B al t imo r e d , M . s t P re sb yt er i an Chu rch

3 hundr edth. Anniv e r sary o f th e Organ i s at i on o f t h e P r e s b yt er i an Chur ch in th e lt ed S t a t e s o f Ame r i c a 1 0 to took in Presbyterianism . In the summer of 7 4 he went abroad

' obtain aid from the Presbyterians of England and Scotland . The tw o Presbyterian ministers of London raised funds to aid him , and m two years later he sailed for A erica with young men , John

M cNish . Hampton , an Irishman , and George , a Scotchman These

he sent to labor in his old field in Somerset County . In the spring f 1 06 now o 7 occurred the event which we are celebrating , the of organization of the first Presbytery in America , the Presbytery f f Philadelphia . It is o interest to us to note that o the seven men who formed the first Presbytery , five were then , or had been , —M akemie M cNish n laboring in Maryland , Hampton , , Natha iel wh r o o Taylor , was the pastor at Patuxent Upper Marlboro , and h Makem ie wo . Davis , had been the pastor at Snow Hill If is called the father of American Presbyterianism , surely Maryland was its cradle . This will appear more evident if we give the list o f the Presby ’ m - terian ministers who were M ake ie s fellow laborers . This sur vey must be hasty and we can only give a few dates and facts .

First comes William Traill , a Scotchman , who was thrown in 1 82 prison for preaching in Ireland . Upon his release in 6 he came 1 C0 . . at once to Maryland , invited by William Stevens He settled o f near Rehoboth , and was probably the first pastor that church . of 1 688 1 6 0 After the revolutions he returned in 9 to Scotland , and was minister at Borthwick , near Edinboro . He was the moderator o f the Presbytery which sent M akemie to America .

Next comes Thomas Wilson , who came hither from County

. 1 68 1 . Donegal , Ireland We find him here as early as , when Col

William Stevens gave him a grant of land . He was the founder and first pastor of the Manokin Church , Princess Anne . He lived here about twenty years , but we know little of that life outside of certain legal documents of the time and an address to King Wil

on . liam III , congratulating him his escape from assassination ff o f His brother , Ephraim K . Wilson , sheri Somerset County , left many descendants , among whom is Ephraim K . Wilson , late U .

S . Senator .

The next name is that of Samuel Davis , one of the first mem

o f . bers Presbytery His record is , in some respects , more amusing than edifying , but the historian must give facts as he finds them .

. 1 68 Davis was an Irishman He came to Maryland as early as 4, ’ or 1 6 8 . on . possibly 7 He lived St Martin s Creek , southeast side

o f . o f Pocomoke River He was the pastor , probably also founder, the church at Snow Hill . He and a Church of England minister, Brechan got themselves into a sad pickle on one occasion . Squire a field 1 6 re L y gave a grand Christmas entertainment in 97 . He had centl o ne of y become a widower, and the guests proposed that he should be remarried by a mock ceremony . The ceremony was accordingly then performed with more j esting than delicacy . o f Unfortunately , the lady chosen for the mock bride was a niece the deceased wife , and both the clergymen were haled before the court for breaking the marriage laws of England . Then both got ! o ff on the substantial but not very creditable plea that several of ! the company were overtaken with drink . This will sound better in a temperance lecture than in a history o f the early Presbyterian heroes . But we have sworn testimony to the facts and it is only too true a picture o f times when drunkenness was considered a very venial fault even in a minister . Davis afterwards was pastor

. to at Lewes , Del He was one of the ministers set apart form the

o f . Presbytery Snow Hill , which , however , never materialized The last of these early Maryland pastors whom we shall men tion is Rev . Nathaniel Taylor , pastor at Upper Marlboro , Prince ’ ’ George s County . This was Ninian Beall s church , and a very i flourishing church in its day . We know little o f Taylor besides h s being pastor there and the occurrence of his name in several o f the

o f . documents the time The most interesting thing , perhaps , about a o f him , is the cat logue his library , found by the writer in an old o f inventory . There are five hundred volumes these , a splendid library even for a minister of the present day . It is full of the Westminister divines and full also o f the philosophical and seien tific works of the period , showing Taylor to have been a very ’ of scholarly man . It contains also a number Tate and Brady s ’ our hymn books , showing that ancestors there did not sing Rouse s

one . 1 0 . version , but the common in England Taylor came about 7 3

1 10 . His ministry was not a long one , for he died suddenly in 7 One interesting relic o f his ministry is a splendid silver communion of old service , now used at Hyattsville , the successor the church at

Upper Marlboro . From this imperfect sketch we find that at the time of the first Presbytery at Philadelphia there we—re at least four flourishing Presbyterian churches in Maryland Upper Marlboro , on the om Western Shore , and Snow Hill , Manokin and Rehoboth , in S

erset . and Worcester Counties , on the Eastern Shore There were

’ ’ numerous Presbyterians in Baltimore , Prince George s and Cecil

- r counties , and these were sho tly afterwards organized into ’ churches at West Nottingham , Bladensburg and at Soldier s

Delight . 8 9 4 7 1 9 06

hu ndr e dt h ann i ve r s ar y o r gan i z at i o n o f t he

m aiming,! ! r

P RI N C E TON N . J .

