of a gracious pardon com- 
 municate to the soul. 
 
 Zech. xii. 10. And they shall look upon me whom they have 
 pierced, and they shall mourn. Eph. i. 7. In whom we have 
 redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. Rom. 
 iii. 28. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith. 
 Luke X. 3. Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish. 
 Acts iii. 19. Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your 
 sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall 
 come from the presence of the Lord. Psalm li. 1. Have 
 mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving-kindness. 8. 
 Make me to hear joy and gladness ; that the bones which 
 thou hast broken may rejoice. 12. Restore unto me the joy 
 of thy salvation. 
 
 We therefore condemn the following errors, and 
 testify against all who maintain them : 
 
 • 1. "That a believer is under no law as the rule 
 of life. 
 
 2. " That a saint is so perfect in this life as to 
 have no sin of which he should repent. 
 
 3. '' That Repentance is the ground of pardon. 
 
 4. " That an impenitent man should believe that 
 his sins are pardoned. 
 
 5. " That an unbeliever can exercise evangelical 
 Repentance. 
 
62 SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 6. " That a true believer can be destitute of the 
 grace of Repentance." 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 OF SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 1. The dignity as well as the happiness of man, 
 consists in the equable improvement and perfection 
 of all his powers and faculties, and in contemplat- 
 ing, loving, serving, and enjoying his God. 
 
 Rev. iii. 17. Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with 
 goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou 
 art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and bUnd, and naked. 
 18. I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that 
 tliou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest 
 be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not ap- 
 pear. 1 Cor. xiii. 10. But when that wdiich is perfect is come, 
 then that which is in part shall be done away. Phil. iii. 8. 
 And I count all things but loss for the excellency of the 
 knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. 12. Not as though I 
 had already attained, either w^ere already perfect. 14. I press 
 toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in 
 Christ Jesus. 
 
 2. The Holy Spirit, according to the promise of 
 the Father, is commissioned by Jesus Christ, the 
 administrator of the Covenant of Grace, to sanctify 
 justified sinners, and to prepare them for heaven. 
 
 Luke xxiv. 49. Behold, I send the promise of my Father 
 upon you. John xiv. 26. But the Comforter, which is the 
 
SANCTIFICATION. 63 
 
 Holy Ghost, whom the Father shall send in my name, he 
 shall teach you all things. Chap. xv. 26. But when the Com- 
 forter is come whom I will send unto you from the Father. 
 Chap. xvi. 13. Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, 
 he will guide you into all truth. Col. i. 12. Giving thanks 
 unto the Father, which hath made us meet to become parta- 
 kers of the inheritance of the saints in light. 
 
 3. Sanctification is a work of God's grace, in 
 which the Elect are, through the agency of the 
 Holy Ghost, applying the spiritual benefits of 
 Christ's purchase, renewed in the whole man after 
 the image of God ; and having all saving graces 
 put into their hearts, these graces are exercised and 
 strengthened, so that sanctified persons do more 
 and more die unto sin and live unto righteousness. 
 
 1 Pet. i. 2. Elect according to the foreknowledge of God 
 the Father, through sanctifi cation of the Spirit. John xvi. 15. 
 All things that the Father hath are mine ; therefore said I, 
 that he shall' take of mine, and shall sliow it unto you. Col. 
 iii. 10. And have put on the new man, which is renewed in 
 knowledge after the image of him that created him. John i. 
 16. And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for 
 grace. Is. xl. 31. But they that wait upon the Lord shall 
 renew their strength. Gal. ii. 19, 20. For I through the lav/ 
 am dead to the laAv, that I might live unto God. I am cruci- 
 fied with Christ: nevertheless I live ; yet not I, but Christ 
 liveth in me : and the life which I now live in the flesh I live 
 by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave him- 
 self for me. 2 Cor. iv. 16. For which cause we faint not, 
 but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is 
 renewed day by day. 
 
 4. The moral law is the declaration of God's will 
 to man, binding him to perpetual and perfect con- 
 
64 SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 formity thereto, both in disposition and behavior. 
 Although no man, since the fall, can attain to justi- 
 fication or life by the law, it is of use to all men, to 
 inform them of the holiness of God, of their own 
 duty, of the perfection of Christ's obedience in the 
 room of sinners* and it is the standard of Sanctifi- 
 cation. 
 
 James iv. 12. There is one Lawgiver who is able to save 
 and to destroy. Ps. xix. 7. The law of the Lord is perfect. 
 Heb. iv. 12. For the word of God is qiiicK and powerful, and 
 sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the di- 
 viding asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and mar- 
 row, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the 
 heart. Gal. iii. 21. For if there had been a law given which 
 could have given life, verily righteousness should have been 
 by the law. Rom. viii. 3. For what the law could not do, in 
 that it was weak through the flesh. Chap. vii. 10. And the 
 commandment which was ordained to life, I found to be unto 
 death. 12. Wherefore the law is holy, and the command- 
 ment holy, and just, and good. 1 Tim. i. 8. But we know 
 that the law is good if a man use it lawfully. 1 John v. 3. 
 For this is the love of God, that Ave keep his commandments, 
 and his commandments are not grievous. Rom. vii. 7. Is the 
 law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin but by the 
 law. 22. For I delight in the law of God after the inward 
 man. 
 
 5. Man, before the fall, was upright in his dispo- 
 sition, and able to keep the commandments ; but no 
 unregenerate sinner can do anything which is spir- 
 itually good, or acceptable to God. Nevertheless, 
 all men are under obligation to yield obedience to 
 the divine law in all its precepts and in its full ex- 
 tent ; neither does the total depravity of the sinner, 
 
SANCTIFICATION. 65 
 
 nor the complete justification of the believer, in 
 any degree diminish that obligation. 
 
 Eccles. vii. 29. God hath made man upright. Gen. i. 27. 
 So God created man in his own image. Rom. viii. 7, 8. Be- 
 cause the carnal mind is enmity against God;, for it is not 
 subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then, 
 they that are in the flesh cannot please God. Gal. iii. 10. For 
 as many as are of the works of the law, are under the curse, 
 for it is written. Cursed is every one that continueth not in 
 all things which are written in the book of tlie law to do 
 them. Rom. iii. 31. Do we then make void the law through 
 faith? God forbid : Yea, we establish the law. 1 Cor. ix. 21. 
 Being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ. 
 Eccles. xii. 13. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole mat- 
 ter : Fear God, and keep his commandments, for this is the 
 whole duty of man. 
 
 6. Good works are performed from a principle 
 of faith and love, and are agreeable to the divine 
 law ; they are acceptable to God and useful to man ; 
 but they have no merit, neither do they procure 
 pardon or eternal life. They are necessary in the 
 Christian character to manifest the truth of grace 
 in the soul, to strengthen assurance, to edify fellow 
 Christians, adorn our profession, silence adversaries, 
 and to glorify God who hath created us in Christ 
 Jesus unto good works. 
 
 2 Cor. ix. 8. And God is able to make all grace abound 
 toward you ; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all 
 things, may abound to every good work. Gal. v. 6. Faith 
 which worketh by love. Rom. xiv. 18. For he that in these 
 things serveth Christ, is acceptable to God and approved of 
 men. Luke xvii. 10. When ye shall have done all those 
 5 
 
*66 SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 things which are commanded you, say, "We are unprofitable 
 servants : we have done that which was our duty to do. 
 Rom. iii. 27. Where is boasting then ? It is excluded. Eph. 
 ii. 9. Not of worlcs, lest any man should boast. James ii. 20. 
 Fiiitli without works is dead. 2 Pet. i. 10. Give diligence to 
 make your calHng and election sure; for if ye do these things, 
 ye shall never fall. Matt. v. 16. Let your light so shine before 
 men that they may see your good works, and glorify your 
 Father which is in heaven. Tit. ii. 10. That they may adorn 
 the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things. 14. A peculiar 
 people, zealous of good works. 
 
 7. Sanctification is inseparably connected with 
 Justification ; but is distinct from it. By Justifi- 
 cation the sinner is acquitted from condemnation ; 
 by Sanctification he is rendered holy and prepared 
 for the happiness of heaven. Justification is com- 
 plete at once and equal in all believers ; Sanctifica- 
 tion is neither equal in all, nor perfect in any, while 
 in this life. Nevertheless, all who are justified shall 
 be completely sanctified. At death, the soul, sep- 
 arated from the body, is made perfect in holiness. 
 
 2 Cor. V. 17. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new 
 creature. Rom. viii. 1. There is therefore now no condemna- 
 tion to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after 
 the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2 Thess. ii. 13. God hath from 
 the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification 
 of the Spirit. Job i. 8. Hast thou considered my servant Job, 
 that there is none like him on the earth ? Rom. vii. 19. For 
 the good that I would, I do not ; but the evil which I would 
 not, that I do. 21. When I would do good, evil is present 
 with me. Phil. i. 6. Being confident of this very thing, that 
 he which hath begun a good work in you, will perform it until 
 the day of Jesus Christ. Heb. xii.23. The spirits of just men 
 
SANCTIFICATION. 67 
 
 made perfect. Eph. v. 27. A glorious church, not having 
 spot or wrinkle, or any such thing ; but that it should be holy 
 and without blemish. 
 
 We therefore condemn the following error's, and 
 testify against all who maintain them : 
 
 1. " That Sanctification is not necessary to the 
 happiness of man. 
 
 2. " That Sanctification is not a supernatural 
 work of God's Holy Spirit. 
 
 3. "That any man can will or effect his own 
 Sanctification w^ithout divine grace. 
 
 4. "That Christians by their good works may 
 merit or procure the favor of God. 
 
 5. " That the works of an unregenerate man can 
 be acceptable to God. 
 
 6. " That believers are not under obligation to 
 love and obey the law of God as the rule of duty. 
 
 7. " That good works are necessary. 
 
 8. " That the law of God is not the criterion 
 of Sanctification. 
 
 9. " That any man on earth is completely sanc- 
 tified. 
 
 10. " That any justified person shall eventually 
 fail of being made perfectly holy and happy." 
 
^ 68 PERSEVERANCE IN GRACE. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 OF PERSEVERANCE IN GRACE. 
 
 1. Some who make a profession of religion may 
 afterwards fall into carelessness, contempt, and even 
 
 'hatred of all religion, and so eternally perish. 
 
 1 John ii. 19. They went out from us, but they were not 
 of us. Heb. X. 38. But if any man draw back, my soul shall 
 have no pleasure in him. 39. But we are not of them who 
 draw back unto perdition. Matt. xii. 45. And the last state 
 of that man is worse than the first. 
 
 2. True Christians may, through the influence 
 of temptation, pre valency of corruption, and the 
 neglect of the means of grace, be left in God's 
 holy providence to fall into grievous sins, and so 
 incur the displeasure of God, be deprived of some 
 measure of their graces and comforts, scandalize 
 the church, and bring temporal judgments upon 
 themselves. 
 
 Matt. xxvi. 72. And again he denied with an oath, I do not 
 know the man. Mieah vii. 9. I will bear the indignation of 
 the Lord, because I have sinned against him. Rom. vii. 19. 
 But the evil which I would not, that I do. Ps. li. 8. Make 
 me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast 
 broken may rejoice. 2 Sam. xii. 14. By this deed thou hast 
 given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blasj^heme. 
 Ps. Ixxxix. 37. Then will I visit their transgressions with the 
 rod, and their iniquity with stripes. 
 
 3. All those who have faith in Christ shall be 
 preserved by God in a state of grace. None who 
 
PERSEVERANCE IN GRACE. 69 
 
 have ever received the special grace of God can 
 ever lose it totally, or finally perish. 
 
 1 John ii. 19. For if they had been of us, they would no 
 doubt have continued with us. Heb. x. 38. The just shall 
 live by faith. 39. That believe to the saving of the soul. 
 Phil. i. 6. Being confident of this very thing, that he which 
 hath begun a good work in you, will perform it until the day 
 of Christ. 
 
 4. The Perseverance of the saints is not secured 
 by their own industry, vigilance, and strength ; but 
 by the unchangeableness of God's purpose and love, 
 the perfection of Christ's redemption, and the preva- 
 lency of his intercession, the constant efficacy of the 
 Holy Ghost's influence upon the soul, and the sta- 
 bility of the Covenant of Grace. 
 
 1 Pet. i. 5. Who are kept by the power of God, through 
 faith unto salvation. Ps. Ixxiii. 22. So foolish was I and igno- 
 rant ; I was as a beast before thee. 26. My flesh and my heart 
 faileth : but God is the strength of my heart and my portion 
 forever. 2 Tim. ii. 19. Nevertheless, the foundation of God 
 standeth sure, having this seal. The Lord knoweth them that 
 are his. Jer. xxxi. 3. Yea, I have loved thee with an ever- 
 lasting love. Heb. x. 14. By one offering he hath perfected 
 forever them that are sanctified. Chap. vii. 25. Wherefore he 
 is able to save them to the uttermost, that come unto God by 
 him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. 
 John xiv. 16. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you 
 another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever. Jer. 
 xxxii. 40. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them 
 — that they shall not depart from me. 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. He 
 hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all 
 things and sure. Rom. viii. 38, 39. For I am persuaded, that 
 neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor pow- 
 
70 PERSEVERANCE IN GRACE. 
 
 ers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor 
 deptli, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us 
 from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 
 
 5. The doctrine of Perseverance excites the 
 saints to the study of universal obedience. Per- 
 suaded that their labor shall not be in vain, believ- 
 ers become steadfast, immovable, always abounding 
 in the work of the Lord. The love of Christ con- 
 straineth them; and the faith of its being unchange- 
 able strengthens its influence. 
 
 1 Pet. ii. 9. But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priest- 
 hood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show 
 forth the praises of him who hath called you. 1 Cor. xv. 58. 
 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, 
 always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye 
 know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Eph. iii. 17, 
 18. That ye, behig rooted and grounded in love, may be able 
 to comprehend with all saints, what is the breadth, and length, 
 and depth, and height — 19. and to know the love of Christ 
 which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the 
 fulness of God. 
 
 We therefore condemn the following errors, and 
 testify against all who maintain them : 
 
 1. " That a person can, after conversion, be at 
 any time totally destitute of grace or piety. 
 
 2. " That a saint can fall away from grace, and 
 finally perish. 
 
 3. " That if the saints do persevere, it is on ac- 
 count of their own resolution and strength. 
 
 4. " That the doctrine of Perseverance is un- 
 friendly to holiness." 
 
STATE OF ]VIEN AFTER DEATH. 71 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 OF THE STATE OF MEN AFTER DEATH. 
 
 1. There is a time appointed for every man to 
 leave this world. The immortal soul, leaving the 
 body dead upon the earth, retains his consciousness, 
 and shall immediately be rewarded according to 
 his works. The spirits of the just made perfect are 
 received into heaven, and the souls of the wricked 
 are cast into hell. 
 
 Job vii. 1. Is there not an appointed time to man upon 
 earth ? Eccles. viii. 8. There is no man that hath power over 
 the spirit to retain the spirit : neither hath he power in the 
 clay of death. Chap. xii. 7. Then shall the dust return to the 
 earth as it was ; and the spirit shall return unto God who gave 
 it. Gen. ii. 7. And the Lord God formed man" of the dust of 
 the ground, and* breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, 
 and man became a living soul. Matt. x. 28. And fear not 
 them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. 2 
 Cor. V. 10. For we must all appear before the judgment seat 
 of Christ ; that every one may receive the things done in his 
 body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or 
 bad. Luke xxiii. 43. And Jesus said unto him, Yerily I say 
 unto thee. To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise. Heb. 
 xii. 23. And to the spirits of just men made perfect. 2 Cor. 
 V. 6. Knowing that whilst we are at home in the body, we 
 are absent from the Lord. 8. And willing rather to be absent 
 from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Phil. i. 23. 
 Having a desire to depart and to be with Christ ; which is 
 far better. Matt. x. 28. Fear him which is able to destroy 
 both soul and body in hell. Luke xvi. 23. And in hell he 
 lifted up his eyes, being in torments. Acts i. 21. Judas by 
 transgression fell, that he might go to his own place. 
 
72 STATE OF MEN AFTER DEATH. 
 
 2. When all the generations of men shall have 
 finished their appointed time on earth, there shall 
 be a resurrection of all the dead, and the same 
 bodies which were buried beino; re-united to their 
 respective spirits, these and all who shall then be 
 alive on the earth, must appear before the judg- 
 ment seat of Christ. 
 
 Acts xxiv. 15. There shall be a resurrection of the dead, 
 both of the just and unjust. 1 Cor. xv. 42. So also is the res- 
 urrection of the dead ; it is sown in corruption, it is raised in 
 incorruption. John v. 28, 29. Marvel not at this : for the hour 
 is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his 
 voice, and shall come forth ; they that have done good, unto 
 the resurrection of life ; and they that have done evil, unto 
 the resurrection of damnation. 1 Thess. iv. 17. Then we which 
 are alive and remain, sh:dl be caught up together with them 
 in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. 1 Cor. xv. 51. I 
 shew you a mystery : we shall not all sleep, but we shall all 
 be changed. 52. In a momei>t, in the twinkling of an eye, at 
 the last trump (for the trumj^et shall sound), and the dead 
 shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 2 
 Cor. V. 10. For we must all appear before the judgment seat 
 of Christ. 
 
 3. God-man, the Mediator, shall sit in judgment 
 upon all mankind, and shall publicly pronounce 
 sentence, determining their final state according to 
 their several characters. 
 
 Acts xvii. 31. Because he hath appointed a day, in the which 
 he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom 
 he hath ordained. John v. 22. For the Father judgeth no 
 man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son. 27. 
 And hath giyen him authority to execute judgment also, be- 
 
STATE OF MEN AFTER DEATH. 73 
 
 cause he is the Son of man. Matt. xxv. 34. Then shall the 
 King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of 
 my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the 
 foundation of the world. 41. Then sliall he say also unto 
 them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into ever- 
 lasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. 
 
 4. The righteous shall be declared joint-heirs 
 with Christ in happiness and glory, on account of 
 the merit of the Redeemer, in whom they all trust- 
 ed. The pious thoughts, words, and actions of be- 
 lievers, while they were on the earth, shall then 
 be sustained as the evidence of their union with 
 Christ, and of their gracious state : they shall ac- 
 cordingly be glorified. 
 
 1 John iii. 2. Beloved, now are we the sons of God ; and it 
 doth not yet appear what we shall be : but we know that 
 when he shall appear, we shall be like him ; for we shall see 
 him as he is. Kom. viii. 17. And if children, then heirs; 
 heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ — that we 
 ma^ be also glorified together. 1 Pet. i. 5. Who are kept, by 
 the power of God, through faith unto salvation. 9. Receiv- 
 ing the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. 
 22. Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth 
 through the Spirit. Matt. xxv. 23. Well done, good and 
 faithful servant ; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I 
 will make thee ruler over many things ; enter thou into the 
 joy of thy Lord. 
 
 5. God's Elect, being publicly recognized in 
 Christ, shall all as one in him, their divine Head, 
 join in the sentence pronounced by the Mediator 
 upon all the wicked. Punishment shall be appor- 
 tioned to the character of the "ungodly by the om- 
 
74 STATE OF MEN AFTER DEATH. 
 
 niscient and just Judge ; and their thoughts, words, 
 and deeds, while they were on earth, shall be cer- 
 tain evidence of their total depravity and guilt. 
 
 John xvii. 22. And the glory which thou hast given me, I 
 have given them; that they may be one even as we are one. 
 1 Cor. vi. 2. Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the 
 world? 3. We shall judge angels. Rev. xx. 12. And I saw 
 the dead, small and great, stand before God : and the books 
 were opened ; and another book was opened, which is the 
 book of life ; and the dead were judged out of those things 
 which were written in the books according to their works. 
 13. And they were judged every man according to their 
 works. 15. And whosoever was not found written in the 
 book of life, was cast into the lake of fire. 
 
 6. The wicked shall be banished, together with 
 the fallen angels, into the regions of never-ending 
 misery: and the righteous shall accompany Christ 
 in triumph into endless happiness and glory. 
 
 Matt. XXV. 41. Then shall he say also unto them on the 
 left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed,, into everlasting fire, 
 prepared for the devil and his angels. 46. And these shall 
 go away into everlasting punishment ; but the righteous into 
 life eternal. Psalm Ixxiii. 24. Thou shalt guide me with thy 
 counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. 
 
 We therefore condemn the following errors, and 
 testify against all who maintain them : 
 
 1. " That the soul continues in a state of inac- 
 tivity from death until the resurrection. 
 
 2. " That there is some other state, besides the 
 states of misery and happiness, into which separate 
 spirits may enter. 
 
Christ's headship. 75 
 
 3. " That there shall be no resurrection of the 
 dead. 
 
 4. " That there shall be no resurrection of the 
 wicked, but of the saints only. 
 
 5. " That it is not the same body which died 
 that shall arise. 
 
 6. " That the punishment of the wicked shall 
 ever come to an end. 
 
 7. " That the Mediator is not the Judge who shall 
 settle the unchangeable state of angels and men." 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 OF CHRIST'S HEADSHIP. 
 
 1. The Mediator, having voluntarily humbled 
 himself in human nature, for our redemption, is 
 appointed to the highest power and glory, and in 
 his exalted state he rules in and over all his chil- 
 dren, as their living Head and Lawgiver ; and gov- 
 erns all creatures and all their actions for his own 
 glory and our salvation, as Head over all things to 
 the church, which is his body. 
 
 Phil. ii. 8, 9. And being found in fashion as a man, he hum- 
 bled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death 
 of the cross. Wherefore God, also, hath highly exalted him, 
 and given him a name which is above every name. Eph. i. 20. 
 When he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own 
 right hand in the heavenly places. 21. Far above all princi- 
 
76 Christ's headship. 
 
 pality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name 
 that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which 
 is to come. 22. And hath put all things under his feet, and 
 gave him to be the head over ^11 things to the church. Heb. 
 ii. 8. Thou hast put all things, in subjection under his feet. 
 For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing 
 that is not put under him. 
 
 2. God-man laid the foundation of the church's 
 existence and salvation in his own infinite right- 
 eousness. He quickens church-members by his 
 divine Spirit ; he lives in them and they in him as 
 their life and strength; and he alone has a right to 
 appoint ordinances and officers, and to establish 
 laws, as the King and Head of his church. 
 
 Jer. xxiii. 5. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel 
 shall dwell safely : and this is his name whereby he shall be 
 called. The Lord our Righteousness. 1 Cor. iii. 11. For other 
 foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus 
 Christ. John vi. 63. It is the Spirit that quickeneth. Chap, 
 xvii. 26. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will 
 declare it, that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may 
 be in them, and I in them. Is. ix. 6, 7. For unto us a child 
 is born, unto us a Son is given : and the government shall be 
 upon his shoulders — upon the throne of David, and upon his 
 kingdom to order it, and to establish it with judgment and 
 with justice from henceforth even for ever. 
 
 3. Submission is due to the mediatory authority, 
 from all the intelligent creatures of God. Men. 
 not only as saints and church-members, but also in 
 every possible relation and condition, are under ob- 
 ligation to subserve his gracious purposes according 
 to his law. The holy angels minister under his 
 directions to the heirs of salvation. 
 
Christ's headship. 77 
 
 Phil. ii. 10. That at the name of Jesus, every knee should 
 bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things un- 
 der the earth. Psalm ii. 10. Be wise, now, therefore, O ye 
 kings ; be instructed, ye judges of the earth. 12. Kiss the 
 Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish. Heb. i. 6. And he saith, 
 Let all the angels of God worship him. 14. Are they not all 
 ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall 
 be heirs of salvation. 
 
 4. The administration of the kingdom of provi- 
 dence is subordinate to the dispensation of grace. 
 Christ Jesus, as the Head of the church, rules by 
 his infinite power, and in perfect wisdom and jus- 
 tice, over all the parts of the inanimate and irra- 
 tional creation, and over all wicked men and devils ;. 
 making them and all their changes, counsels, and 
 efforts, subservient to the manifestation of God's 
 glory in the system of redemption. 
 
 Rom. viii. 28. And we know that all things work together 
 for good to them that love God, to them who are the called 
 according to his purpose. Eph. i. 22. And hath put all things 
 under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to 
 the church. John xvii. 2. As thou hast given him power over 
 all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou 
 hast given him. Rev. i. 18. I am he that liveth, and was 
 dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen ; and have 
 the keys of hell and death. 
 
 * We therefore condemn the following errors, and 
 testify against all who maintain them : 
 
 1. " That the authority of God-man, as Mediator, 
 is confined to his saints, and does not extend to all 
 the creatures of God. 
 
78 CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 2. " That a rational creature can, in any station 
 or condition whatever, refuse submission to Messiah, 
 and not be guilty. 
 
 3. "That there is any creature, or institution, 
 which is not subjected to Christ, for the good of 
 his church. 
 
 4. " That any king or magistrate, pope or coun- 
 cil, has a right to dictate any part of the doctrine 
 or the order of the Christian church. 
 
 5. " That Christ is not the sole Head and Law- 
 giver of his church." 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 1. God, in order to display his own perfections, 
 in the redemption of mankind, and to bring the 
 redeemed to glory, hath appointed a church in 
 this w^orld, comprehending all those who are dis- 
 tinguished from the rest of mankind by the dispen- 
 sation of the covenant of grace. 
 
 Psalm 1. 2. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath 
 shined. Epk iv. 11, 12. And he gave some, apostles ; and 
 some, prophets ; and some, evangelists ; and some, pastors 
 and teachers ; for the perfecting of the saints. Eph. v. 24-26. 
 The church is subject unto Christ — Christ also loved the 
 church, and gave himself for it, that he. might sanctify it by 
 the word. John xvii. 14. I have given them thy word, and 
 the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world. 
 
CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 79 
 
 2. The church invisible embraces all who are 
 really interested in the covenant of grace ; who 
 have been elected in Christ and shall be saved. 
 The church visible, standing in an external relation 
 to Christ in the visible dispensation of the covenant 
 of grace, comprehends all adults who profess faith 
 in Christ, and give obedience to his law, together 
 with all their children. 
 
 Eph. i. 22. Head over all things to the church, 23. which is 
 his body. Chap. v. 27. That he might present it to himself 
 a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such 
 thing. Acts ii. 38. Repent and be baptized, every one of you, 
 in the name of Jesus Christ — 39. For the promise is unto 
 you and to your children. 41. Then they that gladly received 
 his word, were baptized : and the same day there were added 
 unto them about three thousand souls. 47. And the Lord 
 added to the church daily such as should be saved. Matt. xix. 
 14. Suffer little children — for of such is the kingdom of 
 heaven. 
 
 3. The visible church, according to the institu- 
 tion of Christ the head, is ONE among all nations. 
 The Scriptures direct, for the more convenient edi- 
 fication of believers, distinct congregations, and dis- 
 tinct judicatories, all connected under himself; but 
 it is both the sin and the loss of professed Chris- 
 tians, to establish distinctions which destroy the 
 UNITY of the church. 
 
 Matt. xvi. 18. And upon this rock I will build my church, 
 and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Acts xv. 41. 
 He went through Syiia and Cilicia, confirming the churches. 
 Jas. iii. 16. Where envying and strife is, there is confusion 
 and every evil work. Eph. iv. 3, 4. Endeavoring to keep the 
 
80 CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body 
 and one spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your call- 
 ing. 1 Cor. xii. 12. For as the body is one, and hath many 
 members, and all the members of that one body, being many, 
 are one body, so also is Christ. 13. For by one Spirit are we 
 all baptized into one body. 
 
 4. It is the duty of a Christian to pray for the 
 reformation of every part of Christ's church ; to 
 inquire what part adheres most closely to the Scrip- 
 ture plan ; and without prejudice, join in that com- 
 munion which is most pure, and in which he may 
 prove most useful in the service of Christ. 
 
 Ps. exxii. 6. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. 7. Peace be 
 within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces. 9. Be- 
 cause of the house of the Lord, I will seek thy good. 1 Thess. 
 V. 21. Prove all things ; hold fast that which is good. 1 Cor. 
 xi. 2. Keep the ordinances as I delivered them to you. 34. 
 That ye come not together unto condemnation. 
 
 5. When any church imposes sinful terms of 
 communion — when the constitution is anti-scrip- 
 tural — when the administration is corrupt, and 
 attempts at its reformation have proved ineffectual, 
 it is the duty of Christians to separate from it ; and 
 if the majority should violate the terms, upon which 
 church-members were united, it is lawful for the 
 minority to testify against the defection, and to 
 walk by the rule of their former attainments. 
 
 Rom. iii. 8. Let us do evil, that good may come ? — whose 
 damnation is just. 1 Cor. xi. 19. For there must be also 
 heresies among you, that they which are approved may be 
 made manifest among you. Is. viii. 20. To the law and to 
 the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, it is 
 
CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 81 
 
 because there is no light in them. 2 Cor. vi. 14. And what 
 communion hath light with darkness ? 16. And what agree- 
 ment hath the temj^le of God with idols? 17. Wherefore, 
 come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the 
 Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you. 
 1 Cor. X. 18. Are not they which eat of the sacrifices, par- 
 takers of the altar ? 20. And I would not that ye should have 
 fellowship with devils. 21. Ye cannot be partakers of the 
 Lord's table and the table of devils. Rev. xi. 1. Rise and 
 measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that wor- 
 ship therein. Chap, xviii. 4. And I heard another voice from 
 heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not 
 partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not her plagues. 
 Phil. iii. 16. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, 
 let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing. 
 
 6. There may be associations of men called 
 churches, which are founded upon antichristian 
 principles, and some churches have degenerated 
 into synagogues of Satan. Such are not to be 
 considered as branches of the true Christian church. 
 
 Rev. xi. 1. And there was given me a reed like unto a rod : 
 And the angel stood, saying. Rise, measure the temple of God, 
 and the altar, and them that worship therein. 2. But the 
 court which is without the temple leave out and measure it 
 not ; for it is given unto the Gentiles ; and the holy city shall 
 they tread under foot. Chap. xvii. 5. And upon her forehead 
 was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother 
 of Harlots and Abominations of the earth. Chap. iii. 9. Be- 
 hold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan (which say 
 they are Jews and are not, but do lie). 
 
 7. No association of men on earth is infallible, 
 and there is no certainty that any one particular 
 church, in any particular place, shall remain always 
 
 6 
 
82 CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 pure. But God has engaged to preserve a visible 
 church of Christ somewhere upon the earth, until 
 the end of time. Sound doctrine, a legitimate 
 ministry, and the proper use of the sacraments, are 
 the characteristics of the true Christian church. 
 
 Rev. iii. 16. Because thou art lukewann, and neither cold 
 nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Matt. xvi. 18. I 
 will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail 
 against it. Acts ii. 42. And they continued steadfast in the 
 apostles' doctrine and fellowship. Chap. xiv. 23. And when 
 they had ordained them elders in every church. Matt, xxviii. 
 19. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in 
 the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
 Ghost. 20. Teacliing them to observe all things whatsoever 
 I have commanded you : and lo, I am with you, alway, even 
 unto the end of the world. Amen. Acts xx. 7. The disciples 
 came together to break bread. 1 Cor. xi. 2. Now I praise 
 you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep 
 the ordinances, as I delivered them to you. 
 
 We therefore condemn the following errors, and 
 testify against all who maintain them : 
 
 1. " That there can be a period in which there 
 shall not be a visible church of Christ on earth. 
 
 2. ^' That it is not sinful to promote and maintain 
 schisms destructive to the unity of the Christian 
 church. 
 
 3. " That it is a matter of indifference to what 
 church a person belongs. 
 
 4. " That separation from a corrupt or declining 
 church is not a Christian duty. 
 
 5. "That any visible church can be perfectly 
 pure and infallible while on earth. 
 
CHURCH-FELLOWSHIP. 83 
 
 6. " That the infant children of church-members 
 are not members of the visible Christian church." 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 OF CHURCH-FELLOWSHIP. 
 
 1. It is the duty of all who hear the gospel to 
 enter into the communion of the Christian church, 
 and in order to comply with this duty, faith in 
 Christ is necessary. He who is not a saint, does 
 not love God, or God's children, and in offering to 
 join the church, he either deceives himself, or acts 
 the part of a hypocrite. 
 
 Acts ii. 38. Repent and be baptized, every one of you. 41. 
 Then they that gladly received the word were baptized, and 
 the same day there were added unto them about three thou- 
 sand souls. 47. And the Lord added to the church daily 
 such as should be saved. Heb. xi. 6. But without faith it is 
 impossible to please him. 2 Tim. iii. 5. Having a form of 
 godliness ; but denying the power thereof; from such turn 
 away. 
 
 2. The qualifications for church-membership 
 necessary in adults, are, that they knowingly pro- 
 fess a belief of the doctrine of Christ, promise sub- 
 mission to all the institutions of Christ, evidence 
 repentance, and manifest no prevailing inclination 
 to any kind of wickedness. 
 
 Acts viii. 37. If thou belie vest with all thine heart thou 
 mayest. Gal. v. 22, 23. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, 
 
84 CHURCH-FELLOWSHIP. 
 
 peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, 
 temperance ; against such there is no laAV. Acts xxvi. 20. 
 That they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet 
 for repentance. Psalm xxiv. 3. Who shall ascend unto the 
 hill of the Lord ? and who shall stand in his holy place ? 4. 
 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart ; who hath not 
 lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. 
 
 3. The end of Church-Fellowship is to exhibit 
 a system of sound principles, to maintain the ordi- 
 nances of gospel worship in their purity, to promote 
 holiness, and to prepare the saints for heaven. 
 
 . Col. ii. 2. Being knit together in love — to the acknowledg- 
 ment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ. 
 Acts ii. 42. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' 
 doctrine and fellowship. Rev. ii. 25. That which ye have, 
 hold fast till I come. Phil. ii. 15. That ye may be blameless 
 and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke. Rom. xiv. 
 13. That no man put a stumbling-block or occasion to fall in 
 his brother's way. Col. i. 12. Giving thanks unto the Father, 
 which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance 
 of the saints in light. 
 
 4. The Christian church, as a society of rational 
 beings, must have explicit terms of communion, to 
 which every member gives his assent. It is not to 
 be expected that all men shall think alike about 
 every object of thought; but Christians cannot co- 
 operate, unless they are of one mind about the 
 general principles of Christianity. Terms of Chris- 
 tian communion should embrace nothing but what 
 is divine truth, and reject nothing for which the 
 church hath faithfully contended. 
 
CHURCH-FELLOWSHIP. 85 
 
 Amos iii. 3. Can two walk together, except they be agreed ? 
 Phil. i. 27. With one mind, striving together for the faith of 
 the gospel. Rom. xiv. 5. One man esteemeth one day above 
 another; another esteemeth every day alike. Acts xv. 7. 
 There had been much disputing. Rom. xiv. 1. Him that is 
 weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. 
 Jude, ver. 3. Ye should earnestly contend for the faith. Rev. 
 iii. 10. Thou hast kept the word of my patience. 1 Tim. i. 4. 
 Neither give heed to fables, and endless genealogies, which 
 minister questions, rather than godly edifying. Phil. ii. 2. 
 Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be like-minded, having the same 
 love, being of one accord, of one mind. Matt. xv. 9. But in 
 vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the command, 
 ments of men. Phil. iii. 16. Nevertheless, whereto we have 
 ah-eady attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the 
 same thing. Rom. xiv. 19. Follow after the things which 
 make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another. 
 Acts ii. 42. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' 
 doctrine and fellowship. 
 
 We therefore condemn the following errors^ and 
 testify against all who maintain them : 
 
 1. " That it is not sinful ta neglect Church-Fel- 
 lowship. 
 
 2. " That an unbeliever has a right in the sight 
 of God to enter into Christian communion. 
 
 3. "That saintship is the criterion of church- 
 membership, so that the visible church may not, 
 without guilt, receive any who is not really a saint, 
 or exclude any who is regenerated. 
 
 4. " That it is not criminal to separate from the 
 communion of a church which maintains Christian 
 purity and faithfulness. 
 
86 GOVERNMENT OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 5. "That it is lawful for the church to be with- 
 out any terms of Christian communion. 
 
 6. " That any person may be admitted to com- 
 munion who opposes any of the terms of church- 
 fellowship. 
 
 7. "That occasional communion may be extended 
 to persons who should not be received to constant 
 fellowship." 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 OF TPIE GOVERNMENT OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 1. ChrisTj the Head and Lawgiver, has appointed 
 in his word a particular form of government for the 
 New Testament church, distinct from the civil gov- 
 ernment of the nations in which Christians live. 
 This form of church government is to continue 
 until the end of the world. 
 
 Is. xxxiii. 20. Thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habita- 
 tion, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down. 23. The 
 Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king ; he will save us. 
 Chap. ix. 6. The government shall be upon his shoulder. 
 Eph. i. 22. Head over all things to the church. Heb. viii. 5. 
 See that thou niake all things agreeable to the pattern showed 
 'to thee in the mount. 1 Cor. xii. 28. God hath set some in 
 the church — governments. 2 Cor. iii. 10. The power which 
 the Lord hath given me to edification, and not to destruction. 
 Heb. xiii. 7. Obey them that have the rule over you, and sub- 
 mit yourselves. 
 
 2. Christ Jesus did commission several persons 
 with extraordinary powers, such as Apostles, Proph- 
 
GOVERNMENT OF THE CHURCH. 87 
 
 ets, and Evangelists, at the beginning of the 
 New Testament dispensation, to settle the consti- 
 tution of the Christian church according to his ap- 
 pointment, and commit the administration of it into 
 the hands of the ordinary and permanent officers. 
 
 Acts i. 3. Being seen of them forty clays, and speaking of 
 the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. Eph. iv. 10-13. 
 He that descended is the same also that ascended uj), far 
 above all heavens, that he might fill all things ; and he gave 
 some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; 
 and some, pastors and teachers — for the work of the ministry, 
 for the edifying of the body of Christ — till we all come, in 
 the unity of the faith — unto a perfect man. Acts xiv. 23. 
 And when they had ordained them elders in every church 
 they commended them to the Lord. Tit. i. 5. For this cause 
 left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things 
 that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had ap- 
 pointed thee. 
 
 3. The government of the church is presbyte- 
 rian. Ministers or teaching elders are the highest 
 officers, and among these there is a perfect parity 
 of power. 'With teaching elders are associated, in 
 the exercise of ecclesiastical government, other 
 elders who only rule. These ministers and ruling 
 elders meet in courts, congregational sessions, 
 presbyteries, and synods, in regular subordination 
 the one to the other. To these courts Christ has 
 given the power of governing the church, and or- 
 daining officers, and this power is entirely minis- 
 terial and subordinate to his law. The deacon 
 has no power except about the temporalities of the 
 church. 
 
88 GOVERNMENT OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Acts xiv. 23. They had ordained them- elders in e very- 
 church. Chap. XX. 17. He sent to Ephesus and called the 
 elders * of the church. 18. And when they were come unto 
 him, he said unto them, 28. Take heed, therefore, unto your- 
 selves, and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath 
 made you overseers,! to feed t the church of God, which he 
 hath purchased with his own blood. 1 Tim. v. 17. Let the 
 elders that rule well, be counted worthy of double honor, 
 especially they who labor in the word and doctrine. 1 Tim. 
 xiv. 4. Laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Matt, xviii. 
 17. Tell it unto the church. 18. Whatsoever ye shall bind 
 on earth shall be bound in heaven. 20. For where two or 
 three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the 
 midst of them. Acts xv. 2. They determined that Paul and 
 Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusa- 
 lem, unto the apostles and elders about this question. Acts 
 vi. 1. And in those days, when the number of the disciples 
 was multipled, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians 
 against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in 
 the daily ministration. 2. It is not reason that we should 
 leave the w^ord of God, and serve tables. 3. Look ye out 
 among you seven men — whom we may appoint over this 
 business. 4. But we will give ourselves — to the ministry of 
 the word. 
 
 4. No ecclesiastical authority is lodged in the 
 hands of private Christians or civil Magistrates. 
 Church judicatories are subordinate only to Christ 
 Jesus. They appoint, by an exclusive right, their 
 own times and places of meeting and adjournment. 
 But every congregation of Christians have the 
 right of choosing all the officers who shall stand in 
 a particular relation to themselves. 
 
 * Presbyters. f Bishops. X Perform the duty of a pastor. 
 
GOVERNMENT OF THE CHURCH. 89 
 
 Heb. xiii. 17. Obey them that have the rule over you, and 
 submit yourselves. Matt. xvi. 19. I will give unto thee the 
 keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt 
 bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. 2 Cor. xiii. 10. The 
 power which the Lord hath given me to edification. 1 Cor. 
 xii. 18. But now hath God set the members, every one of 
 them in the body as it hath pleased him. 20. But now are 
 they many members, and yet but one body. 21. And the eye 
 cannot say to the hand, I have no need of thee ; nor again, 
 the head to the feet, I have no need of you. 
 
 We therefore condemn the following errors, and 
 testify against all who maintain them : 
 
 1. " That any power or person on earth has a 
 right to exercise supremacy over the church, and 
 that Christians may submit to such pretensions. 
 
 2. " That there is no form of church government 
 of divine right. 
 
 3. "That pope or bishop, as claiming a power 
 superior to a teaching presbyter, is an officer of 
 the true church of Christ, appointed by divine 
 authority. 
 
 4. " That there should be no ruling elders. 
 
 5. "That any assembly of private Christians 
 may lawfully exercise any part of the government 
 or discipline of the Christian church. 
 
 6. " That ecclesiastical judicatories are not sub- 
 ordinate one to the other. 
 
 7. " That the Christian church may give up to 
 civil rulers the exclusive right of assembling judi- 
 catories, or any power whatever in dissolving 
 them. 
 
90 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. 
 
 8. " That a Christian minister may lawfully re- 
 linquish his right to exercise the power of govern- 
 ment arid discipline in the church." 
 
 CHAPTER XXIY. 
 
 OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. 
 
 1. "God is to be worshipped by all his intelligent 
 creatures, in such a manner as he himself shall 
 prescribe ; and as no sinner can have access unto 
 him, but in Christ Jesus, divine revelation is the 
 supreme standard by which all modes of worship 
 must be regulated. 
 
 Luke iv. 8. It is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy 
 God, and him only shalt thou serve. John iv. 24. God is a 
 Spirit, and they that worship him, must worship him in spirit 
 and in truth. Rev. iii. 22. He that hath an ear, let him hear 
 what the Spirit saith unto the Churches. Matt, xxviii. 20. 
 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have com- 
 manded you. 
 
 2. Conscience is not a rule of faith or practice ; 
 but a power of the human mind, which is natural 
 to man, and necessarily implies our accountable- 
 ness to God. The exercise of a good conscience 
 consists, in comparing our motives, intentions, and 
 actions, with the divine law, and in approving or 
 disapproving of them, as they appear to be agree- 
 able unto, or contrary to the law. The approbation 
 
CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. 91 
 
 of this moral sense is accompanied with pleasure, and 
 its disapprobation with pain. 
 
 1 Sam. xii. 21. And turn ye not aside : for then should ye 
 go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver ; for they 
 are vain. Rom. ii. 14. These having not the law, are a law 
 unto themselves. 15. Their conscience also bearing witness, 
 and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing. 
 Heb. xiii. 18. We trust we have a good conscience, in all 
 things willing to live honestly. 1 Tim. i. 5. The end of the 
 commandment is charity, out of a pure heart, and of a good 
 conscience, and of faith unfeigned. 2 Cor. i. 12. For our 
 rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in sim- 
 plicity, and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by 
 the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world. 
 
 3. Every man is bound to act conscientiously in 
 every part of religious \yorship ; but the dictates 
 of conscience cannot render false worship lawful in 
 any man or body of men. The ri(//ds of conscience 
 consist in the conscientious performance of every 
 part of appointed worship, uninfluenced by the fear 
 of man ; and liberty of conscience consists in enjoying 
 these rights without restraint. 
 
 Acts xxiv. 16. And herein do I exercise myself, to have 
 always a conscience void of ofience, toward God and toward 
 men. John xvi. 2. Whosover killeth you will think that he 
 doeth God service. Is. i. 12. When ye come to appear before 
 me, who hath required this at your hand ? Ps. xii. 4. Who 
 have said, With our tongue will we prevail ; our lips are our 
 own : Who is Lord over us ? 2 Pet. ii. 19. Wliile they prom- 
 ise them hberty, they themselves are the servants of cor- 
 ruption. James ii. 12. So speak ye, and so do, as they that 
 shall be judged by the law of liberty. GaL ii. 4. And that 
 because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in 
 
92 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. 
 
 privily to spy out our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus, 
 that they might bring us into bondage. 5. To whom we gave 
 place by subjection, no, not for an hour. 2 Cor.iii. 17. Where 
 the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 
 
 4. It is the duty of every man to maintain a de- 
 vout frame of mind, and to devote to secret prayer, 
 at least, a part of every evening and morning. 
 Families are under obligation to worship the great 
 God socially, by singing Psalms, reading the Scrip- 
 tures, and prayer, each night and day, and the 
 head of the family should take care that these du- 
 ties be performed, and that regular attendance be 
 given by every member of the family. 
 
 1 Thess. V. 17. Pray without ceasing. Psalm cxix. 147. I 
 prevented the dawning of the morning, and cried ; I hoped in 
 thy word. 148. Mine eyes prevent the night watches, that I 
 might meditate in thy word. xcii. 1-2. It is a good thing to 
 give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, 
 O most High; to show forth thy loving-kindness in the morn- 
 ing, and thy faithfulness every night, cxviii. 15. The voice of 
 rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous. 
 Jer. X. 25. Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know 
 thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name. 
 Gen. xviii. 19. I know him, that he will command his chil- 
 dren, and his household after him, and they shall keep the 
 way of the Lord. Eph. vi. 4. Bring them up in the nurture 
 and admonition of the Lord. 
 
 5. Christians should frequently, meet, at stated 
 times, for acts of private social worship, in order to 
 strengthen each other in piety and zeal, and main- 
 tain sincere friendship upon evangelical principles. 
 
CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. 93 
 
 Heb. X. 25. Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves 
 together, as the manner of some is ; but exhorting one an- 
 other. Mai. iii. 16. Then they that feared the Lord spake 
 often one to another; and the Lord hearkened and heard. 
 Col. iii. 16. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teach- 
 ing and admonishing one another in psalms, and hymns, and 
 spiritual songs. Matt, xviii. 20. For where two or three are 
 gathered together, in my name, there am I in the midst of 
 them. Song viii. 13. The companions hearken to thy voice, 
 cause me to hear it. John xx. 19. Wlien the doors were 
 shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, 
 came Jesus, and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, 
 Peace be unto you. 
 
 6. The Lord of life and time hath set apart one 
 seventh part of time, from the common work of 
 life, to be employed, exclusively, in the public and 
 private exercises of God's worship, except so much 
 of it as may be taken up by the works of necessity 
 and mercy ; and since the resurrection of Christ, 
 the first day of the week, comprehending twenty- 
 four hours from midnight to midnight, is the weekly 
 Sabbath. 
 
 Exod. XX. 10. The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord 
 thy God, in it thou shalt not do any work. Acts xv. 21. 
 Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, 
 being read in the synagogue every Sabbath-day. Chap. xx. 
 7. Upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came 
 together to break bread, Paul preached unto them. Matt. xii. 
 12. Wherefore it is lawful to do good upon the Sabbath-day. 
 John XX. 1. The first day of the week cometh Mary Magda- 
 lene early when it was yet dark — and seeth the stone taken 
 away from the sepulchre. 19. Then the same day, at even- 
 ing, being the first day of the week — came Jesus and stood 
 in the midst, and saith unto them. Peace be unto you. 
 
94 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. 
 
 7. Those who are ordained, by the Head of the 
 church, to preach the gospel, should labor faithfully 
 in explaining, and applying the word of God to the 
 assembled congregation every Lord's day, and all 
 should conscientiously attend this public school of 
 instruction, and sanctuary of devotion. The min- 
 isters of religion have no warrant for reading their 
 iiermons to the congregation. 
 
 Lev. xix. 30. Ye shall keep my Sabbaths, and reverence 
 my sanctuary. Rom. x. 15. And how shall they preach ex- 
 cept they be sent ? as it is written, How beautiful are the 
 feet of them that preach the gospel of peace. 1 Tim. ii. 15. 
 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that 
 iieedeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of 
 truth. Luke iv. 16. And as his custom was, he went into the 
 synagogue on the Sabbath day. 17. And when he had opeyied 
 the book^ he found the place where it was written, 18. The 
 Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me 
 to preach the gospel. 20. And he closed the book. 21. And 
 he began to say unto them. This day is the Scripture fulfilled. 
 Acts X. 33. Now, therefore, are we all here present before 
 God, to hear all things that are commanded. Chap. xx. 7. 
 Paul preached to them — and continued his speech until mid- 
 night. Tit. ii. 1. But speak thou the things that become 
 sound doctrine. 
 
 8. Singing God's praise is a part of public social 
 worship, in which the whole congregation should 
 join. The Book of Psalms, which are of divine in- 
 spiration, is well adapted to the state of the church, 
 and of every member, in all ages and circumstances; 
 and these Psalms, to the exclusion of all imitations 
 and uninspired compositions, are to be used in so- 
 cial worship. 
 
CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. 95 
 
 2 Sam. xxiii. 1-2. The sweet Psalmist of Israel said, The 
 Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my 
 tongue. 2 Chron. xxix. 30. Sing praise unto the Lord, with 
 the words of David, and of Asaph the Seer. Mark xiv. 26. 
 And when they had sung an hymn. Ps. xcvi. 1. O sing unto 
 the Lord a new song. xcv. 2. And make a joyful noise unto 
 him with psalms. Eph. v. 19. Speaking to yourselves in 
 psalm^s., and hymns^ and spiritual songs^ singing, and making 
 melody in your heart to the Lord. 
 
 9. Public prayer is to accompany the word 
 preached. Written forms of prayer, whether read 
 or repeated, are not authorized in the Scriptures — 
 are not calculated to exercise the mind in the 
 graces of the Holy Spirit — are not adapted to the 
 varieties of the state of the church and its mem- 
 bers ; and are not to be used in approaching the 
 throne of grace. 
 
 Acts. ii. 42. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' 
 doctrine — and in prayers. Matt. vi. 7. But when ye pray, 
 use not vain repetitions as the heathen do. 1 Cor. xii. 7. But 
 the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every one to profit 
 withal. Chap. xiv. 12. Even so ye, for as much as ye are 
 zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edify- 
 ing of the church. Kom. viii. 26. The Spirit also helpeth our 
 infirmities : for we know not what we should pray for as we 
 ought ; but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with 
 groanings which cannot be uttered. 27. And he that search- 
 eth the hearts, knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, be- 
 cause he maketh intercession for the saints by the will of 
 God. Heb. iv. 16. Let us, therefore, come boldly unto the 
 throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to 
 help in time of need. 
 
 10. The ministers of the gospel are to pronounce 
 publicly the apostolic benediction in some such 
 
96 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. 
 
 words as these : The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 the love of God, and the communion of the Holy 
 Ghost, be with you all. 
 
 Kumbers vi. 23-27. Speak unto Aaron, and unto his sons, 
 saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel — 
 and I will bless them. 2 Cor. xiii. 14. The grace of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the 
 Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen. 
 
