CHAPTER
XXI
THE
SYSTEM OF CONGREGATIONALIZING AGENCIES
IT will have been observed, that
all the difficulties and distractions, developed in these pages, resulted
directly from the admission into our Church of a foreign, a Congregational
element. It remained unassimilated; and engaged in the most strenuous, varied,
and persistent exertions, to accomplish the transformation of the Church, in
doctrine and order, and to deprive her of her evangelic office.
The organization of
instrumentalities to accomplish these objects was, now, most comprehensive, and
complete; the energies devoted to them were untiring; and the resources at
command abundant.
At the foundation, was the
American Education Society. This society, organized in Boston, in 1815, and
reorganized in 1826, was constructed with admirable skill, with a view to
acquiring complete control over ministerial education, throughout the country.
Its structure, as reorganized, was that of a close corporation. Contributors of
one hundred dollars, if laymen, and forty dollars, if ministers, became thereby
honorary members. But the right to vote was, after the reorganization,
restricted to those already members, and to such others as, from time to time,
were chosen by them. In the annual report of this Society, for 1831, it
announced 604 young men aided, in ninety institutions of learning; 411 in New
England, and 193, elsewhere. Its receipts were $40,450.34; its expenditures
$49,892.80. and its permanent fund $53,933.27. Four hundred ministers of the
gospel had already been sent forth from among its beneficiaries; and
"one‑sixth, if not one-fifth, of all the students connected with
theological seminaries, in the United States," were claimed as under its
care.
One conspicuous feature in
its system of organization was, its Branch Societies and Boards of Agency. Of
these, it had nine, distributed from Maine to Indiana and Illinois. The largest
and most important of them, was the Presbyterian Branch. We have already seen
the origin and attitude of the Presbyterian Education Society, organized in New
Brunswick, and located in New York. When the Board of Education was formed, in
1819, this Society inserted the following article in its constitution.
"This Society shall be
auxiliary to the Education Board established by the General Assembly; and shall
annually report to them their proceedings; reserving to themselves, however, the
full and unrestricted right of taking up any young man who may give satisfactory
evidence of piety and talents."
This nominal relation
continued, until the year 1826; when a proposition was made by the Board of
Managers, to the Directors of the American Education Society, for union.
"The Presbyterian Education Society agreeing with the American, in the
great principles which form the basis of its operations, was accordingly united
with it, under the name of the Presbyterian Branch of the American Education
Society. This arrangement took place in May, 1827. From this Time, till May,
1831, the Branch, by mutual agreement, confined its efforts within the States of
New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania; except as assistance was occasionally
rendered to the parent society, in sustaining the common cause." The system
announced by the Presbyterian Branch was this:
"1st. In the selection
of objects of patronage, the mere distinction of sect is to be wholly
disregarded; but. no young man is to be taken under the care of the Society, or
can receive aid from its funds, until he has given satisfactory evidence, to an
Examining Committee of three persons, one of whom is always appointed by the
Directors of the American Society, of his piety, his talents, his indigence, and
his determination to devote himself to the work of the gospel ministry; which
determination must be expressed in writing, and repeated quarterly.
“2d. All moneys, furnished
from its funds, to young men under the care of the Society, are advanced as a
loan, not a gift, and for the repayment, without interest, (and as soon as God
shall enable him,) of all the money so received by him, each young man shall
give his bond.
"3d. All accounts must
be kept in the name of the American Education Society, and transmitted,
quarterly, to the Secretary of the Presbyterian Branch, to be by him transmitted
to the Secretary of the American Society, in time to be laid before the
Directors, at their quarterly meetings.'
"4th. Over all young
men, aided from the funds of the Education Society, the Secretary of the
American Education Society, the Rev. E. Cornelius, late of Salem, Massachusetts,
is to exercise a constant paternal supervision; and part of his duty, it will
be, to visit, and personally converse with each of them, at least, once a year."
In a word, the Presbyterian
Branch was a mere instrument, of the American Society, in the field assigned to
it. The Presbyterian Church, at large, outside the three enumerated States, was
left under the immediate supervision of the Society. The experiment thus made,
however, soon demonstrated that the Society, under its own name, could
accomplish but little, within the bounds of the Presbyterian Church. The subject
became, therefore, matter of consideration, in the Board of Directors, and it
was concluded, by them, "that the interests of the Society would be
promoted, by a reorganization of the Presbyterian Branch, so as to extend its
operations, within the territorial limits of the Presbyterian Church."
