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 39
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churches and work in most of the territory of the United States. It is sometimes spoken of as the Old School Church. This, too, is a misnomer. In 1837 the church divided into what was known as the O. S. and the N. S. The O. S. believed in establishing its own mission boards and benevolent organizations. The N. S. wanted to continue co-operating with Congregational churches along these lines. The O. S. also claimed that the N. S. was not alto- gether sound doctrinally. In 1870 these churches united on the standards pure and simple, and thus the terms O. S. and N. S. passed away. This united church is probably the foremost church in the United States in contributions to the great work of foreign missions. It certainly leads all others in sustaining great inter- denominational movements and agencies, such as the American Bible Society, the Y. M. C. A., etc. Mr. Moody said if he wanted to raise $100,000 for benevolent purposes he would expect to get $60,000 of it from Presbyterians. This church was the first church in this country to have a paid secretary to devote his whole time to the great temperance reform, and the first to establish a special department whose mission it is to reach ont a helping hand to the labor movement of our country, and today it stands easily at the head of the evangelistic movements of our country.
Nearest to our church I had always supposed until within the last few years is what is known as the Southern Presbyterian Church. The term Southern, like the term Northern, is a nick- name. The corporate name of this church is "The Presbyterian Church in the United States." (Ours U. S. A. Theirs U. S.) When the Confederate States went out of the Union this branch went out of the mother church. The Southern Church has jus- tified its separate existence on these grounds: They think the Northern Church is more given to political deliverances, that they are a little stricter than we doctrinally and that our missionary and benevolent boards are given more authority than their com- mittees. A large and growing part of the Southern Church thinks that these differences are more imaginary than real, and there are encouraging notes that point to the belief that in a few years the two churches will be one.
The last church I shall mention is the Cumberland Presby- terian Church. It sprang from the mother church in 1810. It took its name from the Cumberland Presbytery, which was organized as a new and independent body by three Presbyterian ministers- Finis Ewing. Samuel King and Samnel McAdow. The Presbytery was so named because it was situated in that region known as the Cumberland Country, a region that embraced parts of Kentucky and Tennessee. Dissensions had arisen in the church along three lines-doctrinal, educational, evangelistic. The Cumberland brethren believed that the Confession of Faith fairly interpreted
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taught fatalism and that some infants dying in infancy were lost. Our church has steadily maintained that these inferences of the Cumberland brethren were nuwarranted. The Cumberland brethren held that the standard of education for the ministry should be more flexible, that while there was such a demand for ministers young men should be licensed and ordained without waiting for them to get an academic education. The first decade of the nineteenth century witnessed a great revival wave spread- ing over the southern part of the country. This revival was ac- companied with bodily exercise known as "the jerks," and differ- ences of opinion arose as to the attitude of the church to these movements. And differences along these three lines led to the organization of the C. P. Church. For ninety-six years the two churches have been apart. As to which was right in the begin- ning and which was wrong, or as to whether both sides might not have been more tolerant and thus have avoided a division, it is not for us to say. We know that the spirit of toleration is broader today than it was a century ago. The revival conditions that ex- isted in that day are a thing of the past. The Cumberland Church started out by taking exceptions to certain clauses in the West- minster confession, then eliminated those clauses and subsequently in 1883, I believe it was, wrote a new confession. It is fair to state, too, that as the country grows older that church is devoting more attention to an educated ministry. In 1903 our own church revised the Confession of Faith. Some of us think that instead of changing our doctrines we simply restated them in a way that removed from them the mistaken inferences that others had drawn, and that the church never taught doctrines of which it was accused. Be that as it may the confession as revised seemed to be more satisfactory to outsiders than the old confession, and negotiations for union with our church started in one of the Cum- berland Presbyteries, gained momentum rapidly and the same year, that is 1903, was transmitted from the C. P. General As- sembly to ours. Committees were appointed by the two assemblies to arrange a plan of union. The following basis of union was sent down by the Assemblies to their Presbyteries: "Do you approve of the reunion and union of the Presbyterian Church of the United States and the Cumberland Presbyterian Church on the following basis: The union shall be effected on the doctrinal basis of the Confession of Faith of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America as revised in 1903, and on its other doctrinal and ecelesiastical standards; and the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments shall be acknowledged as the inspired Word of God, the only infallible rule of faith and practice." In voting on this proposition the Presbytery is the unit. Each Presbytery was entitled to one vote. The Presbytery might be large or small. Its
