The Last Will and Testament of Springfield Presbytery (1808)

Richard McNemar

The Last Will and Testament of Springfield Presbytery (1808)

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FROM

HERALD OF GOSPEL LIBERTY.
BY ELIAS SMITH.
NO. 1. ]	THURSDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 1, 1808.	[ VOL. 1.
"FROM REALMS FAR DISTANT, AND FROM CLIMES UNKNOWN: WE MAKE THE KNOWLEDGE OF OUR KING YOU OWN."

R E L I G I O U S I N T E L L I G E N C E.

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Revival of Religion--and Reformation in Kentucky.

Within seven years past, there has been the greatest out-pouring of the spirit of God, in Kentucky, Tennessee, and the adjacent parts, even known since the settlement of North-America. It has been extended not only t the conversion of Atheists, Deists, and men of wretched characters, of every rank, from the highest to the lowest: but it has produced a reformation in those who had formerly professed religion under the fashionable party names now contended for in the world.

It is our design in future numbers, to give the readers an account of the beginning and progress of the revival, and, the view those reformed ministers and churches have of the church of Christ, as described in the new testament.

Those men have agreed to give up all the party names and rules made by men, and to name the name of Christ, and walk by his rule, which is the New Testament. The Presbyterians of Springfield have dissolved the Presbyterian body, and have given an account of it to the public in the following singular curious will; called, "The last will and testament of

SPRINGFIELD PRESBYTERY.

The Presbytery of Springfield, sitting at Caneridge, in the county of Bourbon, being through a gracious Providence, in more than ordinary bodily health, growing in strength and size daily, and in perfect soundness and composure of mind; but knowing that it is appointed for all delegated bodies once to die and considering that the life of every such body is very uncertain, do make and ordain this our Last Will and Testament, in manner and form following, viz:

Imprimis. We will that this body die, be dissolved, and sink into union with the Body of Christ at large: for there is but one body and one spirit, even as we are called in one hope of our calling.

Item. We will, that our name of distinction, with its Reverend title, be forgotten, that there be but one Lord over God's heritage, and his name one.

Item. We will, that our power of making laws for the government of the church, and executing them by delegated authority, forever cease; that, the people may have free course to the Bible, and adopt the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus.

Item. We will, that candidates for the Gospel ministry henceforth study the holy scriptures with fervent prayer, and obtain license from God to preach the simple Gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, without any mixture of philosophy, vain deceit, [2] traditions of men, the rudiments of the world. And let none henceforth take this honor to himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.

Item. We will, that the church of Christ assume her native right of internal government--try her candidates for the ministry, as to their soundness in the faith, acquaintance with experimental religion, gravity and aptness to teach; and admit no other proof of their authority, but Christ speaking in them. We will that the church of Christ look up to the Lord of the harvest to send forth labourers into his harvest; and that she resume her primitive right of trying those who say they are Apostles, and are not.

Item. We will, that each particular church, as a body, actuated by the same spirit, choose her own preacher, and support him by a free will offering without written call or subscription--admit members--remove offences; and never henceforth delegate her right of government to any man or set of men whatever.

Item. We will, that the people henceforth take the Bible as the only sure guide to heaven; and as many as are offended with other books, which stand in competition with it, may cast them into the fire if they choose: for it is better to enter into life having one book, than having many to be cast into hell.

Item. We will, that preachers and people, cultivate a spirit of mutual forbearance, pray more and dispute less; and while they behold the signs of the times, look up and confidently expect that redemption draweth nigh.

Item. We will, that our weak brethren, who may have been wishing to make the Presbytery of Springfield their king, and wot not what is now become of it, betake themselves to the rock of ages, and follow Jesus for the future.

Item. We will, that the Synod of Kentucky examine every member, who may be suspected of having departed from the Confession of faith, and suspend every such suspected heretic immediately; in order that the oppressed may go free, and taste the sweets of Gospel liberty.

Item. We will, that Ja---------, the author of two letters lately published in Lexington, be encouraged in his zeal to destroy partyism. We will, moreover, that our past conduct be examined into by all who may have correct information; but let foreigners beware of speaking evil of things which they know not.

Item. Finally we will, that all our sister bodies, read their Bibles carefully, that they may see their fate there determined, and prepare for death before it is too late.

Springfield Presbytery, June 28th, 1804.

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(L. S.)

ROBERT MARSHALL, JOHN DUNLAVY, RICHARD M'NEMAR, B. W. STONE, JOHN THOMPSON, DAVID PURVIANCE.

Witnesses.

[Herald of Gospel Liberty 1 (September 1, 1808): 2-3.]

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Richard McNemar

The Last Will and Testament of Springfield Presbytery (1808)

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The Kentucky Revival or the Second Great Awakening?

