up may be learned from the following minute of the date of May 29, 1740: "The Commission of Synod did meet last year according to appointment, in order to conclude upon a method for prosecuting the overture respecting the erecting a seminary of learning. The minutes of that proceeding were read, and although herein it is found that they concluded upon calling the whole Synod together as necessary in that affair, yet the war breaking out between England and Spain, the calling of the Synod was omitted, and the whole affair was laid aside for that time." The war here spoken of would have rendered a voyage to England far more hazardous to those selected to go abroad, or, as the phrase then was, to go home, in order to solicit funds for their projected school; and the difficulty of obtaining the requisite aid would have been greatly increased. The entire scheme was not again resumed.

Next year the contentions in the Synod began to come to a head. The meeting was small. No one from the Presbytery of New York was present. The members of the Old Side party were in a majority; and they availed themselves of the opportunity to protest against the members of the New Brunswick Presbytery being permitted" to sit and vote as members of the Synod." The reasons for this remarkable protest can be seen in full on pages 155-158 of the printed minutes. It is sufficient for our purpose to know that the protest led at once to the separation of the New Brunswick Presbytery from the Synod. Sincere and earnest efforts to effect a reconciliation were made the following year by the Presbytery of New York, and were continued until May, 1745, but all to no purpose.

Failing to bring the two parties to such an understanding as would enable them to come to an amicable adjustment, the Presbytery of New York deemed it their duty to withdraw, and to take measures for the formation of another and separate Synod. Both these they did; not because they approved the conduct of their New Brunswick brethren in the matters alleged against them, but solely on the ground that these brethren had. been irregularly cut off from the Synod, and denied their rights as members of that body. They believed them to be sincere and faithful servants of Christ, and men owned and blessed of

God in their labors; yet they were not blind to their defects. And before they united with them in a new Synod, all concerned entered into an engagement to abstain from denunciations. of their brethren from whom they differed in opinion, from all divisive courses, and to retire peaceably from the new Synod if they could not conscientiously submit to its decisions and orders; terms which would have readily secured their speedy restoration to the old Synod, had they been of a mind to offer or to accept them.

This state of things prevented all further united action to secure the erection of a college or seminary of learning. Three of the Presbyteries in connection with the Synod of Philadelphia made provision for establishing a school or academy as early as November, 1743, which in May, 1744, was taken under the care of the Synod. The plan of the school was a very liberal one. It had a succession of able teachers,* and it rendered good service to the cause of religion and learning. But in the unsettled state of affairs then existing, the Presbytery of New York, consisting almost wholly of ministers and churches in East Jersey, although still in connection with the Synod of Philadelphia, could take no part in fostering this institution. It was yet uncertain whether the Presbytery itself could continue its relations to the Synod; and until this matter was de

*The first teacher of this school was the Rev. Francis Allison, pastor of the Presbyterian church in New London, Pennsylvania. He continued to have charge of the school until his removal from New London to Philadelphia, in 1752, at which time he became the principal of a grammar-school in that city. This Philadelphia school was, in 1755, erected into a college, of which Mr. Allison was made viceprovost. The erection of this college and Mr. Allison's connection with it seemed to do away the necessity of a school, of the rank of a college, under the supervision of the Synod; and the Synod's school continued to be only a preparatory school of a high order. As principal of the Synod's school, Mr. Allison was succeeded by his assistant-teacher, the Rev. Alexander McDowell. In 1754 the Rev. Matthew Wilson was appointed teacher of languages, and Mr. McDowell continued to give instruction in logic, mathematics, and in natural and moral philosophy. This school was finally removed to Newark, Delaware, and received a charter from the Proprietaries, under the name of the Newark Academy.

In 1756, Mr. Allison received from Nassau Hall the degree of Master of Arts, and from the University of Glasgow the degree of Doctor in Divinity, and he is said to have been the first Presbyterian minister in this country upon whom this degree was ever conferred.

termined, it was inexpedient to give their countenance and aid to the Synod's school, or to undertake to erect one to be under their own control, either virtually or directly. It is therefore almost certain that nothing was done by the Presbytery of New York, or by any of the leading members of that body, towards the erection of a college or seminary of learning, until 1745, when the Presbytery separated itself from the Synod, and thereby consummated the first great schism in the Presbyterian Church. It is not improbable, however, that, before this took place, Mr. Dickinson, in order to meet present emergencies, established a private school at Elizabethtown, according to a commonly received tradition to this effect. It is known that he instructed certain candidates for the ministry in their theological studies. About this time, also, Mr. Burr had a classical school at Newark.

