USA > Missouri > Presbyterianism in the Ozarks : a history of the work of the various branches of the Presbyterian Church in Southwest Missouri, 1834-1907 > Part 38
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Lest this be thought the fulsome panegyric of an intense partisan let me call to the witness stand men who personally have not fondness for Calvinism. Buckle, the unbeliever, says :
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"Wherever it has gone-in France, Switzerland. Britain, Amer- ica-the Calvinistic faith has shown itself the unfailing friend of constitutional liberty." James Anthony Fronde, in his earlier writings, vented his spleen on this system of faith; but with a mature acquaintance with history he wrote: "It has been able to inspire the bravest efforts ever made by man to break the yoke of unjust authority. And Bancroft, a Unitarian, testifies: "He that will not honor the memory and respect the influence of Calvin knows but little of the origin of American independense."
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In the cornerstone of the temple of the great American re- public there lie imbedded three great ideas: (1) God is the Sov- ereign of the universe; (2) The idea of a self-reliant, heroic manhood; (3) The courage to fight and to die for the rights of humanity and the lordship of truth. John Calvin is the personifi- cation of the first. Admiral Coligny is the loftiest type of the dig- nity of man. "Reserved and cautious, it required the consecrated enthusiasm of his noble wife to rouse him to arms. He hesitated, not from cowardice, but from conscience; not from timidity, but tenderness. Shrinking from the sorrows that would come upon her, he offered her eight days to consider whether he should plunge to the rescue of Protestantism. With Spartan spirit she cried: 'The eight days are past already.' This parted the last strand that held him to Rome. Distinctly renouncing every hu- man ambition, exclaiming, 'in the name of Jehovah we will set np our banners,' he advanced to the conflict. * # More unselfish than Cromwell, as true as Washington, as devout as Adolphus, he is *
* * the very ideal of Christian heroism." And John Knox, who never feared the face of man, who could not be swerved by flattery or frown, is the embodiment of our third idea. It was the men who had the precepts of Calvin, the image of Coligny and the inspiring valor of Knox in their hearts who founded this republic. And here let me speak a word to those who fancy that Christian harmony and co-operation are the product of the closing quarter of the nineteenth century. We get up and speak as if this were a new thing under the sun. I can imagine our Presbyterian and Congregational forefathers looking over the battlements of heaven as some of us talk about this new spirit of harmony and good feeling and asking ns: "Where were you when we Presbyterians and Congregationalists were working together under the plan of union by which Congregational pas- tors of Presbyterian churches sat in Presbytery, or Presbyterian clergy in charge of Congregational churches sat in Congregational councils? Where were you when for sixty years we together sent missionaries through the American board?" When at last there was a separation there was a division of the spoils. congregation- alists taking the Board and a part of the mission stations. Other
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stations were amicably turned over to the Presbyterians. And it seems to me there has been another division of the spoils by which in popular conception Congregationalists are considered the lineal heirs of the Puritans and Pilgrim fathers and Presbyterianism has become a synonym of Calvinism. This division is unhistorical. Calvinism is our common heritage, whilst on the other hand Rob-' inson claimed that his church in Leyden-the mother church of the Plymouth colony-was of the same government as the Protestant church of France. That was essentially Presbyterian. The Plymouth colony had in its ruling elder Brewster, who in- sisted on the distinction between the ruling and the teaching elder. And the early churches of Salem, Charlestown and Boston had ruling elders.
