PART VIII THE SYSTEM OF PRESBYTERIANISM 
     
    
   
   
    
     “It is necessary to bear in mind in considering the Presbyterian policy that 
     
     the word “Presbyterian,” while at one time designating the adherent of a par— 
     
     ticular form of church government, has come to have a doctrinal as well as an 
     
     ecclesiastical significance. The churches holding to the Presbyterian policy have 
     
     developed in the course of their history such a natural relation to one great type 
     
     of Christian doctrine that the words Calvinistic and Presbyterian are to a large 
     
     extent synonymous. It is, therefore, proper to use the phrase “Presbyterian 
     
     system” as designating the doctrinal, ethical, governmental and liturgical prin- 
     
     ciples and regulations of the Presbyterian churches. The controlling idea of the 
     
     Presbyterian system of thought, both theoretically and practically, is the doctrine 
     
     of the divine sovereignty. By this sovereignty is meant the absolute control of the 
     
     universe in all that it contains, whether visible or invisible things, by the one 
     
     supreme, eternal, omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent God for wise, just, 
     
     holy, and loving ends, known fully alone to himself. This divine sovereignty finds 
     
     practical expression in the Presbyterian system, through its organizing principle, 
     
     the sovereignty of the word of God as the supreme and infalliable rule of faith 
     
     and practice. The Presbyterian system accepts and incorporates as a perpetually 
     
     binding obligation, only those principles and regulations which can be proved to 
     
     be of Scriptural origin and warrant. It may be maintained that while in other 
     
     churches than the Presbyterian, the sovereignty of God and the sovereignty of his 
     
     word are recognized, it is only in those churches which adhere closely to the 
     
     Presbyterian system that the logical outcome in faith, government, and worship. 
     
     of these two great truths, finds definite, general, and vital expression.”72 
     
    
   
   
    
     1. SCOTTISH IMMIGRANTS BRING THEIR 
     
     RELIGIOUS BELIEFS TO PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND 
     
    
   
   
    
     “In fulfillment of the terms of the land grants conceded by the British govern- 
     
     ment to the officers of the army and navy who had, by their dash and valor, obtain- 
     
     ed a splendid victory at Louisburg, a number of settlers were brought out from 
     
     Great Britian. In the years 1771 and 1772 immigrants from Argyleshire were landed 
     
     at Richmond Bay. Three years later a number of others were brought out from Per— 
     
     thshire who settled at Cove Head, St. Peters and Bay Fortune; some from 
     
     Morayshire, who settled at Cavendish, and a number from Dumfries, who settled at 
     
     Cavendish, and a number from Dumfries, who settled at Georgetown and other 
     
     places in the vicinity. Then, in the year 1784, when peace was declared between 
     
     Great Britain and the United States, some Loyalists arrived who settled principally 
     
     at Bedeque. The population was sparse and very widely scattered. Many of the 
     
     settlers had, previous to coming to Prince Edward Island, been connected with the 
     
     Presbyterian Church in Scotland and yet, from the time of their arrival, in some 
     
     cases twenty years before, had not enjoyed the privilege which they so dearly loved, 
     
     of attending divine service, until 1791, when the Rev. James McGregor paid his first 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     72 “Presbyterians,” The New Schaff - Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge (1953 ed.), 
     
     Vol. 9, pp. 236-239. 
     
    
   
   
    
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