THE PAIL? EVENING TELEGRAFfl PHILADELPHIA., TUESDAY, MAY 17, 1870.
PKESBYTERIANI3M.
CoMlnlrt fnm 0u Flrrt nf.l
into a combination binding thennelves by the
well-known "Solemn League and Covenant" to
exterminate prelaoy, and lent their full Influ
ence to the carrying out of those measures
which resulted in the death of Charles and the
establishment of the Commonwealth. ' Upon
the restoration of Charles the episcopacy was
reestablished in Scotland, but the Presbeterians
till resolutely adhered to their principles, and
upon tne abdication of James If they confi
dently anticipated the triumph of their cause.
Though William III was bent on preserving the
same form of ecclesiastical government
both In England and Scotland, the bishops
refused to transfer their allegiance to him, and
by this means the war was opened for that
establishment of , Presbytery which had been
urged upon him by some of Lis most zealous
adherents, and which was ratified by an act of
Parliament in 1690. Scotland and England
bavins been separate kingdoms at ' the time
of the Reformation, a difference of circum
stances in the two countries ultimately led to
different religious establishments. When the
treaty of union was formed In 1707, It was agreed
by both kingdoms that Episcopacy should con
tinue In England, and that Presbyterlnnlsm
8hould be the only religious system recognized
by the State In Scotland. The only confession
of faith legally established before the Revolu
tion of 1088 is that which Is attributed to John
Knox. It consists of twenty-five articles, and
was the confession as well of the Episcopal as
of the Presbyterian Church, though the Cove
nanters during the Commonwealth adopted the
Westminster Confession. At the Revolution the
Confession was received as the standard of the
national faith, and It was ordained by the same
acts of Parliament which settled Presbyterian
church government In Scotland "that no person
be admitted or continued hereafter to be a
minister or preacher within this Church unless
he subscribe the (that Is, the Westminster) Con
fession of faith, declaring the same to be the
confession of his faith."
The Presbyterian Church In the United States.
In the year 1684 Francis Makemle, a Presby
terian clergyman, who came to this country
from Ireland, organized a church at Snow Hill,
Maryland. ' From this beginning has sprung a
religious denomination which at the present
day Is divided Into about a dozen branches, each
with a distinct and independent organization,
including in their ranks 7924 clergymen and a
membership, according to the latest statistics,
of 935,716. At various times divisions occurred
in the denomination, the most Important of
them being 'that which separated the largest
branch of the Church into what have heretofore
been generally termed the "Old School" and the
"New School" sections.
The firstand largest churches were established
in Pennsylvania and Maryland, two colonies
distinguished from the earliest times for their
just notions of religious liberty. The Puritan
element early fonnd its way Into the body from
New England. In New England itself some of
the early 6cttlers were Presbyterians.
Ita Early History.
But it was for the most part where the Church
was not overshowed or tyrannically patronized
by the State,' that Presbyterlanlsm first effec
tively took root. On the banks of Elizabeth,
river, in Virginia, and on the Eastern Shore of
Maryland, the earliest Presbyterian Churches
were gathered. The earliest representative of
the denomination of whom we have any trace
was Matthew Hill, one of the English Non
Conformists of 1662, who lost his few worldly
goods in the great fire of London (16G6), and
subscribing his letter, Bine re, sine spe, tantum
non $ine se, determined to find in the New
World a sphere of labor denied him in the Old.
In 1669 he located in Charles county, Md.,
where be labored for a time with en
couraging ' prospects of success. , Josiah
Mackie must soon after have commenced
his labors in Eastern Virginia, and with no
long interval, the man who has with more
reason been denominated the founder of the
Presbyterian Church in this country Francis
Makemle found a call for his labors in Mary
land. The graduate of a Scotch Univorslty, the
licentiate of an Irish Presbytery, and sent forth
as a missionary to his transatlantic field by the
liberality of English dissenting ministers, he
fully represented that denomination of compo
site elements with which his name thenceforth
was associated. He observed the wants of his ex
tensive field, and performed for it the work of a
primitive bishop. He sought colaborers far and
near, crossed the ocean, as weU as visited New
England, to procure them, and manifested hie
own co-operative spirit by his correspondence
with Cotton Mather.
Thus the Church was composed of such varied
elements as to forbid it to be classed as English,
Welsh, Scotch, or Irish, for, combining all these
elements, it constituted a new body, fitly enti
tled the American Presbyterian Church. Its
early growth was rapid. Immigrants from va
rious quarters, but -very largely from Ireland,
added to its numbers. In about ten years the
eingle Presbytery bad grown to the dimensions
of a Synod with three Presbyteries. For ten
years more its prosperity, under all the difficul
ties with which it was forced to struggle, con
tinued uninterrupted.