 We therefore condemn the following errors, and 
 testify against all who maintain them: 
 
 1. "That it k immaterial what form of worship 
 is used. 
 
 2. " That man has a right to worship God, what- 
 ever way conscience may dictate, although that 
 way should be opposed to God's commandments. 
 
 3. " That any body of men may recognize such 
 a right. 
 
 4. " That it is unnecssary for families to worship 
 God every day, and particularly to make singing 
 Psalms a part of their worship. 
 
 5. " That private fellowship meetings among the 
 saints are not of divine appointment. 
 
 6. " That there is no Sabbath under the gospel. 
 
 7. "That any unauthorized person may take 
 upon him to preach the gospel. 
 
 8. "That the Scripture psalmody is unfit for 
 gospel worship. 
 
 9. " That the church should receive a liturgy of 
 prayer." 
 
THE SACRAMENTS. 97 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 OF THE SACRAMENTS. 
 
 1. The only Sacraments of the New Testament, 
 are Baptism and the Lord's Supper, and these are 
 peculiar badges of distinction for the church from 
 the world. 
 
 Matt, xxviii. 19. Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, 
 baj^tizing them. 1 Cor. xi. 24. This do in remembrance of 
 me. 26. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, 
 ye do show the Lord's death till he come. Chap. xii. 13. For 
 by one Spirit arc we all baptized into one body — and have 
 been all made to drink into one Spirit. 
 
 2. Baptism is administered by a Christian min- 
 ister, applying water in the name of the Father, 
 and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, to such 
 adult persons as profess their faith in Christ, and 
 obedience to him. The infants of church-mem- 
 bers are also to be baptized, and baptism is not to 
 be repeated. 
 
 Matt, xxviii. 19. Baptizing them in the name of the Father, 
 and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Acts x. 47. Can any 
 man forbid water, that these slioidd not be baptized, which 
 have received the Holy Ghost? Matt. xix. 14. Jesus said, 
 Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me ; 
 for of such is the kingdom of heaven. 
 
 3. The Lord's Supper was instituted by Christ, 
 in order to show forth his death, and as a special 
 
 7 ■ 
 
98 THE SACRAMENTS. 
 
 mean of communion between himself and his 
 people. It is administered only by a lawful min- 
 ister of the word, to such baptized persons as, 
 making a creditable profession of their faith, have 
 a corresponding practice. 
 
 Luke xxii. 19. This do in remembrance of me. 1 Cor. x. 
 16. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the com- 
 munion of the blood of Christ ? The bread which we break 
 is it not the communion of the body of Christ ? Acts ii. 41. 
 They that gladly received his word were baptized. 42. And 
 they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fel- 
 lowship, and in brealdng of bread. 
 
 4. The Lord's Supper is to be repeatedly ad- 
 ministered to a Christian congregation, as a mean 
 of strength and comfort to God's people, and a 
 manifestation to the world of their continuing reg- 
 ular and steadfast in their Christian profession. It 
 is not a necessary part of ordinary Sabbath sanctifi- 
 cation ; but previous preparation, by humiliation 
 for sin, self-examination, and abstraction from the 
 world, is proper for those who make this special, 
 public, and social profession of their union with 
 Christ, and love to him. It is the duty of all who 
 hear the gospel, to believe in Christ, and com- 
 memorate his death in the Lord's Supper. 
 
 1 Cor. xi. 26. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink 
 this cup, ye do show the Lord's death. Chap. x. 17. For we, 
 being many, are one bread, and one body, for we are all par- 
 takers of that one bread. 21. Ye cannot be partakers of the 
 Lord's table, and of the table of devils. Chap. xi. 28. But let 
 a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and 
 
THE SACRAMENTS. 99 
 
 drink of that cup. 32. But when we are judged, we are 
 chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with 
 the world. 
 
 5. Bread and Wine are visible symbols of 
 Christ's body and blood, which he appoints to be 
 used in this ordinance. These are to be taken up 
 by the minister, and then set apart by prayer to a 
 sacramental use. The bread being broken is first 
 to be distributed, and after this, the cup of wine is 
 to be given to all the communicants. 
 
 1 Cor. xi. 23-25. For I have received of the Lord that 
 which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same 
 night in which he was betrayed, took bread : And, when he 
 had given thanks, he brake it, and said. Take, eat ; this is my 
 body, which is broken for you ; this do in remembrance of me. 
 After the same manner also, he took the cup, when he liad 
 supped, saying. This cup is the New Testament in my blood : 
 This do ye, as often as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. 
 Matt. xxvi. 26-29. Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake 
 it, and gave it to the disciples, and said. Take, eat ; this is my 
 body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to 
 them, saying. Drink ye all of it. I will not drink henceforth 
 of this fruit of the vine^ until that day when I drink it new 
 with you in my Father's kingdom. 
 
 We therefore condemn the following errors, and 
 testify against all who maintain them : 
 
 1. " That there are more sacraments under the 
 New Testament than Baptism and the Lord's Supper. 
 
 2. "That any sacrament can be administered 
 by a person who is not ordained to the gospel 
 ministry. 
 
100 FASTING AND THANKSGIVING. 
 
 3. " That no person can be saved without par- 
 taking of one or both of the sacraments. 
 
 4. " That the infants of such as are members of 
 the visible church are not to be baptized. 
 
 5. " That overwhehning with water is essential 
 to Christian baptism. 
 
 6. " That infants are as heathens until they are 
 baptized^ and that baptism regenerates and christens 
 them. 
 
 7. " That parents who are deemed unworthy 
 of approaching the Lord's table, or who habitually 
 despise that ordinance, may have their children 
 baptized. 
 
 8. " That Christ is corporally present in the 
 sacrament of the Lord's Supper. 
 
 9. " That the cup is to be withheld from the laity. 
 
 10. " That taking the sacramental elements, 
 before they are set apart by prayer, is not a sacra- 
 mental action. 
 
 11. " That a private administration of the sacra- 
 ments is as proper as the administration of them in 
 the presence of the church." 
 
 CHAPTER XXYL 
 
 OF RELIGIOUS FASTING AND THANKSGIVING. 
 
 1. There is a general uniformity in the dispen- 
 sations of Divine Providence to every age of the 
 
FASTING AND THANKSGIVING. 101 
 
 world ; but there is also in them such a variety, as, 
 in relation to individuals and communities, may 
 prove somewhat extraordinary. It is the duty of 
 men to observe the signs of the times, and endeavor 
 after corresponding dispositions and exercises. 
 
 Eccles. ix. 2. All things come alike to all. Chap. i. 9. The 
 thing that hath been, it is that which shall be ; and that 
 which is done, is that which shall be done: and there is no 
 new thing under the sun. Chap. vii. 14. In the day of pros- 
 perity be joyful ; but in the day of adversity, consider. God 
 also hath set the one over against the other, to the end that 
 man should find nothing after him. 
 
 2. There is no day holy except the Sabbath ; 
 but such duties as are to be performed require that 
 time necessarj^ for performing them be devoted to 
 that purpose. When God calls upon us to solemn 
 fasting or thanksgiving, the whole time dedicated 
 to such exercises should be religiously observed. 
 
 Exod. XX. 9. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work. 
 Eccles. iii. 1. To every thing there is a season, and a time to 
 every purpose under heaven. 11. He hath made every thing 
 beautiful in his time. Rom. xiv. 6. He that regardeth the 
 day, regardeth it unto the Lord. Jer. xxxvi. 6. Read in the 
 roll, which thou hast written fi'om my mouth, the words of 
 the Lord, in the ears of the people, in the Lord's house upon 
 the fasting-day. 
 
 3. Religious fasting consists in abstinence from 
 food, and from worldly employments and recrea- 
 tions, accompanied with solemn humiliation for sin, 
 and is a mean appointed by Christ for warding 
 off the effects of God's anger — exciting to sympa- 
 
102 FASTING AND THANKSGIVING. 
 
 thy with suffering bretliren — asking direction in 
 difficult cases — mortifying the body of sin — re- 
 covering a sense of peace with God — and for 
 obtaining more near communion w^ith him. 
 
 Jonah iii. 5. The people of Nineveh believed God, and pro- 
 claimed a fast. 9. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, 
 and turn away from his fierce anger. Neh. i. 3. The renmant 
 that are left of the captivity there in the province, are in 
 great afiliction and reproach. 4. When I heard these words 
 I fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. Ezra viii. 21. 
 Then I proclaimed a fast, there, at the river Ahava, that we 
 might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right 
 way for us. 2 Cor. xi. 27. In fastings often. 1 Cor. ix. 27. 
 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection. 
 Zech. viii. 19. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the fast of the 
 fourtli month, and the fast of tlie fifth, and the fast of the 
 seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be unto the house of 
 Judah, joy and gladness. Acts x. 30. Cornelius said, Four 
 days ago I was fasting until this hour, and at the ninth hour 
 I prayed in my liouse, and behold a man stood before me, in 
 bright clothing, 31. And said, Cornelius, thy prayer is heard. 
 Matt. vi. 17. When thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash 
 thy face, 18. That thou appear not unto men to fast — and 
 thy Father which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. 
 
 4. When God has manifested himself merciful, 
 in any sudden, great, or distinguished manner, to 
 a person or people, they are commanded to devote 
 some time to solemn thanksgiving. Individuals, 
 families, societies, congregations, churches, and 
 nations, may appoint times of fasting and thanks- 
 giving, and, such appointments being lawfully made, 
 should be carefully observed. 
 
OATHS AND COVENANTS. 103 
 
 Neh. xi. 17. And Mattaniah — was the principal to begin 
 the thanksgivhig in prayer. Chap. xii. 43. Also that day 
 they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced. Ps. cxvi. 17. I will 
 offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon 
 the name of the Lord. 
 
 We therefore condemn the following errors, and 
 testify against all who maintain them : 
 
 1. " That any part of time is appointed in Divine 
 Eevelation, or may be appointed by the church, to 
 be kept holy, in its weekly, monthly, or annual 
 returns, except the first day of the week, which is 
 the Christian Sabbath. 
 
 2. "That fasting is not an ordinance of the New 
 Testament dispensation, but of the Old only. 
 
 3. " That civil rulers can have no right to call 
 the nation to public fasting or thanksgiving. 
 
 4. " That it is superstition for a Christian congre- 
 gation to examine themselves with humiliation and 
 fasting, previously to their sealing their covenant 
 with God in the Lord's Supper." 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 OF OATHS AND COVENANTS. 
 
 1. It is lawful under the New Testament, as 
 well as under the Old, to take an oath in cases of 
 importance. The name of God only is that by 
 which men ought to swear, and it is to be used 
 
104 OATHS AND COVENANTS. 
 
 with all holy fear and reverence. No man is to be 
 admitted to make oath, or to administer oaths in an 
 official character, unless he appear to know and fear 
 God, and to understand the nature of an oath. 
 
 Deut. vi. 13. Thou shalt fear the Lord — and shalt swear by 
 bis name. Heb. vi. 16. For men verily swear by the greater, 
 and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. 
 Ex. XX. 7. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God 
 in vain ; for the Lord will hot hold him guiltless that taketh 
 his name in vain. 
 
 2. Swearing is an act of religious worship, which 
 even a private person may voluntarily perform, or 
 require another to perform, when a matter of im- 
 portance exists, as a call in Providence thereunto ; 
 but it is proper, in order to prevent the abuse of 
 this ordinance, that the administration of oaths in 
 matters which relate to social transactions, should be 
 exclusively committed to such civil or ecclesiastical 
 officers as may explain the nature of an oath, ad- 
 minister it with suitable solemnity, and secure to 
 the deposition its proper influence. 
 
 Eccles. ix. 2. The good — the sinner — he that sweareth — 
 he that feareth an oath. Deut. vi. 13. Thou shalt fear the 
 Lord — and shalt swear by his name. Gen. xiv. 22. I have 
 lifted up mine hand unto the Lord, the most high God. 2 Cor. 
 xi. 31. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ — know- 
 eth that I lie not. Judges viii. 19. As the Lord liveth, if ye 
 had saved them alive, I would not slay you. Josh. ii. 12. 
 Swear unto me by the Lord. Judges xv. 12. Swear unto me 
 that ye will not fall upon me yourselves. Gen. xlvii. 31. And 
 he said, Swear unto me. And he sware unto him. Ex. xxii. 
 
OATHS AND COVENANTS. 105 
 
 9. For all manner of trespass — the cause of both parties 
 shall come before the judges. 11. Then shall an oath of the 
 Lord be between them both. 1 Kings viii. 31. If any man 
 trespass against his neighbor — - and the oath come before 
 thine altar, 32. Then hear thou in heaven and do and judge. 
 Num. V.19. And the priest shall charge her by an oath. Heb. 
 vi. 16. And an oath for confirmation is to them an end of 
 all strife. 
 
 3. An oath ought not to be withheld when it is 
 required by a morally canstituted civil or ecclesias- 
 tical authority, or when a cause of importance de- 
 pends on it, provided there be nothing sinful con- 
 nected wdth it. The Christian is nevertheless to 
 take care, that he testify to the world ; that al- 
 though he makes oath before men, he is not to 
 be understood as holding communion, in this sol- 
 emn act of religious worship, with unqualified ad- 
 ministrators, and that on no account he conform to 
 the superstitious practice of kissing the book. 
 
 Deut. xix. 15. At the mouth of two witnesses, or at the 
 mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established. 17. 
 Then, both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall 
 stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges w^hich ' 
 shall be in those days. Matt, xviii. 16. Take with thee one 
 or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses, 
 every word may be established. 17; Tell it unto the church. 
 18. \yhatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in 
 heaven. Heb. vi. 16. And an oath for confirmation is to them 
 an end of all strife. Gen. xxi. 23. Now, therefore, swear unto 
 me here by God, that thou wilt not deal filsely with me. 24. 
 And Abraham said, I will swear. Chap. xxiv. 37. And my 
 master made me swear. Chap. 1. 5. My father made me swear. 
 1 Sam. XX. 17. And Jonathan caused David to swear. Jer. 
 
106 OATHS AND COVENANTS. 
 
 iv. 2. And thou shalt swear -^ in truth, in judgment, and in 
 righteousness. Rev. x. 5. Lifted up his hand to heaven, 6. 
 And sware by him that hveth forever and ever. Jer. xxiii. 
 10. Because of swearing the land mourneth. 11. For both 
 prophet and priest are profane. 2. Cor. vi. 14. For what fel- 
 lowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? 15. Or 
 what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 17. Where- 
 fore, come out from among them, and be ye separate. Hosea 
 xiii. 2. Let the men that sacrifice, kiss the calves. 
 
 4. A vow, or religious, covenant, is of the like 
 nature v^ith a promissory oath, whereby we bind 
 ourselves, either individually or collectively to ne- 
 cessary duties, or to other things not forbidden, so 
 far and so long as they conduce thereunto. It is 
 an ordinance of God, which is to be attended to on 
 special occasions under the New Testament dispen- 
 sation, as well as under the Old, by individuals and 
 societies, by churches and nations. 
 
 Num. XXX. 2. If a man vow a vow unto the Lord, or swear 
 an oath to bind his soul with a bond ; he shall not break his 
 word. Ps. Ixxvi. 11. Vow and pay unto the Lord your God. 
 Ex. xix. 5. Now, therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, 
 and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure 
 unto me, above all people. 8. And all the people answered 
 together and said, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do. 
 Deut. xxiii. 23. A freewill-offering, according as thou hast 
 vowed unto the Lord thy God. Is. xix. 21. Yea, they shall vow 
 a vow unto the Lord. Chap. xliv. 5. One shall say, I am the 
 Lord's ; and another shall call himself by the iiame of Jacob; 
 and another shall subscribe with his hand to the Lord, and 
 surname himself by the name of Israel. Chap. Ixii. 4. Thou 
 shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah : for the Lord 
 delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. Zech. xiii. 
 9. It is my people : and they shall say, The Lord is my God. 
 
OATHS AND COVENANTS. 107 
 
 Heb. viii. 7. If that first covenant had been faultless. 8. I 
 will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with 
 the house of Judah. 10. I will be to them a God, and they 
 shall be to me a people. Jer. 1. 5. Come, and let us join our- 
 selves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant. Rev. xi. 15. The 
 kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord 
 and of his Christ. 
 
 5. Covenants entered into by an individual or a 
 community, continue binding upon those who enter 
 into them, either personally or by their representa- 
 tives, so long as such persons live, unless the cove- 
 nants have limited their own duration to a certain 
 other period. The covenant obligation is admitted 
 and sanctioned by God, as distinct from any pre- 
 vious obligation arising from the divine law ; but 
 no vow or covenant of man can bind to anything 
 contrary to the law of God. 
 
 Eccles. V. 4. When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not 
 to pay it. 5. Better it is that thou shouldest not vow, than 
 that thou shouldest vow, and not pay. Jer. xi. 10. The house 
 of Israel, and the house of Judah, have broken my covenant 
 which I made with their fathers. Deut. xxiii. 21. When thou 
 shalt vow a vow unto the Lord thy God, thou shalt not slack 
 to i^ay it ; for the Lord thy God will surely require it of thee ; 
 and it would be a sin in thee. 22. But if thou shalt forbear 
 to vow, it shall be no sin in thee. Psalm Ixv. 1. Praise wait- 
 eth for thee, O God, in Zion, and unto thee shall the vow be 
 performed. 
 
 We therefore condemn the following errors, and 
 testify against all who maintain them : 
 
 1. "That profane swearing is not a heinous 
 crime. 
 
108 MARRIAGE. 
 
 2. "That it is unlawful to make oath on any 
 account. 
 
 3. '* That any oath may be taken with a mental 
 reservation, or in anv other sense than the cfbvious 
 meaning of the words. 
 
 4. " That irreligious men may be appointed as 
 the official administrators of the religious ordi- 
 nance of swearing. 
 
 5. "That religious covenanting is not a duty in 
 New Testament times. 
 
 6. " That it is unlawful for any civil society to 
 enter into covenant with God. 
 
 7. " That no covenant into which any society 
 enters, can be obligatory upon any of the members 
 of that society, who did not personally subscribe 
 such covenant." 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 OE MARRIAGE. 
 
 1. Marriage is an ordinance of God, instituted 
 in the law of nature, and recognized in Divine 
 Revelation. It is an agreement between one man 
 and one woman only, in which the parties solemnly 
 vow and covenant, that they will faithfully perform 
 all the duties belonging to it. 
 
 Matt. xix. 4. Have ye not read, that he which made them 
 at the beginning, made them male and female ; 5. And said, 
 
MARRIAGE. 109 
 
 For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall 
 cleave to his wife : and they twain shall be one flesh. 
 
 2. Marriage was ordained for the mutual help of 
 husband and wife — the population of the world 
 with a legitimate offspring — the increase and build- 
 ing up the church with a holy seed — and the pre- 
 vention of uncleanness ; and is common to all sorts 
 of people. 
 
 Gen. ii. 18. It is not good that the man should be alone ; I 
 will make him a help meet for him. Chap. i. 28. Be fruitful 
 and multiply, and replenish the earth. 1 Cor. vii. 2. To avoid 
 fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every 
 woman have her own husband. 14. For tlie unbelieving hus- 
 band is sanctified by the wife ; and the unbelieving wife is sanc- 
 tified by the husband; else were your children unclean; but 
 now they are holy. Heb. xiii. 4. Marriage is honorable in all. 
 
 3. For obtaining these important ends, the par- 
 ties ought not only to marry in the Lord, but are 
 bound also to cultivate mutual love, bear witb, and 
 cover each other's infirmities, keep the marriage 
 oath inviolate, cheerfully submit to the yoke of reli- 
 gion, and carefully avoid all mutual recrimination. 
 
 1 Cor. vii. 39. She is at liberty to be married to whom she 
 will; only in the Lord. 3. Let tlie husbaud render unto the 
 w^ife due benevolence : and likewise also the wife unto the hus- 
 band. 4. The wife hath not power of her own body, but the 
 husband : and likewise also the husband hath not power of 
 his own body, but the wife. Col. iii. 19. Husbands, love your 
 wives, and be not bitter against them. 1 Pet. iii. 1. Likewise, 
 ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands ; — won by 
 the conversation of the wives ; 2. While they behold your 
 chaste conversation coupled with fear — 4. The ornament of 
 a meek and quiet spirit. 
 
110 MARRUGE. 
 
 4. Marrlaore oiio-ht not to be contracted within 
 the degrees of consanguinity, or affinity, prohibited 
 in the word of God; nor can any law of man or 
 consent of parties legitimate such incestuous con- 
 nections. 
 
 Lev. xviii. 24. Defile not ye yourselves in any of these 
 thing's, for in all these the nations are defiled whicli I cast 
 out before you. 26. Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and 
 my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abomina- 
 tions : neither any of your nation, nor any stranger that 
 sojourneth among you. 
 
 5. Though the validity of marriage depends upon 
 the mutual vow of the parties, independently of 
 official administration, yet, in order to prevent rash 
 and inconsiderate connections, and that the parties 
 may be duly impressed with the solemnity of the 
 ordinance, and with the importance of its duties, 
 the celebration of it should be exclusively com- 
 mitted unto duly qualified ecclesiastical or civil 
 officers. 
 
 Matt. xix. 6. Wherefore they are no more twain, but one 
 flesh. Neh. xiii. 25. And I contended with them — and made 
 them swear by God, saying. Ye shall not give your daughters 
 unto their sons ; nor take their daughters unto your sons, or 
 for yourselves. 26. Did not Solomon, king of Israel, sin by 
 these things ; even him did outlandish women cause to sin. 
 1 Cor. vii. 39. She is at liberty to be married to whom she 
 will ; only in the Lord. Chap. x. 31. Whether, therefore, ye 
 eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. 
 
 6. As the good order of society, the honor and 
 peace of families, as well as the interest of religion, 
 
MARRIAGE. Ill 
 
 are greatly promoted by the regular administration 
 of marriage, the civil magistrate ought to provide, 
 that the ordinance be, duly respected — sanction 
 the manner of its celebration — enjoin and enforce 
 its duties, and when the case requires it, conduct 
 the process of divorce in a public and regular 
 manner. 
 
 Deut. xxiv. 1. When a man hath taken a wife and married 
 her, and it come to pass that she find no favor in his eyes, 
 because he hath found some uncleanness in lier, then let him 
 write her a bill of divorcement — 4. Her former husband, 
 which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife — 
 thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which tlie Lord thy God 
 giveth thee for an inheritance. Chap. xxii. 16. And the 
 damsel's father shall say unto the elders of the city, I gave 
 my daughter unto this man to wife. 17. And lo, he hath 
 given occasion of speech against her. . 18. And the elders of 
 that city shall take that man and chastise him. 
 
 7. Though the marriage covenant is not dis- 
 solved by every argument which the corruption of 
 man, excited by passion and disappointment, may 
 produce, to separate those whom God hath joined ; 
 yet either adultery, or such wilful desertion as 
 admits of no civil remedy, is a sufficient cause for 
 its dissolution. And after the divorce has been 
 regularly obtained from the ecclesiastical or civil 
 authority, it is lawful for the innocent party to 
 marry another as if the offending party were dead. 
 
 Matt. xix. 3. Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for 
 every cause ? 6. They are no more twain, but one flesh. 
 What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put 
 asunder. 9. Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be 
 
112 CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery. 
 1 Cor. vii. 15. But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. 
 A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such a case. 
 
 We therefore condemn the following errors, and 
 testify against all who maintain them : 
 
 1. " That polygamy is in any case lawful. 
 
 2. " That vows of celibacy may be lawfully 
 entered into by any description of men or women. 
 
 3. " That the clergy may not marry. 
 
 4. " That a man may marry any of his wife's 
 kindred nearer in blood than he may of his own. 
 
 5. " That a woman may marry any of her hus- 
 band's kindred nearer in blood than she may of 
 her own. 
 
 6. "That divorce is lawful in any case, except 
 adultery and wilful desertion." 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 OF CIVIL GOVEKNMENT. 
 
 1. It is the will of God, revealed by the consti- 
 tution of human nature, and more clearly in the 
 sacred Scriptures, that his rational creatures, living 
 together in one part of the world, and connected 
 by a common interest, and by common duties, 
 should enter into a civil association, for the better 
 preservation of peace and order, in subserviency to 
 godliness and honesty. 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 113 
 
 1 Cor. xi. 14. Doth not even nature itself teach you ? Gen. 
 1. 7. All the elders * of the land of Egypt. Ex. iii. 16. Go 
 and gather the elders of Israel together. 1 Sam. xvi. 4. And 
 the elders of the town trembled at his coming. Exod. xviii. 
 19. Hearken now unto my voice, I will give thee counsel, and 
 God shall be with thee. 21. Thou shalt provide out of all the 
 people, able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating cov- 
 etousness. 22. And let them judge the people. 23. And all 
 this people shall also go to their place in peace. Is. xxxii. 
 17. And the work of righteousness shall be peace. 18. And 
 my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation ; and in sure 
 dwelhngs, and in quiet resting-places. Rom. xii. 17. Provide 
 things honest in the sight of all men. 18. As much as lieth 
 in you, live peaceably with all men. 1 Tim. ii. 2. For kings 
 and all that are in authority : that we may lead a quiet and 
 peaceable life, in all godliness and honesty. Rom. xiii. 2. 
 Whosoever, therefore, resisteth the power, resisteth the ordi- 
 nance of God. 
 
 2. It is the duty of all men Voluntarily to form 
 civil societies, establishing such authority Jis may 
 best tend to preserve order, liberty, and religion 
 among them ; and it is lawful for them to model 
 their constitutions of government in such a man- 
 ner as may appear most suitable to them, provided 
 such constitutions, in their principles and distribu- 
 tion of power, be in nothing contrary to the divine 
 law. 
 
 Prov. xxi. 3. To do justice and judgment is more acceptable 
 to the Lord than sacrifice. Ezek. xiv. 9. Remove violence 
 and spoil, and execute judgment and justice, take away your 
 exactions from my people, saith the Lord. Deut. i. 13. Take 
 you wise men, and understanding, and known among your 
 
 * Rulers. 
 8 
 
114 CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 tribes, and I will make them rulers over you. 14. And he 
 answered me and said, The thing which thou hast spoken is 
 good for us to do. Chap. xvi. 18. Judges and officers shalt 
 tliou make thee in all thy gates. Ezek. xxx. 21. And their 
 governor shall proceed from the midst of them — this that 
 engaged his heart to approach unto me. 22. And ye shall 
 be my people, and I will be your God. 1 Tim. ii. 2. That we 
 may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. 
 Deuv,. xvii. 14. When thou art come unto the land — and 
 shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me. 
 15. Thou slialt in any wise set him king over thee whom the 
 Lord thy God shall choose — Thou mayest not set a stranger 
 over thee. 16. But he shall not multiply horses to himself; 
 17. Neither shall he multiply wives — neither silver and gold : 
 20. That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and 
 that he turn not aside from the commandment. 
 
 3. God, the supreme Governor, is the fountain 
 of all power and authority, and civil magistrates 
 are his deputies. In the administration of govern- 
 ment, obedience is due to their lawful commands 
 for conscience' sake; but no power, which deprives 
 the subject of civil liberty — which wantonly 
 squanders his propert}^ and sports with his life — 
 or which authorizes false religion (however it may 
 exist according to divine Providence) — is approved 
 of, or sanctioned by God, or ought to be esteemed 
 or supported by man as a moral institution. 
 
 Rom. xiii. 1. There is no power but of God. 4. He is the 
 minister of God to thee for good. 5. Wherefore, ye must 
 needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience' 
 sake. Prov. xxix. 2. When the righteous are in authority, 
 the people rejoice : but when the wicked beareth rule, the 
 people mourn. Chap, xxviii. 15. As a roaring lion, and a 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 115 
 
 raging bear ; so is a wicked ruler. Psalm xciv. 20. Shall the 
 throne of iniqidty have fellowship wdth thee ? Psalm ii. 2. 
 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take 
 counsel against the Lord. Hos. viii. 3. Israel hath cast off 
 the thing that is good. 4. They have set up kings, but not 
 by me. Rev. xiii. 1. And saw a beast rise up out of the sea, 
 having seven heads and ten horns — and the dragon gave him 
 his power, and his seat, and great authority. Chap. xii. 9. 
 The dragon — that old serpent, called the devil and Satan. 
 Chap. xvii. 12. The ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings 
 — receive power as kings one hour with the beast. 14. These 
 shall make war with the Lamb. 17. For God hath put in 
 their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree and give their king- 
 dom unto the beast. 
 
 4. God, who in his holy providence makes 
 even the lurath of inan to praise him, sometimes 
 manages the magistrates which are over heathen 
 and other wicked nations, balancing their ambition, 
 their interest, and their power in such a manner as 
 to maintain some degree of peace and safety in the 
 empire, and sometimes makes use of them, as a 
 scourge to punish guilty sinners for their rebellion 
 against the King of heaven. 
 
 Ps. Ixxxii. 1. God standeth in the congregation of the 
 mighty ; he judgeth among the gods. Ixxv. 7. He putteth 
 down one, and setteth up another. Is. xlv. 1. Thus saith the 
 Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, 5. I girded thee, though thou 
 hast not known me. 1-3. He shall build my city, and he shall 
 let go my captives, not for price or reward. Jer. xxix. 7. And 
 seek the peace of the city — for in the peace thereof shall ye 
 have peace. Ezra ix. 7. For our iniquities have we — been 
 delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands. Neh. ix. 37. 
 The kings whom thou hast set over us because of our sins. 
 
116 " CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 5. It is lawful for Christians residing in nations 
 in which the light of the gospel has not been gen- 
 erally diffused, to continue in submission to such 
 authority as may exist over them, agreeably to the 
 law of nature, which, where revelation does not 
 exist, is the only standard of civil duty. In such 
 cases the infidelity of the ruler cannot make void 
 the just authority conferred upon him by the con- 
 stitution. 
 
 1 Pet. ii. 12. Having your conversation honest among the 
 Gentiles. 13. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man 
 for the Lord's sake. 16. As free, and not using your liberty 
 for a cloak of maliciousness. Rom. ii. 14. For when the Gen- 
 tiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things con- 
 tained in the law, these having not the law, are a law unto 
 themselves. Jonah iii. 7. And he caused it to be proclaimed 
 and published through Nineveh, by the decree of the king 
 and his nobles. 10. And God repented him of the evil that 
 he had said that he would do unto them ; and he did it not. 
 
 6. Christian rulers appointed to office according 
 to a righteous civil constitution, have authority 
 from God to rule in subserviency to the kingdom 
 of Christ, and are to be conscientiously supported 
 by the persons, the property, and the prayers of the 
 ruled, in the maintenance of the peace, the safety, 
 and the honor of the nation. 
 
 Ps. ii. 10. Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings ; be instructed, 
 ye judges of the earth. 11. Serve the Lord with fear. 12. 
 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry. Ps. Ixxii. 11. Yea, all kings 
 shall fill down before him, all nations shall serve him. Dan. 
 vii. 14. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a 
 kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 117 
 
 him. And all dominions shall serve him and obey him. Prov. 
 viii. 15. By me kings reign, and princes decree justice. Rom. 
 xiii. 4. He is the minister of God to thee for good. 6. Where- 
 fore, ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also 
 for conscience' sake. 7. Render, therefore, to all their dues ; 
 tribute, to whom tribute ; fear, to whom fear ; honor to whom 
 honor. 
 
 7. It is the duty of the Christian magistrate to 
 take order, that open blasphemy and idolatry, licen- 
 tiousness and immorality, be suppressed, and that 
 the church of Christ be supported throughout the 
 commonwealth; and for the better discharge of 
 these important duties, it is lawful for him to call 
 synods, in order to consult with them; to be present 
 at them, not interfering with their proceedings (un- 
 less they become manifestly seditious and danger- 
 ous to the peace), but supporting the independency 
 of the church, and its righteous decisions, and pre- 
 serving its unity and order against the attempts 
 of such despisers of ecclesiastical authority as 
 should endeavor, in a riotous manner, to disturb 
 their proceedings. 
 
 Rom. xiii. 4. For he beareth not the sword in vain : for he 
 is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him 
 that doeth evil. Lev. xxiv. 16. And he that blasphemeth the 
 name of the Lord, he shall surely be put to death. 2 Chron. 
 xiv. 2. And Asa did that which was good and right. 3. He 
 took away the altars of the strange gods, aud the high places, 
 and brake down their images. Rev. xvii. 16. These shall hate 
 the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall 
 eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. Prov. xx. 26. A wise 
 king scattereth the wicked. Ps. ci. 8. I will early destroy all 
 
118 CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 the wicked of the land. Pro v. xiv. 34. Righteousness exnlt- 
 eth a nation : but sin is a reproach to any people. Chap. xvi. 
 12. The throne is established by righteousness. Is. xlix. 23. 
 Kings shall be tliy nursing fathers.^ Chap. Ix. 10. Kings 
 shall minister unto thee. 12. For the nation and kingdom 
 that will not serve thee shall perish. Chap. Ixii. 4. And thy 
 land shall be married. 2 Sam, xxiii. 3. He that ruleth over 
 men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. 2 Chron. xxix. 
 2. And he did right in the sight of the Lord. 4. And he 
 brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them to- 
 gether. 15. And they gathered their brethren, and sanctified 
 themselves, and came, according to the commandment of the 
 king, by the words of the Lord, to cleanse the house of the 
 Lord. Chap. xxx. 22. And Hezekiah spake comfortably unto 
 all the Levites, that taught the good knowledge of the Lord. 
 Rev. xxi. 24. And the kings of the earth do bring their glory 
 and honor into it. Dan. vii. 22. And the time came that the 
 saints possessed the kingdom. 1 Cor. x. 31. Whatsoever ye 
 do, do all to the glory of God. Ps. cxxxvii. 5. If I forget thee, 
 O Jerusalem, let ray right hand forget her cunning, cxxii. 7. 
 Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces. 
 
 We therefore condemn the following errors, and 
 testify against all who maintain them : 
 
 1. " That Civil Government is not an ordinance 
 of God. 
 
 2. " That Christians owe no allegiance to civil 
 authority. 
 
 3. " That Civil Government is founded in grace. 
 
 4. . " That the Scripture Revelation is not the 
 rule by which Christians should direct their civil 
 conduct. 
 
 5. " That the magistrate, as such, has nothing to 
 
 * Nourishers. 
 
DISSENT FROM CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 119 
 
 do with the Christian religion, nor the minister a 
 right to examine the policy of nations, and teach 
 civil duties. 
 
 6. " That Christians are bound to cherish, as the 
 ordinance of God, all those who may be exalted in 
 providence to power in a nation, although they may 
 be tyrants and usurpers, and bound by an oath to 
 give their power unto the beast, in the establish- 
 ment of a false religion. 
 
 7. " That it is lawful for civil rulers to authorize 
 the purchase and sale of any part of the human 
 family as slaves. 
 
 8. "That a constitution of government, which 
 deprives unoffending men of liberty and property, 
 is a moral institution, to be recognized as God's 
 ordinance." 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 OF THE RIGHT OF DISSENT FROM A CONSTITUTION OF 
 CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 1. Civil society being a voluntary association, the 
 nation is not bound to admit to all its peculiar priv- 
 ileges every person who may reside within the 
 reach of its power ; nor is every person dwelling 
 within the limits of a nation under oblig^ation to 
 incorporate with the national society. Every gov- 
 ernment has the right of making laws of natiiraliza- 
 tion, and every individual possesses the right of 
 
120 DISSENT FROM CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 expatriation ; and both these rights are to be exer- 
 cised in conformity to the law of God, the supreme 
 Ruler and Judge. 
 
 Gen. xlvii. 4. For to sojourn in the land are we come. Now, 
 therefore, we pray thee, let thy servants dwell in the land of 
 Goshen. Num. x. 29. And Moses said unto Hobab — Come 
 thou with us, and we will do thee good. 30. And he said unto 
 him, I will not go. Chap. xv. 15. One ordinance shall be both 
 for you of the congregation, and also for the stranger that 
 sojourneth with you. Deut. xxiv. 17. Thou shalt not pervert 
 the judgment of the stranger. Deut. xxiii. 8. The children 
 that are begotten of them shall enter into the congregation 
 of the Lord, in their third generation. Acts xxi. 39. A citi- 
 zen of no mean city. Chap. xxii. 27. Tell me, art thou a 
 Iloman ? He said, yea. 28. With a great sum obtained I 
 this freedom. And Paul said. But I was free born. James 
 iv. 12. There is one Lawgiver. 
 
 2. It is the duty of Christians, for the sake of 
 peace and order, and in humble resignation to 
 God's good providence, to conform to the common 
 regulations of society in things lawful ; but to pro- 
 fess allegiance to no constitution of government 
 which is in hostility to the kingdom of Christ, the 
 Head of the church, and the Prince of the kings of 
 the earth. 
 
 Jer. xxix. 4. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, 
 unto all that are carried away captives. 5. Build ye houses 
 and dwell in them ; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of 
 them. 6. Take ye wives and beget sons and daughters. 7. 
 And seek the peace of the city, whither I have caused you 
 to be carried away captive, and pray unto the Lord for it : for 
 in the peace thereof shall ye have peace. Ps. cxxxvii. 1. By 
 the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down : yea, we wept when 
 
DISSENT FROM CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 121 
 
 we remembered Zion. 4. How shall we sing the Lord's song 
 in a strange land ? 6. Let my tongue cleave to the roof of 
 my mouth, if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy. 8. 
 
 daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed. 9. Happy 
 shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the 
 stones. Acts iv. 19. Whether it be right in the sight of God 
 to hearken unto you, more than unto God, judge ye. Matt, 
 vi. 10. Thy kingdom come. Heb. xii. 26. Yet once more I 
 shake not the earth only, but also heaven. 28. Wherefore, 
 we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved. Micah iv. 
 8. The kintrdom shall come to the dausrhter of Jerusalem. 
 13. Arise, and thresh, O daughter of Zion: for I will make 
 thine horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass ; and thou 
 shalt beat in pieces many people : and I will consecrate their 
 gain unto the Lord, and their substance unto the Lord of the 
 whole earth. 
 
 3. Virtuous persons, who, in their private capa- 
 city, are endeavoring to further the true end of civil 
 government, the maintenance of peace and quietness in 
 all godliness and honest?/, although they dissent from 
 the constitution of civil government of the nation 
 in which they reside, have a right to protection in 
 their lives, liberties, and property, they contributing 
 their proportion of the common taxation : but they 
 are not to act inconsistently with their declared 
 dissent, and it would be tyranny to constrain them 
 to such measures. 
 
 Rom. xiii. 3. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but 
 to the evil. Wilt thou, then, not be afraid of the power? Do 
 that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same. 
 
 1 Tim. ii. 2. That we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, in 
 all godliness and honesty. Num. xv. 16. One law and one 
 manner shall be for you, and for the stranger that sojounieth 
 
122 DISSENT FROM CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 with you. Exod. xxii. 21. Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, 
 nor oj^press him : for ye were strangers in the hind of Egypt. 
 Rom. ii. 3. And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them 
 which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt 
 escape the judgment of God? Jer. xxi. 12. Thus saith the 
 Lord, Execute judgment in the morning, and deUver him that 
 is spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor. Est. iii. 8. And 
 Haman said unto king Ahasuerus, There is a certain people 
 scattered abroad, and dispersed among the people in all the 
 provinces of thy kingdom ; and their laws are diverse from 
 all people ; neither keep they the king's laws ; therefore, it is 
 not for the king's profit to suffer them. 9. If it please the 
 king, let it be written that they may be destroyed. 
 
 4. Christians testifying against national evils, 
 and striving in the use of moral means to effect a 
 reformation, should relinquish temporal privileges 
 rather than do anything which may appear to con- 
 tradict their testimony, or lay a stumbling-block 
 before their weaker brethren. 
 
 1 Kings xix 9. And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged 
 there. 10. And he said, I have been very jealous for the 
 Lord God of hosts : for the children of Israel have forsaken 
 thy covenant. Heb. xi. 24. By faith, Moses, wb<?n he was 
 come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daugh- 
 ter. 26. Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches 
 than the treasures of Egypt. 36. And others had trials of 
 cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover, of bonds and 
 imprisonments. Num. xxiii. 9. Lo, the people shall dwell 
 alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations. Rom. 
 xiv. 21. It is good neither to eat flesh, nor drink wine, nor 
 anything' whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended. 
 
 We therefore condemn the following errors, and 
 testify against all who maintain them : 
 
CHURCH DISCIPLINE. 123 
 
 1. " That it is lawful to profess or swear alle- 
 giance to an immoral constitution of Civil Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 2. " That Christians, under pretence of bearing 
 an active testimony, are bound to effect a change 
 in the moral state of nations with the sword. 
 
 3. " That it is not lawful for Christians to wage 
 war in defence of liberty, religion, or life. 
 
 4. " That the enjoyment of no temporal priv- 
 ileges may be relinquished for the sake of peace, or 
 for fear of making a Christian brother to offend." 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 OF CHURCH DISCIPLINE. 
 
 1. In the present imperfect state of the visible 
 church, from the ungodliness of carnal professors 
 of religion, and from remaining depravity even in 
 the truly gracious, offences or scandals must fre- 
 quently arise. 
 
 Matt, xviii. 7. For it must needs be that offences come. 
 Rom. xvi. 17. Now, I beseech you, brethren, mark them which 
 cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye 
 have learned ; and avoid them. 
 
 2. A scandal is not everything which is sinful 
 or displeaseth ; but something in a professor's car- 
 riage, which either in itself or from its circumstances, 
 
124 CHURCH DISCIPLINE. 
 
 may tempt others to sin, expose the church to just 
 reproach, o^ mar the spiritual comfort of the saints. 
 
 Rom. vii. 21. When I would do good, evil is present with 
 me. Luke xvii. 1. It is impossible but that offences will come ; 
 but woe unto him through whom they come. Rom. xiv. 13. 
 Judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling -block,* or an 
 occasion to fall, in his brother's way. 
 
 3. The Lord Jesus Christ hath instituted Church 
 Discipline, in order to remove scandals, and pre- 
 vent their unhappy effects ; and no church can, 
 without the faithful and spiritual application of it, 
 hope for his countenance and blessing. 
 
 Matt. xvi. 19. And I will give unto thee the keys of the 
 kingdom of heaven. 1 Cor. v. 12. Do not ye judge them that 
 are within? 2 Cor. x. 8. Our authority which the Lord hath 
 given us for edification. 1 Thess. v. 14. Warn them that are 
 unruly. Eph. v. 11. And have no fellowship with the unfruit- 
 ful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. Rev. iii. 16. 
 So, then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, 
 I will spew thee out of my mouth. 
 
 4. The impartial and prudent exercise of Church 
 Discipline is useful for vindicating the honor of 
 Jesus Christ, maintaining the dignity of his ordi- 
 nances, preserving the purity of the church, avert- 
 ing the judgments of God, and for the benefit of 
 the offender himself, that by the administration of 
 this ordinance of Christ, through grace, he may be 
 humbled and recovered. 
 
 Eph. V. 8. Now are ye light in the Lord : walk as children 
 of light. Matt. xi. 29. Take my yoke u^^on you. Rom. xvi. 
 
 * Scandal. 
 
VISITATION AND CATECHISING. 125 
 
 17. Mark them which cause divisions, contrary to the doctrine 
 which ye have learned ; and avoid thera. 2 Thess. iii. 6. 
 Withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh dis- 
 orderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us. 
 Rev. ii. 14. But I have a few things against thee, because 
 thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam. 2 
 Thess. iii. 14. Note that man and have no company with him, 
 that he may beashamed. 1 Tim. v. 20. Them that sin rebuke 
 before all, that others also may fear. 
 
 We therefore condemn the following errors^ and 
 testify against all who maintain them : 
 
 1. " That the exercise of Church Discipline is 
 not a necessary part of ministerial duty. 
 
 2. "That a professor should be censured by a 
 church judicatory for everything at which another 
 may justly be displeased." 
 
 CHAPTEE XXXII. 
 
 OF MINISTERIAL VISITATION AND CATECHISING. 
 
 1. It is the duty of the pastor of every Chris- 
 tian congregation to inspect the state of his flock, 
 acquaint himself, as much as may be, with the 
 knowledge, the character, the disposition, the con- 
 duct, and progress in spirituality, of every member 
 thereof, in order that he may rightly divide the 
 word of truth, giving unto each his portion in due 
 season. 
 
 1 Tim. iii. 2. A bishop then must be blameless — vigilant 
 — apt to teach. 2 Tim. ii. 15. A workman that needeth not 
 
126 VISITATION AND CATECHISING. 
 
 to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of trutli. iv. 2. In- 
 stant in season, out of season. Acts xx. 28. Take heed, there- 
 fore, unto yourselves, and to all the flock over which the Holy 
 Ghost hath made you overseers. 
 
 2. He is to visit them from house to house, not 
 merely as a friend, but as one who watches for 
 their souls. In family visitation, the minister is 
 to inqirire how they attend upon the duties of 
 personal and family religion, and the various or- 
 dinances of public worship, giving them suitable 
 exhortations, and praying for them, and with them. 
 
 Heb. xiii. 17. They watch for your souls, as they that must 
 give an account. Tit. ii. 2. That the aged men be sober, 
 grave, temperate,- sound in faith, in charity, in patience. 3. 
 The aged women, likewise, that they be in behavior as be- 
 cometh holiness. 4. That they may teach the young women 
 to be sober. 6. Young men, likewise, exhort to be sober- 
 minded. 9. Exhort servants to be obedient to their own 
 masters. 1 Tim. ii. 8. I will, therefore, that men pray every- 
 where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting. 
 
 3. The minister is to visit the sick who are in- 
 capable of attending the public ordinances, com- 
 forting them under their afflictions, admonishing 
 them how they are to improve such dispensations 
 of Providence, exhorting them to prepare for death, 
 and praying for them, and with them, as opportunity 
 may offer, watching for their souls until they are 
 removed from beinu; under his chars^e into their 
 eternal state. The elders of the congregation are, 
 in their station, to attend to the visitation of the 
 flock, with or without the minister. 
 
VISITATION AND CATECHISING. 127 
 
 Is. xxvi. 16. They poured out a prayer when thy chastening 
 was upon them. Matt. xxv. 36. I was sick, and ye visited me. 
 40. Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of 
 these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. James i. 27. 
 Pure rehgion — to visit the fatherless and widows in their 
 affliction. Chap. v. 13. Is any among you afflicted ? let him 
 pray. 14. Is any sick among you ? let him call for the elders 
 of the church; and let them pray over him. 15. And tlie 
 prayer of faith shall save the sick. 16. The effectual fervent 
 prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Ileb. xiii. 17. They 
 watch for your souls. 
 
 4. Catechising, which is a plain and familiar 
 way of conveying spiritual instruction to old and 
 young, according to their respective capiiciries, is 
 a necessary part of the minister's duty, and is to 
 be performed, not for showing his own talents, but 
 for ascertaining and improving the religious know- 
 ledge of the catechumens. 
 
 Matt. xvi. 15. He saith unto them, Bat whom say ye that I 
 am? Chap. xxii. 42. What think ye of Christ? Whose son 
 is he ? 45. If David then call him Lord, how is he his son ? 
 1 Pet. iii. 15. Be ready always to give an answer to every 
 man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you. 
 Acts viii. 30. Understandest thou what thou readest ? 31. 
 And he said. How can I, except some man should guide me ? 
 35. Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same 
 Scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. 37. If thou believest 
 with all thine heart, thou mayest. 
 
 We therefore condemn the following errors, and 
 testify against all who maintain them : 
 
 1. " That a minister may, in ordinary cases, take 
 the pastoral charge of a congregation, to wliich it 
 
128 TESTIMONY BEARING. 
 
 is evidently impossible he can discharge ministerial 
 duties. 
 
 2. " That the fear of giving offence, or the peo- 
 ple's having been unaccustomed to it, is any excuse 
 for a minister's neglect of the duties of ministerial 
 visitation or catechising. 
 
 3. " That ruling elders are not under obligation 
 to watch over and promote the spiritual improve- 
 ment of the flock." 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 OF TESTIMONY BEARING. 
 
 1. Christians are witnesses for God among men ; 
 and, having in their possession the testimony of 
 God in the Holy Scriptures, it is the duty of the 
 church to apply the doctrines of inspiration in 
 stating and defending truth, and in condemning all 
 contrary errors, bearing witness against all who 
 maintain them. 
 
 Is. xliii. 10. Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord. Acts v. 
 32. And we are his witnesses of these things. Chap. xxvi. 16. 
 I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a 
 minister and a witness. Psalm Ixxviii. 5. For he estabhshed 
 a testimony in Jacob. 1 Cor. i. 6. The testimony of Christ 
 was confirmed in you. Chap. ii. 1. Declaring unto you the 
 testimony of God. Mark vi. 11. And whosoever shall not 
 receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off 
 the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. 
 
TESTIMONY BEARING. 129 
 
 2. The testimony of the church is progressive, 
 in order to oppose and condemn the novel errors 
 which each period may produce. And every gen- 
 eration is to take care that the truth, as stated and 
 defended by their predecessors, shall be maintained 
 and faithfully transmitted, together with the result 
 of their own contendings, to the succeeding gen- 
 eration. 
 
 2 Thess. i. 10. Our testimony among you was believed. 
 Rev. xi. 3. And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and 
 they shall proj^hesy one thousand two hundred and three-score 
 days. 7. And when they shall have finished their testimony. 
 Ps. Ixxviii. 5. For he established a testimony, in Jacob, and 
 appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, 
 that they should make them known to their children ; 7. That 
 the generation to come might know them, even the children 
 which should be born, who should arise and declare them to 
 their children, xlviii. 12. Walk about Zion, and go round 
 about her, tell the towers thereof. 13. Mark ye well her bul- 
 warks, consider her palaces ; that ye may tell it to the gen- 
 eration following. 
 
 3. The church may not recede from a more clear 
 and particular testimony to a more general and 
 evasive one. But the witnesses must proceed in 
 finivshing their testimony, rendering it more pointed 
 and complete, until God shall, according to his prom- 
 ise, overthrow the empire of darkness ; and intro- 
 duce the millennial state, in which the earth shall 
 be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters 
 cover the sea. 
 
 Rev. ii. 25. But that which ye have already, hold fast till I 
 come. Is. viii. 16. Bind up the testimony, seal the law among 
 9 
 
130 TESTIMONY BEARING. 
 
 my disciples. Rev. xii. 17. Which keep the commandments 
 of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Phil. iii. 16. 
 Whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same 
 rule, let us mind the same thing. Rev. vi. 9. I saw under the 
 altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, 
 and for the testimony which they held. Chap. xii. 11. They 
 overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of 
 their testimony. Dan. vii. 22. And judgment was given to 
 the saints of the Most High ; and the time came that the saints 
 possessed the kingdom. Rev. xx. 4. And judgment was given 
 unto them — and they lived and reigned with Christ a thou- 
 sand years. Ps. Ixxiv. 20. Have respect unto the covenant. 
 21. O, let not the oppressed return ashamed. 22. Arise^ O 
 God^ plead thine own cause. Psalm Ixxii. 19. AKD LET 
 THE WHOLE EARTH BE FILLED WITH HIS 
 GLORY. AMEN AND AMEN. 
 