Kentucky Revival

It all began, not at Cane Ridge, but two years earlier at the emotionally charged communion service at Red River church when a woman at the extreme end of the house, gave vent to her feelings in loud cries and shouts. Only after the movement has spread did Barton W. Stone "learn how to do it" and organized the Cane Ridge ecumenical communion service

The Kentucky Revival or the Second Great Awakening

It began in the Summer of 1799. The sacrament of the Lord's Supper was administered at the church of Red River (near the Tennessee-Kentucky border), which was ministered to, in connection with the Gasper and Muddy river congregations, by the Rev. James McGready who had recently come from Orange county, North Carolina. This meeting was held from Friday until Monday morning, as was then the custom. Mr. Rankin, Mr. Hodge and William McGee, Presbyterian preachers, and John McGee, brother of William, a Methodist preacher, were present. The McGees were on a mission to Ohio, and stopped in their journey to be present at the meeting.

At this meeting nothing remarkable occurred until Monday, when Mr. Hodge was preaching,

When a woman at the extreme end of the house, gave vent to her feelings in loud cries and shouts. When dismissed, the congregation showed no disposition to leave, but say, many of them silently weeping in every part of the house.

"Wm. McGee soon felt such a power come over him that he, not seeming to know what he did, left his seat and sat down on the floor, while John sat trembling under a consciousness of the power of God." (Bangs). John McGee felt an irresistible urge to preach and the people were eager to hear him. He began, and again the woman shouted and would not be silent.

Davidson (a famous church historian) thus describes the scene:

"Too much agitated to preach, he expressed his belief that there was a greater than he preaching and exhorted the people to let the Lord God Omnipotent reign in their hearts, and to submit to him, and their soul should live. Upon this, many broke silence and the renewed vociferations of the female before mentioned, were tremendous.

The Methodist preacher, whose feelings were now wrought up to the highest pitch after a brief debate in his own mind, came to the conclusion

that it was his duty to disregard the usual orderly habits of the denomination, and passed along the aisle shouting and exhorting vehemently. The clamor and confusion were increased tenfold: the flame was blown to its height: screams for mercy were mingled with shouts of ecstasy, and a universal agitation pervaded the whole multitude, who were bowed before it as a field of grain waves before the wind."

Every settlement along the Green river and the Cumberland was full of religious fervor.

Men filled their wagons with beds and provisions and traveled fifty miles to camp upon the ground and hear him preach. The idea was new, hundreds adopted it, and camp meetings began. The first regular general camp meeting was held at the Gasper River Church, in July, 1800; but the rage spread, and a dozen encampments followed in quick succession.

The meetings were always held in the forest near some church which furnished a lodging place for the preachers.

As the meetings progressed and the excitement grew more intense, and the crowd rushed from preacher to preacher, singing, shouting, laughing, calling upon men to repent, men and women fell upon the ground unable to help themselves, and in such numbers that it was impossible for the multitude to move about, especially at night, when the excitement was the greatest, without trampling them, and so those who fell were gathered up and carried to the meeting house, where the "spiritually slain: as they called them, were laid upon the floor. Some of them lay quiet, unable to move or speak; some could talk, but were unable to move; some would shriek as though in greatest agony, and bound about "like a live fish out of water."

In 1807, Richard McNemar published a book on "The Kentucky Revival." He states that the spread of the revival began in Christian and Logan Co., Kentucky and in the Spring of 1801, had reached Mason Co., Kentucky. Beginning at Flemingsburgh in April, moving to Cabin Creek, where a camp meeting was held, then Concord, in Bourbon County, by the last of May and Eagle Creek in Adams Co., Ohio in the beginning of June.

There were meetings in quick succession at Pleasant Point, Kentucky; Indian Creek, in Harrison county (July); Caneridge, near Paris, Bourbon county (August).

"Here were collected all the elements calculated to affect the imagination. The spectacle presented at night was one of the wildest grandeur. The glare of the blazing camp-fires falling on a dense assemblage of heads simultaneously bowed in adoration and reflected back from long ranges of tents upon every side; hundreds of candles and lamps suspended among the trees, together with numerous torches flashing to and fro, throwing an uncertain light upon the tremulous foliage, and giving an appearance of dim and indefinite extent to the depth of the forest; the solemn chanting of hymns swelling and falling on the night wind; the impassioned exhortations; the earnest prayers; the sobs, shrieks, or shouts, bursting from persons under intense agitation of mind; the sudden spasms which seized upon scores, and unexpectedly dashed them to the ground -- all conspired to invest the scene with terrific interest, and to work up the feelings to the highest pitch of excitement. When we add to this, the lateness of the hour to which the exercises were protracted, sometimes till two in the morning, or longer; the eagerness of curiosity stimulated for so long a time previous; the reverent enthusiasm which ascribed the strange contortions witnessed, to the mysterious agency of God; the fervent and sanguine temperament of some of the preachers; and lastly, the boiling zeal of the Methodists, who could not refrain from shouting aloud during the sermon, and shaking hands all round afterwards. . ; take all this into consideration, and it will abate our surprise very much, when informed that the number of persons who fell, was computed by the Rev. James Crawford, who endeavored to keep an accurate account, at the astounding number of about three thousand."

