M'^^i,:Di^ 
 
 • ( > a. 
 
 
 Pki^' 
 
a/ t^. ^^^l^.-i^-r-e-v 
 
 '*-7-'* 
 
 
 PRINCETON, N. J. 
 
 
 Division . 
 Sec/ ion ... 
 
 Shelf. A^iimber 
 
dice T/?,.i ^' /rtz:/, ,./ ,\^ . /,^,-/„ ,. <• ,-. ,'^,^/L: .4,, 
 '^ >r i^.- —y- -*^- 0ff^'j •^'"'"- • 
 

 FOUR PROPOSITIONS 
 
 SUSTAINED AGAINST THE CLAIMS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ^metftan ®ome jEi^^Conarg Sottetfi* 
 
 
 By Rev. J. L. WILSON, D. D. 
 Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, Cincinnati, Ohio, 
 
 He that doetk truth cometh to the light. — John iii. 21. 
 
 J^iitlatrelphfa: 
 
 PUBUSHED BY WILLIAM MOORHEAD. 
 
 Russell and Martien, Printers. 
 
 183L' 
 

FOUR PROPOSITIONS, &c. 
 
 The Presbyterian Church, in the United States of America, 
 under the care of the General Assembly, has been, for several 
 years, much disquieted by the claims and importunities of a 
 voluntary association called '< The American Home Missionary 
 Society." 
 
 Tiiis Association has no visible connexion with any branch of 
 the Church of Jesus Christ, being amenable to no ecclesiastical 
 Body. Had this society attended to its own affairs, and left the 
 concerns of others uninterrupted, like many other associations of 
 similar organization, she might have enjoyed the patronage of 
 the friends of Zion, until an auxiliary connection with some 
 wholesome branch, might have secured the enjoyment of a pro- 
 ductive union with the Tkue Vine. But when, without afford- 
 ing any security for orthodoxy or piety, in her members or 
 officers, she claims the patronage of the Presbyterian Church, 
 interferes with lier plans, distracts her counsels, divides her mem- 
 bers, draws off her resources and weakens her strength, by en- 
 ticing Churches, Presbyteries, and Synods, from their constitu- 
 tional obligations and plighted faith ; it becomes as clear as the 
 mid-day sun, that if there be any thing in the doctrines, disci- 
 pline, and Missionary operations of the Presbyterian Church 
 worth preserving, the claims and importunities of the A. H, M. 
 Society must be firmly and boldly resisted. Standing in my own 
 place, under a deep sense of duty, I shall attempt, in opposition 
 to the pretensions of this Society, to sustain the following propo- 
 sitions : — 
 
 I. The Lord Jesus Christ has committed the management of 
 Christian Missions to his Church. 
 
 H. The Presbyterian Church, being one great family of the 
 Church of Jesus Christ, is, by her form of government, organized 
 into a Christian Missionary Society. 
 
 HI, The American Home Missionary Society is not an eccle- 
 siastical, but a civil Institution. 
 
 IV. 13y interference and importunity she disturbs the peace 
 and injures the prosperity of the Presbyterian Church. 
 
 The support of these jjropositions will, I trust, secure attention 
 to a few remarks, with which I shall close this essay. 
 
 1st. The management of Christian Missions is committed by 
 the Lord Jesus Christ to his Church. 
 
 That our Saviour has erected in this world a visible kingdom, 
 called The Church of God, which consists of all, in every na- 
 
( 4 ) 
 
 tion, who profess and practice his holy religion ; and that this 
 extended society, by the will of God, is divided into many par- 
 ticular Churches, are truths, which no intelligent Christian can 
 dispute. 
 
 That the Presbyterian Church, under the care of the General 
 Assembly, forms one great family of the kingdom of Jesus Christ, 
 on earth, and that her system of doctrine, form of worship and 
 ecclesiastical government are agreeable to the Holy Scriptures, 
 no sound Presbyterian will deny. 
 
 As the kingdom of Christ is not of this world, so none of the 
 great or small families of which the kingdom is composed can be 
 of this world. Every one has professedly come out from the 
 world and associated together for godly living, not according to 
 the principles of worldly policy, but agreeably to some ecclesias- 
 tical form of government. To whom has Christ committed his 
 truth ? With whom has he left his ordinances ? For what society 
 did he give Apostles and Prophets ; Evangelists and Pastors ; 
 Teachers, helps and governments ? Only one answer can be 
 given to these questions. The Church. 
 
