Robert Lusk
[1]: 149 His career crossed paths with many prominent ministers and he was involved in numerous ecclesiastical courts at pivotal moments in the history of the Reformed Presbyterian Church.
He was descended from a long line of Scotch-Irish, and the Lusks had fled from Scotland to Ireland, escaping religious persecution;[2]: 490 many of them settled in America prior to the American Revolutionary War.
[7]: 20–21 In 1814, Lusk, along with three other classmates, Jonathan Gill, Samuel Robinson and Robert Wallace, was requested by Synod to deliver a discourse, "in relation to systematic and polemical theology."
At which point, Synod referred him to the Middle Presbytery for trial, "with a view to licensure, and if found duly qualified," to be licensed to preach the gospel as a minister of the Reformed Presbyterian Church.
"[10]: vii The committee was appointed to inquire into the "propriety of redeeming" the decade old pledge of Synod to complete the argumentative defence "for truth and against errors and immoral practices."
[13]: 111 Synod's confidence in Lusk's competence in increasingly complex ecclesiastical matters is evidenced, when he, along with John Cannon, Samuel Wylie and James R. Willson, was chosen for the committee to reorganize and assist the Southern Presbytery.
"[8]: 277 Lusk claimed the court docket, in the civil transaction, for the case against the congregation showed that the counsel (i.e., lawyer) for the purchaser of the debt was also in the employ of Samuel B. Wylie.
Over twenty years later, when relating this account, he compliments the "projectors" for their craft and laments the trickery he perceived on their part which effectively hid the law of the church from generations following.
"[10]: 136 This assertion becomes of greater interest, when it is realized that the same Presbytery, meeting in 1806, passed both the act concerning juries and, on May 15 instant, "unanimously" approved adoption and publication of the "Narrative" portion of Reformation Principles Exhibited.
In the Reformed Presbyterian Church, admonition is the lowest degree of censure consisting "in warning the offender of his guilt, and in exhorting him to walk circumspectly for the future.
According to Glasgow, in his History, Lusk's ministry, at this time, "was neither a happy nor a prosperous one," and when combined with attendant monetary difficulties, he resigned and was regularly released from the charge, on October 15, 1823.
Since it was the usual role for the pastor to assume the position of moderator in the local session, Lusk is complaining that the congregation has sent John Steele as a delegate over his clearly stated objections.
[19]: 123 The morning session ended that day with Lusk requesting his protest against the decision of the court (recommending the destruction of minutes and, presumably, all official records of the controversy) be duly noted.
In fact, it is hard to imagine Synod enjoining a candidate of dubious morals or practice to make a timely decision relative to future pastoral settlement.
"[21]: 44–45 Shortly, after Lusk's installation as pastor, his medical skills and hospitality became the occasion for the charges that would lead to his first expulsion from the ministry by the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America.
Upon becoming a Freemason, whether for personal revenge for being cast out of the church, or at the instigation of the Lodge, he stepped forward and accused Lusk, his former pastor and benefactor, of defrauding him of his services in clearing the land.
"[22]: 152 As is apparent from what follows, Lusk regarded not only the charges sustained by the Western Presbytery as baseless, he also must have raised some question as to ability to receive a fair trial under that jurisdiction.
From the standpoint of Presbyterian law, the Synod of 1825 had violated the trust of the delegate system established by the Presbyteries and its organization was, therefore, at best, questionable; at worst, Lusk was right, it was a nullity.
[24]: 160 Lusk remained in the vicinity of Walnut Ridge, on his farm, living "for some years in comparative obscurity...under an act of suspension by General Synod in New York city in 1825.
[26]: 4–5 Lusk would later confess that "he had not duly considered nor clearly perceived the corrupting and ruinous influence of existing voluntary associations, until Providence" had brought him into acquaintance with Steele.
[28]: 399–400 Since the time the McFarland case had been referred to the Western Subordinate Synod, John B. Johnston had been circulating letters throughout the Ohio Presbytery casting his fellow presbyters in an unflattering light.
Prior to its meeting, according to Steele, John B. Johnston's campaign of writing letters had worked to bias "the minds of the ministers of the Pittsburg [sic] Presbytery in favor of Mr.
[8]: 247 In 1850, David Steele made public the specific nature of the contents of the letter: Some thought it dutiful to call Synod's attention to these matters, and a petition was laid before them, from Rev.
They began by noting, "the Church of Christ in regarding her own doctrines and order, is to be instrumental in the hand of her blessed Lord to effect moral reform and bless the earth with peace ; and that all confederacies, separate from her in organization, affecting to perform her exclusive work and obtain her appropriate object, are unauthorized by her glorious Head, form no part of the profession of her faith, nor exemplify the sanctified exercise of the constitutional powers of her members, and immoral, as a way or means, however otherwise desirable the object."
He expressed surprise and chagrin when Blackwood, on the following day, "offered the astounding and unpresbyterial motion" which called for the abolition of both the delegation form and the two Subordinate Synods.
We, the undersigned, ministers and elders of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in North America, familiar with, and having long witnessed declension in the aforesaid church, and employed all other scriptural means to stay its progress without effect: Also recognizing the claims of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of all such as desire let be faithful; compassionating the condition of those who, by unholy confederacies, are still "entangled in the wilderness" considering the necessities or others, who, to maintain a good, conscience, have been constrained to unite in the "Safety League," which covers the whole ground of our covenanted system:—Do now, trusting to the faithfulness of the God of our fathers, and relying on the strength or promised grace; after the example or the venerable Rev.
William Gibson, who "kept the faith,"—enter and record our solemn protestation against the aforesaid church, because she has corrupted the doctrines and worship, and prostituted the government and discipline of the house of God; and we do hereby decline the authority of all her judicatories.
"Opposition in profession, to any part of revealed truth is evidence of the ascendency of the carnal heat; and the relinquishment of acknowledged doctrine carries with it additional guilt, being a violation of voluntary engagements; and obstinacy in such defection must eventuate in the reprobation of the community.
[41]: 170 After deliberation, the following day, April 12, the committee chaired by Lusk to report on the petition of Thompson et al. recommended "a minister and ruling elder be appointed to repair to these people.
"[44]: 307 This qualified approval would fade, as Presbytery discovered more and more conflicts between Reformation Principles Exhibited, in America, in 1806, and the Act, Declaration and Testimony, emitted in North Britain, in 1761.
