1. That Jesus Christ died for the elect.

2. That there is an appropriation in the nature of faith.

3. That the Gospel is addressed indiscriminately to sinners of mankind.

4. That the righteousness of Christ is the alone condition of the covenant of works.

5. That civil government originates with God the Creator, and not with Christ the Mediator.

6. The administration of the kingdom of Providence is given into the hand of Jesus Christ the Mediator; and magistracy, the ordinance appointed by the Moral Governor of the world to be the prop of civil order among men, as well as other things, is rendered subservient by the Mediator to the welfare of his spiritual kingdom, the church, and has sanctified the use of it and of every common benefit, through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

7. That the law of nature and the moral law revealed in the Scriptures are substantially the same, although the latter expresses the will of God more evidently and clearly than the former, and therefore magistrates among Christians ought to be regulated by the general directory of the Word as to the execution of their office.

8. That the qualifications of justice, veracity, &c. required in the law of nature for the being of a magistrate, are also more explicitly revealed as necessary in the Holy Scriptures. But a religious test, any further than an oath of fidelity, can never be essentially necessary for the being of a magistrate, except where the people make it a condition of government.

9. That both parties when united shall adhere to the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Catechisms, the Directory for Worship, and propositions concerning church government.

10. That they shall claim the full exercise of church discipline without dependence upon foreign judicatories.

Upon this basis all the members of the Reformed Presbytery, and all the Associate ministers, with the exception of two members of the Presbytery of Pennsylvania, (Messrs. Marshall and Clarkson,) united. A small minority of the people in the two communions also declined to enter into it. From these minorities have sprung the Covenanter denomination on the one hand, and the Associate on the other. The limits of this article preclude any extended comment upon this basis; it will be sufficient to observe, that at this distance of time it is difficult to discover the reason for inserting some of its articles. In reference to the extent of the atonement, the nature of faith, and the extent of the Gospel offer, there had never been any difference of

opinion among these parties; and it is therefore somewhat surprising that these topics are mentioned. There had been a dispute about common benefits, i. e. whether the common blessings of life were derived to mankind in virtue of Christ's mediation, or were merely bestowed by God as Creator. But a calm and candid perusal of the pamphlets begotten by this controversy-once deemed a very vital one-will convince any one that it was a dispute about words rather than things. Most of the articles, it will be perceived, relate to the subject of magistracy, and this was the grand topic of difference, viz. the essential qualifications of the civil magistrate, and the extent of his power circa sacra. On these last points, it must be confessed, that the language of the basis is by no means clear, yet it is perhaps as much so as its authors intended, and as much so as the subject admits. It should be borne in mind that each of these bodies held to the Westminster Confession, their catechisms were the same, their government, forms of worship and mode of administering the sacraments identical; their views of Gospel doctrine, and even the styles of preaching prevalent among them, were quite similar. Their differences had grown out of acts of discipline, rather than points of doctrine.

Here it may not be out of place to give some brief notices of the leading persons who were active in effecting this union. The Rev. Thomas Clark was one. Perhaps no minister of his day was "in labours more abundant" than he; and many interesting traditions are still in existence respecting him in various parts of the country. His public ministrations were marked by some eccentricities, so that he usually attracted large crowds to hear him. But he was a man eminently given to prayer, laborious, zealous, of a most catholic spirit, and he had many seals of his ministry, not only by his labours in the pulpit, but also by his private faithfulness, with all sorts of persons, at home and abroad. He longed for the salvation of souls; in season and out of season, he made full proof of his ministry. After a most laborious ministry of about thirty years (in this country), he died suddenly at Long Cane, in South Carolina, in 1796. He was the founder and first minister of the church at Salem, New York.

The Rev. Dr. John Mason, of New York, was one of the most accomplished preachers and pastors of his age. He "was a man of a sound strong mind, of extensive learning, and of unusually fervent piety. His scholarship was rare. He had so habituated himself to classical studies, that at the age of twenty, he spoke the Latin language on all the higher subjects of discourse, with equal ease and greater elegance, than his mother tongue. In Greek his proficiency

was but little inferior; and he was familiar with Hebrew. At the age of twenty-four, he taught logic and moral philosophy in the seminary of the Anti-burghers at Abernethy. His lectures were in Latin. As a preacher he was uncommonly judicious and instructive; as a pastor singularly faithful and diligent, and as a friend and companion he displayed an assemblage of excellencies rarely found in so great a degree in one person. Few ministers have ever lived in New York, in so high esteem, or died so deeply and generally lamented."-The following testimony of regard is from the pen of the late Dr. Linn, who knew Dr. Mason well:-"He had prudence without cunning, cheerfulness without levity, dignity without pride, friendship without ceremony, charity without undue latitude, and religion without ostentation."* For thirty years he was minister of the Old Scots' Church, (Cedar Street,) New York; he died in 1792, and was succeeded by his distinguished son, Dr. John M. Mason. He is said to have written, in connexion with Gov. Livingston of New Jersey, some powerful political papers, during the discussions that preceded the Revolution. Banished in common with other Presbyterians from the city during its occupancy by the British army, he acted as a chaplain to the American forces, and was very warmly esteemed by Washington.