It was, therefore, agreed by
the parent Board, that hereafter, the administration of the affairs of the
American Education Society, within the territorial limits of the Presbyterian
Church, out of New England, be committed to the Presbyterian Branch; if
agreeable to said Branch.” The fundamental conditions of this union were that
"the principles and rules of the American Education Society, as existing at
the time of this arrangement, or, as they may be hereafter determined, with the
concurrence of the Presbyterian Society, be received and observed, in all cases,
where they are capable of being applied;" and "The Secretary of the
parent society to have the liberty of residing in New York, and superintending
the affairs of the Presbyterian Society; if, in his judgment, he can better
promote, by such an arrangement, the general interests confided to him; in which
case, his support to be provided for, by the two societies, in such manner and
proportion as may be agreed upon, by their respective Boards, or
Committees."
The plan was adopted, in
May, 1831; and, thereupon, the Presbyterian Education Society issued a circular,
setting forth the objects and principles of the new arrangement. "As the
American Education Society was located in the heart of the Congregational
churches of New England, and the Presbyterian Branch had an annual surplus
income, to be appropriated in the destitute parts of the country, it was judged
best that the Branch should enlarge its sphere of operations, to its former
dimensions, and appropriate its own funds; especially, as those most. needing
them were in the limits of the Presbyterian Church. This, beside being the most
natural method, would be less likely to excite jealousies of denominational
influence." "By virtue of this, new arrangement, the Branch resumes
the former name of Presbyterian Education Society, and occupies its former
limits. It takes, as its own, the rules of the American Society, and assumes its
engagements, within prescribed limits. The entire concerns of that Society, out
of New England, are now committed to this, as a coordinate
institution; under no other restriction, in the administration, than that of
conforming to received rules, and reporting proceedings, regularly."
"The name of the
Society, it will be perceived, is Presbyterian.
It is so, in fact. It has been nurtured in the bosom of the Presbyterian
Church; and owes its success to the liberality of its members. But, though
Presbyterian, it is not a sectarian institution."
Such was the sole ground
upon which this institution claimed to be Presbyterian. It had the name, and the
money, of Presbyterians. But it was neither responsible to the Presbyterian
Church, nor sought her welfare, nor trained the youth committed to its charge in
her faith. It was a "catholic society," and her catholic spirit is the
glory of the Presbyterian Church! And all this was written and published over
the signature of " E. Cornelius, Cor. Sec'y." Dr. Cornelius, the
Corresponding Secretary of the Boston Society, had been invited to fill the same
office, for the Presbyterian Society; and had accordingly removed to New York,
and, without going through the form of joining the Presbyterian Church, was
become the controlling spirit, in the institution which, thus, assumed charge of
her most vital interests.
When, in 1828, the Rev.
William T. Hamilton, appeared before the Synod of Pittsburgh, as agent of the
Presbyterian Branch of the American Education Society, a few pointed questions,
propounded by Dr. Janeway, compelled the agent to confess to the Synod, that the
title, "Presbyterian," was a "misnomer." Striking out the
word "Branch" from the name, only rendered it more utterly untrue. But
this was the mode by which the Boston Society transferred the seat of its
operations to New York, and made the Presbyterian Church its special field.
Already, in 1829, Professor
Stuart of Andover had assured the public, that, to his "certain
knowledge," the Directors of that society, in and about Boston, were in the
habit. of recommending "all young men, who go from New England into the
boundaries of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, to unite with the
Presbyteries, and not to hold on upon Congregationalism;" and that
"nearly one-half of the young men who have gone from the Andover
Theological Seminary, have become Presbyterians." We have already seen the
sort of theology which those Andover youth were taught by Professor Stuart; and,
in the very document in which he makes the above statement, the professor
indulged in a style of remark respecting the General Assembly, very illustrative
of the kind of sentiments, with which his pupils would enter it; alike hostile
and contemptuous, toward its doctrines, its order, government, and institutions.