 We therefore condemn the following errors., and 
 testify against all who maintain them : 
 
 1. " That the Bible is the only proper testimony 
 of the church. 
 
 2. " That a Christian is under no obligation to 
 follow Christ's witnesses in their faithful contend- 
 ings. 
 
 3. " That it is lawful, in order to enlarge the 
 church, to open a wider door of communion, by 
 declining from a more pointed testimony, to one 
 which is more loose and general." 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
ADOPTING ACT 
 
 Besolved, That Synod adopt the Formula which refers to 
 our Standards, supreme and subordinate, as presented in the 
 following Articles ; and that it be published as an Appendix 
 to the authoiized editions of the Testimony, accompanied with 
 the following 
 
 DECLARATION. 
 
 To prevent all misunderstanding of the matter of the second 
 Article of this Formula, which embraces the Confession of 
 Faith and Catechisms, it is declared, in reference to the power 
 of the Civil Magistrate in ecclesiastical things, that it is not 
 now, and never was, any part of the faith of the Reformed 
 Presbyterian Church, that the Civil Magistrate is authorized 
 to interfere with the Church of God in the assertion, settle- 
 ment, or administration of her doctrine, worship, and order; 
 or to assume any dominion over the rights of conscience. All 
 that appertains to the magistratical power, in reference to the 
 Church, is the protection of her members in the full possession, 
 exercise, and enjoyment of their rights. The magistratical 
 office is civil and political, and consequently altogether 
 exterior to the Church. 
 Pittsburgh, June 5, 1843. 
 
 133 
 
TERMS OF ECCLESIASTICAL COMMUNION 
 
 REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 1. An acknowledgment of the Scriptures of the 
 Old and New Testaments to be the word of God. 
 
 2. An acknowledgment of the doctrines of the 
 Westminster Confession of Faith, Catechisms, 
 Larger and Shorter, and Reformation Principles 
 Exhibited, the Testimony of the Church — as em- 
 bodying, according to the word of God, the great 
 principles of the Covenanted Presbyterian Re- 
 formation, to the maintenance of which this 
 Church is obliged by solemn covenant engage- 
 ments. 
 
 3. An acknowledgment that the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, the only Redeemer and Head of his Church, 
 has appointed one permanent form of ecclesiastical 
 government ; and that this form is, by divine right, 
 Presbyterian. 
 
 4. An acknowledgment that public, social cove- 
 nanting, upon proper occasions, is an ordinance of 
 God, and that such moral deeds as respect the 
 
 135 
 
136 TERMS OF ECCLESIASTICAL COMMUNION. 
 
 future, whether ecclesiastical or civil, are of con- 
 tinued obligation, as well as upon those represented 
 in the taking of them as upon those who actually 
 covenant, until the ends of them be effected. 
 
 5. An acknowledgment of the faithful contend- 
 ings of the Martyrs of Jesus, and a recognition of 
 all as brethren, in every land, who maintain a 
 Scriptural Testimony in behalf of the attainments 
 and cause of the Reformation, against all that is 
 contrary to sound doctrine and the power of god- 
 liness. 
 
 6. A practical adorning of the doctrine of God 
 our Saviour, by a life and conversation becoming 
 the gospel, together with due subordination in the 
 Lord, to the authority of the Synod of the Re- 
 formed Presbyterian Church in North America. 
 
FORMULA OF QUERIES 
 
 TO BE PUT TO 
 
 MINISTEKS AND RULING ELDERS AT ORDINATION. 
 
 1. Do you acknowledge the Scriptures of the 
 Old and New Testaments to be the word of God ? 
 
 2. Do you acknowledge the doctrines of the 
 Westminster Confession of Faith, the Catechisms, 
 Larger and Shorter, and Reformation Principles 
 Exhibited, the Testimony of the Church — as em- 
 bodying, according to the word of God, the great 
 principles of the Covenanted Presbyterian Ref- 
 ormation, to the maintenance of which this Church 
 is obliged by solemn covenant engagements ? 
 
 3. Do you acknowledge that the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, the only Redeemer and Head of his Church, 
 has appointed one permanent form of ecclesiastical 
 government ; and that this form is, by divine right, 
 Presbyterian ? 
 
 4. Do you acknowledge that public, social cove- 
 nanting, upon proper occasions, is an ordinance 
 
 137 
 
138 FORMULA OF QUERIES. 
 
 of God ; and that such moral deeds as respect the 
 future, whether ecclesiastical or civil, are of con- 
 tinued obligation, as well upon those represented 
 in the taking of them as upon those who actually 
 covenant, until the ends of them be effected ? 
 
 5. Do you approve of the faithful contendings 
 of the Martyrs of Jesus, and do you recognize as 
 brethren, all in every land, who maintain a Scrip- 
 tural Testimony in behalf of the attainments and 
 cause of the Reformation, against all that is con- 
 trary to sound doctrine and the power of godliness? 
 
 6. So far as you can know your own heart, is 
 it the glory of God, and the edification of the 
 Church, and not any selfish object, that moves 
 you to undertake the sacred office of Minister [or 
 Ruling Elder ] ? 
 
 7. Do you promise, in the strength of divine 
 grace, to rule well your own house — to live a 
 holy and exemplary life — to watch faithfully over 
 the members of this Church — to exhort with 
 meekness and loncr-sufferino: — to visit the sick 
 and afflicted — and to attend punctually the meet- 
 ings of the Presbytery [or Session], and of the 
 superior judicatories, when called thereunto, judg- 
 ing faithfully in the house of God ? 
 
 8. Do you promise subjection to this Presby- 
 tery [or Session], and to the superior judicatories 
 
FORMULA OF QUERIES. 139 
 
 of this Church, in the Lord, and engage to follow- 
 no divisive courses from the doctrine and order 
 which the Church has solemnly recognized and 
 adopted ? — And do you further promise to submit 
 to all that brotherly admonition which your 
 brethren may tender you in the Lord ? 
 
REFORMATION PRINCIPLES 
 
 EXHIBITED 
 
 BY THE 
 
 EEFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 
 
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
 " He established a Testimony in Jacob, and appointed a Law in Israel, which 
 he commanded our fathers that they should make them known to their children : 
 Who should arise and declare them to their children ; that they might set their 
 hope in God, and not forget the works of God; but keep his commandments." 
 
 THIRD EDITION. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 LEE, SHEPARD AND DILLINGHAIM. 
 
 1871. 
 
New York, May 12, 1806. 
 The Reformed Presbytery, impressed with the duty of 
 exhibiting an Historical Yiew of the Christian Chm-ch, as 
 a Testimony of their thankfulness to God for his goodness 
 to his covenant people, and of their approbation of the 
 faithful contendings of the saints; and also to serve as a 
 mean of instruction to those who are .desirous to understand 
 the Presbytery's fixed Testimony, Do hereby ratify and 
 approve of the Preface and the Brief Historical Vieio of 
 the Churchy with, the proposed Amendments and Additions; 
 and they hereby also appoint Messrs. William Gibson and 
 Alexander McLeod a committee to insert those amendments 
 and additions in their proper places, and to publish the woi*k 
 with all convenient speed. 
 
 May 15, 1806. 
 The Presbytery referred, for publication, the Declaration 
 and Testimony to the Committee to whom was referred the 
 Historical View. 
 
 Extracted from the Minutes. 
 
 John Black, Cleric. 
 
The Committee to whom were referred for publicatioD, 
 by the Presbytery, the Testimony^ the Historical View, and 
 the Preface^ certify this to be a true copy. 
 
 William Gibson, 
 Alex. McLeod. 
 
 The Committee to whom was referred for publication, 
 by the General Synod, the "Historical View" revised, and 
 continued to the present time, certify this to be a true copy. 
 
 Samuel B. Wylie, 
 Gilbert McMastee, 
 John N. McLeod, 
 William Agnew. 
 New York, June 20, 1852. 
 
 A TKUE copy of the Historical View, third edition. 
 Attested by 
 
 John N. McLeod, Stated CUrTc, 
 New York, June 20, 1871. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The Gospel of Christ is a system of peace and benevo- 
 lence. An exhibition of divine mercy to miserable man 
 cannot justly be charged with a tendency to excite evil pas- 
 sions: it is calculated to soothe the heart, and to cherish 
 meekness and love. They who live under the influence of 
 true religion, exhibit a living proof that it does not impair 
 the strength of the understanding, or spoil the temper of 
 man. Christianity, as a subjective j^rinciple, is uniformly 
 sober and lovely. Grace originating in Heaven, dispensed 
 by the Blessed Spirit, and constituting a bond of perfectness 
 by which men are united to one another and to God in an 
 indissolvable union, is the grand characteristic of religion. 
 In this there is nothing which deserves hostility from any 
 part of the human family. 
 
 Those persons, nevertheless, who are separated from the 
 world by the dispensation of God's gracious covenant, are 
 beheld by others with an evil eye. The very existence of 
 the Church is, alas! displeasing to those who are deter- 
 mined not to enter into its communion. 
 
 The separation of professors from others, is deemed a re- 
 flection upon the sincerity and the safety of their neighbors, 
 
 5 
 
6 PREFACE. 
 
 and is, of course, considered as meriting the opposition of 
 those who do not choose to submit to the Christian system. 
 This state of things imposes upon the disciples of the Re- 
 deemer a very important duty. They must render to the world, 
 with becoming meekness, a reason of their own hope, and 
 the opposition of adversaries must be repelled with suitable 
 arguments. The sacred Scriptures are a fund of celestial 
 wisdom, from which believers are enriched, and from these 
 they derive resources necessary for their spiritual warfare. 
 
 The design of contending earnestly for the faith delivered 
 unto the saints is not only to edify Christians, but also to 
 convince and gain other persons, persuading them also to 
 embrace the faith. The testimony of the saints should, 
 therefore, be calculated to preserve the distinction between 
 the world and the Church, to enlighten those who sit in 
 darkness, and to establish those who have already embraced 
 the faith. 
 
 The Reformed Presbytery in the United States of North 
 America feel themselves under the most solemn obligations 
 to exhibit to the world the Testimony which they maintain. 
 They claim as a right the liberty of expressing their senti- 
 ments with becoming modesty and firmness. Diftident of 
 their own talents and strength, they have no desire to pro- 
 voke controversy; but sensible of the truth of the system 
 which they have embraced, they invite candid discussion. It 
 is not their interest to be in an error. It is not the true 
 interest of any man to embrace a false religion. 
 
 The plan upon which the Reformed Presbytery j^ropose 
 to exhibit their principles to the world, embraces three parts. 
 
 The first is Historical; the second. Declaratory ; and 
 the third, Argumentative. The Historical part exhibits the 
 
PREFACE. 7 
 
 Church as a visible society in covenant with God, in the 
 different periods of time ; and points out, precisely, the 
 situation which they themselves occupy as a distinct part 
 of the Catholic Church. The Declaratory part exhibits the 
 truths which they embrace as a Church, and the errors which 
 they reject. The Argumentative part consists in a full in- 
 vestigation of the various ecclesiastical systems which are 
 known in the United States. 
 
 The Declaratory part is the Church's Standing Testimony, 
 It contains principles capable of universal application. To 
 these principles, founded upon the Scriptures, simply stated, 
 and invariably the same in every part of the world, every 
 adult church member is to give his unequivocal assent. 
 
 The Historical part is a helj) to understand the principles 
 of the Testimony. It is partly founded upon human records, 
 and therefore not an article of faith ; but it should be care- 
 fully perused as an illustration of divine truth, and instruc- 
 tive to the Church. It is a helper of the faith. 
 
 The Argumentative part is the particular application of 
 the principles of the Testimony. It specifies the people 
 who maintain errors ; and it exposes the errors which they 
 maintain. The confidence which persons may place in this 
 part of the system will partly rest upon human testimony, 
 unless every one who reads it shall have also read and 
 known every work to which it refers. It is not, therefore, 
 recommended as an article of faith ; but as a mean of in- 
 struction in opposing error, and gaining over others to the 
 knowledge of the truth. 
 
 Every human help which can be obtained is to be used 
 in subserviency to the interest of rehgion. But Divine 
 Truth is alone the foundation of our hope. Authentic his- 
 
8 PREFACE. 
 
 tory and sound argument are always to be highly valued, 
 and have always been beneficial to the Church ; but they 
 should not be incorjDorated with the confession of the 
 Church's faith. The argumentative part is a work of much 
 care, and labor, and time. The Presbytery have not pro- 
 posed to complete it at present. 
 
 It shall hereafter be published in distinct and separate 
 dissertations, under such forms and in such order as cir- 
 cumstances may appear to demand. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 THE HISTORICAL VIEW OF THE CATHOLIC 
 CHURCH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The State of the Church from the Fall of Man until the 
 Law was given by Moses at Mount Sinai. 
 
 Importance of Ecclesiastical History; Creation and Fall of Man; 
 Revelation of the Covenant of Grace; the Church constituted by 
 the dispensation of the Covenant of Grace ; necessarily a visible 
 Covenant Society ; Cain; Enos; Noah; Abrahamic Covenant; no 
 written Revelation; no stated public ministry. A period of 2513 
 years. — Page 15. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The State of the Church from the giving of the Law un- 
 til THE Death of Christ. 
 
 The State of the World ; necessary change of the form of the visible 
 Church; Sinai Covenant; God frames a Constitution of Civil 
 Government; subservient to the Church; Hebrew Church and 
 State distinct; the Temple worship; Proseucha; Synagogue; 
 Ministry of John; Ministry of Jesus Christ; Christ's Death. A 
 period of 1524 years. — Page 27. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The State of the Church from the Death of Christ until 
 THE Rise of Antichrist. 
 
 Types and Shadows at an end; the Abrahamic Covenant re-exhib- 
 ited; the Church altered in its visible order; the Apostles; form- 
 ing Churches; Baptism; Church at Jerusalem; condition of 
 
 9 
 
10 CONTENTS. 
 
 Church fellowship; Presbyterian order; spread of the Gospel; 
 Evangelists; organization of the Gentile Churches; the wealth 
 of Christians employed for the Church's good; primitive purity 
 declines; carnal men profess Christianity ; ambition possesses its 
 most conspicuous ministers; the external form of the Church be- 
 comes assimilated to that of the Roman Empire ; Prelacy ; Popery. 
 A period of 573 years. — Page 37. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The State of the Christian Church from the Rise of An- 
 tichrist UNTIL the Present Day. 
 
 The Church from the beginning taught to expect a general apostasy ; 
 character of Antichrist; date; at its height in the eleventh centu- 
 ry; Waldenses; never in tlie Roman communion; character of 
 them at Rome: doctrine and order of the Waldensian Church; 
 Covenanters; Lollard; WicklifFe ; John Huss; Jerome Hussites 
 dissent from Rome and unite in covenant and communion with 
 the Waldenses ; prepare for a reformation ; Reformers ; their opin- 
 ion about the question, Is the Roman Church a Christian Church.? 
 — Lutherans' covenant; Waldenses join the Reformation Churches; 
 England's reformation ; Henry VIII. head and lawgiver of the 
 Church of England; Reformation in Scotland; imperfection of 
 the Reformation Churches in general ; causes of violating the unity 
 of the visible Church; Church at Geneva; English Puritans; cov- 
 enants with the Scottish Reformers; opinion of the Foreign 
 Churches concerning the Solemn League ; decline of the Reforma- 
 tion Churches; American Churches. A period of 1200 years. — 
 Page 53. 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 AN HISTORICAL VIEW OF THE REFORMED PRES- 
 BYTERIAN CHURCH. 
 
 CHAPTER I . 
 
 From the Establishment of the Presbyterian Reformation 
 UNTIL the Revolution Settlement, 1643-16SS. 
 
 Advantages for Reformation peculiar to Scotland; improved by the 
 Reformers; the Church a distinct Empire ; the civil constitution 
 
CONTENTS. 11 
 
 made to support the Church as a distinct kingdom; Westminster 
 Assembl}^ ; power and moderation of the Presbyterians ; Charles 
 I. beheaded by the Independents; Charles II. proclaimed king by 
 the Scots ; impropriety of this ; coronation and covenants; state 
 of parties in Church and State; the King defeated by Cromwell; 
 disputes about the legitimacy of Cromwell's authority; Protest- 
 ors; Monk; Charles II. restored; Marquis of Argyle; Sharp; 
 persecution of Presbyterian Covenanters; disputes about the legit- 
 imacy of the King's power; Cargill; Hamilton; Renwick; Coc- 
 ceius ; Concessions of the Dutch Divines ; state of the Covenant- 
 ers. A period of 45 years. — Page 77. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 From the Revolution Settlement in Britain until the 
 Constitution of the Reformed Presbytery in the United 
 States of America. 
 
 Prince of Orange ; James II. ; the doctrine of passive obedience ; con- 
 tradictory and the practice impossible ; University' of Oxford ; state 
 of the Church at the Revolution ; apostasy of the three Ministers; 
 the state of the Witnesses of the Reformation ; McMillan ; the Re- 
 formed Presbytery ; Testimony ; state of the Church ; Presbyteries 
 in Ireland and America. A period of 86 years. — Page 99. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 An Historical View of the State of the Reformed Presby- 
 terian Church in America until the Ratification of 
 their Testimony in May, 1S06. 
 
 Presbyterian Covenanters fly from persecution to America ; Cuth- 
 bertson ; Reformed Presbytery; state of Religion in America; 
 American Revolution; union of the Reformed and Associate Pres- 
 byteries; some members of the Reformed Presbyterian Church 
 still maintain their ground ; assistance from Europe ; Reid ; McGar- 
 ragh; King; McKinney; Gibson; Constitution of the Reformed 
 Presbytery ; License for young men to preach the Gospel ; arrange- 
 ment of committees; Testimony. A period of 32 years. — Page 112. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 From the Ratification of the Testimony until May, 1852. 
 
 The Church is One ; has a past and a future ; these facts regarded by 
 the framers of our standards ; the inquiries, Why was the Reformed 
 
12 CONTENTS. 
 
 Presbyterian Church organized in America? Why is its organi- 
 zation continued ? — answered ; standards settled ; harmony, affec- 
 tion, and labors of the Ministry; Theological seminaries; con- 
 stitution of Synod; Foreign relations; representative Synod; 
 subordinate Synods; proposed plan of correspondence with the 
 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church ; its articles ; its 
 principle approved, but its expediency at the time doubted; cor- 
 respondence with the Associate Synod ; signs of the times regarded ; 
 correspondence with the Scottish Synod; proposal of a mutual 
 covenant of the whole Reformed Church ; advance of the Refor- 
 mation cause; civil institutions of the United States; slavery; 
 changes; war of 1812; oath of allegiance authorized by Synod ; 
 Prove nata rupture; conduct in reference to those who separated; 
 effect upon our Churches; Foreign missionary measures; ad- 
 vantages of; mission to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia; corre- 
 spondence with the Reformed Protestant Dutch Synod; unity of 
 the several parts of the Reformed Church more extended and firm 
 than that of Rome ; conventions of several branches of the Church 
 in order to a closer union; our action justifiable ; decease of dis- 
 tinguished ministers ; events of past years; their influence upon 
 our cause. A period of 45 years. — Page 146. 
 
 Authorities referred to in Book II., Chapter IV. 
 
 The statements of the history being made on the authority of the 
 Supreme Judicatory of the Church adopting it, the reference to other 
 authorities is not required. In this respect, the continuation in 
 Chapter IV. is uniform with the previous chapters. Asa matter 
 of information, however, the authorities quoted are given here, as 
 they occur in order. 
 
 History of the Presbyterian Church, pp. 229-282. — Presbyterian 
 of October 30, 1827. — Hetherington's History, pp. 362, 363. — His- 
 tory of Presbyterian Church, pp. 295, 297, 484, 489, 490, 403. — Min- 
 utes of Synod 1827-1821-1812-1821-1823-1831-1846. — See respecting 
 organization of the Associate Reformed Church, a document of the 
 Scottish judicatory, written by the late Rev. Dr. Archibald Mason, 
 pp. 5, 6, 10, 12; Glasgow, 1787. 
 
REFORMATION PRINCIPLES EXHIBITED. 
 
 PART I. 
 A BRIEF HISTORICAL VIEW 
 
 OF 
 
 THE CHURCH, 
 
 AS A VISIBLE SOCIETY IN COVENANT WITH GOD. 
 IN TWO BOOKS: 
 
 THE FIRST EXHIBITING 
 
 THE CHURCH UNIVERSAL, 
 
 AXD THE SECOXD 
 
 THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 
 
 (13) 
 
BOOK I. 
 
 AN HISTORICAL VIEW OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 CHAPTEK I. 
 
 THE STATE OF THE CHURCH FROM THE FALL OF MAN 
 UNTIL THE LAW WAS GIVEN BY MOSES AT MOUNT 
 SINAI. 
 
 In proportion as objects exceed in grandeur, 
 they demand the admiration of the human mind. 
 And there is not among the ranks of created being 
 one object worthy of comparison, in respect of 
 sublimity, with the Christian Church. A moral 
 empire, consisting of members animated by the 
 Eternal Spirit, the mediatory person, God manifest 
 in the flesh at its head, the vast machinery of 
 creation moving in regular subordination to its 
 interest, and exhibiting the ineffable glory of the 
 Divinity, is an object to be contemplated with 
 adipiration and awe. " Out of Zion, the perfection 
 of beauty, God hath shined." 
 
 The Church is the centre around which the 
 Creator causes all terrestrial things to revolve. 
 Our views, therefore, of the present world must be 
 indistinct, unless we perceive its relation to the 
 
 15 
 
16 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 kingdom of Christ. The history of nations must be 
 imperfect and erroneous, unless they refer to the 
 secret spring by which every motion is directed — 
 the purpose of God to glorify himself in the salva- 
 tion of his church. This is the meridian line which 
 the Former of all things strikes out through the 
 vast and crowded map of time, and to which every 
 figure, however apparently indistinct and uncon- 
 nected, is directed by an unerring hand. 
 
 The heavens and the earth were created by 
 Jehovah, and each place is adapted by infinite 
 wisdom to the end which it is designed to answer. 
 The first man Adam was appointed to take pos- 
 session of the earth, for himself, and the whole 
 human race, represented by him, and to descend 
 from him. The tenement was wisely fitted for 
 the occupant. The earth was clothed with ver- 
 dure ; every vegetable in full maturity, and every 
 tree laden with his fruit. The atmosphere was in 
 its best state, and the various kinds of animals, in 
 the perfection of their respective natures, came at 
 the direction of the Creator to testify their sub- 
 mission to man. 
 
 A body formed of the earth, and organized 
 upon principles of astonishing wisdom ; capaWe 
 of dissolution, but endowed with a natural im- 
 mortality; being animated by an immaterial soul, 
 constituted upon principles of necessary immor- 
 tality, distinguished the common father of our 
 family. 
 
THE FIRST COVENANT. 17 
 
 This man God took into covenant. Adam was 
 naturally and necessarily bound to obey all the 
 commandments of God ; but as a moral agent he 
 also had power to consent to the terms proposed 
 by his Creator, and to promise obedience. A cov- 
 enant between God and man consists in a proposal 
 made by God, and a corresponding engagement on 
 the part of man. 
 
 In the first covenant, perfect obedience was 
 required of man. The law of nature, reduced into 
 a covenant form, had a positive precept annexed : 
 " Thou shalt not eat of the fruit of the tree of 
 knowledge of good and evil, for in the day thou 
 ^eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." 
 
 Adam, under the united temptation of Satan 
 and of Eve, who had herself been first in the 
 crime, transgressed the covenant of life, and in- 
 curred the penalty of death. As the representative 
 of the human race he fell, and all mankind fell 
 in him. This fatal event proved the mean of a 
 further manifestation of the boundless perfection 
 of God. The plans of heaven were not frustrated. 
 It had from eternity been the purpose of the 
 Godhead to exhibit mercy as soon as man should 
 have become miserable. 
 
 The event of the fall was foreknown, and the 
 remedy was predestinated. It was predestinated, 
 too, upon the footing of a solemn covenant ; and 
 this gracious covenant is eternal. 
 
 There never was a time in which the divine 
 2 
 
18 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 mind was undetermined. He is of one mind ; and 
 his purpose is unalterable. Each divine perfec- 
 tion, and the harmony of all the divine attributes, 
 are to be exhibited in one system, which shall, at 
 the same time, confer unbounded happiness upon 
 that part of the intelligent family of God which 
 are immediately included in it, and offer to the 
 universe an object of contemplation, which is in 
 reality the perfection of beauty. 
 
 There is a covenant of grace between God the 
 Father and his eternal Son, for the redemption of 
 human criminals. The magnitude and the con- 
 descension of this plan is an unparalleled instance 
 of the grandeur of the conception of the divine 
 mind. The immense distance between the creature 
 and the Creator is filled up by the mediatorial 
 person Jesus Christ, who, as the second Adam, 
 undertakes to assume the human nature, complete 
 in soul and body, into a union with his divine 
 nature ; and by suffering as a substitute, secure 
 the salvation of those whom it was purposed he 
 should represent. God made a covenant with his 
 chosen, promising, upon condition that he should 
 make his soul an offering for sin, to confer eternal 
 life upon all his spiritual seed. 
 
 No sooner was our family involved in sin and 
 misery, than this covenant was revealed. When 
 the first pair felt the operation of the curse, the 
 Redeemer himself, the personal voice or luord of God, 
 appeared upon the earth, now preserved by his 
 
THE COVENANT OF GRACE. 19 
 
 power as the theatre upon which he is about to 
 exhibit the most astonishing instances of majesty 
 and condescension. He conversed with them, and 
 in the same sentence pronounces the punishment, 
 and proclaims the pardon. The seed of the woman 
 shall bruise the serpent's head. 
 
 The covenant of grace was now for the first time 
 revealed, and a suitable dispensation is made of it 
 to fallen man. To this dispensation Adam pro- 
 fessedly submits, and in evidence of his faith, calls 
 his wife by the name of Eve, the mother of all 
 living. Both submitted again to the government 
 of God, upon the footing of the revelation of his 
 grace, when they became clothed in those skins 
 which were at once a present earthly benefit, and 
 a type of that justifying righteousness, by which 
 all believers are effectually preserved from con- 
 demnation. Immediately did the Eedeemer thus 
 dispense, as a new covenant benefit, hodily raiment^ 
 and a significant religious rite. Sacrifices typical 
 of the sufferings of Christ were then first insti- 
 tuted. The original pair, our common father and 
 our common mother, were the first Church, and the 
 blessed Redeemer himself the first preacher and 
 the first priest, who directed the worship of God 
 upon the footing of the revelation of his grace. 
 Mercy flows through a covenant system, and it is 
 externally exhibited under a covenant form. The 
 visible Church, as a Society, is in covenant with 
 God. The covenant between God and his Church 
 
20 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 consists in God's proposing a certain form of re- 
 ligion as the external dispensation of his grace, and 
 the Church professing to receive, and engaging to 
 perform, in the strength of promised grace, every 
 part of religious worship, agreeably to that very 
 form which God has appointed. 
 
 Not only are the saints interested in the cove- 
 nant of grace, but the Church, as a visible Society, 
 is a Covenant Society. 
 
 The visible Church, thus erected as a Covenant 
 Society, waits for the accomplishment of the prom- 
 ise of God, in the use of the instituted means of 
 grace. The children are included with the parents 
 of the ecclesiastical covenant ; the Sabbath is ob- 
 served, and sacrifices are offered. On the seventh 
 day of the week, in Scripture language, the end of 
 days, Cain and Abel presented their offerings to 
 the Lord. God was present in his Church, and 
 familiarly conversed with men, and by this ex- 
 traordinary condescension, supplied the want of 
 other means of increasing in religious knowledge. 
 Immediate revelations and domestic instruction 
 supplied the Church, during this early period, with 
 adequate information. 
 
 The whole of the human family was at first in 
 the Church, but this did not continue a long time 
 to be the case. Abel by faith offered to God a 
 more acceptable sacrifice than his elder brother. 
 Cain was wroth, and the Lord reproved him. In- 
 stead of reformation, however, the reproof adminis- 
 
THE COVENANT SOCIETY. 21 
 
 tered by the Head of the Church himself, had a bad 
 effect upon this unworthy member. He determined 
 upon revenge, and he murdered his brother. 
 
 God called the murderer to an account, spared 
 his life, but secluded him from all further connection 
 with his Covenant Society. This excommunicated 
 vagabond, despising ecclesistical censures, although 
 pronounced by God himself, and solicitous only 
 about the effect as it respected the concerns of his 
 body, went out from the presence of the Lord, and, 
 together with his offspring, lived in the total neg- 
 lect of all religious ordinances. 
 
 The Church progresses, however, through the 
 medium of the other children of Adam, but es- 
 pecially in the line of Seth. In the days of Enos, 
 who was born in the 235th year of Adam's life, 
 men began to be called hi/ the name of the Lord!^ 
 Church members are God's children in a special 
 sense, and the disciples, as they are now called 
 
 * The marginal translation is preferable to that of the text, Gen. iv. 
 26. In the text the translation is, "then began men to call upon the 
 name of the Lord." In the margin it is, "to call themselves Jy the 
 name of the Lord." The professors of religion, now publicly renewing 
 their covenant with God, are called by his name ; and from this period 
 until the days of Job, the discriminating title of the godly continued to 
 be, the Sons of God. Gen. vi. 2. Job i. 6. The Covenanters, at this time, 
 were called by the name of the Lord, as they afterwards surnamed 
 themselves by the name of Israel. Isa. xliv. 5. 
 
 The best critics confirm this explanation of Gen. iv. 26. Tum coep- 
 tum est appellari de nomine Jehovje. Quae versio hoc tempore doctis 
 interpretibus merito probatur. Vitringa. 
 
 Nomen suscepisse peculiare cultorum seu filiorum Dei — et Dei no- 
 mine vocati sunt. Owen. 
 
22 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 Christians, were then called the sons of God, to 
 distinguish them from the accursed offspring of 
 Cain. The information and the wisdom which 
 Adam obtained by his frequent conversation with 
 God, and his own long experience, were calculated 
 to render him highly useful in the Church. The age 
 of the Patriarchs, before the Flood, being generally 
 nine centuries, rendered them living libraries of 
 sacred knowledge. Two eminent prophets, Noah 
 and Enoch, were also inspired to make further 
 revelations. And in this manner did the Church 
 proceed, until, by the impiety of its members, form- 
 ing intimacies with the wicked offspring of Cain, 
 the power of religion became almost unknown. 
 God was provoked to overwhelm ungodly pro- 
 fessors, and open despisers of his mercy, in one 
 common deluge. 
 
 Determined to punish such general corruption, 
 and yet preserve his Church, the Lord renewed 
 his covenant, establishing it with Noah and his 
 family. Several pious persons were then living 
 upon the earth, but they were not admitted into 
 this covenant. They were all to be admitted into 
 Heaven before Noah should enter the Ark. Me- 
 thuselah died immediately before the flood. 
 
 The saints were preserved. Noah and his family 
 were under divine protection. There was not any 
 one of the election of grace found among the rest 
 of the human family. No child of the new cove- 
 nant was ever afterwards to descend from their 
 
COVENANT WITH ABRAHAM. 23 
 
 families. They are all destroyed by the judgments 
 of God. The covenant of works procures their 
 death ; but the dispensation of the covenant of 
 grace preserves Noah and his family. He by faith 
 prepared an Ark for the saving of his house. 
 
 The Church is again reduced to a small compass. 
 Eight souls only are saved in the Ark. God re- 
 news again his covenant with Noah and his sons, 
 and in this dispensation of his everlasting covenant 
 of free grace, engages to preserve the world from 
 any similar destruction, and to continue both seed- 
 time and harvest in their seasons. 
 
 The Church in a short time increased in num- 
 bers, and degenerated in practice. As nations 
 were multiplied, men began to be guilty of idol- 
 atry. God, nevertheless, provides for his covenant 
 people his protection. The truly devout found him 
 an exceeding great reward. And they continue to 
 inculcate upon their children the maxims of virtue, 
 to observe the external forms of religion, prayer, 
 conversation, offering sacrifices, and the observation 
 of the Sabbath. Eminent men were raised up as 
 types of the Saviour, and the Church was instructed 
 by the transactions of God with these eminent 
 characters. After Noah, Melchizedek, Abram, Isaac, 
 and Jacob were types of Christ. 
 
 God's covenant with Abraham commences a dis- 
 tinct era in the history of the Church. The seed 
 which was sown in the constitution of the Church 
 is now expanded. The visible Church, as a Cove- 
 
24 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 nant Society, is alread}^ bound to submission to all 
 the institutions of the Lord. These institutions 
 are adapted by infinite wisdom to the state of his 
 Church. As the term of human life diminishes, 
 domestic instruction becomes more precarious, and 
 less effectual. As nations become more distinct, 
 and have separate interests, there is the greater 
 need of a more regular organization of the Church, 
 that its unity may be preserved. And it is always 
 proper that such ordinances as are conducive to 
 edification, and the preservation of an evident dis- 
 tinction from the world, be observed by the disciples 
 of the Lord. The covenant with Abraham was to 
 himself personally interesting. It was a dispensa- 
 tion of the covenant of grace, in which he had 
 already trusted. And, as a type sealed by a bloody 
 rite, it pointed out the covenant of grace to others 
 also. 
 
 It is, moreover, a renovation of the ecclesiastical 
 covenant, with some appropriate variations. It is 
 promised to Abraham, that from him the Messiah 
 is to proceed, and that in his family the Church 
 shall hereafter continue. 
 
 His first name, Abram, signified an eminent 
 Patriarch, and being changed by God into Abra- 
 ham, the Father of many people, it became still 
 more significant. This distinguished, character 
 travels through the nations, and is universally 
 known. Social worship continues to be conducted 
 in the Church as it formerly had been, by the 
 
THE PATRIARCHS. 25 
 
 observation of the Sabbath, sacrifice, domestic edu- 
 cation, prayer, and conference. But God's gracious 
 dispensation to Abram estabHshed a more compact 
 ecclesiastical organization than any which preceded 
 it. The Abrahamic covenant has the seal of cir- 
 cumcision affixed to it, and the promised seed is 
 limited to the line of Isaac and Jacob. By this 
 mean, intimation is given to all men, that in these 
 families the Church is in future . to be preserved, 
 and in due time to be erected into a more regular 
 visible organization. Although all the children of 
 Abraham, and even his adopted offspring, his ser- 
 vants, are constituted members, and receive the 
 seal of circumcision, yet it is well known that both 
 these, and the other pious families which then lived, 
 are, after the elect are carried to heaven from 
 among them, to dwindle away from the visible 
 Church, and become extinct as to covenant con- 
 nection with God. Shem himself, w^ho lived fifty 
 years after the covenant was established with 
 Abraham, Melchizedek, and his pious connections 
 Job and Jethro, and all other good men who be- 
 lieved in God and worshipped him accordingly, are 
 continued in the visible Church, according to its 
 ancient patriarchal form; but are excluded from 
 the more compact order, the foundation of which 
 was laid in the covenant of Abraham, and which 
 was at the appointed time to be completely estab- 
 lished. Under every form of administration, the 
 immediate children are included with the parents 
 
26 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 in the visible Covenant Society, and every dispen- 
 sation is introduced so gradually, as that they who 
 lived under the former dispensation shall not lose 
 any of their privileges ; and thus the unity of the 
 visible Church, although it experiences the neces- 
 sary alterations in external form, may be constantly 
 preserved. Four centuries did the arrangements 
 made with Abram, as the Kepresentative of the 
 Church, remain for the consideration of the saints, 
 before they were fully put in practice. Circum- 
 cision was indeed practised in his family ; but the 
 visible Church was not yet so organized as that all 
 others were without its pale, and their forms of 
 worship rejected of God. Prophets and priests 
 were occasionally commissioned immediately by 
 God to instruct, and conduct the devotion of certain 
 parts of his Church. During this period there was 
 no written Revelation, nor were the forms of wor- 
 ship such as required a regular stated ministry. 
 This patriarchal dispensation, adapted wisely by 
 the Redeemer to the state of the world, continued 
 in operation until the Law was given by Moses 
 at Mount Sinai. During this period the Church 
 looked forth as the morning. 
 
CHURCH UNDER THE LAW. 27 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE STATE OF THE CHURCH FROM THE GIVING OF THE 
 LAW UNTIL THE DEATH OF CHRIST. 
 
 Life and growth distinguish the works of God. 
 These are characters which the utmost efforts of 
 created power cannot bestow upon its own works. 
 The analogy of nature teaches us to expect a 
 progression from infancy to maturity, in the mys- 
 tical body of Christ. The history of the Church 
 exhibits the operation of this principle. The Cov- 
 enant Society proceeds toward perfection. 
 
 The moral aspect of the world had greatly 
 changed during the four hundred years which pre- 
 ceded the divine legcation of Moses. Patriarchal 
 simplicity was almost forgotten, and towards the 
 close of this period the most abominable idolatries 
 almost universally prevailed. These idolatries be- 
 came incorporated with political institutions, and 
 were supported by the progress of the arts and 
 sciences. The godly men were gradually received 
 into heaven, and their degenerate families became 
 the votaries of the prevailing superstitions. The 
 covenant with Abraham anticipated this event, and 
 preserved the Church from destruction. Such an 
 organization of the ecclesiastical body as may serve 
 the purposes of piety, typify the Eedeemer, and 
 preserve the Church distinct from the nations, is 
 now become more necessary than ever. Upon the 
 
28 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 pillar of truth such inscriptions must appear as are 
 fit to produce these effects in the present state of 
 human society. Such a constitution is provided 
 for the Church by the Divine Head ; and the de- 
 scendants of Jacob are miraculously delivered from 
 Egyptian bondage, under the conduct of Moses, 
 and, assembled at Sinai, they have this constitution 
 delivered to them in a covenant form. The Sinai 
 covenant is an external dispensation of the cove- 
 nant of grace, a fulfilment in part of the first 
 promise to fallen man, and a further development 
 of the Abrahamic covenant, divinely adapted to the 
 state of the times. This ecclesiastical organization 
 provided rites which prefigured the coming of 
 Christ, and the consequent change of dispensation. 
 It established laws which directly condemned the 
 idolatrous services of the heathen, and which were 
 abundantly calculated to preserve the temporal 
 interest of the society, and advance the eternal 
 salvation of God's own people. A constant series 
 of miracles during the course of forty years con- 
 firmed the divine origin of this new dispensation, 
 and settled according to promise the Covenant 
 Society in the land of Canaan. This people are 
 now the only visible Church. The covenant be- 
 tween them and their God consists in his proposing 
 to them the whole system of ecclesiastical policy 
 now established, and requiring their submission to it, 
 together with their express engagement to observe 
 it in every particular. This dispensation is more 
 
DIVINE REVELATION. 29 
 
 specific than any which preceded it. It requires 
 the observation of the Sabbath, and the offering of 
 sacrifices, as was the case from the first erection 
 of the Church on earth. It requires punctual at- 
 tention to family religion, and pious conference, as 
 it also was from the beginning. It establishes a 
 regular ministry, to be continued in uninterrupted 
 succession, and institutes elders and judges to pre- 
 serve order, and punish the rebellious. Divine 
 Revelation is committed to writing, and this book 
 of the covenant is deposited in the hands of the 
 Hebrews, as the rule of their faith and manners. 
 Circumcision, the sign of the Abrahamic Covenant, 
 is continued, to show that this is an enlarged edition 
 of that covenant ; and the passover, instituted as 
 the token of their separate preservation in Egypt, 
 is also continued as a commemoration of their 
 deliverance, a badge of their separation from -the 
 heathen, and a type of the great sacrifice which the 
 Redeemer is once to offer for their redemption. 
 
 These two sacraments, circumcision and the 
 passover, seal the ecclesiastical covenant to every 
 member of the visible Church, seal eternal salvation 
 to every believer, and serve as public declarations 
 to the world of their distinguishing religious pro- 
 fession. The same people who were thus reduced 
 into a Church state, were formed also by the same 
 divine authority into a civil commonwealth. God 
 commands that every part of human conduct should 
 subserve the interest of his Church ; and he, by a 
 
30 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 divine act, exhibited to the nations an ever-memo- 
 rable instance of the civil polity being so formed as 
 effectually to answer this grand design. The policy 
 of the heathen nations was to render religion a 
 political engine for the support of daring ambition. 
 Among the Hebrews, civil legislation was intended 
 for the safety of the Church. 
 
 The Hebrew Church was, nevertheless, really 
 distinct from the state. The proselytes of the 
 covenant w^ere admitted as full members of the 
 Church, and thus engrafted on the stock of Abra- 
 ham ; but were not admitted to the same civil 
 privileges as the native Israelites. The proselytes 
 of the gate were admitted to some civil privileges, 
 but not to any participation in the benefits of the 
 ecclesiastical covenant. The courts were also dif- 
 ferent. The Sanhedrim and the Synagogue, to 
 judge of religious concerns, w^ere perfectly distinct 
 from the civil Sanhedrim, and the courts of the 
 gates which judged in civil matters. The Church 
 had the power of settling controversies w4iich re- 
 spected the religious character, by the ceremonial 
 law ; and to the state belonged the decision of 
 controversies respecting injuries and property, by 
 the judicial law. The priests and Levites were the 
 ministers of religion, acting with the assistance of 
 the prophets occasionally sent by the Lord. The 
 civil officers, judges, and kings were magistrates, 
 but not as such authorized to officiate in religious 
 services. And althousch the civil constitution under- 
 
A VISIBLE SOCIETY. 31 
 
 went many alterations during the existence of the 
 Hebrew nation, the ecclesiastical form continued 
 unaltered. The priesthood, the sacrifices, and the 
 ceremonies are regulated by one uniform law. 
 Divine revelations, however, continue from time to 
 time, and inspired men are commissioned to write 
 for the canon of Scripture. This had some influ- 
 ence upon the mode of social worship. 
 
 The state of religion among the Hebrews was 
 much affected by their connection wdth other na- 
 tions, and the Church suffered or prospered as the 
 Lord withdrew or afforded his extraordinary super- 
 intendence. Eminent prophets and priests, and 
 virtuous judges and kings, were reared up from 
 time to time, as the instruments of reformation, and 
 the sword of the heathen enemy was often provi- 
 dentially used to correct and punish the crimes of 
 God's covenant Israel. The period of suffering was 
 usually an admonition to the duty of repentance 
 and fasting ; and the dawn of reformation called 
 the nation and the Church to a solemn renova- 
 tion of their covenants with God. After the revolt 
 of the ten tribes from the house of David, Jeroboam, 
 their political leader, made Israel to sin against the 
 Lord, by a violation of the covenant of Sinai. Many 
 pious people tacitly countenanced the apostasy, and 
 for several ages after the majority established idola- 
 try, there was a minority in this declining Church 
 who really desired to serve the Lord. 
 
 Prophets were sent to warn this degenerate 
 
32 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 Church, and to gather the elect of God into their 
 glorious rest. The ten tribes, however, soon be- 
 came mingled with the heathen ; they forsook their 
 covenant God, and the Lord left them to a gradual 
 declension, until their ecclesiastical visibility became 
 entirely extinct. The Jews, upon the contrary, still 
 held their covenant charter, often renewed their 
 obligations, and although they sinned much, and 
 suffered much, the Lord preserved them as his 
 Church, a a visible Covenant Society^ until the long- 
 looked-for event, the appearance of the Son of God 
 in the flesh, had been accomplished. The state of 
 the Jewish Church, at the period of Christ's nativity, 
 although they had still the external dispensation 
 of grace made at Mount Sinai, and established by 
 ecclesiastical covenant, was different in many im- 
 portant subordiuate instances from what it had been 
 upon their first settlement in the promised land. 
 The state of society in general was much altered 
 from what it had been fifteen centuries before that 
 time. The more general diffusion of literature, and 
 of the accompanying arts of civilized life, had pro- 
 duced a correspondent change upon the internal 
 situation of the Church, as well as upon the face of 
 the world. The solemn work of offering sacrifice, 
 which, during the patriarchal dispensation, was com- 
 petent to every pious man, or head of a family, w^as, 
 by the Mosaic dispensation, committed exclusively 
 into the hands of the authorized priesthood. And 
 after the temple of the Lord had been erected in 
 
PARISH CHURCHES. 33 
 
 Jerusalem, in that place alone were these solemni- 
 ties of religion to be performed. 
 
 The principal part of social and practical religion 
 was still to be performed in domestic society. Con- 
 venient places of worship were, however, established 
 in every part of Jiidea. The Proseiicha was the 
 place of common resort for prayer and conference ; 
 and one of these, surrounded by a w^all and-a grove, 
 without any roof or covering, was to be found in 
 the different parts of the land of Israel. 
 
 Instruction, before the people learned to read, 
 was conducted entirely by the conversation of the 
 prophets, the priests, the Levites, and the heads 
 of families. The progress of the Jews in literature 
 was very slow. Eight hundred years after the writ- 
 ing of the law by Moses, it was rare to find a copy 
 of the book in which it was contained. During the 
 reign of the pious Josiah there was some difficulty 
 in procuring a copy of it for the king's use. About 
 one hundred and fifty years thereafter, however, 
 the zeal and faithfulness of Ezra was rendered the 
 instrument, in the hand of Providence, in turning 
 the attention of the Church to the word of God, 
 now much enlarged by the inspired writings of the 
 prophets. 
 
 The Proseucha is then exchanged for the Si/na- 
 gogiie, and the public reading and exposition of the 
 law become a part of the ordinary worship of every 
 Sabbath in every part of Judea. These Synagogues 
 were the parish Churches of the Jews. They were 
 
34 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 provided with a regular class of ecclesiastical offi- 
 cers, whose duty it was to explain the law, read 
 the Scriptures, direct the public devotion, censure 
 the scandalous, and take care of the poor. Where- 
 soever the Jews emigrated after the time of Ezra, 
 they carried with them their Scriptures and their 
 ministers ; and they formed Synagogues in the dif- 
 ferent cities of the nations in which they resided. 
 They never, after this regular organization, fell into 
 gross idolatry. Unacquaintance with the doctrines 
 of divine revelation is essential to the worship of 
 idols. Such was the visible state of the Church 
 when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, a city of 
 David. There indeed prevailed a general expecta- 
 tion at the time of his birth, that he should come ; 
 but very few appeared at that time to understand 
 the real character of the promised Messiah, or the 
 end of his mission. In the fulness of time our Lord 
 was manifest in the flesh, made of a woman, made 
 under the law, in order to fulfil the condition of 
 that eternal covenant, which had already, under 
 various dispensations, brought salvation to his seed, 
 and preserved his visible Church as his covenant 
 people upon earth, for the space of four thousand 
 years. He came to fulfil all the types, to abolish, 
 in his death, whatsoever referred to his incarnation 
 and sufferings, and to introduce a new dispensation 
 of the covenant of grace, which should last un- 
 altered until the end of time. During his public 
 ministry he pointed out the abuses which prevailed 
 
JOHN THE BAPTIST. 35 
 
 in the Jewish Church, explained the law, and pre- 
 dicted both the dissolution of the visible dispen- 
 sation which the Church now enjoyed, and the 
 establishment of another and a better covenant. 
 He gave the suitable instruction, and introduced 
 rites and ordinances which were after his resurrec- 
 tion to become especial parts of the order of his 
 Church. The covenant with Abraham did not 
 alter the patriarchal dispensation of grace, but by 
 admitting to particular privilege a certain part of 
 the existing Church, that federal transaction pre- 
 pared the way for the new order established in 
 the covenant of Sinai. The ministry of Jesus did 
 not immediately dissolve the ecclesiastical covenant 
 established by the mediation of Moses, and often 
 renewed by the Jews ; but by the erection of a 
 certain part of the existing Church into a special 
 society, holding particular communion w^ith himself, 
 he prepared the way for the new dispensation of 
 his grace, which, by destroying w^hat was typical, 
 would extend the benefits of the Abrahamic cove- 
 nant to the Gentile world. 
 
 It had been long a custom in the Church to use 
 certain baptisms or washings as a religious rite. It 
 was practised by Jacob and by Moses ; and in the 
 later period of the Jewish Church, they were in the 
 habit of washing all their proselytes immediately 
 after their circumcision, and before they w^ere ad- 
 mitted to further ecclesiastical privileges. It was 
 also common, at the feast of the Passover, not only 
 
36 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 to eat unleavened bread along vv^ith the flesh of the 
 paschal lamb, but also to drink, after supper, a cup 
 of wine. Divine Providence had rendered familiar 
 to the visible Church those simple, but significant 
 rites, which were afterwards, by a positive ordinance, 
 to be rendered the visible seals of the covenant. 
 
 John Baptist was commissioned, in the spirit and 
 po\ver of Elias, to prepare the w^aj of the Lord, 
 preach the gospel of repentance, and administer 
 baptism as a positive ordinance of God. This was 
 necessary even under the Mosaic dispensation, which 
 was not as yet dissolved, in order to prepare the 
 way for the other, and for effectually preserving 
 the unity of the Church when the forms of religion 
 would be altered. The Kedeemer himself instructed 
 his immediate disciples to expect the total abolition 
 of the Aaronic priesthood, of the temple, and the 
 whole temple services. He habituated them to the 
 forms of the Synagogue, and in these Churches he 
 himself repeatedly ministered. He thus ' showed 
 the perpetuity of such services in his Church ; but 
 he never undertook, as a priest of the temple, to 
 offer sacrifices, except that one sacrifice of himself, 
 whereby he perfected forever them that are sancti- 
 fied, and in which he at once fulfilled the design of 
 the priesthood, the temple, and the sacrifice. Im- 
 mediately before his sufferings, after having par- 
 ticipated of the last passover which should ever 
 be observed with divine acceptance, he instituted 
 the siibsiiiiite seal, the Sacrament of the Lord's 
 
NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH. 37 
 
 Supper, as a positive ordinance to be observed by 
 his Church forever. The Head of the Church thus 
 providing for its external order, did, at the awful 
 and appointed hour, fulfil the condition of the cove- 
 nant of grace, and purchase our eternal redemption 
 by his suffering unto the death ; bearing our sins 
 upon his own body on the accursed tree. Thus 
 was the Sinai covenant dissolved, and a new 
 covenant established.* 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 
 THE STATE OF THE CHURCH FROM THE DEATH OF 
 CHRIST UNTIL THE RISE OF ANTICHRIST. 
 
 In the death of Christ, all the types and cere- 
 monies of the Old Testament have had their full 
 accomplishment. The peculiar policy of the Jew\s 
 is now no more. The veil of the Temple is rent 
 in twain, and the Holy of Holies has lost its pre- 
 rogative. The wall of partition which separated 
 the seed of Jacob from the Gentiles is taken down, 
 and into one Church the inhabitants of other nations 
 are admitted with the children of Abraham, without 
 
 ♦ In order to avoid mistakes, the reader must keep in mind that tlie 
 word Covenant occurs in two distinct senses — the Covenant of Grace, 
 and the Ecclesiastical Covenant, whereby the Covenant of Grace is 
 externally dispensed. The Scriptures direct us to call the visible 
 dispensation of the means of Grace a Covenant. Gen. xvii. 10. Jer. 
 xxxi. 31-34:. 
 
