tihvaxy of t:he theological ^eminarjo PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY • Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from Princeton Theological Seminary Library http://www.arc.hive.org/details/historyofmetOOalex .^^-m^^ A JAN 29 1942 iSr ^J/ 'HAL ctA \\>y C^urc^ 35^0for^ ^txm CONSISTING OF A SERIES OF DENOMINATIONAL HISTORIES PUBLISHED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CHURCH HISTORY (generaf (B^itore Rev. Philip Schaff, D. D., LL. D. Bishop John F. Hurst, D.D.,LL,D. Rt. Rev. H. C. Potter, D. D., LL. D. Rev. E. J. Wolf, D. D. Rev. Geo. P. Fisher, D. D., LL. D. Henry C. Vedder, M. A. Rev. Samuel M. Jackson, D. D., LL. D. Volume XI American C^uxc^ gietotrg A HISTORY OF THE METHODIST CHURCH, SOUTH THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH THE CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH AND THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, SOUTH IN THE UNITED STATES BY PROFESSOR GROSS ALEXANDER, D. D. JAMES B. SCOULLER, D. D. PROFESSOR R. V. FOSTER, D. D. AND PROFESSOR T. C. JOHNSON, D. D. 0 Z^t C^xiziickn literature Co. MDCCCXCIV Copyright, 1894, Bv The Christian Literature Company. CONTENTS. THE METHODISTS, SOUTH. PAGE CHAP. I. — Preliminary History. — Introduction, — The Situation in the Colonies. — Early Legislation. — Case of Mr. Capers. — Bishops' Address, 1840. — Withdrawal of the Wesleyans i CHAP. n. — The General Conference of 1844. — Attempts at Pacif- ication.— The Character of Bishop Andrew. — Bishop Andrew's Res- ignation.— The Finley -Trimble Resolution. — Postponement Sug- gested by the Bishops. — Extracts from the Protest. — Declaration of the Southern Delegates. — The Plan of Separation. — The Motives of the Southern Delegates. — Contention for the Constitution and Law. — The Canada Precedent of 1820 15 CHAP. IIL — The Organization of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. — Address of the Southern Delegates. — The Louisville Convention. — Organization Completed 38 CHAP. IV. — The First General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. — Bishop Soule's Communication. — Dr. Capers and Dr. Paine Bishops. — Fraternal Delegate to M. E. Church 44 CHAP. V. — Opposition and Friction. — Bishop Morris's Letter. — Later Action of M. E. Church 51 CHAP. VI. — Second General Conference of the M. E. Church, South. — The Property Question. — Bishop Bascom 57 CHAP. VII. — The Third and Fourth General Conferences of the M. E. Church, South. — The Publishing House. — Mission- ary Enterprises. — Bishop Paine's " Life of McKendree." 62 CHAP. VIII. — Some Glimpses of the War Period. — Revivals in the Army. — " The Army Church" of Bishop Marvin. — The Situa- tion at the Close of the War. — The General Conference of 1866. . . 69 CHAP. IX. — The General Conference of 1866. — Important Changes. — Sketch of Bishop Marvin. — Sketch of Bishop McTyeire. — Renewed Enthusiasm 79 vi CONTENTS. PAGE CHAP. X. — The General Conference of 1870. — The Veto Power of the Bishops. — The Colored M. E. Church. — Dr. Bledsoe and the " Southern Review." — Address on Worldly Amusements 88 CHAP. XL — Leading Events from 1874 to 1894. — The Cape May Commission. — The Publishing House Debt. — Vanderbilt Uni- versity.— Dr. Thomas O. Summers. — The Centenary of American Methodism. — Bishops Kavanaugh and Pierce. — Prohibition and Divorce. — General Conference of 1890 97 CHAP. XH. — The Missions of the Church. — Early Attempts. — Unmonumented Heroes. — Large Number of Converts. — Pioneer Work in China. — Three Missions in Mexico. — Mission to Japan. — Woman's Missionary Society. — Woman's Parsonage and Home Mission Society. — Scarritt Bible and Training School 114 CHAP. XIIL — General View AND Conclusion. — The Latest Statis- tics.— Educational Institutions. — Periodical Publications. — Homo- geneity of Southern Methodism. — Fraternity, Federation, Fusion. . 132 THE UNITED PRESBYTERIANS. CHAP. I. — Reformed Presbyterian Element. — Scottish Cove- nanters.— Persecution in Scotland. — Covenanter Immigration. — First Communion. — Reformed Presbytery Organized. — Union with the Seceders 145 CHAP. II. — The Associate Presbyterian Church. — The Seces- sion in Scotland. — Secession Completed. — Secession Organized ... 158 CHAP. III. — The Associate Church in America. — Thomas Clarke. — Opposition to Union with Burghers. — Increase of Ministers. — Union of Covenanters and Seceders 165 CHAP. IV. — The Associate Church after 1782. — Testimony. — Covenanting. — Synod Organized. — Slavery. — Sympathy with Pro- fessor Paxton. — Reformed Dissenting Presbytery. — Psalmody. — Union 1 74 CHAP. V. — The Associate Reformed Church. — Display of Princi- ples.— Formulating Standards. — Presbytery of Londonderry. — Oc- casional Communion. — Dr. J. M. Mason. — Decay of the General Synod. — Union with the Presbyterians 184 CHAP. VI. — The Associate Reformed Synod of New York. — Morgan Abduction. — Temperance Movement. — Return of Library. The Slavery Question. — Union with the West 203 CHAP. VII. — The Associate Reformed Synod of the West. — Organization and Field. — Theological Seminary. — Action anent Slav- ery. — Temperance. — Testimonies. — Foreign Missions. — Church Votes 214 CONTENTS. vii PAGE CHAP. VIII.— The Union of 1858.— Conventions Abandoned.— The " Testimony." — The Union Consummated 225 CHAP. IX, — The United Presbyterian Church. — Intoxicating Drinks. — Improved Psahnody. — Church Organizations 233 CHAP. X. — Education. — Schools and Colleges. — Theological Semi- naries 240 CHAP. XL — The Boards of the Church. — Freedmen. — Foreign Missions. — Ministerial Relief. — Publication 245 CHAP. XII. — Denominational Attitude. — Headship of Jesus. — Peculiarities. — Conservative 251 THE CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIANS. Bibliography 258 CHAP. I. — Origin and Name 259 CHAP. II. — Causes. — James McGready. — Revival in the Cumberland Country. — Cumberland Presbyterian Council. — The Council Con- demned ' 260 CHAP. III. — The New Presbytery. — Strict Sabbath Observance. . . 268 CHAP. IV. — A Circular Letter. — Proposition of Rev. David Rice. — Cumberland Presbytery Formed. — Strife between Presbytery and Synod. — Strife Continued. — Desire for Peace. — Defense of the Council. — Fraternizing Advised 272 CHAP, v.— The First Synod.— The Synod Organized.— Perils of Travel 286 CHAP. VI. — A Larger Growth. — Growth of the Work. — Secret of Success 290 CHAP. VII.— Missions 295 CHAP. VIII. —Education 297 CHAP. IX. — Publication 299 CHAP. X. — In Relation to the Negro 300 CHAP. XL — Progress 301 CHAP. XII. — Doctrines. — Departures from Westminster Confession. — Doctrine of Atonement. — Doctrines 303 THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIANS. Bibliography 313 CHAP. I. — The Southern Presbyterians before 1861. — The An- cestors.— Rice's Overture on Missions. — Leading Ministers 317 Vlll CONTENTS. PAGE CPIAP. II. — The Origin of the Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States. — The Assembly of 1861. — Rev. Dr. Spring's Resolutions. — Rev. Dr. Hodge's Protest. — Eflfect of the Resolutions. — The Southern Church Organized. — The Augusta Convention. — Rev. Dr. Palmer's Sermon. — Organization Effected. — Missions among the Indians. — Committee of Domestic Missions. — Other Committees Organized. — "Address to the Churches." — Separation Defended. — The Subject of Slavery. — The Ends Pro- posed.— Clerical and Lay Leaders 324 CHAP. III. — The Growth of the Church and Development of Her Agencies to the Present. — Revival Methods. — Pastoral Work. — Foreign Missions. — The Executive Committee. — Recom- mendation of the Assembly. — Foreign Missionaries. — Home Mis- sionaries.— Home Missions. — The Invalid Fund. — Presbyterial Evangelism. — Dr. Girardeau's Paper. — Colored Presbyterian Churches. — Church Erection and Loan Fund. — The Board of Aid. ^Education. — Committee of Education. — Union Theological Semi- nary.— Tuscaloosa Institute. — Washington and Lee University. — Davidson College. — Westminster College. — Publication. — Colport- age. — The Charter of the Assembly. — Voluntary Agencies 357 CHAP. IV. — Changes in the Constitution and Life of the Church. — Conditions of Altering the Confession. — Revision of Book of Church Order. — Forms of Prayer. — Revision of Directory. — Temptation to Lax Life. — The Social and Moral Life of the Church. — Attitude of the Church toward Lynch Law 410 CHAP. V. — The Relation of the Church to other Bodies. — Non-Secular Character of the Church. — Transient Inconsistencies. — The Church Renewing its Testimony. — Union with the Inde- pendent Presbyterians. — Union with United Synod of the South. — Patapsco and Alabama Presbyteries. — The Synod of Kentucky. — The " Declaration and Testimony." — Old School Assembly, North, 1866. — The Kentucky Synod Outlawed. — Consummation of the Union. — Union with the Synod of Missouri, O. S. — Correspondence with other Bodies. — Correspondence with Reformed Church. — Re- lations with the Assembly, North. — Correspondence with Presby- terians, North. — The Conclusion 422 HISTORY OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, SOUTH. GROSS ALEXANDER, D.D., Professor Greek and New Testament Exegesis, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn. BIBLIOGRAPHY.! I. General Sources. Journals of tlie General Conferences from 1796 to 1844. New York, Meth- odist Book Concern. Journals of the General Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, from 1846 to 1890. Journals of the General Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church from 1848 to 1856. New York, Methodist Book Concern. Fraternal Addresses of various Fraternal Delegates. II. Histories and other Special Sources. Anonymous, History of the MctJiodist Episcopal Church, South. 1845. Curtiss, G. L., Manual of Methodist Episcopal Church History, New York, Methodist Book Concern, 1893. Elliott, Charles, D.D., History of the Great Secession from the Methodist Episcopal Church. Cincinnati, Methodist Book Concern, 1854. Harrison, W. P., and Barnes, Miss, The Gospel among the Slaves. 1893. John, J. G., D.D., Handlwok of Alethodist Missions. 1893. McTyeire, Bp. H. N., History of Methodism. 1884. Matlack, L. C, The Antislavery Struggle, and Triumph in the Methodist Episcopal Church. New York, Methodist Book Concern, 1881. Merrill, Bp. S. M., Organic Union of American Methodism. Cincin- nati, Methodist Book Concern, 1892. Myers, E. H., D.D., The Disruption of the M. E. Church. 1875. Peterson, P. A., D.D., Hatidbook of Southern ISIethodism. Redford, A. H., History of the Organization of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. 1871. Simpson, Bp. Matthew, A Hiuidred Years of Methodism. New York, Methodist Book Concern, 1876. III. Biographies (arranged by subjects, not authors). Andrew, Bp. Janies Osgood, by George G. Smith. Bascom, Bp. Henry Bidleman, by M. M. Henkle. 1854. Capers, Bp. Wm., by Bp. Wm. M. Wightman. 1858. McFerrin, John Berry, D.D., by Bp. O. V. Fitzgerald. 1888. McKendree, Wm., by Bp. Robert Paine. 1859, 2 vols. ; new ed. abridged, 1875. Marvin, Bp. Enoch Mather, by T. M. Finney. Pierce, Bp. George Foster, by George G. Smith. 1888. 1 Unless otherwise stated, these books are published in Nashville, Tenn., at the Publication House of the Methoc\ist Episcopal Church, South; Barbee and Smith, present agents. PREFACE. In a history confined to brief limits, only a general out- line of leading events can be given. The leading events in the history of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, took place, for the most part, in connection with the General Conferences. This fact has largely determined the plan and order of treatment in the present instance. It is true, also, that in the case of the Southern Methodist Church the action of the various General Conferences has been, throughout, representative, in a singular degree, of the thoughts, views, and status of the membership at large. But for these considerations the scheme of treatment ac- cording to General Conferences might seem arbitrary and artificial. The author has drawn largely upon the original sources, and has introduced what may appear frequent and lengthy extracts from the original documents. This seemed better than to give his own abstract of their contents. The re- production of essential portions of the original documents will give to the history a reality and authority, and to the reader a corresponding sense of satisfaction, which could not come from any summary, determined and colored, as that would be, by the author's interpretation of the origi- nals. These are accessible to only a few. With the ex- xi xii PREFACE. tracts given in the following pages, the general reader will be in a position to form his own judgments and to draw his own conclusions. The task of the author was confessedly a difficult one. A minister, conversant with the history, humorously said to him : " Lo, on a narrow neck of land 'Tvvixt two unbounded seas you stand." The difficulty of the task was rendered still greater by the limitations of time and space which were imposed. That mistakes have been made it is almost certain ; that the work will meet the approval of all readers cannot be hoped. The writer has performed his task not as he would, but as, under the circumstances, he could. No one can be more sensible than he of the imperfections of the work. He bespeaks the charitable judgment of his readers. Those who occupy a different point of view will doutless find much to criticise. My thanks are due and are given to my colleagues, Dr. Charles Forster Smith, Prof. Collins Denny, Prof. O. E. Brown, and to Dr. E. E. Hoss, editor of the " Nashville Christian Advocate," for looking over proofs, and for many helpful suggestions. No one, however, is responsible for the views herein expressed but the author himself. G. A. Theological Department, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn., January 24, 1894. THE METHODISTS, SOUTH. CHAPTER I. PRELIMINARY HISTORY. In I 766, Methodism, which had turned old England up- side down, came hither also, to this new world. It planted itself, as if by a prophetic instinct, simultaneously in two places, one of them in the South, one of them in the North. From these two centers and throughout these two regions it extended itself in every direction, through New York, New England, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, through Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia. Nevertheless this Methodism was one, One army of the living God, coalescing more and more under the plastic hands of As- bury and Rankin, and taking organic form in the confer- ence of 1773 and those that followed. It was not Northern Methodism and Southern Methodism ; it was Methodism, — Christianity in earnest, seeking and saving the lost. To the influence and the extension of this common Methodism the North contributed and the South contributed. If the North gave to Methodism such men as Nathan Bangs and Free- born Garrettson and Joshua Soule, the South furnished her 2 THE METHODISTS, SOUTH. [CiiAi'. i. quota of such as Philip Bruce and Jesse Lee and WilHam McKendree. If increasing and incredible thousands were annually added to the rolls of the church and the number of the saved in New York and New England, answering thousands were added in Virginia and the Carolinas, in Georgia and Tennessee. In all that Methodism accom- plished and in all that Methodism was, the North had an equal part with the South and the South had an equal part with the North — unless in point of numbers the North had somewhat the advantage. But while this was true, in another respect, the South had an advantage over the North, due, however, in no way, to the fault of the North. The Rev. Dr. Bristol, fraternal delegate of the Method- ist Episcopal Church, said, at the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in 1890: "I am not ignorant, brethren, of the fact that the colored people of the South are indebted to your fathers for their Christianity and for their Methodism." If there was, then, a department of the great work to which the one section of the church had access and the other had not, except in a very limited way, it was the opportunity and privilege of giving the gospel to the African slave popula- tion of the United States. This the Methodists in the South did, for the most part ; with what success is par- tially indicated in the fact that in 1844 there were about 125,000 of these sons of Ham enrolled as members of the church and sons of God — a larger number of practically heathen converts than all the missionary societies of America had gathered upon all the fields of the heathen world. So that while the portion of the church which operated in the North had the preponderance in num- bers, the Southern portion, besides having gathered a membership of 350,000 whites, had, with infinite and un- recorded patience and toil, reached and Christianized a INTRODUCTION. 3 practically heathen population of over 100,000 souls. On the whole, then, it was about an even stand, and neither portion .could boast of any great superiority over the other. Neither had made the Methodist Episcopal Church without the other : neither was the Methodist Episcopal Church without the other. There came a time, however, when, for reasons suffi- cient and irresistible, in their opinion, the members of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the South thought that, in view of the condition of affairs which had arisen, they could best conduct their work and operate their field under the jurisdiction of a separate General Conference. To this the representatives of all the Annual Conferences of the undivided Methodist Episcopal Church, in General Conference assembled, in the city of New York in 1844, agreed, by a majority little less than unanimous; and for this they made provision in what is known as the Plan of Separation, conditioned upon the necessity of a separate General Conference, that necessity to be determined by the Annual Conferences of the Southern States. In accordance with this plan of separation, the Method- ist Episcopal Church, South, consisting of all the Annual Conferences in the Southern and Southwestern States, was organized as a distinct ecclesiastical jurisdiction, in the month of May in the year 1845. As to the cause or causes of this event, we shall be better able to decide after tracing the history of the events that led to it. It is enough, at present, to say that it was in connection with the problems arising out of the existence of African slav- ery and its relations to church and state. It is unnecessary to recite here the facts, that slavery existed at one time in all the original colonies of the American Union ; that the business enterprise of New England, as well as that of old England, was active in 4 THE METHODISTS, SOUTH. [Chap. i. supplying African slaves for American markets ; and that originally it was chiefly the accidents of climate and cot- ton and rice and sugar, and not the superior morality of the people of other sections, that determined the prepon- derance of numbers and the pernianence of slavery in the South. " In the Eastern and Middle States the system of slave-labor was gradually abolished, being unprofit- able," says a Northern and a Methodist historian of the United States.^ Says another: " Slavery was unprofitable in the North- ern States, and in the course of time the opinions and sentiments of the best people were arrayed against it. If it had been profitable in the North, the people there, ac- cording to the infirmity of our nature, might possibly have remained unconvinced of its evils." It is sufficient to say that at the time when our history begins, slavery had gravitated to the South, and was, for the most part, confined to the South; although, in the beginning, some of the Southern colonies had opposed and resisted the introduction of the abomination. The colonial legislature of Virginia, for example, • in 1 726 undertook to check the importation of slaves by imposing a heavy tax on the traffic ; but the British Government repealed this law, and, as Madison afterward said, " con- stantly baffled the attempts of Virginia to put a stop to this infernal traffic, for the avowed reason that ' the slave- trade was very advantageous to Great Britain.' " - The colony of Georgia, also, the year after it was char- tered (1734), forbade by express law tiie introduction of slavery, and it was not until George Whitefield, co-founder 1 Ridjiatli's " History of tlie United States," p. 487. '^ Matlack's " Antislavery Struf^^ie," p. 29. Note. — From 1699 to 1772 twcitty-three acts were passed to arrest or prohibit the further introrliiction of slaves, but all were disregarded by the King of Great Britain. — Minor's " Institutes," p. 164. THE SITUATION IN THE COLONIES. 5 with Wesley of Methodism, went from Georgia to England and persuaded the trustees of the colony to allow it, that slavery was introduced (1751). He is reported to have said, " I should think myself highly favored if I could pur- chase a good number of slaves, in order to make their lives comfortable and lay a foundation for bringing up their posterity in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." Twenty years afterward he died, leaving seventy- five slaves in connection with his Orphan House plantation in Georgia. For without repealing the law of 1734, the colony had from 1751 allowed slave-traders to sail to Savannah and sell their heathen victims to the highest bidder. A slight resistance was kept up by the Mora- vians, but even they finally yielded to the conviction that African slaves might be employed in a Christian spirit, and that their treatment in a Christian manner might prove their change of country to be a great benefit to them. This view was encouraged by a message from the Moravians of the fatherland, which declared, " If you take slaves in faith with the intention to conduct them to Christ, the action will not be a sin, but may prove a bless- ing." ^ Possibly this view of the Moravians of Germany was, in some measure, due to the influence of the words of the great Reformer, Martin Luther, who wrote in the six- teenth century, " He that says that slavery is opposed to Christianity is a liar." Sanctioned by such examples and defended with such plausible arguments, it is not surpris- ing that, little by little, the people laid aside their scruples and finally adopted the system. In fact, it seemed equal to the liberation of slaves for kind masters to purchase them from heartless and cruel slave-traders. When Methodism came upon the scene, about 1 766, under Robert Strawbridge in Maryland and Philip Em- 1 Matlack's "Antislavery Struggle," pp. 30, 31. 6 THE METHODISTS, SOUTH. [CiiAr. i. bury in New York, slavery was already established and in vogue from Massachusetts to South Carolina, but par- ticularly in the South ; and as Wesley had borne strong testimony against it in England, so did Asbury, Garrett- son, and others in America. But it was not until the meeting of the conference at Baltimore in i 780 that con- ference action was taken on the subject. It will be neces- sary, at this i)oint, to give a brief survey of the course of legislation on the subject of slaveholding, so as better to understand the situation at the critical period, in 1844. Up to I 780 there was no written rule on the practice of slaveholding. The following questions, propounded and recorded at that conference, will show that at that time slaves were held by Methodists, and even by Methodist preachers : Question. Ought this conference to require those traveling preachers who hold slaves to give promises to set them free? Answer. Yes. Question. Do we pass our disapprobation on all our preachers who keep slaves and advise their freedom? Ansiver. Yes. At the famous Christmas Conference held in Lovely Lane Chapel in Baltimore in 1784, at and by which the organization of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Amer- ica was effected, a general rule, in addition to those pre- pared by Mr. Wesley for the societies in England in 1743, was adopted, prohibiting " the buying or selling the bodies and souls of men, women, or children with the intention of enslaving them." Other special rules were also adopted at this conference, " designed to extirpate this abominaticni from among us." These rules were the most rigid that were ever enacted by the General Conference of the Methodist Church in America. They indicate the high-water mark of confer- ence legislation against slavery. They were found, how- EARLY LEGISLATION. 7 ever, to be too rigid; and the Discipline of 1786 marks the beginning of a recessive movement. If, from the beginning, non-slaveholding had been made a rigid con- dition of entrance into the Methodist Church, that might have worked, and all the after trouble might have been avoided. But this was not done. Slaveholders had been admitted — when and where and how it may not now be possible to say — but the sensitive and excited tone of the legislation on the subject all through this period indicates that the church had considerable and increasing num- bers of slaveholders. An attempt was made at the Gen- eral Conference of 1800 to pass a resolution prohibit- ing thereafter the admission of a slaveholder. " Friday morning, May i6th, Brother Snethen moved that this General Conference do resolve that from this time no slaveholder shall be admitted into the Methodist Epis- copal Church ;" but it seemed now too late to adopt such a rule, for it was " negatived." ^ Not only so, but another rule was enacted, " That all slaveholders asking admission as members must be spoken to freely and faithfully by the preacher on the subject of slavery." These two actions revealed the vacillation of the church and the General Conference on the subject of slaveholding. They were hesitating over the question, . . . Shall we shut the door And keep it out? or shall we let it in' And see if we can get it out again? Moreover, the subject now began to be complicated with civil legislation. Already in the General Conference of 1800 we begin to meet with clauses that become very familiar in later legislation : " Whereas the laws in two or more of the United States pointedly prohibit the emanci- pation of slaves;" and again, "shall execute, if it be 1 " Journal of the General Conference of 1800," p. 40. 8 THE METHODISTS, SOUTH. [Cjiai-. i. practicable, a legal emancipation of such slave or slaves, agreeably to the laws of the State wherein they live." ^ As they had failed to make non-slaveholding a con- dition of membership from the beginning; and as, when fully awakened afterward to the nature and meaning of slavery, they had even then definitely refused to introduce non-slaveholding as a condition of membership, but, on the contrary, made implicit provision for the continued admission of slaveholders on condition of a talk to the candidate by the preacher; and as conference legislation was becoming more difficult and unmanageable by reason of its embarrassing complications with State legislation — they found it necessary to abandon their untenable posi- tion, to make further concessions, and to put themselves in line with the laws of the slaveholding States and the crystallizing public opinion of the people in those States, or else they would have practically to abandon them. Hence there is a tone of increasing moderation in the legislation of the General Conference down to 1816, when the law known as the " Compromise Law" of the church on the subject of slavery was passed. The action of that conference is as follows : Your committee find that in the South and West the civil authorities ren- der emancipation impracticable, and they are constrained to admit that to bring about such a change in the civil code as would favor the cause of lib- erty is not in the power of the General Conference. They beg leave to sub- mit the following resolution : Resohted, Tliat no slaveholder shall be eligible to any official station in our church where the laws of the State in which he lives will admit of emancipa- tion and permit the liberated slave to enjoy freedom. 2 After 1 8 16 there was practically no change in the legis- lation of the General Conference on the subject of slavery until the session of 1836; but an event occurred at the 1 " Journal of the General Conference of iSoo," pp. 37, 44. 2 "Journal of the General Conference of 1816," p. 170. CASE OF AIR. CAPERS. g General Conference of 1828 which showed that the mod- erate and conciHatory view of the question had been accepted and was generally held. At the General Con- ference of 1824 that body instructed the bishops to choose and appoint a representative and send him to the British Conference at its session in 1826. At a meeting of the bishops held in Baltimore in April, 1826, Bishop McKen- dree and Bishop Soule had favored the appointment of Mr. Capers, of South Carolina, while Bishops George and Hedding gave their support to the great Dr. Wilbur Fisk. The ground of their objection to Mr. Capers was that he was a slaveholder. This difference of opinion led to a postponement of the matter till the General Conference of 1828, when the subject was formally brought up in the address of the bishops. The General Conference indorsed the preference of Bishops McKendree and Soule, and elected Mr. Capers over Dr. Fisk, notwithstanding the fact that he was a slaveholder. It may be interesting to add that Mr. Capers was received by the British Confer- ence with cordiality and enthusiasm ; and they Resolved, i. That the cordial thanks of this conference are due to the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in America for the appointment of their excellent representative, Mr. Capers, whose amiable manners, devout spirit, and acceptable ministry have greatly endeared him .to the preachers now assembled, and have confirmed their feelings of respect and attachment toward their American brethren at large. 2. That the warmest thanks of the conference are hereby presented to Mr. Capers for the great ability. Christian spirit, and brotherly kindness with which he has discharged the duties of his honorable mission, and that their most fervent prayers will attend him on his return to his native country. i The journal of the General Conference of 1836 records a remarkable action. It is as follow^s : Whereas great excitement has prevailed in this country on the subject of modern abolitionism, etc.. Resolved, by the delegates of the Annual Conferences in General Confer- 1 " Life of Bishop Capers," p. 258. 10 THE METHODISTS, SOUTH. [Chap. i. ence asseniljled, Tliat they are decidedly opposed to modern abolitionism, and wholly disclaim any right, wish, or intention to interfere in the civil and political relation between master and slave as it exists in the slaveholding States of this Union. i One hundred and thirty-seven voted in favor of this resokition, and "none in the opposition." The great excitement referred to in the preamble was an effect of the organization and operation of the New England Antislavery Society, begun in 1832, and the American Antislavery Society, organized in 1833. These societies took extreme positions and precipitated wide- spread agitation. In 1835 the New England and New Hampshire confer- ences organized Antislavery Societies, and an " Appeal " was issued, signed by La Roy Sunderland and others, and addressed to these two conferences. In the same year appeared a " Counter- Appeal," written by D. D. Whedon and signed by Wilbur Fisk, Abel Stevens, Bishop Elijah Hedding, and others. The signers of this counter-appeal replied to the position taken in the appeal, that " no slaveholder "is truly awakened, and that no slaveholder can rightly be permitted a place in the Christian Church," by saying: That in the primitive church at Colosse, under the apostolic eye and with the apostolic sanction, the relation of master and slave was permitted to sub- sist ; that there were already such in the church of Ephesus ; that the New Testament (in Ephesians vi. 5-9 and elsewhere) enjoins obedience on the slave as an obligation due to a present, rightful authority ; that I Timothy vi. I, 2, presents an impregnable demonstration that slaveholding is not in all cases and invariably sinful ; that we may not say that no slaveholder is truly awakened ; and that it does not of itself form a ground of exclusion from the Christian Church. 2 The counter-appeal maintained also that the Bible is opposed to slavery as a system, and disclaimed all pur- 1 " Journal of the General Conference of 1836," pp. 446, 447. 2 M-ulack, pp. 87, 88. BISHOPS' ADDRESS, IS4O. II pose of defending the system. What it opposed was the position that all slaveholding is sinful and therefore should be universally" and immediately abandoned. The address of the bishops at the General Conference of 1840 is a notable document. It presents a calm sur- vey of the situation, takes broad views of the jurisdictional questions involved, and counsels moderation and justice in and toward all sections of the church. Among other things they say : They have no disposition to criminate their brethren in the South who are unavoidably connected with the institution of slavery, or to separate from them on that account. In all enactments of the church relating to slavery a due and respectful regard has been had to the laws of the States, never re- quiring emancipation in contravention of ci%al authority, or where the laws of the State would not allow the liberated slave to enjoy his freedom. The simple holding or owning of slaves, without regard to circumstances, has at no period of the existence of the church subjected the master to excommunication.! In the reply of the bishops to the fraternal address of the British Conference, which contained references to the subject of slavery, they say : In some of our States slavery exists so universally and is so closely inter- woven with their civil institutions, that both do the laws disallow of emanci- pation and the great body of the people (the source of larvs with us) hold it to be treasonable to set forth anything by word or deed tending that way. Our church is extended through all the States, and as it would be wrong and unscriptural to enact a rule of discipline in opposition to the constitution and laws of the State on the subject, so also is it not equitable or Scriptural to confound the position of our ministers and people (so different as they are in different States) with respect to the moral question which slavery involves. Under the administration of the venerated Dr. Coke this plain distinction was once overlooked, and it was attempted to urge emancipation in all the States ; but the attempt proved almost ruinous, and was soon abandoned by the doctor himself. Methodism has always been, except in this single in- stance, eminently loyal and promotive of good order, and so we desire it may ever continue to be both in Europe and America. We conclude the subject with the corroborating language of your noble missionary society, by the revered and lamented Richard Watson, in their instructions to mission- aries published in the report of 1833, as follows : 1 "Journal of the General Conference of 1840," pp. 135, 136. 12 THE METHODISTS, SOUTH. [Ciiai-. i. "As in the colonies in wliieli you are called to labor, a great propt)rtion of the inhabitants are in a state of slavery, the committee most strongly call to your remembrance what was so fully stated to you when you were accepted as missionaries to the West Indies — that your only business is to promote the moral and religious imjirovement of the slaves to whom you may have access, without in the least degree, in public or private, interfering with their civil condition." (Signed) R. R. Robkrts, Joshua Sori.E, Elijah Hkduing, Jas. O. Andrew, Beverly Waugh, Thos. a. MORRIS.I At this same General Conference of 1840 a memorial was presented from the official members of the West- moreland Circuit, in Vir. ii. Resolved, That the bishops be respectfully requested to lay that part of this report requiring the action of the Annual Conferences before them as soon as possible, beginning with the New York Conference. RoHERT Pai>£, Chairman. New York, June 7, 1844.1 Dr. Elliott moved the adoption of the report. He said : lie had had the opportunity of examining it, and had done so narrowly. He believed it would insure the purposes designed, and would be for the best interests of the church. It was his firm opinion that this was a proper course for them to pursue, in conformity with the Scriptures and the best analogies they could collect from the ancient churches, as well as from the best organized modern churches. All history did not furnish an example of so large a body of Christians remaining in such close and unbroken con- nection as the Methodist Episcopal Church. It was now found necessary to separate this large body, for it was becoming unwieldy. He referred to the churches at Antioch, at Alexandria, at Jerusalem, which, though they con- tinued as one, were at least as distinct as the jNIethodist Episcopal Church would be if the suggested separation took place. The Church of England was one under the archbishops of Canterbury and York, connected and yet distinct. In his own mind it had been for years perfectly clear that to this conclusion they must eventually come. Were the (question that now unhap- pily agitated the body dead and buried, there would be good reason for pass- ing tlie resolutions contained in that report. As to their representation in the General Conference, one out of twenty was but a meager representation, and to go on as they had done it would soon be one out of thirty. And the body was now too large to do business advantageously. The measure con- templated was not schism, but separation for their mutual con\-enience and prosperity. 2 The report of the committee embodying the provisional Plan of Separation was adopted by a majority ranging from 135 to 153 on the several resolutions, against 18 to 13 voting in the negative. This was done on June 8th, and on the second day afterward this epoch-making con- ference, the last General Conference of the United Meth- odism of America, adjourned. The Plan of Separation as conceived and agreed on was honorable to both parties. It was a healing measure, and 1 " Journal of Conference of 1844," p. 135. 2 " Debates of General Conference of 1844," p. 219. THE MOTIVES OF THE SOUTHERN DELEGATES. 33 a fitting conclusion to the fifteenth General Conference of United Episcopal Methodism, and the last. From this history it will, we think, be evident to the candid reader that the Southern delegates in 1844 did not contend for slavery. They contended for a separate ecclesiastical organization, in order that, secure from the continual agitation of the slavery question, they might, without interfering with established civil institutions and relations, have the opportunity and privilege of giving the gospel to the slave-owners of the South and their slaves; for whatever excluded them from the former excluded them also from the latter. "■ It was not for slavery, but for the privilege of saving the slave, that our fathers chiefly contended," said Bishop Galloway, the fraternal delegate to the British Conference in 1892. They could not change the situation. They had to take it as they found it, and deal with it as best 'they could. They hon- estly thought that they could best succeed in reaching both slave-owners and slaves by giving them the gospel as they were, without in the least interfering with their civil relations, firmly established, as these were, through long years of usage, sanctioned by the very Constitution of the United States, and guarded by the most rigid State laws. Nay, they believed that they could reach them in no other zvay; but that if they undertook to abolish these relations, or seriously to interfere with them, they would effectually shut themselves out from all access to the slaves or their owners. May they not have refrained from such revolutionary efforts in the spirit of St. Paul, who, we are told, made no interference with slavery in his day and time, because he knew it would array society and the world against his gospel and doom it to defeat and failure? At least, so thought and said the Southern dele- gates at the General Conference of 1844, They saw and 34 "J'i^^ JMETJIODISTS, SOUTH. [Chai'. ii. felt and acknowledged the evil and curse of slavery. For example, Dr. Smith, of Virginia, said in the debate on the Harding case : I say slavery is an evil, because I feel it to be an evil. And who cannot say the same that has trod the soil of the South? It is an evil. The Dis- cipline declares the truth when it says, " We are as much as ever convinced of the great evil of slavery." Yes, we say that slavery is an evil, and that Southern people know and feel it to be an evil. Who knows how the shoe pinches but he who wears it ? And who more than we who have l)ecn compelled to submit to it to the present moment? So sorely did we in Vir- ginia feel the evils of slavery and groan under them, that, from the debates in 183 1 in the Virginia Legislature and the popular sentiment, expressed by pulpit and press, no doubt was entertained that the State was about to adopt immediate measures for its gradual extirpation. 1 These sentiments of Dr. Smith were heartily responded to by the delegates from the South.- He went on to say : On the other hand, I should say that while the Discipline deprecates the evil of slavery, it requires the members of the church within the slave States to conform their action to the laws of those States in which they live. Dr. McFerrin, another of the Southern leaders, said : I never bought or sold a slave, but those which I had were family ser- vants. I had treated them humanely, and never intended to wrong them in any sense. In my heart I believed slavery to be an evil — more of an evil to the master than to the slave — but under the circumstances, and in view of what the Bible said, I did not believe it to be a sin/cr se."^ Thus, then, it was not for slavery that they contended, but for security from molestation in preaching the gospel to slave-owners and to slaves without running the risk of being denied access to both classes by interfering with existing institutions and civil relations. At least, so it appears from the proceedings and debates of 1844. But it was not for this alone that they contended. 1 " Debates of 1844," pp. 26, 27. 2 Ihid., p. 44. 3 " Life of McFerrin," p. 269. CONTENTION FOR THE CONSTITUTION AND LAW. 35 They contended also for the authority of law, for the sanctity of the Constitution, and for the sacredness of the rights of ministers under the Constitution and the law, as the extracts previously quoted from the Protest show. (See page 27 ff.) And yet this is not intended on the part of this writer to imply any criticism of the action of the majority in the case of Bishop Andrew. In the first place, he committed an error in becoming connected with slavery. Not that he offended against the written law, but against the unwritten, higher law of charity, which seeketh not her own, which surrenders her rights rather than be a stumbling-block in the way of bthers. But, having become entangled with slavery, it became abso- lutely necessary for the General Conference to take some action, and some immediate action in his case, in order to save large portions of the church in the North from dis- affection and secession, and perhaps ruin. In the second place, they believed that they were acting in accordance with the Constitution, as their speeches during the debate show. What could the General Conference of 1844 do, in view of the circumstances, except what it did ? It seems to this writer that they did even more wisely than they knew, in doing what they did. Only if, as good Bishop Morris afterward wrote, " the plan " which the General Conference of 1844 devised and adopted, "had been car- ried out in good faith and Christian feeling on both sides," all the desirable ends of the division into two jurisdictions would have been met, and " it would scarcely have been felt any more than the division of an Annual Conference." As to the power of the General Conference to authorize or provide for the separation of a part of the church, there was a distinct precedent in the action of the General Con- ference of 1820. The operations of the Methodist Episcopal Church and 36 THE iMETnoJ)JSTS, SOUTH. [Chap, il of the missionaries of the British Wesleyan Conference ex- tended over the same territory in the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada. Hence there were frequent colli- sions and much friction. In 1820, on account of many and urgent memorials recei\-ed from the Canadian socie- ties, the General Conference empowered the bishops " to negotiate with tlie British Conference respecting Lower Canada in the way and manner they shall see fit," and, if possible, to send a delegate to England for the purpose. The Rev. John Emory was appointed, and in their letter of official instructions to him the bishops say : We are of opinion that the most effectual means to prevent collisions in future will be to establish a specific line by which our field of labor shall be bounded on one side and the British missionaries on the other. With this view you are at liberty to stipulate that our preachers shall confine their labors in Canada to the Upper Province, provided the British missionaries will confine theirs to the Lower, i Mr. Emory succeeded in effecting this arrangement with the British Conference, and accordingly Bishop McKen- dree addressed to the private and official members in Lower Canada a circular letter, dated October 16, 1820: It has been agreed that our firitisli brethren shall supply the Lo.wcr Provinces and our preachers the Upper. It becomes our duly; therefore, to inform you of this agreement, and to advise you, in tlie most affectionate and earnest manner, to put yourselves and your chapels under the care of our British brethren, as their societies and chapels in the Upper Province will be put under our care. . . . This communication, we confess, is not made without pain. But necessity is laid upon us. It is a peace-offering. For- give, therefore, our seeming to give you up. Accordingh% a committee of three preachers from each connection met at Montreal February 15, 1 821, and fixed the time and manner for delivering up the several charges which were to be relinquished on both sides. Thus the General Conference empowered the bishops 1 Dr. Emory's " Life of Bishop Emory," pp. 93, 94. THE CANADA PRECEDENT OF 1S20. 37 and the bishops empowered Mr. Emory, and Mr. Emory contracted with the British Conference to surrender to that ecclesiastical jurisdiction a portion of the membership of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the contract was faithfully executed. (See Dr. Tigert's " Constitutional History of American Methodism.") This was arranged for and consummated long before the theory of a "compact" between the Methodists of Canada and the Methodist Episcopal Church was invented. That theory was hit upon to obviate a difficulty which oc- curred to the delegates of the General Conference of 1828 ; but in 1820 the difficulty had not been thought of. It did not occur to Bishop McKendree that there was any violation or disregard of the constitution in the action of the General Conference of 1820 in setting off" the charges of Lower Canada and surrendering them to another and a foreign ecclesiastical jurisdiction, though it was done with- out their request, without their consent, without even con- sulting them. Indeed Bishop McKendree was the chief agent in eff'ecting the arrangement. And no man in the history of American Methodism understood the constitution of the church and the powers of the General Conference better than William McKendree, or was more conscien- tiously and consistently jealous than he of any usurpation of the one or infraction of the other. CHAPTER III. THE ORGANIZATION OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, SOUTH. The General Conference had made provision for the separation of the Southern conferences and their erection into a distinct ecclesiastical connection, on condition that those conferences should find a severance of their jurisdic- tional connection with the Methodist Episcopal Church necessary. In order to ascertain the view of the Southern conferences on the necessity of separation, the delegates of those conferences thought it advisable to meet together before leaving New York, and hold a consultation. In order to promote uniformity of action in the premises they submitted to the conferences a plan for procuring the judgment of the church in the slaveholding States as to the necessity of organizing a Southern division of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States, and the best way of effecting such an organization should it be deemed necessary. That plan was to hold a conven- tion at Louisville, Ky., beginning May i, 1845, ^^^^ com- posed of delegates from the Southern conferences in the ratio of one for every eleven members. These confer- ences were to instruct their delegates to the proposed convention on the points on which action was contem- plated, conforming their instructions, as far as possible, to the opinions and wishes of the membership within their several conference bounds. They also issued an address to the ministers and members of the Southern conferences 38 ADDRESS OF THE SOUTHERN DELEGATES. 39 " conveying authentic information of the provisional Plan of Separation, under which relief in a regular way could be obtained from the Northern jurisdiction, if they judged it necessary." They counseled moderation and forbear- ance. They declared that the separation proposed was not schism, as Dr. Elliott also Tiad said in his speech advo- cating the plan. They declared that they " have clung to the cherished unity of the church with a firmness of pur- pose and a force of feeling which nothing but invincible necessity could subdue. If, however, nominal unity must coexist with unceasing strife and alienated feeling, what is likely to be gained by its perpetuation ? Disposed, how- ever, to defer to the judgment of the church, we leave this subject with you. The plan does not decide that division shall take place, but simply provides that it may, if it be found necessary. Of this necessity you are to be the judges after a careful survey and comparison of all the reasons for and against it. Our first and most direct object has been to bring it fully before you, and, giving you an opportunity to judge and determine for your- selves, await your decision." The Kentucky Conference was the first in the Southern division of the church to meet after the adjournment of the General Conference. It convened on September ii, 1844, and adopted, among others, the following resolu- tions, with but one dissenting voice : Resolved, i. That it is the deliberate judgment of this conference that the action of the late General Conference, in the case of Bishop Andrew and of the Rev. F. A. Harding, is not sustained by the Discipline of the church, and that we consider those proceedings as constituting a highly dangerous precedent. 2. That we deeply regret the prospect of division growing out of those proceedings. 3. That we approve the holding a convention of delegates in Louisville next May agreeably to the recommendation of the Southern and South- western delegates in the late General Conference. 40 THE xMETIIODISTS, SOUTH. [Chap. hi. 4. Tliat unless we can be assured tliat tlie riglits of our ministry and membership can be effectually secured according to the Discipline against future aggressions, and reparation be made for past injury, we shall deem the contemplated division unavoidable. 5. That we approve the course of our delegates in the late General Con- ference, and tender them our thanks for their faithful and independent dis- charge of duty in a trying crisis. 6. That we respectfully invite the bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church who may feel disposed to do so, to be in attendance at the contem- plated convention. 7. That we appoint Friday preceding the day for the meeting of the con- vention, as a day of fasting and prayer for the blessing of Almighty God on the said convention. Resolutions to the same effect, and covering the same ground, were passed at the sessions of the Missouri, Hol- ston, Tennessee, Memphis, Mississippi, Arkansas, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Texas, Alabama, and Indian Mission conferences. The resolu- tions passed by some of these conferences concerning the unconditional necessity of separation were much stronger than those of the Kentucky Conference, but in other re- spects they were very similar. Great unanimity prevailed in respect to all the points touched upon in the foregoing resolutions. Indeed, it has been said by one who took part in those proceedings, and who with wide opportu- nities made a study of this whole history, that " those who will take the trouble to read the utterances of these con- ferences will find that the history of the world does not offer a parallel to the unanimity of sentiment, thought, and purpose which they exhibited on a subject of such momentous importance. Their course was taken reluct- antly, sadly, but firmly, and for the glory of God."^ The meeting of the delegates from the Southern con- ferences in convention at Louisville, in May, 1845, was looked to with great and general interest. It is said that 1 Myers' " Disruption of the Methodist Episcopal Church." THE LOUISVILLE CONVENTIOX. 41 hundreds of ministers and members attended the con- vention to witness the progress and result of its delib- erations, and the entire church, North and South, awaited with painful solicitude the final issue. There were between ninety-five and a hundred dele- gates in attendance from the conferences enumerated above. Bishops Soule, Andrew, and Morris were pres- ent, and were requested by the convention to preside in turn, but Bishop Morris declined. Dr. Lovick Pierce was elected temporary president, and opened the convention with a Scripture lesson and hymn, and a " suitable and impressive prayer to the throne of grace." Thomas O. Summers was elected secretary, and Thomas N. Ralston assistant. On the morning of the second day of the con- vention a notable address was delivered by the venerable Bishop Soule. It will be remembered that he was the Senior Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Amer- ica. He was from the extreme North. He had been born and reared in Maine, and was, at the time referred to, a citizen of Ohio. It was he who, at the age of twenty- seven, had drafted the constitution of the church. It was he who, on a former occasion, when the constitution was in peril, more than any other man had saved it ; and it was he who, though a Northern man and never a pro- slavery man, undertook the defense of the constitution in the great controversy that agitated the General Confer- ence of 1844. He said to the convention: I rise on the present occasion under the influence of-feehngs more solemn and impressive than I recollect ever to have experienced before. I am deeply impressed with a conviction of the important results of your deliberations and decisions in relation to that numerous body of Christians and Christian ministers you here represent and to the country at large. When it is recollected that it is not only for yourselves and the present min- istry and membership of the conferences you represent, that you are assem- bled here, but that millions of tlie present race and generations yet unborn 42 THE METHODISTS, SOUTH. [Chap. hi. may be aflfected in their most essential interests by the result of your delib- erations, it will occur to you how important it is that you should do all things as in the immediate presence of God. The opinion which I formed at the close of the late Cieneral Conference, that the proceedings of that body would result in a division of the church, was not induced by the impulse of excitement, but was predicated of principles and facts after the most deliberate and mature consideration. And however deeply I have regretted such result, yet, lielieving it to be inevitable, my efforts have been made, not to prevent it, but rather that it might be attended with the least injury and the greatest amount of good which the case would admit. I was not alone in this opinion. A number of aged and influential ministers entertained the same views, and, indeed, it is not easy to see how any one acquainted with the facts in the case and the relative position of the North and South could arrive at any other conclusion. Nothing has transpired since the close of the General Conference to change the opinion I then formed, but subsequent events have rather confirmed it. In the Southern conferences which I have attended, I do not recollect that there has been a dissenting voice with respect to the necessity of a separate organization, and although their official acts in deciding the important question have been marked with that clearness and decision which should afford satisfaciory evidence that they acted under a solemn conviction of duty to Christ and to the people of their charge, they have been equally distinguished by moderation and candor. For myself, I stand upon the basis of Methodism as contained in the Discipline, and from it I intend never to be removed. On Monday, May 5th, the following resolution was offered by Dr. Wm. A. Smith and Dr. Lovick Pierce : Resolved, by the delegates of the several Annual Conferences in the South- ern and Southwestern States in General Convention assembled : That we cannot sanction the action of the late General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church on the subject of slavery by remaining under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of that body without deep and lasting injury to the interests of the church and the country ; we therefore hereby instruct the committee on organization that, if upon a careful examination of the whole subject they find that there is no reasonable ground to hope that the Northern majority will recede from tlieir position and give some safe guarantee for the future security of our civil and ecclesiastical rights, they report in favor of a separation from the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the said General Conference. After a lengthened discussion of this resolution, extend- ing through nine days, it was, on May 14th, adopted, with one dissenting vote. ORGANIZATION COMPLETED. 43 On Saturday, May 1 7th, the report of the committee on organization was taken up and adopted, as follows : Be it resolved, by the delegates of the several Annual Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the slaveholding States, in General Conven- tion assembled, that it is right, expedient, and necessary to erect the Annual Conferences represented in this convention into a distinct ecclesiastical con- nection, separate from the jurisdiction of the General Conference of the Meth- odist Episcopaf Church as at present constituted ; and accordingly, we, the delegates of said Annual Conferences, acting under the provisional Plan of Separation adopted by the General Conference of 1844, do solemnly declare the jurisdiction hitherto exercised over said Annual Conferences by the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, entirely dissolved ; and that said Annual Conferences shall be and they hereby are constituted a separate ecclesiastical connection under the provisional Plan of Separation aforesaid and based upon the Discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church, comprehending the doctrines and entire moral, ecclesiastical, and economical rules and regulations of said Discipline, except, only, in so far as verbal alterations may be necessary to a distinct organization, and to be known by the style and title of The Methodist Episcopal Church, South. This resolution was adopted by a vote of ninety-four yeas against three nays. They appointed the first Gen- eral Conference to meet on the first day of May, 1846, in the city of Petersburg, Va., and thenceforward in the month of April or May, once in four years, successively. After adopting various other measures appropriate to their circumstances, on May 19th the convention ^'Re- solved, That we devoutly acknowledge the superintending providence of God over this convention, and rejoice in the harmony which has prevailed in all its deliberations and decisions," and adjourned; and the organization of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was completed. In the interval before the General Conference of 1846 the various Annual Conferences, with great unanimity, ap- proved the acts of the Louisville Convention. CHAPTER IV. THE FIRST GENERAL CONFERENCE OF THE METH- ODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, SOUTH, The first General Conference of the Metliodist Episco- pal Church, South, assembled by appointment of the Louis- ville Convention in the Union Street Church in Petersbursf, Va., on the first day of May, 1846. There were eighty- seven delegates, from sixteen Annual Conferences. These men came together in this first general representative assembly of their church with solemn- impressions of the gravity of their responsibility, on the one hand, and on the other, with a steady confidence in God and the rightness of their course, and high hopes for the future. Among them were such men as the venerable Senior Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church in America, Joshua Soule, the venerable Lovick Pierce, John B. McFerrin, H. B. Bascom, William Winans, Robert Paine, A. L. P. Green, Jonathan Stamper, John Early, William Capers, George F. Pierce, William M. Wightman, Jeft'erson Hamilton, Thomas O. Summers, H. H. Kavanaugh, P'ountain E. Pitts. Of these, seven afterward became bishops in the church, and every one of them honored the high position. The conference was called to order by Dr. W'inans, of Mississippi, and John Early was elected temporary chair man ; for, though Bishop Soule was present, he had not yet formally declared his adherence to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. This he did, however, on the 44 BISHOP SOCLE'S COMM UXICATIOX. 45 second day of the conference, In the following formal communication : Petersburg, Va., May 2, 1846. Reverend and Dear Brethren : I consider your body as now organ- ized as the consummation of the organization of the Methodist Episcopal Churcli, South, in conformity to the Plan of Separation adopted by the Gen- eral Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Cliurch in 1844. The organiza- tion of the Metliodist Episcopal Church, South, being thus completed in the organization of the General Conference with a constitutional president, the time has arrived when it is proper for me to announce my position. Sus- taining no relation to one Annual Conference which I did not sustain to every other, and considering the General Conference as the proper judicatory to which my communication should be made, I have declined making this announcement until the present time ; and now, acting with strict regard to the Plan of Separation and under a solemn conviction of duty, I formally declare my adherence to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. And if the conference receive me in my present relation to the church, I am ready to serve them according to the best of my ability. In conclusion, I indulge the joyful assurance that, although separated from our Northern brethren by a distinct conference jurisdiction, we shall never cease to treat them as breth- ren beloved, and cultivate those principles and affections which constitute the essential unity of the Church of Christ. Joshua Soule. From this time. Bishop Soule and Bishop Andrew, who arrived after the opening, presided in turn over the daily- sessions of the conference. The organization of the body was effected, the usual committees were appointed, and soon they were launched upon the current of routine General Conference proceedings. These men were not novices in the conduct of a Methodist General Confer- ence. They were old hands at the business, and among them were some of the ablest and most venerable men of the Methodism of America. At this very first session of the General Conference of the church, her representatives, while recognizing that they had a special call to a peculiar and difficult mission work in their own territory, did not fail to cast their glance abroad and to acknowledge their obligation to give the gospel, as far as in them lay, to 46 TJIE METHODISTS, SOUTH. [CiiAi'. IV, unevangelized peoples beyond the pale of Christendom. They strove to follow in the succession of him who said, " The field is the world," of him who declared himself " debtor to Greeks and to barbarians," and of him who said, " The world is my parish." Accordingly, early in the session they took measures for enterprisinj^ a mission to China. For the furtherance of this and similar objects, they constituted and organized a permanent Board of Missions Educated from of old to know the need and value of church literature, and wishing from the very start to secure independent facilities of their own for furnishing it, they provided for a Book Concern. However, this arrangement gave place to another, better suited to the condition of the church at the time, and this was the ap- pointment of an agent to provide for a supply of books for the church by contracting for such books where they could be obtained on the best terms. He was to cause these books to be kept on hand at Louisville, Richmond, and Charleston, subject to the orders of the itinerant preachers of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. John Early was elected agent. They projected three weekly religious papers, to be published, one in Louisville, one in Richmond, and one in Charleston. They provided for the publication of a Sunday-school journal, and established a " Quarterly Review," of which H. B. Bascom was elected editor. John B. McFerrin was elected editor of the " Nashville Christian Advocate," W. M. Wightman of the " Southern Christian Advocate " at Charleston, with Thomas O. Summers as assistant, and LeRoy M. Lee was elected editor of the " Richmond Christian Advocate." The committee on episcopacy recommended the election of two additional bishops, and the conference concurred. Bishop Soule and Dr. Lovick Pierce led the conference in DI^. CAPEKS AXD DR. PAINE BISHOPS. 47 prayer for the divine direction in the selection of their superintendents ; and it is not too much to say that the event justified their confidence in the divine guidance. On the second ballot William Capers, of South Carolina, and Robert Paine, of Tennessee, were elected bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The former of these, it will be remembered, was elected by the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1828, as their representative to the British Conference, and had discharged his delicate duties with such acceptability and grace as to elicit from that distinguished body resolutions of thanks to the church for sending him, and to himself " for the great ability. Christian spirit, and brotherly kind- ness with which he had discharged the duties of his honor- able mission." In 1840 he had been elected one of the general missionary secretaries of the Methodist Episcopal Church. But a distinction, higher and nobler than any of these, was the fact that in 1829, after having served long and faithfully as a preacher to and pastor of thousands of slaves in connection with his white congregations, he es- tablished missions to the plantation slaves, and was him- self appointed superintendent of these missions. At the time of his death there were, as the product of this move- ment, inaugurated by him, twenty-six mission stations in South Carolina alone, on which were employed thirty-two preachers, and the number of church-members at these stations was 11,546. Dr. Robert Paine was, at the General Conference of 1844, chairman of the general committee on episcopacy, and chairman, as well, of the famous committee of nine who drew up the Plan of Separation. He had been at the time of his election as bishop for sixteen years and still was president of LaGrange College in Alabama. These two tried and honored men, then, were the first choice of 48 'I'llE METHODISTS, SOUTH. \}Z\\k\\ IV. the Southern Church for the high and responsible office of general superintendent. They were consecrated at noon on Thursday, May 14th, in the Washington Street Church. It will not be amiss to quote a short extract from a letter written by Bishop Capers to his wife on that day : To-tlay I feci tliat we are all on the altar together. And oh! have I not felt that the altar sanctifieth the gift? I have only to cast all my care on God, all my multiform unworthiness on his divine goodness and condescen- sion in Christ, and go on. I have so reverenced the office and work of a bishop, and the bishops themselves, that that very thing embarrasses me. I cannot feel myself a bishop, but, thank God! I feel what is better — an abid- ing sense of being accepted of him in an humble and sincere devotion of myself without stint to his service. The General Conference of 1846 made no essential change in the original Discipline. In fact, they declare that the changes made by them were fewer in number and les.5 important .than those of any General Conference since 1792. On the subject of slavery the section and rule were left unchanged ; only a paragraph was added explaining that the section was understood by the M. E. Church, South, in the sense of the declarations made by the General Conferences of 1836 and 1840. The interests of the slave population received special attention. The report of the committee on missions adopted by the con- ference has these words : " The duty of giving the gospel to the slave population is binding on all according to their ability, and it is binding on all, as they are severally able, wdth the same force of indispensable obligation." This report occupies three pages of the conference journal.-^ Three new conferences, in arldition to the original six- teen, were constituted by the General Conference of 1846 — the Louisville, the St. Louis, and the Louisiana. It was ordered that three commissioners be appointed, 1 See " Journal of the General Conference of 1846," pp. 65-67. J FRATERNAL DELEGATE TO M. E. CHURCH. 49 in accordance with the Plan of Separation, to act in con- cert with commissioners appointed for the Methodist Epis- copal Church " concerning our interest in the Book Con- cern." These commissioners were H. B. Bascom, A. L. P. Green, and S. A. Latta. And " should no settlement be effected before 1848, said commissioners were to have authority to attend the General Conference of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church, to settle and adjust all questions involving property or funds which may be pending be- tween the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. "^ Though the Southern conferences had thus consum- mated their separation from the Methodist Episcopal Church, as provided for in 1844, yet, as they had all along declared, they entertained feelings of the most cordial good-will and brotherly kindness toward their brethren of the Northern conferences, and they neither forgot nor neglected to give practical expression to those feelings in their official capacity as a General Conference. Accordingly, on Saturday, May 23d, it was by a rising and unanimous vote Resolved, That Dr. Lovick Pierce be and is hereby delegated to visit the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church to be held in Pitts- burg May, 1848, to tender to that body the Christian regards and fraternal salutations of the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The statistics for the year 1 846 are as follows : Traveling preachers I)SI9 Local preachers 2,833 White members 327,284 Colored members 124,961 Indian members 2,972 Total 459.569 1 " Journal of the General Conference of 1846," p. 97. 50 THE METHODISTS, SOUTH. [Chai'. iv. St. Louis was selected as the place for the meeting of the General Conference of 1850. "The benediction was solemnly pronounced by the venerable senior superintend- ent, Bishop Soule," and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was launched upon its providential and useful career. CHAPTER V. OPPOSITION AND FRICTION. While among the Southern conferences there was a practical unanimity of sentiment and action in favor of the Louisville Convention and in indorsement of its work, it was not so in the North. Though the Plan of Separa- tion had been adopted by an overwhelming majority of the General Conference of 1844, there carrte afterward a reaction, and some of the men who voted for it and who advocated it, drew back from it when they realized that there was a probability of its being carried into effect. Even before the meeting of the Louisville Convention measures were taken to counteract its influence and fore- stall its probable conclusion. • In particular, the editors of the two leading papers of the Methodist Episcopal Church, one of whom had moved the adoption of the plan and then advocated it in a strong speech, labored to impress the public mind unfavorably with regard to the conven- tion. In the South, however, the question was considered as finally settled, and the general desire was to cultivate peace with the Northern portion of the church. This feeling was reciprocated on the part of many in the North, and expressed by some of the church papers. The editors of the two leading church papers, however, after the convention, became more pronounced and vigor- ous in their opposition than before, claiming and holding that the Southern organization was a secession if not a schism of the worst sort, that the Louisville Convention 51 52 rilE METIIODISTS, SOUTJI. [Chap. v. was not held in accordance with the Plan of Separation, that the plan itself was unconstitutional and void. The venerable Bishop Soule was attacked and charged with being the prime agent in the whole movement. This im- plication and accusation of him in the leading papers led to such a complication and embarrassment in regard to the holding of conferences that it was thought best, in July, 1845, to call a meeting of the bishops to determine what should be done. Bishops Hedding, Waugh, Morris, and Janes were present. It was decided that it would be best for them to form a new plan of episcopal visitation, not including the Southern conferences. In addition to this, they adopted the following resolution governing their own administration : Resolved, That the plan reported by a select committee of nine at the last General Conference, and adopted by that body, in regard to a distinct ecclesi- astical connection, should such a course be found necessary by the Annual Conferences in the slaveholding States, is regarded by us as of binding olili- gation in the premises, so far as our own administration is concerned. Edmund S. Janes, Secretary. When this wise, conservative, and just action of the bishops became known, it had a decided influence in quieting matters and in settling the public mind. These sound and conservative views were ably seconded by men of the highest standing in the Northern Connec- tion. Dr. Bangs and Dr. Olin contended that the faith and honor of the church were deeply concerned in carry- ing out the Plan of Separation, and thereby greatly en- deared themselves to the lovers of peace, both North and South. The church papers, too, with the exceptions men- tioned, sanctioned the action of the bishops and took the same honorable ground.^ Bishop Morris had occasion, on being invited by a 1 " History of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South," ji. 238. BISHOP MORRIS'S IE ITER. 53 minority of the Missouri Conference to take charge of them and preside over them in a conference capacity, to write a letter in which he expounds at greater length his views of the Plan of Separation and its operation. The letter is dated Burlington, la., September 8, 1845. He closes with these words : In the meantime there is much more bad feeling indulged in respecting the separation than there is any necessity for. If the Plan of Separation had been carried out in good faith and Christian feeling on both sides, it would scarcely have been felt any more than the division of an Annual Conference. It need not destroy confidence or embarrass the work, if the business be managed in the spirit of Christ. I trust the time is not far distant when the brethren, North and South, will cease their hostilities and betake themselves to their prayers and other appropriate duties in earnest. Then, and not till then, may we expect the Lord to bless us as in former days. Thos. a. Morris. The conciliatory action of the bishops, however, and the wise and pacific words of Bishop Morris did not put an end to the reaction which was going on in the North. The Annual Conferences, though giving a numerical majority for the change of the Sixth Restrictive Rule, did not give the requisite three-fourths vote, and the rule was not changed. The numbers are as follows : For changing the rule in the Northern conferences 1,164 In the Southern conferences 971 Total 2, 135 Against changing the rule 1,070 This, of course, was irritating to the South. The South did and said things that were irritating to the North. The attempts to adjust the difficulties of the border conferences developed a great deal of friction and ill feeling. It was charged that there were infractions of the plan on both sides, and perhaps it was true. It was a time of political agitation, excitement, and animosity preceding and fol- lowing the annexation of Texas, as a slave State, to the 54 ^'^^^' METHODISTS, SOUTH. [CnAi-. V. United States. The culminating point was reached when the General Conference of the M. E. Church in Pittsburg in 1848, by a very large majority, declared the Plan of Separation null and void. This General Conference also refused to receive Dr. Lovick Pierce in his official relation as fraternal delegate from the M. E. Church, South, though extending to him " all personal courtesies." Their action was as follows: Whereas there are serious questions and difficulties existing between the M. E. Church and the M. E. Church, South, Resolved, That while we tender to Rev. Dr. Pierce all personal courtesies and invite him to attend our sessions, the General Conference does not con- sider it proper, at present, to enter into fraternal relations with the M. E. Church, South. The commissioners of the Southern Church, appointed to confer with the authorities of the M. E. Church con- cerning the adjustment of all matters pertaining to the division of the church property and funds, were present at the General Conference of 1848, and reported them- selves ready for negotiations. The conference replied that they had no authority independently of the Annual Conference to enter into arbitration with the commis- sioners of the M. E. Church, South, in relation to the claims set up by them to a division of the vested funds of the M. E. Church. As to the rejection of the fraternal delegate of the M. E. Church, South, at Pittsburg, in 1848, it may be said that the General Conference at Brooklyn in 1872 practically reversed that by their action in appointing fraternal del- egates to the Southern General Conference at Louis\-ille in 1874. Before leaving the city of Pittsburg in 1848, the rejected Southern delegate sent a communication to the General Conference of the M. E. Church, saying: The M. E. Church, South, can never renew the offer of fraternal relations between the two great Ijodies of Wesleyan Methodists in the United States ; LATER ACTION OF M. E. CHURCH. 55 but the proposition can be renewed at any time, either now or hereafter, by the M. E. Church, and if ever made upon the basis of the Pla)i of Separation as adopted by the General Conference of 1844, the Church, South, will cor- dially entertain the proposition. This action of their delegate was approved by the Gen- eral Conference of the Southern Church in 1850 in an ex- plicit and emphatic resolution. The General Conference of the M. E. Church in May, 1872, after various preliminary communications and ne- gotiations, appointed a delegation of two distinguished ministers and one distinguished layman to convey their " fraternal greetings to the General Conference of the M. E. Church, South," to convene in May, 1874, and they were " received with pleasure." It may be said that the Methodist Episcopal Church implicitly nullified their nullification of the Plan of Sepa- ration by sending fraternal delegates after the declaration contained in the final communication of the rejected South- ern delegate in 1848, as well as by the declarations of the Cape May Commission in August, 1876. As has been said, the General Conference of the M. E. Church in 1848 replied to the Commissioners of the South- ern Church that they had no power to authorize or nego- tiate a division of the property with the Southern Church, without the concurrent vote of the Annual Conferences. This the Annual Conferences had refused to give. The General Conference proposed, however, to submit once more to the Annual Conferences a recommendation to change the Sixth Restrictive Rule so as to allow the claim of the Southern Church to be submitted to arbitration. The commissioners of the Southern Church saw no reason to believe that the same Annual Conferences that had once refused to change the Restrictive Rule in their favor, would do so now. Indeed, it was practically certain that, if zvith 56 THE METHODISTS, SOUTH. [CiiAi'. v. the vote of the Southern Conferences, as in the former case,' the resulting vote was against changing the Re- strictive Rule, it would be much more so zvitJiout them. Believing in the justice of their claim, and, still more, desir- ing a judicial and moral vindication, they entered suit in 1849, in the United States Circuit Courts of New York and Ohio, for the recovery of their pro rata portion of the property in the cities of New York and Cincinnati. It is a sad history, but history it is. 1 See p. 53. i CHAPTER VI. SECOND GENERAL CONFERENCE OF THE M. E. CHURCH, SOUTH. The second General Conference of the M. E. Church, South, was held in the year 1850, in Centenary Church, in the city of St. Louis. It had been a stormy quadren- nium. The church had, nevertheless, passed throutrh it without suffering serious damage or discouragement. To be sure, it was a matter of unceasing regret that they had not been able to live on terms of Christian and fraternal communion with the other portion of the great M. E. Church of which they had once been a part. They labored under the double disadvantage of separation from the fellowship of their former brethren and proscription by them, and of exclusion from participation in the mate- rial resources which through half a century and more their united efforts, gifts, and sacrifices had gathered together. But they had not labored altogether in vain. There had been an increase of 48,236 white and 10,633 colored mem- bers. They had now a total membership of over half a million, or, in exact figures, 520,256 ; an increase of 60,685 during the quadrennium. The address of the bishops calls attention to the state and needs of the church, to the trials and tribulations of the past four years, and to the work already accomplished, as well as to the expanding opportunities and increasing responsibilities of the church for the time to come. In 1848, two missionaries had been appointed and sent 57 58 THE METHODISTS, SOUTH. [Chap. vi. out by the bishops to China — Rev. Benjamin Jenkins and Rev. Charles Taylor, M.D., both of the South Carolina Conference. They had begun their work in the great city of Shanghai. They had purchased a lot and erected missionary residences and a church in that city, and were preaching the gospel. The work of the church among the Indians had been annually enlarging in extent and increasing in interest. The number of Indian members had increased from 2972 in 1846 to 3487 in 1850. The missions to the slave population of the Southern plantations continued, in a very eminent degree, to share the sympathies of the church and the blessing of God. The Southern Church recognized this as their special mission. To it they felt themselves especially called, and they felt and confessed that " woe would be to the church, if they neglected it." As the result of their eflforts among this " servile progeny of Ham," they had added nearly 11,000 of them to the roll of the sons of God. In 1848, California was ceded to the United States, and soon afterward followed the discovery of gold in that dis- tant and unknown territory. The excitement produced throughout the country by this event was intense, and thousands of people from all quarters flocked thither to find their fortune in that favored land. It was filling up with a rapidity perhaps unequaled in the history of the world. The bishops of the Southern Church, feeling that they shared in the responsibility of leavening this mass of humanity with the gospel, and urged by Southern emi- grants to California, judged it their " duty to send mis- sionaries to unfurl their banner in that distant and inter- esting portion of the great republic." Accordingly, they appointed Rev. Dr. Boring and Rev. A. M. Wynn, of THE PROPERTY QUESTION. 59 Georgia, and Rev. W. D. Pollock, of St. Louis, as mission- aries to California. They sailed for San Francisco by way of Panama in February, 1850, well supplied with standard Methodist literature, Sunday-school publications, and copies of the Bible, furnished by the American Bible Society. "Their progress exceeded their own expectations." Cir- cuits were formed and members enrolled and classed, and though, in the absence of pastors, much of the work pro- jected fell through, by and by " the church moved up to this sudden demand, and California was supplied with preachers as well as gold-diggers." The commissioners, appointed to negotiate with the authorities of the M. E. Church concerning the division of the property, reported to the General Conference of 1850 the action of the General Conference of the M. E. Church at Pittsburg in the premises, and their own subse- quent application to the civil courts for the adjustment of the claim, and were instructed to prosecute the claim until the final decision of the Supreme Court of the United States was rendered in the suits then pending. In the suit brought in New York the case was argued by D. Lord and Reverdy Johnson for the claimants, and by the able and distinguished Rufus Choate, G. Wood, and E. L. P'ancher, afterward a Cape May commissioner, for the defendants. The opinion of the court was delivered on November ii, 1851, and was in favor of the claimants on every material point. The suit in Ohio to recover their interest in the property at Cincinnati, was decided ad- versely to the Church, South, in July, 1852. The text of this decision is quoted in full in Curtiss's " Manual of Methodist Episcopal Church History," pp. 201, 202. The commissioners of the Church, South, appealed from the decision of the Court in Ohio to the Supreme Court of the United States, and the judgment of the Ohio Court 6o 'f-lJE METHODISTS, SOUTJI. \Q\\.\\\ vi. was reversed by the unanimous decision of the highest tribunal in the land, in April, 1854. The journals of the General Conferences of 1844, 1846, 1848, and of the Louisville Convention of 1845 were before the court. The Discipline figured largely before C:esar, and great lawyers, prompted by Bangs and Peck on the one side, and by Smith and Green on the other, made themselves minutely acquainted with the genius and details of Episcopal Methodist government. They had a patient hearing before a bench renowned in juris- prudence and accustomed to construe contracts. 