law, yet if your lordship requires it, we would give security; but to give bond and security to preach no more in your excellency's government, if invited and desired by any people, we neither can, nor dare do.

Lord C. Then you must go to jail!

Mak. It will be unaccountable to England, to hear that Jews who disown the whole Christian religion-the Quakers who disown the fundamental doctrines of the Church of England—and all others are tolerated in your lordship's government, and only we, who have complied with the Act of Toleration, and are nearest to and likest to the Church of England of any dissenters, should be hindered, and that only in the government of New York."

The result of the conference was that Mr. Makemie was sent back to jail.

When the Court of Sessions met, application was made according to law to license William Jackson's house; but no notice was taken of it. Makemie was put upon his trial. The Attorney-General was about to prove the facts of the case by witnesses, when Mr. Makemie said it was needless trouble, and he would own them all. "Attorney. You own that you preached a sermon and baptized a child at Mr. William Jackson's?

Mak. I did.

Attorney. How many hearers had you?

Mak. I have other work to do, Mr. Attorney, than to number my audience when I am about to preach to them.

Attorney. Did you use the rites and ceremonies prescribed in the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England?

Mak. No; I never did, nor ever will, till I am better satisfied in my conscience."

The case then went on. Mr. Makemie had able counsel, and also spoke himself. The jury brought in a verdict of Not Guilty, much to the discomforture of the men in power.

We may learn from this incident in Father Makemie's life that God protects his people in emergency, and that in old times as well as new, the truth of the Gospel had free power in this goodly land.

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN BALTIMORE.

In the year 1730, the present site of the city of Baltimore was a farm rented by John Fleming from Mr. Carroll. This farm the inhabitants of Baltimore county purchased at forty shillings an acre, and obtained legislative authority to lay it out as a town. About this time there was some uneasiness in Pennsylvania, occasioned by a controversy between the Colonial Assembly and the proprietary

government, which induced a considerable number to emigrate to neighbouring colonies. Not a few of these were Presbyterian families, some of whom settled in Baltimore county and town.

*

It was not, however, till the year 1761 that a Presbyterian congregation was formed in the town, although one or two congregations seem to have been previously gathered in the county. "In that year," says Dr. Allison, the first pastor, "a few Presbyterian families that had removed from Pennsylvania, with two or three of the same persuasion that had emigrated directly from Europe, formed themselves into a regular society, and had occasional supplies, assembling in private houses, though liable to prosecution on this account, as the province groaned under an irreligious establishment." The undertaking was no doubt encouraged by the prevalent disfavour into which circumstances had brought the Episcopal Church, then the strongest, as it was the established church of the colony. At that time Baltimore contained only about thirty or forty houses, and less than three hundred inhabitants.

A log church edifice, which some persons still living remember, was erected on the lot in the rear of that on which Christ Church now stands. The Rev. Hector Allison preached in it for several months; and it was proposed by some members of the congregation that he should become the pastor. The arrangement, however, was not completed. In the autumn of the year 1763 the congregation, which did not yet embrace more than a dozen families, presented an invitation to Mr. Patrick Allison, a licentiate of the Presbytery of Philadelphia, to become their stated supply for one year, at a salary of one hundred pounds. Mr. Allison, although he received a call from the Presbyterian Church in New Castle, Delaware, at the same

It is said that near six thousand persons from Ireland, many of them Presbyterians, came to Pennsylvania in the year 1729, and before the middle of the century near twelve thousand arrived annually for several years.-Dr. Hodge's History. Holmes' Annals, vol. II., p. 123.

As early as the year 1715 the inhabitants of Baltimore county were gathered into a congregation, and ministered to by the Rev. Mr. Conn, who afterwards removed to Bladensburg, where he died suddenly in the pulpit, in the year 1753.-See Records of the Presbyterian Church, p. 37. Davies' Sermons, LIX.

In 1740 Mr. Whitefield preached to Presbyterian congregations in this county. And in a letter of the Rev. Samuel Davies to Dr. Bellamy, of New England, dated June, 1751, he says "In Maryland, also, there has been a considerable revival (shall I call it ?), or first plantation of religion in Baltimore county, where I am informed that Mr. Whittlesey is likely to settle.-Gillies' Historical Collection, vol. II., pp. 337-8.

