Makemie's 250th

For the first time since the Civil War, the Northern and Southern branches of the U. S. Presbyterian Church joined last week in a common enterprise. To the easternmost counties of Maryland and Virginia, between Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, 6,000 of their members made solemn pilgrimage in celebration of the 250th anniversary of organized Presbyterianism in the U. S.

In 1683 an Irish-born Scottish Presbyterian named Rev. Francis Makemie journeyed to the Colonies, at the earnest request of Marylanders who had not enough ministers. Presbyterianism had been recognized, under the Act of Religious Toleration, as a sect against which no derogatory remarks were to be made. Up & down the seaboard there were scattered churches of ''Dissenters." none of them orthodox. (Two are still extant, in Hempstead and Jamaica, L. I., the former being the first U. S. church to bear the name Presbyterian.) Pioneer Makemie organized in Maryland the first five truly Presbyterian churches. In Philadelphia in 1692 he preached the first Presbyterian sermon that city had heard. Later he organized the first U. S. Presbytery, became its first Moderator. In 1707 he was arrested in New York as a "strolling preacher" at the order of much-hated Lord Cornbury. Jailed for two months, he was tried and acquitted but forced to pay -L-83 7s 6d in costs. Francis Makemie died in 1703 at his homestead in eastern Virginia, now called Makemie Park.

Last week's Makemie pilgrimage began at Manokin Church, Princess Anne, with Historian William Parker Finney as speaker. At Rehobeth Church, Princeton Seminary's Dr. Joseph .Ross Stevenson, onetime Northern Moderator, said: "Presbyterianism makes its appeal to thoughtful minds." But he experienced surprise that, "with its superior resources and superb opportunities," Presbyterianism has been outstripped by such later sects as the Methodists, unknown in Makemie's time. Explained Dr. Stevenson: "We have been afraid of emotionalism--enthusiasm --and as a result have leaned more to formality and restrained respectability."

After a picnic luncheon at Rehobeth the pilgrims proceeded to Makemie Park where Southern Moderator Ernest Thompson extolled Pioneer Makemie. "with the care of all the churches on his shoulders," before a statue of him erected 25 years ago. Doubling back to look at churches at Pokomoke City and Snow Hill, the Presbyterians dined at Salisbury, listened to speeches by Missions Board Secretary Robert Elliott Speer and onetime Northern Moderator Lewis Seymour Mudge who said God's word to the church is: "Now march, and lead America that America may become wholly Christian for America's sake, for the world's sake, for Christ's sake."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.