1 Henry B. Bascom was elected bishop at the General Conference of 1850, and David S. Doggett was elected editor of the " Quarterly Review." It was upon the occa- sion of his own ordination that he deli\'ercd his memorable sermon on " Glorying in the Cross " (Gal. vi. 14). He lived, however, to hold only one Annual Conference, the St. Louis, at Independence, Mo., July, 1850. He died in September of the same year, at Louisville, Ky. The career of Henry B. Bascom as preacher, educator, and author was brilliant ; and as bishop, brief. The son of poor parents, his heritage was toil and privation. His school advantages ended in his twelfth year, and he was making pumps for a living at fifteen. At the age of seventeen he was admitted into the traveling connection in Ohio. Hard circuits were his portion and probation for a long time, yet no pulpit orator in his day had an equal fame. He preached at the General Conference of 1840, and one who was present describes the sermon thus : " He preached in the Light Street Church to as dense a throng as could crowd into the spacious building, while the adjoining street was filled with people who could not find entrance. His text was, ' Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.' The sermon embraced all the cardinal elements of the Christian system, set forth in a light so vivid, under illustrations so magnificent, and with a vehemence so rushing and pauseless, as to hold the vast audience spellbound. At particular passages, several of which we distinctly remember, the effect was awful. The sen- tences came like the sharp zigzag lightning; the tones of the preacher's voice were like articulate thunder. The hearer cowered under the weight of thought piled on thought, and was driven almost beside himself by the rapid whirl of dazzling imagery. The audience was bewildered by the quick suc- cession of vivid pictures thrown off as by the turn of a grand kaleidoscope. "2 1 McTyeire's " History," p. 648. 2 Dr. W. M. Wightman, in " Southern Christian Advocate." BISHOP BASCOM. 6 1 But it was a popular error that his superiority lay in speaking only. His ecclesiastical state papers are of the very first rank. He wrote the Protest in the General Conference of 1844, and he wrote other papers which are models of mental grasp and perspicuity and force. His devotion to his father in sickness and poverty was beautiful. He cut and hauled wood from the forest for the use of the household, and, to make himself a wakeful nurse, he slept on a bench with a block of wood for his pillow. After holding the St. Louis Conference he returned to St. Louis and preached on Sunday, greatly exhausting himself, and soon after, he died, with this testimony: " All my trust and confidence is in Almighty Goodness as revealed in the cross of Christ." l 1 McTyeire's " History." CHAPTER VII. THE THIRD AND FOURTH GENERAL CONFERENCES OF THE M. E. CHURCH, SOUTH. The third General Conference of the M. E. Church, South, was held at Columbus, Ga., in May, 1854. There were one hundred and nineteen delegates in attendance, and among them we notice for the first time the names of some who were afterward to become distinguished in the history of the church : E. M. Marvin, H. N. McTyeire, and John C. Keener, as bishops, and Dr. E. E. Wiley, as the president of Emory and Henry College. Among the delegates we note also for the second time the name of Charles F. Deems, who afterward, in 1866, became the distinguished pastor of the Church of the Strangers in New York City, and so remained until his death. Notwithstanding the unfortunate litigation of the period and the sorrowful and bitter newspaper controversies that attended it, the rank and file of the ministry and membership of the church had given themselves to their proper work, and the blessing of the Lord of the vineyard had attended their efforts. There was a very considerable and, in view of the state of the church and country, a very gratifying increase in the membership. The follow- ing figures will show the comparative membership of 1850 and 1854: Traveling Local White Colored Indian Total preachers, preachers. members. members. members. 1850.... 1, 700 3,955 375.520 135.594 3.487 520,256 1854.. ..2,092 4,359 428,501 164,584 3,757 603,303 The total increase of tlie quadrcnnium was 83,047. 63 THE PUBLISHING HOUSE. 63 The commissioners who were charged with the property question between the Northern and Southern churches, reported at the conference of 1854, that the suits had been decided in favor of the M. E. Church, South. The church was now in a position to estabhsh a pubHshing- house of its own, which accordingly was done by the Gen- eral Conference of 1854. Louisville, Memphis, Atlanta, St. Louis, Richmond, and Columbus were voted for on the first three or four ballots, but on the sixth ballot Nashville received 60 out of 117 votes, and was selected, while Louisville received 57. This establishment was for the purpose of manufacturing and publishing books, and was to be under the control of two agents and a book com- mittee. The object of the institution was to advance the cause of Christianity by disseminating religious knowledge and useful literary and scientific information in cheap books, tracts, and periodicals. The agents were authorized to in- vest as much as $75,000 in grounds, house, and fixtures. Rev. Edward Stevenson and Rev. F. A. Owen were elected the first agents of the house. The membership in the State of Arkansas had increased so as to justify a new conference, which was provided for by the General Conference of 1854. It was organized by Bishop Kavanaugh at Washington, Ark., in November of the same year. The Kansas Mission Conference was also provided for by the General Conference of 1854, and was to include Kansas Territory and part of the Territory of New Mexico. It will be remembered that a few months after his eleva- tion to the episcopacy, Bishop Bascom had died. Bishop Soule was now seventy- three years of age, and in very feeble health. Bishop Andrew and Bishop Capers, coming from the previous century, were also men well advanced in years, and worn with long, laborious, and exhausting 64 'I'^^^ METHODISTS, SOUTH. [Chai'. vii. toil. Tlie remaining superintendent, Bishop Paine, was in the prime of a robust and vigorous manhood, but he needed rehef and assistance in the widening range of episcopal re- sponsibility and duty. It was decided to strengthen the episcopacy by the addition of three bishops. The choice of the conference fell on George F. Pierce, of Georgia, John Early, of Virginia, and Hubbard H. Kavanaugh, of Ken- tucky. And they were ordained in the Methodist Church in Columbus, Ga., on Wednesday, May 24, 1854. The General Conference of 1858 was opened on the first day of May, in the hall of the House of Representa- tives, in the capitol, at Nashville, Tenn. The publishing- house, which was projected by the General Conference of 1854 and located at Nashville, had been completed and was in operation. This fact determined the future rank and destiny of Nashville as the ecclesiastical center of Southern Methodism. It was right and proper that the General Conference should now convene in the city which their choice had selected as the base of their supplies and the headquarters of their ecclesiastical operations. Ac- cordingly, toward the end of April, 1858, from all quarters of the South, by steamboat and railroad and stage-coach, the delegates came up to the great quadrennial represent- ative convocation. There were present one hundred and fifty-one duly accredited members — only twenty-nine less than the full number of delegates at the last and largest General Conference of the undivided church in 1844, and twenty-one more than were present at the preceding and next largest General Conference of the undivided church in 1840. Six of the seven bishops who signed the journal of the Conference of 1854 were present: Joshua Soule, J. O. Andrew, R. Paine, G. F. Pierce, John Early, H. H. Kava- naugh. The saintly Capers, after a life of singular purity, MISSIONARY ENTERPRISES. 65 fidelity, and usefulness, had finished his course with Joy, had laid his armor by, and had gone to join the general assembly and church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven ; and his name, disappearing from the rolls and journals of the church on earth, was written with theirs on high. The memory of his self-sacrificing devotion to the good of men, poor an4 rich, black and white, is like ointment poured forth through all the South- ern church and land. The address of the bishops reminds the assembled rep- resentatives of the church that " the work of God has greatly prospered and enlarged within our bounds. God has done great things for us and by us. The retrospect of the last four years is full of instruction and encourage- ment ; and yet how much more might have been accom- plished had we been faithful to the grace of God received, and zealous in diffusing that grace abroad." While the usual and due prominence was given to the missionary work among the slaves of the Southern planta- tions, which the address of the bishops declares to be " the crowning glory of our church," the attention of the church was called to the outlying regions, and measures were adopted to extend its operations in as many ways and directions as possible. The General Conference at this session provided for the organization of the Rio Grande Mission Conference, and recommended to the bishops the establishment of a mission in Central America at the ear- liest practicable day, and by resolution requested the bishops and the board of missions, in the event of provi- dential indications, " to proceed at once to organize a mission at such a point in Africa as they shall judge most expedient." And yet, while laying their plans for more extended and efficient missionary operations among the slaves of 66 THE METHODISTS, SOUTH. [Chai-. vii. the South and for founding a mission among the benighted blacks Where Afric's sunny fountains Roll down their golden sands, thus manifesting a pecuHar and special interest in this race, whom at least they knew better than others, this General Confereifce adopted a measure which at first sight will seem utterly enigmatical and contradictory. On May 19th, after a good deal of discussion, a resolution was adopted, by a majority of a hundred and forty-one to seven, to the effect that the rule on the subject of slavery be expunged from the general rules of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South ; and the bishops were instructed to lay the resolution before the Annual Conferences for their concurrent action. Those who passed this measure may give their own reasons for it : The Southern Church has avowed as their settled belief and sentiment that slavery is not a suljject of ecclesiastical legislation. It is not the province of the church to deal with civil institutions in her legislative capacity. This is our position. The primary single object of this action is to conform the Discipline to that profession. In the Twenty-third Article of Religion in our Book of Discipline we recognize the Constitution and Government of the United States, and obedience to them as a religious duty, and jiledge ourselves, in our very profession of faith, to fidelity to the country and her authority. We claim to be loyal citizens. We have only set ourselves right on the question that has so long troubled the church. The legislation in reference to it was contradictory and absurd. While denouncing slavery as an evil and pledging the church to its extirpation, it provided by statute for its allowance and perpetuation. W^e have surrendered to Ciesar the things that are Cnesar's, and, holding ourselves to be debtors to the wise and the unwise, the bond and the free, we can now preach Christ alike to the master and the servant, cecure in the confidence and affection of the one and the other. The benign spirit of our holy religion not only demands that masters should render to their servants that which is just and equal as to food, rai- ment, and shelter, but that religious instruction should be provided alike for servants as for children. The gospel is God's gift to the l^lack man as well as to the white, and Christian masters should see to it that all their depend- ents are regularly supplied with the preaching of the Word and all the privi- leges of the Church of God. The salvation of the colored race in our midst, BISHOP PAINE' S "LIFE OF McKENDREE." 67 as far as human instrumentality can secure it, is the primary duty of the Southern Church. Let us earnestly seek to meet our responsibilities, and then, whatever evil thing may be said of us, we shall have the testimony of a good conscience and the blessing of Him who is judge of all.i It does seem that this action deserves at least the credit of consistency. The only consistent alternative was to refuse to receive slaveholders into the church at aU, and to exclude those that were already in. If the Methodist Church had adopted this rule in the beginning, all the con- flict and strife on this subject might have been avoided, though it may be questioned whether its influence and work and usefulness would have been as extensive. Indeed, it is practically certain that, in that case, the Metnodist Church would have had very little success in the South. At the General Conference of 1858 Bishop Paine re- ported that the manuscript of his " Life and Times of Bishop McKendree " was ready for publication. The church now has this memorable production in enduring form. And though Bishop McKendree w^s second only to Asbury in his influence on American Methodism, North and South, if indeed he was second to him, yet as he was a son of the South it was fitting that a son of the South should write his biography. The book is worthy of its sub- ject ; and it is declared by those competent to judge, to be, incidentally, the best extant history of the origin and growth of the constitution of American Episcopal Methodism. Much attention was given to the new publishing-house by the General Conference of 1858, and that man of re- sources, tact, and uncommon sense, John B. McFerrin, was put at its head as agent for the next quadrennium, with R. Abbey as financial secretary. The report of the committee on education was an in- teresting document. It contained an exhaustive list of the 1 "Journal of the General Conference of 1858," pp. 461, 584. 68 THE METHODISTS, SOUTH. [Chap. vii. colleges and schools under the patronage of the church. As long ago as 1858 a charter was obtained from the legislature of Tennessee for the Central University of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. This university, howe\er, never came into existence. In two short years after this the country was filled with rumors of war, and the best laid plans of the Southern Methodist Church for establishing missions in Central America and in Africa and for founding a great university came to naught. The growth of the church for the preceding four years is shown by the following figures: Traveling Local White Colored Indian ry ^ i preachers, preachers. members. members. members. 1854... .2,092 4,359 428,511 164,584 3,757 603,303 1858.... 2,577 4,984 499.694 188,036 3,874 699,165 showing :. total increase of 95,862. The next tabulation will show a suggestive and sor- rowful decrease. Thomas O. •Summers was elected editor of the " Quar- terly Review." L. D. Huston was elected editor of " The Home Circle." H. N. McTyeire was elected editor of the " Nashville Christian Advocate " in the place of J. B. McFerrin ; and the career of O. P. Fitzgerald as an editor began at the General Conference of 1858. He was elected editor of the " Pacific Methodist " by " a rising and unani- mous vote." E. W. Sehon was elected missionary secretary. New Orleans was selected as the place for the meeting of the General Conference of 1862. Little did the dele- gates dream of the events and changes that were to take place in the interval — that the whole country would be convulsed with civil war, and that in the very month before they were to meet in New Orleans that city would be occupied by an invading, hostile army. CHAPTER VIII. SOME GLIMPSES OF THE WAR PERIOD. The statistical returns for the year i860 show that up to the outbreak of the war the Southern Church kept on the even tenor of its way, extending its operations and in- creasing its membership from all classes of its population, whites, blacks, and Indians. In that year she had en- rolled 537,136 white members, an increase of 37,442 over the year 1858; 207,776 colored members, an increase of 19,740 over the year 1858; and 4160 Indian members, an increase of 286 over 1858. The total membership of the church in i860 was over three quarters of a million, or, in exact figures, 757,205, a total increase of 56,040 in the two preceding years. All the interests of the church were in a flourishing condition. The Publishing House, under the efficient management of John B. McFerrin, had developed a large business, and continued to prosper up to the time when the Federal army entered Nashville in 1862. It was then taken by the military and used for a United States print- ing-office and other purposes. Much of the stock and material was used up, and the machinery greatly damaged. In the matter of education, the statistics show that up to the beginning of the war the Southern Church had multiplied, with commendable zeal, her schools and colleges for both sexes over the vast extent of her territory, from ocean to ocean and from the Ohio to the Gulf, in whose halls her youth were regularly receiving the benefits of scholastic training, entering and returning in perpetual 69 70 THE METHODISTS, SOUTH. [Ciiai'. viii. succession. In 1858 she had in successful operation 106 schools and colleges. But during the war, professors, teachers, and students were withdrawn from the seats of learning, their halls were vacated, schools were deserted, text- books and apparatus were abandoned, college endowments were swept away, patrons were impoverished. Hundreds of schools as well as churches were burned or dismantled by use as hospitals, warehouses, or stables. The ghastly devastations left in the track of invading armies, the horrors of two thousand battles,^ the portentous rumors and the agonizing anxieties that are incident to war — these were the portion of the South through four long and sorrowful years. And yet in the midst of these scenes and these sorrows the preach- ers of the Southern Methodist Church, as a rule, continued faithful to their holy calling and their heaven-appointed work. They filled their appointments much as of old. They preached, they exhorted, they prayed, they held protracted meetings, they attended, with some exceptions, their Annual Conferences. And during those trying years gracious revivals of religion among the people attested how the divine presence was still in their midst.- Not among the people only, but in many places among the sol- diers of the Lost Cause, the gospel was faithfully preached, and the Lord confirmed it with signs following. The writer will be excused for introducing here some perhaps lengthy extracts from the war diary of a chaplain in the Confederate army. They are interesting, as well for the vivid pictures of war times and war scenes drawn by an eye-witness, as for the account of the remarkable work of grace among the soldiers, which they contain. And that chaplain was John B. McFerrin. 1 Official reports of Surgeon-General Barnes give 2II0. 2 " Journal of the General Conference of 1866," pp. 16, flf. REVIVALS IX THE ARMY. 7 1 When the Federal army occupied Middle Tennessee in 1S62, I took my family south of the lines and stopped at Corners ville, Tenn., leaving house and furniture in the hands of others. A little later I went to Atlanta, Ga., to meet the bishops and the Board of Missions. While there I was cut off from my family. It was a sad and sorrowful day. I was in Georgia, my wife and children away from their home in Tennessee. We were ignorant of each other's whereabouts or condition. General Bragg's raid into Ken- tucky drew the Federal army out of Middle Tennessee, and I returned to Cornersville, where the Tennessee Conference was to be held on the 15th of October, 1862. No bishop being present, I was elected president of the conference, and conducted the business to the end. The attendance was tolerably full, though some of the brethren were too far north to reach the place. At a meeting of the bishops and Missionary Board, April, 1863, at Macon, Ga. , it was determined to send missionaries to the Confederate army. I was appointed in charge of all the Methodist missionary work in the Army of the Tennessee. I entered immediately on my work in the army, and as fast as I could, I engaged as many preachers as I thought the Missionary Society could sustain. I began my work in Shelbyville. I was hailed with pleasure by the officers and soldiers. For some time I remained about Shelbyville and the adjoining neighborhoods, preaching day and night. A great work of grace had commenced in many of the commands, and the chap- lains and preachers in the neighborhood were actively engaged in the precious revival that was springing up in almost every direction. On May 17, 1863, 10 A.M., I preached in the Presbyterian Church: house crowded with officers and soldiers ; serious attention. At three o'clock, I preached in Bates' bri- gade : a very good time ; revival in the brigade. j\Iay 19th, I preached in B. Johnson's brigade : thirty to forty mourners ; glorious work in this com- mand. May 20th, I preached in General Polk's brigade : many mourners ; several conversions. May 21st, I preached in General Wood's brigade: forty to fifty mourners : fifteen or twenty conversions. May 22d, I spoke in Gen- eral Riddle's brigade : a great work here ; already more than one hundred con- versions in this command. So the work went on. But in June I was taken sick, and remained unfit for work till August, when I joined the army again at Chattanooga, and on August 14th preached in General Wright's brigade. There were five conversions that night, among them a captain. From this till September 19th I was constantly engaged in preaching, visiting, and holding prayer-meetings in various parts of the army, and many precious souls were converted during this revival. On September 19th and 20th the great battle was fought at Chickamauga, fifteen miles from Chattanooga. The slaughter was tremendous on both sides, but the Confederates held the field. I remained on the battlefield eleven days, nursing the sick, ministering to the wounded, and praying for the dying. The sight was awful. Thou- sands of men killed and wounded. They lay thick all around, shot in every possible manner, and the wounded dying every day. Among the wounded were many Federal soldiers. To these I ministered, prayed with them, and 72 THE METHODISTS, SOUTIL [Chap. viii. wrote letters by flag of truce to their friends in the North. They seemed to appreciate every act of kindness. The Federals occupied Chattanooga, and for weeks the two armies were in full view of each other. All along the foot of Missionary Ridge we preached almost every night to crowded assemblies, and many precious souls were brought to God. After the battle of Missionary Ridge the Confederate army retreated and went into winter quarters at Dalton, Ga. During these many months the chaplains and missionaries were at work — ]ireaching, visit- ing tlie sick, and distributing Bibles, tracts, and religious newspapers. There was preaching in Dalton every night but four, for four months ; and in the camps all around the city preaching and prayer-meetings occurred every night. The soldiers erected stands, improvised seats, and even built log churches, where they worshiped God in spirit and in truth. The result was that thousands were happily converted and were prepared for the future that awaited them. Officers and men alike were brought under religious influence. In all my life, perhaps, I never witnessed more displays of God's power in the awakening and conversion of sinners than in these protracted meetings during the winter and spring of 1863-64. The preachers of the various denominations were alike zealous ; our army ministerial associations were pleasant, and at our meetings we had precious seasons of joy and rejoicing while recounting the victories of the cross. In May, 1864, I left the army and went to Montgomery, Ala., to meet the bishops and the Board of Mis- sions. All resolved to maintain the work of religion in the army. Hearing that the armies had commenced hostilities near Dalton, I left on the first train for the place of conflict, and resumed my work among the soldiers. At Atlanta a gentleman gave me a bolt of blue linen. I had a suit made of it for the warm weather. It was pleasant, but attracted much attention. When General Johnston evacuated Atlanta, he was relieved of his command and General Hood made chief commander. He at once resolved to march into Middle Tennessee, and so cut off the supplies of the Federal army in Georgia. During all this marching and fighting we kept up religious ser- vices wherever it was possible to collect the men together. From May to September the army was in motion, and I might say every foot of ground was contested. Thousands were slain in battle or died of sickness. I visited the hospitals, and preached, -with the missionaries and chaplains, wherever it was possilile to do so. At Tuscumbia and Florence for two weeks we had re- freshing seasons. Large congregations assembled in the churches and in camp, many souls were converted, and Christians were made to rejoice. This seemed a preparation for the disasters that followed. The army moved on to Franklin, Tenn., where occurred the most bloody battle of the war in proportion to the numbers engaged. The fight liegan late in the afternoon of November 30th, and continued till a late hour in the night. The slaughter was terrible on both sides. The Federals were strongly fortified, and the Confederates fought in an open field. They charged the breastworks several times, and hundreds were shot down while the muzzles of their muskets rested ''THE ARMY CHURCH'' OF BISHOP MARVIN. 73 on the head-logs of the fortifications. By sunrise next morning I was passing through the heaps of slain soldiers, having spent the night at the field-hos- pital. Such a scene I never before looked upon. I had witnessed more extensive battles, but here the dead lay in heaps. The sight was sickenilig, heart-rending, horrible, awful. Never before had I been so fully impressed with the cruelty of war, notwithstanding I had witnessed many bloody fights. On the 7th of December my wife ran the blockade and met me at the house of her cousin, near Nashville. It was a joyful meeting, after a separation of fourteen long months. I asked for the children, but could not see them. When I told my wife where I had been, what I had done, what good meet- ings we had had, how I waited on the sick and ministered to the well, she rose to her feet and said, "Husband, stay with them to the last!" On December 15th and i6th the battle around Nashville was fought. Hood's ranks were broken, and he retreated toward Franklin. The ground had been covered with snow and ice for several days. Then came a heavy rain ; the snow and ice were melting, and the poor soldiers — many of them barefooted, or nearly so — moved back with bleeding feet and aching hearts. They had expected, when they left Georgia, to regain their homes and see their friends ; but now it was all over, and their spirits sank within them. Again I turned my back on home, and with downcast spirits accompanied the retreating army, in the rain, in the snow, over swollen streams and roads almost impassable. During this retreat I preached whenever practicable, especially at Columbus, Miss., and Augusta, Ga., where I was engaged in visiting the hospitals also. . . . After the surrender of Lee and Johnston I returned to Nashville, reaching there late at night, May 20, 1865. My house had been burned, and my family and myself went- to her brother's and began life anew. Horses gone, cattle gone, fences gone, timber gone, money gone, servants gone — the out- look was unpromising. Nothing daunted, however, we went to work to make a living. October came. The Tennessee Conference, which had not convened for two years, met in Nashville, at Tulip Street, and the bishop read me out as Book Agent. 1 The work of another of these army chaplains is worthy a place in these pages. He was connected with the army that operated in Arkansas and the West. The work done by him and under his direction is one of the Hghts that relieve the dark picture of the horrors of war. " Under the faithful ministry of gospel truth by him and other faithful chaplains and missionaries," says one who was 1 Fitzgerald's " Life of McFerrin," pp. 269, ff. 74 THE MEriJODISTS, SOUTH. [Chap. viii. upon the field, " very extensive revivals of religion oc- curred in the army, especially during the winter encamp- ment in Arkansas, 1863-64. At Little Rock, Camden, Camp Bragg, and Three Creeks, revivals continued for months. I kept an estimate for two years of the number of conversions, and in the two years they amounted to more than two thousand." Says another, who was asso- ciated in the work : • The writer [Rev. Horace Jewell] was a chaplain in one of the Arkansas regiments, and was intimately associated with Brother Marvin in his labors for the spiritual welfare of the soldiers. I suppose that some of the finest efforts of his life were sermons preached to the soldiers in the camps. I have no doubt that he was instrumental in the conversion of hundreds. Not only was he successful in his personal ministry, but he was able to inaugu- rate measures that assisted others in working for the cause of Christ. He directed their labors and energies to successful results. For the ends of as- sociation and organization he called together a meeting of chaplains and other ministers, representing Methodists, Baptists, and Presbyterians, and organized a regular Army Church. The vast amount of good accomplished by it can only be fully known in eternity. The following is a copy of the plan of organization : Articles of Faith. The Christian men of the army, believing that the habitation of God by his Spirit constitutes the church, agree, for their edification and for the conver- sion of their fellowmen, to organize the Church of the Army, with the fol- lowing Articles of Faith and Constitution : Article I. We believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God, the only rule of faith and obedience. Art. II. We believe in one God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, the same in substance, equal in power and glory. Art. III. W^e believe in the fall in Adam, the redemption by Christ, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost. Art. IV. We believe in justification by faith alone, and therefore receive and rest upon Christ alone as our only hope. Art. V. We believe in the communion of saints and the doctrine of eternal rewards and punishments. Constitution. The Christian men who have been baptized, adopting these "Articles of Faith " in each regiment, shall constitute one church, who shall choose ten THE SITUATION AT THE CLOSE OE THE IVAR. 75 officers to take the spiritual oversight of the same. Of the officers so selected, the chaplain, or one selected by themselves, shall act as moderator. The officers will meet once a month, or oftener, if necessary, and in the exercise of discipline will be governed by the teachings of Christ. They will keep a record of the names of the members, and the manner in which their connec- tion with the church is dissolved. One of the associated chaplains has this to say, long after the war: Soon after the organization of these army churches in the various regiments, we were visited by a gracious revival, in which hundreds were converted and gathered into these army churches. My position as a presiding elder on two large districts since the war has given me large opportunity to compare the results of the work in this organization. My conviction is that a much larger percent, of the converts in these army churches have remained faithful than is usual in our ordinary revival meetings, i^ Dr. B. T. Kavanaugh, writing of the results of this work among the soldiers, says : After the close of the war, when the men were discharged and had returned home, I was traveling through Texas, and put up for the night at the house of a Christian widow lady. I was telling her of our Army Church and of its happy influence on our soldiers, when she replied with a smile and said, " Yes, sir; I have heard of it before, greatly to my delight; for I had two sons in the army, and they have both returned to me converted. Christian men." I have met with others who dated their Christian experience back to their service in the army. These are examples — exceptional examples, it is true — of the work done by Southern Methodist preachers among the soldiers during the war. On April 9, 1865, General Lee surrendered to General Grant at Appomattox in Virginia; on April 26th Gen- eral Johnston surrendered to General Sherman at Greens- boro, N. C. The South was conquered and the war was ended. The soldiers of the Northern armies returned to homes of comfort and a land of comparative plenty amid the rejoicings of millions. It was otherwise in the South. 1 Finney's " Life of Bishop Marvin," pp. 378, 379. 'je THE METHODISTS, SOUTH. [Chap. vin. Everywhere were desolation and destitution, and, for a moment, the pall of despair. Homes and houses had been destroyed. Plantations and farms had been laid waste. Fences had been burned. The live stock had been used up by the Confederates or confiscated by the Federals, and those were considered fortunate who had, at the close of the war, a solitary mule, an abandoned army horse, or a single milk cow. Mills were destroyed. Implements of industry were gone. Provisions and clothing had been exhausted, and large districts were on the verge of famine. Soldiers returned to their homes to find them in ruins and their loved ones in want. Women received back, with tears of rejoicing, husbands and brothers, fathers and sons, but they received them barefooted and in rags. Added to their difficulties and destitution were the exactions and oppressions of the rapacious adventurers, who, as agents of reconstruction, came down on the South like wolves on the fold. The Southern people had lost their cause, for which let us unceasingly thank God ; and they had lost their all. But they had not lost heart or hope or manhood or self- respect or courage, for which also let us thank God. After a breathing-spell they arose to meet the problems of their new situation, and to undertake the task of recuperation with a calmness, a courage, and a good-will which have been the admiration of the world. The Southern Methodist Church shared all the disasters of the scene of war, and all the difficulties and embarrass- ments of the situation at its close. When in 1865 she called her rolls, though the church still lived many of her sons were dead or missing. She had suflfered a threefold decimation in those terrible years from '61 to '65. Her ministers, as already noted, continued, straight on through the war, to preach the gospel to the people at home and f THE GENERAL CONFERENCE OF 1866. J 'J the soldiers on the field, to the whites and to the blacks, to the poor and to the — poorer ; but the regular opera- tions of the church machinery were much interfered with. The Annual Conferences, as a rule, were held, but with diminished numbers, and often without the presence of a bishop. When the time approached for the General Conference of 1862, appointed to meet in New Orleans, though dele- gates had been elected by all the Annual Conferences, yet it was thought impracticable to attempt the holding of a General Conference at that time and place. Contrary to the expectations and calculations of the General Conference of 1858, Admiral Farragut and General Butler had antic- ipated them in the occupancy of New Orleans, in April, 1862; and it was not entirely certain that General Butler would hospitably receive the General Conference or facili- tate its proceedings. It therefore lapsed. In August, 1865, after a short season for review and reflection, the bishops of the church held a meeting in Columbus, Ga., and issued a " Pastoral Address to the Preachers and Members of the Church." They reviewed the past few years and the present situation. It was like the blast of a trumpet, and gave no uncertain sound : " The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, still lived, and in all its polity and principles was unchanged. Neither disintegration nor absorption was for a moment to be thought of, all rumors to the contrary notwithstanding. Whatever banner had fallen or been furled, that of Southern Methodism was still unfurled; whatever cause had been lost, that of Southern Methodism survived." The Annual Conferences were instructed to elect dele- gates to the session of the General Conference to be held in New Orleans in 1866, according to adjournment eight years before. In the meeting of the Annual Conferences of the fall of 1865, "the peeled and scattered hosts, dis- 78 THE METHODISTS, SOUTH. [Chai-. VIII. couraged and confused by adversities and adverse rumors, rallied ; and never did delegates meet in General Confer- ence from center and remotest posts more enthusiastically. Of one hundred and fifty-three delegates elect, one hun- dred and forty-nine were present. "i 1 McTyeire, " History of Methodism." CHAPTER IX. THE GENERAL COXFERENXE OF 1 866. The first session of the General Conference after the close of the war was held in the Carondelet Street Church in New Orleans, in April, 1866. It was, next to that of 1846, the most important and memorable in the history of the church. Five of the six bishops were present — Andrew, Paine, Pierce, Early, and Kavanaugh. Bishop Soule was too feeble to be in attendance. Thomas O. Summers was elected secretary. On the third day of the session a delegation from the Baltimore Conference appeared, asking admission into the M. E. Church, South. At the time of the separation in 1845, this conference had adhered to the Methodist Epis- copal Church. In 1861 they withdrew from that jurisdic- tion, and maintained an independent existence until their session at Alexandria in March, 1866, when they formally adhered to the M. E. Church, South, and delegates, six in number, were elected to the General Conference in New Orleans. Notwithstanding this accession, the statistics show a large and suggestive decrease in membership. In i860 the general minutes showed a grand total of 757,205 members; in 1866 it had fallen to 51 1,161, showing a loss of 246,044. In the South, as in the North, as President Lincoln said, "The Methodist Church sent more soldiers to the field, more nurses to the hospitals, and more prayers to heaven' than any other ;" and the great decrease in the 79 8o THE ME'inODlSTS, SOUTH. [Chap. ix. membership of both churches bears suggestive witness that the Methodists did not stay at home and take care of themselves. On the fourth day of the session, when the General Conference had gotten under full headway, there was a very pleasant interruption of the proceedings. The sec- retary announced that he had received a telegraphic dis- patch from the New York East Conference of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church, then in session in Brooklyn. It was as follows : Whereas the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, is now in session in the city of New Orleans ; therefore. Resolved, That we, the New York East Conference of the Methodist Episco- pal Church, hereby present to that venerable representative body our Chris- tian salutations, and cordially invite them, together with us, to make next Sabbath, April 8, 1866, a day of special prayer, both in private and in the public congregations, for the peace and unity of our common country and for the full restoration of Christian sympathy and love between the churches, especially between the different branches of Methodism in this nation; That the secretary be instructed to transmit h-^ telegraph a copy of this resolution to the secretary of the General Conference of the Methodist Epis- copal Church, South, at New Orleans. This communication was received with great interest, and the General Conference, by a standing vote, adopted a resolution instructing the secretary to express by tele- graph to the New York East Conference their cordial re- ciprocation of these Christian salutations and their cordial agreement to unite with that conference on Sunday, April 8th, " in special and solemn prayer, in private and in the public congregations, for the very desirable objects speci- fied in their fraternal message."^ Numerous changes, some of them important, were made in the economy of the church by the General Conference of 1 866. Says one of those who took a prominent part : " Men's minds had become used to great changes, and the 1 " Journal of the General Conference of 1866," p. 26. IMPORTANT CHANGES. 8 1 session at New Orleans was therefore favorable for meas- ures upon which the usual conservatism might have hesi- tated long in ordinary times. "^ Attendance upon class-meeting, which up to this time was obligatory, was made voluntary, and so put upon the same ground as attendance upon the other means of grace. The General Conference did not, by any means, intend, in this action, to abolish the class-meeting; but eventually, and to the great regret of many, bishops, preachers, and people, it resulted in a practical abolition of this time- honored institution, though it still lingers in some places, and love-feasts are regularly held in connection with quar- terly meetings. The rule imposing a probation of six months on candi- dates for membership was set aside. It was supposed that " admission to the church would be guarded with reasonable and conscientious care." It is to be feared, however, that this is not in all cases true, and that there is practically insufficient detention of candidates for ascer- taining their spiritual condition or obtaining substantial as- surances of their religious experience or the genuineness of their purpose of consecration and obedience. In some conferences, however, there are exceptions, and the door of admission into the church is carefully and jealously guarded, as it ought to be in all. The pastoral term was, not without much discussion and opposition, extended from two to four years. District conferences were discussed and recommended, but not formally adopted and authoritatively imposed till the General Conference of 1870. Among the most important measures of the General Conference of 1866 was the adoption of lay representation in the General and the Annual Conferences. The experiment had been made 1 McTyeire, " History of Methodism," 82 THE METHODISTS, SOUTH. [Chap. ix. and the example set by the Methodist Protestant Church, which indeed was organized on the basis of lay represen- tation as long before as 1830. A sentiment, says Bishop McTyeire, in favor of lay delegation had been growing for years in the Southern Methodist Church. At least two tentative schemes had preceded the legislative action of 1866, one in the Virginia Conference and one in the Louisiana Conference. The law, as adopted in 1866, pro- vided for four lay delegates for each presiding elder's district in the Annual Conferences, while in the General Conference, the law-making body, the number of lay del- egates was made equal to the clerical. So ripe was public opinion, so propitious the times, and so well digested was the scheme, that this great change was introduced without heat or par- tisanship. Unstintedly, on their own motion, the ministry, who had held this power from the beginning, divided it equally with lay brethren, and a new power was developed, a new interest awakened, and a new progress begun. Bishop Soule, now eighty- five years old, in age and feebleness extreme, and Bishops Andrew and Early, ad- vanced in years, and worn with incessant travel and ex- cessive toil, were, at their own reluctant request, retired from active service and four new bishops were elected : W. M. Wightman, Enoch M. Marvin, David S. Doggett, and Holland N. McTyeire. Dr. Wightman had been a -member of the General Conferences of 1840 and 1844, prior to the division of the church, and of every General Conference of the Southern Church after the division. From 1840 to 1854 he was editor of the "Southern Christian Advocate." From 1854 to 1859 he was presi- dent of WofTord College in South Carolina, and after 1859 chancellor of the Southern University at Greensboro, Ala., till his election as bishop. He was the author of the " Life of Bishop William Capers," and a contributor to the "Life of Dr. Olin," edited by Mrs. Olin. He was a man SKETCH OF BISHOP MARVIN. 83 of fine ability and of superior scholarship. His sermons showed most careful preparation, were delivered with great deliberation and precision, and often rose into eloquence. Brother Marvin, as those who knew him preferred to call him, came from the common people, retained always the simplicity and ruggedness of the common people, and was always a favorite with the common people. He was born in a log cabin, and when seventeen years old, in a log cabin he was born again. But he zvas born again. Nobody that knew him ever doubted that. College train- ing he had none, but he had the old-time religion and much native mental vigor. What of him was not God- made was self-made. When he went up to join confer- ence at Jefferson City, in his native State of Missouri in 1842, his homeliness of person, his awkwardness of man- ner, and his homespun, misfit clothing marked him as a country curiosity. In these respects he was not unlike the homely-faced, awkward-mannered, ill-clad rail-splitter of Kentucky, who afterward became President of the United States. But he could preach. He had it in him to rise. And he rose. In 1854 he was a delegate to the General Conference. In 1855 he was pastor of a metro- politan church in St. Louis. In 1863 he was superintend- ent of chaplains in the army, with what results we have already seen. In 1866 he was elected bishop on the first ballot. His elevation from the pastorate to the episco- pate had no visible effect on the childlike simplicity of his character, the humility of his spirit, or the intense direct- ness of his preaching. It did not remove him from the people. He still preached at camp-meetings, held pro- tracted services for his brethren, and still saw sinners powerfully convicted and gloriously converted under his preaching, as when he was a country boy-preacher in old Missouri. In spontaneous, fiery outbursts of natural elo- 84 THE METHODISTS, SOUTH. [Chap. ix. quence, he has perhaps not had his equal in the Southern Church. In 1876 he made an episcopal visit to the China mission, and in 1877, on his way back to the West by the way of the East, he attended the British Wesleyan Con- ference as fraternal delegate of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. He was the author of several books, the best known of which is perhaps his book of travels, " To the East by the Way of the West." His smaller and earlier work entitled " The Work of Christ " is vigorous and thought-provoking. A short time after his death a contribution of one dollar was asked from each namesake of the beloved and lamented bishop for a mission school, and over seventeen hundred dollars were sent in. Dr. Doggett was professor in Randolph-Macon College from 1842 to 1845. From 1850 to 1858 he was editor of the " Quarterly Review " of the church. At the time of his election to the episcopacy he was pastor of Cente- nary Church in Richmond, Va. He was a polished and dignified Virginia gentleman, a broad and versatile scholar, and a devout and earnest Christian. His sermons were models of homiletical architecture ; his thought was mascu- line, and his style Ciceronian in its transparent clearness, its dignified simplicity, its fine antithesis, its swelling vol- ume, and its periodic compactness. When the unction was upon him, as it often was, his eloquence was next to irresistible. But the one of the four new bishops who exerted the widest influence and became most widely known was H. N. McTyeire. He had been a pastor and an editor. At the time of his election he was pastor in Montgomery, Ala, Says one who knew him familiarly and for years : lie was a pure man and an able preacher, a great bishop, and a wise, firm, impartial presiding officer, an ecclesiastical statesman, and the calm philo- sophical historian of Methodism. ... In him joyous and sympathetic com- SKETCH OF BISHOP AIcTYEIRE. 85 munion with nature, with God, and his fellowman produced a thoroughly healthy spirit, which, free from abnormal and fantastic thinking, from false and sickly sentiment, from bookishness and pedantry, poured forth a strong limpid stream, which, through its whole course, refreshed and invigorated the Church of God, in which he was ordained a bishop. His sermons were always marked by great solemnity, relieved, however, by the genial play of humor, which bubbled up on the surface of some great theme as naturally as a spring bursts from the bosom of the earth. Not so leonine as Soule, . . . nor so overwhelming as Bascom, nor so mellifluous as Pierce, nor so ornate as Doggett, nor so rapturous as Kavanaugh, he yet possessed in singularly harmonious proportions the elements of a really great preacher. Much of his early preaching was to the negroes, of whom, for many years, he had pastoral charge. . . . His intense concern for the race knew no abatement with the increase of episcopal and university responsibilities. Strong in mind and body; bold to take up and firm to sustain the burden of duty; large in his sympathies and generous in his impulses ; sprung from the people, loving them and loved by them ; tenacious of his convictions and purposes ; blessed with a rare simplicity of motive which was never confused by the enticements of the world or corrupted by the deceitfulness of riches ; unswerving in his loyalty to Methodism — this man faithfully served the church of his love in his youth and early manhood, through the burden and heat of middle life; and as his sun crossed the meridian and began its descent of the western skies, he laid down his finished task at his Master's feet.l The Missionary Society of the church was found to be $60,200 in debt, and the Publishing House was practi- cally in ruins. The General Conference of 1866 "patched up these two wrecks and sent them forth to sink or swim. There was no capital and but little credit, no supply but much demand." Dr. A. H. Redford, of Kentucky, was elected Agent of the Publishing House, with no books to sell, no facilities for making books, and no suitable place for keeping them when made. In the face of the ruin of their promising educational institutions, the General Conference of 1866 calmly set about the task of repairing it as far and as fast as possible. " We must," they say in their address to the church, " meet the emergency with an unfaltering purpose, and rise with determined might to the difficult yet hopeful task 1 Tigert's " Fraternal Address," 1892, p. 30. 86 THE METHODISTS, SOUTH. [Chap. ix. which Hes before us." They even undertook to make provision for some new features in their educational work. They recommended and insisted upon the estabHshment of a BibHcal Institute for the proper and special training of young preachers. And still further: realizing the changed conditions and their new relations and responsi- bilities to the colored people, and reasserting their claim to be the friend of this race — a claim vindicated by continuous and successful exertions made in their behalf in instructing and evangelizing them — by formal resolution they recom- mended to their people the establishment of day-schools for the education of colored children, and this notwith- standing their poverty and notwithstanding heavy burdens of their own. The bishops were authorized to form pre- siding elders' districts of colored charges, to appoint col- ored presiding elders, and to organize Annual Conferences of colored preachers. However, out of 207,776 colored members in i860 there now remained in the Southern Church only 48,742. The others had joined the two African churches, which up to this time had operated mainly in the North, or had gone to the Methodist Episcopal Church, whose repre- sentatives were everywhere to be found throughout the South. Five new conferences were authorized by the General Conference of 1866: the South Georgia, the Columbia, the Northwest Texas, the Illinois, and the North Texas, all of which were organized the same or the following year. The large attendance of delegates at the General Con- ference of 1866, the hopefulness and enthusiasm of its members, their earnest grapple with the problems before them, and their generous measures for the extension and the enlarged efficiency and usefulness of the church, chal- RENEWED ENTHUSIASM. 87 lenged and revived the confidence of the people, and sounded the keynote of the quadrennium for renewed activity and lofty endeavor. Preachers and people every- where responded, and once more, after a long, dark period of decimation, demoralization, and depression, the church went forward on her mission of evangelizing the masses within her borders, and providing, as much as in her lay, for the extension of her work into outlying lands. The difficulties and embarrassments of her changed con- dition, misrepresentation and opposition from without and defections from within — all these were not enough to de- stroy her courage or to check her enthusiasm. On the contrary, they seemed to invigorate her spirit and stimu- late her activities to an unwonted degree. Th6 itinerant went forth again on his gracious errands, old circuit lines were restored and extended, new and larger churches were builded, parsonages were multiplied, schools and colleges were reopened, and the whole machinery of church work was in motion everywhere. The Lord seconded these efforts with his blessing, and in all places the tokens of his gracious presence attested that he had not forsaken his ancient heritage. Once more the decimated rolls of the church began to fill up, and there was a steady increase throughout the quadrennium. In 1866 the number of members had fallen to a little over half a million. In 1870 it had risen again to nearly six hundred thousand. Within less than a year after the General "Conference of 1866 the church was called to lament the death of their venerable and venerated Senior Superintendent, Bishop, Joshua Soule. He was the last and a worthy member of the great episcopal triumvirate of American Methodism — Asbury, McKendree, Soule. CHAPTER X. THE GENERAL CONFERENCE OF 187O. The succeeding General Conference, held at Memphis in May, 1870, is noteworthy for several reasons. It was the first in which laymen participated as delegates. Indeed, with the exception of the Methodist Protestant Church, it was the first General Conference of the kind in the annals x>i Methodism. Of lay delegates there were one hundred and six, and of clerical, one hundred and twenty. The experiment proved eminently successful and satisfactory to all parties, even the most conservative and doubtful. The venerable Bishop Paine, in his address on the last day of the conference, said : " The inauguration of the system of lay delegation has worked admirably, confirming our conviction that the laity can aid greatly in managing the great interests of the church; and I hope our lay brethren will return home with the impression that they are not only welcome, but that they are felt to be an important element in our deliberations." While this important measure, inaugurated in the South- ern Church and under the leadership of her prominent men, showed their wise foresight and indicated courage to pioneer a forward movement, another measure, by them planned and adopted at this session, demonstrated that they were men who had a thorough acquaintance with the past constitutional history of Methodism, a profound knowledge of the necessity, nature, and ends of constitu- tional law, and of constitutional safeguards for the preven- THE VETO POWER OF THE BISHOPS. 89 tion of hasty action or ill-advised legislation involving fundamental matters. In other words, while they had the courage to inaugurate wise forward movements with- out waiting for others to make the experiment or set the example, they had the wise caution and conservatism to set constitutional barriers and bulwarks against the possi- bility of lawless action or reckless legislation. The Gen- eral Conference of 1808, which enacted the constitution, had left it defective in one important respect : it provided no way of determining whether an action or measure of the General Conference is or is not constitutional, is or is not contrary to the Restrictive Rules. The question was raised as far back as 1820. A resolution was passed making presiding elders elective by the Annual Confer- ences. Bishop McKendree expressed his decided convic- tion that this was a violation of the Third Restrictive Rule, and unconstitutional. Mr. Soule, who had been elected bishop, declined to be ordained and resigned the office, holding the same views as Bishop McKendree.^ The offensive resolution was suspended till the next General Conference, and a resolu- tion was passed recommending to the Annual Conferences so to alter the Discipline that if a majority of the bishops judged a measure unconstitutional they should return it to the General Conference in three days, with their objec- tions, and a majority of two thirds should then be required for its final passage. This resolution, however, was not concurred in by the Annual Conferences. The same fate, says Bishop McTyeire, met a similar effort four years later. He goes on to say : " This want of a constitutional test must be supplied sooner or later, — by the civil if not by the church courts." Joshua Soule had said in 1824, with equal truth and emphasis: "The General Conference 1 " Journal of the General Conference of 1820," pp. 236, 237. 90 rilE METHODISTS, SOUTH. [Chap. x. is not the proper judge of the constitutionality of its own acts. If the General Conference be the sole judge of such questions, then there are no bounds to its power." And it has been forcibly said by another : " Should the General Conference at any time exceed its constitutional powers, the Annual Conferences have no protection and no re- dress ; the bishops can only submit or resign ; the church itself, should the guaranteed rights of the membership be invaded, has no remedy save that of revolution." An effort was made at the General Conference of the Southern Church in 1854 to remedy this defect of the con- stitution, and to add to the constitution, as a part of itself, a constitutional test of the constitutionality of the acts of the General Conference. But the paragraph making pro- vision for a veto power of the bishops was only passed by a majority vote of the General Conference, and was never submitted to the Annual Conferences, which omission ren- dered the proviso itself unconstitutional and void. For that reason it was stricken out of the Discipline by the General Conference of 1870.^ At the same time, and by the same General Conference, this defect in the constitu- tion was supplied. The following amendment to the con- stitution was made in the regular constitutional way — that is, by a General Conference majority of two thirds, con- firmed by a three-fourths vote of the Annual Conferences ; in this case, by a General Conference majority of 160 yeas to 4 nays, and a concurrent vote of the Annual Confer- ences of 2024 yeas to 9 nays : Prcn'ided, That when any rule or regulation is adopted by the General Con- ference which in the opinion of the bi.shop.s is unconstitutional, the bishops may present to the conference which passed such rule or regulation their ob- jections thereto, with their reasons in writing; and then if the General Con- ference shall by a two-thirds vote adiiere to its action on said rule or regula- 1 " Journal of the General Conference of 1870," pp. 287, 331. THE COLORED M. E. CHURCH. 91 tion, it shall take the course prescribed for altering a Restrictive Rule ; and if thus passed upon affirmatively, the bishops shall announce that such rule or regulation takes effect from that time. Viewed from the standpoint of its organic connectional- ism, this jealous care of the constitution is the distinguish- ing peculiarity of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and one of its crowning glories. The General Conference of 1866 directed that, if the colored membership desired it, the bishops, if and when their godly judgment approved, should organize them into an independent ecclesiastical body. In the interval be- tween 1866 and 1870 the bishops formed several Annual Conferences composed of colored preachers. That experi- ment proved satisfactory. The colored preachers, as the bishops declare, showed diligence as well as fidelity. A very general and earnest desire was expressed by the colored preachers and members for an independent church organization. They declared that they believed it would be best for both white and colored people to have separate churches and schools, and that it would promote the peace and prosperity of both the white and the colored churches. The preachers of the colored conferences re- quested the General Conference of 1870 to appoint a com- mission of five to confer with delegates of their own, with a view to the consummation of an independent organiza- tion.^ This was accordingly done, and the colored con- ferences, eight in number, were erected into a distinct ecclesiastical organization in December, 1870. Bishop Paine and Bishop McTyeire presided at the conventional General Conference at Jackson, Tenn., and ordained two bishops of their own election, W. H. Miles and R. H. Vanderhorst, a wise and friendly solution of the vexed question of colored bishops. 1 See article by Bishop Holsey in " Independent," March 5, 1891, 92 THE METHODISTS, SOUTH. [Chap. x. The name of their church, chosen by themselves, was "The Colored Methodist Episcopal Church." All the churches and church property held by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, for the use of their colored membership, were turned over to the properly constituted authorities of the new church. The total value of this church property is estimated at $1,000,000.^ Moreover, the members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, have, in many cases, given them church-lots and helped them to build houses for religious worship. A school for the education of the teachers and preachers of this col- ored church was founded some years ago by Southern Methodists at Augusta, Ga., one man giving $25,000; and this school is regularly supported by assessments laid upon all the Annual Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South; while they contribute regularly also to the support of the Normal and Theological Institute of the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church at Jackson, Tenn. One peculiarity of the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church is that " it stands aloof from politics."- One rule of their Discipline is that their church-houses shall not be used for political speeches and meetings. " While exercis- ing their rights as citizens, they endeavor to keep their re- ligious assemblies free from that complication with political parties which has been so damaging to the spiritual inter- ests of the colored people." They have over 3000 churches, over 1200 traveling preachers, 2500 local preachers, about 140,000 members, and 22 Annual Conferences, presided over by 4 bishops. At the General Conference of 1870, the two mission boards, foreign and domestic, were consolidated, and Dr. John B, McFerrin was made secretary of the new board. 1 Rev. Dr. R. A. Young tells me it was $1,500,000. 2 See the article of Bishop Holsey cited above. DR. BLEDSOE AND THE ''SOUTHERN REVIEW.'' 93 Under his able and efficient management, in less than two years the old debt was liquidated, and the church was re- lieved of a heavy burden which for years had weighed her down and impeded her missionary movements.^ The expansion of the work of the church in the home field and its extension into outlying territory called for new conferences, and six were provided for in the General Conference of 1870. These were organized in the same or the following year: the North Alabama, the Los An- geles, the Southwest Missouri, the North Mississippi, the White River, and the Western. John C. Keener was elected bishop, and still survives as the Senior Bishop of the church. Thomas O. Summers was elected editor of the " Nashville Christian Advocate." A proposition was made to the General Conference by its editor, the distinguished Dr. A. T. Bledsoe, a local preacher, to adopt the " Southern Review " ; and it was accepted on certain express conditions, one of which was the elimination of all party politics and the substitution of a theological de- partment.- Dr. Bledsoe accepted the conditions, and the " Review," which through several years was conducted with an ability that placed it in the very front rank of similar periodicals, became the " Quarterly Review of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church, South." "There are not a few," says Dr. W. F. Tillett, " who regard it as the ablest period- ical of its kind that has ever been published in this coun- try, and Dr. Bledsoe will always be known as one of the strongest intellects, clearest thinkers, and ablest writers that this country has ever produced."^ The bishops issued a pastoral address at the opening of this General Conference, and, by special request of the 1 " Journal of the General Conference of 1870," pp. 328, 329. 2 Ibid., pp. 323, 324. 3 " Southern Methodist Quarterly Review," July, 1893. 94 ^'-^^ METHODISTS, SOUTH. [Ciiai\ x. conference, another near its close, on the particular sub- ject of " Worldly Amusements." While the whole of their pastoral address is an earnest, thoughtful, and weighty document, one paragraph is especially interesting at the present time, as it shows what were the views and con- x'ictions of the chief pastors of the church concerning the Methodist doctrine and experience of perfect love. They say. In inimecHate connection with the spiritual welfare of the church, the great and only effectual remedy for most, if not all, our deficiencies as a church people, is an increase of inward genuine Scriptural holiness. We fear that the doctrine of perfect love which casts out fear and purifies the heart and is the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, as taught in the Bible, and explained and enforced in our standards as a distinct and practicable attainment, is too much overlooked and neglected. This was a paramount theme in the discourses of our fathers, and alike in their private conversa- tions as in their public ministrations, they urged religious people to go on to this perfection of sanctifying love. The revivals which followed their minis- try were not superficial or ephemeral. Their genuineness and power were proved by tlie holy lives and triumphant deaths of the converts. If we would be like them in power and usefulness, we must resemljle them in holy conse- cration. Nothing is so much needed at the present time throughout all these lands, as a general and powerful revival of Scriptural holiness. (Signed) J. O. Andrew, W. M. Wightman, R. Paine, E. M. Marvin, G. F. Pierce, D. S. Doggett, H. H. Kavanaugh, H. N. McTyeire.i Nothing could be more explicit or emphatic than their utterances on the subject of worldly amusements. They say : Nothing less than a genuine godliness in the power of its regenerating in- fluence can meet the necessities of the case. So powerful are tlie fascinations of pleasure, so abounding is iniquity, in high places and in low, that the love of many has waxed cold. Young persons in good society who may desire to be religious are especially open to danger from the tone of surrounding fashionable society and from the plausil)ilities of the worldly spirit. But there can be no compromise here. Tliere can be no inward experience of 1 "Journal of the Gener.al Conference of 1870," p. 164. ADDRESS OX WORLDL Y AMUSEMENTS. 95 grace, no valid religion of the heart, which is not preceded by a full, unre- served, irrevocable commitment to the Lord Jesus. This commitment in- volves self-denial, taking up the cross and following Christ. A religion of mere culture, of amiabilities and esthetic tastes, of sentimentj opinion, and ceremony, may readily allo\\- participation in dancing and revelry, in theatri- cal and operatic and circus exhibitions, and in the gambling operations of the turf. But the religion which is a divine life in the soul of Christ's true dis- ciple heeds the voice of conscience and feels the powers of the world to come. It confers the dignity of holiness, the strength of self-denial, the glad freedom of a spirit rejoicing in the right and good. Such a religion needs not, desires not, allows not participation in worldly pleasures, in diversions which, how- ever sanctioned by fashion, are felt and known to be wrong by every truly awakened heart. Its spiritual discernment is not deceived by well-dressed plausibilities, by refinements in taste, by respectabilities in social position. It has put on the Lord Jesus, and made no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof. In conclusion, we beg to suggest that the pastors of the Methodist Epis- copal Church, South, give heed to these things in the administration of dis- cipline. The Book of Discipline provides not only against crimes and gross immoralities, but there is a process laid down for cases of " imprudent con- duct " as well as for indulging sinful tempers and words. We are persuaded that where that process is faithfully, firmly, but kindly followed, these grow- ing evils will be arrested. Wise words of wise men, to which the church and minis- try would do well to take heed in these days and always. These utterances met with a hearty reception and response upon the part of the ministers composing the General Conference, and gave the watchword to the militant hosts of the church for the ensuing quadrennial period. In general, the spiritual tone and quality of a religious move- ment or body does not rise above that of its accepted and recognized leaders. The words of the bishops in their pastoral addresses struck a high spiritual tone, and invited the ministry and the church to strive after high and worthy levels of Christian experience and living. The following years were marked by general and generous revivals of religion. There was a large ingathering of souls. By the time of the next quadrennial convocation there was an increase of 126,299 members, the largest the church had 96 THE METHODISTS, SOUTH. [Chap. x. ever yet known within the same period. And this, not- withstanding it had rehnquished not less than 60,000 of its members for the establishment of the Colored Meth- odist Church in the latter part of 1870, as already related. But after the surrender of these 60,000 there was at the roll-call of the church in 1874 a grand total of 712,717 members. Two new conferences were provided for to meet the exigencies of the advancing work — the German Mission Conference in Texas and the Denver in the West. In 1 87 1 Bishop Andrew died, at the age of seventy- seven. He was to the last a great and good man. His last words were : " God bless you all ! Victory ! victory ! " In 1873 Bishop Early died, at Lynchburg, Va. Though in the earlier part of his episcopal career he had given some cause of dissatisfaction on account of his peremptory manner and arbitrary rulings, and was seriously complained of at the General Conference of 1858, after that time he discharged the delicate duties of that eminent office with acceptability, and became greatly beloved in the church for his Christian virtues and his long and varied service. " He gave the days of the years of his youth and matur- ity to the active service of the church, and then, amid the infirmities of old age, illustrated the grace of God by pa- tient submission and the triumph of faith and hope." CHAPTER XI. c LEADING EVENTS FROM 1 8 74 TO 1 894. At the General Conference of 1874, held in Louisville, Ky., regularly appointed fraternal delegates from the Methodist Episcopal Church appeared for the first time. Initiatory movements, however, in the direction of fra- ternity had preceded this. The rejected fraternal dele- gate of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, to the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1848, had said: You will regard this communication as final on the part of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. She can never renew the offer of fraternal rela- tioris between the two great bodies of Wesleyan Methodists in the United States. But the proposition can be renewed at any time by the Methodist Episcopal Church. And if ever made upon the basis of the Plan of Separa- tion, as adopted by the General Conference of 1844, the Church, South, will cordially entertain the proposition. This action of their delegate was approved by the Gen- eral Conference of 1850. Here the matter rested until May, 1869, when the bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church invited the bishops of the Southern Church to confer with them " on the propriety, practicability, and methods of reunion." The Southern bishops in reply in- vited the attention of their Northern brethren to a subject having precedence of that of reunion, namely, the cul- tivation of fraternal relations. Accordingly, the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church at its ses- sion in Brooklyn in 1872 took the following action: 97 98 THE METHODISTS, SOUTH. [Cmai-. xi. To place ourselves in the truly fraternal relations toward our Southern brethren which the sentiments of our people demand, and to prepare the way for the opening of formal fraternity with them ; it is hereby Resolved, That this General Conference will appoint a delegation, consist- ing of two ministers and one layman, to convey our fraternal greetings to the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, at its next ensuing session. On Friday, the eighth day of the session of the General Conference of 1874, this delegation, consisting of the Rev. Dr. Albert S. Hunt, the Rev. Dr. Charles H. Fowler, and Gen. Clinton B. Fisk, having announced their presence, were formally received. Their addresses were able, elo- quent, courteous, and fraternal. Says the journal : " Their utterances warmed our hearts. Their touching allusions to the common heritage of Methodist history, to our one- ness of doctrine, polity, and usage, and their calling to mind the great work in which we are both engaged for the extension of the kingdom of their Lord and ours, stirred within us precious memories." The General Conference by resolution requested the bishops to appoint a delega- tion of two ministers and one layman to bear the Chris- tian salutations of the Southern Church to the next ses- sion of the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church;^ and going a step further, they passed a resolu- tion, " That in order to remove all obstacles to formal fra- ternity between the two churches, our College of Bishops is authorized to appoint a commission, consisting of three ministers and two laymen, to meet a similar commission authorized by the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and to adjust all existing difficulties." In accordance with this resolution the College of Bishops, at their annual meeting in May, 1875, appointed the five commissioners. They were the Rev. Dr. (now Bishop) R. K. Hargrove, the Rev. Dr. Edward H. Myers, the 1 These were Lovick Pierce, J. A. Duncan, and L. C. Garland. THE CAPE MAY COMMISSION. 99 Rev. Dr. Thomas M. Finney, and the Hon. Trusten Polk, of Missouri, and Hon. David Clopton, of Alabama. In 1876 the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church authorized and the bishops appointed a similar commission, consisting of the Rev. Dr. (now Bishop) John P. Newman, the Rev. Dr. M. D'C. Crawford, the Rev. Dr. E. Q. Fuller, Gen. Clinton B. Fisk, and Hon. E. L. Fancher. The commissioners of the two churches met in joint session at Cape May, N. J., August 17, 1876. After a session of six days, characterized by devout supplication for the divine blessing, a due appreciation of the pending issue, and the exercise of becoming Christian candor, they adopted with entire unanimity, as the basis of adjustment and fraternal reconciliation, the following : Declaration and Basis of Fraternity. Status of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and their Coordinate Relations as Legitimate Branches of Episcopal Methodism. Each of said churches is a legitimate branch of Episcopal Methodism in the United States, having a common origin in the Methodist Episcopal Church organized in 1784; and since the organization of the Methodist Epis- copal Church, South, was consummated in 1845, by the voluntary exercise of the right of the Southern Annual Conferences, ministers, and members, to adhere to that communion, it has been an evangelical church, reared on Scriptural foundations ; and her ministers and members, with those of the Methodist Episcopal Church, have constituted one Methodist family, though in distinct ecclesiastical connections. It was next incumbent on us to consider the questions concerning conflict- ing claims to church property, and some special cases that could not conven- iently be referred to the operation of a general rule. There were two princi- pal questions to be considered with regard to the church property in dispute between local societies of the two churches : 1. As to the legal ownership of said property. 2. As to whether it will consist with strict equity, or promote Christian harmony or the cause of religion, to dispossess those societies now using church property which was originally intended for their use and occupancy, and of which they have acquired possession, though they may have lost legal title to it by their transfer from the one church to the other. lOO THE METHODISTS, SOUTH. [Chap. xi. We have considered the papers in all cases that have been brought to our notice. These arose in the following States : V'irginia, West Virginia, Mary- land, Tennessee, Louisiana, North Carolina, and South Carolina. In respect of some of these cases, we have given particular directions ; but for all other cases the Joint Commission unanimously adojHed the following: RULES FOR THE ADJUSTMENT OF ADVERSE CLAIMS TO CHURCH PROPERTY. Rule I. In cases not adjudicated by the Joint Commission, any society of either church, constituted according to its Discipline, now occupying the church property, shall remain in possession thereof; provided that where there is now, in the same place, a society of more members attached to the other church, and which has hitherto claimed the use of the property, the latter shall be entitled to possession. Rule II. Forasmuch as we have no power to annul decisions respecting church property made by the State courts, the Joint Commission ordain in respect thereof : 1. In cases in which such a decision has been made, or in which there exists an agreement, the same shall be carried out in good faith. 2. In communities where there are two societies — one belonging to the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the other to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South — which have adversely claimed the church property, it is rec- ommended that, without delay, they amicably compose their differences irre- spective of the strict legal title, and settle the same according to Christian principles, the equities of the particular case, and, so far as practicable, ac- cording to the principle of the foregoing rule. But if such settlement cannot be speedily made, then the question shall be referred for an equitable decision to three arbitrators, one to be chosen by each claimant from their respective societies ; and the two thus chosen shall select a third person not connected with either of said churches, and the decision of any two of them shall be final. 3. In communities in which there is but one society. Rule I. shall be faith- fully observed in the interest of peace and fraternity. Rule III. Whenever necessary to carry the aforegoing rules into effect, the legal title to the church property shall be accordingly transferred. Rule IV. These rules shall take edect immediately. This was tinderstood to be authoritative and final. The year following, and upon the acceptance and basis of this Cape May settlement, the bishops of the Methodist Epis- copal Church appointed the Rev. Dr. Cyrus D. Foss and the Hon. Wm. Cumback as fraternal delegates to the ses- sion of the General Conference of the Southern Church at THE PUBLISHING HOUSE DEBT. lOI Atlanta in 1878. The addresses of these distinguished visitors were characterized by a truly fraternal spirit, and were received with great applause. Responses were made by the venerable Lovick Pierce, then in his ninety-fourth year, and by Bishop Paine, who at the time was presiding. " The whole scene was morally sublime, and at its close the conference spontaneously arose and sang the doxol- ogy."i At the General Conference of 1874 the first fraternal address of the British Wesleyan Conference to the Meth- odist Episcopal Church, South, was received. It was duly acknowledged and responded to.- In 1862 the Publishing House, under the management of Dr. McFerrin, was just getting rid of incumbrances and embarrassments and entering upon a career of prosperity and usefulness, when it was seized by the Federal troops. During the remainder of the war it was used as a United States printing-office. Owing to the damage of the build- ings and the destruction of machinery during this period, and the debt incurred in rebuilding after a destructive fire, its condition was such that at the General Conference of 1878 its liabilities were found to be about $125,000 in excess of its total assets. It was declared insolvent. The Book Committee was authorized by the General Confer- ence to dispose of machinery, fixtures, furniture, and real estate, if they deemed it best, in order to meet the obli- gations of the house. The only hope was to rescue the credit and save the good name of the church. All felt that the debt must be paid. But how? What could be done ? The same thought occurred simultaneously to many : put McFerrin back as Book Agent ; the people all know him and believe in him ; if any man can save the 1 " Journal of the General Conference of 1878," p. 117. 2 " Journal of the General Conference of 1874," pp. 375-77. I02 THE iMETIIODJSTS, SOUTH. [Chap. xi. wreck, he can. But he held back. He was too old for such a burden and such a task. (His age was seventy-one.) Still the conviction was .so general in favor of his election that he dared not peremptorily decline. When the result of the ballot was announced, the strong old man wept.^ A Book Committee was selected to reinforce and sup- port Dr. McFerrin, consisting of some of the very ablest business men in the whole South. Among these wise counselors a scheme was devised for bonding the enormous debt of $356,843, and, after full deliberation and consulta- tion, was adopted. But to sell these bonds was the next thing, and not an easy thing to do. The depressed condi- tion of the institution, the disheartened state of the church, and the many opportunities for profitable investment in other and safer enterprises in the South, made it very improbable that men of means would be willing to buy McFerrin's four-percents. The details of the scheme were explained through the church papers, and the members were urged to rally with their subscriptions. Nashville Meth- odists, including the members of the Book Committee and the Agent, gave the movement a liberal start, and when the time came for the a'utumn conferences. Dr. McFerrin was ready to start out on his great bond campaign.^ Wherever h^ went, preachers and people were stirred by his appeals ; confidence returned by degrees ; the bonds were taken more and more freely ; confidence rose into enthusiasm ; despair gave way to renewed hope, and hope to certainty, that the Publishing House would be saved, the honor and good name of the church maintained; and a grand demonstration was made of the denominational fealty and latent power of the Southern Methodist people. To the whole church belongs the honor of this achieve- 1 Fitzgerald's " Life of McFerrin," p. 360. 2 Dr. R. A. Young assisted him in this important work. VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY. IO3 ment ; but to McFerrin's wonderful hold upon the confi- dence and afifection of the church and his masterful lead- ership, more than to what was done by any other man, must this deliverance be ascribed. 1 At the General Conference of 1878 Dr. A. W. Wilson was elected missionary secretary, and served with great ability and efficiency during the quadrennium. Dr. O. P. Fitzgerald was elected editor of the " Nashville Christian Advocate," and during the twelve years of his incumbency made one of the brightest, breeziest, and most popular re- ligious weeklies in the nation. One new conference was provided for by the General Conference of 1878, the Mon- tana, and was organized in September, 1879. When the grand total of the membership was reckoned up, it was found to be only a little less than 800,000, or, in exact figures, 798,862. Through the years following, the progress of the church was steady and continuous, and her work was rapidly de- veloping and extending in every direction. Her activities were continually multiplied. Increasing thousands were annually gathered within her folds. Her educational zeal and enterprise received fresh accessions, and her educa- tional institutions were growing in number and efficiency. In April, 1874, the cornerstone of the great Vanderbilt University was laid with impressive ceremonies amid universal rejoicings. In 1875 her halls were opened for the reception of students. Students came and have been coming in increasing numbers and with increasing enthu- siasm through all the intervening years. In every way this noble institution has grown, until to-day it is recog- nized as perhaps the leading institution of learning in the South, and is second to but few in the nation. The missionary spirit of the church was much quickened 1 Fitzgerald's " Life of McFerrin," p. 367. I04 '^^J^E METHODISTS, SOUTH. [Chai-. xi. and her missionary activities greatly increased during these years, as we shall see in a later chapter. At no previous time did the church enjoy richer evidences of the divine favor or possess in a greater degree the elements of pros- perity and power. Meanwhile her ranks were filling up with young men of promise to take the place of the veter- ans who were dropping out of the ranks. And the veter- ans were dropping out. The church lost one of her best and ablest men for every year of the quadrennium 1878-82. In 1880 Bishop Doggett, a princely man, and a prince among preachers, after serving his generation by the will of God, died in peace, and was laid to rest in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Va. In February, 1882, just before the meeting of the Gen- eral Conference, Bishop Wightman, who, by the will of God, had served two generations, fell asleep and was gathered to his fathers. On the first day of the General Conference of 1882, in Nashville, the Senior Superintendent, Bishop Paine, made an affecting address to his brethren, and asked that, " worn down by age and infirmities, he might be permitted to re- tire from active service." For sixty-four years he had been an effective traveling preacher ; for thirty-six years an efficient general superintendent. But the limit now was reached. He w^as able to bear the burden and do the work no longer. On May 3, 1882, at the age of eighty- three, he was retired from active service. On May 22d, unable to attend further upon the session of the General Conference, he departed to his home in Mississippi. On the 19th of October following he departed for his home beyond the stars. On the opening day of the General Conference of 1882, Wednesday, May 3d, Dr. Thomas O. Summers was, for the eighth time, elected secretary of that body. On Saturday DR. THOMAS O. SUMMERS. 