RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Presbyterians
colored constituency was sufficiently numerous, the pastor sometimes gave them a special service. The type of Christian negro this process produced was the "good negro" of ante-bellum days, possessed of a strong Christian character and intensely devoted to his church. These characteristics still appear in some degree among the second and third generations. Out of such material the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Colored, was formed. A few men among them had been ordained to the ministry. They constituted a presbytery to themselves and sought representation in the general assembly of 1870. This was denied and complete separation was the result, the whites advising it and the blacks accepting it as inevitable and as probably best for their race.
In entering upon this separate and independent ecclesiastical existence they had nothing except their own simple childlike faith and their ardent evangelistic spirit; they did not then receive and have never had any substantial backing from any board or benevolent fund. The White Cumberland Presbyterians had lost almost everything by the war and their struggle to rebuild was severe. Engaged in strictly mission work, they could render but little missionary service to their brethren in black. Without money, without schools, and without a trained leadership, this young negro denomination proceeded with its revival methods, making much of its " ' whosoever will ' Gospel," boasting of its doctrine of divine sovereignty and final perseverance, and particularly appreciative of the spirit of liberty which was seen in the Presbyterian form of government. The efforts of individual congregations have been supported by the liberal assistance of their white friends in the locality. Hence they are reasonably well provided with houses of worship. They have also had some assistance in their schools, but for education, even of the ministry, their chief reliance has been the common schools provided by the State. At Bowling Green, Ky., they have a well-conducted academy which gives training in the Bible and kindred subjects and provides special training for preachers and teachers. Since the union of the Cumberland Church with the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (see above, 3a), the latter denomination is giving systematic assistance in educational work.
Conservatively estimated, the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Colored, has a membership of 25,000, located principally in Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Texas, and southeast Missouri. They have probably 200 churches, 160 ministers, and 150 Sabbath-schools, with an enrolment of about 8,000. Their school property amounts to about $20,000 and their church property to about $100,000. They are organized into 18 presbyteries, 5 synods and a general assembly, and they have at least the beginnings of the customary church machinery, such as boards of education, missions, and ministerial relief. The field they occupy is quite distinct from that of the negroes of other Presbyterian denominations. It is large and inviting and is capable of practically unlimited development. Under a trained leadership in pulpit and school, and with ample facilities for handling its general work, this
independent Presbyterian denomination is capable of becoming an important factor in the uplift of the negro race. W. J. Dabby.
10. Reformed Presbyterian Church (Covenanted) : A presbytery under this name was organized in 1840 by two ministers and three elders, who withdrew from the Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church on the ground that it " fellowshiped and indorsed voluntary and irresponsible associations of the day, composed of persons of all religious professions or of no profession; and that its ministers were chargeable with sins of omission and commission in their ecclesiastical relations; and that they refuse to confess and forsake these sins." The presbytery met with varying fortunes, being disorganized in 1845, reorganized in 1853, and disorganized in 1887 In 1883 it contained 4 ministers and 6 organizations in four states, but has since diminished, until at the time of the census of 1906 there was but one small society at North Union, Pa., with 17 members worshiping in a hall and having one elder and a theological student as minister.
Edwin Monsell Bliss.
1 1 . Reformed Presbyterian Church, in the United States and Canada: This body was organized in 1883 in consequence of dissatisfaction with the treatment of a question of discipline by the General Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church. It holds with the General Synod that the republic of the United States is essentially Christian, and that Christian citizens may vote and be voted for. According to the census of 1906 it had but one organization in the United States in Alleghany Co., Pa., owning one church edifice valued at $200,000, and reporting 440 communicant members. It contributed to missionary work in India the sum of $325 in 1906, and maintains a Syrian missionary among the S3^rians of this country at an annual expenditure of over $500.
Edwin Munsell Bliss.
12. The Presbyterian Church in Canada: There is now but one Presbyterian Church in the Dominion of Canada, comprising eight synods and sixtyseven presbyteries. Before it became one it passed through many changes.
France first owned the Canadian territory on the
Atlantic seaboard, and the first settlers were largely
Roman Catholic (see Canada). By the Treaty of
Utrecht in 1713 Nova Scotia came into the posses-
. sion of Great Britain, and was later
" °I1^ins- divided into Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. In the ceded territory, the inhabitants, being Roman Catholic, remained loyal to France. Great Britain sought to change the political complexion of the country by bringing in Protestant colonists. The Acadians of Nova Scotia refused to be assimilated by this means, and finally, in 1755, were forcibly deported into the English colonies to the south, now the United States. Settlers were invited to take possession of the lands and homes thus vacated, liberty of conscience being guaranteed. Those who flocked in from Britain were largely Protestants, and many of them were Presbyterians. The Presbyterian settlers naturally applied to the countries from which they came to send them ministers. Rev. James Lyon came in 1764 from New
Presbyterians