 After establishing his kingdom, and taking his station on his 
 holy hill of Zion, there to reign, ^' till the kingdom and the 
 greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given 
 to the saints of the most high God," to whom did he commit the 
 work and warfare which were to subvert the empire of darkness? 
 To the world, or to the Church? Were there any on earth who 
 loved his cause, who honoured his name, and were willing to 
 labour for the destruction of Satan's kingdom, but his own peo- 
 ple? Are they not the salt of the earth — the light of the world? 
 And in speaking of the conversion of men, does not the Apostle 
 ask, " How can they hear without a preacher, and how can they 
 preach except they be sent?" Now, admitting and thankfully 
 owning the supreme influence of the Lord of the harvest in send- 
 ing labourers, yet I must ask by what society are they to be sent? 
 By the Church, or by the world? To whom did Christ say, 
 " Go ye — disciple all nations"? He said this to the Church, not 
 to the world. And thus his people can say, " We know that we 
 are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness." But to 
 argue a subject so plain is like burning a taper to assist the light 
 of a sunbeam. Can any intelligent Christian deny that Christian 
 Missions ought to be conducted by the Christian Church? Not 
 one. I therefore proceed to show, 
 
 2d. That the Presbyterian Church is, by her form of govern- 
 ment, organized into a Christian Missionary Society. 
 
 The Presbyterian Church never assumed to be the " Church 
 universal." She only claims a place as one family in the visible 
 kingdom of Jesus Christ, and claiming this place, holds out the 
 hand of fellowship to other families of the same kingdom. All real 
 Presbyterians are unanimously of opinion — that God alone is 
 
( 5 ) 
 
 Lord of the conscience, and hath left it free from the doctrines 
 and commandments of men — they consider the rights of private 
 judgment in matters of religion as universal and unalienable — 
 they declare explicitly the terms of admission to their commu- 
 nion — the qualifications of their ministers and elders, and the 
 whole system of their internal government. If in any of these 
 things they err, they do not thereby infringe the rights of others, 
 but only make a bad use of their own liberty. No one is com- 
 pelled to become a Presbyterian; but when he voluntarily unites 
 with this Church, he, undoubtedly, professes a preference for her 
 creed, and submission to her discipline. Presbyterians endeavour 
 to occupy a middle, and, as they think, scriptural ground, be- 
 tween ecclesiastical domination and church democracy. The 
 government is in the people. The people rule by representatives 
 of their own choice. No Elder can rule in a church unless he 
 be chosen by the people. No Minister can be settled over a 
 church without being elected by the people. The radical princi- 
 ple of Presbyterian church government is, that a majority shall 
 govern. Yet, as all cannot meet in one place to deliberate and 
 vote, the government is administered by representatives. In 
 every representative government there is a voluntary transfer of 
 power; and when any power is by compact surrendered, it is of 
 course no longer retained. Nor can a surrendered power be 
 again lawfully resumed without the consent of those to whom it 
 is transferred. Thus the General Assembly is the highest judi- 
 catory in the Presbyterian Church. This body is composed, ac- 
 cording to the form of government, of an equal proportion of 
 Ministers and Ruling Elders, commissioned by the Presbyteries 
 according to a specified ratio or rule of proportion. Among 
 other things, it is declared that the General Assembly is to be con- 
 sidered the collected wisdom and united voice of the whole Church 
 — that this body shall constitute the bond of union among all 
 the churches — and to this body is delegated the power cf sending 
 Missions to any part, to plant churches, or supply vacancies. A 
 Presbytery, unable to supply the vacancies in its own bounds, 
 can ask help of another Presbytery, or of a Synod, or of the 
 General Assembly — but by compact, the General Assembly alone 
 have the power to send Missions to any part, to plant churches, 
 or supply vacancies. To say that this power is delegated by the 
 whole Church, and then to say that the several churches are not 
 pledged to sustain the Assembly in the due exercise of it, is to 
 utter an absurdity at the hazard of reputation. 
 
 An attempt has been made to call in question, or rather explain 
 away this part of our form of government. And no wonder, 
 for it stands in the way of the A. H. M. Society, and is an in- 
 superable barrier to Presbyterians who are desirous of becoming 
 her auxiliaries, and yet see and feel their obligations to aid, in 
 preference, the General Assembly's Board of Missions, 
 
( 6 ) 
 