1 05 morning, May 6th, immediately after the opening, the pre- siding bishop announced that Dr. Summers was dead. The prayer of his favorite hymn was hterally fulfilled : Oh, that without a lingering groan I may the welcome word receive, My body with my charge lay down, And cease, at once, to work and live. Dr. Summers was a born Englishman. His early ad- vantages were not great. He was a man of prodigious labor, however, and he came to be a man of extraordinary attainments and cyclopedic knowledge. He was positive in his convictions, dogmatic in his utterances, blunt in his manner ; but he was a true and noble man and a loving- hearted Christian. He was for many years the editor of the " Nashville Christian Advocate," and for some time the editor of the " Southern Methodist Quarterly Review." Only a few of the older men in the church can remember the time when he was not Book Editor. He was himself the author of several books, the best known of which are his Commen- taries on the New Testament books from Matthew to Romans, and his able and learned work on Systematic Theology, in two noble octavo volumes. At the time of his death he was dean of the theological department of Vanderbilt University and Professor of Systematic Theol- ogy. As a preacher his sermons were too dull, and as an editor his articles were too heavy, to be popular. Yet for his work and his personal character he had come to be so beloved that his death fell with the weight of a personal bereavernent upon the whole church. His biography has been well written by Dr. (now Bishop) Fitzgerald, his successor in the editorship of the " Advocate." The most important action of the General Conference I06 THE MErnODISTS, SOUTH. [Chap. xi. of 1882 was the creation of the Board of Church Exten- sion and the election of the clear-headed and indefatigable Dr. David Morton as secretary and general superintendent. Under the phenomenally successful management of this man " with a telescopic mind and a microscopic eye," this arm of church work has developed an efficiency and use- fulness which far exceed the expectations of its most sanguine friends and supporters. The General Board was fully organized and its plans formulated at a meeting held in Louisville, Ky., in June, 1882. Bylaws were adopted, a plan of campaign was mapped out, and the first annual assessment of $50,000 was made. In the eleven years since the organization of the Board of Church Extension the total receipts have been considerably over $700,000 ; and the last annual report shows that the board has built, helped to build, or otherwise aided one church for each week-day and two for each Sunday in the year. The total number of churches built or aided by the board since 1882 is 2510. The only serious problem which the church has in connection with this work is to find a man to fill Dr. Morton's place and do his work, when age or in- firmity shall have rendered him incapable of further service. The General Conference of 1882 authorized the crea- tion of two new conferences, the Central Mexico Mission Conference and the Mexican Border Mission Conference, which were not long afterward organized, the one by Bishop Keener, the other by Bishop McTyeire. The unprecedented number of five bishops was elected : A. W. Wilson, Linus Parker, A. G. Haygood, John C. Granbery, and Robert K. Hargrove (though Dr. Haygood declined). Dr. Robt. A. Young was elected missionary secretary. The fraternal message of the Methodist Episcopal Church to the General Conference of 1882 was borne by the ge- nial and gentle, but able and eloquent Dr. Henry Bascom THE CENTENARY OF AMERICAN METHODISM. 1 07 Ridgaway, and the glowing words of this genuinely fra- ternal man made and left a delightful impression upon those who were present, and upon the whole church. The first Ecumenical Conference of the Methodisms of the world was held in London in 188 1. In this memor- able gathering the Southern Methodist Church was fully 'and worthily represented. According to the English papers, that church furnished two of the three American representatives who made a distinct personal impression. These were the inimitable and irresistible Dr. John B. McFerrin and the weighty and dignified Bishop McTyeire, with his massive head and face and thought, his slow, de- liberate speech, his fog-horn voice, and his unepiscopal, unconventional, cutaway coat. In the General Conference of the Southern Church in 1878 a movement was initiated looking to a centenary celebration of the organization of American Methodism. No fact in the history of American Christianity can be considered of equal importance with that which took place in an humble chapel in Baltimore in December, 1784. It was therefore worthy of commemoration by the Methodists of a hundred years after. And as that far-reaching event took place upon Southern territory, it was fitting that the centenary movement should originate in the Southern division of Methodism. Accordingly, the bishops of the Southern Church were requested in behalf of the General Conference to open a correspondence on the subject with the bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the pres- idents of the several conferences in Canada, and of all other Methodist bodies on the continent, and these bishops and presidents in conjunction were to arrange and mature a suitable program for a fitting celebration of the centenary of the organization of American Methodism. The sug- gestion was concurred in by the other branches of Meth- odism in the country. The arrangements for the part I08 THE METHODISTS, SOUTH. [CuAi-. xi. which the Southern Church was to take were completed in the General Conference of 1882. The celebration was duly observed in December, 1884, in the city of Baltimore by a 14'reat gathering of representatives of all the Meth- odist bodies, white and colored, in America. In the ex- uberance of fraternal feeling and the tide of spiritual emo- tion it surpassed any inter- Methodistic gathering that has been held before or since. It w-as a veritable love-feast, not of American Methodists only, but of American Meth- odisms. Nor was it an enthusiasm of mere emotion, but of genuine gratitude and practical bene\-olence. The cen- tenary year was a season of generous giving upon the part of Methodists everywhere. The special centennial offer- ings of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, for the year 1884 amounted to $1,382,771.^ In the midst of the activity and enthusiasm of the centenary year the church was in mourning for the death of two of her most honored and best beloved bishops. These were H. H. Kavanaugh, of Kentucky, and George F. Pierce, of Georgia. They were both members of the General Conference of 1844 ^rid of every succeeding one down to 1854, when they were elected' to the episcopal office. At the time of his death Bishop Kavanaugh w^as eighty-two years of age and had been a bishop thirty years ; Bishop Pierce was seventy-three years of age, and had been a bishop for thirty years. In physique. Bishop Kavanaugh was below the ordinary stature; but what was lacking in length was made up in breadth and bulk. His neck was short, his head massive, his hair short and stiff. His face, though not handsome, was radiant with imperturbable good-humor. In spirit 1 It was in the centenary year tliat Bishop McTyeire published his noble work on " The History of Ivlethodisni." BISHOPS KAVANAUGH AND PIERCE. 1 09 and manner he was as simple and transparent as a little child. As a preacher he was unequal. There were times when his eloquence was rapturous, overwhelming. But depending, as he did, on the occasion for inspiration, he sometimes limped in preaching. Nevertheless, his great power as a preacher gained for him the title of " the old man eloquent." As a presiding officer, he was amiable to laxity. It is even said that on one or two occasions he took a little nap while presiding in General Conference. But he was so beloved that everybody, except perhaps Bishop Keener, excused and enjoyed these amiable small faults of the noble old man. Bishop Pierce, of Georgia, son of Lovick Pierce, was every way a marvelous man. Plis form was majestic. He bore himself like a king. His eye was black and lustrous. His cheek glowed with the rosy hue of health. His every movement was grace. His voice was clear and mellow ; its highest tones were musical and sympathetic. His style was direct, his metaphors novel and striking, his illustrations pertinent and persuasive, and his pathos often kindled to a heat of rapture under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Whether before the most cultured audience or the plainest, he was alike master. He preached in a metropolitan church with all the ease with which he preached to a congregation of negro slaves, and he preached to the slaves with as much beauty and pathos and power as to the great men and women of the earth. ^ I have heard Beecher and Talmage and Hall and Taylor and Simpson and Spurgeon and Lid- don and Farrar and Punshon and Parker ; but I was never so moved, or saw people so moved, by the preaching of any man as by that of George F. Pierce, of Georgia. In the next year (1885) occurred the death of one of the younger bishops, Linus Parker, of Louisiana. He had 1 See Smith's " Life of Bishop Pierce." IIO THE METHODISTS, SOUTH. [Chap. xi. filled the episcopal office with acceptability for three years. The death of three bishops within less than a year made it necessary for the General Conference of 1886 to elect others. Accordingly four were elected and ordained at the session in Richmond : W. W. Duncan, Charles B. Galloway, E. R. Hendrix, and Joseph S. Key. It is one of the peculiarities and one of the excellen- cies of the Southern Methodist Church that it avoids all connection with politics. This very virtue has, however, sometimes been misunderstood and misinterpreted, and has given occasion for the charge that the Southern Church shrinks from committing herself on great social and moral questions and from taking part in great social and moral movements. If any denial of that charge were necessary, the action of the General Conference of 1886 on two of the most vital moral issues of the day would be a sufficient refutation. Their deliverance on the subject of temperance and prohibition speaks for itself : We rejoice in the widespread and unprecedented interest, both in the church and out of it, in behalf of temperance and prohibitory law. The public has awakened to the necessity of both legal and moral suasion to control the great evils stimulated and fostered by the liquor traffic. We recognize in the license system a sin against society. Its essential immorality cannot be affected by the question whether the license be high or low. The effectual prohibition of the manufacture, sale, and use of intoxicating liquors would be emancipation from the greatest curse that now afflicts our race. The total removal of the cause of intemperance is the only remedy. This is the great- est moral question now before our people. The fact that the people of the United States spend for strong drink $900,000,000 annually is not the most important aspect of the subject, but the fact that it is the enemy of the church, the source of crime, the cause of poverty and suffering, wretchedness and death, and that its readiest victims are our young men, thousands of whom are every year swept by it into dissipation, dishonor, debauchery, death, and damnation. We cannot withhold our emphatic deliverance on the subject, especially in view of the prevailing agitation of the question of prohibition. Therefore be it Resolved, That the General Conference of the M. E. Church, South, is op- PROHIBITIOX AXD DIVORCE. I 1 1 posed to the manufacture, sale, and use of intoxicating liquors, except for medicinal and mechanical purposes, and that we will continue to agitate the subject of prohibition as a great moral question, and will strive, with all good citizens and by all proper and honorable means, to banish the horrible curse from our beloved church and country. Resolved, That the time has now come when the church, through its press and pulpit, its individual and organized agencies, should speak out in strong language and stronger action in favor of the total removal of this great evil.l The General Conference recommended that the Sunday- school editor statedly provide for a Scripture lesson on temperance, and that those in charge of schools or colleges controlled or indorsed by the church, see that the children and youth are properly instructed touching the effect of alcoholic stimulants on the human system. The manufacture or sale of intoxicating liquors upon the part of cfiurch-members is absolutely forbidden. The law is explicit and emphatic : " If any preacher or member shall engage in the manufacture or sale of intoxicating liquors to be used as a beverage, let the Discipline be adminis- tered as in cases of inuiioralitj."" The other action of the General Conference of 1886 re- ferred to above, was upon the subject of divorce. After a long and strong preamble it was " Resolved, That no minister of the M. E. Church, South, knowingly, upon due inquiry, shall solemnize the marriage of any person who has a divorced wife or hus- band still living.""^ The increase of the membership of the church during the quadrennium ending in 1886 was larger than it had ever been during any similar period in its history. Nearly 200,000 members had been added in that time, and the grand total rose in the year 1886 to 1,066,377. The eleventh and last General Conference was held in 1 "Journal of the General Conference of 1886," pp. 198, 199. 2 " Discipline of the M. E. Church, South," p. 129. 3 " Journal of the General Conference of 1886," p. 233. 112 THE METHODISTS, SOUTH. [Chai-. xi. Centenary Church in the city of St. Louis in May, 1890, just forty years from the time when the second General Conference was held in the same city and the same church (in 1850). The number of delegates in attendance was 294. Resolutions on worldliness were unanimously adopted, ex- plicitly condemning" " theater-going, dancing, card-playing, and the like, as contrary to the spirit of Christianity and violative of the General Rules and moral discipline of the church, as also of the vows of our church-members." ^ A committee of fifteen was appointed to consider and report on the "state of the church." Their report is a strong, clear, and ringing document, and but for its length and the limitations of our space would deserve a place in these pages. It is given in full in the Discipline of 1890. On the subject of temperance they vigorously declare and resolve that " voluntary total abstinence from all in- toxicants is the true ground of personal temperance, and complete legal prohibition of the traffic the duty of gov- ernment."^ The phenomenal advance made during the preceding period of four years, in all departments of church work, is indicated by the provisions made by the General Confer- ence for the increased efficiency of all the coordinated agencies of the church. Two additional secretaries of the Board of Missions were provided for and elected. An additional secretary for the Board of Church Extension was authorized. An assistant. Book Agent, an assistant editor of the " Christian Advocate," and an assistant Sun- day-school editor were elected by the Conference. The Book Agents were authorized to publish, as one of the general organs of the church, the " Pacific Methodist Advocate " at San Francisco. The Ep worth League was 1 See Discipline,- edition of 1890, p. 391. 2 " Journal of General Conference of 1890," p. 212. GENERAL CONFERENCE OF 1890. II3 adopted by the General Conference and provision made for establishing leagues throughout the church. Four new conferences were constituted and organized in the year 1890-91, the Western North Carolina, the East Columbia, the New Mexico, and the Northwest Mexican Mission. The China Mission and the Brazil Mission had been erected into conferences in 1886, and organized as confer- ences, the one in 1886, the other in 1887. The church has now forty-three Annual Conferences. The statistics for the year 1890 were: traveling preachers, 5042; local preach- ers, 6366; white and Indian members, 1,206,611 ; colored members, 534; and altogether, 1,218,561. A notable incident of the General Conference of 1890 was the reception and address of the Rev. David J. Waller, the first fraternal delegate of the British Wesleyan Con- ference to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Mr. Waller, both by his personal bearing and his instructive and courteous address, produced an exceedingly favorable impression. At the General Conference of 1890, A. G. Haygood and D. P. Fitzgerald were elected bishops. The quadrennium was marked by the death of two of the very foremost men of the church. In May, 1887, Dr. McFerrin died, and the funeral sermon was preached by Bishop McTyeire, who, in less than two years after, fol- lowed his friend to the undiscovered country. Bishop McTyeire is buried along with Bishop McKen- dree and Bishop Soule on the campus of Vanderbilt Uni- versity. His fitting epitaph is, " He was a leader of men and a lover of children." CHAPTER XII. THE MISSIONS OF THE CHURCH. I . Missions to the Negroes. Up to the outbreak of the war in 1861 the mission work of the Southern Church was principally confined to the slave population of the South. The Southern Methodists recognized this as a vast opportunity, and to this work they felt themselves specially called. For the most part, the same pastor preached the gospel to master and slave, in the same church, as parts of one congregation. The gal- lery, or some other portion of the church, was set apart for the slaves. In addition to this, the pastor who preached to all together in the forenoon of Sunday would preach to the slaves from the same pulpit in the afternoon. When special services were held for the colored people, they oc- cupied the body of the church, while the white people who attended were seated in that part of the church usually assigned to the negroes.^ One of the early reports of the Board of Missions of one of the Southern conferences has these words : " The gospel is the same for all men, and to enjoy its privileges in common promotes good- will." Consequently it was declared to be the duty of all congre- gations to supply necessary and suitable accommodations for the colored people, " in order that none of them might make such neglect a plea for staying away from, public worship." If a separate building was provided for them, 1 See Dr. John's " Handbook of Methodist Missions," p. 83, and McTyeire's " History of Methodism," p. 584. 114 EARLY ATTEMPTS. II5 as was sometimes the case, the negro congregation was an appendage to the white, the pastor usually preaching once on Sunday for them, holding official meetings with their leaders, exhorters, and preachers, and administering discipline. But large numbers of the slaves were isolated on the rice, sugar, and cotton plantations, especially in the further South. The regular ministry did not reach these, inhab- iting, as they did, a distant and malarial region in which but few white people were found. Attempts had been made as early as 1809 to give the gospel to some of these remote plantation communities. In that year the South Carolina Conference had sent out two missionaries, James H. Mel- lard to the slaves on the Savannah River, and James E. Glenn ^ to those on the Santee. But there were so many obstacles in the way that the work was soon given up. The attitude of the Methodists and the Methodist General Conferences on the subject of slavery gave rise to suspi- cions and to opposition upon the part of the planters, and access to their slaves was denied. Later, however, when the preachers had come to see the necessity of adjusting themselves to the situation and the legislation of the General Conference was toned down, as we have related in Chapter I., the work was taken up again. In 1828, through the efforts of a pious lady, a large planter gave his consent that a Methodist preacher should work among his slaves. This was the Rev. George W. Moore. He was not regularly appointed by the conference. But this did not deter him from preaching to these darkened souls 1 " It was Mr. Glenn who received into his home at Cokesbury a young Vermonter going South in 1821 with shattered health and unsettled religious principles. This young Northerner was converted and developed in the South. He became first president of Randolph-Macon College in Virginia, and died while president of Wesleyan University in Connecticut. No man had more to do with shaping the life of Stephen Olin than James E. Glenn." — McTyeire's "History." Il6 THE METHODISTS, SOUTH. [Chai-. xii. with all the zeal and faithfulness of a heart that counted no labor too exacting, no service too lowly, in the cause of his Master.' The results of Mr. Moore's preaching to the slaves were such that application was made by several of the plant- ers to the South Carolina Conference for missionaries to be regularly sent to preach to their people. Accordingly in 1829, through the influence of the Rev. William Capers, the missionary society of that conference sent out two preachers for this special work, Rev. John Honour to the plantations south of the Ashley River, and Rev. John H. Massey to those south of the Santee.- Rev. William Capers was made superintendent of these missions. Mr. Honour, succumbing to the malaria of the region, died the same year (1829). " He was a noble, zealous Christian minister, not ashamed of the lowly work to which he had been called, but joyfully resigning even life itself in the cause." He was succeeded by Rev. George W. Moore. Rev. James Danelly was sent to a mission on the Savannah River, and the work extended. The operations of the first year gathered 417 church-members. The experiment, eyed with distrust by most of the planters, denounced by many as a hurtful and perilous innovation, favored by very few, had been commenced. It was found that the preaching of the gospel with the simplicity and directness of the Methodists was understood by the negroes and took well with them ; that, combined with the regular discipline of the church, it produced a distinct improvement in their moral character and habits, making them sober, industri- ous, honest, and contented. Prejudice fell away little by little. Doubt and distrust brightened into approval. The time for enlargement was come. The door of access to these thousands of Africa's benighted children was open- 1 " The Gospel Among the Slaves," p. 154. 2 /,/., p. 155. UNMONUMENTED HEROES. 1 I 7 ing wider and wider.^ The movement, begun in South Carolina, soon extended throughout the whole connection. Missions were organized in all the conferences, and men, carefully chosen for the work, devoted their entire time to the religious instruction of the slaves. They assembled them in congregations, preached to them the gospel, instructed and comforted the penitents, baptized the converted, organized them into societies, administered to them the holy communion, visited and prayed with them in their cabins, ministered to their sick, and buried their dead. In South Carolina alone at the time of the death of Bishop Capers (1854) there were twenty-six mission stations on the plantations, served by thirty-two regularly appointed preachers, and counting a membership of over ten thousand negroes and over a thousand whites, or, in exact figures, 10,371 of the former and 1175 of the latter. The contributions of the South Carolina Conference for the work for that year (1854) amounted to $25,000. Nor was this difficult and uninviting work left to or thrust upon preachers of inferior quality or ability. Indeed, the planters declared that they were unwilling to receive young or indiscreet or untried men to go in and out among their slaves as their moral and spiritual advisers. " Some of the best preachers of Southern Methodism spent their best days in this work," says one who had large personal knowledge of the field. There were W. C. Kirkland (father of the present chan- cellor of Vanderbilt University), G. W. Moore, Charles Wilson, Coburn, Boyd, Bunch, Ledbetter, Turpin, Rush, Skidmore, Carr, Steele, and many others — unmonumented heroes of earth, whose record is safe in the keeping of God. It is not possible in the brief space allotted to this history to recount the toils, the privations, the sufferings, the 1 Dr. Wightman in "Southern Quarterly Review," quoted by McTyeire, P- 585. Il8 THE METHODISTS, SOUTH. [Chap. xii. martyr-like self-immolation, the apostolic successes of these humble Methodist preachers, who, in the isolation of the remote plantations, amid the pestilential malaria of the river-bottoms and the rice-swamps of the far South, min- istered the evangel of divine love and salvation to the lowly sons and daughters of that benighted race ; and who, away back in those dim and distant years, did more than all other agencies combined to prepare them for the responsibilities of freedom and citizenship, as well as for the kingdom of heaven. A volume might be written of the Acts of these Apostles to the Southern sla\'es. In- deed, such a volume has been written. ^ It remains for some magnanimous negro of the future to propose, and for his magnanimous fellow-negroes of all classes. North and South, East and West, to erect, on some suitable spot, a worthy and enduring monument to the memory of the noble and self-forgetting Southern Methodist preachers who, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in labors, in watchings, in fastings, in weariness and painful- ness and perils, in honor and dishonor, through evil report and good report, christianized their fathers.- Up to the time of the division of the church, in 1844, these Southern Methodist preachers had gathered into church-membership over a hundred thousand African slaves.^ And it was for the opportunity and privilege of continuing this work that they made their stand in 1844.'* 1 " The Gospel Among the Slaves," p. 394, by Miss Annie Maria Barnes and Dr. W. P. Harrison. Nashville, Barbee & Smith, 1893. 2 " In the neighborhood where I lived during the war in Alabama the sound of a trumpet would have called up five thousand colored men and not over fifty white men. The white men had gone off to the war and left their wives, children, and property in the care of the negroes. Not a crime was com- mitted."— Dr. R. H. Rivers, in " Central Methodist," January 27, 1894. The same was true everywhere. To the preaching of the Gospel, as above related, it was due that the crimes now so frequent were almost unlieard of. 3 The number of colored mendiers of the Southern Church in 1846 was 124,961. * Compare the latter part of Chapter II. LARGE NUMBER OF CONVERTS. II9 In i860, sixteen years after the division, the Southern Church had upon her rolls nearly a quarter of a million of these imported heathen people. The official returns for that year give 207,776 members, with 180,000 negro children under regular catechetical instruction. Says that calm and careful historian of Methodism, Bishop McTyeire : "The church-membership of all the missionary societies and stations, in all parts of the world, did not equal the col- ored membership of Methodism in the Southern States." ^ Said another bishop : " The Southern Church counted more converts among these descendants of Ham than the united efiforts of Christendom had gathered upon all the mission-fields of the heathen world." ^ If any man will furnish reliable facts and figures to contradict or correct this statement of two of the bishops of the M. E. Church, South, he shall have our prompt acknowledgment of the mistake, and our thanks for his kindness. Whether that be done or not, who is there so destitute of magnanimity, or even of common fairness and candor, as to refuse to recog- nize and acknowledge this great service of the Southern Methodist Church to the negro race, to the country, and to Christendom ? In addition to their missions to the slaves, the Southern Church enterprised a mission to China at the first General Conference, in 1846, and organized that mission in 1848. Ten years later, when their China mission had gotten into successful operation, the General Conference of 1858 took measures for founding missions in Africa and Central America. But the war prevented the execution of their plans.^ These facts together will explain how it was that no other foreign missions were undertaken until after the war, and will at the same time account for the fact that 1 McTyeire's " History of Methodism," p. 387. 2 " Life of Bishop George F. Pierce," p. 469. * See page 68. 120 THE METHODISTS, SOUTH. [Chap. xii. the present missionary operations of the Southern Church are not yet so extensive as those of other churches in different circumstances. The M. E. Church, South, has one General Board of Missions. This board has charge of the four missions in foreign lands, as well as the Indian and German missions in the home-land, and all other missions not provided for by the Annual Conferences. In addition to this General Board, each Annual Conference has a Conference Board, which has entire control of the missions within its borders and under its care, as well as of the money raised for their support. A collection is annually taken for the General Board in every congregation, and a separate collection for the use of the Annual Conference Board. The Gen- eral Board employs three secretaries, who at present are I. G. John, D.D., H. C. Morrison, D.D., and Rev. Walter R. Lambuth, M.D., D.D. The church has missions in China, Japan, Mexico, and Brazil, as well as among the Indians and Germans of this country, and in many of the Western States and Territories. 2. TJie China Mission. The mission to China was authorized by the first Gen- eral Conference of the church, in 1846. Two years after- ward, on April 24, 1848, the Rev. Charles Taylor, M.D., and the Rev. Benjamin Jenkins stood with their wives on the deck of the little ship " Cleone " in Boston Harbor. A little group of Boston Methodists joined them in singing the Missionary Hymn and in prayer, and they sailed away over unknown seas to an unknown world. The cabin of the " Cleone " was ten by fourteen feet, and seven feet in height. The state-rooms were six by four. In such a vessel they sailed a voyage of four months, and anchored, PIONEER WORK IN CHINA. 12 1 August 1 2th, in the harbor of Hong Kong. Afterward they proceeded to Shanghai, where the mission was to be established. Here they purchased a lot, built a temporary dwelling, and went to work. The next year they pur- chased another lot and built a chapel, in which they held their first service in January, 1850. They established two day-schools, gathered thirty scholars, and mingled religious services with the daily exercises. In 185 i their Chinese teacher and his wife renounced Buddhism and became Christians. This man, Liew, soon became a preacher and an evangelist, and proclaimed the gospel to hundreds of his fellow-countrymen. " His ministry was greatly blessed. He died in 1866, mourned by missionaries and native Christians as a great loss to the cause of Christianity." In 1852 Rev. W. G. E. Cunnyngham, D.D., and his wife joined the missionary force in China, and became faithful and efficient workers in that difficult field. These all remained at their post and continued their work amid the trials and horrors of the Taiping rebellion in 1853. Shanghai was crowded with soldiers, and amid the devas- tations committed by them the two residences of the missionaries and their chapel were burned. In 1854 Rev. Dr. D. C. Kelley, Rev. J. W. Lambuth, and Rev. J. L. Belton, with their wives, arrived in China to reinforce the mission. In December, 1859, Rev. Young J. Allen and Rev. M. L. Wood sailed from New York for Shanghai. But while the mission was thus reinforced with new arrivals, it was weakened by the return of some of the earlier missionaries, whose health was broken by the rigor of the climate and the exactions of the work. Mrs. Jenkins died on her homeward voyage, and was buried at sea. Mr. Belton arrived in New York in time to die on the soil of his native land. Dr. Kelley (in 1855) and Dr. Cun- nyngham (in 1 861) were compelled to return on account 122 THE METIIODISTS, SOUTH. [Chap. xii. of the failing" health of themselves or their families. None were now left but Lambuth and Allen and Wood. In 1 86 1 Dr. Lambuth returned to the United States; and from 1861 to 1864 Allen and Wood were cut off from communication with the home church and reduced to great straits. But they continued at their posts and their work during those years of silence and suspense, support- ing themselves, in part, by doing literary work for the Chinese Government. After the war between the States, the church, impoverished as it was, entered anew upon its mission work, and other missionaries were sent out. Dr. Lambuth returned to the field in 1864 and resumed his work. Mr. Wood returned in 1866. In 1875 Rev. A. P. Parker joined the mission. In 1876 Bishop Marvin, accom- panied by Rev. E. R. Hendrix, visited the mission, and besides leaving great encouragement and blessing behind for the lonely and weary workers and the converted na- tives, he completed and compacted the organization of the mission, ordaining four native preachers as deacons and two as elders. After this the following missionaries were sent to the work in China: Rev. W. R. Lambuth, M.D., in 1877; C. F. Reid and W. W. Royall in 1880; Geo. R. Loehr in 1 881; D. L. Anderson, O. G. Mingledorf, and W. H. Park, M.D., in 1883; W. W. Bonnell and Rev. O. A. Dukes, M.D., in 1885; W. B. Burke in 1887; W. B. Hill and J. L. Hendry in 1888; H. L. Gray in 1889; B. D. Lucas, O. E. Brown, T. A. Hearn, L. Leitch, and R. M. Campbell, M.D., in 1890. This list does not include the missionaries of the Woman's Board. In 1886, by order of the General Conference, Bishop Wilson organized the China Mission Conference. The following are the statistics for 1893: Number of missionaries: male, 16; wives, 10. Native preachers : or- THREE MISSIONS IN MEXICO. 1 23 dained, 4; unordained, 6. Sunday-schools, 23; scholars, 1 1 64; day-schools, 16; pupils, 1572. Communicants and probationers, 736. Property: churches, 9; value, $22,- 816; parsonages, 14. Total value of church and school property, $137,311. Appropriation of Board for 1893, $37>383- Total appropriations, $568,068. Our mission occupies seven walled cities. The mission- aries publish two periodicals, that reach the thoughtful men of the eighteen provinces. We have two boarding- schools for young men, one of which is the Anglo- Chinese College at Shanghai. We have a fully equipped hospital at Suchow in charge of two surgeons, aided by several assistants. The number of patients treated in 1893 was 12,236. 3. TJie Missions in Mexico. Early in 1873 Bishop Keener visited the City of Mexico and laid the foundations of the Mexican Mission. He succeeded in purchasing a lot in the heart of the city, near the College of Mines. He appointed to the work a native Mexican, Alejo Hernandez, who had been a soldier, a skeptic, and a prisoner, but who, through reading a book against Romanism, was led to read the Bible. This awak- ened him to a sense of his condition and his peril. He visited a Protestant Church in Brownsville, Texas, where he " felt his heart strangely warmed, and went away weep- ing for joy." He had then, under appointment of Bishop Marvin, served two years on trial in the Mexican work of the West Texas Conference before his appointment to the City of Mexico. In 1873 he was joined by Rev. J. T. Daves, of the Louisiana Conference. The first society was organized in the City of Mexico in 1875, with eighty-three members, and the work continued. In 1878 Rev. W. M. Patterson, of the Memphis Confer- 124 THE METJIODISTS, SOUTH. [Chap. xil. ence, was appointed superintendent of the mission. He began at once to plan wisely and broadly in every way for the advance of the work. Buildings were procured in a number of the principal towns, a printing-press was purchased and put in operation, and at the end of one year he reported 268 members, 12 native preachers, and 12 teachers. From this impetus the work steadily grew on through the following years, until at present there are three regular conferences : the Central Mexico Mission Conference, the Mexican Border Mission Conference, and the Northwest Mexican Mission Conference. The following missionaries are at present engaged in the Mexican work: A. H. Sutherland, J. W. Grimes, D. F. Watkins, Geo. B. Winton, J. M. Weems, J. D. Scoggins, D. W. Carter, S. G. Kilgore, J. F. Corbin, R. C. Elliott, VV. D. King, J. C. Cavener, J. R. Mood. The statistics for 1892 are as follows: Missionaries, 13 ; wives, 10; native preachers, 80; members, 4863; Sun- day-schools, 153; scholars, 3642; day-schools, 14; pupils, 1 192; churches, 52; value, $92,029; parsonages, 19. Total value of property, $167,512. Appropriations for 1893, $73,094- Total appropriations to the Mexican work, $1,125,362. The three conferences support a weekly paper, " El Evangelista Mexican©." 4. The Brazil Mission. The Rev. J. E. Newman, of the Alabama Conference, removed to Brazil at the close of the war of 1861-65. He preached and worked, as he was able, among the Eng- lish-speaking people of the province of San Paulo. Later he organized a small society there. In 1875 he was rec- ognized as a missionary of the M. E. Church, South, and MISSIOX TO JAPAN. 1 25 appointed superintendent of the work which the church then undertook in Brazil. In the same year Rev. J. J. Ransom, of the Tennessee Conference, was appointed to labor in that empire, and was put in charge of the work in Rio de Janeiro. In the years following" others were sent out by the Board : J. L. Kennedy, J. W. Tarbaux, H. C. Tucker, J. W. Wolling, E. A. Tilly, Michael Dickie, John M. Lauder, R. C. Dickson, J. L. Bruce, and C. B. McFarland. The mission was organized into an Annual Conference by Bishop Granbery in 1887. The statistics for 1893 are as follows: Missionaries, 10; wives, 9; native preachers, 16; native local preachers, 5; members, 825 ; Sunday-schools, 11 ; scholars, 441 ; boys' day-schools, 5 ; pupil.s, 438. There is a beautiful stone church in Rio, a comely brick church in Juiz de Fora, a good brick church in Piracicaba, and other chapels to the amount of about $75,000 in value. Total value of church property, $111,626. Contributed (1893) by the members, $7022. Appropriated by the Board for 1893, $31,440. Total appropriations, $326,821. They have a weekly paper, their conference organ, the "Expositor Christao," with 1650 subscribers. 5. TJie Mission to Japan. The mission to Japan is the youngest of the missions. The first appropriation was made in 1885. In 1886 Rev. Dr. J. W. Lambuth, who had previously made a rcconnois- sance of the island, was transferred from China to take charge in Japan. He was accompanied by Rev. W. R. Lambuth, M.D., his son, and Rev. O. A. Dukes, M.D. In September of that year the first meeting of the Japan Mis- sion was held at Kobe. Bishop Wilson, accompanied by Rev. Collins Denny, was present. In 1887 the mission re- 126 THE METHODISTS, SOUTH. [Chap. xii. ported 6 foreign members, i Chinese, and i Japanese. In the beginning of 1888 the missionaries had received into the church by baptism 64 adults, and had 66 probationers." The General Board has, at present, 18 missionaries in Japan. Rev. W. R. Lambuth, M.D., at home on leave; Rev. W. E. Towson, Osaka, Japan; S. H. Wainright, M.D., at home on leave; Rev. J. C. C.' Newton, Kwansei Gakuin, Kobe, Japan; Rev. N. W. Utley, Osaka, Japan; Rev. T. W. B. Demaree, Kwansei Gakuin, Kobe, Japan ; Rev. B. W. Waters, Hiroshima, Japan ; Rev. C. B. Moseley, Mat- suyama, Japan ; Rev. W. A. Wilson, Oita, Japan ; Rev. Simeon Shaw, Yamaguchi, Japan ; Rev. H. G. Hawkins, Matsuyama, Japan ; Rev. W. A. Davis, Uwajima post- office, Japan ; Rev. J. T. Meyers, Tadotsu post-office, Kobe, Japan; Rev. C. A. Tague, Iwakuni post-office, Hiroshima, Japan ; Rev. S. E. Hager, Osaka, Japan ; W. P. Turner, Kobe, Japan; C. M. Bradbury, Kobe, Japan ; Rev. B. S. Rayner. The statistics for 1893 are: Missionaries, 18; wives, 9. Native preachers : traveling, 6 ; local preachers, 6 ; ex- horters, 14. Members, 507; increase during the year, 57; probationers, 87; Sunday-schools, 42; scholars, 1297; theological schools, i ; theological students, 1 5 ; boys' day- schools, 13 ; pupils, 385 ; churches, 5 ; chapels, 26; parson- ages, 4. Total value of property, $37,366; collections, $3699.90. In 1892 Dr. J. W. Lambuth died in Japan. His dying message to the Church was, " I die at my post. Send more men." 6. Missions to the Indiaiis. The Indian Mission Conference is a mixed conference, having 2000 white members and 10,759 Indian mem- bers, some pure bloods, some mixed bloods.' It extends 1 Dr. I. G. John, Missionary Secretary, is my authority for these figures. WOAIAN'S MISSIONARY SOCIETY, 127 over Indian and Oklahoma Territories. There were 1329 additions to the church during the year 1892-93. The conference has 160 churches, valued at $74,265, and 43 parsonages, valued at $21,194. The Harrell Institute, under the presidency of Rev. Theodore F. Brewer, has a faculty of 9 teachers and 250 students. Besides this, there are four other schools, with 13 teachers and 327 pupils. The conference contributed last year for foreign missions, $2150.05; for domestic missions, $972; for church extension, $492.35. Appropriations, 1892-93, $21,340. " We have confessedly a larger field and greater success among the Indians than any other church in the country," says Dr. John, Missionary Secretary, 7. German Missions. The German Mission Conference embraces all the Ger- man churches in the State of Texas. It was organized in 1874 at Houston. For 1892 it reports 19 missionaries and 1073 members. It has a college at Fredericksburg, Texas. The amount collected by the General Board for the foreign missions of the church during the year ending April I, 1893, was $346,572.39. "The Methodist Review of Missions," a monthly magazine of sixty-four pages, edited by Dr. John and Dr. Lambuth and published by the General Board, is a bright, newsy, attractive, and earnest advocate of the great cause, and will compare favorably with the missionary magazines of other churches. Dr. John has just written and published a volume entitled " A Hand- book of Methodist Missions " (pp. 604), which is an exceed- ingly valuable manual. 128 THE MErilODISTS, SOUTH. [Chap. xu. 8. Woman' s Work in the CInircli} In April, 1874, largely through the zeal and efforts of Mrs. M. L. Kelley, some of the Methodist women of Nash- ville, Tenn., formed themselves into an organization knowh as a "Bible Mission," with two distinct objects: one to furnish aid and Bible instruction to the poor and destitute of the city, the other to collect and contribute pecuniary aid to foreign missionary fields. In three years this soci- ety secured a home for the poor of the city, founded the " Mission Home" for fallen women, which has grown into a large and permanent institution, and contributed $3000 for Christian work among the women of China. To this work Mrs. Kelley devoted her every treasure, her prayers, her labor, her child, and her grandchild, both of whom spent some time in China. Similar societies were about the same time or soon afterward organized at Warren, Ark., in the Broad Street Church in Richmond, Va., at Ma- con, Ga., Glasgow, Mo., Louisville, Ky., and Franklin, N. C. For some years before this a society of ladies in New Orleans had been working for the Mexican Mission. In 1878 there were more than twenty Woman's Missionary Societies in the Southern Methodist Church. These were the same year incorporated into one, and the Woman's Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was organized under a constitution provided by the General Conference of that year, with Mrs. Juliana Hayes, of Baltimore, as first president, and Mrs. D. M. McGavock, of Nashville, Tenn., as corresponding secre- tary. Miss Lochie Rankin, of Tennessee, was the first representative of the newly formed society. She was sent to take charge of a school in Shanghai. This school was already in existence under the General Board, with an 1 See chapter by Mrs. Black in " Handbook of Methodist Missions." irOJl/AJV'S PARSONAGE AND HOME MISSION SOCIETY. I 29 attendance of 29 pupils and 6 native Bible women. The first meeting of the General Executive Board of the Woman's Missionary Society was held in Louisville, Ky., in May, 1879. Fifteen conference societies had been organized, with 219 auxiliaries, numbering 5890 mem- bers. The receipts for that first year were over $4000. At the next annual meeting, in Nashville, Tenn., dele- gates from twenty- two conference societies were pres- ent, representing 465 auxiliaries and 12,273 members. The collections for the second year were $13,775. A second missionary had been sent out in 1879, Miss Dora Rankin. She joined her sister the same year, and the two were together put in charge of a new school established at Nantziang, while the school at Shanghai was put in charge of Mrs. Lambuth. A generous lady of Baltimore pur- chased and donated a home for the missionaries in Nantzi- ang— the " Louise Home." The need of an official organ was felt, and the " Woman's Missionary Advocate " was established at Nashville, with Mrs. F. A. Butler as editor. From these beginnings the work has grown until now the society has 2209 auxiliaries with 76,396 members, and there are flourishing missions and mission schools and hospitals in China, in South America, and in Mexico. In the field in China there are 9 missionaries of the Woman's Board, 52 native teachers, 5 Bible women, 4 boarding- schools, 33 day-schools, 758 pupils, and i hospital and dispensary. The points occupied are Shanghai, Nantziang, Kading, and Suchow. The work of the Woman's Board in Mexico extends to a greater number of points. In the Laredo District there are 5 missionaries, 11 teachers, 4 native teachers, 531 pupils. At Saltillo there are 3 missionaries, 5 teachers, 181 pupils. In Durango, i missionary, 3 teachers, 80 pupils. In Chihuahua, 3 missionaries, 3 teachers, 109 1 30 THE METHODISTS, SOUTH. [Chap. xii. pupils. In the San Luis Potosi, i missionary, 7 teachers, 158 pupils. In the Mexican work altogether there are 13 missionaries, 32 teachers, ten of whom are natives, and 1 1 7 1 pupils. In the Brazilian work there are 9 missionaries, 14 teach- ers, four of whom are native, 3 schools, and 240 pupils. The points occupied are Piracicaba, in the province of Sao Paulo, and Rio and Juiz de Fora, in the province of Rio. The Woman's Board has and supports a school at Anadarko, in the Indian Territory, which has 4 teachers and 54 pupils. In 1890 they had property in China worth $60,000; in Mexico, $66,300; in Brazil, $45,000; in Indian Ter- ritory, $5000; total, $176,300. The collections of the Woman's Society for 1892-93 amounted to $99,289.65.^ In addition to the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society there is another and a distinct society of women called the " Parsonage and Home Mission Society." This was first organized as the " Woman's Department of Church Extension," but was afterward enlarged so as to take in any work coming under the head of home missions. Its primary object was to collect funds for the building of parsonages in needy places, and corresponded in this re- spect to the work of the Board of Church Extension in building churches in needy places. Miss Lucinda B. Helm, of Kentucky, to whose fertile brain the conception of the plan is due, was the first secretary and general manager, and under her zealous and successful leadership the society has grown to be an invaluable adjunct to the department of church extension. Since its organization, in 1886, the general society and its auxiliaries have raised for all purposes $114,000. They have built or helped to build 550 parsonages, and 1 " Report of the Woman's Missionary Society for 1893," p. 63. SCARRITT BIBLE AND TRAINING SCHOOL. 131 many of these have been the means of establishing our church where otherwise it would have had no existence, or at best a feeble existence.^ The society devotes itself also to the encouragement and development of local home mission work, wherever its members may be situated. The local auxiliary in Nashville, for example, employs two excellent and intelligent ladies, who have received special training, in Christian work among the lower classes. The present general secretary is Mrs. Ruth Scarritt, Kan- sas City, Mo. For the special training of women who are preparing themselves for mission work, either in the home or foreign field, a school has in the last few years been established by the women of the church. It is located in Kansas City, Mo. The beautiful and commanding site upon which it is located and $25,000 toward the building were donated by the Rev. Dr. Nathan Scarritt. The women of the church subsequently raised $25,000, and a build- ing has been erected which is a model of convenience and of architectural beauty. It is appropriately named the " Scarritt Bible and Training School." The principal is Miss M. L. Gibson. It has the following departments : Bible Study, Church History, Moral Philosophy and Chris- tian Evidences, Nurse Training, Industrial, City Mission Work, Physical Culture. It has also a hospital depart- ment and a medical faculty. It corresponds, iiT part, to schools for deaconesses in other churches. It is in its second year of operation, and is doubtless destined to a career of enlarging beneficence and blessing in many ways and for all time to come. 1 See " Report of Woman's Parsonage and Home Mission Society," p. 34. CHAPTER XIII. GENERAL VIEW AND CONCLUSION. We have now outlined the history of the origin of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, as a distinct eccle- siastical body ; its development, growth, and work during the years of its early prosperity, from 1846 to i860; its period of depletion, impoverishment, and depression during and following the war, from 1861 to 1866; its resuscita- tion and phenomenal growth from 1866 to 1890. It re- mains to give a brief outline of its present condition, and to conclude. While statistics are not an absolutely correct and in- fallible indication of the actual state and the real forces of a church, yet, with some general knowledge besides, they give a fairly proximate idea, and it would be difficult to form an estimate without them. It has been said that figures will not lie. But it has also been said that lies will figure. In one respect the statistics of a church in- volve an over-statement of its forces and resources, inas- much a.9 it is certain that not all those who are counted and who help to swell the numbers are actual Christians or available and effective helpers in its work. On the other hand, there are conditions, influences, and elements of power that cannot be weighed and measured, that can- not be reduced to arithmetical calculation and tabulation. So that, on the whole, statistics will at least afford as cor- rect an estimate of a cliurch's achievements and resources as can be put in a comprehensive and summary statement. 132 THE LATEST STATISTICS. 133 They furnish also a comparative estimate of the work of the several churches. The old rule, with some grains of allowance, applies here, that it is as fair for one as it is for the other. We are able to give the statistics of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, for the year 1891-92, the re- turns for 1892-93 not being yet made out. Traveling preachers. Local preachers. White members. Colored members. Indian members. Total membership. 5.368 6,481 1,282,750 357 10,759^ i>305,7i5 The year 1893 was one of general revival and large in- gathering. It is perfectly certain that the total will now considerably exceed 1,350,000. The Southern Methodists outnumber any other single Protestant church in the country except the Baptists, who (without counting the colored churches) reckon, all told, North and South, about 2,200,000, and the Northern Methodists, who reported for 1892, probationers, colored members and all, 2,473,159.2 Further statistics for 1891-92 : Sunday- Teach- Schol- ^-u u \t \ Parson- ,t , Total schools. ers. ars. Churches. Value. ^^^^ Value. ^^^^^^ 13,426 95,204 754,223 12,856 $20,287,112 3,015 $3,693,436 $23,980,546 Missionary statistics for 1892-93: Foreign Domestic Woman's Total for Church Missions. Missions. Board. Blissions. Extension. $346,572,393 $134,690.74 $99,289,651 $580,552.78 $80,685,855 At least a third of the Church Extension collections was used on mission fields. This will make over $600,000 raised for mission work in 1892-93. The conference collections for the superannuated 1 See p. 126 and note. 2 See " Methodist Year-Book " for 1893, p. 49. 3 " Report of Board of Missions for 1893," p. 208. 4 " Report of Woman's Missionary Society,"' 1893, p. 63. 5 " Church Extension Bidletin," July, 1893, p. 2. 134 THE METHODISTS, SOUTH. [Chap. xiii. preachers and the widows and orphans of deceased preachers for 1891-92 amounted to $148,577.46. Educational statistics for 1891-92 : Schools and t u r> i Value of t 3 » Colleges. Teachers. Pupils. property. Endowment. 179 897 16,620 $4,485,042 $1,538,000 The history of the church will vindicate the claim that according to her ability she has been the patron of edu- cation. Retaining in 1845 possession of the institutions which were located in her territory, she at once inaugu- rated and between the years 1846 and i860 carried forward an educational movement of great vigor and wide extent. During that period more than thirty schools of collegiate grade sprang into existence, some with liberal endow- ments, while the older ones were enlarged or more ade- quately endowed. The Journal of the General Confer- ence of 1858 gives the names and statistics of 106 schools and colleges owned or controlled by the church.^ During the war all or nearly all these were closed ; many of them were destroyed. After the devastations of the war, and under the embarrassments of her impoverished condition, the church addressed herself to the task of restoring her educational institutions. Considering the inadequacy of her resources, her lack of means, and the difficulties to be overcome, her success has not been small. The results of her earnest efforts have received generous recognition upon the part of observant men of other churches and sections and countries. Bishop Merrill, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, says: "The zeal of our Southern brethren in re- building their church institutions since the desolations of the war has been phenomenal. The history of Method- ism scarcely aflfords a parallel to the successes they have achieved."- Dr. Waller, the fraternal delegate of the Brit- 1 " Journal of General Conference of 1858," pp. 523-532. 2 " Organic Union of American Methodism," p. 109. EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS. I 35 ish Wesleyan Conference to the General Conference of the Southern Church in 1 890, said : " The way in which South- ern Methodism rose from the ashes after the war is one of the most remarkable facts in modern church history." Her leading institution is the Vanderbilt University, at Nashville, Tenn., representing the munificent gifts of father, son, and grandson of the great family of that name in the Knickerbocker State. After this comes Randolph- Macon College, with its two affiliated fitting-schools and Woman's College, in Virginia; Emory College, in Georgia; Emory and Henry, in Western Virginia ; Wofford, with its two •fitting-schools, in South Carolina ; Trinity, in North Caro- lina; Central, in Missouri; Southern, in Alabama; South- western, in Texas ; Wesleyan, in Kentucky ; Millsaps, in Mississippi; Centenary, in Louisiana; Hendrix, in Arkan- sas ; Pacific, in California. These schools have been and are more or less crippled for lack of ample endowments. Most of them have some endowment,- and are making most vigorous and not 'altogether unsuccessful efTorts to increase it. Vanderbilt University has property approximating a million dollars in value and a productive endowment of $900,000. While this is a good beginning, the Univer- sity is in great need of at least a million more. The establishment of this institution in the South has given a great impulse to the cause of education in general, whose momentum increases with the advancing years. It created the necessity for a class of training-schools which are springing up in all parts of the connection to meet the increasing demand. On the other hand, the University is furnishing trained teachers for these training-schools, as well as for chairs in many of the colleges, both in the church and out of it; who in their turn are preparing stu- dents for the University and directing them with enthusi- asm to the halls of their own honored abna mater. 136 THE METHODISTS, SOUTH. [Chap. xiil. Students from the training-schools enter the University to take the regular course : students from the colleges enter the higher classes of the undergraduate course, or take post-graduate or professional courses. The Uni- versity, on the one hand, and the colleges and training- schools, on the other, are interdependent, correlative, and complementary. The University in ever-increasing meas- ure supplies trained teachers for the colleges and train- ing-schools, while these in turn supply students for the University classes, and there is endless and ever-increas- ing progression. This correlation, however, has, so far, been only par- tially realized in practice. The universal application of the principle would give us a complete, effective, and almost ideal educational system. This will involve mutual con- cessions, and the subordination of local and personal to general interests. For this consummation many of the leading men are devoutly wishing and hoping, and toward it they are looking and working. We have four theological schools : the theological de- partment of Vanderbilt University, a theological school at San Luis Potosi, in Mexico, another at Kobe, in Japan, and the theological department of Paine Institute, for col- ored preachers. With all that has been said, our educational institutions, especially the Colleges and the University, are in great need of large pecuniary aid, and it must in all candor be confessed and declared that men of means in the South have not yet risen to an appreciation of the opportunity that is set before them, and of the responsibility that is laid upon them.^ For twelve years after its organization the Methodist 1 It was the jiiiriiose of the author to devote a full chapter to the history of education in tlie church, hut the exigencies of space absolutely forbade it. PERIODICAL PUBLICATIONS. I 37 Episcopal Church, South, had no pubhsliing- house of its own, for causes given in other parts of this history. In 1862 the nascent institution was taken and used during the remainder of the war as a United States printing- office. In 1872 tlie house was burned. In 1878 its Ha- bihties exceeded its assets by $124,383, and it was de- clared insolvent. On April i , 1 893, its total assets amounted to $659,516.58, with an insignificant debt of $13,396.18. The volume of business for the fiscal year ending April i, 1893, amounted to $343,707.94, out of the profits of which $17,500 was appropriated for the benefit of worn- out preachers and the widows and orphans of deceased preachers. 1 These facts and figures speak for themselves. " The Christian Advocate," one of the leading weeklies of the country, with Dr. E. E. Hoss as editor and Dr. E. M. Bounds, assistant editor, has a circulation of nearly 25,000. "The Pacific Methodist Advocate" (San Fran- cisco), Dr. H. M. DuBose, editor, is the organ of the church in the West. Both these are the property and the official organs of the church. Besides these two there are twenty-seven other papers published as organs of conferences or by private enterprise. One of these is in German, one in Spanish, one in Portuguese, two in Chinese. The church publishes a " Quarterly Review," Dr. W. P. Harrison, editor, which will compare favorably with other church reviews. " The Methodist Review of Missions" has been noticed elsewhere. "The Woman's Missionary Advocate," edited by Mrs. F. A. Butler, has a circulation of 13,000, and richly deserves as many more. The Sunday-school publications, of which Rev. Dr. W. G. E. Cunnyngham is editor, reach up into the millions. The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, is at peace with herself. While her progress has been singularly 1 Report of Barbee and Smith, Agents, for 1892-93, 138 THE METHODISTS, SOUTH. [Chap. xiii. beset with difficulties and discouragements from without, she has been singularly free from dissensions or disturb- ances within. She has pursued her course and performed her heaven-appointed work with a unity and continuity of purpose to which church history affords few paral- lels. A more homogeneous ecclesiastical community does not exist on the American continent. Throughout her entire history her peace has never been disturbed by her- esy, or by wild and venturesome speculation, or even by serious doctrinal controversy. She has kept the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace : one body, one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. On this point Bishop Merrill bears generous testimony : " Soundness of doctrine is maintained with reference to all that is vital in the Christian system. The Word of God is laid upon the consciences of the people with its stern requirements and penalties, as well as with its promises and grace, as the only standard of moral obli- gation." ^ The church has studiously and persistently kept her- self aloof from all entanglements with or interferences in political matters. This is not because she is insensible of her position and relations in the world, or indifferent to these things, but because she believes that the way to make a good state is to make good citizens, and the way to make good citizens is to make good men, and the way to make good men is to hold upon their consciences God's eternal law of right and God's eternal gospel of grace. To appeal to political motives or to arouse partisan passions would seriously if not efTectually hinder this higher and holier work. Hence her doctrine is that the function of the church and ministry is to take care of the man ; and the citizen and the state will take care of them- 1 " The Organic Union of American Methodism," p. 108. HOMOGEXEITY OF SOUTHERN METHODISM. 139 selves. She interferes with no man's pohtical Hberty ; she neither dictates nor suggests any man's political action. The conviction is throughly ingrained and univer- sal that by political interferences she would lose her hold on men and lessen her power for higher good. Hence her ministers instinctively abstain even from political allusions. This does not mean that the church or her ministers are non-committal and silent upon great moral and social questions. The caustic deliverances of the last two Gen- eral Conferences on the question of prohibition, and the emphatic action of the last one on the subject of divorce, are proofs to the contrary. The agitation of certain questions of church polity or economy, which so seriously disturbs the peace of some other churches, has not invaded the Southern Methodist fold. The tendency to Congregationalism, of which so much has been written in Methodist journals of late, if in reality it exists at all, exists to a very small extent in Southern Methodism. The preachers go where they are sent, even to the barren missions of the remote rural dis- tricts, and there are many noble and touching examples of the ancient heroism of the Methodist itinerancy through- out the South. If any preacher has refused to go to a "hard appointment," or has afterward left the church on account of a " hard appointment," since the beginning of this writer's ministry (1877), he does not know of it. On the other hand, the wealthy metropolitan congregations receive and support the ministers who are sent to them, though sometimes against their choice and judgment. And in comparatively few instances is any undue press- ure brought to bear upon the bishop by laymen to control appointments. Indeed, some of the bishops have said that the laymen do not give expression to their views and wishes as frequently and as freely as they ought. 140 THE METHODISTS, SOUTH. [Chap. xiil. Upon the broader and more fundamental matters of church poHty, as the relations of the difTerent departments of church government, their functions, powers, and rights, there is practical unanimity of view. The relations and prerogatives of the episcopal office, the powers anci limita- tions of the General Conference, the rights and functions of the body of elders constituting the Annual Confer- ences, and the rights of individual ministers and private members — all these are articulately defined and securely fixed and guarded by the constitution. These definitions and safeguards are clearly understood by the ministry and the laity of the church, and are accepted with a consensus that is little short of unanimity. Witness the vote of the Annual Conferences creating the veto proviso of the con- stitution— 2024 yeas to 9 nays.^ There is at present some little breeze of discussion among the newspapers concern- ing the criticism of bishops and their official acts, which is all right and proper ; but it hardly touches the consti- tutional aspects of the subject, and there is no real demand for any essential change. The sphere of woman in the work of the church has quietly settled itself, and to the entire and unfeigned sat- isfaction of the women as well as the men. There has never been the slightest agitation, disturbance, or discon- tent in the adjustments of this great question in the past; there is not the slightest at the present. The colored problem is unknown in the Southern Meth- odist Church. That problem solved itself long ago, and quietly. The General Conference, at the request of the 60,000 colored members, set them up as an independent church in 1870. They have their own conferences, An- nual and General, they have their own bishops, they manage their own affairs, they are satisfied, and they are ' See page 90. FRATERNITY, FEDERATION, FUSION. 14I doing well. Those who wished to remain in the Meth- odist Episcopal Church, South, did so without let or hin- drance. A few so preferred, and our statistics report 357 colored members. But the Southern Church did not in one sense set off her colored members, she only set them up, as one of the colored bishops wittily remarked ; and the " Mother-Church," as they afifectionately call us,^ still takes a parental interest in them and renders them sub- stantial help. " It was widely thought," to quote once more the words of Bishop Merrill, " that when the Gen- eral Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, organized this colored church and ordained its bishops, the chief aim was to get rid of its colored mem- bership. But better things have come to pass. The newly opened fountain of liberality is pouring streams of blessing on the needy. Both churches are to be con- gratulated." ^ The Southern Methodist Church has fraternal relations with all Methodisms, and with the leading evangelical churches of other names and orders. She exchanges either fraternal messengers or messages with the princi- pal Methodist bodies, white and colored, of the United States and Canada, and the Wesleyan Methodist Confer- ence of Great Britain, with the Northern and Southern Presbyterians, the Cumberland Presbyterians, and the Bap- tists.^ As to federation she is, perhaps, over-conservative, a trifle provincial, but it is to be hoped that ere long she will be ready to cooperate in the way of federation with other Methodisms and other evangelical churches, in all prudent and practicable ways. As to fusion with other bodies, the mass of her ministry and membership holds -1 See article of Bishop Holsey in " The Independent " for March 5, 1891. 2 " The Organic Union of American Methodism," p. 105. 3 " Handbook of Southern Methodism," pp. 120-128. 142 THE METHODISTS, SOUTH. [Chap. xiu. that it is safest and best to leave that momentous question to " the leadings of Providence and the logic of events." The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, along with her sister evangelical churches, stands for the faith once for all delivered to the saints, for the pure and simple gospel of Jesus* Christ, and for the conversion of the world; along with other Methodist bodies, she stands for every doctrine of Arminian Wesleyan theology, " from prevenient grace to perfect love " ; more than any other church in the world, she stands for Constitutional Episcopal Methodism. HISTORY OF THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF NORTH AMERICA. BY JAMES BROWN SCOULLER. THE UNITED PRESBYTERIANS. CHAPTER I. REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN ELEMENT. The United Presbyterian Church of North America did not head at a single fountain. Several springs united their tiny rills at different times to form its stream. It is the result of several unions, and its antecedents were there- fore more numerous and fragmentary than those of most churches. This has thrown a veil of obscurity over much of its past history, and strangers to its communion are easily confused in reference to the personality and rela- tions of its constituents. It is the principal American representative of the dis- senting churches of Scotland. The Scots have always been distinguished for their strength of will and tenacity of pur- pose, and their willingness to sacrifice rather than to yield their convictions. This characteristic has shown itself strongly in their ecclesiastical history, for it has contrib- uted largely to the existence not only of dissent but of division and subdivision among the dissenters. These separate organizations were brought to America, and for a time kept up their old country disputes, and remained MS 146 THE UNITED PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. i. antagonistic until, after much deliberation and negotiation, they were largely gathered into one body. A bird's-eye view of the tangled history of Scotch dissent will be found in the note below. ^ The oldest of these dissenting churches is the Cove- nanting, or, as subsequently styled by themselves, the Re- formed Presbyterian, and it is one of the sources from which the United Presbyterian Church of North America has sprung, and its impress is still felt. Its existence may be said to date from the " Second Reformation " in Scot- land (1638-46), because it has always adhered tenaciously to the attainments made in the National Church at that time. But in its definite and more independent form it may be regarded as a result of the badly managed battle Presbytcffanism arose dnring the Prelaticai pereecution. bat did not organize as a Presbytery till 1743. 1733. 1702. &tabli3hcd CTiarch. 1837. lalj. Every division arose, not from difference in reference to any doctrine of grace, but from questions connected with the union of church and state. Last century was marked for its divisions, this one for its unions. Eighty years ago there were Si've7i distinct Presbyterian organizations in Scotland ; now there are but three, with residuary fragments of Covenanters and Original Seceders. SCOTTISH COVENANTERS. 1 47 of Bothwell Bridge, fought on Sabbath, June 22, 1679. The remnant which escaped from that disgraceful rout, and other sympathizers, banded themselves together under the guidance of Richard Cameron and Donald Cargill, and utterly refused to have any religious communion with any minister who had taken the " Black Indulgence." And being soon outlawed, they held secret meetings for coun- sel and for worship among the hills, and with arms in their hands, and became popularly known as " hill men " and "mountain men." On the 22d of June, 1680, the first anniversary of the Bothwell Bridge disaster, they affixed a declaration to the market-cross of Sanquhar, in which they formally disowned Charles Stuart as their lawful sov- ereign, for his perjury, his breach of covenant, and his tyr- anny ; and also denied the right of James, Duke of York, to the succession. This was burning the bridge behind them, and henceforth they neither asked nor received quarter. A month after this Cameron was surprised and slain at Airdsmoss, and Cargill was finally hunted down and executed on the 27th of July, 1681. This left the Covenanters without a minister, and they organized a system of societies. Those in the same neigh- borhood met as best they could, and as often as they could, for prayer and mutual edification. A plan of cor- respondence was established, according to which commis- sioners from all these societies met secretly about every three months, in a general meeting, which settled the pol- icy and action of the whole body, and solved questions of conscience, but never undertook the administration of dis- cipline or any official work. The first of these general meetings^ convened at Logan House, in Clydesdale, on 1 The minutes of these meetings were kept by Michael Shields, brother of the author of the " Hind Let Loose," and may be found in "Faithful Con- tendings Displayed," published by John Howie in 1780, in Glasgow. 148 THE UNITED PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. i. the 15th of December, 1681. This method of unity and fraternity was kept up until a Presbytery was organized. It was also adopted in Ireland and subsequently in America. The Covenanters would hear no minister preach nor re- ceiv^e ordination from any one who had taken the " Indul- gence." This compelled them to do without the sealing ordinances or to procure a minister from abroad. James Renwick, a young man of good education and one of their number, was sent in the autumn of 1682 to the Nether- lands, where Mr. Cameron had received his ordination. After spending the winter in the University of Groningen, he was ordained to the gospel ministry on the loth of May, 1683, by the Classis of Groningen. While he was pursuing his studies abroad the General Meeting gave a regular call to Alexander Peden, Michael Bruce, and Sam- uel Arnot, Scotch ministers, now refugees in Ireland, to come and minister to them. But the persecution of this "contending and suffering remnant " was growing hotter and hotter, and these ministers declined. Mr. Renwick returned in September, 1683, and ministered most faith- fully amidst very many dangers and difficulties. So hos- tile was the government, and so numerous and vigilant were its spies, that his first sermon in the fields was not until the 23d of November, at Darmede. He was repeat- edly outlawed by proclamation, and every subject was forbidden " to harbor him and his followers, or supply them with meat and drink, but to hunt and pursue them out of all their dens, caves, and most retired deserts, and to raise the Jinc and cry after them." And such procla- mations were always vigorously and inhumanly executed; and yet they kept the 4th of March, 1685, as "a day of thanksgiving unto the Lord for the wonderful proofs of his love and good- will, manifested to a scattered and dis- tressed remnant in this land, by his delivering of them in PERSECUTION IN SCOTLAND. 1 49 several places from the power and rage of enemies when they were ready to swallow them up." The death of Charles II. gave them a short breathing- spell, which they improved by holding a meeting on the 28th of May, 1685, at Blackgannock, where they drafted a protestation against proclaiming James, Duke of York, as King of Scotland. As soon as this meeting had ad- journed, two hundred and twenty men in arms marched to Sanquhar, where they sang a Psalm, Mr. Renwick made a prayer, and then they published this protestation and nailed a copy to the market- cross. Mr. Renwick was finally captured and taken to Edin- burgh, and here executed on the nth of February, 1688, in the twenty-sixth year of his age. And this was the last life sacrificed to the cause of religious freedom in Scotland. Alexander Shields, who had been licensed by some Scottish ministers in London, joined the Covenanters in December, 1686. William Boyd, educated at their ex- pense in the Netherlands, w^as licensed in September, 1687, by the Classis of Groningen. Thomas Lining was also sustained by them for four years at universities in Hol- land, and was ordained in August, 1688, by the Classis of Embden, after an examination which extended over twenty-one days. Providence now brought them relief by changing their circumstances and surroundings. James was banished, and William and Mary were brought to the throne. Persecution ceased, and the " hill men " were per- mitted to worship God publicly, and according to the teach- ings of their own conscience. After many years of intermission the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland met again in 1690, and reestab- lished Presbyterianism. Messrs. Lining, Shields, and Boyd, with a majority of their followers, united now with the kirk, but there was a minority which refused to do so, I50 THE UNITED PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. i. because of William's assumption of royal supremacy over the church. These " Old Dissenters," as now called, were again without a minister, and so remained for sixteen years, but free from persecutions of any kind. In 1 706 the Rev. John McMillan, of the Established Church, joined them and became their minister. In 1 743 he was joined by the Rev. Thomas Nairne, from the Secession Church, and they, w^ith the aid of some ruling elders, constituted themselves, August i, 1743, into a Presbytery, which they styled the " Reformed Presbytery." One of their first acts was to license Alexander Marshall, who had studied under Mr. McMillan. He was soon afterward ordained to the ministry, " having received a call from the United Societies." May 16, 1744, they licensed, and October 6th following ordained, John Cuthbertson, another of Mr. McMillan's students. During the twenty-seven years of persecution in Scot- land many families of Covenanter sympathies fled for peace and safety to the north of Ireland, where they settled in little clusters and were served occasionally by refugee ministers. About 1662 Re\'. David Houstoun fled to and settled in Ireland, and ministered to them until his death, \ in 1696. As early as 1720, and possibly earlier, some of these families left Ireland and made their homes in Amer- ica, and from time to time others followed, and in this way the Covenanting Church was planted in this country. A few mingled with this migration who came directly from the west of Scotland, but generally they were from Ireland, although of Scottish parentage. These immigrants located principally on the Walkill, Orange County, N. Y., and in the bounds of the present counties of Lancaster, Dauphin, York, Adams, Cumber- land, Franklin, and Fulton, in Pennsylvania, with scatter- ing families elsewhere, and especially in the interior of CO VENANTER IMMIGRA TION. 1 5 I South Carolina. They brought with them their system of praying societies and a general correspondence, and soon confederated, and kept themselves distinct from the Presbyterian churches in their neighborhoods. As many, as could met together in i 743, on the Middle Octorara, inl Lancaster County, and renewed their covenant obligations. In this they were assisted by the Rev. Alexander Craig- head, who, although connected with the Presbyterian Synod of Philadelphia, sympathized with the Covenanters in their peculiar views and took great interest in their wel- fare, and for years preached for them considerably, and for a time actually joined them. He wrote on their be- half to the Reformed Presbytery in Scotland, and was in- strumental in procuring them a minister. In 1750 the Presbytery in Scotland sent the Rev. John Cuthbertson to visit the societies in Ireland, which had been without a minister since the death of David Hous- toun. Here he remained for a year, and then, in obedi- ence to his Presbytery, came to America. He landed August 5, 1 75 1, at New Castle, Del., and immediately commenced an exploration of his missionary field. He preached almost every day for a time, at Octorara, Pequea, Paxtang, and across the Susquehanna at Walter Buchan- an's, Big Spring, Rocky Spring, in the Cove, and returned by way of Gettysburg and York to his headquarters on the Octorara. This circuit he made more or less frequently for twenty years. He also made two or three visits into the State of New York, and as far as Rhode Island, and westward as far as Pittsburg. At his preaching-stations there were no meeting-houses for years. When the weather permitted they met in " tents," and when it was not pro- pitious they did the best they could in their cabins. This " tent " was pitched in a shady grove, and consisted simply of a small elevated platform for the minister, where he 152 THE UNITED PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. I. could be seen and heard by all ; a board nailed against a tree supported the Bible, and a few rude benches served for seats, and some boards overhead protected the minister from sun and rain. Thus accommodated, they worshiped a good part of the day. On the 23d of August, 1752, Mr. Cuthbertson held his first communion in America. It was at Stony Ridge, in the Buchanan or Junkin " tent," now New Kingston, Cumberland County, Pa. A preparatory fast-day was observed, tokens of admission were dispensed, and the services of the Sabbath began early and lasted for nine hours. He paraphrased the fifteenth Psalm, and preached from John iii. 35, " The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hands." After the sermon he prayed and they sang ; he then expounded the ordinance, and debarred from and invited to the tables. The com- municants came to the tables singing the twenty-fourth Psalm. After four table services were concluded he gave a parting exhortation to the communicants and prayed. After an interval of half an hour he preached again, from John xvi. 31, " Jesus answered them. Do ye now believe? " On Monday he preached from Ephesians v. 15, " See that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise." About two hundred and fifty persons communed, and this must have comprised very nearly the entire number of adult Covenanters in Pennsylvania, for the place was central, the season was pleasant, and they gathered in from their different settlements, and nearly every adult was a com- municant. This was the first time that the followers of Cameron, Cargill, and Renwick had ever, outside the British Isles, gathered together around the communion-table of the Lord, to eat bread and drink wine in commemoration of a Saviour's love and atonincr death. To them it must have FIRST COMMUNION. 1 53 been a high day. It brought them to a mount of ordi- nances, and spread for them a table in the wilderness, giving them thus a tangible evidence of the thoughtfulness and tender care of the Great Shepherd. It also waked the memory of other days and of other scenes, and called up the forms and caresses of loved ones parted with be- yond the sea. Their tears were doubtless mingled ones of gladness and of sorrow, half of earth and half of heaven. Such a scene of gratitude and of praise, of memory and of tears, must have strengthened every heart and quickened every grace, and made them to sing, as they never sang before, that triumphant song which had so often sustained and cheered their persecuted ancestors when " mountain men " in Scotland : God is our refuge and our strength, In straits a present aid ; Therefore, although the earth remove, We will not be afraid. Mr. Cuthbertson had now finished the first year of his missionary labors, during which he preached on a hundred and twenty days, baptized a hundred and ten children, married ten couples, and rode on horseback twenty-five hundred miles. The toil and labor, the difficulties and dangers of such a year's work cannot now be estimated or appreciated. He was more than one hundred days in the saddle ; he had to cross, without the aid of bridge or boat, streams of considerable volume, and often when greatly swollen ; he had to pass from one settlement to another through miles of heavy, unbroken forests, where were the lair of the wild beast and the wigwam of the cruel redman, without the advantage of roads, and guided often by the blazed trees which marked a trail. The summer's sun and the winter's frost, the drenching rain and the drifting snow had to be boldly met and patiently endured. His 154 THE UNITED PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. i. Studying had to be largely done on horseback, without the aid of helps, during the tedious hours of his lonely rides. His food by day and lodgings at night were guiltless of any special comforts, and barely met the demands of ne- cessity. And yet this apostolic man toiled on for thirty- nine years, during which time he preached on twenty-four hundred and fifty-two days, baptized eighteen hundred and six children, married two hundred and forty couples, and rode on horseback about seventy thousand miles, or nearly equal to three times around the world. His dust now sleeps on the Octorara's bank, awaiting the resurrec- tion of the just, and we would gladly bring a flower and lay it upon his grave in honor of his life, and in token of gratitude for the privileges which we now enjoy, partly through his labors and sacrifices.' He ordained his first bench of ruling elders April 8, 1752, at Rocky Spring, near Chambersburg, Pa. These were James and George Wilson, of Fulton County, George Mitchell, of Rocky Spring, and David Dunwoodie and Jeremiah Morrow, of Adams County. In December of the same year he ordained several more at Octorara, who belonged to the stations east of the river. These had not only a local jurisdiction but also a general supervision over all the associated societies. For several years only one communion was held every year, and this was for the benefit of the whole. A central location was selected during the pleasant weather of the late summer or early autumn, and the members from all the stations were ex- pected to be present and participate, and they were always received with a large and hearty hospitality by the resi- dent families. The second communion was on the 14th 1 Mr. Cuthbertson kept a diary in which he carefully recorded every act and incident. This diary is now in the possession of the Rev. Joseph Buchanan, of Steubenville, O. REFORMED PRESBYTERY ORGANIZED. I 55 of October, 1753, at Paxtang, Dauphin County, Pa., when about two hundred communed. The third was at the same place, on the 25th of August, 1754, when about two hundred and fifty participated. Mr. Cuthbertson mentions in his diary that upon this occasion, while engaged in prayer, asking a blessing upon the use of the bread and wine, a fearful thunderstorm broke upon them, killing four horses and a dog some forty yards from the " tent." In the spring of 1773 Mr. William Brown, of Paxtang, went as a commissioner to Ireland to procure two addi- tional ministers, and was specially instructed to get, if possible, the Rev. Matthew Linci, pastor at Aghadowey, Londonderry County, as one of these. Mr. Lind and Alexander Dobbin, specially licensed and ordained for this purpose, returned with him. They landed at New Castle, Del, in December, 1773, and on the loth of March, 1774, Messrs. Cuthbertson, Lind, and Dobbin, with several ruling elders, met at Paxtang, six miles east of Harrisburg, Pa., and constituted themselves as the Reformed Presbytery of America. They distributed their labors thus: Mr. Cuth- bertson to reside on the Middle Octorara, and take charge of that church and of Muddy Run, in Lancaster County, and Lower Chanceford, in York County ; Mr. Lind to locate at Paxtang, and have the pastoral care of that con- gregation and the one at Stony Ridge, in Cumberland County ; Mr. Dobbin to reside at Rock Creek, now Gettys- burg, and serve that church, and also the one at East Conecocheague, now Greencastle, Franklin County. David Telfair, of the Burgher Synod of Scotland, who had sup- plied a Burgher congregation in Shippen Street, Philadel- phia, for ten years, joined this presbytery on the 12th of August, 1780. The most distinctive item in the creed of the Covenanters was their refusal to profess allegiance to an immoral gov- 156 THE UNITED PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. i. ernment. They not only admitted, but insisted upon it, that civil government was a divine institution, but at the same time contended that every system of civil government was not from God, because " it is not the fact that it docs exist, but its moral chai'actcr, that determines ivhctJier it be the ordinance of God or not." For their refusal of alle- giance to the administrations of Charles II. and James II. they suffered a more cruel and unrelenting persecution than Roman emperor ever waged against Christianity ; nevertheless they maintained their faith, and when tolera- tion came under William and Mary, they still refused to swear allegiance to the British Government because its sovereign, whether saint or sinner, exercised a royal su- premacy over the church. In their new surroundings in America they found many Associate Presbyterians, or Seceders, from Scotland and Ireland. In matters of faith and modes of witnessing for the truth they were at one with them, so when the colonies asserted their independence of the British crown they felt that the barrier of political dissent need no longer keep them apart. Negotiations for a union were at once com-l menced, and about the 1st of December, 1781, the Re-\* formed Presbytery unanimously adopted the terms of union ' offered by the Associate Presbytery of New York, and all its ministers and fully organized congregations went into, the union, which was consummated October 31, 1782,1. and by which the Associate Reformed Church was formed.' Most of the isolated societies which were not under direct pastoral influence took no part in this union, but went on as before, and wrote to the fatherland for a supply of min- isters. In I 789 the Rev. James Reid, of Scotland, visited America and examined the whole field from New York to South Carolina, and then returned home and reported his observations. The Rev. Mr. McGarragh was sent out in UNION WITH THE SECEDERS. 