The First Synod
was organized in 1716. At this time the hete
rogeneous character of the Church became so
marked that the harmony of its opinions and of
Us operations was proportionally decreased.
The points on which the conflicts of opinion
were most strongly marked were the examina
tion of candidates for the ministry on experi
mental religion, the strict adherence to Presby
terian order, and the requisite amount of learn
ing in those who sought the ministerial office.
In the several Presbyteries these points were
discussed with great zeal. Two distinct parties
were formed known as the old and new sides.
This, be It remembered, was more than a cen
tury before the days of the Old and New School
divisien.
Fawi of the "Adapting Act."
In 1729 the Synod passed what is known In
fee history of the Church as the Adopting act
All competent students of its history are agreed
that this was a liberal measure, indicative of a
disposition to harmonize scrupulous consciences
. on doubtful points, or on such as did not affeot
the doctrinal Integrity of the standards. The
act passed, not without opposition, but it har
monUed the different sections represented by
men as diverse In views as John Thomson, In
clined to rigid subscription, and Jonathan Dick'
Inson, Just as orthodox, but a life-long enemy
to anything which assumed authority for human
Impositions.
( The act consisted of a public authoritative
adoption of the Westminster Confession and
jfcatechlanis, and made it imperative that not
1 111.1. I . 1 I t . .
, ' every ckuoiuni uut every actual miuisier
feUouio, . .. ,ubscripUou or otherwise, n
presence of the Presbytery, acknowledge these
instruments respectively as their confession of
faith. This, however, was not the end of the
issue. Various questions were discussed, par
ticularly those bearing upon experimental piety
in the candidates, and various measures were
taken in the years 1734 and 173S which eventu
ally caused much trouble and an estrangement
of the two parties of the Church for a time.
The Division eftheRvned In 1711. '
In 1741 occurred the division of the Synod.
Various causes contributed to it. The wave of
revival, In connection with the labors of Gilbert
Tennent and the celebrated Whitfield, swept
over the land, carrying with it in many cases
confusion and disorganization. Two parties
were formed, the "New 8ld8," represented by
the more ardent revivalists, and the "Old Side,"
represented by those who regarded it as largely
an outburst of fanaticism. The last, by the ne
cessity of their position, were the advocates and
champions of order. They denounced itinerants
Intruding uninvited into their congregations,
and when the "New Lights" contemned their
opposition, they invoked a stricter application
of Synodical discipline, and a more rigid expli
cation of the Adopting act, while they attempted
to throw upon the other party the odium of
violating their stipulated obligation to conform
to the standards.
The evil at last prevoked a protest which
divided the Synod and led to the organization,
four years later, of the Synod of New York. The
latter increased rapidly, while the "Old Side"
Synod of Philadelphia could barely make good
the number lost by removal or death. In 13
years from the time that the New York Synod
was organized it outnumbered the other by
three to one. Most of its members had joined it
subsequent to the division, while the "Old Side"
Synod itself had greatly changed.
United Again In 175S.
""But by th Is time the old issues were obsolete,
and the old antagonisms had died out. In 1758,
after some years of mutual correspondence and
repeated Committees of Conference, the reunion
was effected. The "New Side" insisted on the
Adopting act, as it stood, at substantially the
basis of the united body, and although this was
not all which the "Old Side" desired, they
showed themselves disposed to make sacrifices
to promote an object which was essential to the
harmony and efficiency of the Presbyterian
Church.
A Season ol Prosperity.
The years that intervened between the re
union of 1758 and the Revolutionary War were
years of prosperity and rapid growth. Mission
ary efforts were nobly put forth. . Men like
Duffield and Beatty penetrated into Western
Pennsylvania with the view of opening kan
Indian mission field. Men like MeWhorter, of
Newark, and Spencer, of Elizabethtown, visited
the Southern field, and explored destitutions in
Virginia and the Carolinas. In Virginia, under
the labors of the gifted, eloquent, and earnest
Davies, afterwards President of Princeton Col
lege, and his successors, Presbyterlanlsm ex
tended itself in the region of Hanover and in
the Valley of the Shenandoah. Indeed the
Church has, perhaps, during no other period of
her history developed a higher degree of energy
or attained a more gratifying success.
