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History of the Presbyterian Churches in the United States
History of the Presbyterian Churches in the United States Author:Thompson Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER IV. FROM THE SCHISM TO THE REUNION, 1741-58. The division of the Presbyterian Church in 1741, whatever elements of human weakness entered into it, ... more »was the result of forces working widely in the life of the colonies and of Great Britain. It was an indirect result of the Groat Awakening which terminated the Puritan and inaugurated the Pietist or Methodist age of American church history. During the period of division it was the progressive or New Side of the church which made the greater progress. After a friendly attempt to effect a reconciliation in 1742-43 the Presbytery of New York declined to sit in Synod on the ground that the New Brunswick Presbytery had as good right as themselves. They also desired the good-will of the Synod of Philadelphia in establishing a Synod of New York, and this was accorded with some reluctance. The body thus organized embraced the New Brunswick Presbytery, and increased from 22 members in 1745 to 72 in 1758, while the Synod of Philadelphia had fallen from 24 to 23. This was due to several causes, the first being the establishment in 1746 of the College of New Jersey, finally located at Princeton in 1757. The education question had been a matter of controversy between the two parties until the Nottingham sermon turned the waters of strife into a new channel. The conservative party, in their anxiety to maintain a high standard of ministerial culture, were disposed to insist that none but the graduates of British universities or New England colleges should be accepted as candidates. TheTHE EDUCATION PROBLEM. 35 friends of the Awakening insisted on the right of Presbyteries to license the graduates of such academics as Nesh- nminy, in view of the urgent need of preachers ami pastors. And they insisted that the Presbyteries should ...« less