USA > New Jersey > Essex County > Newark > First church in Newark : historical discourses, relating to the First Presbyterian church in Newark; originally delivered to the congregation of that church during the month of January, 1851 > Part 13
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* Rev. Jedediah Andrews of Philadel- phia. See his letter, p. 135, note.
+ It may seem to some almost unac- countable that any man who believes
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ADOPTING ACT.
visiting Boston, took occasion to consult the same eminent adviser. Perhaps there was no crisis in the whole early history of the Presbyterian Church when a serious schism was so narrowly escaped. When the case came up for final decision, Mr. Andrews was chair- man and Mr. Dickinson a member, with others, of a committee to whom the proposition was referred. Af-
ex animo the doctrines of a Confession, and is willing to have all the world know it, should yet scruple at unqualified sub- scription, and doubt the wisdom of making an extended and elaborate creed a test of orthodoxy. And yet I apprehend there are many excellent men, especially in New England, who can sympathize very fully with the revered father of Presbyterianism in Philadelphia, as his views are expressed in the following let- ter, an attentive perusal of which will aid in justly estimating the theological posi- tion of such men :
" Extract from a letter from the Rev. Jed- ediah Andrews to the Rev. Benjamin Coleman at Boston, dated Philadelphia, April 7, 1727.
" As to affairs here, we are engaged in the enlargement of our house, and by the assistance we had from Boston, I hope we shall go on comfortably with that work. The stone work at the foundation is laid, and all the the materials are getting ready. We are now likely to fall into a great difference about subscribing the Westminster Confession of Faith. The overture for it, drawn up by Mr. Thomp- son, of Lewistown, was offered to the Synod a year before last, but not then read in Synod. Means were then used to stave it off, and I was in hopes we should have heard no more of it. But last Synod it was brought again, recommended by all the Scotch and Irish present, and being read amongst us, a proposal was made, prosecuted and agreed to, that it should be deferred till our next meeting for fur- ther consideration. The proposal is that all the ministers and intrants shall sign it, or else be disowned as members. Now
what shall we do? They will certainly carry it by numbers. Our countrymen say they are willing to join in a vote to make it the Confession of our Churches ; but to agree to making it the test of or- thodoxy and term of ministerial com- munion, they will not. I think all the Scots are on one side, and all the English and Welsh on the other, to a man. Nev- ertheless, I am not so determined as to be incapable to receive advice, and I give you this account, that I may have your judgment as to what I had best do in the matter. Supposing I do believe it, shall I on the terms above mentioned subscribe or not? I earnestly desire you by the first opportunity to send me your opinion. Our brethren have got the overture, with a preface to it, printed, and I intend to send you one for the better regulation of your thoughts about it Some say the de- sign of this motion is to spew out our countrymen, they being scarce able to hold a way with the other brethren in all their disciplinary and legislative notions. What truth there may be in this, I know not. Some deny it; whereas some say there is something in it. I am satisfied some of us are an uneasiness to them, and are thought to be too much in their way sometimes, so that I think 'twould be no trouble to lose some of us. Yet I can't think this to be the thing ultimately designed, whatever smaller glances there may be at it. I have no thought that they have any design against me in particular. I have no reason for it. This business lies heavy on my mind, and I desire we may be di- rected in it, that we may not bring a scan- dal on our profession. Though I have been sometimes an instrument of keeping
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ADOPTING ACT.
ter consultation, these men brought in a minute, which with some debate was adopted. It contains a decision on the main question in the following words : "All the members of this Synod, or that shall hereafter be ad- mitted into this Synod, shall declare their agreement in and approbation of the Confession of Faith with the larger and shorter Catechisms of the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, as being, in all the essential and necessary articles, good forms of sound words and systems of Christian doctrine, and do also adopt the said Confession and Catechisms as the confession of our faith." As to the determination of the question, what were to be regarded as necessary and essential, that was left to the Synod or Presbytery, as the case might be, after hearing the scruples of the candidate. With a mutual pledge to use no opprobrious terms or allow any abatement of fraternal kindness on account of differences in extra essential and not necessary points of doctrine," these worthy men at once proceeded to bring forth their scruples, and having adjusted that matter, all present, with a single exception, declared the said Confession and Catechisms to be the confession of their faith; and the Adopting Act became thence- forth a fundamental article of the Constitution of the
them together when they were like to fall to pieces, I have little hope of doing so now. If it were not for the scandal of a division, I should not be much against it ; for the different countrymen seem to be most delighted in one another, and to do best when they are by themselves. My congregation being made up of divers na- tions, of different sentiments, this brings me under a greater difficulty in this con-
tested business than any other minister of our number. I am afraid of the event. However, I will endeavor to do as near as I can what I understand to be duty, and leave the issue with Providence.
