THE CAUSES Leading to the Organization of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. By rev. J. v. STEPHENS, Professor of Ecclesiastical History in Cumberland University. Nashville, TaNW. : Cumberland Presbyterian Publishing House. 1898. EXPI.ANATORY. On controverted questions it has been the purpose of the author to establish his propositions, as far as possible, by citing- authorities wholly nevitral, or those whose ecclesiastical relations would be expected to lead them to advocate the opposite views from those set forth in this treatise. Points proved by such authorities surely cannot be questioned. In order to g^ive the reader an oppor- tunity to interpret the various authors quoted, they have, as far as possible, been allowed to speak in their own words, references being- made to the books and pag-es from which the various quotations have been taken. A list of the books con- sulted by the author in the preparation of this work, is furnished for the benefit of those who may desire to g-ive the question further study. J. V. Stephens. Theological Seminary, Lebanon, Teun. BIBLIOGRAPHY. Alexander, Rev. W. A., A Digest of the Acts and Proceedings of the General Assembly of the Presby- terian Church in the United States. Richmond, 1888. Baird, Samuel J., A Collection of the Acts, Deliverances, and Testimonies of the Supreme Judicatory of the Presbyterian Church. Philadelphia, 1855. Bacon, Leonard Woolsey, A History of American Christianity. New York, 1897. Barnes, Rev. Albert, The Way of Salvation. New York, 1836. Beard, Richard, D.D., Brief Bio- graphical Sketches of Some of the Early Ministers of the Cumberland THE CAUSES. Presbyterian Church. Nashville, 1867. Briggs, Charles Augustus, D.D., American Presbyterianism. New York, 1885. Briggs, Charles Augustus, D.D., Whither? New York, 1889. Briggs, Charles Augustus, D.D., Ed- itor of "How Shall We Revise?" New York, 1890. Buck, Rev. Charles, Theological Dic- tonary. Philadelphia, 1851. Carroll, H. K., LL.D., The Reli- gious Forces of the United States. New York, 1893. CossiTT, Rev. F. R., D.D., The Life and Times of Rev. Finis Ewing. Louisville, 1853. Craighead, Rev. J. G., D.D., Scotch and Irish Seeds in American Soil. Philadelphia, 1878. BIBLIOGRAPHY Crisman, E. B., D.D., Origin and Doctrines of the Cumberland Pres- byterian Church. St. Louis, 1877. Davidson, Rev. Robert, D.D., His- tory of the Presbyterian Church in Kentucky. New York, 1847. Dorchester, Daniel, D.D., Chris- tianity in the United States. New York, 1889. Fisher, George Park, D.D., LL.D., History of the Christian Church. New York, 1894. GiLivETT, Rev. E. H., D.D., History of the Presbyterian Church in the United States. Two volumes. Phil- adelphia, 1864. Hays, Rev. George P., D.D., LL.D., Presbyterians. New York, 1892. Hetherington, Rev. W. M., A.M., History of the Church of Scotland. New York, 1859. tai: CAUSES. Hodge, Rev. Charles, D.D., Constitu- tional History of the Presbyterian Church. Philadelphia, 1851. Hodge, Rev. Charles, D.D., Discus- sions in Church Polity. New York, 1878. Hurst, John Fletcher, D.D., LL.D., Short History of the Christian Church. New York, 1893. McDoNNOLD, B. W., D.D., LL.D, His- tory of the Cumberland Presby- terian Church. Nashville, 1888. Miller, Rev. A. B., D.D., LL.D., Doc- trines and Genius of the Cumber- land Presbyterian Church. Nash- ville, 1892. Minutes of the Cumberland Presby- tery. Printed In the Theological Medium, vols. IX. and X. Nash- ville, 1878, 1879. Minutes of the Cumberland Synod. BIBLIOGRAPHY. Printed in the Theological Medium, vol. X. Nashville, 1879. Mitchell, Alexander F., D.D., LL.D., The Westminster As- sembly, Its History and Standards. Philadelphia, 1897. Moore, Rev. William E., D.D., The Presbyterian Digest. Philadelphia, 1896. Smith, Rev. James, History of the Christian Church from its Origin to the Present Time. Including a History of the Cumberland Presby- terian Church. Nashville, 1835. Thompson, Rev. Robert Ellis, D. D., A History of the Presbyterian Churches in the United States. New York, 1895. Zenos, Rev. Andrew C, D.D., Com- pendium of Church History. Phil- adelphia, 1896. THE CAUSES Leading to the Organiza- tion OF THE Cumberland Presbyterian Church. It has often been claimed that one of the weaknesses of the Protestant Reformation was its own divisions. No family of the Protestant laith has shown a greater tendency to split up into small factions than the Reformed, or Presbj'terian household. This has been both a fault and a virtue of the Presbyterians. The Cumberland Presbyterian Church is one of the 3"0ungest members of this distinguish- ed ecclesiastical family. A great re- sponsibility rests upon those who originate a new Church, thus further 12 TEE CAV8ES. dividing the people of God. The founders of the Cumberland Presbyte- rian Church fully realized this respon- sibility, and refused to become the founders of a new Church until the closing of ecclesiastical doors in their faces, after years of faithful efforts to pursue a different course, compelled them, in the providence of God as they believed, to take this step. Were their reasons of sufficient moment to justify their action ? Before a verdict is returned attention is invited to the following historical facts. It was a series of causes which led to the establishment of the Cumber- land Presbyterian Church. It is not affirmed, however, that they were all of equal importance and weight. On the contrary, they were not ; yet it is necessary to study all these causes THE REVIVAL. 13 and note their several influences on the subject under consideration. /. Tkf first cause zvas the Revival of 1800. — It may seem strange that a revival of religion should divide a Church, but this is the fact in the case. Everything was quiet in the Presby- terian Church of the Cumberland Country until the Rev. James Mc- Gready, who had just arrived there from North Carolina, began his heart- searching, soul-stirring preaching to the cold, indifferent, formal church- members, as well as to the unsaved whether in the Church or out of it. It is beyond the scope of this treatise to consider the Great Awakening of 1800, which is familiar to all students of Church history. It is well known that from the time this great work was fairly begun it met with opposition 14 THE CAUSES. from preachers and members of the Presbyterian Church, and that this opposition became stronger and more thoroughly organized as the gracious work went forward, until finally Church courts were invoked to use their ecclesiastical machinery in crush- ing the life out of the revival party. Of the opposition to the revival Dr. McDonnold (History of the Cumber- land Presbyterian Church, p. 40) says : ''Before any other question arose be- tween the two parties this one had split the churches asunder." In the same connection the historian shows how the revival arrayed preachers into two factions, and divided partic- ular churches. Dr. Robert Davidson (History of the Presbyterian Church in Kentucky, p. 135) affirms that "it was but a part of the Presbyterian THE RETIVAL. 15 clergy of the lower settlements that were engaged in the measures [the revival] already described. These were but five in number, Messrs. Mc- Gready, Hodge, McGee, MciVdow, and Rankin. All the rest of their brethren disapproved and discoun- tenanced the work, from its com- mencement, as spurious." This is not the only instance record- ed in history where revival influence met with opposition from the Presby- terian Church. The Great Awaken- ing of 1740 was opposed by the Old Side party, while the New Side party espoused its cause. In this it has been charged that the revival, or New Side party, became offensive to the anti-revival, or Old Side party. Doubt- less the charge is true. It is i^ot the purpose in this tr^^tise tQ ^pol- 16 THE CAUSES. ogize for the short-comings of the revival party in the Great Awakening of 1740; but beyond doubt there was strong opposition to the revival, as such, in the Presbyterian Church. In 1740, just as in 1800, this opposition to the revival was the entering wedge which finally split the Presbyterian Church. In the first case the revival, or the New Side party, after having an ecclesiastical door slammed in its face, established the Synod of New York, and entered upon independent work ; and so in the latter case the revival party, after having its ecclesi- astical house torn down, and being refused admittance to any other, on honorable terms, which it sought for four years, organized the Cumberland Presbytery, and entered upon inde- pendent work. The chief points of THE REVITAL. 