Prese nted

w5 8 D ivis ion Gm f 5

wm 3 s i 7 TWO H ! NDREDTH ANNIVERSARY O! TH E

' eBtgamzation of the flaresh tman award) p IN TI-I R ! NITE D S T AT E S O! A M ERIC A

wt tesb terian ! an ! t i fla/ p h )

in ifialtimon , mu.

WED ESD Y M SI! E H N A , AY T ENT , NINETEEN H ! NDRED A ND SI!

P ! B LISH ED B Y TH E COMMI TTEE ON H ISTORICA L RECORDS O! T H E P RESB YTERY O! B A LTIMORE fi rsshytcriantsm iBRESB YTERI A NI SM is a church government by representa

. ! e tive assemblies or courts , viz Sessions , Presbyt ries , f Synods and General Assembly , composed o Presbyters o r b of Elders , Ruling and Teaching, called y the Spirit God and the elected by people .

Lilm nrmnt Emails in rwh tp rian iz tn p ifi g {fi ry

—M s ! . . 1 53 3 . s a to h e B C o e comm nded convene t elders of I s rael in Egypt .

—M s . 1 4 90. s a t a B . C o e comm nded o g ther s eventy elde rs to a s s i s t him in th e gove rnment . — . . 1 1 4 0. rs s ra s B C The elde of I el a k f o r a ! ing . — 53 . s an A . D . The Apo tles d elders of Jeru s a lem decide th at ci rcumci s ion is n o t r th e s a r in fo ce in Chri ti n chu ch .

— ’ . 65. s a a A D Timothy ordin tion by Pre s bytery . — 96 . r an A . D Fou d twenty elde rs s itting a round the throne in heaven . — . . 1 560. s G ra ss m e t r A D Fir t ene l A embly in Edinbu gh . 1 2 — 6 8 . s R r A . D . Fir t efo med Dutch ! P re s byte ri an ) Chu rch founded in New s r a rk Am te d m , now New Yo .

- . . 1 643 . G a s s m e t s s r to re A D ener l A embly in We tmin te Abbey , London , p a s s o f a t a s s s an d D ire c p re Confe ion F i h , C techi m , Di cipline , r rs to y of Wo hip . 1 44 — . . 6 . r s a r a t A D P e byteri n cong egation in ch arge of M r. Denton Hemp

s a . te d , L I N . Y . — R ev a s M ak e m i r a z n R A . D . . Fr nci e o g ni ed Snow Hill a d ehoboth s M a a churche in ryl nd . — R e v a a P a . 1 7 01 . s a as at a A . D . . Jededi h Andrew ord ined p tor Phil delphi , — 7 o6. rs s t r r a z ra s A . D . l Fi t Pre by e y o g ni ed in Phil adelphi a with F nci M ak e m ie M a r , oder to . — 1 7 06 . a at . . A . D . ordin tion of John Boyd , Freehold , N J — 1 7 1 7 . a a r a z r s s A . D . Synod of Phil delphi o g ni ed with th ee Pre byterie

a a as and s a . Phil delphi , Newc tle Long I l nd — 1 7 61 . rs r s r a a r a z . A . D . Fi t P e byte i n Church of B ltimo e org ni ed

— he a s s th e 1 7 89 . s G a s s t ! A . D . Fir t ener l A embly in nited St te , compo ed of s y k a a s and V ir Synod of New or , Phil delphi . New Jer ey

a m e t a a R e v . s gini , in Phil delphi with John Wither poon ,

D . D . a s M ra r. , ode to

! The date s of th e Bible events of thi s c atalogue c an only be approx imate ! th e facts a lone a re impo rtant . P rogramme

E D N A Y P . M W E S D , M A Y 1 GT H . .

T R V . M B D H . D . . E E JOHN P CA P ELL, Presiding

Ch a irm a n of th e Committee of Arrangements an d as a r s a a r M d P tor of F ith P e byteri n Church in B ltimo e , .

!Pram firrluhr.

Enxnlugg.

TH R . S D . V. D 3Jnlmrafi nn. E E JOHN B WIL ON , .

as the s a a P tor of Fir t ! nited Pres byteri n Church in B ltimore .

- NO . 1 1 . figmn, 39, verses 4 !Tune Coronation . )

T H R V RT RR D . D . Q u intin ! Erssnn, E E . ROBE P . KE ,

as the r s r r a r P tor of No thmin te Pre s byte i n Chu ch in B altimo re .

TH E R . . D . D V. S . firagrr, E W H WOOD ,

a s the ra k ar s a a P tor of F n lin S! u e Pre byteri n Church , B ltimore , th e r s r a th e a s of P e byte i n Church in ! nited St te .

Early Presbyterianism in Maryland ,

TH V M R M . S D D. E E . JA E WI LLIA MCILVAIN ,

a the M a a a Secret ry of ryl nd Tr ct S ociety .