38 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 distinction of privileges. After Christ's resurrec- 
 tion from the dead, he instructed his disciples more 
 particularly in the doctrine and order of the New 
 Testament Church ; and, giving unto his eleven 
 apostles a commission as ecclesiastical officers, he 
 ascended to heaven as an exalted Mediator, to 
 administer the government of the whole empire of 
 created existence, in subserviency to the interest 
 of his peculiar kingdom the Church. On the day 
 of Pentecost he poured out his Holy Spirit in 
 miraculous profusion upon his disciples, in order to 
 qualify them for the extraordinary services to which 
 he called them. The apostles commence their 
 ministerial work, and the first fruits which these 
 laborers reaped, afforded a glorious hope of the 
 plenitude of the approaching harvest. The prom- 
 ise to Abraham, which was divinely restricted to 
 his offspring according to the flesh, until the seed 
 Christ came, was now delivered from that temporary 
 restriction by the same divine authority, and offered, 
 with all its increased advantages, to men, without 
 distinction of nations or of ranks. All the families 
 of the earth are now invited to covenant with God. 
 The Covenant Society, ONE in every age, is now 
 exhibited under a form of goverment adapted by 
 divine wisdom to this last and most perfect dis- 
 pensation of grace which the Kedeemer makes on 
 earth. Every member is directed to submit to it, and 
 to support its whole order forever. The apostles, 
 having equal power, are the only ministers and 
 
THE CHURCH ONE. 39 
 
 rulers of the Church; and they are authorized to 
 estabUsh in Jerusalem the model upon which all 
 Churches are to be formed in future, throughout 
 the nations of the earth. In their own behavior 
 towards one another, they set the example of min- 
 isterial parity; and, as extraordinary messengers, 
 endowed with supernatural gifts, they exercised 
 authority over all the Churches. This measure 
 was necessary to place the kingdom of Messiah in 
 an orderly state, that the constitution divinely pro- 
 vided for it might be put in full operation, and its 
 future administration committed into the hands of 
 the ordinary and permanent officers. 
 
 The apostles preached the gospel, explaining the 
 whole economy of grace, and reduced into a Church 
 state all who embraced the faith, together with 
 their children. Their visible membership in God's 
 Covenant Society was immediately sealed by bap- 
 tism. As the rainbow, already in the heavens, 
 became by divine appointment the seal of the cov- 
 enant to Noah, and circumcision, practised among 
 all the nations descended from Abraham, became 
 the seal of the covenant of Sinai made with the 
 seed of Jacob, so did baptism now for the first time 
 become the seal of the new covenant, although for 
 a long time before it had been a common rite of 
 the Jews, and since the time of John the Baptist 
 a positive institution of heaven. Baptism is a sym^ 
 bolical washing. It represents and seals the union 
 of believers with Christ Jesus in the one body of 
 
40 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 the invisible Church. It also signifies the solemn 
 enfrac^ements of Christians to the faith and obedi- 
 ence of Christ their Lord, as members in covenant 
 with him and with one another, to maintain in the 
 strength of his grace the unity of the spirit, in the 
 bonds of peace. It is administered by an authorized 
 officer of the organized ecclesiastical society. The 
 element is water; and as the washing is not de- 
 signed to cleanse literally the body, such a quantity 
 of water is to be applied as may be sufficient to 
 answer the purposes of a symbol. This is all that 
 is necessary. The application of water to the face 
 of a recognized Church member by an ordained 
 minister of the word, in the name of the Father, 
 Son, and Holy Ghost, one God, is the true mode 
 of administering this initiating sacrament. No less 
 than three thousand persons were, on the first day 
 in which the apostles publicly preached in Jerusa- 
 lem, formed into an organized Church, and baptized 
 by the apostles. 
 
 Jerusalem was a large and populous city. It 
 contained upwards of a million of inhabitants. The 
 synagogues, the parish Churches of the Jews, in 
 which, under the Mosaic dispensation, they met for 
 their ordinary worship, amounted in this city to 
 nearly five hundred. The apostles embraced every 
 opportunity which offered of preaching in the Jew- 
 ish synagogues, and they appeared daily at the 
 temple, the most public place of resort, especially 
 to the devout Jews. But although these places 
 
RULE OF ADMISSION. 41 
 
 afforded an opportunity of making converts to 
 Christianity, they did not offer an equal oppor- 
 tunity for the peculiar acts of Christian worship. 
 The disciples could not sanctify the first day of the 
 week in a regular manner, in these promiscuous 
 assemblies, which met in Solomon's porch, or in the 
 Jewish synagogues. They therefore met in private 
 houses, in such numbers as could conveniently 
 associate for the sanctification of the Lord's day ; 
 and in these select assemblies or Churches, was the 
 sacrament of the Lord's supper administered. This 
 solemn institution, which is the New Testament 
 passover, commemorates the death of Christ, is a 
 mean of grace, a symbol of our union with the 
 Church, a seal of our visible membership, a badge 
 of our separation from the world, and a public social 
 renovation of the baptismal oath to serve the Lord, 
 and abide by his Church, according to all the ordi- 
 nances of that ecclesiastical covenant into which 
 God admits us under the New Testament. 
 
 Steadfastness in the apostles' doctrine, with a 
 consistent course of obedience to the whole dis- 
 pensation of the covenant of grace, in opposition 
 to every contrary system, was then the only requi- 
 site for admission to Christian communion. 
 
 A profession of believing the Bible never did 
 constitute the condition of Christian fellowship. In 
 the first erection of the Church at Jerusalem, no 
 part of the New Testament vv'as committed to 
 writing ; and although the Jews believed the Old 
 
42 HISTOmCAL VIEW. 
 
 Testament, they were not universally admitted into 
 the Church. 
 
 The rule of admission into the Church is in- 
 variable. He who knowingly professes a belief and 
 approbation of the covenant of grace, who engages 
 to submit to the dispensation of that covenant in 
 every part, and whose conduct is consistent with 
 these declarations, is entitled to admission among 
 the disciples of our Lord. Such were the members 
 of the apostolic Churches. Whensoever the con- 
 trary appeared, whether by heresies, schisms, or 
 immoralities, they became liable to censure. The 
 first object of the apostolic ministry was to teach 
 and persuade men to embrace Jesus Christ, and 
 lepent of all their sins. The next point to be 
 gained was the organization of the converts into a 
 regular Church state, and to settle the ministry 
 and ordinances among them. The commission of 
 the apostles instructed them to disciple the nations. 
 When a Church was formed in Jerusalem, the 
 apostles phiced in every congregation presbyters of 
 their own choice. Of these presbyters, or elders, 
 one was a teacher authorized to administer the 
 word and sacraments, and the others were his coun- 
 sel and aid in government and discipline. To the 
 consistory or session of elders the whole eccle- 
 siastical power of the Church was committed. But 
 these Churches were all connected in one body by 
 representation ; and although Jerusalem contained, 
 in less than twenty years after the first Church 
 
EVANGELISTS. 43 
 
 was organized in it, no less than twenty congre- 
 gations, they are all one Church. By the representa- 
 tive system the unity of the empire is supported, 
 however numerous its provinces. By presbytery, 
 several distinct congregations are united in one 
 Church. 
 
 Christianity was not long confined to Jerusalem. 
 The efforts of persecutors were the means of ex- 
 tending the Church. Many of the ministers were 
 obliged to fly from Jerusalem, and they went to 
 different places, preaching the gospel and forming 
 Churches, with great success. Wherever there 
 w^ere disciples, they associated according to the 
 ancient practice of the pious Jews, for religious 
 conference and prayer. Several societies of Chris- 
 tians, meeting for private social worship in con- 
 venient private houses, existed throughout Judea 
 and the surrounding nations. As soon as con- 
 venient, however, these societes were organized 
 into congregations, with a stated ministry and 
 public ordinances. And as the congregations were 
 formed, they were regularly presbyterated. 
 
 The rapidity with which the gospel spread during 
 the apostolic age, and the prospect of spreading it 
 still further, exposed all the apostles to great and 
 unceasing danger and toil. They had the care of 
 all the Churches ; but they could not be present 
 everywhere. The first converts were, in general, 
 simple and pious ; and the first ministers were 
 faithful and zealous. The means of information 
 
44 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 were, however, few. The canon of Scripture was 
 not yet complete. Copies of the Scriptures were 
 scarce. Pious books were not to be obtained. Few 
 persons were able to read. The Jewish rites and 
 the Heathen superstition were not easily banished 
 from the esteem even of those who embraced Chris- 
 tianity. The Church required the regular and con- 
 stant administration of ordinances, and the stated 
 ministry stood in need of the superintendence of 
 those who were supernaturally endowed with the 
 gifts of miracles. The apostles found it expedient 
 to employ EVANGELISTS, in visiting the different 
 places in which the gospel had been planted, in the 
 organization of new congregations, and in directing 
 the ministry, where it was regularly established. 
 These extraordinary ambassadors are, neverthless, 
 careful to exhibit to the Christian world the true 
 model upon which all Churches are to be consti- 
 tuted. This is apparent from their uniform prac- 
 tice. None are recognized as disciples who do not 
 profess the true religion, and submit to all its 
 ordinances, without exception. There is not upon 
 the records of the Church during, the first century, 
 an instance of any one being admitted to Church 
 fellowship, who deified any doctrinal truth, or re- 
 jected any practical institution. If it happened 
 that any disciple did, after his admission, embrace 
 heresy, refuse submission to order, or practise any 
 immorality, he was brought under suitable disci- 
 pline. According to the nature and circumstances 
 
PRESBYTERIAN CONSTITUTION. 45 
 
 of his scandal, he was admonished, rebuked, or ex- 
 communicated. Among the disciples there was no 
 distinction of rights or spiritual privileges, until 
 organized into an ecclesiastic body. The several 
 members had then their places appointed by divine 
 authority. In every organized congregation there 
 was a distinct class of rulers, and all others are 
 ruled and bound to submission in the Lord. To 
 the rulers was committed exclusively the power of 
 the hey 8 of the kingdom of heaven — the right publicly 
 to teach and to disciple. Church officers alone can 
 exercise any part of discipline. They alone can 
 admit into Church fellowship, can govern those 
 who are admitted, and can exclude from the privi- 
 leges of the Church those who are unruly. In no 
 case, during the first century, did a congregation 
 examine and admit a member, judicially try and 
 censure the disorderly, or excommunicate the re- 
 bellious. 
 
 In every congregation there were ordained sev- 
 eral elders. In no instance is an organized con- 
 gregation under the care of one officer. These 
 presbyters were ordained to office by other pres- 
 byters. There is not one case in the apostolic age, 
 of a presbyter being ordained to office by any single 
 individual, whether an ordinary or extraordinary 
 minister. As the ordinations were uniformly con- 
 ducted by a plurality of ordained officers, and never 
 by one, so the imposition of hands is the significant 
 rite by which the ministerial authority was com- 
 
46 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 municated. No one offered to preach or administer 
 the sacraments without regular ordination, except 
 the first extraordinary Prophets and Ambassadors, 
 who were endowed with miraculous gifts to attest 
 their divine mis.sion. Those Christians who met 
 in private fellowship for mutual edification, never 
 employed a preacher, or attempted to ordain an 
 officer for themselves. They waited until the rulers 
 of the Church visited them to administer ordinances, 
 and ordain officers. 
 
 A self-organized society, w^ould be a building of 
 man; but in no sense the house of God — "the 
 Church of the living God, the pillar and ground 
 of the truth." 
 
 The primitive saints had a common cause, and 
 they felt a common interest in the maintenance of 
 the gospel. Their worldly income was cheerfully 
 devoted to that end. Like the members of one 
 family, they all, according to their several abilities, 
 contributed of their property to pious purposes. 
 Not one design ever failed of its accomplishment 
 from want of pecuniary resources in that age while 
 any Christian was in possession of property ade- 
 quate to the purpose. The income of their estates, 
 and the earnings of their labors, were deemed a 
 common right, and employed for the common good. 
 The rulers of the congregation disposed of its col- 
 lections ; and when paupers were so numerous as 
 to require particular attention, distinct officers were 
 appointed to inspect their state, and to distribute, 
 
CORRUPTIONS. 47 
 
 with the advice of the Presbyters, the adequate 
 rehef from the general fund. The officers who 
 served the tables of the poor were called deacons, 
 a word which signifies servants. They had no au- 
 thority in ecclesiastical proceedings, any further 
 than as they respected temporalities. 
 
 When the extraordinary officers had, under divine 
 direction, settled the church, the ordinary ministry 
 conducted its concerns agreeably to its Preshi/tenan 
 constitution. Each Christian congregation had a pas- 
 tor of their own choice, regularly ordained as their 
 bishop by a judicatory of presbyters, by the laying 
 on of hands. With this pastor, or angel of the 
 Church, were associated, for the purposes of gov- 
 ernment, lay-elders chosen by their brethren, and 
 ordained to office by a session or presbytery. The 
 minister and elders, the authorized representation 
 of the contrreg-ation, constituted the session. The 
 sessions of several congregations formed one pres- 
 bytery, and all the presbyteries were under the 
 government of one common judicatory, formed upon 
 the principle of representation, in its most pure and 
 regular form. 
 
 This system, admirably calculated to preserve the 
 purity of the Church, w^as fully exemplified before 
 the death of the apostles, and universally prevailed 
 in the first century. The kingdom of Christ, thus 
 regularly governed, and subsisting in the midst of 
 hostile nations as an independent empire under the 
 protection of the Prince of the kings of the earth, 
 
48 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 exhibited to the woiid the power of God, and the 
 wisdom of God in the salvation of man. It did not, 
 however, enjoy peace for a great length of time. 
 No system, however perfect, can be perfectl}^ ad- 
 ministered by frail man. God was, nevertheless, 
 glorified in his Son ; the Church had her doctrine 
 and constitution completed ; the elect were savingly 
 united to their Lord ; and the world was left with- 
 out excuse. These ends having been obtained, 
 the Church soon began to decline. Heresies and 
 schisms soon distracted her congregations, and called 
 forth the faithfulness and talents of her sons, to 
 defend her order and her doctrine. The Jewish 
 converts endeavored to make the Church more 
 similar to the temple ; and the Pagan endeavored 
 to bring it to bear some resemblance to the house 
 of his idols. The philosopher endeavored to cor- 
 rupt its doctrine, and the politician to model its 
 form according to that of the Roman empire. As 
 the godly were carried home to glory, and the 
 number of the elect on earth diminishing, while 
 the number of professors increased, the Church 
 becomes more corrupt. The most conspicuous char- 
 acters and places usually set the example of con- 
 formity to the world, while obscure corners shine 
 with the light of gospel truth in its original purity. 
 Before the latter end of the second century the 
 appearance of the Christian Church, especially in 
 the principal cities, had altered for the worse. 
 It is generally the case that the history of the 
 
HUMAN INSTITUTIONS. 49 
 
 Church is considered subordinate to that of worldly 
 empires. A historian of American affairs, even in 
 the present day, would be very apt to overlook the 
 most pious and orderly followers of Jesus; and if 
 he wrote of the Church at all, he would bestow 
 attention, not in proportion to the purity and faith- 
 fulness of ecclesiastical bodies, but in proportion 
 to their wealth, their numbers, and their worldly 
 influence. The few books which have escaped the 
 destruction of literature in the dark ages cannot, 
 therefore, be considered as exhibiting to view the 
 most pure branches of the Church. They direct our 
 attention to those most conspicuous in the world, 
 though probably the least worthy of our notice. 
 The view, notwithstanding, which they afford us, 
 is that of a declining empire. Christianity, indeed, 
 was extensively diffusing itself in name; but the 
 purity of the Church had lost its lustre. Heresy and 
 strife divided the professed followers of Jesus into 
 factions. Human inventions encumbered divine 
 worship ; carnal views influenced discipline ; and 
 ambition changed the form of government in those 
 Churches which occupied the most distinguished 
 situations in the Roman empire. A faithful voice 
 was raised against these deviations from apostolic 
 jDurity. This voice is feeble, as it reaches our ears ; 
 but it must have been at first bold and energetic, 
 seeing it has reached us at all, through so vast a 
 wilderness, and over the innumerable interposing 
 obstacles introduced by the Roman Antichrist. Be- 
 4 
 
50 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 fore the end of the second century, some ambitious 
 ministers began to abuse their influence, their leis- 
 ure, their wealth, and their literature, as the means 
 of usurping power over their brethren. The pious 
 disciples who formed the Churches at the death of 
 the apostles, were now admitted into the Church 
 triumphant. They transmitted the name Christian 
 to their successors; but man is naturally corrupt, 
 and grace is not hereditary. Iniquity abounded, 
 the love of many waxed cold, the means of infor- 
 mation w^ere scanty, books were accessible to very 
 few, and thus the state of the Church offered an 
 easy prey to the rapacity of the ambitious. To 
 support themselves in their usurpation these time- 
 serving pastors left no art untried. Like the Scribes 
 and Pharisees, they pretended superior zeal and 
 sanctity, and they endeavored to make void the law 
 by their traditions. They represented the Jewish 
 as the model of the Christian ministry, and taught 
 their disciples that Aaron typified not the Redeem- 
 er, the high priest of our profession, but a prelate 
 of the Church. The deacon, who at first ministered 
 by order of session to the wants of the poor, began 
 to employ servants under him, and in process of 
 time the office was entirely changed, and rendered 
 a spiritual ministry. The presbyter, however, long 
 retained his rank, and contended for his rights. 
 But after Christianity became the religion of the 
 Roman empire, it was mingled w^ith paganism ; and 
 the external form of the Church was also modified 
 
THE SAINTS PRESERVED. 51 
 
 according to the civil government. The bishop 
 claimed a superior power over the presbyter, and, 
 armed with the authority of the Roman emperor, he 
 obtained his object. Patriarchs and metropolitnns 
 are higher branches of the hierarchy ; and these 
 dignitaries of the Church, forcing themselves upon 
 our attention, hide from our view^ the more pious, 
 faithful, and orderly congregations, which still re- 
 tain the apostolic doctrine, and worship, and dis- 
 cipline. The word Bishop, began in the second 
 century to be applied, in some places, to moderators 
 of the presbyterial courts, and afterwards to those 
 w^ho pretended higher ministerial authority than 
 ordinary ministers ; but this application was by no 
 means universal. The zeal of the apostles, and their 
 contemporary ministers of the gospel, carried them 
 through the different nations, and the subsequent 
 persecutions drove many able ministers into every 
 part of the known world. 
 
 Churches were settled in the different nations, 
 and at a distance from the seat of the Eoman em- 
 pire these Churches enjoyed their primitive order 
 and truth. 
 
 According to prophecy, however, the spirit of 
 the world gradually prevailed over the exertions 
 of piety, in the most conspicuous nations. The 
 ecclesiastical courts were unable to check the o-row- 
 
 o 
 
 ing apostasy. The Church increased, and regular 
 representative assemblies were not permitted to 
 meet by the . persecutors. And even when the 
 
52 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 magistracy of the empire of Home professed Chris- 
 tianity, the ecclesiastical councils were influenced 
 in a high degree by the civil power, and the cor- 
 ruption had already become too general to be now 
 effectually prevented. Synods, composed partly of 
 apostates, and the sword hanging over their heads, 
 are not competent to produce reformation. These 
 causes, together with the civil wars and final dis- 
 memberment of the empire of Rome, nourished 
 prelatic ambition, and at last placed in the chair of 
 Papal supremacy Boniface the Third. This event 
 took place, in opposition to the will of the strug- 
 gling Churches, in the year 606. It was effected 
 by the agency of Phocas, that infamous tyrant, who 
 waded to the imperial throne through blood. The 
 Roman supremacy was not yet, however, generally 
 recognized. Princes and Emperors, Churches, and 
 even whole nations, testified against that deed, as a 
 disgrace to the annals of history. The most pure 
 and faithful parts of the Christian Church beheld 
 with anguish the grand apostasy ; but they still, 
 though in a great measure unnoticed and unknown, 
 retained the apostolic order. Their bishops were 
 parish ministers. Their elders were representa- 
 tives of the congregations, and their deacons were 
 the trustees of the poor. The prelacy had, indeed, 
 gradually paved the way for the Pope's usurpation. 
 The nations of Europe in general, and some of the 
 Asian and African governments, were now called 
 Christian. God's visible Covenant Society became 
 
THE RISE OF ANTICHRIST. 53 
 
 extremely corrupt, and like the house of Israel, 
 had broken their covenant. Still, however, the 
 Lord preserved his saints ; and the saints struggled 
 against the prevailing iniquity. In every • nation 
 there were numbers who did not acquiesce in the 
 apostasy. It was a very small proportion of the 
 Church which fully submitted to the supremacy of 
 Antichrist. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE STATE OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH FROM THE 
 RISE OF ANTICHRIST UNTIL THE PRESENT DAY. 
 
 The Redeemer instructed his inspired apostles to 
 predict the rise of a peculiar adversary to his gospel. 
 The universal prevalence of correct principle and 
 regular ecclesiastic order he taught them to behold 
 at a distance. By the splendid triumphs of the 
 truth in the first ages, the power of religion was 
 exemplified, the divinity of the Messiah demon- 
 strated, and the vast number of God's elect children 
 who were at that period on the earth, prepared for 
 their everlasting inheritance. As soon as these 
 purposes were accomplished, the faithful disciples 
 began to realize the truth of the prophecy, that an 
 awful apostasy should afiect the world, and the true 
 witnesses become reduced to sackcloth and poverty. 
 One hundred and fifty years after Boniface assumed 
 the title of universal bishop, and claimed spiritual 
 
54 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 .power over all the earth, his successor Pope Stephen 
 was created a temporal prince, by the efforts of 
 Pepin, the usurper of the French throne. This 
 accession of power was highly acceptable to the 
 pretended successor of Peter, and vicegerent of 
 Jesus Christ. It enabled him to enforce his spirit- 
 ual supremacy. It is not, however, the jurisdiction 
 of the exarchate of Ravenna, or his possessing the 
 government of some of the Itahan states, that con- 
 stitutes the Roman Antichrist. He who' is the visi- 
 ble head of that system of superstition, which, under 
 the Christian name, is the greatest enemy of the 
 Christian religion which ever existed, is on that 
 account alone the man of sin, and son of perdition. 
 By virtue of his spiritual supremacy he ruled the 
 nations of Europe ; but they never submitted to 
 his authority as a civil Emperor. The kings of the 
 earth swore allegiance to him, not because he ruled 
 the petty states of Italy, but because he was the 
 Pope. His own civil power, like the magistracy of 
 the nations under his spiritual domination, is one of 
 those horns with which the monster of blasphemy 
 shed the blood of the saints. The Papacy does not 
 cease to be Antichrist, even when stripped of civil 
 authority. The rise of Antichrist is to be dated in 
 the sixth year of the seventh century. 
 
 The visible Church then beheld a usurper upon 
 a spiritual throne, claiming the whole government 
 of the kingdom of Christ upon earth. The Church 
 of Rome acquiesced in the claim; but the great 
 
THE WALDENSES. 55 
 
 body of Christians opposed his pretensions. The 
 Christian ministry, among all the nations, were in- 
 dependent of the see of Rome during the seventh 
 century, except those of Italy ; and a great number, 
 even of them refused submission to him. During 
 the eighth century, when his power was greatly 
 increased, the second council of Nice favored his 
 superstition ; but seven years thereafter Charle- 
 magne held a council at Frankfort, consisting of 
 three hundred clergymen from various countries, 
 which condemned the council of Nice, and reversed 
 its idolatrous acts. When the goverments of those 
 nations which had formerly been subject to Rome 
 acknowledged the Pope's supremacy, their national- 
 Churches were constrained into the same measure. 
 Even then all the Churches in the Popish nations 
 did not recognize the Pontifical authority. It was 
 not until the eleventh century that the Churches 
 of Europe could be called ONE with the Church of 
 Rome. Those persons, of course, who in the differ- 
 ent parts of the world renounced the papal author- 
 ity, were persecuted as heretics. The number and 
 frequency of these persecutions are sufficient to 
 show that vast numbers of congregations and min- 
 isters were, during the darkest ages, opposed to 
 the Antichristian system. The Roman persecutors, 
 thirsting for blood, discovered, in the twelfth cen- 
 tury, a Christian people, entirely distinct from the 
 Papal Church, enjoying the ordinances of the gos- 
 pel in their primitive simplicity. The Waldenses, 
 
56 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 dwelling in the south of France and the valleys of 
 Piedmont; were a people not numbered among the 
 nations. Providence had separated them as a Cov- 
 enant Society, from the declining Churches of the 
 nations, that they might exhibit to the world the 
 primitive order, when Antichristian power should 
 have arrived at its height. Reinerius, the Inquisitor- 
 general, describes these newly discovered heretics 
 about the middle of the twelfth century. 
 
 The Waldenses were in no connection with the 
 Church of Rome or its clergy. They maintained a 
 system of distinct ecclesiastical policy from the 
 apostolic age. They had their friends scattered in 
 many nations, diligently, but. without attracting 
 much notice, diffusing their peculiar sentiments. 
 This grand enemy, the inquisitor, in order to rouse 
 the indignation of the papacy against these here- 
 tics, as he calls them, bestows upon them three 
 characters, which now secure the admiration of 
 Christians to these genuine disciples of our Lord. 
 Their enemies being judges, they are the purest 
 Church. 1. " This sect is the oldest. It endures, 
 say some, from the time of the apostles. 2. It is 
 the most general. There is scarce any country 
 where it is not. 3. It hath a show of piety. They 
 live justly before men, and believe all things rightly 
 concerning God; only they blaspheme the Church 
 of Rome and the clergy." The following character 
 of this Church is drawn by 'the Centuricators of 
 Magdeburgh, from an old Manuscript. " The Val- 
 
THE WALDENSES. 57 
 
 lenses defined the Church of Christ, That Society 
 which heareth the sincere word of Christ, and useth the 
 sacraments instituted hy him, in whatever place it exist. 
 They consider the Scripture as the supreme stan- 
 dard of doctrine. The reading of the Holy Scrip- 
 tures they represent as necessary unto all men. 
 The decrees of councils are to be approved as they 
 agree with the word of God. They own two sac- 
 raments only, baptism and the Lord's supper. They 
 declare the Church of Rome to be the whore of 
 Babylon, and will not own the pope or bishops. 
 They call the dedication of Churches, the obser- 
 vance of holydays, and all human inventions in 
 religious worship, diabolical inventions." Arch- 
 bishop Usher has extracted from the History of 
 ^neas Sylvius the following additional character- 
 istics : " They deny the hierarchy, maintaining that 
 theKe is no difference among the priests on account 
 of dignity of office; but only of usefulness and pu- 
 rity of life. Ministers should be content with the 
 contributions of the people. Every person should 
 have access to the free preaching of the gospel. 
 No sin ought to be tolerated. There is no day 
 holy but the Lord's day. The Lord's supper is to 
 be consecrated in the Church only, and by a minis- 
 ter ; neither does its efficacy depend more on a 
 good than a bad man, if he be a lawful minister. 
 Both men and women, and little children, are to be 
 baptized in the Church by the priest." 
 
 These eminently pious Churches, which so long 
 
58 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 maintained tiie primitive order, while the whole 
 world was wondering after the beast, were inter- 
 mingled with persons of a very opposite description. 
 The purest Churches have had tares growing up 
 with the wheat; and wicked men have resided in 
 the same place with the most virtuous. The popish 
 writers attempted to confound all the inhabitants 
 of the land with the Church ; and to charge upon 
 the visible Covenant Society the errors which here- 
 tics, apostates, and nominal professors may have 
 propagated in that period. The Creed of the Church 
 of the Waldenses, however, was truly evangelical ; 
 and the order of the Church, in their terms of com- 
 munion, form of government, exercises of worship, 
 and administration of discipline, was strictly Pres- 
 byterian. To the preservation of their ecclesiastical 
 order they were bound by oath ; nor was any con- 
 sidered as belonging to this Church who did .not 
 take the Covenant. God in his providence did, in 
 these churches, not only preserve a seed to serve 
 him, and prepare his children for glory ; but he also 
 provided a seminary for the instruction of minis- 
 ters and saints, who should afterwards be instru- 
 mental in overturning the empire of the Papacy. 
 The persecutions of these witnesses were frequent 
 and bloody. They were scattered among the na- 
 tions, and carried with them their knowledge, their 
 piety, and their forms of religious worship. In the 
 thirteenth century they spread and prevailed so 
 far, that the Pope thought it necessary to exert his 
 
COVENANTERS. 59 
 
 utmost efforts to suppress them. They were found 
 m Germany, Bohemia, Poland, France, and Britain. 
 It is computed that in France alone one million of 
 them suffered martyrdom. They were, however, 
 remarkably preserved in some of those coim tries 
 to which they had been banished ; and, like the 
 scattered Jews, before the coming of Christ in the 
 flesh, were preparing the way of the 'Lord in the 
 different parts of the world. 
 
 In the beginning of the fourteenth century, there 
 were about eighty thousand of these Covenanters in 
 Austria and the neighboring territories. They every- 
 where adhered to their covenant engagements, and 
 pertinaciously opposed popery, and defended their 
 own principles even unto death. They were con- 
 sidered as poor ; and being aliens, in those different 
 countries into which they were banished, they were 
 despised ; and the contempt was, by the Providence 
 of God, a shield and protection to them. Many 
 eminent men, in the various nations, however, were 
 enlightened by their doctrines and examples ; and 
 these again, by their writings, diffused their senti- 
 ments, in some degree, throughout the various col- 
 leges and seminaries of literature. The progress 
 of knowledge was slow, but it was certain. The 
 celebrated Walter Lollard, who suffered martyrdom 
 in the year 1322, spread through Germany the 
 doctrines of the Waldenses, and the famous John 
 Wickliff filled almost all Europe with the same 
 principles. The scattered Waldenses, still despised, 
 
60 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 and atill holding fast their integrity, preserved 
 among themselves the true order of the Christian 
 Church ; and contributed to instruct those in the 
 established Churches of the nations, who had cour- 
 ao^e to think for themselves. In the fifteenth cen- 
 tury, all Europe became sensible of the need of a 
 reformation of the church of Rome. A council as- 
 sembled at Constance, which declared the necessity 
 of a reformation, but manifested also that it was 
 not to be expected from the interested anti-Christian 
 priesthood. 
 
 John Huss, a man of distinguished talents and 
 erudition, professor of divinity at fhe celebrated 
 university of Prague, had, together with his inti- 
 mate friend Jerome, embraced many of the doc- 
 trines of the Waldenses. Although in the com- 
 munion of the Roman Church, they recommended 
 the works of Wickliff, and vainly supposed that 
 their exertions might serve to reform the Church, 
 and recall her from Babylon. They were, however, 
 successful in exciting an uncommon interest for a 
 reformation, and directing the Germans to a more 
 favorable opinion of those old dissenters, the Wal- 
 denses, who lived among them. After the death 
 of Huss, a number who had been influenced by his 
 doctrines, actually joined the Church of the Wal- 
 denses, who were settled in Bohemia. They adopted 
 one confession of faith. They also agreed upon one 
 covenant, suited to the present state of the Church, 
 which, according to the established usage of tlie 
 
PROTESTANT REFORMATION. 61 
 
 Waldenses, was subscribed by all the members of 
 the society. Voetius, who had a good opportunity 
 of knowing, assures us that both the Waldenses of 
 Thoulouse and the Hussites of Bohemia, ratified 
 their federal .transactions with solemn oath. Thus, 
 while the papal power was at its height, and the 
 horns of the beast, the kingdoms of Europe who 
 agreed to support popery, directed against the wit- 
 nesses of Christ, Providence was preparing the na- 
 tions for that remarkable event which took place in 
 the beginning of the sixteenth century. The pe- 
 riod of the Protestant reformation will be forever 
 eminent in Church history. The anti-Christian em- 
 pire was shaken to its centre, and never can recover 
 its former ghastly dominion over the minds of men. 
 The exertions of the Waldenses became successful. 
 They had prepared, in a great measure, the public 
 mind for a breach from the Church of Rome. God 
 poured out his blessed Spirit. Select and suitable 
 instruments for the reformation were found and 
 employed. The state of the political world was 
 made subservient to the kingdom of Christ. Knowl- 
 edge, zeal, and unfeigned piety were promoted, 
 and -vast multitudes converted unto God. Zuin- 
 glius, Luther, and Calvin, and many other eminent 
 men, were employed in opposing the superstition, 
 and they had the happiness of seeing the pleasure of 
 the Lord prospering in their hands. Imbibing the 
 doctrines, and animated by the example of the Yal- 
 lenses, these eminent men contended for the faith. 
 
62 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 The reformers were ministers at first in the po- 
 pish Church, and sought its reformation. They 
 considered the papacy as distinct from the Catholic 
 Church. This is a judicious distinction. The Cath- 
 olic Church long existed without a pope. By the 
 amhitious dexterity of the Roman pontiffs, the pa- 
 pacy was by degrees incorporated with the Church; 
 but it was really as foreign to its genuine constitu- 
 tion, as a new citadel erected by a successful usurp- 
 er, would be to an ancient city. The few virtuous 
 ministers which had remained in the Church acted 
 upon this distinction. They opposed the citadel, 
 but still continued in the city. The city had been 
 a long time unsafe, but it had not been absolutely 
 deprived of its ancient liberties, until the council 
 of Trent had completely established every part of 
 anti-Christianism by ecclesiastical law. From that 
 period Romanists are to be considered as excom- 
 municated from the privileges of God's visible Cov- 
 enant Society. They are preserved in this excom- 
 municated state as barren branches, which are to 
 be visibly burned. 
 
 The reformation met with opposition. It pro- 
 gressed, nevertheless, undgr the smiles of an ap- 
 proving Providence, and in different nations they 
 who sought the Lord publicly covenanted. In the 
 year 1530 the Lutherans performed this important 
 duty. They framed the famous League of Smal- 
 kalde, which was solemnly renewed four years 
 thereafter. On the 20th day of July, 1537, the 
 
LEAGUE OF SMALKALDE. 63 
 
 capital articles of the Christian religion and disci- 
 pline were sworn publicly by the senate and people 
 of Geneva. As soon as the reformation put on a 
 regular appearance, and the reformers had erected 
 a separate communion from the Roman Church, the 
 Waldenses strengthened their hands, and joined in 
 their churches. On the 11th of November, 1571, 
 in a general assembly, they entered into a solemn 
 bond of union. They all bind themselves, under 
 the sanction of an oath, to maintain inviolably the 
 ancient union between all the faithful of the evan- 
 gelic religion and the Waldenses down to their 
 own time. They promise to submit to the good ex- 
 ternal regulations and ecclesiastic discipline already 
 established, and to this period maintained among 
 them. The Churches in Switzerland, in France, and 
 in Holland, of all the Churches of the continent of 
 Europe, attained to the highest purity; and the 
 Church of Scotland, between the years 1638 and 
 1649, appeared at the very zenith of the reforma- 
 tion. The Lutherans still retained the monstrous 
 absurdity of Christ's bodily presence in the sacra- 
 ment, and in framing the external order of their 
 Churches, adhered too closely to the popish model. 
 The Church of England, especially, preserved her 
 resemblance to the Church of Eome. The scanty 
 reformation which took place in that kingdom, al- 
 though overruled by Divine Providence for good to 
 the Christian cause in general, was very far from 
 being under the immediate direction of Christian 
 
64 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 principle. It was not conducted by an inquiring 
 people and enlightened ministry. The Church 
 really had little hand in it. It was a creature of 
 state poHcy. The Eighth Henry, a truly irreligious 
 man, produced the reformation of England, in order 
 to gratify his lust, his avarice, and his ambition. 
 He was a king of haughty passions, and of princi- 
 ples the most despotic To be revenged of the 
 Pope, Henry was willing that the Church of Eng- 
 land should be altogether disconnected from the 
 Eoman; and in order to effect this, he consented 
 that some deviations might be made from the doc- 
 trine and order of the papacy. The alterations 
 were, however, very few. None were tolerated by 
 the king, except such as were necessary to estab- 
 lish independency of Rome. He claimed to himself 
 the authority of which he stripped His Holiness. 
 The nation and the priesthood acquiesce in the 
 claim, and the impious Henry the Eighth is pro- 
 claimed the head of the Church of England. The 
 principal advantage which the nation obtained by 
 the change was, that now they had their Pope not 
 at Rome but in London. In Scotland the state of 
 the nation was rendered, by Divine Providence, fa- 
 vorable to the propagation of religion. The Refor- 
 mation commenced with the most learned and em- 
 inent ministers. It was gradually advanced, not as 
 an engine of state power, but as an interest totally 
 distinct from the policies of the present world. The 
 crown was opposed to the Protestant interest, and 
 
SCOTTISH REFORMERS. 65 
 
 could not, therefore, under the mask of friendship, 
 introduce anti-Christian corruption into the Reforma- 
 tion Church ; and it was too weak to destroy the 
 Protestant cause. The nobiHty overawed the mon- 
 archy, and shielded the commonalty from danger ; 
 while the faithful services of John Knox, and other 
 able ministers, propagated the reformation among 
 the people, until the mass of the nation being 
 under its' influence, they agreed to alter the civil 
 government, and give it a direction contrary to 
 popery. In Scotland the monarchy had not power 
 to subdue religion into an engine of state policy ; 
 but Christianity influenced the national society to 
 render its civil constitution subordinate to the king- 
 dom of Christ. The Church is recognized as a 
 regular and independent empire, of which Christ Jesus 
 is alone the King and Head — as an empire pos- 
 sessing officers and courts, which have the exclusive 
 right of regulating its concerns by the divine law. 
 Civil government is considered as an ordinance of 
 God, for the preservation of peace and order among 
 men, and for regulating every wordly interest 
 among Christians, in subordination to godliness and 
 honesty. The doctrines of religion are briefly stated. 
 The corruptions of popery are summed up and con- 
 demned. The worship is reduced to its primitive 
 simplicity. The ministry relinquishes all imitations 
 of the Roman hierarchy ; and ecclesiastical discipline 
 is exercised by the authorized officers of Christ's 
 peculiar kingdom. The Scottish reformers, after 
 5 
 
66 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 the example of the saints in other places, and in 
 former times, repeatedly enter into covenant with 
 God. They engage themselves, in the strength of 
 promised grace, and with the solemnity of an oath, 
 to maintain and promote, in their several places 
 and stations, the interests of the true religion, 
 according to the law of God. Christianity, thus 
 regulating the individual and collective concerns 
 of these excellent and godly men, appears as a 
 system worthy of its divine Author, and wisely 
 adapted to promote the temporal happiness of 
 nations, and the everlasting felicity of men. 
 
 Tlie time had not yet, however, arrived, which 
 God had set for the destruction of Antichrist, and 
 which he revealed by the prophets to the Church, 
 as the wished-for period when the kingdoms of this 
 world should become the kingdoms of our Lord and 
 of his Christ. By the reformation, several very 
 important ends were accomplished. 1. The human 
 mind was roused from its lethargy, and all its 
 natural energies excited to that variety of action, 
 which is calculated to strengthen and improve the 
 imderstanding, and contribute to the production of 
 that high degree of civilization which is to jDrevail 
 when the Church shall appear in her millennial 
 splendor. 2. The elements of sacred truth were 
 discovered, collected, and explained. The holy 
 Scriptures were delivered from the bondage of the 
 anti-Christian Church, translated into a variety of 
 languages, and transmitted to every corner of. the 
 
MODEL OF THE CHURCH. 67 
 
 world, in order to utter a voice more distinct, loud, 
 and lasting than that of the Baptist in the wilder- 
 ness of Judea — Prepare ye the ivay of the Lord. 
 3. Judgment was poured out upon the seat of the 
 beast, which shook his throne, and smote the arm 
 by which he extended his sceptre, with a debility, 
 from the effects of which it can never completely 
 recover. And lastly, The reformation proved the 
 means of eternal life to a vast number of God's 
 elect children then upon the earth, and left an ex- 
 ample which animates the hope of the witnesses of 
 truth, and is a sure pledge of the perfect fulfilment 
 of the prophecies which exhibit the future grandeur 
 of the visible Church. 
 
 The Protestant reformation, although an ever- 
 memorable and glorious event, was far from 
 exhibiting to the nations in which it prevailed a 
 complete view of the Christian Church in all her 
 beauty. One great and essential principle of 
 Christ's kingdom, the UNITY of it, escaped the 
 observation of a number of the reformers, and was 
 almost universally violated. The Christian system, 
 by its unalterable simplicity, is divinely adapted for 
 universal prevalence. The Scripture model of the 
 Church, if adopted, would render the Church one, 
 not only in the subjective principles of religion, but 
 also in its visible form among all the nations of the 
 earth. The immediate danger of the first reformers, 
 the difficulty of mutual consultation upon subjects 
 of common concern, the selfish views of the civil 
 
68 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 rulers who joined them, and screeneji them in some 
 measure from papal persecution, and the influence 
 of those who co-operated with them from bad 
 motives in opposition to the papacy, prevented 
 attention to this principle in the organization of the 
 Churches of the reformation. Very few at first 
 thought of extending uniformity any further than 
 their own particular district. While the ministry 
 of the Church was too inattentive to the unity of 
 the Church, and its absolute independency of the 
 civil governments of the nations, the civil rulers 
 were endeavoring, in each of the Protestant coun- 
 tries, to render the Church, in its external form, a 
 creature of the civil authority. 
 
 Another cause, also, contributed powerfully to 
 the violation of this principle. Great revolutions 
 give an unusual impulse to the human mind, and 
 tend to encourage enthusiasm. Extravagance and 
 disorder follow, of course, and Satan favors the 
 delusion, and encourages every impiety. No sooner 
 was the anti-Christian authority rejected in any 
 nation, than sectaries of every description arose, ran 
 to the most dreadful excesses, and thus distracted 
 the attention of the faithful from the point of gen- 
 eral and more remote investigations about Church 
 unity, constraining them to consult present expe- 
 diency, and hasten the adoption of some order 
 which might compose the spirits of men. It be- 
 came absolutely necessary for the civil authority to 
 exert its power in suppressing these disorderly 
 
JOHN CALVIN. 69 
 
 combinations, which, under pretence of religion, 
 violated all righteousness ; and the transition was 
 natural and easy, although very unjust, from giving 
 law to enthusiastic sectaries who disturbed civil 
 society, to legislating for the Church itself Thus 
 did the circumstances of the times prove the occa- 
 sion of establishing evil by civil and ecclesiastical 
 law. The'great and good Protestant reformers thus 
 sowed the seeds of lasting schisms and feuds in the 
 reformation Church, by framing ecclesiastical con- 
 stitutions, differing as widely from one another as 
 did those constitutions of civil government under 
 which they resided. These diversities, arising at 
 first from principles of expediency, or from the 
 necessities of the times, did not hinder a friendly 
 intercourse between the pious people of that age. 
 Soon, however, too soon, did party prejudice and 
 pride, introduce bigotry into the Protestant 
 Churches. Instead of prosecuting at their leisure 
 a further reformation, and procuring a general uni- 
 formity, each adhered with zealous pertinacity to 
 the forms already established, and thus were handed 
 down to the present day all these dissensions and 
 schisms, with the example still more mischievous, 
 of rending the body of Christ at pleasure. The 
 visible phurch has consequently little unjty in prac- 
 tice. Every city has its several congregations, not 
 as the distinct members of one common family, but 
 like the hostile tribes which watch the opportunity 
 of injuring one another, and which of course excite 
 uneasy and constant jealousies and rivalships. 
 
70 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 One great man among the first reformers anti- 
 cipated these evils, and endeavored to prevent 
 them. 
 
 John Calvin equalled his contemporaries in piety, 
 accuracy, knowledge, and faithfulness. He surpassed 
 them all in the grandeur of his conceptions. His 
 capacious mind embraced the present and future 
 interest of the Church ; and his discernment pointed 
 out the means of establishing the peace of Jerusalem. 
 He proposed a plan which should embrace into one 
 Church, all the friends of the reformation in every 
 country ; and which should direct the united 
 strength of the Protestant nations, for its protection 
 ao^ainst the man of sin and all the kino-s which were 
 devoted to the idolatries of Rome. 
 
 The Church of England frustrated this grand 
 attempt. She could not act without her head, the 
 monarchy — a head, on which is written the name 
 of blasphemy. 
 
 England, practising upon her favorite maxim, 
 no bishop, no king, and holding on the sixteenth 
 century, as she has done until the nineteenth, the 
 balance of power, refused. to part wdth the idol i^rel- 
 aci/y and thus rendered abortive the plan of compre- 
 hension. 
 
 The venerable reformer, although he lamented 
 the disappointment, did not sink into despondency. 
 With the assistance of his friends, and under the 
 direction of his God, he had succeeded in establish- 
 ing, in Geneva, an ecclesiastical policy, which should 
 
SITUATION SANCTIFIED. 71 
 
 be an example to the vsurrounding nations. The 
 great doctrines of the Gospel are reduced into the 
 form of a confession of faith. The Presbyterian 
 order is delineated in a book of discipline. A 
 Church is formed, and its members enter into solemn 
 covenant, in conformity to the primitive pattern, 
 and in agreeableness to the Holy Scriptures, and 
 their own subordinate standards. The civil authority 
 is persuaded to act as nursing fathers and nursing 
 mothers ; and the senate of Geneva, on the 20th 
 of July, 1537, enter into covenant, ratified by an 
 oath, to support this newly organized Church. 
 Ecclesiastical covenanting rests upon an immovable 
 basis. The Church is a Covenant Societi;. A national 
 covenant is a very different thing. The covenanters 
 of Geneva understood the difference, and they 
 practised accordingly. They had no intention to 
 intermingle Church and State. But they were fully 
 persuaded that the civil polity should protect the 
 Church against Antichrist. Nations are bound to 
 honor Messiah ; and upon this principle they cove- 
 nant with God. A seminary of literature was also 
 established under the direction of the Church, 
 w^iich proved of eminent service. The 'youth 
 Hocked to it from every nation, 'and returned to 
 their respective homes ably qualified to serve in the 
 Gospel their divine Lord and Master, in their native 
 countries. By God's blessing, their ministry wassuc- 
 cessful ; and in no place more so than in Scotland. 
 While the reformation was progressing toward 
 
72 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 its perfection in that kingdom, the English mon- 
 archy, although the greatest barrier to the refor- 
 mation of England itself, proved a shield to protect, 
 from papal persecution, those who promoted its 
 interest in the northern part of the island. 
 
 The ways of Providence are wonderful. He can 
 raise up a protection to his saints from among their 
 enemies. If nominal members of the Church, and 
 the various sects of heretics, are a grievance to the 
 pious disciple, they serve also to screen him from 
 persecution. Unregenerate professors and the sects 
 of heresy are providentially interposed between 
 the real Church and the openly wicked world. 
 Were it not for this hedge, it would require a con- 
 stant miracle to prevent the wicked from murdering 
 the saints. * But the Lord had also much people in 
 England. While the Church of Scotland was im- 
 proving the Geneva model, by rendering the con- 
 fession of faith more full and explicit, and the whole 
 order of the Church more correct and definite, the 
 same principles were rapidly progressing in Eng- 
 land. Under the name of Puritans, the friends of 
 primitive Christianity were known in that realm. 
 Civil liberty accompanied religion in its progress, 
 and it would have been a happiness to the world 
 had she never forsaken or outrun her heavenly 
 guide and companion. To the Puritans alone the 
 English owe the whole freedom of their constitution. 
 They stemmed the torrent of despotic power which 
 threatened to overwhelm the nation. •The spirit of 
 the nation was at length roused, and produced an 
 
SOLEMN LEAGUE. 73 
 
 invitation to reform the Church. An ordinance of 
 Parliament called upon the most pious and learned 
 men of the nation to meet at Westminster, on the 
 1st of July, 1643, to consult together, and advise 
 the Parliament touching the concerns of religion. 
 This assembly was composed of the most eminent 
 divines and laymen of the age. It was not de- 
 signed for a national synod or a representative 
 body of the clergy, but only as a council to the 
 Parliament. The civil authority demanded their 
 advice in advancino; the cause of truth and ricrht- 
 eousness, and consequently called them, not as an 
 ecclesiastical court, having jurisdiction over the 
 Churches, but as a committee of arrangement to 
 promote the interest of religion, and the further 
 reformation of the Church. This assembly, with 
 the assistance of commissioners from the Church of 
 Scotland, drew up and exhibited to the world, in a 
 confession of faith and catechisms, directory for 
 worship, and a plan of Church government, the 
 most definite, scriptural, and complete system which 
 had ever been exhibited by any council or assembly. 
 It was intended as a system of uniformity, which 
 should unite in one Church the friends of relio-ion 
 in England, Ireland, and Scotland. Such a system 
 became necessary, as these nations had entered into 
 a solemn league and covenant for themselves and 
 their posterity that all things might be done in 
 God's house according to his own revealed will. 
 
 This covenant was drawn up by a committee of 
 the general assembly of the Church of Scotland, 
 
74 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 and commissioners from England. It passed both 
 the assembly and the convention of estates at Edin- 
 burgh in one day, and being sent to England, it was 
 ratified by the Assembly and the Parliament. Mon- 
 day, the 25th of September, 1643, in the Church 
 of St. Margaret's, Westminster, Mr. Nye read this 
 co.venant from the pulpit, article by artiple, each 
 person standing uncovered, with his right hand 
 lifted up bare to heaven, worshipping the great 
 name of God, and swearing to the performance of 
 it. It was afterwards subscribed by the House of 
 Commons and by the Assembly. It was sworn by 
 the House of Lords, on the 15th day of October. 
 This covenant binds these nations to the preserva- 
 tion of the doctrine, worship, discipline, and gov- 
 ernment of the Church of Scotland ; it also binds 
 to constant exertions to establish uniformity in re- 
 ligion over the three kingdoms, and to perpetual 
 perseverance in the same cause against all opposition. 
 Copies of these transactions were sent by the as- 
 sembly of divines, accompanied with appropriate 
 letters, to the Churches of Holland, France, and 
 Switzerland. 
 
 All these Churches returned respectful answers, 
 and the Netherland divines expressed not only an 
 approbation of the covenant, but desired to join 
 therein. 
 
 The Presbyterian system was never completely 
 established in England, although it was for some 
 time the most prevalent. And after several years 
 of civil tumult and religious anarchy, the nation 
 
AMERICA COLONIZED. 75 
 
 affain crouched under the burdens of both the mon- 
 archy and the prelacy. The restoration of the 
 British monarchy was accompanied with national 
 perjury. The prelacy and the throne were estab- 
 lished in blood. The reformation was overturned, 
 the covenant was broken, and upwards of twenty 
 thousand Presbyterians died as martyrs to the cove- 
 nanted reformation. 
 
 The Protestant Churches have, since the middle 
 of the seventeenth century, been declining in purity. 
 
 A sceptical philosophy has corrupted the prin- 
 ciples of a considerable proportion of the literary 
 part of the community. Commerce has nurtured 
 in its lap sensuality and avarice. Mistaken ideas 
 of civil and religious liberty have rendered men 
 impatient of the restraints of Christian discipline. 
 And the politicians of the present world have 
 prevailed too far to render the Protestant systems 
 minister to their ambition. The visible Church, 
 divided into factions, and encumbered with a mass 
 of irreligious professors, presents in every place an 
 appearance which fills the serious mind with pain. 
 
