CHAPTER
X
THE
PLAN OF UNION
IN 1801, the Assembly
adopted what is popularly known as the Plan of Union, with the Association of
Connecticut.
The Presbyterian tendencies of the ministers of Connecticut were the
originating cause of this plan. Emigrants from New England, and from the
Presbyterian Church, were filling up the wilderness of western .New York and
Ohio. They were brought into intimate contact, in circumstances which indicated
the propriety and duty of their endeavoring to unite in Christian fellowship,
and in maintaining the ordinances of religion. To facilitate this object, the
proposition for a system of co-operation was made, by the General Association of
Connecticut, to the General Assembly. The latter referred the proposition to a
committee, consisting of the Rev. Drs. Edwards, McKnight, and Woodhull, the Rev.
Mr. Blatchford, and Elder Hutton. Of this committee, Mr. Blatchford was the
delegate appointed by the Association of Connecticut, to confer on this subject,
and Dr. Edwards had recently been received from that Association.
The committee soon reported
the Regulations, which were approved by the Assembly, sent to the Association
and adopted by it. This important paper is entitled to a place, in full, in
these pages. It is as follows :
"Regulations adopted by
the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America, and by the General
Association of the State of Connecticut, with a view to prevent alienation, and
to promote union and harmony in those new settlements which are composed of
inhabitants from these bodies.
"1st. It is strictly
enjoined on all their missionaries to the new settlements, to endeavor, by all
proper means, to promote mutual forbearance, and a spirit of accommodation,
between those inhabitants of the new settlements who hold the Presbyterian, and
those who hold the Congregational, form of Church government.
“2d. If, in the new
settlements, any church of the Congregational order shall settle a minister of
the Presbyterian order, that church may, if they choose, still conduct their
discipline according to Congregational principles, settling their difficulties
among themselves, or by a council mutually agreed upon for that purpose. But, if
any difficulty shall exist, between the minister and the church, or any member
of if, it shall be referred to the Presbytery to which the minister shall
belong, provided both parties agree to it; if not, to a council consisting of an
equal number of Presbyterians and Congregationalists, agreed upon by both
parties.
"3d. If a Presbyterian
church shall settle a minister of Congregational principles, that church may
still conduct their discipline according to Presbyterian principles, excepting
that if a difficulty arise between him and his church, or any member of it, the
cause shall be tried by the Association to which the said minister shall belong,
provided both parties agree to it; otherwise by a council, one half
Congregationalists and the other Presbyterians, mutually agreed upon by the
parties.
"4th. If any
congregation consist partly of those who hold the Congregational form of
discipline, and partly of those who hold the Presbyterian form, we recommend to
both parties, that this be no obstruction to their uniting in one church and
settling a minister; and that, in this case, the church choose a standing
committee, from the communicants of said church, whose business it shall be to
call to account every member of the church who shall conduct himself
inconsistently with the laws of Christianity, and to give judgment on such
conduct. That if the person condemned by their judgment be a Presbyterian, he
shall have liberty to appeal to the Presbytery; if he be a Congregationalist, he
shall have liberty to appeal to the body of the male communicants of the church.
In the former case, the determination of the Presbytery shall be final, unless
the church shall consent to a further appeal to the Synod, or to the General
Assembly; and, in the latter case, if the party condemned shall wish for a trial
by a mutual council, the cause shall be referred to such a council. And provided
the standing committee of any church shall depute one of themselves to attend
the Presbytery, he may have the same right to sit and act in the Presbytery as a
ruling elder of the Presbyterian church."