 When, however, the import of a clause in any form of govern- 
 ment is rendered dubious by the skill of artful disputants, the 
 true meaning can be known by a reference to the uniform prac- 
 tice of those, who at first framed the article, and then acted upon 
 it. At the first meeting of the General Assembly, two Synods 
 asked, and obtained leave, to conduct Missionary operations in 
 their own bounds, which was granted with this restriction — They 
 were not to interfere with the Assembly's Missions. In process 
 of time two other Synods obtained from the Assembly a similar 
 license, with the condition that they should make, to them, their 
 annual reports. Afterwards, at least three of these Synods re- 
 signed to the Assembly the business of conducting Missions, 
 and the other passed an order for her Presbyteries to organize 
 the churches on the plan of the Assembly's Board of Missions. 
 There was one case, in which a Presbytery requested permission 
 to conduct Missions. This request was not granted, and they 
 were referred to the Assembly's plan of organization. The uni- 
 form understanding and practice of the Church for forty years, 
 has settled beyond controversy, the meaning of that clause of the 
 constitution now under consideration. But it has been recently 
 discovered, that the General Assembly has no existence except 
 for two or three weeks in each year, while the members are hold- 
 ing their sessions! And as existence is lost, there can be no power 
 of conducting Missions! This indeed is a wonderful discovery!! 
 The Commissioners exist, their Committees exist, the Clerks 
 exist, the Board of Missions exists, the Trustees of the Assembly, 
 an incorporated body, with all the officers needed for the trans- 
 action of business — and all the power necessary for receiving, 
 holding, and managing the permanent and contingent funds of 
 Assembly, for Missionary, theological, and other purposes, can 
 exist, and that too with perpetual succession; and over all these a 
 Moderator exists, who has constitutional power, on any extraor- 
 dinary emergency, by his circular, to convene the Judicatory; and 
 holds his office till another Moderator is chosen, and then after 
 reading the rules of the Assembly to his successor, says, "I resign 
 my place and office;" and yet, strange, passing strange, the As- 
 sembly does not exist! ! ! A stated and a permanent Clerk, Stand- 
 ing Committees, a Board of Missions, an incorporated Board of 
 Trustees, into whose hands funds can be placed, by donation, be- 
 quest, or otherwise, any day in the year, for the use of the General 
 Assembly, all acting for a non-entity ! ! Holding the claim of this 
 non-entity, till his successor is duly elected, and then formally 
 resigning his place and office! ! ! But be it remembered, that such 
 a farce as this was never exhibited by sound Presbyterianism. 
 The theatre on which this novel exhibition has been made, is the 
 wandering fancy of the Corresponding Secretary of the A. H. M. 
 Society. To talk of the General Assembly, being "the collected 
 wisdom and united voice of the whole Church" — to call this body 
 
( 7 ) 
 
 of Commissioners, "the bond of union among all our churches" — 
 to say in the Form of Government that the General Assembly has 
 power <<to decide controversies respecting doctrine and discipline; 
 to bear testimony against error — to superintend the concerns of 
 the whole Church — to correspond with foreign Churches — suppress 
 schisms — and conduct Missions in any part — to plant churches, 
 and supply vacancies — and yet to deny the existence of this body, 
 for at least forty-nine weelcs- in every year, is a vagary truly 
 worthy the talents and skill of the man who stands foremost in the 
 ranks of Inpepenuknt Pp.ESByTERiANisM. 
 
 If, however, it be not true, that the Presbyterian Church is, by 
 her form of government a Missionary Society, then it follows that 
 she is not a Christian Church, and no one is safe in her communion. 
 I have shown that Christ has committed the management of Chris- 
 tian Missions to his Cliurch, and not to the world. Any Society 
 that assumes the Christian name, and yet has no organization for 
 conducting Christian Missions, gives her profession the lie. Pi'ove 
 to me that the Presbyterian Church is not a Christian Missionary 
 Society, and unless a reform can soon be effected, I shall leave her 
 communion. 
 
 I have, sometimes, hesitated, when approaching this subject. I 
 have urged myself to think favourably. of men who oppose my 
 views. I have wronged my own feelings for the sake of peace. 
 I have been fearful of giving an unhallowed touch to the ark of 
 God. But when I see in the clear light of heaven, that Jesus 
 Christ hascommitted the cause of Christian Missions to his Church, 
 and to no other Society, I know I am in the path of duty, when, 
 with all my powers I oppose any association of men that assumes 
 the right of conducting Missions merely upon the platform of a 
 civil constitution. And here I shall attempt to show, 
 
 3d. That the American Home Missionary Society is not an 
 ecclesiastical, but a c/y?'/ Institution. 
 
 Ecclesiastical means belonging to the Church — cmV signifies 
 belonging to any person in the commonwealth or body politic. 
 
 This proposition is fully proven by the facts disclosed by the 
 Constitution of the Society. Any person with one cent can pur- 
 chase membership. With thirty dollars, can purchase membership 
 for life. The payment of one hundred dollars constitutes any one 
 a director for life. The members, all of whom may be worldly 
 men, elect the officers and managers. The Constitution affords 
 no security that any one of the officers or any member of the Ex- 
 ecutive Committee shall belong to any church. 
 
 This may be an xVmerican Association, but it certainly, so far as 
 its Constitution goes, is very unlike that Society to which the Lord 
 Jesus Christ has committed the management of Christian Missions. 
 
