Mason as 'innovator' who 'moved too fast' for the Associate Reformed Church
Context
Lathan has just described Mason’s earlier controversies about fast-days and frequent communion. He now provides a character portrait of Mason that explains how a figure of such intellectual stature could destabilize his own denomination. This passage precedes the detailed account of Mason’s resignation from Cedar Street Church and the Romeyn communion incident.
Extract
Intellectually, America has produced but few men who have equaled John M. Mason. As a pulpit orator he was first among the first. Nature did a great deal for him, and he enjoyed rare advantages for the cultivation of the gifts with which a kind Providence had endowed him. His own denomination was proud of him, and all others regarded him as a prince. In the city of New York he was brought in constant contact with those who occupied the highest position in society. The learned and honored were his companions. Judges, professors in colleges, and embassadors from European governments sat entranced while he conversed. He was conscious of his powers, and no doubt, in the honesty of his heart, desired to refine and Americanize the church of his fathers.
He made a mistake. There is something which we may call metaphysically slow in the Scotch mind. John M. Mason could have led the whole of the French nation; but he could not lead the whole of the Associate Reformed Church, small as it was in his day. He moved too fast. He did not give the masses of the denomination time to think.
There is a disposition in most men to violate legal enactments; but all men cling to that law which custom has established. It is hard for any man to understand how it is possible for a custom which has prevailed for centuries not to be binding upon the consciences of all. John M. Mason was an innovator. Not that he introduced practices contrary to the word of God, but practices contrary to the time-honored usages of the church to which he belonged.
Significance
This passage provides essential context for a Chapter 6 (Mason) case study:
“Innovator” label: Lathan applies the same word (“innovator”) to Mason that exclusive psalmists applied to those who introduced Watts. The word carries a specifically negative valence in Scottish Presbyterian culture.
“Americanize the church of his fathers”: Lathan identifies Mason’s project as cultural modernization — making the Scottish church fit for American elite society. This frames the psalmody controversy as partly about cultural assimilation vs. ethnic preservation.
“Metaphysically slow in the Scotch mind”: Lathan’s explanation reveals the generational and cultural dynamics underlying the psalmody controversy — not just theology but the pace of change that a tradition-bound community could absorb.
Contrast with Rankin: Where Rankin was dismissed as a provincial fanatic (“monomania,” “bigotry”), Mason was respected but feared — “conscious of his powers.” Both were called difficult, but for opposite reasons: Rankin for stubbornness, Mason for ambition.