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majority for or against union might be large or small, but as the majority voted so was counted the single vote of a given Presby- tery. More than two-thirds of the Presbyteries in our church and more than one-half of the Presbyteries in the C. P. Church voted in favor of the union. These votes were tabulated at the General Assemblies of the two churches that met in May, 1905. The As- semblies, therefore, declared that the union had been carried by the constitutional majorities and empowered their committees to act as a joint committee to arrange for the coming together of the two churches. I might say here that from the beginning a small minority in our church and a larger majority in the C. P. Church have been unfavorable to the union. Now that the vote for union has carried we do not hear much opposition in our branch of the church. But the opposition in the C. P. Church is more persis- tent and aggressive, even threatening to take the matter into the courts. Our General Assembly meets the 17th of May in Des Moines, Iowa, and the Cumberland General Assembly meets in Decatur, Ill. The report of the joint committee will be made to each Assembly and if adopted by each Assembly, then the Cumber- land will adjourn to meet no more. Next year all existing Presbyteries-our own and the C. P .- will elect commissioners to the united Assembly, the two retiring moderators will act con- jointly in opening the new Assembly, and thus the union will be consummated. We do not know just yet how or when Synods and Presbyteries will be brought together. In many places, like Ash Grove, Greenfield and Mount Vernon, the two churches are already worshipping together with one pastor, and beyond doubt as speedily as advisable will become one organization. In Spring- field Calvary and the First C. P. Church are of such a size, and this church and the Springfield Avenue Church are so far apart, that I suppose the four churches will remain distinct for some time at least. However, we look forward to the time when the four will belong to one Presbytery. I am glad to be able to state that Ozark Presbytery voted unanimously for the union. We hail the day as an omen of better things in the Kingdom of God. I have referred to that monument erected by the Synod of New Jer- sey over the grave of John Boyd. That monument has four faces. Above them are four gables. On the north gable is the seal of the Presbyterian Church, U. S. A., showing an open Bible and a ser- pent on a cross, symbolizing the Saviour. On the west is the seal of the Presbyterian Church of Monmouth County, the oldest known Presbyterian Church seal in this country. On the east is the seal of the Scotch-Irish Society, and on the South is the seal of the Southern Presbyterian Church, showing the mystic letters of the Saviour's name, "I. H. S.," surrounded by a burst of sun rays over an anchor, standing for the blessed Gospel. Under the
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north gable is the tablet of dedication. Under the west, written in Latin, is the epitaph of John Boyd, and under the east is a translation into English of the Latin epitaph. The space under the south gable is left bare. Perchance at no distant day the sculptor will be sent to that monument to chisel under the seal of the Southern Church the glad tidings that the Northern and the Southern, as well as the Northern and the Cumberland Presby- terian Churches, are one, marching with stately tread to "the General Assembly and church of the First Born on High."
PRESBYTERIAN REUNIONS OF 1869-70, AND 1906-7
An Address Delivered by Rev. E. E. Stringfield at the Or- ganization of the Presbytery of Ozark, in the Ebenezer Church, at Greenfield, Missouri, June 18th, 1907. Published by order of Presbytery :
I have been asked why the Presbytery convenes for organiza- tion at Greenfield rather than Springfield. I replied for historic associations. Thirty seven years ago the 29th of the coming Sep- tember, the Presbytery of Ozark, U. S. A., was organized in this city, and the list of ministers given in the enabling act is headed by Revs. John McFarland and W. R. Fulton, who rise up in frag- rant memory at the very mention of Ebenezer. Of the eleven ministers named in the enabling act the majority have passed to the jurisdiction of the General Assembly of the church of the First Born, and only Leonidas J. Matthews is enrolled today in the New Presbytery of Ozark. Whilst of the sixteen churches some have fallen asleep and some are enrolled today in the New Presbytery of Carthage, we still retain, Bolivar, Calvary, Conway (then called Panther Creek), Ebenezer, Mt. Zion, Bellvue (then called Springfield), and probably Peace Valley survises in West Plains.