 The Corresponding Secretary of this American Home has pub- 
 lished that she consists of twenty thousand members. These are 
 
( 8 ) 
 
 scattered over vast regions of country, and supposing them all 
 pious, they cannot attend the annual meetings in New-York, and 
 give their votes at the elections. Suppose then, that as many of 
 the twenty thousand Infidels, who are said to reside in that city, 
 as might be sufficient to control an election, should purchase mem- 
 bership for that purpose — is there any thing to prevent them from 
 making a Board of their own stamp, and taking the control of the 
 Society into their own hands? Do you say there is no danger? I 
 say, if such a movement be practicable, there is danger. The bare 
 possibility of such a defeat should teach the friends of the Ameri- 
 can Home that she is built upon the sand. Will you reply, that 
 infidels can join the Church in order to effect its ruin? Christ has 
 said that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Can infidels 
 with the same facility reach the Assembly's Board of Missions? 
 To change this Board, they must not only join the Church, but be- 
 come ordained ministers of the gospel, and then be appointed 
 Commissioners to the General Assembly, in such numbers as to 
 make a majority. How widely different is all this from the easy 
 method of purchasing a vote at a popular election by the payment 
 of a mere trifle. 
 
 But we are frequently reminded that the Bible, Tract, and 
 Sabbath-School Societies are voluntary associations. Yes, these 
 institutions are designedly and confessedly of a civil character. 
 They are great benevolent societies, that may be carried on by 
 ■Christians in connection with the men of the world, and as long as 
 they are well managed, the Church of Christ may avail herself of 
 their auxiliary operations for the spread of the gospel. But they 
 are not essential either to the existence or character of the Church. 
 She has existed without them. She would still exist, if they 
 were all blotted out from under heaven. Not so with Chris- 
 tian Missions. From that solemn moment when Jesus said, " go 
 ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature," 
 the Church has been charged with the business of sending abroad 
 the messages of salvation for the healing of the nations. It is 
 God's appointed method, by the foolishness of preaching to save 
 them that believe. The eunuch had the scriptures, but the preach- 
 ing of Philip was the means of his conversion. The prayers and 
 alms of Cornelius went up as a memorial before God, but Peter 
 must go and tell him words by which he and his house might be 
 saved. Lydia worshipped God, but her heart was opened under 
 the preaching of Paul. How can men '' believe on him of whom 
 they have not heard?" "And how can they hear without a 
 preacher?" "And how can they preach except they be sent?" 
 Are they to be sent by a civil society or by the church? I confi- 
 dently answer by the church, or they are not sent according to 
 the rules of Christ's kingdom, which is not of this world. The 
 path of duty is plain, the way of error perplexing, and those who 
 
( ) 
 
 ramble usually interfere with the peace and injure the prosperiljr 
 of others. This leads me to observe, 
 
 IV. That the American Home Missionary Society, by interfer- 
 ence and importunity, disturbs the peace and injures the prosperity 
 of the Presbyterian Church. 
 
 On this subject I need ask but a few questions. Who disturbed 
 the peace of the General Assembly in 1828, when an overture 
 was presented for re-organizing the Board of Missions? Who 
 disturbed the peace of the Cincinnati Presbytery, when, for years, 
 the brethren had been engaged, without an instance of discord, in 
 promoting revivals of religion? Who produced the evils and dis- 
 tress depicted in tlie following language? ''Theevilsof the separate 
 operations" [of the two Boards] "m this country, are increasing 
 with the days, weeks, and months as they pass. Churches are di- 
 vided — sessions are divided — and ministers are taking different 
 sides — there is much heart-burning — many suspicions and severe 
 censures felt and expressed against both Boards." These are 
 extracts from a letter addressed to the committee of the Cincinnati 
 Presbytery, by the Rev. N. H. Hall, Rev. John C. Young, and 
 Rev. V. S. Hinkley, and dated at Lexington, Kentucky, August 
 22, 1830. To each of the above questions I answer without the 
 fear of a reasonable contradiction, that the interference and impor- 
 tunity of the American Home Missionary Society, have produced 
 those disturbances, divisions, heart-burnings and suspicions, under 
 which the Church is withering and groaning. 
 
 These things have not been done in a corner. Many an eye 
 has wept — many a heart has bled — and I have no doubt but the 
 operations so productive of mischief, stand recorded in that book, 
 which, in the great day, will disclose the motives of those who 
 sow the seeds of discord and kindle the coals of strife among 
 brethren. Disturb the peace of any society, and you injure her 
 prosperity. But you injure her still more, if you succeed in 
 alienating her friends, and drawing off her resources. The A. H. 
 M. Society boasts of having drawn under her influence many 
 churches, together with whole Presbyteries and Synods. In 
 justification of this, it is said, that the General Assembly have left 
 the churches to their own deliberate and unbiassed choice. And 
 what is the deliberate and unbiassed choice of a sound Presbyterian 
 church? To go with a society which rests upon a civil constitu- 
 tion, and assumes an independent attitude, or stand firm and faith- 
 ful to the organization of the Presbyterian Church, and contribute 
 to the funds of her Board of Missions? 
 
