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116-589: Primary doctrinal distinctions which separate the RPCNA from other Reformed and Presbyterian denominations in North America are: its continued adherence to the historical practice of Reformed Christianity, contained in the Westminster Confession of Faith, of practicing exclusive psalmody , and its continuing affirmation of Jesus as mediatorial king, ruling over all nations. Prior to the 1960s,

232-413: A Particular Baptist , introduced hymn-singing in his congregation in 1673, leading to a debate with Isaac Marlow , who opposed congregational singing altogether. By the end of the seventeenth century, hymn-singing was on its way to being acceptable among English Baptists. In 1719, Isaac Watts , an early eighteenth-century English Congregationalist minister, published Psalms of David, Imitated in

348-484: A cantor who would sing each verse with the congregation responding by singing " Hallelujah ." Such a pattern appears outside the psalms; each song in the obscure early Christian poetry collection known as the Odes of Solomon concludes with a "Hallelujah", indicating a similar liturgical purpose for its ancient users. The Psalms of David formed the core of liturgical music for the early church, to which other songs from

464-746: A hendiatris , referring to the various titles of the Psalms as used in the Septuagint . Another basis would be the Christology of the Psalms, especially seen in Hebrews 2:12 quoting Psalm 22:22 as the words of Christ, demonstrating Christ being among the congregants during worship. The clean, pure and holy one of Psalm 24, who is able to stand perfectly before the Father, would also be the King of glory, and

580-491: A lecture against slavery while dressed as a soldier, after which he plunged a sword into a bible containing a bladder of fake blood ( pokeberry juice) that splattered those nearby. On September 9, 1739, a literate slave named Jemmy led a rebellion against South Carolina slaveholders in an event referred to as the Stono Rebellion (also known as Cato's Conspiracy and Cato's Rebellion.) The runaway slaves involved in

696-548: A concern for Black civil rights. However, James Stewart advocates a more nuanced understanding of the relationship of abolition and anti-slavery prior to the Civil War: While instructive, the distinction [between anti-slavery and abolition] can also be misleading, especially in assessing abolitionism's political impact. For one thing, slaveholders never bothered with such fine points. Many immediate abolitionists showed no less concern than did other white Northerners about

812-750: A crime, in 1865. This was a direct result of the Union victory in the American Civil War . The central issue of the war was slavery. Historian James M. McPherson in 1964 defined an abolitionist "as one who before the Civil War had agitated for the immediate, unconditional and total abolition of slavery in the United States". He notes that many historians have used a broader definition without his emphasis on immediacy. Thus he does not include opponents of slavery such as Abraham Lincoln or

928-493: A political movement is usually dated from 1 January 1831, when Wm. Lloyd Garrison (as he always signed himself) published the first issue of his new weekly newspaper, The Liberator (1831), which appeared without interruption until slavery in the United States was abolished in 1865, when it closed. Abolitionists included those who joined the American Anti-Slavery Society or its auxiliary groups in

1044-535: A principle in his justification for the practice. Later exclusive psalmodists contended that since God has given Christians a collection of 150 worship songs and provides scriptural examples of them being sung, God requires these songs to be used in public worship and forbids others to be sung (2 Chronicles 5:13, 2 Chronicles 20:21, 2 Chronicles 29:30, Ezra 3:11, Exodus 15:1). As such, "psalms, hymns and spiritual songs" in Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16 would serve as

1160-405: A principle was far more than just the wish to prevent the expansion of slavery. After 1840, abolitionists rejected this because it let sin continue to exist; they demanded that slavery end everywhere, immediately and completely. John Brown was the only abolitionist to have actually planned a violent insurrection, though David Walker promoted the idea. The abolitionist movement was strengthened by

1276-493: A prominent Bostonian, wrote The Selling of Joseph (1700) in protest of the widening practice of outright slavery as opposed to indentured servitude in the colonies. This is the earliest-recorded anti-slavery tract published in the future United States. Slavery was banned in the colony of Georgia soon after its founding in 1733. The colony's founder, James Edward Oglethorpe , fended off repeated attempts by South Carolina merchants and land speculators to introduce slavery into

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1392-730: A sense of protection from their government. Led by Nathaniel Bacon , the unification that occurred between the white lower class and blacks during this rebellion was perceived as dangerous and thus was quashed with the implementation of the Virginia Slave Codes of 1705 . Still, this event introduced the premise that blacks and whites could work together towards the goal of self-liberation, which became increasingly prevalent as abolition gained traction within America. The first statement against slavery in Colonial America

1508-448: A slave. According to historian Steven Pincus , many of the colonial legislatures worked to enact laws that would limit slavery. The Provincial legislature of Massachusetts Bay , as noted by historian Gary B. Nash , approved a law "prohibiting the importation and purchase of slaves by any Massachusetts citizen." The Loyalist governor of Massachusetts , Thomas Hutchinson , vetoed the law, an action that prompted angered reaction from

1624-618: Is also a mission presbytery in Kobe, Japan, as well as an associated mission congregation in Larnaca, Cyprus. The RPCNA is composed of the following presbyteries: Since 1980, the denomination has experienced growth, seeing an increase of approximately 25% in membership and 11% in the number of churches. This growth has not been uniform, however; many churches have been started in urban areas, while many older congregations, especially in rural areas, have continued to decline. As of 31 December 2007,

