Rev. Finis W. Ewing

Finis Ewing was the primary founder of the Cumberland Presbyterian Denomination on February 4, 1810.

Originally ordained by Transylvania Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church (USA) in 1803, Ewing became one of the leading ministers in the Second Great Awakening or Great Revival that took place on the American frontier in the early 19th century. When Kentucky Synod turned against the revival movement and moved to discipline what it considered to be rebellious presbyteries, in 1805, Ewing found himself with the outcasts. The synod believed that it was protecting the integrity of the ministry by requiring a classical education prior to ordination. Frontier presbyteries protested that they had an immediate need for ministers and that frontier preachers could hardly be expected to attend Princeton Theological Seminary.

Between 1805 and 1810, the Presbyterian outcasts operated as the Council of Revival Ministers. They tended to their congregations as best they could while attempting to reconcile themselves with the Presbyterian Church (USA). By 1810, it was obvious that a reunion would not happen in the near future. Ewing, along with ministers Samuel McAdow and Samuel King, constituted an independent Cumberland Presbytery on February 4, 1810. Ewing, in particular, hoped that the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and the Presbyterian Church (USA) one day would reunite.

Ewing was among several Protestant ministers who in 1831 helped to inspire the mobs that drove the Mormons from Jackson County, Missouri. He wrote in a local newspaper, "The Mormons are the common enemies of mankind and ought to be destroyed."

< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finis_Ewing >

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=32625943

• Religion: Co-founder of the Cumberland branch of the Presbyterian Church.
  • Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy: May 15 2016, 5:45:10 UTC

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Reverend Finis Ewing New Lebanon Cumberland Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Cooper, Missouri, United States Oldest known grave in New Lebanon Cemetery (old part)

Source Information Ancestry.com. Virginia, Biographical Encyclopedia [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2000. Original data: Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography. Richmond, VA, USA: n.p., 1915.

Finis Ewing Residence Place: Virginia, USA Comments: was born in Bedford county, Virginia, June 10, 1773, died in Lexington, Missouri, July 4, 1841. He was of Scotch-Irish descent and both of his parents were noted for piety. His early education was neglected, but it is said that he studied for a time in college. After the death of his parents he moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and in 1823 married a daughter of William Davidson, a revolutionary general. Soon afterward he went to Logan county, Kentucky, where he was licensed to preach, and in 1803 was ordained by the Cumberland presbytery. He met with remarkable success as a revivalist, but his ordination was not recognized by the Kentucky synod, and the presbytery being dissolved, and the action of the synod having been sustained by the general assembly, he, with two others, organized in 1810 the new Cumberland Presbyterian church, which now numbers about two thousand congregations. In doctrine they occupy a middle ground between Calvinism and Arminianism. A few years after originating the new denomination Mr. Ewing removed to Todd county, Kentucky, and became pastor of the Lebanon congregation, near Ewingsville. In 1820 he proceeded to Missouri, settled in what is now Cooper county, and organized a congregation at New Lebanon, which still flourishes. In 1836 he removed to Lexington, Fayette county, where he preached till his death. He is the author of "Lectures on Divinity," which contains the germ of the peculiarities of the creed of the Cumberland Presbyterians.; ; VIII--Prominent Persons

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