PKESBYTERIANISM. 367 PEESBYTEBIANISM. byterian became synonymous in England with Unitarian. In the meantime, there existed in Enghind a few congregations connected with the Scottish Church formerly known as the Secession Church, later as the United Presbj-terian Church. At the formation of the Free Church of Scot- land, the greater number of the English churches connected with the Church of Scotland espoused the cause of the Free Church, and took the name of the Presbyterian Chureh of England. On June 18, 1876, the first synod of the Presbyterian Church of England was constituted bj- the union of the Presbyterian Church and the United Pres- byterian. The united Church has grown from 263 congregations, in 1876, to 311 in 1900. They carry on an extensive home and foreign mission- ary work. The Irish Chukch. The history of Presby- terianism in Scotland is also essentially its his- tory in Ireland. The first presbytery in Ireland was organized in 1642 by Scotch chaplains ac- companying the army sent there to subdue the 'Great Rebellion' of that period. The Presby- terian population increased by immigration from Scotland. Early in the eighteenth century doc- trinal differences began to appear, and in 1726 a schism took place. Those who would not sub- scribe to the Westminster Confession formed themselves into the Presbytery of Antrim. The orthodox body was called the -^ynod of Ulster. Scotch Seceders, coming over in the middle of the eighteentli century, did mtich to maintain purity of doctrine in the northei'n provinces. Owing to laxity of doctrine in the Irish Church, the Covenanters made steady progress, and in 1792 their first Irish presbytery was formed. In 1835 the S^Tiod of Ulster endeavored to stem the tide of lax doctrine by requiring subscrip- tion to the Confession of Faith. The grounds of separation between them and the Seceders being thus removed, a luiion was happily consummated in 1840. The General Assembly of the Presby- terian Church of Ireland consisted at its organi- zation of 433 congregations. It has steadily increased and now numbers nearly seven hundred ministers, with more than one hundred thousand communicants. The Presbyterian, f^ynod of fieeeders in IreUind was formed in 1818 by a union between the two sections of the Scottish Secession Church in Ire- land, the Burghers and the Anti-Burghers. The division arose in Scotland in 1747 in regard to the propriety of an oath administered to the burgesses which pledged the taker to support "the true religion presently professed with- in the realm and authorized by the laws thereof." Those who defended the taking of the oath were called the Burghers; those who con- demned it the Anti-Burghers. This controversy spread to Ireland. At the time of the union of these two bodies there were 97 minister.s. In 1840 the Synod of Seceders united with the Synod of Ulster, taking the title of the Presby- terian Chureh in Ireland. The C.4LVIXI.STIC ^Iethodist or Presbytebi.x Chdbch of Wales has been Calvinistic in its doc- trine from its betrinning. In 1735-36 Howell Harris, Howell Davis, and Daniel Rowlands began to preach in different parts of Wales. Whitefield heard of them and worked with them, and for a short time the Calvinistic ^lethodists of Wales were associated with the Jlethodists of England, but after 1748 Whitefield ceased to act as their head and their connection with England was gradually broken ofi'. In 1811 they held a General Synod at Bala, when 21 persons were or- dained to the ministry. In 1S(J4 the churches of North and South Wales came under the control of one General Assembly. In this Church every elder is a member of presbytery. In 1901 it reported 158,114 members, with total collections of •$1.-119,515. There is a branch of this Church in the United States, with 186 congregations and 108 ministers. The Presdyteeiax Chubch of the British C'OLO>-iES. In Canada the Presbyterian Cliurch dates from the Conquest in 1759. Its first preacher is supposed to have been the Rev. George Henry, chaplain of a British regiment stationed in Quebec. In Montreal the first Pres- bj-terian church was organized in 1790. In Upper Canada the pioneers of Presbyterianism were from the Reformed Dutch Church. One of the earliest missionaries was the Rev. Robert Mc- Dowell, wlio was sent by the Classis of Albany in 1798. Other ministers were sent from Scotland, and later, with immigrants from Scotland and the north of Ireland, Presbyterianism took firia root in Canada. In 1831 The t<ynod of the Presby- terian Church of Canada was formed in connec- tion with the Church of Scotland. It consisted of 25 ministers. The Secession Church of Scot- land was also represented, and was known as the Synod of the United Presbyterian Church in Canada. In 1844, after the disruption in Scot- land, a division took place in the Presbyterian Church in Canada, and 25 ministers withdrew, calling themselves the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. In 1861 this body and the United Presbyterian Chureh in Canada united under the name of the Canada Presbyterian Church, with a roll-call of 226 ministers. The same churches in the low-er provinces also united as the Presby- terian Church of the Lower Provinces. After the confederation of the provinces which now form the Dominion of Canada, there arose a natural desire for an ecclesiastical union which had long been contemplated. Negotiations were begun in 1870, and the union was happily brought about .lune 15, 1875. in the city of Montreal, the Church thus united numbering 634 ministers and 90,058 communicants. There are also Presbyterian churches in all of the other colonies. The Australian Presbyterian Church was founded while that country was still a penal colony. In 1836 the first Presbyterian minister was there in the person of Rev. Mr. Clow, a retired chap- lain of a Highland regiment. The representa- tives of the different forms of Presbyterianism united in 1867 on the abolition of State aid. There were in 1900 six Assemblies or General Synods in Australia and Tasmania, comprising about 1000 ministers and 55.000 communicants, with total contributions to all purposes of about $980,000. In August, 1901, the Presbyterian churches of Australia united and signed the deed in Sydney, the Rev. Dr. ^leiklejohn being the first moderator of the new bodj'. The Xeic Zealand Presbyterian Church was founded about the year 1840. In 1900 it com- prised two assemblies — the Otago and the South- land — with 201 ministers and about 26.000 com- municants, and its contributions were about $310,000. On October 31. 1901. these two bodies united and now form the Presbyterian Church