And now let me say with due deference to "mine host" that while Congregationalism gained the ascendancy in New England, Presbyterianism was the leaven that was scattered throughout the colonies. "Coming to these shores one by one and scattered throughout all the colonies Presbyterians, like the tribe of Levi, had none inheritance in the land." By the middle of the eighteenth century New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania were over- whelmingly Presbyterian. "In 1775 Presbyterians and Congrega- tionalists combined had the ecclessiastical control of the American colonies." Puritans, Covenanters, Huguenots, Scotch, Scotch- Irish and German refugees from the Paletinate fled to the asylum of the oppressed. But from South Carolina to New Hampshire the power of the government was exerted to give the established church the ascendancy. The powerful Presbyterian Church in New York could not even get a title to a burying spot for its dead. More than a year before the 4th of July, 1776, the Scotch-Irish in one county of North Carolina declared their independence. And these Scotch-Irish Presbyterians are said to be the only race in America that never gave birth to a Tory. Bancroft says: "The first voice publicly raised in America to dissolve all connection with Great Britain came, not from the Puritans of New England, nor from the Dutch of New York, nor from the planters of Vir- ginia. but from the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians of North Carolina." And Washington declared that "Should all his plans be crushed, he would plant his standard on the Blue Ridge, and, rallying round him the Scotch-Irish, make a final and successful stand for freedom on the Virginia frontier."
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And what part did Presbyterians play in the formation of a blood-bought republic? Chief Justice Tilghman said: "The framers of the Constitution of the United States were greatly in- debted to the standards of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland in modeling their admirable instrument." Hon. W. C. Preston, of South Carolina, also says: "Certainly it was a remarkable and
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singular coincidence that the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church should bear such a close and striking resemblance to the political Constitution of our country. * The two may be supposed to be formed after the same model."
In these constitutions the representative system in legislation and the appellate system in jurisprudence are fundamental. Dr. George P. Hays says: "The nation tried the 'independent' method of government by the Articles of Confederation. Those articles made the general government a national council, with lib- erty to advise anything, and power to enforce nothing. The new Constitution of Madison, Jefferson and Hamilton, which was adopted by the states in that memorable year, 1778, was simply the representative republicanism of Presbyterian Church govern- ment applied to the Nation."
The name of John Witherspoon is under that of Hancock in the Declaration of Independence. One of John Witherspoon's pupils framed our Constitution. The name of John Witherspoon is "the only name of a minister of Jesus Christ that is graven on the pedestal of a civic statue on the American soil." The United States of America have been called the United States of Holland, amplified, refined, perpetuated. . From that Calvinistic Dutch re- public we borrowed the ideas of a written Constitution, the sep- aration of church and state, the motto of our republic, the free- dom of the press, the secret-written ballot, the reform in laws con- cerning the rights of married women, and the principle that all men were created equal. And as to our debt to the Huguenots: "Their mark is on all our greatness." The Presbyterian Church in the United States is a transplanted and grafted tree. "The soil of Switzerland is in its roots. the blood of Holland is in its veins, the free breath of Scotland is in its leaves." We hear it said that general intelligence is a prime necessity of a successful republic. Bancroft, the Unitarian, whom I like to quote, said John Calvin is the father of the American common school system. This has been disputed. It is said rather that he is the ancestor who handed down the heritage through Knox and John of Nassau. But it makes little difference whether we call Calvin the father or the grandfather. We all know the Presbyterian posi- tion in reference to education. Indeed it is sometimes said that the Presbyterian Church fails among the ignorant and the poor. Now the explanation of this is when we put them through the mental gymnastics of the Shorter Catechism they won't stay ig- norant; and our theology makes men of more worth in the com- mercial market on account of integrity and loyalty to duty so that they won't stay poor. It is a significant fact that the statis- ties of 1886 show that 60 per cent. of college students are in schools that may fairly be regarded as Calvinistic, and 23 per
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cent. of all are under Presbyterian control. Thus 81/2 per cent. of the population educates 23 per cent. of the college students. The self-styled "liberals" and advanced thinkers sometimes frighten us (almost). But where are the colleges they founded. They be- gan this century by stealing Harvard, and it may be they will close it by stealing Andover and Union Seminaries. But do not get frightened above measure. In 1850 evangelical churches had 40,000 congregations. In 1886 the number had swelled to 120,000. In 1850 the "liberals" had 1,300. In 1886 there were 26 less. And if they have a respectable organization for home or foreign missions I have failed to hear of it.
