A superb early Jane Aitken imprint of the Presbyterian Constitution with early manuscript additions by Reformed Presbyterian divine, Gilbert McMaster articulating the wish to ensure and retain the separation of church and state.
The final two images on the present listing show the additions, headed with The Subscribers of this Confession Say. The additions include,
We do not wish to see any religious constitution, whether orthodox or heterodox, true or false, added y the civil power, except for security and that common to each and all, Christian and anti-Christian. etc.
Gilbert McMaster [1778-1854] was educated at Jefferson College [1803] and was ordained pastor of the Prebsyterian Church at Duanesburg Church, N. Y. in 1808. He also served at Princeton, Indiana. A Reformed Presbyterian, he authored the following: An Essay in Defence of some Fundamental Doctrines of Christianity: An Analysis of the Shorter Catechism (1815): An Apology for the Book of Psalms: The Moral Character of Civil Government Considered (1832): Thoughts on Union in the Church of God (1846).
Anonymous. The Constitution of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. Containing the Confession of Faith, the Catechisms, and the Directory for the Worship of God: Together with the Plan of Government and Discipline as Amended and Ratified by the General Assembly at Their Sessions in May, 1805. Philadelphia. Printed by Jane Aitken. 1806. 470pp.
A good copy, bound in leather. Rubbed as shown, lightly shaken, and toned with some scattered foxing. Ex library.
