The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-05-23
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Tho ATTEMPT of the Old and the New School
Presbyterians to heal their long existing oii-
hrences and to cooperate together ON com
non principles of observance and action, IS one
pf the most interesting indications OF a ten
aency that shows itself in all the sects' ouch
attempts are likely to be successful III ProPor-
tion as the differences are superficial, or the
conditions of reconciliation are radical. If the
diaerenoes are radical and the unities super
fetal. the effort does not promise an equally
satisfactory result. Ever since the Retorma-
tion loosed the human mind from thraldom,
two parties have appeared, and more or less visi-
blv divided every religious sect. Some Wlsheo
more form, others less; some construed the dog
mas literally, others Interpreted them treely;
come attached more, others less, significance 10
tbe sacraments and rites; some eXacted rlgld
compliance with denominational usage III mat
ters of church administration; others deemed
encb things of small moment, and were quite
willing to sacrifice them to ends which they
regarded as being more vital. Inc dllIerences
were substantially of the same kind every
where and were due to the same causes.
Sometimes they struck in, and sometimes they
Iav loosely on the surface. Every sect has or
has had its Old and its New Schools. The
great sects, like the Episcopalians, Baptsts,
and Presbyterians, and the small sects, like
the Universalists and Unitarians, the Sweden
borgians and the Quakers. AS general
Thing, the more radical the sect, the more
radical is the difference; the more conserva-
tive the sect, the more radical the agreement.
The Presbyterian Church has very noble
record, and very ancient one. In social and
civil revolutions, as well as in religious it has
played distinguished part. ltshas given pow
erful and famous men to the company OF
preachers and reformers. Lofty in faith, un-
Compromising in doctrine firm in discipline,
austere in morals, we'll knit in organization, in
administration vigorous, in spirit earnest and
devout, it has done well its part in fostering
at once religious zeal and political liberty. But
even the Presbyterian Church could not escape
from the disintegrating movement of thought
and feeling. The marks of old dissensions are
visible all over its body. Emigrants from Scot
land and the north of Ireland brought Presby-
terianism to the American Colonies so early
as 1890, and before the end of the century
several churches were established in Vir-
ginia, Maryland Pennsylvania, and New
Jersey. By 17l6, four Presbyteries had been
instituted, and synod formed. So long as
the members were mainly Scotch, and Irish,
and Puritan, the severe integrity Of the body
was preserved; but foreign elements poured in;
Frenchmen and Welshmen, Dutch and Swiss,
ties opinions began to conflict, not so much
on points of faith, whether spiritual or
theological, as on points of discipline and
observance, the education of ministers, the
mode of testing their fitness to preach and
administer the sacraments, the rules to be
respected in their ordination, the binding
nature of this or that regulation in the form
of worship. To trace the course of these dsa-
greements would be impossible here. They
broke out again and again with great violence,
the more rigid party usually prevailing, but
the party favoring greater liberty gaining Incl
dental advantages, The ordination of Mr..
John Rowland, in 1888, by the New Bruins
wick Presbytery in defiance of the decree of
the Synod prescribing a special feature in the
examination of a candidate, furnished one
occasion FOR dissension. Whitefeld's visit to
America divided the sympathies of the two
parties in the Church; the stricter disappearing
of the irregularities of his procedure, the
laxer warming into enthusiasm in his favor.
The Synod was broken in two in 1741, the
Old School or conservatives making Philadel-
phia their stronghold the New School taking
up their headquarters in New York. This
breach was healed in l75S, the independents
holding out the olive branch. During the
period of separation, the New School had
gained in number and influence over the Old,
but both were strong. The reconciliation
lasted till towards 1880, period of about
seventy years. The organization of the Pres
byteries and Synods was perfected in that
time. The rules of practice and standards of
government were revised, rearranged, and
published; the order of discipline and worship
was prescribed and fixed. The Westminster
Confession OF Faith was sanctioned with slight
notifications. The catechsms were readopted
almost precisely as they were before. The
basis of harmony was substantially the stout
Old Scotch Presbyterianism, rounded away a
little to adapt it to the United States.
But the troublesome spirit was not dead
The Strict Constructonists and the Liberal
Constructionists existed, and whenever the old
questions came up the old controversy came up
with them. In 1887 the body fell asunder
again; the bonds oil union, after a severe strain,
gave way at the same old weak SPOT The
ordination clause and four Synods, those of
Genesee, Geneva, Utica, and the Western Re-
serve, were set apart from the rest. The
schisln between the Old School and the New
School, as we know them, occurred genera
ton ago. For the last thirty years, the
Presbyterian Church has consisted of two dis
tinct bodies, wholly independent of each other
as to government and administration. Both
increased in wealth and influence. Both had
Synods, Presbyteries ministers, churches
and communicates. Both supported foreign
and domestic missions, Boards Of Education
Publishing Committees, Church Building Com
mittees, and all the appliances for doing Evan
gelical work. The Old School, in 1860, haC
six, the New School had five Theological Semi
naAies. Judging by exterior signs, the mum
ber Of Synods, Presbyteries churches, minis
ters, students, professors, and communicates
and the amount of money raised annually
and the extent of work accounted for, tn
power of the Old School olpreponderates over tn
New.
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