# The History Behind The Reformed Presbyterian Church Evangelical Synod



## Josiah (Apr 17, 2009)

This book can now be read in PDF format at the PCA Historical Center. Happpy reading


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## PresbyDane (Apr 17, 2009)

uhh this board is killing me, so many good books to read and such a short life to do it in


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## DonP (Apr 17, 2009)

The united pres church starts Princeton and requires profs to confess and teach no other. Wish we had this today!!

The General Assembly, not content to leave the education of the Church‘s ministers to others, established Princeton Theological Seminary in 1811. The Seminary is to be governed by a Board of Directors directly responsible to the Assembly. Each professor must be an ordained minister in the Church and solemnly subscribe ex animo to her stan- dards with the solemn promise not to teach or insinuate any- thing contrary to what is taught in them. Upon finishing his course, the student is to be a biblical critic, an apologist, a systematic theologian, a counsellor, and a church administra- tor—prepared to be ‗a useful preacher, and a faithful pastor.‘ It is expected that every student in the Theological Seminary will spend a portion of time every morning and evening in devout medita- tion, and self-recollection and examination; in reading the holy Scrip-tures, solely with a view to a personal and practical application of the passage read, to his own heart, character, and circumstances; and in humble fervent prayer and praise to God in secret. The aim is to avoid ‗formality and indifference‘ on the one hand and ‗ostentation and enthusiasm‘ on the other.40 In 1819 the General Assembly also established a Board of Education for the purpose of watching over, encouraging, and supporting the education of the youth of the Church with a view to their offering themselves to the Gospel. To the Board this was not simply another benevolent plan but a ‗matter of fundamental importance to the cause of Christ.‘ In 1824 the Assembly officially recommended Sabbath Schools which had now become an established institution in the Church.41


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## shackleton (Apr 17, 2009)

I wonder what they would think if they knew Elaine Pagels taught there now?


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## DonP (Apr 17, 2009)

All ministers and elders should read the history of the PRes church in the US and see that every time they allow the weaker men in it goes downhill and splits result. 
This is a good history as are The Presbyterian Conflict - Rian and 
Fighting the Good Fight - Hart and Muether, these are excellent !!

You just can't loosen to accommodate them hoping they will get better, you wait till they do. 

Things never change. 

*The Old School was charged with being exclusive and sectarian.61 *

The latter, on the other hand, opposed the existence and operation within the Church of educational and missionary societies not under any ecclesiastical jurisdiction. This oppo- sition was based on at least two practical considerations. First, the independent agency may become unsound; and second, the control of the work of the Church tends to be in the hands of a few men rather than in the hands of the Church as a whole.62 The opposition also stemmed from an appeal to distinctive Presbyterian principles. Some Old School men condemned independent agencies as, in the na- ture of the case, unpresbyterian. Others like Charles Hodge argued that, while not wrong in themselves and often helpful, such agencies are not conducive to the distinctive interests of the Presbyterian Church, which is obliged to educate her own ministers and oversee their work. ‗People may cry out against all this as high churchism, but it is Presbyterianism.‘6


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