upon the consideration of the petition sent to the Rev. synod of New York and Philadelphia at their last sessions, requesting a dismission from their body; and after deliberating on it, came to the following conclusion, viz: to withdraw the petition."

It is known also, that the Rev. Matthew Wilson was far from being satisfied with the form of government ultimately adopted. The only intimation of this fact contained in the minutes is a record to the following effect: "A petition from the Rev. Dr. Matthew Wilson, detained by bodily indisposition, respecting the draught of the form of government, was presented and read. Ordered, that it lie on the table.” 1'.

1 Dr. Matthew Wilson, though an old-side man, educated under Dr. Alison, was not in theory a presbyterian, in the ordinary sense of the term. He seems to have held a system of church government peculiar to himself, though very analogous to that since published by Mr. Haldane, in Scotland. In every congregation he supposed there ought to be a presbytery, composed of the pastor, or bishop, and presbyters; which presbyters were to teach or preach, if occasion called for it. He questioned the propriety of presbyteries constituted as ours are, and denied the authority of such presbyteries, and of synods over churches or ministers. There is extant a printed sheet containing extracts from an overture of his, presented to the synod in 1774, presenting twenty-one queries, "the reasonings in support of which had been read before the synod." The following selection from these queries may serve to give an idea of Dr. Wilson's views.

"1. Whether every apostolic and primitive church had not its bishop or pastor, and deacons? The pastor his assistant presbyters, one of whom was the catechist or doctor? The deacons their assistant widows for the sick and poor ?"

"4. Whether, besides the preaching of the word, &c. by the bishop or pastor, they had not, in every congregational church, presbyters ordained to preach, when invited, in their own or any other congregation? Acts xi. 19. 1 Pet. iv. 10, 11, &e."

"5. Whether there was not a presbytery in every church, i. e. congrega. tion, or city, composed of its proper officers at least? Whether bishops or

It does not appear that this dissatisfaction extended to any considerable number of the members; at least there is not the slightest intimation on the minutes of the want of perfect unanimity, It is there recorded, that the "synod

presbyteries were not of the same order essentially, having the power of the keys in foro exteriore et interiore? Tit. i. 5-7. Phil. i. 1. Acts xx. 17. 19, &c. as contended for by Jerome, Gregory Nazianzen, &c.”

"8. Whether Christ, or his apostles, appointed any stated judicatories, or vested any controlling authority in any bishop, or synod, or assembly, over particular churches, or presbyteries, or pastors?"

"15. Whether there be any other judicatures besides presbyteries in particular congregations, authorized in God's word, as having powers of ordina tion and discipline, censures, admission and rejection of officers and members of the church?"

“19. Whether the meeting of pastors and lay-elders, one of each from every congregation, can be a scriptural presbytery? Does not a presbytery act in a church, and a church consist of persons assembled for worship, rather than mere government? Can there be a true apostolic presbytery, unless all the officers at least of the church convene, and give their consent, or the majority of them, in every affair of discipline before them?"

"21. Finally, whether, from Scripture or the primitive Christian churches, those councils met in the name of Christ, for the purpose of promoting union, love, peace, and edification, in the way of mutual communion, and agreeable holy conversation of all the churches together, have any church power at all properly so called? Such as have too often been claimed by our synods, &c. over any churches, their members, officers, presbyteries, temporalities, as to receiving or rejecting members, making acts, laws, and canons, assuming the power of presbyteries to admit or reject pastors, modelling presbyteries, fixing their limits, ordering one church to one, and another to another; preventing young presbyters going to any church or presbytery which they may choose, and where they are called in providence. I say, whether all these, and a thousand other acts of church power, are not altogether ordinances of men, and as really anti-Christian additions to the apostolic church regimen and order as diocesan episcopacy itself? 2 Cor. i. 24."

The overture, containing these querics, was presented by Dr. Wilson just after the difficulty in the synod about the rule respecting foreign ministers, and the settlement of Mr. Duffield in Philadelphia; on both which occasions Dr. Wilson protested against the action of the synod in the premises.

having fully considered the draught of the form of government and discipline, did, on a view of the whole, and hereby do ratify and adopt the same as now altered and amended, as the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church in America, and as the rule of their proceedings by all inferior judicatories belonging to this body. And they order that a correct copy be printed, and the Westminster Confession of Faith, as now altered, be printed in full along with it, as part of the constitution.

