The document known as the Auburn Affirmation was presented to the public in January of 1924, bearing the signatures of 150 Presbyterian pastors and elders. But just four months later, on May 5, 1924, that list of signatures had grown to 1274 names, a significant percentage of the pastors and ruling elders of the Church as that point in time. How many more might have signed had it been convenient, and how many more were complacent or apathetic about the matter? In sum, the Auburn Affirmation attempted to reduce orthodox Christian doctrine to mere opinion and theory. As much as all of this was a shame upon the denomination, perhaps the greater shame was the almost entire lack of response from theologically conservative Presbyterians. They were caught flat-footed and unawares. Of those that did take notice, most thought that the Auburn Affirmation was just a flash in the pan and would come to nothing. Remarkably, substantive discussion of and opposition to the Affirmation was not voiced until almost a decade later.

Sound doctrine had been under concerted attack since at least the 1890’s. The situation was accelerated somewhat by the 1903 revision of the Westminster Confession of Faith, and even more so by the 1906 inclusion of most of the anti-Calvinistic Cumberland Presbyterian denomination. Thus by 1910, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. felt constrained to pronounce certain doctrines “essential.”

This Doctrinal Deliverance, as it was called, was produced by the Committee on Bills and Overtures in response to a situation arising out of the New York Presbytery in which three candidates for the ministry were ordained even though they refused to affirm the doctrine of the virgin birth of Christ. [Here it is worth noting that J. Gresham Machen spent much of his career defending this particular doctrine.] While the 1910 PCUSA General Assembly dismissed the complaint brought against the three men, it did instruct its Committee on Bills and Overtures to draft a statement which all future candidates would have to affirm in order to be ordained. The Committee’s completed Doctrinal Deliverance set out five articles of faith (reproduced below) which were judged “essential and necessary.”

That was in 1910. Such was the state of the Church that the General Assemblies of both 1916 and 1923 were compelled to reaffirm the Doctrinal Deliverance of 1910. Thus it can be seen that the 1924 Auburn Affirmation was written almost entirely in opposition to this Doctrinal Deliverance. Sadly, by 1927 the General Assembly overturned the Deliverance with the conclusion that the Assembly cannot mandate certain doctrines as “essential and necessary.” In so doing, the 1927 Assembly effectively loosed the Church from its moorings.

The Doctrinal Deliverance of 1910 [reiterated in 1916 and 1923]:

1. It is an essential doctrine of the Word of God and our Standards, that the Holy Spirit did so inspire, guide and move the writers of the Holy Scriptures as to keep them from error. Our Confession says [Chapter I, Section 10]: “The Supreme Judge, by whom all controversies of religion are to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits, are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to rest, can be no other but the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scriptures.

2. It is an essential doctrine of the Word of God and our Standards, that our Lord Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary. The Shorter Catechism states, Question 22: “Christ, the Son of God, became man, by taking to Himself a true body and a reasonable soul, being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and born of her, yet without sin.”

3. It is an essential doctrine of the Word of God and our Standards, that Christ offered up “himself a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice, and to reconcile us to God.” The Scripture saith Christ “once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened in the Spirit.” [Cf. the Westminster Shorter Catechism, Q. 25]

4. It is an essential doctrine of the Word of God and our Standards, concerning our Lord Jesus, that “on the third day he arose form the dead, with the same body in which he suffered; with which also he ascended into heaven, and there sitteth at the right hand of his Father, making intercession.” [Cf. the Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter VIII, Section 4]

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p style=”text-align: justify;”>5. It is an essential doctrine of the Word of God as the supreme Standard of our faith, that the Lord Jesus showed his power and love by working mighty miracles. This working was not contrary to nature, but superior to it. “Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people” [Matthew 9:35]. These great wonders were signs of the divine power of our Lord, making changes in the order of nature. They were equally examples, to his Church, of charity and good-will toward all mankind.
These five articles of faith are essential and necessary. Others are equally so…

Resolved, That, reaffirming the advice of the Adopting Act of 1729, all the Presbyteries within our bounds shall always take care not to admit any candidate for the ministry into the exercise of the sacred function, unless he declares his agreement in opinion with all the essential and necessary articles of the Confession.
[Minutes of the General Assembly, 1910, pages 272 – 273.]