- 6 1 . NO . N o . 1 1 figmn, , verses 4 ! Tune Dundee ,

Ahhrrfl a. Presbyterianism

D. TH R V R S D . E E . CHA LE WOOD,

a s the r s a r a a P a. P tor of Second P e byteri n Chu ch in Phil delphi ,

NO . 00 . . filial! . 3 ! Tune Shirland )

E R R D . D TH R V. E B rnrhirtinn, . E H N Y B ANCH , .

M d a the s a r . and P s tor of Pre byteri n Chu ch in Ellicott City, , a Stated Clerk of the Pre s bytery of B ltimore .

O rgan finatluhe. Clinmxnittn nf A rrangements

ap p nintrh b y

Eli! Errshgtrrg of B altimore

M MP . D . RE V . . M . D R E V . . . D S D . JOHN P CA BELL, JA E E OFFATT ,

M . R E V. R R . ! R R D . D . RE V . OBE T P E , JOHN TI OTHY STONE R R D R R E V. D . . E V . E D . D . HEN Y B ANCH , JOHN WYNN JONES , M I L A I D R E D M! . . R E M E WM . c V N . . V . V . JA S , SA EL C WASSON

ELDER WILLIAM R EYNOLDS .

R ! . ELDER SAM ! EL M . AN IN R R R . ELDER G EO G E . CAI NES R E LDE C . S . DAVIS . R ELDE JOHN T . HILL .

QInnunittn nn fiis turiral Ep rnrha

M R E D . D . V . . JOHN P CA PBELL, R R D R E V D . . . HEN Y B ANCH , R R R E V E . . . . D NEWBE Y M R E . ! . V. T . W P LHA ! nb Earl iBrrsh trrianistn in warpla . y p

RE W M L . . V. J . . CI VAIN , D D

J as e!

HE purpose Of this paper is not to prove that the earliest Presbyterianism in the United States ! originated in Maryland . There is a very pretty ! now quarrel going on just as to which colony may claim the original Presbyterian Church of the — Scotch Genevan type . It reminds one Of the classic story o f how many Of the cities of Greece contended for the honor of being the birthplace Of Homer, the blind bard . As in now that case so there is a great deal of assertion , a great deal of

r r . histo ical imagination , but ve y little solid documentary evidence We only claim and we think that we can easily prove that there were Presbyterians in Maryland at a very early date , very possibly f O . from the foundation the colony Henry More , the Jesuit father ! who accompanied the colonists writes , In leading the colony to ! o f Maryland by far the greater part were heretics . He says also ! the Assembly of 1 638 that it was composed with few exceptions ! of t heretics . The large part of the early se tlers were poor per of sons , who came largely from London , then the stronghold Pres r b yte ianism . 1 6 In 49 we know there were Presbyterians here , because the famous Act o f Toleration forbade calling a person a Presbyterian ! !

f . ow as a term o reproach H could this term Of reproach be ! used , if there were no Presbyterians in the colony We are glad to note that there is no longer any necessity for such a law in

Maryland . I remark also that the engrosser Of this law writes the word P resP I Terian . But they were very weak in Spelling in those days , and moreover the ignorant clerk may have been an

o r . infidel , Papist other idolator of A word in passing as to this celebrated Act Toleration , which , like St . Patrick , is claimed both by the Protestants and the Roman Catholics . It is claimed by the Protestants because they had a majority of votes in the Assembly which passed the Act , which is true and so far to their credit . It is claimed by the a Roman C tholics , because Lord Baltimore , who was undoubtedly

Of . the author the law in its main features, was a Roman Catholic e This is true also, but Lord Baltimor was much more than a

e . o f Roman Catholic , even Of a very lib ral type He was a man affairs and the Lord Proprietary of the colony . What his feelings were is shown by documents of the time and by his own letters .

He was sincerely religious , and therefore brought out Jesuit fathers with the first colony . But he soon quarreled with them t because , as usual , they interfered with the government and ried to acquire large grants o f lands from the Indians without his approval . He was anxious to counterbalance the influence Of the f Roman Catholics by offsetting a number o Protestant settlers . Of on Hence , an act toleration , where both churches were placed an equality . Moreover, the political and religious situation in

England forbade any other policy . The Puritan Parliament had sent Archbishop Laud to the scaffold for attempting to re- estab lish Popery in England , and had disestablished prelacy and made

Presbytery the established church of England . Any thing more than bare toleration fo r Catholicism was impossible under the circumstances . Lord Baltimore had the worldly wisdom to see f f o . O this , as none of the churches his day saw it The children this world are in their generation wiser than the children Of ! light . Let him have due credit for this, although he may have been only the unconscious instrument of Providence in asserting a great principle . But let us also remember twhat he did this not because he was a Roman Catholic, but a shre d statesman , who saw , from the very beginning, that religious toleration was the only possible policy for his colony . He promised this to the first settlers and he kept his word . Maryland had the honor o f receiving and cherishing the first wh Presbyterian minister o ever came from the British Isles to