17 difference between these two cases are these: (i) the territory in the Synod of New York was much more prominent than that in the Presby- tery of Cumberland; and (2) there were more strong ministers in favor of the revival in the first case than in the second. If, however, the re- vival and anti-revival parties be com- pared with each other in each of these cases, the showing for the revival par- ty of 1800 is much more favorable. It has been frequently urged that the revival of 1800 ran into great extravagances. This is freely grant- ed. The beneficial results to the peo- ple and the country, and not the ex- travagances, are pointed to as an in- dication of the presence of the Holy Spirit, and the divine blessing upon the work. But whatever may be said 18 THE CAUSES. about the extravagances in 1800, sim- ilar charges were made against the Great Awakening of 1740 in cultured New England and progressive New Jersey. In the latter instance the scholarly Jonathan Edwards was not "dazzled by the incidents of the work, nor distracted by them from the essence of it. His argument for the divineness of the work is not founded on the unusual or extraordi- nary character of it, nor on the im- pressive bodily effects sometimes at- tending it, such as tears, groans, out- cries, convulsions, or faintings, nor on visions or ecstasies or 'impres- sions.' What he claims is that the work may be divine, 7iotwiihsta)iding the presence of these incidents." (Bacon's American Christianity, p. 1 59-) THE REVIVAL. 19 Indeed, so strongly had the Old Side party charged extravagances in the work of 1740, that when the re- union between the Old and the New Side parties was efifected in 1758, on the demand of the New Side party, the Plan of Union included the fol- lowing : " When sinners are made sensible of their lost condition and absolute inability to recover them- selves, are enlightened in the knowl- edge of Christ and convinced of his ability and willingness to save, and upon gospel encouragements do choose him for their Savior, and re- nouncing their own righteousness in point of merit, depend upon his im- puted righteousness for their justifi- cation before God, and on his wisdom and strength for guidance and sup- port ; when upon these apprehensions 20 THE CAUSES. and exercises their souis are comfort- ed, notwithstanding all their past guilt, and rejoice in God through Jesus Christ; when they hate and bewail their sins of heart and life, delight in the laws of God without exception, reverently and diligently attend his ordinances, become humble and self- denied, and make it the business of their lives to please and glorify God and do good to their fellow men ; this is to be acknowledged as a gracious work of God, even though it should be attended with unusual bodily commo- tions or some more exceptionable cir- cumstances, by means of infirmity, temptations, or remaining corrup- tions ; and wherever religious appear- ances are attended with the good ef- fects above mentioned, we desire to rejoice in and thank God for them." THE REVITAL. 21 (Briggs' American Presb3^terianism. p. 318.) The promoters of the Revival of 1800 could well afford to stand on the Plan of Union adopted by the Old and the New Side parties in forming the re-united Presbyterian Church, forty years before, and to plead the good re- sults of the work as their justification. Dr. E. H. Gillett (History of the Pres- byterian Church, vol. I., p. 422) says : " The Great Revival, which marks the opening of the present century, with all its extravagances and excesses, ef- fectually arrested the universal tide of skepticism and irreligion. It began when religion was at the lowest ebb, and spread over a region that to super- ficial view was proof against its influ- ence." What greater proof is needed that God was in the movement ? THE CAUSES. II, The 7iext cause leadiyig to the es- tablishment of the C^imberland Presby- terian Church was the lack of adapta- tion in the Presbyteria^i Church to the nezu situation iri a wilderness country. —The Rev. Richard Beard, D.D., (Bi- ographical Sketches, pp. 32, 33) says : " From the extensive spread of the revival, and the enlargement and multiplication of congregations, a great want of ministerial labor soon began to be felt. Another thing is to be said, which may as well be said plainly: A considerable portion of the Presbyterian ministry were not adapted in their spirit and habits to the wants of the people. This state- ment is not made for the purpose of stirring up strife, which w^as certainly bitter enough in its day ; but for the purpose of presenting those facts ADAPTATION. 23 with which history should deal. The prevailing religious preference in the West, was Presbyterian. Presbyterian agencies were mainly employed in the revival. The new congregations wished chiefly to become and to remain Presbyterians; but there were not Presbyterian ministers enough, who sympathized with the new condition of things, to supply them with the word and ordinances." Dr. R. E. Thompson (History of the Presbyterian Churches in the United States, p. 70) writes : "A second difficulty in the Church's way was the rigidity of her polity in the matter of ministerial education. She was right in setting up a high ideal, and has benefited all the Churches of America by this. She was WTong in refusing to recognize that there ^re 24 THE CAUSES. times when a higher expediency de- mands a temporary relaxation of the rule. It was a just requirement for a fairly educated and fully intelligent community, which enjoyed the pros- perity and the leisure of a country not newly settled. On the frontier, however, and among those who were enduring the hardships and privations of a new settlement, with but few op- portunities for even the simplest edu- cation, the rigid exaction of a col- legiate education for every candidate for the ministry was a fatal embarrass- ment." "The General Assembly," he continues, "judged of the needs of the frontiers by the standard of Philadelphia, and insisted (the people said) on ' making men gentlemen be- fore it made them ministers.' It thus left its natural adherents to the more ADAPTATIOX. 25 adaptable ministrations of the Meth- odists and Baptists." Dr. Gillett (Vol. I., pp. 403, 401) sa5's : " Among such a people, the recluse scholar, with his logical, pol- ished discourse read from the manu- script, was not needed. Erudition and refinement were not in demand. The hardy backwoodsman required a new type of preacher, — one who could shoulder axe or musket with his con- gregation, preach in shirt-sleeves and take the stump for a pulpit. Men of this stamp could not be manufactured to order in colleges. They must of necessity be trained up on the field. They were for the most part thus trained — many of them after their arrival in the region ; but it was wise and necessary that they should not despise learning." Professor Zenos 36 THE CAUSES. (Church History, p. 330) states that as a result of the Great Revival in Kentucky " the growth by accessions of conversions was so rapid that edu- cated ministers could not be provided for all the churches." The historians, thus quoted, all of whom are Presbyterians, and two of whom were writing exclusively on Presbyterian history, make the fol- lowing points: (i) The growth of the churches in the Cumberland Country, as a result of the revival, was so great that enough " educated ministers could not be provided for all the churches." (2) The peculiari- ties of this country demanded '' a new type of preacher." Ministers of the proper " stamp " " could not be manu- factured to order in colleges. They must, of necessity, be trained up on ADAPTATIOX. 