Words to Live By:
As the Rev. Bill Iverson is fond of saying, “God has no grand-children.” By that Rev. Iverson means that the work of evangelism must be done afresh in every generation. The Church can never rest from that good work. And we must constantly bear in mind that salvation belongs to the Lord. Our preaching and our witnessing must be done in complete reliance upon the Lord to bring about conviction of sin and conversion to saving faith. If the Church strays, it is because the people have strayed.

Can Two Walk Together, Except They Be Agreed?

In the May 4, 1936 edition of the Presbyterian Guardian (now on-line), Dr. J. Gresham Machen wrote an article on what constituted schism.  The times in which he was writing were perilous times for both Reformed ministers and the members of their churches. Already a Mandate had been passed by the 1934 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., which threatened suspension of any elder, teaching or ruling, who would support by their presence, purse, and prayers any board outside of the denominational boards. Indeed, young pastors could not be received into churches or presbyteries who refused to support the official boards of the church. In the midst of this, a Presbyterian Constitutional Covenant Union had been set up by the small Presbyterian conservative faction in the church.  One of the principles of that Covenant union plainly contemplated separation from the main-line church if it continued in its apostasy.

Responding to that Covenant Union were those ministers and churches who denounced the sin of schism, plainly inferring that any who contemplated separation would be guilty of the sin of schism.  It was that false charge which Machen proceeded in this article to refute, and refute very strongly.

Consider his words here.  He wrote just eight months before his untimely death, “It is not schism to break away from an apostate church.  It is a schism to remain in an apostate church, since to remain in an apostate church is to separate from the true church of Jesus Christ.”  He then went on to explain that as of May 4, the Mandate of 1934 and 1935 had yet to be declared constitutional.  It was simply an administrative pronouncement up to that time.  If the General Assembly of 1936, to be held in several weeks, approved it, then it would be an action of the church.  If that happened, as we know from the position of hindsight that it did, then all true believers had it as their duty to depart from the denomination because that church had placed the word of man above the Word of God and has dethroned Jesus Christ.

Dr. Machen  was seeking to go to the last measure to keep the church from going down this path of apostasy.  Yet it would be a vain seeking as the May 1936 General Assembly did approve the Mandate of 1934, and the die was cast.  All those ministers, who had rejected the earlier Mandate, and had appealed to the next highest court their suspension from the ministry by their respective presbyteries, had their appeals denied.

To read the full article by Dr. Machen, click here.

Words to Live By:  God alone is Lord of the conscience and has left it free from any doctrines or commandments of men, (a) which are in any respect contrary to the Word of God,or (b) which, in regard to matters of faith and worship are not governed by the Word of God

We continue today the second portion of Barry Waugh’s account of the Rev. John Gloucester, pastor of the first African American Presbyterian church on U.S. soil. Rev. Gloucester died on May 2, 1822. Mr. Waugh regularly posts on his own blog at Presbyterians of the Past.

The Reverend John Gloucester and America’s First Presbyterian Church for Africans

While Rev. Gloucester was ministering in Philadelphia and struggling to complete his ordination requirements, he was also working to free his wife, Rhoda, and their four children, James, Jeremiah, Stephen and Mary, who were still in Tennessee. Some of his time was spent raising funds, but considerable assistance came from his friends and supporters. Concerned people in Philadelphia were able to raise five hundred dollars towards the mercy mission. Benjamin Rush arranged opportunities for Gloucester to preach in Princeton, New Jersey, where more assistance was obtained. The combined efforts raised fifteen-hundred dollars—over twenty thousand dollars in today’s money—so that John could purchase the freedom of his own wife and their children. John had to return to Tennessee to complete the manumission process, so during his absence, the Evangelical Society arranged pulpit supplies for his church for the three months of his absence. The supplies included Archibald Alexander, J. J. Janeway, George Potts, and William Green. When John returned to Philadelphia with his family, the African mission congregation sent a note to Dr. Alexander expressing their gratitude for the supply ministers who served during John’s extended absence. The covenant family that had been divided by slavery had been reunited through the generosity and concern of many.