157 1 79 1 from Ireland, and Rev. William King in 1792 from Scotland. They were authorized to manage the affairs of the Covenanting Church as a committee of the Presbytery of Scotland. Others soon joined them, and in 1798 a new'| Reformed Presbytery of America was organized, and through | it the Reformed Presbyterian Church has been continued to the present time. CHAPTER II. THE ASSOCIATE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. In 1690, after the long and sore persecution under Charles II. and James II. was terminated by the accession of William and Mary to the throne, Presbyterianism was reestablished in Scotland. So great was the desire of the government to avoid as much ecclesiastical excitement as possible, that the General Assembly allowed several hun- dred of the Episcopal incumbents to retain their charges, upon the single condition that they would submit to that very Presbyterian system which they had helped the per- secutors to overthrow. Of these men Bishop Burnet says : " They were the worst preachers I ever heard ; they were ignorant to a reproach, and many of them were clearly vicious. They were a disgrace to their orders, and were indeed the dregs and the refuse of the northern parts. Those of them that rose above contempt and scandal were men of such violent tempers that they were as much hated as the others were despised." The result of such politic lenity was a rapid growth of error and corruption in the church, so that within thirty years Professor Simson was permitted to teach in the divinity chair of Glasgow some of the worst errors of heathenism, and yet was allowed to retain the emoluments of his office and remain in the com- munion of the church until his death. The church being established by law, the settlement of its ministers was not by the election of the members, but by the presentation of a patron. As the corrupt party 158 THE SECESSION IN SCOTLAND. 1 59 increased in number and power they made the system of patronage more and more oppressive, until the people ceased to have either power or privilege, and even the poor boon of remonstrance was withdrawn. At this stage of affairs some of the evangelical minis- ters republished "The Marrow of Modern Divinity," by Edward Fisher, of England, believing that its circulation would help the cause of truth. This roused the indignation of the Moderates, and in the Assembly of i 720 they con- demned a number of propositions which they claimed to have gathered from that book. Against this act twelve of the most eminent ministers of the church prepared a " Representation," or explanatory protest. These men were James Hog, Thomas Boston, John Bonar, John Williamson, James Kid, Gabriel Wilson, Ebenezer Erskine, Ralph Erskine, James Wardlaw, Henry Davidson, John Bathgate, and William Hunter. Their paper was con- sidered in 1722, and resulted in the condemnation of the alleged doctrines of the " Marrow " ; and, following the example of Rome in its " Index Expurgatorius," the As- sembly " strictly prohibited and discharged all ministers of the church to use, by writing, preaching, catechising, or otherwise teaching, either publicly or privately, the posi- tions condemned, or what may be equivalent to them or of like tendency, under pain of the censures of the church conformed to the merit of their offense." The " Repre- senters " were also rebuked and admonished by the moder- ator. That the Moderates might have a free and unre- strained course, the Barrier Act, or Law of Overtures, was suspended, and protests and dissents were no longer re- corded. The evangelical party, being thus shut out from the judicatories of the church, concluded to carry the cause into the pulpit. The Rev. Ebenezer Erskine, as modera- l6o THE UNITED PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. ii. tor, opened the meeting of the Synod of Perth and Stirl- ing, on the 1 8th of October, 1732, with a sermon from the text : " The stone which the builders refused is become the headstone of the corner" (Psalm cxviii. 22). He treated of the church as a building, of Christ as the foun- dation of the building, of the builders, of their error in refusing Christ, and of the glory to which Christ will be exalted as the headstone in spite of all the attempts of these builders to thrust him out of his place. In his re- marks upon the Jewish builders he said some things that appeared not very complimentary to some of the builders before him, and which caused considerable hard feeling toward the preacher. He was immediately called to an account for what was regarded as the injurious reflections contained in his sermon, and after a warm discussion of three days' continuance he was adjudged by a majority of six to be rebuked. From this sentence he appealed to the General Assembly. His son-in-law, the Rev. James Fisher, joined him in this appeal. Fourteen others dis- sented and protested, among whom were the Rev. Alex- ander Moncrieff and the Rev. William Wilson. When the case came up in the Assembly of May, 1733, Messrs. Moncrieff and Wilson were denied a hearing in behalf of their dissent, and Mr. Fisher in support of his protest. Mr. Erskine alone was heard, and the Assembly sustained the Synod, and ordered him to be rebuked at their own bar in order to terminate the process. He submitted to the rebuke, and then immediately produced a paper in which he protested against the censure which had been administered, as importing that he had in his sermon departed from the Word of God and the standards of the church. He also claimed that he should " be at liberty to preach the same truths of God, and to testify against the same or like defections of the church upon all proper oc- SECESSION C0MFLE7ED. l6l casions." In this protest he was joined by Messrs. Mon- crieff, Wilson, and Fisher. The protest was refused a hearing, as was the custom of that day, and laid upon the table unread. It accident- ally fell to the floor, and a member near by picked it up and read it, and then called upon the Assembly to stop proceedings and take notice of " the insufferable insult " offered by the presentation of such a paper. The protest was then publicly read, and McKerrow says : " The whole Assembly was in an uproar. A paper containing high treason against the sovereign or blasphemy against the majesty of Heaven could not have called forth a greater burst of indignation." The four brethren were ordered to appear before the Assembly on the next morning, which they did, and, refusing to withdraw their paper, were directed to appear before the Commission in August next, " and then show their sorrow for their conduct and mis- behavior in offering to protest, and in giving in to the Assembly the paper by them subscribed, and that they then retract the same." If they refused to do this, the Commission was directed to proceed to a higher censure. When the Commission met in August the brethren re- fused to retract their protest, and were suspended " from the exercise of the ministerial functions and all the parts thereof." The brethren continued the exercise of their ministry without any regard to this act of suspension, and received considerable encouragement in so doing. At the meeting of the Commission in November petitions were sent in from seven synods and a number of presbyteries in their favor, and a large portion of the Commission were in favor of delay. A motion to postpone was lost by the casting vote of the moderator. It was finally carried to " loose the relation of the said four ministers to their charges, and declare them no longer ministers of this 1 62 THE UNITED PRESBYTERIANS. [CiiAr. ii. church, and to prohibit all ministers of this church to employ them in any ministerial function." Seven of the ministers of the Commission protested against this act, and avowed their willingness to hold ministerial communion with them. The four exscinded ministers handed in a paper declaring themselves under the necessity of SECEDING from the church, and they soon afterward met and organized as a Presbytery, which they styled the Associated, and published what was known as the " Extra-judicial Testimony." In this they defended their action on the ground of the evils in the church, and the fact that they were thrust, out because of their testifying against these evils. They per- formed no judicial act for three years, hoping that some- thing would be done by which they could consistently return to the church. There was a strong evangelical party in the church which sympathized with them, and gave very free expression to their sympathy. The As- sembly of 1734 was somewhat alarmed and anxious as to the consequences, and tried to conciliate. The Bar- rier Acts were restored ; the act prohibiting the recording of reasons of dissent and the act anent the planting of churches were declared to be " no longer binding rules of this church " ; and the Synod of Perth and Stirling was directed to remove the censures from the four brethren and to restore them to their charges. The Synod did all this on the 2d of July, " with one voice and consent," and then elected Mr. Erskine, in his absence, to the modera- tor's chair. The four brethren considered these overtures of conciliation long and earnestly, and finally concluded to decline them, upon the simple ground that only some errors were corrected, while the principle which produced these errors remained unchanged, and consequently prom- ised only a temporary peace. The succeeding Assemblies SECESSION ORGANIZED. 1 63 fully vindicated the Seceders in their course, for some of the evangelical party felt constrained in a few years to make another secession and form the Relief Church. In the summer of 1736 the Associated brethren began to act judicially as a Presbytery, and on the 3d of De- cember they emitted an elaborate " Judicial Testimony." Little societies quickly sprang up in many places, which applied to them for ordinances ; and as there were young men in the universities who sympathized with them, Mr. Wilson was appointed as their professor of divinity. In 1737 Thomas Mair, of Orwell, and Ralph Erskine, of Dun- fermline, joined the Presbytery, and in 1738 Thomas Nairne, of Abbotshall, and James Thompson, of Burntis- land, making eight in all. The Assembly of 1739 cited them all to appear and answer for schism, and the eight brethren presented themselves before the bar of the As- sembly as a constituted Presbytery, and formally declined the authority of the judicatories of the church. The As- sembly of I 740 proceeded to depose them from the min- istry, and ordered their expulsion by force from their churches and manses. This terminated all connection with the kirk. The increase of ministers and churches was such that in I 744 there were twenty-six settled charges. These were so scattered that in that year the body was divided into three Presbyteries, subordinate to a Synod. During the next year the question was started as to the lawfulness of taking certain burgess oaths which contained this clause : " Here I protest, before God and your lordships, that I profess and allow with my heart the true religion presently professed within this realm, and authorized by the law'S thereof; I shall abide thereat, and defend the same to my life's end, renouncing the Roman religion called Papistry." The Synod was nearly equally divided as to the lawfulness 1 64 THE UNITED PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. ii. of their members' taking this oath. One party insisted that the expression " the true religion presently professed " simply designated the Protestant religion in contradistinc- tion to the Roman. The other contended that it implied allegiance to the kirk in its present corrupted condition. The controversy waxed so hot that in 1747 the Synod divided, and the Secession was continued in two branches, the Burgher and the Anti-Burgher, until September 8, 1820, when they were reunited to form the United Seces- sion Church. CHAPTER III. THE ASSOCIATE CHURCH IN AMERICA. As early as 1742 the Associate Presbytery of Scotland received a petition from Londonderry, Chester County, Pa., asking that an ordained minister or a probationer might be sent to labor in that district. But the few- brethren had none to send. In 1750 and 1751 petitions were sent to the Anti- Burgher Synod asking for a supply for the eastern counties of Pennsylvania. After some fail- ures to accept appointments, Mr. Alexander Gellatly con- sented, and was licensed and ordained as the first Associate missionary to America. The Rev. Andrew Arnot, pastor at Midholm, offered to go with him, with the liberty of returning at the end of a year, if he so desired. They sailed in the summer of 1753, and found a wide and promising field in the valley of the Susquehanna. On the 2d of November, 1753, they organized a Presbytery, which they styled the " Associate Presbytery of Pennsyl- vania," subordinate to the Associate Anti-Burgher Synod of Scotland. They were at once invited by the Presbytery of New Castle of the " New Light " Presbyterian Synod of New York to cast in their lot with them. This was of course declined, and that Presbytery forthwith issued a warning to their congregations against these men as schis- matics and separatists, and as being heretical on the gospel offer, the nature of faith, and sundry other things. Mr. Gellatly answered this warning in a publication of two hundred and forty pages. Messrs. Finley and Smith, of 165 l66 THE UNITED PKESBYTERIANS. [Chai-. iu. the New Castle Presbytery, replied, and Mr. Gellatly fol- lowed with a second answer of two hundred and three pages. The controversy was of great service to the new brethren, for it advertised them very extensively. In September, i 754, the Rev. James Proudfoot arrived from Scotland and joined the Presbytery, and Mr. Arnot, having finished his year, returned to his pastoral charge in Scotland. The mission of these three men cost the Synod about five hundred dollars, and, considering the fewness and the feebleness of its congregations, it was a very gen- erous contribution to the cause of missions. Mr. Gellatly was settled over the congregation of Octorara, in Lancas- ter County, and also over Oxford, in Chester County, until relieved of the latter by Mr. Henderson. Mr. Proudfit traveled among the churches for three or four years, and then settled at Pequea, in Lancaster County. In 1758 Matthew Henderson arrived from Scotland and settled at Oxford, giving one third of his time to Pencader, in the edge of the State of Delaware, near the present town of Newark. On the 12th of March, 1761, Mr. Gellatly died, and during the same year John Mason, minister, and Rob- ert Annan and John Smart, licentiates, arrived. Mr. Mason was immediately settled in New York City, over a congre- gation which had sent for him ; Mr. Annan was ordained and installed June 8, 1763, at Marsh Creek, in Adams County, Pa., and Mr. Smart, after a year or two, returned to Scotland. In the autumn of 1 763 William Marshall arrived, and was, August 30, 1765, ordained and installed at Deep Run, in Bucks County, Pa. Thus far all the Associate ministers were from the Anti- Burgher Synod of Scotland, but in 1 764 the Rev. Thomas Clarke, M.D., and over two hundred of his congregation in Ballybay, Ireland, arrived and finally located in Salem, N. Y. Dr. Clarke was from the Burgher Presbytery in THOMAS CLARKE. 1 67 Ireland, which was subordinate to the Burgher Synod of Scotland, but he did not wish to continue a division in the Secession, which could have no possible grounds or significancy in this country, where there were no burgess oaths, so he applied at once to the Associate Presbytery of Pennsylvania for admission. After some delay and considerable negotiations as to terms, he was admitted, September 2, 1765, upon the following conditions, viz. : 1. That Mr. Clarke shall not, either publicly or privately, justify the bur- gess oath, or any writing published in defense of it, nor give countenance to any in taking such a step ; and the Presbytery agrees to drop the whole con- troversy concerning it. 2. That Mr. Clarke concur with this Presbytery in adhering to the National Covenant and the Solemn League, with the Bond of renewing the same, together with the Act, Declaration and Testimony, as they were owned and professed before the unhappy division, and that he endeavors to prose- cute the ends of them in his place and station. 3. That Mr. Clarke shall not endeavor to obtain a Presbytery in America constituted in opposition to this Presbytery, nor countenance any attempt toward erecting such a Presbytery. 4. That Mr. Clarke shall not preach upon an invitation from people who are in full communion with or have made application to this Presbytery for sermon without their allowance, nor countenance any brother in taking such a step. 5. That Mr. Clarke shall acknowledge that this Presbytery and the Synod in Scotland, to which it is subordinate, are lawful courts of Jesus Christ ; and the Presbytery likewise acknowledges that the other Synod is a lawful court of Christ ; nor do the Presbytery desire that he renounce his subjection to that Synod according to these terms. 6. That the members of this Presbytery shall not, either publicly or pri- vately, justify the act condemning the burgess oath, or the censures passed against some of Mr. Clarke's brethren by their Synod, or justify any writing in defense of said censures, or countenance any step tending thereto. 7. That the Presbytery and Mr. Clarke shall endeavor to strengthen one another in pursuance of these terms, and to bring about a general healing of the unhappy division in a Scriptural way. 8. That our Secession, we must acknowledge, is such as is declared to be in the ground of secession contained in the first " Testimony," which is ap- proved of and made judicial in the " Judicial Testimony," and is substan- tially declared in our Declaration, and so we look upon ourselves as standing upon the same footing as before the rupture. 1 68 THE UNITED PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. hi. 9. That upon subscribing to these terms the Presbytery and Mr. Clarke shall in the meantime and henceforward maintain a brotherly communication with each other. McKerrow, in his " History of the Secession Church," states : In September, 1765, an application was received from some of the in- habitants of New Cambridge, in the county of Albany and province of New York, representing in strong terms their destitute condition with regard to the gospel, and craving that the Synod (Burgher) would send them without delay a minister to break among them the bread of life, at the same time promising to give the person who should be sent a suitable maintenance. The Synod having taken this position into consideration, as well as the application formerly made from Philadelphia, resolved both to send an or- dained minister and a preacher, but delayed making the appointment until the month of November, when they were again to meet for the dispatch of business. On the 12th of November the Synod appointed Mr. Telfair to go on i mission to America early in the spring, and agreed to send with him Samuel Kinloch, probationer. They were to remain in America till April, 1767, unless the Synod should see fit to recall or extend their apjjointments. They were to preach not only at Philadelphia and New Cambridge, but in any other places where they might find an opening. In May, 1767, the Synod received letters from the congregations in Phila- delphia and New Cambridge, expressing their warmest thanks for the bene- fits they had received from the ministrations of Messrs. Telfair and Kinloch, and beseeching that the Synod would either permit these brethren to continue among them, or, should they be removed, that others might be speedily sent to supply their places. In the spring of i 766 Messrs. Telfair and Kinloch arrived, and the former took charge of the Burgher congregation in Shippen Street, Philadelphia, while the latter made his headquarters in New Cambridge, now Cambridge, Wash- ington County, N. Y. When their appointed year had ex- pired they concluded to remain permanently in this coun- try, and made application to the Associate Presbytery of Pennsylvania for admission to its membership. A meet- ing of Presbytery was called, to meet June 9, 1767, at Pequea, Pa., " that steps might be taken for making the coalescence between this Presbytery and Mr. Telfair and OPPOSITION TO UXION WITH BURGHERS. 169 Mr. Kinloch complete." The minute of that meeting runs thus : They proceeded to consider the terms of agreement between them and the Rev. Thomas Clarke, of Stillwater in the county of Albany, to which, with some small variation, the Rev. Mr. Telfair, minister of the gospel in Mon- teith in Scotland, with Mr. S. Kinloch, probationer, did agree. This action was not satisfactory to the Anti-Burgher Synod in Scotland, where the necessities of the case could neither be understood nor appreciated, and where the wounds of division and broken friendships still existed ; so at its meeting in 1 7 70 this coalescence was pointedly condemned, and three ministers were appointed as new missionaries to America. They were instructed to require the Presbytery to "annul" its union with the Burghers, and to " obliterate their minute " respecting it. And if the Presbytery should refuse to do this, then they and any of the brethren that chose to join with them should con- stitute themselves into a new Presbytery and hold no fel- lowship with the backsliders. A clear indication of the feeling and temper of the times. John Proudfoot, James Ramsey, and John Rodgers were appointed to this mis- sion. The first two declined, and John Smith, of Stirl- ing, volunteered to go with Mr. Rodgers. They sailed in the late autumn, and on the 4th of June, 1771, laid their instructions before che Presbytery at its meeting in Pequea, Pa. The Presb\'tery was considerably embarrassed to know what to do. The congregations in Salem, Cam- bridge, and Philadelphia were Burgher, but had put them- selves under the care of the Presb3-tery. All the other congregations had been organized under Anti-Burgher auspices, and yet they all contained more or less Burghers in their membership. To introduce the old-country con- troversy into the Presbytery would be sure to stir up strife and division everywhere. Hence in the first term of union I70 THE UNITED PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. in. with the three Burgher ministers it is expressly stipulated that this controversy shall be buried ; and in the third term, that no antagonistic Burgher Presbytery should ever be organized. The question now was to reconcile obedience to the Synod in Scotland, which, without understanding the exi- gencies of the case, had issued a peremptory order, and to preserve peace among themselves and prosper their work. The Presbyterial record is by no means clear and definite, and reads thus : The Presbytery met at Mr. Proudfoot's house in the evening of the 5th of June, and constituted with prayer ut supra seJenint excepting the elder. They entered upon the consideration of the instructions given by the Synod to Messrs. Rodgers and Smith, and after long reasoning on that head, and application by a brother to the throne of grace for direction, they find that in making the coalescence with the Burgher brethren they have taken some steps inconsistent with their subordination to the Synod to which they have been and are subordinate, and they are determined that for the future they shall have no ministerial communion with them until they lay the case before the Synod and receive instructions from them. But they do not judge it for edification, in their present peculiar circumstances, explicitly to comply with the Synod's demand, which motion was unanimously agreed to by the Pres- bytery. And Mr. Rodgers and Mr. Smith, recognizing that the Synod's demand was materially granted, and being extremely loath to pursue any measures that might impede general edification, took their seats in the Pres- bytery. In Other words, we cannot " annul " and " obliterate " what is past, but all such cases in the future shall be re- ferred first to the Synod. This is in accordance with the facts. Mr. Kinloch had already, in 1769, returned to Scotland, and was now pastor of the Burgher congrega- tion in Paisley, where he remained for many years. Mr. Telfair had also returned to Scotland and resumed his charge at the Bridge of Teith, and actually offered infor- mation in the matter to the Synod in 1770, and they re- fused to hear him. So Dr. Clarke, of Salem, was the only one of the Burgher ministers left, and his connection with INCREASE OF MINISTERS. 171 the Presbytery was never" disturbed or questioned. Dr. Annan, who was present in the meeting of the Presby- tery, makes this comment : " The two gentlemen behaved prudently ; .they did not insist on their instructions, and the Presbytery, without a dissenting voice, declared against obeying them." This ended the Burgher controversy in America, and the Secession Church here has ever since been one ; although the ministers received from abroad were all from the Anti-Burgher Church up to the events of 1782, and the rebuilding of the Associate Church in America after that was from the same source. When Burgher ministers began to immigrate, after the Revolu- tionary War was closed, they connected with the Associate "Reformed Church. Mr. Smith soon settled on the Octorara, Mr. Rodgers at Big Spring, Cumberland County. In 1772 James Clark- son arrived, and settled during the next year at Muddy Creek, York County. In 1773 William Logan came and settled at Mexico, Juniata County, and John Murray at Marsh Creek, Adams County. Several others came from Ireland. David Annan, a young brother of Dr. Robert, came from Scotland, and was principally educated in this country, and was ordained in 1778, and settled at Peter- borough, in New Hampshire. The increase of ministers and the great inconvenience of their meeting together in one place led to a division of the Presbytery, and those in New York and New England were organized on the 20th of May, 1776, as the Presbytery of New York, coordinate with the Presbytery of Pennsylvania, and subordinate to the Synod of Scotland. In the struggle between the colonies and Great Brit- ain all the ministers of the Associate and the Reformed churches joined heartily with the former. On the 2d of July, 1777, Mr. Cuthbertson preached to a large congre- 172 THE UNITED PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. in. gation of Covenanters, from Jeremiah iv. 2, and then led them in taking an oath of fidehty to the struggHng col- onies; and Drs. Mason and Annan were particularly for- ward in the exhibition of their patriotism, and both served for a time as chaplains in the Continental army. The idea very soon and very naturally suggested itself to these men, that if political independence of foreign control would be a good thing, ecclesiastical independence of a far-off power would not be a bad thing. The question was at once started, and mainly urged by Dr. Annan, whether both branches of Scottish Dissenters in this country could not be united so as to form one national church organiza- tion, independent in government of all foreign control — a free church in a free state. To this end overtures were' made to the Reformed brethren, and kindly entertained. The first conference of this subject was held September 30, 1777, in Donegal, Lancaster County, Pa., and others were held from time to time until the spring of 1 780, when the Associate Presbytery of New York adopted cer- tain terms previously discussed, which were sent to the other presbyteries for concurrence. The Reformed Pres- bytery, November 29, 1781, adopted the same, as follows: 1. That Jesus Christ died for the elect. 2. That there is an appropriation in the nature of faith. 3. That the gospel is addressed indiscriminately to sinners of mankind. 4. That the righteousness of Christ is the alone condition of the covenant of grace. 5. That civil government originates with God, the Creator, and not with Christ, the Mediator. 6. That the administration of the kingdom of Providence is given into the hands of Jesus Christ, the Mediator ; and magistry, the ordinance appointed by the Moral Governor of the world, to be the prop of civil order among men as well as other things, is rendered subservient by the Mediator to the welfare of his spiritual kingdom, the church, and has the sanctified use of it and of every common benefit, through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7. That the law of nature and the moral law revealed in the Scriptures are substantially the same, although the latter expresses the will of God more evidently and clearly than the former ; and therefore magistrates among UNION OF COVENANTERS AND SECEDERS. I 73 Christians ought to be regulated by the general directory of the Word as to the execution of their office. 8. That the qualifications of justice, veracity, etc., required in the law of nature for the being of a magistrate, are also more explicitly revealed as necessary in the Holy Scriptures. But a religious test, any further than an oath of fidelity, can never be essentially necessary for the being of a magis- trate, except where the people make a condition of government. 9. That both parties, when united, shall adhere to the Westminster Con- fession of Faith, the Catechisms, the Directory for Worship, and propositions concerning church government. 10. That they shall claim the full exercise of church discipline, without dependence upon foreign judicatories. These propositions had been formulated in 1779, at Pequea, and soon afterward the Presbytery of Pennsyl- vania adopted the first five and postponed the considera- tion of the others. On the 13th of June, 1782, the Presby- tery took final action, and as a substitute for the remaining propositions adopted the following, which was regarded by all as being of similar import, viz. : 1. Election, redemption, and application are of equal extent, and for the elect alone. 2. Magistry is derived from God, as the Creator and Governor of the world, and the profession of the true religion is not essential to the being of civil magistrates ; and whereas protection and allegiance are reciprocal, and as the United States of America, while they protect us in life and property, at the same time do not impose anything sinful on us, we therefore judge it our duty to acknowledge the government of these States in all lawful com- mands ; that we may lead quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty. 3. The above proposition is not to be understood to contradict that propo- sition relative to civil government, in which the Associate Presbytery of New York and the Reformed Presbytery have agreed, but only as a plain and un- disguised explication of one point of truth, in which we have the best reason to suppose that the whole body is united. 4. As no opposition in sentiment relative to the important duty of cove- nanting appears on either side, it is mutually agreed that the consideration 5f it be referred to the counsels and deliberations of the whole body. 5. Though no real or practical subordination of the Presbytery to the Asso- ciate Synod of Edinburgh, in a consistency with Presbyterian government, can be pleaded, yet, from the most wise and important considerations, the former connections, whatever they may have been, shall remain as before, notwithstanding this coalescence. CHAPTER IV. THE ASSOCIATE CHURCH AFTER 1 782. This basis of union was not adopted unanimously by the Associate Presbytery of Pennsylvania at its meeting in June, 1782. Mr. Marshall, of Philadelphia, and Mr. Clarkson, of York County, ministers, and Messrs. Robert Hunter, James Thompson, and Alexander Moor, ruling elders, protested against it and appealed to the Associate Synod of Scotland. This protest was at first admitted by the Presbytery, but on a review of it, as it contained an appeal, it was refused admittance because' the majority would no longer acknowledge their subordination to any foreign court. The protestors then withdrew, and elected a new moderator and clerk, and claimed to be the true and original Associate Presbytery of Pennsylvania, on the ground of their loyalty to the faith and discipline of the Associate Church. Their appeal was heard by the Synod in Scotland, and their conduct was approved, and new missionaries were sent out to them to aid in rebuilding the cause. John Anderson arrived in 1783, Thomas Beveridge in I 784, David Goodwillie and Archibald Whyle in i 788, John Cree and David Somerville in 1790, Robert Laing "^ ^79Sy John Banks in 1796. In 1789 Mr. Henderson returned to them from the Associate Reformed Church, and Mr. Smith in 1795. In the summer of i 784 the Presbytery resolved to pre- pare a "Testimony" suited to their circumstances in this country, and appointed Messrs. Anderson and Beveridge 174 TESTIMONY— COVENANTING. I 75 to draft it. A " Narrative " and " Testimony " were pre- pared, principally by Mr. Beveridge, and enacted and pub- lished the same year. The subordination of the Presbytery to the Synod in Scotland was found at once to be incon- venient and disadvantageous. It was too far away, too difficult of access, and too ignorant of local surroundings and emergencies. So the Presbytery adopted the " Testi- mony " without consulting the Synod. For this independ- ent action considerable dissatisfaction was expressed, and an act was adopted in i 786 by the Synod upon the subject ; but, realizing some of the difficulties in the way, it claimed very little more than what might be called brotherly over- sight which one church might exercise over another. The subordination of the Presbytery to the Synod in Scotland was never of any practical importance, and soon became virtually a dead letter. In I 79 1 the Presbytery passed an act respecting public covenanting, in which it was claimed that the obligations of the Scottish Covenants descended to the posterity of those that joined in them. This act was afterward incor- porated in the " Testimony," and so remained as an organic feature of the church, and in 1792 the members of the Presbytery engaged in the duty of covenanting in con- nection with the congregation in New York. And when the Presbytery had grown into a Synod, it, at Pittsburg in 1829, and again in Philadelphia in 1830, also engaged in public solemn covenanting. One great design of the Synod in doing this was to encourage their congregations to follow their example. How far this design was success- ful there are no means of ascertaining, but it is believed that at different times this ordinance has been observed in a majority of the oldest and largest congregations of the church. In I 796 the Presbytery passed an act against occasional t' 176 rilE UNirED TRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. iv. communion, which ever afterward remained the law of the church. Feehng that the supply of ministers from abroad was inadequate to their wants, the Presbytery took measures to encourage young men to seek the ministry, and, as an aid thereto, they elected, April 21, 1794, Dr. John Anderson, of Service, Beaver County, Pa., their pro- fessor of theology, and erected a two-story building as a dormitory for the students. He continued to discharge the duties of his office as sole professor until 1819, when the infirmities of age compelled him to resign. In answer to an application made by sundry individuals in the State of Kentucky to the General Associate Synod of Scotland, Andrew Fulton and Robert Armstrong were sent out as missionaries in the autumn of 1797, and in the spring of 1 798 arrived at their field of labor. After sur- veying their ground in Kentucky and Tennessee, they or- ganized themselves, according to synodic direction, into a Presbytery, the Associate Presbytery of Kentucky, Novem- ber 28, 1798, coordinate with the Presbytery of Pennsyl- vania and subordinate to the Associate Synod of Edin- burgh, Scotland. In consequence of the scattered condition of the congre- gations and ministers of the Presbytery of Pennsylvania, they could rarely meet oftener than once a year, and not all of them even then ; so most of the ordinary business was transacted at what were called interim meetings, where two or three neighboring ministers with their elders were allowed to meet at their convenience and attend to local business. This arrangement was not exactly Presbyterian, and did not give complete satisfaction, and the Presbytery at its meeting in Philadelphia, May i, 1800, Resolved, That tliis Presbytery will, if the Lord permit, constitute them- selves into a Synod, or Court of Review, known and designated hy the name of the Associate Synod of North America, at ne.\t ordinary meeting, whicli is SYiVOD ORGANIZED— SLAVERY. I 77 appointed to be held at Philadelphia the third Wednesday of May, 1801, at eleven o'clock ; that Mr. Marshall open the meeting with a sermon, and then constitute the Synod, the rest of the day to be employed in solemn prayer and fasting, Mr. J. Smith to pray first, and then Mr. Clarkson, Mr. Pringle to close. The Presbytery of Kentucky agreed to cooperate in this movement. The Synod met May 2, 1801, in Philadelphia, and was opened and constituted as arranged, and John Smith was elected moderator and Francis Pringle stated clerk. The Synod was divided into the four Presbyteries of Cam- bridge, Philadelphia, Chartiers, and Kentucky. The Synod enacted, " That none be licensed to preach the gospel, or ordained to the office of the holy ministry among us, but such as have sworn the Covenant engagements entered into in the Secession Church, or declare their readiness to do so when opportunity offers, and subscribe said declara- tion." This remained the law of the church for many years, and was never repealed, although it finally became inoperative through neglect. Ministers continued to ar- rive from Scotland and Ireland, and others were educated at the seminary at Service, and the church grew slowly but steadily, and new Presbyteries were erected from time to time as needed. The territorial extent of the church became so great that the question of dividing into sub- synods was twice submitted to the church in overture, and both times rejected. Messrs. Fulton and Armstrong had not been two years in Kentucky until they felt painfully the evil of slave- holding, and applied to the Synod to issue a warning in reference to it. The Synod complied with the request, and pronounced slaveholding a moral evil, and urged the necessity of fully instructing the people in reference to its nature. This the brethren in Kentucky tried faithfully 178 THE UNITED PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. iv. to do, but with very little apparent success, and those of antislavery views began to move north of the Ohio River. Finally, in 181 5, Mr. Fulton followed with the remaining part of his congregation to Jefferson County, Ind., and Mr. Armstrong took his to Greene County, O. This solved the question pretty thoroughly as far as Kentucky was concerned; but sundry congregations had been organized farther south, and the Presbytery of the Carolinas had been erected in 1803. The difficulty continued, but the location was changed. There were congregations in the States of Tennessee, Virginia, North and South Carolina, and they were involving themselves more and more with slavery. Some of the people in Greene County, O., who had removed from Kentucky, petitioned the Synod in 1808 to exclude slaveholders from the communion of the church. This led to the adoption of an act in 181 1 which declared it to be a moral evil to hold negroes in bondage, and directed the members of the church to set them at liberty, or, if this could not be done according to the laws of the State, to treat them as if free in respect to food, clothing, instruction, and wages. It was also enacted that those who refused to comply with these directions were unworthy of the fellowship of the church. The provisions of this act were not complied with, and the subject kept troubling the Synod from time to time until 1831, when a more stringent act was passed, by which all slaveholders were forthwith excluded from communion. This act was regarded by a very respectable minority of the Synod as harsh and severe, and practically accomplished nothing. In 1840 a letter was addressed to the congregations of the South, in which allowance was made for those who could not emancipate their slaves, provided they would agree to what was called moral emancipation. The moderator, the Rev. Thomas S. Kendall, was sent as a commissioner from SYMPATHY WITH PROFESSOR PAXTON. 179 Synod to read this letter to the congregations ; but instead of conciHating the feehngs of those holding slaves, a riot was excited in one of the congregations in South Carolina, and while he was engaged in the public worship they seized him, and by an act of lynch law expelled him from the State. This brought on a crisis, and the Presbytery of the Carolinas declared itself independent of the Synod. Many of the ministers moved north, and a large part of the members, preferring their church to slavery, passed to north of the Ohio River, and planted new congregations and strengthened old ones in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa. The church was thus completely and permanently purged of the sin of slavery. The Synod did not have any fixed and definite rules of discipline, but followed custom and tradition until 181 7, when the first Book of Discipline was adopted. It con- tained a chapter on " censurable ofTenses," among which were enumerated profaning the Sabbath, the use of spirit- uous liquors, profaning the name of God in common con- versation, the abuse of lots, the use of charms, the diver- sions of the stage, and promiscuous dancing. In 1820 the two branches of the Secession in Scotland united and formed the United Secession Church. Against this union Professor Paxton and eight other ministers of the Anti-Burghers protested, and refused to enter. Pre- vious to this, in 1806, when the Anti-Burgher Synod adopted a " New Testimony," Dr. McCree and four others left that church- and constituted themselves as the Consti- tutional Presbytery. In 1827 Professor Paxton's party united with this Presbytery and formed the Synod of Original Seccders. The Synod in this country was very much excited over the union of 1820, because of their intimate relation to one of the contracting parties, and debated the matter year after year until 1826, when, by l8o THE UNITED PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. iv. the casting vote of the moderator, they condemned the " said union, as a defection from a covenanted reforma- tion," and at the next meeting resolved to continue in union with the Protestors, and in 1832 with the Original Seceders. In 1852 the Original Seceders united with the Free Church of Scotland, which threw the Synod in this country out of union with any Scottish organization ; and as the churches in the two countries had gradually grown somewhat apart, no further union was e\'er sought. The Secession Churches in Scotland became a little more kindly in feeling and liberal in opinion as time passed on, while the Synod in America retained substantially its original conservatism. The Associate Reformed Synod of the West in 1820, one year after its organization as an independent Synod, asked the Associate Synod for a conference on the subject of a union of the two Synods. The request was granted, and conferees were appointed by both bodies. They met and agreed upon a basis of six short articles, but the As- sociate Synod failed to confirm the terms, and the whole matter fell through. The perpetual obligation of the Scot- tish Covenants seemed to present the greatest difificulty in the way of union. But the real difficulty arose from the fact that the Synods were a little shy of each other, and while they felt their oneness and realized the duty of union, they did not have that full and generous confidence in each other which might be necessary for a hearty union. Old sores are hard to heal. In 1 84 1 a difficulty of ten years' growth finally termi- nated in a schism, and an independent Synod, under the leadership of Alexander Bullions, D.D., and Rev. Andrew Stark, LL.D., was organized. But time mollified feelings, and in 1854 a happy reunion was consummated. A minute history of its causes and successive steps is not REFORMED DISSENTING PRESBYTERY. l8l necessary in this place. The controversy involved some important principles in church government, and of sub- mission to lawful authority, even when not lovingly ad- ministered. But no doctrine of grace or distinctive prin- ciple of the church was ever brought into question. It is also a pleasure for the historian to be able to state that all the prominent actors on both sides were good men, and that the Holy Spirit set the seal of his approval most un- equivocally upon the general work of their lives. The treasure, however, was in earthen vessels, and, like Moses and David and Peter, these men had their infirmities and weaknesses ; but " he that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone." In 1 799 the Associate Reformed Church adopted its " Constitution and Standards," and it modified the doc- trine of the Westminster Confession of Faith " concerning the power of the civil magistrate in matters of religion." Against this action Rev. Alexander McCoy and Rev. Robert Warwick protested and withdrew, and, January, 1 80 1, organized an independent Presbytery, which they named the Reformed Dissenting Presbytery. It was con- fined to western Pennsylvania and Ohio, and in 185 1 united with the Associate Synod. In 1840 the Synod passed an act respecting the traffic in ardent spirits, " advising that no member of the church retail them for ordinary use, and that sessions deal with such members of the church as may be engaged in such traffic, in order to induce them to desist, and that all members of the church refuse any encouragement to those who follow such an employment." In 1843 further action was taken on this subject, and it was unanimously resolved " that church sessions be directed to deal with such mem- bers of the church as are found engaged in the manufacture or vending of ardent spirits under such circumstances as 1 82 THE UNITED PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap, iv. are calculated to bring a reproach upon their profession, and thus constitute an offense in the Scriptural sense of the term, and that such persons be required to abandon it." And in 1857 it was further declared, "that, in the judgment of this Synod, the manufacturing or vending of intoxicating liquors, for the purpose of being used as a common beverage, is a censurable offense." The Associate Synod in Scotland at an early period of its existence condemned the masonic oath as sinful, both as to its matter and form, and warned all its members against any connection with masonic lodges. This was received as part of the church's inherited faith in this country, and all freemasons have been carefully excluded from the communion of the Associate Church. At the time of the Morgan abduction the Synod in this country repeated the warning against masonry; and in 1846 it was further declared " that we regard connection with the Order of Odd Fellows in the same light as with free- masons, and equally deserving the censure of the church." A warning was also issued at this time against connec- tion with the Order of the Sons of Temperance, because of their vain parades at funerals and processions, their secrecy, the danger of such societies to the community, and the countenance which they give to other societies of a worse character. In 1842 the Synod entered upon the foreign missionary work, and selected the island of Trinidad as the field of labor. From various causes the enterprise did not prove a success, and they passed over their mission to the Free Church of Scotland and withdrew. They then turned to India, and located at Sialkot, where they were greatly blessed, and the field and work have widened and prospered ever since. Secession churches are under a constitutional necessity PSALMODY— UNION. 1 83 of being witnessing and testimony-bearing churches, so as to exhibit and illustrate the ground of their independent existence, and their right to exist. The Associate Synod was always true to its ecclesiastical parentage, ready to« give a reason for its faith, and outspoken in its defense of the truth as it saw the truth. It had convictions, clear convictions, and courage to maintain them. It testified freely upon different occasions against prevailing evils as they exhibited themselves in church, state, and society. The Associate Church always enjoined the exclusive use of the inspired Psalter in all formal praise services. The Scotch version of the Book of Psalms came with the church to this country, and ever remained in use, both because of personal attachment to it from long familiarity and tender associations, and also because it was the most accurate versification of the original to be had. But with the in- creasing culture of the times and improvement in song there came a felt necessity for something better, and under the direction of Synod Dr. Beveridge and others devoted much time and study to the accomplishment of something in this direction. Some progress was made when the union which absorbed the Synod passed this matter over to the new church organization. The Associate Reformed Church in 1842 made over- tures to the Associate Church for an organic union. After fourteen years of negotiation, the latter, in 1856, tendered to the former a basis of union, which was adopted in 1857, and a union was consummated in May, 1858, which formed the United Presbyterian Church of North America. The Associate Church contributed to the new organization 230 ministers, about 300 congregations, and 25,000 communi- cants. Eleven ministers and a few small congregations refused to enter the union, and have perpetuated a resid- uary church, which has not increased much. CHAPTER V. THE ASSOCIATE REFORMED CHURCH. As already stated, conferences upon the subject of an organic union of the Reformed and Associate Presbyteries in America began in 1777, and continued for several years. A basis of union which was formulated in i 779, at Pequea, Pa., was unanimously adopted in the spring of 1 780 by the Associate Presbytery of New York, and by the Re- formed Presbytery, November 29, 1781, and by a majority of the Associate Presbytery of Pennsylvania, June 1 3, 1782.^ The three presbyteries met in convention in Phil- adelphia, on Wednesday, October 30, 1782, for the con- summation of the union and the organization of the As- sociate Reformed Church. They adopted ei^ht articles for the guidance of the Synod which they designed to organize. On Thursday, the 31st of October, 1782, the Synod of the Associate Reformed Church was formally organized by the election of John Mason, D.D., of New York, as moderator. The presbyteries were rearranged, so that the ministers and congregations in eastern Pennsylvania constituted TJie First Presbytery ; thosfe in western Penn- sylvania, The Second Presbytery ; and those in New York and New England, Tlic TJiird Presbytery. The most im- portant business in which the Synod engaged was the consideration of the eight articles agreed upon by the convention which preceded the Synod. These were again 1 See pp. 172, 173. 184 DISPLAY OF PRINCIPLES. 1 85 discussed seriatim, " and after serious deliberation and solemn prayer" were unanimously adopted "as proper to display the principles upon which we intend to act." These articles were as follows : I. It is the resolution of tliis Synod to persevere in adhering to the system of truth contained in the Holy Scriptures, exhibited in the Confession of Faith, Catechisms, Larger and Shorter, and to the fundamental principles of gospel worship and ecclesiastical government agreed upon by the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, with the assistance of commissioners from the Church of Scotland. This declaration, however, does not extend to the following sections of the Confession of Faith, which define the power of civil government in relation to religion : chap. xx. sec. 4, chap, xxiii. sec. 3, chap, xxxi. sec. 2. These sections are reserved for a candid discussion on some future occasion as God shall be pleased to direct. Nor is it to be construed as a resignation of our rights to adjust the circumstances of public worship and ecclesiastical policy to the station in which Divine Providence may place us. All the members of the Synod acknowledge in the meanwhile that they are under the most sacred obligations to avoid unnecessary criticism upon any of these excellent treatises, which would have a native tendency to weaken their attachment to the truths therein contained. If any of the members of the Synod shall conceive any scruples at any article or articles of the Confession of Faith, Catechisms, Directory of Worship, or Form of Presbyterian Church Government, or shall think they have sufficient reason to make objections thereto, they shall have full liberty to communicate their scruples or objections to their brethren, who shall consider them with im- partiality, meekness, and patience, and endeavor to remove thent by calm, dispassionate reasoning. No kind of censure shall be inflicted in cases of this nature, unless those scrupling and objecting brethren shall disturb the peace of the church by pulilishing their opinions to the people, or by urging them in judicatories with irritating and schismatic zeal. II. The ministers and elders in Synod assembled also declare their hearty approbation of the earnest contendings for the faith and magnanimous suffer- ings in its defense by which our pious ancestors were enabled to distinguish themselves in the last two centuries ; that they have an affectionate remem- brance of the National Covenant of Scotland, and of the vSolemn League and Covenant of Scotland, England, and Ireland, as well-intended engagements to support the cause of civil and religious liberty, and hold themselves bound by divine authority to practice all the moral duties therein contained, accord- ing to their circumstances ; that public and explicit covenanting with God is a moral duty under the gospel dispensation, to which they are resolved to attend as he shall be pleased to direct ; that it is their real intention to carry with them all the judicial testimonies against defections from the faith once delivered to the saints which have been emitted in the present age by their 1 86 THE UA'ITED PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. V. bretliren in Scotland, as far as these testimonies serve to display the truth and comport with the circumstances of our church ; and that they will avail themselves of every call to bear appointed testimony against the errors and delusions which prevail in this country. III. The members of Synod also acknowledge with gratitude that they are bound to honor the religious denominations in Britain to which they belonged, on account of their zeal for the purity of the gospel, and of those laudable efforts to promote it, not only in Britain and Ireland but also in America, and they profess an unfeigned desire to hold an amicable corre- spondence with all or any of them, and to concur with them in every just and eligible measure for promoting true and undefiled religion. IV. It is also the resolution of this Synod never to introduce, nor suffer to be introduced, in their church the local controversy about the civil estab- lishment of the Presbyterian religion, and the religious clause of some burgess oaths in Scotland, or any unnecessary disputes about the origin of civil dominion, and the requisites for rendering it legal in circumstances dissimilar to those in which themselves are placed. They esteem themselves bound to detach their religious profession from all foreign connections, and to honor the civil powers of America, conscientiously sulimitting to them in all their lawful operations. V. That the abuse of ecclesiastical censures may be effectually prevented, the following General Rule of Discipline is unanimously adopted, namely : That notorious violations of the law of God, and such errors in doctrine as unhinge the Christian profession, shall be the only scandals for which deposi- tion and excommunication shall be passed, and that the highest censures of other offenders shall be a dissolution of the connection between the Synod and the offender. VI. The terms of admission to fixed communion with the Synod shall be soundness in faith as defined in the above-mentioned Confession and Cate- chisms, submission to the government and discipline of the church, and a holy conversation. VII. The members of Synod also acknowledge it to be their duty to treat pious persons of other denominations with great affection and tenderness. They are willing, as God affordeth opportunity, to extend communion to all who in every place call on the name of the Lord Jesus in conformity to his will. But as occasional communion in a divided state of the church may produce great disorders, if it be not conducted with much wisdom and moder.ition, they esteem themselves, and the people under their inspection, inviolably bound in all ordinary cases to submit to every restriction of their liberty which general edification renders necessary. This article, however, is not to be construed as a license to encourage vagrant preachers who go about under pretense of extraordinary zeal and devotion, and are not subject to the government and discipline of any regular church. VIII. As the principles of the Synod are detached from the local pecul- iarities by which the most considerable parts of Presbyterians have been FORMULATING STANDARDS. 1 87 liitherto distinguished, it is further agreed to reject all such applications for admission to fixed communion with the Synod that may at any time be made by persons belonging to other denominations of Presbyterians, as evidently arise from caprice, personal prejudice, or any other schismatical principles, and that the only admissible application shall be such as shall, upon deliber- ate examination, be found to arise from a solid conviction of duty, and to discover Christian meekness toward the party whose communion is relin- quished, or such as are made by considerable bodies of people who are not only destitute of a fixed gospel ministry, but cannot reasonably be provided for by the denomination of Presbyterians to which they belong. It is, how- ever, thought proper that applications of the last kind shall not be admitted till the bodies by whom they are admitted shall previously inform the judi- catories which have the immediate inspection of them of the reasons of their intended application, and shall use all due means to obtain the concurrence of that judicatory. These articles, originally from the pen of Dr. John Mason, were subsequently revised and slightly amended and published under the unsuitable title of " The Consti- tution of the Associate Reformed Church." They were popularly known as the " Little Constitution." A committee was appointed " to prepare and publish, as soon as possible, a concise narrative of the rise and progress of the union between the Associate and Reformed Presbyteries, and the grounds on which they have erected themselves into a Synod, together with an illustration of our constitutional principles as they may judge necessary." This was after the example of all the dissenting churches in Scotland; they prefaced their "Testimony" with a " Narrative," in which they gave an historical defense of their right to exist. But the ministers of the Synod, although educated in Scotland, soon felt the influence of their new surroundings, and realized the change in the character of their fields of labor. They grew to doubt the necessity or propriety of such a document in a free country where there was no Church Establishment to claim a mo- nopoly of the means of grace. They felt that their patent was from heaven, and that wherever there were saints to l88 THE UNITED PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. v. be edified and sinners to be saved, there they had a mis- sion. Tiie committee never reported, and the church never cumbered its official literature with an apology for its ex- istence. In 1787 Drs. Mason, Annan, and Smith were appointed a committee to bring in "An Overture for Illustrating and Defending the Doctrines of the Westminster Confession of Faith." Two years afterward a long report was submitted, in the form of a commentary upon the different chapters of the Confession. It was discussed at great length at the meeting in i 789, and then postponed and further considered at the meeting in i 790, when, instead of a formal adoption, it was unanimously resolved that it is " in substance an excellent and instructive illustration and application of these truths unto the present state of the Church of Christ in America," and warmly recommended it as such to all the people under their in.spection. The standards of the Associate Reformed Church were not a birth, but a growth. Those that organized it had confidence in each other, and united upon the simple basis of the Westminster Standards, which belonged equally to both sides, and left time and experience to decide whether anything should be added, and, if so, what. One of the objects of her founders, and by no means a small one, was to establish an American Church holding the theology of the more conservative churches in Scotland : American in the twofold sense of being independent of all foreign judi- catories— a free church in a free state — and also in being denuded and freed from all peculiarities of alien origin and suitableness. They did not wish to transplant an exotic whose special characteristics showed its foreign birth and relations, and which might not be adapted to the soil and climate ; but to build a home church, unencumbered with any historical traditions, which could and would adapt FORMULATING STANDARDS. 1 89 itself to the peculiarities and exigencies of its surroundings. Hence they agreed upon the dogmas of the new organi- zation, and said nothing about the special modes of their exhibition. The Reformed and the Associate Churches had Covenant bonds, and made assent to them a term of communion; they had also a "Judicial Testimony" of equal binding obligation with the Confession of Faith. The Associate Reformed Church started without either of these. This was not an inadvertence or oversight, but a deliberate conviction of duty, and for which they were severely censured by those next of kin in Great Britain and America. The new church had to fight for her existence, and the result of this contest had much to do in giving shape and character to her forming Standards. She was charged with " burying the Covenants," and " neglecting to insist on their binding obligation upon posterity." To this the Synod replied to the Second Presbytery of the Carolinas : The omission in our Constitution of the National Covenant of Scotland and the Solemn League and Covenant cannot wound the most tender con- science when rightly informed. It is not possible, consistently with truth, to make these Covenants, as they stand, a part of the church's " Testimony " in America ; and therefore the insertion of them among her terms of commun- ion, instead of promoting the edification of her members, would only serve as a snare for their consciences. To be applicable to the circumstances of this church they must undergo a variety of alterations ; but the moment any alteration is admitted into an instrument of solemn compact it ceases to be the same instrument. To modify the covenants, therefore, is to destroy them; they instantly cease to be the same covenants, and the persons who take them thus modified, instead of renewing them, do, in fact, enter into a ne7L< compact, and by that very act resort to the original principle of cove- ' nanting. The Original Seceders, the successors of McCree and Paxton, and the most conservative body in Scotland, de- clared at their union with the Free Church in 1852 : In fine, looking upon society as possessed of permanent identity in the sight of God, and on each succeeding age as bound to implement the une.\hausted I90 THE UNITED PKESBVTERIAXS. [Chap. v. o])Iigations contracted by national oaths, we believe that the covenants of our ancestors . . . are still binding, and tliat by them, we, AS A NATION, are laid under additional obligation to maintain the principles and the cause of the Reformation. This was precisely the position taken by the Associate Reformed fathers seventy years previously — that these covenants were civil and national, and that the descending obligations followed not the individual, but the national, identity ; and although the descendants of covenanted an- cestors, as citizens of another nation they were not willing to acknowledge special descending obligations. When it was urged that these covenants embraced moral duties as well as civil and national, and that their perform- ance was made binding upon posterity, the Synod answered in the " Little Constitution " that, " we are bound by the divine aiitJiority to perform all the moral duties contained in them." That is, whatever is contained in them which is clearly a moral duty we are bound to perform by the divine authority which requires it and imparts to it its character as a moj'al duty. Any further obligation would be a surplusage, and that, too, from an inferior source of authority. Another difficulty with which the new church had to contend, in adjusting itself to its new surroundings, was the precise manner of testimony-bearing. It is very evident that the founders of the church, through the in- fluence of their early training, felt that there was or might be good reason for the adoption of some kind of a "Judi- cial Testimony " in addition to the Confession of Faith. Hence the appointment of the two committees already mentioned to draft a " Narrative " and to bring in an illus- trative overture. It is just as evident that there was a doubt and a hesitancy in this matter, because the first committee never reported, and the action of the other was FORMULATING STANDARDS. I91 only commended but never adopted. But as they con- tinued to discuss the subject, the Synod became more and more confirmed in its opposition to such an instrument, and finally and fully decided the question in 1797, by the adoption of a long explanatory paper, in which they admit the duty of testifying for the truth, whether it relates to doctrine, discipline, worship, or manners ; but to do so effectively there must be a wise adaptation to the imme- diate state of the church and society. And that inasmuch as there is a constant change going on in the current of thought and the manners and customs of society, old errors fading away and new errors springing up, a permanent "Judicial Testimony" will not meet the exigencies that may arise from time to time. It would soon be lumbered with things of no present practical interest, and grow more and more deficient in reference to new things of pressing importance. The church's life is progressive, and so should be its "Testimony." It must deal with what is, and not with what was. As witnesses of the Most High, Christians are especially bound to avow and to defend those truths which are more immediately decried, and to oppose those errors which immediately prevail. This is termed by the Spirit of God being established in the PRESENT t?-uth. It is the very essence of a judicious "Testimony," nor is there anyway in which judicatories can so well maintain it as in serious and Scriptural occasional acts. Of this method of testifying there are plain and numerous traces in the Holy Scriptures and in the pious practice of the primitive church. To escape from these distinctive peculiarities of Scottish dissent was a very tedious and difficult thing ; and because the Synod would not include the Scottish Covenants in its Standards, and declined to issue a " Judicial Testimony " of the Scottish kind, two of the original founders of the church withdrew and walked no more with her. It will be recollected that in the first article of the " Little Constitution," where adherence to the Westminster Con- 192 THE UXITED PRESBYTERIAXS. [Chap. v. fession of Faith is professed, the Synod expressly excepted those sections of chapters xx. and xxiii. and xxxi. which define the power of civil government in relation to religion, and reserved them " for candid discussion on some future occasion as God shall be pleased to direct." These sec- tions were under discussion for several years, and then it was finally decided to alter the text of the Confession so as to free it from all traces of Erastianism, and make the church independent of the state in all matters of doctrine, government, and discipline. At the same time and for the same purpose the word aiitJiorizing was substituted for the word tolerating in the enumeration of the sins forbidden by the second commandment, as given in the Larger Catechism. Sixteen years were thus spent in formulating the Stand- ards of the church ; and having settled all things to their mind, the Synod at its meeting at Greencastle, Pa., on the 31st of May, 1799, "judicially ratified" and "declared the aforesaid Confession of Faith, Larger and Shorter Catechisms, together with the Government and Discipline of the Church, and the Directories of Public and Private Worship, to be the Constitution and Standards of the Associate Reformed Church in all matters relating to Doctrine, Government, Discipline, and Worship." They declared this to be their " Fixed Testimony," and that, as emergencies may require, they will " emit occasional testimonies in particular acts against errors and delusions." They also fixed the terms of admission to membership in the church to be : A profession of faith in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testa- ments as the perfect and only rule of faith and practice, together with an approbation of the Confession of Faith, Larger and Shorter Catechisms, Form of Church Government, and Directories for Worship, as therein received; a holy life and conversation, and subjection to the Order and Dis- cipline of the church. PRESBYTERY OF LONDONDERRY. 1 93 In 1786 the congregations in New England were erected into a new Presbytery, known as the Presbytery of Lon- donderry. On the 25th of October, 1793, this Presbytery coalesced with " The Presbytery of the Eastward," an in- dependent Presbytery, composed of some Irish congrega- tions which still lingered, and the united body still re- tained the title Presbytery of Londonderry. This was done without the knowledge or authority of the Synod, which still claimed jurisdiction over its New England churches. This new Presbytery, which was composed largely of those who knew nothing of the Associate Re- formed Church or its Scottish antecedents, was careful to hold itself aloof from the Synod without any declaration of independence. Its congregations felt the influence of their New England surroundings, and were gradually yielding to Congregationalism in the matters of praise and discipline and government, and the Synod rebuked the Presbytery for its laxity, but without accomplishing any reformation. Finally, in 1 796, the Synod appointed two of its ministers to visit the Presbytery and try to reclaim them. This committee was providentially hindered from going, but Dr. John M. Mason, in its name, wrote a v^ry earnest and able letter, expostulating with the Presbytery for their irregularities, and sustaining the ground taken by the Synod. Dr. Morrison, of Londonderry, N. H., answered for the Presbytery, and stated that the action of the Synod in formulating the standards of the church was not accept- able to their people generally, and then avowed their in- dependence of the Synod, and stated that " this Presbytery consider themselves, with divine aid, competent to all the purposes of judicial authority in the churches or socie- ties under their care ; are best acquainted with their cus- toms, temper, and manners, and their situation with respect to other denominations." The Presbytery continued to 194 "^^^ UNITED PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. v. maintain its independence, and in 1801 the Synod erased its name from the roll and declared it no longer in its con- nection. Thus perished Associate Reformed Presyterian- ism in New England, until resuscitated in 1846 by Dr. Blaikic in Boston. This Londonderry Presbytery re- mained independent until 1809, when it united with the Presbyterian Church, where it still remains. The Reformed Dutch and Associate Reformed Churches entertained from the first very kindly feelings for each other, and as early as i 798, and again in 1 820, efforts for a union were made, but, for reasons which could scarcely be appreciated now, without success. Nevertheless, the latter gave to the former, from time to time, some of her choicest men, in the persons of Drs. Gosman, Matthews, McMurray, Knox, Strong, etc. When the church had grown so as to embrace seven Presbyteries, and was scattered from New York to Georgia, it was deemed expedient to organize a delegated supreme judicatory, so as to lessen, as far as possible, the slow and toilsome travel required of those upon the outskirts of the church. So in 1802 the whole church was divided into four Synods, containing two Presbyteries each, and sub- ordinate to an annual delegated General Synod. These Synods were New York, and Pennsylvania, and Scioto, and the Carolinas. The General Synod held its first meeting at Greencastle, Franklin County, Pa., on the 30th of May, 1804, and was opened with a sermon by Dr. John M. Mason, after which Alexander Dobbin was chosen moder- ator, and James Gray stated clerk. The General Synod did its work smoothly and suc- cessfully for six or seven years, and then a serious trouble commenced. It will be recollected that when the Asso- ciate Reformed Church was organized, the Westminster Confession of Faith was adopted pure and simple, without OCCASIONAL COMMUNION. 1 95 explanation or limitation, excepting the power of the civil magistrate circa sacra. Consequently the organic law of the church on the subject of coiiwiiinion was contained in the second section of the twenty-sixth chapter, which reads thus : Saints by profession are bound to maintain a holy fellowship and commun- ion in the worship of God, and in performing such other spiritual services as tend to their mutual edification, as also in relieving each other in outward things, according to their several abilities and necessities ; which communion, as God oflfereth opportunity, is to be extended to all those who in every place call on the name of the Lord Jesus. The Synod, however, felt the necessity of some limita- tion, and at its first meeting placed in the " Little Consti- tution " the following article: The members of Synod . . . are willing, as God ofTereth opportunity, to extend communion to all who in every place call on the name of the Lord Jesus, in conformity to his will ; but as occasional communion, in a divided state of the church, may produce great disorders if it be not conducted with much wisdom and moderation, they esteem themselves and the people under their inspection inviolably bound, in all ordinary cases, to submit to every restriction of their liberty which general edification renders necessary. To this an explanatory note was appended, in which it is stated that — The principle expressed in this article is not a new principle adopted by the Synod. It is one of the received principles adopted by the Secession, and it is set in a very strong light in chapter twenty-six of the Confession of Faith. . . . No objection can therefore be justly stated against it as it stands in the Confession of Faith. The application of the principle to par- ticular cases may indeed be attended with some difficulties. We are not, how- ever, accountable for these difficulties, as they arise from the divided state of the Church of Christ. The article is guarded, and cannot, without the most evident perversion, be construed as a license to hold tinscriptnral communion with other churches. It is the intention of the Synod not to go into connec- tions with any denomination which are inconsistent with the spirit of what is usually called the covenanted reformation. The Overture, which was approved by the Synod in 1790, declares in its illustrations of chapter twenty-six, among other things — That a temporary, or what is called occasional, communion with sister churches may lawfully, in some instances, take place, is what no man of 196 THE UXITED rKESBYTERIANS. [Chap. v. understanding, who is not much pinched to support some favorite and false hypothesis, will deny. The terms of it are not materially different from the terms of stated communion, only making allowance for a variety in innocent customs and forms. ... By occasional coinniunion we do not mean the ad- mitting a person to our communion whom it would be sinful to continue in it, but a person who, on account of local circumstances, cannot continue in it. To condense and formulate : the established law of this new church was that organic ?iuion was not necessary for communion, yet as the Church of Christ was divided, and errors, serious errors, were taught in some of its branches, lest these errors might be countenanced and discipline re- laxed, communion in all ordinary cases should be confined to its members, and in extraordinary cases extended only to such as might under favorable circumstances be admitted to full communion. And this remained the law of the Associate Reformed Church in all its Synods down to the union of 1858. In May, 18 10, Dr. John M. Mason resigned the pastoral care of the Cedar Street congregation in New York City, and with a colony commenced the work of building up a new congregation farther uptown. He had great difficulty in getting a suitable house in which to hold his services until their own church building should be erected in Murray Street. In their strait the trustees of the Presb3'terian Church of which the Rev. Dr. Romeyn was pastor offered the use of their house at all such times as would not inter- fere with their own services. This kind and fraternal oflfer was gladly accepted, and Dr. Mason held his services im- mediately after the conclusion of Dr. Romeyn's, in both the forenoon and afternoon. A large part of Dr. Romeyn's people were in the habit of remaining to hear Di". Mason, who was regarded as the finest pulpit orator of his day, and in this way the two congregations became very inti- mate. When the time came for Dr. Mason's first commun- ion his session resolved, in view of the intimate relations DR. J. M. MASON. 1 97 of the two congregations, and of the hospitality which they were receiving, to invite Dr. Romeyn's congrega- tion to unite with them. This was accepted, and when Dr. Romeyn's communion occurred the courtesy was re- ciprocated. This was certainly a new departure in the history of the Associate Reformed Church, for the practice of her ministers had been influenced by tradition, and had always been more conservative and restrictive than her laws, and it became the subject of very serious considera- tion by the General Synod at its meeting in May, 181 1. After all the facts had been ascertained, Messrs. Hender- son and Dick moved, " That the Synod do declare their decided disapprobation of the deportment of said breth- ren (Mason, Matthews, and Clarke) in the premises, and command them to return to the established order of the church." This was negatived, and the following resolu- tion, offered by Messrs. Dickey and Porter, was adopted, with only three negative votes : That the judicatories, ministers, and members of the church be and they hereby are entreated and required to exercise mutual forbearance in the premises ; and in the use of their discretion to observe mutual tenderness and brotherly love, studying to avoid whatever may be contrary thereto, and giving special heed to the preservation of sound and efficient discipline. Upon this occasion Dr. Mason made a speech of over three hours, which was regarded as the ablest effort of his life. He contended that his congregation had not violated the law of the church, because their circumstances were very peculiar and extraordinary, and that they had simply yielded to the necessities of their condition, and that it was neither their desire nor intention to continue to do so after the completion of their own building. This action of Synod was not acceptable to many in the Synod of Scioto, and remonstrances and petitions were sent up to every meeting of the General Synod for several 198 THE UNITED PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. v. years, but nothing was accomplished. As a consequence of this controversy, Dr. Mason in 18 16 published his " Plea for Sacramental Communion on Catholic Principles," in which he took higher ground than in his speech before the Synod, that the " iiiembej's who hold' acknowledged communion with the Head, whatever be their subordinate variance, ought also to hold communion with each other in those ordinances which mark their communion with the Head." He never favored indiscriminate or promiscuous communion; he always insisted upon judging whether a man really was in communion with the " Head " before he would acknowledge him to be a "member." He de- fended the " doctrines of grace " with perhaps more zeal and ability than any man of his day, and to the last re- fused to hold " Christian fellowship with men who corrupt those precious doctrines which relate to the person, offices, or work of the Saviour, to the way of the sinner's accept- ance with God, or to the renewing and sanctifying work of the Spirit." The church used exclusively in its praise the Scottish version of the Psalms ; but the necessity for some im- provement in their meter and rhythm was soon felt, and in 1 8 10 a committee of five of its leading ministers was appointed by the Synod. Their instruction was " to pro- cure an improved version of Scriptural Psalmody, and to have the same in readiness for such order as the General Synod shall see meet to make at the next stated meeting." Nothing valuable grew out of this, for their poetic talent was insufficient ; but liberty was given to use the version of the Reformed Dutch Church — a liberty which was neither asked nor used by the congregations. The mat- ter, however, became mixed up with the communion con- troversy. There were no newspapers in those days to publish facts, and rumor is always an unsafe guide ; so DECAY OF THE GE.XERAL SYNOD. 1 99 some of the remote sections of the church became alarmed, supposing that an attempt was being made to set aside their dearly loved Psalms, which they cherished as a pre- cious inheritance. The Synod began to give decided evidence of premature decay. Different causes combined to produce this. The communion and psalmody controversies did something toward dividing the church and alienating the confidence of brethren. Two or three unpleasant cases of discipline helped to weaken the bonds of affection, particularly a quarrel between Mr. Rankin and Dr. Bishop, which was adjudicated by a commission of the General Synod in such a way as to satisfy neither party and pretty thoroughly ruin the fortunes of the Presbytery of Kentucky. There may have been also a little lordly domination on the part of some ; there certainly was considerable jealousy and suspicion on the part of others ; and such things do a quiet and deadly work. The General Synod met every year in Philadelphia, and the delegates from the Carolinas and from west of the Allegheny Mountains, who had always to travel on horseback and often over bad roads, could not as a general thing attend, and the government of the church became centraHzed, and so fell into the hands of a few ; and the possession of power never promotes humility. In 181 7 the Synod of Scioto asked that the General Synod should meet, occasionally at least, in a more western and central place than Philadelphia, or, if this could not be done, that the church should be divided into two or more separate and independent Synods. Both of these requests were refused. The result of all these things combined was that the Synod of Scioto, which embraced all the ter- ritory west of the Allegheny Mountains, at its meeting at Rush Creek, Fairfield County, O., in 1820, constituted itself into an independent judicatory, under the title of 200 THE UNITED PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. v. \h& Associate Reformed Synod of tJie West. In 1821 the Synod of the CaroHnas petitioned the General Synod for a separate and independent organization. This was granted, and on the ist of April, 1822, it so constituted itself as the Associate Reformed Synod of the So7itJi, and has so re- mained until tiie present time. This left only the Synods of New York and Pennsylvania in connection with the General Synod. When the General Synod, thus reduced, met in Phila- delphia in May, 1821, an overture was received from the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church proposing an organic union of the two churches. Committees were appointed by both bodies to conduct the negotiations, and the following plan was agreed upon as a basis of union, viz.: I. That the different Presbyteries of the Associate Reformed Church should either retain their separate or- ganization or be amalgamated with those of the General Assembly at their own choice ; 2. That the theological seminary of the Associate Reformed Church should be consolidated with the General Assembly's one at Prince- ton; 3. That the Associate Reformed Library and Funds should be transferred and belong to the seminary at Princeton. There were no doctrinal terms in the basis, inasmuch as both parties adhered to the same Confession of Faith and Catechisms. This plan was overtured to the Presbyteries of the General Synod. The General Synod met on the 15th of May, 1822, in Philadelphia, when only three fourths of the delegates commissioned appeared. The overture in reference to union with the Presbyterian Church was taken up, and three fifths of the Presbyteries reported against it. Not- withstanding this presbyterial rejection, the subject was discussed at length for parts of four days, and then, on the 2 1 St of May, it was resolved, "That this Synod ap- UNION WITH THE PRESBYTERIANS. 