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themselves in favor of the struggle, a year before the declaration of independence, and to encourage and guide their people, then in arms.* During the war, they sustained and invigorated the forces of their beleagured country; so that presbyterians were every where treated with special cruelty and revenge. At the close of the war, they again addressed their people, and offered up praise to God, who had given them the victory. They were the first to recognise the declaration of independence, when made; and they materially aided in the passage of that noble act.§

When the declaration of independence was under debate in the continental congress, doubts and forebodings were whispered through that hall. The houses hesitated, wavered, and, for a while, the liberty and slavery of the nation appeared to hang in an even scale. It was then an aged patriarch arose, a venerable and stately form; his head white with the frost of years. Every eye went to him with the quickness of thought, and remained with the fixedness of the polar star. He cast on the assembly a look of inexpressible interest and unconquerable determination; while on his visage, the hue of age was lost in the flush of a burning patriotism, that fired his cheek. There is,' said he, when he saw the house wavering, 'There is a tide in the affairs of men -a nick of time. We perceive it now before us. To hesitate, is to consent to our own slavery. That noble instrument upon your table, which insures immortality to its author, should be subscribed this very morning, by every pen in the house. He that will not respond to its accents, and strain every nerve to carry into effect its provisions, is unworthy the

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* Dr. Lang's Relig. and Educ. in Amer. p. 72, where their letter is given.

† Ibid, p. 77, 78. See also Dr. Miller's Life of Dr. Rogers, p. 234, 8vo. ed.

+ Ibid, p. 78.

§ Ibid, p. 94.

name of a freeman. For my own part, of property I have some -of reputation, more. That reputation is staked, that property is pledged, on the issue of this contest. And although these gray hairs must soon descend into the sepulchre, I would infinitely rather they should descend thither by the hands of the public executioner, than desert, at this crisis, the sacred cause of my country.' Who was it that uttered this memorable speech,-potent in turning the scales of the nation's destiny, and worthy to be preserved in the same imperishable record in which is registered the not more eloquent speech ascribed to John Adams, on the same sublime occasion? It was John Witherspoon-at that day the most distinguished presbyterian minister west of the Atlantic ocean the father of the presbyterian church in the United States.'*

An inquiry into the matter would show, by an actual biography of the veterans of the revolution, that a large proportion of them were connected with the presbyterian church. Without attempting to make such an investigation, we will merely mention the following facts which have incidentally fallen into our hands in reference to South Carolina.

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The battles of the Cowpens,' of King's Mountain' and also the severe skirmish known as Huck's Defeat,' are among the most celebrated in this State, as giving a turning point to the contest of the revolution. General Morgan, who commanded at the Cowpens, was a presbyterian elder, and lived and died in the communion of the church. General Pickens, who made all the arrangements for the battle, was also a presbyterian elder. And nearly all under their command were presbyterians. In the battle of King's Mountain, Colonel Campbell, Colonel James Williams, (who fell in the action,) Colonel Cleaveland, Colonel Shelby, and Colonel Sevier, were all presbyterian elders ;

*Rev. J. M. Krebs.

and the body of their troops were collected from presbyterian settlements. At Huck's Defeat, in York, Colonel Bratton and Major Dickson, were both elders of the presbyterian church. Major Samuel Morrow, who was with Colonel Sumpter in four engagements, and at King's Mountain, Blackstock's, and other battles, and whose home was in the army till the termination of hostilities, was, for about fifty years, a ruling elder of the presbyterian church.*

These facts we have collected from high authority, and they deserve to be prominently noticed. Here are ten officers of distinction, all bearing rule in the church of Christ — and all bearing arms in defence of our liberties. Braver and better officers cannot be found in the annals of our counnor braver or better troops.

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It may also be mentioned in this connection, that Marion, Huger, and other distinguished men of revolutionary memory, were of Huguenot, that is, full-blooded presbyterian, descent.

'A presbyterian loyalist,' says Mr. William B. Reed, himself an episcopalian, 'was a thing unheard of. Patriotic clergymen of the established church were exceptions to general conduct; for while they were patriots at a sacrifice, and in spite of restraints and imaginary obligations, which many found it impossible to disregard, it was natural sympathy and voluntary action, that placed the dissenters under the banner of revolutionary redress. It is a sober judgment, which cannot be questioned, that, had independence and its maintenance depended on the approval and ready sanction of the colonial episcopal clergy, misrule and oppression must have become far more intense, before they would have seen a case of justifiable rebellion. The debt of gratitude which independent America owes to the dissenting clergy and laity, never can be paid.'†

*He died in Spartanburgh district, S. C. in Feb. 1842, aged 82. † Address before the Philomathean Society, Philad. 1838, pp. 59, 60.

CHAPTER IV.

PRESBYTERY MORE REPUBLICAN THAN OTHER FORMS OF CHRISTIAN POLITY.

It remains that we should say something on the comparative claims to the character of republicanism, of our own and other ecclesiastical systems. Comparisons are always odious. We shall, therefore, discharge the incumbent duty now forced upon us, with as much lenity and despatch as truth and justice will admit.

Passing by the minor differences existing between the presbyterian church, strictly so called, and other denominations essentially agreeing with it, and who may be properly included under the general term presbytery, we will institute a claim of partial superiority to our brethren of the Methodist Episcopal church; of still greater to the Protestant Episcopal church in these United States; and an entire superiority to the system patronized by the high-church prelatists, and established among their Roman Catholic brethren.

In making this comparison, we must bear in mind. one rule of simple and unquestionable authority in the premises. To deny the first principles of any system is to deny that system; however, in less important points, there may be agreement with it. The rights of particular nations cannot subsist,' says Sydney, 'if general principles, contrary to them, are received as true.'* And in like manner, we must conclude, that ecclesiastical systems, embodying principles contrary to those which are fundamental to republicanism, or which fail to recognise those principles, are in their measure contrary to it, or irreconcilable with it.

*Disc, on Govt. ch. i. § 4.

SECTION I.

The system of presbytery more republican than the polity of the Methodist Episcopal church.

We confess, that in perusing the articles on 'the republicanism of methodist polity,' already referred to,* we were led to entertain a higher opinion of the system, than we had previously cherished. There are many things in which an analogy may be drawn out between methodism and republicanism, and there is much in it adapted to the popular mind. In its doctrine of the ministry, it is essentially presbyterian, for while it admits of bishops as superintendents, it teaches that there is but one ORDER of ministers, and that these are, in order, equal to the rest. To this doctrine it has fully committed itself by the republication, under its own sanction, of the works of Lord King, and Mr. Powell.‡ Under the name of an office, however, it attributes to its bishops very unlimited powers. And the question, therefore, is, whether this analogy will hold in regard to those principles which are fundamental to a republic, and not merely in those which are secondary in their importance, or common to it with other forms of government.

Now among the principles which are fundamental to the very existence of a republic we found these.

1. The equality of all its members, implying that the laws are made equally by all, acting through their representatives, and that none are elevated to any station in which they can act or legislate, independently of the people.

These were first printed in 'The Christian Advocate,' and republished in The Southern Christian Advocate.'

†The Primitive Govt. of the Church.

On the Apostolical Succession, which is a thorough presbyterian book.

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