The year that John Gloucester was ordained was also significant for the church building program. Rev. George Potts led a special service in the fall when the corner stone was laid to begin construction, and when the facility was completed a service of dedication was held on May 31, 1811. Dr. Archibald Alexander, who had been a driving force for the organization of an African Presbyterian church, preached the dedication sermon. William Catto comments that the building was not remarkable, but was a simple brick building sixty feet long by thirty three feet wide “without any ornament about it.” The walls enclosed a room with four rows of pews, each of which had seventeen benches, and a balcony on three of the four walls giving a total capacity of over six hundred people. This building served the congregation until it moved to a new location in the city later in the nineteenth century.

John Gloucester was a popular preacher in Philadelphia and he had a busy and fruitful ministry. Dr. Rush often attended the African Church’s services because he enjoyed hearing the African minister preach. Not only could he preach, but he could sing as well. He would often go to the corner of Seventh and Shippen Streets, near the church property, and start singing hymns. When a crowd gathered, he would stop his singing and begin preaching from his Bible. He was a faithful visitor of his congregation as well as other people who were not associated with his congregation. Knowing the importance of education, he established a school for children with the financial help of Samuel Mills. John continued in his labors until he contracted consumption—tuberculosis—and became so weak that he could no longer preach. He sent a letter, dated June 1820, to the Philadelphia Presbytery requesting supplies for his pulpit due to his poor health. The Reverend John Gloucester died on May 2, 1822. He died a young man in his forty sixth year. At the time of his death, his congregation had grown to over three hundred members.

The African congregation turned to an old friend to assist them with their worship services until a minister could be called. Ashbel Green returned to Philadelphia after having resigned the presidency of Princeton College in the fall of 1822. He had returned to become the editor of the newspaper, The Presbyterian. Green had preached to Africans in Princeton and now he supplied the pulpit on Sunday afternoons for about two-and-a-half years while a pastor was sought. He continued to edit the periodical for twelve years and during this time he intermittently worshiped, preached, and administered the sacraments for the Africans. He commented that at one service in January of 1835, “we had at our communion table today, communicants from the four quarters of the world,” including an East Indian that he had baptized. Ashbel Green continued to minister to the Africans and the last sermon of his life was preached to a black congregation in Princeton.

The Evangelical Society of Philadelphia had initiated the work that led to the African Presbyterian Church, but the involvement of the judicatories entered the picture as John Gloucester became a candidate for the ministry. Some of the doctrinal views of Blackburn and Coffin in Tennessee differed from those of Alexander, Green, and Janeway in Philadelphia, but they were able to come together for the good of the Gospel and John Gloucester’s ministry with the African mission. The Philadelphia African missionary work exemplifies the essential principle of Presbyterian polity that the elders are in an organic relationship for the common good of the Presbyterian Church. The driving force behind the presbyters’ efforts for the free Africans was the proclamation of the Gospel of sovereign grace as delimited by Scripture and the Westminster Standards in the context of a Presbyterian congregation.

In some ways, though, the relationship of John Gloucester and the First African Church to the Presbyterian judicatories was unusual. Rev. Gloucester, according to Catto, never received a call from the congregation to be its minister, and he was never installed as their pastor. The reason given by the denominational leaders for this unusual arrangement was the tenuous nature of the church finances. Even though Rev. Gloucester had an unusual relationship with the African congregation, he was a participating presbyter in the church courts. At the 1817 General Assembly, Rev. Gloucester was an alternate commissioner who participated in the deliberations when Rev. George C. Potts had to resign his seat. Since the meeting would have incorporated commissioners from different areas of the nation, one might wonder about the thoughts of the presbyters as Commissioner Gloucester took his seat. In 1828 the death of Gloucester is listed with the deaths of other ministers who died during the preceding year, but there is no reason given as to why it took six years to record his passing.

