XVI

THE PLAN OF UNION, 1801

Editions And Reprints1

I. Minutes of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, etc., 1789 to 1820. Philadelphia, [1847,] pp. 224, 225 (1801).

II. Proceedings of the General Association of Connecticut, 1801, pp. 4, 5.
III. Connecticut Evangelical Magazine, II: 116.

IV. Zebulon Crocker, Catastrophe of the Presbyterian Church, in I8jj, including a full view of the recent Theological Controversies in New England, New Haven, 1838, pp. 11-14.

V. William S. Kennedy, The Plan of Union: or a History of the Presby terian and Congregational Churches of the Western Reserve; with Biographical Sketches of the early Missionaries, Hudson, Ohio, 1856, pp. 150, 151.

VI. Congregational Quarterly, V: 133, 134.

LITERATURE

at Albany

Minutes of Presbyterian General Assembly, and the Proceedings of the General Association of Connecticut, for 1800, 1801, 1835, 1837, etc. Zebulon Crocker, as above cited. Proceedings of the General Convention of Cong. Ministers and Delegates October, 18J2, New York, 1852. New Englander, XI: 72-92. Thc Plan of Union of 1801, etc., and Reasons why it should be abandoned, etc.. New York, 1852. W. S. Kennedy, as above cited. James H. Dill, John D. Pierce, Henry Cowles, John C. Hart, articles on Congregationalism in New York, Ohio, and Michigan, Congregational Quarterly, 1: 151-158; II: 190— 197; V: 132-142, 248-254. E. H. Gillett, History of the Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, [1864,] passim. C. Cutler, History of Western Reserve College, Cleveland, 1876. Fairchild, Oberlin: the Colony and the College, 1883. Punchard, History of Congregationalism, V. passim. A. H. Ross, Union Efforts between Congregationalists and Presbyterians: Results and Lessons, Port Huron, 1889. Papers of the Ohio Society of Church History, Vol. I.

TH

HE eighteenth century was not favorable for Congregational creed-making. The failure of the movement for stricter church government in Massachusetts and its success in Connecticut put the two leading colonies of New England on somewhat divergent paths. The loss of ministerial influence over the civil authorities of the larger colony had been real for a gen

1 Neither the editions nor the literature can claim to be exhaustive. For some of the references I am indebted to Prof. F. H. Foster of Pacific Seminary.

eration, but was clearly manifest when the Massachusetts government failed to call a synod in 1725;1 and this tendency to separate the interests of church and state increased throughout New England all through the century. It was no longer possible to call a general assembly of the churches of New England as a whole, or of a province, in the old way, by government authority. And if the way of the founders of New England was no longer feasible, the modern method of voluntary union was not yet possible. The whole political tendency of the century was toward the emphasis of local independence, and the growth of the democratic element in church and state was essentially decentralizing. This inclination away from external bonds of union was increased by the sharp division of sentiment which manifested itself in many parts of New England between the supporters of the revival measures of the leaders of the "Great Awakening" of 1740-41, and those who looked upon religious excitement as perilous. That remarkable movement led to the rise of a new school of theology,— that of Edwards and his pupils, and as a consequence theologic differences first become a factor of division among the churches. All these tendencies, coupled with the low state of religion which marked most of the century, made any general synods or councils, such as the seventeenth century had seen, impossible; and produced a general indifference to what would now be called "denominational interests" as distinguished from the concerns of the local church.

Meanwhile in Connecticut the working of the Saybrook system was such as to increase the sympathy of the churches for the Presbyterians of the Middle Provinces and diminish their intimacy of relationship with their brethren of Massachusetts. A widespread fear of establishment of Episcopacy in the colonies led, just before the revolutionary war, to the establishment of an annual joint convention of representatives of the Synod of New

1 The petition to the General Court, signed by Cotton Mather in the name of the Ministers' Convention, is in Hutchinson, Hist. Mass., ed. 1767, II: 322, 323. The upper House approved, but the lower House put off consideration of the question, the Boston Episcopalians appealed to England, and the English government disapproved. See also Palfrey, IV: 454-456.

York and Philadelphia and the Associations of Connecticut.' This body met from 1766 to 1775, and corresponded with Dissenters in England, collected the ecclesiastical legislation of the colonies, tried to ascertain the religious preferences of their inhabitants, and sought the union of the non-prelatical churches in opposition to encroachment.

The effect of these joint meetings and of the ecclesiastical constitution of Connecticut was seen in the declaration of unity in all essentials with Presbyterianism adopted by the Hartford North Association in 1799, and is curiously illustrated by a vote of no less representative a body than the Connecticut General Association, in 1805, appointing a committee to "publish a new and elegant edition of the ecclesiastical constitution of the Presbyterian Church in Connecticut," meaning thereby the Saybrook Platform. Under such circumstances it is no wonder that, in the eyes of many, the differences between Congregationalism and Presbyterianism seemed peculiarities of geographical location rather than fundamental distinctions in polity.