Like the Presbytery we have organized today, that Presby- tery had its birth in the throes of the readjustments incident to a happy Presbyterian reunion. Protestantism has oft times been reproached for its divisive tendencies. And of the main Prot- estant bodies surely the Presbyterian church will not cast the first stone at any sinner in this respect. Indeed, we have been called the "split Ps." and Dr. Landrith jocularly remarked at the Assembly that the Cumberland brethren had demonstrated their Presbyterianism by their ability to disagree.
But let our tongues cleave to the roof of our mouths rather than that they should condemn overmuch the fathers for the rise of denominations. The reunion committee of a generation ago
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said of the reformation: "That was a time for the assertion of truth, rather than the expression of love. It was not so much a season for extending Christianity as for purifying and prepar- ing it for future aggression." It may be true that the segrega- tion was carried too far and long. But it is enough for us to know that whether these separations were wise or otherwise (1) our fathers tried to act as men of God.» (2) Their labors in their separate spheres were blessed by the Spirit's presence and power. (3) And the time has now come for the expression of love as well as for the assertion of truth. It is indeed gratifying to know that the Presbyterian church is leading the great denominations in these family reunions. And from present indications we do not propose to wait thirty-seven years until the next one. This is the age of electricity and wireless telegraphy, and we propose to move a little faster, and when we are through with these family . reunions we may be ready for denominational reunions. When that time comes I fancy that the ultimate expression of Christian- ity will embrace the fundamentals of the Presbyterian govern- ment, so consonant with the government of our native land, and the Pauline, Augustinian or Calvinistic theology, the reassertion of which produced the Protestant Reformation, as well as the efforts of pre-reformers to turn the church from mendacity and superstition-the theology whose preaching has given birth to most of the sweeping nation wide revivals adown the track of time. Historie Calvinism is the theology of civil and religions liberty, and of evangelism as well.
It is a conceit of mine that in the times that tried men's souls -the times for the assertion of truth, our fathers planted a church remarkable more for strength and stability than for adaptability, and that in these latter days worthy sons of worthy sires are learn- ing adaptability while they conserve stability. With our united church as the organized leader in church union; in the formation of a national movement to call forth the latent energies of that sleeping Sampson-the men of the church; in that forward move- meut whose shibboleth is the evangelization of the world in this generation through the aid expressed in the watchword "men and missions;" in the rising tide of evangelism, and in bridging the chasm said to exist between the church and the laboring men. I say with these vantage grounds our church ought to go forward by leaps and bounds.
It is interesting and profitable to draw a few parallels and a few contrasts between the reunion of 1870 and that of the present time. The high contracting parties then were known as the Old School and New School. These, I infer, were popular rather than corporate designations. for in the midst of the negotiations it
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was recommended that the separate assemblies be designated by the city in which the sessions were held rather than by the desig- nation Old School or New School.
The motives that led to the reunion then remind us very forcibly of those operating to bring about the present reunion. That as this was a time of awakening activity among laymen. During the war the Christian Commission and the Sanitary Com- mission called into play the philanthropic and evangelistic efforts of both branches of the Presbyterian church. Side by side their members worked, and "each one had to inquire of the other be- fore he could tell his denominational connection." These activi- ties during the war prepared the men of the church for activities in her behalf.