The account of the life and labors of Rev. Gloucester presents a truly remarkable picture of a man who overcame his personal educational limitations, persevered as a freeman to buy his family’s liberty, and followed the call of God to be a missionary minister in Pennsylvania. But he was not alone, because when the times were toughest his Presbyterian brethren and other friends in Philadelphia and the nation pitched in with time and finances to assist his ministry. He had to persevere through extended periods of a divided covenant household as he worked in Philadelphia with his family still in slavery in Tennessee. It seems that he had some difficulty achieving the educational requirements for a Presbyterian minister, but he worked and traveled back-and-forth from Philadelphia to Tennessee to fulfill the necessary licensure and ordination requirements. His submission and patience exhibit his convictions as a Presbyterian dedicated to the denomination’s polity and doctrine. Building programs are always a difficult time for a minister, but John Gloucester worked through that trying time of “fund raising” and with the assistance of friends and the Presbyterian Church, the building was completed. Though he struggled in his ministry, the blessings of God’s covenant faithfulness can be seen in his family. His sons, Stephen, James and Jeremiah became Presbyterian ministers. Jeremiah became the founding pastor of the Second African Presbyterian Church in 1824, Stephen’s ministerial labors led to the founding of the Central Presbyterian Church in 1844, and James’s ministerial work led to the organization of the Siloam Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn, New York in 1849. Though the Presbyterians that are most respected from history are often teachers in educational institutions, pastors of large urban churches, or writers of books and articles, John Gloucester was a struggling and persistent hero worthy of remembrance and respect.

This year marks the bicentennial of the founding of the first church in America dedicated to African American Presbyterians and this anniversary should lead to reflection upon the history of black people in Presbyterianism. Two hundred years of black Presbyterianism have seen some less than stellar periods no matter the area of the country, whether it was antebellum segregation into different buildings, segregation into sections of the same building, or total exclusion of Africans from some churches. In the years following the Civil War (or War Between the States, if you prefer), a crucial decision for black Presbyterians was made when the Presbyterian Church in the United States voted to have separate churches for the races. Presbyterians should learn from the past. Paul is clear, in Galatians 3:28, that “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Paul’s admonition deals with racial, economic, and sexual identities. James adds that there is to be no respect of persons in the church’s worship so that one group may have a seat of glory and another a lesser seat (2:1-4). In Acts 6:1ff, the Apostles were confronted with a racial conflict. Luke tells us that there was “a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected” when food was distributed. The response to this issue was the office of deacon, and the deacons were to objectively and equitably minister to the widows; the apostles did not respond by separating the Greeks from the Hebrews and making racially distinct groups. Racial prejudice is a perpetual issue for the church and society, but sanctification requires the Christian as an individual and the church as a whole to set aside the sin of prejudice and pursue righteousness. Righteousness recognizes that there are no minorities in the Kingdom of God, there are no separate theologies nor congregations for racial groups, and there must not be a disassociated Presbyterianism that denies its racial connectionalism as an element of its connectional polity.

Our post today comes from the pen of a good friend of the PCA Historical Center, Dr. Barry Waugh. This is an excerpt from a larger article which he wrote for the Historical Center several years ago. It was on this day, May 2nd, in 1822 that the Rev. John Gloucester died. He had for many years ministered effectively as the pastor of the first Presbyterian church organized specifically to serve the free African population in Philadelphia. To keep our post somewhat short, the following portion of the story takes us only through the time of Rev. Gloucester’s ordination:— 

The Reverend John Gloucester and America’s First Presbyterian Church for Africans

by Barry Waugh

John Gloucester’s remarkable story began in Philadelphia as the young United States was between the extended conflict for independence and the soon near catastrophe of the War of 1812. The Presbyterian Church was growing as the nation expanded its borders but its plan had not yet taken into account the free Africans in the rapidly growing northeastern states. Philadelphia was a hub of activity when Archibald Alexander arrived there in May of 1807. His relocation north of the Mason-Dixon Line from his natal Virginia was for the purpose of accepting a call to be the minister of the Third Presbyterian Church. As Rev. Alexander settled into his new location, he was overcome by the conditions of poverty in the outskirts of the great city. He responded by organizing and drafting the constitution for what became known as the Evangelical Society of Philadelphia. The purpose of the organization was to send each of its members out on Sunday evenings, in teams of two, for evangelism among the impoverished. As the work of the Society expanded, the desire to establish an African Presbyterian Church with an African pastor became a key concern as the group sought the “spiritual welfare of the colored population of the city.”