America . This was Rev . Francis Doughty . His history is a sort f o epitome Of the religious history of the times . Turned out Of too o f the Church Of England because he was much a Presbyterian , he was also turned out of Taunton , Massachusetts , whither he had f fled , because his views did not agree with those O the Inde pendents . Next he came to New Amsterdam . He is believed to have been the first minister to hold a service in English in what is

Y . ot now New ork But there he g into trouble again , or as a ! out contemporary author puts it , He had gotten of the frying p an into the fire . We fear that Doughty was too much Of a no our fighting parson , a genus t unknown in the history Of h beloved church . This time it was politics t at interfered with his usefulness . So after a taste Of prison life under charge of debt he came somewhere about 1 656 into the Eastern Shore Of Vir ginia and Maryland . He lived in this colony and found peace e o f o here ! and not merely p ace , but a wife , sister G vernor Stone , and a nice piece Of property at Nanjemoy , Charles County . He went about preaching and baptizing . Whether he ever organized so a church is uncertain , but if he did he would have done after the t e Presbyterian pat ern . His sermons and s rvices were at least h to Presbyterian , and he must have been a great elp Protestantism in Maryland . For , so far as is known , he was not only the first the Presbyterian minister , but first ordained Protestant minister in the colony . The next Presbyterian minister who came to Maryland was

. b e Rev Matthew Hill . He is better known to us than Doughty , ’ ’ in Calam s Non- cause his history is given y Conformist s Memorial , and because we have an interesting letter Of his written from

Charles County to the celebrated Richard B axter , giving us an f Y o f . o account his work He was a native ork , England , a gradu of ate Magdalen College , Cambridge , and a noted Hebrew scholar . He was ejected from his living after the Restoration and was very poor . His relations urged his conformity , but nothing could make him violate his conscience . He lost what little he had in the great !

1 666 . fire in London , After that he embarked for the West !

t . Indies , meaning , in his instance , Maryland Here he arrived

1 66 . 1 6 about 9 He writes April 3 , 69 , to Baxter , who was evi ! dentl out y the means of sending him , I am sure that the blessing of him that was ready to perish doth reach you even at this dis tance what you have lost in your purse I hope you will regain in ! ! a a better place . He spe ks Of his congregation as a willing and ! ’ loving people . He mentions the fact that under his lordship s

v o f go ernment we enjoy a great deal liberty , and particularly in ! f e matters Of religion . He speaks O th large number Of those of ! the reformed faith and adds that they have no fondness for the ! or liturgy ceremonies , a fact which Lord Baltimore himself 1 6 for states in a letter in 77 to the Privy Council . He begs some ministers to be sent out to a people who are like sheep without a shepherd . He begs also very naturally for some books for him ’ ih self, which request Baxter seems to have granted , for in Hill s ventory we find that he possessed a library o f some seventy vol um r one fo r es , a fine colonial libra y and a good a home missionary in . even those days He married Edith , daughter of Walter Bayne , wh a lady o had previously wedded Jonathan Marles in a wonder f o f ful fashion , somewhat after the manner o the marriage vows he t . c r Q uakers The do ument is still prese ved , and is a strange m Of ixture love and theology . He had a fine estate also , called P o leton p , near Port Tobacco, Charles County . But he had fresh troubles . Theological controversies were then peculiarly bitter , and he became involved in such with the Q uakers who came in o f large numbers to Maryland on account its religious freedom , ! ! to and who thought it their duty denounce all hireling ministers , whether Prelatists or Presbyterians . He labored here about ten f 1 6 . no years , dying in 79 As he had successor , it is di ficult to esti Of n mate the amount his work , but everything we k ow of him shows him to have been a gentle and scholarly Christian . A blank now occurs in the annals of Maryland Presbyterianism to Of Makemie ! up the arrival and Trail , which is filled in , in part at least , by the elder , Ninian Beall . Wherever there is a Session , there is a church , and Ninian Beall represents such a Session . He ! is almost certainly the ancient and comely man , an elder among ! a the Presbyterians who entert ined Thomas Wilson , the famous

1 2 . Q uaker preacher in 69 Beall is an interesting character, a

A m . typical erican He was not a Scottish gentleman , as a very unreliable legend would have it , but , as he says himself plainly in

1 6 . a law case , an indentured servant who came to Maryland in 57

He rose to great wealth , owned iron furnaces and flour mills and

died one o f the richest men in the province . He and Doughty

came to Maryland about the same time . But he long survived

him 1 1 2 . and died in 7 7 , aged 9 Thus he saw the feeble beginning, and lived to see the single unorganized church grow into a strong

o f . owe synod three presbyteries How much we to his fostering

hand we can only conjecture . He gave generously land to the church at Marlboro and a very handsome communion service still

used by the church at Hyattsville . He was the first Presbyterian o f elder in America whom we know , and in a way may dispute with Makemie the claim to be the founder of American Presbyter i nism a . And yet it seems to us that it is to M akemie that the honor

belongs , because he was the man who organized Presbyterianism

in this country and gave it a firm foundation . There can be no Presbyterianism that is not organized that really deserves the Makemie to accom name . This felt, and hence he went work to li h Makemie not p s this great end . was the first Presbyterian min not ister in Maryland nor in America . He was even the first

