d the cause which had
led to the separation from the Lexington body; their objections to
confessions of faith of human origin; their abandonment from henceforth
of all human authoritative creeds; and their adherence to the Bible
alone as the only rule of faith and practice. It has been asserted that
this pamphlet was the first public declaration of religious freedom in
the western hemisphere, and the first in the world since that of Martin
Luther was set at naught by the act of nullification of Augsburg. The
pamphlet produced much inquiry throughout the country. It was speedily
republished in several other States, and it soon found many adherents
among both preachers and laymen of all denominations.

Under the name of "Springfield Presbytery," the ministers who belonged
to the organization continued to preach and to plant churches for about
one year. Later, perceiving that the name and the organization itself
"savored of a party spirit," they, in the words of Barton Stone, "with
the man-made creeds threw overboard the man-made name, and took the
name 'Christian' as the name given to the disciples by divine
appointment first at Antioch."[1] "Thus divested of all party name and
party creed," continues Barton Stone, "and trusting alone to God and
the word of his grace, we became at first a laughing-stock and a byword
to the sects around, all prophesying our speedy annihilation.... Yet
through much tribulation and opposition we advanced, and churches and
preachers were multiplied."

[1] See Appendix, p. 269.

This was the beginning, in the dawn of the nineteenth century, of that
great reformatory or restoratory movement, of which another writer
says: "The first churches planted and organized since the grand
apostacy, with the Bible as the only creed or church book, and the name
'Christian' as the only family name, were organized in Kentucky in the
year 1804;"[2] and of these churches so planted and organized, Cane
Ridge, Bourbon County, was the first.

[2] John A. Gano.

CHAPTER XXVII.

BETSY DECLINES THE HONOR

For Betsy Gilcrest the year of 1803 dragged along in dreary monotony.
All through the radiant freshness of June, the rich glow of July, the
intense, white heat of August, and the mellow charm of early autumn the
temperature in her veins had been steadily declining; for she had no
message from her betrothed.

In June her father had received Abner's letter. Its manly resignation
of Betty