posts, contending to the last with their harness on.1 They had no supernumeraries, and yet, notwithstanding the crying need of missionary labor, declined to license a man whose piety they approved, but with whose qualifications they were dissatisfied. They wanted, and made provision to secure, strong men; and all who joined them seemed to be made partakers of their own spirit. It was of immense importance to the Church that its earliest Western outpost should be held by the hands of these men, whom the providence of God had trained and appointed to the task.

CHAPTER XIV.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY, 1789-1800.

THE original motion for the division of the Synod, with a view to the formation of a General Assembly, proposed the constituting of three Synods. This was in 1785; but in the following year the terms of the measure were modified so as to read, "three or more." Accordingly, the Presbyteries were so divided and arranged as to constitute four Synods,-viz.: those of New York and New Jersey, Philadelphia, Virginia, and the Carolinas. The first embraced the Presbyteries of

1 In every thing our fathers were trained to endure hardness as good soldiers. Their first temples were the shady grove, and their first pulpits a rude tent made of rough slabs; while the audience sat either upon logs or the green turf. Not even log churches were erected till about the year 1790. Even in winter the meetings were held in the open air. Not one in ten had the luxury of a great-coat. The most were obliged to wear blankets or coverlets instead."-Dr. Wines's Historical Discourse, 1859, p. 10.

Suffolk, Dutchess county, New York, and New Brunswick; the second, those of Philadelphia, Lewes, New Castle, Baltimore, and Carlisle; that of Virginia, the Presbyteries of Redstone, Hanover, Lexington, and Transylvania; that of the Carolinas, the Presbyteries of Abingdon, Orange, and South Carolina.

In order to carry out this arrangement for a division, several changes were made in relation to the Presbyteries. The Presbytery of Abingdon, extending over the borders of Western Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky, was divided, and that of Transylvania, embracing Kentucky, was formed out of it. Hanover Presbytery was also divided, and the portion of it northwest of the Blue Ridge, embracing the Valley of the Shenandoah, was set off to form the Presbytery of Lexington. The Presbytery of Donegal was also divided, and the Presbytery of Carlisle erected out of it. A new Presbytery was formed, by the name of the Presbytery of Baltimore, and the Old-side Second of Philadelphia, which had not hitherto altogether harmonized with the Synod, was struck from the list, and its members distributed between the three Presbyteries of Carlisle, Philadelphia First, and Baltimore.

The four Synods, embracing sixteen Presbyteries, were now to be united in a General Assembly. From the widely extended bounds of the Church, it had become altogether impracticable to secure a full attendance of the ministers and elders of the more distant churches. For successive years, several Presbyteries had not been represented in Synod by so much as a single member. The number of churches and ministers, moreover, had so multiplied that it was supposed that an Assembly that would embrace them all would be too unwieldy for wise deliberation. It was therefore resolved to adopt the principle of delegation. Every Presbytery of not more than six ministers might

send one minister and one elder to the Assembly. If it consisted of more than six and not more than twelve, it was to send two ministers and two elders, and likewise in the same proportion for every six ministers.

The first General Assembly of the Church met in Philadelphia in 1789. By the appointment of the Synod that ratified the constitution of the Church, it was opened with a sermon by Dr. Witherspoon, and Dr. John Rodgers, of New York, was chosen the first modeThe first Congress of the United States under the present Constitution was then in session in New York: so that the Federal Government of the country and the present constitution of the Presbyterian Church were nearly contemporaneous, and went into operation at the same time.

rator.

It is not surprising that, in such circumstances, the Assembly should have felt the appropriateness of the suggestion that a committee should be appointed to draft an address to the President of the United States; and the selection of the committee, of which Dr. Witherspoon was chairman and Drs. Allison and Samuel Stanhope Smith were members, shows the importance which was attached to the proceeding. The Assembly, doubtless, felt it to be a privilege not only to express to Washington himself the respect they felt for his vir tues, but to lend the sanction of their approval to his conduct, and encourage him in the discharge of the arduous duties to which he had been called.

The document, as drawn up and adopted by the

1 See Rev. Dr. Ashbel Green's Autobiography. With a few exceptions, Philadelphia was the place where the Assembly convened regularly each year till after the division of 1838. The distance of the Southern and Western portions of the Church led them to ask that it might meet nearer to them. The request was granted a few times, as in 1792 and 1795, when it met at Carlisle, and in 1799 when it met at Winchester, Va. In 1835, it met at Pittsburg.

Assembly, is worthy to stand as a precedent of appropriate address from a Christian Assembly to a Christian ruler, whose character needed no eulogium beyond his own acts. It was respectful, dignified, and manly in its tone. After referring to his past career, it proceeds, "From a retirement more glorious than thrones and sceptres, you have been called to your present elevated station by the advice of a great and a free people, and with an unanimity of suffrage that has few, if any, examples in history. A man more ambitious of fame, or less devoted to his country, would have refused an office in which his honors could not be augmented, and where he might possibly be subject to a reverse. We are happy that God has inclined your heart to give yourself once more to the public. And we derive a favorable presage of the event from the zeal of all classes of the people, and their confidence in your virtues, as well as from the knowledge and dignity with which the federal councils are filled. But we derive a presage even more flattering from the piety of your character. Public virtue is the most certain means of public felicity, and religion is the surest basis of virtue. We therefore esteem it a peculiar happiness to behold in our chief magistrate a steady, uniform, avowed friend of the Christian religion; who has commenced his administration in rational and exalted sentiments of piety, and who in his private conduct adorns the doctrines of the gospel of Christ, and, on the most public and solemn occasions, devoutly acknowledges the government of Divine Providence.

"The example of distinguished characters will ever possess a powerful and extensive influence on the public mind; and when we see in such a conspicuous station the amiable example of piety to God, of benevolence to men, and of a pure and virtuous patriotism, we naturally hope that it will diffuse its influence, and that,

eventually, the most happy consequences will result from it. To the force of imitation we will endeavor to add the wholesome instructions of religion. We shall consider ourselves as doing an acceptable service to God, in our profession, when we contribute to render men sober, honest, and industrious citizens and the obedient subjects of a lawful government. In these pious labors we hope to imitate the most worthy of our brethren of other Christian denominations, and to be imitated by them; assured that if we can, by mutual and generous emulation, promote truth and virtue, we shall render a great and important service to the republic, shall receive encouragement from every wise and good citizen, and, above all, meet the approbation of our Divine Master.

"We pray Almighty God to have you always in his holy keeping. May he prolong your valuable life, an ornament and a blessing to your country, and at last bestow on you the glorious reward of a faithful servant."

Such an address testifies to the high estimate entertained by the Assembly of the religious character of the first President of the Republic, while its endorsement of the effort to render men "the obedient subjects of a lawful government" stands as a precedent for later times.

The reply of Washington was modest, and yet properly characterized by self-respect. He would not be elated by the too favorable opinion of the Assembly; yet, conscious of the disinterestedness of his motives, it was not necessary for him to conceal the satisfaction he felt at general approbation of his conduct. “While I reiterate," he says, "the professions of my dependence upon Heaven as the source of all public and private blessings, I will observe, that the general prevalence of piety, philanthropy, honesty, industry, and