The Char eh Daring the Revolutionary War
The progress of the. Chnrch was seriously in
terrupted by the Revolutionary War, but at this
trying period Presbyterlanlsm made a record in
which Presbyterians may well take pride. There
were few Tories among the congregations of
the Church, and none in the ranks of her
ministry, with a possible single exception. Many
of her ministers served in the army as chaplains,
and some of them did not restrict themselves to
the use of spiritual weapons, holding that the
cause of. civil liberty was for the time identified
with that of religious liberty, and that the over
throw of kings would aid the overthrow of
bishops and prevent the setting up ot an
Established Chnrch, supported by the State.
The Synod of New York and Philadelphia met
at the latter place on May 17, 1775, just four
weeks after the first blood was shed in the con
flict at Lexington. The Synod, in view of the
alarming state of public affairs, appointed a day
of "solemn fasting, humiliation, and prayer," to
be "carefully and religiously observed." This
corresponded with an appointment, for the
same purpose, by the Continental Congress. A
pastoral letter was also addressed to . the
churches, to express the views of the Synod,
which they declare they "do not wish to con
ceal, as men and citizens." In this letter the
people were most earnestly exhorted to the'
cultivation and practice of piety, and also to
discharge faithfully the duties they owed the
country, in the common danger.
Maay of the leading Presbyterian divines of
the day figured prominently in the struggle, for
Independence. The Rev. John Witherspoon,
D. D., then President of Princeton College, was
a signer of the Declaration of Independence, a
member of the Continental Congress for six
years, and drew up many of the most Important
papers which emanated from that body In that
time. John Carmlchael, of Lancaster, was a
bold advocate of American rights; and Miller, of
Delaware, was equal in patriotic ardor. Robtrt
Davidson, then the pastor of the First Presby
terian Church of this city, at the very com
mencement of the war took decided ground
against the mother country. Of John Craig
head, pastor of Rocky Spring Church, Pennsyl
vania, it is said that "he fought and prayed
alternately," and he raised a company from the
members of his charge, with which he joined
Washington's army in New Jersey.
This zealous devotion to the cause of the
country was maintained to the close of the
struggle, and the first General Assembly of the
Church, which met in 1789, framed an address
to General Washington, lately elected President,
pledging 1U support to his administration.
The Church After the Revolution.
Years elapsed after the close of the Revolu
tionary War before the Church entirely re
covered from Its effects. There were numerous
vacant pulpits and ruined church buildings.
The latter bad to be rebuilt, the former to be
filled, and ail her energies were required to to
complUh this task. A reorganization of her
government was the first important step towards
furthering these objects, and this was In
augurated about 1785. The sixteen presbyte
ries were distributed among lour synods Into
which the old synod was divided, and the Gene
ral Assembly, with paramount jurisdiction over
all, was established, the new system being per
fected about the tame time that the political
evstem of the country was reorganized by the
ratification of the Federal Constitution. The
tack of reorganization was completed in 1788, at
which date the denomination embraced 184
ministers and 435 churches, and in 1789 the first
General Assembly met In Philadelphia. From
this time forward for many years the Assembly
continued almost invariably to meet in this city,
convening elsewhere, previous to the split in
1838, only five times, and of these five only once
I outride, of. Pennsylvania.
But there were other things of vast import
ance to be done. The machinery for publica
tion, for mUelonary and educational enterprises,
and for the building up of feeble churches, was
all to be organized. The only college under the
care of the , Church was , the one at Princeton,
and there was nota single theological seminary for
the education of her ministers. Within a gene
ration, however, the seminary at Princeton was
established, and preparations tor another in
Virginia were under way. Missionary, tract,
and Bible societies were formed, numerous pro
minent clergymen of the East forsook their old
fields of labor for the more inviting ones of Central
and Western New York then little less than a
wilderness and gradually the whole energy of
the Church was enlisted in the cause of evan
gelization. . . r
holrsnle Accession and Elements or Discord
were also made to the Church meanwhile. Men
like Jonathan Edwards and Dr. Ellphalet Nott,
the former then President of Union College, the
latter soon to succeed him as such, appreciated
the desirability of harmonizing with the Pres
byterian organization the large Congregational
element which, about the opening of the pre
sent century, emigrated from New England in
search of a wider and more promising
field of labor. By their influ
ence what was known as a "Plan of Union" was
recommended, by which Congregatienallsts
might retain for their churches their peculiar
organization, and still be represented in the
councils of the Church. The plan was accepted
by the General Assembly and by the General
Association of the State of Connecticut, and
went into operation in the year 1801. There
was no warrant for it in the constitution of the
Presbyterian Church; but it was devised to meet
a pressing emergency, and for a time appeared
to work well, the newly-organized churches
swelling the list on the roll of the Assembly,
and the necessities of evangelization, which
fully taxed the efforts ot both Presbyterians and
Congregatlonalists, repressing sectarian jea
lousies. But, despite the influence of such
prominent Congregational divines with Presby
terian predilections as Azel Backus, the first
President of Hamilton College, Dr. Strong, of
Hartford, and President D wight, of Yale College,
the rising ministers belonging to the new ele
ment were not without their New England
peculiarities, and controversies soon arose from
the jealousy with which they were regarded.
