SYNOD OF PHILADELPHIA. Accessions to the synod.—Missionary labours of the synod.—Its efforts in behalf of education.—Establishment of the widows’ fund.—The form of government.—Presbyterial acts performed by the synod.—Its supervisory power.—Decision of casuistical questions.—Addresses to the churches in reference to the low state of religion, and to public calamities.
SYNOD OF NEW YORK. Articles of agreement on which the synod was founded.—Accessions to the synod.—Its missionary labours.—Its efforts in behalf of education.—Its standard of doctrine.—Its form of government, illustrated by its acts of review and control; the formation of new presbyteries; the decision of judicial questions; the strict presbyterianism of its subordinate presbyteries.—The synod conformed to the Scottish model, in appointing annually a commission, in investing committees with full synodical power, and in acting as a presbytery.—History of the negotiations for an union of the two synods.—The plan of union ultimately adopted in 1758.
THE number of ministers connected with the synod of Philadelphia, before the schism, was from forty to forty-five. Nine were excluded in 1741, and eleven or twelve withdrew in 1745, when the synod of New York was formed, leaving in connexion with the old synod from twenty to twenty-three. During the seventeen years that the separation lasted, the number of ministers in the synod of Philadelphia, remained nearly stationary. This was the result of various causes. The portion of the country which fell within the bounds of that synod, was comparatively new, and settled by a heterogeneous population, Irish, Scotch, German, Welsh, and English. These people to a great extent were poor, and much less cultivated than the original settlers of New England. They were also widely scattered and mixed with other denominations, which rendered the formation of churches, and the support of pastors, exceedingly difficult. The number of young men qualified for the ministry furnished by such a population, was of course small, and the supply of preachers from abroad was tardy and precarious.
During this period also, the colonies, especially Pennsylvania and Virginia, were greatly harassed and injured by the French and Indian wars. In a multitude of cases settlements, instead of increasing, were entirely broken up, and the people murdered or scattered. This disturbed state of the country was of course very unfavourable to the formation of new congregations, and to the increase of those already established. Missionaries sent by the synod of New York to Virginia, were more than once entirely prevented from fulfilling their appointments, by the dangerous condition of the frontier settlements.
Another cause of the slow increase of the synod of Philadelphia, was the decided superiority of the synod of New York. This superiority was not merely as to numbers, but as to zeal, weight of character, and facility of obtaining a supply of ministers. To this synod, therefore, was attracted a large proportion of those young men, who, from their geographical position, most naturally belonged to the other. New England too, even at that day, had begun to be the hive of ministers. The presbyteries of New York and New Brunswick lying contiguous to the sources of supply, naturally received the ministers who entered our church from the eastern provinces.
The synod of Philadelphia, however, laboured with no little zeal and fidelity to cope with the difficulties with which they were surrounded, and to cultivate successfully, the field which God had committed to their care. The following ordinations and receptions of new members were reported to (he synod during the period now under review; in 1742, Messrs. Guild and Samuel Evans, by the presbytery of Philadelphia, and Mr. Alexander McDowell, by the presbytery of Donegal; in 1744, Timothy Griffiths and John Steele, by the presbytery of Newcastle, who also reported the reception of Mr. James Scougall, an ordained minister from Scotland, and his settlement at Snowhill, Maryland. In 1747, the presbytery of Donegal reported the ordination of David Thorn, and the presbytery of Newcastle that of John Dick, John Hamilton, and Hector Alison. In 1748, the Rev. David Brown, from Scotland, was received by the presbytery of Newcastle. In 1749, the presbytery of Donegal reported the ordination of Mr. Tate; and in 1752, that of Mr. Samson Smith; and in 1754, that of Robert McMurdie; the same year the presbytery of Philadelphia reported the ordination of John Kinkead. In 1757, the Rev. John Miller was received by the presbytery of Newcastle. This gentleman, the father of the Rev. Dr. Miller, of Princeton, was born in Boston, whither his parents had removed from Scotland. Mr. John Miller was settled at Dover, in the State of Delaware, and continued the faithful pastor of that church until his death, in 1791. The same year the Rev. Alexander Miller was received by the synod. Besides these, we find the names of Mr. William McKennan, Matthew Wilson, William Donaldson, and John Alison, on the minutes as ministers or preachers. It thus appears that about twenty-two mimisters were added to the synod of Philadelphia during the continuance of the schism. During the same period the death or removal of ten ministers is recorded. It is not probable that the minutes give a full account either of the accessions or losses, particularly of the latter, as the number upon record in 1758, was not much larger than it was in 1745.