Presbyterian minister on the Eastern Shore o f Maryland . Doughty 1 6 6 had preached there , for we find him as early as 5 just across the border in Accomac County , Va . There was also a Puritan r not t preacher, whether Presbyterian o not we know , wi h the to o f remarkable name which a Dickens would have rejoiced use , t Ezekiel Fogg . He lived and preached in Dorchester Coun y, near no the Great Choptank . He has left us a will which is by means a dreary legal document, but a witty piece of writing . Of his Mak emie h clerical work we have only a bare record . , owever , ’ though he builded on other men s foundations , did a far greater work than any before him . He saw that Presbyterians must be organized if they were not to lapse on the one hand into I ndep en denc o r y be swallowed up by the Episcopal Church , which was

now of . being established on very liberal terms in most the colonies

He came from the strictest kind of Presbyterians , the Scotch

. t Irish He was born near Rathmelton , Coun y Donegal , Ireland ,

1 1 6 . about 660 . He appears as a student in Glasgow in 76 He was examined in 1 68 1 and ordained in 1 682 by the Presbytery of

Laggan , Ireland , to go as a minister to America . Col . William

Stevens in Maryland , beside Virginia , had written from Somerset

mi . County for a godly nister Traill , the moderator of the Presby ter to y, had fled Maryland himself during the persecutions under

M akemie 1 68 . James II . arrived in Somerset County in 3 His labors were truly apostolic . He shortly left for Virginia and preached to the Puritans there of Elizabeth River in 1 684 . He traveled extensively , preaching as far south as the Barbadoes and Y as far north as New England . He preached in New ork , where he was most unj ustly tried and fined by Lord Cornbury , the gov

rn r e o . In order to support himself in these extensive and ex

r . pensive j ou neyings he , like the Apostle Paul , engaged in trade But wherever he went he labored earnestly and preached con n l 1 6 0 sta t y. He returned to Maryland in 9 and settled near the border line o f Ma ryland and Virginia . He married and became for in 1 69 1 the pastor o f the church at Rehoboth . He soon left

Philadelphia , and thence went to the Barbadoes , where he lived 1 8 to re several years . In 69 he returned the Eastern Shore and mained there until his death in 1 708 . ’ Makemie s dream was to organize a Presbytery . T0 this end he was in correspondence with godly ministers on both sides o f ’ M akemie s the water . It is interesting to note through corres p ondence with Increase Mather the interest the Boston ministers of 1 0 took in Presbyterianism . In the summer 7 4 he went abroad to

obtain aid from the Presbyterians of England and Scotland . The two Presbyterian ministers of London raised funds to aid him , and

years later he sailed for America with two young men, John

Mc Nish . Hampton , an Irishman , and George , a Scotchman These he sent to labor in his old field in Somerset County . In the spring o f 1 06 7 occurred the event which we are now celebrating , the of the organization the first Presbytery in America , Presbytery of o f Philadelphia . It is interest to us to note that of the seven men or who formed the first Presbytery , five were then , had been , —M akemie M cNish laboring in Maryland , Hampton , , Nathaniel or Taylor , who was the pastor at Patuxent Upper Marlboro , and k mi . M a e e Davis , who had been the pastor at Snow Hill If is o f called the father American Presbyterianism , surely Maryland was its cradle . This will appear more evident if we give the list of the Presby ’ mi - terian ministers who were M ake e s fellow laborers . This sur vey must be hasty and we can only give a few dates and facts . who First comes William Traill , a Scotchman , was thrown in 1 682 prison fo r preaching in Ireland . Upon his release in he came at once to Maryland , invited by Col . William Stevens . He settled

o . near Reh both , and was probably the first pastor of that church 1 688 1 6 0 After the revolutions of he returned in 9 to Scotland , and was minister at Borthwick , near Edinboro . He was the moderator o f the Presbytery which sent M akemie to America .

Next comes Thomas Wilson , who came hither from County

1 68 1 . Donegal , Ireland . We find him here as early as , when Col f William Stevens gave him a grant o land . He was the founder and first pastor of the Manokin Church , Princess Anne . He lived n here about twenty years , but we k ow little of that life outside of certain legal documents of the time and an address to King Wil liam III , congratulating him on his escape from assassination . ff His brother, Ephraim K . Wilson , sheri of Somerset County , left many descendants , among whom is Ephraim K . Wilson , late U .

S . Senator . of one f The next name is that Samuel Davis , o the first mem bers of Presbytery . His record is , in some respects , more amusing than edifying , but the historian must give facts as he finds them .