Such was the system, devised
by out Congregational brethren, for training a ministry for the Presbyterian
Church. Professedly, indifferent to the doctrinal diversities between Andover,
New Haven, Princeton, Auburn, and Lane, it was immaterial whether the theology,
which the candidates imbibed, and the system of order in which they were
instructed, were in harmony, or at variance with those of our standards. That,
on both of these subjects, they should generally be latitudinarian, arose, of
necessity, from the circumstances in which they were placed, and the avowed
indifference of the society by which they were sustained. The Secretary, in his
paternal visitations, brought annually to bear upon them, influences, the more
potential, because not too frequent to degenerate into familiarity. Every report
which the young men made, every dollar which they expended, directed their
thoughts and affections toward New England, and the principles governing its
various "catholic" and "national" institutions. Thus, the
system was eminently adapted to gain control over the candidates, within the
bosom of the Church, itself, and mould their principles to the purposes of the
society and its patrons. But the great fountain of supplies for our ministry was
New England, itself. Her youth, trained, whether by Taylor, or Woods, or Tyler,
it was immaterial which; and held in pecuniary bonds to the society, as all its
beneficiaries were, for the amounts expended in their education, were encouraged
to enter the Presbyterian Church, by patrons, who could scarcely speak of its
distinctive principles and character, without evincing their repugnance and
scorn.
To usher these accessions into our bosom, and find for
them fields of labor and influence, the American Home Missionary Society stood
ready, and prepared, at all points. " It was organized," says a
writer, already quoted, "on the presumption, that, provided the land can be
supplied with an intelligent and faithful gospel ministry, it is a matter of
inferior moment, whether the churches be called Congregational, Presbyterian, or
Dutch…The Board never asks the candidate for missionary work, What Seminary
has instructed you? What shade of orthodoxy do you profess? What party do you
march with ? What shibboleth do you pronounce? It asks him, only, for his
credentials, as a minister of the Gospel."
If it was doubtful
whether a candidate would stand the test of a Presbyterial examination, he was
ordained, before being sent out; perhaps, by a Congregational council; but, more
frequently, by the Presbytery of Newburyport, or the Third Presbytery of New
York. Neither of these bodies was in any danger of hesitancy, upon the score of
doctrine or order. The former of them, at one time, ordained nine young men, as
evangelists, for the American Home Missionary Society. The latter, upon another
occasion, at the request of the same society, set apart ten. Most of these were
destined to fields in the Presbyterian Church, in Ohio and the West; where, in
all directions, Presbyteries were organized, competent and entitled to try and
judge the qualifications of those who felt called to labor among them. But,
armed with "clean papers," these youthful cadets of liberal
Christianity claimed and received admission into the Western Presbyteries, and
whilst, in many cases, altogether ignorant of the Confession and order of the
Church, assumed and exercised decisive control, over all its dearest interests.
Coincident with these operations from without, was the
policy pursued, within the bosom of the Church. "If a candidate for the
ministry was rejected by an orthodox Presbytery," says Dr. Wilson,
"for unsoundness in the faith, he was immediately sent off to New England,
or to the Western Reserve, or to some other unsound region, and there invested
with ministerial office, and sent back with clean papers; and was soon in our
churches and judicatories. At the last meeting of the General Assembly, (that of
1834, I heard a New School gentleman boast, that he had brought into the
Presbyterian Church, about thirty-eight, in this way; some of whom were then
members of the Assembly. The consumption of time, and the great trouble of
manufacturing Presbyterian ministers in this way, was made a subject of grievous
complaint; and was urged as a reason for the organization of "elective
affinity Presbyteries," that they might proceed more expeditiously in this
"good work!" The New School
gentleman was, the Rev. Mr. Patterson of Philadelphia.
With the facilities which
were at their command, it would have been strange, if the managers of this vast
system had overlooked the advantage of securing control, at such places as
promised to become centres of great and extensive influence. Cincinnati was, of
these, evidently, the first in importance. Dr. J. L. Wilson, the father of the
ministry there, was a man of great ability and influence, and of a warm and
trusting spirit. His confidence was easily gained, on behalf of plans which
purported to have nothing in view but the building of Christ's kingdom. The
Presbytery of Cincinnati was speedily filled with young ministers from the East,
fully imbued with the new theology, and eager to signalize their zeal by
enterprises and triumphs on its behalf. The venerable Wilson awoke from his
sleep; but it was, to find himself betrayed and bound.
