Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/724

Rh 700 PRESBYTERIAN ISM [UNITED STATES. Amsterdam, and adopted a constitution in 1793 having 150 churches and 22 ministers. In 1785 the synod of New York and Philadelphia took steps for the organization of a general assembly and also with a view to the union of all the Presbyterian bodies into one. In 1789 the synod resolved itself into a general assembly of four synods, which, after revising the chapters relating to church and state, adopted the Westminster symbols as their constitution, &quot; as containing the system of doctrine taught in the Holy Scriptures,&quot; and they made them unalterable without the consent of two-thirds of the presbyteries and the general assembly. In 1798 another effort was made for union with the Reformed Dutch and the Associate Reformed, which failed. Three years after wards a plan of union with the general association of Con necticut was agreed upon by the general assembly, and the work of home missions in the western section of the country was prosecuted jointly. The result was mixed churches in western New York and the new States west of the Alleghany Mountains, which grew into presbyteries and synods having peculiar features midway between Pres- byterianism and Congregationalism. The revivals in Kentucky brought about differences which resulted in the high-handed exclusion of the re- Cumber- vivalists. These formed themselves into the presbytery land of Cumberland, 4th February 1810, which grew in three ~ years into a synod of three presbyteries. In 1813 they revised the Westminster confession and excluded, as they claimed, fatalism and infant damnation. If they had appealed to the general assembly they might have received justice, or possibly the separation might have been on a larger scale. In 1822, under the influence of John M. Mason, the Associate Reformed synod combined with the general assembly of the Presbyterian Church, but the majority was too slender to make the union thorough. The greater part of the ministers decided to remain separate, and accordingly three independent synods were organized New York, Scioto, and the Carolinas. In 1858 the Associate synods of the north and west united with the Associate synod as the United Presbyterian Church. In 1833 the Reformed Presbyterian Church divided into New Lights and Old Lights in a dispute as to the propriety of Covenanters exercising the rights of citizenship under the constitution of the United States. Period of A great and widespread revival marked the opening revivals. vears o f the century, resulting in marvellous increase of zeal and numbers in the churches. New measures were adopted, doctrines were adapted to the times and occasions, and ancient disputes were revived between the conserva tive and progressive forces. Theological seminaries had been organized at Princeton in 1812, at Auburn in 1820, at Hampden Sydney in 1824, Allegheny in 1827, Columbia in 1828, Cincinnati in 1829, and Union Seminary, New York, in 1836. Differences in doctrine as well as polity and discipline became more and more prominent. Puritan theology had developed in New England into Edwardism and then into Hopkinsianism, Emmonsism, and Taylorism. A new theology had sprung up which was held to be an improvement and adaptation of Calvinism to modern thought. This new theology had entered the Presbyterian Church in the form of a milder Calvinism, which was represented to be more in accordance with the original type. On the other side the scholastic type of Calvinism, as represented by Francis Turretin and the Zurich Consensus, was insisted on as the true orthodoxy. The doctrinal differences came to a head in the trials of Albert Barnes, George Duffield, and Lyman Beecher, which, how ever, resulted in the acquittal of the divines, but increased friction and ill-feeling. The differences developed were chiefly between general atonement and atonement for the elect only and between mediate imputation and immediate imputation. But there was a middle party which regarded these differences as forced, and held that the rival views were alike inadequate if taken alone and that they were really complementary. The agitation with reference to African slavery threw Old and the bulk of the Southern Presbyterians on the Old Side, New which was further strengthened by the accession of the ^ i(ie - Associate Reformed. The ancient differences between Old and New Side were revived, and once more it was urged that there should be (1) strict subscription, (2) ex clusion of the Congregationalized churches, and strict Presbyterian polity and discipline, (3) the condemnation and exclusion of the new divinity and the maintenance of scholastic orthodoxy. In 1834 a convention of the Old Side was held in Philadelphia, and the &quot;Act and Testi mony&quot; was adopted charging doctrinal unsoundness and neglect of discipline upon the New Side, and urging that these should be excluded from the church. The moderate men on both sides opposed this action and strove for peace or an amicable separation, but in vain. In 1837 the Old Side obtained the majority in the general assembly for the second time only in seven years. They seized their oppor tunity and abrogated the &quot;Plan of Union,&quot; cut off the synod of Western Reserve and then the synods of Utica, Geneva, and Genesee, four entire synods, without a trial, and dissolved the third presbytery of Philadelphia without providing for the standing of its ministers. This revolu tionary proceeding brought about the second great rupture in the Presbyterian Church. The New Side men met in convention at Auburn in August 1837 and adopted measures for resisting the wrong. In the general assembly of 1838 the moderator refused to recognize the commis sioners of the four exscinded synods. An appeal was made to the assembly and the moderator s decision reversed. A new moderator was chosen, while the assembly adjourned to another place of meeting. The Old Side remained after the adjournment and organized themselves, claiming the historic succession. Having the moderator and clerks from the assembly of 1837, they retained the books and papers. Thus two general assemblies were organized, the Old and the New School. An appeal was made to the civil courts, which decided in favour of the New School ; but this decision was overruled on a technical point of law by the court in bank and a new trial ordered. It was deemed best, however, to cease litigation and to leave matters as they were. Several years of confusion followed. In 1840 we have the first safe basis for comparison of strength. Ministers. Churches. Communicants. Old Side ... New Side ... 1308 1234 1898 1375 126,583 102,060 The churches remained separate throughout the re mainder of this period. The North was especially agitated by the slavery question, and the anti-slavery element be came so strong that the Southern synods of the New School assembly felt constrained to withdraw in 1858. They organized the United Synod of 4 synods, 15 presby teries, 113 ministers, 197 churches, 10,205 communicants. Just before the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 these churches numbered : Synods. Presby teries. Ministers. Churches. Communicants. Old Side 33 171 j;.-i; 3531 292,927 (1860) New Side ... 22 104 1523 1482 134,933 (1860) United Synod 4 15 113 197 10,205 (1858) Cumberland Presbyterian 23 96 890 1189 82,008 (1859)