These had scarcely time to subside, before'
another element was introduced by the acces
sion, in 1833, of the Associate Reformed Pres
byterians, who, as a body, were more strict and
rigid in their Presbyterlanlsm than that to which
they were united. Among their leaders were
some who afterwards distinguished themselves
for ."Old School" zeal, notably Dr. Junkln, the
relentless persecutor of Albert Barnes.
Premonitions ot a Schism. .
The occasion for an open manifestation of the
antagonism of the different elements of the
Church was soon presented. The New England
churches systematically threw all their energies
into the channel of voluntary benevolent socle
ties. They organized Education, Home Mis
sionary, Foreign 'Missionary, and. Tract Socie
ties; they poured their charities and energies
into the bounds of the Presbyterian Church,
without regard to the organizations that they
contributed to establish, and anxious only to
retain the faith of the stern old New England
fathers. It was inevitable that these operations
should sometimes interfere with the plans of the
General Assembly, and draw under the control
of many voluntary associations the means which
the Presbyterian Church might claim as her
own and properly subject to her own disposal.
The popularity of these societies, which owned
no accountability, and showed little respect to
the General Assembly, was well sustained by
reports which manifested their remarkable suc
cess and their extended usefulness. Their policy
was shaped by managers who, in some instances,
were not connected with the Presbyterian
Church, or had little sympathy with its forms,
and had preferences for a theology which was
perhaps as mucn of an "Improvement" npon
that of the younger Edwards as that of the
younger Edwards was upon that of his prede
cessors. '
The Volunteer Societies Monopolize the Re
roes and labors of the Church.
By these volunteer and irresponsible societies
the true work of the Presbyterian Church was
assumed and almost monopolized. , They edu
cated its ministers, established its churches, and
even, through the agency of volunteer councils
ready to follow their behests, ordained to the
ministry the men who were sent ferth to labor
within the bounds of the Chureh, to sit in its
synods, and vote in its General Assemblies.
Weak at first, and dependent wholly npon chari
table donations for their support, they rapidly
increased, till it seemed to some that the only
business of the General Assembly was to register
and heed their decrees. Hundreds of mission
aries and students drew their support from their
funds, and when the choice was to
be made between allegiance to them
or to the General Assembly, none could
donbt the result. The managers of the
societies naturally were disposed to
magnify their own organizations. They were
not favorably disposed towards ecclesiastical
methods of evangelization. Hundreds of Pres
byterian ministers sympathized with them, and
in repeated instances the missionaries of the
American Home Missionary 8oclety held the
balance of power in the Assembly. Intent
rather on building up churches than on
giving them any ecclesiastical oragnlza
tlon, they regarded as selfish and secta
rian the policy which would make the Assembly
the guardian of the interests of the Chureh and
the sole manager of its missionary operations.
Within six or seven years from its organiza
tion the American Home Missionary Society had
increased its missionaries four or five fold, while
IU funds were multiplied in a corresponding
proportion. The seat of the Education Society
bad been transferred from Boston to New York,
that it might more readily and extensively ope
rate within the bonnds of the Presbyterian
Church. The Union Missionary Society, located
at the latter place, and which though a volun
tary society was mainly a Presbyterian organi
zation, Inviting the special sympathy and aid of
Presbyterian churches, was transferred with all
its missions to the American Board, located at
Boston. It became evident that a very large
number, and a number which threatened to
increase with the large accessions to the Pres
byterian ministry which were sent out from New
England, was resolved to favor voluntary socie
ties, to the exclusion of all the proper agencies
of the General Assembly.
The aaiaaonlsile Element Developed.
Such had become the threatening state of
affairs about 1830. But there was still in the
Church a large element whose adherents, while
they were unwilling to offer any direct opposl
tlon to proper agencies for spreading the Gospel
and building up Christian institutions, believed
the Presbyterian Church, through her regularly
organge,d. councils, fully competent to dispose
of her own funds, organize her own churches,
and educate and ordain her own ministers. Bat
they unbappUy found themselves almost power
less in the General Assembly, which met usually
la this city, and was made up far more largely
of ministers and elders who resided this side of
the AUegheniee than of those beyond, or from the
8outh. On any emergency these might be
relied on as favorable to the voluntary societies,
and they constituted a majority which could not
easily be overcame. '
The Entering Wedge.
