We shall now assign our reasons for thinking that the strong pro bability is, that "the venerable men who founded the Presbyterian their business, the zeal which they manifested to supply their vacancies, to extend the blessings of the Gospel and to promote practical piety in their settled congregations, we insert in a note the latter part of the proceedings of a meeting in 1706, and the whole of the minutes of the next meeting in 1707. The top of the third page of these ancient records (the whole of which are in good preservation, except the lost leaf) exhibits the following broken sentence-" de Regimine Ecclesiæ, which being heard was approved of and sustained. He gave in also his Thesis, to be considered of against next sederunt. Post præces sederunt Mr. Francis McKemie Mod'r. Mr. Jedediah Andrews Sederunt 2°. 8obris 27°. } minis'rs. Mr. John Boyd performed the other parts of his Tryals vizt. preached a popular Sermon on Jn. 1. 12, defended his Thesis, gave satisfaction as to his skill in the lan guages and answered to extemporaneous questions: all which were approved of and sustained. Appointed his ordination to be on ye next Lds day ye 29° Inst. which was accordingly performed in the publick Meeting house of this Place, before a numerous Assembly. And the next day he had ye Certificat of his Ordination. At a Meeting of the Presbytery held at Post preces-sederunt Mrs John Wilson, Jedediah Andrews, Nathaniel Taylor, George Mcnish Mints. Mr. George Mcnish was chosen clark to the presbytery. This day a letter sent by Mr. Samuel Davies to the Presbytery was presented to them, it being moved by one of the members that the letter might be read, it was accordingly read and considered. And Mr. Davies his reasons for excusing his absence from this and the preceeding meeting of the Presbytery were not sustained by the Presbytery. Ordered that the next dyet of the Presbyterie be held upon Thursday, at four a clock in the afternoon. Mr. Francis McKemie and Mr. John Wilson were appointed to preach upon Thursday, upon ye subjects appointed them at the last Presbytery fr: Heb. 1: 2: x: v. by way of exercise and addition. March 25 post preces sederunt Mr. John Wilson & This day Mr. Francis McKemie & Mr. John Wilson delivered their discourses according to appointment and were approved by the Presbytery. Ordered, that a letter be write and sent to Mr. Samuel Davies in the name of the Presbytery by Master John Wilson, requiring him to be present at our next meeting in this place. Appointed that the letters sent from the people of Snow hill in Somerset be read before the Presbytery. The letters were accordingly read and their contents considered by the Presbytery. And whereas the foresd people do by their representatives and letters earnestly address the Presbytery for their joynt concurrence and assistance in presenting their call to Mr. John Hampton, that he may undertake the work of the ministry among them as their settled minister and pastor, Ordered by the Presbytery, that the call sent to Mr. Hampton by the foresd people, and also the other paper containing their subscriptions for his encouragement to undertake the work of the ministry among them, be given to Mr. Hampton to peruse and consider, which accordingly were given him. Ordered, that whereas Mr. Hampton, after his receiving the call to him &c, from ye people at Snow hill, gave several satisfactory reasons why he could not at this time comply with it, that the sd Mr. Hampton may have the call and ye papers of subscriptions retained in his hands, for further perusal till the next Presbytery. Ordered further on this affair, that a letter be sent in name of the Presbytery to the people of Snow hill, to encourage their endeavours for a settled ministry among them, and that Mr. Nathaniel Taylor write the letter expressing the mind of the Presbytery, which was accordingly done. Appointed that the Presbytery meet thereupon at ten oclock, and that Mr. Andrews and Mr. John Boyd prepare some overtures to be considered by the Presbytery, for propagating religion in their respective congregations. &c 2 S Ch. Adv.-VOL. XI. Church" did, from the first, "formally and publickly adopt a particular confession of faith, and ecclesiastical constitution.' 1. Because it was most natural and proper that they should do so, and they were men of sense and discernment. We cannot easily conceive how they could have framed the first minute of their book of records, without stating the motives and principles of their association, and the kind of ecclesiastical order or church government to which they meant to adhere. They were in the midst of other denominations-Quakers, Swedes, Episcopalians, and Roman Catholicks and they were now giving the first form and order to a religious denomination, different from them all. They could hardly forbear, as we apprehend, to state at the outset, the discriminating features of that platform of religious faith and church polity which they preferred, and purposed to maintain. 