Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1876-06-15

Chur~ h of North America, the corporate title
thus indicating the two organizations OF which
the united body was composed. This unisn
was formally ratified in 1899, when the con-
stitution and standards of the United Church
were adopted.
There were some members of the Reformed
Presbyterian Church who did not go into the
union, and shortly after it was affected receiv-
ed ministerial supplies from home. The As
sociate Church was continued by two minis
tiers who objected to the Union, not because
its terms were unsatisfactory, but because the
Church which sent them out had not been
consulted in relation TO it. So far, then, as
the diminishing of the number of sects was
were more after it went into effect than there
were before
The two Churches again took up their
march on separate lines although there was
really no doctrinal difference between them,
and nothing certainly that should have caused
them to keep up distinct organizations. At
length they became convinced of this, and
proposal was made by the Reformed Presby-
terian Church that negotiations should be
commenced for the purpose of effecting
union. The Associate Reformed organization
accepted the proposal, and convention of
representatives of the two bodies met in this
city in October, 1888. Another convention
was held four years afterwards in the city of
Philadelphia, at which delegates from the As
sociate Church were also present. Several
meetings of the representatives of the three
Churches were held between May, 1s42, and
the same month in 1915, when the Reformed
Presbyterian Churclrwithdrew, very abruptly,
from the convention, and refused to continue
negotiations.
The other two Churches did not abandon
the work, but continued it until, in 1857, they
agreed to become organically one, and adopted
basis of incorporating union. That was
remarkable year in the history of American
churches which held noon day meetings in the
principal towns and cities throughout the
country. The year following the Associate
and Associate Reform Churches formally rat
lfied union between them, and called the
new organization the ''United Presbyterian
Church of North America" The Supreme
Court of this body of protesting Christians
which has its strong hold in and around Pitts
burgh, is now in session. in the city of Phila-
delphia. 1t is not near as large as the General
Assembly of the Presbyterian Church which
is sitting in Brooklyn, nevertheless it is quite
and numbers among its members
many eminent scholars and prominent lay
men. 1t has under its jurisdiction some six |
or seven Synods, fifty-four Presbyteries, near
ly six hundred ministers, and about fifty IL |
centiates. 1t embraces some eight hundred |
thirty thousand families, and |
nearly one hundred thousand communicates. |
There are in connection with it, besides the
seminary in Allegheny city, three theological
schools, located respectively at Xenia, Ohio,
Newburg. New York, and Osiout. Egypt.
In this immediate locality the United Pres
byterian Church is one of the strongest bodies
Of Christians, and exerts no small influence in |
the community. 1t adheres strictly, by pro-
fesson, to the exclusive use of the one hum
tred and fifty Psalms of Scripture in public
and private worship, and this, it is thought
by some, rather stands in the way of its great
sr enlargement. However, its members who
adhere strictly to the doctrine of its standards
IN the psalmody question, are greatly respect
ID for their conscientiousness, and now stand
higher in the estimation of the community
Pitts Dispatch.