Dr. Alexander’s first choice to undertake the African mission work was John Chavis (1763-1838). Chavis was free-born in Granville County, North Carolina, educated by John Witherspoon at Princeton College, and licensed by the Presbytery of Lexington in Virginia in 1801. He was appointed by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church to be the first African home missionary. Chavis was the obvious choice because he was ready for the African work since he possessed a license to preach. E. T. Thompson notes that he was never an ordained minister and he served the church as a licentiate. Unfortunately, despite having great qualifications, Chavis turned down the opportunity. Alexander and the Evangelical Society returned to the pastoral search process, which was particularly difficult due to the general lack of education among the African community.

At about the same time these events were unfolding in Philadelphia, a candidate was being prepared for the Pennsylvania work in the distant state of Tennessee. John Gloucester, who was known at the time as “Jack,” was converted by God’s grace in Christ through the ministry of the missionary, Gideon Blackburn. It was not an easy mission field due to the often treacherous terrain, but Blackburn had a Daniel Boone constitution that especially suited him for such a physically difficult call. As their relationship grew, Blackburn recognized in Jack a zeal for learning and a thirst for sanctifying growth, so he purchased the young man from his master in 1806. Jack had to leave his wife and children in slavery while he studied with Blackburn.

Once Rev. Blackburn owned Jack, he proceeded to petition the magistrate for Jack’s freedom. Since 1801, the Tennessee legislature had not denied any petitions for manumission, so Blackburn had good reason to believe that his petition would be granted. In August, he presented the petition to the Tennessee Senate. The Senate was reluctant to deal with the case, so the petition was referred to the House of Representatives. The House reciprocated and returned the petition to the Senate. It became evident that the lawmakers did not want to free Jack because they killed the petition at the state level through a parliamentary procedure. Good research has concluded from these events that Blackburn’s petition was denied because it involved a literate black man pursuing the ministry—Jack could potentially become a leader among the slave community and bring instability to the slave system. Having failed with the state government, Blackburn turned to the Blount County Court where he obtained both the manumission and the change of name. Why Blackburn did not pursue manumission through the lesser magistrate in the first place is not clear.

The newly freed and renamed John Gloucester was taken under care as a ministerial student at the October 1806 meeting of the Presbytery of Union. Having the oversight of his presbytery, the young man pursued his education as the first African attending Greeneville College. After a few months of study, Gloucester attended the February 1807 meeting of presbytery to be examined for licensure, but even though he was found to be proficient in English grammar and geography, he was not licensed due to difficulties raised concerning his fulfilling other educational requirements. At this point, Rev. Charles Coffin, who taught at Greeneville College and was its president, intervened for Gloucester by writing to Ashbel Green in Philadelphia, who was a member of the city’s Evangelical Society. Their correspondence led to Gloucester being encouraged to appear at the approaching meeting of the Presbyterian Church General Assembly. Blackburn had already left for the annual meeting because he was the commissioner from the Presbytery of Union, and Gloucester left in April to make the meeting scheduled for May.

When the General Assembly convened in Philadelphia at the First Presbyterian Church, Gideon Blackburn had arrived to take his seat as the commissioner from the Presbytery of Union. Gloucester had made it to Philadelphia and met-up with his mentor, who introduced him to Ashbel Green, J. J. Janeway, and Archibald Alexander, as well as other presbyters. In conjunction with Gloucester’s visit, the Presbytery of Union had sent an overture to the General Assembly concerning his licensure. The Assembly adopted the recommendation of its committee appointed to handle the overture’s disposition and referred the question of Gloucester’s licensure to the Presbytery of Philadelphia. Referral to the Philadelphia Presbytery indicates that the mechanism had been engaged by the ministerial leadership of the Evangelical Society to bring Gloucester to the city for the African mission work. The presbytery meeting took place the next month, and Philadelphia Presbytery referred the licensure back to the Presbytery of Union believing that it was more qualified as the court of immediate jurisdiction to complete the licensure process with John. Though the licensure issue was referred, Gloucester’s path to missions with the free Africans had begun.