20I prove and hereby do ratify the plan of union between the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church and the Associate Reformed Church, proposed by commissioners from said churches." This was carried by a majority of tivo, while one fourth of the members present refused to vote. Mr. Smith raised the objection that the resolution was not passed, because less than a majority of members present had not voted for it. The moderator, Dr. Laurie, of Washington City, decided that all silent votes were to be reckoned with the majority, and that the resolution was carried. Those who voted in the minority protested against this action, because it was against the voice of the church, as a majority of its presbyteries and congregations and ministers were opposed to the union. And fourteen years afterward the civil courts pronounced the act ille- gal, and ordered the restoration of the property transferred under it. A committee was appointed to transfer the library and the seminary funds from New York to Princeton, and to re- port the result to the General Assembly. Mr. J. Arbuckle, the stated clerk of Synod, and also the pastor-elect of the Spruce Street Church in Philadelphia, was one of this com- mittee, and he asked and obtained leave of absence that he might go immediately to New York and attend to these removals before any legal obstacles could be placed in the way. The General Assembly was at once advised of all this action, and a union thanksgiving was held the next day in the Assembly's house, when a Psalm and a hymn were sung and a prayer oflfered by one of each party. The Union part of the General Synod met the next morning in synodic capacity, and adopted the draft of a pastoral letter to the churches in explanation and de- fense of their course, and directed Mr. Arbuckle to deposit all the minutes and documents of the General Svnod with 202 THE UNITED PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. v. the session of the Spruce Street congregation, " subject to the future disposal of the General Assembly of the Pres- byterian Church." They then sang, not as usual, the one hundred and thirty-third Psalm, but the penitential one hundred and thirtieth, and " finally adjourned." Many years afterward the large minute-book was very provi- dentially found, by a friend of the church, in a grocery store in the city; the proprietor had bought it in a junk shop, as waste paper. It is now in the vault of the Pub- lication House of the United Presbyterian Church in Pitts- burg, Pa. On the day of thanksgiving the delegates of the General Synod were cordially invited to take their seats forthwith in the Assembly as constituent members. Rev. Messrs. McLeod and Duncan and Elders Nourse and Patterson did so, but all the others excused themselves and immediately returned home. Thus perished the General Synod, after a somewhat troubled existence of only eighteen years, and mainly because of the domineering spirit of a few leading men. Not many ministers or congregations left the old church, but their loss was seriously felt, for it swept away every- thing Associate Reformed in the cities of New York, Phila- delphia, Baltimore, and Washington. It cut the church into three pieces. North, West, and South, and our history follows the fortunes of the first two of these. CHAPTER VI. THE ASSOCIATE REFORMED SYNOD OF NEW YORK. This Synod as a subordinate Synod met in the au- tumn of 1812, in Broadalbin, Fulton County, N. Y., and adjourned to meet in May, 18 14, in the city of New York. This meeting did not take place, and until February, 1822, there was no subsequent meeting. The one appointed for 1 8 14 was mainly prevented by the unsettled state of the country produced by the war then existing between the United States and Great Britain. Subsequent meetings were omitted from neglect or a want of interest. The unhappy and personal controversies in the General Synod had so distracted and disheartened many of the ministers that they felt very much like retiring and letting every- thing outside of their personal charges go by default. The spirit of the body had been measurably destroyed, but the action of the General Synod in 1821, in reference to a union with the Presbyterian Church, roused these Northern ministers from their lethargy, and they resolved to labor still for the welfare of their old mother church. Dr. Robert Proudfit, moderator of the Synod of 18 12, called a special meeting of the Synod, to assemble Feb- ruary 13, 1822, at Galway, Saratoga County, N. Y. This meeting was well attended by both ministers and elders, and the two following resolutions were adopted, with but one dissentinsT voice : 204 ^-^^^ UNITED PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. vi. Resolved, That, in the opinion of this Synod, the union proposed with the General Assembly is inexpedient, and calculated to disturb the peace of our churches. 2. Resolved, That this Synod will maintain its existence in its present form, whatever be the decision of the General Synod upon the contemplated union. It was then agreed to hold the next regular meeting at Newburg, on the 13th of the following September. Had the five delegates from this Synod that failed to appear in the meeting of the General Synod in 1822 attended, the resolution for union would not have passed, for they were all opposed to it. The Synod met in Newburg, according to appointment, and was opened with a sermon by the Rev. James Scrim- geour, the senior minister, and was by him constituted with prayer. This was its first meeting as an independent and supreme judicatory, and the Court of Chancery of New Jersey subsequently decided that it was the legiti- mate successor of the General Synod, or at least next of kin, and thus its legal heir. The yearnings of a common parentage and the memories of old friendships and past associations remained strong in the disrupted body, so in 1823 propositions came from the West and the South asking for some closer connection of the several fragments of the Associate Reformed Church. Negotiations were opened, and carried on for four years, and then in September of 1827 delegates from the three synods met in Pittsburg and drafted a plan for the re- organization of a General Synod. The synods did not approve of the plan. The prevailing objections were the great extent of territory covered, and the toil and expense of the travel involved. They concluded, however, that as they were one in parentage and faith and practice and feeling, they would remain one in reality, without any organic union, and so resolved to recognize each other as MORGAN ABDUCTION. 20$ sister churches, and to reciprocate Christian and ministerial fellowship, and to accredit testimonials of private members, probationers, and ministers precisely in the same manner as if they were connected in one ecclesiastical organization. And the result was harmony, peace, kind feeling, and pleasant intercourse. There may be danger in pressing the matter and fact of organization too far, for crossing and conflicting interests in the machinery may sometimes inter- fere with the true Christian spirit which should always dominate. Union with the head, Christ, will secure one- ness of the members. The Synod felt its responsibility for the wide and needy field which Providence had committed to its care, and re- solved to do the best it could. In 1824 it organized itself into a Domestic Missionary Society, and had an annual sermon on the subject, and subordinate societies were in- stituted in all the congregations which held monthly meet- ings for prayer and information. The machinery was rather clumsy, and yet it was the means of developing considerable missionary spirit and of securing liberal con- tributions. During the month of September, 1826, William Morgan, of Batavia, N. Y., for revelations made by him, was ab- ducted by some of his brother masons, and taken by relays of horses through Caledonia and Canandaigua, and back through Rochester and Lockport to the mouth of the Niagara River, and there put into a boat at night, and taken out on Lake Ontario and never seen again. This produced a very great outburst of feeling throughout the whole country, and especially in western New York. As it took place in the territory of the Synod of New York, and in the very heart of the Presbytery of Caledonia, it was very natural that the subject of freemasonry should come up before the Synod as a moral question. And so 2C6 THE UNITED PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. vi. it did in 1828, when, after protracted and mature deliber- ation, it was Resolved, That the multiplication and the nature of the oaths administered in the masonic lodges are unwarranted in the Word of God and demoralizing in their tendency; and that our church-members be and hereby are enjoined not to connect themselves with the society ; and any who may have been in- itiated are affectionately recommended to withdraw from any further connec- tion with this institution. Excitement continued and even increased in both church and State, so that in 1830 it was further enacted — That this Synod will and hereby do express their decided disapprobation of the principles and usages of freemasonry, as far as known to them, and warn their people solemnly and affectionately against all connection with the institution ; that it be and hereby is enjoined upon church sessions, under the inspection of this Synod, to adopt the most prudent and effective measures to remove the contamination from our churches. A few members of the church in Delaware County asked the privilege of retaining a silent membership in masonry by simply paying their dues without meeting in the lodge. But they were answered, " That the act of Synod, adopted at its last meeting, requires them to withdraw entirely from all connection with and subjection to the society of free- masons." This position of the Synod was never afterward questioned or modified, or in any way disturbed. In the early part of the nineteenth century the use of ardent spirits by ministers as well as laymen was almost universal. Good men had not yet learned that there might be a criminal temptation in the mere use of intoxicat- ing drinks as a beverage. They were free to condemn drunkenness as a sin, but they supposed that all its sinful- ness arose from the abuse of that which, in moderation, was lawful. In 1828 the Synod pronounced intemper- ance "a great and prevailing evil in our country," and directed its ministers to preach against this vice, and that they and their elders should show an example of the strict- TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT. 20 7 est temperance, abstaining in this matter even from the appearance of evil. The custom of the country hitherto had been to have the bottle always upon the dinner-table upon all special occasions, whether it was at a Synod or a Presbytery, at a marriage or a funeral ; but a public opinion began now to grow rapidly, which challenged the propriety and correctness of such a custom, and under its quickening influence the Synod in 1829 took the following action: Resolved, That this Synod disapprove of the use of spirituous Hquors as a beverage, and that they will themselves entirely abstain from it in all their meetings, and recommend to Presbyteries and sessions to do the same. This was done on the avowed principle of sustaining the expression of opinion by corresponding practice. Temper- ance societies began to spring up, in which the members pledged themseh-es at first to a modified and restricted use of liquors, and in miany cases imposing a fine for any violation of the pledge. Finally the pledge required total abstinence. In 1833 the Synod passed an act approving of the establishment of temperance societies on " So'ipt- ural principles," and cordially recommended and exhorted their members to connect themselves with these societies. The temperance movement at this first outburst became very wild and developed no little fanaticism, so the Synod limited its approval to those only that were organized in accordance with Scriptural principles. The Synod had occasion to speak upon this subject at different subsequent times, and always condemned the use of spirituous liquors as a beverage. With our present wealth of religious periodicals it is hard to conceive how the church, within the memory of some still living, was able to do its work without these pastoral assistants. Their need was long felt before the remedy was provided. The Synod soon realized the 2o8 THE UXITED PKESBYTERIANS. [Chap. vi. absolute necessity of having some periodical under its control, or so connected with it that the homes of the families of the church could be easily reached through its pages. So in 1831 it directed the establishment of a monthly periodical, to be called the " Christian Magazine," to be published at Geneva, N. Y., and to be edited by Rev. John F. McLaren. This magazine was very credit- ably edited, and for eleven years did a good work for the church, and then for sundry causes it ceased to exist. The necessity for such an organ was now more painfully felt than before its advantages had been experienced, so in 1844 the establishment of a similar m.agazine, "The Christian Instructor," was ordered. For two years it was published in Nevvburg, N. Y., and edited by the Rev. Dr. John Forsyth, and then transferred to Philadelphia, to be conducted by Dr. J. B. Dales as a private enterprise. It was subsequently converted into a large weekly paper, and is still doing good service in the church. The Synod in its independent career soon felt hampered and oppressed from a lack of ministers, and realized the imperative necessity of establishing a theological seminary to supply the demand. Dr. Alexander Proudfit and Rev. Robert Forrest were appointed to apply to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church for the return of the library and funds of the old seminary, which had been transferred in 1822 to Princeton. This they did, but met with no encouragement, and the Synod got along as best it could until 1829, when it was unanimously resolved, " That the present time is the proper time for making a beginning in this good work." A course of study was adopted ; Dr. Joseph McCarrell was chosen principal pro- fessor; Newburg, N. Y., was selected as the location; and the seminary was opened in the autumn with several students. RETURN OF LIBRARY. 209 In 1830 it was resolved to make another effort for the restoration of the aUenated Hbrary and funds. A memo- rial was drafted and placed in the hands of Dr. McCarrell and John Forsyth, Esq., to be presented to the next Gen- eral Assembly. It was also determined that this should be the last application, and if denied, a suit in the civil court should be instituted. In May, 1831, the commis- sioners appeared before the Assembly, and their memorial was referred to a special committee, which brought in an adverse report. The Assembly did not adopt this, but referred it and the memorial to the trustees of the Theo- logical Seminary at Princeton, with power to act according to their judgment. The trustees declined to decide upon the claim, and referred it back to the next Assembly, with their advice to reject it. When the subject came up in the Assembly of 1832 Dr. McCarrell was again present, and asked the privilege of being heard. This was refused. The reading of a written argument prepared by him was then offered, and also declined. This Assembly was com- posed almost entirely of different members from that of the previous year, and they had not heard a single word in defense of the claim ; yet they refused to hear anything upon the subject, except the report of a select committee upon the opinion or paper of the trustees of the seminary. The conclusion was soon attained, and it was a positive rejection. This shut the door against all further friendly negotiation, and a suit was commenced at once in the Court of Chancery in the State of New Jersey. The case lingered, like all such cases, until July, 1837, when the chancellor decided in the Synod's favor on every point presented in the claim. The library and funds were at once surrendered and transferred to Newburg. The Synod having no foreign missionary enterprise of its own, some of its ministers and congregations identi- 2IO THE UNITED PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. vi. fied themselves with the American Board, and it always dispensed the Lord's Supper during its annual meeting. Participation in these communion services became a prac- tical question with those ministers who attended its meet- ings, one of whom was a corporate member of the Board. In 1838 the Synod instructed against any participation on these occasions — not because it was opposed to occasional communion under proper circumstances, but because the Board made all the arrangements for these communion services, thereby implying that it had the right to admin- ister the sealing ordinances of the church, and also because of the miscellaneous character of the faith and practice of the crowd which usually partook of the Supper. The antislavery feeling, which had been gradually and steadily growing in our country during the first part of this century, soon showed itself in the proceedings of the Synod. Plain people cannot comprehend that system of ethics which divides a man's identity and allows him to do as a citizen that which it forbids him to do as a Christian. Memorials upon the subject of slavery began to come up to the Synod as early as 1837, and continued to come for the next ten or twelve years. The Synod did not, how- ever, warm up to the subject very readily, and uniformly answered, that, having no connection with slavery or slave territory, or bodies that tolerated slaveholding mem- bers, there was no call for a judicial or ecclesiastical utter- ance. This refusal to speak out did not satisfy the con- sciences of many of the members of the church, who felt that the cries of wronged and wounded humanity should be heeded, and receive at least the recognition and sym- pathy of all God's people. Besides, slavery, in its relations and its spirit of extension, had become a practical ques- tion of every-day life, far beyond its territorial boundaries. A great political party, known as the " Free-Soil," was THE SLAVERY QUESTION. 211 springing into existence, specially in opposition to it ; and on the other side, Congress had denied the right of petition on this subject, and had passed a law making it the duty of Northern men to help to return the fugitive slave to his Southern master, and had also permitted slavery to be carried into territory hitherto free. The Presbytery of Philadelphia, moved by these aggres- sions, memoriahzed the Synod in 185 i to issue a testimony against slavery as an "enormous system of immoraHty." This memorial was referred to a special committee, and in due time a majority report, by Dr. Robert Proudfit, and a minority report, by Rev. A. Bowers, were brought in. The former recommended that no testimony be issued, and the principal reasons for this refusal were two, and may be epitomized thus : First, that special testimonies and warnings, according to the custom and policy of our church, were issued only against dangerous errors and gross immoralities prevailing at the time, and within the bounds of our church ; and as there was no slavery within the bounds of our Synod, a testimony was not called for. Second, that slavery is an institution wholly under the control of civil authority ; and however iniquitous in its origin, the church can have no control over its continu- ance, and has neither the right nor the power to abolish it, the kingdom of Christ being not of this world. The report ended with a strong protest against any insinuation that may be made that this Synod is a proslavery Synod, from either its former or its present action on this subject. This report was adopted by a majority of five, and it is worthy of note that a majority of the affirmative vote was given by ruling elders, while three fourths of the negative were by ministers. Politics had unquestionably much to do in the matter, for both Whigs and Democrats looked upon the Free-Soilers with much disfavor. 212 THE UNITED rRESBYTERIAXS. [Chap. vi. The question at issue, however, was not the abstract right or wrong of slavery, but the right and the expediency of issuing testimonies in reference to civil institutions. It is but just to say that every one of these men that voted for the report was conscientiously and avowedly opposed to slavery. The acknowledged leader, who spoke for two hours against synodic action, was one of the first men who joined in the organization of the Republican party for the avowed purpose of antagonizing slavery. He did so, ac- cording to his theory, as a citizen in the performance of a civil duty, and not as a minister in the discharge of an ecclesiastical duty. He and those ministers that joined wath him were not only conservative by natural tempera- ment, but they had learned in their youth that if the state must not handle things purely ecclesiastical, neither must the church deal with civil institutions. They held that Christians are in duty bound to leaven the world with their spirit and thought, and that they must do this not in the discharge of their ecclesiastical functions, which are for those that are within, but by carrying their educated consciences and pure morality into the discharge of their duties as citizens ; that their religion should dominate their politics, instead of allowing their politics to control their religion. They would not vote for immoral men, and be- lieved that if only friends of Christ were put into office, the world would soon be revolutionized in the matter of its morality. While the union movement between the Associate and the Associate Reformed Churches was slowly progressing, a proposition was made to unite the two Associate Re- formed Synods, that of New York and the General Synod of the West, into one organization. This was easily and quickly done in 1855, upon the simple basis that, possess- ing the same standards, the appellate powers of the new UNION WITH THE WEST. 213 General Synod should be confined exclusively to questions of doctrine ; and that all institutions and property belong- ing to each Synod shall so remain without any interference in any manner by the General Synod, or any other partic- ular Synod. The career of the Synod as an independent body now ceased, and it has since continued as a particular Synod, subordinate to the General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church. CHAPTER VII. THE ASSOCIATE REFORMED SYNOD OF THE WEST. We have seen in a previous chapter that the course of the first General Synod of the Associate Reformed Church, for various reasons, was not satisfactory to the subordinate Synod of Scioto, and that the latter in 1818 proposed to the former that it would hold its meetings in a more central place than Philadelphia, that there might be a fuller west- ern representation ; or, failing in this, to divide the church into two or more independent Synods. The General Synod refused to do either, and then appointed a commission, clothed with judicial power, to go to Lexington and settle the troubles which then afflicted the Presbytery of Ken- tucky. When men have once tasted power, they are slow to relinquish it. The Synod of Scioto, at its meeting in the autumn of 1818, gave an expression of its feelings by enjoining its Presbyteries to report to the next meeting their judgment whether the Synod at that meeting should constitute itself into an independent Synod, or continue to bear its grievances. Guided by the answers of its Presby- teries, the Synod in October, 18 19, Resolved, That the next meeting of this Synod be held at , etc., and that it will then constitute itself into an independent Syi\od, declaring, as they hereby declare, their strict adherence to the Confession of Faith, Larger and Shorter Catechisms, Form of Church Government, and Directories of Worship, as received at Greencastle on the 31st of May, 1799, and unifocnily acted on as then understood till the year 181 1, on which ground they will re- ciprocate ministerial and Christian communion with the other branches of the Associate Reformed Church. 214 ORGANIZA TION AND FIELD. 2 I 5 The Synod held its next meeting at Rush Creek, Fair- field County, O., on the 27th of April, 1820, when it re- affirmed the action of the previous meeting by but two dissenting votes, and then re-constituted itself as an inde- pendent Synod, under the name of The Associate Rcforvied Synod of tJie West. It contained the three Presbyteries of Monongahela, Kentucky, and Ohio, whose congregations were scattered all along from the Allegheny Mountains to the Mississippi River. The Presbytery of Kentucky was, however, very feeble. From 1800 to 18 10 the counties lying around Lexington constituted not only the garden spot of the State, but also of the Associate Reformed Church. This region gave more promise of a rich future to the church than almost any other section of the whole country. The congregations were comparatively numer- ous; the Academy of Kentucky was instituted and en- dowed by the State with four thousand five hundred acres of land ; a majority of the professors in Transylvania Uni- versity were ministers of the Associate Reformed Church ; even subscriptions were offered for the founding of a west- ern theological seminary at Lexington, which was expected to rival the one in New York under Dr. Mason ; and such pulpit orators as Rankin, Bishop, and McCord were very scarce anywhere. But, unhappily, brotherly love ceased to flourish among these brilliant ministers, and jealousies and dissensions entered the Presbytery. A blight soon passed over the fair prospects, and when the Synod of the West was organized the Academy of Kentucky was closed and its lands all lost, the University of Transylvania was without an Associate Reformed professor, the congrega- tions shrunk in many instances to skeletons, and William H. Rainey was the only settled pastor. All this from pure mismanagement and criminal captiousness, for the question of slavery had not yet been started to vex the churches, 2l6 THE UNITED PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. vii. and when it was, a few years later, all of Kentucky be- came lost to the Synod. After assuming the responsibilities of an independent body, the members of the Synod soon realized that the field for cultivation was very large and that the laborers were very few. The number of congregations was twice that of the ministers, and needy and uncared-for commu- nities were painfully plenty. Measures were soon taken to provide for the training of young ministers, and in May, 1825, it was resolved to establish a theological seminary in Pittsburg, with Dr. Joseph Kerr as its first professor. This institution was opened in December, and still exists, and has educated nearly one thousand young men for the Christian ministry. A second theological seminary was instituted in 1839, at Oxford, O., over which Dr. Joseph Claybaugh was first called to preside. The Synod also urged upon the Presbyteries the neces- sity of establishing classical schools and academies within their bounds, that they might become feeders to the semi- nary by supplying the facilities for the preparatory edu- cation. Quite a number of such schools were organized and conducted with success, and proved to be a great blessing both to the church and also to the communities in which they w^ere located, for the facilities for education were yet very limited in many sections of our country. As an additional inducement and help, a Young Men' s Fund was established in 1826, to aid indigent and pious young men in preparing for the ministry. P'rom it young men could borrozv to a certain amount and return the princi- pal within a certain number of years, without the payment of any interest. It was the best the church could then afford, and it answered its purpose well, for it helped and is still helping many students into the ministry, without doing anything toward panpcricing them in fact or in THEOLOGICAL SEMLXARY. 21"] spirit. The church has since added a more gratuitous scheme of assistance, but it is an open question whether the ministry or the church has been really benefited thereby, for we cherish most dearly and use most carefully that which costs us most. Young men enter other pro- fessions and lines of business without the agency of organ- ized assistance, and they are all the better for it, because the development of character and the habits of industry and economy acquired in so doing become the very sources of their future success. Ministers need as much develop- ment and stamina of character as any other class of men, and whatever helps to produce these is a positive gain, and to be nursed too tenderly may in the end be a loss. One of the Presbyteries had some difficulty in determin- ing whether the organization of a congregation could be completed without deacons, and referred the question in 1824 to the Synod. The matter was kept under con- sideration for a number of years, and then indefinitely postponed. The prevailing opinion in Synod seemed to be, that, as every lower office is included in those above, and as the apostles did not evolve the office of deacon till the ministrations to the poor became so burdensome as to require a distinct class of men to conduct them, so every congregation should be left to determine for itself when it may become necessary to evolve the office of deacon out of the office of ruling elder, and that the condition of one congregation should not be a law unto another. There was a tim^ when much of the earnest, active antislavery sentiment in the country existed in the slave- holding States. Those who gave the original impulse to the antislavery sentiment in this Synod were principally those who had emigrated from the South. At a meeting of the Synod at Chillicothe, O., in May, 1826, a memorial upon the subject of slavery came up from Hopwell, Preble 2l8 THE UNITED PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. vii. County, O., from a congregation which had come as a colony from South CaroHna. This started a series of dis- cussions, which passed from Synod to Synod until 1830, when the following was adopted : 1. That the religion of Jesus Christ requires that involuntary slavery should be removed from the church as soon as an opportunity in the providence of God is offered to slave-owners for the liberation of their slaves. 2. That when there are no regulations of the State to prohibit it, when provision can be made for the support of the freedmen, when they can be placed in circumstances to support the rank, enjoy the rights, and discharge the duties of freedmen, it shall be considered that such an opportunity is afforded in the providence of God. 3. That the Synod will, as it hereby does, recommend it to all its members to aid in placing the slaves which are within the jurisdiction of this Synod in the possession of their rights as freedmen ; and that it be recommended to them especially to take up annual collections to aid the funds of the American society for colonizing the free people of color in the United States. 4. That the practice of buying or selling slaves for gain by any member of this church be disapproved, and that slave-owners under the jurisdiction of the Synod be, as they hereby are, forbidden all aggravations of the evils of slavery by violating the ties of nature, the separation of husband and wife, parents and children, or by cruel or unkind treatment ; and that they shall not only treat them well, but also instruct them in useful knowledge and the principles of the Christian religion, and in all respects treat them as enjoined upon masters toward their servants by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Synod in 1838 explained the second resolution by declaring, " That an opportunity in the providence of God shall be considered as afforded when the master can emancipate his slave and place him in circumstances where he shall not be liable to be immediately sold into bondage." And in 1839 the following preamble and resolution were passed in reference to the third resolfltion : As there are two conflicting societies operating in the community — the Col- onization and the Antislavery Societies — and as this Synod has recommended the former to the patronage of the churches under its care, and as it is desir- able the Synod should keep clear of this excitement, and as the church should not be involved by the operation of bodies over which it has no control ; therefore, Resolved, That this Synod withdraws the recommendation formerly given to the Colonization Society. ACTION ANENT SLA VER V. 2 1 9 Public opinion in later days regarded the resolutions of 1830 as a very mild condemnation of slavery, while they were in reality a very advanced attainment upon this sub- ject at the time when they were passed ; and their wisdom was vindicated by their fruits, for they served their pur- pose so well that the growing antislavery sentiment of the church never sought to disturb them, giving a good illus- tration of the fact that a mild law faithfully executed is always more efficacious for good than a severer law imper- fectly enforced. The Synod was in earnest, and did de- sign to execute all that it had enacted, for in 1832 it issued a Letter of Warning, and spoke of these resolutions thus : Now, brethren, it is expected that the foregoing resolutions will not be as a dead letter, but be respected and reduced to practice. It is expected that sessions and presbyteries will see them enforced. It is expected that slave- owners in the church will make conscience of seeking and improving oppor- tunities, and the very first which offer, of liberating their slaves. It is expected that in the meantime they will give satisfactory evidence to their re- spective sessions that they do consider slavery a moral evil, and that they do truly desire to get rid of it as soon as they can, and that it is their intention to embrace the first opportunity which God in his providence shall give them for so doing. And it is expected of sessions that they will require this of slave-owning church-members or applicants. The abduction of Morgan in 1826 produced a very sudden and very violent anti-masonic excitement through- out the whole country, and it made its appearance in Synod in 1829, through the instrumentality of the Presbytery of Monongahela, and perhaps fully as much in the interest of a political party, then forming, as in vindication and furtherance of the truth. The Synod did not enter into any extended discussion of the abstract question of the right or wrong of masonry, but instituted an inquiry to see how far the church was contaminated with it. Find- ing that the churches of the Synod were virtually free from it, the following action was taken : 220 THE UNITED PRESBYTERIANS. lChap. vii. WiiKRKAS a reference from the Presbytery of Monongahela, relative to masonry, lias been brought before this Synod ; and Whkrkas it is believed that the practice of freemasonry is contrary to the standards of this church ; and Whereas, on inquiry being made, it has been ascertained that the several ministers of this Synod are in the practice of detaining from sealing ordi- nances those who take unlawful oaths : therefore, Resolved, That the Synod take no further notice of the subject. The matter of secret societies, in a more general form, came before the General Synod in 1846, when the follow- ing action was taken : 1. Whereas the Society of Odd Fellows has been and still is making special efforts to revive and secure popular favor to the principle of secret as- sociations, and especially to give the appearance of morality and religion by the names of ministers of the gospel ; and Whereas we regard the principle itself as inconsistent with the character of true Christianity and highly danger- ous to our civil institutions : therefore, Resolved, That this Synod do hereby express its disapprobation of said society, and warn our people that persist- ence in a connection with it must subject such as do so to the discipline of the church. 2. Whereas the Order of the Sons of Temperance, though having a more simple object and free from oaths, is nevertheless organized on the principle of secret associations, and thereby sanctioning it ; therefore. Resolved, That, in the judgment of this Synod, it is the duty of professing Christians to stand aloof from its entanglements, and not to give it their sanction or encourage- ment. The custom of the country in the early part of the nine- teenth century not only permitted the use of spirituous liquors as a beverage, but almost exacted it as a token of hospitality. Friendship would not withhold the cup, and would scarcely even allow its rejection. Even ministers in the performance of their pastoral duties were expected to drink, and were often urged to do so, and this was the secret of the fall of not a few of them. Against all this the conscience of good and thoughtful men finally revolted, and a great temperance movement was inaugurated. The Synod gave its first deliverance upon this subject in 1834, in the passage of the following resolutions: TEMPERANCE— TES TIM OKIES. 2 2 I 1. That the practice of using ardent spirits as a drink, or mode of express- ing our hospitality to a friend, is calculated to do much injury to society, and, in view of the benevolent effort now in progress for the suppression of intem- perance, is calculated to expose the Christian character to reproach ; and, therefore, that it be recommended to all the members of the churches under our care to abstain from it. 2. That while it is not maintained that the manufacture and vending of ardent spirits are, in themselves, immoral, yet, in consideration of the very general abuse of the article, it is recommended to all under our care to abstain from both. 3. That while if is the province of the ordinances of the gospel alone, under the divine blessing, to produce and promote temperance as a Christian grace, and while it is left to the discretion of individuals to promote the cause of temperance as a social virtue in that mode which to them may appear most efficacious, yet a temperance society, established upon proper principles, is well calculated to promote this latter kind of temperance, and is not liable to any serious objections. These same views were reaffirmed in 1841, in language more positive and emphatic. The scarcity of men and money compelled the Synod to cultivate its home missionary field just as it could and without any well-defined system. Every pastor gave a portion of his time to vacancies and destitute places in his own neighborhood or Presbytery, and occasionally one or more were taken from their charges and sent for months on a tour of missionary exploration. But an increase of resources called for some system which would secure greater efficiency. After much consideratio'n and some experimenting it was finally agreed to leave the disposal of all licentiates and unsettled ministers to a Committee of Missions, to be composed of one member from each Pres- bytery, which was to meet annually before or during the meeting of the Synod, and make a distribution of ministers to the different Presbyteries according to their need, and to fix the amounts of money to be appropriated to the places needing help. The whole to be subject to the ap- proval of the Synod. 2 22 rilE UNITED PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. vii. In the constitution of the Associate Reformed Church provision was made for the emitting of occasional testi- monies from time to time to protect the doctrinal purity and practical piety of the church from prevailing errors and immoralities. In accordance with this the Synod in 1825 prepared and issued an exhaustive and elaborate testimony against " Hopkinsian, Socinian, and semi-Socin- ian errors as prevalent in the present day." Other testi- monies of this kind were issued in 1832: one in reference to the Sabbath ; another upon revivals as conducted with the anxious-bench machinery ; another upon evil speaking ; and another upon slavery; and still another in 1853, "on the neglected duty of honoring the Lord with our sub- stance." This last would be seasonable at any time, and concludes thus : The following opinions are of bad practical tendency, and as such we con- demn them, and testify against them : 1. That the common education of children and domestics may be neglected without sin, and that we are under no obligation to assist in the education of other children than our own. 2. That we are not obliged to assist the poor. Unless they are church- members and worthy persons. 3. That we are not bound to assist with our substance in relieving the op- pressed, unless we personally assisted in inflicting the oppression. 4. That it is either sinful or dangerous to assist societies which are moral and benevolent in their character and operations. 5. That Christians may discharge all their duties and yet neglect to sup- port the gospel as God has prospered them. 6. That men have no rule but their own fancy and pleasure to guide them in supporting the gospel and aiding benevolent societies. The Synod felt that the foreign missionary cause had claims upon it, and after much deliberation concluded in 1837 to engage in the work to the extent of its ability, and planned to send Rev. W. Blain to India, to join in the same mission with Mr. McEwen, who had been sent there by the Synod of New York. But before all neces- FOREIGN MISSIONS— CHURCH VOTES. 223 sary arrangements could be made Mr. McEwen's health failed and he was compelled to return, and the enterprise was abandoned. The Synod, however, felt that there was a neglected duty in the matter. Denominational mission- ary boards had not yet been established, and nearly all the missionary work done outside of the American Board was done through the agency of local voluntary societies. The Mercer County (Pa.) Society was of this kind, and was composed of members of the Presbyterian, the Associate, the Associate Reformed, and the Covenanter Churches. In 1 841 the General Synod requested its ministers, as speedily as possible, to take up collections to be appro- priated to the support of Rev. J. R. Campbell, who had been sent to India, in 1835, by this society. This was felt to be only temporary, and did not give full satisfaction, so in 1 842 the Synod "Resolved, That we will endeavor, in reliance on the great Head of the church, to send out at least one missionary to Palestine, by the ist of October, 1844." In the winter of 1844-45 Rev. J. Barnett and his brother-in-law, J. G. Paulding, M.D., sailed for Syria, and located in Damascus. The Synod continued actively and successfully in this foreign field. The Synod of the West became unwieldy because of the extent of its territory, which was stretching out rapidly toward the west. As a matter of relief the Synod con- cluded in 1839 to divide into two Synods, the First and the Second (and subsequently Illinois), subordinate to a General Synod, composed of delegates from the Presby- teries. A number of ministers still lived who had mingled in the troubles of the old General Synod, and to guard against the things that proved its ruin, it was provided that " the General Synod shall have no appellate juris- diction except in cases of doctrine " ; and also, " that the General Synod in all matters overtured to the Presbyteries 224 ^-^-^^ UNITED PRESBYTERIAXS. [CiiAr. vii. shall be governed in their decision by the majority of the entire vote of the church thus obtained." That is, that Presbyteries shall not be counted as units in their answer to overtures, but that the votes in the Presbyteries should be reported, and a majority of these should govern the action of the Synod, so that it may be the voice of the church. The constitution of the Associate Reformed Church had always confined the right of voting for a pastor to male communicants. The justice of this restriction was often called in question, so the whole matter of voting in things spiritual and things temporal was overtured to the Pres- byteries. In accordance with the answers returned it was in 1853 Resolved, That Synod affirm that the right of voting for pastors is now ex- tended to all co/)i III lining members in the Associate Reformed Church. Resolved, That, in accordance with the vote of the several Presbyteries, tlie extension of the privilege of voting in the temporalities of the church to pew- holders and those supporting the ordinances be left discretionary with the Sessions. As already stated elsewhere, the Associate Reformed Synod of New York and the General Synod of the Asso- ciate Reformed Church of tlie West were united in 1856; but this new organization continued only for three years, when" it formed a union with the Associate Synod and constituted the United Presbyterian Church. Its contri- bution to the united body was 240 ministers, 360 congre- gations, and over 30,000 communicants. These uniting bodies sprang from the same source, ever saw eye to eye in all that pertained to doctrine and wor- ship, worked along the same lines, operated upon the same classes of society, mingled together in the same commu- nities, and entertained friendly relations with each other, and the wonder always was why they remained apart so long. CHAPTER VIII. THE UNION OF 1858. In 1837 the General Synod of the Reformed Presby- terian Church proposed a conference to see if something could be done to bring the different branches of the Scot- tish dissenters in this country into closer relations. In response to this invitation, delegates from the Reformed Presbyterian Synod and from the Associate Reformed Synods of New York and the West met in 1838, in* Pitts- burg, to talk over the matter and find out what difficulties might be in the way. The social and Christian intercourse of the delegates was so pleasant and enjoyable that they made provision for future conferences of the same kind. In 1842 the Associate Synod joined in and sent delegates also. After several days' interchange of views, it was clearly ascertained that there existed a remarkable degree of harmony, and the following resolution was unanimouslj^ adopted : Resolved, That, having discussed the prominent subjects upon which a diversity of sentiment was apprehended to exist, it appears there is such a degree of unanimity on these subjects that there is encouragement for the convention to take further measures toward a visible ecclesiastical union. By this time it became very evident that there was no greater difference in the views of the delegates of the different churches than existed among the ministers of any one of them, and that, in the event of a union, no church would be called upon to tolerate in those from other churches anything more than what was already tol- 225 226 THE UNITED PRESPyYTERIAXS. [Chap. viii. erated in its own. There was in reality no difference in doctrines and worship, and the only difficulties hinged upon the modes of expression and the methods of exhibi- tion. Each party, from long use, had become attached to its own mode, and felt reluctant to make any change. It will be remembered that the Associate Reformed Church at its organization altered those portions of the Confession of Faith which define the powers of the civil government circa sacra so as to make them express clearly the belief of the church. The Associate and the Reformed Churches retained the original text in their Confession of Faith, and then in their "Testimony" explained the sense in which they received it. Yet all these churches held a common doctrine, and only differed as to where and how they should proclaim it. The Associate Reformed Church held the Confession of Faith and Catechisms, Presbyte- rial Form of Government, and Directory of Worship as her fixed testimony, and also promised to emit occasional tes- timonies in defense of the truth and in opposition to error, as occasions might require. The other churches added to these standards a " Narrative " and "Judicial Testimony " as being of equal authority. All the churches held the doctrine in common that the church must bear witness for the truth and against error. The difference consisted only in the manner or method of doing so. As no principle was involved, some compromise in the matter of preference must be made, and it was finally agreed : That, in the judgment of this convention, a union between the bodies here represented can be effected only Ijy an aUeration of the Westminster Con- fession of Faith in the twentieth, the twenty-third, and the thirty-first chap- ters, and the adoption of a "Judicial Testimony" against prevaihng and dangerous errors of the present times. Two bases of union were drafted according to the above direction, and presented and discussed at succeeding con- CONVENTIONS ABANDONED. 22 7 ventions, but both proved to be unsatisfactory. There developed two parties : the one insisted upon a compre- hensive and argumentative testimony, while the other was equally firm in contending for a brief and simple " Testi- mony," easily comprehended by the people. Neither would yield their convictions, and the future became unpromis- ing. Those that most earnestly desired the union became thoroughly satisfied, from past experience, that the present method of procedure would never accomplish the object desired, and that the whole business had better be begun anew. Nine annual conventions had been held, and the difficulties to be removed were positively increasing in- stead of diminishing. And what else could be expected? Every convention gave the first and best part of its labors to the hunting up of difficulties and differences of views. If enough of these could not be readily found, little things were magnified, and mole-hills were made into mountains, so as to accomplish the work. There was never any greater diversity of views among the different delegates at any of the meetings than was to be found among the ministers of each one of the bodies represented ; and if slight differences could be tolerated in the Synod, why not in the convention and in the united body ? But the negotiations had generally been confined to a few theo- logical experts, and they must sustain their reputation and develop shades of differences, without paying any atten- tion to the almost endless catalogue of agreements. The necessary results of such hypercriticism were suspicion, dis- trust, an improper magnifying of little things, and a wrangle over metaphysical abstractions which should never appear in the creed of any church. A cordial union could never be effected by such means. The scalpel and the microscope must give place to softer, warmer, and gentler agencies. Conventions by delegations were in 1848 abandoned, 2 28 THE UNITED PRESBYrERIANS. [Chap. vim. but the effort for union was by no means given up. Ex- pectation had been excited in the churches, a friendly feeling had been developed, and the heart of the people was warmed up, so that they really yearned for union and close brotherly fellowship. Hitherto the effort had been confined substantially to the agency of the head, and some new method must be instituted which would keep the negotiations nearer to the heart of the people. Henceforth the work was confined to synodic assemblies, where all the ministers and many of the elders could ha\-e a voice. When conventions were abandoned the Reformed Pres- b}'terians withdrew from any further negotiations, but a regular correspondence between the synods of the Asso- ciate and the Associate Reformed Churches was com- menced, which finally terminated in the offer of a Basis of Union by the former in 1856 to the latter, which was overtured to the Presbyteries, and adopted in 1857 by the General Synod. The Associate Synod in tendering this basis stated that in the "Testimony" the declarations only were authorita- tive, and that the argument and the illustrations which accompanied each declaration were only useful guides to the meaning of the declarations. The General Synod in accepting the basis responded thus : The Associate Reformed Church does hereby declare her acceptance of tlie "Testimony" proposed as a basis of union by the Associate Synod, and overtured by the General vSynod of 1856 to the Presbyteries, in the confidence that any modifications or amendments necessary to harmonize said basis with the faith and practice held in common by the two churches, or render it more entirely acceptal)le, will be in due time effected by the United Church, and in the confidence that reasonable forbearance will be exercised toward any member of either body that may feel constrained to dissent from any article in the basis. The Basis of Union thus agreed upon was the West- minster Confession of Faith, with a modification in refer- THE " testimony:' 229 ence to the power of the civil magistrate circa sacra, so as to free it from all Erastianism, the Catechisms, Larger and Shorter, and a "Judicial Testimony." The Directory for Worship and the Book of Discipline of both churches were allowed to be used until others should be prepared. The "Judicial Testimony " covered important subjects which had not been embraced in the Confession, or not sufficiently elaborated to meet present circumstances. It consists of eighteen declarations, with arguments and illus- trations. The arguments and illustrations are only designed to be useful helps, and not as authoritative utterances. These declarations are as follows : 1. IVe declare. That God has not only in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments made a revelation of his will to man as the only rule of faith and practice, but that these Scriptures, viewed as a revelation from God, are in every part the inspired Word of God, and that this inspiration extends to the language as well as to the sentiments which they express. 2. We declare. That our Lord Jesus Christ is not only true and supreme God, being one in essence with the Father, but also the Son of God, in re- spect to his natural, necessary, and eternal relation to the Father. 3. IVe declare, That God, having created man in a state of perfect holiness and in possession of a perfect ability to obey him in all things, did enter into a covenafit with him, in which covenant Adam was the representative of all his natural posterity, so that in him they were to stand or fall as he stood or fell. 4. IVe declare. That our first parents did, by their breach of covenant with God, subject themselves to his eternal wrath, and bring themselves into such a state of depravity as to be vv'holly inclined to sin, and altogether unable by their own power to perform a single act of acceptable obedience to God ; and that all their natural posterity, in virtue of their representation in the covenant, are born into the world in the same state of guilt, depravity, and inability, and in this state will continue until delivered therefrom by the grace and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. 5. IVe declare, That our Lord Jesus Christ did, by the appointment of the Father, and by his own gracious and voluntary act, place himself in the room of a definite number, who were chosen in him before the foundation of the world, so that he was their true and proper legal security ; and as such did, in their behalf, satisfy the justice of God, and answer all the demands which the law had against them, and thereby infallibly obtain for them eternal re- demption. 230 THE UNITED PRESBYTERIANS. [CiiAr. viii. 6. We declare, That in justification there is an imputation to the believer of that righteousness, or satisfaction and obedience, which the Lord Jesus Christ, as the surety of his i)eople, rendered to the law ; and that it is only on the ground of this imputed righteousness that his sins are pardoned and his person accepted in the sight of God. 7. We declare, That the gospel, taken in its strict and proper sense, as distinguished from the law, is a revelation of grace to sinners as such, and that it contains a free and unconditional offer and grant of salvation through Christ to all who hear it, whatever may be their character or condition. 8. We declare. That in true and saving faith there is not merely an assent of the mind to the proposition that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Saviour of sinners, but also a cordial reception and appropriation of him by the sinner as his Saviour, with an accompanying persuasion or assurance corresponding to the degree or strength of his faith that he shall be saved by him, which appropriation and persuasion are founded solely upon the free and uncon- ditional and unlimited offer of Christ and salvation in him which God makes in the gospel to sinners of mankind. 9. We declaj-c, That the repentance which is a saving grace is one of the fruits of a justifying faith, and of course cannot be regarded as a ground of the sinner's pardon, or as necessary to qualify him for coming to Christ. 10. We declare. That although the moral law is of perpetual obligation, and consequently does and ever will bind the believer as a rule of life, yet as a covenant he is by his justification through Christ completely and forever set free from it, both as to its commanding and condemning power, and con- sequently not required to yield obedience to it as a condition of life and sal- vation. 11. We declare, That the Holy Spirit, the tliird person of the Trinity, does, by a direct operation accompanying the Word, so act upon the soul as to quicken, regenerate, and sanctify it ; and that without this direct operation the soul would have no ability to perceive in a saving manner the truths of God's Word or yield to the motives M-hich it presents. 12. We declare. That our Lord Jesus Christ, besides the dominion which belongs to him as God, has, as our God-man Mediator, a twofold dominion with which he has been invested by the Father, as the reward of his suffer- ings. These are : a dominion over the church, of which he is the living Head and Law-giver, and Source of all that divine influence and authority by which she is sustained and governed ; and also a dominion over all created persons and things, which is exercised by him in subserviency to the mani- festation of God's glory in the system of redemption and the interests of his church. 13. We declare. That the law of God, as written upon the heart of man, and as set forth in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is supreme in its authority and obligations, and that where the commands of the church or state are in conflict with the commands of this law, we are to obey God rather than man. THE UNION CONSUMMATED. 23 I 14. We declare, That slaveholding — that is, the holding of unoffending human beings in involuntary bondage, and considering and treating them as property, and subject to be bought and sold — is a violation of the law of God, and contrary both to the letter and spirit of Christianity. 15. We declare. That all associations, whether formed for political or be- nevolent purposes, which impose upon their members an oath of secrecy or an obligation to obey a code of unknown laws, are inconsistent with the genius and spirit of Christianity, and church-members ought not to have fel- lowship with such associations. 16. We declare. That the church should not extend communion, in sealing ordinances, to those who refuse adherence to her profession or subjection to her government and discipline, or who refuse to forsake a communion which is inconsistent with the profession that she makes ; nor should communion in any ordinance of worship be held under such circumstances as would be in- consistent with keeping of these ordinances pure and entire, or so as to give countenance to any corruption of the doctrines and institutions of Christ. 17. We declare. That public social covenanting is a moral duty, the ob- servance of which is not required at stated times, but on extraordinary oc- casions, as the providence of God and the circumstances of the church may indicate. It is seasonable in times of great danger to the church, in times of exposure to backsliding, or in times of reformation, when the church is returning to God from a state of backsliding. When the church has entered into such covenant transactions, they continue to bind posterity faithfully to adhere to and prosecute the grand object for which such engagements have been entered into. 18. We declare. That it is the will of God that the songs contained in the Book of Psalms be sung in his worship, both public and private, to the end of the world ; and in singing God's praise these songs should be employed to the exclusion of the devotional compositions of uninspired men. As the time approached for the consummation of the union, those who had labored and prayed for it became very anxious that peace, harmony, and unanimity might characterize it. As a means to secure all this, a conven- tion was called to meet at Xenia, O., on the 24th of March, 1858, to seek by united prayer the outpouring of the Holy] Spirit upon the churches, that they might be enabled to; come together in true love and confidence. A very large j number of ministers and laymen from all parts of thej church assembled and spent nearly three days in prayerj and praise and conference, with the happiest effect, and! 2 32 THE UNITED PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. viii. then adjourned to meet in Allegheny, Pa., just before the assembling of the Synods, where the same delightful ex- perience was repeated. Under these circumstances the two Synods met on the 19th of May, 1858, the Associate in Pittsburg and the Associate Reformed in Allegheny, when the following joint action was taken by both Synods : Whereas it is understood that the " Testimony " submitted to the General Synod of the Associate Reformed Church by the Associate Synod was pro- posed and accepted as a term of communion, on the adoption of which the union of the two churches was to be consunmiated ; and Whereas it is agreed between the two churches that the forbearance in love, which is required by the law of God, will be exercised toward any brethren who may not be able fully to subscribe the standards of the United Church, while they do not determinedly oppose them, but follow the things which make for peace and things wherewith one may edify another : I. Resolved, That these churches, when united, shall be called the United Presbyterian Church of North America. [2-6. Resolutions provide for the arranging of Presbyteries, Synods, and a General Assembly.] 7. Resolved, That these and other regulations found necessary, being agreed upon by the respective Synods at the present meeting, the two Synods shall meet at such place as sliall mutually be agreed upon, and, after addresses by Dr. Rodgers and Dr. Pressly and the Rev. J. P. Smart and the Rev. J. Prestley, be constituted with prayer by the senior moderator, after which a moderator and clerk shall be chosen by the United Church. In accordance with the arrangements thus made, the two Synods met together in the City Hall of Pittsburg, at ten o'clock, on the 26th of May, 1858, and after prayer and praise and the contemplated addresses, the new body was constituted with prayer by the Rev. Dr. Donald C. McLaren, moderator of the Associate Reformed General Synod, and Dr. John T. Pressly was chosen by acclamation as the moderator of the new body, as a grateful recogni- tion of his invaluable services in promoting the cause of union for twenty years, and in securing its happy termi- nation. CHAPTER IX. THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. The first General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church met on the i8th of May, 1859, in Xenia, O., was opened with a sermon by Dr. Pressly, and by him con- stituted with prayer. Dr. Peter Bullions, of Troy, N. Y., was elected moderator, and Dr. James Prestley, stated clerk. The principal work of this Assembly was to or- ganize the executive machinery of the new body. It was decided to place the beneficent operations of the church in the hands of Boards, elected by and subject to the supervision of the General Assembly. These Boards were of Foreign Missions, of Home Missions, of Church Exten- sion, of Publication, and of Education. In 1863 a Board of Freedmen's Missions was added, and in 1862 an Aged Ministers' Fund was organized, which in 1873 developed into a Board of Ministerial Relief. In March, i860, the General Assembly was incorporated by the legislature of Pennsylvania, and its trustees are thus the legal agents of the church in all her interests outside the chartered Boards. The influences and impulses of the union of 1858 were very benign and happy. A baptism from on high evi- dently rested upon the new church, reviving and quicken- ing her in her inner as well as in her outer life, so that she developed a commendable degree of zeal and of life and of well-directed activity. But few incidents have marked the course of the United 233 2 34 ^-^^^ UNITED PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. ix. Presbyterian Church. She has done her work quietly, and at the same time tried to meet her responsibilities arising from her surroundings and from the general prog- ress of the age. Her eflfort has been, not only to bring sinners into her fold, but also to guard and promote their purity when in. The Assembly early put itself on record, in reference to amusements, one of the most difficult prob- lems of social life, by resolving: That the members of the church be exhorted to avoid all association with men of the world in vain and ensnaring recreations, such as promiscuous dancing, theatrical exhibitions, and such like amusements as are adapted to alienate the affections from God and expose the Christian character to re- proach, and that pastors and sessions be careful to warn those under their care in relation to the danger of having any fellowship with the world in any such practice. The question was asked, "Are sessions, in receiving per- sons from the denomination of Arians called Christians, to require that they be re-baptized ? " The Assembly answered: "That in our judgment such applicants for fel- lowship in the church should be regarded as unbaptized persons, inasmuch as a community of Arians, denying the true and proper divinity of Jesus and his atonement, by whatever name they may be denominated, is not entitled to be considered as a part of the visible church of Christ." The validity of papal baptism was also answered : " That while as a general rule papal baptism should be regarded as invalid, yet it is believed by many in the church that there are important exceptions to this rule ; therefore this Assembly judges it expedient to leave the question of re- baptizing persons from the papal church to the discretion of sessions." The publication of a book upon church fellowship by one of the pastors produced some local agitation, and a request was sent up to the Assembly of 1868 to fix more definitely the authority of sessions in the admission of INTOXICATING DRINKS. 235 members. This the Assembly declined to do, upon the ground that the law of the church was sufficiently explicit already, and that anything further was unnecessary, be- cause " the sixteenth article of our ' Testimony ' lays down the general rule on the subject of communion, by which the church is to be governed in all ordinary cases. It vvas not designed to make provision for cases of an extraordi- nary nature. When cases of this kind occur, sessions, in the exercise of a wise discretion, must dispose of them as may be for the peace and edification of the church." The subject of temperance, in all its phases, has been repeatedly before the Assembly, and the following resolu- tions, selected from the many passed at different times, will show the unequivocal position of the church upon this subject. That the business of manufacturing and vending intoxicating drinks for drinking purposes is injurious to the best interests of society, and therefore inconsistent with the law of God, which requires " Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." That the practice of renting houses to be occupied by those who are en- gaged in the manufacture and sale of intoxicating drinks to be used as a beverage, or for immoral purposes, is utterly inconsistent with the honor of the Christian religion. That it is inconsistent with membership in the Church of Christ to use or be engaged in the manufacture or sale of intoxicating liquors as a beverage. That' church sessions have full authority, and it is their duty, to enforce the principle of total abstinence where in the exercise of a sound discretion they have reason to believe the safety of the individual and the honor of religion require it. That it is the imperative duty of all the followers of Christ to abstain from the use of intoxicating drinks of every kind, and that such abstinence is necessary to a consistent Christian life. That every church-member should consider himself as pledged, by the obligations which he assumes, to total abstinence from all intoxicating liquors as a beverage. That individual Christians should use all proper means for the suppression of the liquor traffic — legal prohibition, moral suasion, and the practice of total abstinence. That all measures of license or tax are wrong in principle and a failure in practice. 236 THE UNITED PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. ix. Tliat we regard this traffic as an evil wliich can never lie removed without political action, and that we regard its entire jirohibition as the most pressing political question of the times ; and that it therefore becomes our duty as Christian citizens, in the careful and prayerful use of the ballot, to meet this question directly. That we recognize in the Women's Christian Temperance Union a power- ful and most efficient ally in the war against the enemy of " God and Home and Native Land," and we bid them God-speed in their patient, persistent, heroic, and prayerful efforts to make effective their great battle-cry, " The saloon must go." The exclusive use of the Psalms of Scripture in formal acts of praise has always been one of the distinctive peculiarities of the Scottish Presbyterian churches in this country. They brought Rouse's version, as improved and authorized by the Church of Scotland, with them from their fatherland, and continued to use it because they regarded it as the most faithful poetic translation of the original. Its literary imperfections were well known, and the desirableness and even necessity of some improvement were early felt. As early as 1809 the Associate Reformed General Synod appointed a committee to see what could be done in the matter. In 1825 the attention of the Asso- ciate Church was called to this subject, and eventually a committee was appointed to do something. In 1835 the Associate Reformed Synod of New York appointed a committee to procure an improved version, and soon after- ward the Synod of the West did the same. None of these movements accomplished their immediate object, and yet they did much to prepare the way. They ^•oiced a strong desire in the church, and they made the subject a familiar topic of conversation among the ministers and the people, and thus did something toward liberalizing that ultra- conservatism which stands in the way of every advance. They educated the tastes and wishes of the people so as to make the intrcxluction of a new version possible, and the various committees appointed spent considerable time IMPROVED PSALMODY. 237 and labor in their work, and accumulated a large amount of matter which was utilized in the final accomphshment of the work. The first General Assembly took up this matter just where the Synods had laid it down, and appointed a com- mittee to continue the work, with the instruction, " That the version of the Book of Psalms now used by the United Presbyterian Church be retained without any change that would afTect its integrity. And to be used in connection with this it is desirable to have an entirely new version of equal fidelity, and up to the present state of literature and laws of versification." This committee, in connection with the Board of Publication, had the subject under considera- tion for ten years, and then submitted an amended edition of the version in use, and also other versions of nearly all the Psalms in a variety of meters. These were approved by the Assembly in 1871, and authorized to be used, and were very soon and very generally introduced into the churches. These Psalms were soon set to appropriate music and published together as the Psalter of the church. Children are generally fond of lively, quick, moving tunes, and the conviction became strong that much of the solemn and stately music which befitted the congregation was not equally suitable to the Sabbath-school ; and as the children are the future church, it was felt that their tastes and aptitude should be consulted. To meet this want, a smaller book, " Bible Songs," has been prepared. It consists of selections from the authorized versions of the Psalms with music to suit the taste of the young, and especially designed for use in the Sabbath-school and in the meetings of the Young People's Christian Union. The result of all this has been a greatly improved service of song, equal in all essential things to that of any of the sister churches. 238 THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAXS. [Chap. ix. The Directory of Worship of tlie United Presbyterian Church, in common with that of all its antecedents, pro- hibited the use of instrumental music in church praises. But as the culture of music became more general and musical instruments more numerous in our homes, there was a growing desire, especially among the young, to carry the musical culture of the family into the praises of the sanctuary. Tlie subject was overtured to the presbyteries, and it resulted, in 1882, in the removal of the prohibitory rule from the Directory, thereby leaving the church with- out any express law on the subject. Many congregations, feeling that they were now at liberty to do as they pleased, have introduced instruments into their church services, and still more into their Sabbath-schools and Young People's Meetings. Many years ago female missionary societies were more or less common in many of the congregations, but only as part of the machinery for raising the annual contribution to the church boards. There was no effort toward the diffusion of intelligence or the excitement of a missionary spirit. Their work was done quietly and according to established routine. But in the process of time, as the church grew more active and evangelistic, and social cus- toms relaxed and changed, allowing greater freedom to women, they became more interested and gave themselves more intelligently and heartily to church work. Congre- gational societies were formed all over the church, and to help and stimulate each other they formed closer relations and combined into presbyterial and synodic organizations. In recognition of their valuable assistance the General Assembly encouraged them to form a general missionary society to cover the whole church, and to work through a regularly incorporated "Women's Board," auxiliary to the established boards of the church. A missionary magazine CHURCH ORGANIZATIONS. 239 has been established as its organ, and much assistance has been rendered in building parsonages for feeble churches in important fields, in supporting female helpers in the home fields and female missionaries in the foreign work, and supporting two hospitals in India. When the Christian Endeavor movement started up, and appealed to the young in all the churches to make an organized effort to raise the standard of their own piety, and also to do what they could for the conversion of the young people around them, the United Presbyterian Church quickly sympathized with it, and made arrangements for a denominational organization of this kind, and named it the "Young People's Christian Union." It was readily and heartily taken up by the people, and nearly every congregation has a society, and a convention composed of delegates from all these is held every year, to encour- age and stimulate each other, and to devise measures for greater usefulness. The movement thus far has been healthy, and has certainly helped to develop the young mentally and morally, and enable them to take a more willing and active part in church work. CHAPTER X. EDUCATION. Our ecclesiastical ancestors were stern Calvinists, and the teachings and necessities of their religion constrained them to bring the schoolmaster with them. And although generally poor in this world's goods when they landed upon our shores, yet they made great personal sacrifices to establish educational institutions at the earliest possible time. And what they did in this line was not to promote learning for its own sake, but to make it auxiliary to the advancement of religious truth. They built their school- house near their church, and very often hired the school- master before they settled their pastor.- The facilities for an extended education were not at once within their reach, but the means for the acquisition of a fair primary educa- tion were at once provided for and utilized by their chil- dren. And in so doing they always united education and religion, and never allowed them to be separated either in the schoolhouse or the church. They believed that the exclusive education of the head might develop infidel- ity, just as the exclusive education of the heart might result in fanaticism. So to make the well-balanced man, they united the education of the head and of the heart, and they generally succeeded. Before the advent of free schools the Westminster Shorter Catechism was taught in all our day-schools, and every family was then a Sabbath-school. A new question was exacted of the beginner every Monday morning, and 240 SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES. 24 1 the whole was repeated on Saturday. And there were no exempts. If a child from a Lutheran or Methodist family was in the school, he went through the whole cur- riculum, and his parents were glad to have it so. After mastering the headings in the spelling-book and some primer, the only other reading-book was the Bible. The New Testament was read by the junior class, and the Old Testament by the seniors. Reverence for God and man was thus inculcated, and good manners were also taught, so that if a scholar allowed a stranger to pass without a bow or a curtsey it was at the risk of chastisement. In proportion to her numbers and wealth this church stands second to no denomination in the country in her efiFort to establish and sustain schools of a higher order. The first classical school west of the Susquehanna was established by the Rev. Alexander Dobbin, at Rock Creek, now Gettysburg, Pa., where between 1788 and 1799 he prepared for college scores of young men who became eminent in both church and State. The pioneer academy in New York north of Albany was opened in 1780, at Salem, and the same course was pursued all through the West, in Chillicothe, O., Lexington, Ky., etc. She helped to establish Jefferson College, at Canonsburg, Pa., and the Western University, at Pittsburg, and Franklin College, at New Athens, O., and Transylvania University, at Lex- ington, Ky., and Miami University, at Oxford, O. And then, realizing that it was safe, if not the safest, for the church to educate her own youth in institutions under her immediate control, she successfully established Westminster College, at New Wilmington, Pa., Muskingum College, at New Concord, O., Monmouth College, at Monmouth, III, Tarkio College, at Tarkio, Mo., and Cooper Memorial, at Sterling, Kan. And these are all open to both male and female professors and students, and of the latter sex there 242 THE UNITED PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. x. are not a few. This is certainly a fair showing for one of the small tribes of Israel, which can boast of very few members of large wealth. The money has been contrib- uted by the small gifts of those in moderate circumstances. And in the matter of theological education the United Presbyterian Church is a pioneer in this country. The men who first planted her banners here had received a thorough university training, and were never disposed to lower the standard by the admission of half-educated ex- horters. Sorely as she needed more laborers, she was not willing to provide any short cut into the ministry. For some time she had to import her helpers from abroad, but this supply was insufficient and precarious, and had a tendency to keep the church as an exotic in the land. As soon as the independence of our country was recognized and quiet secured, the training of ministers became a pressing question, and the Reformed Dutch Church led the way, and formally opened a theological school on the 19th of May, 1785, in the Garden Street Church in New York City, under the administration of Dr. J. H. Living- ston and Dr. H. Meyer, which still lives in New Bruns- wick, N. J. The United Presbyterian Church in both her branches came next. On the 21st of April, 1794, Dr. John Anderson was elected professor of theology by the Associate Church, and a two-story log building was im- mediately erected at Service Creek, Beaver County, Pa., the lower story to serve as a library and lecture-room, and the upper as a dormitory for the students. The course of study covered four winters, but was not as extensive in its range of subjects as it is now in our highly endowed seminaries, but as far as it did go it was more thorough. It was confined very largely to an exhibition of Script- ure truths, with the suggestive help of Dr. John Marck's " Medulla and Compend," and no diligent student could THEOLOGICAL SEMINARIES. 243 fail to become very familiar with the Bible in its letter and substance and spirit. There was not so much secondary or miscellaneous knowledge crowded in as to push the Bible aside — a mistake from which all modern seminaries are not altogether free. This seminary was transferred in 1821 to Canonsburg, and in 1855 to Xenia, O., where, with a faculty of four professors, it is still doing a good work. In the Associate Reformed Synod, the other branch of the United Presbyterian Church, an act was passed in 1796 to provide a fund for the assisting of pious young men into the ministry, and also to raise means for the es- tablishment of a theological school. To further this latter, Dr. John M. Mason visited Great Britain in 1801, and re- mained almost a year abroad collecting books and money. But it was not until November, 1805, that the seminary opened in New York with eight students, under the presi- dency of Dr. Mason. The course covered four years, the annual session continued seven months. This " Mason Seminary," as it was very frequently called, became quite celebrated, and educated many distinguished men. At the union of 1822 it was suspended, but in 1829 was re- opened at Newburg, N. Y., where it did a good work until 1878, when it was closed. The four seminaries of the church have been consolidated into two, and thus the expense has been reduced, while the efficiency of those that remain has been increased. When the Associate Reformed Synod of the West be- came an independent body, it also took immediate meas- ures to educate its own ministers, and in 1825 established a theological school in Pittsburg, which has since been moved across the river to Allegheny. Here, after edu- cating nearly a thousand young men, it still exists, well housed and partly endowed, and has a faculty of four 244 ^^-^^ UNITED PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. x. resident professors. In 1839 this Synod opened a second seminary, at Oxford, O., which was subsequently moved to Monmouth, 111., and finally combined with the semi- nary previously located at Xenia, O. The church always has insisted upon a thorough train- ing for the ministry, exacting a full collegiate course, with the addition of at least three years of special theological study. This has been done in the belief that what the church loses in the three or four years of delay in enter- ing upon the ministry is more than gained in the greater eflficiency secured by the better preparation. While the church has thus always had well- trained men in her min- istry, very few of them have distinguished themselves as authors. This has not been for lack of ability, but main- ly from a want of opportunity. The church has never abounded in this world's goods, and has had no places of ease and leisure where -its ministers could pursue favorite lines of investigation. Their pastoral charges have gener- ally been laborious, and called for all their time and talent, so that very few have attempted anything beyond a single volume, or magazine articles or newspaper contributions. CHAPTER XL THE BOARDS OF THE CHURCH, To concentrate and economize her resources, the church has committed her evangeHstic work to the djrection of boards, the members of which are chosen by the General Assembly. The Board of Home Missions has the over- sight of the field to be supplied and cultivated, and also of all the licentiates and unsettled ministers who are will- ing to receive appointments, and assigns them their places. It thus tries to supply the needy with the gospel, and also to bring ministers into contact with vacant congregations that are seeking pastors. It has always found a very wide field — a field both needy and solicitous, even importunate — and its success has been exceedingly gratifying. The Board of Church Extension cooperates with it, and has assisted hundreds of missions and feeble congregations to build their churches and parsonages, many of which could never have been able to maintain their existence without such help. By making new congregations more quickly self-supporting and contributing churches, this board has saved to the Home Mission funds a larger amount of money than has been expended in help to build houses. Just as soon as the Civil War began to interfere with slavery in the border States, the United Presbyterian Church, in accordance with her antislavery principles, be- gan to look after the waifs that were cast upon the world without home or friend. When the government estab- lished " contraband camps " to care for the fugitive slaves, the church sent to them teachers and preachers, male and 245 246 THE UNITED PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. xi. female, to talk and preach, and teach day-schools and night-schools and Sabbath-schools. These camps were temporary, and constantly changing their location and in- mates, according to the fortunes of war, and the church's work had to change accordingly. Everything was dis- jointed and unorganized and haphazard until the war was over and society settled down. Then the General Assem- bly established a " Board of Missions to the Freedmen," the object of which " shall be to educate the freemen of the South in secular and religious knowledge, by establish- ing and supporting schools and churches among them, and by such other means as are appropriate to missionary operations." The board soon realized that the colored church in the South must be enlightened and reformed and built up by native instrumentalities of its own color and production, and so it devotes its efforts mainly to train a body of well-educated and spiritually enlightened ministers and teachers. Large and flourishing schools and congregations have been established and maintained at Miller's Ferry, Ala., Chase City, and Bluestone, Va., Henderson, N. C, and Athens, Tenn. There is also in Norfolk, Va., a collegiate institute, with high-school and normal school departments, with an enrollment of from six to eight hundred students. And in Knoxville, Tenn., there is a college with a full faculty and a large enrollment of students, which has a primary, a high-school, a normal, a scientific, a commercial, an industrial, a classical, and a theological department, and is authorized to give diplomas in llie arts and sciences. The good accomplished by these institutions has not been merely local, for they have sent forth hundreds of well-instructed males and females who are employed as teachers in the schools of nearly all the Southern States. And as these have all been carefully instructed in the Scriptures while in school, and many of FREEDMEN— FOREIGN MISSIONS. 