Mr. Chairman and members of this Club, the old truths are not dead. We are not called to the stake and the rack. We do not have to defend our liberties as did Knox. Our enemies are different. Hence "we do not arm ourselves cap-a-pie as our fathers did." "Today the Sovereignty of our God is called in question in other ways. Science denies that this universe of His, that stretches out before our eyes, our intelligences and imagina- tions, does conform to the teaching of His book * *
* The enemies of God no longer deny the equality of men, but they give a certain apotheosis to human nature and thereby bring man above his Divine Master. But the old faith that has stood for the honor of God will uphold that honor still. "It may be modified in the form of utterance, or the formulation of its creed; but in its essential substance it will never be modified, until that Jeru- salem coming down out of the skies shall come down and dwell among men." The men who will meet these new enemies of the cross may not be asked to lay down their lives, but they are the worthy descendants of the Martyr Stephen, of those who smouldered on the fires of Smithfield, wet the soil of Boynton with their blood, or followed Coligny, Conde, William the Silent and Cromwell. The world needs heroism today as much as ever. And if Christendom is ever to present a united face to the foe it will be when we emblazon on our banners loyalty to the Lordship of the truth and the Kingship of Christ. Then will be given God the honor that is His due. Thomas Carlyle said: "The older I grow, and I now stand on the brink of Eternity, the more comes back to me the first sentence in the Catechism which I learned when a child, and the fuller and deeper its meaning becomes : 'What is the chief end of man?' 'To glorify God and enjoy Him forever.' "
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TWO HUNDRED YEARS OF ORGANIZED PRESBYTERIAN- ISM.
(Delivered at the Second Presbyterian Church in Springfield, Mo., April 29, 1906.)
Dr. William Henry Roberts is authority for the statement that two hundred years ago this spring the first Presbytery in the territory now known as the United States was organized in the city of Philadelphia. The records of this first meeting are lost, as are also the first two pages of the records of the meeting of the Presbytery held in December of the same year. This General Presbytery, as it was called, had on its roll the names of seven ministers, and at its December meeting ordained to the Gospel ministry a young man by the name of John Boyd. "The General Presbytery was the first organized Christian body of a denomina- tional character within the territory now occupied by the United States of America. It was altogether independent of European control, and in addition was strictly popular and republican in its government."
We are not to understand by this that Presbyterianism in the United States is only 200 years old. Years before the organiza- tion of this first Presbytery ministers of apostolic zeal and fervor were journeying from settlement to settlement preaching the ever- lasting Gospel, baptizing households, ministering to the sick and burying the dead; and churches sprang up here and there, espec- ially in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, Delaware and New York.
It may be asked, Why were the Protestant churches so late in assuming organized form in this land ? Four hundred and four- teen years ago Columbus discovered the New World. Let it be noted that American history for the first half of these years covers very few pages. Yet marvellous things were transpiring in Eu- rope. Within the first century after the discovery of America the printing press and the Protestant Reformation had been intro- duced, modern monarchies were consolidating under Charles V, Franeis I. Henry VIII and Philip of Spain, whilst the century closed with that gigantic struggle between Protestantism and Catholicism still waging. Remember, too, the Spanish explorers landed in the South. Moved mainly by ambition, romance and avarice, they yet had a sense of duty to the Roman Church, and in taking posession of a new country by conquest they pacified their consciences by calling it the conversion of the natives. Such was
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the "Conquest of Mexico" and the "Conquest of Peru." The countries thus conquered are admirable in climate and rich in minerals; and yet, in both these lands the Roman Church sits bankrupt at the mouth of their inexhaustible mines, and the peo- ple, even when rich, have neither enterprise, inventions, modern civilization nor good government. Not till 1620, 128 years after the discovery of America, did the Puritans come to New England. The next eighty-six years saw vast throngs of people driven to our shores by persecution and in quest of a place to worship God ac- cording to the dictates of conscience. These were the years of the founding of scattered churches. And in 1706 these churches of the Presbyterian order and their ministers organized the first Presbytery. The ministers enrolled in that Presbytery were: Francis Makemie of Virginia, the first moderator; John Wilson and Samuel Davis of Delaware; Nathaniel Taylor, John Hampton and George McNish of Maryland, and Jedidiah Andrews, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, the church in which the Presbytery met and which kept Mr. Andrews as its pas- tor for fifty years. In December of that same year the Presbytery met at Freehold, New Jersey. Here came John Boyd, a Scotch- man from Glasgow, who was examined and ordained, the first minister ordained by an American Presbytery. He became the first pastor of the "Old Scots Church," and after serving it about two years was laid to rest almost under its eaves. Nearly two cen- turies later the Synod of New Jersey erected on the spot a hand- some monument sacred to the memory of its first ordained mininter.