27 the field." The fact should not be overlooked that there were no col- leges in the Cumberland Country at this early day; so ministers "trained up on the field" had to be trained oth- erwise than in a college. (3) The General Assembly "judged of the needs of the frontiers by the standard of Philadelphia." This led to " the rigid exaction," which amounted to " a fatal embarrassment." The Presbytery of Transylvania, organized in 1786, " from its origin," endeavored to meet this difficulty by appointing " Catechists." After the beginning of the revival, according to Dr. Davidson, " the demand for preaching soon exceeded the ability of the ordained ministers to supply it." Then by the advice of the Rev. David Rice, the oldest and most in- 28 THE CAUSES. fluential Presbyterian minister in Kentucky, the revival party, " in accordance with the usage of the Presbytery of Transylvania," says Dr. Davidson, (p. 224), selected " a few in- telligent and zealous laymen." and licensed them " as Catechists and traveling exhorters." Probably the opposition to the revival had led the revival party to depart from " the usage ot the Presbytery of Transyl- vania from its origin " until Mr. Rice advised them to follow *' the usage of the Presbytery." Be this as it may, when the anti-revival party made ob- jection to this custom which had been " the usage of the Presbytery of Transylvania from its origin," Mr. Rice wrote a letter to the General Assembly on the subject. While the Assembly's answer was guarded, yet, ADAPTATIOX. 29 according to Dr. Davidson (p. 230), it admitted that " when the field is too extensive, Catechists, like those of primitive times, may be found use- ful assistants. ... If possessed of uncommon talents, diligent in stud}^ and promising usefulness, they might in time purchase to themselves a good degree, and be admitted in regular course to the holy ministry." Thus the Transylvania Presbytery by its usage "from the beginning;" the advice of Mr. Rice ; and on that ad- vice, the practice of the revival party ; and the letter of the Assembly to Mr. Rice, all worked toward supplying this new country not only with a suf- ficient number of gospel laborers, but also with the " new type of preacher," which the country needed. This ad- vice of the Assembly was in agree- 30 THE CAUSES. ment with the practice of the Church in Scotland at an earlier day, in a like necessity. The Rev. W. M. Hether- ington, A.M., (History of the Church of Scotland, p. 54) speaking of the kinds of ofi&cers in the Church says : "This latter class consisted of the most pious persons that could be found, who, having received a com- mon education, were able to read to their more ignorant neighbors, though not qualified for the ministry. When the readers were found to have dis- charged their duty well, and to have increased their own knowledge, they were encouraged to add a few plain exhortations to the reading of the Scriptures ; and then they were term- ed Exhorters. If they still continued to improve, they might finally be ad- mitted to the ministry." After the ADAPTATION. 31 enumeration of several things of which the foregoing is one, the author (p. 57) continues : '* Such were the fundamental principles, and the chief points of the government and discipline of the Church of Scotland as stated in the Book of Discipline, drawn up by John Knox and the most eminent of the Scottish reform- ers ; approved by the General Assem- bly ; and subscribed by a majority of the nobles, and inferior barons, and gentry, composing the privy council of the kingdom." But in Kentucky, early in the Nine- teenth century, this attempt at adap- tation to a new country with peculiar needs was cut short by ecclesiastical courts through the influence of the anti-revival party. It is strange how many writers 32. THE CAUSL.^. have fallen into the error so frequent- ly made, and frequently corrected, that the Cumberland Presbyterian Church was organized because of a dissent from the Presbyterian stand- ard of ministerial education, as such. That the question of education was involved to the extent of adapting the Church to a new country in peculiar circumstances is admitted, but that there was a desire to lower the stand- ard of ministerial education, for its own sake, historical facts positivelj^ contradict. The policy of the revival party is fully justified by the Presby- terian historian, who says that owing to the peculiar needs of this new country " the rigid exaction of a col- lege education for every candidate for the ministry was a fatal embarrass- ment " to the Presbyterian Church. ADAPTATION. 33 At the close of the Revolutionary War the Presbyterian Church was not surpassed by any denomination in its opportunities for rapid growth, and ability to keep pace with the develop- ment of the nation. No Church ex- erted a greater influence in achieving our national independence. It pos- sessed many advantages over its Bap- tist and Methodist competitors, espec- ially among the Scotch and Scotch- Irish elements, which were so large a part of the population in Kentucky and Tennessee. The struggle in the Cumberland Country on the part of the revival party, was the attempt of Presbyteri- anism to adapt itself to the pioneer life in a wilderness country. Had the Presbyterian Church, instead of trying to maintain the " standard of Phila- 3 34 THE CAUSES. delphia " on the frontiers, adapted it- self in educational requirements, and evangelism, to the new situation, it would to-day bej^ond doubt be the largest Protestent body in these United States. "Had the Church," says Dr. Thompson (p. 69), "been able to maintain this position in the nation's religious life, and had it even been able to retain in its membership the children of the great Ulster immigra- tion, and to continue to assimilate the New England overflow, it would now take rank, not as the third, but as the first of the great Protestent com- munions of America. The ranks of the Baptists and the Methodists, of the Episcopalians and the Disciples, have been swollen at its expense. Of the descendants of the Ulster Presby- ADAPTATION. 35 terians in America probably not much above a third are to-day Presbyterian. However large the membership and extensive the influence of the Church, therefore, it cannot be called success- ful even in holding its own, much less in aggressive power." Dr. Leonard Woolsey Bacon (Amer- ican Christianity, p. 332) accounts for the failure of the Presbyterian Church to keep pace with the growth of the country, in the following paragraph : " The Presbyterians were heavily cumbered for advance work by tradi- tions and rules which they were rig- idly reluctant to yield or bend, even when the reason for the rule was su- perseded by higher reasons. The ar- gument for a learned ministry is doubtless a weighty one ; but it does not suffice to prove that when college- 36 THE CAUSLS. bred men are not to be had it is better that the people have no minister at all. There is virtue in the rule of ministerial parity ; but it should not be allowed to hinder the Church from employing in humbler spiritual func- tions men who fall below the pre- scribed standard. This the Church, n course of time, discovered, and in- .stituted a * minor order ' of ministers, under the title of colporteurs. But it was timidly and tardily done, and therefore ineffectively. The Presby- terians lost their place in the skir- mish-line." Adaptation on the educational question was a difficulty encountered by the Presbyterian Church in the Great Awakening of 1740, as well as in the Great Awakening of 1800. In the former, as in the latter, there were ADAPTATION. those who stood for the " rigid -'ex- action of a college education for every candidate for the ministry." In the former, as in the latter, as Dr. G. P. Hays (Presbyterians, p. 90) well says, there were those " equally anxious for a proper education ; but instead of doing nothing because they could not accomplish the impracticable, insisted upon doing the best they could under the circumstances." In the former, students from Neshaminy academy could not be admitted to the ministry by the Presbytery until a Synodical Committee passed on their qualifica- tions; in the latter, training in the Spring Hill academy did not protect a young man from a Synodical Com- mission. If the Cumberland Presbyterian Church became a separate body on 38 THE CAUSES. account of a difiference with the mo- ther Church on the question of minis- terial education, the New Side Synod of New York was organized in 1745 for a similar reason. Education, though not the prime cause in either case, entered largely into both. But it has been said that the educational controversy is not the only reason for the existence of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Two of the young men, Thomas Nelson and Samuel Hodge, who were placed un- der the prohibition of the Synodical Commission, and one of whom at least was not as well qualified as other young men who were placed under the same prohibition, came before the Transylvania Presbytery, and, ac- cording to Dr. Davidson (p. 251), " after a long and particular examina- ADAPTATION. 