It was when the Presbyterians of the Middle States and the Congregationalists of Connecticut felt themselves so much one, that a home-missionary problem of hitherto unknown importance arose, affecting both bodies, and seeming to make cooperation doubly desirable. Even before the revolutionary struggle the sons of Connecticut had begun to emigrate to what is now Vermont and central New York. That contest interrupted the exodus, but after the war was over the outpouring began again in increased volume. By the close of the last century, emigration. from Connecticut was extensive, and at the dawn of the present century was pouring into the region of northern Ohio, which Con

1 The Minutes of this Convention were published in 1843 by Rev. David D. Field, under the auspices of the Conn. General Association, Minutes of the Convention of Delegates from the Synod of N. Y. and Phila., and from the Associations of Conn., etc. Hartford. The propo

sition came from the Presbyterian body, to the General Association of Conn. It was heartily accepted and a "Plan of Union" drawn up wherein those to be united in Convention are described as "Pastors of the Congregational, Consociated, and Presbyterian Churches in North America." All jurisdiction over the churches is disclaimed. It was also decided to ask the ministers of Mass., New Hampshire, and Rhode Island to send delegates; but the ministers of those provinces, though maintaining correspondence with the Convention, preferred not to be represented in its deliberations. ibid., pp. 5, 6, 10, 11, 18.

8 Ante, p. 514.

2 Minutes Conn. Gen. Assoc., 1805, p. 5.

necticut had reserved in settlement of its claims to western territory.' In Vermont the immigration was of almost pure New England origin, and here New England religious institutions soon. took root; but in New York and Ohio the settlers from Connecticut encountered other new-comers from Pennsylvania and colonies even further southward, who had been trained in Presbyterianism.

The Connecticut churches were early awake to their obligations to their sons and daughters of the dispersion. At its meeting in Mansfield in June, 1774, the Connecticut General Association voted: "

2

"This association taking into Consideration the State of y* Settlements now forming in the Wilderness to the Westward & North-westward of us, who are mostly destitute of a preached Gospel, many of which are of our Brethren Emigrants from this Colony, think it advisable that an attempt should be made to send missionaries among them, and for obtaining a Support for such Missionaries would recommend it to the several Ministers in this Colony to promote a Subscription among their people for this purpose."

This appeal met with encouraging response and two pastors' were directed to be sent out on a tour of "5 or 6 months in 1775. The revolutionary war prevented the carrying out of the plan as proposed. But a considerable sum was collected, and in 1780 the Association asked two pastors to act as missionaries in Vermont. In 1788 and 1791 the subject was further discussed, and in 1792 a missionary was appointed and legislative permission sought for the raising of funds.7 The next year eight missionaries were named, all settled pastors, who were to go on tours of four months each and receive as compensation four and a half dollars weekly and an allowance of four dollars a week to supply their vacant pulpits. The same number, but for the most part new men, were sent out in 1794. The movement was now fully launched. And now in 1798, after having sounded the local Associations of the State on the subject through a committee appointed in 1797,10

1 The story of the settlement of Northern Ohio is well told in Hinsdale, Old Northwest, New York, 1888. A clearer picture of the conditions of life in these settlements in 1800 is the autobiographic sketch of Rev. Joseph Badger, the first Congregational missionary to the Reserve, in Am. Quarterly Register, XIII: 317-328 (Feb., 1841). The Diary of Thomas Robbins, D.D., Boston, 1886, also is valuable as illustrating early missionary life.

2 Records of the General Association, 1738-1799, Hartford, 1888, p. 76. Eccles. Hist. Conn., pp. 163, 164.

3 Records, pp. 79, 80.

• Ibid., p. 107.

4 Ibid., pp. 85, 86.

See also Cont.

7 Ibid., pp. 125, 141, 142. 8 Ibid., p. 148.

the General Association of Connecticut organized itself as a Missionary Society, the first Congregational missionary society in America, having as its object, "to christianize the Heathen in North America, and to support and promote Christian Knowledge in the new settlements withis the United States." In 1800 the Connecticut Evangelical Magazine was established, designed to spread a knowledge of missions, as well as to be a medium of discussion and a repository of Christian biography, and its profits, which were considerable,' were turned over to the "Missionary Society of Connecticut." In 1802 that society was chartered by the State. The good example of Connecticut led to the formation of a missionary association in Massachusetts in 1799."

Meanwhile the relations between the Congregationalists of Connecticut and the Presbyterian General Assembly were becoming very friendly. In 1790 the General Association voted that a further degree of union with the Presbyterians was desirable, and a committee of correspondence was appointed to secure this result. The General Assembly was more than willing; in 1791 a joint committee representing it and the Connecticut Association met at New Haven and provided for united representation. The doings of these commissioners were approved by the Association and the Assembly in 1792; and three representatives of the Connecticut churches were sent to the General Assembly.' The next year three Presbyterian delegates took their seats in the General Association, and on the request of the Presbyterians in 1794 it was agreed by both sides that the representatives of each body should have full right to vote in the meetings of the other. And not only did they exercise this privilege, but plans for Presbyterian denominational growth, like the establishment of a seminary in Kentucky, were referred to, and approved by, the Connecticut

1 The Constitution may be found Ibid., pp. 177-180. See also Conn. Evang. Mag., I: 13. The profits of the first year were reported at $1,759.60. Ibid., II: 80.

3 See Evang. Mag., 1: 352-356.

4 Records of the Gen. Association, 1738-1799, p. 133.

See Minutes of the Gen. Assembly, 1791, pp. 29, 33.

The minutes of the meeting of this joint committee are given in the Rec. of the Gen. Association, pp. 189-191. They agreed that representatives should not vote.

Association Records, p. 142. Minutes of the Gen. Assembly, pp. 52, 64.

Association Rec., p. 154; Gen. Assembly, p. 8o.

Association Rec., p. 160.