"P. S. Ten days ago was buried Mr. Mal. Jones, an old Welch minister. He was a good man, and did good. He lived. about 11 miles from this town."
(See Hodge's Const. Hist., p. 168.)
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ADOPTING ACT.
Presbyterian Church." " The Synod," observes the re- cord, " observing that unanimity, peace and unity which appeared in all their consultations and determinations
* The Adopting Act of 1729 is so im- to as such minister or candidate shall portant a feature in the history of the think best. And in case any member of Presbyterian Church in these United States, as to deserve a place in every local history of the Church covering the same period. . It stands on record thus:
this Synod, or candidate for the ministry shall have any scruple with respect to any article or articles of said Confession or Cat- echisms, he shall at the time of his making " The Committee brought in an overture upon the affairs of the Confession, which after long debating upon it, was agreed upon in hæc verba. said declaration, declare his sentiments to the Presbytery or Synod, who shall, notwithstanding, admit him to the exer- cise of the ministry within our bouuds, "Although the Synod do not claim or pre- tend to any authority of imposing our faith upon other men's consciences, but do pro- fess our just dissatisfaction with, and ab- horrence of such impositions, and do ut- terly disclaim all legislative power and and to ministerial communion, if the Syn- od or Presbytery shall judge his scruple or mistake to be only about articles not essential and necessary in doctrine, wor- ship or government. But if the Synod or Presbytery shall judge such ministers or authority in the Church, being willing to candidates erroneous in essential aud ne- cessary articles of faith, the Synod or Presbytery shall declare them uncapable of communion with them. And the Syn- od do solemnly agree, that none of us will traduce or use any opprobrious terms of those that differ from us in these extra es- sential and not necessary points of doc- trine, but treat them with the same friend- ship, kindness and brotherly love, as if they had not differed from us in such sen- timents." Minutes, p. 92.)
receive one another as Christ has received us to the glory of God, and admit to fel- lowship in sacred ordinances all such as we have grounds to believe Christ will at last admit to the kingdom of Heaven, yet we are undoubtedly obliged to take care that the faith once delivered to the saints be kept pure and uncorrupt among us, and so handed down to our posterity. And do therefore agree that all the ministers of this Synod, or that shall hereafter be ad- mitted into this Synod, shall declare their agreement in, and approbation of the Con- fession of Faith, with the Larger and Shorter Catechism of the Assembly of Di- vines at Westminster, as being in all the essential and necessary articles, good forms of sound words and systems of Christian doctrine, and do also adopt the said Confession and Catechisms as the Confession of our Faith. And we do also agree, that all-the Presbyteries within our bounds shall always take care not to ad- mit any candidate for the ministry into the exercise of the sacred function, but what declares his agreement in opinion with all the essential and necessary articles of said Confession, either by subscribing the said Confession of Faith and Catechisms, or by a verbal declaration of their assent there-
In the afternoon of the same day, it is recorded, that " All the ministers now present, except one, who declared himself not prepared, after proposing all the scru- ples that any of them had to make against any articles and expressions in the Con- fession of Faith and Larger and Shorter Catechisms of the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, have unanimously agreed in the solution of those scruples and in declaring the said Confession and Cate- chims to be the Confession of their Faith, excepting only some clauses in the twen- tieth and twenty-third chapters, concern- ing which the Synod do unanimously de- clare that they do not receive those arti- cles in any such sense as to suppose the civil magistrate hath a controlling power over Synods, &c." (Minutes, pp. 92-3.)
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ADOPTING ACT.
relating to the affair of the Confession, did unanimously agree in giving thanks to God in solemn prayer and praises." The adoption of the Directory for Worship Discipline and Government, appended to the Confes- sion, as "agreeable in substance to the Word of God," and " to be observed as near as circumstances will al- low," followed of course, and was assented to without opposition."