The subjects and promoters of this revival were those who went into and formed that which was afterward called the New Lights. The Presbyterians among them at first formed themselves into a Presbytery in 1803, calling it the Independent Presbytery of Springfield, for John Thompson, pastor of the Church of Springfield (now Springdale, near Cincinnati, Ohio), was one of those who went off, and that church had the honor of giving a name to the seceders.

This arrangement was, however, of short duration, for June 28, 1804, they adopted what they called "The Last Will and Testament of the Presbytery of Springfield" in which those that signed agreed to "sink into union with the body of Christ at large. The signers included Robert Marshall, John Dunlevy, Richard McNemar, Barton W. Stone, John Thompson and David Purviance. This is the founding of the Christian Church denomination.

On April 20th, 1804, the Turtle Creek Church, which was near Lebanon, Ohio, and a part of the Washington Presbytery, supplied by Richard McNemar, reorganized as a New Light Church, adopting four propositions that were presented in writing, signed by William Bedel, Malcham Worley, Matthias Spring, Aaron Tullis, Samuel Sering, Francis Bedel and Richard McNemar; some of these, and probably all of them had been elders in the church.

At the close of public worship the congregation was asked "Do we adopt the Holy Scriputres as the only rule of faith and practice; the only standard of doctrine and discipline? Do we agree to constitute a church in that capacity to transact business?" These were answered in the affirmative.

The one thing which varied in this church from the New Lights was that the New Lights did not allow dancing, although involunary movement brought on by conversion experiences was allowed.

The Turtle Creek Church encouraged voluntary dancing. At first the dancing was very formal -- going round the stand chanting in a low tone of voice, "This is the Holy Ghost: Glory!" But the ensuing Fall and Winter, the dancing became less formal. About the latter end of the year 1804, there wre regular societies of these people, in the state of Ohio, at Turtle Creek, Eagle Creek, Springfield (Springdale), Orangedale, Salem, Beaver Creek, Clear Creek, etc. and in Kentucky at Cabin Creek, Fleminsburgh, Concord, Caneridge, Indian Creek, Bethel, Paint Lick, Shawny Run, and besides, an innumerable multitude dispersed among the people in Tennessee, North Caroina, Virginia and in the Western parts of Pennsylvania.

In 1805 while the people were in this confused, excited state, expecting they knew not what, three men,

John Meacham, Benjamin S. Youngs, and Issachar Bates, on the first day of the year, started from the church at New Lebanon, town of Canaan, in the state of New York, on foot, and arriving in Kentucky, about the first of March, stopped a few days at Paint Lick, whre they were kindly enteretained; thence they journeyed to Caneridge, and spent a few days among the subjects of the revival in that place, courteously enteretained by the Rev. Barton W. Stone; thence they came to Ohio, going first to Springdale, but not doing much there, they went to Turtle creek where they arrived the 22d of March. These were Shaker missionaries and quickly converted Rev. McNemar, and soon the main part of the Turtle Creek Church, believed in the doctrines and became members of The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Coming. This church became the nucleus of the Union Shaker Village, a people who live as celibates, and have all their property in one common fund, managed by those of their own number who are appointed to that work, who honest in all their business transactions, have ever maintained a high charagcter for sobriety and industry, and whose trade mark upon any article is accepted as proof of its being the best of its kind. By 1807 there were between thirty and forty families at Turtle Creek and twenty or thirty families at Eagle Creek who had come into the new belief. The most of the members of Orangedale church which was in Lemon township, Butler county, not far from Lebanon, also came.

Thomas Campbell Restoration Not Reformation

Restoration Not Reformation

Individuals and movements become great because they existed at the right place and the right time in history. For example, events and circumstances (and Divine Providence) thrust the great men of American history into prominence. George Washington preferred the relative anonymity of Mount Vernon to the snows of Valley Forge, but it was the latter that made him "the Father of our country." Abraham Lincoln was a country lawyer until the South's secession forced him into the limelight. The Vietnam Antiwar movement was discounted until Walter Cronkite built up (and sometimes invented) military failures in Southeast Asia.

