the annual convention was held. At its meeting in 1795, it adopted, and subsequently (1796) published, a small bound volume of one hundred and two pages, entitled "A brief account of the Associated Presby teries, and a general view of their sentiments concerning religion and ecclesiastical order." It contained a history of the several organizations, and their sentiments on the subjects of Christian doctrine and church order. "We are at present," they say, "united in a general scheme of doctrine, which may be denominated Calvinistic, Edwardian, or Hopkinsian, and we consider those systems which in our day and country are generally distinguished by those terms, as essentially orthodox. Yet we call no man Father. Nor do we know of any public system or Confession of Faith, consisting of many particulars, which we can unitedly adopt without exception or explanation, and with this liberty we know of none which we cannot adopt." Their own Confession of Faith consisted of eighteen articles, mainly accordant with the Westminster Confession, and their exposition of their ecclesiastical sentiments was what might be expected from the principles of their organization. A Fourth Presbytery, with the consent of the Northern Associated Presbytery, was organized at Milton, February 3, 1807. It took the name of the Saratoga Associated Presbytery. Its constituent members were Elias Gilbert, Daniel Marsh, Charles McCabe, Elisha Yale, and Lebbeus Armstrong. The churches were Greenfield, Moreau, Bennington, Vt., Kingsborough, Malta, and Milton. The last, if no other, had been taken under the care of the Presbytery of Albany as early as January 10, 1792, and remained in that connection till January 21, 1800, when at a church-meeting, presided over by Mr. Gilbert, of Greenfield, it was voted VOL. I.-19 to adopt the system of doctrine and order of the Associated Presbyteries. Members who subsequently united with this Presbytery were Sylvanus Haight, Reuben Armstrong, Cyrus Comstock, Silas Parsons, and Joseph Farrar. The only church which joined it was one organized by Messrs. Comstock, and Lebbeus and Reuben Armstrong, in Luzerne and Hadley. After continuing its meetings. till September, 1818, the several members of the Presbytery requested and obtained letters of dismission to unite with other ecclesiastical bodies, and the “Saratoga Associated Presbytery" adjourned sine die.1 It was doubtless at about the same time that the Westchester Associated Presbytery disbanded. In 1819, some of its churches had come under the care of Presbyteries connected with the General Assembly; and previous to 1825 there were but two or three which were not connected with the Presbytery of North River or the Presbytery of New York. Thus the most rapid growth of this secession was within the first twenty years of its existence. It embraced, at the time of the formation of the Annual Convention, quite a large number of churches, spread over a large extent of country. But with the single exception of the transient organization of the Saratoga Associated Presbytery, numbering at the most but seven or eight churches, it made no further advance. One church after another relinquished connection with it, until at last nearly all were absorbed by the surrounding organizations, either Congregational or Presbyterian; and in thirty years afterward all the memorials of it that remained were to be found in the fast-vanishing records of its churches and extinct Presbyteries. 1 The records of the body were left in the hands of Rev. Elisha Yale, of Kingsborough. CHAPTER XII. THE CAROLINAS-RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE CHURCH. THE final and successful attempt to colonize "Carolina" was due to a project formed by certain courtiers of Charles II. for their own profit and aggrandizement. Their selfish scheme was veiled with the pretext of "a generous desire of propagating the blessings of religion. and civility in a barbarous land." A project couched in these terms was presented to the king by eight persons whose fidelity had cheered his exile, or whose treachery had regained for him his throne. Among them were Clarendon, Monk, and Shaftesbury. They claimed to be "excited by a laudable and pious zeal for the propagation of the gospel," and they "begged a certain country in the parts of America not yet culti vated and planted, and only inhabited by some barbarous people, who had no knowledge of God." Their request was readily granted. The charter was doubtless drawn by their own hands, and secured them every thing "saving the sovereign allegiance due to the crown." They immediately took liberal measures to procure a settlement. A few colonists were already on the ground, and to them, on taking the oath of allegiance and submitting to the proprietary government, their lands were assured and their rights conceded. Arrangements were made for a popular government, limited only by the laws of England and the veto of the proprietaries. To all, the most perfect freedom of religion was assured. A singular spectacle is this,-a body of men whose names were indissolubly associated with the legislation that harassed English Dissenters, and surrendered justice to High-Church bigotry, yet adopting-when left to look simply at their own pecuniary interests-a policy as liberal as the most fanatic of Cromwell's Independents could have desired. The same hands which framed the intolerant Act of Conformity in England shaped a satire on their own folly in the constitution which they gave to Carolina. While with relentless severity they silenced such men as John Owen, and filled English prisons with men like Baxter, Bunyan, and Alleine, they allowed the colonists the most perfect and entire freedom of opinion. The New England settler, the English Dissenter, the Scotch Presbyterian, were alike welcome, and alike invited to a refuge from oppression. It may even excite a doubt, whether persecution in England was not made more virulent by a policy which demanded exiles to people the colonies. The early settlers were from diverse localities,-New England,' Virginia, Barbadoes, and at length in increas ing numbers from Ireland and Scotland. For many years it is doubtful, however, whether the province was visited by a single clergyman. Its growth was for a long period very slow, and among the scattered and far from homogeneous population no effort seems to have been made to establish religious institutions of any kind. More than half a century passed away (1663-1715) before the Presbyterian Church could be said to exist within the northern portion of the colony. 1 In 1658, a small company of emigrants from Massachusetts, carrying their religious institutions with them, settled around Cape Fear. For many years their condition was one of poverty and hardships. In 1667, the Bay Legislature recommended them to their former fellow-colonists as objects worthy of charitable relief. Contributions were made for them, and a vessel was sent them laden with supplies.-Felt's New England, ii. 232, 307, 417. The original Presbyterianism of the Carolinas was mainly of the Scotch type. As early as 1729, Scotch emigrants settled on Cape Fear River, Cumberland county, N.C. In 1736, we trace the arrival of others. In the winter of 1739, Whitefield preached, "not without effect," at Newton, on Cape Fear River, where among the congregation were many settlers who had recently arrived from Scotland. The rebellion of 1745 sent large numbers of Highlanders over to this region. Many who had taken up arms for the Pretender preferred exile to death or subjugation in their native land. Ship-load after ship-load landed at Wilmington in 1746 and 1747. In the course of a few years more they were joined by large companies of their countrymen, who wished to improve their condition and become owners of the soil upon which they lived and labored. For the most part, they were a moral and religious people, noted for their industry, economy, thrift, and perse verance.2 No minister of religion came out with the first settlers. It was nearly ten years after the emigration of 1747 before they secured the services of a Presbyterian minister. The first one who labored among them was James Campbell, who from 1730 had been settled over a church of Scotch emigrants in Pennsylvania. Despondent in regard to his own spiritual con 1 Webster, p. 531. 2 The materials for the early history of Presbyterianism in Virginia and Carolina have been largely drawn from Foote's Sketches. 3 Webster makes Campbell a native of Argyleshire, Scotland, emigrant to this country in 1730, licensed by New Castle Presbytery in 1735, and well received" by Philadelphia Presbytery, May 22, 1739. After preaching for four years, part of the time at Tehicken, be became convinced that he was still unconverted, and ceased to preach. After conference with Whitefield and Tennent, he resumed his labors. After his ordination in 1742, he divided his |