Some of you may already know that the year before Thomas Jefferson penned the Declaration of Independence the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians of Virginia issued the Mecklenburg declaration, the prototype of Jefferson's paper. But did you know that by the ordination of John Boyd seventy years before 1776 American Presbyterianism cut loose from the lands across the seas, and that this act has been called "the Declaration of Independence of the Presbyterian Church in the New World"?
Ten years after its organization the General Presbytery di- vided itself into four Presbyteries and constituted a Synod above it. This Synod met the following year, that is in 1717. Again in 1788 the Synod was divided into four and constituted the General Assembly, which met in Philadelphia the third Thursday of May, 1789. Be it noted that this was the year the Constitution of the United States went into operation and the year that George Wash- ington became our first President.
But the complete organization of the United States govern- ment and of American Presbyterianism are related to one another by ties closer than that of a common birth year. The slogan of our
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fathers was: "A church without a bishop, and a state without a king." And that church without a bishop gave the model to the state without a king. And then poured out the blood of its sons to establish that model.
2. Let us then inquire what are the fundamental principles of this church organized in this land two hundred years ago? Presbyterianism has been defined as "ecclesiastical republicanism combined with Calvinistic theology." It derives its name from its system of government. It is "a church government by repre- sentatives elected by the people and all of equal authority, which is exercised by them only when organized into an assembly or court."
Its charter may be found in these words: "God alone is lord of the conscience and hath left it free from the doctrines and com- mandments of men which are in anything contrary to His word, or beside it in matters of faith or worship."
Three principles are fundamental in Presbyterian order: The parity of the ministry ; the government of the church by represen- tatives chosen by the people, and the subordination of a part of the church to a larger part or to the whole secured by an ascend- ing series of councils or courts.
By the parity of the ministry we mean that there are no dis- tinet orders or ranks in the ministry. We believe that the Bible uses the terms bishop, presbyter or elder interchangeably. That one minister has as much authority as another, save that by force of character or ability one may have more influence than another. Or the church may delegate a certain work to one. Yet in the councils of the church each has an equal right to be heard and the vote of one counts as much as that of another.
There are four main systems of church government: The papal, with the pope as the head, and the cardinals, archbishops, bishops, etc., under him: the prelatical, in which authority is vested in the bishops; the independent. in which the minister is a member of the church, and the power of admission, trial and ex- clusion of church members belongs equally to all members. Un- der this system each church is independent of every other. They may form their associations or councils for mutual help, en couragement or advice, but these associations are advisory rather than authorative. The fourth form of government is the Presby- terian. It is a government by representatives, called presbyters or elders. Of these there are two classes-elders who teach and rule, commonly called ministers, and elders who rule, commonly called ruling elders or simply elders. These ruling elders are the representatives of the people, chosen by the people for that par- ticular work. The Word of God gives these officers instructions as to the duties they are to perform, the character, spirit and ten-
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derness they are to maintain, and the ends they should seek in the discharge of their duties. The Constitution guarantees to every State in the Union a republican, i. e., representative form of gov- ernment. The people of Missouri could not well meet to enact laws or to enforce them. But they can elect representatives to whom they delegate authority. The church is composed of chil- dren of tender years, of beginners with little knowledge of spirit- ual things, of erring and prejudiced members, as well as those well-instructed in spiritual things. and therefore it is better to delegate authority to wise and godly representatives rather than to give novices, children and the prejudiced a voice in affairs of which they would be incompetent judges. We believe that the Bible recognizes the parity of the ministry and government by elders.
