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* PEESBYTERIANISM. 369 PEESBYTERIANISM. In 1801 a plan of union was aoreecl upon be- tween the Presbyterian Church and the Connecti- cut General Association which provided terms for mutual help in the weaker communities. Presbyterian ministers might serve Congrega- tional churches and vice versa. The Presbyterian Church, at the time of the union, numbered 26 presbyteries. .300 ministers, and nearly 500 congregations. Early in the cen- tury there were many revivals, especially in the southwestern part of the country, which brought into service many as catechists and exhorters who were neither highly educated nor firm be- lievers in the peculiar doctrines of the Presby- terian Church. The controversy over these ques- tions brought about the secession of the Presby- tery of Cumberland, and resulted in 1810 in the formation of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church (see below). The beginning of the nine- teenth century showed increased zeal on the part of tlie Presbyterian Church for mission- ary enterprise. Within a few years, in New York. Pennsylvania, and Xew Kngland. missionary societies were formed to send the Gospel to the Indians and among the pioneers. In 1802 the General Assembly organized a 'Standing Com- mittee of Missions' consisting of 7 members, later increased to 19 members, whose duty it should be "to collect during the recess of the Assembly all the information in their power relative to the concerns of missions and missionaries," and to "superintend generally under the direction of the Assembly'the missionary business." In 181 the title of the committee was changed to Board of Missions, and it was authorized to act with a larger measure of independence. The growth of the Church was rapid. In 1834 it contained 32 synods. Ill presbyteries, and about 1900 min- isters. At this time signs of the future schism which divided the Church for so many years into the 'Old' and 'New' schools became apparent. For some time there had existed a diversity of doctrinal beliefs among the ministers and churches. New doctrines, coming largely from New England, were adopted by the memliers of the New Scho(d party. In the Old School branch there was a leaning to the strict doctrine and discipline of the Scotch Church; Albert Barnes (q.v. ), of Philadelphia, and Lyman Beecher (q.v. ), of Lane Seminary in Cincinnati, were both subjected to trial and censure by their pres- byteries. The Church was shaken by the con- troversy. The agitation over slavery divided it still further. The New School party felt called upon to denounce it, while the Old School thought that duty did not require that the Church should pronounce on the subject. In 1837 the Assembly, haying (for the first time in five years) a ma- jority of Old School members, disowned or ex- scinded three of the spiods of western New York and one in Ohio, with all the churches and min- isters belonging to them. Great excitement pre- vailed throughout the Church. A meeting of the exchided synods was held at Auburn. New Y'ork, in August, 1837, as the true constitutional As- sembly, at which trustees were appointed for the care of the propei-ty of the corporation. These trustees later brought legal action to determine their rights, and a verdict was given in their favor, but on appeal to a higher court the de- cision was overruled on points of law. and a new trial granted. The matter was not pressed fur- ther. In 1838 the New School members demanded enrollment for the excluded commissioners of the preceding year. This was refused and the bodies separated, each claiming to have the con- stitutional succession, and using the title the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. 'The pid School Church had seminaries at Princeton, N. .J.: Alle- gheny, Pa.; Columbia. S. C. ; Danville, Ky., and Chicago. The New School seminaries were Union, N. Y'. ; Auburn, N. Y. ; Lane, at Cincinnati : and Blackburn, 111. Each Church carried on its work with great zeal, both at home and abroad; each branch was active in encour- aging educational institutions, and as they flourished side by side, each grew more confident of the orthodoxy and usefulness of the other. The Old School Assembly of 1837 had organized its Board of Foreign Missions, and it continued to support the Boards of Home Missions and of Education which had been organized before the division. The New School carried on its home mission work through the American Home Jlis- sionary Society. Later, however, it organized permanent committees on Home Missions, Edu- cation, and Publication, through which its work was carried on, while its foreign work was con- ducted through the American Board of Commis- sioners for Foreign Missions. But now signs of the approaching national storm began to appear. In 1858 the southern part of the New School Church, dropped olf and organized under the title of the United fii/nod of the Presbyterian Chnrch. liouth. A hundred min- isters and 200 churches constituted this synod, which renuiined a separate organization until 1804, when it joined the General Assembly of the Southern Presbyterian Church. In 1861 the Old School branch sufl'ered a similar defection, as the Assembly of that year took action which grieved the Southern commissioners, who with- drew and organized the Southern Presbyterian Church (see below). With the abolition of slavery and the close of the Civil War a new spirit arose in the two branches of the Church in the North. The New School has proved its soundness in the faith, and the inheritance of a common ancestry asserted itself. In 1866 the two Assemblies met in Saint Louis, and for the first time in a generation partook of the Lord's Supper together. A committee was appointed to consider plans for union, these plans were sub- mitted to the various presbyteries, and in 1869 the two Assemblies met and paved the way for the union which was consummated in November, 1869, in Pittsburg. The next year both Assemblies met in the First Church of Philadelphia as one body. At this time the ministers numbered 4238, the churches 4526, and the members 446,561. In 1888 the Cieneral Assembly celebrated in the city of Philadelphia the first century of its organiza- tion. In 1788, at the time of the first Assembly, there were but 419 churches and not more tlian 20,000 commimicants. At the centennial there were 6436 churches reported, and about 700,000 communicants. In 1889 the General Assembly received over- tures from a number of presbyteries asking for some revision of the doctrinal standards. In re- ply that Assembly sent overtures to all the pres- byteries asking wiiether revision were desired, and to what extent. About two-thirds of the pres- byteries expressed a desire for revision, and the Assembly of 1890 appointed a committee on re-