The controversy turned on the point, whether it was consistent and lawful for dissenters, or those who had withdrawn from the national church, to swear this oath, knowing that it was the profession of religion in the national church that was intended by the government imposing the oath. Different sides of this question were advocated in Synod, and the disputes ran so high that, in 1747, the body divided, and each party claimed the name of the "Associate Synod." But the public soon affixed distinguishing epithets to each of the parties. Those who opposed the lawfulness and consistency of swearing the oath, were called Anti-burghers, and the advocates of the oath Burghers. It was with the former of these that the Associate Presbytery in this country was connected. The latter never had an organization in this country.

THE INTRODUCTION OF THE ASSOCIATE CHURCH INTO
NORTH AMERICA.

At an early period of the secession, individuals approving of the principles of the secession emigrated to this country, both from Scotland and Ireland. These not finding here any denomination of professing Christians fully concurring with them in their views of religious faith and duty, and wishing still to retain the principles of the Church of Scotland in their primitive purity, they petitioned the Anti-burgher Associate Synod of Scotland, to send over some ministers of the gospel to their assistance.

In compliance with this petition, Messrs. Alexander Gellatly and Andrew Arnot were sent over. The former with a view of permanently remaining in the country, the latter for a period of two years. They did not, however, reach the province of Pennsylvania, the particular place of their destination, until the year 1754. These brethren were authorized by the Synod to organize congregations, and to constitute themselves into a Presbytery, which they accordingly did in November, 1754, under the name of the Associate Presbytery of Pennsylvania. Notwithstanding the various difficulties which they had to encounter in their first labours, these brethren had the satisfaction of seeing the ordinary evidence of success attending their labours; in a short time there were urgent applications for their labours from different parts of Pennsylvania, from Delaware, New York, Virginia, and North Carolina.

Mr. Arnot returned at the expiration of his appointment, and Mr. Gellatly was removed by death in 1761; but the Presbytery continued to increase by the arrival of missionaries from Scotland, until the

intercourse between the two countries was interrupted by the breaking out of the revolutionary war. By this time the number of ministers had increased to thirteen; and the applications to the Presbytery for supply of preaching and the dispensation of the sacraments increased in a still greater degree.

At this period it was judged necessary to divide the Presbytery. Those ministers settled in New York, with the congregations in that State and east of it, were set off into the new Presbytery, which was called the Presbytery of New York. The others remained under the old designation, the Presbytery of Pennsylvania, and had the care of such congregations as were located in Pennsylvania and southward of it. This division of the Presbytery took place on the 20th of May, 1776.

There were at this time also in the Province of Pennsylvania three ministers belonging to another body of dissenters from the Church of Scotland, called "Reformed Presbyterians." An attempt was shortly after this made to form a union between these brethren and the Associate Presbytery of Pennsylvania. After some twenty meetings of unsuccessful efforts, when the affair had been apparently dropped by both parties, it was unexpectedly brought on at a meeting of the Associate Presbytery of Pennsylvania, when the members were not all present, by the efforts of one of the members of the Presbytery of New York, and in violation of a former express agreement of the Presbytery, and carried by the casting vote of the moderator. The part of the Presbytery who at the time opposed the union, wished the matter delayed until the judgment of the Synod in Scotland could be obtained on it; but the others declared themselves no longer in connexion with the Synod in Scotland, and proceeded to pass censures on their brethren who did not fall in with the union. This event took place on the 13th of June, 1782.

The united body denominated themselves the Associate Reformed Synod, from a combination of the names of the two bodies from which the parties came.

This union, instead of making two bodies into one, as was its professed design, divided two into three; for those of the Associate Presbytery of Pennsylvania who refused to join the union, believing the terms of it inconsistent with truth and of schismatical tendency, continued their former organization. Their course was approved by the Synod in Scotland; the Reformed Presbyterian Synod disapproved of what their members had done, and sent in other ministers to supply their place. So that the two original bodies continued to exist, and the new one also.