Thus everything was ready for a determined
struggle, and the issue was soon joined. In
1628 Dr. Taylor, of New Haven, at the head of
the Theological 8emlnary there, where quite a
number of Presbyterian ministers had been
educated, gave utterance to sentiments at which
even many New England ministers professed to
be shocked, and which gave distinct shape and
name to some of the peculiarities of New Har en
theology. It was well known that many Pres
byterian ministers regarded these sentiments
with no disfavor, and that some were even their
zealous advocates.
" The Case of Albert Barnes.
The Bev. Albert Barnes, who has for so many
years stood at the head of the Protestant clergy
of this city, proved to be among the number of
the latter. Born at Rome, New York, in
December, 1793, and educated at Hamilton
College, where he graduated in 1820, ' he began
life, as he has himself said, "a skeptic in re
ligion, and had early fortified and poisoned his
mind by reading all the books to which be could
find access that were adapted to foster and sus
tain his native skepticism." By reading in the
"Edinburgh Encyclopedia," then in course of
publication, an article on "Christianity" by
Dr. Chalmers, his attention was fixed, and he
was convinced intellectually of its divine origin.
He then resolved to frame his future life on
what he understood to be the character and
views of Dr. Franklin, to lead henceforth a
strictly moral life; to say nothing against re
ligion; not to be found on any occasion among
its opposers; but to yield to its claims no
farther. But a year later than this period,
which was before bis graduation, there
was a revival of religion in the
college, and the simple statement by a con
verted classmate of his feelings on the subject
of religion, his description of the change which
had been wrought in his heart, led him to re
flect on his own condition, and was providen
tially the means of effecting a similar change
in himself. The whole current of his life was
thus changed, no entered upon the study
of theology at Princeton immediately after his
graduation, was licensed to preach in April,
1824, and was ordained and installed as pastor
of the Presbyterian Church at Morristown, N.
J., in Febiuary, 1825.
Mr. Barnes remained at Morristown for five
years, signalizing the close of his pastorate, in
the spring of 1830, by the delivery and publica
tlon of a sermon on "The Way of Salvation,'
which at once drew to him the attention of the
whole Presbyterian denomination, and was
made the basis for an ecclesiastical persecution
of its author, which was conducted with great
earnestness for six years, until its object ob
tained a complete triumph ever all his adversa
ries.
He was called to the First Church of this city
in 1830, as the colleague of the Rev. Dr. J. P.
Wilson, with the hearty concurrence (of the lat
ter, there being but one vote adverse to his set
tlement in fifty-four which were cast npon the
question. Having signified his acceptance, the
congregation asked leave of the Presbytery of
Philadelphia to prosecute the call. The motion
to grant leave raised a stormy discussion, which
was prolonged through four days, several pro
minent members of the Presbytery declaring
that Mr. Barnes' sermon on "The Way of Salva
tion" contained fundamental errors in doctrine,
and asserting their unwillingness to countenance
any innovation by his reception. Leave to
prosecute his call was finally granted, by a vote
of 21 to 13, it being understood that, as soon as
Mr. Barnes was received into the Presbytery he
should be placed upon trial for heresy ;
and on the 18th of June, 1830, he presented his
certificate of dismissal and recommendation
from the Presbytery of Elizabethtown. A fierce
opposition was again arrayed against his recep
tlon, but it finally prevailed by a vote of thirty
to sixteen. An attempt was then made to arrest
his formal installation, by the presentation
against blm of charges of unsoundness In doc
trine; and in November, 1830, by express com
mand of the synod, these charges were heard by
the Presbytery, but in a manner which, accord
ing to the claims of Mr. Barnes and his friends,
was entirely unconstitutional. The matter was
finally taken before, the General Assembly of
1831, which decided that there was "a number
of unguarded and objectionable passages" in Mr.
Barnes' sermon; but ordered the Presbytery to
suspend further proceedings in the case, and
recommended such a division of that body as
would promote peace and harmony in the
Chnrch. This compromise was stoutly opposed
by the adversaries of Mr. Barnes, and the
recommendation of the Assembly was not fully
and satisfactorily carried out until the year
1836.
Other "Old School" Persecutions.
Meanwhile the "Old School" party diverted
part of their attention to other advocates of the
new doctrines. The Rev. Dr. Duffield, who
was at that time settled at Carlisle, in this
State, bad published a ponderous work on re
generation, which his Presbytery arraigned and
condemned. Dr. Lyman Beecher, recently
called to the Professorship of Theology in Lane
Seminary, was charged by the Rev. Dr. Wilson,
Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in
Cincinnati, with holding heretical views, and
put on trial before his Presbytery.
