Failed union negotiations with Associate Reformed Synod of the South over psalmody (1853-1866)

Context

The dissertation describes negotiations between Southern Presbyterians and the Associate Reformed Synod of the South following the formation of the Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States (1861). The Associate Reformed Church was one of the most conservative Presbyterian bodies, known for strict adherence to exclusive psalmody.

Extract

At this first General Assembly of the new Presbyterian denomination, negotiations were begun to unite with the Associate Reformed Synod of the South. The history of this group, one of the most conservative of the Presbyterian bodies, goes back to 1753 when Ebenezer Erskine left the Church of Scotland and organized the Associate Presbytery. In 1821 the Southern members of the Associate Synod in America withdrew and organized the Associate Reformed Synod of the South. In 1858 the Northern group organized as the United Presbyterian Church. One of their distinctive features has been the strict adherence to the singing of Psalms only at services of worship, a rule which has been somewhat relaxed in fairly recent years.

As early as 1853 the Synod of South Carolina had conferred with the Associate Reformed Synod regarding a revised Hymnody. When the Associate Reformed group held out for “Rous,” the Synod of South Carolina expressed its high appreciation of the Book of Psalms as a manual of praise, but did not feel willing to prescribe a rule by which we should be confined to the use of Psalms, either in a literal or other version.

Negotiations between the Presbyterian Church in the United States and the Associate Reformed Synod of the South were terminated in 1866, after the latter group voted to remain independent. Within the Synods of Alabama and Kentucky, however, there were mergers, leading to the following action by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, regarding the continuing use of “old Psalmody”:

This Assembly recognizes, as preceding Assemblies have done, the right of our members to use the old Psalmody, commonly known as Rous’s Version, if they prefer it, and will protect the ministers and churches thus received into connexion with us from the Associate Reformed Church, in the use of that Psalmody to which they have so long been accustomed.

Significance

This extract documents how psalmody remained a barrier to denominational unity even in the 1850s-1860s, and how some Associate Reformed members did join the mainline Presbyterian Church:

1. Union negotiations failed over psalmody: The Associate Reformed group “held out for ‘Rous’” while the mainline Synod of South Carolina would not “be confined to the use of Psalms”
2. ARP independence: The Associate Reformed Synod of the South voted to remain independent in 1866, maintaining exclusive psalmody as a distinctive feature
3. Partial mergers in Alabama and Kentucky: Some Associate Reformed congregations did merge with the mainline church in these states
4. Accommodation of exclusive psalmody: The General Assembly explicitly promised to “protect” those received from the Associate Reformed Church “in the use of that Psalmody to which they have so long been accustomed”

This shows the continuing relevance of psalmody to denominational identity even after the Civil War, and documents the institutional mechanisms by which some exclusive psalmody congregations were absorbed into the mainline church with protections for their practice.