THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
porting two missionaries, one at Hoorkee, India, and one at Teeswater, Canada. C. A. Young.
8. Oalvinistic Methodist Church (Welsh Presbyterian Church in America) : The Welsh emigrants who came to this country first settled in Merion, Radnor, and Haverford Counties, Pennsylvania, a few years before 1700. They bought 5,000 acres of land from William Penn. Most of them were Quakers, though Episcopalians and 1. Founding: Baptists were found among them. Tn
Ch ° h *ne year 1707 a petition was sent to the bishop of London for a rector who could preach in Welsh. A Welsh Baptist church was organized in the Great Valley, Pa., in 1711 by Rev. Hugh Davis, and in 1796 another in Ebensburg, Pa. In the years 1775-1825 many Welsh churches were organized in New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. These were Congregational in polity for two reasons: (1) the majority of the ministers were Congregationalists, (2) that form of church government seemed to be better adapted to the conditions occasioned by the fact that the members belonged to different denominations in Wales. Soon the churches began to feel the need of closer fellowship with one another and were ready for associations in which a number of churches could unite in Christian fellowship and service. These associations were held for several years by the churches in the three states named. In 1805 a Welsh church was organized in Steuben, Oneida County, New York, as a union church with the Congregational form of government. This church, together with the other Welsh churches in Ohio and Pennsylvania, increased numerically by the arrival of Welsh immigrants, who brought with them the doctrinal controversies that stirred Wales in the first half of the last century. The result was that members who were Calvinistic in their theology gradually withdrew from the independent churches and organized churches of their own by adopting the Confession of Faith and the Book of Discipline of the .Methodist Calvinistic Church of Wales. The first Welsh Presbyterian church in America was organized at Pen-y-Cserau, Remsen, New- York, in 1826, and this was followed in the years 1828-34 by the organization of thirty-six others in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New York, and the church extended later into Wisconsin. In this way was laid the foundation of the Welsh Presbyterian Church in America.
During this formative period the leaders saw the need of creating presbyteries and synods, but this was found almost impracticable on account of distance, expense, and mode of travel.
2. Org-an- They succeeded, however, in forming
™tion of one synod, comprising all the Welsh
ies^Synods Presbyterian churches in the states of
' and ' -S,f'w York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
General Each church had the privilege of send-
Assembly. ing one or more delegates to this synod as it convened from time to time in the different states. Later the synod was divided into two; the one comprising all the Welsh Presbyterian churches in the states of New York and Pennsylvania; the other comprising the churches at Pittsburg and in the West.
In a few years presbyteries were formed within these synods.
The Synod of New York was formed at Pen-y- Qerau, N. Y., May 10, 1828, and was the first held in America; the Synod of Ohio was formed at Cincinnati June 12, 1833; the Synod of Pennsylvania at Pottsville Apr. 5, 1845; the Synod of Wisconsin, at Waukesha Dec. 31, 1843; the Western Synod, at Bush Creek, Mo., in Oct., 1882; the Synod of Minnesota, at Sion (near Mankato) in 1858. The Welsh Presbyterian Church in America organized its general assembly at Columbus, Ohio, Sept. 22, 1869. This body is composed of two ordained ministers and two elders from each synod, together with the ex-moderators, clerks of synods, the statistician, the treasurer, and the chairman, secretary, and treasurer of the board of missions; the editor of the denominational organ, The Friend, and those appointed to read papers in the assembly. The purpose of the assembly is to deliberate upon the subjects that have to do with the welfare of the denomination in America.
The church reports for 1909, 147 churches (organizations), 95 ministers, 13,695 communicants, 11,465 Sunday-school members, and contributions to the amount of $136,348.
The Welsh Presbyterian Church in America cordially agrees with the Presbyterians of the " Old School " and with the Dutch Reformed of this coun- . try. The Confession of Faith harmon- ' °c rin^' izes minutely with the Westminster Worship Catechism. The form of church government is considered Presbyterian; but, strictly, the polity of the church partakes partly of the Congregational order as well as of the Presbyterian. The session of a Welsh Presbyterian church has less power than the session of a Presbyterian church. The local church receives and dismisses members, and exercises discipline; if it is not able to reach a decision in any case of discipline, an appeal may be made to the presbytery. The church discipline is contained in thirty-nine rules, published in connection with an outline of their history and with the Confession of Faith. All the services are very simple. R. T. Roberts.
9. Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Colored: As the Cumberland Presbyterian Church (see 3a above) began to extend in what was, 100 years ago, the far southwest, it developed a colored constituency which became an integral part of its membership. In every truly Christian family the personal relation between master and slave was close and appreciation was mutual. The slave was recognized not merely as a chattel, but as a man and an immortal. Hence religious instruction was provided and personal religious influence was exercised, with a view to the negro's conversion and salvation. Family worship was common in those days and the servants from the near-by cabins who could conveniently come joined the family-gathering at morning and evening worship. Those prepared for church-membership gladly became members of " Old master's church." They wore accorded the full enjoyment of the sacraments and other privileges of the church, worshiping in the same house at the same hour, with the same pastor, or, if the