Mr. John Smith and Mr. William Buchanan came to Baltimore from Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in 1760, and were followed the next year by Messrs. William Smith and James Sterret, from Lancaster county, Pennsylvania; and soon after by Messrs. Mark Alexander, John Brown, Benjamin Griffith, and Robert Purviance, from Pennsylvania, and Drs. John and Henry Stevenson, from Ireland, and Mr. Jonathan Plowman, from England, who, with Mr. William Lyon, for some years a resident of the town, were the founders of the church.

Under the original charter there was no church established by law. In 1691, however, after the Protestant Revolution in England, the government of the colony was wrested from the proprietor, and administered by officers of the crown. The province was then divided into parishes, and a tax was laid on all the inhabitants, for building Episcopal churches, and supporting the Episcopal clergy. All religious assemblies were required to use the book of Common Prayer in public worship, which could be held only in licensed houses. The opposition to which this gave rise had not subsided when the Presbyterian Church was formed, nor even before the Revolution.

time, accepted the invitation, and entered upon the duties in September, 1763.

Early the next year the congregation elected a committee to take charge of the temporal affairs of the church. Members of this committee represented the congregation in Presbytery, as ruling elders, for nearly twenty years. In the year 1781 four of this committee agreed to act as ruling elders alone, without, however, being regularly ordained; while the other members of the committee continued to take charge of the temporal affairs of the congregation.

In the year 1764 the present site of the church was purchased, and a brick building, forty-five feet by thirty-five, was erected. During the next year Mr. Allison was fully ordained to the work of the ministry in Philadelphia; and additional ground was purchased for a parsonage. In 1768 the new congregation in Pine street, Philadelphia, presented a call for Mr. Allison to Presbytery. But although at the time he signified his willingness to accept the call, at the next meeting he withdrew that acceptance, having determined to remain in Baltimore. The congregation increased his salary, and agreed that he should preach one quarter of his time to the society (then called Soldier's Delight, now Mount Paran) in the country. During the next two or three years the church was enlarged and a parsonage built. In the year 1789 the congregation, having resolved three or four years before to attempt to erect a new church, entered upon the undertaking. A large, commodious, and handsome edifice for that day, was completed in 1791, and has continued to accommodate the congregation as a place of worship to this time. Early in the year 1800 Dr. Allison's health began to fail, and under deep depression of spirits he applied to the Presbytery for leave to resign his charge. This was warmly opposed by the congregation; and he consented, by advice of Presbytery, to withdraw his request, in the hope that relaxation and travel would restore his health. But although he seemed for a time to improve, he soon relapsed, and after a somewhat protracted sickness, died August, 1802, having served the congregation nearly forty years. As no sessional records were kept during this period, it is difficult at this day to form any accurate estimate of the spiritual condition of the church. There is evidence, however, that the stated means of grace were regularly attended, and that catechetical instruction was carefully communicated. The congregation from a little handful grew, during his ministry, to be one of the largest and most influential in the country.

Dr. Allison entered the ministry about the time that the schism that divided the church from 1741 till 1758 was healed. All his sympathies were with the "old side." He was strenuous for learning and order, and suspicious of religious excitements. No social services or prayer-meetings, during the week, were held in the church under his ministry. As a preacher he was rather argumentative than rhetorical. He read his sermons closely, and his manner was unanimated. But his matter was rich and instructive, and his style clear and nervous. He was especially distinguished in the church courts. Dr. Miller says of him, in the memoir of Dr. Rodgers, that in debate he had scarcely an equal. He was a member of almost every important committee of the Synod at the time of the reorganization of the church, from 1785 to 1788. He was also prominent in every effort in his day to promote morality, education, and liberty in Maryland.

Vol. I.-No. 1.

The year previous to Dr. Allison's death, the congregation resolved to elect an assistant minister. The Rev. Dr. Alexander, the venerable professor in Princeton, who had preached in the church on his return from a visit to New England, was first chosen. He having declined the call, another election was held, when the choice fell upon Mr. James Inglis, a licentiate of the Presbytery of New York. A large minority being dissatisfied with the result of this election seceded, and erected the Second Presbyterian Church, to which they called Dr. Glendy, who was then settled near Staunton, Virginia, and who had been strongly recommended by Mr. Jefferson. Of the outward condition of the church during Dr. Inglis' ministry, there is little worthy of special notice. The colony that founded the Second Church was large and respectable, but the vacancies thus made were soon supplied, and the congregation continued to be eminently prosperous in its temporal affairs. Dr. Inglis obtained permission to introduce an organ, which created some little dissatisfaction at first, but it soon passed away, and the usual harmony was restored.