247 them converted, they work, to some extent, as domestic missionaries in their respective locaHties. The United Presbyterian Church has always recognized that it was a " debtor both to the Greeks and to the bar- barians," and that its commission was, " Go ye and teach all nations." Both of its original branches undertook for- eign missionary work before they were sufificiently strong to secure success, the one in India and the other in the island of Trinidad. But failure here did not discour- age them from further effort, for in 1844 the Associate Reformed Church established a mission in Damascus, in Syria, with special reference to the descendants of Abra- ham, eight thousand of whom resided in that ancient city, of which Eliezer, the steward of Abram's house, was a na- tive. The missionaries were instructed to address them- selves "to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile." This field had been regarded as a particularly hard one — so un- promising, from Jewish bigotry and Mohammedan fanati- cism, that other churches that had planted mission stations in Syria had not hitherto seen their way clear to enter Damascus. But the result was a fair degree of success, and Irish and Scottish missionaries came and joined with them. In 1853 the mission was divided and several of the missionaries were sent to Cairo, in Egypt, to begin a work there. During the massacre of i860 some of the missionaries were killed, and all the others were compelled to flee. After the trouble had passed the mission was again rebuilt in Damascus, but subsequently transferred to the Presbyterian Church of Ireland, which still maintains it, that more force might 'be concentrated upon the work in Egypt. And in this land of the Pharaohs the mission- aries have been remarkably blessed. After many trials and rebuffs they have secured not only government pro- tection, but even government favor and patronage in many 248 THE UNITED PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. xi. things. They have stations in the principal cities of the Delta, and scattered all along the Nile, from Mansoora to Assouan. They hav^e a college and a female seminary at Asyoot, with a very respectable course of study, and a large enrollment of students from the towns in upper Egypt, also a theological seminary and a monthly periodi- cal in Cairo. This mission reported, in 1893, 31 organized congregations, 125 mission stations, with a roll of 3891 communicants; also 113 day-schools and 7313 scholars, and 117 Sabbath-schools, with 6266 scholars. There are 44 foreign missionaries, 30 native ministers, and 251 other native helpers. The churches contributed, during 1892, $10,888 for their own support. The schools raised $13,- 538, and the Sabbath-schools $300. Including Scriptures, religious and educational books, 38,455 volumes were sold for $8244. This mission is having a very positive and healthy influence upon both the government and people of Egypt, for a very large portion of the clerks in the ser- vice of the government and of the post-office and the rail- roads have been educated in its schools, and are familiar wnth the doctrines of Christianity. And the success of these schools has stimulated the government and the Cop- tic Church to establish more and better schools in compe- tition with the "American " schools. In 1854 the Associate Church sent out three mission- aries to found a mission in India. They selected the city of Sialkot, in the Punjaub, had many difficulties to contend with, and were almost wrecked by the Sepoy rebellion and massacre. But by perseverance and hard work, with the divine blessing, they succeeded and established a good and firm basis, and as the work widened and new mission- aries arrived, they occupied new places, until they have stretched across the whole northeastern end of the Land of the Five Rivers, from Gurdaspur to Rawal Pindi. Con- MINISTERIAL RELIEF— PUBLICA TION. 249 gregations have been organized, schools have been estab- lished, including a college and theological seminary. The missionary force has so increased, both foreign and native, as to be distributed into three Presbyteries under the care of a Synod, and the communion roll contains 6750 names. Much of the success of this mission can be traced to the fact that they " sow beside all waters." Other and older missions had tried to bring their teaching to bear especially upon members of the higher castes, supposing that when such are converted they would exert a stronger influence upon general society. This mission has acted upon a dif- ferent plan : while it neglects no caste, it pays special at- tention to the lowest castes, and even those below all caste, because they are the most accessible and impressible, and more souls can be saved. And also because the reforma- tion and elevation of persons so low become object-lessons which illustrate the transforming and elevating power of Christianity much more strongly than could the conversion of high- caste persons, in whom the apparent change must necessarily be much less. The Board of Education has been very efficient in help- ing a large number of young men into the ministry of the church, and the Board of Ministerial Relief has brought joy and comfort to many disabled and superannuated ministers, and to the widows and orphans of those who had given their time and talents to the work of the church rather than to the laying up of worldly gain. The Board of Publication owns a well-equipped business house in Pitts- burg, and supplies the church with all necessary denomi- national literature, particularly Psalters and " Bible Songs," and Sabbath- school papers and lesson helps. The church is fully supplied with all the organizations and machinery necessary for the carrying on of healthy and aggressive church work at home and abroad. 250 THE UNITED PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. xi. The growth of the United Presbyterian Church has not been rapid, and never spasmodic, and yet it has always made steady and healthy progress. Its annual percentage of increase has been fully up to that of a majority of the other denominations of our country. Excluded from the South because of slavery, it has had but little opportunity to expand in that direction, although the early settlers belonged to that class of people that was favorable to its creed and its worship. And it did have in Kentucky and the Carolinas a very respectable membership, until slavery became the dominant issue. South of the Ohio it has now but one small Presbytery in Tennessee, and in the great Northwest, into which Scandinavians and other Northern peoples are crowding, it has only a few scattered congre- gations. Its home is in the middle belt of country that stretches across our continent. It was planted there by and among the Scotch- Irish, and as migration generally follows the same latitude, it moved westward with the people, planting its congregations more or less thickly from Boston on the Atlantic to San Diego and Seattle on the Pacific. If its creed had been more elastic and its entrance wider, it could have boasted of greater numbers. CHAPTER XII. DENOMINATIONAL ATTITUDE. DenominaTIONALISM is not necessarily either sin or schism, although by arrogance and intolerance it may become both. Wisely and properly used, it is a gracious arrangement of Providence adapted to the mental and emotional diversities of men. It always has existed, and there is nothing in the Scriptures or reason why it should not continue to exist. " Can two walk together except they be agreed ? " Men will differ in tastes and tempera- ments, so that they can worship and labor most pleasantly and profitably with those of like feelings and opinions ; and unity and affection are often subserved and promoted by keeping the incongruous apart. The bringing together of such would not produce unity, but collision. The history of sectarianism clearly reveals the fact that every denomination has a special and specific reason for its segregation. That reason may not commend itself to the judgment of the student that views it objectively as an outsider and a stranger, but studied from the inner and, more favorable standpoint of a member trained to a kindly familiarity with it, it reveals to him a beauty and a power that satisfy his mind and make its avowal a duty. The United Presbyterian Church has, or claims to have, spe- cific and sufficient grounds for its separate and independent existence without schism : and that while it is glad to recog- nize and work with all other Christians who hold, in com- mon with it, so many precious gospel truths, still there 251 252 TllK LNITED PRESBYTERIAiXS, [Chap. xii. are certain truths of vital importance which it considers a pleasure and duty to emphasize with special force. And foremost of these are the crown rights of Jesus — rights that would crown him Lord of all. Both of the parties which joined to form the United Presbyterian Church had their origin in the defense of the headship of Jesus in the church. When Charles II. came to the throne of Great Britain, he arrogated to himself the right to dictate to the Church of Scotland, and, through the Cabal in Edinburgh, forced upon it a government and discipline and worship contrary to its own Confession and the consciences of its members. Many were grieved by this subjection of the church to the state, yet only a few had the courage to resist unto blood against the dethrone- ment of their ascended Lord. These contended that Christ's kingdom was not of this world, and that the civil ruler, as such, had no right to give it laws or dispense its privileges, for that our God-man Mediator was its living Head and only Law-giver. For their loyalty to these crown rights of Jesus they sufifered the crudest possible persecution for many years, and when toleration did come it only brought relief to the body and not to the con- science, for the new king claimed a royal supremac}- in the church, and they renewed their protest, and their children in this country cherished their memory and taught their creed. The other Scottish ancestor of the United Presbyterian Church sprang from the same cause, a contest for the royal prerogatives of Jesus. The civil government had so invaded the autonomy of the church as to force upon it a system of patronage which disfranchised its freemen and subjected its courts and pulpits to the dictation of strangers who were also in many instances reprobates. Some, who would not submit quietly to see Jesus thus HEADSHIP OF JESUS— PECULIARITIES. 253 dishonored and dethroned, protested and stood upon the defense, and bore reproach and persecution and worldly loss. What the Covenanters and Seceders thus did the followers of the Relief and of the Free Church have since felt constrained to do, even with less cause. When these parties in this country came to see eye to eye, they inscribed the headship of Christ high upon their banner, and the Associate Reformed Church was the first of the American churches to alter the Westminster Con- fession of Faith on the subject of the civil magistrate, and to exclude from it all traces of Erastianism. The United Presbyterian Church has been true to the faith and tradi- tions of its ancestors, and has given special prominence to the declaration : That our Lord Jesus Christ, besides the dominion which belongs to him as God, has, as our God-man Mediator, a twofold dominion with which he has been invested by the Father, as the reward of his sufferings. These are : a dominion over the church, of which he is the living Head and Law- giver, and the Source of all that divine influence and authority by which she is sustained and governed; and also a dominion over all created persons and things, which is exercised by him in subserviency to the manifestation of God's glory in the system of redemption and the interests of his church. The United Presbyterian Church, through all its history, has also been unchanging in its loyalty to the Bible, re- garding it as tJie Word of God, and, as such, necessarily iiierrant. ' For all its creed and works it exacts a " Thus saith the Lord," and holds that all church courts are only executive bodies that have no right to legislate or to shape the faith and practices of the church upon the ground merely of taste or sentiment or expediency or availability. Their business is to carry out wisely and further efficiently just what the Word of God teaches and warrants. This conservatism gives rise to what may be regarded as special peculiarities. The church restricts its formal praise service to the 2 54 ^^^ UNITED PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. xii. Psalms of the Bible, because they have been given by the Spirit to be used in praise, and have been sung with joy and comfort by Jesus and the apostles and martyrs and Huguenots and Covenanters and Puritans, and are there- fore certainly safe and profitable, and adapted to every age and condition. It restricts sacramental communion to those kuozvti to be reputable professors, because its duty is to keep pure and entire all such religious Vi^orship and ordinances as God hath appointed in his Word, and to preserve purity and discipline in his house. It also ex- cludes all those that bind themselves together by oath to secrecy, or obedience to a code of unknown laws, because that might lead into diverse temptations, and restrict or violate that law of love and wide fraternity which says, " Sirs, ye are brethren." But this church is not founded upon such distinctives alone, for it teaches the Calvinistic theology in its purity and fullness. It is not open to the charge of narrowness, which some indeed have ignorantly alleged against it, for its basis is unusually wide — too wide for the liberal theo- logian of the day. Whatever the Holy Spirit has deemed of sufificient importance to reveal, it regards of sufficient importance to believe and teach. It has especially em- phasized certain fundamental doctrines, which it thinks are too much overlooked or underestimated in our day, to the reception of which it requires both ministers and members to assent — such as the plenary inspiration of the Scriptures, the eternal sonship of Christ, human inability, nature and extent of the atonement, imputed righteous- ness, the gospel offer, saving faith, evangelical repentance, the believer's deliverance from the law as a covenant, and the work of the Holy Spirit. Guarding thus the theology of the pulpit and of the pews, the United Presbyterian Church thinks it has a place CONSER VA TI VE. 255 and a mission. It is homogeneous, and leaves no place for a faction to war upon its creed. It has never lowered its standard for the sake of numbers, or employed human expedients to gain popularity, or in any way made an effort simply to please the people. Conservative in faith yet aggressive in works, it has found hitherto no better way to reach the masses than by preaching plainly and fully the old story of the cross, in connection with a sim- ple worship, and in entire dependence upon the Holy Spirit for the fruit. And the Lord has graciously granted a fair measure of success. STATISTICS OF 1893. Synods 12 Presbyteries 62 Ministers 891 Members 1 1 1,000 Congregations 935 Sabbath-schools I>I56 Teachers and scholars _ 108,023 Congregational Missionary Societies 861 Young People's Societies 664 Members of same 29,000 Parsonages 257 Congregational expenses $1,000,000 Contributions to the Boards $300,000 Other contributions $100,000 Average per member $14 Males 44,000 Females 67,000 A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, BY ROBERT V. FOSTER, Professor of Biblical Exegesis in the Theological School of Cumberland University, Lebanon, Tennessee. BIBLIOGRAPHY. 1 Historical Works. Beard, Richard, D,D., Biographical Sketches of the Early Ministers of tin- Cttiiiherland Presbyterian Church. 1867, 2 vols. Blake, T. C, Old Log House : History and Defense of the Cumberland Pres- hylcrinii Church. 1878. Chrisman, E. B., D.D., Origin and Doctrines of the Cumberland Presby- terian Church. 1875. Cossitt, F. R., D.D., Phe Life and limes of the Rev. Finis Eiving, one of the Fathers and Founders of Hie Cumberland Presbyterian Church. 1853- Davidson, Robert, History of the Presbyterian Church in Kentucky, 7tyterians. A popular narrative of their origin, progress, doctrines, and achievements. New York, J. A. Hill & Co., 1892. Hodge, Charles, D.D., LL.D., The Constitutional History of the Pres- byterian Church in the C'ni ted .States ofAvierica. In two parts. Phila- delphia, William S. Martien, 1840. Howe, George, D.D., History of the Presbyterian Church in South Car- olina. Two vols. 8vo. Vol. i., Columbia, Dufhe & Chapman, 1870; vol. ii., Columbia, W. J. Dufifie, 1883. Laws, S. S., D.D., A Letter to the Synod of Missouri (O. S.), which met at Columbia, Mo., Oct. 8, 1872. New York, S. Angell, Book and Pamphlet Printer, 410 Fourth Avenue, 1873. McPheeters, Samuel B., Alemoirs. By Rev. John S. Grasty. With In- troduction by Rev. Stuart Robinson, D.D. St. Louis, .Southwestern Book and Publishing Co. ; Louisville, Davidson Brothers & Co., 1871. Moore, Wm. E., D.D., The Presbyterian Digest: A Compend of the Acts and Deliverances of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. Compiled by order of the Cleneral Assem- bly, 1873. Philadelphia, Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1334 Chest- nut Street. Nevins, Alfred, D.D,, LL.D., et al.. Encyclopedia of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, including the Northern and Southern Assemblies. Philadelphia, Presbyterian Encyclopedia Pub- lishing Co., 1334 Chestnut Street, 1884. Peck, Thos. E., D.D., LL.D., Notes on Ecclesiology. Richmond, Pres- byterian Committee of Publication, 1882. Smith, Hon. L. F., IVte History of Kentucky (Centennial edition) /;w« its Earliest Disco7'ery and Settlement, Embracing, etc. Louisville, Courier Journal Job Printing Co., 1892. Thomwell, James Henley, D.D., LL.D., The collected -writings of. Edited by John B. .A.dger, D.D. P'our vols. Richmond, Presbyterian Committee of Publication, 1881-86. The Life and Letters of. By B. M. Palmer, D.D., LL.D. Richmond, Whittet cS; Shepperson, 1875. PREFACE. This sketch is designed, first of all, to trace the South- ern Presbyterian Church from its roots in Europe ; to ex- hibit its origin as a separate church, \\.s peculiar constitution and character, its growth in numbers and in working effi- ciency, its work at home and abroad, its relation to other Christian churches; to set forth, thus, the great problems now before it; in short, to put before the student what the church has been, and is, and should be as a factor in the great forces which go to make up universal church history. It is designed, secondly, to furnish the materials for answers to three specific questions, viz. : Why did the Southern Presbyterian Church come into separate exist- ence? Why has it continued till the present a separate existence ? Are there any sufficient reasons why it should continue for a longer time to maintain a separate exist- ence? These are paramount questions for this generation. We have believed that Christians should labor for church unity, not of the spirit only, but of the form. While exalting the spiritual above the external, and hold- ing that a true unity in Christ the head, a unity established by the Spirit and maintained by the same blessed agent, is compatible with the existence of a host of denomina- 315 3l6 PREFACE. tions, we have believed that Christians should labor to ex- hibit that unity in the external life of the church; and that our Lord's intercessory prayer can only be completely ful- filled when the church militant is outwardly one. But we have, also, believed that a church must exist as a separate denomination while, and only while, in a convenient territory, it has one or a group of truths of fundamental importance for which to witness. And we have believed, furthermore, that there can be no union of denominations pleasing in God's sight which is not intelli- gently efTected. We believe that the church should know its own past and its present, what it has stood for and what it should now stand for, before it can, in a way to please God, propose organic union. In the same way it should know its neighbor with whom it thinks of uniting. We have done what we could in these few pages to ex- hibit fearlessly and truthfully what appears to have been the true character and purpose of our church to the pres- ent. Readers of more schools than one, perhaps, will be displeased with the truth. We have ivished to be con- vincing. We have, therefore, resorted to laborious com- piling, made the iinivipeacJiablc records of tJie churches talk wherever possible ; and we have tried to reduce our own personal equation to the lowest degree. We have let the reader look through his own eyes at the facts, instead of through ours. Thomas Gary Johnson. Hampden Sidney, Va., January, 1894. THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIANS. CHAPTER I. THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIANS BEFORE l86l.^ The European sources of Southern Presbyterians are almost as numerous as European nations ; but the chief- est of such sources have been the EngHsh Presbyterians, the Dutch, the Germans, the Swiss, the Huguenots, the Scotch, and the Scotch- Irish. The English Presbyterians came into the colonies of Virginia and the Carolinas from the start. Some of these were nonconforming ; and of these those in Virginia after 1531 or 1533^ suffered much persecution, some of them being driven to the colonies of Maryland or the Carolinas, while others were forced into conformity. After the middle of the eighteenth century, when the Presbyterian Church came to be formally tolerated, its numerous con- verts from the Episcopal Church showed, with a degree of 1 This chapter is intended to present only such a brief sketch of Presby- terians, New and Old vSchool, in the South, before 1861, as is necessary to enable the reader to comprehend the body whose history he is invited to follow through the period 1861-93. For ^ fuller account of these peoples before 1861, the reader is referred to vol. vi., " Presbyterians." 2 Hodge, part i., p. 45. Compare Hays, p. 60. 317 3l8 THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. i. probability, that there had been many conforming Presby- terians in that church. Indeed, Alexander Whitaker, " the self-denying apostle of Virginia,"^ had been a Cambridge Puritan. He had established a Congregational Presbytery - for the government of the local church. He had written "neither surplice nor subscription is spoken of" in Vir- ginia.^ The Puritans in the Virginia colony continued to have great freedom up to about 1530. After that they suffered persecution, as we have asserted. The Dutch were among the early settlers of Maryland and of Charleston, S. C.'^ Later they were found in the valley of Virginia, and throughout the South. The Ger- mans during the first three quarters of the eighteenth century immigrated into Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia, chiefly from Pennsylvania, but also directly from South Germany.^ Bodies of Swiss, too, came into South Carolina between 1730 and 1750.'' The Dutch and Swiss were Presbyterians ; and so, also, was a moiety of the Germans. The Huguenots, particularly after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, made settlements in our borders, the chief of which were in Virginia, on the James, and in South Carolina, in Charleston and its neigh- borhood.^ The Scotch immigrated into our territory in large numbers from the beginning of the eighteenth cent- ury on. Scotchmen from Argyleshire w^ere in North Carolina on the Cape Fear Ri\er in 1741. After the battle of Culloden and the defeat of the Jacobites, Scotch Highlanders came over in great numbers and settled be- side their brethren on the Cape Fear and its tributaries.^ Scotchmen settled during the first half of the eighteenth century, also, in parts of South Carolina, in Georgia, in 1 Bancroft, vol. i., p. 141. 2 Briggs, p. 86. 3 B.incroft, voU i., p. 141. * Ibid., vol. i., p. 430. 5 Hodge, part i., p. 50. ^ Ibid. 7 Bancroft, vol. i., p. 432. ^ Hodge, part i., p. 66. THE ANCESTORS. 319 the Piedmont region of North Carolina and Virginia, and had settled at a much earlier time in Maryland. The Scotch- Irish, irritated by increase of rents, and by a tax to support a church not of their choice, began in the first quarter of the eighteenth century a more rapid immigra- tion into America. These people, coming directly, or after a stoppage in Pennsylvania, spread themselves over the valley of Virginia, the Piedmont region of Virginia and the Carolinas, and more sparsely over the whole re- maining South Atlantic Colonies^ — "a staunch and stal- wart stock " of Presbyterians. From these older States the settlers, or their children, subsequently passed over into the lands of Kentucky and Missouri, of Tennessee and Alabama, of Mississippi and the States of the Southwest. In their earlier immigra- tions the Scotch and Scotch- Irish did not, as a rule, settle in large bodies, but singly, and were scattered widely over the Middle and Southern Colonies. Hence, up to 1750 they had, except in a few favored localities, no regular religious ministrations. There was, of course, no organic church connection among them. Independency, even, was in the ascendant in the Charleston colony, the most favored of them all in the ecclesiastical privileges. Nevertheless, from about 1650 on, Presbyterian settlers in Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina were looked after by such servants of God as the Revs. Francis Doughty, about 1657-59, Matthew Hill, 1667-76, Will- iam Trail, Francis Makemie, and their followers ; while the churches of Charleston and in the vicinity were served by Puritans like John Cotton, or Scotch Presbyterians like Archibald Stobo, and their followers. Their Character, as Ilhistratcd in the Civil and Religions Life. — Under this guidance and the " favoring conditions of 1 Hodge, part i., pp. 67, 68; Howe, vol. L, pp. 197 ff. 320 THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. i. our Southern life " these several strains of European Pres- byterianism were so blended as to make " a body of Chris- tians, singularly homogeneous, conservative, truth-loving, and ardently devoted to right and liberty. The courtly and cultiwited Huguenot, the stern and simple-hearted Highlander, the strong, earnest, faithful Scotch-Irish, the conscientious Puritan, and the frank, honest Teuton, con- tributed of the wealth of their character and the glory of their history. Devotion to principle was the guiding star of their action." ^ They have been devoted to the maintenance of their civil rights. No people has shown a higher degree of patriotism. The act of the Scotch- Irish met in Abing- don, Va., January 20, 1775 ;^ the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, made on the 20th of May, 1775 ;'' their conduct in the Revolutionary War — such as to draw from General Washington the famous encomium on the men of Western Virginia — are sufficient proofs. Nor were they prepared to show less of heroic devotion to the country in the calamitous struggle of 1861. They have been equally zealous, to say the least, for religious liberty. The petition from the Presbytery of Hanover, dated No- vember II, I 774, " To the Honorable the Speaker and the Gentlemen of the House of Burgesses," of Virginia,'' and the memorials from the same Presb}-tery — in 1776^ and in 1777" — to the same legislative body, at once leave no doubt as to where Mr. Jefiferson got his views of religious liberty, and e\'ince the fact of the zeal of the Presbyterian people of Virginia for religious liberty. These people have shown themselves as* eager for the triitJi as for lib- 1 Dr. Moses D. lloge, in Hays's " Presbyterians," p. 480. 2 r.ancroft, vol. iv., pp. 100, 101 ; Briggs, p. 34S. 3 Bancroft, vol. iv., ji. 196; Briggs, p. 340. 4 This petition was puhlisheil for the first time in the " Central Presby- terian," May 16, 1888, by the II(mi. Win. Wirt Henry, LL D., Richmond, Va. •5 See F'oote's " Sketches of Virginia," series i., pp. 323 ff. ^ Ibid., series i., jip. 2)2b, 327. RICE'S OVERTURE ON MISSIONS. 32 I erty. Academies- were often erected beside the churches. The pastors were frequently teachers as well as preachers. Queen's Museum, in Mecklenburg County, N. C, was founded and obtained a charter from the colonial govern- ment in 1770. This charter, though set aside by the king and council, was amended, and a second time granted by the colonial legislature in 1771. The king repealed it by proclamation, evidently because several of the trus- tees were Presbyterian ministers.^ The independent com- monwealth of North Carolina chartered the institution again in 1777 as Liberty Hall. About the same time Hanover Presbytery took " into consideration the great expediency of erecting a seminary of learning." As a result academies were very soon established, one of which grew into Washington College in the valley of Virginia, the other into Hampden Sidney College in Southside, Va., each being at once a monument to patriotism and fidelity to religious convictions, and the means of support- ing these virtues as long as, in the mercy of God, it shall remain substantially unperverted. So the church ran her early course. We cannot, in .this sketch, follow her in detail to 1861. That can be fairly inferred from her start and from her condition on the eve of the war between the States. We beg leave, though, to point out one very worthy trait of Southern Presbyterians during the early part of the nineteenth century. They were a missionary body. It was from Dr. John Holt Rice, the founder of Union Theo- logical Seminary, in Virginia, that the famous overture on missions came before the General Assembly of 1831. He asked the Assembly to adopt the following resolutions : First, That the Presbyterian Church in the United States is a missionary society, the object of which is to aid in the conversion of the world; and I Foote's " Sketches of North Carolina," p. 513. 322 THE SOUTHERN TKESBYTERIANS. [Chap. i. that every member of the church is a member for life of the said society, and bound, in maintenance of his Christian character, to do all in his power for the accomplishment of this object. Second, ministers of the gospel in con- nection with the Presbyterian Church are most solemnly required to present this subject to the members of their respective congregations, using every effort to make them feel their ol)ligations and to induce them to contribute according to their ; bility. l This paper stirred the church. T/ie Status of Southern Presbyterians in 1861. — In 1861 there were south of Mason and Dixon's Hne 12 synods of the Old School Church, 1275 churches, and 96,550 communicants. There were three flourishing theological seminaries within her bounds, each under the control of one or more synods, viz., Union Seminary in Virginia, Colum- bia Seminary in Columbia, S. C, and Danville in Kentucky. There were important colleges under the more or less careful superintendence of the body, e.g., Hampden Sid- ney College and Washington College in Virginia, Davidson College in North Carolina, Center College in Kentucky, et al. In 1 86 1 there were in the same territory, constitut- ing the United Synod of the South, 3 synods, with 199 churches, 11,581 communicants. Steps had been taken for the founding of a theological seminary, and $70,000 had been subscribed and partly paid in for this purpose. The Synod had under its care one college, at Marysville, Tenn. No part of the church had a more cultivated ministry than the Southern Presbyterian Church of the Old School. Their seminaries were manned by some of the very ablest men in either of the two churches. North and South. Thornwell was in his meridian splendor at Columbia; Dabney and Peck, slower in reaching their maturity, as 1 For the whole of this able and solemnly important paper see Assembly's Digest, Baird's Collection, p. 363. LEADING MINISTERS. 323 well as younger in years, were teaching with marked abiU ity at Union ; Breckenridge was illustrating as the day, or obscuring, according to his subject, as the night, the themes with which the theologian deals, at Danville ; Painter and Hoge and others were edifying as well as de- lightmg large and cultivated audiences day after day. A ministry, generally highly cultured and especially trained, was serving with acceptance the people of God. No con- siderable part of the church elsewhere surpassed the South in all that goes to make intelligent and honest Presbyte- rianism. It had been a happy, a blessed portion of the Church of God. CHAPTER II. THE ORIGIN OF THE PKES15VTERIAN CHURCH IN THE CONFEDERATE STATES. Jupiter swallowed Metis lest she should bear, in their coming child, one wiser than himself. But that child sprang, the fully panoplied Minerva, \\ise and strong and impregnably chaste, from the head of her monster father. If any one had asked, " What are the grounds on which Minerva claims the right of existence among the gods and goddesses?" it might well have been said: "On the ground of the virtuous strength and happiness which she can achieve in and for her worshipers, as well as on the ground of the repentance and reformation which she may be able to work among the gods and goddesses them- selves, including her father." The occasion of the Presbyterian Church in the United States coming into existence was the successful effort, on the part of the majority of the Old School Assembly of 1 86 1, to usurp the crown rights of the Redeemer in mak- ing new terms of church-membership; and, in the same act, to prostitute the church to the state so far as to hold the Southern Presbyterians to the support of the Federal Government, as over against the governments of their several sovereign States, on pain of ejection from the church in case of failure to comply with the terms of church-membership thus made. On the 1 2th of April, 1861, the Confederacy had been forced to begin the bombardment of Fort Sumter; for the Federal Government had been about to provision anew 324 THE ASSEMBLY OF 1S61. 325 and reinforce and render unconquerable this doorway which it held into the heart of the South. The bombard- ment turned out to be so successful that in spite of a heroic resistance the fort fell into the hands of the South within thirty-six hours. The fall of Fort Sumter was used with consummate skill by the Northern demagogues. Holy Writ tells us of a certain Levite, whose concubine was done to death by the men of Gibeah in Benjamin, that '■ when he was come into his house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her, together with her bones, into twelve pieces, and sent her into all the coasts of Israel, so that it came to pass that all that saw it said, There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of Egypt until this day." Not less striking were the representa- tions made by the leaders of the North over the " insult to the national flag in attacking Fort Sumter." The pas- sions of the masses were aroused. The whole country was aflame with war. On the 15th of April President Lincoln issued a call for seventy-five thousand volunteers to quell the " insurrection," as he called it. Though his proclamation drove four more States into the Confeder- acy, the rest of the country responded with four times as many men as he asked for. The Assembly of 1861, which convened in Philadelphia on May i6th, met in an atmo.sphere surcharged with the war-spirit. Many ministers and elders from all sections of the country had fondly hoped that the church might maintain her unity in spite of political disunion. They had hoped that her spirituality, her divine origin, and Christ-like character might be all the more brightly illus- trated by her course in the midst of what even then gave awful promise of being one of the fiercest civil wars of all history. But their hopes were doomed to an early 326 THE SOUTH ERX PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. ii. blighting. Such union could only be maintained by the church's keeping within her own sphere, and steering clear of the political issues on which the ship of state had become ciismembered. And there was a party — at first small, but destined to rapid growth under extraneous pressure and ignoble motives^ — in the church which had determined to make the General Assembly indorse the Federal Government at Washington and pledge its sup- port thereto. This was, of course, to prostitute the church to the state — nay, to a party in the state. But what is it men will not prostitute, and to what will they not make that prostitution when driven on by prejudice, passion, and revenge ? The venerable Dr. Spring, of the Brick Presbyterian Church, New York, probably at the urgent insistence of others, with a clearer vision of the nature and consequence of the action but with less of conscience than himself thereat, so early as the third day of the Assembly intro- duced the following resolution : That a special committee be appointed to iiKjuire into the expediency of the Assembly's making some expression of their devotion to the Union of these States, and their loyalty to the government ; and if in their judgment it is expedient so to do, tliey report what that expression shall be.- 1 Dr. J. H. Vandyke says: "There was at first a large majority who were opposed to any political deliverance whatever. They were in favor of simply asserting the great Scriptural doctrine of obedience to civil rulers, accompanied by kind injunctions to study the things that made for peace. But as the Assembly proceeded with its business, the pressure from without, and a little leaven working within, changed the spirit and purposes of the body. That kind of martyrdom so eloquently portrayed by Dr. Thomas a few days ago, as consisting of applause in the galleries, and other indications of popular will, began to make its influence felt. There were, moreover, indications of another kind of martyrdom in the streets, whose instruments would not be waving of pocket-handkerchiefs and clapping of fair hands, but tar and feathers, ropes and lamp-posts. . . . Whether from these causes or not, it is well known that the Assembly underwent a speedy and marvelous change in its spirit and in its purpose ; until ' in an evil hour her rash hand reaching forth,' she passed tlie famous, or ratlier iuf anions, Spring Resolu- tion."— "Concise Record of the Assembly," 1866, p. 55. 2 " Minutes of the General Assembly," O. S., 1861, p. 303. REV. DR. SPRING'S RESOLUTIONS. 327 This resolution was laid on the table by a vote of 123 to 102. But the Progressives were not to be balked. Only three days la^er Dr. Spring offered a paper with resolutions respecting the appointment of religious so- lemnities for the 4th of July next, and the duty of min- isters and churches in relation to the " condition of our country." ^ The house made the consideration of these resolutions the first order of the day for the Friday next, May 24th. Friday brought a protracted and heated debate over the resolutions, and a substitute moved by Dr. Charles Hodge. The debate continued Saturday and Monday. Monday evening there was an effort made, under the lead of Dr. Hodge, to lay the whole business on the table; but it was defeated, the vote being 87 yeas and 153 nays. Tuesday morning the matter was referred to a special committee, with instructions to report in the afternoon. Nine were appointed on this committee. They presented a majority report with eight names affixed, and a minority report with one name subscribed, that of Dr. William C. Anderson, of San Francisco. After further discussion the majority report failed of adoption, the vote standing 84 yeas and 128 nays. Dr. Anderson's report was then taken up. It consisted of Dr. Spring's resolu- tions, with a slight alteration. It received an amendment, making the report as follows : Gratefully acknowledging the distinguished bounty and care of Almighty God toward this favored land, and recognizing our obligation to submit to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, this General Assembly adopts the following resolutions : Resolved, i. That in view of the present agitated and unhappy condition of our country, the first day of July next be set apart as a day of prayer throughout our bounds ; and that on this day ministers and people be called on humbly to confess and bewail our national sins ; to offer our thanks to the Father of lights for his abundant and undeserved goodness toward us as a nation ; to seek his guidance and blessing upon our rulers and their coun- 1 " Minutes of the General Assembly," 1861, p. 308. 328 THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIANS. [Chai-. ii. sels, as well as on the Congress of the United States about to assemble; and to implore him, in the name of Jesus Christ, the great High-I'riest of the Christian profession, to turn away his anger from us, and speedily restore to us the blessings of an honorable peace. Resolved, 2. That this General Assembly, in the spirit of Christian patriot- ism which the Scriptures enjoin, and which has always characterized this church, do hereby acknowledge and declare our obligations to promote and perpetuate, so far as in us lies, the integrity of these United States, and to strengthen, uphold, and encourage the Federal Government in the exercise of all its functions under our noble Constitution ; and to this Constitution, in all its provisions, requirements, and principles, we profess our unabated loyalty. And to avoid all misconceptions, the Assembly declare that by the terms the " Federal Government," as here used, is not meant any particular administration, or the peculiar opinions of any particular party, but that central administration whicli, being at any time appointed and inaugurated according to the forms prescribed in the Constitution of the United States, is the visible representative of our national existence, i This paper was adopted by a vote of 156 yeas to 66 nays. It was revolutionary, filled with the very genius of usurpation and prostitution of the things of the Lord Jesus Christ. Dr. Hodge and others gave notice that they pro- tested against this action of the Assembly for reasons to be given. The protest when it came was substantially as follows : We, the undersigned, respectfully protest against the action of the General Assembly in adopting the minority report of the committee on the state of the country. We make this protest, not because we do not acknowledge loyalty to our country to be a moral and religious duty, according to the Word of God, which requires us to be subject to the powers that be, nor because we deny the right of the Assembly to enjoin that, and all other like duties, on the ministers and churches under its care, but because we deny the right of the General Assembly to decide the political question to what government the allegiance of Presbyterians as citizens is due, and its right to make that de- cision a condition of membership in our church. That the paper adopted by the Assemljly does decide the political question just stated is in our judgment undeniable. It asserts, not only the loyalty of this body to the Constitution of the Union, but it promises, in the name of all the churches and ministers whom it represents, to do all that in them 1 " Minutes of the General .Assembly," O. S., 1861, pp. 329, 330. REV. DR. HODGE'S PROTEST. 329 lies to strengthen, uphold, and encourage the Federal Government. It is, however, a notorious fact that many of our ministers and members conscien- tiously believe that the allegiance of the citizens of this country is primarily due to the States to which they respectively belong; and, therefore, that when any State renounces its connection with the United States and its alle- giance to the Constitution, the citizens of that State are bound by the laws of God to continue loyal to their State, and obedient to its laws. The paper adopted by the Assembly virtually declares, on the other hand, that the alle- giance of the citizen is clue to the United States, anything in the Constitution or ordinances or laws of the several States to the contrary notwithstanding. It is not the loyalty of the members constituting this Assembly, nor of our churches or ministers in any one portion of our country, that is thus asserted, but the loyalty of the whole Presbyterian Church, North and South, East and West. Allegiance to the Federal Government is recognized or declared to be the duty of all churches and ministers represented in this body. In adopting this paper, therefore, the Assembly does decide the great political question which agitates and divides the country. The question is, Whether the allegiance of our citizens is primarily to the State or to the Union. However clear our own convictions of the correctness of this decision may be, or however deeply we may be impressed with its importance, yet it is not a question which this Assembly has a right to decide. That the action of the Assembly in the premises does not only decide the political question referred to, but makes that decision a term of membership in our church, is no less clear. It puts into the mouths of all represented in this body a declaration of loyalty and allegiance to the Union and to the Federal Government. But such a declaration made by our members residing in what are called the seceding States is treasonable. Presbyterians under the jurisdiction of those States cannot, therefore, make that declaration. They are consequently forced to choose between allegiance to their State and allegiance to the church. The General Assembly, in thus deciding a political question, and making that decision practically a condition of membership to the church, has in our judgment violated the constitution of the church, and usurped the prerogative of the Divine Master. . . . In the third place, we protest because we regard the action of the Assembly as altogether unnecessary and uncalled for. . . . We are fully persuaded that we best promote the interests of the country by preserving the integrity and unity of the church. We regard this action of the Assembly, therefore, as a great national calamity, as well as the most disastrous to the interests of our church which has marked its history. We protest, fourthly, because we regard the action of the Assembly as unjust and cruel in its bearings on our Southern brethren. And finally, we protest because we believe the act of the Assembly will not 330 THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. n. only diminish the resources of tlie church, but greatly weaken its power for good, and expose it to the danger of being carried away more and more from its true principles by a worldly and fanatical spirit. i Fifty-seven other men, along with Dr. Hodge, honored themselves by affixing their names to this paper, which for its political and ecclesiastical sagacity, its gentlemanly and Christian spirit, is deserving of everlasting admiration. Fourteen of the only sixteen Southern commis.sioners were among the signers. The other forty-four names in- cluded, in addition to that of the revered Princeton theolo- gian, that of the moderator, the Rev. Dr. John T. Backus, and of the moderator of the preceding Assembly, the Rev. Dr. John W. Yeomans, who had preached the opening ser- mon on the text John xviii. 36, " My kingdom is not of this world " ; and many more names of the wisest and god- liest men of the whole North. The best possible foil for Dr. Hodge's protest, one that makes it shine like a jewel in an ash-bank, was the answer to it by the Assembly's committee. They " readily ad- mitted " that the Assembly's action had political as well as moral bearings ; and then went on to produce an almost matchless specimen of pettifogging and sophistical dema- goguery in the vain attempt to support the Assembly as just and Scriptural in its conduct. The haters of democ- racy might find in this instance a very convenient proof of the folly of the l^ule by the mere numerical majority in collusion against principle and intelligence.- In itself it would be both interesting and instructive to illustrate the Machiavellianism of this reply at length, but it would carry us too far aside from the particular course of events with which we are directly concerned. We recall our at- tention, therefore, to the Spring resolutions, and to the 1 " Minutes of the General Assembly," 1861, pp. 339, 340. 2 See " Minutes of the General Assembly," O. S., 1861, pp. 342-344. EFFECT OF THE RESOLUTIOXS. 33 1 view taken of them by Dr. Hodge and his party in the North. That party was not moved by sectionaHsm. Its judgment was not warped by self-interest. It was not a secession party. It was not largely a slave- owning party. The student of history will remember these facts when studying the reception which Southern Presbyterians gave the resolutions by the venerable pastor of the Brick Church. There is no proof of their having been moved by schism, heresy, or selfishness. Almost the whole Southern wing of the church regarded the Assembly's action just as the conservative party in the North did. They saw : first, that the political ques- tion had been decided for the whole Presbyterian Church represented in the Assembly ; second, that the action of the Assembly in the premises did not only decide the po- litical question referred to, but made that decision a term of membership in the church; third, that it was cruel in its bearings on the Southern members of the church, making them renounce allegiance either to church or state; fourth, that in the political adjudication the church had been guilty of usurpation of the Redeemer's rights, and the prostitution of the Redeemer's bride ; fifth, that, finally, the flood-gates of politico-religious syncretism, of fanaticism, had been thrown open. These things they saw ; and these things, together with the actual setting up of the Confederate Government, were the objective causes, the occasions, of the rise of the Presbyterian Church, South. Some of the strongest intellects as well as some of the most devoted Christian ministers in the whole church were in the South. They desired a church on whose banner should be inscribed, "The Spirituality of the Church," '■'The power of the Church Court as to kind and degree only what the Word of God as interpreted by the Stand- 332 THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTEKIAXS. [Chap. ii. ards of the Church makes it," " A faithful adherence to the Constitution of the Church," " The absokite Headship of Christ in the Church." They wanted a church, and a better one than that from which they had been virtually ejected. They wanted a church that looked to her bride- groom as her very lord, that wore not the skirts of a prostitute; a church whose courts " would never ask what might be a man's view of the Constitution of the United States, of the doctrine of State rights, or of any other political question " ; but " What does he think of the head- ship of Christ, of the atonement, of regeneration? is he willing to adopt sincerely and in their true import our time-honored standard of doctrine and church order? "^ Such a church as the Old School Presbyterian had been, but was no longer, a church of their own people, among whom homogeneity would prevent all retarding friction of her chariot-wheels as her armies should go forth against the world. They wanted a church for their own sakes, their fellows' sakes, and for the sake of truth and God. In these glorious aspirations and honorable desires we find the true causes of the existence of the Presbyterian Church, South. As these causes are to receive fuller illustration incidentally as we proceed, we shall for the present dispense with their further elucidation, and pass on to trace the organization of the church in process, and then to set forth the completeness of the form of organi- zation, and its adjustment to its ecclesiastical environment. TJie Organization of the Body and its Adjustment to its Environment. — Most of the Southern Presbyteries — all, perhaps — had held, as the custom is, their spring meet- ings prior to the time of the Philadelphia Assembly. But such of them as had adjourned meetings, or pro re nata 1 See speech of Dr. J- H. Vamlyke, in " Concise Records of the Assembly of St. Louis," 1866, p. 54. THE SOUTHERN CHURCH ORGANIZED. 333 meetings, on the heel of that Assembly, protested with various degrees of vigor against the high-handed usurpa- tion and abhorred degradation of that body. The Pres- bytery of Memphis, in an adjourned meeting on the 13th of June, renounced connection with the Assembly for its unchristian and revolutionary action, and requested all concurring Presbyteries to meet with them by their com- missioners, in Memphis, on the third Thursday in May, 1863, for the purpose of organizing a General Assembly. It also suggested to the Presbyteries the advisability of their calling meetings and appointing delegates to a con- vention to meet in Atlanta on the 15th of August, " to con- sult upon various important matters, especially our benev- olent operations." This action was immediately followed by that of the East Alabama Presbytery, which was called together to consider the matter. It did not secede from the Assembly, but earnestly protested, and declared that it would not acquiesce in the Assembly's action. It then called for a convention of the Presbyteries to meet in Columbia, S. C, on the Thursday before the second Sun- day in September, 1861, aiming thus to secure cooperative action. On the 9th of July the Presbytery of New Orleans formally renounced the jurisdiction of the Old Assembly, ordered that a copy of their action be sent to the South- ern Presbyteries, and requested them, if they should con- cur in this action, to send commissioners authorized to organize an Assembly, to commence its meetings on the 4th of December, 1861, in Augusta, Ga. About the same time many of the Presbyteries met and chose delegates to a convention in Atlanta, Ga., during July, Individuals throughout the church had been calling for such a convention, as an advisory body. Prominent ministers in the Synod of Virginia had, on the close of the 334 ^'^^^ SOUrHERN PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. ii. riiiladelphia Assembly, at once published a circular, invit- ing ministers and elders in Southern Synods to meet in convention in Richmond, Va., on the 24th of July. Prom- inent ministers in the South Carolina Synod early agitated the calling of such a convention; and Dr. Thornwell, at least, expressed a preference for the Piedmont region of North Carolina, and named, specially, Greensboro as a suitable place. Such a convention was needed to give harmony of action touching their relation to the Old Assembly, to the several Presbyteries and Synods, and to prevent the evils which might arise from a temporary dis- organization, especially to make some temporary arrange- ment concerning the benevolent operations of the church. The upshot of all these calls for a convention was the final fixing upon Atlanta as the place, and the 15th of August, 1 86 1, as the time, for a convention of representatives from the Presbyteries. TJie Atlanta Convention met at the time and place ap- pointed. It was composed of twenty delegates from eleven Presbyteries, with fourteen corresponding members from six Presbyteries, and was in session three days. In reference to the benevolent operations, it suggested and recommended that the work of education, publication, do- mestic missions, etc., should be left to the Presbyteries, Synods, and the Southwestern Advisory -Committee of New Orleans ; " but as to foreign missions, the convention indorsed the temporary plan for conducting this work which had been devised by certain brethren in Columbia, S. C, and pledged the support of the Presbyteries repre- sented in the convention to it."^ In reference to the action touching their relations to the Old Assembly, the 1 Alexander's "Digest," p. 68. We acknowledge here our indebtedness to Mr. Alexander for his account of the Atlanta Convention, which we have freely used in constructing ours. THE AUGUSTA CONVENTION. 335 convention urged all such Presbyteries as had not re- nounced the jurisdiction of the Old Assembly to do so, and urged all the Presbyteries to declare their adherence and submission to the standards as formerly held, with the single change of the phrase " Presbyterian Church in the United States of America" to this form, viz., " Pres- byterian Church in the Confederate States of America." It further urged that these Presbyteries send commis- sioners to a General Assembly to be held in Augusta, Ga., on the fourth day of the next December; that Rev. Dr. Waddel, Rev. Dr. Gray, and Dr. Joseph H. Jones, of Atlanta, Ga., be a committee on commissions to examine the credentials of all who should be present ; and that the respective Synods review the records of the Presbyteries and confirm the actions herein proposed. Though a con- vention, this body " disclaimed the right to determine the political relations of individuals, or to solve for them polit- ical questions." The convention did just what it was intended to do. It secured substantial unanimity of action touching relations to the Old Assembly, and touching relations to the stand- ards, on the part of all the Presbyteries and Synods. And it gave a certain support to the temporary agencies of the church until the Assembly should meet and place them on a stable footing. During the remainder of the summer and fall forty-seven Presbyteries, each for itself, dissolved connection with the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. "This separation," says Dr. Palmer, "was based in every case upon the unconstitutional character of the Assem- bly's legislation. We give the language employed by a single Presbytery, as showing the common ground upon which they all stood : Resolved, That in view of the un- constitutional, Erastian, tyrannical, and virtually exscinel- 336 THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. ii. itig act of the late General Assembly, sitting at Philadel- phia in May last, we do hereby, with a solemn protest against this act, declare, in the fear of God, our connection with the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States to be dissolved."^ These words are from the minutes of Dr. Palmer's own Presbytery. That he is correct in setting them forth as containing the com- mon ground on which all the Presbyteries stood admits of no doubt. Tiieir sober truth is no more than an adequate expression of the Assembly's action as seen by clear- headed and stout-hearted Presbyterians throughout the South. Before the time for the meeting of the General Assembly at Augusta, the forty- seven Presbyteries, with their ten Synods, had been completely organized under a common constitution, and the Presbyteries had duly authorized and appointed commissioners to form said Assembly. The First General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, South, convened, according to appointment, on the 4th of December, 1861. One of the most venerable ministers present, the Rev. Dr. Francis McFarland, pre- sided until a regular organization could be effected. On his motion the Rev. Dr. B. M. Palmer was unanimously chosen to preach the opening sermon. Dr. Palmer took for his text Ephesians i. 22, 23 — " And gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his ,body, the fullness of him that fiUeth all in all." The preacher felt the responsibility of the moment. What was of greater importance, he was prepared for it. Endowed with a force, splendor, and enthusiasm like Homer's, a fiery logic like Paul's, the speaker had acquired an eloquence comparable to Burke's. He was habitually an honest student, and hence a well-furnished preacher on all occa- ' Palmer's " Life of Thornwell," pp. 502, 503. REV. DR. PALMER'S SERMON. 337 sions. On great occasions he had the mettle in him which responded readily to the unusual pressure. The present was a very great occasion. After an exordium which makes the reader think that Palmer has a right to preach on the sublime passages of him who, while de- scribing himself as rude in speech, yet wrote as the lord thereof, the preacher announced his subject as : " The su- preme doniinioji to zu/iich Christ is exalted as the Head of the chureh, and the glory of the ehnrch in that rela- tion, as being at onee his body and his f illness.'' The flood-gates of discourse were raised, and the waters gushed forth. The sermon was a true unfolding of the great theme announced. There was but little direct allusion to the situation of the church and the country. The chief of such passages should be set forth to the reader. The preacher had been speaking of the glory which " surrounds the church," in virtue of the headship of Christ over it. " The immortal Church of Christ, which survives all change and never knows decay, . . . outliving all time, and henceforth counting her years upon the dial of Eternity." He at length breaks out: " Do we understand, fathers and brethren, the mission of the church given us here to execute? It is to lift through- out the world our testimony for this headship of Christ. The convocation of this Assembly is in part this testimony. But a little while since it was attempted in the most august court of our church to place the crown of our Lord upon the head of Caesar — to bind that body which is Christ's fullness to the chariot in which Caesar rides. The intervening months have sufficiently discovered the character of that state under whose yoke this church was summoned to bow the neck in meek obedience ; but in advance of these disclosures, the voice went up through- out our land in indignant remonstrance against the usurpa- 338 THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. ii. tion, in solemn protest against the sacrilege. And now this parliament of the Lord's freemen solemnly declares, that, by the terms of her great charter, none but Jesus may be King in Zion. Once more, in this distant age and in these ends of the earth, the church must declare for the supremacy of her Head, and fling out the conse- crated ensign with the old inscription, ' For Christ and his Crown.' "^ The Assembly honored itself by directing the publica- tion of the sermon in the appendix to the minutes. So far as we know, it is the only sermon which has been so published in the history^ of our church. Dr. Palmer was made moderator of the Assembly. TJie organization of the church, including its agencies for carrying on all the great enterprises of Christian effort, and the orientation of the church before the ti'orld, and especially before the other churches of Jesus Christ throughout the earth, was to be the great work of the Assembly. As soon as the court had been organized Dr. Thornwell introduced two resolutions, which were unanimously adopted. They were as follows : 1. That the style and title of this church shall be The Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States of America. 2. That this Assembly declare, in conformity with the unanimous decision of our Presbyteries, that the Confession of Faith, the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, the Forms of Government, the Book of Discipline, and the Di- rectory of Worship, which together make up the constitution of tlie Presby- terian Church in the United States of America, are the constitution of the Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States of America; only substituting the term " Confederate States" for " United States." 2 In 1865, influenced by the issue of the war, the church came under the necessity of changing its name somewhat, and from that time has borne the legal style and title of 1 " Minutes of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States," 1861, p. 71. 2 " Minutes of the General Assemlily," 1861, p. 7. ORGANIZATION EFFECTED. 339 "The Presbyterian Church in the United States." Of changes in the constitution we shall have something to say in a future chapter. As one looks over the proceedings of this Assembly, he observes that though it is but an hour old, it is not wrapped in swaddling-clothes. In the ordinary routine work of such a body, it shows no signs of infancy. But we marvel not at this ; for many of the members are among the most skillful presbyters who could have been found in the undivided church. But we do look on with admiration as this fully grown young giant begins to rig the ship in which it is to breast the waves and face the foes of an indefinite future. One of the first as well as the most notable things which the Assembly did was to organize a permanent agency for conducting foreign missions. And as the prin- ciples of organization involved in the establishment of the executive committee of foreign missions were applied in all the executive committees established by the Assembly, we may with profit bring out somewhat fully this plan of the Assembly. Nor can this be better done than by transcribing here the vital parts of the resolutions which the body passed as a means to the organization of said committee ; and the vital parts of those touching its at- titude to the missions committed already by Providence to its care, and to the unchristian and papal peoples over the face of the globe. For the organization of a permanent agency for con- ducting foreign missions, the following resolutions were adopted : Resolved, I. That this General Assembly proceed to appoint an Executive Committee, with its proper officers, to carry on this work, and that the char- acter and functions of this committee be comprised in the following articles as its constitution, viz. : 340 THE SOUTHERN rRESBYTERIANS. [CiiAr. ii. Aki'ici.e I. This committee shall 1)C known as the Executive Committee of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States of America. It shall consist of a secretary, who shall be styled the Secretary of Foreign Missions, and who shall be the committee's organ of communication with the Assembly and with all portions of the work intrusted to this com- mittee; a treasurer and nine other members, three of whom, at least, shall be ruling elders or deacons, or private members of the church, all appointed annually by the General Assembly, and shall be directly amenable to it for the faithful and efScient discharge of the duties intrusted to its care. Vacan- cies occurring ad interim it sliall till if necessary. Art. II. It shall meet once a month, or oftener, if necessary, at the call of the chairman or secretary. It may enact by-laws for its government, the same being subject to the revision and approval of the General Assembly. Art. III. It shall be the duty of the Executive Committee to take direc- tion and control of the foreign missionary work, subject to such instructions as may be given by the General Assembly from time to time ; to appoint missionaries and assistant missionaries ; to designate their field of labor, and provide for their support ; to receive the reports of the secretary and treas- urer, and give such directions in relation to their respective duties as may seem necessary ; to authorize appropriations and expenditures of money, in- cluding the salaries of officers ; to communicate to the churches from time to time such information about the missionary work as may seem important to be known ; and to lay before the General Assembly from year to year a full report of the work and of their receipts and expenditures, together with their books of minutes for examination.! The cumbrous and Scripturally unwarranted machinery of boards, as well as voluntary societies, is done away with. The fifth wheel of the chariot is cast aside ; a simple com- mittee, directly and immediately responsible to the Gen- eral Assembly as the Assembly's executive agent, does the work which had in the Old Assembly been done at one time by voluntary societies, and later by largely ir- responsible boards. The Assembly had quietly made a long stride toward a more Scriptural form. The Southern Assembly of 1861 did much more than to frame a good agency for conducting foreign missions. It betrayed a glorious missionary zeal. The new church had in its heart the Saviour's last command to the nascent 1 "Minutes of the General Assembly," 1861, p. 15. MISSIONS AJIOjVG THE INDIANS. 34 1 church of the Apostles. Already, during the summer of 1 86 1 and before the Atlanta Convention, Dr. J. Leighton Wilson and other brethren in Columbia, S. C, had called the attention of the church throughout the Confederacy to the demands of the Presbyterian missions among the tribes of the Indian Territory, and had raised and dis- persed about four thousand dollars. After the convention Dr. Wilson, with its indorsement, continued his efforts to support these missions, and also made a personal visit to that interesting but perturbed field. When the Assembly at Augusta met about twenty thousand dollars had been expended in the support of the mission since May by the Southern Presbyterians. Dr. Wilson read a report of his work as provisional secretary. On occasion of that report the Assembly passed a series of resolutions, the follow- ing excerpt from which will at once mterest the reader and enlighten him further as to the aims of the new-born church toward missions : Resolved, 2. Tliat the Assembly accepts, with joyful gratitude to God, the care of these missions among our southwestern Indian tribes, the Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks, Seminoles, and Cherokees, thus thrown upon them by his providence : missions whose whole history has been signalized by a de- gree of success attending few other modern missions ; to a people comprising near seventy thousand souls, to whom we are bound by obligations of special tenderness and strength, and whose spiritual interest must ever be dear to the Christians of this land. . . . And the Assembly assures those people, and the beloved missionaries who have so long and successfully labored among them, of our fixed purpose, under God, to sustain and carry forward the blesse'd work, whose foundations have been so nobly and deeply laid. We therefore decidedly approve of the recommendation of the report, that six new mission- aries be sent to this field speedily, two of them to commence a new mission among the Cherokees, and that a few small boarding-schools be established with the special design of raising up a native agency. 3. That in the striking fact that the same upheaving and overturning that have called us into existence as a distinct organization, and shut us out from present access to distant nations, have also laid thus upon our hearts and hands these interesting missions, with their fifteen stations and twelve ordained missionaries and sixteen hundred communicants, so that, at the very moment 342 TJJE SOLTIIERN PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. il. of commencing our separate existence, we find them forming in fact an or- ganic part of our body ; and also in the gratifying promptitude with which our church has advanced to their support — tiie Assembly recognizes most gratefully the clear foreshadowing of the divine purpose to make our beloved church an eminently missionary church, and a heart-stirring call upon all her people to engage in this blessed work with new zeal and self-denial. 4. The Assembly further rejoices to know that there are a few of the sons of our Southern Zion who are laboring in distant lands, and approves heartily of the action of the committee in forwarding funds for the suj)j)(;rt of the missions in which they are engaged, 'trusting that the committee to be ap- pointed will, as soon as possible, ascertain the facts on the subject necessary to their future guidance ; and takes this occasion, hence, to direct the longing eyes of the whole church to those broad fields where Satan reigns almost undisturbed — to India, Siam, China, Japan, and especially to Africa and South America, which have peculiar claims upon us, as fields where we are soon to be called to win glorious victories for our King, if we prove faithful ; and solemnly charges them that now while in the convulsions that are shak- ing the earth we hear the tread of his coming footsteps, to take the kingdom bought with his blood, they should be preparing to meet him with their whole hearts and their largest offerings. 5. Finally, the Genei^l Assembly desires distinctly and delil)erately to inscribe on our church's banner, as she now first unfurls it to the world, in immediate connection with the headship of our Lord, his last command : "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature ; " regarding this ns the great end of her organization, and obedience to it as the indis- pensable condition of her Lord's promised presence, and as one great compre- hensive object, a proper conception of whose vast magnitude and grandeur is the only thing which, in connection with the love of Christ, can ever sufficiently arouse her energies and develop her resources so as to cause her to carry on, with the vigor and efficiency which true fealty to her Lord de- mands, those other agencies necessary to her internal growth and home prosperity. The claims of this cause ought therefore to be kept constantly before the minds of the people and pressed upon their consciences. The ministers and ruling elders and deacons and Sabbath-school teachers, and especially the parents, ought, and are enjoined by the Assembly, to give par- ticular attention to all those for whose religious teaching they are responsible, in training them to feel a deep interest in this work, to form habits of syste- matic benevolence, and to feel and respond to the claims of Jesus upon them for personal service in the field.* Such are the resokitions adopted by the Augusta As- sembly, as expressing its attitude toward foreign missions. There is an exalted heroism in them, a sublimity of faith 1 " Minutes of the General Assembly of 1861," pp. 16, 17. COMMITTEE OF DOMESTIC MISSIONS. 343 to which history furnishes few parallels. Surrounded by " a cordon of armies," in a country itself on the point of being one of the world's theaters of most terrific war, the church quietly looks forth on the world as its field, and quietly, fearlessly, and earnestly prepares for its present and its future labors. Sacred Writ tells us that in the time of Zedekiah, when the Babylonian army was besieg- ing Jerusalem and on the point of taking it, Jeremiah, having been shut up in prison for having predicted the city's overthrow, said : " The word of the Lord came unto me, saying. Buy the field that is in Anathoth, for the right of redemption is thine to buy it; " Jeremiah bought the field and weighed out the money, seventeen shekels of silver. His heroism was mightier than that of kings. His faith assured him that there was light be- yond the clouds. This church in vision pierces the con- fines and the gloom of war; and, true to the principles which God had given her grace to see, prepares for their exemplification as God shall give her opportunity. The Assembly's work relating to home missions is of a piece with that concerning foreign missions. The con- stitution of the " Executive Committee of Domestic Mis- sions," as it was called, is mutatis imitandis altogether " similar in its provisions to that adopted for the Execu- tive Committee of Foreign Missions"^ save in one impor- tant particular, to which we will subsequently return. The work of this committee had been carried on dur- ing the interregnum by the Southwestern Advisory Com- mittee. The Advisory Committee had been created by an order of the General Assembly of 1859, and had gone into active operation in November of that year. It had presented two annual reports to the Old Assembly, through the parent board. On March i, 1861, it had a 1 Alexander's " Digest," p. 127. 344 '^'HE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. il. balance in its treasury of $7729.55 ; it had received be- tween March and November $4490.37, having thus, dur- ing those eight months, $12,219.92. About forty mis- sionaries were, on November ist, in commission, which was about the number in commission at the meeting of the Philadelphia Assembly. Through the good provi- dence of the blessed Master and Head, amidst the terrible convulsions of the times the work of missions had moved on without a jar. One cannot " fail to notice the wonder- ful manner in which God prepared and equipped the Southern Presbyterian Church for the storm," " in the creation of this agency, without which domestic mis- sio'ns upon her extended frontier must have been brought abruptly to a close, and many faithful laborers, without a warning, cast loose upon the world, without visible pros- pect of support for themselves and their families."^ This committee surrendered its trusts to the Assembly's Execu- tive Committee of Domestic Missions, according to its own profTer and the Assembly's action. For the time being the Assembly enlarged the number of duties to be rendered by the Committee of Domestic Missions. In framing the constitution of this committee, the Assembly had passed one more resolution than in that of Foreign Missions — a resolution commending to its par- ticular attention a special class of the greater class of peo- ple for whom the committee must labor. The Assembly had resolved : That the great field of missionary operation among our colored population falls more immediately under the care of the Committee of Domestic Mis- sions ; and that the committee be urged to give it serious and constant atten- tion, and the I'resliyteries to cooperate with the committee in securing pastors and missionaries for this field. 2 1 " Minutes of the Assembly of 1861," pp. 49, 50. 2 //^/(/. , p. 20. OTHER COMMITTEES ORGAXTZED. 345 Two days later the Assembly resolved : That in view of the service rendered by the action of the Church Extension Committee, as organized under the Old Assembly, and the importance of continuing to extend aid to the feebk churches in the erection of church edifices, the duties of that committee be put in charge of the Committee of Domestic Missions, until otherwise ordered by the General Assembly. 1 The reader of history has remarked over and over that a time of war is a time unfavorable to religious living and achievement. The reader of the church records in the South, 1861—65, is driven to the conclusion that though stout defenders of their political principles, they were stouter still in defensive and offensive Christian warfare. The Executive Committee of Education was also con- stituted by our Assembly. It solemnly reaffirmed " the deliverances made in its former connection concerning the responsibility that rests on the church to secure and main- tain for itself a pious, gifted, and learned ministry." It appointed an executive committee to aid candidates for the gospel ministry who needed assistance, and formed a constitution for said committee. Its constitution was as nearly like those which have already been illustrated as its nature and ends allowed. An Executive Committee of Publication, also with a constitution, the exact analogue of those of the other agencies, was constituted. Important as this branch of church work is, as the nature of the work is so well known it will not prove interesting or instructive to dwell longer upon it. The folloiving mode of electing these several committees was determined upon by the Assembly : I. The Assembly's standing committees shall, on making their respective reports, present nominations for the members and officers of their respective executive committees for the ensuing year. 1 " Minutes of the General Assembly," 1861, p. 35. 346 THE SOUTIIERX PKESBYTERIAXS. [Chap. ii. 2. The presentations of these respective nominations shall not preclude any additional nominations which any member of the Assembly may choose to make. 3. The election of said committee shall not take place until at least one day after the nominations are made. 4. In all cases a majority of the votes of the Assembly shall be necessary to an election.! Thus the Assembly kept its own hand on the helm of all its great enterprises. It had no irresponsible societies to do its work, no barely responsible boards. One of the most interesting scenes in this Assembly was witnessed on the discussion of the report of the com- mittee on "The Propriety of Securing a Charter for the Assembly." This report contained the draft of a bill to incorporate the trustees of the General Assembly. The peculiar feature of this instrument is contained in its fourth section, which reads as follows : Be it further enacted, That whenever the General Assembly of the Presby- terian Church in the Confederate States of America shall establish any com- mittees, agencies, or boards, for the purposes of education, publication, foreign and domestic missions, church extension, or any other committees, agencies, or boards connected with the benevolent purposes and operations of the said Assembly, any of the said committees, agencies, or boards shall be held and deemed to be branches of this corporation ; subject always to the review, control, and power of the said General Assembly ; and when any gift, conveyance, or transfer of estate in any wise, any devise, or bequest shall be made to " the trustees of the General Assembly of tlie Presl)yterian Church in the Confederate States of America," for either of the committees, agencies, or boards of the General Assembly, it shall be good and efTectual to transfer the estate, property, or thing in as full and as perfect a manner as if the said committee, agency, or board had been especially incorporated with powers to take and to hold the same, and no misnomer or misconception of the said corporation shall defeat any gift, grant, devise, or bequest to the corporation, wherever the interest shall appear sufficiently upon the face of the gift, grant, devise, or bequest. 2 « The aim in this was " to keep our boards or committees dependent upon and responsible to the General Assembly ; 1 " Minutes of the General Assembly," 1861, p. 22. 2 Ibid., 1 86 1, pp. 31-33. "ADDRESS TO THE CHURCHES:' 347 to have an organization broad enough to embrace all our undertakings ; to keep them so bound together that the Creator may be above the creature ; to have the church present the view of the vine and the branches."^ This paper, though scrutinized with the keenest insight and amended before its final adoption, was received with the greatest satisfaction. It was felt that the biblical idea of polity w-as being further approximated. This bill was never enacted, but in substance was wrought into the charter of 1866, granted by the State of North Caro- lina. But the high- water mark of interest was reached as early as the first Saturday, in the hearing of the "Address to the Churches of Jesus Christ throughout the Earth," prepared by the committee of which Dr. J. H. Thornwell was the chairman. In this letter the church was trying to let the world look on its orientation. It aimed to show the other churches its own raison de etrc, and its .aims toward God and man. It is a paper of which any church might be proud. As we reread it, again and again re- marking its luminous precision of thought and language, its broad and deep charity for all the Lord's own, and the profoundly sanctified spirit that runs through it all, the impression comes with increasing strength that in that single paper is enough to justify the separate existence of the Southern Presbyterian Church. The church is the pillar and ground of the truth or nothing. It is to be doubted whether any other church in existence was more capable of setting forth the truth on the questions in de- bate than this church showed itself in that letter! Such a document should be read by every student who would know the origin of the Presbyterian Church, South. Our limits admit only of some excerpts, which, however, have been so selected as to give a fair notion of the address as 1 " Minutes of the General Assembly," 1861, pp. 31-35. 348 THE SOUTJIEKN PRESBYTERIANS, [Chap. ii. a whole, so far as such a thing can be done. They are as follows : The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Cliurch in the Confederate States of America to all the churches of Jesus Christ throughout the earth, greeting : grace, mercy, and peace be multiplied unto you. Dearly beloved Brethren: It is prolnibly known to you that the Presbyteries and Synods in the Confederate States, which were formerly in connection with the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, have renounced the jurisdiction of that body, and dissolved tlie ties which bound them ecclesiastically w-ith their brethren of the North. This act of separation left them without any formal union among themselves. But as they are one in faith and order, and still adhere to their old standards, measures were promptly adopted for giving expression to their unity, by the organization of a supreme court, upon the model of the one whose authority they had just relinquished. Commissioners, duly appointed, from all the Presbyteries of these Confederate States, met accordingly, in the city of Augusta, on the fourth day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and then and there proceeded to con- stitute the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States of America. . . . In thus taking its p]ace among sister churches of this and other countries, it seems proper that it should set forth the causes which have impelled it to separate from the church of the North, and to indicate a general view of the course which it feels it incumbent upon it to pursue in the new circumstances in which it is placed. We should be sorry to be regarded by our brethren in any jiart of the world as guilty of schism. We are not conscious of any purpose to rend the body of Christ. . . . We have separated from our brethren of the North as Abraham separated from Lot — because we are persuaded that the interests of true religion will be more efTectually subserved by two independent churches, under the cir- cumstances in which the two countries are placed, than by one united body. I. In the first place, the course of the last Assembly, at Philadelphia, conclusively shows that if we should remain together the political questions which divide us as citizens will be obtruded on our church courts, and dis- cussed by Christian ministers and elders with all the acrimony, bitterness, and rancor with which such questions are usually discussed by men of the world. Our Assembly would present a mournful spectacle of strife and de- bate. . . . Two nations, under any circumstances except those of perfect homogeneous- ness, cannot be united in one church without the rigid exclusion of all civil and secular questions from its halls. Where the countries differ in their customs and institutions, and view each other with an eye of jealousy and SEPARATION DEFENDED. 