Rut now signs of the approaching national storm began to appear. In 1858 the southern part of the New School Church, dropped otr and organized under the title of the United Synod of the Presbyterian Church. )oath. A hundred min isters and 200 churches constituted this synod, which remained a separate organization until 1864, when it joined the General Assembly of the Southern Presbyterian Church. In 1801 the Old School branch suffered a similar defection, as the Assembly of that year took action which grieved the Southern commissioners, who with drew and organized the Southern, Presbyterian Church (see below). With the abolition of slavery and the close of the Civil War a new spirit arose in the two branches of the Church in the North. The New School has proved its soundness in the faith, and the inheritance of a common ancestry asserted itself. In 1866 the two Assemblies met in Saint Louis. and for the first time in a generation partook of the Lord's Supper together. A committee was appointed to consider plans for union, these plans were sub mitted to the various presbyteries. and in 1869 the two Assemblies met and paved the way for the union which was consummated in November, 1869, in Pittsburg. The next year both Assemblies met in the First Church of Philadelphia as one body. At this time the ministers numbered 4238, the churches 4520, and the members 446,561. In ISS8 the General Assembly celebrated in the city of Philadelphia the first century of its organiza tion. In 1788, at the time of the first Assembly, there were but 419 churches and not more than 20,000 communicants. At the centennial there were 6436 churches reported, and about 700,000 communica nts.
In 1889 the General Assembly received over tures from a number of presbyteries asking for some revision of the doctrinal standards. In re ply that Assembly sent overtures to all the pres byteries asking whether revision were desired, and to what extent. About two-thirds of the pres byteries expressed a desire for revision, and the Assembly of 1890 appointed a committee on re Alston, consisting, of 15 ministers and 10 ruling elders. This committee presented a report in 1892 recommending sundry changes in the Confes sion of Faith. This report was sent to the pres byteries, affirmative votes from two-thirds of the presbyte••7es being needed to secure the adoption of the submitted changes. During this discussion the Church was agitated by the trial of Prof. Charles A. Briggs of Union Theological Semi nary on the charge of heresy. This so unsettled the mind of the that many who under ordinary circumstances would have voted for revision believed it an inopportune time to sub ject the standards to discussion or change. The overtures from the Assembly therefore failed of the constitutional majority and revision was for the time abandoned. The demand for some modi fication of the Confession continued, however, and by 1900 had become so general that the .Assembly of that year appointed another committee of 15 to consider the whole question of a restatement of doctrine. It reported progress in 1901, was
enlarged and continued with instructions to re port the next year. At the Assembly of 1902 in the city of New York a unanimous report was made. The committee recommended that addi tional statements concerning the love of God for all men, missions, and the Holy Spirit be added in the form of new chapters to the Confession of Faith. It recommended a declaratory statement in reference to chapter iii. and chapter x., sec tion 3; and textual modifications in chapter xvi., section 7; chapter xxii., section 3; ehapter .xxv., section 6. These by direction of the Gen eral were transmitted to the pres byteries for their action—report to be made to the Assembly of 1903. The committee also presented a brief statement of the Reformed Faith in 16 articles which was designed not to take the place of the Confession of Faith as a doctrinal standard of the Presbyterian Church, but to be an interpretation of it. This "Brief Statement of the Reformed Faith" was adopted with only two dissenting voices. It relates to the principal subjects of the Reformed Faith such as the ,Being of God, revelation, the eternal purpose, the creation, the sin of man, the grace of God, election, the Holy Spirit. the resurreetion, and the life to come, the Church and the sacraments, the last judgment, and Christian service.
The great. national expansion following the war with Spain in 1898 gave a marked advance to the missionary operations of the Church. The field of home missions, which already extended to Alaska, was widened to inchide Porto Rico, and, later, Cuba, while in the the Philip pine islands were added to the vast foreign mis sionary territory.
The Presbyterian Church has also been true to her historic devotion to education, secular and sacred. Presbyterian academies and colleges are found iu all the States and Territories, while 13 theological seminaries under the care of the Assembly provide for the Church all educated ministry. They arc as follows: Princeton Theo logical Seminary, at Princeton, N. J. (founded 1812) ; Auburn Theological Seminary, at Auburn, N. Y. (1320) ; 'Western Theological Seminary. at Allegheny, Pa. (1827) : Lane Theological Semi nary, at. Cincinnati (1832) ; Union Theological Seminary, New York (1836) ; McCo•nmick Theo logical Seminary, at Chicago (under General As 1859) ; Danville Theological Seminary, at Danville, Ky. (1859) ; San Francisco Theological Seminary, at San Anselmo, Cal. (1871) ; the Theological Seminary at Omaha, Neb. ( 1S91) ; and two German theological seminaries, at Bloomfield, N. J. (1869), and at Dubuque, Iowa (1852). There is also a theological department in connection with Biddle University for Freed men. established in 1868, and with Lincoln Uni versity at Oxford, Pa., established in 1871; both of these are supplying ministers for the colored population. For further details, see the separate articles on the more important of the institutions named above.