 Proofs in support of the proposition I am now sustaining, are 
 multiplied wherever I turn my eyes. Families are divided, 
 Churches are divided, and Ministers who once laboured together 
 as true yoke-fellows, now shun each other's society. This Ame- 
 rican Home is to Presbyterians, what Campbellism is to the Bap- 
 tists. And he who can affirm that the operations of this Society 
 have not disturbed the peace, and injured the prosperity of the 
 
 2 
 
( 10 ) 
 
 Presbyterian Church, may as easily say that the morning was never 
 spread upon the mountains — that the sun never shone at noon. 
 
 It is time to close with a few remarks. 
 
 I. The origin, organization and operations of the A. H. M. S. 
 prove clearly to me, that the overthrow of Presbyterianism as it 
 now exists, is a leading object with those who understand the 
 whole scheme, I do not intimate that they design at present to 
 change the name. But who cares for a mere name? The Cum- 
 berlands have the name — the English Presbyterians have the 
 name, but they are alike destitute of the orthodoxy and order of 
 real Presbyterians. Take away the form of sound words, and de- 
 stroy the missionary character of the Presbyterian Church, and 
 she is not worth a rush. A combination of facts have constrained 
 me to express my opinions frankly and freely on this subject; but 
 I desire it may be distinctly understood, that I impute no impro- 
 per motives to any man who really holds and teaches the doctrines 
 and loves the order of the Presbyterian Church, and yet may have, 
 for a time, become connected with the American Home. But 
 with the feelings and heart of a brother, and to some of them a 
 father, I beg them to pause, I beseech them to consider, I pray them 
 to open their eyes upon facts, if they cannot yield to opinions. The 
 A. H. M. Society was planned in the city of Boston by our 
 Congregational brethren — at their request the United Domestic 
 Missionary Society in the city of New-York, adopted this consti- 
 tution and became the American Home. I believe all the domes- 
 tic missionary societies in New-England, became merged in, or 
 auxiliary to this independent institution. This was perfectly 
 natural, and if they had gone on and let the Presbyterian Churches 
 remain in an undisturbed connection with their own Board of 
 Missions, I should have had no right to complain. But from the 
 day of her birth to the present hour, her agents have been insidi- 
 ously and assiduously working upon the Ministers and members 
 of the Presbyterian Church. They have visited the land in its 
 length and breadth, to weaken the hands of the General Assem- 
 bly's Board, and obtain for the American Home the patronage of 
 all the Churches. Their success has been wonderful. They have 
 drawn off whole Presbyteries and Synods, and divided and distract- 
 ed the rest. So far as my name and influence could operate, they 
 have had the art, for a time, to use them both to promote their 
 plans, particularly in the West. 
 
 When their project of union failed, which they knew could not 
 succeed without the ruin of the Presbyterian Church, apian of an 
 Independent Society on this side the mountains was proposed. In 
 connection with these things, what have been the sentiments ex- 
 pressed by Home-missionary men? "That the General Assem- 
 bly can manage no missions except for two or three weeks in the 
 year:" — "that it is dangerous for the Church to have any thing to 
 do with money matters:" — "that the Board of Missions passes 
 
( 11 ) 
 
 over the heads of Presbyteries and Synods, and professes respon- 
 sibility to the General Assembly only, while the Home Board is 
 the servant of all:" — "that the General Assembly makes bad ap- 
 pointments:" — "that there is an aristocracy in the General Assem- 
 bly that must come down:" that the Corresponding Secretary of the 
 Assembly's Board, isa bad man,"&c. &c. To prove this last charge 
 we have seen about twelve columns of a newspaper closely occu- 
 pied. It has been published by the Corresponding Secretary of 
 the Central Committee of Agency, located in Cincinnati, that many 
 of the patrons of the A. H. M. S. "could not be induced to con- 
 tribute to a Board connected with an ecclesiastical body, as the 
 Board of Missions is with the General Assembly." Why not? 
 Plainly, they are Independents. The Congregational Churches 
 have no standard of doctrines. Every man preaches what he 
 pleases, from Antinomianism to Universalism. Hence, we are not 
 surprised to hear warm advocates for the American Home advance 
 such sentiments as these. " Sin must have had a holy origin — God, 
 as the first cause of all things, must have been its author." 
 
 "Disinterested benevolence leads Christians to be willing to be 
 forever miserable for the glory of God." 
 
 " Neither a holy nor a depraved nature is possible without un- 
 derstanding, conscience, or choice — they go astray as soon as they 
 are born — that is, in early life." 
 
 " Substitution is unjust, and imputation unscriptural. " " Jesus 
 Christ died as much for one man as another." 
 
 But we are both surprised and grieved when we hear these 
 preachers call themselves Presbyterians. Is this consistent with 
 Christian candour? Have these men yet to learn that such are not 
 the doctrines of the Presbyterian Church? 
 