2. It was an age in which creeds and confessions were in great use and estimation, and "the venerable men who founded the Presby * terian Church" wanted neither the courage nor the zeal to avow to the world what they believed, and by what rules they intended to act. 3. Their proceedings from the very first show unequivocally, that Presbyterianism of the strictest kind, and in all its extent, was the system which they had in fact adopted, and by which they resolved rigorously to abide. To suppose that they acted thus, without having made any declaration when they associated that thus they would act-that the faith and order of the Presbyterian Church, as it then existed in Scotland and Ireland, was to be their standard, seems to us highly improbable. The Scottish Presbyterian system, as it is exhibited in the collections of Steuart of Pardovan, appears to have had their entire approbation, and so far as their local circumstances would permit, to have been the example by which they resolved to shape their proceedings. Some evidence of this is apparent in the note which we have submitted to our readers; and whoever will carefully peruse, March 26 post preces sederunt ye Moderator &c. Ordered by the Presbytery that Mr. Andrews & Mr. McKemie, write to Scotland to Mr. Alex Coldin minister of Oxnam [afterwards called Oxom] of the Presbytery of and to give an account of the state & circumstances of the dissenting presbyterian interest among the people in and about Lewis town, and to signify the earnest desyres of that people for the sd Mr. Coldins coming over to be their minister. And that Mr. McKemie make report of his diligence herein against the next Presbytery. The Presbytery appointed Mr. John Wilson to write to the Presbytery of to the effect foresd, & to make report of his care herein against the next Presbytery. Overtures proposed to the Presbytery & agreed upon for propagating the interest of religion. First, that every minister in their respective congregations read & comment upon a chapter of the bible every Lords day, as discretion in circumstances of time and places will admit. Second overt, that it be recommended to every minister of the Presbytery to set on foot & encourage private christian societies. Third overt: That evrey minister of the Presbytery supply neighbouring desolate placs, where a minister is wanting & opportunity of doing good offers. The Presbytery do appoint Mr. Jedediah Andrews & Mr. Nathaniel Taylor to prepare a presbyterial sermon each of them, to be delivered against the next Presbytery. Mr. Andrews to discourse from Heb: 1 chap: 3 v: the first, and Mr. Taylor from latter part of the verse. Appointed the Presbytery meet upon the first Tuesday of April 1708 at Philadelphia, and this meeting was concluded. *This blank is in the minutes. as we have done, the whole of their records till the formation of a Synod, will find this evidence much augmented. 4. The whole of the original associates, with the exception of the Rev. Jedediah Andrews, who was from New England, were, so far as we have been able to ascertain, Scotch and Irish Presbyterians, who had, in their native lands, adopted the Westminster Confession of Faith, Catechisms, and Directory for worship; and who, as they actually and immediately took those formularies as the basis and guide of all their proceedings, can scarcely be supposed not to have declared that they would do so, at the time of forming the association. 5. In a letter officially addressed by the presbytery to the Synod of Glasgow in 1710, the reason for this address is expressed in these words-"knowing none so proper to apply unto, and repose our confidence in, as yourselves, our reverend brethren of the church of Scotland, whom we sincerely honour and affectionately esteem as fathers." If the Presbytery had not in form, as well as in fact, adopted the formularies of the Scotch church, we think they would hardly have used this language; for by this time the actual state of things in the Presbytery was pretty well understood in Scotland. 6. It appears that they had some standard of orthodoxy, by which they examined candidates both for licensure and ordination. The trials for ordination, or second trials, as they were then commonly called, are thus recorded in the case of Mr. Wotherspoon -"having received his exegesis on a question, de sanctorum perseverantia, taken an account of his skill in the original languages, and likewise his attainments and orthodoxy in theological matters, to their satisfaction, did, on the thirteenth day of May, 1714, set apart the said Mr. Robert Wotherspoon unto the work of the ministry"— Some record, equivalent to this, was regularly made at licensures and ordinations. That "Orthodoxy in Theological Matters" was at this time, and by this presbytery, judged of by the Westminster Confession and Catechisms, cannot be questioned. 