1740-460: Is still a fitting choice for Christians. Along with many other conservative denominations, the RPCNA interprets the Bible as requiring all elders to be male . Unlike most related denominations, however, deacons in the RPCNA may be either male or female; the first women deacons were ordained in 1888 (with attempts to limit the diaconate to men having failed as recently as 2002). In 1939, a committee of

1856-558: The Genevan Psalter , though it contained some gospel canticles and catechetical songs. This psalter was to become a prototype for Reformed worship , but Calvin did not object to the use of original hymns in other churches, and he did not appeal to scripture in his preface to the psalter justifying his preference for the Psalms. Once the Genevan Psalter was translated into German in 1573, exclusive psalmody became

1972-546: The American Revolutionary War and was reorganized in 1784, with Benjamin Franklin as its first president. In 1777, independent Vermont , not yet a state, became the first polity in North America to prohibit slavery: slaves were not directly freed, but masters were required to remove slaves from Vermont. The Constitution included several provisions which accommodated slavery, although none used

2088-487: The Homestead Act ), many Reformed Presbyterians began to differ with the denomination's official position. Between 1774 and 1891, the denomination experienced four schisms, three of them involving members who deemed the denomination's position too strict. Despite such disagreements, the denomination held to its doctrines with few changes. Holding to the principle that covenants should continue to be updated and sworn,

2204-642: The Massachusetts courts in freedom suits , spurred on the decision made in the Somerset v. Stewart case, which although not applying the colonies was still received positively by American abolitionists. Boston lawyer Benjamin Kent represented them. In 1766, Kent won a case ( Slew v. Whipple ) to liberate Jenny Slew , a mixed-race woman who had been kidnapped in Massachusetts and then handled as

2320-643: The Old and New Testaments ( canticles ) were added. In addition, early Christians wrote original compositions for singing in worship alongside biblical texts. Soon after the New Testament period, psalmody took a preferred position in the worship of the church. There was some hymn-writing in Eastern churches , but in the West psalms and canticles were used almost exclusively until the time of Ambrose of Milan at

2436-945: The Orthodox Presbyterian Church , the Presbyterian Church in America , the United Reformed Churches in North America , Reformed Church in the United States , and the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church along with a few other smaller Reformed and Presbyterian denominations as members. Today, the RPCNA has congregations in twenty-eight U.S. states and three Canadian provinces throughout North America, as well as maintaining close relations with "sister churches" of Reformed Presbyterians in South Sudan, Ireland, Scotland, and Australia. There

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2552-754: The Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania . The denomination holds a week-long International Conference every four years; the most recent was held in July 2016 at Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, Indiana . A denominational magazine, the Reformed Presbyterian Witness , is published monthly. The RPCNA has sponsored missions in several different fields throughout

2668-736: The Regulative Principle of Worship is as follows: 1. The Psalms are a trustworthy guide to proper worship. 2. The Psalms command that we sing of the works and deeds of the Lord: [Psalm 9:11 ESV] Sing praises to the LORD, who sits enthroned in Zion! Tell among the peoples his deeds! [Psalm 105:2 ESV] Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works! [Psalm 107:22 ESV] And let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving, and tell of his deeds in songs of joy! 3. The works and deeds of

2784-598: The Republican Party ; they called for the immediate end to expansion of slavery before 1861. The religious component of American abolitionism was great. It began with the Quakers , then moved to the other Protestants with the Second Great Awakening of the early 19th century. Many leaders were ministers. Saying slavery was sinful made its evil easy to understand, and tended to arouse fervor for

2900-543: The Underground Railroad . This was made illegal by the federal Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 , arguably the most hated and most openly evaded federal legislation in the nation's history. Nevertheless, participants like Harriet Tubman , Henry Highland Garnet , Alexander Crummell , Amos Noë Freeman , and others continued with their work. Abolitionists were particularly active in Ohio , where some worked directly in

3016-595: The United States Constitution did or did not protect slavery. This issue arose in the late 1840s after the publication of The Unconstitutionality of Slavery by Lysander Spooner . The Garrisonians, led by Garrison and Wendell Phillips , publicly burned copies of the Constitution, called it a pact with slavery, and demanded its abolition and replacement. Another camp, led by Lysander Spooner , Gerrit Smith , and eventually Douglass, considered

3132-551: The international slave trade , but South Carolina reversed its decision. Between the Revolutionary War and 1804, laws, constitutions, or court decisions in each of the Northern states provided for the gradual or immediate abolition of slavery. No Southern state adopted similar policies. In 1807, Congress made the importation of slaves a crime, effective January 1, 1808, which was as soon as Article I, section 9 of

3248-549: The transatlantic slave trade . In Colonial America, a few German Quakers issued the 1688 Germantown Quaker Petition Against Slavery , which marked the beginning of the American abolitionist movement. Before the Revolutionary War , evangelical colonists were the primary advocates for the opposition to slavery and the slave trade, doing so on the basis of humanitarian ethics. Still, others such as James Oglethorpe ,

3364-521: The upper South , freed slaves, sometimes in their wills. Many noted they had been moved by the revolutionary ideals of the equality of men. The number of free blacks as a proportion of the black population in the upper South increased from less than 1 percent to nearly 10 percent between 1790 and 1810 as a result of these actions. Some slave owners, concerned about the increase in free blacks, which they viewed as destabilizing, freed slaves on condition that they emigrate to Africa . All U.S. states abolished

3480-477: The 17th century. Instead of adopting revised versions of the Confession, as most other Westminsterian Presbyterian churches in North America have done, the RPCNA instead holds to the original Westminster Confession, but states a few objections in its official testimony, which it prints side-by-side with the Confession. Today, the RPCNA denied only three small portions of the original Confession, besides qualifying

