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Some of our readers may wonder why certain writers are found on the Log College Press website. There are writers within various streams of American Presbyterianism with whose views those who are associated with Log College Press certainly do not agree; Charles G. Finney is one notable example of such a person. We have many of his published works available, including his autobiography, which makes for fascinating reading, especially, for example, in regards to his ordination and complete unawareness at the time of the Westminster Confession of Faith and what it teaches (Memoirs, p. 239).
But we also have writings available which critique Finney’s unorthodox views and practices. B.B. Warfield refers to “his Pelagian doctrine of salvation,” for example. Take note of these particular examples:
Albert B. Dod, Finney’s Sermons (1835) and Finney’s Lectures (1835);
Charles Hodge, Finney’s Lectures on Theology (1847);
John W. Nevin, The Anxious Bench: A Tract for the Times (1843, 1844); and
B.B. Warfield, Oberlin Perfectionism (1921).
At Log College Press, we recognize that American Presbyterianism has never been monolithic, and thus we have the goal of representing early American Presbyterianism as it actually appeared, warts and all. That includes persons with views that were unorthodox, racist, feminist, and otherwise out of accord with the Scriptures and the Confession and Catechisms to which we hold. We even have a female “pastor” on the site. There is, we believe, a benefit to being able to accurately study such writings and to quote them fairly and honestly, as — for example — Finney’s reviewers have themselves done.
Log College Press has this to say about the range and diversity of views represented on the site:
Because this site is an historical archive and an educational resource, we do not agree with every opinion or argument expressed in the writings on our site or in our published materials - indeed, the authors on our site contradict one another in many points of theology and practice. However, we trust that our readers will use their discernment in the strength of the Holy Spirit to separate the wheat from the chaff, and so we post and reprint the works by and about 18th-19th century American Presbyterians with the prayer that they will benefit the 21st century church, even if that benefit it to show us what not to believe and how not to live.
We do hope that readers will understand the goals of Log College Press as not an endorsement of views which are wrong and unBiblical, but as an effort to make accessible those writers and writings from the past which are worthy of study and in some cases, rebuttal, but in all cases true to history.
