Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-07-26
Mistsllaneulls 8saaias,
THE A. r. P.'S
Editor HemphiII Writes Interestingly
of the Denomination.

| of the Denomination.
| There Is a great deal Of idle talk In
Charleston particularly among church.
goers, on a Sunday. After every reg
ular church service there must, of
course, be discussion Of the millinery
features Of the occasion, and there Is
nothing more effective in the way of
spiritual consolation than the COM
parison Of the conduct of the people In
the pews with their daily walk and
conversation. Now and then the
thoughts Of the religiously inclined are
engaged in the contemplation Of the
sects with which the world Is crowded.
Last Sunday. for example, after par
ticularly striking sermon on the
weather, a subject in which even the
ungodly take a personal interest, while
pleasant little company were wait
| ing for the okra soup to be served,
there occurred an animated and more
or less intelligent discussion of that
particular sort of Presbyterian rough
| IL described by Parson Brownlow sew
eral generations ago as "a peculiar
sect Of Christians who sing David's
Psalms, plough with double lines and
grease their shoes with tallow," viz:
the Associate Reformed Presbyterians.
The discussion was precipitated by the
question of a facetious little woman,
who asked, What is an A. r. p, any
how?" But the answer to the inquiry
was even more interesting than the
question itself, for with that superior
air which comes by travel and obser-
walton a delegate to the recent Sun
day school convention, at Asheville, N.
c., replied: WELL 1 saw four or five Of
them at Asheville, and they looked
very much like other people. l had
always been curious to see one or
them, not being quite sure how they
looked. But they were at Asheville,
and my curiosity was rewarded"
Far be it from US to attempt a de-
scriptions Of the many sorts of Presby-
terians that are to be found in this
country, but there is something partic-
ularly interesting in the Psalm sing
ing sort which would appear to justify
the News and Courier in departing for
the moment from it's wholly non-sec-
tartan character, and in giving infor-
nation touching these nearest Of kin
to the old Covenanting stock of Scot
land. There are a good many Of them
in the upper part of South Carolina,
and in the independence section OF
North Carolina they fairly swarm,
particularly on communion Sabbaths.
The distinctive feature Of their faith Is
that they believe in an inspired psalm
ody, as 1t Is expressed in the declar-
alton Of the Associate Reformed Pres
byterian synod Of the south, made In
1871: ~,
1T is the u of God, that the sa-
cred songs contained in the Book OF
Psalms be sung in His worship, both
public and private, to the end OF the
world: and the rich variety and per-
feet purity Of their matter, the bless
ing of God upon them in every age,
and edification Of the church thence
arising, set the propriety Of singing
them in a convincing light, nor shall
any human composure be sung in any
Of the Associate Reformed churches
1t may be explained for the infor-
nation Of those who would like to be
instructed upon this subject that the
doctrines contained in the Westmins-
ter Confession of Faith are the doc
trines to which the Associate Reform
ed Presbyterians give their adherence,
and are in the main the doctrines OF
all strict Presbyterians in every part
of the world" Robert Latham, D. D.,
concludes his History of the Associate
Reformed Synod Of the South" In
these words:
$50 far as doctrine and practice are
concerned, the Associate Reformed
synod of the south and the Reformed
PRESBYTERIAN church have retained
more Of the Scotch type Of Presbyte-
rianism, as it existed prior to the reign
of Charles II, than any other branch Of
the Presbyterian church in America.
Every other denomination Of Chris
tians became, at an early period,
Americanized. Many Of the forms OF
worship and formulas Of doctrine,
once common in the Church OF Scot
land were by the majority Of Ameri-
can Presbyterians. laid aside at an
early period, and are now obsolete.
The type of Scotch Presbyterianism
has been largely retained by the Asso-
ciate Reformed synod Of the south, and
this has always placed the denomlna-
ton in striking contrast with all other
Christian denominations in the south.
The Associate Reformed people In
connection with the synod Of the south
have ever clung with an ardent devo-
ton to the Bible and the Westminster
confession of faith. With them the
Bible is first, and the Confession Is
second. They are slow to give up old
principles and practice and always re-
gard with a degree of suspicion those
who either ignore or remove the an
cient landmarks Of religion"
These peculiar people are losing their
popularity, however, and are becoming
more like other folk 1t was charged
formerly that the poetry Of the Psalms
as sung by them was very wretched
poetry, or no poetry at all, because 1t
lacked the jingle which pleases the
popular ear If it does not instruct the
serious heart, but the old Psalms that
were sung when DR.. Latham wrote his
book are not sung now. There Is al
most as much of human composure'
in the new Book Of Praise as there
was when Isaac Watts tried to reduce
the songs Of David to the metrical
possibilities of English verse. The A.
r. Ps. have preserved some Of the an
cient marks, but they are gradually
drawing away from Scotland. They
abandoned long since the policy of
close communion. They do not any
longer stickle at the use Of instrument
tai music in their meeting houses, and
they have played some renditions of
Rouse The cruel thing about the dis