3596-793: The 1830s and 1840s, as the movement fragmented. The fragmented anti-slavery movement included groups such as the Liberty Party ; the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society ; the American Missionary Association ; and the Church Anti-Slavery Society . Historians traditionally distinguish between moderate anti-slavery reformers or gradualists, who concentrated on stopping the spread of slavery, and radical abolitionists or immediatists, whose demands for unconditional emancipation often merged with

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3712-755: The Bridge Street African Methodist Episcopal Church , and lived on Duffield Street. His fellow Duffield Street residents Thomas and Harriet Truesdell were leading members of the abolitionist movement. Mr. Truesdell was a founding member of the Providence Anti-slavery Society before moving to Brooklyn in 1838. Harriet Truesdell was also very active in the movement, organizing an anti-slavery convention in Pennsylvania Hall (Philadelphia) . Another prominent Brooklyn-based abolitionist

3828-727: The Church of Scotland, of which the Reformed Presbyterian Church considered itself a continuation, had been established as the state church throughout Great Britain . As the Reformed Presbyterian Church believed that that state church had never officially been disestablished in a legal manner, it considered other churches to have no legal right to exist. Therefore, attending a worship service of any other church amounted to participation in an illegal organization. In common with other churches in

3944-809: The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (1780). The Quaker Quarterly Meeting of Chester, Pennsylvania , made its first protest in 1711. Within a few decades the entire slave trade was under attack, being opposed by such Quaker leaders as William Burling, Benjamin Lay , Ralph Sandiford, William Southby, John Woolman , and Anthony Benezet . Benezet was particularly influential, inspiring a later generation of notable anti-slavery activists, including Granville Sharp , John Wesley , Thomas Clarkson , Olaudah Equiano , Benjamin Franklin , Benjamin Rush , Absalom Jones , and Bishop Richard Allen , among others. Samuel Sewall ,

4060-567: The Confession's naming of the Pope as Antichrist . In view of its confessional adherence, the RPCNA is doctrinally close to other Reformed denominations. Historically, the "distinctive principles" of Reformed Presbyterians were political: they held to a continuing obligation of the Covenants, both National and Solemn League, upon all who had sworn them and upon all their descendants, and the belief that governmental rejection of such documents caused

4176-431: The Constitution allowed. A small but dedicated group, under leaders such as William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass , agitated for abolition in the mid-19th century. John Brown became an advocate and militia leader in attempting to end slavery by force of arms. In the Civil War, immediate emancipation became a war goal for the Union in 1861 and was fully achieved in 1865. American abolitionism began well before

4292-416: The Constitution to be an anti-slavery document. Using an argument based upon Natural Law and a form of social contract theory, they said that slavery fell outside the Constitution's scope of legitimate authority and therefore should be abolished. Another split in the abolitionist movement was along class lines. The artisan republicanism of Robert Dale Owen and Frances Wright stood in stark contrast to

4408-513: The Covenants. Since the Constitution contains no reference to Christ or to the Covenants, Reformed Presbyterians refused to vote, hold governmental office, serve on juries , or swear any oath of loyalty to the United States government or any lower government; Canadian members similarly refrained from such activities. Members who did participate in the political process would typically be disciplined by their congregational session. Although

4524-502: The East were organized in cities, while many others were countryside congregations. Farther west, however, most congregations were founded in the countryside. This is due in large part to the way of life of many Reformed Presbyterian settlers. Typically, a large group of settlers would gather and move to an area favorable for farming, where a congregation would soon be organized for them. Some congregations saw extremely fast growth in this way:

4640-511: The Language of the New Testament, in which "imitated" means "interpreted," rather than being a strict translation. Some complained that his psalms were not translations at all, but paraphrases. Watts also wrote many hymns, many of which imitated the psalms. The rise of pietism in the eighteenth century led to an even greater dominance of hymns, and many of the Reformed reintroduced hymns in

4756-583: The Lord Jesus are most fully revealed in the New Testament. 4. The Psalms command new songs (Psalms 33:3, Psalms 40:3, Psalms 96:1, Psalms 98:1, Psalms 144:9, Psalms 149:1). Therefore, the argument goes, new songs concerning the works and deeds of Jesus from the NT are commanded and required for proper worship. Additionally, EP doctrine does not allow the "whole council of God" to be included in sung worship, vs allowing it in all other elements. One objection to

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4872-509: The Mississippi, as far west as southwestern Iowa . In 1890, there were twelve East Coast city congregations and thirty-five congregations west of the Mississippi, as far west as Seattle, Washington . More presbyteries were organized as well: in 1840, there were 5; in 1850, 5; in 1860, 6; in 1870, 8; in 1880, 10; in 1890, 11. During the middle decades of the 19th century, the denomination experienced widespread growth. Many congregations in

4988-482: The New York Presbytery (since renamed Atlantic), while five New York City congregations with 1,075 communicant members had been reduced to one congregation of only about forty people. Although large numbers of losses were due to individuals leaving for other churches, some departures involved many people at once. For example, over 100 communicant members left First Boston congregation when their pastor left

5104-633: The North Cedar ( Denison, Kansas ) congregation did not exist in 1870 but had eighty-four members in 1872. Other growth came from different sources. Although American congregations had been governed by an American church since 1798, the Scottish and Irish synods continued to operate missions in Canada . Over the years, several Scottish-synod congregations joined the North American synod, and with