 I have often been asked " can it be possible that men will pro- 
 fess to be Presbyterians, and yet aim to subvert her faith ?" I 
 have always answered, yes. I could mention many painful in- 
 stances, but I must spare myself and the reader the anguish of 
 such a recital. I will, however, here subjoin some extracts from 
 the letter of a respectable clergyman in Indiana, to the Corres- 
 ponding Committee of the Cincinnati Presbytery : 
 
 " In my neighbourhood, those who reject the atonement and 
 penal sufferings of Christ, oppose the Assembly's Board and sup- 
 port the A. H. M. Society. In some instances, they have en- 
 deavoured to carry away our congregations to Independency. 
 The Church where I now live is a case in point. Can those 
 Presbyterians be awake who are aiding this work of schism? A 
 voluntary association, amenable to nobody, and yet supported by 
 Presbyterians in preference to their own Board of Missions! Is 
 it uncharitable to say that they are not within consitutional 
 grounds ? If the American Home be a Presbyterian institution, 
 let them lay down their independent form ^ and become auxiliary 
 to the Assembly's Board." 
 
( 12 ) 
 
 That there are many excellent men — sound Presbyterians, now 
 under the influence of the A. H. M. S. I doubt not — but that 
 they will long; continue her patrons, without a radical change in 
 her organization, I cannot believe. These men may honestly 
 ask, "where is the danger, if Home Missionaries consent to be 
 ruled by our Presbyteries ?" There, my brethren, lies the very 
 danger. They quietly consent to be under the control of the 
 Presbyteries till they can rule the Presbyteries! One example 
 of this kind I have already witnessed. I have heard of others. 
 Let the same thing take place throughout our land, and where is 
 the Presbyterian Church. What will become of her doctrines 
 — her orthodox schools — her discipline — her testimony against 
 the heresies of those men who care not whether the sentiments 
 they advance fall above or below, within or without the Confes- 
 sion of Faith ? Yes, brethren, there lies the danger. Home- 
 missionary men consent to be ruled only till they can govern. 
 And then every Judicatory, every Institution, and all 
 THE funds of the Presbyterian Church, will be com- 
 pletely AND ENTIRELY UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE A. H. M. 
 
 Society. And if her career be not arrested by the ruthless hand 
 of Infidelity, which, at every annual meeting, might grasp the 
 whole society; as likely as not, the next set of professors in the 
 Princeton Theological Seminary, would be such men as Doctors 
 Taylor, Fitch, Murdock, and Emmons. From the possibility 
 of such a calamity, may God of his infinite mercy preserve the 
 Presbyterian Church. 
 
 II. Those who resist with firmness the claims of the American 
 Home are called unkind, yea, uncharitable. Charity! what is 
 charity! No word seems less vmderstood — none more grossly 
 misapplied. With errorists and schismatics, of every name, it 
 is a current term. With them, it means, alms-giving, Christian 
 forbearance, a good opinion of bad men, thinking one man's be- 
 lief as good as another! But what does it mean in the Bible? 
 Love. Charity manifests itself in strong and well-directed pa- 
 rental affection. " He that spareth the rod hateth his son, but 
 he that loveth (hath charity for) him, chasteneth him betimes." 
 Charity manifests itself in neighbourly kindness : "Thoushalt 
 not hate thy neighbour in thy heart, but thou shalt in any wise 
 rebuke him, and not suffer sin upon him." Charity is manifested 
 by God's correction. " As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten." 
 The bright and pure flame of charity glowed in the bosom of 
 Paul when he withstood Peter to the face, because he was to be 
 blamed. Charity is found where there is respectful and affection- 
 ate submission to censure. "Let the righteous smite me, it shall 
 be a kindness." I hope the Bible meaning of charity will be ac- 
 cepted, at least so far as to lesson the cry of uncharitableness 
 against those who, from a principle of love to God and love to 
 man, feel themselves bound to oppose the progress of error. I 
 
( 13 ) 
 
 plead for this, only where lawful means are used, and a Christian 
 spirit manifested. There may be great zeal where there is no 
 charity. This is often manifested by intermeddling with the 
 affairs of others, so as to produce " debates, wrath, strife, here- 
 sies." But when a deep sense of the evil of departing from the 
 faith, and the danger of corrupt doctrine infecting the whole 
 lump, induces any to stand up for what they believe to be truth 
 and order, to oppose the introduction of erroneous teachers, or 
 to expel those who have crept in unawares, call them unreason- 
 able if you please, and point out their mistakes if you can, but 
 do not abuse and vilify them as uncharitable. 
 