39 tion, the Presbytery were satisfied with regard to their doctrinal sound- ness, their aptness to teach, their adoption of the Confession, and their solemn promise to conform to the rules of the Church. Their former license and ordination were unani- mously confirmed, and they were au- thorized to exercise all the functions of the sacred office." These two young men, neither of whom was up to the standard, were allowed to go on with their work. There is no violence done in supposing that the same thing would have been true of the other young men had they " adopted the Confession," and prom- ised " to conform to the rules of the Church." Dr. F. R. Cossitt, who made a care- ful study of the whole subject years 40 THE CAUSES. ago, believed that the main difficulty was in the fact that the Kentucky Synod, finding it had been misled by the anti-revival party (Life of Kwing, p. 169), "deemed the submission of the young men to their wrong meas- ures indispensable to the justification of their Commission's proceedings. . . . Submission, nothing less than unqualified submission, was in all cases demanded, with all the un- changeableness of the laws of the Medes and Persians, notwithstanding this had been again and again re- fused." There is no doubt that there is a great deal of truth in Dr. Cossitt's position. Messrs. Nelson and Hodge, who had been licensed and ordained by the afterward dissolved Cumber- land Presbytery, without any adequate examination as to their literary qual- ADAPTATION, 41 ification, were allowed to go on, their licensure and ordination b}' the dis- solved Presbytery holding good, on their " adopting the Confession " and promising "to conform to the rules of the Church." This is evidence that the revival was a stronger influ- ence in bringing about separate or- ganization than the educational issue. The foregoing is sufficient to prove that there was something more seri- ous than the educational difficulty, but if additional testimony is wanting it can be found in the following cases : In 1758, before the organization of the Assembly (Presbyterian Digest, p. 368), " several very earnest applica- tions were made to the Synod by Welsh people in different parts, rep- resenting that many among them un- derstood not the English tongue, and 42 THE CAUSES. unless they have a pastor capable of speaking in their own language they must live entirely destitute of ordin- ances ; that a certain Mr. John Grif- fith came some years ago from Wales, with good certificates of his Christian knowledge and piety, though he has not had a liberal education, and of being there licensed to preach the gospel ; that he has preached among them to their great satisfaction, and therefore pray the Synod to ordain him to the ministry." The Synod decided that " as the circumstances of that people are singular, and no other way appears in which they can enjoy ordinances, the Synod agree that the said Mr. John Griffith, though he has not the measure of school learning usually required, and which they judge to be ordinarily requisite, ADAPTATIO^\ 43 be ordained to the work of the min- istry." In their Circular Letter some of the members of the original Cumberland Presbytery, in reference to '* licensing unlearned men," said : "The Presby- tery not only plead the exception made in the discipline in extraordin- ary cases, but also the example of a number of the Presbyteries in diffier- ent parts of the United States. Among the many instances of this kind that might be mentioned are the following, viz. : Mr. Beck, who was received by the Presbytery of North Carolina ; Mr. Bloodworth, by Orange ; Mr. Moore, by Hanover; Mr. Mar- quis, by Redstone, and Mr. Kemper and Mr. Abell, by Transylvania Pres- b)^tery. ... In short, the ma- jority of the Cumberland Presbytery 44 THE CAUSES. were of the opinion, that the com- pilers of the Confession of Faith and Discipline of our Church, never in- tended it to be considered an infalli- able standard by which the Holy Ghost must be limited, when he calls men to that sacred office." (History of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, by the Rev. James Smith, p. 678.) It is evident that exceptions to the regular standard has been made by several Presbyteries, and more than once sanctioned by the highest Church court. The Presbytery of Transyl- vania, as has been shown, made at least two exceptions— one of these, Mr. Kemper, who was at first ap- pointed as a Catechist, was ordained and settled as pastor in Cincinnati. Therefore, the conclusion must be ADAPTATION. 45 that another and a more powerful rea- son than the educational question en- tered into the controversy. It is true that the new Cumberland Presbjlery adopted a modified stand- ard on ministerial education, which was a sensible course, Presbyterian historians being witnesses. But this did not mean that the founders of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church were opposed to classical culture. Be- fore the independent organization, the revival party, in a letter to the Gen- eral Assembly (Smith, p. 624) said : " vVe never have embraced the idea of an unlearned ministry. The pecu- liar state of our country and the ex- tent of the revival, reduced us to the necessity of introducing more of that description than we otherwise would. We sincerely esteem a learned and 46 THE CAUSES. pious ministry, and hope the Church will never be left destitute of such an ornament." "The very first year," writes Dr. McDonnold (p. 60), "of that Presby- tery's existence it addressed a circu- lar letter to the churches under its care, in which it told those churches, and all others concerned in the case, to have no fears of any laxness in educational requirements ; declaring its purpose to require a classical edu- cation in all cases where that was practicable, and when in exceptional cases and emergencies that was dis- pensed with, in no case to dispense with a thorough English education." From the very beginning, the sub- ject of education received special at- tention by the Presbytery. Funds were raised to assist worthy young ADAPTATION. 47 men, and a circulating library was purchased for their use in which were works on astronomy, logic, philoso- phy, Christian evidence, etc. (Min- utes of Cumberland Presbytery, in Theological Medium, Vol. IX., p. 481.) The Rev. Finis Ewing, one of the fathers of the Church, was edu- cated at Spring Hill Academy, near Nashville. While he was not a col- lege graduate, he was by no means an ignorant man. He showed his ap- preciation of educational advantages by establishing, largely out of his own means, the first classical school in his part of the state ; and later by giving his son, who was looking to the ministry, a thorough education. Within twelve years after the organi- zation of the independent Presbytery, the Cumberland Presbyterians were 48. THE CAUSES. contemplating the founding of a col- lege, and in 1826, four years later, which was three years before the General Assembly was organized, those founders of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, " who traveled in homespun clothing made by their wives, and carried text-books in their saddle-bags while they went seeking the lost among the pioneer settle- ments, established, through the Gen- eral Synod, a college for the educa- tion of young preachers." (McDon- nold, p. 61.) In all these early days the homes of many of the preachers were the homes of the young men preparing for the ministry, and the older minis- ters were the teachers of their young brethren. The theory of the Church was to adapt its methods to the times. ADAPTATIOX. 49 and yet keep its ministry to the front in qualifications, as leaders of the people. Notwithstanding the small beginning of the Cumberland Presby- terian Church, and the poverty of its membership, according to the census report of 1890, the communicants of this faith in Kentucky and Tennes- see, in whose bounds the Cumberland Country was located, outnumbered the total communicants of all the other Presbyterian bodies in those States, by about 14,000. The aggregate Cum- berland Presbyterian membership was greater in 1890, by over 27,000, than the aggregate membership of all the other Presbyterian Churches in the following six States : Alabama, Ar- kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennes- see and Texas. In Tennessee, alone , Cumberland Presbyterians exceeded 50 THE CAUSES. all Other Presbyterians by about 22,000. American Presbyterianism is richer to- day by over 200,000 Cumberland Pres- byterian communicants, besides thous- ands who have found homes in other Presbyterian Communions than it would be, had not the founders of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church adapted Presbyterianism to the needs of a frontier country. It does not fall within the present scope to dis- cuss the educational status of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church to- day. The well informed do not need to be told that the policy of the Church has been to keep abreast of the times. How well she has suc- ceeded in accomplishing this under- taking, her position in the American Presbyterian sisterhood may answer. But before dismissing this topic ADAPTATION. 