. 1 68 Davis was an Irishman He came to Maryland as early as 4, ’

1 6 8 . . or possibly 7 He lived on St Martin s Creek , southeast side f o . o f Pocomoke River He was the pastor , probably also founder, the church at Snow Hill . He and a Church of England minister ,

It seemed at that time as if Maryland was destined to be a great ! Presbyterian center . Why was it otherwise ut-of- — I . Because the churches were organized in o the way o f places , chiefly at the extreme end the Eastern Shore , and none

n S in any center o f influence . There were no towns of a y ize in

. M kemie Maryland Plantation life prevailed . a was struck with d' this , and he ha a scheme which was to improve the colony in this respect called ! A plain and friendly persuasive to the inhabitants f ! o Maryland and Virginia for promoting towns and cohabitation .

But then no gentleman , according to the ideas then prevalent in on those colonies , lived anywhere except his estate , and none o f could engage in trade . So the Presbyterian churches Maryland ! ! were left largely to waste their Sweetness on the desert air .

II . But a far more important reason for the decline of Presby terianism was the establishment of the Church of England in the colony . This was done in the most thorough manner . The Prot

estants SO of . , even the leading Presbyterians were afraid the R

C . influence that they thought that only an establishment could counteract it . SO they gave up their freedom of worship and sub mitted to an onerous establishment where everybody paid heavy tithes to the parsons . Of course these were well provided for , their salaries in some instances amounting to nearly £2000 a year . The Presbyterian ministers were supported only by voluntary con trib utions and only the strongest in the faith would pay heavy tithes and generous subscriptions at the same time . Another cause perhaps was the moderatism or broad churchism of the eighteenth

century in the Presbyterian churches abroad . When Whitefield preached in Southern Maryland at Upper Marlboro he made this ! sad record ! These parts are sunk into a deep sleep . So it was when the Methodists came with their earnest evangelical preaching they swept the state from end to end , gathering in Presbyterian

and Anglican alike into the new fold .

Yet Presbyterianism was far from dead here . Witness the conspicuous part taken by Maryland Presbyterians in the American o f Revolution . Many of the founders Baltimore , to whom it owed

t t . its wonderful grow h , were Presby erians Witness this beautiful

church in which we are assembled . Witness the strong churches r of our city and Presbyte y . Witness the new deaconess move m M akemie ent and many other signs , which tell us that if and his friends were to cOme back they would be both surprised and de lighted over the wonderful growth of their beloved Presbyterian

Church in Maryland . P resbyterianism.

W REV. C ES . . HARL O OD , D D

RESB YTERI A NI SM is the oldest and most natural

form of church government , says a sympathetic

of . historian , himself a member another church If old not as as sin , Presbyterianism may be said to to be as old as salvation . When God was about of re save Israel from the Slavery Egypt, Moses ceived Divine authority for the establishment o f him Presbyterianism . Elders were associated with in the govern ment of Israel , and the government for three hundred years was altogether Presbyterian in the largest sense till the misguided t f D Elders demitted heir O fice by ivine permission , but without

- of . Divine command , in favor a Pope King In the Christian Church the word Elder no longer suggests

f . age , but is a term signifying o ficial position only A man like old on Timothy , with an head young shoulders , was the ideal

Elder o f the Apostolic Church . The Bishop and Presbyter were n ide tical . Bishops like Lightfoot and Ellicott ! Deans like Alford and Stanley ! Historians like Mosheim , Neander and Hatch !

Commentators like Lange and Meyer are all agreed as to this . The two terms were interchangeable till the beginning of the or Third Century. The word Elder Presbyter retained its primitive meaning some centuries longer in parts of Europe where t the Papal authori y was recognized only in a modified degree . ! The primate of the Church o f Scotland for the first three hundred f years was not a Bishop but a Presbyter . First the Abbott o I ! ona , then Dunkeld Bede says , consecrated the Bishops they !

. fo r sent to England They crowned kings , the prerogative which Becket shed his blood rather than concede to his brother ! ! of Y so n primate ork , says Dean Stanley in his lectures o The ! Church of Scotland . In the fastness of the Italian mountains there were deep pools where the face of Apostolic Christianity - w f so ho was always reflected . Many o the called heretics were exterminated with fire and sword! like the Albigenses o f

Languedoc , were Presbyterians who refused to submit to the

Papal yoke .

At the Reformation , Presbyterianism leaped into prominence and for a time seemed destined to become the dominant type o f

Reformed Christianity . The story of her triumphs and defeats is ! enough to stir the most sluggish blood . As history unrolls her ! long annals , few more thrilling pages appear than those which recount the sufferings and heroism of the Presbyterians of — France Vaudois o r Huguenot . As we read we become spectators of a great court Tragedy . Francis I and many of the proudest nobles of France were attracted to the Presbyterian form almost f o . to the point acceptance The Presbyterian party fought wars , o f held cities against the seige royal armies , and made treaties ! with the throne . Heroic figures like Cond , Coligny and Mont of morency , Constable France , move across the stage towards ’ ! I . . V the awful massacre of St Bartholomew s Day When Louis , 1 68 in 5, revoked the Edict of Nantes , Protestants fled for their lives whenever it was possible to escape the cordon of soldiers guarding the frontier . SO France by her bigoted folly skimmed the cream from the milk and scattered it to the four winds . The o f 1 68 tyranny 5made possible , perhaps made inevitable , the Revo lution and the anarchy of 1 793 .