 America, colonized and settled by Europeans, 
 has offered an asylum for Christians of every de- 
 nomination from the effect of the penal statutes 
 standing against them in different countries of the 
 old world. In the United States particularly, the 
 simple form of civil government affording equal 
 protection to all ranks of men, we often find the 
 various forms oF religion practised in one city. 
 
76 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 God has, in his Providence, presented the human 
 family in this country with a new experiment. 
 The Church, unheeded by the civil powers, is suf- 
 fered to rise or fall by her own exertions. The 
 truth is great, however, and by the blessing of God, 
 and the faithfulness of the saints, it will yet triumph. 
 Tawards the beginning of the eighteenth century, 
 the pious people in Europe direct an eye of unusual 
 anxiety towards America. Twelve centuries have 
 now elapsed since the rise of Antichrist. His fall 
 is fast approaching. Dreadful judgments await all 
 the parts of the Roman empire. The heavens and 
 the mrUi of that system must be shaken and re- 
 moved, and the witnesses be killed by the last 
 efforts of the beast. Many exercise a hope that 
 America will escape the dreadful carnage; and that 
 the visible Covenant Society of God will here find 
 a place of rest until Europe be drenched in the 
 blood of the enemies of religion. Certainly Chris- 
 tians are now very much scattered over the face 
 of the earth. Books replete with solid information 
 abound. Let the anti-Christian empire be com- 
 pletely overturned ; and when the Lord pours down 
 his Holy Spirit, the kingdoms of this world will be- 
 come the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ. 
 Then shall the Churches relinquish every carnal 
 prejudice, and adopt the prophetic maxim — Come, 
 let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual 
 covenant. The Church shall then be one in all 
 nations. 
 
BOOK II. 
 
 AN HISTORICAL VIEW OF THE REFORMED PRES- 
 BYTERIAN CHURCH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 FROM THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE PRESBYTERIAN 
 REFORMATION UNTIL THE REVOLUTION SETTLEMENT, 
 
 1643-1688. 
 
 The Church in Scotland enjoyed advantages in 
 prosecuting reformation which were unknown to 
 the other Presbyterian Churches. The poverty of 
 the nation laid a restraint upon the ambition of 
 ecclesiastics, preserved a singular simplicity of man- 
 ners, and rendered religious controversy what it 
 always ought to be, a contest for principle, not for 
 worldly interest. The insular situation of the in- 
 habitants prevented foreigners from mingling with 
 them ; and the reformers, undisturbed in a great 
 measure by the factions which distracted the Prot- 
 estant interest upon the continent of Europe, were 
 enabled to direct their faithful exertions to the 
 establishment of regular order and discipline in 
 their own Churches. 
 
 The power of England overawed the popish 
 
 77 
 
78 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 party of Scotland ; and while itself was but half 
 reformed, served as a protection to their more 
 faithful northern neighbors from the anti-Christian 
 empire. The Scottish crown did not possess suf- 
 ficient power, as in the other countries, to render the 
 reformation an engine of state policy ; and being 
 restrained by the nobles, wdio formed a strong 
 barrier between the king and the people, the Pres- 
 byterian ministers organized the Church upon its 
 pure and primitive plan, establishing its doctrine, 
 worship, discipline, and government, perfectly dis- 
 tinct from the civil authority, and independent of 
 the power of the magistrate. God, by his Provi- 
 dence, directing the external affairs of the nation in 
 subordination to religion, he animated his faithful 
 servants by a remarkable degree of knowledge and 
 holiness. The Presbyterians in Scotland learned 
 from their Bibles that the system of grace is the 
 chief of God's works ; that the saints are the salt 
 of the earth, and Jesus is King of kings, and Lord 
 of lords. Having organized the Church as the 
 peculiar kingdom of the Redeemer, upon principles 
 which maintained the exclusive headship of Christ, 
 they demanded that the crown of the nation should 
 be laid at the feet of Messiah. They required that 
 the Church should not only be tolerated to establish 
 her distinct ecclesiastical organization, but that she 
 should hereafter be supported by the civil power 
 of the nation in the enjoyment of her established 
 rights. These pious politicians argued upon Scrip- 
 
WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY. 79 
 
 ture principles. God preserves the world on account 
 of his Church. Christ administers the government 
 of the universe in subordination to the Church; 
 angels and men are commanded to obey him ; and 
 all civil constitutions should be nursing fathers and 
 nursing mothers to the Church. They required, 
 therefore, that the King of Scotland should no longer 
 give his power to the anti-Christian beast ; should 
 no longer drink of the intoxicating cup of the 
 mother of harlots; but bow before the Prince of 
 the kings of the earth. The majority of the nation 
 required that the government should be adminis- 
 tered, not for the glory of man, but for the welfare 
 of societj^, the good of the Church, and the glory of 
 God. They were successful. The nation entered 
 into these m^easures by solemn covenant ; and their 
 pious neighbors in England and in Ireland joined in 
 a solemn league to preserve the established order 
 of religion in Scotland, and to use their endeavors 
 for the introduction of a similar order in these two 
 nations. In consequence of this union the English 
 Presbyterians in the Assembly at Westminster, with 
 the assistance of commissioners from the Church of 
 Scotland, completed those ecclesiastical standards 
 which have been received as agreeable to the Scrip- 
 tures, and as the bond of the covenanted uniformity 
 between the Keformed Presbyterian Churches in 
 the British empire. 
 
 This system was reduced into operation in Scot- 
 land, and constituted the finishing part of the second 
 
80 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 reformation throughout that kingdon. The Church 
 enjoyed these attainments in peace but a very 
 short time. 
 
 The period appointed in God's purpose for the 
 destruction of Antichrist, and for the kingdoms of 
 this world to become the kingdoms of our Lord and 
 of his Christ, had not yet arrived. God's visible 
 covenant society had not as yet finished the testi- 
 mony which the witnesses were appointed to give. 
 They must still appear in sackcloth, and seal by 
 the blood of martyrdom the testimony which they 
 held. Several causes contributed, under a holy 
 Providence, to bring the Church into severe troubles 
 and trials, which should prove the faithfulness of 
 the saints. 
 
 The Presbyterians used power with moderation. 
 They never proposed to render men pious by com- 
 pulsion. They restrained open irregularities; they 
 punished the profanation of the Sabbath, daring 
 blasphemy, and public overt acts of idolatry. They 
 procured acts of Parliament to exclude from civil 
 office all those who, evidently disaffected to the 
 reformed constitution, might be expected to make 
 use of their power and influence to subvert the 
 beautiful and venerable fabric. They were, how- 
 ever, unwilling imnecessarily to embroil the nation 
 by a total dissolution of the monarchy. They even 
 still retained some veneration for the principle of 
 the hereditary succession of royalty. And when 
 the English independent faction executed upon the 
 
DANGEROUS EXPERIMENT. 81 
 
 first Charles the demerit of his crimes, the Scottish 
 Parliament, being then sitting at Edinburgh, did im- 
 mediately order his son, Charles II., to be proclaimed 
 king. They accompanied the proclamation, how- 
 ever, with a declaration, that before he be admitted 
 to the exercise of the royal power, he shall give 
 satisfactory evidence to the kingdom of his attach- 
 ment to the constitution of government as now 
 reformed, according to the covenant and solemn 
 league. 
 
 This was rash and highly imprudent conduct. 
 The friends of Scottish liberty, and even the most 
 faithful friends of religion, were hurried into the 
 measure by the dread of being overwhelmed with 
 the anarchy which now began to prevail in Eng- 
 land, under the influence of their present mock 
 Parliament. They made a dangerous experiment; 
 and they had afterwards abundant cause to repent 
 their own rashness. Power should never be con- 
 ferred on any whose previously tried and established 
 reputation does not afford a prospect that he will 
 use it in the cause of righteousness. No profession 
 can bind a man without principle. To require a 
 profession of virtue from an unprincipled man, is 
 to tempt him to hypocrisy. Such was certainly 
 the case in respect of the infamous and perjured 
 tyrant who bore the name of Charles the Second. 
 He was at the Hague, a town in Holland, when he 
 was proclaimed king. Commissioners were imme- 
 diately sent to treat with him, but he refused to 
 6 
 
82 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 give the required satisfliction, and they returned 
 to Scotland without him. Happy would it have 
 been for the nation had they then placed the reins 
 of government in the hands of some of their own 
 able and virtuous citizens; but their connection 
 wdth England would not admit of this measure. 
 Next year commissioners were again despatched to 
 treat with the exile king. They found him at 
 Breda, a city of Dutch Brabant. He there pursued 
 his wanton pleasures, and upon the Saturday be- 
 fore he left that city, after having agreed to the 
 terms of the treaty, he returned from his revellings, 
 and refused submission to the terms. Upon the 
 following Sabbath, he, as an Episcopalian, took the 
 sacrament kneeling, and thus sealed, by unworthy 
 communicating, his opposition to Presbyterians, and 
 to the God whom they adore. The Rev. Mr. Liv- 
 ingston, one of the commissioners, an eminently 
 godly man disapproved of the whole procedure re- 
 specting his recall, and declared that, in Charles 
 Stuart, they carried the plague of God to Scotland. 
 Upon the king^s arrival in Scotland, he solemnly 
 swore to maintain the covenanted reformation ; 
 and upon the 16th of August, 1650, published a 
 declaration, in which he abjured Popery and Prel- 
 acy, lamented his flither's tyranny and idolatry, 
 promised that he should have in future no friends 
 but the friends of the reformation, and no enemies 
 but the enemies of the covenanted uniformity. He 
 was publicly crowned at Scone, on the first of Jan- 
 
A SMALL MINORITY. 83 
 
 uary, 1651, after an excellent sermon, preached by 
 the Eev. Mr. Douglas, from 2 Kings xi. 12, 17. In 
 the presence of the national representatives and the 
 commissioners of the Church, he renewed the cov- 
 enants, solemnly swearing, with his hand lifted up 
 to God, to rule the kingdom in agreeableness to 
 the established constitution. The people, by their 
 representatives, then declared their choice of him 
 to be their king. The Marquis of Argyle placed 
 the crown upon his head, and then the nobles and 
 commons took the oath of allegiance that they 
 should be faithful to the king, according to their 
 national and solemn vows in defence of religion 
 and righteousness. 
 
 Never were king and people more strictly bound 
 to God and to one another, than were this king 
 and these people. But it soon appeared that the 
 people had committed the guardianship of their 
 rights to very treacherous hands. Cromwell, the 
 English usurper, had invaded Scotland with a pow- 
 erful army. In this kingdom there w^as a minority, 
 who, on account of their attachment to prelacy and 
 arbitrary power, did not acquiesce in the present 
 established constitution. Vicious in morals, con- 
 sidering religion only as an engine of power, oppos- 
 ing the liberty and independence of the Church, 
 and entirely devoted to prelacy and arbitrary gov- 
 ernment, they were by law excluded from places 
 of power and trust in the state and in the army. 
 They had served King Charles I. in his endeavors 
 
84 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 to enslave the nation ; and the commonwealth, 
 having succeeded in throwing off the yoke, did 
 not choose to intrust these men with power. They 
 enjoyed unmolested their personal liberties and 
 property under the law ; but no policy could jus- 
 tify their promotion to official stations, without 
 evidence of their having changed their sentiments. 
 The principal men of this party, remarkable for 
 their immorality, as well as their opposition to the 
 reformation establishment, were called malignants. 
 As they had long enjoyed the patronage of the 
 tyrannical house of Stuart in the chief offices of 
 state and army, some of them were experienced 
 warriors and able politicians. Although now a very 
 small minority, they were still formidable, and 
 ought to have received a more effectual debase- 
 ment than the generous and pious people who now 
 possessed the power, were disposed to give even to 
 their enemies. 
 
 Such was the state of parties in Scotland, when 
 the army appointed to support the young king and 
 his people, under the conduct of General Leslie, 
 was defeated at Dunbar, by Oliver Cromwell. The 
 king was pleased at this defeat. It afforded an ar- 
 gument for the admission of the malignants, who 
 were known enemies to Cromwell, into the army 
 which defended Scotland. By private intrigue, this 
 impious monarch, and these malignants, formed 
 plans for the overthrow of the constitution. They 
 professed reformation ; they were admitted to mill- 
 
OLIVER CROMWELL. 85 
 
 tary power ; they took the oaths of office, and were 
 admitted into the councils of state. Their hypoc- 
 risy did not, however, deceive all the friends of the 
 reformation interest. There were many faithful 
 men who considered their penitence as mockery, 
 their submission to church discipline for their im- 
 morality as hypocrisy, and their oath as perjury. 
 The most faithful ministers and presbyteries op- 
 posed the admission of these malignants into com- 
 munion, and the most virtuous politicians opposed 
 their admission to civil office. Presbyterians were 
 thus, by the impious cunning of their enemies, 
 divided among themselves. Those who favored the 
 mahgnants were called Revolutioners, and those who 
 opposed them Protestors. This division produced 
 the ruin of the civil constitution, and prepared the 
 way for that persecution which soon destroyed the 
 Church. 
 
 The English arms having prevailed over those 
 of the king and the Scots, Charles escaped to 
 France, and threw off the mask of Presby terianism. 
 Despairing of obtaining the crown of England by 
 means of the Scottish reformers, he applied for as- 
 sistance to the Popish powers of the continent, and 
 embraced the Roman religion. He still, however, 
 pretended to be a Protestant. Scotland, in the 
 mean time, was reduced under the English usurper. 
 This occasioned further dissensions among the Pres- 
 byterians. The reformers were in the habit of 
 referring every part of their conduct to some gen- 
 
86 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 eral principle, and if the principle was not correct, 
 to condemn the practical application of it. They 
 were sensible that morality could not otherwise be 
 well understood or practised. It was of cours^a 
 question of a very serious nature that now de- 
 manded their attention, — Was Oliver Cromwell to 
 be considered as a usurper, or as a lawful ruler, to 
 whom obedience is due for conscience' sake ? The 
 friends of the Protector, as Cromwell was called, 
 were few, but they were formidable. The army was 
 under their command. They required also con- 
 scientious submission to the power of the Protector. 
 They reasoned thus : " The powers which he exer- 
 cises are in themselves lawful, and he has acquired 
 from God's Providence a right to exercise them. 
 The powers that be, are ordained of God" To these 
 arguments it was replied, that although tyranny 
 and usurpation were permitted by a Holy Provi- 
 dence, and overruled for the good of the Church, 
 they had not the divine approbation, had no claim 
 on the obedience of Christians, and might not only 
 be lawfully resisted, but completely overthrown. 
 That Cromwell was a usurper was manifest. He 
 was never chosen by the nation to govern it ; and 
 the constitution, ratified by solemn oath, excluded 
 him from power. To this constitution, the more 
 faithful Presbyterians considered themselves bound 
 by covenant to. adhere. 
 
 The disputes between the Revolutioners and the 
 Protestors were still agitated with a vehemence 
 
THE PROTESTORS. 87 
 
 which distracted the Church. The most faithful 
 ministers were of the protesting party. They con- 
 demned the resohitions which admitted into Church 
 communion, and into civil and miUtary power, the 
 mahgnants. They condemned these measures as 
 ministers and as patriots, who sought the good of 
 their country in subordination to Christ's kingdom. 
 They maintained that none should be admitted to 
 Church fellowship, or continued in it, unless they 
 professed the true religion, and understood what 
 they professed — unless they evidenced repentance 
 of all their sins — led a holy and religious life — 
 and promised submission to all the ordinances of 
 the Gospel. They considered as no recommenda- 
 tion a hasty profession of repentance, and a prom- 
 ise of submission to ecclesiastical order, coming 
 from persons who were uniformly remarkable for 
 their impiety, and who now had a motive for hy- 
 pocrisy, in the expectation of power and office. 
 They declared it to be a prostitution of the privi- 
 leges of the Church to confer them upon such char- 
 acters. They urged it upon the public mind as an 
 important maxim, that no enemy of the civil con- 
 stitution should be intrusted with a share of its 
 administration. They exposed the folly and the 
 madness of bestowing military power upon the 
 inveterate enemies of religion, liberty, and law. 
 They fortified these declarations by judicious argu- 
 ments from the Scripture. Two very judicious dis- 
 sertations against associations with malignants were 
 
88 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 published arid circulated, the one by the famous Mr. 
 Gillespie, and the other by Mr. Binning. 
 
 The faithfulness of the Protestors excited the 
 envy of their brethren, the Revolutionists, and pro- 
 voked the enmity of the Malignants, who now w^aited 
 for an opportunity of vengeance. 
 
 The opportunity, alas ! soon arrived. After nine 
 years' exile, King Charles was restored, and mon- 
 archy was re-established in England, as well as in 
 Scotland. General Monk was the principal agent 
 in accomplishing this flattering, but fatal change. 
 He was the second son of an ancient but decayed 
 family. He betook himself in early youth to the 
 profession of arms, and sought military experience 
 in the Low Countries, the great school of war. 
 When the quarrel between Charles the First and 
 the Parliament broke out, he returned to England, 
 and joined the standard of tyranny and royalty. 
 After the overthrow of the English monarchy, this 
 adventurer enlisted under the republican banner, 
 and fought against King Charles H. in Scotland. 
 When this kingdom was reduced under the English 
 arms. Monk was left by Cromwell with the supreme 
 command. He served Oliver, and his son Kichard, 
 until he was deposed ; and to the Parliament after- 
 wards, he gave entire submission. He protested, 
 however, against the violence of the English army 
 which invaded the Parliamentary privilege, and 
 established military government in England. He 
 was a man of much apparent moderation, and of 
 
THE PROTESTORS. 89 
 
 deep design. He perceived that the English were 
 wearied of anarchy, and that the Scots longed for 
 the re-establishment of their monarchical constitu- 
 tion, as limited and reformed, agreeably to their 
 solemn covenants. He determined to take the ad- 
 vantage of these dispositions. He was covetous to 
 the extreme, possessed a vicious mind, and could 
 not be exceeded by any man in dissimulation. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Douglas first proposed to General 
 Monk the king's restoration ; and he did himself 
 travel through a great part of England and Scot- 
 land to engage the leading Presbyterians in his 
 majesty's service. 
 
 Monk, in the mean time, marched to England, 
 defeated the prevailing faction, restored the Par- 
 liament, and took the oath of allegiance to the 
 commonwealth. The whole power of the nation 
 being now in the hands of the Presbyterians, the 
 covenants between the nation and the Scots, in de- 
 fence of religion, are again publicly acknowledged 
 as law. 
 
 The new Parliament was inclined to a limited 
 monarchy. They beheld a covenanted Presbyte- 
 rian king, ready to accept an invitation to the 
 throne of his ancestors, and they proposed to enter 
 into immediate stipulations with him. 
 
 At this critical juncture Monk acted the part of 
 a traitor. He, with military power, overawed the 
 Parliament, and the king was restored without con- 
 ditions. Charles, too, again played the hypocrite. 
 
90 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 A committee of Presbyterian ministers waited upon 
 him at Breda, and he publicly thanked God that 
 he was a covenanted king. Thus was the nation 
 plunged into ruin. 
 
 Charles the Second was no sooner settled upon 
 the throne, than he discovered a disposition to op- 
 pose to the utmost that covenanted reformation, to 
 the support of which he had been repeatedly bound 
 by oath. Having embraced Popery, he resolved 
 to suppress Presbytery. He made the experiment 
 first in Scotland. This nation had been reduced 
 under England by the Parliamentary forces. As a 
 conquered kingdom, Charles concluded that he 
 might destroy with ease its remaining liberties. 
 He immediately assumed unlimited power, both in 
 ecclesiastical and civil things ; re-established the 
 prelacy, and caused himself to be acknowledged 
 the head of the Church. The first blow fell upon 
 the most valuable man in the nation, the pious Mar- 
 quis of Argyle. The ungrateful monarch procured 
 the murder of the nobleman who patronized him in 
 his youth, and placed the crown upon his head. 
 The Protestors were the persons most obnoxious 
 to the king ; but the whole reformed Presbyterian 
 Church was devoted to destruction by this impious 
 apostate. He had selected a suitable person as an 
 accomplice in his crimes. Mr. Sharp was commis- 
 sioned by the Presbyterians of Scotland to wait 
 upon the king at his restoration, and negotiate with 
 him in favor of the Church. He also, in the secret 
 
COVENANTED REFORMATION. 91 
 
 with Monk, acted the traitor ; was consecrated a 
 bishop, and returned to Scotland as Archbishop of 
 St. Andrews, and Primate of the kingdom. 
 
 The Episcopal Church now being fully established 
 in England, Ireland, and Scotland, over the ruins 
 of the reformation, Presbyterians were called to 
 seal with their blood the testimony which they held. 
 Upwards of two thousand godly ministers were 
 banished from their cono;reo;ations and their livinjjcs 
 in one day, in the kingdom of England ; and uj)- 
 wards of twenty thousand Presbyterians suffered 
 martyrdom in Scotland during the reign of Charles 
 the Second and his brother James. Several of the 
 ministers fled to foreign countries ; some were in- 
 dulged in their parishes, upon renouncing their 
 covenanted reformation ; but those who continued 
 faithful, w^ere driven to the mountains, hunted, and 
 butchered without mercy. 
 
 As faithful witnesses for the truth, these emi- 
 nently godly men published many valuable testi- 
 monies against the prevailing evils ; and while they 
 were permitted to live, they exhibited in their own 
 persecuted Churches the doctrine, worship, and dis- 
 cipline which had been appointed by Christ for the 
 New Testament Church. They opposed with solid 
 arguments the present constituted authorities in 
 Church and in State. They even declared it rebel- 
 lion against Heaven to be in allegiance with the 
 house of Stuart. Their cruel persecutors sometimes 
 attempted to reason with the martyrs, when they 
 
92 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 were called before their courts. The arguments 
 which the persecutors used were more plausible 
 than substantial. " Christians are commanded to 
 be subject to the higher powers. Ecclesiastical per- 
 sons are not exempted. Ministers are bound to 
 pray for all who are in authority. When God in 
 his Providence exalts a man to power, all should 
 submit to the exercise of such power as the ordi- 
 nance of God. Even absolute tyranny is from the 
 Lord. There is no power but of God. The apostle 
 Paul required the Romans to obey the emperor 
 Nero, a heathen, a persecutor, an infamous man, 
 and an absolute tyrant. It is certainly more rea- 
 sonable to submit to the authority of the present 
 reigning family. Presbyterians, therefore, in dis- 
 owning the king's authority, are worthy of death." 
 Such were the arguments used by the perjured 
 prelates, to ensnare the consciences of those who 
 adhered to reformation principles. These infamous 
 men sheltered their principles under perverted texts 
 of Scripture, and called their murder of the pious 
 Presbyterians by the name of justice. 
 
 To these arguments the persecuted saints, when 
 permitted to speak, made a judicious reply : — 
 
 "Every immoral constitution is disapproved of 
 God ; and no man ouo:ht to swear allesciance to a 
 power which God does not recognize. All kings 
 are commanded to promote the welfare of the 
 Church ; and those who own allegiance to Christ, 
 cannot consistently pray for the prosperity of the 
 
DUTY OF CHRISTIANS. 93 
 
 Church's enemies, or for the establishment of thrones 
 founded on iniquity. 
 
 "It is certainly the duty of Christians to be 
 meek and peaceable members of civil society. If 
 they are permitted to enjoy their lives, their prop- 
 erty, and especially their religion, without being 
 required to make any sinful compliances, it is right 
 that they should behave peaceably, and not involve 
 society in confusion, even although the power of 
 the empire in which they reside be in evil hands. 
 Every burden which God in his Providence brings 
 upon them, they must cheerfully bear. But never 
 are Chnstians called upon by their God to oivn as his 
 ordinance anything tvhich is contrary to his law. The 
 civil powers, of which he approves, are a terror to 
 them who do evil, and a praise to them who do 
 well. Tyrants and persecutors, usurpers and de- 
 spisers of religion, may be set up, in his holy and 
 just Providence, to answer valuable purposes in his 
 hand : but he himself declares in his word, that such 
 kings are set up not by him. The Pagan Roman 
 government is described, in Revelation, as the 
 empire of the dragon, and all the kings who sup- 
 port Antichrist are said, in the same infallible 
 word, to have received from Satan their authority. 
 God has declared their overthrow an(^ destruction, 
 and no Protestant should recognize them as the 
 ordinance of God, to which they must yield con- 
 scientious support. The present king, Charles II., 
 has violated the constitution of Scotland ; he has 
 
94 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 broken the covenant which he made with God and 
 man ; he hath claimed, as an essential part of royal 
 prerogative, a blasphemous supremacy in the 
 Church ; he has overturned our ecclesiastical order, 
 banished the faithful ministry, and persecuted the 
 most virtuous inhabitants of the land : such a per- 
 jured usurper and tyrant cannot be considered as a 
 lawful magistrate by the reformed Presbyterian 
 covenanters." 
 
 These arguments exhibit the good sense and 
 courage which sincere piety infused in the Scottish 
 martyrs. Power, however, was upon the side of the 
 oppressor. Twenty years of persecution reduced 
 the reformed Presbyterian Church to a small num- 
 ber of ministers. The courts of judicature had been 
 prevented from meeting from the very beginning, 
 and no regular processes for ecclesiastical discipline 
 were attainable. It was necessary, however, to 
 administer Church censure upon those who betrayed 
 the cause of religion, and who gave themselves up 
 to immorality. The king himself had been admitted 
 a member of the Church, and many of his courtiers 
 had formerly been professed disciples of Christ. 
 Those who renounce the faith, however high in 
 power, should never be admitted to escape, as fugi- 
 tives from discipline. These correct sentiments 
 about the discipline of the Church influenced one 
 of the pious and most faithful ministers of the gos- 
 pel then living, to pronounce the solemn sentence 
 of excommunication upon the base apostates, who 
 
DISCIPLINE OF THE CHURCH. 95 
 
 bad thrown aside even every pretension to re- 
 ligion. 
 
 The Rev. Daniel Cargill did, upon the 17th day 
 of September, 1680, at Torwood, in Stirlingshire, 
 excommunicate Charles II. and six others of the 
 most noted persecutors, in the presence of a vast 
 concourse of people. Sufficient documents were 
 produced of their having been guilty of drunken- 
 ness, hypocrisy, perjury, heresy, bloodshed, and 
 adultery ; and although they were now publicly 
 caressed as suitable members of the Episcopal 
 Church, and one of them was the avowed head of 
 that Church, they certainly deserved this awful and 
 solemn sentence. The faithfulness of Mr. Cargrill 
 
 o 
 
 excited the persecutors to madness. They, in re- 
 turn for his casting them out of the Church of 
 Christ, persecuted him unto the death, and thus 
 hastened him to the kingdom of glory. He died 
 in the full assurance of faith. After his death, the 
 Church was left destitute of a regular ministry. 
 Search was diligently made by the enemy for all 
 the students of divinity that were inclined to Pres- 
 byterianism, and they also were executed. 
 
 The spirit of the covenanters w^as not, however, 
 entirely broken. They established among them- 
 selves a general correspondence. The societies in 
 each shire were connected by a particular corre- 
 spondence of delegates, and these correspondences 
 w^ere again connected in a representative general 
 meeting. This plan was highly expedient in their 
 
9G HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 situation, as they had no properly organized Church. 
 It was a measure of expediency, dictated by the 
 necessity of the times. The general meeting man- 
 aged everything of common concern to the societies. 
 They claimed neither civil nor ecclesiastical power. 
 They exercised no part of Church discipline. They 
 endeavored, however, to procure a faithful ministry. 
 They commissioned the Laird of Earlston aud Sir 
 Robert Hamilton, two learned and godly men, to 
 represent their case to the foreign Churches. And 
 these commissioners opened a door, by the blessing 
 of Providence, through which they received min- 
 isterial aid. The Rev. Richard Cameron, who 
 valiantly contended for the faith delivered to the 
 saints, and for the violated liberties of his much- 
 injured country, and who fell at Airmoss in 1G80, 
 had been ordained in Rotterdam for the Reformed 
 Presbyterian Church. Mr. James Ren wick was now 
 ordained by the Classis of Groningen. He was a 
 man of remarkable piety, and recommended him- 
 self exceedingly to these godly divines of the 
 Church of Holland by his unwavering faithfulness. 
 He explained to them his principles, and bore an 
 explicit testimony against the remaining corrup- 
 tions of the Belgic Church. He refused ordination 
 at Embden, where it was first offered to him, be- 
 cause the ministry of that place had embraced the 
 Cocceian errors.'^ Even at Groningen, he would on 
 
 * John Cocceius was a very learned divine of the Church of Holland, 
 and professor of divinity in the university of Leyden. Men of genius 
 
RICHARD CAMERON. 97 
 
 no account subscribe the constitution and catechism 
 of the Dutch Church. Sensible of the justness of 
 his animadversions, and impressed with the solemnity 
 and integrity wliich appeared in whatever he said, 
 these godly ministers declared it was the Lord's 
 cause, and although all the powers on earth should 
 resent it, they would ordain to the holy ministry 
 this eminently pious youth. 
 
 He subscribed, in the presence of the Classis, the 
 confession and standards agreed upon by the As- 
 sembly at Westminster, and he was ordained, with 
 the imposition of hands, a minister of the gospel 
 of Christ, for the Reformed Presbyterian Church, 
 now suffering in Scotland. For this remarkable 
 condescension in the Church of Holland, the Scot- 
 tish covenanters are obliged to the pious exertions 
 of Sir Robert Hamilton, as the instrument employed 
 by God to assist Mr. Renwick in convincing these 
 pious divines of the superior purity of the cove- 
 nanted Church of Scotland. Professor Witsius, 
 Professor Mark, and Mr. Brakel distinguished them- 
 
 are naturally disposed to be inventive. Originality, the idol to which 
 all men are apt to bow, is the object to which great men direct their 
 principal attention, unless they are restrained by Christian humility. 
 Cocceius aimed at originality, and he succeeded. It is, indeed, much 
 easier for a man of genius to invent an erroneous system, than to dis- 
 cover and illustrate truth. 
 
 The Cocceiuns consider the historical part of the Old Testament as 
 typical of the now dispensation. The ceremonial law they view as a 
 punishment intiicted on the Jews for their transgressions, particularly 
 for having worshipped the golden calf. Tiiey deny the morality of the 
 fourth commandment. 
 
 7 
 
98 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 selves as the friends of the covenanters. Upon Mr. 
 Renwick's return to his native country, his ministry 
 was blessed, as the means of refreshing thousands, 
 who waited upon it in the fields and mountains. 
 The societies had no access to public ordinances, 
 except those administered by Mr. Renwick and 
 Mr. Alex. Shields, who had been licensed by Pres- 
 byterian ministers in England, and one or two more 
 who occasionally came over from Ireland. As Mr. 
 Renwick was the most faithful, he was the most 
 exposed to danger. He was at last put to a deci- 
 sive proof of his faithfulness. He continued un- 
 moved in the hour of trial. He was condemned, 
 and executed upon the 17th February, 1688, in 
 the 26th year of his age, and sixth of his ministry. 
 He is the last person who suffered death in Scotland 
 on account of religion -, the last martyr to the cov- 
 enanted reformation. 
 
 To the remnant of the persecuted Church the 
 gospel was preached, after Mr. Renwick's death, by 
 Mr. Shields, the Rev. Thomas Linning, who had 
 been ordained at Embden, and Mr. WiUiam" Boyd, 
 who had been licensed at Groningen. These gen- 
 tlemen maintained the reformation testimony with- 
 out molestation, until the revolution. 
 
REVOLUTION SETTLEMENT. 99 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 FROM THE REVOLUTION SETTLEMENT IN BRITAIN UN- 
 TIL THE CONSTITUTION OF THE REFORMED PRESBY- 
 TERY IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
 The revolution which placed the Prince of Orange 
 upon the British throne, is intimately connected 
 with the history of the Reformed Presbyterian 
 Church. William was educated bv John De Witt, 
 who directed the affairs of Holland with ability and 
 integrity. The pupil, in an early period of life, 
 excelled his instructor as a warrior and politician. 
 The Prince of Orange was grave, intrepid, intelli- 
 gent, and deceitful. Made Stadtholder of Holland, 
 and being the soul of the confederacy against the 
 tyranny of Louis the Fourteenth of France, he com- 
 manded the respect of all Europe. The Protestants 
 considered him as their principal support. He was 
 married to the Princess Mary, heir apparent to the 
 crown of England, until the birth of the Prince of 
 Wales, James, the future Pretender. Those who in 
 England retained any sense of religion and liberty, 
 looked up to Prince William as their deliverer from 
 the yoke of bondage under which Charles the Sec- 
 ond had brought them, and which his brother and 
 successor, James the Second, had rendered more 
 severe. William, inured to dissimulation, published 
 a declaration, enumerating the grievances of the 
 British nation, and disclaiming any intention, upon 
 
100 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 his own part, to assume any power but what was 
 necessary to defend a free Parliament in settling a 
 regular constitution. When he landed in England, 
 his father-in-law James was seized with terror, ab- 
 dicated the throne, and escaped to the continent. 
 To the vacant throne King William was called, and 
 he embraced the invitation. The crown of Scot- 
 land w^as also conferred on him. 
 
 The revolution of 1G88 was conducted upon prin- 
 ciples which should never be forgotten. The Scot- 
 tish convention passed a decisive vote, that King 
 James, hy his abuse of jjoiver^ had forfeited all title to 
 the crown, and that it be conferred on the Prince of 
 Orange, The English Parliament declared, that King 
 James the Second, having endeavored to subvert the con- 
 stitution, by breaJcing the original contract between the king 
 and the iieople, did abdicate the throne. 
 
 Both kingdoms did, by these acts, establish two 
 grand principles : That the abuse of power destroys 
 the right to exercise it, and that a people may de- 
 pose their rulers. Several thousand Presbyterian 
 covenanters had been sacrificed by the house of 
 Stuart for maintaining these sentiments, which are 
 now universally admitted as the just maxims of 
 civil policy. 
 
 The martj'rs of the reformation had uniformly 
 declared that no allegiance was due to those rulers 
 who abuse their power, who violate the constitution, 
 and subvert righteousness. They declared the law^- 
 fulness of bearing arms in the defence of religion 
 
CIVIL LIBERTY. 101 
 
 and liberty, and of deposing kings. They refused 
 to recognize any authority which was founded upon 
 a violation of the constitution^ to which they had, 
 by solemn covenant, declared their assent. They 
 were, on this account, persecuted and destroyed by 
 the abettors of royalty and episcopacy. 
 
 The doctrine of passive obedience and non-resistance 
 was preached and published from the pulpits of the 
 establishment, and it was asserted in the name of 
 God, that no power, whether heathen, popish, or 
 prelatic, could be lawfully disowned. The constant 
 cry was a perverted Scripture passage : " The pow- 
 ers that be are ordained of God." Reason and 
 Scripture, and nature^ revolt at such maxims. Rea- 
 son and Scripture are, nevertheless, perverted, as 
 often as the perversion is supposed convenient. 
 While submission to constituted authorities serves 
 the ease, the inclination, and the interests of men, 
 many will feel disposed to become its advocates. 
 Abstract argument, however just, divine revela- 
 tion, however clear, are but feeble barriers against 
 the torrent of selfishness amidst the fallen family 
 of man. Nature pleads a more forcible eloquence. 
 When a vn^w feels himself oppressed, he will believe 
 that resistance is lawful. Whensoever the poivers 
 that he are hostile to a person's interest, inclination, 
 and personal safetj^, he will believe it lawful to use 
 means for overturning such power. The maxims 
 of truth are uniformly consistent and capable of 
 universal application, but the doctrine of passive 
 
102 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 obedience to every kind of civil power, is necessarily 
 inconsistent with itself. When it accords with in- 
 terest, all parties are willing, in every country, to 
 join in overturning constituted authorities. 
 
 This was remarkably the case at the period of 
 the revolution. During the reign of Charles it 
 was the interest of the prelacy to establish power 
 over right, to support the infamous head of the 
 Episcopal Church in his efforts to overturn the con- 
 stitution which reformed Presbyterians had framed 
 and ratified. 
 
 But when James was preparing to introduce 
 Popery, and subvert the prelacy, it was thought 
 virtue, even by the Episcopalians, to disown his 
 authority. Then did they court the favor of the 
 persecuted dissenters, and solicit their influence 
 in calling over, for their mutual deliverance, the 
 Prince of Orange, a Presbyterian of the Church of 
 Holland. The university of Oxford exceeded, both 
 in zeal for the doctrine of submission, and in the 
 inconsistency of their practice with the doctrine, 
 all their contemporaries. They gave the solemn 
 sanction of their high authority to that maxim first 
 inculcated by Mahomet, the grand impostor, — 
 Obedience is due to the authorities of a nation, lohether 
 ihey he constituted upon just or unjust 'principles. The 
 divines of the university drew up twenty-seven 
 propositions, extracted from the writings of Bu- 
 chanan, Baxter, Owen, Milton, Goodwin, and 
 others, who had maintained that the people might 
 
PRESBYTERIAN COVENANTERS. 103 
 
 examine whether they who are in power have a 
 right to rule, and that when kings forfeit their right 
 to government, although they possess power, they 
 may be resisted. 
 
 They passed a decree in full convocation, July 
 21, 1683, condemning these principles as damna- 
 ble doctrines, as destructive to all human society, and 
 declaring them to be impious, seditious, heretical, 
 and blasphemous. Four years thereafter, however, 
 they resisted the authority of the king ; and refusing 
 to practise that passive obedience which they them- 
 selves had taught, refusing to submit to the violation 
 of their charter, the president and all the fellows, 
 except two who had complied, w^ere expelled the 
 college. As soon, however, as the king invaded 
 their property, these ecclesiastics invited the Prince 
 of Orange to their rescue ; they signed an associa- 
 tion to support him ; they offered to him their plate, 
 and declared for him in a body, even w^iile their 
 sovereign, whom, upon their own principles, to re- 
 sist was damnable, was still on the throne. 
 
 The revolution of 1688, which overturned the 
 house of Stuart for having violated the civil com- 
 pact, justified the conduct of those Presbyterian 
 Covenanters who rejected the same authority upon 
 the same principle, several years before this event. 
 It also justified the conduct of the same people, in 
 rejecting the settlement of King William, when he 
 was invested with power, in direct violation of the 
 national constitution, which was settled at the ref- 
 
104 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 ormation, and which both kingdoms, according to 
 the solemn league and covenant, were bound by 
 oath to defend inviolate. 
 
 The remnant of the reformed Presbyterian Church 
 did, consequently, disown the revolution settlement 
 both in Church and State. An oath they considered 
 as obligatory until the whole end of it be accom- 
 plished. They had solemnly sworn to defend the 
 reformation in their several places and stations, to 
 oppose by all lawful means Popery, Prelacy, and 
 Erastianism, and to adhere to the doctrine and order 
 of the Church of Scotland, as constituted between 
 the years 1638 and 1649. The covenants they 
 thought it their duty repeatedly to renew. The 
 faithful testimonies of their martyrs they were not 
 disposed to relinquish or condemn. Erastianism 
 was interwoven with the constitution under William 
 the Third. He apostatized from the principles of 
 the Church of Holland, and became the visible head 
 of the Church of England. He exercised supremacy 
 over the Church of Scotland, and with unhallowed 
 hands violated the right bestowed upon the minis- 
 try, by the Lord Jesus Christ, of calling and dis- 
 solving at pleasure the various courts of judicature. 
 Presbyterian covenanters did not deny to the civil 
 authority the right of calling an assembly of divines 
 in extraordinary cases, in order to obtain advice. 
 They knew it was the duty of the magistrate to 
 preserve the peace as w^ell as the liberty of Church 
 courts, by suppressing disorders and restraining 
 
FORMER ATTAINMENTS. 105 
 
 violence. But they would not yield, as was now 
 done, the right to the king's commissioner to call 
 and dissolve, at pleasure, the General Assembly of 
 the Church. The assembly could not now convene, 
 except by the royal authority. When such powers, 
 therefore, were rendered essential to the crown of 
 Britain by the revolution settlement, the covenant- 
 ers dissented from that settlement, refused an oath 
 of allegiance to this Erastian vsystem, and disowned 
 all the constituted authorities. As the minority, 
 they claimed the right of enjoying their sentiments, 
 their lives, and their property unmolested, while 
 they determined to behave as peaceable and regu- 
 lar members of society in every part of the land. 
 By the new constitution they were indeed effectu- 
 ally excluded from the privileges of the national 
 society. The oaths of allegiance to the govern- 
 ment excluded the oath of the covenants which 
 they had already solemnly sworn, and to which 
 they had themselves bound. Being thus excluded 
 from membership in the national society, the rulers 
 in that society could by no means be recognized as 
 their magistrates. They were united to them by 
 no moral tie. 
 
 The Episcopal Church was established under the 
 Prince of Orange, in England and in Ireland, as 
 the true religion which the king was bound by oath 
 to defend. Presbyterianism, as most agreeable to the 
 mind of the i^eople^ was established in Scotland under 
 the same form which obtained before the last refor- 
 
106 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 mation. The Episcopal curates, who chose to con- 
 form to the Presbyterian form of government, the 
 old Presbyterian ministers, who conformed to the 
 preceding Episcopal establishment, the indulged 
 ministers, who received appointments and orders 
 from the two tyrannical kings which preceded the 
 revolution, and a few of the banished ministers 
 now returned to their native country, united in one 
 body, composed the ministry of the Church of 
 Scotland in the present settlement. Those who 
 retained an attachment to their former attainments, 
 hoped that their influence might hereafter obtain 
 some reformation. And with these hopes they em- 
 braced a system which they were very far from ap- 
 proving. These hopes were frustrated. They were 
 indeed ill founded. In Scotland there were then 
 eight hundred and ninety parishes. A great num- 
 ber of these were now vacant. Apostate Presby- 
 terians formed the majority of the ministry in those 
 which were supplied. Four hundred parishes were 
 supplied with so many Episcopal curates. These, 
 sacrificing principle, and submitting, for the sake 
 of their stipends, to the Presbyterian name, joined 
 in the phalanx opposed to the former reformation. 
 Composed of such materials, it was madness to ex- 
 pect from the revolution Church any reformation. 
 Delivered, however, as it were, miraculously, from a 
 dreadful persecution, and surprised to find them- 
 selves even in such a comfortable situation, al- 
 though they contemplated with sorrow the general 
 
TRUE TO PRINCIPLE. 107 
 
 defection of the Church covenanters, they entered 
 into her communion. Even the very men who en- 
 dured the persecution without dropping any part 
 of their testimony, were allured out of the path of 
 integrity by this change which took place in the 
 state of ajffairs. Those who preached the gospel 
 at the risk of their lives to the wandering societies 
 amidst the mountains, were unable to withstand the 
 torrent of popularity which accompanied all the 
 actions and speeches of the present king. Heed- 
 less-of consequences, Messrs. Linning and Boyd de- 
 serted the societies of the reformed Presbyterian 
 Church, and persuaded even the author of the 
 Hind let loose to relinquish the principles which he 
 formerly so ably defended. Mr. Alexander Shields 
 was prevailed upon by his two brethren to join in 
 communion with the estabhshed Church. He re- 
 pented of his compliance, but not in time to recover 
 what he lost, his character. He embarked for the 
 continent as chaplain to a regiment, which fought 
 in league with the Pope. Having violated his cov- 
 enant with God and his Church, by which he was 
 bound to oppose the power of Antichrist, we soon 
 find him in an army employed to defend the man 
 of sin. He afterwards embarked in the expedition 
 to Darien, and after having experienced the utmost 
 distress, died unknown and neglected in Jamaica.* 
 
 * There was not found in any of the three kingdoms, any one min- 
 ister who maintained the principles of the Reformed Presbyterian 
 Church, consistently, at that period, except the Rev. Mr. David Hous- 
 ton. He passed over to Ireland, and continued faithful unto the day 
 of his death. 
 
108 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 The covenanters were now again left destitute 
 of a public ministry. This was a grievous dispen- 
 sation to persons who loved, as they did, the ordi- 
 nances appointed by Christ. 
 
 As true to the principles of Presbyterian order, 
 they would not call to the exercise of a part of the 
 ministerial office any whom they could not invite 
 to the discharge of the whole of its duties. They 
 would not call any one to preach the word to them, 
 whom they could not admit to dispense the sacra- 
 ments. Neither would they attend anywhere to 
 the ministry of the word, except where they could 
 conscientiously join in visible communion. As pub- 
 lic teaching is, equally with the administration of 
 the sacraments, exclusively the province of the 
 ministry, they attended to the more private ordi- 
 nances of the gospel, in hopes that God would 
 visit them in time with faithful pastors. They lived 
 as brethren ; they worshipped socially in praying 
 societies ; they conversed freely about the whole 
 salvation of Christ; they read many valuable au- 
 thors, and were uniformly considered as more pious 
 and intelligent than those who had an opportunity 
 of hearing sermons every Sabbath. They seem now 
 to have been cut off from the possibility of ever 
 recovering a standing ministry. They would have 
 considered it little short of blasphemy, to have 
 ordained to office any one, however qualified, in 
 any other method than that of Christ's appoint* 
 ment — the laying on of the hands of a presbytery. 
 
REV. JOHN McMillan. 109 
 
 Did they appoint a minister themselves, he must be 
 the creature and servant of man ; not the ambassa- 
 dor of our Redeemer. Their hearts trembling for 
 the Ark, they would not give it a wrong touch. 
 They preferred suffering to sin. Young men of 
 education could not, therefore, obtain ordination 
 among them. The judicatories of the established 
 Church w^ould ordain none, without he complied 
 with their sinful terms of communion. The Churches 
 of Holland, also, refused to act upon their former 
 condescension. Sixteen years were passed after 
 the defection of their ministers at the revolution, 
 before the remainintr friends of the covenanted 
 reformation were supplied with a public ministry. 
 In the year 1706, the Kev. John McMillan acceded 
 to them from the judicatories of the established 
 Church. 
 
 Mr. McMillan, and a few of his brethren in the 
 ministry, had for some time entertained a hope of 
 procuring a general reformation. But the propor- 
 tion of the faithful to the lukewarm in church 
 judicatories was too small to have any influence. 
 Petitions for redress of grievances have been pre- 
 sented to the assembly, from time to time, from 
 nearly two thousand respectable Christians, but 
 without effect. The power of choosing their own 
 ministers had been taken from the cons^reo-ations, 
 and patronage restored. Discipline was relaxed, 
 immorality and heresy were tolerated in the Church, 
 and the remembrance of the reformation was fast 
 
110 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 declining. Those who defended the good order of 
 the church against their apostatizing brethren, were 
 sure of being censured by the majority. The faith- 
 fulness and zeal of Mr. McMillan provoked the 
 indignation of those who were conscious of the 
 badness of their own cause. They determined to 
 banish him from a flock who sincerely loved him ; 
 and they consequently passed against him a sen- 
 tence of deposition from the ministry. Against 
 these cruel and unjust proceedings Mr. McMillan 
 protested ; and the ministry which he had received 
 in a regular manner from his Lord, he refused to 
 resign to the caprice and wickedness of men who 
 had no crime to charge him with, except his faith- 
 fulness to the principles of the reformed Presbyte- 
 rian Church. The societies called him to the min- 
 istry among them, and he was afterwards joined in 
 that work by others. Those who had for a long 
 time been deprived of the public ordinances, were 
 now greatly refreshed by the preached gospel. They 
 rejoiced that an organized visible Church was again 
 to be found in the land, iipon the footing of the 
 once glorious reformation. This visible Covenant 
 Society was indeed small and despised. They re- 
 solved, however, as witnesses, to maintain a faithful 
 testimony, and like their brethren, the primitive 
 disciples, to go forth to their Redeemer without the 
 camp, bearing his reproach. They considered that 
 the principles of the reformation were still as true 
 and as valuable as they had been, when they were 
 
REFORMED PRESBYTERY. ' 111 
 
 embraced generally in the three kingdoms of the 
 Isles of Britain and Ireland, and when they were 
 admired by all the Protestant Churches of Europe. 
 They sincerely lamented their own inability to 
 introduce them advantageously to public notice ; 
 but they were resolved, in their humble sphere, to 
 collect them faithfully ; to bind them up in one 
 testimony ; and to seal them as the law of the 
 house, among the disciples of our Lord. They took 
 pleasure in the dust of Zion. 
 
 The reformed Presbytery in Scotland did, in the 
 year 1761, publish an act, declaration, and testimony 
 in behalf of the doctrine, worship, discipline, and 
 government of the Reformed Presbyterian Church. 
 The object of this publication was to exhibit a cor- 
 rect statement of their own principles, and to de- 
 fend them by just reasoning. They relate the 
 various steps of reformation in Scotland ; they 
 express their approbation of the conduct of the 
 faithful martyrs ; the}^ disapprove of the constituted 
 authorities of Britain ; and they declare their unity 
 with the reformed Presbyterian Church, solemnly 
 recognizing the full obligation of the covenants 
 upon themselves and their posterity. This publica- 
 tion is considered as a bond of connection among 
 themselves, and one of the terms upon which they 
 join together in ministerial and Christian com- 
 munion. It is a valuable document of the Church's 
 faithfulness. It is an excellent mean of handing 
 down to posterity, in every nation, a just account 
 
112 • HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 and an able defence of the contendings of the wit- 
 nesses against the man of sin. 
 
 This testimony, in connection with the eccle- 
 siastical standards, compiled by the assembly of 
 divines at Westminster, the national covenant 
 of Scotland, and the solemn league of three king- 
 doms, England, Ireland, and Scotland, affords a 
 scriptural defence and full exhibition of the refor- 
 mation in its best state. The reformed presbytery 
 have, since that period, published several testi- 
 monies and warnings against the evils and errors 
 which from time to time prevailed around them. 
 A presbytery of the same name and principles has 
 also been erected in Ireland. The number of these 
 witnesses of the reformation has been gradually 
 increasing during the eighteenth century, and be- 
 fore the close of the year 1774 a court of judicature 
 had been erected in America, with the design of 
 preserving the spirit and practice of the covenanted 
 reformation. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 A HISTORICAL VIEW OF THE STATE OF THE REFORMED 
 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA, UNTIL THE RAT- 
 IFICATION OF THEIR TESTIMONY IN MAY, 1806. 
 
 The reformed Presbytery was constituted in 
 America for the first time, in the year 1774, by 
 three ministers, the Rev. Messrs. John Cuthbert- 
 
CHURCH IN AMERICA. ^ 113 
 
 son, Matthew Lind, and Alexander Dobbin, with 
 rulino; elders. These ministers had been sent over 
 from Europe, in order to organize the Church in 
 America. 
 