 III. Those who will not go with the A. H. M- S. are already 
 pointed at as enemies to revivals of religion. 
 
 This is characteristic of innovation. It stands recorded in a 
 very popular work, that they who opposed the errors and disor- 
 ders of the Cumberland Presbyterians, were enemies to revivals 
 of religion. And no doubt it remains in the traditions of the 
 New Lights of the West, that those who pronounced on them 
 the sentence of suspension, as well as those who wrote and 
 preached against their errors and extravagancies, were enemies 
 to revivals of religion. And now, that perhaps, it may answer 
 the purposes of the A. H. M. S. they point at those who stand in 
 the way of her operations, as "enemies to revivals of religion." 
 This may ensnare the ignorant, and start the wavering into a 
 course of wandering, but it can never move the intelligent Chris- 
 tian from the path of dut3^ 
 
 IV. If the subject was not too serious, I should be not a little 
 amused with the dexterity of the Home Missionary-men, in their 
 attempts to throw all the blame of what they call the " evils of 
 separate action," on the General Assembly's Board. As if, for 
 example, I have a plan of domestic economy with which I am 
 much pleased, but A, B and C, without my knowledge or con- 
 sent, voluntarily agree to interfere with it — they draw up articles 
 of association — profess to have the same object in view — artfully 
 draw off some of my children — get possession of my funds — in- 
 terfere with all my arrangements — propose a union which they 
 know from principle I am bound to reject, and then turn round 
 and say, "you arc the cause of all this disturbance. We do most 
 sincerely regret that an effort for union has failed. As the matter 
 now stands, we have no alternative but to abandon our object, or 
 to pursue it amidst the evils of separate action. We must go for- 
 ward, still hoping you will see the importance of united effort." 
 
 This, no doubt, is thought to be a successful method of casting 
 the blame and odium of existing evils, on those whose peace and 
 prosperity they have so much injured. But what must be the 
 reflections and feelings of men, in a dying hour, who can thus 
 increase the anguish of a Christian Church, bleeding already at 
 every pore, from wounds inflicted by their own hands ? The in- 
 
( 14 ) 
 
 consistencies, also, to which Home Missionary-men are driven, 
 would be amusing, if they were not so dreadfully distressing. 
 "The evils of separate action" were urged by them, as a strong 
 and almost irresistible plea for union, at least in the West. By 
 the pastors of the Presbyterian churches in Lexington, Kentucky, 
 calling themselves, officially, the Moderators of their respective 
 sessions — and by the Rev. Editor of the Western Luminary, it 
 was certified to the Committee of the Cincinnati Presbytery, that 
 among " the evils of separate action" were, divisions of churches, 
 divisio7is of sessions, disaffection among ministers, talk of 
 dividing the Presbyterian Church, much heart-burning, many 
 suspicions, and severe censures felt and expressed against both 
 Boards. Yet, when it was demonstrated, that these and other 
 evils were produced by the interference of the A. H. M. S. with 
 the affairs of the Presbyterian Church, the pastor of the First 
 Church in Lexington was induced to write and request the pub- 
 lication of a letter in which he denies the existence of those 
 evils there, and affirms that the division of the session is without 
 hostile feelings — that some prefer one society and some another, 
 but there is no war — and that the spirit of union in the very or- 
 ganization of the A. H. M. S. is just suited to the approaching 
 glorious state of the Church — the introduction of the millenium, 
 — thus contradicting himself, denying the truth of what his reve- 
 rend brethren had certified with him in a joint letter, and over- 
 turning the strong argument which he had previously urged in 
 favour of a union of the two Boards. I have no language to ex- 
 press my grief. Nor would I stand in the condition of those 
 who have brought into the Presbyterian Church these distresses, 
 for ''all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them." In 
 the presence of God, I feel that I have no interest in error. I see 
 the path of duty to be plain, that of error to be perplexing. If 
 the Presbyterian Church stand in the way of the conversion of 
 the world — if she be one of those evils that must be swept away, 
 in cleansing the sanctuary — if her doctrines must be blotted out 
 to introduce the millenium — then I shall consider that man my 
 best friend who shall convince me of these things, and permit 
 me to assist in overturning an injurious system; but until I am 
 fairly and fully convinced, I cannot bear the thought of seeing 
 her doctrines swept away by the hands of stratagem, and her mis- 
 sionary character swallowed up by a heterogeneous institution 
 founded upon a civil constitution. May the Lord afford the friends 
 of Zion wisdom, grace and strength, to resist with meekness and 
 firmness the claims and influence of this unecclesiastical association. 
 V. I greatly rejoice that the Presbyterian Church has neither 
 been last nor least in promoting the benevolent operations of the 
 present day. I rejoice that she has not meddled with the affairs 
 of others. When she has opposed vice, or borne testimony against 
 dangerous errors, she has been frank, open, fearless. 
 