Lane Seminary had been
founded by the beneficence of an Old School minister, the Rev. James Kemper, who
gave seventy acres of land, in the suburbs of Cincinnati, for the purpose of a
theological seminary; provided, the professors should be in connection with the
Presbyterian Church, under the care of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian
Church in the United States of America. Subsequently, Mr. Lane, a Baptist
gentleman, through Dr. Wilson, gave twenty thousand dollars to the institution;
which were expended in erecting buildings. Measures were taken to endow the
professorships of the Seminary. Mr. Arthur Tappan, of New York, President of the
Presbyterian Education Society, and Auditor of the American Home Missionary
Society, offered to endow the chair of theology, provided he were allowed to
nominate Dr. Beecher to the post. The proposition was accepted, and the Dr. was
transferred from Boston, and the perplexities of his position as the
confidential adviser and apologist of Dr. Taylor, to preside over the interests
of Presbyterianism, at the great centre of influence for the West. Soon, his
son, the Rev. Edward Beecher, was translated from the tutorship in
Yale, to preside over Illinois College.
While the fountains of
education were being thus seized, a new impulse was given to the tide of
ministerial immigration, from New England into the Church; and the fact began to
be openly and unequivocably avowed, by the younger and more imprudent of the
number, that they were coming, with the express design to gain control over, and
revolutionize it.
In the system organized, under the auspices of the
American Societies, the form of adopting the Confession of Faith was usually
observed, by ministers, ordained within the Church; although it was divested of
real significance. The Plan of Union threw the doors, yet more widely, open; and
individual ministers, and entire associations were received, without any
inquiry, as to doctrine, or allusion to the Confession of Faith. Thus, a great
number of ministers were brought into the bosom of the Church, without even a
pretence of attachment to it, or respect for its doctrines or order. On the
contrary, the majority of them were not only Congregationalists, in their views
of order; and, in their faith, held to one or other of the multiform phases of
New England theology; but were under bonds to the Education Society, for the
debt incurred in their preparation for the ministry; and dependent, for daily
bread, upon the treasury of the Home Missionary Society, by which their fields
of labor were selected and their subsistence provided.
To all this, is to be
added, the silent but enormous moral power exerted by the American Board of
Commissioners, by virtue of the mere fact that it, a New England institution,
was the only representative of the spirit of missions in our Church, the only
channel through which our people could express their love to the souls of the
heathen, and their reverence for the Saviour's last command. And, to crown the
whole, the spirit of Moderatism was occupying almost all the high places of the
Church, which were not possessed by the New School; presiding with few
exceptions, over all our colleges; filling our influential pulpits; and
occupying the chairs of instruction in our seminaries, ready, always, to cry
" Peace!" and to frown upon the first indications of any such active
zeal for the truth as threatened to disturb the sinister tranquillity which they
so fondly cherished. It was, under God, mainly due to the fidelity, courage, and
faith in God, displayed by our unpretending country pastors and elders, that the
Church was rescued from the devices which were formed respecting her.
Such is an outline of the
system of organizations and influences, which conspired against the Presbyterian
Church. It was not, indeed, designed to rend her to pieces, to dissolve her
organization or diminish her numbers. On the contrary, the authors of the policy
dazzled their imaginations with visions of a national Church, as comprehensive
in its embrace as the ambitious "national societies" by which it was
to be developed; and which were to shine and thrive in the light of its
greatness. The churches of New England, the Presbyterian Church, the Reformed
Dutch, the Scotch, German, and Associate Reformed, these all, were to be
included. And not these alone. Prospects undefined and boundless opened to the
imaginations of the patrons of these schemes. But the magnificent conceptions thus pictured to fancy, were to be realized at the
expense of all that is worth holding dear, in the Presbyterian Church, her
scriptural and saving faith, and her divinely originated and symmetrical order.
The design was entertained and avowed to alter the Confession of Faith. On this
subject, the Rev. Dr. J. L. Wilson thus testifies.