51 there are two other things that must be mentioned. The conservatism of the Southern Presbyterian Church is well understood, therefore any dis- position in this staid Communion to modify its standard on ministerial education, at this late day, is certainly significant. In 1885, the Presbytery of Chesapeake overtured the General Assembly to send down to the Pres- byteries an amendment which would so modify the standards that the Pres- byteries might, at their discretion, " set apart to the gospel ministry godly and experienced men, well versed in the English Bible, and in the Standards of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, apt to teach, and evidently called to the ministry by the Lord through his Spirit and providence. L* Answer 52 THE CAUSE.^ The Assembl}^ declines to comply with the request, ample provision for extraordinary cases being made in Chap. VL, Sec. VI., Art. VI.. of the Form of Government." (Alexander's Digest, p. 30.) This article referred to in the Form of Government reads as follows : " No candidate, except in extraordinary cases, .shall be li- censed unless he shall have completed the usual course of academical stud- ies," etc. From 1869 to 1879, by the action of the Assembly of the South- ern Presbyterian Church, it was the law of that Church for *' exhorters " to be appointed " under control of the Presbytery." In 1 87 1 the Northern General As- sembly instructed its Board of Publi- cation to select for its colportage work "such persons as may also be ADAPTATION. S3 suitable for Sabbath school missiona- ries, and instruct them to establish Sabbath schools in destitute localities, under the supervision of the Presby-^ teries." (Presbyterian Digest, p. 440.) In 1882 the Assembly instructed the Board in reference to the work of the colporteurs that " the main emphasis is to be laid upon the work of relig- ious visitation, and the Sabbath school work expected from them among the spiritually destitute." (Presbyterian Digest, p. 559.) This is what Dr. Ba- con calls "a 'minor order' of minis- ters, under the title of colporteurs," but which he says " was timidly and tardily " instituted. If the Southern Presbyterian Church, as late as 1869, found a need for " exhorters " ; and the Northern Presbyterian Church, as late as 1871, 54 THE CAUSES. felt constrained to institute this " mi- nor order" of ministers for work "among the spiritually destitute," surely neither of these Churches at this late day would condemn the in- duction of men into the ministry, who were not classical scholars, in the early years of the century, in a coun- try where just such men must minis- ter "among the spiritually destitute," or these " spiritually destitute " must remain " spiritually destitute." Only a few years ago, that prince among Presbyterian ministers. Dr. T. L. Cuyler, said : " Three truths are as solid and indisputable as the rocks on yonder mountain. First, we must have more preachers of the gospel of salvation. Second, when the Holy Spirit moves a Christian man to preach Christ Jesus we must not tie AD APT ATI ox. 55 him fast with ecclesiastical red tape. Third, when ministers enough cannot be got into the pulpit by long regula- tion roads we must open shorter roads." (Miller's Cumberland Pres- byterian Church, p. 311.) If the con- dition of things in the Presbyterian Church led Dr. Cuyler to use the fore- going language a few years ago, what would he have said on the same ques- tion, had he been a member of the Kentucky Synod in 1805, when this Synod dissolved the Cumberland Pres- bytery for pursuing the very course which he here points out as the proper one, under the circumstances ? In 1867 a Joint-Committee from the Southern Presbj'terian and the Cum- berland Presbyterian General Assem- blies met and discussed terms of or- ganic union. The Cumberland Pres- 56 THE CAUSERS. byterian Committee proposed to sur- render the Church name and the standard of ministerial education, pro- vided the Presbyterian Committee would agree to a modification in the phraseology of the Westminster Stand- ards on " those points which pertain to the subject of fore-ordination, and its cognate doctrines." On the subject of ministerial education the Presby- terian Committee expressed the senti- ment that " there is no difference be- tween us; that whatever may have been the views and the policy of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in that early day, and under the exigen- cies of the times, the sentiment of the Church is now unanimous as to the necessity of an educated ministry, in the sense in which our standards make it obligatory." (Alexander's ADAPTATION. 57 Digest, p. 440.) It is hardly necessary to say, in this connection, that " the views and policy " of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church on this subject were exactly the same in 1867 that they were from the beginning. So this Committee of the Southern Pres- byterian General Assembly being wit- ness, the question of ministerial edu- cation is not, and has not been, the bugbear that it has often been made to appear. The Presbyterian Com- mittee spoke of " the exciting times," in the early part of the century, growing out of the revival ; and ex- pressed its judgment that " in such a time there is a natural tendency in the minds of men to extremes, and even the best men do not act with the same sober judgment, and in the same prayerful deliberation, as when under 58 THE CAUSES. less exciting influences." But grant- ing that "the exciting times" led good men to act with less " sober judgment," and less " praj'erful delib- eration " than the gravit^^ of the sit- uation demanded, thus leading " the minds of men to extremes " on the matter of ministerial education in those bygone years ; yet the difference between these two Churches on this subject does not account for the fail- ure to effect organic union between them over thirty years ago. In view of this scrap of history no intelligent Southern Presbyterian, who claims to be familiar with the doings of his General Assembly, can afford to re- peat the ill-founded charge that the existence of the Cumberland Presby- terian Church to-day is due to a policy of an uneducated ministry. ADAPTATIOX. 59 To an intelligent and discrimina- ting public, the action of the fathers of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church on the matter of education, on the frontiers a hundred years ago, is open for inspection. The Cumber- land Presbyterian Church has no fear as to what the verdict of the well-in- formed public would be, on the neces- sity and wisdom of the course pur- sued by the founders of this Church amid their surroundings in the wil- derness. While the fathers of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, adapted themselves to the needs of their day ; they at the same time fell upon the happy expedient which makes the sentiment of the Church they founded " unanimous as to the necessity of an educated ministry, in the sense in which" the Southern 60 THE CAUSES. Presbj^terian " standards make it obli- gatory." But Presbyterian historians show that the Presbyterian Church failed to adapt itself to the situation in the Southwest early in the Nineteenth century, and that this failure was the great weakness of the Church. How- ever, the course of both the Southern and Northern General Assemblies about the j-ear 1870, as has already been shown, is another evidence as to the wisdom of the course of our fathers. Besides the deliverances of the high- est Church courts, there are many thoughtful Presbyterians who believe that, even now, their standard of ministerial education would be better adapted to their needs it it were modi- fied somewhat in the same way that the Cumberland Presbyterians modi- fied it long ago. DOCTRINE. 