The History of Presbyterianismin the United States

Part 2: Centuries of ChangeD - A Survey of 19th Presbyterianism

A Word About Labels16th 17th 18th 19th 20th Protestant

Reformer Puritan Denominational (govt.al, theo.

dist.)

Converted/Unconverted

Fundamentalist

Evangelical

Modernist

A Survey of 19th c. Presbyterianism

• 1683 - Francis Makemie arrived in MD• 1706 - 1st Presbytery organized, Philadelphia• 1730s-43 – 1st Great Awakening• 1775-83 - American Revolutionary War• 1789 - 1st General Assembly, PCUSA• 1790-1830s – 2nd Great Awakening• 1837 - Old School/New School Controversy• 1861-65 – War Between the States• 1861 – Presbyterians split north to south

A Cultural Legacyof the Second Great Awakening

“The link between revivalism and temperance was simply one aspect of a deeper connection between the Second Great Awakening’s notion of conversion and the holy life and godly society that genuine conversion inevitably fueled.”

H&M

Voluntary, “parachurch” societies sprung up:• to advance general education & exposure to

wholesome literature.• to organize Sunday Schools, missions, Bible

& tract publication/distribution.• to abolish slavery, call for prison reform.• to press for temperance and avoidance of

alcohol.• to press for adherence to the general

observance of the Lord’s Day.H&M

A Cultural Legacyof the Second Great Awakening

Lyman Beecher, 1775-1863

•Presbyterian minister, Litchfield, CT.•President, Lane Theo. Seminary, OH.•Leader in the 2nd Great Awakening.•Co-founder of the American Temperance

Society.•Ardent anti-Catholic and anti-slavery.•Embraced Finney’s new measures.•Children included Harriet Beecher Stowe

and Henry Ward Beecher.

Lyman Beecher

Lyman Beecher’s Visionfor Revivals and Moral Crusades

“[I]ndividual conversions were insufficient to prevent the United States from apostasy and ruin. … Beecher believed that Sabbath observance was essential to the protection of American liberty. [T]he United States would soon retrogress ‘after the influence of her Sabbaths has passed away.’”

Lyman Beecher

Lyman Beecher’s Visionfor Revivals and Moral Crusades

“Intemperance is the sin of our land … and if anything shall defeat the hopes of the world, which hang upon our experiment with civil liberty, it is that river of fire … .”

1830s – New School Presbyterians initiated an effort to have congregations switch from wine to grape juice in the observance of the Lord’s Supper.

Lyman Beecher

Charles Hodge, 1797-1878

•His efforts in the defense of doctrinal integrity kept Princeton Seminary in the Old School party.

•Published Systematic Theology (3 vol.) in 1873.•Argued for Presbyterianism as the government

prescribed in Scripture.•Openly critiqued Finney’s Pelagianism:

Finney’s idea of moral ability “has not been adopted in the confession of any one

denominational church in Christendom, but is expressly repudiated by them all.”

Old School/New School

Old School New School

• Called for a return to traditional Calvinism of the WCF.

• Suspicious of Revivalism.• Call to maintain subscriptionism

and a Presbyterian form of Church government.

• United in the north as war approached.

• Passed the “exscinding act” removing entire synods

• Embraced “New Divinity” which was Arminian and universal.

• Desired and practiced revivalism.

• Was being led away from Presbytrianism and into Congregationalism.

• Became divided in the south as war approached.

• Drew up the “Auburn Declaration” defending their views.

Charles Hodge

Lyman Beecher

A Survey of 19th c. Presbyterianism

• 1683 - Francis Makemie arrived in MD• 1706 - 1st Presbytery organized, Philadelphia• 1730s-43 – 1st Great Awakening• 1775-83 - American Revolutionary War• 1789 - 1st General Assembly, PCUSA• 1790-1830s – 2nd Great Awakening• 1837 - Old School/New School Controversy• 1850s-1900s – Third Great Awakening

Third Great Awakening – 1850s-1900s

•Protestant Denominations grew quickly.•Many Christian colleges were started.

▫1848 – Geneva College, Northwood, OH▫1876 – Grove City College, Grove City, PA

•Rise of the Republican Party (A. Lincoln)•Revivalism of Dwight L. Moody

▫1886 – Moody Bible Institute, Chicago, IL

Third Great Awakening – 1850s-1900s

Issues:•A Postmillennium vision of culture•Temperance => Prohibition•Women’s Sufferage•Child Labor laws•Rise in the Social Gospel, especially in missions•NeoGothic architecture sweeps in from Europe

which develops into “All purpose” Church “Christian Armory” facilities/services.

•Growing movements to unify the Christian witness and testimony.

Third Great Awakening – 1850s-1900s

Other Creations:•Holiness/Pentecostal Movements•Young Men’s Christian Association•Salvation Army - Catherine & William

Booth•The Society for Ethical Culture (Jewish)•Christian Science - Mary Baker Eddy•Jehovah’s Witnesses – Charles Taze

Russell

A Survey of 19th c. Presbyterianism

• 1683 - Francis Makemie arrived in MD• 1706 - 1st Presbytery organized, Philadelphia• 1730s-43 – 1st Great Awakening• 1775-83 - American Revolutionary War• 1789 - 1st General Assembly, PCUSA• 1790-1830s – 2nd Great Awakening• 1837 - Old School/New School Controversy• 1850s-1900s – Third Great Awakening• 1861-65 – War Between the States• 1861 – Presbyterians split north to south

The Approaching Storm•1818 – First firm stand by Presbyterians

against slavery.“voluntary enslaving of one part of the human

race by another” was a “gross violation of the most precious and sacred rights of human nature, … utterly inconsistent with the law of God, which requires us to love our neighbor as ourselves, … totally irreconcilable with the spirit and principles of the gospel of Christ.”

Declaration passed at the Presbyterian G.A., 1818

H&M

The Approaching Storm

•1818 – First firm stand by Presbyterians against slavery.

•1845 – General Assembly▫New School: slavery was the decisive issue –

a moral crusade.▫Old School: preserving the nation was

decisive issue. On one hand, slavery not absolutely condemned

in Scr. On the other hand, the “evil connected with

slavery” must not be countenanced.

The Approaching Storm

•1818 – First firm stand by Presbyterians against slavery.

•1845 – General Assembly•1857 – New School churches divided from

the north to form the United Synod of the Presbyterian Church.

•12/4/1861 – Old School churches in the south hold their first G.A. with 45 presbyteries, 840 ministers, 72,000 communicant members.

PCUSA –OldSchool

PCUS –NewSchool

PCUSA –NewSchool

PCUS –OldSchool

The Approaching Storm

For the southern church, the hardening of political opinions meant a shift on slavery.

‘the institution of slavery is divinely recognized and sanctioned. … We are upholding and defending a sacred trust, committed to us by the providence of God.’a North Carolina Presbyterian newspaper

H&M

The Approaching Storm

At the same time, many southern ministers continued to oppose and seek reform.

In addition to seeking a reform of slaves’ domestic relations, [James A. Lyon of Mississippi] advocated that blacks and white gather together for worship, … that African-Americans be catechized, and that there be a repeal of laws prohibiting slaves from learning to read and write.

H&M

After the War

The Old and New Schools in the North reunited in 1869. But the division between North and South would be hardest for Presbyterians to overcome. The northern and southern Presbyterians could not accept each other until 1983.

H&M

New CovenantPresbyterian Church

Preaching God’s Sovereign Grace

to a World of Need128 St. Mary’s Church Rd.,

Abingdon, MD 21009410-569-0289

www.ncpres.orgwww.ephesians515.com