After the schism, Messrs. Dickinson, Pierson, Pemberton, Burr, and others of the Presbytery of New York, unable to unite with the Synod of Philadelphia in sustaining their school, not satisfied with the limited course of instruction given at the Neshaminy school, and having become more or less alienated from the colleges of New England, turned their thoughts to the erecting of a college, in which ample provision should be made for the intellectual and religious culture of youth desirous to obtain a liberal education, and more especially for the thorough training of such as were candidates for the holy ministry. That they might the more effectually accomplish their purpose, they sought to obtain a charter for the erection of a college in New Jersey. In this undertaking they had no assistance from either Synod; and most probably at that time they neither sought nor desired it. The Synod of Philadelphia were interested in the success of their own school; the Presbytery of New Brunswick in that of the Neshaminy school. The venerable founder of this school, the Rev. Wm. Tennent, Sr., was still living when measures were taken to obtain the desired charter. His sons and his pupils were the leading men in the Presbyteries of New Brunswick and New Castle. His eldest son, the Rev. Gilbert Tennent, in his famous Nottingham sermon, had openly expressed his preference for private schools

or seminaries, under the care of skilful and experienced Christians (see Dr. Hodge's "History of the Presbyterian Church," vol. ii. page 154), "as the most likely method to stock the Church with a faithful ministry." The Rev. Samuel Blair, one of the most distinguished scholars and ablest men trained at the Log College, had established at his residence in Fagg's Manor, Pennsylvania, and within the limits of the New Castle Presbytery, a classical and theological school, at which President Davies and other prominent ministers* of the gospel were prepared for their work. Had there been no rupture of the old Synod, there is every probability that there would have been a hearty co-operation on the part of the Presbytery of New York with the Synod of Philadelphia in the establishment and endowment of a synodical school. And after the schism, had the Log College ceased to exist before the formation of the Synod of New York, it is morally certain that the Synod, as soon as it was organized, would have promptly given their countenance to the plan of erecting a college, to be under the supervision and control of ministers and laymen whose church relations were with their own body. This is almost evident from the fact that, two years after, upon an application for another charter with greater privileges, the former friends of the Neshaminy school became the earnest and devoted friends of the College of New Jersey. But at the juncture just mentioned it so happened, in the good providence of God, that the work of initiating the measures for the erection of a college and for obtaining a charter devolved almost exclusively upon the leading ministers and laymen of the Presbytery of New York, most of whom resided in East Jersey, and were men of high standing in the community and held in great respect for their wisdom, learning, and piety. In the whole Synod there were no men so likely to find favor in the sight of the Governor and of his Council, and to obtain from them a compliance with their petition.

Lewis Morris was Governor of New Jersey during the whole of the excitement that led to the rupture of the Presbyterian Church, and he was Governor when the first application was

* Dr. John Rodgers, Dr. Robert Smith.

made for a college charter. His son Robert Hunter Morris was the Chief Justice of the Province during the whole of his administration, and for many years after. Both of them must have been more or less familiar with the divisions or parties in the Presbyterian Church; and, although having no particular regard for any one of these parties, it is more than probable that they had a special dislike to the one most nearly allied in views, feelings, and style of preaching to Whitefield and his admirers. This was the party of the Tennents, Blairs, Rowland, Finley, and others of kindred spirit, who were members of the Synod, but not of the Presbytery, of New York.

In 1741 an attempt was made to indict and convict the Rev. John Rowland for horse-stealing, he having been mistaken for a remarkable adventurer of the name of Bell. Robert Hunter Morris presided at the trial, and it is reported that with great severity he charged the grand jury to find a bill against Mr. Rowland. After two refusals and as many reproofs, they complied with the instructions given to them, and found the required bill. Whereupon Mr. Rowland was regularly tried; but he was also acquitted.

The witnesses for the defence were the Rev. William Tennent, Jr., and Messrs. Joshua Anderson and Benjamin Stevens. By the testimony of one or more of these witnesses the fact was fully established that Mr. Rowland was in another Province, and not in New Jersey, on the very day on which the theft was committed. At the same term of the court, for an incorrect statement made by Anderson in reference to another party while giving his testimony in this case, he was, by order of the court, indicted for perjury. It is most probable that the mistake made by him was due to failure of memory, the matter having reference to the time and place when and where he saw this other party.

At a subsequent term of the court, Messrs. Tennent and Stevens were also charged with perjury; and bills were found against them. Mr. Tennent was tried and acquitted. Mr. Stevens was not tried. It is probable that a nolle prosequi was entered by the Attorney-General, in view of the evidence adduced in Mr. Tennent's case.