Although the name of Mr. Webb does not appear in any of these transactions, owing to the fact that he was absent from the meetings in which they took place, there can be no doubt as to the views which he entertained or the position which he would have as- sumed had he been present. What Dickinson and Pierson had assented to, and Pemberton called “our happy agreement," could hardly fail to have been agreeable to their intimate associate, Mr. Webb. The act was evidently designed to be a compromise, or rather to establish just the position in which both par- ties were prepared to unite. It exhibits much care in the selection of words, and being written, as I suppose, by Mr. Andrews, contains obvious coincidences in lan- guage and thought with his letter already referred to.
* Letter from the Rev. Ebenezer Pem- upon what terms, you will see by the en- berton, of New York, to the Rev. Dr. closed prints, two or three of which I Coleman at Boston :
" REVEREND SIR-When I had the pleas- ure of seeing you at Boston the last sum- mer, I was expressing my fears that the subscription controversy would be the cause of a great disturance and division in our Synod. But I have now the satis- faction of acquainting you that Provi- dence has been better to us than our fears. The storm is blown over, and the debate is peaceably and satisfactorily ended,
send you for yourself and those to whom you have a mind to communicate them. The conclusion of the Synod was ordered to be published, that our happy agreement might be as universally known as our debates. 1 desire an interest in your prayers, and am
Your most obed't servant,
EBEN'R PEMBERTON. NEW YORK, Sept. 30, 1729.
139
EXPLANATIONS AND MODIFICATIONS.
But the current of opinion in the body was evidently setting strongly towards a more unqualified subscrip- tion than had hitherto been agreeable to the men of New England origin. Moreover, it seems probable that their own minds may have drifted gradually in the same direction. In the year 1730, an act explana- tory was adopted, which, although the language is not perfectly clear, was taken as intended to limit the pro- posing of scruples, and the distinction of essential and non-essential to the case of those who subscribed in the first instance. And again, in the year 1736, a still more explicit one followed, declaring expressly " that the Synod have adopted and still adhere to the West- minster Confession, Catechisms and Directory, without the least variation or alteration, and that without any regard to said distinctions." Nor did Mr. Andrews who was present, at the time, nor any of his associates who were absent, at any subsequent meeting, as far as we know, present any protest against the decision. Either some modification of their former views, or a conviction that it was unwise to insist further, led the party to which the pastor of this Church belonged, silently to acquiesce ; though the leanings of the two parties were obviously not changed, and may be plainly discovered, both during the difficulties of a later pe- riod, in which, while the one insisted on the adopting act, " according to the latest explications," the other still referred to it as it was in its original form; and in the final happy adjustment of those difficulties, which did scarcely more than repeat the same cautious words
140
PRESBYTERY OF EAST JERSEY.
on which both parties had united in the first instance .*
The Presbytery of Philadelphia, as I have already observed, was for several years the only existing one in this country. When in the year 1717, it branched forth into four others, and so formed a Synod, the Churches in this vicinity remained in, or became attached to the parent body. But in the year 1733, that body having increased in numbers, became again divided, and a new Presbytery, called the Presbytery of East Jersey, was created, comprising, with some others, all the Churches, within the limits of the Province bearing the same name. The records of this ancient Pres- bytery, with which this Church continued in connec- tion under that name about five years, are now, it is supposed, irretrievably lost.
Some causes of disquietude seem to have arisen in this congregation about the year 1726, on account of which the Synod, on an application from Mr. Webb, appointed commissioners, consisting of Messrs. Morgan, Anderson, Pierson, Gelston, Dickinson and Andrews, to meet at Newark on the fourth Wednesday of Octo- ber in that year, "to act with the full power of the Synod in all matters that may be laid before them in respect to that congregation, and bring a report of what they do to the next Synod." What the difficul- ties were, or how they were adjusted, we are not in- formed, except that the transactions of the committee were brought in by their report at the next meeting
* Minutes of the Synods of New York and Philadelphia, pp. 286-7.