The Restoration Movement burst on the scene at just the right time in American history. Here are several factors that contributed to its success:

(1) America was a new nation. With its newness came a questioning of all things European and monarchical. Churches either severed or attempted to separate themselves from their European counterparts. The Anglican Church, for example, became the Episcopalian Church. James O'Kelly led the Republical Methodists, who later identified themselves as the Christian Church, out of the Methodist Episcopal Church because Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke insisted on establishing themselves as "bishops," a title that smacked of Old World elitism.

(2) The American governmental experiment gave rise to an interest in "primitive" democracies and republics. There was a widespread cry for going back "to the old paths". Many looked to the ancient city states of Greece for examples of pure democratic constructs. Others looked to the ancient Roman Republic as an example of a Republic. The Campbells evidenced the same kind of interest in going back to "primitive Christianity" because the church of the first century was not sullied by the divisions of the intervening years.

(3) The frontier was a place for experimentation. The American frontier saw all manner of wacky social and religous experimentation. Communitarian experiments occurred at Oneida, NY, New Harmony, IN, as well as many other places. One individual tried carving out his personal kingdom in the region that became Kentucky. Religious groups such as the Shakers, the Quakers, and eventually the Mormons established themselves on the frontier. Why not attempt to simply return to Christianity's roots through restoring the ancient faith and practice as revealed in the Bible?

(4) The guarantee of religious freedom unhampered by state supported churches. The First Amendment to the Constitution guaranteed the right to free expression of religious faith. The amendment guaranteed that no religious denomination would receive state recognition by the Federal Government. (Several states, however, had state churches. Massachusetts was the last to disestablish its state church about 1830.) Since individuals could worship as they pleased, it was possible to instigate major changes and replace longstanding traditions.

More than any of the other leaders in the Restoration Movement, Alexander Campbell pled for restoration. In his series of articles, published in The Christian Baptist, entitled "A Restoration of the Ancient Order of Things," Campbell pointed out that institutions can be reformed but not religion. You can reform a religious organization but you really can't do so with religion itself. Why? Because, as he said, the religion is what it is. It can be subverted, changed, or misused but when it does it becomes something different. You can add traditions, rituals, and dogmas to Christianity but it does not remain Christianity. The only thing you can do with religion is to restore its original practices.

Campbell rightly pointed out that you could reform the Catholic organization and make it a Presbyterian organization, but the attitude of the pope would remain in the hearts and minds of the leaders. The only answer was to return to the pure Word of God and simply do what it says.

That is still good advice. The problem is that the heirs of the Restoration Movement have accumulated their own traditions and adopted their own forms for "papal manipulation." Some have called for a reformation of the Restoration Movement; others for a restoration of the Restoration Movement. The Restoration Movement, hear me, does not need to be restored! It is the faith and practice of the early church that needs to be restored!

Reformation won't cut it! Restoration is a continuing effort and will never find its completion this side of glory. Why? Because we gain clearer understanding of the New Testament milieu, the New Testament text, and the early church each year. New discoveries, better biblical scholarship, and new insight added to the old gives us a better picture of what those early Christians believed and taught. Our commitment to biblical study and origins needs to continue.

With that in mind, I am going to take the time to go back over Campbell's "A Restoration of the Ancient Order of Things" and rethink much of what he said there. You will see the fruit of that study on this blog. In many cases, I'm sure, I will echo much of what Campbell said. In other instances, you will find (if you will compare) that I disagree with Campbell on some things. But I agree with his basic idea -- that the way to Christian unity is through a restoration of pure speech and practice of New Testament principles.

Barton W. Stone

Barton W. Stone

was born on December, 24 1772 to John and Mary Stone in Port Tobacco, Maryland. During his childhood he was exposed to the Church of England, Baptist, Methodist and Episcopalian churches.

After going to a school in North Carolina founded by David Caldwell, Stone heard James McGready (a Presbyterian minister) speak and eventually became a Presbyterian. As Barton Stone looked more deeply into the beliefs of the Presbyterians, especially the Westminster Confession of Faith, he became skeptical of the convergence of church and Biblical beliefs. At odds was the Calvinistic belief in total depravity which Stone found inconsistent with the scriptures.

At the Cane Ridge (Kentucky) revival of 1801, Barton W. Stone revealed his new found conviction of faith as prerequisite for salvation to the chagrin of the Presbyterian Church. He was quickly accused of Arminianism after which his association with the Presbyterian Church was severed. In 1804 the Springfield Presbytery was formed by Stone and others with the same theology. After reexamination, Barton and others in the presbytery were compelled by the scriptures to dissolve the organization for fear of Romanization. This led to the famous, "Last Will and Testament of The Springfield Presbytery."

In 1824 Barton W. Stone met with Alexander Campbell which would eventually lead to the unification of the "Christian" (Stone) movement and the "Reformed Baptist" (Campbell) movement into what is commonly called the Restoration Movement.

Barton W. Stone died on November 9, 1844 in Hannibal Missouri.