5220-770: The North. In 1835 alone, abolitionists mailed over a million pieces of anti-slavery literature to the South, giving rise to the gag rules in Congress, after the theft of mail from the Charleston, South Carolina , post office, and much back-and-forth about whether postmasters were required to deliver this mail. According to the Postmaster General , they were not. Under the Constitution, the importation of enslaved persons could not be prohibited until 1808 (20 years). As

5336-464: The Old Testament, including the Psalms, only speak of Jesus in "types and shadows", not directly using His revealed NT name. The argument claims that to rightfully sing of Jesus as Lord and Savior, one must sing incorporating the proper name of Jesus (i.e., Joshua, Yeshua, Ἰησοῦς, ישוע) to refer to the revealed Jesus, which the Psalms do not do. An additional objection to the doctrine aligned to

5452-542: The Psalms have been composed by Christians since the earliest days of the church, but psalms were preferred by the early church and used almost exclusively until the end of the fourth century. During the Protestant Reformation , Martin Luther and many other reformers, including those associated with the Reformed tradition, used hymns as well as psalms, but John Calvin preferred the Psalms and they were

5568-475: The RPCNA adopted the "Covenant of 1871" as their new church covenant in that year. Some members saw certain aspects of this covenant as major departures from historic Reformed Presbyterian positions, causing some to leave and join the Reformed Presbytery. Perhaps the most enduring change during the 19th century involved participation in social reform movements. One cause favored by the denomination

5684-455: The RPCNA from other churches was its prohibition of occasional hearing , the practice of attending worship services or preaching by ministers of other denominations. Although the practice is permitted today, it was long prohibited. For example, records from an eastern Pennsylvania congregation note that two women were "severely admonished" for attending a weekday Methodist camp-meeting in 1821. The grounds for this prohibition were historical:

5800-631: The RPCNA had 6,334 members in 75 North American congregations, along with 238 more members in four congregations in Japan. By 2016 communicant membership had risen to 7,076. The "stronghold" areas of the denomination are in northeastern Kansas , central Indiana , and western Pennsylvania . The denomination sponsors Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania (all members of the Board of Corporators are required to be Reformed Presbyterians), and operates

5916-476: The RPCNA held these principles firmly for many decades, it moderated its positions beginning in the 1960s; by 1969, the official position allowed members to vote and run for office. Some members yet continue the historic dissenting positions, but the majority of members participate like members of most other conservative Christian denominations, and Reformed Presbyterian Bob Lyon served in the Kansas Senate from 2001 to 2005. Another long-held belief distinguishing

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6032-412: The RPCNA refused to vote in elections or participate in government in the United States due to it not directly acknowledging Christ's authority over it, and since has continued (at some times more heavily than others), to lobby the federal government to expressly submit to the authority of Jesus Christ in the United States Constitution . The RPCNA has a long history, having been a separate denomination in

6148-450: The RPCNA requires that members of other denominations who take communion be personally interviewed by the session before partaking, another practice that distinguishes the RPCNA from other Reformed denominations. The Reformed Presbyterian Church in North America is also a member of the North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council (NAPARC), an organization of confessional Presbyterian and Continental Reformed churches, which also includes

6264-447: The RPCNA's Global Mission Board. Fraternal relations are maintained with the following bodies: From 1946 through 2008 inclusive RPCNA held membership in the National Association of Evangelicals . Exclusive psalmody Exclusive psalmody is the practice of singing only the biblical Psalms in congregational singing as worship . Today it is practised by several Protestant, especially Reformed denominations. Hymns besides

6380-419: The Reformed Presbyterian lineage, the RPCNA holds to the Regulative Principle of Worship and construes it to require a cappella singing of the Psalms only in worship, as they believe it to be the only form of congregational singing evidenced in and thus permitted by the Bible. While this practice was not unusual in past centuries, many other denominations have permitted hymns and instrumental music over

6496-446: The South, members of the abolitionist movement or other people opposing slavery were often targets of lynch mob violence before the American Civil War . Numerous known abolitionists lived, worked, and worshipped in downtown Brooklyn , from Henry Ward Beecher , who auctioned slaves into freedom from the pulpit of Plymouth Church, to Nathaniel Eggleston, a leader of the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society , who also preached at

6612-495: The Synod brought in a unanimous recommendation that women may be ordained as elders. The Synod did not adopt the committee recommendation. The sacrament of the Lord's Supper , or Communion, is served to all communicant members present at a church celebrating the sacrament. Until recent decades, only Reformed Presbyterians were permitted to take the sacrament, but members of other denominations considered to be Bible-believing have been extended this privilege in recent decades. However,

6728-459: The Underground Railroad. Since only the Ohio River separated free Ohio from slave Kentucky, it was a popular destination for fugitive slaves. Supporters helped them there, in many cases to cross Lake Erie by boat, into Canada. The Western Reserve area of northeast Ohio was "probably the most intensely antislavery section of the country." The Oberlin-Wellington Rescue got national publicity. Abolitionist John Brown grew up in Hudson, Ohio . In

6844-483: The United States since the Colonial era . In Scotland , where the denomination originated, Reformed Presbyterians have been a separate branch since the late 17th century, and prior to that, a part of the original Presbyterian Church of Scotland that came out of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. As its name suggests, the RPCNA is presbyterian in polity, with each individual congregation being governed by two or more elders . The church considers this to be