In 1868 the committee on reunion declared "The third of a century the life of a whole generation has indeed wrought won- drous changes, of the greatest promise for the future. Another order of things exists. Old causes of irritation are removed. A new generation in the ministry and membership of the church has arisen, with little sympathy for those controversies that re- sulted in division. A new evangelic spirit is abroad, like the breath of spring, inviting to a new style of action."
Aggressive mission work, both Home and Foreign, was one of the objects sought by that reunion. The reunion movement really began in the midst of the war, although formal steps were not taken until 1866, when committees on reunion were appointed. As an expression of renewed interest in foreign missions the Old School Assembly of 1863 elected Dr. Morrison of India, as Moder- ator. And the two assemblies of 1869, at Pittsburg, in meeting for a second time in the year, held joint and enthusiastic meet- ings in the interests of home and foreign missions.
In 1868 the Joint Committee said: "The motives which impel to union are higher and greater than any which pertain to denom- inational advantage. They relate to the welfare of the whole country and the kingdom of our Lord in all the earth." Then they speak of the facts that in the thirty years of the separation the number of states in the union had nearly doubled, that this vast domain must be supplied with means of education and the institutions of religion that six millions of immigrants had landed on our shores, that four millions of slaves recently enfranchised demand Christian education. They tell us that anti Christian forces, Romanism, Ecclesiasticism, Rationalism, Infidelity, Ma- terialism and Paganism were struggling for the ascendancy. Then they add: "Christian forces should be combined and deployed, according to the new movements of their adversaries. It is no time for small and weak detachments which may easily be defeat-
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ed in detail. The time has come when minor motives should be merged in the magnanimous purpose, inspired by both patriotism and religion, to Christianize the whole country. Nor is the pro- posed union desirable on one own account only. It is inevitable that its effects should be felt throughout the whole of Christen- dom." The fathers hailed the reunion of the Old and New Schools as an especial harbinger of the reunited Presbyterianism. "A very prominent statesman said after the Separation of the Northern and the Southern Presbyterian church at Philadelphia in 1861 that he had little hope of the country now that the Pres- byterian church was divided." Large minded men outside the Presbyterian fold believed that the reunion of the Old School and New School churches would be a great matter for the unity of the whole country. And then in the midst of the negotiations it was found that acquaintance begat confidence and that after all church unity was a matter of personal confidence.
And are not the motives I have mentioned parallelled by the motives of this recent Reunion.
To the awakened lay activity of a generation ago the present responds with an Indianapolis convention.
To aggressive Foreign and Home interests we match Corbett with Morrison and present Landreth's moderatorial sermon in re- sponse to their ripening field awaiting the sickle.
Do they tell us of anti Christian forces struggling for the ascendency ? We too have felt that when the very foundations of faith are attacked the time has come when minor causes of separa- tion should be merged in the magnanimous purpose to christian- ize the whole world.
Do they speak of a rising tide of evangelistic spirit. We call upon them to look down over the battlements of the celestial city and see our evangelistic committee, our simultaneous campaigns, our services on the streets, in Shops. Theatres, Saloons.
And on investigation did they find that there was more har- mony of belief than they had ever guessed What did the re- vision of our confession reveal but that fact ?
II. Again, Like the recent Reunion the Reunion of the Old and the New School Churches, met with some strenuous opposi- tion. But before that reunión was consummated at least all out- ward opposition had melted away. Our fathers were longer ne- gotiating than we have been. As some have thought that this present reunion was precipitated too hurridly; the inquiry arises were they wiser than we in tarrying longer? I reply not neces- sarily. It took them longer to formulate the basis of union on which they finally united than it did us. We had their example to follow and with little difficulty found a basis of union that
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voices an agreement and a confidence alike honoring to both parties.
But we had some difficulties they did not encounter.
