NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS-Continued.

IV. Recent Tracts of the Presbyterian Publication Com

mittee: Confession of Faith and Shorter Cate

PAGE

chism; Three Questions, Practical and Personal .

338

V. Autobiography of Mrs. Harriet B. Cooke.

339

VI A Consideration of the Sermon on the Mount. By

Major D. H. Hill

VII. Memoir of Joseph Curtis. My Miss Sedgwick.

XII. Trelawny's Recollections of the Last Days of Shelley

THE

PRESBYTERIAN

QUARTERLY REVIEW.

JANUARY, 1859.

NO. XXVII.

ARTICLE I.

REUNION OF THE SYNODS OF NEW YORK AND PHILADELPHIA.*

IN 1741, when the Great Schism occurred, the Presbyterian Church in this country embraced but the single Synod of Philadelphia, composed of the five Presbyteries of New Castle, Lewes, Philadelphia, New Brunswick, and New York .The whole Synod numbered but forty-three ministers, less than some of the Presbyteries represented in this General Assembly. Nor when the two fragmentary Synods into which it had been rent were reunited in 1758, did they form a large body. That body, thereafter styled the Synod of New

*This Article was delivered, as a discourse, by request of the Pres byterian Historical Society, before the General Assembly at Chicago, on the 26th of May, 1858, by the Rev. Sherman B. Canfield, D. D. The full title is, "The Reunion of the Synods of New York and Philadelphia; or, The Healing of the Great Schism." It is published at the request of the Executive Committee of the Historical Society.

York and Philadelphia, had then but ninety-four ministers, only five more than our young Synod of Peoria. And as compared with our present vast territorial bounds. how narrow were its limits! In the great State where our branch of the Church has half its communicants, Presbyterianism, in the days of the Schism, was almost confined to Long Island, New York City-whose population was less than fifteen thousand-and two or three adjacent counties. Utica and Rome, yet in the future, were to bear first the names of Fort Schuyler and Fort Stanwix, and all the region from Schenectady to Lake Erie, on which the Sun of Righteousness has since shone so benignantly, was in the shadow of the Six Nations. And in the great State where the other branch of our Church is so strong, Presbyterianism was then in its day of small things. The Susquehanna flowed through an almost unbroken wilderness. Carlisle, and the few other settlements west of that river, were in constant peril from surrounding savage foes. Harrisburg was to be. Nor did Philadelphia give early promise of a brilliant future for Presbyterianism. But twelve years before the Schism, aid was sought and obtained from Boston to enlarge the house of worship of the only Presbyterian church there; and this was thirty-one years after the organization of that church.

In short, the chief strength of our Church at that period was in Southeastern New York, New Jersey, Southeastern Pennsylvania, the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and the Valley of Virginia. It should be observed, however, that the number of ministers in the Synod very inadequately indicates the number of Presbyterians in the country. There were many of these in all the Colonies, especially in those south of New York, without pastors and waiting to be gathered into churches.

But that Synod, though small, may well excite in us

a lively interest. Its fortunes were our fortunes. It was the opening germ of one of the goodliest growths of Christendom. Its branches, high and strong, reach now from ocean to ocean, scattering more and more the seeds of piety, learning, freedom, and social order. Its fruitage is the joy of increasing multitudes on the other side of the earth. Nor let us forget the men of mark who adorned our Zion in those days. Never has the genius of history, going down into the valley of the past, with power to raise up those who are worthy to "come out of the graves to appear unto many," brought to view a brighter array of the good and great. Some of those who battled in the Schism and embraced in the Reunion, made a deep impression on their own generation in more than one hemisphere; and

if it did not

their mighty war,

shake realms and nations in its jar,

agitated vast multitudes far and near, and sent down potent influences to coming ages. On the Old Side was the clear-headed, far-sighted, and not bad-hearted John Thompson, who so strenuously and ably urged the formal adoption of the Westminster Confession and Catechisms. There, too, was that accomplished classical scholar, Francis Alison, whose learning procured for him, in 1758, the degree of Doctor of Divinity, from the University of Glasgow; where, for a time, he had been a student. Although this was the first instance of the bestowment of that degree, by an European University, upon a Presbyterian minister in this country, it is amusing to see what an ado the Old-Side Synod-those boasters of learning-made over such an event: they formally returned their grateful acknowledgments to the President and Professors of the University,for this

mark of their regard.* Dr. Alison's highest distinction was that of a successful educator. Many men of names since widely known, were wholly or partially trained by him. Though not the first in our Church to establish a classical and theological school, or to found a college, he deserves high praise for efforts to elevate the standard of education in this country.

And what shall we say of the New Side? William Tennent, Sr., was the builder of that eagle's nest, the Log College. One of those whom he there prepared to soar on strong and steady wing, and to look to the source of light with keen undazzled eye, was Samuel Blair, scarcely inferior to Alison as a scholar, and as a preacher vastly superior. Stimulated by Tennent's example, Blair also established a classical and theological school, and thus multiplied himself in the field of ministerial labor by fitting others to preach the Gospel with a light and power like his own. Another of Tennent's pupils was Samuel Finley, who, in 1763, was honored by the University of Glasgow as Alison had been five years before. He had now become President of the College at Princeton. He had previously been Principal of the Academy at Nottingham, on the borders of Maryland, where he educated, among others, Dr. Benjamin Rush, Rev. Dr. McWhorter, and Rev. Dr. Waddell, the famous blind preacher so finely described by William Wirt. William Robinson, the eloquent and successful predecessor of Samuel Davies in the evangelization of Central Virginia, was also one of the noble souls made the brighter for being shone upon by the light of the Log College. It is unnecessary perhaps to add that Mr. Tennent's four sons were carefully educated there.

Who has not heard of William Tennent, Jr., who,

*Records, 230.