We have already described
the Saybrook Platform, by which the order of the Connecticut churches was
regulated. A comparison of the two will show that the Regulations of 1801 did
not even conform as closely to the principles of Presbyterian government as did
the Platform. The theory, distinctly stated in the latter, was, that the power
of discipline belongs to the elders, whom all the churches were expected to
elect. And although it provided for the admission into the judicial councils of
the Consociations, of lay messengers, authorized to sit and vote, yet, a
majority of the elders was necessary in order to a decision. Further, this
presence of lay messengers was limited to the county Consociations, which
correspond to our Presbyteries, except that their business is mainly, if not
exclusively confined to cases of controversy and discipline, arising in the
churches of their bounds. On the other hand, the Associations, which had charge
of the more important duties of Presbyteries and Synods, such as consultations
as to the duties of the ministry and the common interests of the churches, the
supplying of vacant churches, and the examination and recommending of candidates
for the ministry, were composed exclusively of ministers; neither ruling elders
nor lay messengers being admitted to their deliberations. The Councils appointed
by the provisions of the Platform were, furthermore,
invested with sole jurisdiction, over all cases, to the exclusion of special
mutual councils, called for the particular occasion, which were used in
the strictly Congregational churches.
In none of these
respects, was the Plan as much in accordance with our principles and order as
was the Platform. In judicial
cases, instead of Consociation or Presbytery, it authorized mutual councils of
mixed materials, Presbyterian and Congregational. In churches composed of a
mixed membership, it set aside the elders, which both Confession and Platform
demand, and substituted a standing committee, consisting of persons who were
subjected to no examination, and held to no pledge, neither of adherence to the
doctrines of the Confession, nor of devotion to its system of order. They were
neither called, nor tried, nor ordained, to any office in the church. Yet they
were empowered to sit, as sole judges, in the first instance, of all cases
arising in the church. They were authorized to send delegates to Presbytery,
with power, not only to sit in the determining of judicial cases, the only power
which, under the Platform they could pretend to claim in the Consociation, but
also to deliberate and act on all questions which might come before the body.
And, whilst the Platform expressly excluded all laymen from the deliberations of
the Associations of their own Church, respecting its great interests; and, even
in judicial cases, gave their votes no power, unless sustained by a majority of
the elders, the Plan gave them an equal voice with the most venerable ministers
and elders, over the greatest interests of the Church, to which their very
attitude indicated that they were probably alien, and possibly hostile.
In this system, the
disregard of the plainest requirement of the Constitution, which, expressly and
unequivocally, prescribed the organization of Presbyteries and qualifications of
their members, is less surprising. For, the fathers of our Church, having so
recently been accustomed to see the General Synod exercise powers, unrestricted
by a constitution, were not yet able to realize that the General Assembly was
bound to conform to the provisions of the Constitution, which the Church,
through the General Synod, had established, for her own protection and the
ordering of all her courts, higher and lower.
The imprudence of allowing
such a breach in her walls, as that involved in the Plan of Union, might have
been expected to arrest a more prompt attention, and secure its rejection. But
the Assembly was seduced by the siren of union and peace. The Plan was adopted,
and the way thus prepared for corrupting the doctrines of the Church, the utter
defacing of her order, and the introduction of protracted controversy and
strife, and final schism.
The principal field,
contemplated in the Plan of Union, was the western part of the State of New
York, which was, then, rapidly filling with a population, by whom the wilderness
was subdued and the institutions of civilization and Christianity established.
In 1807, the Synod of Albany, meeting at Cooperstown, received delegates from
two Congregational bodies, located in that region; the Middle Association in the
Western District, and the Northern Associated Presbytery. Their mission was, to
treat of "union and correspondence" with the Synod. In response to
their overtures, the Synod addressed a letter to the two bodies, proposing that
they should enter into organic union with the Presbyterian Church. "Nor do
we confine our invitation," said the Synod, "to you, as ministers; but
we also extend it to delegates from your churches; whom we are willing to
receive, as substantially the same with our ruling elders; to assist us in our
public deliberations and decisions. Knowing the influence of education and
habit, should the churches under your care prefer transacting their internal
concerns in the present mode of Congregational government, we assure them of our
cheerfulness in leaving them undisturbed, in the administration of that
government, unless they shall choose to alter it themselves."
This proposition was made,
subject to the approval of the General Assembly. The Assembly granted the
desired permission, in 1808, whereupon the Middle Association accepted the plan
and was received by the Synod, "retaining their own name and usages, in the
administration of the government of their churches, according to the terms
stated in the plan."