The financial support of John Gloucester and the funds needed to build a church worship facility were supplied from several sources. John’s salary was paid for three months by the Evangelical Society and the remainder of his financial stipend was to be collected from other sources. One source was missionary funding from the General Assembly, which provided three months of support each year from 1810 through 1819. His work was given amounts varying from twenty to one hundred sixty dollars each year. Private donors, presbytery and synod missionary funds, donations from the Africans themselves, and individual churches may have contributed to the remaining finances needed for his salary. The mission was blessed with a growing congregation, which meant that street corner meetings and temporary facilities needed to be replaced with an adequate building for worship. In July of 1809, the Evangelical Society agreed to “provide a house for present use,” and it sought subscriptions to buy property and erect “a house of worship.” A flyer was published to advertise the African mission and raise funds to support a work for “a reformation among the blacks of this place.” According to some historical opinions, many of the newly freed Africans entering Philadelphia were contributing to disorder in the city because of their lack of education, little if any trade skills, lack of money, and no direction or guidance.

As the slavery issue became more heated in later years, some political and intellectual leaders believed that immediate emancipation would result in a large, impoverished, and unskilled population of free blacks that would be too much for the nation to handle—Philadelphia’s experience at the time of Gloucester’s ministry exemplifies this analysis. The flyer appealed for the cause of the free blacks and concluded “that the African race is not inferior to the inhabitants of the other quarters of the world, either in the natural endowments of the understanding or the heart,” and they needed evangelism just as any other race or nationality. The flyer notes further that there were already many free Blacks who were Presbyterian and that they found it “inconvenient and unpleasant … to attend the houses of worship frequented by the white people.” The Evangelical Society separated the races for worship and worked toward constructing a worship facility dedicated to the Africans and pastored by John Gloucester. Though the African worshippers may have felt that it was “inconvenient and unpleasant” to worship with the whites, one can only speculate as to how the face of American Presbyterianism might have been changed if the Evangelical Society had taught and led the congregation to a racially united worship service within an existing Philadelphia congregation.

Raising the funds for the African Presbyterian Church building was a difficult process, however in October the Evangelical Society met to consider purchasing land for the church. Gloucester was present at the meeting and “was satisfied with the Resolution” that budgeted fourteen hundred dollars for the land. The work of fund raising continued into the Fall of 1810 when the Evangelical Society located a property, which was described as “three lots on Seventh Street in the District of Southwark, between South and Fitzwater Streets, together yielding” a nearly square lot of just under six thousand square feet. The projected cost for a building was five thousand dollars, but the amount of money pledged at that time was roughly twenty two hundred dollars. The money-in-hand was enhanced by a one hundred dollar contribution from Philadelphia’s Dr. Benjamin Rush, whose name was heard nearly as often as the other famous Philadelphia Benjamin. As the reality of the difficult task of raising the money set in, the plan was modified to construct a smaller building at an estimated cost of 3851.21, or nearly 55,000.00 in today’s money.

Up to this point, Gloucester’s ministry had been accomplished as a licentiate, but the long and difficult road to ordination came to an end when he was examined by the Presbytery of Union, meeting at Baker’s Creek, on April 30, 1810. As was most appropriate, his mentor Gideon Blackburn was the moderator of that meeting. Presbytery instructed the new minister to move from Tennessee and unite with the Philadelphia Presbytery. The instruction to relocate to Philadelphia is a bit misleading because John had been active in the African mission in Pennsylvania for some time. Rev. Gloucester’s transfer of membership was delayed a bit because he was not received into the Philadelphia Presbytery until April of the following year.