treats of the power of the civil magistrate about religion. The church under the direction of this synod grew rapidly, and though there was not a perfect harmony among the members, owing to the remains of the principles and feelings, which the parties united brought with them across the Atlantic, yet they were all perfectly correct in their views of the doctrine of the atonement. Their clergy possessed no small share of learning, for no man was admitted to preach the gospel among them without having received a liberal education, and they received many accessions to their presbyteries, from the judicatories in Britain. Nearly all the - ministers of the Burgher synods in Scotland and Ireland, who emigrated to America, joined them. They generally harmonized in their operations, and the views which they held and taught were perfectly Calvinistic. After the death of the Rev. Dr. Mason, the congregation elected his son, the Rev. John M. Mason, D. D. who had gone to Europe to complete his theological studies in Britain. He immediately returned to New-York, and was ordained to the pastoral charge of the Associate Reformed Congregation in that city. He possessed an expanded mind, and saw that no church was likely to become permanently influential or powerful, without a learned ministry, and that the means of theological education in the United States were limited. Through his exertions chiefly, a theological school was formed under the patronage of the synod to which he was attached, and located in New-York. He was himself appointed the theological professor. A considerable number of young men from various parts of the Associate Reformed Church, and from other denominations of presbyterians, soon commenced the study of theology in this seminary. Their Confession of Faith, the same with that formed at Westminster, except on the article of civil government, was taken as the text book in divinity. The whole influence of this institution, was of course, thrown into the Calvinistic scale.

At Dr. Mason's return from Europe, a considerable number of clergy from the Burgher synod of Scotland, emigrat

ed to America, and one of them, Mr. Forrest, was settled in the pastoral charge of the Second Associated Reformed Congregation, of which the Rev. John X. Clarke, is now pastor.

This union, however, did not destroy the two bodies from which it was formed, as many both of the Associate Synod and the Reformed Synod, did not join it; hence both of them preserved their distinct organization. In New-York, there was a congregation organized on Covenanting principles, and Mr. Alexander M'Leod, (now the Rev. Dr. M'Leod) was ordained to the pastoral charge of it. This gentleman is descended from the family of M'Leod, in the Hebrides. His father was a minister of the Scottish established church. He is mentioned in the Tour of Dr. Johnson to the Hebrides; who says of him, that he would have done honour to a more elevated station than the one which he filled.* Young M'Leod, was early devoted to the ministry, and with a view to it commenced his education. When young, he emigrated to America, and completed his collegiate education at Union college, after having connected himself with the Reformed Presbyterian church. He received the honours of his class. Soon after he began to preach, his talents as a preacher, and the argumentative character of his eloquence, procured him offers from wealthy congregations, which he rejected; resolving not to forsake the small body with which he had connected himself, as he was fully convinced, that the system of principles which they held, was founded on the sacred oracles.

Soon after his settlement in New-York, he published a sermon against negro slavery, on account of which Gregoire of France, couples him with Thomas Jefferson, as a defender of the rights of humanity. He also published a catechism on ecclesiastical government, in which he vindicates presbyterianism. It was soon republished in Europe. This catechism was the means of awakening a controversy between

*In some copies the name of his grandfather is inserted by mistake.

the Presbyterians and the Episcopalians of New-York, on the subject of church government.

Soon after the conquest of the Dutch colony by the Duke of York, the episcopal church established itself in NewYork, and derived liberal support from grants by the crown of England. When Trinity church was chartered, the glebe lands attached to it on Manhattan island, were extensive, and rapidly increasing in value. A remarkable spirit of activity was infused into all its fiscal arrangements. So powerful were the funds of this church, that after the Revolution, the state legislature limited them to a capital, producing an annual revenue of five thousand pounds. Their estate, however, produced much more, and they devoted all that exceeded the specified amount, to the building and endowment of new churches. At the time when M'Leod's catechism appeared, serious fears were entertained by the Presbyterian church, that the Episcopalians would become so powerful as to exercise an undue influence over the political affairs of the state. All this power was exerted in the propagation of the Arminian errors. For this body, while it adopted the Thirty Nine Articles of the church of England, and the liturgy, was not, like the parent society, composed partly of Calvinists and partly of Arminians; for all were Arminians.