These proceedings naturally provoked the
indignation of the "New School" party, by
whom the objects of persecution on the part of
the "Old School faction were regarded as
representative men. The case of Dr. Beecher,
which bad fairly divided the attention of the
Church with that of Mr. Barnes, was carried up
on appeal to the General Assembly, but was
there left in abeyance, awaiting tne result ot the
fresh assault upon the orthodoxy of Mr. Barnes
which grew outof his publication of a volume of
"Notes on the Epistle to the Romans."
The Persecution of Air. Baraos Renewed.
This book was published in 1835, and some ef
the doctrinal views expressed in it were regarded
as especially objectionable by the "Old School"
party. The precise dogmatical points which
entered into the dispute it is not onr purpose to
dilate upon. A simple outline of the struggle to
which they gave rise is both easier to handle
and more edifying to the general reader,
nitherto the antagonism to Mr. Barnes had been
of a desultory character, without system and
lacking a determined and responsible leader.
But the "Notes on Romans" brought both to the
surface, the latter in the person of the Rev. Dr.
Junkln, at that time the President of Lafayette
College, at Easton, In this Bute. Dr. Juukia
became the accuser, although he was at the time
a member of another Presbytery, and net even
connected with the same Synod. He presented
formal charges against Mr. Barnes, in which he
studiously avoided the use of the objectionable
word herein, as ambiguous and calculated to
prejudice blm in public opinion. In these accu
sations Mr. Barnes was charged with holding
that sin consists In voluntary action; that Adam,
both before and after the fall, was Ignorant of
the faet that the consequences of his sin would
extend beyond a natural death; that uuregeue-
rate men are enabled to keep the command
ments and convert themselves to God; and that
faith is an act of the mind, and not a principle,
and is itself Imputed for righteousness. The
charges of Dr. Junkln also maintained that the
author had denied the covenant with Adam,
and the imputation of Adam's slu to his pos
terity; that mankind are liable to punishment
by reason of Adam's transgression; that Christ
suffered the proper penalty of the law as the
vicarious substitute of nis people, and thus
legally took away their sins and purchased
pardon; the imputation of Christ's active right
eousness: and that justification was other than
simplo pardon.
Air. Barnes Second Triumph.
The Presbytery gave a patient hearing to the
case, which resulted in the justification of Mr.
Barnes. The Presbytery pronounced the evi
dence submitted in support of the charges to be
mere "inferences drawn from Mr. Barnes' lan
guage," which were not legitimate, and which,
even if they were legitimate, could not be used
to convict of heresy or dangerous error, accord
ing to a decision of the Assembly of 1821. Mr.
Barnes was therefore triumphantly acquitted of
having promulgated "any dangerous errors or
heresies, contrary to the word of God and the
standards" of the Church.
This deeislon was unsatisfactory to Dr. Jun
kln, and the latter appealed from the Presby
tery to the Synod. The Presbytery refused to
give up to the Synod its record of the trial, and
Mr. Barnes put in a plea to the jurisdiction of
the latter body, declining to stand his trial
before it. The Synod thereupon decided that
the Presbytery had acted disorderly in this re
fusal, and merited a censure. Dr. Junain was
then given a full hearing before the Synod, and
as Mr. Barnes refused to appear and argue his
cause, he was convicted of holding fundamental
errors, and by a vote of one hundred and six
teen to thirtr-one, a motion to refer the whole
matter to the General Assembly having been
previously voted down, was "suspended from
the exercise of all the functions proper to the
Gospel ministry" until such time as he should
retract his errors and "give satisfactory evidence
of repentance." Mr. Barnes acquiesced in the
suspension, abandoning his pulpit for the time
being, and gave notice 6f an appeal to the
General Assembly. .
An effort was then made by the adversles of
Mr. Barnes to reconstruct the Presbyteries so
that he should fall to the lot of one which
would be able to manage him. One divine de
clared that the only true course was the extir
pation of the obnoxious Presbytery, "root and
branch." Others were in favor of distributing
the members of the Presbytery; but this was op
posed on the ground that it would be "like
spreading poison," and result in the contamina
tion of the whole Synod. Still another advo
cated the Exclusion of the Presbytery from the
watch and care of the Synod, hoping thus effec
tually to free it from "wolves in sheep's cloth
log." The dissolution of the Presbytery was
finally agreed upon, its members being ordered
within six months to seek admission into other
Presbyteries, failing in which they were de
clared to be ipso facto cut off from the commu
nion of the Presbyterian Church. The members
Of the Presbytery which it was thus attempted
to dissolve appealed to the General Assembly of
1836, which met at Pittsburg. A week was de
voted to hearing the appeals of the Presbytery
and of Mr. Barnes, and both were sustained,
the latter by a vote of one hundred and thirty
four to ninety-six. His suspension from the
exercise of his pastoral duties was reversed by
a vote of one hundred and forty-five to seventy
eight, and he again appeared in bis pulpit, to
the great rejoicing of his people.