6960-408: The United States was founded as a nation. In 1652, Rhode Island made it illegal for any person, black or white, to be "bound" longer than ten years. The law, however, was widely ignored, and Rhode Island became involved in the slave trade in 1700. The first act of resistance against an upper-class white colonial government from slaves can be seen in Bacon's Rebellion in 1676. Occurring in Virginia,

7076-432: The activities of free African Americans, especially in the Black church , who argued that the old Biblical justifications for slavery contradicted the New Testament . African-American activists and their writings were rarely heard outside the Black community. However, they were tremendously influential on a few sympathetic white people, most prominently the first white activist to reach prominence, Wm. Lloyd Garrison , who

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7192-465: The alcohol business in 1841, and by the 1880s, both church officers and ordinary members were prohibited from alcohol use. By 1886, tobacco use was strongly condemned as well, with ordination being prohibited to anyone who used it. As a result, the denomination explicitly supported the Eighteenth Amendment and other prohibition efforts for many decades. Immigration from Reformed Presbyterian churches in Ireland and Scotland provided sustained growth for

7308-465: The annual Synod meeting. Each minister (teaching elder), whether serving as the pastor of a congregation or not, is automatically a delegate to his presbytery and to the synod. The following terminology is derived from the Directory for Church Government in the RPCNA's church constitution: The RPCNA, like the other churches of the Reformed Presbyterian Global Alliance, descends from the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland , which formed in 1690. From

7424-420: The blessing of the Irish synod, an entire presbytery ("New Brunswick and Nova Scotia") transferred in 1879. Few complete congregations have joined the RPCNA over the years, other than these, although the denomination has seen one merger: in 1969, the RPCNA merged with the remnants of the Associate Presbyterian Church, which by this point consisted of just four churches. After sixty years of nearly constant growth,

7540-428: The case of Commonwealth v. Nathaniel Jennison , reaffirmed the case of Brom and Bett v. Ashley , which held that even slaves were people who had a constitutional right to liberty. This gave freedom to slaves, effectively abolishing slavery. States with a greater economic interest in slaves, such as New York and New Jersey, passed gradual emancipation laws. While some of these laws were gradual, these states enacted

7656-409: The cause. The debate about slavery was often based on what the Bible said or did not say about it. John Brown , who had studied the Bible for the ministry, proclaimed that he was "an instrument of God". As such, abolitionism in the United States was identified by historians as an expression of moralism , it often operated in tandem with another social reform effort, the temperance movement . Slavery

7772-406: The colony. His motivations included tactical defense against Spanish collusion with runaway slaves, and prevention of Georgia's largely reformed criminal population from replicating South Carolina's planter class structure. In 1739, he wrote to the Georgia Trustees urging them to hold firm: If we allow slaves we act against the very principles by which we associated together, which was to relieve

7888-627: The decline of the denomination's South Carolina and Tennessee congregations: most members there, finding it hard to be abolitionists in slave-owning societies, moved to southern Ohio , Indiana , and Illinois ; by the beginning of the Civil War , all of the old congregations in South Carolina and Tennessee were gone. The only congregations remaining in slave-holding territory were in Baltimore, Maryland , and in Roney's Point, Virginia (now West Virginia ), near Wheeling . Another area of social activism focused on alcohol and tobacco . While drunkenness had always been prohibited, members were prohibited from

8004-452: The denomination in 1912, while Craftsbury, Vermont , and Second Newburg ( Newburgh, New York ) congregations left the denomination as entire congregations, in 1906 and 1919 respectively. After the mid-1910s, even the founding of new congregations was uncommon, with only three each in the 1920s and 1930s, and none at all between 1937 and 1950. The Reformed Presbyterian Church has held to the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms since

8120-548: The denomination. Some congregations, especially those on the East Coast , saw rapid growth; over ninety members, many of them immigrants, joined the Baltimore, Maryland, congregation in a single three-year period. Meanwhile, members moved west and many congregations were organized. In 1840, there were four East Coast city congregations and zero congregations west of the Mississippi River , the farthest west congregation being in southwestern Illinois . In 1865, there were nine East Coast city congregations and eight congregations west of

8236-612: The denominational split in 1891 led to a denomination-wide downturn. Although the departure of twelve hundred members in the split still left over ten thousand communicant members, nearly constant loss led to a total of just 3,804 communicant members by 1980. During this time, the large congregations in the big cities of the East gradually withered: while in 1891, there were two congregations in Boston, Massachusetts , five in New York City , three in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania , and one in Baltimore, in 1980 there were only four in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia combined. Settlement and growth in

8352-470: The disposal of the blacks, and that this foul and unnatural crime of holding men in bondage will finally be rooted out from our land." In the 1830s there was a progressive shift in thinking in the North. Mainstream opinion changed from gradual emancipation and resettlement of freed blacks in Africa, sometimes a condition of their manumission , to immediatism: freeing all the slaves immediately and sorting out

8468-658: The distresses. Whereas, now we should occasion the misery of thousands in Africa, by setting men upon using arts to buy and bring into perpetual slavery the poor people who now live there free. In 1737, Quaker abolitionist Benjamin Lay published All Slave-Keepers That Keep the Innocent in Bondage: Apostates , which was printed by his friend, Benjamin Franklin. The following year, during the 1738 Philadelphia Yearly Meeting in Burlington, New Jersey , Lay gave

