Springfield Presbytery

[1]: 696  It dissolved itself on June 28, 1804, with the publication of a document titled the Last Will and Testament of The Springfield Presbytery, marking the birth of the Christian Church of the West.

It argued that the examination of McNemar in 1802 had been conducted without due process, which would have justified an appeal of the decision to the General Assembly.

It went on to argue that they had no reasonable hope of redress within the Presbyterian church as long as "human opinions", rather than scripture, were the standard of orthodoxy.

Systematically laying out the doctrines which the Washington Presbytry had condemned, he wrote the first theological statement of the Restoration Movement.

[1]: 697 In addition to signing the Last Will and Testament, the ministers agreed to take "no other name than "Christians," on the basis that it was "the name first given by divine authority to the disciples of Christ.

The dissolution of the Springfield Presbytery was in part a symbolic act, based on the principle that gave priority to individual autonomy for local congregations.