The third principle of Presbyterianism is the subordination of a part of the church to a larger part or to the whole secured by a series of courts or councils. In different branches of the Presby- terian family of churches these bodies receive different names. I shall use the terms found in our own church. They are the Ses- sion, the Presbytery, the Synod and the General Assembly. The Session is composed of the pastor. who is ex-officio moderator, and the elders of a particular church. The Session is supposed to su- perintend the spiritual interests of the church. It has power to receive, dismiss, advise or discipline members; to determine what uses the church building shall be put to, oversight of the music of the church and the care of the benevolences of the church. Mark a distinction here. Deacons, or deacons and trustees have charge of the running expenses of the church and deacons have charge of the contributions of the people for the poor. But the pastor and Session have charge of the offerings to the Boards and other benevolent purposes. The Session also has the oversight of the Sunday School, the young peoples' societies and all the aux- iliaries of the church. The Session has a right to appoint the su- perintendent of the Sunday School and to maintain a careful su- pervision of the work of the Sunday School. All official actions of the Session are subject to review and control by the next higher body, that is, the Presbytery. And any member of the church who feels aggrieved by the action of the Session has a right to appeal to the Presbytery, where his case, removed from local prejudices, may have a fair and impartial hearing. The Presbytery is com- posed of the ministers and one ruling elder from each church within a given territory. It has power to receive, dismiss, ordain, or discipline ministers and to exercise watch and care over its churches. Changes in the Confession of Faith, the form of govern- ment, the Book of Discipline or the Directory of worship are made by the voice of the constitutional number of Presbyteries. The
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Synod is the next body of appeal and review, having care over the Presbyteries within its bounds, whilst the General Assembly is the highest body in the church. However, commissioners to the As- sembly are elected not by Synods but by Presbyteries.
3. Admirable as this Presbyterian system is, we may be asked whence its authority and origin. We believe it is strictly Biblical. The eldership is hoary with antiquty. Moses gathered around him a bench of elders. Joshua delivered an address to these elders. As representatives of the people the elders came to Samuel to ask for a king. The synagogues in which Christ preached had as their governing body a bench of elders, with the ruler of the synagogue as a presiding officer. These elders had au- thority to put an improper person out of the synagogue. The unity of the whole was seeured by the right of appeal from the smaller bodies to the great tribunal at Jerusalem. The earliest Christian churches were founded after the model of the synagogue. Hence Paul ordained elders in the various churches, and when a difficulty arose in one of the missionary churches that could not be settled there it was carried up to a council of apostles and elders held at Jerusalem and that eouneil authoratively decided the matter. Gradually Biblical Presbyterianism was displaced in the Christian Church. Through the long night of the Middle and Dark Ages amidst the corruptions that erept into the church the papaey was developed. Here and there a persecuted seet, driven to mountain fastnesses, kept alive the fundamentals of Presby- terianism. The pre-reformers poured out their life blood in fire and torture. Luther hurled his anathemas at the pope. Calvin came and rediscovered Presbyterianism. And Calvin taught it to Knox. And the Scoteh, the Irish, the Netherlander, the Inguenot and one branch of the Puritans brought it to America. Here it was such a potent factor in the formation and establishment of this republic which now reaches from sea to sea that philosophieal historians have asserted that the American Revolution was a Presbyterian measure and that John Calvin was the virtual father of this republic.
4. And now after two centuries of organized existence be- hold the stately steppings of American Presbyterianism. There are about a dozen different branches of the church in this country. Some of these came from Europe and brought with them their particular doctrines and practices. I shall not stop to mention even the names of the various churches. Suffice it to speak of three.
Our own church is the largest member of the Presbyterian family in the United States. Its corporate name is "The Presby- terian Church, U. S. A." It is popularly known as the Northern Presbyterian Church. This, however, is a misnomer, for it has
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