INTRODUCTION. 35 



received a charter in 1825. It has three professors and eleven students, and a 

 collection of 4,000 vohmies. The Lutherans, in 1815, established the Hartw^ick 

 Theological Seminary, at Hartvvick in Otsego county. It had two professors, 

 some ten or twelve students, and a library of 1,000 volumes. The Theological 

 Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church in tlu' United States, was instituted 

 in the citv of New- York in 1817. It was removed to New-Haven in 1820, but 

 restored to New- York in 1821, and was then incorporated. It has now five pro- 

 fessors, seventy-four students, and about 7,2G0 volumes in its libraries. It has 

 given to the church one hundred and eighty-six ministers. Tlie Presbyterian 

 Theological Seminary, at Auburn, was founded in 1821. It has four professors, 

 sixty-nine students, and libraries containing 5,000 volumes, and has sent forth into 

 the vineyard of Christ three hundred and forty-four laborers. The presbyterian 

 " New- York Theological Seminary," in the city of New- York, was established 

 in 1836, and has four professors, ninety students, and libraries containing 12,000 

 volumes. The Baptist Association have founded an academical institution at 

 Hamilton ; the Methodists a similar one at Lima ; and the Catholics a like insti- 

 tution at Rose-Hill ; with a laudable purpose respectively of elevating the stan- 

 dard of education among their clergy. 



Although the various divisions of the church have generally observed forbear- 

 ance towards each other, and a good degree of harmony has prevailed among 

 their own communions, there has been enough of controversy to test the learning 

 and skill of the clergy in polemic divinity. The first instance of this kind 

 occurred in the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, and is known in its annals 

 as the " coetus and conferentic controversy." The inconveniences of dependence 

 upon the classis of Amsterdam, before mentioned, induced certain ministers, in 

 1737, to propose the plan of a coetus or assembly of ministers and elders, which 

 should have merely powers of advice and admonition. This plan which was 

 adopted and approved by the church in Holland, called forth the exertions of the 

 reverend Theodore J. Freelinghuysen. The arrangement proved inefficient, 

 and, in 1754, the church was distracted by two parties, the one called the coetus 



