38 History of Methodism 



many discouragements preserved and transmitted the 

 original character of this Church." 



The mixed Presbyterian and Independent Church 

 in Charleston was composed of Presbyterians chiefly 

 from Scotland and Ireland, Congregationalists from 

 Old and New England, and a few French Huguenots, 

 and was known by divers names — the Presbyterian 

 Church, the Independent Church, the New England 

 Meeting, the White Meeting, and the Circular Church. 

 The Presbyterians and the Independents, or Congre- 

 gationalists, had been drawn closely together in En- 

 gland by the persecutions to which, in consequence of 

 the Act of Uniformity, they were in common subject- 

 ed. They had constituted a board, composed of the 

 most influential men of their respective denominations, 

 to watch over their general interests as Dissenters 

 from the Church of England, and had adopted, in 

 1690, "heads of agreement" for the maintenance of 

 a friendly intercourse between their ministers and 

 Churches. It is not surprising, therefore, that they 

 united in one Church organization in the colony. 

 These two denominations, moreover, agreed in doc- 

 trine and mode of worship, and differed only on a 

 question of Church polity, which, in the circumstances 

 in which they were placed, was of no practical impor- 

 tance. In a province where there was no presbytery, 

 the willingness to submit to its authority became 

 necessarily inoperative, and the Presbyterian was a 

 Congregationalist for the time being, and the Congre- 

 gationalist was a Presbyterian; and the distinctive 

 peculiarity of each being thus abolished, there was 

 nothing to prevent, but every thing to invite to, the 

 formation of the mixed Presbyterian and Independ- 

 ent Church in Charleston. By their constitution they 