349 rivalry, if national feelings are permitted to enter the church conrts there must be an end of harmony and peace. . . . An Assembly composed of representatives from two such countries could have no security for peace except in a steady, uncompromising adherence to the Scriptural principle, that it would know no man after the flesh ; that it would abolish the dis- tinctions of barbarian, Scythian, bond or free, and recognize nothing but the new creature in Christ Jesus. . . . The only conceivable condition, therefore, upon which the church of the North and of the South could remain together as one body, with any pros- pect of success, is the rigorous exclusion of the questions and passions of the forum from its halls of debate. This is what always ought to be done. The provinces of church and state are perfectly distinct, and one has no right to usurp the jurisdiction of the other. The state is a natural institute, founded in the constitution of man as moral and social, and designed to realize the idea of justice. It is the society of rights. The church is a supernatural institute, founded in the facts of redemption, and is designed to realize the idea of grace. It is the society of the redeemed. The state aims at social order; the church, at spiritual holiness. The state looks to the visible and outward; the church is concerned for the invisible and inward. The badge of the state's authority is the sword, by which it becomes a terror to evil- doers, and a praise to them that do well ; the badge of the church is the keys by which it opens and shuts the kingdom of heaven, according as men are believing or impenitent. The power of the church is exclusively spiritual ; that of tlie state includes the exercise of force. The constitution of the church is a divine revelation ; the constitution of the state must be determined by human reason and the course of providential events. The church has no right to construct or modify a government for the state, and the state has no right to frame a creed or polity for the church. They are as planets moving in different orbits, and unless each is confined to its own track, the conse- quences may be as disastrous in the moral world as collision of different spheres in the world of matter. It is true that there is a point at which their respective jurisdictions seem to meet — in the idea of duty. J3ut even duty is viewed by each in very different lights. The church enjoins it as obedience to God, and the state enforces it as safeguard of order. But there can be no collision unless one or the other blunders as to the things that are materially right. When the state makes wicked laws contradicting the eternal principles of rectitude, the church is at liberty to testify against them, and humbly peti- tion that they may be repealed. In like manner, if the church becomes sedi- tious and a disturber of the peace the state has a right to abate the nuisance. In ordinary cases, however, there is not likely to be a collision. Among a Christian people there is little difference of opinion as to the radical distinc- tions of right and wrong. The only serious danger is where moral duty is conditioned upon a political question. Under the pretext of inculcating duty, the church may usurp the power to determine the question which conditions it, and that is precisely what she is debarred from doing. The condition 350 THE SOUTHERN rRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. ii. must be given. She must accept it from tlie state, and then her own course is clear. If Caesar is your master, then p.^y tribute to him; but whether the if holds — whether Cresar is your master or not, whether he ever had any just authority, whether he now retains it or has forfeited it — these are points which the church has no commission to adjudicate. It was ardently desired that the sublime spectacle might be presented of one church upon earth combining in cordial fellowship and holy love — the disciples of Jesus in different and even hostile lands. But alas for the weak- ness of man! these golden visions were soon dispelled. The first thing which roused our Presbyteries to look the question of separation seriously in the face was the course of the Assembly in venturing to determine, as a court of Jesus Christ, which it did by necessary implication, the true interpreta- tion of the Constitution of the United States as to the kind of government it intended to form. A political theory was, to all intents and purposes, pro- pounded which made secession a crime, the seceding States rebellious, and the citizens who obeyed them traitors. We say nothing here as to the right- eousness or unrighteousness of these decrees. What we maintain is, that, whether right or wrong, the church had no right to make them — she tran- scended her sphere, and usurped the duties of the state. . . . We frankly admit that the mere unconstitutionality of the proceedings of the last Assembly is not, in itself considered, a sufficient ground of separa- tion. It is the consequence of these proceedings which makes them so offen- sive. It is the door which they open for the worst passions of human nature in the deliberation of church colirts. . . . For the sake of peace, therefore, for Christian charity, for the honor of the church, and for the glory of God, we have been constrained, as much as in us lies, to remove all occasion of offense. We have quietly separated, and we are grateful to God that, while leaving for the sake of peace, we leave it with the humble consciousness that we ourselves have never given occasion to break the peace. We have never confounded Caesar and Christ ; we have never mixed the issues of this world with the weighty matters that properly belong to us as citizens of the kingdom of God. 2. Though the immediate occasion of separation was the course of the General Assembly at Philadelphia in relation to the Federal Government and the war, yet there is another ground on which the independent organization of the Southern Church can be amply and Scripturally maintained. If it is desirable that each nation should contain a separate and independent church, the Presbyteries of the Confederate States need no apology for bow- ing to the decree of Providence, which in withdrawing their country from the government of the United States has at the same time determined that they should withdraw from the church of their fathers. It is not that they have ceased to love, not that they have abjured its ancient principles, or forgotten its glorious history. . . . The antagonism of Northern and Southern sentiments on the subject of slavery lies at the root of all the difficulties which have resulted in the THE SUBJECT OF SLAVERY. 35 I flismemberment of the Federal Union and involved us in the horrors of an unnatural war. The Presbyterian Church in the United States has been en- abled by the divine grace to pursue, for the most part, an eminently con- servative, because a thoroughly Scriptural, policy in relation to this delicate question. It has planted itself upon the Word of God, and utterly refused to make slaveholding a sin, or non-slaveholding a term of communion. But though both sections are agreed as to this general principle, it is not to be disguised that the North exercises a deep and settled antipathy to slavery itself, while the South is equally zealous in its defense. Recent events can have no other effect than to confirm the antipathy on one hand, and to strengthen the attachment on the other. . . . And here we may venture to lay before the Christian world our views as a church upon the subject of slavery. We beg a candid hearing. In the first place, we would have it distinctly understood that, in our ecclesiastical capac- ity, we are neither the friends nor the foes of slavery — that is to say, we have no commission either to propagate or abolish it. The policy of its existence or non-existence is a question which exclusively belongs to the state. We have no right, as a church, to enjoin it as a duty or condemn it as a sin. Our business is with the duties that spring from the relations — the duties of the master on the one hand, and of the slave on the other. These duties we are to proclaim and enforce with spiritual sanctions. The social, civil, political problems connected with this great subject transcend our sphere, as God has not intrusted to his church the organization of society, the construction of governments, nor the allotment of individuals to their various stations. The church has as much right to preach to the monarchies of Europe and the despotisms of Asia the doctrines of republican equality, as to preach to the government of the South the extirpation of slavery. This position is im- pregnable, unless it can be shown that slavery is a sin. Upon every other hypothesis, it is so clearly a question for the state that the proposition would never for a moment have been doubted had there not been a foregone conclu- sion in relation to its moral character. Is slavery, then, a sin? In answering this question, as a church, let it be distinctly borne in mind that the only rule of judgment is the written Word of God. The church knows nothing of the intuitions of reason, or the deductions of philosophy, except those reproduced in the sacred canon. She has a positive constitution in the Holy Scriptures, and has no right to utter a single syllable upon any subject, except as the Lord puts it into her mouth. She is founded, in other words, on express revelation. The question, then, is brought within a narrow compass : Do the Scriptures, directly or indirectly, condemn slavery as a sin? If they do not, the dispute is ended, for the church, without forfeiting her character, dares not go beyond them. Now, we venture to assert that if men had drawn their conclusions upon the subject only from the Bible, it would no more have entered into any human head to denounce slavery as a sin, than to denounce monarchy, aristocracy, or poverty. The truth is, men have listened to what they falsely considered as primitive intuitions, or as necessary 352 THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. II. deductions from primitive cognitions, and tlien have gone to the Bible to confirm the crotchets of their vain philosophy. We have assumed no new attitude. We stand where the Church of God has always stood, from Abraham to Moses, from Moses to Christ, from Christ to the Reformers, and from the Reformers to ourselves*. We stand upon the foundation of the prophets. and apostles, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. Shall we be excluded from the fellowship of our brethren in other lands because we dare not depart from the Charter of our faith? Shall we be branded with the stigma of reproach because we cannot consent to corrupt the Word of God to suit the intuition of an infidel philos- ophy? Shall our names be pointed out as evil and the finger of scorn be pointed at us because we utterly refuse to break our conmiunion with Abra- ham, Isaac, and Jacob, with Moses, David, and Isaiah, with apostles, proph- ets, and martyrs, with all the noble army of confessors who have gone to glory from slaveholding countries and from a slaveholding church without ever dreaming that they had lived in mortal sin by conniving at slavery in the midst of them? Others, if they please, may spend their time in declaiming on the tyranny of earthly masters ; it will be our aim to resist the real tyrants wliich oppress the soul — Sin and Satan. These are the foes against whom we shall find it employment enough to wage a successful war — and to this holy war it is the purpose of our church to devote itself with redoubled energy. We feel that the souls of our slaves are a solemn trust, and we shall strive to present them faultless before the presence of God. Indeed, as we contemplate their condition in the Southern States and con- trast it with that of their fathers before them, and that of their Ijrethren in the present day in their native land, we cannot but accept it as a gracious Providence that they have been brought in such numbers to our shores, and redeemed from the bondage of barbarism and sin. Slavery to them has cer- tainly been overruled for the greatest good. . . . As to the endless declamations about human rights, we have only to say that human rights are not a fixed, but a fluctuating quantity. Their sum is not the same in any two nations on the globe. The rights of Englishmen are one thing, the rights of Frenchmen another. There is a minimum with- out which a man cannot be responsible ; there is a maximum which expresses the highest degree of civilization and of Christian culture. The education of the species consists in its ascent along this line. Now when it is said that slavery is inconsistent with human rights, we crave to understand what point in this line is the slave conceived to occupy. There are, no doubt, many rights which belong to other men — to Englishmen, to Frenchmen, to his master, for example — which are denied to him. Uut is he fit to possess them? Has God qualified him to meet the responsibilities which their pos- session necessarily implies? His place in the scale is determined by his competency to fulfill its duties. There are other rights which he certainly possesses, without wliich he could be neitlier human nor accountable. Before slavery can lie charged with doing him injustice it must be shown that the THE ENDS PROPOSED. 353 minimum which falls to his lot at the bottom of the line is out of proportion to his capacity and culture — a thing which can never be done by abstract speculation. To avoid the suspicion of conscious weakness of our cause when contem- plated from the side of pure speculation, we advert for a moment to those pretended intuitions which stamp the reprobation of humanity upon this ancient and hoary institution. We admit that there are primitive principles of morals which lie at the root of human consciousness. But the question is, how are we to distinguish tliem? The subjective feeling of certainty is no adequate criterion, as it is equally felt in reference to crotchets and hereditary prejudices. The very point is to know when this certainty indicates a prim- itive cognition, and when it does not. There must, therefore, be some eter- nal test, and whatever cannot abide that test has no authority as a primary truth. That test is an inward necessity of thought, which in all minds at the proper stage of maturity is absolutely universal. Whatever is universal is natural. We are willing that slavery should be tried by this standard. We are willing to abide by the testimony of the race, and if man, as man, has everywhere condemned it — if all human laws have prohibited it as a crime — if it stands in the same category with malice, murdCT, and theft — then we are willing, in the name of humanity, to renounce it, and to renounce it forever. But what if the overwhelming majority of mankind have approved it? What if philosophers and statesmen have justified it, and the laws of all nations acknowledged it — what then becomes of these luminous intuitions? They are an ignis fatuics, mistaken for a star. We have now, brethren, in a brief compass — for the nature of this address admits only an outline — opened to you our whole hearts upon this delicate and vexed subject. We have concealed nothing. We have sought to con- ciliate no sympathy by appeals to your charity. We have tried our cause by the Word of God; and though protesting against its authority to judge in a question concerning the duty of the church, we have not refused to appear at the tribunal of reason. Are we not right, in view of all the preceding con- siderations, in remitting the social, civil, and political problems connected with slavery in the state? The ends which we propose to accomplish as a church are the same as those which are proposed by every other church. To proclaim God's truth as a witness to the nations ; to gather his elect from the four corners of the earth ; and, through the Word, ministries, and ordinances, to train them for eternal life — is the great business of his people. The only thing that will be at all peculiar to us is the manner in which we shall attempt to discharge our duty. In almost every department of labor, except the pastoral care of con- gregations, it has been usual for the church to resort to societies more or less closely connected with itself, and yet logically and really distinct. It is our purpose to rely upon the regular organs of our government, and executive agencies directly and immediately responsible to them. We wish to make the church not merely a superintendent, but an agent. We wish to develop 354 '^^^^^ SOUTHERN rKKSBYTERlAiXS. [CiiAr. n. tlic idea that the congregation of believers, as visibly organized, is the very society or corporation which is divinely called to do the work of the Lord. We shall therefore endeavor to do what has never yet been adequately done — bring out the energies of our Presbyterian system of government. From the session to the Assembly we shall strive to enlist all of our courts, as courts, in the department of Christian efTort. We are not ashamed to con- fess that we are intensely Presbyterian. We embrace all other denomina- tions in the arms of Christian fellowship and love, but our own scheme of government we humbly believe to be according to the pattern shown in the mount, and, by God's grace, we propose to put its efficiency to the test. Brethren, we have done. We have told you who we are, and what we are. We greet you in the ties of Christian brotherhood. We desire to culti- vate peace and charity with all our fellow-Christians throughout the world. We invite to ecclesiastical communion all who maintain our principles of faith and order. And now we commend you to God and the Word of his grace. We de- voutly pray that the whole Catholic Church may be afresh baptized with the Holy Ghost, and that she may be speedily stirred up to give the Lord no rest until he establish ami make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. l The scene " which was enacted at the moment of the subscription of this letter will be forgotten," says an elo- quent participant, " by none who witnessed it. Read, and read again, amid the solemn stillness of an audience whose emotions are hushed with awe, it was finally adopted and laid on the moderator's table ; when, one by one, the members came silently forward and signed the instrument with their names. We were carried back to those stirring times in Scottish story when the Solemn League and Covenant was spread upon the gravestones at the Gray Friars' Churchyard, and Christian heroes pricked their veins, that with the red blood they might sign their alle- giance to the kingdom and crown of Jesus Christ, their Lord and Head." 2 TJie Distinctive Principles of the CJuirch at First. — We have now passed in review the more important acts 1 For this letter in full see " Minutes of iS6i," pp. 51-60; Alexander's " Digest," pp. 369-380; " Distinctive Principles," pp. 6-25. 2 Palmer's " Life of Thorn well," p. CLERICAL AND LAY LEADERS. 355 of the Constituting Assembly. Observing the fabric set up as a completed whole, we may remark its distinctive principles, viz. : First, witnessing for the non-secular character of the church and the headship of Christ, or, in other words, for a strict adherence to the constitution. This explains the church's rise. This was the church's great and inspiring mission. Second, the complete or- ganization of the church, obviating the necessity of boards and societies. The Southern Presbyterian Church is one of the most completely organized of all the churches of God. The church itself is its own home missionary society, its own foreign missionary society, its own educa- tion society, etc. It attends to the work itself which God gave it to do. Herein it has been a pattern not without efifect to other churches. The mother-church from which the Southern Church came has wisely imitated to a certain degree the daughter, in turning her boards into virtual commissions. TJie dignity of the constituting body of this first Assem- bly was very great. The writer of the " Address to the Churches of Jesus Christ throughout the Earth " was the luminary of the body — a mental and moral giant — but the Assembly was as a whole an able and godly body. A glance at the roll of commissioners shows that they were no mean men. Running down the roll of ministers, we find the names of Dr. John H. Bocock, Dr. Wm. H. Foote, Dr. Joseph R. Wilson, Dr. C. C. Jones, Dr. John N. Waddel, Dr. James A. Lyon, Dr. Drury Lacy, Dr. R. H. Morrison, Dr. J. Leighton Wilson, Dr. John B. Adger, Dr. D. McNeil Turner, Dr. Theodoric Pryor, Dr. Francis McFarland, Dr. James B. Ramsey. Among the elders we note the names of W. P. Webb, T. C. Perrin, W. L. Mitchell, Job Johnston, J. G. Sheppard, J. T. Swayne, J. D. Armstrong, Charles PhilHps. Many other names of great 356 THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIANS. [Chai-. ii. dignity and reputation might have been added to each of these Hsts. And these were no more than a fair sample of the Southern Church. The Synod of Virginia could have mustered an abler body than the one we have been considering. Whether we look at the causes of the existence of the Presbyterian Church, South, at the perfection of her or- ganization, at the orientation of herself in the theological cosmos, at her distinctive principles, or, in fine, at the dig- nity of her members, we are irresistibly led to a conviction of a surpassing excellence in her beginning, and prophesy thereof in her end. CHAPTER III. THE GROWTH OF THE CHURCH AND DEVELOPMENT OF HER AGENCIES TO THE PRESENT. We propose to set forth in this chapter the numerical increase of the church, and to account for the rapidity of this increase. We shall also illustrate the development of the various agencies of the church, including foreign mis- sions, home missions in its \arious branches, education, and publication ; explaining, as we may be able, the slow or rapid progress of each respectively, and remarking on any change of attitude of an}' particular agency toward the General Assembly. We shall then consider the general posture toward herself in which the General Assembly holds the agencies in common. Finally, on the ground of its connection with our subject by contrast, we shall advert to " voluntary- societies " in the church. TJie XuDicrical Increase of the CJuircJi. In thirty-two years, the devastation and desolation of war and " reconstruction " to the contrary nevertheless, the Southern Presbyterian Church has much more than doubled itself. It has added three to the original number of Synods, there being thirteen at present. The number of its Presbyteries has gone up from 47 to "ji, an. increase of more than fifty per cent, of the original number. It has as many ministers as in 1861, and about eighty per cent, more, having now 1270; as many churches and one hundred and sixty per cent, more — the present number of 357 358 THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. hi. churches is 2652. There are two and a half times as many members as in 1861, and more. Its contributions to foreign missions and to home missions are at least four times as large, and it has kept pace in developing the other departments of church enterprise. The church has made this rapid advance in spite of the fact that between 1866 and 1870 it suffered a great exodus of its colored communicants, 10,000 perhaps, who betook themselves, for the most part, to the organizations which the Northern Presbyterian Church had begun to establish among the freedmen. It has made this growth in spite of most ad- verse financial and political conditions, and in a wide and sparsely settled territory, where there were no great cen- ters of population, and which had suffered the spoliation of war. Few churches can show an equal growth. It is extraordinary. It may be justly claimed as one of the remarkable phenomena of modern church history. This growth, under the circumstances, eloquently illus- trates the words of the Psalmist who cried out : " It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes." 1 But while acknowledging the blessing of affliction rightly received, we shall find it useful to inquire into the several proximate and specific causes of this rapid growth. These causes seem to be : First, the great esophageal porrections of our church in the presence of any ecclesiastical minnows which may be assimilated into good strict Presbyterians. The Presby- terian Church, South, has absorbed into ecclesiastical union with herself a good many smaller bodies which once occu- pied more or less of her present territory, viz. : the Inde- pendent Presbyterian Church (1863), the United Synod of the South (1864), the Presbytery of Patapsco (1867), 1 Psalm cxix. 72. REVIVAL METHODS. 359 the Alabama Presbytery of the Associate Reformed Church about the same time, the Synod of Kentucky (1869), the Associated Reformed Presbytery of Kentucky (1870), and the Synod of Missouri (1874). The union with these churches brought in about 282 ministers, 490 or more churches, and 35,600 communicants. Thus is ex- plained in part the church's rapid growth. Second, the energetic use of the evangelistic arm of the church's service. The Southern Presbyterian Church is not unfrequently stigmatized as "orthodox." She un- doubtedly holds to a strong and thorough-going Calvin- ism and to a rather " high church " Presbyterianism. In the later thirties of this century the Old School party won the victory over the New School only by virtue of an almost " solid South." And since the division of the Old School in 1861 the Southern Church is supposed to have strengthened in her Calvinism, and in her tendency to- ward a belief in a jure divino form of church govern- ment, rather than to have either declined or stood still. She does not object to being regarded as orthodox in the sense of steadfastly upholding her well-known con- stitution. On the contrary, she delights in the charac- terization. But " orthodoxy " and deadness of spiritual life have often been conjoined in history — so often as to have pro- duced the current impression that one must look for a dead church in one that makes the claim of being ortho- dox. The impression, however, is very superficial. If there is any power, by its beauty, purity, charm, and magnetism, in truth to quicken, attract, sanctify, hold, and consecrate, then as " orthodoxy " approaches the truth, contrary to this shallow supposition as to the con- nection between " orthodoxy " and " deadness," we expect the truly orthodox church to be first in its power to win 360 THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. hi. to genuine Christianity all over whom the truth has any power. Whether the Southern Presbyterian Church is truly orthodox it is not our present concern to settle. Her well-wishers have the pleasure of reflecting that her " or- thodoxy " is in no sense stifling. She has shown an evan- gelical power which to-day is making her, in spite of her modest dimensions, one of the observed of American churches. The Assembly of 1866 enjoined upon every Presbytery " to seek out and set apart a minister to the work of the evangelist for its own bounds, to take the superintendence of its vacant congregations wherever practicable " ; and wherever such a course should be impracticable, " to ap- portion such congregations among its ministerial members for the same object, so that every congregation and all freed people " should " enjoy the pastoral oversight of some minister in their assemblies."^ This injunction expresses the Assembly's attitude, in general, toward this department of church work, main- tained until the present. In 18S6 the Assembly adopted a report emphasizing the importance of evangelistic work, and reminding the churches {ii) " that Presbyterianism cannot accomplish its mission unless it become more ag- gressive ; {b) that constant aggressiveness — in other words, preaching the gospel in the regions beyond — is one great mission of the church ; that preaching the gospel to the poor is the distinguishing characteristic of the true church." - The Presbyteries and churches, as they had ability and grace, responded to the Assembly's resolutions by striv- ing to work them out in life. True, the church has never 1 " Minutes of iS66," p. 36. 2 " Minutes of the Assembly of 1S86," p, 44. PASTORAL WORK. 36 1 been satisfied with the results secured in the way of effort ; but handsome efforts have been put forth. If the Assembly's evangelistic enterprises have been allowed to languish, many of the Presbyteries and Synods have prosecuted presbyterial and synodical evangelization with great, if somewhat selfish, enthusiasm. In 1 88 1 the Synod of Kentucky entered upon what is now known as pioneer enterprise of synodical evangelism. Some individual Christians offered to make a, liberal dona- tion to home mission work within the bounds of that State, provided the churches of the State should raise a stipulated sum. This offer has been renewed, and the work kept up, from year to year. Recently not less than eight or ten Synods, led on by this example, have inaugu- rated some form of synodical work.^ The various evangelistic efforts, backed some in one way, some in another, have not always co-worked without friction and to the satisfaction of the whole church. It does not fall within the scope of our present purpose to discuss at this point the relative propriety of these several forms of effort. That will come later. Here we have but to observe that in "every way Christ is preached," and the church grows. Third, faithfitl effort on the part of the pastor and peo- ple. Where an army does anything toward the permanent occupation of a hostile country, there must be something more than skirmishes of the advance guard along the few lines of its approach. The real battle occurs later, when the great hosts have come up face to face with one an- other. The invaders then must overwhelm their foes, and must seize and man the citadels of the land. Even then the war is not over. The Philistines may arise at any mo- ment. Israel secures her quiet only at the price of eternal 1 " Report of Executive Committee of Home Missions of 1893," p. 11. 362 THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. hi. vigilance. The sort of advance the Southern Presbyterian Church has made is the best possible testimonial to the common watchfulness and fidelity of the whole church. The great majority of her members, under the guidance of her ministers and preachers, have been faithful, and in their measure efficient. The preachers have done their duty nobly in proclaiming the needs, and the poverty of the people has abounded unto the riches of their liberality. The truth of this assertion will be illustrated with toler- able fullness in the remaining part of this chapter, which is devoted to setting forth the development of the church's several agencies. Anticipating its establishment, we be- hold in the fact one of the causes, under God, of the rapid numerical increase of the Southern Presbyterian Church. I. Foreign Missions. The large place given to foreign missions in the heart and work of the church at the time of her organization — at a time when there seemed next to no possibility, owing to the barriers of war, of doing any foreign mission work except among the Indians of the Southwest — has been remarked upon and admired for its heroism of faith and singular devotion to our Lord's last command. Special attention was called, moreover, to the nature of the agency which the church then created to carry out this most important of church enterprises. Under the control of natural sagacity the committee and missionaries did their work without the aid of a formal interpretation of the committee's constitutional powers and the missionaries' re- lations until 1877. But by that time the missionaries had become much more numerous, and there was need of such an interpretation. The As.sembly of 1877 adopted a man- ual for the use of missionaries and missionary candidates. FOREIGN- MISSIONS. 363 Certain excerpts from the more important sections of this manual will repay the reader's attention. They are as follows : The Executive Committee. — The committee, in virtue of authority conferred upon it by the General Assembly, directs and superintends the missionary work in all departments, but exercises no ecclesiastical functions. It may, however, give friendly advice to missionaries in relation to church matters when requested to do so. It appoints missionaries and assistant mission- aries ; determines their fields of labor ; fixes their salaries ; determines their particular employments ; and may transfer a missionary from one department of labor to another, having due regard, however, to the views and feelings of the missionary himself in all these matters. The committee may recall a missionary for incompetence, for neglect of duty, for disobedience to instruc- tions, or for disorderly conduct. The missionary, however, in case he feels aggrieved, has the right to appeal to the General Assembly, to which the missionary and the Executive Committee are alike responsible. Missionaries. — The missionary is regarded in the light of an evangelist in the Scriptural sense of the term. . . . His business is to preach the gospel; to found churches ; to aid in forming Presbyteries, when the native churches are prepared for such ; to translate the Word of God when necessary ; to train native preachers ; and to do vi^hatever else may be necessary to the promotion of evangelical religion. He may not become a settled pastor of a church, but shall establish native pastorates over all such churches as soon as suitable persons can be found, while he himself shall go on founding new churches wherever God's providence shall make it proper to do so. He may advise a church session, or may preside at its meetings when requested to do so, but he shall not have an authoritative voice in any of its proceedings. So he may aid in establishing a Presbytery, when the native churches are prepared for it ; he may, upon invitation, sit as a corresponding member in the Presbytery and give advice ; but he is not to be regarded as a member, or to exercise any of the rights of one, but retains his connection with his Presbytery at home. Assistant Missionaries. — This term is applied indifferently to laymen sent out as teachers, to missionary physicians, to unmarried ladies, and to the wives of missionaries. All these, save the wives of missionaries, are under the general direction of the mission. The Mission. — At every central station there is a mission, technically so called — a sub-committee — acting in direct and constant communication with the Executive Committee of Missions. It is composed of all the mission- aries and male assistant missionaries of the different stations. No native can be a member of it except by the appointment of the Executive Com- mittee, on the recommendation of the mission. All members of the mission are expected to correspond freely with the home office ; but in relation to 364 ^-^^^ SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAXS. [Chap. hi. business matters, such as appropriation of funds, tlie estal)lishment of schools, the formation of new stations, the return of missionaries, and the like, the correspondence shall be between the mission as such and the Ex- ecutive Committee. Qiialijications for tlie J\/issioua7y Work. — As a general thing the same qualifications which will render a minister useful in the home field will make him equally so in the foreign. One who does not promise to be useful and efficient at home ought not for a moment to think of going abroad. The missionary ought to have an unimpaired physical constitution ; good intel- lectual training; a reasonable facility for acquiring language; a sound judg- ment of men and things ; versatility of gifts ; tact and adaptation to men of all classes and circumstances ; a cheerful, hopeful spirit ; ability to work harmoniously with others ; persistent energy in carrying out plans once formed ; consecrated common sense — all controlled by single-heartedness, self-sacrificing devotion to Christ and his cause. Support of Alissionaries. — The salary allowed a missionary is not regarded in the light of a compensation for services rendered. The church, in the prosecution of the work, aims simply to enable the missionary to carry out with efficiency the desires of his own heart to preach the gospel to the un- evangelized nations of the earth. She proposes, therefore, to give him what may be regarded as a comfortable but economical support — such a support as will free him from all anxious cares about his temjioral comforts and enable him to give himself wholly to the work of the Lord.l As appears from the third article of the constitution of the Executive Committee, but more clearly from the- first of the above excerpts, the so-called Executive Committee is a commission rather than a committee.- It is empow- ered to take tentative courses on occasions of emergency, which must be considered and may be appro\-ed b\- the next Assembly, but which are in the interim backed by the power of the court constituting the commission. Just at present there is an agitation in the church as to whether certain functions, now exercised by this committee, should not rather be exercised by the Presbyteries and church sessions. It is affirmed by some that the present usage of our church, as well as of most others, in this particular, is unscriptural ; that the Presbyteries should appoint and 1 " Minutes of the Assembly of 1877," pp. 418 et seq. 2 Compare Alexander's " Digest," p. 105. THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 365 direct the missionaries. This affirmation is incapable of proof. The only debatable ground is that of expediency. Whether the superintendence of missionaries is made the work of a lower or of a higher court depends on the con- stitutional definitions of the spheres of the several courts. Either court, being composed of elders of two coordinate classes, is a Scriptural body. Before the constitution of the church has defined and restricted the rights of the several courts, the Assembly is Scripturally competent to exercise the functions which have been actually assigned to its committee, and assigned to it in the constitution. But the agitation has been so earnest, and by men of such ability and prominence, that the second Macon Assembly (1893) l^^s appointed " an ad interim committee to inves- tigate the entire matter, and report to the next General Assembly ... as to the expediency of transferring any functions from the Executive Committee to the Presby- teries and church sessions." This comimittee is assigned the further task of seeing whether, in their judgment, any modification should be made in the present method of ad- ministration in this part of the church's work, and whether any amendment should be made, and if so, what,- to the present manual.^ The size of the Executive Committee, originally eleven, was by the Assembly of 1888, owing to some quirk, en- larged to fifteen. The Assembly of 1889 reduced it again to eleven. This number is large enough for counsel. It secures a greater sense of individual responsibility than the larger number.^ 1 " Minutes of the Assembly of 1893," p. 42. 2 The location of the committee was at first at Columbia, S. C. In 1875 it was removed to Baltimore. In 1889 it was carried to Nashville. The reason for the transference to Baltimore was that the committee might be afforded the larger facilities of a commercial and financial center. An un- happy local friction was the occasion of the removal to Nashville. 366 THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. hi. The secretaries of this committee have been able men.^ Dr. Wilson was a man of massive virtues, profound sagac- ity, practical methods, great executive ability, fruitful piety, and marked consecration to the cause of missions. Dr. Mcllwaine, as secretary, was characterized by the practical good sense, the earnestness, and the ability to accomplish his ends which have marked him in every rela- tion in which the providence of God has placed him. But the Napoleon of foreign missions thus far in this church has been Dr. Houston. In mental endowment, in iron persistency, in the spirit of " this one thing I do," in a sense of the sublime- importance of the work of foreign missions, in a contagious enthusiasm for it, as well as in nearly all the essentials of the executive officer, he is be- hind no secretary of foreign missions that we know any- thing of. He may have failed in a few instances to meet with tact the wills of advisers scarcely less imperious than his own ; he may have somewhat of the prelate in him ; but no man can deny that like a skillful general he has marshaled the hosts among whom God has placed him. That the church is getting into the very first rank of for- eign niission workers is due in part to this fragile-looking, high-headed, long-faced, iron-jawed man. Nevertheless, we would not forget that the missionary zeal exhibited arose not primarily from the secretaries, but from the church. The secretaries were of the church, and its exponents. The church has been from the be- ginning a missionary church. We have seen that it was in 1861. ' The Rev. J- Leighton Wilson, D.D., was secretary 1861-85, and secre- tary evwritus 1885-87, Rev. R. Mcllwaine having been coordinate secretary 1872-82. M. II. Houston, D.D., was secretary 1884-93. The Rev. H. M. Woods was elected by the Assembly of 1893 to this post of supreme com- mand of the aggressive forces of our church. Dr. Woods has refused to accept the election, however. RECOMMENDATION OF THE ASSEMBLY. 367 In 1862 the Assembly renewed the recommendation " for a concert of prayer, to be held on the first Sabbath of each month, in all our churches, for the Lord's blessing on the cause of missions, and that contributions be made at those meetings whenever expedient."' This recom- mendation in substance has been renewed from year to year, and kindred ones added : such as that in the public services of the church prayer be regularly made for all men," and missionary intelligence be diffused and mission- ary motives be enforced by the Executive Committee, by pastors, by Sabbath- school superintendents and teachers.^ In 1867 the Executive Committee was authorized to pub- lish a monthly missionary paper for gratuitous distribution to the ministers and Sabbath-school superintendents. This paper has been fostered carefully by the Assembly from that time to the present. It has grown to be a self-sup- porting paper of unusual merit. Its circulation on April i, 1893, ^^'as 9250.'^ It is doing incalculable good to the cause of missions. The Assembly of 1884 recommended to the faculties of the theological seminaries " that in some way they seek to beget and foster among the students a lively interest in foreign missions."^ This recommendation has been re- peated, as by the Assembly of 1890, which recommended further " that the question of the duty of enlisting person- ally in the missionary service abroad be pressed on the attention, not only of theological students, but of our pas- tors and consecrated members."** The Assembly of 1882 resolved that it "' advise the Presbyteries to devote one 1 " Minutes of the Assembly of 1862," p. 10. 2 " Minutes of 1891," p. 237. 3 " Minutes of 1874," p. 418; 1884, p. 212; 1887, p. 242. * " Annual Report of Executive Committee of 1891," p. 5. 5 " Minutes of 1884," p. 272. ® " Minutes of the Assembly of 1890," p. 32, part iii. 368 THE SOUTH ERX TRESBYTERIANS, [Chap. hi. evening during the spring session, or such other hour as may be convenient, to the general discussion of foreign missions in the presence of the congregation among whom they meet."^ And since 1867 the Assembly itself has devoted an evening of each session to a discussion of this great enterprise. In all these ways the Assembly has tried to excite an intelligent interest on the subject, and thus occasion larger efforts on the part of the rank and file of the church. Furthermore, the Assembly has tried to elicit larger gifts by encouraging the formation of congregational missionary societies, ladies', young men's, and children's,^ and at times by specifying, through her committee, objects for which individual churches might contribute."^ She has once and again empowered her Executive Committee to make, dur- ing defined periods, special appeals for free-will offerings.-* Nor has the church made an ignoble response to these efforts by her highest courts. In poverty at the start, in relative poverty now, her people, ever cramped by finan- cial stresses, have yet abounded in their liberality. Dur- ing the later years of the ninth decade individual churches in considerable numbers undertook the support of one or more missionaries. Some of the congregations which did this had been, as they supposed, unable to give more than the meagerest support to their own pastor. But the Lord enlarged them. Nor have the people been slow in offer- ing themselves as compared with other churches. Pastors, young and middle-aged, candidates for the ministry, con- secrated laymen, and ladies, have, as a rule, responded to the calls as fast as made. The church's missionary zeal has manifested itself fur- 1 " Minutes of iSiS2," p. 546. 2 " Minutes of 1873," p. 365; 1785, p. 37; 1878, p. 619; 1892, p. 446. 3 " Minutes of 1884," p. 262. ^ " Minutes of i886," p. 35. FOREIGN MISSIONARIES. 369 ther in a disposition to scrutinize closely the work of mis- sionaries.^ The courts of the church have shown this dis- position, and the people themselves, to a pleasing degree. One of the common topics of discussion in the Presbyte- rian home of late years is as to the best method of foreign- mission work — the place of the school in foreign mission work, the place of the native Christian worker, the relation which the missionary should sustain to the native Chris- tians, the relation of the church, when set up in the regions beyond, to the home church, whether it should be autono- mous or not. To say the least, the growing zeal of the church in mis- sions has not been retarded by the lives of the missionaries. On the contrary, one of the things which has helped to fan missionary zeal to a flame is the conduct and lives of the noble bands of missionaries who have gone out from the church. Mistakes have been made in sending out missionaries. In rare cases an unworthy man has been sent ; some have gone who had little to commend them but an earnest spirit of service ; but as a rule the men sent have been a credit to the church. Such men as Lane and Boyle in Brazil, as Houston, Johnson, Davis in China, as Lapsley in Africa, and dozens of others in these coun- tries, have been, and will continue to be, an inspiration to, and provocative of, missionary effort in the home church. Their difficult and lonely duties have been performed with fidelity and ability, and generally with gratifying results. The church has planted stations in China, Italy, the United States of Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, Greece, Japan, the Congo Free State, Cuba, and Corea, as well as among the Indians. She counted at the end of the ecclesiastical year April 31, 1892, to April 31, 1893, 34 missionaries in China, 22 in Brazil, 8 in Mexico, 21 in Japan, 7 in Africa, 7 in 1 " Minutes of 1883," p. 32. 370 THE SOUTHERN rKESBYTERLlXS. [Chap. hi. Corea, 2 in Cuba, and i in Italy. A good many have been sent out since. ^ As a result of missionary effort, the church can now look upon about 2000 communicants, many hundreds of young people receiving Christian instruction, many native teachers, preachers, etc., at work among their people, spreading the light of the glorious gospel of God, an immeasurable influence on the heathen world, predis- posing it to hear Christianity as it is. The results in either Mexico or Japan are enough to justify all the efforts which the church has put forth in behalf of missions. Nevertheless, the great law of its propagation laid down in Acts i. 8 has not been sufficiently followed by the church in its mission work. That law is : Tlic cJiurcJi shall in its propaga}idisin seek to witness zvJiere its zvitncssing will result in the most efficient additions to the army of zuitness- bearers for Christ. We look back with joy on the spirit of missions by which the church has been characterized, but cannot fail to remark that it has lacked an adequate knowledge of the religious conditions of the world so as to know where best to push its witness for Christ. It made a fiasco in the United States of Colombia. It failed to sufficiently concentrate on Japan when Japan was openest to the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ — let the opportunity of centuries slip. Often the church in its mission work has displayed zeal with only limited knowledge. It has struck about like blind Samson, whereas, looking equally to God, it should have used its eyes. The demand which God makes of the church for intelligent effort — a knowl- edge of the field where present missionary effort will be most effective, and for work there — is one that only the 1 The China Mission was established in 1866; that to the United States of Colombia existed from 1866 to 1877 ; that to Italy was established in 1S67 ; that to Brazil, in 1S6S; that to Mexico, in 1874; that to C.rcece, in 1874; that to Japan, in 1886; that to the Congo Free State, in 1890; that to Cuba, in 1890; that to Corea, in 1892. HOME MISSIONARIES. 37 I superficial can deny. Yet the church has not been wide awake to the demand. Again, our church courts have given too great a play to voluntaryism in missions in de- termining who should go. It is easy enough to see this in looking over the list of missionaries sent out. The church should pick her men as the early church did — pick them on account of special fitness for the work. To a greater growth of missionary effort the church needs the Holy Ghost, of course, and the truth in the heart and the soul of the cJuircIi, and moving the eJiureJi — the truth as to the nature and destiny of unregenerate man, and that Jesus can and will save. It is worthy of special remark that the church, at the suggestion of the Pan- Presbyterian Council, has for a number of years been employing active measures to bring about all proper cooperation with other Presbyterian bodies of sound faith in the mission field. In particular, a plan of cooperation with the Northern Church in foreign missions was agreed on by the Assembly of 1893, according to which, in schools, theological seminaries, and evangelistic work, the two churches are to work in closest concert and harmony. The missionaries of several Presbyterian churches, including these two, had for years been in virtual cooperation. 1 This movement is a correct one, though attended by some dangers. Witnessing loses its power when it loses its distinctness. 2. Home Missions. We have already shown how before its organization, during the interregnum, the work of this committee was carried on by the Southwestern Advisory Committee ; and we have indicated the scope of the work and the con- 1 See " Report of Executive Committee of 1893," pp. 10, 11. 372 THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIANS. [Cmap. in. stitution of the agency as erected by the Assembly of 1 86 1, under the title of "The Committee of Domestic Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States of America." ^ We propose now to trace the growth and branching of this work to the present. The Greater Constittitional Changes. — Let us look first at the greater constitutional changes in the agency. In 1865 the war left the bounds of the Southern Church filled with crippled and broken-down churches, " espe- cially along the broad track of those desolating marches that were made through most of the central Southern States." The country had been reduced to savage pov- erty, sanctuaries had been broken down, and ministers — able ones^compelled to betake themselves to secular avo- cations to get bread. Moreover, emissaries from the con- quering section were pouring in with a view to gathering her flocks into folds which they had not known. - The church felt that she must rise and give herself to relieving the distress of her suffering members. The Assembly of 1865, accordingly, determined to raise a sus- tentation fund, and assigned this work to the Executive Committee of Domestic Missions, adding to the commit- tee, moreover, a wide-awake man from each Synod, whose special duty it was to canvass his Synod, ascertain what churches were needing help, what ones were able to con- tribute, and to do all he could, by correspondence and vis- itation, to collect funds for this general object."^ The effort was successful. " The appointment of synod- ical commissioners to act in concert with the committee proved to be a wise and judicious measure. In no other way would it have been possible either to ascertain the condition and wants of the brethren, or to have distributed 1 Chapter ii., pp. 340 ff. 2 " Minutes of 1865," p. 391. 3 " Minutes of 1865," p. 391. HOME MISSIONS. 373 the funds in the hands of the committee in a just and equitable manner."^ In the meantime the cause of domestic missions proper had been coming on badly. Not one fifth of the churches during the year 1865-66 contributed anything to the cause, and nineteen twentieths of the funds which came to the hands of the Executive Committee came specially desig- nated to the cause of sustentation. The prostration of the country explained in part the smalf contributions, but there were other causes. The Executive Committee occu- pied an anomalous position in the minds of most of the church-members. Some regarded it as a mere financial agency, whose special province it was " to gather up the surplus funds -of the wealthier churches and Presbyteries, and apply them to the weaker Presbyteries and destitute regions of the country." ^ Others, again, regarded the committee as combining in itself both ecclesiastical and financial functions, " as a complete and sufficient instru- mentality for carrying on the work of domestic missions."^ Further, the church felt that, in her peculiar circumstances, she scarcely had any need, then, of a Committee of Domes- tic Missions, regarding that committee in the light of an evangelistic, aggressive agency. The whole field was cov- ered with Presbyteries, the best agents that can be em- 1 " Executive Committee's Report of 1866," p. 44. 2 " Minutes of 1866," p. 49. 3 The constitution of the committee had clothed it with powers too large — the rights of the Presbytery were trenched upon. Article III. reads: " It shall be the duty of the Executive Committee to take the direction and control of the domestic missionary work, subject to such instructions as may be given by the General Assembly from time to time; to appoint mission- aries and evangelists for the field of labor " {sic) " and to provide for their sup- port, and to aid feeble churches, and to do whatever else may be necessary for the advancement of domestic missionary work ; and that in the discharge of its duties the committee act in concert and harmony with the Presbyteries and churches ; that the committee authorize all appropriations and expendi- tures of money, including the salaries of their officers." — " Minutes of the Assembly of 1866," p. 20. 374 ^'-^^^^ SOUTHERN PKESBYTEKIANS. [Chap. hi. ployed in carryint^ on missionary work in their own bounds, certainly so far as ecclesiastical control is concerned. The church did feel, on the other hand, an urgent need of her Sustentation Committee. Her work for the time was not so much to establish new churches as to repair old ones. Jerusalem had to rebuild her own walls before she could dwell in safety and repossess the land. As a natural sequence of this condition of affairs, the Assembly of 1866, in response to an overture from Dr. J. Leighton Wilson, setting" forth reasons, the chief of which we have given above, why the Committee of Domestic Missions should be abolished and a Committee of Sus- tentation be appointed in its place, did substantially what Dr. Wilson overtured.^ A glance over the constitution of the Committee of Sustentation shows that the new committee differs from the old in having no ecclesiastical functions - save in respect to the missionaries who may be set to work beyond the 1 For overture, see " Minutes of 1866," pp. 49-52. 2 The preamble to the resolution which contains the constitution of the Committee of Sustentation asserts : " To the Presbytery it belongs to ordain and commission ministers of the gospel, to commit to them the oversight of the particular congregations, upon the call of the people, and to appoint them, with their own consent, to fields of missionary lalior. It is also the l)rovince of the Presliytery to determine what part of its territory is to be regarded as missionary ground, and what churches ought to receive assistance in maintaining their pastors, or in erecting houses of worship. It is the duty of the Presbytery to superintend the work of its missionaries, to receive their report, and to the Presbytery alone are they responsible, in the first instance, under God, for the faithful discharge of their duties. It is there- fore incumbent on the Presbyteries to provide for the worldly maintenance of the Lord's ministers. . , . And inasmuch as there is a great inequality in the strength and resources of the different Presbyteries, and because, according to the law of the life of the church, it is the imperative duty of the strong to aid the weak, in order that the healthful vigor of the \\ hole body may be preserved, it becomes necessary to have some central agency, through which the vital current of the church's life may flow in due proportion to every part, and that all the energy, zeal, and resources of the church may be combined in the prosecution of its most important work. This is the office of the General Assembly, but it can only be practically fulfilled through a conmiittee." — " Minutes of 1866," pp. 27 ff. THE INVALID FUND. 375 bounds of any Presbytery, in putting sustentation as its first object, and defining more specifically the purposes of the agency. No object of the Committee of Domestic Missions is forgotten in the construction of the Committee of Sustentation. The year following its establishment the Executive Committee asserted in its annual report that four general objects or departments of labor were regarded as included in the general plan of Sustentation: " i. To aid feeble churches in support of their pastors and sup- plies, and thus accomplish the twofold object of maintain- ing the stated preaching of the gospel in all these churches, and at the same time secure a competency for every labor- ing minister throughout the church. ... 2. To aid in the support of missionaries and evangelists wherever such aid is asked. 3. To assist in building and repairing church edifices wherever the people have not the means of them- selves to do it. 4. To assist missionaries or ministerial laborers in getting from one field to another, where they are without the means of doing this of themselves."^ But while no object of the Committee of Domestic Missions is forgotten, the name of the new committee, the frame of its constitution, as well as the second of its by-laws sanc- tioned by the Assembly of 1867, and which reads: " The committee shall always appropriate specifically to the dif- ferent objects presented by the Presbyterial Committee of Missions ; and unless a preference is expressed to the con- trary, it will always give the precedence to applications in behalf of the feeble churches "^ — all show that the work of the committee was chiefly to uphold the crushed and broken churches. TJie Invalid Fund. — But this committee was a living branch of a living tree ; it was to grow and branch itself. One of the first branches of the work to develop itself 1 " Minutes of 1867," pp. 155, 156. 2 " Minutes of 1867," p. 159. 376 THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. in. was the Invalid Fund. As far back as 1863 an elaborate overture, urging the Assembly to provide a fund for the relief of superannuated and disabled ministers and their families, was introduced, with the result that a committee was appointed to consider the whole subject, and report to the next General Assembly. No practical measures seem to have resulted from this effort. In 1867 aid was asked of the Assembly for the family of a minister of the church, recently deceased ; and the Assembly authorized the Committee of Sustentation to " appropriate five per cent, of all contributions to its objects to the relief of destitute widows and children of ministers, and indigent ministers in infirm health, provided no such per cent, be appropriated from the contribution of any church or person prohibiting such appropriation, and pro- vided further that this plan of operation shall not continue longer than the meeting of the Assembly for the year 1869."! This was a merely temporary device. In 1868, " in lieu of the appropriation of five per cent, of the Sustentation Fund," the Assembly enjoined upon the Presbyteries to have a collection taken up in all the churches under their care for a relief fund which should be devoted to the relief of disabled ministers, and of widows and orphans of de- ceased ministers. These collections were to be forwarded to the treasurer of Sustentation, and disbursed according to the discretion of the committee, upon application made through the Presbyterial Standing Committees on Domes- tic Mis.sions." The Executive Committee was to have no power to make appropriations except they should be first recommended by the Presbyterial Committee. This scheme remains in vogue. The Evangelistic Work. — The Assembly of 1873 deter- 1 " Minutes of 1867," p. 148. -' " Minutes of 1868," p. 274. PRESBYTERIAL EVANGELISM. 377 mined that the sustentation and evangelistic work should be conducted separately after January, 1874. This arm of the Assembly's work up to 1873 was regarded as hav- ing been a failure. Contributions had been small. Nor is it a matter of wonder — the church had been in the gripe of Titanic poverty. It was hoped that the contributions would be increased by separating the evangelistic work. To a limited extent these hopes were realized, but the contributions to this cause of the Assembly have never been large. As the years have gone by an increasing number of the Presbyteries and many of the Synods have preferred to handle the funds for their evangelists themselves. Hence, while the church has of late been extraordinarily active in evangelization in the home territory, the Assembly's committee has done but little relatively in the work. It should be observed here, however, that the Assembly's plan is the better one. The plan of independent synodical and presbyterial work appeals more to selfish emulation, syn- odical and presbyterial ambition. It causes expenditures often where there is no sufficient promise, and non-ex- penditure in fresh fields, full of promise, in our newer and weaker Synods. It is independent rather than presbyte- rian in tendency, weakening to the common life of the great body. In keeping with the projection to the front of the Ex- ecutive Committee's functions in reference to evangeliza- tion was the change of the committee's name, in 1879, to " Executive Committee of Home Missions." This change suited the aspiration of the committee with reference to the church's future. Furthermore, the people found it hard to understand the meaning of " sustentation " as ap- plied to the work of the committee, while they were at once attracted to the word ''missions," and would readily 378 THE SOUrilERN PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. hi. comprehend and fall in with the idea expressed by it.^ Albeit the name of the committee was changed, the func- tions remained the same, saving the fact that the evangel- izing functions had greater relative emphasis. TJie Colored Evangelistic Fund. — The next branch of this agency to receive specific development was the Colored Evangelistic Fund, in 1886. We have seen that in the Assembly of 1861 missionary operations among the colored people were especially enjoined upon thq Com- mittee of Domestic Missions, the Presbyteries also being exhorted to cooperate with the committee in securing pastors and missionaries for this field. In 1865 the As- sembly formed the first of a series of plans for the instruc- tion of the freedmen. The prevailing sentiment in that Assembly was in favor of a united church life for the two peoples, though even so early the plan of separate congre- gations was contemplated as a possibility. In answer to an overture as to the course to be pursued toward the colored people, the Assembly resolved : That whereas experience has invariably proved the advantages of the colored people and the white being united together in the worship of God, we see no reason why it should be otherwise now that they are freedmen and not slaves. Should our colored friends think it best to separate from us, and organize themselves into distinct congregations under white pastors and elders, for the present, or under colored elders and pastors as soon as God in his providence shall raise up men suitably qualified for those offices, this church will do all in its power to encourage, foster, and assist them. 2 In 1867 the Assembly, after expressing the fear that the current condition of the colored race was one of alarm- ing spiritual jeopardy, its sincere affection for these people, and its sense of responsibility to do all in its power to save them from the calamities with which they were threat- ened, resolved : 1 " Report of Executive Committee," 1887, pp. 7, 8. 2 " Minutes of 1865," p. 370. DR. GIRARDEAU'S PAPER. 379 That, in the judgment of the Assembly, it is highly inexpedient that there should be any ecclesiastical separation of the white and colored races ; that such a measure would threaten evil to both races, and especially to the col- ored, and that, therefore, it is desirable that every warrantable effort be made affectionately to dissuade the freed people from severing their connection with our churches, and to retain them with us as of old. Should they de- cline this fellowship of ordinances, and desire a separate organization, then our sessions are authorized to organize them into branch congregations. In such cases the Assembly recommends that such congregations shall be allowed, under the sanction of the sessions, to elect from among themselves, every year, such number of superintendents or watchmen as the session may advise, who shall be charged with the oversight of such congregations. These superintendents shall report to the sessions, for their action, all mat- ters relating to the said congregations. Whenever Presbyteries may find it necessary to organize separate colored congregations, they shall a'ppoint a commission of elders, who shall discharge the functions committed to the sessions in the preceding resolution. That while nothing in our Standards or the Word of God prohibits the in- troduction to the gospel ministry of duly qualified, persons of any race, yet difficulties arise in the general structure of society, and from providential causes, which may and should restrain the application of this abstract prin- ciple. Holding this in view, the Assembly recommends that wherever the session or Presbytery shall find a colored person who possesses suitable qualifications, they shall be authorized to license him to labor as exhorter among the colored people, under the supervision of the body appointing him.l The burden here was evidently too heavy for the As- sembly. It had a bad case of the blind staggers. The church was stronger than the Assembly of 1866. Accord- ingly, the Synod of Virginia and Presbytery of Mississippi each overtured the next Assembly, proposing such a modification of the action of the Assembly of 1866 on the relation of the church to the colored people as should " authorize the Presbyteries, in the exercise of their dis- cretion, to ordain to the gospel ministry and to organize into separate congregations duly qualified persons of the colored race, and so declare that mere race or color is not regarded as a bar to office or privileges in the Presbyterian 1 " Minutes of 1866," pp. 35, 36. Dr. Girardeau was the author of this paper. 380 THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. hi. Church in the United States."^ In response the Assembly resolved : 1. That resolutions of the last Assembly complained of should be revoked. 2. That inasmuch as, according to the constitution, the duty of admitting candidates to the office of the gospel ministry devolves solely on the Presby- teries, and that of electing elders and deacons solely on the congregations, all male persons of proper qualifications for such offices, of whatever race, color, or civil condition, must be admitted or elected by these authorities respectively, in accordance with the principles of our church government, and in the exercise of a sound Christian discretion. 3. That the Assembly declines, on the ground of constitutional incompe- tency, to make any declaration respecting the future ecclesiastical organiza- tion of such freedmen as may belong to our communion, believing that the responsibility as well as the course to be pursued devolves on these persons, who are both politically and ecclesiastically free as all others to serve God according to the dictates of their own consciences. 4. The Assemljly earnestly enjoins on all our ministers and people to use all diligence in affectionate and discreet efforts for the spiritual benefit of the colored race within reach of their private and public ministrations, and to seek by all lawful means to introduce them into a permanent connection with our church ; and for this purpose the Assembly recognizes the lawfulness of the measures such as have long been used in various portions of our church, contemplating the judicious selection of the more pious and intelligent per- sons among the colored communicants in suitable official capacities for the spiritual benefit of their own race.2 The Assembly of 1869 was somewhat retrogressive. It tried to formulate a general plan to be followed by all the Presbyteries in dealing with the negro. It resolved: That separate colored churches might be established, the same to be united with adjacent white churches under a common pastorate ; to be allowed to elect deacons and ruling elders ; and to be represented in the upper courts by the pastors in charge of them and by the ruling elders in the white churches with which they would be thus associated, until they should be sufficiently educated to warrant their becoming independent ; Prcn'idcd that the colored people themselves would not oppose a change in their existing relations, and would consent to the foregoing arrangement. It further resolved: That suitable colored men should be employed to speak the word of exhor- tation to their people, under the direction of pastors and evangelists ; that when colored candidates for the ministry should be able to stand the usual 1 " Minutes of 1867," p. 145. 2 " Minutes of 1S67," p. 45. COLORED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES. 38 I examination, Presbyteries might proceed to license them ; and in event of these licentiates being qualified and desired to take charge of colored churches, Presbyteries might either ordain and install them over such churches, still holding their connection with us, or ordain and install them over such churches, with the understanding that they should thenceforward be ecclesiastically separated from us.i This was an improvement over the paper of 1866 in that it does not trespass against the form of church poHty to such an extent as the earHer paper did. But even the latter paper is faulty in this respect. What sort of elders are they who cannot represent the church in the Presby- tery? While better than the paper of 1866, the resolu- tions of 1869 are not so good as those of 1867. That paper made the elder an elder, though he were black as ebony ; and in respect to the separation into independent ecclesiastical organizations, it w^as solicitous for union, and held that if separation came it must come of the negro's own motion. The plan of 1869, however, was only tenta- tive. It was not until the Assembly of 1874 that a definite policy, which remains till to-day, w^as adopted. It has been briefly stated thus : " The Presbyterian Church, South, is resolved on the establisJuncnt and development of a separate, independent, self-sustaining Colored Presbyterian CJiureh, ministered to by eolored preacJiers of approved piety, and such training as shall best suit them for their actual life-zvork." - The reasons for this resolve taken by the Assembly of 1874, and supported consistently since, were: the senti- ment of the church, which has been moving steadily in this direction ; a recognition of the natural instinct in the colored people, expressing itself in the desire for a sepa- rate organization ; and the prospect of usefulness in assist- ing these people in the process of self-development. 1 " Minutes of 1869," pp. 388, 389. This paper was by Dr. Girardeau. 2 Phillips, " The Presbyterian Church and the Colored People," p. 3. 382 THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAiVS. [Chap. hi. Toward the establishment of this independent Colored Presbyterian Church the Southern Presbyterian Church has proposed to give aid in the form of " sympathetic, practical counsel, liberal offerings of money, and training for their ministers."^ The Assembly of 1874 requested the Committee of Sustentation " to take into consideration the best method of providing training for the colored candidates for the ministry, and report thereupon to the next Assembly." It asked the Presbyteries to institute measures for their in- struction, and in other ways to push the work among the negroes. And it established the Colored Evangelistic Fund for the " sustentation of weak colored churches and for evangelistic work among the negroes." This fund was put into the hands of the Committee of Sustentation for its administration.- The committee had previously made contributions for the work among the colored people. But more promi- nence was given this department of work in 1874. The Assembly of 1879 gave the committee the right to appro- priate for this purpose, according to its discretion. ^ In 1886 the Assembly made an effort to secure increased contributions for the cause by ordering an annual collec- tion in all the churches, on the first Sabbath in Decem- ber, for the evangelization of the colored race, instead of for the Tuscaloosa Institute, as had been the custom since 1877. The funds secured from this collection were to be applied, first, for supporting the Tuscaloosa Institute, and second, in carrying on evangelization among the colored people. The Executive Committee of Home Missions continued in charge of colored evangelization until 1891, when the 1 Phillips, " The rresbyterian Church and the Colored People," p. 9. 2 " Minutes of 1874," pp. 576 fT. 3 " Minutes of 1879," p. 51. CHURCH ERECTION AND LOAN FUND. 383 Executive Committee of Colored Evangelization was or- ganized. The treasurer of the Home Mission Committee still acts as treasurer of the Colored Evangelization Fund ; but in other respects the parent committee has been re- lieved of the official care of the negroes. At the time of the formation of the new committee, four Presbyteries/ composed entirely of African ministers and churches, existed in kindly relations toward the mother-church, and asked such aid as that church could give in the work undertaken. The efficient and devoted secretary of the Committee of Colored Evangelization is the Rev. A. L. Phillips. TJie Church Erection and Loan Fund. — The Committee of Home Missions was destined to shoot out yet another branch, viz., "The Church Erection and Loan Fund." This fund is intended to help feeble organizations to a church home. From the start the Committee of Sus- tentation had given such help as it could. In 1885 the Assembly authorized the Executive Committee of Home Missions to make loans to congregations in aid of Church Erection, which loans were to become debts of honor, without interest, to be paid back in instalments, running from one to five years. In 1888 the Assembly ordered the establishment of a separate fund for Church Erection, and the committee directed the treasurer to transfer the Loan Fund account to the Church Erection account. The two funds were consolidated. This fund is growing. The cause is popular. The fund is needed that small organ- izations gathered by the evangelists may be housed and 1 " One of these, the Presbytery of North and South Carohna, had been formed for a number of years. It had five ministers, one Hcentiate, and eleven churches, and four hundred and ninety-two communicants. Another, the Presbytery of Texas, organized in 1888, had seven ministers, two licen- tiates, and seven weak churches. Two other Presbyteries, Ethel and Central, were formed in 1890 and 1891. They were smaller." — " Report of Execu- tive Committee of Home Missions of 1891," p. 9. 384 THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. hi. saved. A considerable proportion of the Presbyteries contribute to, and use of, the fund. The Executive Com- mittee of Home Missions has, therefore, to-day, five differ- ent funds under its management : the Church Erection and Loan Funds, the Sustentation, the Evangelistic and Indian Missions, the Invalid, and the Colored Evangelistic Fund.' Having looked at these great constitutional develop- ments in the agency, we propose now to glance at sonic of the more iinportaiit incidental objects ivliich have engaged the attention of this committee in the course of its history. One of the first of these in time, as well as importance, was supplying the armies of the Confederacy luith chap- lains. The committee's heroic exertions in this direction were in part the cause, so far as man can be cause of such a thing, of the twelve thousand hopeful conversions in the Confederate armies during the y?ar 1863-64, and almost as great a number the year following.- The committee has performed the office, to a certain extent, of an intermediary between vacant churches and unemployed ministers. It has given aid to organiza- tions laboring in behalf of seamen. It has tried to raise the minimum salary of the great body of underpaid pas- tors, etc. We now turn to look at the sort of encouragement which the church at large has given to the work of the committee. The Assemblies' course toward the committee has been one of undeviating encouragement, e\-en in the department of evangelization. The Assembly of 1871 in- structed the Presbyteries to institute and provide for a visitation of all its cliurchcs by commissions of ministers and ruling elders, " to see how each of tliem stands in rela- tion to this matter," and to exhort those who had cooper- 1 The last in a limited sense already explained. 2 " Minutes df 1864, " pji. 315 IT. THE BOARD OF AID. 385 ated before with the Sustentation cause to a still larger effort on its behalf.^ And this is but a fair specimen of the efforts which have been made in behalf of those sev- eral branches of the committee's work by the Assembly. The Presbyteries, on the other hand, did not comply to any considerable extent with the instructions of 187 1, and generally have been disproportionately remiss in support- ing the Evangelization Fund, while only tolerably faithful in supporting the work of the committee as a whole. The arms of the great agency which we have been studying had often been exceedingly feeble, especially during the years immediately succeeding the war, except for aid from external sources. The historian would be remiss who should fail to remark on the help which friends in Kentucky, in Mar}-land, and in New York City ex- tended to the Southern Church during her trying years under the political reconstruction of the country. The Board of A id for Southern Presbyterian Pastors, located at Louisville, Ky., informed the Assembly of 1865 that already $6000 had been collected for the purposes of the board in its projected work.^ The Assembly was touched and deeply gratified at this manifestation of Christian sympathy on the part of the Kentucky brethren, and in the name of their common Master accepted their generous tender of aid. This was God's manna to the Southern Church. The Executive Committee was made agent for receiving and disbursing such aid as might be forwarded to them from the Kentucky source.^ According to the report of the Executive Committee of 1868,* of the sum received the preceding year for Susten- tation $9190.73 had been contributed by Christian friends outside the church connection, and mainly by those re- 1 " Minutes of 1871," p. 35. 2 " Minutes of 1865," p. 355. 3 " Minutes of 1S65," p. 70. ■* " Minutes of 1868," p. 286. 386 THE SOUTHEKX PRESBYTERIAXS. [Chap. ni. stding in Baltimore and the vicinity, and in the State of Kentucky. During the two and a half years preceding the Assembly of 1868 more than $40,000 of tJicir contri- butions had passed through the hands of the Committee of Sustentation.^ Tlie Souther Ji Aid Society of Neiv York. — This society, which was organized a few years before the Civil War, for the purpose of rendering aid to the feeble churches in the Southern country, was an incorporated body, and consisted of gentlemen of the highest moral and social position. For several years during and subsequent to the war the society had no funds to distribute, but about 1872 they came into the possession of about $10,000, de- vised to their society to be disbursed in accordance with their constitution. After a conference with the secretary of the Committee of Susfentation the society agreed to make its annual appropriations with the advice and under the direction of the General Assembly's Committee of Sustentation.- We have alread}' seen that this committee was consol- idated with that of foreign missions in 1863. They were separated on account of the increasing volume of work, and because it was considered desirable to get the location of the Home Mission Committee nearer the center of its great field of operations. In 1886 this committee was carried to Atlanta.^ 1 These Cliristians have for the most part come into the Southern Church. The First Church in Baltimore is an important exception. 2 The secretaries of each of the agencies are at least in part an explana- tion of the peculiar history of each. The secretaries of the committee under consideration have heen: Rev. John I.eyburn, D. D., 1861-63; Rev. J. Leighton Wilson, D.D., 1863-82; Rev. Rich.ird Mclhvaine, D.D., co- ordinate secretary, 1872-82 ; Rev. R. McHwaine, D.U., sole secretary, 1882- 83; Rev. J. N. Craig, D.I)., 1883. 3 The several locations of this committee have been at New Orleans, 1861- 63; Columbia, S. C, 1863-75; Baltimore, 1875-86; Atlanta, 1886- . New Orleans was chosen first because that city had been the seat of the South- EDUCATION. 387 An abortive effort or two has been made at cooperation with the Presbyterian Church, North, in the work of this committee in behalf of the freedmen. The way to a more perfect cooperation is not shut up, however. 3. Education. In the account of the Constituting Assembly we have already indicated the nature of the constitution of the Executive Committee of Education. Assuming, at this point, a sufficient knowledge on the part of the reader of said constitution, we propose to trace the more important changes in the constitution, and then the more important experiences and activities of the committee, the support, the results effected, and its manning. The plan for securing an educated ministry provided in the constitution of the committee organized in 1861 has been styled a beneficiary or eleemosynary plan of edu- cation, and has never been in universal esteem through- out the church. Several attempts have been made to have the whole plan substituted by others. In 1863 the Presbytery of Lexington overtured the Assembly to this effect : In view of the doubt of many in our church in respect to the beneficiary system of education as provided for the ministry, and believing that such a system too long and generally pursued may attract a wrong class of candi- dates with false motives and inferior qualifications, and may also repel another class (unwarrantably, it is true, but yet as the actual experience of the church) ; believing, also, that in this Southern confederacy young men of suitable gifts can, in most cases, without injurious delay, pay their own expenses in study by teaching and other useful pursuits, or by winning in fair competition cer- western Advisory Committee ; Columbia was made the second seat as a place relatively safe during the war, and to suit the convenience of Dr. Wilson, the secretary of the committee, as that of Foreign Missions also, which was located there. Baltimore was sought, among other reasons, on the ground of its being a great commercial center. Atlanta had that argument in its favor, in addition to its being nearer to the center of the Home Mission field. 388 THE SOUrilEKN PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. hi. tain bursaries or scholarships that niiglit 1)C provided at our seats of learning ; and that in a few cases imperatively needing help, private hands or individual churches might more intelligently and watchfully bestow it — this Presbytery hereby overtures the Assembly to appoint a committee, at its approaching session, to revise the whole subject of beneficiary education, and to report to the General Assembly next ensuing, i In reply to this overture, the Assembly declared that nothing short of the most cogent reasons would justify so early an abandonment, or even any important modifica- tion, of a scheme which had been incorporated with the original structure of its ecclesiastical system. On the other hand, it granted that the Board of Education of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America had not, previously to 1861, received the general support of the Southern portion of the church, and affirmed that there was considerable dissatisfaction with the counterpart of that board in the Southern Church, the Executi\'e Com- mittee of Education, and appointed a committee to report on the subject to the next Assembly, with the hope that if there was a better way of managing this valuable agency that better way might be discovered. The committee appointed, of which Dr. J. R. Wilson was the chairman, presented an elaborate report to the Assembly of 1864. It confined itself to a discussion of the question whether that "scheme of stipendiary schooling," practiced by the mother-church and adopted by the Constituting Assembly for the church of the Confederacy, was the " best to be continued." In answer to this question it laid down as a postulate that : ''Every candidate for tJie gospel ministry does, in stindering the ties ivhich conjieeted him ivith seeu- lar avocations, so far dedicate himself to the service of God in the cJinrch as entitles liim to expect at her hands the education zvJiich he may yet need for that service; and he 1 " .Minutes of 1863," p. 127. COMMITTEE OF EDUCATION. 389 is, therefore, not to be regarded by the cJntrcJi, or by him- self , in the light of an object of charity, but as a laborer already occupying a place in tJie field of ministerial dntyy^ It took the ground that from the " outset of the minister's career — from the moment when he first put his hand to the plow in the field of preparation — he is a claimant, not upon the cliurch's generosity, but upon her justice; not upon her feeling of pity, but upon her sense of duty " ; that " if they who come to her doors, seeking entrance into her ministry, choose, or their immediate friends choose for them, to afford all needful pecuniary aid to help them onward to the period of their ordination, this is another matter"; that "the church may accept this assistance, but in so doing she is simply accepting a contribution to her treasury, for which she ought to be grateful " ; that " she has no authority to demand it " ; that he who has been " distinguished by being permitted to look forward to unusual labors and uncommon sacrifices, and it may be preeminent usefulness, in the cause of Christ, may well afford to inaugurate his career by casting all his property, as he does his talents, into the effort to prove worthy of so peculiar a distinction " ; but that " the point at issue does not lie here"; that "it is not what the candidate may esteem as his privilege, but what the church must regard as her duty." It acknowledged that grave difficulties beset the system, but held that they were not insuperable in themselves, nor fatal to the system, and that they were " simply insepara- ble adjuncts to it, as a system whose working has been necessarily intrusted to the imperfection of human wis- dom, and is applied to the weakness of human subjects." - The committee closed its report by recommending the adoption of certain resolutions, of which the following was 1 " Minutes of 1864," p. 329. 2 " Minutes of 1864," pp. 320-22. 390 THE SOUTIIERxY PRESBYTERIANS. [CirAP. in. the first: "That, in the judgment of this General Assem- bly, it is the duty of the church to pray unceasingly to her Head for a large increase of candidates for the gospel ministry ; and when they are received at her hands it is her further duty to provide them with a suitable educa- tion in the way of preparing them for their work, and to provide it not as a matter of cJiarity, but of justice to all parties couccrued."