UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 



721 



growth and improvement belong of right to the society' 

 at large, and tliat the true purpose of government is 

 the maintenance of that sacred right of property which 

 secures to every man the fruits of his own labor ; demand 

 that in the drawing of grand-jurors there shall be no 

 distinction of class ; that the property qualification for ! 

 trial jurors shall be abolished ; that equal pay for 

 equal work should in public employment be accorded 

 without distinction of sex ; that police interference 

 with peaceful assemblages should cease; that our| 

 elective methods should be reformed ; that the .people! 

 of New York should have full control of their own 

 local affairs : that the procedure of our courts should 

 be simplified ; that the laws fur the safety and sanitary 

 inspection of buildings should be enforced; that all 

 laws which bear unjustly on labor should l>e abolished ; 

 that in public work all labor should be directly em- 

 ployed ; that all taxes on buildings and improvements 

 should be abolished ; that all taxes should be levied on 

 land values which arise from and are due solely to in- 

 crease of population ; that existing means of transit 

 should no longer be left in the hands of corporations, 

 but should by lawful process be assumed by the city 

 and operated for the public benefit." 



In Chicago a branch of the party was established 

 which required each member to take a pledge to sup- 

 port its candidates. 



The first regular convention of the United Labor 

 party met in New York in January, 1887. In the 

 Sew York Legislature of 1887 a law was passed, with 

 little opposition, allowing this new-born party to have 

 two inspectors at every polling-place in the city of New 

 York, thus giving it the same privileges enjoyed by the 

 older political parties. It had also the advantage of 

 an organization well provided with workers who had 

 become alienated from the larger Democratic organ- 

 izations. 



Yet from this climax of its political power the United 

 Labor party rapidly dwindled in numbers. One of the 

 chief supporters of George was Dr. Edward McGlynn, 

 who was suspended from his functions as a Unman 

 Catholic priest on account of his pronounced opinions 

 in favor of the land-nationalization theories. Many of 

 the sympathizers with the movement could not follow 

 it as long as Dr. McGlynn was under a ban. At its 

 State Convention, held in Syracuse in August, 1887, 

 Socialists were excluded from the party. Henry 

 George was nominated for .Secretary of State, and 

 along with him a complete ticket for State officers. 

 The platform took more advanced ground in regard to 

 George's theories, and also resolved in favor of many 

 measures of particular importance to laboring men, as 

 to the hours of work, free schools, etc. In the elec- 

 tion of November, .1887, George secured 70,0.15 votes 

 in the State of New York, his vote in New York city 

 having fallen to 37,477 ; but in Kings co. (Brooklyn) 

 he had 15,035, or nearly 1000 more than his party ob- 

 tained in 1886. In October, 1888, the party nomi- 

 nated Mr. James J. Coogan lor mayor of New York 

 city, but in the bewildering whirl of the national Pres- 

 idential election he obtained only 080'J votes. Thus 

 within two years the United Labor party dropped from 

 the surprising vote of 68,000 to comparative insignifi- 

 cance. The indications are that the party has no real 

 bond of coherence, and cannot maintain its existence 

 as a factor in politics. But its sudden rise and its fall 

 no less sudden form a peculiar chapter in the history 



) 

 01 



of American politics. (See SOCIALISM.) (F. O. M. 



UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 

 NORTH AMERICA. This church was formed in May, 

 ]x,VS, by the union of the Associate Presbyterian 

 Church and the Associate llcl'oniied Presbyterian 

 Church (see these titles). The basis of union was the 

 Westminster Confession of Faith (with a slight modi- 

 fication) and Catechisms, and a Testimony, containing 

 18 articles or declarations of doctrine. Those having 

 direct practical bearing pronounced slaveholding a sin. 

 disapproved secret societies, forbade the extending of 



communion in sealing ordinances to persons who 

 refuse adherence to the church's profession, and de- 

 clared that in singing God's praise the Bible Psalms 

 should be employed to the exclusion of uninspired hu- 

 man compositions. These declarations, practically 

 held in common with the Reformed Presbyterian 

 Churches (q. v.), yet serve to separate this body from, 

 the main Presbyterian Church. It may further be re- 

 marked that though this denomination can historically 

 claim community of origin with the United Presby- 

 terian Church of Scotland, it is in regard to Calvinistio 

 orthodoxy at the furthest remove from that body. 



The first General Assembly of the newly formed de- 

 nomination met in Xenia, Ohio, in May, 1859. Its 

 statistics show that it had 42 Presbyteries. 408 minis- 

 ters, C34 congregations, and 55,547 members. The 

 three synods of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian 

 Church, namely, that of New York and the First 

 and Second Synods of the West, formed a framework 

 fi ir grouping the Presbyteries. The General Assembly 

 appointed the following boards to conduct the benef- 

 icent operations of the church : The Board of For- 

 eign Missions, located at Philadelphia; Board of 

 Home Missions, at Xenia. 0. ; Board of Publication, 

 at Pittsburg ; Board of Church Extension, at Alle- 

 gheny, Pa.; Board of Education, at Monmouth, 111. 

 To these was added in 1863 a Board of Fieedmen's 

 Missions, at Allegheny, Pa.; and in 1873 a Board of 

 Ministerial Relief, at Philadelphia : the latter being 

 an expansion of an Aged Ministers' Fund, commenced 

 in 1862. 



The progress of the church has been steady. Its 

 numbers have been increased by emigration from 

 the north of Ireland as well as by accessions from those 

 born in America. Its stronghold has been in Western 

 Pennsylvania, but it has spread throughout the West, 

 and has some churches on the Pacific coast. In 1865 

 Rev. W. C. McCune, of Cincinnati, then a minister 

 of this church, published a book on Close Commun- 

 ion, advocating a wider extension of church privi- 

 leges than the denominational Testimony allowed. He 

 was tried by his synod and acquitted of teaching seri- 

 ous error, but appeal being taken to the General As- 

 sembly in 1867, that court found him guilty of main- 

 taining serious error in regard to church fellowship. 

 Mr. McCune withdrew to the Presbyterian Church, 

 and afterwards passed to the Congregationalists. 



The movement which had commenced in the vari- 

 ous Presbyterian Churches of Scotch origin for the 

 improvement of the Psalmody was continued in the 

 United Presbyterian Church and resulted intheadoption 

 by the Assembly of 1871 of a better metrical version of 

 the Psalms. This newly authorized version has in a great 

 degree superseded the Scotch version of the Psalms, 

 often called Rous's version. In connection with 

 the new version commendable efforts have been made 

 to improve the singing in the churches. To this end 

 the Board of Publication has prepared various editions of 

 the Psalter with Appropriate music. This movement 

 led also to a discussion of the right to use instrumental 

 music in the worship of God. The Directory of 

 Worship which had been adopted by the action of the 

 General Assembly and the Presbyteries in 1867 forbade- 

 such use on the ground that the Scriptures did not 

 warrant it in the New Testament Church. But an 

 increasing party grew restive under this restriction 

 and an open controversy arose on the publication by 

 Rev. D. F. Bonncr of a pamphlet, Instnimrntnl Music 

 IHrinrly Authorized (1877). Several pamphlets were 

 issued in reply to this. A vigorous movement for the 

 repeal of the section forbidding instrumental musio 

 was begun and the question was submitted by the 

 General Assembly to the vote of the Presbyteries. 

 The vote as reported to the Assembly in 1881 was 

 doubtful, but the Assembly declared the section re- 

 pealed. This action was stoutly disputed, but each 

 successive Assembly refused to reopen the question, 

 giving various explanations of the position taken. 



