The work of education for the ministry is conducted by the General Assembly, through an executive com- mittee located at Memphis, Tenn. In the last ecclesi- astical year, the committee received from the churches, for this purpose, $15,131, from which 05 young men, prosecuting their studies at various colleges and theo- logical seminaries, received assistance.
The standards of the Southern Presbyterian Church are the Westminster Confession (with the chapter " Of
the Civil Magistrate" amended), the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, and the Westminster Form of Government and Directory, somewhat altered to suit the circum- stances of the Church, with " Hides of Discipline," or " Forms of Process," gathered from the usages and laws of the Scottish Church. These standards are adopted by every minister at his ordination, in answer to the questions put to him publicly by the presiding minister, but are not required to be adopted by subscription to any written formula.
Anterior to the division of the Church into Northern and Southern churches, the Southern churches were disposed to adhere more closely to the standards, and were more churchly in their ideas, after the fashion of the Westminster Era. than a large portion of the North- ern churches, who came nearer the Congregational in- fluence of New England. It was the united opposilion of the Southern churches to what claimed to be a more liberal Presbyterianism which in large part caused the division of 1837 into Old and New School bodies. Since the separation in 1861, the Southern body has grown even more strict in its views of the standards, and the jure divino character of Church government. But, with all their zeal for a strict construction of the standards of doctrine and order, the Southern churches have ever been distinguished for their interest in pro- tracted meetings and services of religion. The custom is almost universal of holding protracted services of several days' or weeks' duration in the churches at one or more communion services in the year, as the indica- tion of the special presence of the Holy Spirit may sug- gest; and most frequently at such meetings there is a revival in the hearts of God's people, and awakenings of greater or less extent among the unconverted. The special labors of evangelists such as Moody and Sankey, and Whittle and Bliss, have not been enjoyed to any great extent in the Southern churches. It is an opin- ion generally accepted among the Southern ministry that there is great advantage, especially in a sparsely populated region but partially supplied with the means of grace, in bringing the Gospel to bear for successive days upon the minds of men. In this way their thoughts can be more effectually withdrawn from their worldly connections and pleasures, and fixed more intently upon the great matter of salvation. Hence the evangelists found that neither their methods nor their preaching of the Gospel of salvation by grace only, through faith, was much of a novelty to the Southern Presbyterian churches.
It has proved to be a great drawback to the proper influence of the Southern Presbyterian Church that, owing partly to its poverty, partly from lying out of the chief lines of the travel and commerce with Europe, and partly from lack of great commercial cities with their accumulated capital, its learned men are able to publish very little, and its journals are of necessity pro- vincial in their character, and therefore the world at large knows little of them. Besides, so vast is the ter- ritory covered by this Church, and so diverse the local interests, that instead of patronage being concentrated upon one or two great religious journals, it is divided between some seven or eight, none of which has power enough to make itself felt abroad. The Southern Pres- byterian Review, a quarterly journal of thirty years' standing, now published under the supervision of the professors in the two theological seminaries, compares most favorably in learning and ability with any theo- logical quarterly in this country; yet, being published in the interior of South Carolina, without the aid of the machinery of a great publishing- house to bring it be- fore the world, it is little known outside the circle of its local patrons and admirers.
In view of the calamities which have befallen this body of Presbyterians during the sixteen years of its history, bringing poverty and distress upon so large a part of its people, its success, so far, has been remarka- ble. In view of the vast territory to be evangelized
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES 544 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES
which is covered by ii. and the hundreds of thousands of poor ignorant negroes, ever tending backward to heathenism, who musl depend upon this Church very largely for a form of the Gospel that will enlighten and civilize them, ii" body of Presbyterians in the world has a greater work to do, or. in proportion to the work to be done, less financial ability to Bustain it.
18. Pkksbytkrian Church in Canada, tn this British dominion the Presbyterians are in point of
numbers the third a ig the religious denominations,
being only exceeded by the Roman Catholics and the Church of England. Presbyterianism dates in Canada al leasl from the conquest, in 1759. Us first exponent is supposed to have been the Rev, George Henry. He appeared in Quebec as early as 1765, and was the chap- lain of a IJiiiish regimen) stationed there. In 178-1 the Rev. Alexander Spark went there, and in 1787 the lirsl Presbyterian congregation was organized. Ii was com- posed principally ol soldiers, in 1780 the Rev.Thomas Bethune, a minister of the Kirk who bad come from Scotland as chaplain of a Highland regiment, preached first in Montreal, and afterwards organized several con- gregations in the county of Glengary. In Montreal itself, the first Presbyterian Church was organized in 1790. I ley buill St. Gabriel Street Church, which is still used as a I'resliyterian ehureli. and is the oldest Protestant church in Canada. Previous to the comple- tion of their own structure they worshipped, by per- mission of the Recollel Fathers, in a Roman Catholic Church. In recognition of these kind offices, "The So- ciety of Presbyterians," as they were then called, pre- sented the g 1 fathers with "two hogsheads of Span- ish wine and a box ol candles," w hich were " thankfully accepted" a manifestation of friendly feeling between Romanists and Protestants which continues to this day. In 1803 the tii st Presbytery of Montreal was organized