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INTRODUCTION OF EPISCOPACY.
of the Synod, according to direction, and "read and approved."*
About this time a Dutch congregation was estab- lished at Second River, now Belleville, which was then within the bounds of Newark. We find it spoken of in the beginning of the year 1727, as "the new Church and congregation there erected," and at that time, that and the Church of Aquackanunc were both conjoined in one body in their ecclesiastical. affairs, "and under one minister to dispense the Word and ordinances of God unto them."+
Hitherto no separations had taken place in this Church except on local grounds. The people, says Dr. Macwhorter, had always been of the same denom- ination. "There were no sectarians or public divis- ions among them." But divisions and contentions of a very serious character were now at hand.
It was towards the latter part of Mr. Webb's min- istry, that the earliest Episcopal congregation, viz. : that now known as Trinity Church, was organized. Elements of Episcopacy had been scattered in the province, probably from the beginning, especially after the commencement of Lord Cornbury's administration, when the Rev. George Keith, a minister of the Church of England, made a tour through this part of the coun- try, and published an account of his observations. Even then, the neighboring settlement of Elizabethtown, the original seat of government of the province,, and, on that account, particularly subject to English influ- ence, seemed to the zealous missionary to present a
* Minutes, pp. 83, 84.
t Town Book, 2d part, p. 159.
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EPISCOPAL CHURCH FORMED.
hopeful aspect. " Many of that town," he tells us, " having been formerly a sort of Independents," are be- come well affected to the Church of England, and de- sire to have a minister of the Church of England sent to them."+ In Newark it does not appear that any public services, according to the rites of that Church, were performed earlier than the year 1729. In 1731 however, a missionary, writing from Elizabethtown to his patrons in England, reports, that not only there, " but also at Newark, Whippany and in the mountains, where he sometimes goes and preaches to a numerous congregation," he finds his hearers increasing ; and what can hardly fail to provoke a smile from those who have given attention to the history of the Church in Newark, during a period of sixty-five years previous, gravely adds, that "he finds a general disposition in the people TO BE INSTRUCTED and SETTLED in the CHRIS- TIAN FAITH."§ It does not appear however, that they became settled into a permanent congregation, or had any thing beyond an occasional service in the Episcopal form, from some transient minister, until several years later.
The sudden crystallizing of the elements thus pre- pared, appears to have been due to a case of disci- pline, which arose in this Church, and of whose merits, we of the present day are incapable of forming an in-
* By " a sort of Independents" he prob- any earlier than the latter part of 1730 ? ably means Congregationalists.
+ Keith's Journal, p. 78.
Centennial Discourse by Rev. M. H. Henderson, p. 11. Query .- Were there
§ Centennial Discourse by Rev. M. H. Henderson, p. 11. This missionary was the Rev. Mr. Vaughan.
143
COL. JOSIAH OGDEN.
dependent judgment .* Col. Josiah Ogden,t a distin- guished member of the Church, was accused of vio- lating the sanctity of the Lord's day, by laboring in the fields to save his wheat, when it was exposed to serious loss by long continued rains. The Church cen- sured him, and although the Presbytery reversed their decision, deeming the case one of virtual necessity, and that with ardent endeavors to keep the peace of the town and prevent a separation, the breach had become too wide to be healed, and the aggrieved thereupon began "to declare themselves dissatisfied with the Presbyterian form of church government." Thus " originated," according to Dr. Macwhorter, but per- haps we may say more correctly, thus was brought into a distinct and permanent form, the Episcopal Church in this place.
The precise date of this event is not ascertained. Dr. Macwhorter says it was in the years 1732, '33 and
* I can find no traces of an Episcopal congregation here, even of a temporary character, prior to the occurrence here re- ferred to, except what is stated above from Mr. Henderson's discourse. Humphrey's Historical Account, extending to the year 1728, and published in 1730, makes no mention of Newark among the visitations of the Episcopal missionaries. He men- tions Amboy, Shrewsbury, Freehold, Eliz- abethtown, Rahway, Piscataway, Wood- bridge, and some other places of less note in East Jersey, but nowhere do I find the name of Newark. Indeed, in his map dated 1730 he inserts Newark as a place to which missionaries have not been sent. May it not then be fairly concluded that the first missionary efforts made here, were made at the precise date of Mr. Vaughan's re- port, cited above from Mr. Henderson's discourse, and that Dr. Macwhorter's ac-
count of the first formation of a congrega- tion of that order is correct ?