( 15 ) 
 
 Her true sons never assumed the name or professed the faith 
 of another denomination, in order to propagate their own tenets. 
 No worthy institution has ever asked in vain for Presbyterian 
 patronage. I greatly rejoice that by her form of government she 
 is a Missionary Society — that the General Assembly has power 
 to send Missionaries to '■'■any jjluce,^^ known (o be destitute of 
 the means of grace. But I mourn, yes, m)^ "inmost spirit mourns;" 
 that she has given up her Foreign Missions into the hands of others. 
 Our Methodist, Baptist, Episcopalian, Congregational and Mora- 
 vian friends, are all engaged in conducting Foreign Missions. — 
 This is highly commendable, and I wish them great success in 
 evangelizing the world. But what arc Presbyterians doing? They 
 are attending the monthly concert of prayer, and giving thousands 
 of dollars annually, for the support of Foreign Alissions; and yet, 
 alas! have not one Missionary station, I believe, in heathen lands! 
 If God were to judge societies in a coming world as individuals, 
 the Presbyterian Church, on this subject, would be speechless. 
 But having given up the Foreign Missions in 1826, let her never, 
 no never, yield her domestic Missions into other hands, but double 
 her diligence in conveying the means of salvation through the 
 length and breadth of the whole land. Would to God that the 
 Presbyterian Church, with her 170,000 communicants, would 
 rise as with the heart of one man, and send her form of sound 
 words and wholesome discipline to every kindred, tribe and 
 tongue, under the whole heaven. 
 
 VI. If, after all the evils, produced in the Presbyterian Church, 
 by the American Home Missionary Society, her friends now 
 plead for silence, forbearance, and brotherly kindness, let them at 
 the next anniversary, form a constitution within ecclesiastical 
 limits, place the Society within the pale and under the control of 
 some branch of the Church of Christ — and then conduct their bu- 
 siness without interrupting the peace and prosperity of others, and 
 all will be well. We can then pray for her success, and if she 
 need our assistance, she shall not ask it in vain. Or, if it be true, 
 as some say, that the A. H. M. Society is a Presbyterian institu- 
 tion — -that she has the same objects in view with the General Afi- 
 sembly's Board, and that three fourths of her funds are derived 
 from Presbyterians, let her independent character be laid aside — 
 let her become auxiliary to the Assembly's Board, and afford se- 
 curity for orthodoxy and order, and all will be well. But if her 
 professedly Presbyterian advocates will consent to neither of these 
 reasonable proposals, they must not complain, if true Presbyterians 
 treat them as schismatics. 
 
 VH. I am sensible there is nothing that I can say, however true 
 or laudable, but can be made the subject of animadversion. In 
 addition to many other things, I expect to hear that the A. H. 
 M. Society was planned by the greatest and best men in New- 
 England. I would not, for the world, call in question the mo^ 
 
(16 ) 
 
 tives of these distinguished men, without the most satisfactory 
 evidence. That Doctors Porter, Edwards, Taylor, Woods, and 
 others, should honestly desire to spread New-England theology, 
 (if any man can tell what it is,) through the whole earth, is per- 
 fectly natural and to be expected. If they made no efforts to do 
 so,-considering their views and profession, they would be chargea- 
 ble with criminal negligence. But that men will profess to be 
 Presbyterians, in order to do the same thing, is quite another 
 matter. But I shall also hear that Doctors Alexander and Miller 
 wrote in favour of the organization of the A. H. M. Society — that 
 Doctor Bly the made, and Doctor Richards seconded the motion for 
 the adoption of the constitution. Among such men as these I can 
 say what I feel, that on many subjects I ought to take my station 
 as a learner. But on the subject before me, I clearly see that it 
 only requires common sense, common piety, and a common ac- 
 quaintance with our common version of the Bible to believe and 
 practice hgreeabl}^ to our Confession of Faith. 
 
 That the distinguished men in New-England whose talents and 
 motives are out of dispute at present, exerted an influence over 
 the U. D. M. Society in New- York — that the circular of the Exe- 
 cutive Committee of that Society, drew together a large number 
 of the friends of Missions, and that some of the ablest and best 
 Presbyterians in the land, without scanning the design, or foresee- 
 ing the results, became prominent in the organization of the A. 
 H. M. Society, are facts which can all be told without impeach- 
 ing the motives of any man. But that Presbyterians, after what 
 has transpired, should still continue their patronage to that Board 
 in preference to their own, is a matter of surprise and grief, and 
 certainly sufficient to place any man, let his talents and apparent 
 piety be what they may, under strong suspicion of unfaithfulness 
 to that branch of the Church of Christ, of which he professes him- 
 self to be a member. After much deliberation, I have made this 
 attempt, feeble and ill-judged as it maybe thought by some, to re- 
 store purity, peace and order to the Presbyterian Church. I am 
 not conscious of any unsuitable feeling towards any of my breth- 
 ren. I shall cheerfully and publicly acknowledge when I see 
 myself in error. If the doctrines and discipline of the Pres- 
 byterian church are not agreeable to the Word of God, I know 
 they must come to nought. Believing, as I firmly do, that this 
 Church is the soundest branch of the True Vine, on earth, my 
 destinies must be connected with hers, unless I can see otherwise 
 than I now do, and if I perish, with the faith and practice re- 
 commended in her standards — I perish. 
 
^^ 
 
 \l 
 
 
 « 
 
 f^i^^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 -f 
 
 
 IS 
 
 ^ -3^ 
 
 
 
 ■ "^ '^-<£>*i 
 
 
 
 ■ *. ■''