he God of
justice to give success to the respective armies! East of the ocean the
petition would be, "Lord, prosper the British arms;" on the west, "Lord,
favor the patriots of these oppressed colonies!" Such are the
consequences natively resulting from a theory alike unscriptural and
absurd--a principle deep-laid in that system of opposition to the Lord
and his Anointed, emphatically styled "The Antichrist."

Great national revolutions are special trials of the faith and patience
of the saints. No firmness of character will be proof against popular
opinion and example at such a time, without special aid from on high.
Reformed Presbyterians in the colonies rejoiced in the success of the
revolution, issuing in the independence of the United States. Their
expectation of immediate advantage to the reformation cause was too
sanguine. A new frame of civil polity was to be devised by the colonies,
now that they were independent of the British crown. This state of
things called forth the exercise of human intellect, in more than
ordinary measure, to meet the emergency. Frames of national policy are
apt to warp the judgment of good men. Even Christian ministers are prone
to substitute the maxims of human prudence for the precepts of
inspiration. Many divines conceived the idea of conforming the visible
church to the model of the American republic. The plan was projected and
advocated, of bringing all evangelical denominations into one
confederated unity, while the integral parts should continue independent
of each other. This plan would have defeated its own object, the unity
of the visible church, and subverted that form of government established
by Zion's King. Upon trial by some of the New England Independents and
Presbyterians, the plan has proved utterly abortive.

Prior to the Revolutionary war, a Presbytery had been constituted in
America, upon the footing of the covenanted reformation. The exciting
scenes and active sympathies, attendant on the Revolutionary war, added
to a hereditary love of liberty, carried many covenanters away from
their distinctive principles. The Reformed Presbytery was dissolved, and
three ministers who belonged to it, joining some ministers of the
Associate Church, formed that society, since known by the name of the
Associate Reformed Church. The union was completed in the year 1782,
after having been five years in agitation.

These ministers professed, as the basis of union, the Westminster