The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-05-17

instruments respectively as their confession of
faith. This, however, was not the end of the
issue. Various questions were discussed, par
ticularly those bearing upon experimental plety
in the candidates, and various measures were
taken in the years 1734 and 1888 which eventu-
ally caused much trouble and an estrangement
of the two parties of the Church for a time.
The Division Of the svnod In 1S4I.
In 174l occurred the division of the Synod.
Various causes contributed to 1t. The wave of
revival, in connection with the labors OF Gilbert
Tennent and the celebrated Whitfield, swept
over the land, carrying with it in many cases
confusion and disorganization. Two parties
were formed, the "New Side," represented by
the more ardent revivalists, and the ''Old Side"
represented by those who regarded it as largely
an outburst of fanaticism. The last, by the ne
cessity of their position, were the advocates and
champions of order. They denounced itinerants
intruding uninvited into their congregations,
and when the ''New Lights" contemned their
opposition, they invoked stricter application
of Synodcal discipline, and more rigid expli-
cation of the Adopting act, while they attempted
to throw upon the other party the odum of
violating their stipulated obligation to conform
to the standards. ..-.t ...s... ..
The evil at last provoked a protest which
divided the Synod and led to the organization,
four years later, of the Synod of New York. The
latter increased rapidly, while the sold Side"
Synod of Philadelphia could barely make good
the number lost by removal or death. In 13
years from the time that the New York Synod
was organized 1t outnumbered the other by
three to one. Most of its members had joined it
subsequent to the division, while the "Old Side
Synod itself had greatly changed.
United Again In 175S.
But by this time the old issues were obsolete,
and the old antagonisms had died out. In 1853,
after some years of mutual correspondence and
repeated Committees of Conference. the reunion
was effected. The New Side" insisted on the
Adopting act as 1t stood, as substantially the
basis of the united body. and although this was
not all which the sold Side" desired, they
showed themselves disposed to make sacrifices
to promote an object which was essential to the
harmony and efficiency of the Presbyterian
Church.
Season of Prosperity.
The years that intervened between the re-
union of 1758 and the Revolutionary War were
years of prosperity and rapid growth. Mission
ary efforts were nobly put forth. Men like
Duffield and Beatty penetrated into Western
Pennsylvania with the view of opening AN
Indian mission field. Men like McWhorter, of
Newark, and Spencer of Elizabethtown, visited
the Southern field, and explored desttutions in
Virginia and the Carolinas. In Virginia, under
the labors of the gifted, eloquent and earnest
Davies, afterwards President of Princeton Col
lege, and his successors, Presbyterianism ex-
tended itself in the region of Hanover and in
the Valley of the Shenandoah. Indeed the
Church has, perhaps, during no other period of
her history developed higher degree of energy
or attained more gratifying success.
The Church During the Revolutionary War.
The progress of the Church was seriously in
terrupted by the Revolutionary War, but at this
trying period Presbyterianism made record in
which Presbyterians may well take pride. There
were few Tories among the congregations of
the Church, and none in the ranks of her
ministry, with possible single exception. Many
of her ministers served in the army as chaplains,
and some of them did not restrict themselves to
the use of spiritual weapons holding that the
cause of civil liberty was for the time identified
with that of religious liberty, and that the over
throw of kings would aid the overthrow of
bishops and prevent the setting up OF an
Established Church, supported by the State.
The Synod of New York and Philadelphia met
at the latter place on May II, ITS, just four
weeks after the first blood was shed in the con-
fict at Lexington. The Synod, in view of the
alarming state of public affairs, appointed a day
of ''solemn fasting, humiliation, and prayer" to
be carefully and religiously observed" This
corresponded with an appointment, for the
same purpose, by the Continental Congress. A
pastoral letter was also addressed to the
churches, to express the views of the Synod
which they declare they ''do not wish to con-
| ceaI, as men and citizens" In this letter the
! people were most earnestly exhorted to the
cultivation and practice of piety, and also to
discharge faithfully the duties they owed the
| country, in the common danger.
Many of the leading Presbyterian divines of
the day figured prominently in the struggle, for
independence. The Rev. John Witherspoon.
| d. D., then President of Princeton College, was
| signer of the Declaration of Independence, a
member of the Continental Congress for six
| years, and drew up many of the most important
papers which emanated from that body in that
time. John Carmichael, of Lancaster, was a
bold advocate of American rights; and Miller, OF
Delaware, was equal IN patriotic ardor. Robert
| Davidson, then the pastor of the First Presby-
terian Church of this city, at the very COM
| mencement of the war took decided ground
against the mother country. OF John Craig
head, pastor of Rocky Spring Church, Pennsyl-
vania, it is said that she fought and prayed
alternately" and he raised company from the
members of his charge, with which he Joined
Washington's army in New Jersey.
This jealous devotion to the cause of the
country was maintained to the close of the
struggle, and the first General Assembly of the
Church, which met in 1769 framed an address
to General Washington, lately elected President
pledging its support to his administration.
The Church After the Revolution.
Years elapsed after the close of the Revou
| War he In