7. There is one record in which a CONSTITUTION is distinctly recognised, and a voluntary submission to it is stated, as the condition on which a member was received. This seems to us all but decisive of the point in question. The case was this. A congregation of religious worshippers appears to have been formed in Woodbridge, N. J., before the presbytery was organized. As early however as 1708, they came under the care of the presbytery. But the Rev. Nathaniel Wade, who had been for some time their pastor, and who appears to have been a Congregationalist from New England, did not, at first, join the presbyteryHe eventually became a member in 1810. But he had ever been, as he himself once confessed to the presbytery, "a bone of contention among the people." Professing to be sensible of this, he at length voluntarily proposed "that he, by the consent of the presbytery, would cheerfully demit and resign up all pastoral relation to the whole people of Woodbridge, heartily wishing that they may unite in calling another minister." The presbytery, greatly gratified by this proposal, "declared that they did heartily concur with him in it, and accept of it as a truly proper and Christian expedient"-dissolved the pastoral relation between the people of Woodbridge and Mr. Wade; but appointed him "to supply during the vacancy." Mr. Wade, however, immediately on his return to Woodbridge, pursued his former obnoxious course; and at length formally recanted the resignation of his pastoral charge made to the presbytery, and op- scribitur--HUGH STEVENSON--at posed the settlement of another the head of Christiana Creek, Sept. pastor. Preparatory to a solemn 13th, 1726." It farther appears, suspension of Mr. Wade from the that a meeting of this presbytery exercise of his ministry in Wood was held at Philadelphia, in 1729, bridge, the presbytery formed the (we presume during the sitting of longest minute which is found in the Synod) and one day before the their records, a part of which is passing of the adopting act, we as follows-"Whereas for these find the following subscriptionseveral years we have endeavoured "At Philadelphia, Sept. the 18th, to accommodate the differences be- 1729-I do own the Westminster tween Mr. Wade and the people Confession of Faith, before God of Woodbridge, after some time, and these witnesses, together with at his own proposal, we admitted the Larger and Shorter Catehim as a member of our presbytery, chisms, with the Directory thereto and he submitted himself willingly annexed, to be the Confession of to our Constitution, which we hoped my Faith, and rule of life and manwould have been effectual for the ners, according to the word of taking away these unhappy divi- God"-Sic subscribitur-JOHN sions, but to our sad disappoint- TENNENT." ment we have found them continue From the statement now before and rather increase." Here was the reader, we think, as already a Constitution made known and intimated, that the strong probabiadopted-Could this be done in lity is, that at the first meeting of some verbal conversation only? If the original presbytery of Philanot, there must have been some- delphia, and as the basis of union thing in writing, on the missing and future action, there was a for pages of the old records, for noth- mal and written declaration that ing that remains can be called a the Westminster Confession of Constitution. 8. There is docu- Faith, Catechisms and Directory mentary evidence, that some years for worship, should form the before the adopting act of the Sy- Standards, or Constitution, of the nod in 1729, in one presbytery at ecclesiastical body then establishleast, that of New Castle, a regu- ed; and consequently that the lar and formal subscription to the statement of professor Miller in Westminster Confession of Faith regard to this point is not correct. was required of all who received If it be asked, why did the Synod license to preach the gospel in think it necessary to pass the dethat presbytery. From the records claratory act of 1729, if, according of the presbytery now before us, to our opinion, the same thing had we transcribe, from a page set been done by their predecessors ab apart for the purpose, the follow- initio?