The Presbytery of Pennsylvania was almost extinguished by this union. At the meeting of the Presbytery at which the above transaction took place, besides the moderator, there were present five ministers and five ruling elders: three ministers and two ruling elders voted in favour of the union, and two ministers and three ruling elders against it. So that but two ministers were left in the Presbytery of Pennsylvania at the time, for the absent ministerial members at first fell in with the union; and for a time these two ministers, Wm. Marshall, of Philadelphia, and James Clarkson, of York County, Pennsylvania, with their elders, composed the Associate Presbytery of Pennsylvania. The Associate Presbytery of New York had joined the union previously.

The Synod of Scotland, however, as soon as practicable, sent over others to their assistance, and in a few years most of those who at first had joined the union, abandoned it, and returned to the Presbytery of Pennsylvania, so that in a short time her affairs began again to revive.

Nothing however worthy of special notice occurred in the Presbytery from this period until the formation of the Synod in 1801. During this period a number of ministers arrived from Scotland, and some were educated in this country. The first institution for the purpose of educating students in theology by this body, was established in 1793, under the care of the Rev. John Anderson, D. D., of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, who continued to serve as sole profesfor of theology until 1818, when he resigned on account of old age. From the appointment of Dr. Anderson, in 1793, until the formation of the Synod, in 1801, six young men had been licensed to preach the Gospel.

Before noticing the formation of the Synod, it is necessary to give an account of the organization of the Presbytery of Kentucky. The Presbytery of Pennsylvania, being wholly unable to meet the applications for preaching which were sent from Tennessee and Kentucky, directed the applicants to apply directly to the Synod in Scotland for missionaries. They did so, and in answer to the petition, the Synod sent two, viz., Messrs. Robert Armstrong and Andrew Fulton, missionaries to Kentucky, with authority to constitute themselves into a Presbytery. These missionaries arrived in Kentucky in the spring of 1798, and formed themselves with ruling elders into a Presbytery on the 28th of November of the same year, by the name of the Presbytery of Kentucky.

This accession of strength enabled these Presbyteries to form

themselves into a Synod. A resolution to that effect was passed in the Presbytery of Pennsylvania at their meeting in Philadelphia, May 1st, 1800. After setting forth the reasons for this, they "Resolved, that this Presbytery will, if the Lord permit, constitute themselves into a Synod, or court of review, known and designated by the name of the Associate Synod of North America. To meet in Philadelphia on the third Wednesday of May, 1801, at eleven o'clock A. M. That Mr. Marshall open the meeting with a sermon, and then constitute. the Synod. The rest of the day to be spent in solemn prayer and fasting."

The Synod met pursuant to this appointment. The roll then consisted of seventeen ministers. These were divided into four Presbyteries, viz., the Presbytery of Philadelphia, the Presbytery of Chartiers, the Presbytery of Kentucky, and the Presbytery of Cambridge. At this time there were also several probationers preaching under the care of the Synod. Until the year 1818 appeals might be taken from this Synod to that of Scotland. But at that time it was declared a co-ordinate Synod by the General Associate Synod of Scotland.

From this period until the present time, this society has regularly increased in members and ministers. It is perhaps worthy of remark, that her members have increased in a greater proportion than her ministers.

About the year 1820 an attempt was made to form a union between this church and the Associate Reformed Synod of the West, who had separated from what was at that time the General Associate Reformed Synod, on account of the latitudinarian principles of the latter. A correspondence was carried on between the two bodies for some years, and nearly every obstacle to a union seemed to be removed, but the attempt was at length abandoned. This result seemed to be owing in a great measure to the nature of the last communication from the Associate Reformed, the tenor of which was unconciliating and unkind.

Between the years 1838 and 1840, six or seven ministers were deposed or suspended for various offences. These have since formed themselves into a Synod, and have assumed the name of the Associate Synod of North America. Two ministers, also, in the south, one in South Carolina and the other in Virginia, who had been suspended on account of their connexion with slavery, have also assumed the name of the Associate Church. These have united, or are about to be united, to the Associate Reformed Synod of the South. A minister of the Presbytery of Miami has also joined with

a suspended minister of the same Presbytery, and formed what they denominate the "Free Associate Presbytery of Miami.”

These defections of ministers have consequently occasioned some reduction in the number of the people; but this loss has been more than compensated to the society by the peace, harmony and order that have since prevailed.

January, 1844.