61 While this question has been very briefly stated, it is evident that the question involved was one of much greater magnitude than that of educa- tion, in itself. It was one of that broad character of adaptation to the people and the times. The failure of the Presbyterian Church to adjust itself to the situation, was its " fatal embarrassment," and caused it not to be " successful even in holding its own, much less in aggressive power." Because of this the " Presbyterians lost their place in the skirmish line." In the light of these facts Cumberland Presbyterians are willing for the pub- lic to judge of the wisdom of the course of their fathers. ///. The final and principal cause leading to the estabtishrne^it of the Cumber layid Presbyterian Church was 62 THE CAUSES. one of doctrine. — It has not been af- firmed that all the revival preachers were not in harmony with the West- minster Confession of Faith. Mr. McGready and some others doubtless were. When the time for indepen- dent action came these made terms for themselves with the mother Church. But it is evident that a large number of these revival preach- ers did not accept the Westminster Confession without reservations. The Adopting Act of 1729 provided for this. Dr. Briggs (How Shall We Re- vise? p. 31) says: "The American Presbyterian Church, in 1729, adopted the Westminster Standards in a cath- olic spirit. They adopted not the whole doctrine, but the system of doctrine ; not all the articles, but the essential and necessary articles. DOCTRINE. 63 . . . The term adopted in 1788 is as follows : ' Do you sincerely receive and adopt the Confession of Faith of this Church as containing the vSystem of doctrine taught in the Holy Script- ures ? ' This is not so clear as it ought to be. It might be made more definite by inserting its historic inter- pretation into it." The Adopting Act, of the Synod of Philadelphia, in 1729, referred to above, among other things, contained the following : "And we do also agree that all the Presbyteries within our bounds shall always take care not to admit any candidate of the ministry into the exercise of the sacred func- tion but what declares his agreement in opinion with all the essentials and necessary articles of said Confession, either by subscribing the said Con- 64 TEE CAUSES. fession of Faith and Catechisms, or by a verbal declaration of their as- sent thereto, as such minister or can- didate shall think best. And in case any minister of this Synod, or any candidate for the ministry, shall have any scruple with respect to any article or articles of said Confession or Cate- chisms, he shall at the time of his making said declaration declare his sentiments to the Presbytery or Synod, who shall, notwithstanding, admit him to the exercise of the ministry within our bounds, and to ministerial communion, if the Synod or Presby- tery shall judge his scruples or mis- take to be only about articles not es- sential and necessary in doctrine, worship or government. But if the Synod or Presbytery shall judge such ministers or candidates errone- DOCTRINE. 65 ous in essential and necessary articles of faith, the Synod or Presbytery shall declare them uncapable of communion with them. And the Synod do solemnly agree, that none of us will traduce or use any oppro- brious terms of those that diJBfer from us in these extra-essential and not necessary points of doctrine, but treat them with the same friendship, kind- ness, and brotherly love, as if they had not differed from us in such sentiments." (Thompson, pp. 331, 332.) Dr. Briggs says : "The first rupture brought on by violence was a severe lesson to the strict subscrip- tionists and narrow dogmatists, and the reunion re-established the whole Church on the platform of the orig- inal Adopting Act. When the Con- stitution was adopted, the American 66 THE CAUSES. Presbyterian Church adhered to its original position, and there it stands to-day after another century of prog- ress, disruption, reunion, and marvel- ous growth." (American Presbyteri- anism, p. 373.) Thus the " catholic spirit" of T729 was maintained by the Assembly in 1788. The Rev. Albert Barnes (Way of Salvation, p. 125) said: "The act of Synod [i. e.. Adopting Act] was the basis of the union in 1758; and this proviso has never been withdrawn or repealed ; and is, in fact, an essential part of the Standards of the Presby- terian Church. In that article, pro- vision is made for a difference of opinion which may be known, and admitted and tolerated, in the Presby- teries, where that difference does not amount to a denial of what is ' essen. DOCTRINE. 67 fia/ or necessary in doctrine, zvorship, or government' It is the inalienable privilege and right of each and every Presbytery to judge in this matter ; and this right is secured, no less by the constitntion of the Church, than by the word of God." Thus it seems that even after the organization of the Assembly the idea of liberal subscription had not passed away. Even to this day, according to Dr. Briggs (How Shall We Revise? pp. 29, 30), "the term of subscription means one thing in Western Pennsyl- vania, another thing in central New York. It is one thing in Baltimore, another thing in our metropolis [New York]. Presbyterianism changes its complexion as we pass from State to State and from city to city. The real test of orthodoxy in the Presbyteries 68 THE CAUSES. is not the Westminster Confession in its historic sense — is not the term of subscription in its historical meaning. It is the system of doctrine held by the majority of the ministers, and the term of subscription as interpreted by them. It is in general the systems of doctrine of American dogmaticians, with such measure of departure there- from as the majority of a Presbytery may deem it wise to allow." It appears that the Rev. Barton W. Stone, who was a contemporary of the revival party in the Transylvania Presbytery and who was ordained by this Presbytery, made certain reserva- tions in adopting the Westminster Confession. Dr. E. B. Crisman (Ori- gin and Doctrines, p. 79) quotes from the autobiography of Mr. Stone as follows : *' In this State of mind, the DOCTRINE. 69 day appointed for my ordination found me. I had determined to tell the Presbytery honestly the state of my mind, and to request them to defer my ordination until I should be better informed and settled. The Presbytey came together, and a large congrega- tion attended. Before its constitu- tion, I took aside the two pillars of it, Doctor James Bly the and Robert Mar- shall, and made known to them my difficulties, and that I had determined to decline ordination at that time. They labored, but in vain, to remove my difficulties and objections. They asked me how far I was willing to re- ceive the Confession. I told them, as far as I saw it consistent with the word of God. They concluded that was sufficient. I went into Presby- tery, and when the question was pro- 70 THE CAUSES. prosed, ' Do you receive and adopt the Confession of Faith, as contain- ing the system of doctrines taught in the Bible?' I answered aloud, so that the whole congregation might hear, ' I do, as far as I see it consistent with the word of God.' No objection being made, I w^as ordained." So these revival preachers, in mak- ing exceptions to certain articles, un- less the Presbytery decided that these articles were " essential or neces- sary in doctrine, worship, or govern- ment," were only exercising their right of adopting " the Westminster Confession in its historic sense." Many before them had exercised the same right, and some after them claimed the same privilege. In 1829 the Rev. Albert Barnes preached a .sermon on "The Way of Salvation." DOCTRINE. 