The Rev. Robert Annan had been a fellow-student with Dr. Mason, and they came to this country about the same time. He was first settled at Neelytown, in Orange county, New York; and during the early years of the Revolution he was a very active promoter of the Whig cause. About the close of the war he was called to the charge of a newly formed Scots' church in Boston; but finding himself unable to carry out the discipline of the Presbyterian Church, he removed to Philadelphia, and for some years was minister of the Spruce Street Church. He afterwards accepted of a call from a congregation in Baltimore. In this his last fixed charge he continued about six years, when he demitted it in favour of the present pastor, Dr. John M. Duncan. He died in 1818. He wrote (with some slight aid from Dr. Mason) a short but very excellent exposition of the Westminster Confession; a narrative of the steps which led to the union; a tract on Universalism; one on civil government; and while resident at Philadelphia, he engaged in a discussion with the late Dr. Rush on the subject of capital punishment. He was a man of superior eloquence, an able, though a rather bitter controversialist; he seems to have been better fitted to lay the foundations of a congregation, than to carry up the superstructure.

* Miller's Life of Rogers, p. 164.

The Rev. James Proudfit was also educated for the ministry at Abernethy. His first settlement was at Pequa, Pennsylvania. After labouring here upwards of twenty years, he was called to Salem, as the successor of Mr. Clark, where he remained until his decease, in 1802. For some years before his death, his son, the Rev. Dr. Alex. Proudfit, was associated with him in the pastoral charge. He was one of the first Presbyterian ministers settled north of Troy, and for many years he was abundant in labours over a wide extent of country; not a few of the largest congregations in Washington county having been founded by him. He published nothing, but he was eminent for his holiness. A brother minister who had long known him, once said to his son, that "he was the holiest man he ever knew." So great was his acquaintance with the Bible, that he was often called by his friends the concordance. Of the Covenanting brethren, Messrs. Dobbin, Lind, and Cuthbertson, we regret that we are unable to give any certain information.

In this connexion it may not be out of place to give a few notices respecting the principal localities of the Associate Reformed Church, in these early days of her history. The earliest settlements were in Pennsylvania, within the Cumberland Valley. From these, colonies. went forth to various parts of the United States. Numbers emigrated to west Pennsylvania, but in what year, we are unable to state,-we only know that these emigrants formed some of the earliest Presbyterian churches west of the Alleghany mountains. Some of the first settlers in Pennsylvania remained but a short time, and then removed to the upper parts of South Carolina and Georgia. The Old Church in Philadelphia, was formed by a few pious Scotsmen, who at first met together as a praying society. The Old Church in New York was formed by the separation of the Scottish members from the Wall Street Church in 1751, in consequence of changes in the forms of worship, and the neglect of Presbyterian order. In Orange county, a colony of Irish Presbyterians was established under the auspices of Col. Clinton, the founder of the Clinton family, so early as 1734; from these have sprung the various Associate Reformed churches in that county. Others were induced to settle on the Colden and Campbell patents. The first settlement in Washington county, was made by Dr. Clark; his congregation emigrated from Ireland about the year 1760: one part going to Carolina, another portion accompanying him to Washington county. To this day, this county is eminently Scottish in its religious peculiarities. It may be added, that the Associate Reformed Church was one of the first to plant the standard of the Gospel in the State of Kentucky; and at the close of the last

century the prospect of increase in that commonwealth was highly promising. These prospects were, however, soon darkened and destroyed by dissensions among the ministers. At the beginning of the present century, the Lexington Academy was founded under the auspices of the Associate Reformed Church. It was incorporated by the legislature of the State, and received from the same source the very handsome endowment of 4000 acres of land. Had the affairs of this institution, and of the church, been managed with ordinary prudence, there can be little doubt that it would now have been among the best colleges in the great valley of the West. But the opportunity was madly thrown away, and now it is irrecoverably gone. All the subsequent efforts of the church to extend herself in Kentucky, have been attended by no encouraging results.

In addition to these early settlements of the church, in the States of New York, Pennsylvania, Carolina, and Kentucky, it should be mentioned that there were some in New Hampshire and Maine. Mr. Greenleaf gives some notices of them in his Ecclesiastical History of Maine. They were associated under the name of the Presbytery of Londonderry. The region, however, was unfavourable to the growth of Presbyterianism; so soon as the older generation was removed, their descendants became "like the people of the land," and degenerated into independency, though the name of Presbytery was still kept up. The consequence was, that the Synod in 1802 passed the harsh and unwise act, declaring this Presbytery no longer a portion of the Associate Reformed Church.

We now resume the history of the Synod. As before stated, it was constituted at Philadelphia, in 1782, and was then composed of three Presbyteries, and numbered in all fourteen ministers. One of the first acts of the Synod, after its organization, was, the adoption of a series of articles, which were afterwards published under the very unsuitable name of the Constitution of the Associate Reformed Church: among the people it was known as "the Little Constitution." These articles were vehemently attacked both by the Covenanters (in Scotland) and the Seceders here; yet they deserve attention as showing the ardent attachment of the men of that day to "the truth and peace;" they furnish striking evidence that they possessed a truly catholic spirit, and were eminently free from that mean and narrow sectarian temper which has often been displayed by those who make the loudest professions of universal charity. Our limits forbid the insertion of these articles; and we shall only say in reference to them, that the spirit of charity and moderation which they breathe, has been characteristic of the Associate Reformed Church from that day