 During the persecution, several members of the 
 reformed Presbyterian Church left their native 
 country to seek an asylum in the western world. 
 These and their descendants were found collecting 
 into praying societies, as they were wont to do in 
 their own land, upon the footing of the reformation 
 principles in the beginning of the eighteenth cen- 
 tury. They kept themselves distinct from the other 
 worshipping societies which they found formed or 
 forming in the land in which they were come to 
 sojourn, as judging them no way disposed to enter 
 into the full spirit of the covenanted reformation. 
 They considered themselves under obligations to 
 walk by the rule of their former attainments, and 
 even essayed to renew their covenant with God in 
 a public, social manner. About the year 1743 the 
 covenanters in the colony of Pennsylvania met For 
 the renovation of their vows at Middle Octarara. 
 This work was carried on with the assistance of the 
 Rev. Mr. Craighead. Mr. Craighead was a minister 
 in connection with a synod of Presbyterians, which, 
 several years before this time, had been organized 
 in America. This Presbyterian body was a new 
 organization, perfectly distinct from the Presbyterian 
 Churches in any part of Europe. The ministers 
 who composed it were not commissioned by any 
 8 
 
114 HISTOIUCAL VIEW. 
 
 ecclesiastical judicatory to organize a subordinate 
 judicatory in America. Some of them had emi- 
 grated from Scotland, some from Ireland and Eng- 
 land, and providentially meeting in America, they 
 erected a presbytery for the better regulation of 
 the Churches which they were planting. Some 
 Congregational ministers from New England having 
 settled in the Middle States, chose the Presbyterian 
 system, and uniting with the other Presbyterians, 
 they after some time organized themselves into a 
 synod. They adopted no fixed ecclesiastical stan- 
 dards. They only professed adherence to the West- 
 minster confession of faith in its essential doctrines, 
 and each person was to be judge in his own case 
 of what was essential. In this constitution were 
 laid those seeds of discordant principles and general 
 debility which have since characterized the Presby- 
 terian Ohurch in this country, under the direction 
 of a general assembly. Mr. Craighead, with ap- 
 parent fervency, objected to the deficiency of the 
 system upon which the Presbyterian synod was 
 constituted, and with seeming sincerity, joined him- 
 self to the support of the languishing cause of the 
 reformed Presbyterian Church. 
 
 He did not, however, possess stability. Over- 
 strained zeal is seldom permanent. This man, after 
 having co-operated with the covenanters, with an 
 ardor which appeared to some of them enthusiastic, 
 left his profession and vows, and turned to the flocks 
 of his former companions. 
 
AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE. 115 
 
 The societies which he now had forsaken, were 
 again left destitute of a fixed pastor. Eight years 
 they continued in this distressed condition, until 
 moved by their entreaties, Mr. Cuthbertson arrived 
 in America, from the reformed Presbytery in Scot- 
 land, in the year 1752. 
 
 Twenty years did Mr. Cuthbertson serve alone 
 the Church in America. He visited the different 
 societies which were formed throu^-hout the different 
 colonies upon reformation principles. He animated 
 them to perseverance. Exposed to danger almost 
 constantly from the servants of the British crown, 
 who were then endeavoring to confirm over the 
 American colonies the doubly grievous yoke of 
 tyranny and episcopacy, he endeavored to inspire 
 his friends with confidence in the justice of their 
 cause, and with hopes that God in his providence 
 would, in his own time, deliver them from bondage. 
 In 1773 Rev. Mr. Martin emigrated from Ireland 
 to South Carolina, and in 1774 Messrs. Lind and 
 Dobbin were sent to this country by the Reformed 
 Presbytery of Ireland. These with Mr. Cuthbertson 
 constituted a Presbytery, and the reformed Presby- 
 terian Church put on a regular appearance as an 
 organized visible society in the colonies of America. 
 
 Soon after this event the American war com- 
 menced. The inhabitants of the colonies met in 
 the city of Philadelphia, by their representatives, 
 and declared themselves an independent nation on 
 the fourth of July, 1776. When the revolutions of 
 
116 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 nations are considered as a work of the Head of 
 the Church, for the sake of his peculiar people, the 
 era of American independence will be reviewed as 
 important. The declaration of independence, and 
 the subsequent state of the American republic, 
 demand the serious attention of the Christian divine 
 and the moral philosopher. 
 
 The visible Church in the United States, at the 
 commencement of the revolution, was very much 
 divided. All the national Churches of Europe, 
 whether Popish or Protestant, appeared here in 
 miniature, and all the sectaries arising from each 
 of the European establishments were also to be 
 found in the land. Those religious denominations 
 which had in Europe labored under restrictions, 
 finding themselves at liberty in America, acquired 
 additional animation. Various other circumstances 
 contributed to give an enterprising turn to the 
 minds of men in this country. Emigration always 
 produces enterprise. Necessity calls for invention. 
 Success encourages further endeavors. A new 
 country, settled from old kingdoms, in which pov- 
 erty and oppression were the portion of the major- 
 ity of the inhabitants, could not fail to excite the 
 mental faculties, by rewarding industry with power 
 and wealth. Men were thus prepared to act with 
 less caution, and with more boldness, than formerly, 
 in religious affairs. It is not at all surprising that 
 we find instances of unsteadiness and enthusiasm 
 very frequently among the inhabitants of the 
 
EFFORTS AT UNION. 117 
 
 United States. A deficiency in the system of edu- 
 cation also fosters ignorance and enthusiasm. 
 Seminaries of literature are as yet in their infancy. 
 The plan of instruction is universally frivolous and 
 unsubstantial. The youth are especially neglected 
 as to religious education, and those who publicly 
 officiate as the ministers of religion, are often alto- 
 gether illiterate, and too generally superficial schol- 
 ars. In this state of society, men mingling with 
 one another daily in their callings, without respect 
 to national or rehgious peculiarities, are likely, in 
 the present degenerate state of our nature, to ex- 
 change bigotry to ancient systems for a specious 
 liberality, participating of the nature of indifference 
 to religion under every form. The acquisition of 
 national independence, by cherishing enthusiasm 
 for civil and religious liberty, did, by a very natural 
 perversion, contribute to render the public mind 
 impatient of the restrictions of a regular ecclesiasti- 
 cal system. 
 
 Many persons, notwithstanding, were sensible of 
 the propriety of those principles which declare the 
 visible church One body ; and were determined to 
 use exertions for uniting those Churches into one, 
 which were already supposed to hold the Head 
 Christ, and to embrace the leading doctrines of the 
 gospel. Men cannot easily divest themselves of 
 selfish principles. These were powerful motives to 
 the ministers to seek a general union. Their sup- 
 port in the United States depended on the voluntary 
 
118 HISTORICAL VIEWS. 
 
 contributions of those who waited on their minis- 
 try. The salary thus collected was often inade- 
 quate to supply ministers with the necessaries of 
 life. The diversity of opinion among the people 
 was, of course, a peculiar uneasiness to the minis- 
 ters, while it was very injurious to the people them- 
 selves in depriving them of a regular ministration 
 of the ordinances of religion. The descendants of 
 the Church of Holland, of the English Puritans, and 
 of the Presbyterians of Great Britain and Ireland, 
 were numerous in the United States. It was 
 thought proper to use means for uniting them. 
 
 The forms of national policy are very apt to warp 
 the judgment of the best men. It is the effect of 
 human wisdom ; and even Christian ministers are 
 prone to substitute the maxims of human prudence 
 for the precepts of inspiration. In America there 
 were now several independent states united under 
 a general confederation, which exercised a general 
 government over the whole in matters of com- 
 mon concern to all ; and yet guaranteed to each 
 its own independence of every other state in the 
 Union. In conformity to this plan, it was expected 
 Churches retaining their peculiar habits and preju- 
 dices, might be preserved distinct bodies, and yet 
 united by certain general regulations which should 
 be obligatory on all these denominations. This 
 plan would have subverted the form of Church 
 government established in divine revelation. The 
 Church of Christ ought to be one visible society in 
 
EFFORTS AT UNION. 119 
 
 every nation under heaven ; and the subordinate 
 parts regularly governed by the superior represen- 
 tative judicatories. 
 
 This plan has proved abortive. There is, how- 
 ever, a correspondence regularly maintained be- 
 tween the general assembly of the Presbyterian 
 Church and the general association of the Congre- 
 gational Churches. A union also was formed by 
 the Reformed Presbytery and the Associate Presby- 
 teries ; by which, instead of combining two denom- 
 inations into one, a third one was formed by the 
 junction of some parts of the other two, which con- 
 tinues under the name of the Associate Reformed 
 Church. This new Church has adopted the name 
 commemorative of its origin. From the Reformed 
 Presbytery, the term Reformed is adopted ; and 
 from the Associate Church, the former epithet. 
 
 The Associate Church is a secession from the rev- 
 olution Church of Scotland. The present Erastian 
 establishment of religion in Scotland opened a wide 
 door for acts of maladministration in the Church. 
 Ministers were imposed upon congregations against 
 their will, by the pernicious act of patronage. This 
 evil required redress. The Rev. Mr. Ebenezer Ers- 
 kine, a minister of the establishment, preached a 
 discourse before one of the subordinate synods, in 
 which he inveighed with bitterness against this in- 
 famous invasion of Christian privilege. This dis- 
 course gave great offence to the prevailing party 
 in the ecclesiastical courts, both superior and sub- 
 
120 HISTORICAL VIEWS. 
 
 ordinate. It gave rise to an altercation which 
 ended in a rupture. Mr. Erskine and those who 
 took part with him, protested against the decis- 
 ions of the majority in the Church, and erected a 
 new religious society, under the name of the Seces- 
 sion or Associate Church. . This event took place 
 in the year 1732. Some of the seceders were in- 
 fluenced to separate from the establishment, on 
 account of radical defects in the constitution, to- 
 gether with the various acts of mal-ad ministration 
 which flowed from it. Others were influenced by 
 the latter consideration alone. They testified not 
 again'st the constitution, but the administration. 
 In the year 1746 the secession body was rent into 
 two, and have since been known under the desig- 
 nations of Burgher and Antiburgher Seceders. The 
 division was occasioned by diversity of sentiments 
 respecting the Burgher oath. In some towns in 
 Scotland, those who were admitted to the privileges 
 of citizens were obliged to take a certain oath, 
 which implied an acknowledgment of the religion 
 established by the laws of the land. Such of the 
 seceders as considered the constitution of the 
 Church of Scotland radically defective, condemned 
 this oath as perjury to a seceding juror. They 
 were called Antiburghers. Those, however, who 
 separated from the Church merely upon the ground 
 of the abuses in the administration, thought them- 
 selves at liberty to swear that they approved of the 
 true religion as it was established by law. These 
 
ASSOCIATE CHURCH. 121 
 
 were called Burghers; and on account of their 
 supposed heresy, were solemnly excommunicated 
 from the fellowship of the visible Church by their 
 Antiburgher brethren. Without submitting to this 
 awful sentence, these Burghers erected themselves 
 into an independent Church. Both branches of 
 the secession professed an attachment to the cove- 
 nanted reformation. They held themselves bound 
 by these vows to covenant duties, and expressed 
 their approbation of the constitution of both Church 
 and state, as settled by the reformation between 
 the years 1638 and 1650. They adopted as their ec- 
 clesiastical standards the attainments of that period. 
 The reformed Presbyterian Church beheld with 
 joy the early rise and progress of the secession. 
 They expected, that having left the tents of the 
 apostate establishment, the seceders would have 
 come forward to the ground upon which they had 
 stood ever since that period, which, by the most 
 solemn acknowledgment of seceders themselves, 
 had been the most pure and regular. These new 
 contenders for the faith were invited to join a 
 virtuous minority, who, steadfastly adhering to 
 their oaths and covenants, had continued a consis- 
 tent testimony against the revolution settlement, 
 in Church and state. Conferences were held for 
 this purpose. Arguments were used to persuade 
 the secession body to embrace the whole reforma- 
 tion settlement. They were, however, unavailing. 
 Seceders did not find it convenient to proceed so 
 
122 HISTORICAL VIEWS. 
 
 far. They condemned the constitution of the 
 Church as Erastian, but they justified the state 
 constitution which produced the evil. They con- 
 sidered it a duty to refuse submission to the admin- 
 istrations of the ministry of the Church, because 
 the ministry had been corrupt; but a heinous sin 
 to refuse submission to the civil administration, 
 which corrupted the ministry. They deemed it 
 criminal to incorporate with a religious society, 
 whose supreme judicatory could not act independ- 
 ently of the king's commissioner; but they en- 
 forced allegiance to the king himself, although to 
 be head of the Church of England is essential to 
 his crown. They blamed the Church of Scotland 
 for the evils of the revolution settlement, aud 
 prayed for its reformation, while they professed 
 allegiance to the throne, which was founded upon 
 the ruins of the covenanted reformation, and prayed 
 for its establishment and prosperity. 
 
 Both the associate bodies have vehemently op- 
 posed the reformed presbytery, for dissenting from 
 the constituted authorities of both Church and 
 state. The practice of reformed Presbyterians 
 was consistent with their principles. They lived 
 peaceably, acted the part of good members of so- 
 ciety in private life, and endeavored, as far as in 
 them lay, to answer the end of civil government ; 
 living in all godliness and honesty. The constitu- 
 tion of Great Britain they considered to be immoral, 
 and to an immoral establishment they could not 
 
VIRTUOUS MINORITY. 123 
 
 own allegiance. They adhered, as a small minority, 
 to a civil constitution, to which the nation was 
 bound by oath ; and although overturned by per- 
 jury, they contended it was still the law of the 
 land. They of course dissented from the resolu- 
 tions of the majority. They also viewed the throne 
 and the prelacy, inseparably connected in England, 
 as stained with the blood of their martyred breth- 
 ren, and as one of the pillars of anti-Christianism. 
 They could not, therefore, wish for its establish- 
 ment. They would not pray to God for prosperity 
 to a system which they really desired to see re- 
 moved, and which they knew must be overturned 
 when the Reedemer should establish his kingdon 
 upon the ruins of the man of sin. The difference be- 
 tween them and the seceders became daily greater. 
 From false principles consistency must produce 
 erroneous conclusions. Every effort to defend by 
 argument the secession opposition to the principles 
 of the reformed Presbyterian Church, led them on 
 to multiply erroneous sentiments. The Associate 
 Church maintained that Christians had nothing to 
 do about the constitutions of civil government, but 
 submit to whatever order men should establish, 
 whether good or bad. They taught that the prop- 
 er submission, even to immoral governments, did 
 not consist merely in a peaceable behavior without 
 tumult or disturbance, but in a conscientious allegi- 
 ance and support to them, as the ordinance of God. 
 They condemned all distinction between such rulers 
 
124 HISTORICAL VIEWS. 
 
 as happened in Divine Providence to have the 
 power of a nation upon unlawful principles, and 
 such as ruled by the divine approbation. The only 
 question which they would permit a Christian to 
 ask, is in respect to the matter of fact — Is there 
 any person actually in power? if so, he must be 
 recognized as the ordinance of God. The powers 
 that be are ordained of God. The Scottish se- 
 ceders exceeded the university of Oxford itself 
 in maintaining the doctrine of passive obedience, 
 The controversial writers of the secession do in- 
 deed sometimes disclaim the doctrine of passive 
 obedience, and admit that it is lawful to resist 
 usurpers and tyrants. Sometimes they plead for no 
 more allegiance to the national government than 
 what is implied in resignation to God's Providence, 
 while we are suffering for our correction. But in 
 their arguments they uniformly, and indeed neces- 
 sarily, contradict these maxims. They deny that 
 there is any difference, as to lawfulness, between 
 one government and another. " The fact of pos- 
 sessing power constitutes right. There is no dis- 
 tinction between submission for fear of wrath, to 
 an unlawful ruler, and obedience, for conscience' 
 sake, to legitimate authority. Nebuchadnezzar was 
 the worst of tyrants. Nero was one of the most 
 brutal and infamous men that ever possessed 
 power. Both Nebuchadnezzar the tyrant, and 
 Nero the bloody persecutor and monster of in- 
 iquity, were the ordinance of God. And even unto 
 
THE UNIVERSAL RULE. 125 
 
 them obedience was due, for conscience' sake, as 
 luito legitimate authority. Every man who is in 
 power, is commissioned as God's own deputy." 
 Such are the arguments of the seceder disputants. 
 In order to preserve consistency, they were led 
 to maintain the following sentiments, and, as a 
 Church, to embody them in their ecclesiastical 
 standards : — 
 
 " Divine Revelation is not the rule by which men 
 are to act in the formation of their civil constitu- 
 tions and laws. 
 
 "Jesus Christ does not^ as mediator, govern the 
 world. His authority is confined to the Church. 
 
 " Nations, as such, are not bound to acknowledge 
 Christ, or his reHgion. Magistrates have nothing 
 to do with Christianity. 
 
 " The Redeemer has not purchased temporal 
 benefits for the saints. 
 
 " The world stands, not merely on purpose to 
 exhibit the system of grace, but in order to bring 
 into being the children of Adam, that they might 
 be punished by the curse of the covenant of works. 
 
 " The world would have stood, and all the gen- 
 erations of men would have appeared in it, even 
 if there had been no redemption provided for 
 sinners." 
 
 These general principles, and the practical ap- 
 plication of them, carried the secession Churches 
 daily further away from the reformed Presbyterian 
 standards. Happily, however, for human society, 
 
126 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 experience shows that the doctrine of passive obedi- 
 ence to the powers that be is absurd. The British 
 nation, not excepting even the Oxford professors, 
 resisted the existing authorities, under the reign 
 of King James, and estabhshed the Prince of 
 Orange. The seceders, who were in America, also 
 agreed to overturn the existing authorities, at the 
 commencement of the revohition. The very per- 
 sons who vehemently opposed the reformed Pres- 
 bytery for disowning the British government in 
 the year 1774, joined in its destruction in the 
 years which immediately succeeded. The declara- 
 tion of American independence is a national com- 
 ment on that great principle for which covenanters 
 uniformly contended : '^ we are not bound to own, 
 as God's ordinance, every one without exception, 
 who may providentially have power in his hands." 
 
 Great national 'revolutions produce a current of 
 popular opinion, which it requires firmness of mind 
 in any man to resist. The Covenanters in America 
 perceived with joy the United States rising in a 
 bod}^, to resist the arm which had been uplifted for 
 their oppression. Their expectations of immediate 
 advantage to the Church, however, were too san- 
 guine. Their love of liberty exceeded its due 
 bounds. Many of them were carried away from 
 their former principles; and, during the American 
 war, the Eeformed Presbytery was dissolved. The 
 three ministers, already mentioned, joined with some 
 ministers of the Associate Church in communion, 
 
UNION COMPLETED. 127 
 
 and formed that society which now bears the name 
 of the Associate Reformed Church. 
 
 The union with the Reformed Presbytery was 
 closed by the Associate Presbytery of New York, 
 in the year 1780, upon the footing of ten articles, 
 which had been agreed to by the Reformed Pres- 
 bytery in the year 1779. The Associate Presbytery 
 of Pennsylvania acceded to this union, upon the 
 basis of six articles, nearly of the same signification 
 with the ten already referred to. The union was 
 completed in the year 1782, after having been five 
 years in agitation. A party of the sececlers dissent- 
 ing from this union, and appealing to the Associate 
 Synod in Scotland, continued upon their former 
 ground, retaining the name and the power of the 
 Associate Presbytery of Pennsylvania. These arti- 
 cles of union contain many valuable concessions to 
 the Reformed Presbytery, and, considered in con- 
 nection with the present state of affairs in the 
 United States, approached the Reformation Tes- 
 timony. 
 
 The practice of seceders and the whole nation, 
 during the contest for throwing off the British yoke, 
 determined the point, that in some cases it is lawful 
 to disown the constituted civil authorities. This 
 was an explicit declaration that Christians are not 
 under obligations to submit to evert/ civil ruler who 
 providentially possesses power ; that in some cases 
 the constituted authorities are not the ordinance 
 of God. It was a full concession to the Reformed 
 
128 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 Presbyterian Church of the great principle, in re- 
 lation to a constitution of civil government, " It is 
 not the fact that it does exist, hut its moral character, that 
 determines ivhether it he the ordinance of God or notr 
 The union seceders forsook the secession testimony 
 in other very important principles. The sixth of 
 the ten articles of union declares, that the adminis- 
 tration of the kingdom of Providence is committed 
 to the Mediator ; and that the Church has the 
 sanctified .use of that and every common benefit, 
 through the grace of Christ. The seventh declares, 
 that divine revelation is the rule by which magis- 
 trates ought to be regulated. And the eighth admits 
 that a people may, by their own voluntary deed, 
 make a religious test essential to the very being of 
 a magistrate among them. The ninth article pledges 
 both parties, when united, to adhere to the stan- 
 dards, compiled by the Westminster assembly. In 
 one of the six additional articles, covenanting is 
 termed an important duty, and it is referred to 
 the future deliberation^ of the whole body. These 
 articles are certainly agreeable to the principles of 
 the Eeformed Presbyterian Church, and even they 
 who disapproved of the union, were happy in hear- 
 ing seceders make such declarations. 
 
 When Messrs. Cuthbertson, Lind, and Dobbin 
 joined in the Associate Reformed connection, there 
 remained in America but one minister, Mr. Martin, 
 professing to teach the whole doctrine of the refor- 
 mation. Mr. Martin had arrived in South Carolina, 
 
ASSOCIATE REFORMED. 129 
 
 from Ireland, in 1773. Although he professed the 
 most cordial attachment to reformation principles, 
 he did not, from some infirmity of character, long 
 possess the confidence of those who were intimately 
 acquainted with his conduct. He continued, never- 
 theless, for some time to administer ordinances. 
 Several individuals and societies were scattered 
 through the different States, like sheep without a 
 shepherd, who refused to join with the seceders, and 
 chose to w^ait upon God in the private ordinances 
 of his grace, rather than recede from their cove- 
 nanted testimony. They disapproved of the union, 
 and considered their former ministers as guilty of 
 apostasy. The Presbyterian system, they believed 
 to be of divine appointment, and it was directly 
 contrary to its spirit to leave a Church, without 
 assigning any reason for it, and especially, w^ithout 
 having a reason to assign. The ministers who em- 
 braced the union from the Eeformed Presbytery, 
 declared, that they still remained attached to refor- 
 mation principles ; that if they were still in Britain 
 or Ireland, they would continue with their former 
 connections. They broke off from a confessedly 
 pure communi-on, without consulting their former 
 brethren in the ministry, or conferring on the 
 important subject with their sister judicatories in 
 Europe. They had vowed to support the unity of 
 the Church, and pursue no divisive courses ; and 
 yet, under pretence of repairing a breach which 
 they had no hand in making, they, in spite of their 
 9 
 
130 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 profession and their vows, made a new schism, by 
 their own voluntary act. It was also believed by 
 covenanters, that the parties who formed the union 
 wanted unanimity. The seceders, notwithstanding 
 their concessions to the Reformed Presbytery, in 
 the articles of union, still courted the friendship of 
 the secession Church, and even declared, however 
 inconsistently, their approbation of its testimony. 
 The ministers formerly belonging to the Reformed 
 Presbytery still professed to approve of their own 
 former testimony against that of the secession 
 Church. It was expected that a union of such dis- 
 cordant materials would not prove beneficial to the 
 Reformed Presbyterian cause. 
 
 A great part of the Church joined their ministers 
 in the schism, from their former connection, to 
 unite in a new body with seceders, who had also 
 irregularly departed from their former ecclesiastical 
 brethren. Those who did not join, turned their atten- 
 tion again towards Europe, and called for ministerial 
 assistance. This could not be immediately obtained. 
 The Reformed Presbyteries in Europe were not 
 able to supply the demand for ministerial services 
 at home, and did not find it convenient to send 
 any missionaries to America. 
 
 The Church was in danger of becoming entirely 
 extinct, in America, about four years after the 
 defection took place, which contributed to the organ- 
 ization of the Associate Reformed body. The people 
 are reduced to their private fellowship meetings. 
 
REV. JAMES REID. 131 
 
 They did not, however, despair, even at their lowest 
 state. They expected, and received help. The 
 Rev. James Reid was sent as a missionary, by the 
 Reformed Presbytery of Scotland, to examine the 
 state of affairs in the United States; and, after 
 having travelled from Carolina to New York, and 
 remained several months in America, he returned 
 to Europe in the summer, 1790. The Presbytery 
 then determined to use means for reorganizing a 
 Church in the States of America. Mr. McGarragh 
 was ordained by the Reformed Presbytery of Ire- 
 land for the Church in America, and arrived in 
 South Carolina about the year 1791. The Rev. 
 William King was commissioned with instructions 
 to join Mr. McGarragh, and, as a Committee of the 
 Reformed Presbytery of Scotland, these gentlemen 
 were empowered judicially to manage the concerns 
 of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in America,. 
 Mr. King arrived in the United States in the year 
 1792. After having remained some time in Penn- 
 sylvania, and visiting New York, where he had an 
 interview with the Rev. James McKinney, a mem- 
 ber of the Reformed Presbytery of Ireland, who 
 emigrated to America in the year 1793, he re- 
 turned to South Carolina. A committee of Pres- 
 bytery was formed in the South, and under its 
 care was taken Mr. Thomas Donelly, a young man 
 who had received in Glasgow a collegiate educa- 
 tion, with a view to the ministry of the gospel. 
 Mr. King was settled in a pastoral charge, and the 
 
132 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 affairs of the Church began to wear a regular 
 appearance in the South. 
 
 Mr. McKinney was not inactive in the Northern 
 States. He possessed talents admirably adapted 
 to the present situation of the Church. He pos- 
 sessed an intrepidity of character which could not 
 be seduced by friendship, or overawed by opposi- 
 tion. An extensive acquaintance with men and 
 with books furnished his mind with various and 
 useful knowledge; and his inventive powers never 
 left him at a loss for arguments to defend the sys- 
 tem to which he w^as piously attached. Capable 
 of enduring fatigue in an uncommon degree, active, 
 inquisitive, and enterprising, he sought out, he dis- 
 covered, and he visited, everywhere, the few cove- 
 nanters who w^ere scattered through the wilderness, 
 and formed them into regular societies. The sub- 
 limity of his conceptions, the accuracy of his judg- 
 ment, the fervor of his devotion, and the vehe- 
 mence of his eloquence, qualified him to rouse 
 into the most active exertions, for the good of Zion, 
 those lonely societies, who had been so long unac- 
 customed to the public preaching of the gospel. 
 By his instrumentality, the Church rapidly increased 
 in the States of Pennsylvania and New York. 
 
 In May, 1793, he preached in Princetown, a few 
 miles from the city of Schenectady, for several Sab- 
 baths, and with much success. Although there were 
 only two men in that place who had been Cove- 
 nanters, the number soon increased to a congrega- 
 
McKINNEY AND McLEOD. 133 
 
 tion. The people of Princetown and Duanesburgh, 
 uniting with the congregation of Galway, petitioned 
 to the Presbytery of Ireland, praying that they would 
 dissolve his connection with his present pastoral 
 charge, and settle him among them. In the year 
 1797, Mr. McKinney accepted the invitation, and 
 receiving his family from Ireland, settled as the pas- 
 tor of the united congregations of Galway and 
 Duanesburgh. 
 
 Mr. McLeod was among the first fruits of Mr, 
 McKinney's ministry in Princetown. He had re- 
 ceived in Scotland, which he had left about nine 
 months before, the rudiments of an education for 
 the ministry, in the established Church. The second 
 sermon which Mr. McKinney preached in Prince- 
 town, was from the 4th verse of 27th Psalm, and 
 determined Mr. McLeod to embrace the principles 
 of the covenanted reformation. He also determined 
 to pursue his studies, in order to qualify himself for 
 the ministry in the Reformed Presbyterian Church. 
 He obtained his collegiate education in Union Col- 
 lege, Schenectady. 
 
 The troubles which prevailed in Ireland, during 
 the insurrection of those who were united for the 
 purpose of throwing off the British yoke, proved 
 advantageous to the Church in America. In that 
 country the Reformed Presbyterians were placed 
 in a very critical situation. They had, for a long 
 time, stood alone the advocates of civil liberty, and 
 of the independency of the Church of the crown. 
 
134 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 The insurgents considered them as the enemies of 
 the present constitution of government, and the 
 royalists viewed them in the same light. They 
 were courted by the former and suspected by the 
 latter. The principles of the united Irishmen were, 
 however, very different from those of Presbyterian 
 covenanters, and consequently they could not con- 
 sistently make a common cause with them, although 
 they sincerely desired the abolition of the prehxcy, 
 and the overthrow of the Erastian system, which 
 despotism had established in Ireland ; they had 
 not much cause to commit w^ith confidence their 
 civil and religious privileges to the protection of the 
 great body of the people of Ireland, acting under 
 French influence in case of a revolution. 
 
 The expected revolution offered, at best, but a 
 gloomy prospect to the witnesses against the man 
 of sin. Three millions of Eoman Catholics, in op- 
 position to less than half a million of true Presby- 
 terians, could not be supposed to erect a system of 
 government which would prove favorable to the 
 interests of Presbyterian covenanters. They could 
 not, therefore, co-operate with freedom, in elevating 
 into power these votaries of Antichrist. 
 
 The torrent of popular opinion, however, flows 
 with too much rapidity to admit of deliberate rea- 
 soning. Some of the witnesses of the covenanted 
 reformation were hurried away, by this torrent, from 
 their former landmarks, before they had time to 
 consider the consequences. They w^ere all known 
 
BLACK AND WYLIE. 135 
 
 to be the determined foes of that monstrous system, 
 in which the monarchy and the prelacy were com- 
 bined. The tools of oppression might, therefore, 
 at any time, mark any of them as their prey ; and 
 while martial law or arbitrary power prevailed, 
 every one was in danger. These troubles brought 
 an accession of strength, from distracted Ireland, 
 to the American Church. The Rev. William Gib- 
 son was among the emigrants. He arrived in this 
 country in the year 1797. He was accompanied by 
 Messrs. Black and Wylie, who had completed a 
 collegiate education in the university of Glasgow, 
 and were now preparing for the work of the minis- 
 tr}^ The arrival of these gentlemen encouraged 
 the Churches now suffering for the want of a 
 preached gospel, and confirmed to Mr. McKinney 
 the propriety of adopting a plan whereby a more 
 complete organization should be given to the 
 Church than that which now existed. He consid- 
 ered it more advantageous to the interest of the 
 reformation in the United States, that its affairs be 
 conducted by a presbyterial judicatory, subsisting 
 in a connection with its sister presbyteries in Scot- 
 land and Ireland, than that they should retain the 
 form of a committee subordinate to one of the 
 European courts. He always disapproved of the 
 method of performing judicial transactions by a 
 committee, at so great a distance from the parent 
 judicatory. When he visited Carolina, although 
 he acted as a corresponding member of the com- 
 
136 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 mittee of presbytery, he would not be considered 
 as fully approving that organization. He was there, 
 however, informed that it was never intended by 
 the presbytery in Scotland, that the committee 
 should continue in its present state any longer than 
 conveniency required. It was no more than a 
 temporary expediency. All were sensible that a 
 Presbyterian organization should be speedily giv- 
 en to the Church. After consultation with Mr. 
 Gibson and the elders of the Church in Philadel- 
 phia, it was resolved to organize a Presbytery. 
 This resolution was adopted, and carried into exe- 
 cution. 
 
 The committee of the Scottish Presbytery which 
 acted in Carolina, was now providentially dissolved. 
 Mr. King, standing alone, was invited to a confer- 
 ence at Alexandria with the northern ministers. 
 They, seeing the intrinsic propriety of the measure, 
 the dissolution of the committee, four young men 
 as candidates for the ministry under their care, 
 and seeing the Church requiring a speedy admin- 
 istration of discipline, did constitute the Reformed 
 Presbytery of the United States of North America, 
 in the city of Philadelphia, in the spring of the 
 year 1798. 
 
 Mr. King did not live to meet his brethren in a 
 Presbyterial capacity. He departed this life be- 
 fore the time appointed for the meeting. The 
 Presbytery, however, increased in number. Messrs. 
 Donelly, Black, Wylie, and McLeod were licensed 
 
REFORMED PRESBYTERY, 1798. 137 
 
 to preach the gospel by the Reformed Presbytery, 
 met at Coldenham, in June, 1799. The Church 
 was in a very scattered condition when these young 
 men entered upon her pubhc service. Covenanters 
 were thinly dispersed through the vast extent of 
 the American empire, like ancient Israel, as dew 
 among the nations. The preachers had to encounter 
 toil and danger. Their elder brethren had, how- 
 ever, set them an example of sacrificing, without 
 reluctance, bodily ease to the welfare of Zion, and 
 this example they felt it their duty to follow. It 
 was esteemed a lig;ht thino; for each of them to 
 travel upwards of a thousand miles in one season. 
 Some of them have in less than a year performed 
 journeys of upwards of two thousand miles in 
 extent. They had the happiness, however, of 
 seeing the saints refreshed, sinners turned unto the 
 Lord, and the visible Church putting on gradually 
 the appearance of a regular organization. 
 
 In the course of two years they were all ordained 
 to the ministry, and had fixed pastoral charges 
 committed to them. This measure increased rather 
 than diminished their toils. To the care of the 
 numerous vacancies which they were still bound to 
 visit and supply wdth public ordinances, was added 
 the care of a special charge, of which each had 
 taken the oversight. 
 
 The Presbytery turned their attention to their 
 fathers and brethren in the British empire for 
 assistance. The Eev. Samuel B. Wylie was com- 
 
138 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 missioned to the Presbyteries of Scotland and 
 Ireland, in the year 1802, and sailed for Europe. 
 He was instructed to inform these judicatories of 
 the constitution of the Reformed Presbytery in 
 America — to consult with them about some plan 
 expedient to preserve an intimacy and unity among 
 the sister Churches, until they could be united 
 under one common judicatory — and to request 
 ministerial assistance for the American Churches. 
 Mr. Wylie returned in October, 1803. 
 
 The constitution of the Reformed Presbyterian 
 Church in the United States, was fully recognized 
 by the ecclesiastical judicatories of the same 
 Church in Scotland and in Ireland ; a friendly cor- 
 respondence was established between the three 
 Presbyteries, and some encouragement afforded of 
 receiving ministerial help at a future period. This 
 help was now become more necessary. Mr. McKin- 
 ney was removed from the State of New York, 
 having accepted a call from a congregation in Caro- 
 lina ; and he there ended his life in August, 1803. 
 
 The members of the Reformed Presbytery are 
 widely scattered over this extensive empire. For 
 the more convenient exercise of ecclesiastical 
 authority in the Churches under their care, it was 
 necessary to separate themselves into distinct com- 
 mittees, authorized to exercise Church power within 
 specified limits. The northern committee has re- 
 ceived ecclesiastical jurisdiction over their Churches 
 situated between the northern boundary of Pensyl- 
 
TESTIMONY EXHIBITED. 139 
 
 vania and the line which separates the United 
 States from the British dominions in North America. 
 The middle committee is empowered to regulate 
 the ecclesiastical concerns of the Churches between 
 the Pennsylvanian line and the northern boundary 
 of North Carolina. The jurisdiction of the southern 
 committee ejitends from the Carolina line to the 
 southern limits of the United States. This arrange- 
 ment rendered the exercise of discipline more con- 
 venient, and it prepared the way for the erection 
 of distinct Presbyteries under the inspection of one 
 synod, as soon as an increase of ministers should 
 render such an organization eligible. The acts of 
 these committees are, in the mean time, subject to 
 the review of the Presbytery at its yearly meetings. 
 The southern committee was very soon dissolved, 
 by the death of the Rev. Mr. McKinney. Mr. 
 Donelly is now the only minister belonging to 
 the Reformed Presbytery who resides within these 
 limits. Whatever business occurs, w^hich the ses- 
 sion is incompetent to settle, is referred immediately 
 to the Presbytery. The middle committee consists 
 of the Rev. Messrs. Wylie and Black, and the ruling 
 elders who act with them in judicature. Mr. Wylie 
 is pastor of the Church in Philadelphia, and Mr. 
 Black of the Church in Pittsburgh and its vicinity. 
 The Rev. Mr. Gibson, pastor of the Church in Rye- 
 gate, Vermont, and Mr. McLeod, of the Church in 
 the city of New York, constitute, with ruling elders, 
 the northern committee. Several candidates for 
 
140 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 the ministry are, however, before the Church. 
 Double their present number of ministers would 
 not be sufficient to furnish their Churches with a 
 reo-ular and constant administration of ordinances. 
 
 Nevertheless, as an ecclesiastical judicatory, 
 exercising authority in the name of Christ, the head 
 of the Church, they deem it their duty to bind up 
 the testimony, and seal the law among his disciples. 
 After mature deliberation, the Presbytery resolved 
 to exhibit their sentiments to the world in the most 
 simple form. They were unanimous in opinion, 
 that the Church should be one in every nation 
 under heaven, and that the subordinate ecclesiastical 
 standards should also be one. They were certain 
 this could not be the case if anything local or pe- 
 culiar to any one part of the world were admitted 
 into these standards. Such an admission would 
 necessarily prevent the unity of the Church. Truth 
 is not local. Abstract principle is universally the 
 same in every part of the world. The particular 
 application of this one system, however, should be 
 left to each part of the Church, and should be reg- 
 ulated by local circumstances. This application 
 should be plain, pointed, and argumentative, adapted 
 to convince, to persuade, and to confirm. The 
 Presbytery expected that a period would come in 
 which the Reformed Presbyterian Church would be 
 found in the different nations of Europe, Asia, 
 Africa, and America. It was their intention, in 
 exhibiting a testimony for truth, and against error, 
 
WORK OF IMPORTANCE. 141 
 
 to render it such as might be acceptable to Re- 
 formed Presbyterians in Italy and in Egypt, in 
 India and in Tartary, as well as in Great Britain, 
 or in the United States of America. They ordered 
 a member of Presbytery to prepare a draught of 
 such a system. They appointed a committee to 
 examine it. By order of committee, copies of it 
 were transmitted to the two sister Presbyteries in 
 the British empire, and to each minister and Church 
 session belonging to the Church in America. Those 
 who received copies were, at the same time, 
 requested to return them to the Presbytery, ac- 
 companied with such additions, alterations, and 
 amendments, as they might deem it expedient to 
 propose. 
 
 The Presbytery, while they were endeavoring to 
 provide for such a testimony as would be universally 
 applicable, were equally anxious to provide for a 
 particular application of their principles. The 
 members had several parts of this extensive work 
 assigned them. They were severally appointed to 
 examine the systems of other Churches, and the 
 constituted civil authorities and laws, and to prepare 
 particular testimonies applying the general prin- 
 ciples of the ecclesiastical standards against the 
 evils and errors of these systems, in a full and ex- 
 plicit manner. The Presbytery wished to go 
 thoroughly into this business. They felt that it was 
 a work of time, of labor and of importance. They 
 chose rather to disappoint the earnest and honest 
 
142 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 expectations and wishes of their people, than injure 
 the declaration and testimony which they were 
 about to make, in exhibition of their principles as 
 a Church, by intermingling with it a review of other 
 Churches, which must necessarily have been so 
 short as to be feeble and unsatisfactory. 
 
 The Reformed Presbytery met in the city of 
 New York, agreeably to appointment, upon the first 
 Tuesday of May, in the year of our Lord 1806 ; 
 but in consequence of the absence of several mem- 
 bers, they adjourned until Wednesday evening, 
 without proceeding to business. They continued in 
 session for ten days. During this period they con- 
 sidered the Draught of a Testimony^ which had been 
 previously prepared. The Reformed Presbj^tery 
 of Scotland had kindly favored them with their 
 remarks upon that Draught, and a variety of ani- 
 madversions from the different parts of the Church 
 in America were also submitted to their consider- 
 ation. Such additions and alterations were made 
 as appeared proper to the Presbytery ; and with 
 these, the Draught was unanimously adopted as the 
 Tesiimony of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in 
 the United States of America, and committed to a 
 committee for publication with all convenient speed. 
 
 In the conclusion of this chapter in the history 
 of the Church in America, we have abundant reason 
 to notice the great and unmerited kindness of 
 Almighty God. We owe it as a testimony to his 
 goodness, to say that he hath done great things for 
 
MARTYRDOM. 143 
 
 US. At the time that the first edition of this testi- 
 mony was presented to the world, scarcely eighteen 
 years ago, the Reformed Church had but five or- 
 dained ministers in her whole connection in the 
 United States. Now, on the publishing of a second 
 edition, through the Divine blessing, she has no less 
 than twenty-four, and an increasing demand for 
 ministerial laborers.* Congregations are springing 
 up in the desert, and the wilderness is becoming a 
 fruitful field. Lei us fear the Lord, and serve km in 
 truth xmtli all our heart, and consider hoiv great things he 
 hath done for us. 
 
 Slavery, the principal practical evil in America, 
 had long since been removed from the Church. 
 
 In the year 1800, Mr. McLeod had received a 
 call to the congregation of Wallkill, and among the 
 subscribers there were holders of slaves. He urged 
 this fact as a motive for rejecting the call. The 
 Presbytery, now having the subject regularly before 
 them, resolved to purge the Church of this dreadful 
 evil. They enacted that no slaveholder should be 
 retained in their communion. This measure was 
 greatly facilitated by the spirited and faithful exer- 
 tions of the Rev. Messrs. James McKinney and 
 Samuel B. Wylie, who had been appointed a com- 
 mittee to visit the Southern States, and regulate 
 the concerns of the Church in that part of America. 
 These gentlemen set out upon their mission in the 
 
 * There are now, in 1852, fifty ordained ministers in connection with 
 General Synod. 
 
144 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 month of November, 1800. They travelled through 
 Pennsylvania, and from Pittsburgh sailed down the 
 Ohio to Kentucky. They rode from thence to 
 South Carolina, and having settled the affairs of 
 the Church, and abolished the practice of holding 
 slaves amono; Church members in the South, thev 
 returned in the spring to the State of New York. 
 The Presbytery approved of the services of their 
 committee, and required of their connections a gen- 
 eral emancipation. No slaveholder is since admitted 
 to their communion. 
 
 Thus have the Presbytery endeavored to settle 
 the doctrine and the practice of the Church. 
 
 They have given a summary view of the TRUTHS 
 which the martyrs have been sealing with their 
 blood, from the beginning of the Christian dispen- 
 sation until the present day. It has been their 
 endeavor to reject nothing for which their pred- 
 ecessors have faithfully contended, and to embrace 
 nothing but what is agreeable to the supreme stan- 
 dard of judgment — the Holy Scriptures. 
 
 They sincerely lament that the principles of their 
 Testimony should prove so opposite to the practice 
 of many churches, containing many of the saints of 
 God ; but they had no alternative ; they must act 
 thus, or renounce their faithfulness. They cheer- 
 fully appreciate the talents and piety of their 
 acquaintances, and, as opportunity may offer, com- 
 mune with them as friends and as Christians ; but 
 they cannot extend to any one the right hand of 
 
MARTYKDOM. 145 
 
 fellowship in the visible Church upon any other 
 principles than those contained in their Declaration 
 and Testimony, nor can they consistently join, 
 ecclesiastically, in the communion of other Churches, 
 while they continue opposed to these declared 
 sentiments. 
 
 They are fully sensible in thus binding up the, 
 Testimony^ that the present generation will consider 
 their zeal as extravagant. Of those who garnish 
 the tombs of the martyrs, some may pity, and oth- 
 ers reproach their honest exertions, to follow the 
 steps which the martyrs have marked with their 
 own blood. 
 
 They commit their character to the mercy of 
 the all-seeing God, who knows their motives, and 
 to the impartial judgment of the Church at that 
 period, when " the greatness of the kingdom under 
 the whole heaven shall be given to the people 
 of the Saints of the Most High." Arise, God I 
 Plead thine oivn Cause ! 0, let not the oppressed re- 
 turn ashamed : let the poor and needy praise thy name ! 
 Blessed be the Lord God : the God of Israel, who only 
 doeth wondrous things : and let the luJiole earth be filled 
 with his Glory ! AMEN and AMEN. 
 10 
 
146 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 CHAPTER ly. 
 
 FROM THE RATIFICATION OF THE TESTIMONY UNTIL 
 MAY, 1852. 
 
 In the previous pages of this " Historical Review " 
 we have had a recognition, with sufficient distinct- 
 ness, of the great truth of the unity of the Church 
 of God. In all ages this divine corporation has 
 been really one. Amidst the confusion attendant 
 upon partial schisms and disorderly defections, this 
 important fact is in danger of being overlooked, if 
 not of being altogether forgotten. The eye of 
 faction is neither fitted nor disposed to survey a 
 field of vision more extensive than that which is 
 bounded by the narrow limits of the party to which 
 it belongs. It is, however, characteristic of the true 
 Church to have a Past, with which the Present is 
 in intimate connection ; while with a deeply in- 
 teresting Future both the Past and the Present are 
 in important relationship. By the more enlight- 
 ened, spiritually-minded, and generous-hearted chil- 
 dren of Zion, a feeling of the peculiar value of 
 these relations has always been cherished ; a feeling 
 which, in the good providence of God, has con- 
 tributed its full share in giving steadfastness to 
 their hallowed profession. Such will continue to 
 be the case, until regardless and weary of the past, 
 and not duly mindful of, nor vvisely provident for, 
 the future, a preference shall be given to that 
 
TESTIMONY RATIFIED. 147 
 
 which is of yesterday, and which is not destined to 
 be recognized in a distant and better age. 
 
 To these considerations, the framers of the sub- 
 ordinate standards of our Church, both of an ear- 
 her and later period, were not inattentive. These 
 standards embrace the unaltered Confession of 
 Faith, the Catechisms, and general frame of Church 
 government — the compositions of the venerable 
 Westminster Assembly of the seventeenth century ; 
 with which, in 1806, were connected the volumes 
 known under the title of '^ Reformation Principles 
 exhibited." These contain the material of the 
 Church's religious profession, and present together 
 the form of her stated Testimony in favor of her 
 Redeemer's cause. 
 
 An attentive consideration of these documents, 
 in connection with their historical relations, will 
 furnish an answer to the inquiries not unfrequently 
 made : Why was there a distinct Reformed Presby- 
 terian organization ever made in America ? And, 
 Why is it continued ? An answer to these in- 
 quiries, at the hazard of some repetition, will of 
 necessity call up to view the Reformed Presbyterian 
 cause, which will be found very far from a mere 
 name. It embraces the whole system of Evangeli- 
 cal religion and moral law, with the sacred institutes 
 by which that system has its development. It 
 demands a full recognition of God's claims, under 
 the headship of Immanuel, the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 upon man — the whole of man — in every relation 
 
148 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 and pursuit of life, where the Bible revelation is 
 possessed or made known. It solemnly prohibits 
 the giving of any pledge of approbation or support 
 to immorality, or to any principle of immorality. 
 It affirms, that into no relation can the subject 
 of God's moral government consistently or safely 
 enter, whose constitution is in hostility against the 
 kingdom of Christ, and whose tendency, in its con- 
 stitution and constitutional administration, is not to 
 promote the interests of knowledge, righteousness, 
 and rational liberty. In her actual administrations, 
 this Church holds herself obliged, in solemn cove- 
 nant with God, by all moral means of which she is 
 possessed, to bring the principles of her profession 
 to bear upon the advancement of this cause. 
 
 The great declension of the Presbyterian Church 
 in the British Isles, before any organization of the 
 people of that Church was found in America, is 
 matter of history. The elevated moral position of 
 that Church, — though not complete, being only 
 in progress towards a higher point, — in what is 
 denominated the period of the second Reformation, 
 is not unknown. Nor are we ignorant of her de- 
 scent from that high position on which she stood 
 when she, by solemn. covenant, avouched the Lord 
 Jesus Christ as the only head of his own Church, and 
 of all things for the Church's sake, and which she 
 left to take her stand under an Erastian monarchy, 
 which profanely claimed, within its dominions, a 
 headship beside — and in opposition to that of 
 
WESTMINSTER STANDARDS. 149 
 
 Christ, over the Church, and over all things apper- 
 taining to her. The settlement of the political 
 establishment of the British throne in the house of 
 Nassau, and again in that of Hanover, was like that 
 under the famihes of Tudor and of Stuart — a gross 
 usurpation of dominion over the Church, and an 
 invasion of the sovereign rights of the Son of God. 
 By what is usually known as the Revolution Settle- 
 ment, under William IIL, and Mary his wife, the 
 Church was made a piece and parcel of the political 
 state. The monarch, a secular power, was made 
 head of the spiritual body, the Church. This was 
 made essential to the constitution and existence of 
 the government, and to this the approvers of that 
 settlement gave their pledge. But a conscientious 
 pledge to sustain such an establishment, the con- 
 sistent and faithful Presbyterians could not give. 
 To separate the political from the ecclesiastical part 
 was impossible. The system was a unit, to the 
 existence of which Erastianism was essentiah The 
 members of the general assembly of the revolution 
 Church, however, were prepared to bow the neck 
 to the yoke of an Erastian usurpation. Time had 
 carried away the majority of the high-spirited jure 
 divino Presbj-terians. A twenty-eight years' perse- 
 cution had broken the spirit of a less magnanimous, 
 though well-disposed class. Then came the ma- 
 jority of the temporizers under the two previous 
 reigns, and to them were added the hundreds of 
 prelatic curates, who were the sworn advocates of 
 
150 HISTOKICAL VIEW. 
 
 all the tyranny and oppression to which the friends 
 of the Reformation had been subjected, and many 
 of whom, in the previous persecutions, were intru- 
 ders into the pulpits of the exiled Presbyterian 
 ministry. These intruders, — the spies and the in- 
 formers of a former mercilesss government, — their 
 hands yet stained by the blood of martyrs, with 
 their ruling elders, were recognized members of 
 the revolution Church of Scotland ; and such were 
 the constituent members of this general assembly 
 of that Church. A few good men, just returned 
 from their exile, and a portion of those who had 
 remained amidst sufferings at home, cherishing the 
 vain hope of giving, through their agency and in- 
 fluence, a higher character to this establishment, 
 went into its communion. But the controlling 
 power was in the hands of a majority who had sold 
 themselves to the invader of the Church's rights 
 and the usurper of Messiah's throne. The strug- 
 gles of a well-meaning minority in favor of the 
 right, were overruled by a faithless majority ; and 
 the results were a progress of error in doctrine, a 
 spirit of yielding to Erastian assumption, and a 
 relaxation in morals and evangelical discipline, 
 accompanied by a fierce exercise of ecclesiastical 
 power against those who attempted a stand in be- 
 half of the Church's rights. 
 
 A " high spirited " and faithful minority still 
 stood aloof from the whole establishment. Into the 
 fellowship of a Church so constituted, and threat- 
 
FAITHFUL MINORITY. 151 
 
 ening such results, they could not enter ; and to a 
 crown that held a usurped .power, beside and in 
 hostility to the authority of Christ, and which, by 
 its constitution, was impelled to put forth such a 
 corrupting influence over and in the Church, they 
 could yield no pledge of allegiance. Upon their 
 consciences, they felt the obligations of their Re- 
 deemer's claims, and in their ears was still sounding 
 the warning voice of the martyr's blood, admonish- 
 ing them of the danger of an unworthy compromise 
 of the consecrated principles of their profession. 
 God's word, their solemn covenant bonds, and 
 twenty-eight years of ruthless persecution, had 
 taught them the religious value of the Church's 
 independence of secular power. 
 