-we think the question is ing items-"I do own the West- easily answered. The original minster Confession of Faith as the presbytery had become so large, Confession of my Faith-Sic sub- that in 1716 it was divided into the scribitur WILL. M'MILLAN at four presbyteries mentioned by White Clay Creek, Sept. 22d, professor M., and a Synod was 1724." "I do own the Westmin- formed of the whole. When these ster Confession of Faith as the presbyteries came to act separately, Confession of my Faith-Sic sub- they did not act uniformly, in rescribitur-ARCHL. COOK-at the gard to the point in contemplation head of Christiana Creek, 7br. 1726." "I do own the Westminster Confession of Faith as the Confession of my Faith-Sic sub Of this there is inferential evidence of a conclusive character, in the records of the Synod. We have seen that the presbytery of New Castle, following, as we think, the example of the mother presbytery, formally adopted the Westminster Confession, Catechism, and Directory. Whether this was done in any other of the three remaining presbyteries we have not ascertained-probably it was. But that it was not adopted in all, is clear from the controversy which arose, and of which professor Miller gives an account. Congregationalism, brought in by the members who came from New England, prevented the explicit adoption of the Westminster Confession in the presbyteries in which these members formed a majority, or a considerable part. This gave great dissatisfaction to the strict Presbyterians. Collectively taken they were still a considerable majority, they were ardently attached to the Scotch Forms; they knew, as we believe, that these were the basis of the original association, and were still the Standards in a part of the ecclesiastical bodies composing the Synod, and they thought it both reasonable and highly important that they should be so in the whole. Hence their zeal for an adopting act of the entire Synod, which after some years of controversy they obtained. (To be continued.) Literary and Philosophical Intelligence, etc. From the Christian Observer for the months of April and May last, we extract several of the first articles for this department of our work the present month. The first article contains information which would have been of use to ourselves if we had received it sooner. It may be of use to others. American packets are frequently sent to us (generally newspapers or reports of societies) directed to be delivered free of charge at our publisher's, but which the parties who undertake to convey them drop into the Liverpool Post-office, whence they arrive in London with a postage of from eight or ten shillings, to two or three pounds. A single newspaper, or pennytract, wrapped in brown paper, is sometimes charged fourteen or fifteen shillings. Such packets we are obliged to decline taking in; and we fear that some of our trans-Atlantick correspondents, in consequence, blame us for supposed negligence in not noticing their favours which are lying useless in the post-office waste-room. We conjecture that among these returned packets are several Temperance Society and Colonization Society Reports; but the London Post-office will not allow any clue to the contents of such a packet without the payment of the postage; and has even the meanness to seal up the ends, lest the party should see that it is only an old newspaper, or something not worth taking in at so heavy a cost, and thus decline receiving it. It were surely but fair in such cases to allow the party to know what heavily charged; whether letters, newspaare the general contents of a packet thus pers, a pamphlet, or a deed and valuables, &c.; and then to leave him to take it or not, as he sees fit. It is an extortion unworthy of England to charge heavy sums, at per ounce, for wrappers and packthread, which foreigners, ignorant of our Postoffice regulations, lavish as freely as if they were sending by an errand cart. We should not have said so much upon so trifling a matter, were it not that it operates as a literary and religious embargo between countries which ought to rejoice in cultivating a mutual friendship. The American Post-office circulates pamphlets, &c. for a few cents, to a distance of two thousand miles; while in our small island every thing beyond a sheet of paper is charged with a prohibitory postage. Our American friends who carelessly drop huge parcels into English Post-offices will be astounded to learn that the charge from Liverpool to London is 3s. 8d. per ounce, 2l. 18s. 8d. for a pound weight, and a large octavo volume weighs several pounds. The whole system is preposterous. A large double newspaper, in virtue of four-pence stamp-duty, pays nothing in postage; whereas the same paper, if inclosed, would pay, in many parts of the island, more than its weight in sil ver. Among the valuable curiosities in the British Museum, is a copy of Luther's German Version of the Bible (the last edition superintended by himself), printed |
