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 PRESBYTERIANISM 815 ably reduced in consequence of existing diffi- culties, agreed to dissolve and form themselves into the presbytery of Salem. For two suc- ceeding years this presbytery met regularly in Massachusetts proper, but after this its meet- ings were held in the district of Maine. Its last meeting was held at Gray, Sept. 14, 1791. j The third Associate Reformed presbytery, afterward called the Associate Reformed pres- bytery of Londonderry, was formed in Phila- delphia, Oct. 31, 1782, and held its first meet- ing at Londonderry on Feb. 11, 1783. It ceased to belong to its original denomination in 1802, and was thereafter an independent presbytery till 1809, when it was received into the synod of Albany, and has since continued under the name of the presbytery of London- derry. The presbytery of Newburyport was formed by the concurrent action of the pres- bytery of Londonderry and the synod of Al- bany. It held its first session in Boston on Oct. 27, 1826, and its last on Oct. 20, 1847, when it became reunited to the presbytery of Londonderry. The presbytery of Connecticut, consisting of several ministers and churches previously belonging to the presbytery of New York, was constituted by the synod of New York, Oct. 15, 1850, and held its first meet- ing at Thompsonville on Oct. 29. IV. UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF NORTH AMERICA. As this body is composed of the Associate Reformed and the Associate churches, it may be proper to present an outline of the history of each of these bodies up to the time of the union. 1. Associate Reformed Church. In 1680 Lord Cardross took measures for the establishment of a colony in South Carolina, with a view to furnish a place of refuge to his persecuted brethren. This was formed at Port Royal ; but, in consequence of an invasion by the Spaniards, the colony was abandoned in 1688. Many, however, remained in Carolina, who were gath- ered into congregations under the care of a presbytery, which existed until about the close of the 18th century. The only one of these churches now remaining is the old Scots' church in Charleston. From 1660 to 1688 a large number of Presbyterians (amounting, accord- ing to Wodrow, to about 3,000) were trans- ported to the American plantations and sold as slaves.- They were for the most part sent to Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey; but scarcely any traces of their history now remain. The first minister sent to this coun- try by the Secession church of Scotland was the Rev. Alexander Gellatly, who arrived in 1753, and, after a laborious ministry of eight years, died at Octorara, Pa. The Covenant- ers, or Reformed Presbyterians (ecclesiastical descendants of that portion of the church of Scotland which refused to accede to the revo- lutionary settlement of 1688, as established on the Erastian principle of conceding to the state power over the church), sent out the Rev. John Cuthbertson in 1751 ; and in 1774 he was fol- lowed by Messrs. Lind and Dobbin. Of these two denominations the Associate Reformed church was made up. In 1764 the Rev. Thomas Clark, minister of Ballybay in Ireland, belong- ing to the Burgher synod of Scotland, with the greater part of his congregation, emigrated to this country, and settled at Salem, Wash- ington co., N. Y. Two other ministers of the same communion followed them two years af- ter, though one of them subsequently returned to Scotland. The Burgher ministers, not being disposed to keep up a separate organization on this side of the Atlantic, united with their brethren ; but the union was disturbed by the refusal of the Scottish synod to approve of it. The revolution of 1776 was chiefly instrumental in bringing about the union which produced the Associate Reformed church. During the progress of the war several conventions were held between the members of the Associate and the Reformed presbyteries with a view to the accomplishment of this end ; the re- sult of which was that three presbyteries met in Philadelphia in October, 1782, and formed themselves into a synod, under the name of the Associate Reformed synod of North Amer- ica, on a basis consisting of the following ar- ticles: "1. That Jesus Christ died for the elect. 2. That there is an appropriation in the nature of faith. 3. That the gospel is ad- dressed indiscriminately to sinners of man- kind. 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 Media- tor. 6. The administration of the kingdom of Providence is given into the hand of Jesus Christ the Mediator ; and magistracy, the or- dinance appointed by the moral Governor of the world, to be the prop of civil order among men, as well as other things, is rendered sub- servient by the Mediator to the welfare of his spiritual kingdom, the church, and has sancti- fied the use of it and of every common benefit, through the grace of the 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 for- mer, and therefore magistrates among Chris- tians ought to be regulated by the general directory of the Word as to the execution of their office. 8. That the qualifications of jus- tice, veracity, &c., required in the law of na- ture 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 essen- tially necessary .for the being of a magistrate, except when the people make it a condition of government. 9. That both parties, when united, shall adhere to the Westminster confes- sion of faith, the catechisms, the directory t< worship, and propositions concerning H,ur< government. 10. That they shall claim the full exercise of church discipline without de- pendence upon foreign judicatories."