71 The more strict subscriptionists took exception to his teaching, and the re- sult was that Mr. Barnes was placed on trial in 1830. Not satisfied with the result, the strict subscriptionists, in 1835, again brought Mr. Barnes to trial, this time on charges based on his Notes on Romans, though the charges were substantially the same as in the former instance. The case was finally settled by the Assembly in 1836, in favor of Mr. Barnes. His strong plea was subscription to the Westminster Confession " in its his- toric sense." Truly does Dr. Briggs (How^ Shall We Revise ? p. 29) say : "The battle in the Presbyterian Church since 1729 has been a battle between loose subscription and strict subscription." The battle which the fathers of the Cumberland Presby- THE CAUSES. terian Church fought was one of this character. They stood for liberal subscription, while the anti-revival party stood for strict subsciption ; and had the founders of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church been allowed that broad liberty of liberal subscrip- tion for which the Adopting Act of 1729 provided, and which many Pres- byterians before them had claimed, the Cumberland Presbyterian Church would never have been organized. Its birth was a strong protest against strict subscription. The revival preachers could not require of the young men strict sub- cription while they themselves gener- all}' held to liberal subscription, so the young men were allowed to adopt the Confession of Faith, making excep- tions to certain articles, according to DOCTRINE. the Adopting Act of 1729. The revival party, iu a letter to the Assembly, in 1807, (Smith, p. 622) said : " You will be told that they [the young men] were not regularly licensed, having only received the Confession of Faith partially, but the fears which caused that exception, rose merely from the concise manner in which the highly mysterious doctrine of divine decrees is there expressed, which was thought led to fatality." The " Circular Letter " sent out by the new Cumberland Presbytery, ex- plaining their reasons for existence, and their position, (Smith, p. 677) stated " that those men who were licensed, both learned and unlearned, were only required to adopt the Con- fession of Faith partially ; that is, as far as they believed it to agree with 74 THE CAUSES. the word of God." Dr. Davidson (p. 227) writes that the young men " expressed their willingness to re- ceive and adopt the Confession of Faith of the Church, with a single exception, but that exception was very significant. They professed to believe that the idea of fatality was there taught, under the high and mysterious doctrines of election and reprobation, and objected accord- ingly." Again, the same author (p. 255) says : " It was not the want of classical learning, but unsoimdyiess 171 doctrine, the adoption of the Con- fession with reservations, that created the grand difficulty ; and the removal of this hindrance would have wonder- fully facilitated the accommodation of the other. The able historian [the Rev. James Smith] of the Cumbey- DOCTRINE. land Presbyterians himself admits this in several places." Dr. David- son (p. 256, note) quotes approvingly from Mr. Smith as follows : " More- over, it was the adherence of the young men to these views, that pro- duced the final separation of the two parties ; for all the young men after- wards proposed to the Transylvania Presbytery, that they, as a bod}', would submit to a re-examination, with the understanding that they should be indulged in their conscien- tious scruples on this subject." It has already been pointed out that Thomas Nelson and Samuel Hodge, who had been ordained by the Cumberland Presbytery, came before the Transylvania Presbj^tery, and on their making strict subscrip- tion to the Confession of Faith, the 76 THE CAUSED. Presbytery decided that their ordina- tion should stand, notwithstanding their deficiencies in literary attain- ments. On this point, Dr. Davidson quotes Mr. Smith with approbation as follows : "As the literary attain- ments of Mr. Hodge were inferior to those of most of the young men licensed or ordained by Cumberland Presbytery, we are warranted in the conclusion, that the only very serious difliculty existing between the two bodies consisted in the rejection, by the members of the Council, of what they deemed fatality." The Synod of Kentucky referred the cases of the revival men to the Presbytery of Transylvania for adju- dication. The Presbj'tery announced the following in reference to the young men: "With relation to those young DOCTRINE. 77 men licensed and ordained by the aforesaid Presbytery, we do humbly conceive that a formal examination of them respecting doctrine afid disci- pline is indispensable, under present circumstances, for us to be satisfied, as a Presbytery, respecting their sen- timents ; and consequently, whether we are agreed in point of doctrine, without which a union would be in- consistent, and afford no security for future peace and harmon}^ in the Church. From hence it may be easily inferred, that an unequivocal adop- tion of our Confession of Faith is also indispensable. This would be only placing them on the same grounds on which we ourselves stand, and any other could not be advisable or desir- able to either those young men or ourselves. For them to adopt the ^8 TEE CAUSEf:'. Confession of Faith only in par^, and we the whole, would, by no means, in our opinion, effect a union according to truth and reality ; and we conceive a nominal union would not prove a sufficient security against future diffi- culties ; and whatever inference may be drawn by others, respecting what is called fatality, from our views, as expressed in the Confession of Faith, respecting the divine sovereignty, in the decrees of predestination and elec- tion, we conceive that no such con- clusion can follow from the premises as there laid down." (Smith, pp. 631, 632.) The foregoing quotation from the deliverance of the Presbytery of Tran- sylvania clearly proves that in March, 1808, the said Presbytery regarded the difficulty as being one of doctrme DOCTRINE. 79 atid discipline, and not one of educa- tion in any sense worthy of mention. Dr. Thompson (p. 74) speaking of the young men, says that they were not " able to give an entire assent to the teaching of the Westminster Confes- sion, especially on the subjects of predestination and perseverance." In 1824 there appeared from the press a pamphlet bearing this title : "A Brief History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination of the Proceedings of the Synod of Kentucky, relative to the late Cumberland Presbytery, in which is brought to view a brief ac- count of the origin and present stand- ing of the people usually denominated Cumberland Presbyterians ; as taken from official documents and facts in possession of Synod. Published by order of Synod at their sessions held 80 THE CAUSES. in Harrodsburg, October, 1822." On page 26 of this pamphlet, the Synod of Kentucky makes this very interest- ing statement : " It is moreover due to the cause of truth and candor, as well as to our Church at large, and the public generally, to correct a state- ment, or solemnly disavow the truth of a statement, widely circulated in the account given of the Cumberland Presbj^terians in ' Buck's Theological Dictionary.' (Fifth Edition, by W. W. Woodward, p. 419.) It is there stated that the * Commission exhibited many charges, etc., all of which were chiefly comprised in the two following, viz: — (i) Licensing men to preach the gos- pel who had not been examined on the languages. (2) That those men who were licensed, both learned and less learned, had been only required DOCTRIXE. 81 to adopt the Confession of Faith partially, that is, as far as they be- lieved it to agree with the word of God." **This latter charge is true, but the former is not. And for the truth of this disavowal, we appeal to the testi- mony of those members of the Com- mission of Synod who are yet living. We appeal to the records of that Com- mission, where no such charge can be found specified or tabled against the Presbytery on that occasion. We ap- peal to the fact of the Transylvania Presbytery's having subsequently, under the connivance and approbation of the Synod, received two of those young men [Messrs. Nelson and Hodge] alluded to in the statement in question. And we appeal to the ex- pressions of the Synod, in their expla- THE CAUSES. nation and defense to the General Assembly already given, which says : ' Further, S\aiod thought that among so many young men there might be found at least a few, who would shortly be qualified for the office of the gospel ministry, could they be induced to use the proper means.' It is therefore denied that the charge under consid- eration is true." Thus it will be seen that twelve years after the organiza- tion of the new Cumberland Presby- tery, the Synod of Kentucky of the Presbyterian Church, bore the fore- going important testimony, which proves the correctness of the proposi- tion under discussion, namely, that " the final and principal cause leading to the establishment of the Cumber- land Presbyterian Church was one of doctrine'' rather than that oi educatio?i. DOCTRINE. 