The sixth article, in the
Constitution of the body thus received by the Synod, provided, that
"nothing should be construed in opposition to the accommodating articles
agreed upon between the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, and the
General Association of Connecticut."
In 1809, the year after the
reception of this Association, it reported to the Synod, twenty‑one
churches, all of them, it would seem, Congregational. At the next meeting of the
Synod, a joint request was received from the Middle Association and the
Presbytery of Geneva, to be subdivided into three Presbyteries. In compliance
with this request, a part of the territory of the Geneva Presbytery was detached
from it, and joined. to the Middle Association, which was divided into the two
Presbyteries of Cayuga and Onondaga. These both, at once, in written
constitutions, planted themselves upon the Plan of Union, and were Presbyterian
only in name.
In 1812, these three
Presbyteries, Geneva, Cayuga, and Onondaga, were erected into the Synod of
Geneva. This body received an early enlargement, in consequence of the
dissolution of the Congregational Association of Onondaga, the ministers and
churches of which connected themselves with its Presbyteries, on the
"accommodating plan:"
In 1821, the Synod of
Genesee was erected out of four Presbyteries detached from the Synod of Geneva.
Springing from that body, which traced its origin so directly to the plan of
1808, and the Middle Association, this Synod was, like its parent, largely
composed of Congregational materials; and the Plan of Union was recognized as
paramount to the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church.
The Synod of Geneva, at a
later period, received a new accession from the Congregational churches. In
1826, an overture came before the Assembly, "for the promotion of a new
Presbytery, in the county of Chenango and adjacent parts, in the State of New
York.” The overture was granted, and the Assembly constituted the Presbytery
of Chenango, to be, composed of five enumerated ministers. Not a church was, at
first, connected with the body. It was attached to the Synod of Geneva.
In September of the same
year, at the second meeting of this body, it adopted an accommodation plan,
grounded on that of 1808; allowing churches to govern themselves mainly upon
Congregational principles. Two churches then joined it. Some time afterward, the
Union Association was broken up, and its ministers and churches mostly came into
the Presbytery.
The Synod of Utica was
erected, in 1829; by a division of the Synod of Albany, and was, from the first,
largely composed of Congregational materials, under the operation of the Plan of
1801. The Presbyteries of which it was constituted, had already received
repeated accessions of Congregational ministers and churches, under the Plan. In
1819, the Presbytery of Oneida received eleven Congregational ministers and nine
congregations, in consequence of the dissolution of the Oneida Association; the
ministers of which desiring to join the Presbytery, persuaded their churches to
acquiesce in the step. During the three following years, nine churches were
added to the Presbytery; the most of them Congregational.
It will be recognized, at once, from this history, that the system
contemplated in the Plan of Union of 1801, was essentially modified in its
actual operation. Instead of being used, strictly, as a temporary expedient, for
the organization of mixed churches, where both parties were too feeble to
attempt independent action, and for enabling the churches, in their infant
condition, to avail themselves of the services of such ministers as might be
accessible, whether Presbyterian or Congregational, without affecting the
ecclesiastical relations of the churches, the Plan was made the occasion of
filling our church with Congregational ministers and churches; retaining all
their denominational attachments and usages; with but slight modifications, or
none. Their congregational affairs were managed, in a great measure,
independently of Presbyterial control; and yet they did not hesitate to send
delegates, "committee men," to sit in Presbytery, to administer a
Constitution to which they themselves refused to submit, and govern a Church, to
which they felt no attachment, and with the destinies of which they refused to
be identified.
Whilst such was the development in progress, in western New York, a
similar process was going on in the northern part of Ohio. The following history
of the Synod of the Western Reserve, is given by the Rev. J. Seward, one of its
earliest pioneers.