"Resolved, That the true intent and meaning of the above ratification by the synod is, that the Form of Government and Discipline, and the Confession of Faith, as now ratified, are to continue to be our constitution and confession of faith, and practice unalterably, unless two thirds of the presbyteries, under the care of the general assembly, shall propose alterations or amendments, and such alterations or amendments shall be agreed to and enacted by the general assembly."

The synod having also "revised and corrected the Directory for Worship, did approve and ratify the same, and do hereby appoint the said Directory, as now amended, to be the Directory for the public worship of God in the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. They also took into consideration the Westminster Larger and Shorter Catechisms, and having made a small amendment of the Larger, did approve, and do hereby approve and ratify the said Catechisms, as now agreed on, as the Catechisms of the Presbyterian Church in the United States. And the synod order that the said Directory and Catechisms be printed and bound up in the same volume with the Confession of Faith and Form of Government and Discipline, and that the whole be considered as our standard of doc

trine, government, discipline, and worship, agreeably to the resolutions of the synod at its present sessions.

"Ordered, that Dr. Duffield, Mr. Armstrong, and Mr. Green, be a committee to superintend the printing and publishing of the above said Confession of Faith and Catechisms, with the Form of Govornment and Discipline, and the Directory for the worship of God, as now adopted and ratified by the synod, as the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America; and that they divide the several parts into chapters and sections properly numbered."

After this work was finally accomplished, it was resolved unanimously, "That this synod be divided, and it is hereby divided into four synods, agreeably to an act made and provided for in the sessions of synod in the year 1786, and this division shall commence on the dissolution of the present synod.

“Resolved, That the first meeting of the general assembly to be constituted out of the above synods be held, and it is hereby appointed to be held on the third Thursday of May, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine, in the Second Presbyterian church in the city of Philadelphia, at eleven o'clock A. M.; and that Dr. Witherspoon, or, in case of his absence, Dr. Rodgers open the general assembly with a sermon, and preside until a moderator be chosen."

After appointing the time and place of meeting of the several synods, the synod of New York and Philadelphia was dissolved; and the session was concluded with prayer.

Thus closed the career of this venerable synod, after an existence of thirty years actively and usefully employed. During this period the church had rapidly increased. The synod had received an accession of about two hundred and thirty new members; it had grown from eight to sixteen

1

presbyteries, and had under its care above four hundred and twenty congregations. Of these about forty were in the state of New York, and three hundred and eighty in the middle and southern states. Nothing could prove more

decisively the origin and general

character of the great mass

of our church, up to this period. The overwhelming majority of its members were located in those portions of the country which had been settled by Scotch and Irish presbyterians.

With regard to the synod it may be remarked that it consisted in the general, of liberally educated men. Of the two hundred and thirty new members, more or less, received after the union in 1758, about one hundred and twenty were graduates of the college of New Jersey, and from twenty to twenty-five graduates of Yale. Of the residue many were educated in Europe, or at the University of Pennsylvania, or at the Newark academy in Delaware, or at Pequea, or, during the latter part of the period under review, at Hampden Sydney college, or at the Washington Academy in Virginia. It hence appears, that the great body of our ministers, as well as of our people, were

1 It appears from a printed list of the ministers and congregations published in 1788, that there were then one hundred and seventy-seven ministers connected with the synod, and four hundred and nineteen congregations reported, as follows: Suffolk presbytery, thirteen Congregations; Dutchess nine; New York thirty-nine; New Brunswick twenty-six; Philadelphia twenty-two; Newcastle twenty-seven; Lewes nineteen; Baltimore twelve; Carlisle fifty-six; Redstone twenty-seven; Lexington twenty-seven; Hanover twenty-one; Orange seventy-one; Abingdon twenty-five; South Carolina forty-five; Transylvania no report. As this presbytery consisted of five ministers, it had probably ten congregations under its care. As the presbytery of new York then included the territory now embraced within the limits of the presbyteries of Newark and Elizabethtown, nineteen or twenty of its congregations were in New Jersey; leaving the number of congregations in the state of New York forty-one or forty-two.