In the first place they had the same name. Each was official- ly known as the Presbyterian Church and each had simply to drop the nick name the one Old School, the other New School. In the next place they had absolutely the same standards. Neither had revised the confession of faith: In the third place their traditions as to qualifications for the ministry were the same; and finally they came nearer occupying the same territory than did the Presbyterian Church U. S. A. and the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, hence sectional questions were eliminated. And this fact that they were not in a large measure sectionally divided furnished opportunities for becoming acquainted that were not found on so large a scale in recent times. As a side issue of the Old School assembly of 1864 an informal convention was held for the purpose of discussing reunion. It was largely attended by prominent ministers and laymen from both branches of the church. "Another of the most influential meetings in favor of reunion was the Presbyterian national union convention which assembled in Philadelphia in 1867 with the avowed object of fostering the union of all branches of Presbyterianism. Not a few had come to the convention with the proclaimed purpose of opposing all union. It is, however, a pretty difficult task for pious men to meet Christian brethren and pray for disunion." Hence many who went to the convention avowed antagonists to reunion went away working and praying for it. And then the two assemblies met at the same time in St. Louis in 1866 and New York City in 1869. And so sweet was their fellowship that they could not wait until the next year but adjourned each to meet in Pittsburg in the fall at which time they were to receive answers to the overtures on reunion sent down to the Presby- teries.
Some months ago, while meditating on some acrimonious things that were said about reunion, I turned to the history of the former reunion. Imagine my surprise to find affixed to a pro- test made to the Old School Assembly of 1868, the names of some of the men in our church that I had venerated the most. Why I regarded them in a special sense as my spiritual advisers. I read that protest carefully. It placed some of the brethren of the other side not only outside the pale of Presbyterianism, but ont- side of evangelical Christianity. It cited a category of errors as long as the moral law, and as formidable as popery to a Scot of the olden times. But the reunion sentiment grew. It seems a little strange that in this former reunion the opposition existed largely in the larger branch of the church, and that leading lay-
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men led the clergy in the demands for reunion. Incidentally, he it said to the credit of the Presbyteries of Southwest Missouri, and of Osage that occupied the territory of Southwest Missouri, they were apparently like the young ladies of a female seminary, "In favor of union to a man," and they never lost an opportun- ity to express their desires.
At last the hour had struck. In 1868 overtures were sent down to the Presbyteries. The basis was cumbrous and objec- tionable in some features. The answers of the Presbyteries indi- cated a desire for union, but a dissatisfaction with the basis The assemblies of 1869, to which these answers were sent, formu- lated a simpler basis, more expressive of mutual confidence. The report was adopted in the Old School Assembly by a vote of 285 to 9, and by the New School Assembly unanimously. The Pres- byteries were required to give a categorical answer yes or no. And so confident were the Assemblies that when the question was popped to the church at large she would say yes that they ad- journed to meet in November, and she said yes. The Old School Assembly had 144 Presbyteries. Some of them could not meet in time to vote on the question, but 126 voted yes and 3 voted no. The New School Assembly had 113 Presbyteries, 113 answered yes, 110 were unanimous in that answer and 3 Presbyteries had one man each who answered no. That the fathers were more successful than the sons in affecting a union without a split I think may be explained by the fact that they bore the same name, had the same standards, occupied more nearly the same territory, were better able to hold joint sessions and conventions, and that that the opposition came from the larger, rather than from the smaller body, and from men who could utter their protest to sat- isfy the conscience and subsequently abide by the wisdom of the constitutional majority.
(III. "It is reported among the heathen and Gashmu saith it"-that some people think organic union contrary to the con- stitution of the church. For the Presbyterian Church to take that position would be to deny her birth and lineage. She is the offspring of the union of 1869-70 and her mother was the offspring of the union of 1768. For a Cumberland present or former to take such a position is to show that he has forgotten the history of his church. The history of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church presents an unbroken succession of efforts at organic union with other religious bodies. Certainly the fathers of the church did not consider such a consummation unconstitutional. In 1810 the year of her birth-the palmy days of Ewing and King and McAdow the original Cumberland Presbytery issued a circu- lar letter in which occur these words: "We have in view as a Presbytery to make another proposition to the Synod of Ken-
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