made ineffectual attempts to try and condemn Drs.
Karnes. P.eeeher. and Duffield for publishing heterodox opinions; the New School stood up for •• substance of doctrine," and for the Great Voluntary or National So- cieties in opposition to denominational action. Confi- dent in superior numbers and Strategy, the latter antic- ipated an easy victory, and refused any concessions. The (ii.i School, crippled on everj Bide, and chagrined at being east into the shade, held conventions to decide upon their future course. In 1834 appeared " Die Act
and Testimony," drafted by Rev. Roberl J. Breckinridge, complaining of the prevalence of doctrinal errors, the relaxation of discipline, and the violation of church order. The signatures amounted to ■_,n7.">. In 1837 an- other convention, meeting a week before the General
Assembly, prepared a testimony and memorial to be
laid before the Assembly, in which thej testified against sixteen doctrinal errors, ten variations from Presbyte- rian order, and five declensions in Christian discipline, and proposed a method of reform. The Old-School
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES 5
party, finding themselves that year (the first for five years) in the majority, adopted the suggestions of the memorial as a basis of action, and pressed matters to a speedy issue. They established a Board of Foreign Missions, dissolved the Elective Affinity Presbytery, abrogated the Plan of Union of 1801 with the Congre- gational bodies, and disowned (or, as the New-School party termed it, exscinded) the four synods of Genesee, Geneva, Utica, and Western Reserve as un-Presbyterian in their composition. The next year (1838) both par- ties made strenuous exertions for the ascendency in the Assembly. Upon calling the roll, it was found that the delegates from the four synods were not recognised, nor would the moderator, Dr. Elliott, entertain any motion in their behalf. Hereupon, according to a concerted plan, the commissioners from the four synods and those who sympathized with them protested against the mod- erator's decision, and proceeded to make a new organi- zation and elect new officers, after which they withdrew in a body to another place, and there held their sittings as the true Constitutional Assembly, and, among other things, elected several trustees of the property of the corporation. These trustees, being subsequently refused admission into the board, instituted legal proceedings, and received a verdict in their favor. The case being taken up to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, chief- justice Gibson ordered a new trial. This, however, was never had, the rulings being such as to completely set aside the decision of judge Rogers in the inferior court, and after a few years the suit was withdrawn. The New School declared themselves satisfied with the moral ef- fect of the trial, and with a later decision of the chief- justice in the York case. The two bodies went on as separate denominations, though each claimed to have the genuine constitutional succession, and employed the same style and title, " The General Assembly of the. Presbyterian Church in the United States of America." Both of these churches were extended over the whole of the United States, and both of them had missions in different parts of the heathen world, their collections for missions forming a large part of the contributions for that object from the United States of America. The Old-School Presbyterians possessed the following theo- logical seminaries : Princeton (Princeton, N. J.), West- ern (Allegheny City, Pa.), Columbia (Columbia, S. C), Danville (Danville, Ky.1, and North-west (Chicago, ill.). The New- School Presbyterians held the Union (New York City), Auburn (Auburn, N. Y.), Lane (near Cincinnati, 0.), Blackburn (Carlinville, 111.), and Lind (Chicago, 111.). The Old and New School Presbyterian churches were reunited in 1871. At that time the for- mer comprised 2381 ministers. 2740 churches, and 258.003 communicants ; and the latter, 1848 ministers, 1G31 churches, and 172,500 communicants.
The theological history of the Old-School Presbyterian Church for the thirty-two years of its separate existence may be presented in a very few words. It, was left by the separation in a state of almost unprecedented doc- trinal homogeneity. One may well doubt whether any other Christian communion of equal size has ever ex- celled it as to unity in the reception of an evangelical creed of such extent as the Westminster Confession and Catechisms. Differences of opinion, even among its ministers, have, of course, existed ; but these differences were comparatively trifling, or of very little prominence or prevalence. If in any quarter serious error was adopted, for the most part it must have been kept secret, or have been known to but a few. No agitating disci- pline on this ground was exercised, or, to the knowl- edge of the Church at large, needed. "Princeton the- ology," as it has often been called, was, beyond ques- tion, almost universally prevalent among the Old-School Presbyterians. If opposing systems must take a mod- ern nomenclature, there may be no harm in making Princeton and New Haven respectively the synonyms of the Old and the New Divinity ; but it should be re- membered that the text -books of Princeton have con-
5 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES
stantly been the simple Westminster symbols, and such long and generally approved systematic presentations of the reformed theology as the Ins/itutio Tlteulogive Ec- lenchiicce of Franciscus Turret in. Old-School men have been slow to admit the idea of any possible improve- ment in the generally received system of Gospel truth. Recognising fully the recent progress made in Biblical criticism and exegesis— the fact, too, that from time to time fuller and more exact statements of Christian doc- trine may be, as they have been, elaborated — and by no means maintaining that any uninspired man has been wholly free from error, they have, nevertheless, rejected with singular unanimity the assumption that any part of the substance of the Gospel had lain hidden in Holy Scripture until modern times, or that the Church of Christ has new discoveries to make as to the system of truth in Jesus. A well-known Presbyterian quarterly publication — one identified with it from the beginning — has lately said, l; It has been the honest endeavor of its conductors to exhibit and defend the doctrines of our standards, under the abiding conviction that they are the doctrines of the Word of God. They have advanced no new theories, and have never aimed at originality. Whether it be a ground of reproach or of approbation, it is believed to be true that an original idea in theol- ogy is not to be found on its pages from the beginning until now." And this praise or blame may be said to belong to the Old-School Church in general as distinc- tively as to the publication from which it has been quoted. The interval of separation was one of very marked literary activity in the Old-School body. Some thirty original volumes, from this source, of comment upon various portions of Holy Scripture appeared ; and a very large number of important works, biographi- cal, historical, dogmatical, practical, and miscellaneous. Probably no other denomination in the United States has produced within the same period so many theologi- cal books of standard value.