Indiscretion of the Victorious "New School"
Parly.
The "New School" party was exultant over
this acquittal of Mr. Barnes, effected through
the influence of the moderate party, which held
the balance of power in the General Assembly of
1836, and, taking sides with neither extreme,
exerted it, effectively for the time being only, to
preserve the unity of the Church intact. But,
In the belief that they had secured a permanent
ascendancy, the "New School" party were dis
posed to make their power felt. They therefore
assumed the aggressive, and by their zeal
brought about a reaction, of which their oppo
nents were not slow to take advantage.
The Pittsburg Synod after the transfer of the
United Missionary Society to the American
Board under the conviction that the Presby
terian Church should, as a body, engage In the
work of Foreign Missions, and after a vain
attempt to induce the General Assembly to
initiate a policy with this object in view, had
resolved itself into a missionary society, and
after the adjournment of the General Assembly
of 1835, in which their friends had a majority,
appeared to have succeeded in transferring the
society to the care of the General Assembly, and
in transforming it Into a Board of Missions.
But the Assembly of 1836, where the friends of
Mr. Barnes and Dr. Beecher were in the ma
jority, refused to ratify the arrangement which
bad been made by tho sanction of the preceding
Assembly, and through the action of its com
mittee. The "Old BchooP'Vartv Exasperated.
In this way the "New School" party succeeded
in disappointing the hopes and exasperating
the feelings of the "Old School" by what the
latter regarded as a gross violation of express
stipulations and implied obligations.
The pending difficulty was aggravated by
doctrinal dissensions, the extreme party of the
"Old School" condemning not only the party in
sympathy with Mr. Barnes, but the Moderates
"the Princeton gentlemen" who were not dis
posed to sanction the measures of either party.
In short, a crisis had been reached when the
"Moderates" could be no longer tolerated. A
division of the Church was declared to be Inevi
table by some of the "Old School" men, and
they announced their intention to effect it at all
hazards. If the tyranny of tho "New School"
party was to be perpetuated by a majority in the
General Assembly, they were ready to abandon
the organization, and, in the interest of what
they accounted essential to the purity and effici
ency of the Church, set up an Independent
Assembly uncontamlnated by Congregational
usages or New England theological speculation.
The General Assembly of 1837.
Affaire were in this critical state when the
General Assembly of 1837 met. The "OldSchool"
foand themselves in the majority, and deemed
it expedient to follow the example of their op
ponents and exert their power, without risking
their future supremacy. The two factions
being thus confronted, both parties exerted
themselves to effect a peaceful separation. But
the committee appointed to arrange the separa
tion could agree upon no plan, and the Assem
bly was unable to divide Itself. Then the old
Issues were raked up and the "Old School'
party, tracing back their difficulties to the in
troduction of incongruous elements by the "Plan
of Union" of 1801, effected its repeal. No more
Congregational churches were to be formed
within the bounds of the Presbyterian Church
to dictate Its policy, and monopolize both its
resources and its proselyting labors.
The "Abscinding Acts."
The committees failing to agree upon a plan
of separation, and the "Plan of Unien" of 1801
having been abrogated, by a vote of 143 yeas to
110 nays, the "Old School" majority proceeded
to fortify their position by eliminating the Con
gregational element. This was effected by the
passage of what have been termed the "Abscind
ing Acts." The Assembly first resolved:
"That by the operation of the abrogation of the
Plan of Inion of lsul, the ISynod or (lie Western
Reserve is, and is hereby deelared to be, no longer a
part of the Presbyterian Church In the United State
ef America. '
It was stated on the floor of the Assembly that
less than one in four of the churches In the .
8ynod of the Western Reserve was Presbyterian,
and tho resolution just given therefore com
manded a decided majority. Bat there were '
three other Synods in which there was a largo
Congregational element, and the work of parift
catiou was not regarded as complete until they
were disposed of. Some of the leading men who
voted in favor of abrogating the "Plan of
Union" of 1801, and of casting out the Synod of
the Western Reserve, opposed the taking of
similar action with the three Synods which were
suspected of being unsound, but their counsels
did not prevail, and the passage of the follow
ing resolution was effected: .