83 This testimony was given after the lapse of years, when excitement had given place to calm reflection, and for the truth of it an appeal was made to men then living, as well as to the records. Being published in self-vindication, it is the strongest of evidence. Dr. Charles Hodge (Church Polity, p. 359) says : " It is well known that the Cumberland Presbytery had, for some time, persisted in licensing and ordaining men who had not received a liberal education, and w/io refused to adopt the Confession of Faiths Dr. Hodge is wrong in saying that these men refused to adopt the Confession of Faith. Perhaps he means to say that they adopt it, excepting certain articles ; if so, he is correct. These young men adopted it exactly as the 84 THE CAUSES. Adopting Act of 1729 allowed them to do; and just as many Presbyterian ministers before them had done. If further proof is needed that the sep- aration was due more to the question of doctrine than to that of education, \h^ General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church shall furnish that proof. In the Assembly's Digest (p. 640) it is said that these men "were licensed as probation- ers for the ministry, having adopted the Confession of Faith of the Presby- terian Church, with the exception of the idea of fatality, which they believed to be taught in that book under the high and mysterious doctrine of elec- tion and reprobation. They adopted the Confession of Faith as far as they understood it ; meaning that they did not understand what is taught con- cerning eternal election and reproba- DOCTRINE. 85 tion." Again, (p. 641) it is stated that " the Commission requested, in a friendly manner, the majority of the Cumberland Presbytery to give the reasons why, in licensing and or- daining persons to preach the gospel, they required them to adopt the Con- fession of Faith, so far only as they in reason think it corresponds with the Scriptures. The reply was, that the Confession of Faith was human composition and fallible, and that they could not in conscience feel themselves bound any further than they believe it corresponds with Scrip- tures." Or, in other words, to the eflfect that they planted themselves on the principle of the Adopting Act of 1729, whereby a probationer was allowed to except any article or arti- cles, when the Presbyter^' would de- 86 THE CAVlsr:S. termine whether such exceptions were vital to the Christian systen. In a letter to the Rev. J. W. Steph- enson, in 1811, in reference to the in- dependent Presbyter}^ the Assembly (Assembly's Digest, p. 645) spoke as follows: "The men of whom you speak, went out from us because they were not of us. The objection thej' make to our Confession of Faith, as if it taught the doctrine of fatality, we fear is not so much the result of a defect of understanding, as of a disposition to misrepresent. For who could dream that the doctrine of fatal- ity was taught in an instrument, in which it is declared expressly, that the liberty of second causes is not impaired ? We do not object to your appointment of a committee to confer with these men, but we wish you to DOCTRINE. be careful not to yield any principle either in doctrine or government." If the Confession did not teach " the doctrine of fatality," what serious ob- jection could there have been in al- lowing these men at their ordination to adopt it, " with the exception of the idea of fatality? " In 1814, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (Assembly's Digest, p. 645) adopted a report in reference to " the Cumberland body," which said " that the grounds of their separation from us were, that we would not relax our discipline, and surrender some iviportayit doctriiies of our Confession of Faith." Dr. F. R. Cossitt (Life of Ewing, PP- 35O' 35 pertinently states the case thus: " It is a subject of debate whether the prominent cause of com- 88 THE CAUSE 8. plaint and censures against the Cum- berland Presbytery for licensing and ordaining certain young men, was because they were permitted to adopt the Confession of Faith with the ex- ception of fatality or only so far as agreeable to the word of God, or be- cause they had not completed a class- ical education ; or whether both were causes equally prominent. To say that the former was the cause of com- plaint, was to sustain the old mem- bers of Cumberland Presbytery, ac- cording to Presbyterian usage in North Carolina, where most of them had been trained for the ministry. To say that the latter was the cause, would be to sustain them, on the ground that most of these young men were so much superior in literary at- tainments to one of their own num- DOCTRINE. 89 ber, whose licensure and ordination by the Cumberland Presbytery were afterwards recognized and confirmed by Transylvania Presbytery. To say that both were causes equally promi- nent, is still triumphantly to sustain them by the doings of Presbj'terians themselves." Reference has already been made to the attempt at organic union be- tween the Cumberland Presbyterian and the Southern Presbyterian Churches in 1867. On that occasion the Cumberland Presbyterian Com- mittee proposed to surrender the standard of ministerial education of its Church, and to adopt that of the Southern Presbyterian Church as the standard of the united Church. It has already been noted that the Com- mittee from the Southern Church 90 THE CAUSES. bore testimony to the fact that the question of education was not the cause of the failure to consummate organic union. It now remains to inquire why or- ganic union was not effected. While the Cumberland Presbyterian Com- mittee proposed to surrender the Church name, and to adopt for the united Church the standard of the Southern Church on ministerial edu- cation, it asked that the Confession of Faith of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church be adopted as the Confession of the united Church, " or, as an alter- native to the above," the Cumberland Presbyterian Committee proposed "to adopt the Confession of Faith and Catechism of the Presbyterian Church modified" on "those points which pertain to the subject of foreordina- DOCTRIXE. 91 tion, and its cognate doctrines," or to make ** a new compilation upon the Westminster Standards," which "shall exclude all phraseology and modes of expression which can plausibly be construed to favor the idea of fatality or necessity." The proposition of the Cumberland Presbyterian Committee was rejected, and organic union failed because the Southern Church was not willing either to modify the wording of the Westminster Confession on " those points which pertain to the subject of fore-ordination, and its cognate doc- trines," or to make " a new compila- tion upon the Westminster Stand- ards," which " shall exclude all phra- seology and modes of expression which can plausibly be construed to favor the idea of fatality or necessity." 92 THE CAUSES. The Committee from the Southern Assembly reported to that body the proceedings of the Joint-Committee. The report was referred to a Special Committee whose report thereon was adopted by the Assembly, and is as follows : " The Assembly hereby re- cords its devout acknowledgment to the great Head of the Church for the manifest tokens of his presence with the Committees of Conference during their deliberations, as evinced by the spirit of Christian candor, forbear- ance and love displayed by both par- ties in their entire proceedings. The Assembly regards the object for which that Committee w^as appointed as one fully worthy of the earnest endeavors and continued prayers of God's peo- ple in both branches of the Church represented in the Committee ; but at DOCTRIXE. 93 the same time it is compelled, in view of the terms for effecting any organic union, suggested by the Committee of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, to declare that, regarding the present period as one very unfavorable for making changes in our standards of faith and practice, it is more especial- 1}^ so for effecting changes so ma- terially modifying the system of doc- trine which has for centuries been the distinguishing peculiarity and the eminent glory of the Presbyterian Churches, both of Europe and the United States." (Alexander's Digest, pp. 439, 440.) Thus it was a question of doctrme that caused this attempt at organic union to fail. The Southern Church would not agree to union ex- cept on the basis of the Westminster Standards ; and the Cumberland Pres- 94 THE Ciri