8584-467: The dominant mode of Reformed congregational singing for 200 years following John Calvin everywhere but in Hungary . Anglicans had no theological objection to hymns, but they failed to nurture a tradition of English-language hymnody. Works like the 1562 English Sternhold and Hopkins Psalter were popular among the Reformed. Literal translations of the Psalms began to be preferred by the Reformed over

8700-571: The early eighteenth century. Hymnody became acceptable for Presbyterians and Anglicans around the middle of the nineteenth century, though the Reformed Presbyterians continue to insist on exclusive a cappella psalmody. The practice of exclusive psalmody is sometimes based on a strict (sometimes called ' Puritan ') interpretation of the regulative principle of worship , the teaching that only scriptural elements may be included in worship. However, John Calvin did not invoke such

8816-612: The end of the 20 years approached, an Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves sailed through Congress with little opposition. President Jefferson signed it, and it went effect on January 1, 1808. In 1820, the Act to Protect the Commerce of the United States and Punish the Crime of Piracy was passed. This law made importing slaves into the United States a death penalty offense . The Confederate States of America continued this prohibition with

8932-820: The end of the fourth century. Even then, the psalms were not completely replaced by original hymns. During the Protestant Reformation , new church music was written in order to revive the practice of congregational singing, which had been replaced by the singing of monastic choirs in Latin. Martin Luther and leaders of the Reformed wing of the Reformation in Strasbourg , Constance , and elsewhere wrote music for psalm texts as well as original hymns, but John Calvin in Geneva used biblical psalms almost exclusively in

9048-755: The fate of the nation's "precious legacies of freedom". Immediatism became most difficult to distinguish from broader anti-Southern opinions once ordinary citizens began articulating these intertwining beliefs. Nearly all Northern politicians, such as Abraham Lincoln , rejected the "immediate emancipation" called for by the abolitionists, seeing it as "extreme". Indeed, many Northern leaders, including Lincoln, Stephen Douglas (the Democratic nominee in 1860), John C. Frémont (the Republican nominee in 1856), and Ulysses S. Grant married into slave-owning Southern families without any moral qualms. Anti-slavery as

9164-523: The first abolition laws in the entire " New World ". In the State of New York, the enslaved population was transformed into indentured servants before being granted full emancipation in 1827. In other states, abolitionist legislation provided freedom only for the children of the enslaved. In New Jersey, slavery was not fully prohibited until the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment . All of

9280-537: The formulation of abolitionist ideology in the United States. The federal government prohibited the transatlantic slave trade in 1808, prohibited the slave trade in the District of Columbia in 1850, outlawed slavery in the District of Columbia in 1862, and, with the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution , made slavery unconstitutional altogether, except as punishment for

9396-579: The founder of the colony of Georgia , also retained political motivations for the removal of slavery. Prohibiting slavery through the 1735 Georgia Experiment in part to prevent Spanish partnership with Georgia's runaway slaves, Oglethorpe eventually revoked the act in 1750 after the Spanish's defeat in the Battle of Bloody Marsh eight years prior. During the Revolutionary era, all states abolished

9512-467: The general public. American abolitionists were cheered by the decision in Somerset v Stewart (1772), which prohibited slavery in the United Kingdom, though not in its colonies. In 1774, the influential Fairfax Resolves called for an end to the "wicked, cruel and unnatural" Atlantic slave trade . One of the first articles advocating the emancipation of slaves and the abolition of slavery

9628-545: The government to become immoral or even undeserving of obedience. This led them to reject the government of Scotland after the Glorious Revolution , as well as those of Ireland and England, which had also acknowledged but later dropped the Covenants. Furthermore, as the American colonies had been under English jurisdiction at the time of the Solemn League, the United States was held as responsible to uphold

9744-886: The looser translations of the Genevan and Sternhold and Hopkins psalters in the latter part of the sixteenth century. Some of the most influential psalters of the seventeenth century were the Scottish Psalter of 1635 and the Bay Psalm Book of 1640, which was the first book printed in America. Seventeenth-century Reformed theologians did not reach a consensus on the propriety of hymns in worship, and several argued that they were permissible, including John Ball and Edward Leigh . Thomas Ford also seems to have favored an inclusive rather than exclusive psalmody, while clearly preferring biblical psalms. Benjamin Keach ,

9860-452: The movement that sought to end slavery in the country , was active from the colonial era until the American Civil War , the end of which brought about the abolition of American slavery, except as punishment for a crime , through the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (ratified 1865). The anti-slavery movement originated during the Age of Enlightenment , focused on ending

9976-536: The non-use of musical instruments is that the Greek word ψαλμός ( psalmos ) literally means " a striking of strings". [1] This means that the use of musical instruments is implied by the word itself. Presbyterian denominations practising exclusive psalmody: Dutch Reformed denominations practising exclusive psalmody: Abolitionism in the United States In the United States, abolitionism ,

10092-503: The only Mediator who can lead the congregation to worship the Father (John 14:6). One counterargument to the doctrine is the fact that exclusive psalmody (EP) implicitly prohibits the New Testament (NT) revealed name of Jesus in sung worship. The EP position is that the word ישוע ("yeshua") is used many times in the Psalms and it is the root source of the name of Jesus. The assertion is that this satisfies any requirement concerning

10208-407: The only divinely-appointed method of church government. As with most Presbyterian denominations, the RPCNA is divided into several presbyteries , but unlike several other smaller Presbyterian denominations, the supreme governing body is a single synod , not a general assembly . Each congregation may send one ruling elder delegate (two for larger congregations) to its presbytery meeting, as well as to