+ Col. Josiah Ogden, as before noticed, p. 33, note, was the son of David Ogden and Elizabeth Swaine, daughter of Samuel Swaine, previously married to Josiah Ward. He was a man of influence and a man of substance. His tombstone, which still remains, bears the following inscrip- tion : "Here lies interred the body of Col. Josiah Ogden, who died May 17th, 1763, in the eighty-fourth year of his age." (Con- dit's Monumental Inscriptions, p. 137.) In his will, emulating perhaps in his new ecclesiastical attachments, the liberality of Deacon Azariah Crane towards the old Church, he makes the following bequest: " I give to the rector, church-wardens and vestry of Trinity Church in Newark, my silver cup or porringer with two handles, to the same, for and to the only use of said Church."-Copied by Mr. S. H. Congar.
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CONTROVERSY AND ANIMOSITY.
'34. But as the matter was carried up by Col. Ogden to the Synod of Philadelphia in 1734, and we find them still in correspondence with him on the subject as late as 1735, it is probable that he had not, even then, fully withdrawn from the Presbyterian Church .*
A bitter controversy ensued. The Rev. Jonathan Dickinson, one of the committee appointed by the Synod at their meeting in 1735, to correspond with Col. Ogden, "was, in the following summer, called in by the Presbyterians to preach a sermon against the points advocated by the Episcopal Church ;"+ and sev- eral controversial pamphlets between him and the Rev. John Beach, an Episcopal minister of Connecticut, still remain to evince the troubled spirit of the times. " This separation," says Dr. Macwhorter, " was the ori- gin of the greatest animosity and alienation between friends, townsmen, christians, neighbors and relatives, that this town ever beheld. The storm of religious separation and rage wrought tumultuously. The openly declared Episcopalians were few, in comparison
* Minutes of the Synod of Philadelphia, and Cross did write to Col. Ogden, accord- pp. 108-113.
If the records of the Church and the Presbytery had not been lost, we might have formed a correct judgment perhaps, of the nature of the difficulty in question, and have distributed censure or approval to the parties according to desert. In the minutes of the Synod, I find the following references to the case: September, 1734, "ordered that Mr. Robert Cross and the moderator, [Rev. Ebenezer Pemberton, of New York,] as soon as leisure will permit, do write a letter to Col. Ogden, in return to his to the Synod bearing date, Septem- ber 16th, 1734."
September, 1735. " Messrs. Pemberton
ing to order of last year, and he not being yet satisfied, and the case being further opened by Mr. Webb, the Synod order Mr. Dickinson and Mr. Pemberton to bring in a letter for the Synod's approba- tion, to be sent to him."-pp. 108, 118. I infer from these notices, that Col. Ogden withdrew from, and disowned the juris- diction of the Presbyterian Church, either between September 1734, and September 1735, or soon after the latter date.
+ Dr. Macwhorter calls it "his famed sermon, from Mark vii, 15. 'Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.' " MS. Hist.
-
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MR. WEBB'S DISMISSION.
of the Presbyterians, yet there were two leaders, one on each side, who were pretty equally poised, in re- spect in point of abilities, wealth, connections and am- bition." "This religious brand," he adds, "kindled a flame which was not extinguished till the conclusion of the late war."*
For a scene of such violence and excitement, Mr. Webb was poorly fitted. He was naturally of a peace- ful disposition, and the raging waves of ecclesiastical discord must have sorely disturbed his spirit. The precise ground which he took between parties, we have not now the means of determining. Perhaps he strove to mediate, and so was crushed between them. Perhaps deficient in decision, he found no ground on which he could stand firmly, and so was trodden under foot of both. "He possessed," says Dr. Macwhorter, " no gifts for controversy, and was hated and con- temned by the new party, and sunk into neglect and disrespect with the other." The result was, that on the application of a majority of the congregation, he was dismissed by the Presbytery of East Jersey, in the year 1736, after a ministry of about eighteen years. The terms of dismission, according to Dr. Macwhorter, were that the congregation should give him £100, with security for the arrears of his salary. The town voted, as appears from the records, to employ him during the remainder of the year then current, in con- junction with the young preacher, who was the candi- date for his vacated place, continuing to him his full
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