 Thus, in the British empire, Presbyterians were 
 found in two parties, whose lines of demarcation 
 were distinctly drawn. From each of these parties 
 there were emigrations to the American Provinces. 
 But over these Provinces, the Erastian constitution 
 of England was likew^ise supreme. The revolution 
 Church of Scotland, as well as that of the Prelacy 
 of England and Ireland, had, in the colonies, the 
 representatives of her constitutional principles. It 
 was felt by the consistent friends of the Reforma- 
 tion, that the waters of the Atlantic had neither 
 sanctified the Erastianism of the British establish- 
 ment, nor, as to themselves, disannulled the au- 
 thority of Messiah's claims ; and whether in the 
 mother country or in the Western colonies, to the 
 
152 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 fellowship of those establishments there was no ad- 
 mission for the uncompromising friends of the Ref- 
 ormation cause. To enjoy fellowship with majority, 
 an abandonment of some of the most fundamental 
 principles of that cause w^as the price that must 
 have been paid by the more faithful Presbyterians. 
 To them it was painful to witness, in the act par- 
 tially adopting their confession of their Faith, that 
 the American Presbyterians qualified that deed with 
 the avowal, that in their creed there was nothing 
 to be understood as hostile to the Erastian settle- 
 ment of the English throne.'^' And this while that 
 confession is distinguished by the following affirma- 
 tions : " There is no other head of the Church but 
 the Lord Jesus Christ." And again : " The Lord 
 Jesus, as king and head of his Church, hath therein 
 appointed a government, in the hand of Church 
 officers, distinct from the civil magistrate." " The 
 civil magistrate may not assume to himself the ad- 
 ministration of the word and sacraments, or the 
 power of the keys of the kingdom of heaven." -j* 
 The above stated avowal was understood as an 
 unworthy crouching to usurpation, and a cowardly 
 yielding of the Church's faith to the claims of an 
 immoral and impious power. And instead of a full 
 and faithful assertion of their rights, in a style be- 
 coming Christian freemen, generally they sought 
 nothing beyond what was doled out to them by the 
 
 * See index for authorities. 
 
 t See Confession of Faith, chaps, xxiii., xxv., xxx., xxxi. 
 
CIVIL MAGISTRATE. 153 
 
 toleration act, shackled as that toleration was by 
 slavish and ensnaring oaths; and proceeding from 
 an assumed authority to establish, persecute, or tol- 
 erate religion at pleasure ; this tame yielding, ac- 
 companied, on the part of some, by the boast that 
 in public ministrations so much as a minute had 
 not been employed " in reasoning against the pe- 
 culiarities of the established [the prelatic] Church, 
 nor so much as assio:nino; the reasons of non-con- 
 formity." And when the sentiments of the old 
 "high principled " advocates of the exclusive head- 
 ship of Christ, who refused the pledge of fealty to 
 the Erastian usurpation, which had corrupted and 
 still continued to corrupt and oppress the Church, 
 came before those accommodating men, their ab- 
 horrence of those " high principles " was expressed 
 in no very measured terms ; and of the uncom- 
 promising friends of Christ's crown, and of his peo- 
 ple's rights and liberties, they spoke with " harsh- 
 ness " and " acrimony." 
 
 This course was in correspondence with the con- 
 stitution, principles, and policy of the revolution 
 Church of Scotland, with which, in principle and 
 discipline, the American branch desired to be con- 
 sidered as identified. To the constitution of that 
 mother Church a reference has been already made ; 
 and what she was in actual character, as developed 
 at the time when this American branch claimed 
 with her a near and tender relation, it may, in this 
 connection, be proper to learn from her own histo- 
 
154 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 rian. By her leading men, who guided her meas- 
 ures and gave character to herself, such as it was, — 
 " Unpreshi/teriany imscriptural, imchristian principles were 
 promulgated, — lauded and followed, and regarded 
 as the very standards of their policy." " They did 
 not scruple to subject every spiritual consideration 
 to the arbitrary rules of secular policy." The prin- 
 ciple of this Church's action, had it been followed 
 to its legitimate conclusion, would have landed, says 
 her historian, in " the hideous doctrine of entire 
 slavish obedience to tyranny in the State, and po- 
 pery in the Church — that is — to absolute despo- 
 tism, civil and religious." The practical illustration 
 of all this is found in such cases as those of the 
 fierce, unjust, and cruel acts of discipline towards 
 the McMillans, the Erskines, the Fishers, and Gil- 
 lespies, the best men of the Church, of the coun- 
 try, and of the age. This w^as the Church which 
 the American department, claiming the relation of 
 her ^^ young daughter," affectionately addressed as 
 a '' tender parent," professing to be " united with 
 her in the same faith, order, and discipline." And 
 against the Erastian establishment which corrupted 
 the Church and oppressed the people, we find no 
 voice of a manly, godlike, and faithful testimony ; 
 nor with that " tender parent," — the corrupted rev- 
 olution Churchy — do w^e hear any pleadings of this 
 affectionate daughter, because of her wayward 
 course. Their uniform profession was that of affec- 
 tionate fealty to both the corrupting government 
 and the corrupted Church. 
 
ERASTIANISM. 155 
 
 It is true, however, that those good men, — for 
 good but bewildered men they generally were, — 
 complained of the fenal sufferings to which, not- 
 withstanding their yielding spirit and loyal sub- 
 mission, they were subjected, because they were 
 not prepared to go the whole length of the requi- 
 sitions of the Erastian establishment. But their 
 complaints were limited, chiefly, if not entirely, to 
 the penal ills which they suffered without duly 
 regarding the constitutional source of those ills. 
 The root was cherished while complaint was made 
 of the bitter fruits. This spirit of a prudent con- 
 servatism was, ecclesiastically, continued till the 
 revolution rendered it no longer useful. Even while, 
 by the order of George III., the American soil was 
 drenched with patriot blood, upon the ground of 
 jjrinciple, duti/, esteem, and reverence, allegiance to the 
 throne and the king was urged. From this unwor- 
 thy profession of allegiance to the principles of that 
 government, there was one recorded dissent ; in that 
 instance the honorable representative of Presbyte- 
 rianism,^ and of the great body of the Presbyterian 
 people in their private capacity. 
 
 To a Church and State thus constituted, thus- 
 related, and thus administered, Eeformed Presbyte- 
 rians could make no professions of adherence or 
 allegiance. Their refusal to do so exposed them to 
 sufferings, and subjected them to the arrogance of 
 numbers and of power. From the ordinary infirm- 
 
 * Rev. Mr. Halsey. 
 
156 . HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 ities of frail humanity they put in no claim to 
 exemption ; nor of all that they may have said and 
 done is approval given. But to the principles of 
 civil and religious liberty, the principles of the 
 Church's spiritual independence of all secular pow- 
 er, and to that vital truth of such extensive practi- 
 cal bearing, — the alone universal headship of the 
 Christ of God, — their adherence, as at other histor- 
 ical periods of deep interest, was unshrinking. For 
 the principles and liberties of the American revolu- 
 tion, they were the uncompromising advocates long 
 before a single ray of independence had illuminated 
 our horizon. Those advocates of that moral order 
 of society, which at once recognizes the claims of 
 God and rights of man, rejoiced in the persuasion 
 that in those Ecclesiastical Bodies which had un- 
 happily gone down from the elevated platform of 
 the second Eeformation, there were not a few, both 
 ministers and private members, who sympathized 
 with the great principles of that Reformation, but 
 who, for various reasons, saw proper to remain in 
 their existing connections. To these and the sound 
 principles still retained in their standards, they 
 looked, under God (and we continue the expecta- 
 tion), as giving promise of a day of revival in favor 
 of a more full and consistent profession ; assured 
 that Presbyterianism, even under the more imper- 
 fect forms and unhappy modifications often given 
 it, is possessed of elements that lead forward to a 
 full assertion of truth and right. Those expecta- 
 
PRESBYTERIAN FAMILY. 157 
 
 tions have been at different times partially realized. 
 The revolution of 1688, in Great Britain, spoke 
 distinctly on the subjeet, and that of 1776, in 
 America, in a still more emphatic voice. The 
 latter, that of 1776, broke the charm of "the settle- 
 ment of the illustrious house of Hanover" on the 
 British throne, and forever separated the United 
 States from all subjection to an Erastian and im- 
 moral crown. Correspondent indications have been 
 found in the secessions from the present Scottish 
 establishment, the rupture of 1843, and in Amer- 
 ica by the old school Presbyterian action of the 
 years 1837 and 1838. 
 
 What then stands in the way of a complete 
 coalescence of the whole Presbyterian family in the 
 United States ? This inquiry is often made, and it 
 deserves attention, and in its proper place, an 
 answer ; though at this time, and in this place, 
 nothing can be given beyond a mere reference to 
 the materials of a reply. 
 
 He knows but little of a man who is not apprised 
 of the extended influence of principle, whether of 
 truth or error, upon the mind, habits, conduct, and 
 character of those who have embraced it. Truth 
 and error are antipodes, and the characters formed 
 under their influence are not well fitted to coalesce. 
 If the error be a fundamental one, it will exten- 
 sively work its way, both directly and indirectly, 
 in the production of evil. Its tendency is, in a 
 special manner, to produce an obtuseness of the 
 
158 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 spiritual sensibilities of the soul, for which no com- 
 pensation is found in the mere secular or literary 
 taste, sometimes substituted in its stead, and mis- 
 taken for it. This defect of sensibility is, to a lam- 
 entable extent, often found in good men, evincing 
 itself in a non-perception of the value of spiritual 
 truth, and the practical bearing of the principles 
 of moral order. Of this we have testimony in the 
 state of the doctrines, worship, and order of many 
 sections of the Church. A wilHng relation of a 
 Church to an Erastian throne, and a timid yielding 
 to the encroachments of that power, for three 
 generations, without deleterious results upon both 
 the individual and the social mind, who could ex- 
 pect? — results unseen and unfelt by their subjects, 
 and on points and in directions unsuspected by the 
 careless spectator, but to which the enlightened ad- 
 vocate of a higher principle and a better course may 
 be peculiarly sensible. 
 
 The Presbyterian records of the last one hundred 
 and fifty years in America, will be found to give the 
 most satisfactory reply to the inquiry before us. 
 And passing by those of some smaller divisions of 
 the Presbyterian family who, on some points, acted 
 an unworthy part, the authentic memorials of the 
 three existing General Assemblies in the United 
 States, will shed light upon the whole subject. These 
 assemblies are the descendants of the Scottish rev- 
 olution Church, with its Irish branch, the synod of 
 Ulster, — the Church which took her stand under 
 
NEVER MADE SECESSION. 159 
 
 another head beside the Lord Christ. The seeds 
 of the past and present evils of those assemblies 
 were planted in the compromises with moral wrong 
 which characterized the early organizations of their 
 predecessors. The unhappy developments of the 
 evils of those unbecoming compromises, the distin- 
 guished men of a worthy minority belonging to 
 them could not prevent. 
 
 This brief reference to historical facts evinces that 
 a steadfast adherence to the attainments of the 
 Presbyterian Reformation, and not a secession from 
 any other Protestant body, — for suoh secession 
 they never made, — gave occasion to the designa- 
 tion of "Reformed Presbyterian," by which this 
 people, whose history is now written, are distin- 
 guished from other portions of the Presbyterian 
 flimily. All these portions they regard with affec- 
 tion, though with them they cannot recede from 
 their ancient ecclesiastical ground. 
 
 The doctrinal standards of the Reformed Pres- 
 byterian Church having been settled in corre- 
 spondence with her peculiar circumstances as now 
 stated, presented the materials of her permanent 
 profession and testimony. The application of the 
 principles of this profession in the course of her 
 administration, if just and wise, she saw must be 
 modified by the condition of the objects about 
 which they were conversant. In the principles of 
 her creed there was a perfect coincidence of mind 
 among her ministers and people ; and in the pru? 
 
160 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 dential measures for carrying them into effect, 
 there was no difference of opinion to give disturb- 
 ance. The active spirit of the time, and the 
 transition condition of the social state, however, 
 made it necessary, in her administration, to adopt 
 some provisional regulations. These could not be 
 of authority beyond the existence of the reasons 
 of their enactment. 
 
 The cordial union, at this period, of the minis- 
 ters of the Church in principle, and their mutual 
 affection and confidence, were exemplary and re- 
 markable : their zeal was enlightened and ardent, 
 their labors were abundant, their selfdenial un- 
 usual, and in their ministerial work, their success 
 was such as to evince that their labor was not in 
 vain in the Lord. Of the character of the age they 
 were not unapprised, nor to the signs of the times 
 were they inattentive. They were fully persuaded 
 that their cause embraced in one harmonious system, 
 according to the Bible revelation, the cause of both 
 God and man, and was, in its principles, capable of 
 being carried out in an extended application to 
 every land. They believed that, in its results, it 
 is destined to produce among every people an ele- 
 vated intellectual, moral, and religious character, 
 qualifying for the duty and happiness of that state, 
 which the promise of God connected with the high 
 moral order which his law prescribes ; and, at the 
 same time, they well knew that, for the actual 
 attainment of these, '^ the time was not yet," and, 
 
PROGRESS. 161 
 
 of course, they did iK)t expect an immediate very 
 extensive impression in favor of either themselves 
 or the hallowed cause for which they were willing 
 to labor. As long as the Church is in her wilder- 
 ness state, so long her cause and her consistent 
 ciiildren will not be extensively regarded with 
 great favor, either by the men of the w^orld, or by 
 such of her own family as nearly confine on the 
 world's domain. For the issues of Providence they 
 w^ere not unprepared. Their own historical rela- 
 tions with the past they understood ; and with the 
 future, by a living faith in the infallible truth of 
 God's promise, and in the verity of the sure word 
 of prophecy, their minds and hearts were con- 
 nected. The principles which they had espoused 
 they understood, the cause to which those princi- 
 ples gave vitality they loved ; of its ultimate suc- 
 cess in the establishment of righteousness and 
 order in what has been, and still is, a very un- 
 righteous and disorderly world, they entertained 
 no doubt; and for its sake they had willingly en- 
 gaged, without any unbecoming feeling towards 
 others, in its self-denying labors. 
 
 The progress of the Reformed Presbyterian 
 cause, if it did not exceed, at least equalled the 
 most sanguine calculations of its early friends. 
 With the increasing number of ministers, congre- 
 gations demanding their ministrations multiplied 
 beyond their power to meet their necessities. Dur- 
 ing many years, this state of affairs gave to the 
 11 
 
162 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 ministry much of a missionary character, a character 
 not alien to it still. According to their means, in 
 their contributions the people were liberal. While 
 efficient in action, the ministry endeavored to be 
 discriminating in judgment, -and for a long period 
 peace reigned, with few and short-lived interrup- 
 tions, in all our borders. Cases calling for marked 
 discipline were rare, and when called for, while it 
 was firm in its exercise, it was temperate in its 
 spirit. While our ecclesiastical fellowship was dis- 
 tinct, yet the Christian intercourse of our ministers 
 and people with those of other denominations, on 
 the broad ground of the common Christianity, was 
 courteous, frank, and generous. Such, indeed, as 
 became the friends of truth in the enjoyment of an 
 unhampered civil and religious liberty ; ever ready 
 to join and co-operate with them in every work for 
 the public good, when no sacrifice of principle or 
 of organical consistency was required to be made. 
 
 Fully persuaded of the necessity of a well-edu- 
 cated ministry, the attention of the Church was 
 turned to the subject, and in A. D. 1807 arrange- 
 ments were made for the establishment of a Theo- 
 logical Seminary, and the Rev. Dr. Samuel B. 
 Wylie, of the city of Philadelphia, was appointed 
 Professor. Early in 1808 the seminary was for- 
 mally organized, the Rev. Alexander McLeod, D. D., 
 and the Rev. Messrs. John Black and Gilbert 
 McMaster being, by appointment, the superinten- 
 dents. The important and responsible office of 
 
THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 163 
 
 Professor was held by Dr. Wylie, and its arduous 
 duties discharged by him with distinguished ability 
 and faithfulness, until May, 1851, when, finding it 
 his duty to resign his chair, his resignation was, 
 with much regret, reluctantly accepted by General 
 Synod. For some years Dr. Wylie was aided in 
 the labors of the seminary by his son, the Rev. 
 Theodorus W. J. Wylie, as junior professor, and like- 
 wise for a shorter period by Rev. Dr. Samuel W. 
 Crawford. In 1850 it was judged advisable by 
 General Synod to appoint a Theological Institution 
 in the West. Xenia, in the State of Ohio, was des- 
 ignated as its location, and the Rev. Gilbert McMas- 
 ter, D. D., was appointed Professor of Theology. 
 Upon the acceptance of the resignation of Dr. 
 Wylie, and of that of the Rev. T. W. J. Wylie, in 
 1851, it was resolved by Synod to remove the 
 Eastern seminary from the city of Philadelphia to 
 that of New York ; and, at the same time, the Rev. 
 John N. McLeod, D. D., was appointed Professor of 
 Theology. Both these institutions are still in opera- 
 tion. And thus for a period of forty-five years has 
 this Church, in the United States, been endeavoring 
 to provide for the regular training of an educated 
 ministry, in conformity with the example of our 
 fathers of an earlier day. 
 
 The sister co-ordinate judicatories of the Reformed 
 Presbyterian Church, in Scotland and Ireland, as 
 was understood by a correspondence on the subject, 
 contemplated an organic modification, by the con- 
 
164 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 stitution of Synods in those countries, respectively * 
 To neither of those Synods, when constituted, with- 
 out great inconvenience, uncompensated under the 
 then existing circumstances hy any corresponding 
 advantage, could the American Department be in 
 organized subjection. This fact, in connection with 
 some other considerations, to prevent the appear- 
 ance of an organic anomaly, led the way to the 
 constitution of the American Synod. On May 24, 
 1809, all the ministers of the Reformed Presby- 
 terian Church in the United States being present, 
 did, with ruling Elders, in the name of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, the only Head of the Church, with 
 prayer, constitute — The Synod of the Reformed 
 Presbyterian Church in the United States of North 
 America. Upon the constitution of Synod, the 
 Rev. Gilbert McMaster was appointed Moderator, 
 and the Rev. John Black, stated clerk. Synod 
 adopted, as their own, the acts of the late Presby- 
 tery, and authorized and directed the formation of 
 
 * A regular correspondence between the Scottish, the Irish, and the 
 American synods of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, has been, and 
 is still maintained. Sometimes this has been by delegation as well as 
 by letters. In 1830 the Rev. Dr. Alexander McLeod was a delegate 
 to the Scottish and Irish synods, and Rev. Dr. Black in 1832. In 1831 
 tlie Rev. Dr. William Henry was a delegate to the American synod 
 from that of Ireland. Delegates at other times were appointed by all 
 the synods respectively ; but, owing to unforeseen circumstances, failed 
 in the fulfilment of their appointment, Tliese several departments of 
 the Church are in the most friendly relations with each other, as co- 
 ordinate sister judicatories, in different countries. Whether a more 
 close organical relationship among them shall be soon established, is 
 not yet determined. 
 
GENERAL SYNOD. 165 
 
 three Presbyteries to be designated, in* accordance 
 with the localities of the ministers and people, the 
 Northern, Middle, and Southern Presbyteries. As 
 the Church increased the boundaries of these Pres- 
 byteries were modified, and new ones were ap- 
 pointed. 
 
 In A. D. 1823 it was deemed advisable to give 
 the supreme judicatory of the Church the form of 
 a representative body, to meet biennially, composed 
 of delegates, or commissioners, from the several 
 Presbyteries in a specified proportion to the mem- 
 bers of each ; but without affecting the powers of 
 Synod. These powers continued to be what they 
 had been, under the previous organization. To 
 meet the Presbyterial condition of things, in the 
 intervals of the biennial meetings of General Synod, 
 occasion was ffiven in 1831 to authorize the oro;an- 
 ization of two Synods, to be known as the Eastern 
 and Western Synods, subordinate to General Synod. 
 A change of circumstances, to be noted in its place, 
 induced a suspension of the operations of those 
 Synods, which, at no very distant day, it may be 
 found advisable to resume. 
 
 We turn, at this place, to notice an occurrence 
 not unworthy of historical record. In 1825 a pro- 
 posal of ecclesiastical correspondence with General 
 Synod, was made by the General Assembly of the 
 Presbyterian Church, in the United States ; and in 
 August of that year, it was submitted to, and by 
 Synod entertained, for consideration. In order to 
 
166 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 prepare a plan of correspondence to be submitted 
 to the Supreme Judicatories of the two bodies, re- 
 spectively, a committee was appointed to meet that 
 of the General Assembly. Those committees met 
 and agreed upon a plan to be recommended to 
 their courts for approval. The plan presented is 
 embraced in the three following articles : — 
 
 Article L The General Assembly, and the Synod 
 of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, lamenting 
 the existing separations between the members of 
 the body of Christ, and believing that all the mem- 
 bers of that body, being many^ are one body, and 
 trusting to the word of God, that these separations 
 will not be perpetual, do agree to use all scriptural 
 means, in the exercise of patience and prudence, 
 to bring their several ecclesiastical connections to 
 uniformity in doctrine, worship, and order, according 
 to the word of God. 
 
 Article II. In order to bring about this desirable 
 object on the basis of the proper unity of the visible 
 Church, it is mutually covenanted, that the ministers, 
 members, and judicatories of these churches, treat- 
 ing each other with Christian respect, shall alwUys 
 recognize the validity of each other's acts and or- 
 dinances consonant to the Scriptures ; and yet, that 
 any church judicatory belonging to either body, may 
 examine persons, or review cases of discipline on 
 points at present peculiar or distinctive to themselves. 
 
 Article III. The General Assembly of the Pres- 
 byterian Church, and the Synod of the Reformed 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 167 
 
 Presbyterian Church, shall severally appoint two 
 Commissioners, with an alternate to each, to attend 
 these judicatories respectively, who shall hold their 
 offices till they are superseded by another choice ; 
 and these Commissioners shall have the privilege 
 of proposing measures important to the Church of 
 Christ, and of delivering their opinions on any 
 question und'er discussion ; but they shall have no 
 vote in its decisions. 
 
 In 1826 these articles were accepted by the 
 General Assembly ; and, in 1827, were brought 
 before General Synod, by the Eev. Alexander 
 McLeod, D. D., the chairman of their committee, 
 who, in an address of unusual ability and eloquence, 
 — subsequently given to the public through the 
 press, — sustained the report of the committee, and 
 recommended to Synod the adoption of the plan. 
 The subject was fully discussed ; but by a small 
 majority was, for the time, rejected. Further action 
 in the matter was indefinitely postponed. Of the 
 principle of the plan there was a general approba- 
 tion ; but on the part of some there was an ap- 
 prehension, that by a considerable portion of both 
 bodies the subject was not well understood ; that, 
 if then adopted, it would lead to abuses ; and others 
 suspected that the elements, then in active operation 
 in the Presbyterian Church, which in 1837 issued 
 in the disruption of the General Assembly, as well 
 as some latent causes of discord among ourselves, 
 would, in both bodies, interfere with the advantages 
 
168 mSTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 to the parties which were anticipated by the friends 
 of the plan of correspondence. 
 
 With the reasons for the rejection of this measure 
 a strong minority were not satisfied ; but to the 
 will of the majority they quietly gave way. The 
 plan was not, as some alleged, one of Ecclesiastical 
 union, though calculated, in order to their removal, 
 to ascertain the true causes of existing divisions. 
 It had no tendency either to justify or perpetuate 
 unhallowed separations in the Church, neither did 
 it open a door to a busy intermeddling with each 
 other's distinct organization ; nor did it give any 
 countenance to a breaking in upon the sacred con- 
 ditions of sacramental fellowship, or any other 
 properly organical Ecclesiastical ordinance, as dis- 
 tinguished from religious institutions simply Chris- 
 tian, and of a private character. Its object was a 
 well-reu:ulated intercourse of two Ecclesiastical 
 bodies, which, from circumstances produced by 
 neither of them, could not organically be one, yet 
 had much in common, and mutually respected one 
 another; furnishing the opportunity for an en- 
 lightened and liberal discussion of subjects of gen- 
 eral interest, and, without danger to sound principles, 
 tending to set aside the bad influence of a mere 
 party spirit, and thus contribute something towards 
 a final pacification of the Church on earth. The 
 failure of the plan produced between the parties no 
 unpleasant feelings; and the proposed measure was 
 otherwise salutary, being a mutual recognition of 
 
ASSOCIATE SYNOD. 169 
 
 the two bodies as actual departments of the king- 
 dom of Christ. 
 
 The year 1827 was marked, too, by the com- 
 mencement of a correspondence with the Synod of 
 the Associate Church; the leading facts of which, 
 for the prevention of misapprehension in the matter, 
 it may not, in this record, be out of place to notice. 
 In their public profession, as regards the doctrine, 
 worship, and order of the Church, Reformed Pres- 
 byterians, and the several Associate bodies, happily^ 
 to a great extent, occupy a common ground ; and 
 notwithstanding some difference of views on certain 
 subjects, on some occasions discussed by each with 
 sufficient ardor, yet between them, personally and 
 ecclesiastically, it is believed there has always ex- 
 isted a respectful and affectionate regard. That, in 
 the details of a protracted discussion of subjects, 
 under some of their aspects complex, and under 
 others somewhat abstract, extending through several 
 generations and in different countries, there should, 
 on both sides, be some misapprehensions of the 
 matter in dispute, it is not difficult to suppose, nor 
 very humbling to admit. Complaints to this amount, 
 by each of those bodies, had been repeatedly made. 
 That which now invited attention had respect to a 
 statement in the " historical view " prefixed to the 
 testimony of this Church, of certain positions sup- 
 posed to be embraced in the profession of the Asso- 
 ciate Church. Those positions, as stated in that 
 narrative, were, in part, supposed to be justified by 
 
170 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 express avowals, and, in part, to be legitimate de- 
 ductions from their acknowledged principles. The 
 positions, to give them distinction, but not intended 
 to give the idea of literal quotations, were marked 
 by inverted commas. Of this statement, in a letter 
 of May, 1826, addressed to the Synod of the Ke- 
 formed Presbyterian Church, the Associate Synod 
 complained, as not being a fair representation of 
 secession principles, on the specified subjects. 
 
 The letter of the Associate Synod, while in a 
 tone of sufficient earnestness and temper, was not 
 destitute of the spirit of courtesy and kindness. In 
 it the Associate brethren, in reference to those of 
 whom they complain, say, " It is pleasing to state 
 that there is a general coincidence between your 
 views of truth and duty and ours, and we trust it is 
 our unfeigned desire that it should be extended to 
 every part of our Christian profession." To this, in 
 a similar spirit, the Keformed Presbyterian Synod 
 responded. They declared, " We take no interest 
 in putting any one in the wrong. It is possible, 
 we admit, that controversies on very minute topics, 
 carried on for several years, by many different 
 waiters, may have led to misunderstandings and 
 misrepresentations, which an impartial reviewer 
 might find it in his power to correct. Gladly shall 
 we correct any misapprehensions into which we 
 may have fallen respecting things in controversy 
 between our fathers, and meet with open arms 
 brethren who harmonize with us in the great moral 
 
ASSOCIATE SYNOD. 171 
 
 principles and pious practices of the Churches of 
 the Reformation." 
 
 The correspondence was for some time continued; 
 but at length, having assumed a form which it was 
 believed would be of no benefit to either of the 
 bodies, the Reformed Presbyterian Synod dismissed 
 the farther consideration of the subject by the pro- 
 posal. That should the Associate Synod furnish 
 us with an authorized declaration of their views 
 upon the several topics complained of, it would by 
 us be inserted in the next edition of our '* Historical 
 View." This proposal our brethren of the Associ- 
 ate Synod did not see proper to accept, further than 
 by a general reference to the statements of their 
 Church standards, the import of which we con- 
 sidered to be the subject of inquiry, and the matter 
 in dispute. To us it would have been gratifying, 
 could they have agreed upon it, to have had the 
 views which they entertain upon those topics, stated 
 in other language than that of their standards, by 
 our brethren themselves. On both sides, it is not 
 improbable, that a candid consideration of some 
 unguarded, though established forms of expression, 
 would bring them nearer to a oneness in their 
 public testimony. For this event the parties wait 
 in hope. 
 
 To the actual condition and tendencies of the 
 times, at this period, as regarded the whole Church, 
 the members of Synod were neither insensible nor 
 inattentive, and the dangers threatening the Re- 
 
172 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 formed Presbyterian cause, in all its localities, were 
 not unforeseen. This will appear, among other 
 proofs, by the following extracts from a synodical 
 letter of 1827, to the Scottish Synod. In that letter 
 are found the following remarks and proposals : 
 ." There are — from the moral state of civilized 
 society over all the nations, dangers to the Refor- 
 mation cause, common to us and to you. It is a 
 time of excitement to the mind in all its faculties. 
 Distinctions are disputed, walls of partition are 
 tottering, establishments are undermined, — the 
 ancient forests are yielding to the axe and to the 
 fire, and we know not what kind of cultivation is 
 first to succeed the burning. God reigneth. The 
 seed of the Eeformation corn is the best. Great is 
 the truth, and it must prevail. But wdiere shall 
 our several Synods be found among the Churches 
 of God in every land, when the fruit of the moun- 
 tain corn shall shake like Lebanon, and they of the 
 city shall flourish like the grass of the earth? 
 
 " There is danger of our existence as a Church, 
 if we imitate too far the habits of others. There 
 is danger of our existing uselessly and ignobly, if 
 we are not aw^akened thoroughly to love and good 
 works. It appears to us that the time is come for 
 definitely shaping our course of public policy, in 
 regard to modern movements, in order that, on the 
 one hand, we may not suffer any relaxation of our 
 Testimony to take place, and on the other, that we 
 preserve the liberties of the Church from destruc- 
 
COVENANT PROPOSED. 173 
 
 tion by the inflaence of mere popular opinions. 
 Shall the Church be content to labor with the 
 industry of the insect, in gathering the particles 
 which compose its impenetrable shell in which it- 
 self expires ? Or shall we unlock the repository 
 of the martyr's flag, follow him whose vesture is 
 dipped in blood, and venture out amongst the con- 
 tending elements, with waving banners, to take 
 part in the victory? 
 
 " We suggest to you, reverend and dear brethren, 
 a plan of co-operation for all the Churches of the 
 Reformation, in whatever land ; and we request 
 an expression of your oiDinion upon each of the 
 articles. 
 
 " 1. That a stated correspondence be established 
 among the several Synods of the Reformed Presby- 
 terian Church, each with the others, and keep each 
 other advised of all public measures bearing upon 
 their common interests. 
 
 2. " That measures be taken to provide a mutual 
 league and covenant, which will apply equally to 
 all the Churches of our connection in whatever 
 land ; and so form one bond of union and co-opera- 
 tion for the friends of the covenanted Reformation. 
 
 3. " That the several judicatories shall once in 
 three years send a delegate or two to correspond, 
 personally, with each of the forementioned judica- 
 tories." 
 
 These measures, in substance, had repeatedly 
 been proposed before this time by us, and especially 
 
174 HISTOKICAL VIEW. 
 
 at the Synodical meeting of 1823, they were sub- 
 jects of consideration. In 1830 the whole subject 
 was brought before the Scottish Synod by the late 
 Rev. Dr. Alexander McLeod, who, at that time, on 
 a visit to Europe, was received as our delegate, and 
 as a member of the committee appointed to that 
 service, reported a draft of a league and covenant 
 upon the principles above stated. It was adopted 
 in overture, transmitted to the Synods of Ireland 
 and the United States, and by them taken under 
 consideration. It is a noble document, in its views 
 comprehensive, in its principles liberal and sound, 
 in its terms precise, remarkably calculated to give 
 expression to the great cause of the Reformation, 
 and without embarrassment from mere local or 
 transient circumstances, to unite upon great prin- 
 ciples and for a great object the members of the 
 Church, in a sacred fellowship and in an efficient 
 activity. Why it has been permitted so long to 
 slumber in the form of overture is, perhaps, not 
 well accounted for either by its supposed defects 
 in some local provisions, or by certain inauspicious 
 events which occurred among us in the years im- 
 mediately following its reception for consideration. 
 And to what extent its full and practical adoption, 
 accordino; to the orio;inal intentions of its friends, 
 along with a well-regulated correspondence with 
 other departments of the Christian commonwealth, 
 might have prevented those events, it is not the 
 province of this history to decide. 
 
SCOTTISH SYNOD. 175 
 
 The cause of the Eeformation in the hands of 
 the Church advanced. Ministers, people, and con- 
 gregations increased in number, and were spread 
 over a vast region of country. New States rapidly 
 arose out of the wilderness, distinguished by popu- 
 lation, wealth, civilization, the arts of peace, and 
 in the enjoyment of liberty, religious and civil, as 
 unrestrained as man could wish. To the progress 
 of our ecclesiastical movements and success in those 
 movements, there were no impediments from the 
 state of things without ; none except what arose 
 directly from the evils of the human heart. The 
 peculiar principles of the Reformation, in their 
 bearing upon the public morality of the social state, 
 were imbuing the public mind, and the prospects 
 of Reformed Presbyterianism were highly promising. 
 To the Church, in times of outward prosperity, there 
 is always danger, when her children, too much con- 
 fiding in privilege, become correspondently unmind- 
 ful of their dependence upon God. However this 
 might be in our case, causes were found in operation 
 with us, to some extent interfering with our peace- 
 ful and happy progress. Violent action is rarely 
 the effect of its professed causes. Something un- 
 named, and which would not do to avow, could it be 
 found, would generally be ascertained as the true 
 spring of such action. In the case to which refer- 
 ence is now made, we shall not go in search of 
 hidden motives, but shall content ourselves with a 
 simple outline of leading and known facts. 
 
176 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 The doctrinal standards of the Church, as has 
 been stated, were settled, and, on the subject of 
 political morality, were right. That no govern- 
 ment to w^hose constitution immoraHty is essential 
 can morally claim, as due to it, an oath of fealty 
 obliging to its unconditional support ; and that no 
 state law, requiring the violation of the eternal rule 
 of righteousness, the law of God, ought to be 
 obeyed by the moral being, in the science of ethics, 
 are settled points. In the laws of the States, and 
 of the United States, evils had been found. The 
 chief political wrong was that of African slavery. 
 The African slave trade was protected by law ; and 
 at the period of which we treat, slavery existed, 
 with a single exception, in every State of the 
 Union. Every citizen was liable, in a given case, 
 to be called upon, judicially, to pass between the 
 master and the slave, and, legally, to recognize the 
 right of the master to reduce the moral being from 
 the rank of a free man, and to hold him and his 
 posterity in perpetuity as his chattels. To meet 
 this condition of things, ecclesiastical regulations 
 were called for, and enactments were made prohib- 
 itory of a participation in the doing of this wrong. 
 These enactments were of a precautionary and pro- 
 visional character, and would be of authority no 
 longer than the existence of the evils against which 
 they w^ere intended to guard the morals of the 
 members of the Church. As the evil laws were 
 modified or abrogated, so it behooved the Church 
 
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. 177 
 
 to adapt to the actual state of things her enact- 
 ments ; it being in the nature of the case, as well 
 as an express declaration of the supreme judicatory, 
 — "that no connection with the laws, the officers, 
 or order of the state, is forbidden by the Church, 
 except what truly involves immorality." And to 
 adjudicate particular cases, under a general and 
 well known principle, was left to the local ecclesias- 
 tical authorities. 
 
 Years, as they passed, produced their changes. 
 The African slave trade was abolished, declared to 
 be piracy, a capital crime, and the citizen engaged 
 in it, when convicted, legally consigned to the gal- 
 lows. In half of the old slave-holding States, slave 
 laws and slavery were disannulled ; and new States, 
 the place of residence of many of our people, were 
 almost annually organized, and, as free common- 
 wealths, constitutionally prohibited the existence 
 of slavery within their bounds. On other subjects 
 connected with sound morals, either in the course 
 of legislation, or by the decision of courts settling 
 on the side of ris^hteousness what had been held as 
 doubtful, other grounds of objection to the civil 
 order of the state were taken out of the way of 
 conscientioQs men. Discussions of the principles 
 of constitutional law were of frequent occurrence, 
 and shed a light upon the character of state and 
 federal relations and institutions, giving a more 
 comprehensive and discriminating understanding 
 of their complex nature than was possible to be had 
 12 
 
178 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 at an earlier period of their existence. Thus the po- 
 litical state of the country became modified ; and in 
 correspondence with those modifications, the relations 
 of our people with reference to them were qualified. 
 
 Still, in different States, and in the same State at 
 periods of no great distance from one another, the 
 condition of things of the same nature was very 
 different. This diversity arose from changes which 
 often occurred in the constitutional or legal pro- 
 visions of the several departments of the confed- 
 eracy, which gave occasion, while Church members 
 were agreed in principle and not really contradictory 
 in practice, to some diversity of action, not well 
 understood by the imperfectly informed, and per- 
 haps misrepresented by the designing. The pecu- 
 liar organization of the Federal government, too, 
 gave occasion to misapprehensions and consequent 
 objections. A distinct and limited sovereignty, in 
 connection with reserved and sovereign rights of 
 States with which the Federal power has no right 
 to interfere, while in principle very simple, and 
 capable in application of combining all the nations 
 of the earth in one great confederacy, was, and in 
 many localities still is, imperfectly understood. The 
 idea of a central power of universal bearing, sup- 
 posed to be necessary to every government, has 
 given occasion to perplexity in reference to that of 
 the United States. 
 
 It has escaped the eye of superficial observation, 
 that the civil and political institutions of the United 
 
MORAL RULE. 179 
 
 States are not reorardless of the interests of relimon 
 and morals, because that little of their guardianship 
 or immediate superintendence has been committed 
 to the hands of the occupants of the seats of Federal 
 power. The people of the United States purposing 
 to avoid, on this point, the abuses of the nations of 
 the old world, delegated but a limited power to the 
 agents of their general government, and that for a 
 very limited time, reserving in their own hands the 
 controlling power in public affairs. They presumed 
 greatly upon the fact of a Christian civilization lying 
 deeply at the foundation of their state, and con- 
 fided much in the spirit of that civilization as giv- 
 ing life, a conservative li^e, to their institutions in 
 actual administration. In this they did not mis- 
 calculate. The personal and domestic safety, the 
 security of rights, the maintenance of social order, 
 the advancement of knowledge, the multiplication 
 of the institutions of Christian benevolence, and 
 the progress of religion, throughout the far-spread 
 domain of the confederacy, without a standing 
 army, and almost w'ithout u police, furnish ample 
 proof that they, in their principle, were not mis- 
 taken. The actual state of things in our country, 
 while we have more than sufi&cient proof of human 
 depravity, evinces the existence of an extended and 
 profound sense of moral right and religious obli- 
 gation, imbuing the public mind and giving vitality 
 to our institutions, and safety to our social relations, 
 pursuits, and intercourse, instead of the complicated 
 
180 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 legal forms of other nations, armed with their penal 
 sanctions, and guarded and executed hy their mil- 
 itary bands. The spirit of our social sj'stem, with 
 its institutions, is neither that of paganism, anti- 
 Christianism, nor infidelity. It is essentially 
 Christian, though flxr from complete Christian de- 
 velopment. Compare our social system with that 
 of either pagan or anti-Christian states, and what 
 is now asserted will fully appear. As to an infidel 
 state, such could not long, if at all exist. 
 
 Under all these circumstances, ministers and 
 people extensively became satisfied that, at least in 
 many of the States, there might, with safety to 
 every moral interest, be •a nearer approximation, 
 by Church members, to the government of the 
 country than was once allowable. No criminal 
 neglects were justified, nor immoral regulations 
 sanctioned by them. And it was a standing decla- 
 ration of the Church, that " no connection with the 
 state, its officers and its laws, was prohibited, but 
 such as really involved immorality." It was, how- 
 ever, still kept distinctly in mind, that though no 
 positive immorality might be found in the Federal 
 bond of Union, nor in many of the State constitu- 
 tions, yet bad men, in places of power, might per- 
 vert to bad purposes an instrument in itself good 
 and useful. It is God's own law, that " he that 
 ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of 
 God." Rulers must be morally qualified as well as 
 the principles of constitutions of government sound. 
 
WAR OF 1812. 181 
 
 The safety of the state demands both of these. 
 Christian influence must never be prostituted in 
 giving pohtical eminence to the immoral man, the 
 known enemy of true reh'gion, and despiser of the 
 law of God. Such is the standing and irrepealable 
 law of the Church. Such were the views and judg- 
 ments of the senior ministers and elders of our 
 Church, by whom her testimony had been framed, 
 and through whose ministry her cords had been 
 lengthened, and her stakes made strong. In a 
 nearer relation to the government of the country, 
 they made no change in principle ; and as to prac- 
 tice, no modification was allowed except what was 
 imposed by changes in the public arrangements of 
 the commonwealth. The state came to them, and 
 it did not become them to leave their place. With 
 special care it was endeavored to notice every pub- 
 lic movement, and to make a true and consistent 
 application of the principles of their faith, as indi- 
 cated by the signs of the times, in the light of the 
 Bible, was seen to be a duty; avoiding the dangers 
 at home and abroad by which their cause was 
 threatened. "A more definite shaping of our pub- 
 lic policy " for the attainment of the ends of our 
 organization, w\'is felt to be called for. 
 
 Subsequent events, and their relation both to 
 historical truth and to the interests of religion and 
 morals, require that certain facts in reference to our 
 civil relations be briefly stated in this connection. 
 To guard the interests of political as well as of 
 
182 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 personal morality, at an early period, we have ad- 
 verted to precautionary measures and provisional 
 enactments. Providential occurrences, as time ad- 
 vanced, rendered some of these a dead letter. Of 
 this, the abolition of slavery and slave laws in so 
 many States, in its bearing upon the office of ju- 
 rors, is an instance. The approximation of State 
 laws to the position of our Church modified our 
 civil relations, and justified our recognition of those 
 relations. This course was progressive. Afiairs of 
 state often give occasion to ecclesiastical develop- 
 ments. In no land can the Church and the State 
 have existence, at the same time, without being in 
 relationship either friendly or unfriendly. In the 
 United States the Church, in her religious profes- 
 sion, has protection, and the Church puts forth her 
 moral influence in the sustentation of social order. 
 
 The war of 1812, waged in defence of the sov- 
 ereign rights of the United States against Great 
 Britain, by whom those rights had been violated, 
 tended to give development to our civil relations. 
 In that war, as in that of the revolution, the United 
 States had the cordial approval and support of the 
 ministers and people of the Reformed Presbyterian 
 Church. Some of them, however, were of foreio-n 
 birth ; and though they had no sympathy with Eng- 
 land, or with the unrighteous outrages and claims 
 of the cabinet of St. James upon American rights, 
 yet, in a state of war, they were liable, especially 
 in the cities of the seaboard, to the inconveniences 
 
WAR OF 1812. 183 
 
 of being treated as alien enemies. To meet this 
 condition of things, in August, 1812, Synod had 
 the subject before them ; and in accordance with 
 the well known principles of the Church, that it is 
 the duty of states or nations where the Bible rev- 
 elation is known, " formally to recognize the sov- 
 ereignty of Messiah over all persons and things, and 
 to constitute their systems of government upon 
 principles which publicly recognize the authority 
 of the law of God," they made the following decla- 
 ration : " This Synod, in the name of its constituent 
 members and of the whole Church w^hich they rep- 
 resent, declare that they approve of the Eepublican 
 form of the civil order of the United States, and 
 the several States ; that they prefer this nation and 
 its government to any other nation and govern- 
 ment ; that they will support to the utmost the 
 independence of the United States, and the several 
 States, against all foreign aggressions and domestic 
 factions, and disclaim all allegiance to any foreign 
 jurisdiction whatsoever." And " that emigrants 
 from foreign nations, lest they should be esteemed 
 aUen enemies, be instructed to give to the proper 
 organ of this government the following assurance 
 of their allegiance to this empire, each one for him- 
 self when required." 
 
 "I, A. B., do solemnly declare, in the name of 
 the Most High God, the Searcher of hearts, that I 
 abjure all foreign allegiance whatsoever, and hold 
 that these States, and the United States, are, and 
 
184 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 ought to be, sovereign and independent of all other 
 nations and governments, and that I will promote 
 the best interests of this empire, maintain its inde- 
 pendence, preserve its peace, and support the in- 
 tegrity of the Union, to the best of my power." 
 
 It may, in this place, be stated as a fact, not with- 
 out bearing on our subsequent history, that this 
 solemn pledge to the government of the United 
 States, authorized by Synod, in 1812, embraced all 
 the essential provisions of the oath of allegiance pre- 
 scribed by Congress, and more emphatically than it 
 does* The conviction of this prevented the com- 
 mittee of Synod, appointed to bring the case before 
 Congress, from troubling that body or themselves 
 with the matter. 
 
 To assert, as some have done who know better, 
 that this action of Synod was done in "secret ses- 
 sion," is to contradict matter of fact, and to falsify 
 history. The assertion is not true. On August 12, 
 1812, the committee, composed of three of the 
 oldest ministers of the Church, was appointed in 
 open court to consider and report upon the subject. 
 On August 14th, the committee, in open court, 
 unanimously reported. The subject was discussed 
 in open court, the report upon it amended, and 
 unanimously adopted. About the business there 
 was no secrecy. It may, however, be noticed that 
 the known principles of Reformed Presbyterians, 
 
 * Such was the opinion of a late Attorney General of the United 
 States, as distinguished as a jurist, as he is for moral worth. 
 
DISCOURSES ON THE WAR. 185 
 
 though aliens, which some of them were, secured 
 them against all suspicion of being inimical to the 
 country or its government. The ground of this 
 security was powerfully brought into view in a 
 series of "Discourses on the War," by Eev. Dr. 
 Alexander McLeod, one of the ministers of this 
 church, in the city of New York, while that com- 
 mercial emporium was blockaded by the tleet of 
 the enemy. 
 
 That series of "Discourses," published at the 
 time, treated the subject in the light of the princi- 
 ples of the law of nature, the law of nations, and 
 that of the Bible, and was by far the ablest defence 
 of the justice and necessity of that war which 
 appeared from the press, whether in papers of 
 state or in other forms. The effect of those Dis- 
 courses upon the public rnind was remarkably great. 
 The consciences of the friends of their country, and 
 they were not few, which had been disturbed by 
 the representations, on the part of the opposers of 
 their own government and the apologists of Eng- 
 land, of Great Britain being the " bulwark of our 
 holy religion," — " the headquarters of the Son of 
 God," — and, " that to make war upon her was to 
 be in hostility against heaven," — we say, the con- 
 sciences of good men that had by such declarations 
 been disturbed, were by these " Discourses on the 
 War" set at rest. The accomplished, able, and 
 patriotic author intended his discussions to be a 
 vindication of the American cause against the ag- 
 
186 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 gressions and unrighteous claims of England ; but 
 at the same time he had higher aims, which the 
 mere politician did not see, and for which he did 
 not care. Historical justice to the distinguished 
 author, and to the Church of which he w^as a min- 
 ister, demands that of this, w^iich he himself at the 
 time avowed, a distinct record should be made. 
 
 With his defence of the great principles of na- 
 tional rights and laws Dr. McLeod incorporated the 
 higher principle of political and religious morality. 
 The state and its affairs he held up as connected 
 with the throne of God. In the settling and rightly 
 directing the public mind, he contemplated the ex- 
 tension of the knowledge and authority of the great 
 moral truths of social order, imbued by the spirit 
 of the gospel, and promotive of the interests of the 
 Kingdom of Christ. To the development of these 
 principles the war gave occasion ; the occasion he 
 embraced, and in so doing was persuaded that, 
 while pleading the cause and vindicating the inter- 
 ests of his country, he was serving his Master, 
 Christ. 
 
 This war, which so greatly contributed to the in- 
 terests, safety, and reputation of the country, gave 
 occasion to bring the people of the Reformed Pres- 
 byterian Church and the civil state into nearer 
 contact. That state whose cause they pleaded, for 
 which they appeared in arms on the high places of 
 the field, which they, in the day of embarrassment, 
 helped to sustain by their loans, and for whose 
 
DISCOURSES ON THE WAR. 187 
 
 safety and prosperity they prayed at the throne of 
 God, they could not lightly esteem, feeling as they 
 did, that it was their own ; where in person and 
 property, and in rights, civil and religious, they had 
 full protection. To the evils of their country, neg- 
 ative and positive, they were not blind, of none of 
 her moral delinquencies did they approve, nor to 
 any of them give a pledge of support. 
 
 The detail of flicts, now given, evinces a modified 
 character of the institutions of the country, which 
 was met by us, not by a change of, or departure 
 from, principle, but by a correspondent qualifica- 
 tion of our relations to the modifications of the 
 state. We have seen that the African slave trade 
 was abolished, and legally declared to be piracy ; 
 slave laws were repealed and slavery abolished in 
 the States where most of our people had their 
 abode ; new States were rapidly organized where 
 slavery never existed, and was now constitutionally 
 prohibited ; thus taking away the principal reason 
 atrainst servino: on iuries in our courts of law. In 
 several States, the highest court-^ had declared the 
 Christian religion to be the religion of the State, 
 and that to reproach it was a crime against public 
 law. thus correcting the idea of the government 
 being; infidel in its character ; in the mean time the 
 nature of the Federal compact was more perfectly 
 developed, and the character of the bond of union 
 among the States better understood. For ourselves, 
 as a Church, there was no civil or religious right 
 
188 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 that could be demanded which we had not already 
 in our possession, and fully guaranteed by public 
 law. These movements and changes were noted 
 by the fathers of the Church, and to meet them on 
 their part by a correspondent administration was 
 their purpose. Hence, instead of standing aloof 
 from all civil relations and actions, we have the 
 oath of allegiance of 1812, authorized by Synod ; we 
 have the defence from our pulpits and by the press, 
 of the second war of independence ; that war sus- 
 tained by the services of our people in arms, by 
 their loans to the government, and by their prayers. 
 We have likewise the instruction of the Synod in 
 reference to jurors — not a prohibition of serving, 
 as such, but — an inquiry to be made as to the 
 morality or immorality of the code of law that gov- 
 erned the courts, where they might be called to 
 act ; and that followed by the standing avowal that 
 '• no connection with the government is forbidden 
 except that which really involves immorality." Thus 
 there was a progressive endeavor " to shape the 
 public administrations" of the Church in accordance 
 wdth her true position. 
 