"The first declaration
of this kind, which I shall notice, was made by an agent of the American Home
Missionary Society; who, by his movements, first opened my eyes, to perceive the
real designs of the New School. He said, not to me, but to other persons; one of
whom was so startled as to reveal the secret; He said, holding the Confession of
Faith in his hand, ‘In a few years, we will have the majority and then we will
alter this book as we please.'"
"Another declaration
was made to me, in my own pulpit. I was speaking to the gentleman, about some
erroneous opinions advanced in a sermon he had just delivered. He said, ‘In
less than twenty years, there will not be a Confession of Faith containing more
than three articles.' This gentleman ranks with the moderates; and is a leading
man, in some parts of the Church. This is in perfect accordance with the fact
that so many brief Confessions of Faith have been recently published, both East.
and West, and, in some places, substituted for the standards of the Presbyterian
Church."
In fact, in many parts of
the Church, wherever the Plan of Union prevailed, these abbreviated Confessions
were in vogue, and, in a great measure, superseded the Westminster formularies.
In 1836, a member of the Assembly, from the Western Reserve, was found to be
entirely unacquainted with the Confession of Faith; and was induced to purchase
and take home a copy, by a member of the Presbytery of Ohio, who ascertained
that the book would be a curiosity, not to him only, but to some of his
Presbyterian neighbors.
The idea of an alteration of
the Confession of Faith, so as to admit of a more easy comprehension of diverse
sentiments, and consequent increase of accessions to the. body, was not a mere
passing suggestion of the less considerate and influential, but was seriously
cherished, by some of the most considerable persons in the Church.
As the members were
returning from the Assembly of 1836, two parties of them spent a night in rooms
adjoining; separated by nothing but a plank partition. In one of these rooms
were two of the most distinguished New School doctors; and in the other, the
Rev. Samuel G. Winchester, and the Rev. James A. Peabody, Financial Secretary of
the Board of Education. The attention of the latter was suddenly arrested, by a
remark made in the adjoining room, in a tone so unguarded that they were
involuntary hearers. "If the doctrine of election were out of the
Confession of Faith," said the speaker, "what a glorious career would
be before our Church!" "It is too soon," was the reply; "The
people will not bear it, yet.” The interlocutory was here interrupted, by the
voice of Winchester, warning the speakers, that they were overheard.
Such was the ulterior design; and
in the mean time, the emphasis of the "system," in the ordination
pledge served almost the same purpose.
Whilst a system so comprehensive
was organized, for ends so momentous to the Church, the structure was such as to
be beyond the inspection and entirely independent of the control or
interposition of its courts. The friends and officers of the American Societies
were everywhere, in all the courts of the Church, ready and vigilant, to seize
every opportunity to tease, and criticise, and harass her Boards; to encumber
their organizations, embarrass their action, and neutralize their exertions. But
the friends of the Church and, of its Boards had neither voice nor hearing, in
the councils of the societies. The condition of the privilege of speech, in
those councils, was a liberal pecuniary pledge of devotion to their prosperity.
And, even this was not sufficient, to confer a right to vote upon their affairs;
unless the zeal of the giver was so well assured as to secure his enrollment, by
a vote of those already in possession of the control.
Said a writer, in 1837:
"The gratitude of Presbyterian candidates is secured, and a consequent
modification of their sentiments effected, the pecuniary obligations are held,
and the influence consequent on such obligations preserved, the young men from
New England are systematically crowded into our Church, and our judicatories
filled with those who, frequently, have not studied, understood, adopted, or
even read our standards; and, if our literary and theological institutions are
free from the influence, it must be, because, if our Presidents and Professors
are not more than men, they are, at
least, more than other men. We ask,
then, would any other sect or denomination, besides the Presbyterian Church,
have ever endured the operation of such a tremendous moral power; operating,
year after year, within its ecclesiastical jurisdiction? Could any other find,
among themselves, a formidable party, to encourage and sustain such a foreign
interference?"
The history of the Church of
God scarcely exhibits more signal pledge of her heaven‑born vitality, and
the conservative power of the true principles of doctrine and order, with which
Christ has endowed her, than is presented. in the fact that our Church came off,
wounded, indeed, and scarred, but triumphant, from the struggle with the
tremendous system of agencies, without and within, by which she was beset, and
seemingly overpowered. Bound, though she was, with seven green withes; when she
awoke out of her sleep, they were as a thread of tow, touched by the fire.