In England Presbyterian history is in part a court Drama .

Henry VIII , keen for money , wives and pleasure , had nothing

a . to hope for from Presbyterian Protest ntism Romanism , with r its rich monasteries and Cathedral foundations , was to Hen y unendurable , but Presbyterianism , with its rigid morality forbid ding pillage , groundless divorce and gross pleasures of every sort , was to Henry altogether detestable . Elizabeth felt like her father , that Presbyterianism was too independent for her purpose . ! The clergy who refused to wear Romish vestments , Idolatrous ! gear , they called them , excited her contemptuous anger . James I was convinced that the stability of his throne depended on ! the establishment and maintenance of Episcopacy . No bishop , ! no King , he said . Charles I looked upon Presbyterianism as the o f most dangerous his foes , and tried every conceivable plan for its extermination . He felt with Dryden ,

P sb t s l l z l re y ery in its p e ti entia ea ,

Can fl ourish o nly in a commo n weal. In both Scotland and England the Presbyterian Clergy were f deprived o their churches—. The people were imprisoned and persuaded with the thumb screw and the rack to give up their of 1 foolish Presbyterian prejudices . The act uniformity in 549 ! required consent T0 all and everything prescribed in and by the ! w Book of Common Prayer . T o thousand clergymen , led by alam Baxter and C y, were ejected from their pastorates as Crom well ejected the members o f the House o f Commons from West ! ! m ou . 1 6 2 inster Hall , with a Get y gone But in 4 the long Parlia W' ment abolished Episcopacy . An assembly was called at est 1 6 o f one minster in 43 , composed ten Lords , twenty Commoners ,

- hundred and twenty one ministers , and a Confession and Cate i chism were issued by Parliamentary author ty . Upon the return f a y o Charles II by the invit tion of the deluded Presb terians , the Presbyterian Church had been established in England for seventeen years . Charles immediately set to work to undermine of the church he hated , in part it may be because his obligation f f . o to it His e forts , with those his successor , were sadly suc f l cess u .

In Scotland Presbyterian history is an Epic of the people . The men and women who move with stately and dignified step across the stage might have stepped out an hour ago from the f ! I . o Chapter of Hebrews We hear, as we listen , the roar muskets , the sharp crack of pistols , the fierce clashing of swords , as Cavalier and Covenanter meet on the battlefield . On the great o f canvas Scottish history moves a medley of figures which , once seen , can never be forgotten . A beautiful Q ueen weeps and wrings her white hands in which she is deliberately and cunningly crushing the religious liberties of a people that in her French eyes w! ho are half fantastic , half barbarian . A preacher never feared ! of a the face man m kes his pulpit and his monarch tremble , as he thunders out the righteousness and wrath of God . A stool goes

flying through the air , flung by the hand of a fearless servant girl , o f of which misses the head the Dean Edinburgh , but fatally of wounds the system he represents . In the church yard Gray

Friars a Solemn league and covenant is Signed in blood , and sealed

o f n . before many weeks have passed , by the martyrdom the sig ers who to Those had refused make the responses to Archbishop ’ w o n Lo rd s printed prayers , heard the responses to their petitions ’ in the roar of Claverhouse s muskets . Eighteen thousand men and women laid down their lives for the cause to which they had

. I t of 1 688 pledged them . was not till the Revolution in England had driven a Romanist from the throne and had replaced him with Re lu . vo a Dutch Puritan , that Scotland was at last free I f the tion had produced no other effect than that of freeing the Scots from the yoke of an establishment they detested and giving them one o f to which they were attached , it would have been one the !

our r . happiest event in histo y , says Lord Macaulay for In America, Presbyterian history is the most part plain prose . Presbyterians came here because they were not wanted T e to . at home, and there was nowhere else for them go h history of of American colonization is a history of the crimes Europe , and the history of Am erican evangelization is of the same sort . who 1 The Presbyterians came to the New World in the 7th and 1 8th Centuries were the living witnesses of crimes against liberty

r and humanity in the Old World . Ge mans from the Palatinate , of ! I V devastated by the armies Louis , Huguenots from tortured

- b e and heart broken France ! English , Scotch and Irish from wildered and distressed Great Britain left their homes under a pro pulsion they could not resist . Every ship that crossed the sea brought such colonists to our shores . In the first Presbytery organized in Philadelphia in 1 706 the i — of M akem e . first name is that Francis , a Scotch Irishman Of f t the seven members o which that Presby ery was composed , all

one . except were from the Old World Jedediah Andrews , a Har f vard graduate and pastor o the First Church of Philadelphia , was

- a the only native born American of them all . From the outst rt

American Presbyterians were restless under all yokes , whether M echlenb ur 1 ecclesiastical or political . The g declaration of 775 ! We do hereby declare ourselves a free and independent people, was the voice of which the Declaration of Independence was the echo . Through the long, and often times hopeless struggle to achieve that independence which had been so stoutly claimed , the Presbyterian clergy and laity never wavered in their allegiance f own to the cause o liberty . While Presbyterian history in our or land is far less dramatic and thrilling than in France , England