The spiritual condition, however, does not seem to have been so promising. At the time of Mr. Inglis' election, infidelity, as is well known, had become to a great extent fashionable in Great Britain, and in this country. The friends of vital religion were driven by this state of things, not only to a more vigorous defence of the outworks of Christianity, but also to the more earnest cultivation of the spirit of true piety. As the result of these efforts under God, revivals of religion extensively prevailed. And although this church was not among the number of those enjoying these seasons of special refreshing, yet in the minutes of its session may be traced a gradual improvement in spiritual things.

At the meeting of Presbytery, at which Mr. Inglis was received and ordained, a committee, previously appointed, brought in a report, which was adopted, urging upon the churches under the care of that body to elect and ordain ruling elders as helps in government and discipline. Shortly after we find, from the records of this church, that these officers were thus, for the first time, solemnly set apart. This session soon began to take active measures for promoting the spiritual edification of the congregation. It was determined to have the sacrament of the Lord's Supper administered at more frequent intervals. More formality, and greater strictness, were used in admitting candidates, to sealing ordinances. Meetings in the week for social prayer and exhortation were established.

* Mr. Inglis had studied law in the office of Alexander Hamilton, and been admitted to the New York bar; but soon after he abandoned the law for the ministry, and studied theology under Dr. Rodgers, and was licensed in 1801.

+ Formerly members of the "committee" of the congregation, whose proper office was the care of the temporalities, represented the church in Presbytery and Synod.

It would seem from the minutes that, in some instances, persons had come forward to the Lord's Supper without submitting to any examination, or even intimating to the pastor or session their intention to do so, and were informally enrolled as members of the church in full communion.

Sabbath-schools were undertaken. And a greater interest in promoting vital religion was manifested.

Dr. Inglis died suddenly, on Sabbath morning, August 15, 1819, deeply lamented by a devotedly attached people.

For about a year after the death of Dr. Inglis, the church continued vacant. During this time the attention of the congregation was directed to three licentiates who had just completed their theological studies, viz., Messrs. Sylvester Larned, Matthias Bruen, and William Nevins. The predilections of the respective friends of these gentlemen were very strong and decided; and the first election for pastor lasted two days. At length the choice fell upon Mr. Larned, then recently settled in New Orleans. After consulting his father and brethren he declined the call, not feeling at liberty to abandon his important post. And in a short time he fell a victim to the climate, universally lamented as one of the most eloquent and devoted ministers ever raised up in the Presbyterian Church. On the second election, Mr. William Nevins, a licentiate of the Association of New London, Connecticut, was chosen pastor by a large majority, and was installed in August, 1820.

During the first few years of Dr. Nevins' ministry, there were no remarkable results of his labours. Possessing a fine imagination, a refined taste, warm affections, and an ardent temperament, his pulpit performances attracted general admiration, and his social intercourse elicited ardent attachments. He early revived the weekly lecture, and the prayer-meeting, which had been discontinued for several years. In the winters of 1823-4, and 1824-5, several of the neighbouring churches enjoyed seasons of special revival, which had also extensively prevailed in other parts of the country. About this time Mr. Summerfield, whose brief ministerial career in this country produced so happy an impression upon his own and other denominations, was led to visit Baltimore, principally through the instrumentality of Dr. Nevins, who had formed an acquaintance with him in New York, and on his return, induced some of the leading members of the Methodist Church to invite him to Baltimore. This visit Dr. Nevins was always accustomed to speak of as a great privilege and blessing. In the spring of 1826, Dr. John Breckinridge became the associate pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church. This formed a new era for Presbyterianism in Baltimore. These brethren, united by a long and ardent friendship, resolved to co-operate in vigorous measures to promote a deeper religious interest in the churches. They established union prayer-meetings, and Bible classes, into which was gathered a large number of active, intelligent youth of both sexes.

A decided increase of solemnity, directness, and unction was observed in Dr. Nevins' preaching from this time. On Sabbath morning, March 9th, 1827, he delivered a sermon from the text, "How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?" In the afternoon of that day the elder and more experienced teachers of the Sunday school were surprised to find a number of the younger teachers, and