"The Presbytery of
Grand River, agreeably to the order of the Synod of Pittsburgh, was organized in
the autumn of 1814; and, as it covered ground on which a union had been
established between Presbyterians and Congregationalists, according to
Regulations adopted by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, it was
deemed necessary, that this Presbytery should be so organized as to consolidate
and perpetuate this union, and thus carry out the recommendations and
injunctions of the General Assembly. To accomplish this object, a number of
articles, adapted to the peculiar situation of the churches in this region, was
adopted by this Presbytery, and afterward by the Presbyteries of Portage and
Huron, as they were respectively organized. The design of these articles was, to
secure to all connected with these Presbyteries, the rights and privileges
pledged in the Regulations adopted by the General Assembly and the General
Association, in 1801. As the Congregationalists had, from their childhood, been
instructed in the Westminster Assembly's Shorter Catechism, and, as this was the
basis of the Presbyterian Confession of Faith, they had no material difficulty
in coming together on the distinguishing doctrines of the Christian religion, as
embraced in the Calvinistic system. Nor had they any objection to the Discipline
of the Presbyterian Church, so far as it was applicable to them, in their
peculiar situation. Hence, in their preamble to their constitution, they express
their approbation of the Confession of Faith and Discipline of the General
Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America; and, in the
articles of the constitution, there is nothing that does not perfectly harmonize
with the standards of the Presbyterian Church, excepting those particulars which
are designed to carry out the principles of the Plan of Union, to which allusion
has so often been made.
"The distinguishing
particular, of this description, was, that individual ministers and churches may
adopt either the Congregational or Presbyterian mode of government and
discipline; and that this article shall never be affected by any additions or
alterations which these regulations may receive. Here is the grand charter of
contract to perpetuate the Plan of Union. The minister and churches forming
these new Presbyteries supposed that they were bound to make this covenant with
each other, by the express direction of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian
Church. They made it. They inserted it prominently in their books of records.
The records of the Presbytery of Grand River, containing this contract, were
presented to the Synod of Pittsburgh, at their meeting in 1815, for examination.
The peculiar circumstances of the Presbytery being understood, a committee of
the most wise and judicious members were appointed to examine the records. The
committee reported and the records were approved. Thus did the Synod of
Pittsburgh ratify and confirm, in 1815, the covenant, proposed and adopted by
the General Assembly, in 1801, and which had been in successful operation, in
the new settlements, for the period of fourteen years. In 1819, the records of
the Presbytery of Portage, and in 1824, the records of the Presbytery of Huron,
each containing the same contract, went through with a similar process, and were
approved by the Synod of Pittsburgh. The time at which these records were
approved was at the first meeting of the Synod after the formation of the
respective Presbyteries of Grand River, Portage, and Huron. At a meeting of the
General Assembly, in 1825, a petition was presented for a division of the Synod
of Pittsburgh, and the erection of a new Synod, to be composed of the three
Presbyteries above named, and to be known by the name of the Synod of the
Western Reserve. The request was granted, and, in compliance with the order of
the General Assembly, the Synod of the Western Reserve was organized, at Hudson,
September 27, 1825."
Whilst, thus, in four great
Synods, the Plan of 1801 had wholly superseded the, constitution of the Church,
similar results, although to a more limited extent, were realized in other parts
of the Church. Its energies were gradually relaxed, its authority weakened, and
instead of the Plan converting Congregationalists into Presbyterians, the
opposite result was imminent, the Congregationalizing of the entire Presbyterian
Church.
When the Regulations were adopted, the ministers of New . England, and especially those of Connecticut, were supposed to be thoroughly sound in the theology of the standards of Westminster, and favorable to the Presbyterian order, set forth by that Assembly. The leaven of Hopkins was but beginning to work. But within a third of a century afterward a great change had taken place. The system of New Haven was fully matured and diffusing its poison everywhere. With the prevalence of lax and unsound theology, there occurred a reaction from the strictness of the Presbyterian discipline, the counterpart of a purely Calvinistic theology, and a disposition was strongly developed, hostile even to the milder forms of the Consociational polity of Connecticut. The multiplication, therefore, of Congregational ministers, in the Presbyterian Church, was no increase of strength; but the introduction of an element of weakness, division, and heresy. For the present, it seemed to be a pledge of prosperity and peace. But time only was requisite, to reveal its true character.