A Magazine was set on foot by the Presbyterian interest, under the editorial care of Dr. Mason, and though much valuable matter on other subjects, was thrown into it, the grand object was to combat the Episcopal form of church government. On this subject, the editor and several other ministers of the Presbyterian church wrote largely and ably. The Rev. Dr. Miller, a gentleman who was educated in the university of Pennsylvania, and who had become generally known to advantage, by his Review of the Eighteenth Century, published a very temperate and lucid discussion on the same subject, in a small volume of Letters. Bishop Hobart appeared as the champion of the Episcopal church. This gentleman was educated at Princeton college, at which he was distinguished. He had published a work, styled the Companion for the Altar, in which he intimated, as his

brethren had often done before in England, that the Episcopal is the only true church, and that there alone, salvation is attainable, unless it be by "uncovenanted mercy." This controversy was managed with much warmth and zeal by the parties. The doctrine of the atonement was only brought into this discussion incidentally. But Dr. M'Leod published in the Christian's Magazine, the title of the periodical work alluded to above, a number of essays expressly on this subject. The papers are written with very great talent, and contain an able vindication of the doctrines of the Genevan school. The essays published in the Magazine on the subject of ecclesiastical government, and written by Dr. Mason, made an attack merely upon the walls of the city; Dr. M'Leod's discussions on the atonement, attacked the citadel, where Arminianism had fortified itself. All had a bearing upon the same point, the propagation of correct views relative to the way of salvation through Jesus Christ; for in proportion as Episcopalianism prevails in the United States in the same proportion will be the spread of the Arminian, errors unless the teachers can be brought back to their discarded Articles.

At the time when the presbyterian clergy of all denominations, the Dutch Reformed, the General Assembly, the Associate Reformed, and the Reformed Presbyterians, united in opposing Episcopacy, they harmonized among themselves. They were indeed entirely distinct from each other in their ecclesiastical judicatories, in their exercise of discipline, and in their ecclesiastical communion, but a spirit of cordiality prevailed among them. A clerical association, in which they all united, had been formed, and had existed for many years, in which the clergy of these denominations, met weekly for the cultivation of Christian knowledge, religion, and personal friendship. This association was attended by the Rev. Drs. Rogers, Livingston, M'Knight, M'Leod, Mason, Milledollar, Abeel, Miller, and Romeyn; and the Rev. Messrs. Hamilton, Forrest and others. All these were cordial in their support of the Calvinistic creed.

Y

Such was the state of the presbyterian churches in New York, when their repose was disturbed by Hopkinsianism poured down upon them from the North. After the formation of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian church, a connection was established between it and the northern congregationalists. Delegates from the congregational associations were admitted to a seat in the General Assembly; and from that body delegates were sent to the General Northern Associations. Ministers and licentiates of the congregational churches were admitted to the pulpits of the presbyterian clergy in the middle, southern, and western states. In numerous instances availing themselves of this privilege, they had disturbed the repose of the churches, by the Hopkinsian doctrines which they taught.

In 1813, two young gentlemen, the Rev. Ezra Stiles Ely and Mr. Gardiner Spring, a licentiate, the former a native of Connecticut, and the latter of Massachusetts, both of them educated in Yale college, arrived in New York. Mr. Spring is the son of the Rev. Dr. Spring, a Hopkinsian writer of the state of Massachusetts. The doctrines of the father had been embraced by the son, who finished his course of study at Andover. Mr. Ely had been for some time pastor of a congregation in Connecticut. He was admitted to a seat in the presbytery of New York as a member. His views had not been very distinct on the doctrine of the atonement in relation to its extent, nor as to the doctrine of natural and moral ability, before his arrival at New York. As soon as he became acquainted with the doctrines of the Calvinistic school upon these points, he embraced them. Mr. Spring received a call from a congregation in that city, and read before the presbytery a sermon as a trial discourse for ordination, in which he exhibited the Hopkinsian doctrine of natural ability. "After he had retired, and the moderator, and the other members after him, in the order of seniority, were asked whether they would sustain the discourse; every member of the presbytery thought the sermon unsound in doctrine, and most of them said they would not sustain it, nor proceed to the ordina