10324-569: The only music allowed for worship in Geneva . This became the norm for the next 200 years of Reformed worship . Hymnody became acceptable again for the Reformed in the middle of the nineteenth century, though several denominations, notably the Reformed Presbyterians , continue the practice of exclusive psalmody. The singing of psalms was included in the synagogue service at the time of Jesus. Early Christians appropriated this tradition, as well as many other elements of synagogue worship. The whole congregation may have sung , or there may have been

10440-543: The organization of Wesleyan Methodist Connection by Orange Scott in 1843, and the formation of the Free Methodist Church by Benjamin Titus Roberts in 1860 (which is reflected in the name of Church). The True Wesleyan a periodical founded by Orange Scott and Jotham Horton was used to disseminate abolitionist views. The Methodist and Quaker branches of Christianity played an integral part in

10556-547: The other states north of Maryland began gradual abolition of slavery between 1781 and 1804, based on the Pennsylvania model and by 1804, all the Northern states had passed laws to gradually or immediately abolish it. Some slaves continued in involuntary, unpaid "indentured servitude" for two more decades, and others were moved south and sold to new owners in slave states . Some individual slaveholders, particularly in

10672-492: The perspective of the slave, recognizing their agency and subsequent humanity as cause for self-liberation. Slave revolts following the Stono Rebellion were a present mode of abolition undertaken by slaves and were an indicator of black agency that brewed beneath the surface of the abolitionist movement for decades and eventually sprouted later on through figures such as Frederick Douglass, an escaped black freeman who

10788-517: The politics of prominent elite abolitionists such as industrialist Arthur Tappan and his evangelist brother Lewis . While the former pair opposed slavery on a basis of solidarity of "wage slaves" with "chattel slaves", the Whiggish Tappans strongly rejected this view, opposing the characterization of Northern workers as "slaves" in any sense. (Lott, 129–130) Many American abolitionists took an active role in opposing slavery by supporting

10904-469: The problems later. This change was in many cases sudden, a consequence of the individual's coming in direct contact with the horrors of American slavery, or hearing of them from a credible source. As it was put by Amos Adams Lawrence , who witnessed the capture and return to slavery of Anthony Burns , "we went to bed one night old-fashioned, conservative, Compromise Union Whigs and waked up stark mad Abolitionists." The American beginning of abolitionism as

11020-534: The rebellion saw European indentured servants and African people (of indentured, enslaved , and free negroes ) band together against William Berkeley because of his refusal to fully remove Native American tribes in the region. At the time, Native Americans in the region were hosting raids against lower-class settlers encroaching on their land after the Third Powhatan War (1644–1646), which left many white and black indentured servants and slaves without

11136-502: The revolt intended to reach Spanish-controlled Florida to attain freedom, but their plans were thwarted by white colonists in Charlestown, South Carolina. The event resulted in 25 colonists and 35 to 50 African slaves killed, as well as the implementation of the 1740 Negro Act to prevent another slave uprising. In her book, "The Slave's Cause" by Manisha Sinha, Sinha considers the Stono Rebellion to be an important act of abolition from

11252-500: The sentence of death and prohibited the import of slaves. In 1830, most Americans were, at least in principle, opposed to slavery. However, opponents of slavery deliberated on how to end the institution, as well as what would become of the slaves once they were free. As put in The Philanthropist : "If the chain of slavery can be broken,   ... we may cherish the hope   ... that proper means will be devised for

11368-605: The slaves of masters who failed to register them with the state, along with the "future children" of enslaved mothers. Those enslaved in Pennsylvania before the 1780 law went into effect were not freed until 1847. Massachusetts took a much more radical position. In 1780, during the Revolution, Massachusetts ratified its constitution and included within it a clause that declared all men equal. Based upon this clause, several freedom suits were filed by enslaved African Americans living in Massachusetts. In 1783, its Supreme Court, in

11484-617: The time of the Revolution Settlement in 1691, the foremost of Reformed Presbyterian "distinctive principles" was the practice of political dissent from the British government. The first Reformed Presbyterian congregation in North America was organized in Middle Octorara ( Lancaster County, Pennsylvania ) in 1738, but the first presbytery, organized by four immigrant Irish and Scottish Reformed Presbyterian ministers,

11600-462: The transatlantic slave trade by 1798. South Carolina , which had abolished the slave trade in 1787, reversed that decision in 1803. In the American South , freedom suits were rejected by the courts, which held that the rights in the state constitutions did not apply to African Americans . The formation of Christian denominations that heralded abolitionism as a moral issue occurred, such as

11716-505: The use of Jesus' name in sung worship. The complication arises when the context of the word in the Psalms is considered. ישוע is always used to speak of salvation, not directly as the name of the One who is the revealed source and author of salvation, namely Jesus. This may be theological/linguistic gymnastics to support a false conclusion. It is widely understood by the Christian community that

11832-747: The western United States continued for a time, with new presbyteries being organized in Colorado , the Pacific Coast , and the Prairie Provinces of Canada . However, the countryside congregations also dwindled, from 83 in 1891 to 25 in 1980. Presbyteries, too, were disorganized and combined, with only seven presbyteries remaining in 1980. Perhaps the most drastic examples of both congregational and presbyterial decline involve New York: by 1980, four presbyteries (Philadelphia, New York, Vermont, and New Brunswick and Nova Scotia) had been combined into