That in consequence of the abrogation by this
Assembly of the 'J'ihu of Union' of lsol, between it
and the General Association of Connecticut, as ut
terly unconstitutional, and therefore null and veld
from the beginning, the Synods of I'tica, Genera,
and uenesee, whlc were formed and attached to
this body, under and in execution of the said 'Plan
of Union, be, and are hereby declared to be, out of
the ecclesiastical connection or the Presbyterian
Church ot the United States of America, and that
they are not in form or In fact an Integral portion at
said Church."
Thus some 60,000 members, and several hun
dred ministers of the Church, without direct
accusation or trial, were cut off from the com
munion, and before the Assembly closed its ses
sion the comparatively feeble majority of the
"Old School" had become decided aud over
whelming. The General Assembly of 1S:S.
The action of the Assembly of 1S37 naturally
aroused the indignation of the "New School"
party, who, conscious that remonstrance, if
postponed, would be in vain, joined issue on the
absorbing question at the very opening of the
Assembly of 1838. This body met on the 17th of
May of that year, at the Seventh Presbyterian
Church in this city, which then stood on Ran
stead place, Fourth street, above Chesnut.
The Schism Completed.
The Rev. Dr. Elliott, the moderator of the
previous Assembly, preached the usual opening
sermon, and soon after it was finished a "New
School" leader arose, holding in his hand a
paper containing the names of delegates from
the excommunicated Synods. The moderator,
refused to receive the- names, and the contest
for moderator and other officers commenced.
Amidst great confusion each party selected its
own moderator, and then the "New School" -withdrew,
and subsequently met in the First
Presbyterian Church, on Washington Square.
Thus the schism in the Church was consum
mated. Two distinct and independent General
Assemblies came into existence, and the Church
which had labored so earnestly and successfully
as a unit for more than thirty years was divided
thenceforth into two branches, which at once
entered with the same zeal and promise of suc
cess upon their distinct and Independent
careers.
The "Old School" and the "New School."
From the 17th of May, 1838, to the 12th of
November, 1869, the two branches of the Church
labored apart, but it is not necessary to go into
the details of their different policies and move
ments. A few facts, however, deserve to be
glanced at:
The question of slavery, which was instru
mental in effecting a division in so many of the
Protestant denominations, was not without Its
influence upon the separation of the Presby
terian Church. Although the "New School"
party were not a unit in their anti-slavery
views, their New England associations and tra
ditions rendered them obnoxious to the more
zealous friends of the "peculiar institution" in
cluded within the pale of the Church. The
"New School" branch 'retained a weak follow
ing at the South, from which they parted with
willingness at the General Assembly held in
Cleveland in 1857. But with the "Old. School"
branch a large number of (Southern Presbyteries
remained connected until the Secession move
ment created the necessity for decisive steps to
wards a separation, and the list of Southern
churches finally disappeared almost entirely
from the minutes of tho "Old School" also.
From the firing upon Fort Sumter to the close
of the war, both branches of the Church In the
North were as heartily enlisted in the cause of
the Union as bad been the Presbyterian Church
in the struggle for Independence, while the
Southern Presbyterians, like the Southern
Methodists, were as zealous in their support of
the Rebellion. Drs. Thorn well and Adger of
South Carolina, and Palmer of Louisiana, ren
dered themselves especially obnoxious to the
Northern Churches by their frantic zeal in the
cause of secession.
When left to themselves, the "New School"
branch clung as long as possible to the system
of voluntary and irresponsible societies, which
bad contributed so much to the schism. Bat
they gradually discovered that the work of
evangelization could not be left with safety en
tirely to these societies, and eventually they
were driven by necessity, and not by choice, to
the same policy that the "Old School" had
advocated and pursued from the first. The con
section with the Education Society was first
surrendered, and finally even the Home Mission
ary Society, to whieh they had clung so affec
tionately and tenaciously, was given up, and all
the resources of the Church were concentrated
in the missionary work and expended under her
own direct supervision. Just previous to the
reunion, the zeal of the "New 8chool" branch
in this department had so greatly Increased as
even to exceed that of the "Old School" In pro
portion to the numbers of both.
Preparing the Way for Reunion.'
So Intense was the bitterness evoked by the
struggle which culminated in separation that a
quarter of a century elapsed before the lubject
of a reunion wae discussed as anything more
than visionary and impracticable. But gradually
and almost imperceptibly the,way was paved for
Cvn ( i on Th iri fagt. J