Scotland , here the greatest gains have been made , and here , per

e o f . haps , is to b the largest field usefulness The history of the Presbyterian Church in both the Old World of and New should be an unceasing inspiration . The Cathedrals ’ - t. Europe S Paul s , the Abbey, Notre Dame , Cologne , Milan ,

to . Florence , must always be an inspiration the architect There of o f genius told its dreams in poems stone . The masterpieces

Angelo , Raphael , Angelico , Di Vinci are an unceasing inspiration e to to the artist . What splendid powers b long the men who could

- mix common colors , and with a simple brush create half Divine figures to loo k down with glowing eyes on a dull world ! To feel o ’ ’ the electric discharge from Dante s poem and Shakespeare s plays and Milton ’ s word picture of Paradise Lost is an inspiration to every man who is conscious of creative power in his own soul , or who is capable of appreciating the creative power in other souls. Such poems and plays make it certain that in the past there were how to Prometheans who knew to bring fire from heaven , and so compound it with human thoughts and words that the centuries are powerless to dim its glow or chill its heat .

But to recall the lives , struggles , torments , persecutions , tri Waldensees of umphs of and Huguenots , Covenanters and Puri a n t ns , rememberi g that their faith is ours, that their blood courses through our veins, is to feel that to be weak and pusillanimous , to supine or dull , timid and subservient the false and untrue , nsce tered though wrong be enthroned and e p , is to be traitors to !

o f . the past , is to prove ourselves base sons heroic sires When all else has failed , when patriotism has covered its face , and human courage has broken down , and intellect has yielded with or the a smile a sigh , content to philosophize in closet , the slavish

' form of faith called Calvinism has borne ever an inflexible front o to illusi n and mendacity , and has preferred rather to be ground to powder like flint than to bend before violence or to melt under ! r o f ene vating temptation , are the words James Anthony Froude , a historian by no means prejudiced in favor of Presbyterianism .

Our history is a pledge as well as an inspiration . We are our C pledged by origin and growth to atholicity , Universality , so Comprehensiveness . A church compounded of many elements

- - as is ours , must necessarily be non partisan and non sectarian . All international animosities between the Irish and the English must disappear in the close fellowship of our ecclesiastical unity . too Sectarian narrowness , , must be impossible when such diverse phases of thought and experience as are represented in the Presby ff terian Church of America . To be e ective as a persecuting church an ecclesiastical organization must be homogeneous . Its clergy and laity must have the same blood in their veins , and must be f inheritors o the same traditions , any divergence from which will ff strike those who hold tightly to them as an o ence , inexcusable and unendurable , dese rving censure and excommunication . With the e i our m mix d nat onalities of which com union is composed , with the conditions varying through every phase of Protestantism , we can never be anything but inclusive and comprehensive . Not only may we say with Tennyson in welcoming Q ueen Alexandra , ! ! ! Saxon and Norman and Dane are we , but we may add , Ger ! ! man and French , English , Irish and Scotch are we . G od hath ! !

one . made of blood all the nations of the earth Little children , love one another .

Our history pledges us to loyalty as well as to catholicity . We ! are pledged to loyalty to our country . He prostrated himself in of the dust before his maker, but he set his foot on the neck his ! f o . s king , was said the Puritan Neither he nor his Pre byterian brother was ever charged with setting his foot on his country ’ s

. who claims He set his foot on the neck of kings in the Old World was the first to bow his head to the j ustly constituted authority o f the people in the New World . This is a part of his creed . It is in his blood . He can never be a partisan , but he must always be a patriot . The Presbyterian will be loyal as well to the Home , the Sabbath , and the Scriptures , which must always be for him the r final test of eve y theological system , confession of faith and creed .

Our history pledges us also to liberty , the most perfect liberty

! ever goes hand in hand with the most perfect loyalty . The Pres

b terian ff wn . y Church is liberal in the terms it o ers its o members to It asks of them assent to no theory of inspiration , no creed or ! confession . The Presbyterian Church must never demand more fo r admission to her membership than is demanded for admission to Heaven . Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be !

of . saved , insisted Dr . Charles Hodge , Princeton The Presby terian Church is also liberal in its treatment Of other denomina tions . It unfrocks no clergy , it unchurches no communion . It is

too o f . liberal , , in its forms worships It permits the use of all , but commands the use of none . T0 every church Session the power is comm itted to decide the form of service for that p articu her lar church . Our church clasps in wide arms Cathedrals like those o f Glasgow and Edinburgh and summer tents like those of

Y . New ork , Philadelphia and Baltimore The most elaborate and the most simple services are equally Presbyterian if the Session so decides . The Presbyterian Church should be the church of j oyous confidence in God . With clear eyes the church sees her little bark often tempest tossed , but borne ever onward in the ’ great gulf stream of God s immutable purpose . That stream -off sweeps forward through the ages , toward the far Divine event, ! one when He Shall gather together in all things in Christ, which