11948-703: The word. Passed unanimously by the Congress of the Confederation in 1787, the Northwest Ordinance forbade slavery in the Northwest Territory , a vast area (the future Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin) in which slavery had been legal, but population was sparse. The first state to begin a gradual abolition of slavery was Pennsylvania, in 1780. All importation of slaves was prohibited, but none were freed at first, only

12064-515: The years. As a result, the RPCNA's manner of worship is quite distinctive today, and with the change in the official position on political action, the manner of worship is the chief distinction of the RPCNA today. Although alcohol use was prohibited for all members for many decades, in recent years both ordinary members and ordained officers have been permitted to use it. Chapter 26 of the RPCNA Testimony states that abstinence from alcohol

12180-688: The years. In North America, several different home missions were established among specific people: Several other missions were organized for foreign work: Other missionary works supported by the RPCNA include the National Reformed Presbyterian Church of Bolivia and Reformed Presbyterian Church in Chile . Several short-term mission trips are sponsored by the denomination each year, both foreign and domestic. As well, some RPCNA members work formally or informally as missionaries in other countries, although not officially with

12296-461: Was Rev. Joshua Leavitt , trained as a lawyer at Yale, who stopped practicing law in order to attend Yale Divinity School , and subsequently edited the abolitionist newspaper The Emancipator and campaigned against slavery, as well as advocating other social reforms. In 1841, Leavitt published The Financial Power of Slavery , which argued that the South was draining the national economy due to its reliance on enslaved workers. In 2007, Duffield Street

12412-638: Was a popular orator and essayist for the abolitionist cause. The struggle between Georgia and South Carolina led to the first debates in Parliament over the issue of slavery, occurring between 1740 and 1742. Rhode Island Quakers, associated with Moses Brown , were among the first in America to free slaves. Benjamin Rush was another leader, as were many Quakers. John Woolman gave up most of his business in 1756 to devote himself to campaigning against slavery along with other Quakers. Between 1764 and 1774, seventeen enslaved African Americans appeared before

12528-402: Was also attacked, to a lesser degree, as harmful on economic grounds. Evidence was that the South, with many enslaved African Americans on plantations , was definitely poorer than the North, which had few. The institution remained solid in the South, and that region's customs and social beliefs evolved into a strident defense of slavery in response to the rise of a growing anti-slavery stance in

12644-790: Was even arrested for insurrection and brought before Lord Cornwallis in 1780. After the ratification of the United States Constitution in 1788, the denomination held the document (and therefore all governments under it) to be immoral, and participation in such a government to be likewise immoral, because the constitution contained no recognition of Christ as the King of Nations. Therefore, the RPCNA eschewed various civic rights, such as voting and jury service, and church courts disciplined members who exercised them. As few Americans held such principles, and as obedience sometimes caused difficulty (for example, oaths of allegiance were prohibited, preventing foreign-born Reformed Presbyterians from becoming citizens, and preventing Reformed Presbyterians to make use of

12760-637: Was given the name Abolitionist Place , and the Truesdells' home at 227 Duffield received landmark status in 2021. Abolitionists nationwide were outraged by the murder of white abolitionist and journalist Elijah Parish Lovejoy by a proslavery mob in Alton, Illinois on 7 November 1837. Six months later, Pennsylvania Hall , an abolitionist venue in Philadelphia , was burnt to the ground by another proslavery mob on May 17, 1838. Both events contributed to

12876-410: Was its most effective propagandist. Garrison's efforts to recruit eloquent spokesmen led to the discovery of ex-slave Frederick Douglass , who eventually became a prominent activist in his own right. Eventually, Douglass would publish his own widely distributed abolitionist newspaper, North Star . In the early 1850s, the American abolitionist movement split into two camps over the question of whether

12992-567: Was not formed until 1774. At this time, Reformed Presbyterians were mostly concentrated in eastern Pennsylvania and northern South Carolina , but small groups of Reformed Presbyterians existed in Massachusetts , Connecticut , New York , western Pennsylvania, North Carolina , and Georgia . During the American Revolution , most Reformed Presbyterians fought for independence —the one minister that served in South Carolina

13108-527: Was the abolition of slavery , beginning officially in 1800, when members were prohibited from slave owning and from the slave trade. Enthusiastically supported by most members, the denomination took a strong stance against the Confederacy and faithfully supported the North in the Civil War , as Reformed Presbyterians enlisted to fight against the "slaveholders' rebellion." Abolition was a major factor in

13224-537: Was to stop slavery within the Quaker community, where 70% of Quakers owned slaves between 1681 and 1705. It acknowledged the universal rights of all people. While the Quaker establishment did not take action at that time, the unusually early, clear, and forceful argument in the 1688 Germantown Quaker Petition Against Slavery initiated the spirit that finally led to the end of slavery in the Society of Friends (1776) and in

13340-717: Was written by Thomas Paine . Titled "African Slavery in America", it appeared on 8 March 1775 in the Postscript to the Pennsylvania Journal and Weekly Advertiser . The Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage (Pennsylvania Abolition Society) was the first American abolition society, formed 14 April 1775, in Philadelphia, primarily by Quakers. The society suspended operations during

13456-469: Was written in 1688 by the Religious Society of Friends . On 18 February 1688, Francis Daniel Pastorius , the brothers Derick and Abraham op den Graeff and Gerrit Hendricksz of Germantown, Pennsylvania , drafted the 1688 Germantown Quaker Petition Against Slavery , a two-page condemnation of slavery, and sent it to the governing bodies of their Quaker church. The intention of the document

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