^ The report was approved and the resolutions adopted ; but as the committee had spent its effort in discussing the relation of the candidate to the church and in proving merely that the church was morally bound to support him, the Assembly had yet to answer the question whether the support of the candidate should be provided for and superintended by the General Assem- bly, or by the Presbyteries, or in what way. In 1866 it adopted another elaborate report, which asserted that the plan of the Presbyteries' supporting the candidates had been tried between 1806 and 1807 by the parent church and had failed; that after 1807 a modified presbyterial plan had proven unsatisfactory ; that, in consequence, about 1820 three great organizations were brought into existence to do the work, one of which was the Board of Education ; that after this board, modified by the wakeful circumspection of the fathers down to 1861, the Executive Committee of Education had been formed ; and that it was unwise to go back to these schemes which had proven unsatisfactory. In conclusion the report affirmed that " to Presbyteries must always belong the great, the bind- ing duty of recommending candidates for support from the common treasury of the church " ; that if they failed in this duty, if they were loose in its discharge, if they thrust forward beneficiaries who were undeserving an educa- tion at the hands of the church, with them alone lay the 1 " Minutes of 1864," p. 334. COMMITTEE OF EDUCATION. 39 1 blame, as to them, on the other hand, belonged the Mas- ter's commendation for searching out and bringing forward worthy men for this purpose ; that the chief responsibility of the committee must attach to its one great office, of judiciously expending the education funds of the church, and its duty of keeping the Presbyteries advised of the condition of the work it was prosecuting for them.^ This Assembly remodeled the constitution of the Exec- utive Committee of Education. According to the origi- nal constitution the Executive Committee had "« general oversight of the diligence and deportment of those zuho are aided by it."'^ According to the constitution of 1866, " no student shall be supplied by this committee except npon the recommenda- tion of the Presbytery to zvJiicJi lie belongs, or its Executive Committee of Edncation ; and all candidates shall be solely responsible to their own Presbyteries."-'' Much that was justly offensive in the old constitution was removed in making the new. The new constitution leaves the whole responsibility for the candidates " where the constitution of the church places it — in the hands of the Presbyteries." The committee can be no longer "es- teemed superior to the Presbyteries, clothed with authority to revise their proceedings, or inquire into the propriety thereof ; but is simply the executive agency through which the Presbyteries perform this part of their work."^ In 1875—76 another attempt was made to substitute the Assembly's plan of stipendiary education by remanding the subject to the Presbyteries. But the attempt did not succeed. No better plan could be then devised. The 1 " Minutes of 1866," p. 75. 2 " Minutes of 1861," p. 23. The italics are the compiler's. 3 " Minutes of 1866," p. 34. The words have been italicized by the compiler. * " Minutes of 1868," p. 294. 392 THE SOVTIIKRX rKESBYl^ERIANS. [Chap. hi. Assembly's scheme was again commended to the confi- dence and support of the churches as the best practicable. By the Assembly of 1893 the name of the Executive Committee of Education has been changed to " Committee of Education for the Ministry." This was merely to con- form the name specifically to the object of the committee. No concomitant change in the constitution occurred. ^ The support which the agency got in the way of contri- butions between the years 1863 and 1866 was practically nothing. This was owing, in part, to the fact that the fate of the committee was in suspense during the first two years of that period, and in part to the poverty of the 1 The reader may readily observe tliat tlie Assembly of 1864 adopted a position which, though indorsed by the Asseniljly of 1866, was untenable, viz. : That the church is bound, as a matter of justice to the candidate, to educate him for the gospel ministry. If so, the church is bound to treat as a minister one who lias never l)een called to the ministry by any congregation of believers, and one who may never be so called. The church is indeed bound to propagate itself, bound to raise up a qualified ministry ; but not bound to secure it in a given way. If it can get candidates to prepare them- selves without aid by the church, that in certain circumstances may be the preferable way. It is bound to God to secure a proper and sufficient minis- try. It is not bound to a certain candidate, or set of candidates, prior to contracting with them, to fit them for the ministry. On the other hand, the candidate for the ministry \\\\o feels that he is called of God to the ministry, that in the ministry he can prol)ably serve God best, is bound to get an education, whether the church will help him or not. He is bound to Ciod to do so. Now, if there is a great need for ministers — so great a need that those candidates who are able to educate themselves do not sufi'ice to supply the lack — then it becomes the church's duty to God to take up young men who feel called to the work, and are determined to get into it, but are held back by poverty. Such young men when taken up are not eleemosynary students, indeed. They are not," on the other hand, supported as a matter of justice to them. They are supported as a matter of worship to God. They take the funds not as charities to them ; they take the funds as funds which the Church of God is bound to furnish God, that he may get ministers from the poor, in absence of a sufficient number of ministers who have been able to help themselves to an education. This seems to be the real jiosition taken by the Assembly of 1875, though it did not distinctly repudiate the position of 1864 and 1866; for the Assem- bly of 1875 indorsed the Assembly's plan as good, seeing the " necessity of beneficiary education, in order to keep uji the supply of ministers in the Presbyterian Church." In fine, the constitution of the agency is excellent. If the Presbyteries would do their duty in selecting candidates and explaining their true relations to the funds, no evil consequence would follow. UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 393 church and her multitude of crying needs. Thenceforth the support has been better. Though not at all connected with the Executive Com- mittee of Education, yet because they are a part of the great educational forces of the church it will be conven- ient to take a brief survey, at this point, of the theologi- cal seminaries and of the colleges in connection with the Southern Presbyterian Church, as well as of certain col- leges not in formal connection, but really recognized fac- tors in this church. To begin with the seminaries, there are six such in- stitutions within the bounds, Presbyterian in origin and patronage, some of them, however, not officially known to the Assembly. Union Theological Seminary, in Virginia, has been until the present the most important of these institutions. It was formally opened January i, 1824, with one pro- fessor, the Rev. J. Holt Rice, D.D., and three students. Funds were rapidly raised for an endowment. In 1826 the institution was taken under the care of the General Assembly. The Synods of Virginia and of North Caro- lina, in the fall of the same year, took the place of Han- over Presbytery in governing the seminary. In 1830-31 the number of students was about forty ; an additional pro- fessor had been secured. The death of Dr. Rice, in 1831, the troubles in the church which culminated in the divi- sion of 1837—38, and which separated from the seminary many of its active and zealous friends, changes of profes- sors, and other causes, conspired to retard its growth and abridge its fullness for more than a score of years. Mean- while a third professorship, that of ecclesiastical history and polity, was established in 1835 ; and a fourth, that of biblical introduction and New Testament literature, in 394 ^-^-^ SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. hi. 1853. Through zealous efforts of friends its endowment was gradually increased. Its funds were much cut down by the war; but it soon rallied, and has been making a steady growth until the present. The last report of the treasurer (May, 1893) shows that there is now invested in the name of the corporation $303,298.24. Besides, the in- stitution owns about eighty acres of land ; five residences for professors ; a main building, which contains a handsome chapel, lecture-rooms, dormitories, and a refectory ; three additional buildings for dormitories ; a superior library building, with a fine library in it, and a gymnasium.' Between 1881 and 1891 a chair of English Bible and pas- toral theology was established. The annual attendance has steadily grown ; there are now over seventy students. Some of its distinguished teachers have been the honored Dr. George A. Baxter, the scholarly Dr. F. S. Sampson, " the profoundest American theologian," Dr. R. L. Dab- ney, that most clever exponent of church polity, Dr. T. E. Peck, and the distinguished young savant Dr. W. W. Moore. Dr. B. M. Smith reendowed the seminary after the war. Cohivibia Seminary was established in 1828, by the Synod of South Carolina and Georgia, its title being then " The Theological Seminary of South Carolina and Geor- gia." It is~ now under the immediate joint control of the Synods of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Alabama. Its relation to the General Assembly is identical with that of Union Seminary, in Virginia. Classes were first organized in 183 1, with Dr. Thomas Goulding and Dr. George Howe as professors. In 183^ Dr. A. W. Leland became connected with the seminary, but Dr. Goulding died in 1834, so that only two professors 1 See historical statement in " Catalogue of Union Theological Seminary, Virginia, 1892-93." Compare tlie historic.il statement in the " Constitution and Plan of Seminary," published in 1892. TUSCALOOSA INSTITUTE. 395 remained to conduct the classes. Save for another brief period, no addition was made to the staflF until 1849. From that time till i860 improvement was rapid. In i860 there were five professors — among them Dr. James H. Thornwell — and over fifty students in the seminary. From 1866 to the present time the work of the seminary has been carried on with various changes and interruptions. In 1863 the property of every kind belonging to the seminary amounted to $277,940.81. Considerably over half of this vanished with the Confederate Government. The seminary subsequently had a long series of ups and downs. At present it has interest-bearing funds to the amount of $2 10,000. The professors' houses and seminary buildings are valued at about $50,000. The library is a very fine one. The preeminently great name among its teachers is that of Thornwell. Tuscaloosa Institute. — In 1877 this school was estab- lished by the General Assembly, and located at Tusca- loosa, Ala. ; and was opened for work, with seven stu- dents, the first session. The Executive Committee has been authorized by the Assembly of 1893 to move the Tuscaloosa Institute to Birmingham, Ala., whenever it seems advisable and practicable to do so without detri- ment to the cause for which the institute was founded. Birmingham is the center of a large and increasingly in- telligent and well-to-do colored population. The institute is under the control of the General Assem- bly, but its work is directed by the " Executive Committee for the Education of Colored Ministers." Its actual work and discipline were conducted by that devoted servant of the church, the Rev. C. A. Stillman, D.D., and chosen helpers, until the present session, the Rev. A. L. Phillips being bow superintendent. The whole course of instruc- tion centers about the Ensiiish Bible. The Standards of 396 71IE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIANS. [CiiAr. iii. the Southern Presbyterian Church are faithfully taught. The sum total of the students taught in the institute to the end of the session 1892-93 is 152 — 93 Presbyterians, 45 Methodists, and 14 Baptists. The Divinity School of the Soiithivesteni Presbyterian University, at Clarksville, Tenn., was organized in June, 1885. "It is under the same government as the other schools in the university, viz., the board of directors ap- pointed by the Synods of Alabama, Arkansas, Memphis, Nashville, and Mississippi." The last session was the most prosperous in its history, there being thirty-three students. Dr. Joseph R. Wilson was the first teacher of theology. TJie Austin School of Theology was founded in 1884 by that distinguished and venerable theologian and philoso- pher, the Rev. R. L. Dabney, D.D., LL.D. This has been an incidental labor of his blind old age, and has been at- tended with tremendous difficulties, but followed by many blessings to the church in Texas. It is under the care of the Central Texas Presbytery. The Rev. Dr. Isaac Long did a work of similar character at Batesville, Ark. The Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seniinaiy has been organized during the present year by the associated Synods of Kentucky and Missouri. It is placed under the control of the General Assembly somewhat more imme- diately and directly than Union or Columbia. " Should the Assembly see reason at any time to object to any of the acts of the directors or any of the other authorities of the institution, it may send down in writing to the direc- tors or Synods its opinion in the premises ; but it shall have no controlling negative except in the election or transfer of the professors, nor right to originate any meas- ures for the seminary."^ According to the constitution 1 Article II. in the constitution. WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY. 397 of Union Seminary the Assembly can reach the seminary only through the Synods.' The control which the Assembly has over the theologi- cal seminaries was formally defined by the Assembly of 1886 as involving such jurisdiction as will " in every case enable the Assembly, through the proper channels of authority, to keep all such institutions free from every- thing inconsistent with the spirit of our system, and, of course, free from all tea'ching inconsistent with the Word of God as expounded in our Standards."^ Its precise relation to the individual seminaries " dififers somewhat, according to the constitution and practice of the institu- tions as ratified by the Assembly."^ The following colleges and universities must be men- tioned, not theological, but avowedly or virtually Presby- terian in their character and management. WasJiington and Lee University,-^ at Lexington, Va., was founded in 1774, on the nucleus of a school taught by the Rev. John Brown, pastor of New Providence Church. This was an enterprise of Hanover Presbytery. It was subse- quently removed to Timber Ridge, and later, in i 793, to a site near Lexington. It was thenceforth till 1797 called " Lib- erty Hall." The trustees had been incorporated in 1782, and authorized to confer degrees. In 1797 Washington donated to the institution one hundred shares of "James River Canal Company," which the General Assembly of Virginia had wished to give him. The trustees at once, in compliment to General Washington, changed the name 1 The corresponding statement in the constitution of Union and other seminaries reads : " Should the Assembly see reason at any time to object, etc., it shall send down in writing to the Synods its opinion in the prem- ises, but shall have no controlling negative, nor originate any measures for the management of the seminary." — " Constitution and Plan of Theological Seminary," p. 10. 2 " Minutes of 1886," p. 43. 3 //,/,/. * See historical statement in " The Catalogue of Washington and Lee University, 1892-93, Lexington, Va." 398 THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAXS. [Chap. hi. of the institution to Washington Acadenn-. The school thencef(jrth grew apace in usefuhiess and renown. At the close of the war the institution was again without income or credit, but under the presidency of Gen. R. E. Lee again burst forth in a rapid career of expansion. The General Assembly of Virginia in 1871 changed the name of the institution to its present corporate title, " The Washington and Lee University." The institution has continued to grow rapidly. It Tiow has an invested en- dowment of $630,999.78, yielding an annual income of $36,519.97. It has an able faculty of thirteen full pro- fessors and six instructors, and two hundred and forty- one students. The institution has been separated from all formal rela- tions with the church ; nevertheless, it has still in its board of trustees and its faculty a very large majority of Presby- terians, and it is one of the principal feeders of the Pres- byterian ministry in Virginia. Hampden Sidney College, in Prince Edward County, Va., was opened in 1775-76. It owes its origin to Chris- tian patriotism. Hanover Presbytery, the sole representa- tive of the Presbyterian faith and order in all Virginia and her western territory, whose members in 1774 did not exceed ten, determined to establish a school also for the Piedmont and South Side regions of Virginia. The Rev. Samuel Stanhope Smith had been the most zealous pro- moter of the enterprise. He became its first president and organizer. The college obtained a most liberal charter in 1783, and has enjoyed "an illustrious career of usefulness." Long lists of distinguished statesmen, judges, professors, and ministers whom she has schooled might be given. Her sixth president, Rev. Moses Hoge, D.D., 1807-20, was by appointment of the Synod of Virginia professor of theol- DAVIDSON COLLEGE. 399 ogy ; and out of the want thus supphed and enlarged sprang the demand which was and could only be satisfied by the establishment of Union Theological Seminary, in 1824. The college is not rich, but has always maintained a high grade of scholarship, and has exerted a peculiarly ennobling and refining influence on the students. At present the teaching force numbers eight men : six full professors, one assistant professor, and one fellow. The students number about one hundred and fifty. The en- dowment is sufficient for an economical support. The president, the Rev. Richard Mcllwaine, D.D., with tireless energy and good success, is bringing the college forward day by day, by new buildings, new appliances, etc. Davidson College, in Mecklenburg County, N. C, was founded in 1837. It was at first opened as a manual labor institution, but the plan did not prove workable. Accord- ing to the constitution of the college, no one is eligible as trustee, professor, or teacher who is not a member of the Presbyterian Church. During all the years of its course it has been remarkable for its able faculty ; it has stim- ulated a thorough scholarship. Among its alumni are many distinguished men in secular life. More than one third of its graduates have entered the ministry. The college is under the control of a board of trustees ap- pointed by the Presbyteries of the Synods of North Caro- lina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.^ The faculty contains ten professors and instructors. The student body numbers one hundred and fifty-three. ^ The endow- ment amounts to $109,000. SoutJizvestcrii Presbyterian University. — A meeting of commissioners from five Synods, viz., Alabama, Missis- 1 Compare Semi-Centenary Addresses, Davidson College, 1887. Raleigh, N. C. : E. M. Uzzel, Steam Printer and Binder, 1888. See especially Dr. Rumple's Address. 2 Session of 1892-93. See " Catalogue of 1892-93." 400 THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIANS. [CiiAi-. iii. sippi, Arkansas, Nashville, and Memphis, had been held in May, 1873, to plan for a great common university. The plan formed was adopted by their several Synods and by the Synod of Texas, and they appointed two directors each. In 1874, after receiving many applications for the university, they finally fixed upon Clarksville as the place, and Stuart College, which was already a school of local repute, under the care of the Synod of Nashville, as the nucleus of further operations. In June, 1879, the board of directors abolished the cur- riculum and reorganized the school on the plan of coordi- nate schools and elective courses. The endowment affords an economical support. The faculty, including the profes- sors of the divinity school, consists of nine full professors. The attendance of students during the session 1892-93 was one hundred and thirty- five. A distinguished feature of the plan of the university is that " in connection with every course there shall be comprehensi\'e and faithful biblical training, so as to make an intelligent Scriptural faith a controlling principle in the unix^ersity." Central University . — At a meeting of the Synod of Kentucky in 1871 resolutions were passed looking to the immediate endowment and equipment of a college. The Synod had despaired of regaining its rights in Center College ; but a new movement rose out of the general conviction in the minds of men of intelligence that there was need of a university. A number of the alumni of Center College, and friends of learning and of the church, met in convention at Lexington on the 7th of May, 1872, organized themselves into a permanent associa- tion, and on the following day tendered to the Synod their cooperation for establishing such an institution. The offer was accepted. A charter was agreed upon by the joint committee of the Synod and the association, and was WESTMINSTER COLLEGE. 4OI adopted by the two bodies severally. " By the charter the donors of the endowment own and control the univer- sity under the title of 'The Central University,' and they elect their successors from among the alumni of the insti- tution and its liberal benefactors." Two hundred thousand dollars were soon subscribed, and this was regarded as suf- ficient to justify the opening of the school. The university opened its first session in 1874; with varying fortunes, it has had on the whole an unusual career of expansion and solid usefulness. The founders of the university aimed at a university proper. There are now, in addition to the College of Phi- losophy, Science, and Letters at Richmond, the Hospital College of Medicine and the Louisville College of Dentist- ry, each at Louisville, Ky. The faculties of these several colleges number respectively 14, 18, 12; and the student body, 201, 97, 46. The Board of Curators is establishing at central points in the State university high-schools. One of these, the Jackson Collegiate Institute, at Jackson, Ky., has two hun- dred and two students. Hardin Collegiate Institute, at Elizabethtown, Ky., another, has forty-six students, and there are others in successful operation.^ Westminster College, at Fulton, Mo., originated in action taken by the Synod of Missouri in 1849. A charter was obtained in 1853. The war shook the college like a cy- clone, and swept away most of its endowment. In 1868 it had only about $30,000 endowment, which was bur- dened with eighty scholarships affording free tuition to as many students. But the college has struggled bravely on, and all the while maintained a high standard of scholar- ship. Last session was the most pro.sperous in its history. 1 " Catalogue of 1893," pp. 4, 5, 51, 52, 57, 59. Z. E. Smith's " History of Kentucky," pp. 422-551. 402 THE SOUTH EKX PRESBYTEKIAXS. [Chap. iii. There are twelve men in the able faculty, under the presi- dency of Dr. Wm. H. Marquess, Dr. E. C. Gordon being its vice-president. There are one hundred and fifty stu- dents. The endowment amounts to about $230,000, though a part of it is somewhat encumbered temporarily. Austin College, at Sherman, Tex., was chartered by the legislature in 1849. In 1850 the college began its career at Huntsville. In 1876 it was removed to Sherman. For a long time it was overwhelmed with financial troubles, but it has now emerged, and has an endowment of about $100,000. Under the present president, the Rev. S. M. Luckett, D.D., the patronage has increased fourfold. The institution was at first under the control of Brazos Presby- tery. Later it passed under the control of the Synod of Texas, which now elects the members of the board of trustees. King College, at Bristol, Tenn., was opened in 1868, " a child of necessity." It is not yet out of the financial throes of its birth and earlier years, but has done much good work for the church and state. More than half its graduates have entered the Presbyterian ministry. Many of them have reached eminence by their ability and schol- arship. Its curators are appointed by Presbyteries in Tennessee and Virginia. The Arkansas College, at Batesville, Ark., received its charter in 1872. Dr. Isaac Jasper Long was its first self- sacrificing president. The college has accomplished a grand work for the church and state in Arkansas. Prom- inent features: solidity and thoroughness of the work done ; coeducation ; prominence of the Bible in its teach- ing. More than a third of its graduates have become ministers. South Carolina College, at Clinton, S. C, is a promising young institution. PUB Lie A TION. 403 Many female schools are doing their beneficent work for the church and for the homes throughout the land. Some of these are avowedly Presbyterian and under the oversight of Presbyteries. Some of them, while not form- ally Presbyterian, are really so. There are also many Presbyteral academical schools. There has been some little discussion as to the right of the church to establish Presbyteral schools, colleges, and the like. But the con- secrated good sense of the people, and the demand which the Scriptures m.ake that the church should raise up an able ministry, have carried the church over all opposition. There are several eleemosynary institutions under the control of boards of trustees appointed by church courts. There are others directed and supported by Presbyterians. One of the most widely known is the Thornwell Orphan- age, at Clinton, S. C. This is under the care of the Rev. Dr. Wm. P. Jacobs. It is without resources or endow- ment, dependent on Him who clothes the lilies and feeds the ravens. It has under its roofs, in rearing for useful manhood and womanhood, over a hundred orphans. Some have already left its walls for the ministry. One is a mis- sionary in Japan. The General Assembly has undertaken a " Home and School " for the education of the orphans of Presbyterian ministers and missionaries, at Fredericks- burg, Va. The school is well manned, and solicits the patronage of the public on the grounds of its superior ad- vantages. The people of the church, sometimes in asso- ciation with other Christians, have opened and maintained retreats for the sick and houses for the destitute of all classes. 4. Publicatio7t. The constitution given the Executive Committee of Publication in 1861 remains the same to-day, with the exception of an unimportant change or two. For the sake 404 '^^I^ SOUTHERN FRESBYTERIAiXS. [Chai-. hi. of convenience in the transaction of business, a separate charter of incorporation for the Committee of Pubhcation was obtained in 1873-75. The separate incorporation was against the preferred poHcy of the church, but the guarded terms of the charter — forbidding the idea that the corpora- tion coukl ever become independent of the church — and the business, convenience rendered the church contented.' One of the first heavy calls upon the committee was for literature for the army. In 1863—64 it published fifteen thousand copies of an army hymn-book. In addition to tracts, it put into circulation in the army over fifteen thou- sand volumes obtained from the Religious Tract Society of London and other sources; and it published "The Soldier's Visitor," consisting" mainl)^ of tracts issued in sheet form and circulated free of charge. It has been the duty of the committee from 1863 on to make a judicious selection of religious books wherever they may be found, and stamp its imprimatur upon them, that the people may be aided in helpful purchases. It has a respectable list of its own publications, too, embracing the imposing works of Dr. Thornwell and Dr. Dabney, as well as more popular works of scarcely less conspicuous men. In the list of its publications are to be found some works of an evangelical, but not distinctly denominational, character. The general oversight of all the Sabbath- school interests of the church, and the advancement of the work in all practicable ways, has been laid on this committee.'- It has been a special work of this committee to publish the " Children's Friend," which has a Sunday-school feat- 1 The coniniittee has always l)eon located at Isichinond, Va. Tlie secre- taries have been: Rev. Win. IJrovvn, D.D., iSbi-63; Rev. John Leyluirnc, D.D., 1863-65; Rev. Wm. Brown, D.D., pro tan, 1865; Rev. T. K. Baird, 1865-77; Rev. W. A. Campbell, pro fcm, 1877; Rev. J. K. Ilazen, 1877 to the present. ^ " Minutes of 1878," p. 651. CO LP OR TA GE. 4O 5 ure, and the " Earnest Worker," devoted since 1877 " ex- clusively to the exposition of Scripture lessons and other subjects promotive of Sabbath-school work." It has also issued " Lesson Helps" and " Lesson Quarterlies " for sev- eral years, and other similar publications.^ During a considerable part of its existence the com- mittee has had the burden of colportage on its shoulders. \vl 1888 it undertook to sustain a colporteur in each Synod, a committee of the Synod to choose the colporteur and take the oversight of the work. This plan has been in operation from that time to the present, though for want of funds it has failed of entire fulfillment. The church has never been satisfied with the small amount of colportage work done. While it has thrown the burden of it on the committee, and has required the committee, in addition to this colportage, to make gratui- tous grants to ministers, churches, and Sunday-schools within certain limits, it has not given a large and kindly support to this important agency. This indisposition to support the committee has been owing to many causes. From 1866 to 1877 the work was badly managed.- When, however, the present secretary took hold of the. work, the course of its history entered on a happy change. For a good many years the work of colportage and the gratui- tous distributions of publications have more than consumed the annual contributions from the churches to the cause; 1 " It is interesting to note the cooperation in publishing a Sunday-school paper with the Reformed Church in America."- — " Minutes of 1876," p. 222. 2 From November i, 1866, to October, 1877, the cause of publication received $125,441.01. During that period the salaries of the secretary and other employees amounted to $70,229.17. And on October i, 1877, the total available assets of the Publication Committee amounted to $53,466.17, and the total liabilities, $39,993.58. This was after the church had been working for years to endow the committee, and after it was supposed to have an endowment approaching $50,000. The committee was brought to this bad pass by serious mismanagement on the part of the secretary, Dr. Baird, who seems to have had no business methods. 406 THE SOUTHERN PKESBYTERIAXS. [Chap. hi. yet the secretary is able to report in 1893 the net assets of the committee as $98,436.85. Probably th^e fact that the publication cause is now so great a success keeps some from contributing. Probably they think that, seeing it is on such good footing, it should devote a larger percentage of its income to benevolent work. Whatever the cause. Dr. Hazen is worthy of all praise for the way in which he has conducted the work. Though not under this committee's care in any sense, it is convenient at this point to glance at the journals of the church, which advocate the principles, give information concerning the work, and incite the people to a godly zeal in behalf of the church. Of these, mention must be made first of the weeklies — such as "The Christian Observer" of Louisville, " The Central Presbyterian " of Richmond, " The North Carolina Presbyterian " of Wilmington, " The Southern Presbyterian " of Clinton, " The St. Louis Pres- byterian," "The Southwestern Presbyterian" of New Or- leans. There are others. These weeklies are edited with varying degrees of ability. Each one is devoted chiefly to building up Presbyterianism in its own region, though striving in a more general way for the advancement of the whole denomination, and, indeed, of the whole church throughout the earth. The church needs sadly a consoli- dation of some of its weeklies. It wants one great weekly, fresh and able. As matters are, the short subscription- lists of most of these papers forbids such a staff as the church stands in need of. " The Presbyterian Quarterly," edited by Dr. George Summey, assisted by Drs. Strickler and Barnett, is pub- lished in Richmond, Va. It is an able and scholarly pub- lication.^ " The Union Seminary Magazine " is doing a good and 1 Its writers are drawn too largely from others, than the Southern Church, however. The absence of publishers and the poverty so general throughout THE CHARTER OF THE ASSEMBLY. 407 growing work, and coming into a larger degree of favor with each session. It is designed to be an organ chiefly for the faculty and students of that seminary. The Home Mission Committee has a special organ, " The Home Missionary," ^ through which it brings its great causes before the people. This sheet has been much improved of late. The Foreign Mission Committee at Nashville issues " The Missionary," one of the ablest of missionary publications. The earnestness of the Assembly in the support of all the agencies whose review we have now completed is evi- denced by a host of practical enactments, touching the duty of Presbyteries to incite all their churches to con- tribute to all the causes, touching the duty of ministers to enlighten their people on the grace and duty of giving, touching times and modes of collections, etc.- 5. TJie Charter of tJie Assembly. The form of the charter of the board of trustees of the Assembly sought in 1861, obtained in 1866 from the State of North Carolina, has already been indicated.^ It was amended in 1871-72 so as to enable the trustees to hold the funds which might be contributed for the relief of the widows and children of deceased ministers, and for other eleemosynary objects of the church. The several execu- tive committees of the General Assembly, with the excep- tion of the Executive Committee of Publication, have no separate corporate existence to this day. The board of trustees holds all the property of the General Assembly.* the bounds of the church have not encouraged writing for publication, even in a relatively permanent form. The review writers should be discovered and developed. 1 Published at Atlanta, Ga. 2 Alexander's " Dipest," pp. 301-317. 3 gee Chapter IT., p. 346. ■* The practical relations between the Ijoard of trustees and the com- mittees maybe defined as follows: "When the trustees shall receive any 408 THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. ill. 6. Voluntary Agencies. The theoretical position of the church as a whole has been that the church, properly organized, is alone the divinely instituted and sufficient agency for the evangeli- zation of the world. As to societies without the church, if they do not undertake functions which belong exclu- sively to the church, and if their objects and methods are morally and religiously good, they may be approved. Accordingly the Assembly indorsed the National Bible Society of the Confederate States, and has, since 1866, cordially commended the American Bible Society to the ministers and churches, and recommended contributions to it.i On the subject of young people's societies, missionary societies, etc., there has of late years been much talk. The present trend of thought is in the direction of " societies in the church " and a part of it — that is, a perfected organ- gift, devise, or bequest without direction from the donor as to the particular use or charity for which it is designed, the same shall be retained by them until the meeting of the next General Assembly. When the donor declares the particular use and the manner of its use, the trustees shall pay over the same to the appropriate committees." — " Minutes of 1873," p. 321. " When a bequest has been made to the General Assembly, to be paid to two or more of the executive committees of the church, and the terms of the bequest do not specify the ]iroportion according to which the amount of the bequest shall Ije divided among the committees, the boaril of trustees is authorized and instructed to divide the amount between the several executive committees for whom the bequest is intended according to the proportion of the annual contribution of the churches (excluding legacies) to these com- mittees for tlie three years next preceding the time when the amount is divided." — " Minutes of 1S86," p. 55. 1 The precise attitude of the church toward this society may be clearly seen in an excerpt from a report of a committee made to the General Assem- bly of 1866, in regard to the church's relation to voluntary associations, which reads as follows: "Although it is the opinion of your committee that this society ought to be composed of representatives of different churches, appointed througli their constitutional forms, yet as there is nothing in its constitution to prevent the free action in every church in carrying forward the work, and as its organization is simply for the printing and circulation of the Holy Scriptures, your committee recommends its countenance and support." — " Minutes of 1866," p. 38. VOLUNTARY AGENCIES. 4O9 ization with every member of the church in such relation to the whole rest of the members as to be brought to work and to do his work. The trend is against " societies in the church but not a part of it'' — societies which straddle this and other denominations, or which cannot be made to express Presbyterianism. The church believes that the Lord Jesus Christ is King, that his people are his servants, not his confidential advisers, and that the future of the church will be brighter just in proportion as the church follows the plan of the Bible church.^ 1 Compare Dr. C. R. Vaughan's article in the " Presbyterian Quarterly," July, 1893. CHAPTER IV. CHANGES IN THE CONSTITUTION AND LIFE OF THE CHURCH. I. TJic Doctrine. It will be remembered that the Constituting Assembly- declared *' that the Confession of Faith, the Longer and Shorter Catechisms, the Form of Government, the Book of Discipline, and the Directory of Worship," which to- gether made up the constitution of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, were " the con- stitution of the Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States of America." The church has continued well satisfied with her Con- fession of Faith. Such changes as have been made at all have touched only the accidents of the Creed. With the heart and soul of the Westminster Confession the church has been so well pleased that while other churches are trying to tear the very liver out of it, this church has been attempting to anchor herself more securely to it. Accord- ing to the mother-church's Adopting Act of 1/88, the Form of Government and Discipline and the Confession of Faith as then ratified were to continue to be the constitu- tion and the confession of faith and practice, unless two thirds of the Presbyteries under the care of the General Assembly should propose alterations or amendments, and such alterations should be agreed to and enacted by the General Assembly.^ 1 Baird's " Digest," p. 36, $ 16. 410 CONDITIONS OF ALTERING THE CONFESSION. 411 In the Assembly of 1861 an overture was presented proposing to make it much more difficult to change the constitution. It was referred to the Committee on Revi- sion, and does not appear to have come before a sub- sequent Assembly. It was an exaggerated statement of the real position of the church. The part of the overture relating to the Confession the church was probably ready for in 1 86 1, but it was not ready for that touching changes in the Form of Government. However, the church rested with the Adopting Act of 1788 until 1883, when the As- sembly requested all the Presbyteries under its care to send up answers to the following questions to the next Assembly: "Shall Chapter VII. of the Form of Govern- ment be amended by adding a third section to read as follows: ' III. Amendments to the Confession of Faith and to the Catechism of this church may be made only upon the recommendation of one Assembly, the concurrence of at least three fourths of the Presbyteries, and the enact- ment of the same by a subsequent Assembly'?"^ A large majority of the Presbyteries returned an affirmative answer, whereupon the Assembly of 1884 resolved " that this amendment be and is hereby enacted as paragraph 3, Chapter VII., Form of Government." ^ During the years 1885-86 inclusive, the new paragraph was itself amended by adding to it the following words, viz. : " This paragraph shall be amended or altered only in the way in which itself provides for amendment of the Confession of Faith and the Catechism of the church." Thus had the old method of amending the Confession been superseded by a more tedious one. A similar but more moderate change had been meanwhile wrought in the method of amending the Form of Government. While the formal development of the Creed has been 1 " Minutes of 1883," p. 50. 2 " Minutes of 1884," p. 248. 412 THE SOUTHERN PKESBYTERIAXS. [Chap. iv. next to nothing, it is believed that in a thorough-going comprehension of the great truths of revelation embodied in the Confession, and in their elaboration and defense, the Southern Presbyterian Church has taken no mean part. To prove that such is the case it is only necessary to mention the works of such great masters in theology and kindred departments of study as those of Drs. J. H. Thorn- well and R. L. Dabney. Dabney has irradiated with the torch of thinking genius almost every phase of theol- ogy, anthropology, and soteriology ; and Thornwell, with a chaste splendor of diction, has illuminated by a marvelous insight many of the perplexing problems in theology and in anthropology. Besides, there are many stars whose shining had been counted brilliant but for these suns. In the department of exegetical theology Dr. W. W. Moore is justly held in high esteem by the church. 2. TJie Polity. The church undertook to revise its Form of Government and Book of Discipline as early as 1861. The Constitut- ing Assembly appointed a very able committee for the purpose, and instructed it to report to the next Assembly. The church's sense of the need of revising these parts of its Standards is well expressed in the first report which the committee was able to make as to its work. That report says : The committee are deeply impressed with the desirableness of our possess- ing as a church a more scientific statement of the Scripture doctrine of church government than is found in our present form. The subject has been largely discussed and the doctrine much developed in various directions since our present form was adopted, and the book is no longer abreast of the advanced stage of the doctrine as it is actually held among us. For example : the book does not contain any statement of what are the radical principles of our system, except a very imperfect one, introduced in a mere footnote. Again, our doctrine of the courts receives no adequate presentation, nor is anything found in the book respecting the iluties in full of the dilTerent office-bearers. REVISION OF BOOK OF CHURCH ORDER. 413 Again, the evangelist does not appear in any part of the book, except in a clause appended to the chapter on ordination, and in the general reference made to that most important office in the chapter on missions. Then, again, the method prescribed in the book for setting apart ruling elders and deacons without the imposition of hands is clearly unscriptural ; and the remarkable omission cries aloud for the consideration of the church, l It was owing to the vicissitudes of war that this report was not made until 1864. Along with it was handed the draft of the revision so far as the committee had proceeded — the Rules of Parliamentary Order and Canons of Dis- cipline. Two years later the committee's work on the Form of Government was completed. Their report was adopted and sent down to the Presbyteries. A very large majority of the Presbyteries informed the Assembly of 1867 of their appreciation of the labors of the Committee of Revision, asked to have the results of their labors saved, but emphatically declined to adopt the revision. There was a great diversity of views with reference to the proposed changes. The committee was therefore dis- continued.- The church, however, was not satisfied with the old Form of Government and Discipline. During the years 1869—73 another eflfort to secure a revision was made ; but this efTort, too, and for .reasons which caused the previous failure, was destined to prove a miscarriage. The results, nevertheless, were again stored in the archives of the Assembly.^ Finally, between the years 1876-79 inclusive, the suc- cessful efTort was made. A revision was accomplished which met, to a degree, the want of the church as indi- cated in the report of the committee in 1864. The revi- sion is on the whole a very worthy work. Had the only result been the erasure of the unscripturally broad de- 1 " Minutes of 1864," p. 24. 2 " Minutes of 1867," pp. 149 fT. 3 " Minutes of 1869," pp. 377 fT., and p. 396; 1870, pp. 518 ff. ; 1873, p. 328. 414 ^'/^^ SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. iv. markation between the minister and ruling elder which the old book made, it had been justified; but the new makes a fairly adequate statement of the ruling elder's rights and duties. It brings out with greatly increased clearness the deacon's duties and relations, and magnifies his ofiice after a biblical fashion. It recognizes at least quasi deaconesses, which is a step in the right direction. If women had always been accorded the privilege of so serving the church, there might be less of obnoxious womanism among the churches to-day. It articulately asserts that the church is the " agency which Christ has ordained for the edification and government of his people, for the propagation of the faith, and the evangelization of the world." As this is the biblical and correct position, the church was doing much to become able to take subse- quently the correct attitude toward the hosts of partial substitutes for the church which well-meaning but precipi- tate, rash, and irreverent men have proposed. Some amendments to the paragraph on the evangelist might well be made, however. The church is somewhat hampered by the limited powers accorded this officer in the foreign field. The revised book is more distinctly Presbyterian, and issued from a more solid conviction oi jure divino Presby- terianism, than the old book. Occasional but not substan- tive amendments to the revised book have been made from time to time since its adoption. Of the men who have watched and directed the devel- opment of church polity, special mention must be made of the names of Drs. J. H. Thornwell, B. M. Palmer, and T. E. Peck. To Thornwell is due credit for the full recog- nition of the rights of the ruling elder. Palmer has kept be- fore the church the truth that the tenet of the headship of Christ involves the doctrine of the sufficiency of the or- FOI^MS OF PRAYER— REVISION OF DIRECTORY. 415 dained church and the impiety of any substitution therefor. Dr. Peck and Dr. Vaughan have done special service in bringing to light the functions of the diaconate. 3. The Worship. The external worship of the church has changed but little. Here and there in the church there is an observa- ble tendency toward a less simple worship ; and respon- sive readings and prayers in which the congregations take oral part, elaborate and unworshipful music, etc., come into vogue. This is very rare. In 1864—65 Colonel J. T. L. Preston, of Lexington, Va., and others endeavored to have introduced into the Direc-' tory of Worship " a few Scriptural and well-considered forms of prayer, requiring responses on the part of the congregation, the use of such forms to be optional on the part of the pastors." The attempt met with overwhelm- ing defeat; and though repeated in 1872, it found its Waterloo in the same year. This has been the most prominent effort looking toward a liturgy. Mention may, however, be made of the efifort to have " a directory of the oblations" prepared, in 1868, and of that to have a burial service prepared, in 1880. But the tendency to- ward forms of worship has been very small, unless you see in the desire to revise the old Directory unrest with its simplicity, which is not very probably true. As early as 1864 inquiry was made as to whether it was then expedient to revise the Directory of Worship. The work was never undertaken, however, in earnest till 1879, ^t which time the revision of the Form of Gov- ernment and the Book of Discipline had been completed. The Assembly of 1879 appointed an able committee, which was once reconstituted, was succeeded by an equally able committee, which in its turn was reconstituted. This 4l6 THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. iv. committee gave place in 1892 to a new committee, the work of which, as modified by the last Assembly's criti- cism, is now in the hands of the Presbyteries, for their reception or rejection, and will probably be adopted. The revised Directory remains entirely a directory. It is not more a book of prescribed forms than before. Its superiority over the old is in its more copious suggestions, especially about the public profession of religion by new converts and about administering baptism. The church has shown a praiseworthy zeal in improving its selections of hymns and Psalms.^ It is believed that the spirit of worship has not declined during the church's independent history. There seems, on the contrary, evidence to prove that it has deepened, that worship is viewed more as something which is ex- pressed by the output of the life. To illustrate: Giving as an act of worship is kept in the forefront of the church to-day. Dr. T. E. Peck had this burden, also, of the Lord for his people and students. This instance is typical. Worship is regarded generally as intended service. The meaning and nature of the sacraments have been kept in tolerable clearness before the people.- The pro- priety of special prayer and fasting on occasion has con- tinued to be the common belief.''' But it must be said that the church's attitude toward the Sabbath is not worthy. Her great teachers and her courts ha\'e uttered no uncertain sound. Few churches have had such stanch 1 It revised its " Hymn-Book" between 1861 and 1866; revised and pub- lished its " Hymn and Tune Book" by 1873. In 1882, as many of the con- gregations had begun to use tlie " Hymns and Tunes " of Dr. C. S. Robinson, tlie Assenil)ly placed its imprimatur on that book. (Alexander's " Digest," PP- 357-360.) The Assembly of 1893 gave a similar indorsement and a)iproval to Dr. R. P. Kerr's " The Hymns of the Ages." (" Minutes of 1^93." P- 1 5-) 2 Alexander's " Digest," pj). 345-354. 3 Uml., pp. 355, 356. TEMPTATION TO LAX LIFE. 417 defenders of the Sabbath.^ But the Sunday newspapers, Sunday mails, and Sunday railroad trains, etc., have had an influence as potent as pernicious ; and the protests which the church courts and preachers have made against Sabbath desecration are monuments of very considerable dereliction in respect to Sabbath observances on the part of the church-members.2 Nor can a church long main- tain its worshipfulness after losing its reverence for the day especially set apart of God for the purpose of his worship. Family worship has not made considerable advance- ment, but the church diligently inculcates the duty, and some progress is observable. 4. TJie Social and Moral Life of the ChiircJi. It is the common observation that war and pestilence are followed by general ungodliness. A priori it would be expected that man would be sobered by the destruc- tion of his fellows, and led to set his affections on God by the evident instability and insufficiency of all creature ex- istence; that he would flee from the carnage and chaos around him and make for the source of all beauty and order. But it is not so. The harrowed inhabitants of the land cut up and devastated by war are apt to betray a fondness for trifling and belittling amusements, and a slavish grasping for the meanest muniments of temporal good. If we do not find a strong tendency to worldly amuse- ments and to dishonest business methods in the South during and after the Civil War, and during the horrible period of reconstruction, we shall therein remark a nota- 1 " Minutes of 1863," pp. 16, 164; 1878, pp. 628, 641 ff. 2 " Minutes of 1890," p. 91 ; 1893, p. 73 et passim. 41 8 THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. iv. ble strength of character, a wonderful work of God's grace in the hearts of his people. Were we disposed to reconstruct history, as many writers seem inclined, from a literal acceptance of the protests which the church has from time to time made against these forms of sin, it would be easy to set forth a very gloomy view of the social and moral condition of the Southern Presbyterians during the decade 1860—70. But the principle which forbids our seeing, through the pro- tests against concubinage on the part of the priesthood of the church from 400 to 1200, anything but universal un- cleanness, permits us to see much of the highest Chris- tian virtue in the life of the Southern Church during the decade named. The Assembly of 1865 felt called upon to speak con- cerning the prevalence of fashionable amusements and social recreations in the following strain : The Assembly expresses itself with more earnestness on this whole sub- ject because of the disposition which is observed in all parts of our borders to run into the inordinate indulgence of worldliness, at this time, in forget- fulness of the mighty chastenings of God which are even yet upon us, and because we see members of our churches and our beloved baptized youth, in forgetfulness of the covenant of God which is upon them, carried away with the world's delusions, to the subversion of the divine influence of the sanct- uary, and to the neglect of the interests of their souls, l Again, in 1869, in response to an overture from the Rev. Dr. R. L. Dabney, the Assembly " earnestly and solemnly enjoined " upon all the sessions and Presbyteries under its care the absolute necessity of enforcing the discipline provided in our constitution against offenses — under the word offenses including the attendance by our members upon theatrical exhibitions and performances, and promiscuous dancings, against intemperance, and availing themselves of the expedients for evading pecu- 1 " Minutes of 1865," p. 362. THE SOCIAL AND MORAL LIFE OF THE CHURCH. 419 niary obligations now permitted by the legislation of the country in such a manner as cannot be justified by a con- science enlightened by the Spirit and the Word of God, and must dishonor the cause of Jesus Christ.^ These vigorous representations and protests against the evils specified are proofs indeed of their mournful preva- lence, but are proofs as well of the fact that there was a large and influential element in the church most watch- ful against them. It is a marvel that the people of the church kept from frivolity and corruptness as they did. Few conquered people have experienced such a complete overturning of social conditions. A people of as great comfort and frugal plenty as any people on the globe en- joyed, perhaps, were thrown into the hardest conditions, and had a long, difficult struggle for existence. That they did not grow reckless and fall into bestial misanthropy and misotheism is the highest proof at once of their own virtue and God's goodness to them. Southern Presbyterians of to-day and the future may take a just delight in the hero- ically Christian character of the living in those early years of the church. But not even with changed conditions and a country again prosperous has the church been free from a struggle on these subjects of dancing, card-playing, and dancing- schools. The church in Atlanta, Ga., was greatly racked in the effort to discipline such offenses in 1877—80. And throughout the church till to-day sessions and pastors have had to fight. Money-grabbing, gambling in stocks, futures, etc., have come to be fearful and prevalent evils among worldlings, and even among professing Christians throughout the nation. The territory of the Southern Presbyterian Church is not exempt. The church even has a share of those who worship mammon. And, further- 1 " Minutes of 1869," p. 390. 420 rilE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. iv. more, these evils have brought other evils in their train — restlessness, thirst for exciting amusements, morally un- healthy living. These evils are naturally more widespread than the first class. Especially is this true in the larger cities. Nor have the church rulers in all cases fought well. Discipline is hard to administer — as hard to give as to re- ceive. The church authorities have in many cases shirked. Other social and moral evils which the church has had to battle with — to a limited extent among her communi- cants, to a greater extent among her baptized non-com- municants, and especially among the worldlings about her — are intemperance and liquor-selling, ordinary gambling, and profanity. The church has bewailed and protested against profanity as a national sin of huge dimensions, has fought it in the pulpit, and has to a considerable degree lived out her horror of this sin.^ She has fought gambling manfully, rating it as essentially robbery and leading gen- erally to temporal ruin.- As an instance of the stand made by the church, reference may be made to the heroic, drastic, and effective measures against the New Orleans lottery by Dr. B. M. Palmer, culminating with the retire- ment of the company with the end of the year 1893 from the United States. The church has been strong in its support of temper- ance, though consistently with its Standards it has refused to espouse a political party as an advance movement in its onslaught on intemperance. Its genuine attitude toward the question is brought out in a paper adopted by the Assembly of 1892, which is as follows: Whereas, we recognize the liquor traffic as an aggressive enemy to the home, the church, and the state, an alarming menace to the Christian Sab- bath, and a powerful obstacle to the work of establishing Christ's kingdom in foreign lands ; and Whereas, " Sin is any want of conformity unto or transgression of the I " Minutes of 1862," p. 36. 2 //;/;/., p. 38. ATTITUDE OF THE CHURCH TOWARD LYNCH LAW. 42 I law of God," and a failure to manifest disapproval of, or opposition to, a prevailing evil is a sin of omission ; therefore. Resolved, That we reaffirm the deliverances and testimony of our church, made in 1891, on the subject of temperance, the liquor traffic, and abstinence from intoxicants as a beverage, and we bear our testimony against the estab- lishing and promoting the traffic in intoxicant liquors as the fruitful source of sin, crime, and misery. 1 This Stand was taken against " the liquor traffic " as it is, of course, and is approvable. The attitude of the church toward lynching and other forms of mob law is one of steady opposition. Her people recognize the extreme provocation which has occasioned so much mob violence in the Southern States — the insuf- ficient penalties affixed by our statutes to such crimes as rape and arson, and the tardy execution of such law as we have, or their damnable evasions. Southern Presbyterians recognize the great provocations ; nevertheless, they theo- retically and in general practice deprecate at once the provocatives and the outbursts of mob violence. They preach and live commonly against it. Brighter illustrations of Christian living than are found in Southern Presbyterian homes exist nowhere. 1 " Minutes of 1892," p. 462. CHAPTER V. THE RELATION OF THE CHURCH TO OTHER BODIES. " If any man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a Har : for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?"^ The Presbyterian family of churches has been wont to recognize brethren in the numerous evangelical churches throughout the world. These churches have been dis- tinguished for a liberality of posture toward the other branches of the Church of God in pleasing contrast to the exclusive claims of the majorities in the Episcopal and Baptist communions. And this posture toward the rest of the Christian world is of such importance as affecting the true unity of the Church of God in its opposition to the world that it deserves particular and careful treatment in the history of any church. Having set forth, therefore, the origin and the historic development of the Southern Church, external and in- ternal— its growth in numbers and external means and muniments, and its growth in doctrine, polity, and life — it becomes our duty to show how the church has lived with her neighbor churches. But before doing this we propose to set forth the re- lations which this church has maintained with the state. These relations are not less important than the foregoing. If a church be united with a ci\-il government, one of two things, as history establishes, invariably follows : the church becomes supreme and uses the state as its servant, thus 1 I John iv. 20. 422 NON-SECULAR CHARACTER OE THE CHURCH. 423 employing means and methods which God's Word forbids ; or the state becomes supreme and prostitutes the Church of God to its own service. Some dreamers to-day talk about christianizing the state. This can hardly be done before the millennium. Atheists, infidels, Jews, and hosts of other Antichrist men, are too frequent in this country to have a state essentially Christian in its form of constitution and laws. The con- stitution of our state may and should be theistic, but not Christian. Hence, the true relation between the church and the state should be that of respectful and friendly independence. I. The Noii-Seciila7' Character of the CJiurcJi : Its Re- lations with the State. — The reader will remember that in the "Address to all the Churches of Jesus Christ through- out the Earth," issued by the Constituting Assembly of 1 86 1, it was distinctly affirmed that the church and state occupied provinces entirely distinct, and should in no wise intermeddle one with the other. And the theory that these two ordinances of God should remain in friendly and respectful and mutually helpful but entire independ- ence, has remained the theory of the Southern Presbyterian Church — a theory which on the whole it has maintained well in practice. In a pastoral letter issued by the Assem- bly of 1865, and setting forth the relation of the cluirch to the governme7it of tJie country, these words occur: During the prevalence of this war, " the higher powers " actually bearing rule over most of our bounds, and to which, under the Word of God, we were required to be "subject," were the government of the Confederate States and those of the several States constituting it. By the event of the war the first hcs been overthrown ; and the second, as constituents thereof, are changed. The " higher powers " now bearing rule over us are con- fessedly the government of the United States and those existing in the States wherein we reside. The rightfulness of these several authorities, and to which of them the allegiance of our people as citizens was or is primarily due, are matters upon which a judicatory of the church has no right to pro- 424 ^'^^^' SOUrilERX PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. v. nounce judgment. The relations of the Church of Christ to civil govern- ments is not onQ de Jtin', hvii J e /ado. As right and good, or wrong and wicked, they rise and fall by the agency and permission of God's providence. In eitiier case the attitude of the church toward them is essentially tlie same. As long as they stand and are acknowledged, ol^edience is to be enjoined as a duty, factious resistance condemned as a sin ; but in regard to conflicts between existing governments, or as to movements in society, peaceful or otherwise, to efTect political changes, the church as such has no more con- trol over them than it has over the polls of the country. If it has authority to uphold on the one side, it has equal authority to condemn on the other ; if to suppress a political movement, then also to instigate it. In truth it has neither ; and to assert the contrary is to corrupt the church in its principles, forever embroil it with the strifes of the world, and plunge it headlong into ruin. Under these views, and considering the extraordinary conflict through which the country has passed, as well as the extraordinary circumstances in which it is now placed, it is incumbent upon us to exhort you, brethren, to obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves ; fulfill with scrupulous fidelity all your obligations to the government of the land, remem- bering the duty of this compliance, "not only for wrath, but for conscience' sake." For so is the will of God, that with well-doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.^ In the report of the Committee on Foreign Correspond- ence, adopted by the Assembly of 1866, are found the following words : The old conflict for the spirituality and independence of the church is, to the amazement of many, renewed in our day and upon our own continent. The battle fought generations ago by the Melvilles, Gillespies, and Hender- sons of Scotland is reopened with singular violence, and the old banner is again floating over us with the historic inscription, " For Christ's Covenant and Crown." Upon no one subject is the mind of this Assembly more clearly ascertained, upon no one doctrine is there a more solid and perfect agreement among those whom this Assembly represents, than the non-sec- ular and non-]5olitical character of the Church of Jesus Christ. \\'hatever ambiguous or indiscreet expressions may have lieen extorted under pressure of extraordinary excitement from individuals among us, the Assembly of this church deliberately reaffirms the testimony given in the solemn "Address to the Churches of Jesus Christ throughout the Earth," issued in 1S61, during its session in the city of Augusta.2 1 " Minutes of 1865," pp. 382 ff. 2 The very words of the letter, beginning with "The pny.'inccs of the (huich and state are perfectly distinct,'''' and ending with the words "/'« the 7i'oiid of tnatter," are quoted. See chapter ii., this sketch, p. 349. XOX-SECi'LAR CHARACTER OF THE CHURCH. 425 [This address] commits us to the maintenance and defense of the crown rights of the Redeemer, whether, on the one hand, they be usurped by the state, or whether, on the other, they be renounced by any portion of God's professing people. Summoned thus in the providence of God to contend for the same principles for which our martyr fathers of the Scottish Reformation testified even to the death, and which the fathers of the Southern Presbyte- rian Church labored so earnestly to secure, and rejoiced in having obtained their full recognition by the civil government in America, it would be most happy if all those in the different branches of the Presbyterian family who are called to renew the protest could be united in one homogeneous body for the reassertion of Christ's regal supremacy in and over his spiritual kingdom, the church. The scattered testimony of individual witnesses would deepen in intensity if gathered into one volume and rolled against those who would place the crown of Jesus upon the head of Csesar. In view of all which, this Assembly would tender the hand to all who are of like mind with us as to the doctrines of grace and as to the order and discipline of God's house, that as one compacted church we may oppose a break-water against the current that is sweeping from its moorings our common Protestantism, until the doctrine of the church as a free and spiritual commonwealth shall regain its ascendency, not only over the Presbyterian but over the whole American Protestant mind.l 1 " Minutes of 1866," pp. 30 fF. Compare the letter of the Synod of Kentucky. This letter to the General Assembly contemplating union was written in 1867. It set forth the principles of the Synod. The General Assembly, in giving it a place upon its records, assured the Synod of its " substantial agreement " therewith. It contained the following words : "It is therefore not only incompetent to the church courts, but positively a perversion of the truth, that they shall assume to consider any questions than those v/hich relate to the government, order, and discipline of Christ's visible kingdom, or to determine these on grounds aside from the Word of God, or to speak in Christ's name and by his authority, otherwise than to the faith and conscience of his people, concerning things to be obeyed as en- joined by the law of Christ. . . . The church has manifestly no commission either to discharge any functions of the state, or to direct, advise, or assist the state. . . . Therefore the attempt on the part of the tribunals of the church to exercise the authority thus delegated to them by Christ in deter- mining questions merely secular, concerning which his Word makes no such determination, is to usurp the prerogative of the church's divine Master; and practically to obscure to the faith of his people the doctrine of his kingly office. . . . Hence this Synod and its Presbyteries have steadfastly protested against and resisted the assumption of authority by the church courts to advise, direct, and assist the civil government in its policy by the exercise of their spiritual authority, or to interpose the power of the spiritual sword for enforcing any theories of social organization, or theories of labor, or political theories, or to direct men as citizens in the choice of their civil polity. . . . "As to the functions and sphere of the General Assembly and other courts, they have maintained, and desired to have it recognized as the accepted 426 THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. v. Concerning the relation of the church to the institution of slavery, the "Address to the Churches of Jesus Christ throughout the Earth " had set forth as the church's position that the policy of slavery's existence or non-ex- istence was a question which exclusively belonged to the state ; that the church had no right to enjoin it as a duty, or to condemn it as a sin.^ In the pastoral of 1865 the church affirmed that the address referred to "contains the only full and unambiguous and deliberate and authorita- tive exposition of our views in regard to this matter"; it reaffirmed " its whole doctrine to be that of Scripture and reason." After quoting at length from the Address, the pastoral letter of 1865 goes on to say: This relation is now overthrown, suddenly and violently : whether justly or not justly, in wrath or in mercy, for weal or for woe, let history and the Judge of all the earth decide. But there are two considerations of vital in- terest which still remain. One is that while the existence of slavery may, in its civil aspect, be regarded as a settled question, an issue now gone, yet the lawfulness of the relation as a question of social morality and Scriptural truth has lost nothing of its importance. When we solemnly declare to you, brethren, that the dogma which asserts the inherent sinfulness of this rela- tion is unscriptural and fanatical, that it is condemned not only by the Word of God but by the voice of the church in all ages, that it is one of the most pernicious heresies of modern times, that its countenance by the church is a just cause of separation from it (i Tim. vi. 1-5), we have surely said enough to warn you from this insidious error as from a fatal shore.2 Such were the " well-considered and formal views of the church " up to 1870. The church has, however, once or twice — and according to the judgment of her critics, interpretation, that the constitution of the church assigns to the General Assembly no function to the end that it may counsel, direct, or assist the civil government. . . . That neither does the constitution assign to the Assembly any authority to consider and determine either questions of the policy of the state touching its citizens, or the duties of the citizens as such, in respect of the policy of the state; or questions between differefit interpre- tations of the Federal constitution." — "Minutes of 1867," pp. 183 fT. 1 "Minutes of i860," pp. 55 fT. See pp. 344 ff. of chapter ii. for a full statement of the church's position in 1861, in its own terms. 2 "Minutes of 1865," p. 3S5. TRANSIENT INCONSISTENCIES. 427 several times — been inconsistent in practice with her formal views. The following instances of real or appar- ent transgression may be found from her records. In the Narrative of the state of religion in 1862 it is said : All the Presbyteries which have reported dwell upon the absorbing topic of the war in which we are now engaged. . . . [Again] All the presbyterial Narratives, without exception, mention the fact that their congregations have evinced the most cordial sympathy with the people of the Confederate States in their efforts to maintain their cherished rights and institutions against the despotic power which is attempting to crush them. Deeply convinced that this struggle is not alone for civil rights and property and home, but also for religion, for the church, for the gospel, for existence itself, the churches in our connection have freely contributed to its prosecution of their substance, their prayers, and above all of their members, and the beloved youths of their congregations. They have parted without a murmur with those who constitute the hope of the church, and have bidden them go forth to the support of this great and sacred cause, with their benedictions and with their supplications for their protection and success. The Assembly desires to record, with its solemn approval, this fact of the unanimity of our people in supporting a contest to which religion as well as patriotism now summons the citizens of this country, and to implore for them the blessing of God in the course they are now pursuing. [Again] We are constrained, however, to call the attention of the churches to the fact mentioned by some of the Presbyteries, that the absorbing interest of the struggle, in which we are contending for everything dear to man, is having some influence in lessening in the minds of God's people a sense of their spiritual obligations.! The report on theological seminaries of the same year says : We distinctly recognize the right of the state to claim the services of any or all of her citizens in this time of need. We also acknowledge it a privi- lege as well as a plain duty for our people to pledge each other, and the gov- ernment of their choice, their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor, in united effort to drive back the invaders of our soil and the enemies of our institutions. Yet when and where this necessity does not exist we think that our candidates can better serve their generation, and do more for their country, by diligently preparing to preach the gospel. 2 1 "Minutes of 1862," pp. 21 ff. 2 Ibid., p, 9. 428 THE SOUTHERX PRESBYTERIANS. [Chap. V. Somewhat similar faults were made in the pastoral let- ter of 1862, and in the Narrative of 1863.1 The Narrative of 1864 contains these words: One and another message has come to us from tlie field of deadly strife, filling our minds with the deepest solicitude, urging us to more united prayer, and inspiring us with profound gratitude to God for the repeated repulses of our insolent and cruel foe. . . . Our enemies have evinced a settled determination to prosecute their enter- prises of guilt and horror in the face of all the disastrous consequences which must ensue from this insane attempt to subjugate and destroy us. . . . The wonderful work of grace in our armies presents tl>e strongest encour- 1 In the pastoral letter of 1862 it is said: "We have been called on to witness the desolations of the land, and to mourn over the waste places of Zion, created by the havoc of war ; and from all our churches we hear the report that the ranks of the armies of our national independence are crowded with the noblest of our brethren and witli the choicest of our youth, who have rushed to the rescue of the republic, driven by the impulses of patriotism, and in obedience to the call of God and of our country. But our hearts turn with special solicitude toward the noble youth of our congregations who have gone from our midst to this bloody contest for national life and independ- ence. . . . " We honor you for your self-denial and patriotic zeal ; we would love to see you become the honored instruments in God's hands in leading sinners to the Saviour. ... In you are wrapped all the hopes of our church and country. With the solution of the question, What are you to become? will be determined the problem of our national glory or shame, and that of the success and usefulness of the church in our beloved land. We tremble for you as we see you drawn away by the duties of patriotism from the constant use of the means of grace and divine influence of the sanctuary. We sympa- thize with you as you endure fatigue and sickness in camp, as you engage in the life-struggle on the sanguinary field, and as you consecrate everything dear on earth on the altar of patriotic duty." — "Minutes of 1862," pp. 35 ff. The Narrative of 1863 says: "During the period which has elapsed since the last annual session of this body, our unhappy country has been the thea- ter of a war unexampled, perhaps, in the scope of its operations, of the vast numbers engaged, and of the pitiless barbarity with which it has l)een con- ducted on the part of our invaders. The blood of our lirethrcn, our fathers, and our children, unjustly and untimely slain, cries to Heaven. A consider- able poition (if our territory is in possession of the enemy, and all communi- cation with the churches emliraced in those districts must for tlie time be suspended. We look forward with a cheerful confidence to a renewal of our relations to those churches, when, by the favor of God, the enemy shall have been expelled. We commend these afflicted brethren to your sympathies and your jirayers. It is to us matter of devout gratitude to Almighty God that he has so often and so signally baftled the efforts of our enemies to effect our subjugation, and that he has vouchsafed to our arms victories so repeated and so wonderful." — ".Minutes of 1863," p. 155. THE CHURCH RENEWING ITS TESTIMONY. 429 agement to the praying people at home, and has phiced the seal of the divine approbation upon our righteous cause. . . . The reports of all our Presbyteries indicate an increasing interest in the spiritual welfare of our colored population. The long-continued agitations of our adversaries have wrought within us a deeper conviction of the divine appointment of domestic servitude, and have led to clearer comprehensions of the duties we owe to the African race. We hesitate not to affirm that it is the peculiar mission of the Southern Church to conserve the institution of slavery, and to make it a blessing both to master and slave. We could not, if we would, yield up these four millions of immortal beings to the dictates of fanaticism and the menace of military power. We distinctly recognize the inscrutable Power which brought this benighted people into our midst, and we shall feel that we have not discharged our soleinn trust until we have used every effort to bring them under the saving influence of the gospel of Christ. "^ During the period between the close of the war and 1870 there was a great controversy in the country, upon the spirituality and independence of the church as the visible kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the earth. And in order that the mass of her membership might know clearly the past witness of the church as to her inde- pendence, and the proper testimony for the future, the Assembly of 1870 instructed the Committee of Publication to issue in tract form the public official utterances of the Assemblies in relation thereto." This publication, together with the repeated charge that the church had not maintained an attitude of inde- pendence toward the Confederacy, was the occasion of the Assembly's reviewing in 1875-76 its witness as to the non-political character of the church, and formally setting forth its testimony once again. The Assembly of 1876 recited the church's testimony concerning its own non- secular and non-political character, delivered from 1861 to 1867 inclusive. It extracted from the minutes practi- cally the entire body of expressions alleged to be incon- 1 " Minutes of 1864," p. 293. 2 Compare " Minutes of 1870," p. 542. 430 THE SOUTHERN PKESBVrERIANS. [Chap. v. sistent with the aforc-mentioned declarations.^ By way of comment on these two classes of extracts, it affirmed : It will be seen that the doctrine announced and maintained by the Assem- bly, on the relations of the church to the state, is not, as has often been charged, the unscriptural and impracticable idea that the church and Chris- tian people, as such, have no duties to perform toward the state. True, the Assembly denies the right of the church courts to interfere with the domain of Ca;sar by legislating on purely political cjuestions ; but at the same time it has the right to enjoin those duties which the citizen confessedly owes to the commonwealth. ... As long as states stand and are acknowledged, obe- dience— that is, submission and obedience in all things not sinful — is to be enjoined as a duty; factious resistance to be condemned as a sin. . . . In 1861, at the time of its organization, the Assembly found its members placed under the civil authority of the Confederate Government and that of the respective States which constituted it. The governments. State and Con- federate, were established and generally acknowledged within our respective bounds. The United States Government was known to us only as one with which the Confederate Government was at war, and by which it was menaced by land and by sea. Under these circumstances, and in accordance with the above principles, our Assembly recognized " the powers that be," and which are " ordained of God over us," to be those of the government of the Con- federate States and of the respective States confederated in it. Hence it was simply carrying out its own principles and the doctrines of the Word of God when it taught the citizens and the soldiers to discharge toward these high civil authorities the duties which the Scriptures enjoin toward " the powers that be," and when it made " intercession for all that are in authority." . . . So far as any action of that kind goes, and to that extent, there is nothing that offends against the principles set forth in our formal declarations. In the Narrative of 1862 there is a single clause A'hich demands a criticism. The situation of the Southern country was known to be one of extreme peril. The war, if successful on the part of the United States, involved not only the destruction of the Confederate Government, but the forfeiture of the political rights of its citizens, the overthrow of the existing domestic institutions, the loss of property, and other evils universally dreaded. Under these circum- stances it was right and proper for our Assembly to utter a strong declaration of sympathy for our people, and to give a decided expression of commenda- tion to those who were performing these acts of what they esteemed a patriotic duty. It was substantially saying to them: "As this is to you not only a government de facto, but also one of your own choice, we commend you for acting faithfully and fully according to these convictions, and follow you with our prayers." But when our Assembly intimates or implies an opinion as 1 The extracts are just those given in the immediately preceding pages of this chapter. THE CHURCH RENEWING ITS TESTIMONY. 43 1 to whether the war referred to was justly or unjustly waged, or a decision as to which was, in its origin and principle, the government to which the citi- zens owed obedience, it transcends the limits of its authority. It no longer bases its commendation upon what is de facto as to the government, or upon the inherent right which the citizen had in defending the government of his choice, but it assumes to decide upon the righteousness of the war. A court of the Lord Jesus Christ has no commission to do this. It is in principle the error we have condemned in the Northern Assembly of 1S61, and those of other years. 1 Another alleged error is to be remarked in several forms of expression found in the extracts which have been recited; such as : " the war in which we are now engaged"; " the absorbing interest of the struggle in which zve are now contending for everything dear to man " ; " the armies of ancis, 336, 355. Mcllwaine, Dr. R., 366, 386, 399. Mecklenburg Declaration, 320. " Missionary, the," 407. Missions, foreign, 339, 362. Missions, home, 343, 372. Missions in Indian Territory, 341, 369- Mitchell, W. L., 355. Mode of electing committees, 345. Moore, Dr. W. W., 394. Moral hope of the church, 417. Morrison, Dr. H., 355. " North Carolina Presbyterian, the," 406. Palmer, Dr. B. M., 323, 335, 336, 413, 420, 456. Pastoral Letter by the Assembly of 1865, 423. Peck, Dr. T. E., 322, 394, 413, 416. Perrin, T. C, 355. Phillips, A. L., 395. Phillips, Charles, 355. Polity, 412. " Presbyterian Church in the Con- federate States of America," 335. " Presbyterian Quarterly, the," 406. Presbytery of Central Texas, 396. Presbytery of East Alabama, 333. Presbytery of Hanover, 320, 321, 397. Presbytery of Lexington, 387. Presbytery of Louisville, 443. Presbytery of Mississippi, 379. Presbytery of New Orleans, 333. Presbytery of Patapsco, 358, 438. Preston, Col. J. T. L., 415. Pryor, Dr. Theodoric, 355. Publication, 404. Queen's Museum, 321. Ramsay, Dr. James B., 355. Relation of the church to other bodies, 422. Relations with the state, 423. Report of the Committee of Ten, 449. INDICES. 487 Report of the Committee on Foreign Correspondence, 424. Report on theological seminaries, 427- Revision of Book of Discipline, 413. Revision of the Directory of Worship, 415. Revision of the Hymn-book, 416. Rice, Dr. John Holt, 321. Robinson, Dr. Stuart, 456. Ronzone, Miss, 456. Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, 318. Scotch Presbyterians, 318. Sheppard, J. G., 355. Slavery, relation to, 426, 431, 434. Smith, Dr. B. INI., 394. Smith, Samuel Stanhope, 398. Social life of the church, 418. " Soldier's Visitor, the," 404. South Carolina College, 402. Southern Aid Society of New York, 386. " Southern Presbyterian, the," 406. " Southwestern Presbyterian, the," 406. Southwestern Presbyterian Univer- sity, 399. Spring, Dr., 326. " St. Louis Presbyterian, the," 406. " Stanley-Matthews Paper," 441. Stillman, Dr. C. A., 395. Stobo, Archibald, 319. Strickler, Dr., 406. Swaj-ne, J. T., 355. Swiss Presbyterians, 318, 393. Synod of Kentucky, 359, 396, 439. Synod of Missouri, 359, 396, 452. Synod of Virginia, 379. Temperance, 420. Thornwell, Dr. James, 322, 334, 338. 395. 404, 412, 414- Thornwell Orphanage, 403. Trail, William, 319. Turner, Dr. McNeil, 355. Tuscaloosa Institute, 395. Union Seminary, 321, 322, 393. " Union Seminary Magazine," 406. Union with the Alabama Presbytery, 439- Union with the Associate Reformed Presbytery of Kentucky, 452. Union with the Independent Presby- terian Church, 435. Union with the Presbytery of Pa- tapsco, 438. Union with the Synod of Kentucky, 439- Union with the Synod of Missouri, 4.52. Union with the United Synod of the South, 436. United Sj'nod of the South, 358, 436. Voluntary agencies, 408. Waddel, Dr. John N., 335, 355. Washington and Lee University, 397. Washington College, 321, 322. Webb, W^ P., 355. Westminster College, 401. Whitaker, Alexander, 318. Wilson, Dr. J. Leighton, 341, 355, 366, 374. 386. Wilson, Dr. Joseph R., 355, 388, 396. Worship, 415. Yeomans, Dr. John W., 330. Y. M. C. A., 456. 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