 These modifications were cautiously — not rash- 
 ly — recommended by the senior ministers of the 
 Church, who had carefully observed the signs of 
 the times, and, it was believed, knew what Israel 
 ought to do. Of the course pursued, the majority 
 of the ministers and people approved. Some of 
 the junior brethren, however, — not suspected of a 
 
MODIFICATIONS. 189 
 
 profound acquaintance with the state of things, — 
 professed to see no need of a modified " shaping of 
 our pubhc poHcy;" and upon them, in their par- 
 ticular locahties, nothing of the kind was ever urged. 
 Reflecting men, indeed, saw the extreme danger 
 to character of a severance from any of the social 
 institutions of God, as that of the civil state ; but,- 
 upon the subject, they hoped that time and candid 
 consideration would shed a satisfactory light. The 
 younger brethren, just referred to, found motives 
 in the case for an extremity of zeal. Diversity of 
 opinion was found to exist, not indeed as to any 
 principle of the Church's profession, not as regarded 
 any ordinance of religious worship, not as respect- 
 ed any recognized principle of morals or of social 
 order, — for in these all professed to be agreed, — 
 but in reference to the civil relations of Church 
 members: What they were, what they ought to be, 
 and what the progressive decisions of the Church 
 authorized them to be. That no connection in- 
 volving immorality should exist was a settled point, 
 on which there, was no dispute. In order to bring 
 the minds of all to a state of harmony on the single 
 point of the application of an admitted principle^ by 
 a clear apprehension of what Synod had already 
 authorized, or might consistently yet authorize, the 
 Synod of 1831, by a resolution, recommended what 
 was denominated "Free discussions" of the matters 
 in question, allowing their periodical — " The Ameri- 
 can Christian Expositor" — to be the medium of 
 
190 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 publication to such as might see proper to make use 
 of it for that end. Of this some took advantage^ 
 others did not. The measure has been greatly 
 blamed by the dissatisfied party who subsequently 
 left Synod, though it was their own proposal. In 
 1832, a pastoral address of the Eastern Subordinate 
 Synod, to the people under their charge, w^as adopted 
 and published. In the original draft of that ad- 
 dress, there was an expression of an opinion of the 
 comparative excellence of the civil institutions of 
 the country, of which a majority of the members 
 approved, though some of that majority, along with 
 a minority, judged it to be inexpedient to give it a 
 place in that paper or at that time ; and so decided 
 by their vote, making a majority, not against the 
 sentiment of that part of the address, but against 
 the expediency of its formal adoption by Synod at 
 the time. A portion of those, however, who thus 
 voted publicly, expressed a wish to see it published 
 by private authority. It w^as so published, and, in 
 reality, constituted a part of the "Free discussions" 
 authorized by General Synod. For. a time, by all, 
 the publication w^as considered to be harmless. 
 Months passed without any marked notice of the 
 matter; but it appeared that ends not previously 
 avowed were to be accomplished, and the publica- 
 tion of that excepted part of the Synodical address 
 furnished a pretext for a course of action, perhaps 
 unexampled in the ecclesiastical procedure of any 
 Protestant body, for its injustice, violence, and dis- 
 rcLcard of order. 
 
FREE DISCUSSION. 191 
 
 The subject, it will be remembered, had been one 
 of familiar conversation for years, publicly spoken 
 of on the floors of the supreme and subordinate 
 judicatories of the Church, and for the public con- 
 sideration of which General Synod had authorized 
 " Free discussions," and the Synod's periodical as 
 the medium of publication. It was not under the 
 cognizance of any inferior judicatory, but was ex- 
 clusively in the power of the supreme authority 
 of the Church. But it seems the Church must be 
 divided ! The publication of that harmless paper, 
 fully authorized by the natural and religious rights 
 of freemen, as well as by the deed of General Synod 
 already mentioned, was violently seized as a pretext 
 for measures that would issue in that result. By 
 a few misguided men, influenced by motives into 
 which we, in this place, do not inquire, d^, pro re nata 
 meeting of the Eastern Subordinate Synod was 
 called. The time of meeting, in winter, was un- 
 seasonable ; the members were scattered over four 
 States of the Union, some of them hundreds of miles 
 from the designated place of meeting, and there 
 was no reasonable probability of a general attend- 
 ance. By those, too, most competent to judge, the 
 call was viewed as disorderly and vexatious. The 
 late Rev. Dr. Alexander McLeod, having previously 
 subscribed the protest against the meeting, with the 
 other brethren, called upon the pro re nata men at 
 the time of their assembling, not to sit with them 
 as a member, but to admonish them of the disorder 
 
192 HISTOKICAL VIEW. 
 
 of their course, and of its danger to the peace of 
 the Church and the cause of true reho-ion. Havino; 
 declared that " their whole procedure rested on an 
 anti-presbyterial innovation which he could not 
 countenance/' and having added, with emphasis, 
 " If you proceed in this course you will divide the 
 Church, and for such division, if it take place, I 
 shall hold you responsible to God and posterity," 
 he left the house. Bent upon their evil course, 
 they pressed on. The stated clerk of Synod, be- 
 cause he refused to give up to this lawless assem- 
 blage the minutes of that body, it is said, by a 
 violent and summary act, they declared to be sus- 
 pended from the ministry ; and, in a course of 
 corresponding violence and disorder, they proceeded 
 to form libels against their absent fathers and 
 brethren, whom they supposed to have consented 
 to the publication of that portion of the " original 
 draft" already mentioned. We say — supposed to 
 have consented, — for they proceeded upon presump- 
 tion or conjecture in the matter, never having 
 legal proof of the fact. 
 
 At a subsequent meeting, those men of the pro re 
 nata, in the absence of their brethren, who without 
 disQ^racino; themselves could not meet and associate 
 with them because of their violence and disorder, 
 proceeded to adjudge and censure them, in pur- 
 suance of the libels they had framed. Upon some 
 of the fathers on whom they passed their censures 
 of suspension from the ministry, their libels had 
 
HASTY ACTION. 193 
 
 never been served, and of the service of most of 
 them upon the accused, as in the case before men- 
 tioned, they had no proof They acted upon con- 
 jecture and in a summary manner, not inquiring 
 into the particuhirs of the case. Their moderator, 
 Eev. William Gibson, who, through infirmity of 
 purpose and not from desire of heart, continued 
 with them for a time, refused to act in the evil 
 work of suspending his brethren. He " declared 
 that the whole proceedings, in matter and in man- 
 ner, were wrong ; " that " in the evil deed he could 
 have no hand ; " and leaving the moderator's chair, 
 for the time, he left the house. Such was his own 
 avowal, before witnesses, on the following day. 
 
 This lawless deed was universally condemned, 
 the loro re rata men themselves excepted. When 
 the report of it came before the Eeformed Synod 
 of Scotland, that veneraj)le body expressed their 
 disapproval of the proceeding, declaring it to be 
 rash^ uncalled for, disorderly^ and such as they could 
 not recognize or approve.'-' 
 
 It is remarkable that some of those men of the 
 pro re nata, who were active in this persecution, 
 
 * This General Synod and the Scottish Synod are united in the pro- 
 fession of the great cause of the covenanted Reformation, as co-ordinate 
 departments of the Reformed Preshyterian Church, recogniznig as the 
 basis of their union the same permanent standards, supreme and sub- 
 ordinate. The application of the principles of those standards, accord- 
 ing to the peculiar circumstances of the Church in tlie localities of the 
 several countries of Europe, America, or Asia, where the Church is 
 found, is left to the Synods respectively, without any authoritative in- 
 terference with each other, in actual administration. 
 
 13 
 
194 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 agreed in principle with, and in practice upon that 
 principle, went farther than those they so zealously 
 prosecuted. Some of them who urged on to the 
 violent acts never would themselves vote for them, 
 but declared themselves, "in the main question," 
 to be with those whom they thus followed with a 
 lawless discipline. All this course of disorder was 
 pursued within a few months of the meeting of 
 General Synod, to whom cognizance of the whole 
 matter entirely belonged. And, as will appear, 
 when that judicatory did act upon it, the whole 
 course of the loro re nata movement was condemned 
 as disorderly and unjust, and the objects of its per- 
 secution justified in their conduct. 
 
 The approaching Synod was looked to by many 
 as likely to harmonize the whole affair; and had 
 all met, as far as the preservation of the Church 
 from an unnatural and simple rupture was con- 
 cerned, that w^ould have been the result. But those 
 men who were bent upon a separation had gone 
 too far to retrace their steps. In their activity 
 they were unceasing, and in their measures un- 
 scrupulous. By their long-continued secret missals, 
 and their willing agents, — ministers without pasto- 
 ral charges, — gross misrepresentations had gone 
 abroad, by which the unsuspecting minds of good 
 men at a distance were bewildered. To augment 
 their numbers candidates for the ministry were 
 hurried forward, and sine iilxdo ordained, and it is 
 believed, some of them in violation of ecclesiastical 
 order. 
 
SYNOD OF 1833. 195 
 
 On August 7th, 1833, according to appointment, 
 General Synod assembled in Eleventh Street 
 Church, in the City of Philadelphia. When the 
 Moderator of the last meeting, according to usual 
 custom, arose to open the court, he was interrupted 
 by one of the men of the 'pro re nata combination, 
 announcing himself to be the Clerk of Synod, while 
 the stated Clerk, the Rev. Dr. Black, against whom 
 that combination had no charge, in possession of 
 the books and papers of Synod, was in his place at 
 the table ; and another of them proclaimed himself 
 to be the Moderator, while the regular Moderator 
 was present, in his place, and, upon his feet, about 
 to engage in the appointed service of the occasion. 
 The pro re nata men then arose and left the house, 
 in a disorderly manner, calling upon " all the f^xith- 
 fal" to follow them to a designated j)lace. Synod, 
 in possession of their officers, — Moderator, Clerk, 
 Assistant Clerk, and all the documents of the court, 
 at the appointed place and hour, being assembled, 
 proceeded in the usual order. Synod being con- 
 stituted, the way was prepared for the transaction 
 of business. 
 
 Those men who thus departed in a disorderly 
 manner, on the 7th of August, were duly sum- 
 moned to return to their place and duty. Upon 
 their refusal to comply, the whole subject of the 
 pro re nata doings was, by a report of the Eastern 
 Subordinate Synod, brought before the Supreme 
 Judicatory, and, after a very full discussion and 
 
196 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 examinatiorij was unanimously condemned. Those 
 engaged in that evil work having left us, by their 
 own act made the separation, and Synod declared 
 them to be no longer in their connection, and 
 ordered their names to be stricken from the roll of 
 their members. Synod made no attempt of retal- 
 iating their violent doings upon them. 
 
 Thus needlessly and unexpectedly, in a spas- 
 modic act of moral disorder, a schism was made in 
 the Church. A rash combination of several of the 
 younger men sought the expulsion, from the Church 
 and her ministrj^ of the senior members of Synod 
 who had laid upon them ordaining hands ; those 
 fathers, whose intelligence, zeal, and labors had 
 given a reorganization to the Church, extended her 
 boundaries, and given her character, must, with 
 their orderly younger brethren, be degraded from 
 their sacred office, expelled from their beloved 
 labors, and be cast out from the communion of 
 saints! And for what? What was their crime? 
 What ? Certainly there was no departure from any 
 article of the Church's faith ; no act of immorality 
 with which to charge them ; no charge of the vio- 
 lation of ecclesiastical order could be sustained 
 against them? No neglect of Ministerial duty, as 
 Pastors, to be alleged against them ? What then I 
 Simply this: It was supposed — and it was with 
 those men a supposition only, — for of it they had 
 no legal evidence — It was su})posed that an article, 
 in itself very brief and harmless, expressing a cotn- 
 
CIVIL INSTITUTIONS. 197 
 
 Ijaratively favorable opinion of the civil institutions 
 of the United States, had been published by them, 
 or with their approbation — an article, the subject 
 of which Synod had authorized to be freely dis- 
 cussed, and the matter of which had the appro- 
 bation of some of the ][>ro re nata men themselves ! 
 
 And what was, at the time of the departure of 
 those men, the actual point of difference ? Past 
 doubt, no settled principle of our ecclesiastical pro- 
 fession. The then disputed question was simply 
 this : Shall the lawless and disorderly acts of the 
 pro re nata meeting be recognized as legal and 
 valid ? That was then really the dividing point. 
 That out of the way, and all stood on the same 
 platform of 1831. Of those lawless deeds, no such 
 recognition could be given ; and such recognition, 
 we are well assured. General Synod would never 
 have either required or approved. 
 
 Changes in the state of civil institutions, we 
 have seen, gave occasion to modified views of the 
 duties of Church members, in reference to those 
 institutions. Synod, at sundry times and in different 
 manners, in answer to inquiries, indicated what, in 
 agreeableness with the principles of the Church, 
 might be done, according to the circumstance of 
 the case, but enjoined no deviation from the usual 
 practice upon any. Those brethren had never been 
 required to modify any usage, nor did any ever 
 propose to justify an act not authorized by some 
 enactment of Synod, to whom the entire disposal 
 
198 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 of the whole matter pertained. By the surreptitious 
 intermeddling with that which did not belong to 
 them, the doings of those men were lawless; and 
 because they apprehended that General Synod 
 would not sanction their anomalous acts, they re- 
 fused to meet with them. But we forbear to enter 
 into the ungracious details of a course of conduct, 
 for its violence and disorder, rarely, if ever, exampled 
 in the records of the Presbyterian administration. 
 This would lead to a development of probable, if 
 not certain, motives, that it may be as well to leave 
 veiled from public view. These rash deeds divided 
 the Church, separated brethren who loved each 
 other, and who, but for grievous misrepresentations, 
 could still have co-operated in carrying forward the 
 common cause. 
 
 Since the departure of these individuals from us, 
 there has no notice been publicly taken of them, or 
 of their violent assaults upon us, by General Synod. 
 We have contented ourselves in going forward, 
 under divine guidance as is trusted, in the possession 
 and profession of our excellent unchanged stan- 
 dards, which those men saw fit industriously to rep- 
 resent us as having abandoned. The hoped for 
 aims of the ])ro re natans were not attained. The 
 pastors whom they had chiefly assailed were ad- 
 hered to by their congregations, the existing or- 
 ganizations not being seriously, and some of them 
 not at all, affected by the departure of some dis- 
 satisfied members. To many, if not all, of those 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 199 
 
 congregations, the agitation was manifestly sancti- 
 fied, as evinced in an increased seriousness of mind, 
 advance in spirituality of character, and in the good 
 works of practical religion. The Church in general, 
 it is believed, in living religion, was brought nearer 
 to her Redeemer, than in the immediately previous 
 years. The reputation of the ministers who had 
 been so unscrupulously assailed, suffered nothing in 
 public estimation from the unfounded assaults made 
 upon them. The Lord whom they humbly served 
 extended over them the shield of his protection. 
 
 This breach we greatly lament. We have, by no 
 act of ours, put any obstacle in the way of the heal- 
 ing of it. They went out from us. When they 
 retrace their steps, meet us on the same platform 
 where all stood in 1831, and give reasonable assur- 
 ance that the disorderly scenes of 1832 and 1833 
 shall not again be re-enacted by them, we will read- 
 ily open the door for their admission. 
 
 That there might be no misapprehension by 
 friends abroad of the principles still held by the 
 Church, on the subject of the late agitation, the 
 following preamble and resolutions were reported 
 by a committee appointed for the purpose, and 
 adopted by General Synod, in 1835 : — 
 
 " The doctrine of the Church, in reference to civil govern- 
 ment, is stated in her standards with so much precision, brev- 
 ity, and clearness, that any statement more satisfactory in a 
 report, may be justly desjDaired of. It is felt, too, that in ad- 
 verting to the writings of approved advocates of the Church's 
 
200 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 testimony, there is danger of intermingling the private opin- 
 ion of individuals with the public authorized faith of the 
 Church, and thereby giving occasion to perplexity in the minds 
 of her members, rather than a clear perception of the articles 
 of her creed. Past experience admonishes us of the danger 
 on this quarter. The particular care and caution of the su- 
 preme judicatory, in repeated warnings, that neither the 
 Church's narative of her progress, nor even her own author- 
 ized argument in defence of her creed, should be incorporated 
 with that creed, or be allowed a place in her terms of fellow- 
 shijD, have not, in times past, been so regarded as to save her, 
 on that head, from distraction. To confound subjects so dis- 
 tinct must be productive of mischief Apprised of this dan- 
 ger, and endeavoring to guard against it, in compliance with 
 the appointment of Synod, the adoption of the following res- 
 olutions is respectfully recommended, as the result of our in- 
 quiry:— 
 
 '•'-Resolved^ I. That civil society, together with its order, 
 has its foundation in the natural constitution of man, and his 
 external relationships in life, being instituted by the Creator 
 and Ruler of the world, immediately for the good of man, 
 and ultimately for the divine glory; that the principles of 
 God's moral law are the supreme standard according to which 
 human society is obhged to regulate and conduct its affairs ; 
 and that, for this end, its members are under obligation to 
 embrace the clearest discoveries of those principles to which 
 they have access. 
 
 " II. That the principles of the moral law of nature, and 
 those of the law revealed in the Scriptures of truth, are funda- 
 mentally the same ; and that the moral qualifications of civil 
 society and its order, required by the law of nature, are radi- 
 cally identical with those required in the Scripture revelation. 
 
 " III. That while care should be taken to guard Christians 
 against rejecting legitimate authority, because not possessed 
 of every desirable attribute or provision, equal care ought to be 
 taken to guard society against resting in low attainments in 
 
TESTIMONY AGAINST DEFECTS. 201 
 
 the moral character of its institutions ; and that it is the 
 bounden duty of civil society, according to the light furnished 
 it by the Bible revelation, in a progressive course of moral 
 and religious reformation upon Bible principles, to endeavor 
 the improvement of its institutions, thereby fitting them to at- 
 tain the ends of the social organization. 
 
 " TV. That when a state, in correspondence with its obli- 
 gations, has formed its constitution according to principles of 
 high moral and religious attainments, placing its frame of 
 order in subordination to Jesus Christ, the Prince of tlie kings 
 of the earth, and by solemn oath and covenant engaged to 
 maintain such constitution and frame of order, it cannot inno- 
 cently recede from them ; much less can it adopt in their place 
 institutions founded upon contrary principles, without incur- 
 ring the guilt of covenant-breaking and perjury. 
 
 " V. That in a land where peculiar religious characteris- 
 tics have never been extensively introduced into civil deeds 
 of constitution ; where there is no apostasy from established 
 and sworn-to reformation ; where the constitutional evils com- 
 plained of are simply omissions, not fundamental to the exist- 
 ence and essential operations of civil society; where no 
 moral engagement is required, and no pledge either demanded 
 or given, to approve of^ or perpetuate defects ; where funda- 
 mental principles of the social state, moral in their nature, are 
 adopted ; where a testimony against defects is admitted, and 
 the way left open, constitutionally, to employ all moral means 
 to obtain a remedying of defects, the same obstacles stand 
 not in the way of the Christian's entrance into civil com- 
 munion, as do in a land where such religious characteristics 
 having been adopted, covenanted, and sworn to, but having 
 been departed from, upon the ruins of a reformed system, one 
 of an opposite character has been introduced. And further, 
 that, under a testimony against defects, circumstanced as 
 above stated, the Christian may consistently enter into the 
 civil fellowship of the country where he resides, using his lib- 
 erty upon a moral basis, to seek the improvement of the so- 
 cial state. 
 
202 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 " VI. That the civil arrangements of any state, being in 
 actual conformity with the principles of moral rectitude, an 
 inquiry into the secret princij^les and motives of those engaged 
 in the formation of those arrangements, should not be permit- 
 ted to raise any obstacle in the way of the concurrence of 
 Christians, to direct them to their proper ends. 
 
 " VII. That this Church has raised, and continues to di- 
 rect, the voice of her testimony against all known moral de- 
 fects and practical immoralities found in the institutions and 
 administrations of the United States, at the same time warn- 
 ing her members against giving any pledge or countenance to 
 public immorality. 
 
 "VIII. That the acts and legislation of this Church have, 
 at all times, authorized all connection with the civil society 
 and institutions of the United States, which does not involve 
 immorality. 
 
 "IX. That the legislative provisions, and judicial institu- 
 tions under them, in the several States of the Union, are both 
 too numerous, and too variable, for the supreme judicatory of 
 this Church ever too examine, and legislate upon them in de- 
 tail; and that much, consequently, has been, and must be left 
 to the discretion of local adjudication, according to the known 
 principles of our standards, to be approved of or condemned, 
 as the case may require. 
 
 " X. That as it is the duty of this Church, so it is the pur- 
 pose of her ministers and members, to mark the modifications 
 and changes of the institutions and administrations of the 
 country, and, in their respective places, faithfully to adapt the 
 application of their testimony to the actual state of society. 
 
 " XI. That though civil society and its governmental insti- 
 tutions be not founded in grace, yet it is the duty of Chris- 
 tians to endeavor to bring over civil states the influence of 
 the grace of the gospel, and to persuade such states to put 
 themselves in subordination to Immanuel, for the protection 
 and furtherance of the interests of religion and liberty. 
 
 "XII. That civil society being a voluntary association. 
 
FOREIGN MISSION. 203 
 
 though it may be both lawful and dutiful to enter fully into its 
 fellowship, yet none can be warrantably compelled to do so. 
 
 "XIII. That the standing terms of fellowship, in this 
 Chm'ch, are the sacred Scriptures as the supreme rule of faith 
 and manners, the great principles of which are embraced in 
 the attainments of the covenanted reformation, as embodied 
 in the Westminster Confession of Faith, Catechisms, larger 
 and shorter, Refonnation Principles exhibited — the Testimony 
 of the Chm-ch — toojether with the solemn covenant oblio:a- 
 tions of the Church to God and one another, to abide by and 
 maintain the doctrine, worship, and order, unfolded in tliese 
 documents ; recognizing, as brethren, in every land, all those 
 who continue to witness in behalf of those attainments of the 
 reformation ; to the exclusion, as terms of communion, of 
 all historical details and arguments, private or public." 
 
 Engaged in the cultivation of the domestic field, 
 whose boundaries were extending over the wide- 
 spread and fertile regions of our country, the 
 Church was not regardless of the wilderness of the 
 Pagan world. At an early period the subject of 
 foreio;n missions had been. before us, but nothing: 
 was definitely effected by Synod before 1835, when, 
 the Rev. James E. Campbell and Mrs. Campbell 
 were sent as missionaries to Northern India. In 
 the course of the two following years the Rev. 
 Joseph Caldwell and Mr. James Craig, a ruling 
 Elder, with their wives, joined Mr. and Mrs. Camp- 
 bell at the mission station of Saharanpur. In pur- 
 suance of Synodical direction, a Presbytery in 
 subordination to the Supreme Judicatory, was by 
 those brethren constituted upon heathen ground. 
 And in 1848 they were strengthened by the acces- 
 
204 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 sion to their number of the Rev. John S. Woodside, 
 a young gentleman of high promise, who, with 
 Mrs. Woodside, had devoted himself to the cause 
 of missions in a foreign land. 
 
 In the study of the native languages of India; 
 in the making of translations of the Scriptures and 
 other valuable works into those languages ] in the 
 preaching of the gospel and conducting of schools, 
 which at an early period of their mission they 
 opened, those brethren have been abundant in 
 labors, and, through the Divine countenance, with 
 a degree of success which has surpassed the expec- 
 tations of the frie.nds of the missionary enterprise. 
 The evidence of that success is found in their 
 Church organizations, in the number and character 
 of their scholars, and in the efficiency and value of 
 the native teachers educated by them, and em- 
 ployed in their schools. Through the instrumen- 
 tality of those missionaries, natives of Hindostan 
 have been brought into the fellowship of the House 
 of God, and, it is hoped, constituted heirs of eter- 
 nal life. 
 
 Under the influence of an Asiatic climate, in 
 the midst of their great and well-directed labors, 
 Mr. Craig and Mrs. Caldwell, at an early period, 
 finished their course on earth. Their death was 
 sensibly felt and deeply lamented by their sur- 
 vivors ; but to Him whom they serve, whose they 
 are, and with whom is the residue of the Spirit, 
 they were taught by the sad event with greater 
 
. NORTHERN INDIA. 205 
 
 earnestness to look, and in His promise with a 
 firmer faith to confide. Amidst many personal 
 trials and domestic afflictions, they have been very 
 graciously sustained. This mission, the history of 
 which will be found in its proper place, is still in a 
 flourishing condition ; and in its intellectual, moral, 
 and religious results, its friends have been more 
 than compensated for the liberality of their con- 
 tributions to its support. Those happy results 
 have been experienced not only in Northern India, 
 but likewise upon our own ecclesiastical and per- 
 sonal interests at home, in the awakening of an 
 active and expansive religious zeal. 
 
 Our financial contributions for the support of 
 this mission, by an arrangement between our Board 
 of Missions and that of the General Assembly of 
 the Presbyterian Church, — 0. S., — are, without 
 expense to us, transmitted through the medium of 
 the latter. This obliging accommodation of finan- 
 cial arrangement affects not the ecclesiastical re- 
 lations of our missionaries. And, indeed, among 
 the moral and spiritual desolations of Hindostan, 
 for the mere partisan zeal of the Church in Europe 
 and America, there is not, and will not soon be 
 much place found. Acute and metaphysical as the 
 educated Hindoo mind is, it must be long before it 
 can take much interest in many of the forms of 
 our party conflicts; and when the time comes in 
 which a knowledge of their disputes would be un- 
 derstood by the Asiatic, it is hoped they will be 
 found only in the records of history at home. 
 
20G HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 And here it is becoming to notice another de- 
 partment of Missionary labor in which the Church 
 has eno:ao^ed, and which is now in a condition of 
 encouraging success. The Rev. Alexander Clarke, 
 who originally came to the British Provinces of 
 New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, as a Missionary 
 of tlie Reformed Presbyterian Synod in Ireland, 
 having labored for many years alone in that coun- 
 try, was at length received into the connection of 
 the General Synod in the United States. Two 
 additional Missionaries have been sent to his aid, 
 and consent has been given to these brethren to 
 form a Presbytery in connection with General 
 Synod. To the senior Missionary, the pioneer of 
 Presbyterianism in a large section of the Provinces, 
 the past twenty years have been a season of un- 
 common labor, self-denial, and unflinching perse- 
 verance in the midst of difficulties. But the re- 
 ward is seen already in the progress of Reforma- 
 tion principles, in flourishing churches, extensive 
 influence for good on a large community, and many 
 other evidences of the Master's approbation of the 
 works of his servant. Even now " the sower and 
 the reaper rejoice together." 
 
 This, perhaps, is the proper place to notice the 
 proposal, made to Synod, of a correspondence with 
 that venerable body, one of the strong and ancient 
 pillars of the Reformation, the General Synod of 
 the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, in the 
 United States. The proposal was made and agreed 
 
ATTEMPTS AT UNION. 207 
 
 to in 1837. The general principle of the plan was 
 similar to that proposed in the case of the General 
 Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, ten years 
 before; but somewhat less definite in its provis- 
 ions. It was adopted by both bodies, and the cor- 
 respondence pleasantly conducted till 1843, when 
 it was suspended, but without any change in the 
 mutual Christian regards of the parties. The sus- 
 pension of the intercourse was some way connected 
 with a misapprehension on the part of one of the 
 delegates of that Synod, in reference to the prac- 
 tice of this Church in the matter of sacramental 
 communion. According to our views of it, it is 
 not a mere Christian ordinance, like prayer, praise, 
 and other private institutes; but has likewise an 
 ecclesiastical character, and thus belongs to Church 
 members who are under responsibility to the 
 authorities of the body, in accordance with the 
 organical law of the Church. We view sacramen- 
 tal communion as an ecclesiastical as well as a Chris- 
 tian privilege. In the plan of this correspondence 
 there was no provision to meet the case, suppos- 
 ing, on our part, that the thing was well un- 
 derstood. 
 
 In the several departments of the Church of the 
 Reformation there is a remarkable coincidence in 
 the fundamental articles of their religious faith ; 
 and among those of the Presbyterian family, gen- 
 erally, a very extensive agreement in the forms of 
 their worship and order. Papal Eome boasts of 
 
208 - HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 her unity ; but in expansion, compact firmness, and 
 spiritual oneness, the platform on which stand the 
 several portions of the Eeformed Church, is infi- 
 nitely superior. But to the accommodating policy 
 of a worldly sanctuary, which gives a marked char- 
 acter to the papal system, the Church of the Refor- 
 mation is to a great extent a stranger. The prom- 
 inence given and the importance attached by many 
 of her members to truth, under the several aspects 
 of its relations and applications, in the present im- 
 perfect state of man, seem to interfere with the 
 visibility of her real union, and, at least appar- 
 ently, to interfere with the harmony of her coun- 
 sels and the efficiency of her administrations. The 
 evils arising out of this state of the affairs of Zion 
 have long been sensibl}^ felt, and hence the well- 
 meant but vain attempts, during the past three 
 hundred years, to effect their removal. In this 
 matter Calixtus and Melancthon, in their disap- 
 pointments, stand not alone. 
 
 The attempt lately made, by some Ecclesiastical 
 bodies, to effect a union through means of con- 
 ventions, has a claim upon our notice, as well 
 because of our connection, for a time, with the 
 movement, as to guard the future historian against 
 misapprehensions and consequent misstatements, 
 arising from a defective acquaintance .with the 
 facts of the case. The parties in this movement 
 were a portion of the Associate Reformed brethren, 
 the Associate Church, the Reformed Presbyterian 
 
ATTEMPTS AT UNION. 209 
 
 Church, and the Dissenting Presbytery. The fol- 
 lowing- are the leadino; facts of the transaction. 
 
 Under date of July 29. 1833, a worthy minister, 
 and very excellent man, of the Associate Reformed 
 Synod of the West, addressed a member of the 
 General Reformed Presbyterian Synod upon the 
 subject of union between the two bodies. The 
 w^orthy writer of the letter says, — "I was ap- 
 pointed at the last Synod of the Associate Re- 
 formed Church, a part of a committee of three, to 
 correspond privately with some of the ministers of 
 the Reformed — [Presbyterian] — Church, on the 
 subject of forming a union, or some kind of public 
 correspondence." He then proceeds to suggest 
 some of his own view^s upon the subject, which 
 it is not requisite in this place to repeat. Not 
 long after the other two members of the committee 
 referred to by this gentleman, addressed a similar 
 communication to another minister of our Church, 
 upon the same subject. By both of these mem- 
 bers * of our Synod the general proposal was fa- 
 vorably entertained, and separate answers, but of 
 like import, to the respective letters of the mem- 
 bers of the Associate Reformed Committee, were 
 given. In those replies, while approving of the 
 general object, the improbability of the success of 
 the plan suggested in one of the letters, was re- 
 spectfully but distinctly stated. 
 
 * Both were members of a committee appointed by General Synod to 
 correspond with other departments of the Church. 
 
 14 
 
210 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 Though still a subject of private consideration, 
 yet as far as public action was concerned, the mat- 
 ter rested till 1835. In the General Synod of that 
 year, the subject of ecclesiastical union, or approxi- 
 mation to such union, upon a larger scale, was 
 brought forward, and incipient steps w^ere taken to 
 have a convention, by delegation, of the several de- 
 partments of the Church, which in doctrine, worship, 
 and order most nearly approximated to one another. 
 In pursuance of w4iat was then proposed, in the 
 course of the sessions of the General Synod of 1837, 
 measures of a more definite character were adopt- 
 ed. By private intercourse, the disposition of sev- 
 eral ecclesiastical bodies was understood to be fa- 
 vorable to the proposal. Delegates w^ere appointed 
 to meet in convention those of other bodies, should 
 the measure meet their approbation. To several 
 evangelical denominations the arrangement was 
 submitted, and at once, by some of them, was fa- 
 vorably received. 
 
 Following out these previous steps, in October, 
 1838, in the city of Pittsburgh, three of those 
 bodies, by their delegates, met in convention. Those 
 thus represented were the Reformed Presbyterian 
 Synod, the Associate Reformed Synod of the West, 
 and the Associate Reformed Synod of New York. 
 The convention was organized, positions adopted by 
 the principles of which the convention should be 
 regulated, and for consideration appropriate sub- 
 jects were stated. The arrangements were such 
 
CONVENTIONS. 211 
 
 as the occasion required, and well calculated to 
 guard against misapprehensions, to prevent rash 
 actings, and ill-advised conclusions. 
 
 At later periods, the conventions of these 
 Churches were joined by delegates from the As- 
 sociate Synod, and from the Dissenting Presbytery, 
 a body which originated in 1799, by a separation 
 from the Associate Reformed Synod. The inter- 
 course of those delegates, year after year, was 
 courteous, pleasant, and conducted in a spirit of 
 respectful kindness. Various projects of accommo- 
 dation were brought before them, as platforms of 
 union, but none of them, as a satisfactory basis, 
 met the minds of any of the Churches represented 
 in the conventions. Hopes of a speedy union, 
 founded on courtesy of manners, general expres- 
 sions of kindness, and earnest desires of a favorable 
 result, rather than on well understood and firmly 
 settled ecclesiastical principles, were frequently en- 
 tertained. In the progress of discussion, however, 
 it was found that the peculiarities which had given 
 occasion to the distinct organizations of the several 
 bodies, were adhered to with the pertinacity of 
 former times. By repeated declarations made in 
 various forms. Reformed Presbyterians were made 
 to understand that, without an alteration in their 
 ecclesiastical standards, no union could be effected. 
 On the subjects of civil government, of public social 
 covenanting of the Church and of states, as a divine 
 institution, and of a distinct and stated testimony 
 
212 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 in favor of truth and in opposition to error, together 
 with some other points, different views were taken 
 by the delegates of the Churches in convention, and 
 deemed by them all to be important under the 
 aspects and in the relations in which they were 
 presented. 
 
 To abandon in profession, or to change any arti- 
 cle of her creed, this Church was not disposed ; 
 and while attaching no undue importance to mere 
 phraseology, the import of the language of her 
 venerable confession being settled and well under- 
 stood, as it was unnecessary, so it was judged to be 
 unadvisable, in that language, to make any change. 
 The faith of this Church is historically connected 
 with that of the Presbyterian confessors and mar- 
 tyrs of the xvi*^ and xvii*^ centuries, and the habits 
 and feelino's of her children are identified with the 
 
 o 
 
 scriptural principles, usages, and forms of expres- 
 sion of the Reformation. 
 
 No facts in our history are more indisputable than 
 the following, viz.: That "the whole doctrine" of 
 the Westminster Confession of Faith and Cate- 
 chisms, as received by the Reformed Church of 
 Scotland, has been at all times unhesitatingly ac- 
 knowledged by us, and that all secular authority 
 over, or in, the Church has been repudiated by us 
 at great expense of suffering, is known matter 
 of record. Christ Jesus, the Divine Mediator, is 
 the Church's only head, and the spiritual, ecclesias- 
 tical officers of his appointment the only legitimate 
 
SUPREMACY OF THE MEDIATOR. 213 
 
 ministry of the Church. To repel the insinuation 
 of the contrary, or of any inconsistency between 
 our subordinate standards and our actual faith, a 
 " Declaration " of the continued uniformity of our 
 creed was made by General Synod, in 1843, and 
 ordered to be prefixed to the document generally 
 known under the name of" Terms of Communion." 
 From this ground w^e were not prepared, or any 
 way disposed, as a Church, to recede. 
 
 At the first intimation that no union could be 
 efiected except at the expense of the integrity of 
 our creed. General Synod was in no haste to break 
 off from the consultations of the conventions, but 
 waited to have certainty of the amount of the 
 avowals made. Years passed by before it was fully 
 understood by all, that not a modified phraseology 
 only, but a change of substance likewise was in- 
 tended. After the ascertainment of this, to have 
 continued our delegation to the conventions longer, 
 to beg that we might, on easier terms, be admitted 
 to the em])race of the proposed union, would, as to 
 ourselves, have been dishonorable ; and, as regarded 
 others, to continue pertinaciously to urge upon men 
 of sense and conscience, for our accommodation, the 
 abandonment of their own convictions and avowals, 
 would have been indelicate. Cherishing sentiments 
 of good wdll and respect for those with whom we 
 had been in conference, but who could not enter 
 into our views, nor we into theirs, we, for the time, 
 retired from the pursuit of the proposed object in 
 
214 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 that form of negotiation. To have acted other- 
 wise, as matters stood, would have been as humil- 
 iating to ourselves as to others it would have been 
 disgusting. In this case, a sense of propriety dic- 
 tated the course pursued by this Synod. 
 
 Upon our part, this result was in accordance with 
 the first rules, or regulating position, adopted by 
 the convention of 1838, in these words : " There 
 shall be no abandonment by this convention of any 
 principle sanctioned by the word of God, or recog- 
 nized in the scriptural attainments of the Eeforma- 
 tion, whether in doctrine, worship, or order." Of 
 what would be such an abandonment each party, 
 for itself, was left to decide. This Church was not 
 apprised of any principle in her standards that had 
 not the sanction of sacred Scripture, and which 
 was not recognized in the attainments of the Ref- 
 ormation. The profession, sometimes made, of 
 modifying phraseology only, was not, in our opin- 
 ion, well sustained, as, upon examination, it was 
 found that the proposed change would impinge 
 upon something deeper and of more importance 
 than mere verbiage. The principles of our creed, 
 in all their fulness, are in our profession intended 
 to be set forth in unambiguous language, and as the 
 Church cannot expunge any of those principles 
 from her faith, so neither can she willingly permit 
 the rendering of any of them uncertain by a doubt- 
 ful form of expression. The union of the Church 
 of God, which all good men so confidently expect, 
 
UNALTERED CONFESSION. 215* 
 
 can neither be sustained by a sandy foundation, nor 
 be cemented by untempered mortar. 
 
 Our delegates to the convention of September, 
 1846, were instructed by the Synod to make it 
 known — "That no alteration in our Confession of 
 Faith, setting aside or changing any pindple of that 
 Document, shall be admitted." And accordingly 
 those delegates, in convention, dissented from the 
 proposal of any such change, and to vote on the 
 question of an alteration. 
 
 That convention, by a majority, adopted the fol- 
 lowing proposition, to be laid before the several 
 Synods, for their approval, as a basis of union : " To 
 alter the Westminster Confession of Faith, by adopt- 
 ing the alterations already made in the constitution 
 of the Associate Reformed Church." This proposal 
 of a majority of the convention was submitted to 
 the General Synod of 1847; and, after a very full 
 discussion of the subject, was rejected. This pro- 
 posal was simply that of going into, and becoming 
 one with, the Associate Reformed Church. To make 
 this proposition the right of the brethren of that 
 body is not denied, nor will the right of others to 
 refuse it be doubted. For this result the other 
 Churches were no way prepared, and towards it by 
 no means disposed. While expressing an earnest 
 desire for the organical union of the whole Church 
 of God, upon the foundation of the prophets and 
 apostles, and cherishing the cordial hope of its ulti- 
 mate attainment, seeing all prospect of its being 
 
216 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 promoted, under existing circumstances, by their 
 taking any active part in these conventional meet- 
 ings and discussions, as out of the question, our 
 Synod declined to appoint delegates to the next 
 convention. 
 
 Upon our active ecclesiastical progress, in some 
 localities, the influence of the movements of those 
 conventions was not propitious. Few of the min- 
 isters and people of the Reformed Presbyterian 
 Church, would have united upon any of the pro- 
 jected platforms or bases of union. Many seemed 
 in a state of hesitancy as to the issue, and more 
 were directly opposed to the proposed plans. The 
 very large accessions to sacramental communion in 
 so many of our Churches, immediately following 
 our withdrawal from the conventions, speak on the 
 subject in a language not to be misunderstood. 
 That measure gave assurance that there was no 
 danger of a departure from the principles of the 
 Church, and that there was no purpose of impairing, 
 by mutilation or mutation, the vigor of her venera- 
 ble creed. Directly following a previous state of 
 paralysis there was, if not a resurrection from the 
 dead, at least an awakening from a sickly slumber. 
 
 But why not adopt, as a basis of union, the altered 
 Confession of Faith, as found in " the constitution 
 of the Associate Pveformed Church," and thus di- 
 minish the number of parties in the Christian 
 commonwealth, by becoming o^e with that people 
 who furnish — as is said — a fine example of a 
 
LARGE ACCESSIONS. 217 
 
 " Union Church " ? That either misapprehensions 
 or ungenerous imputations may be prevented, 'it 
 may be worth while for a moment to attend to this 
 inquiry. To Reformed Presbyterians the subject 
 was not novel ; to them the constitution of the 
 Associate Reformed body had not been unknown, 
 and to the alleged "fine example" of ecclesiastical 
 unity which it afforded, they were not strangers. 
 They had seen its rise, and to its progress they 
 were not inattentive. The origin of this new 
 Church, — almost the youngest in the Presbyterian 
 family — has already been noticed.* Of its organ- 
 ization Reformed Presbyterians never approved. 
 However well-intended by its projectors, it was 
 never confided in as likely to effect its proposed 
 end. Instead of healing breaches it only increased 
 the evil of schism, and to the number of parties, al- 
 ready more than sufficient, it added another, which^ 
 by division, soon multiplied into more. Coming 
 from different bodies, the fathers of this community, 
 worthy and some of them distinguished men, were 
 obliged to deal in compromises of doubtful charac- 
 ter. To Reformed Presbyterians we have seen that 
 several important concessions w^ere made ; and had 
 the practical* interpretation of their early constitution 
 been to the amount of what its language would 
 have authorized, in favor of Reformation principles, 
 it may be questioned whether the friends of those 
 principles would, for any great length of time, have 
 
 * Book ii. chap. iii. 
 
218 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 sought their promotion under any other organiza- 
 tion. But in the language of the compromise there 
 was an ambiguity, which on different sides might 
 be turned to different purposes. Hence Reformed 
 Presbyterians, who continued upon their own 
 ground, kept aloof from this recent organization. 
 And under the influence of disappointed hopes, 
 several of the most distinguished of those who 
 entered into the coalescence soon either left it,* 
 or ceased to give attendance at meetings of its 
 Superior Judicatory .f 
 
 The calls made upon the body, by many of its 
 own members, for the redemption of constitutional 
 pledges, gave occasion to discussions, disputes, and 
 unpleasant feelings. The records of the first seven- 
 teen years of its existence exhibit no great amount 
 of the spirit of a really united Church. In 1799 a 
 rupture was effected by the breaking off from that 
 body of the first members of the " Dissenting Pres- 
 bytery." After this time, discussions upon the sub- 
 jects of public covenanting, a stated testimony, 
 &c., no longer disturbed their peace ; but those of 
 Psalmody, occasional or unecclesiastical comimmion with 
 strangers, and slaveri/, convulsed the community. 
 Synod after Synod retired from their connection 
 with the general body, and in about twenty years 
 after the first rupture, in 1799, upon an attempt 
 at union with the General Assembly of the Pres- 
 
 * As Messrs. Henderson and Smith, 
 t As Messrs. Cuthbertson and Logan. 
 
UNION IN TRUTH. 219 
 
 byterian Church, the Associate Reformed General 
 Synod had ceased to exist. The fragments of the 
 body were now to be sought and found in four 
 separate communions, under as many different or- 
 ganizations, — three of them bearing the same name, 
 but refusing to be organically one. This approx- 
 imation to Independency has, by some, been looked 
 upon as a realization of the Reformed Presbyterian 
 anticipations of the tendency and results of their 
 constitution. And however highly the ministry and 
 people of that body, otherwise, may be esteemed, 
 the excellence of their model of a " Union Church" 
 is not so easy to perceive. 
 
 All the Churches of the land have, or have had, 
 their agitations and their schisms, our own among 
 the others. The fact is humbling, and loudly calls 
 upon each for great searchings of heart. The per- 
 sonal worth of individuals we can with pleasure 
 appreciate, their talents and Christian character it 
 is gratifying to recognize, and in the amount of 
 sound doctrine and practical religion found among 
 them we sincerely rejoice. It is not doubted that, 
 in the several departments of the Church, there 
 are ministers and people w^ho in faith and good 
 works would be ornaments to any portion of the 
 city of our God, as they actually are in those sec- 
 tions to which they respectively belong. These, in 
 the several localities where they reside, are, in the 
 present condition of things needed, and their sepa- 
 ration from existing connections would not be well. 
 
220 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 They form valuable links in the social chain, and 
 by a real, though somewhat invisible bond, constitute 
 a practical — an invaluable — union in the extended 
 household of Faith ; while, often unknown to them- 
 selves, they put forth a sacred influence in prepar- 
 ing the way for that ultimate organic harmony 
 which will be Union not in name and form only, 
 but likewise in the verity of truth. 
 
 As regards our ceasing to meet wdth others in the 
 conventions referred to, a word will be sufficient. 
 The allegation of inconsistency in being the first to 
 make overtures for union, and in being the first to 
 withdraw from the conferences, is not sustained by 
 the facts of the case. It will be remembered that 
 two years before the subject was spoken of in our 
 General Synod, and four years before any definite 
 action was taken upon it, the proposal of taking 
 some step towards a union between them and us 
 was made by the Associate Reformed brethren of 
 the West. Our action was no more than a respect- 
 ful reciprocation of theirs. In the proposal, with 
 w^homsoever it originated, there was nothing to 
 reproach ; and when found unattainable by fair 
 and honorable means, to retire from its pursuit was 
 not disreputable. In such withdrawal there was no 
 inconsistency with previous action. 
 
 Existing circumstances at the time, besides the 
 nature of the case itself, will account for the readi- 
 ness with which this Church went into the proposed 
 measure : one of these circumstances w^as found 
 
CHRISTIAN COURTESY. 221 
 
 in the recovering state of the Associate Reformed 
 Church. A floating, but confidently expressed, re- 
 port had gone abroad, that the Western Synod of 
 that body were about to return to the principles 
 of their original constitution, which in several points 
 approximated to ours, but which had been by them 
 laid aside ; and the statements made of their refus- 
 ing ecclesiastical communion to their former con- 
 nections of the East and of the South, along with 
 the letters of their committee already mentioned, 
 had, in the minds of some among us, awakened 
 the hope that the morning of a brighter day had 
 dawned. It, too, should not be forgotten that, in 
 their personal intercourse, the ministers and people 
 of those several Churches cherished, as they still 
 do, for each other a sincere and Christian regard, 
 and treated one another with more than the mere 
 courtesy of civility. As different objects of thought, 
 they could distinguish social organization from per- 
 sonal or individual character. They felt that they 
 were children of the same family, to some extent 
 unhappily broken up, but still the features of family 
 kindred were recognized, and the spirit of flimily 
 kindness was extensively in operation. It was 
 under these circumsta»ces, in the reciprocity of 
 good will, that the proposition of conference in the 
 form of convention was made and accepted. Where 
 the facts of the case are fully known, the course of 
 our General Synod, and their final action in the 
 matter, will be found to be fair, consistent, and 
 
222 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 honorable. From the beginning, as to the im- 
 mediate success of the project, the expectations 
 of all were not equally sanguine, and, of course, to 
 some the disappointment in the issue was less than 
 it was to others. The organical unity of the whole 
 Church is an event most desirable, and one that 
 shall be realized ; but the actual condition of things 
 in her several sections, and the state of mind 
 amono; a lar^-e number of her children, unite with 
 the decree of God in assuring us, that " the time is 
 not yet." Still that very condition of things, that 
 state of mind, and that decree of God, revealed in 
 his word of promise, at the same time, under 
 another aspect, leave no place for doubt as to its 
 full attainment in its appointed season, and for it 
 the Church is obliged to be actively engaged in the 
 preparing of the way. 
 
 In 1848, General Synod, after a slight revision, 
 adopted her Book of Discipline, which had been 
 substantially prepared twenty-five years before, but 
 not formally enjoined to be observed ; and in 1850, 
 Directories for the worship of God, secret, private, 
 and public, prepared at the same time with the 
 Book of Discipline, w^ere likewise adopted by Synod, 
 together with Rules of judicative proceedings, and 
 Forms of order ) and directed to be published and 
 observed. Now, in 1852, she publishes her history 
 continued, and shows to the world that she still 
 stands on her ancient platform. 
 
 Joys and sorrows are characteristic conditions of 
 
THE FATHERS. 223 
 
 human life. While our history presents causes of 
 gladness, it likewise recalls its events of mourning. 
 The fathers, where are they ? And the prophets, 
 do they live forever? On February 17, 1833, 
 the Rev. Alexander McLeod, D. D., of the city of 
 New York, departed this life, in peace with God, 
 and with all the friends of God. With great ability, 
 fidelit}^ and labor, he served his generation by the 
 will of God ; and when the work assigned him to 
 do by the Church's head was done, he was taken 
 from the evils of an evil world, and from the im- 
 perfections of an imperfect Church, to a higher 
 state of being and of enjoyment. His record will 
 be found in the Church of God, militant and tri- 
 umphant — the Church w^iich he ardently loved, 
 and in the valuable productions of his pen — works 
 on which he impressed the seal of his pow^erful, 
 cultivated, discriminating, and pious mind. 
 
 At a later day, the Church was again called upon, 
 while feeling her loss, to weep over the decease of 
 another of her revered and aged ministers. On 
 October 23, 1849, the Rev. John Black, D. D., was 
 called from his labors in the Church on earth, to 
 the services and felicities of the General Assembly 
 and Church of the first-born in heaven. Dr. Black 
 had been in the public service of the Church for 
 more than fifty years, having entered upon that 
 service in company, and on the same day, with the 
 late Dr. McLeod, whose decease has just been 
 noticed. Those distinguished men were remarkably 
 
224 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 united in a mutual affection, in harmony of counsel, 
 and in active co-operation in the promotion of the 
 same sacred cause. The services of Dr. Black, as 
 they were long continued, so they were able and 
 faithful. His loss by the senior ministers, the asso- 
 ciates of his early as well as later days, was tenderly 
 felt, and to it none of his younger brethren were 
 insensible. 
 
 We have glanced at a few of the occurrences of 
 the last forty-six years, which more directly related 
 to the movements of this department of the Church. 
 Abroad those years have been marked by great 
 events, — events, the effects of causes which had 
 their origin in previous ages, and which, in turn, 
 are themselves destined to be the precursors of 
 results of inefiiible import. By those that are past, 
 we have not been unaffected. We have had our 
 agitations, our trials, and our reverses ; but through 
 the good hand of our God upon us, in the number 
 of our ministers, congregations, and Presbyteries, 
 we far exceed what we ever were, at any former 
 period, in this land. Under our General Synod 
 there are six Presbyteries, one of them in Asia ; 
 and in all of them the prospect of rapid increase is 
 every way of high promise. But — what is more 
 — we are in the fall possession of our ancient faith, 
 scriptural institutes of worship, and forms of order ; 
 and, as far as known, we are in our profession har- 
 monious, and in activity diligent, endeavoring to 
 bear in mind that, "though Paul may plant, and 
 
TRUTH TRIUMPHANT. 225 
 
 Apollos water, it is God only that can give the 
 increase." 
 
 Not having seen any good reason for abandoning 
 any part of the Reformation standards, the Eeformed 
 Presbyterian portion of the great Christian family 
 stands organically distinct, but not fundamentally 
 or essentially separated from the rest. Our attitude 
 is not that of hostility to any department of the 
 household of faith. As far as common ground is 
 occupied by all, and of that ground the length and 
 breadth are not limited by narrow bounds, we are 
 fellow-laborers with them, in the same field and for 
 the same great results, which shall appear in the 
 final adjustments of righteousness and harmonies 
 of peace that will ble.ss our race. 
 
 To the events of the period under consideration, 
 it behooves the Church not to be inattentive. The 
 great missionary movement, in its various forms 
 and results, along with the translations of the Sacred 
 Scriptures, and their extensive circulation, are of 
 deep interest. The religious press, in the hands of 
 individuals, of voluntary associations, and of eccle- 
 siastical bodies, presents an aspect of both good and 
 evil to the interests of true religion and sound 
 morality, demanding the discriminating vigilance 
 and activity of the Church. The position of our 
 own country, in extended territory, an active pop- 
 ulation, extended and extending commerce, frame 
 and spirit of government, and in influence second 
 to no power on earth, has a powerful claim upon 
 15 
 
226 HISTORICAL VIEW. 
 
 Zion's regard. The opening of a great and effectual 
 door to enter upon the dark continent of Africa for 
 its salvation, through the Eepublic of Liberia, a 
 really great moral wonder of the age, loudly ad- 
 dresses the friends of God and humanity. The 
 progress of science and of the arts, the opening up 
 of the channels of intercourse, in so many forms, 
 among the nations, all speak to the Church in a 
 language which ought to be heard and understood. 
 '' Thy Kingdom come." 
 

 Date Due 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 42 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^