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And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me (2 Kings 2:9)
Our Theology in Its Developments is a sermon preached before the General Assembly (Old School) of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA) which met at Charleston, South Carolina, in 1852, by Moderator Edward Porter Humphrey (1809-1887) and later published in 1857. From this interesting sermon, which lays out seven particular aspects of “our theology,” we have a poignant concluding clarion call to consider the past in light of the present (pp. 83-85).
Let no man say that within the precincts of a church which has gathered into a single graveyard [Princeton Cemetery] the ashes of Samuel Davies, Archibald Alexander, and Jonathan Edwards; the first memorable for the awakening power of his sermons; the second trying the spirits and discerning even the thoughts of our rising ministry; and the third preaching a sermon on the doctrine of election, which was mighty in the conversion of sinners, and delivering another, so instinct with the terrors of the Lord as to bring his audience to their feet, and compel the preacher, who sat behind him in the pulpit, to start up with the exclamation, “Mr. Edwards! Mr. Edwards, is not God merciful too?” The sepulchres of these men are with us until this day, and so is their theology; but where is the spirit of profound meditation and importunate prayer with which they prepared their sermons? Where is their vehemency and tenderness of utterance? Where their annihilating reply to the disputers of this world, their masterly appeal to the understanding, and their onset on the conscience?
May these words serve to remind us almost two centuries later that we may have the theology of our fathers in our heads and in the books we read, but we must also seek after their heart, their passion and join ourselves to their piety and prayers. It is not enough to admire the tombstones in a cemetery such as Princeton, but we ought to consider the example set by those men who went before us and left a godly legacy that we might, by the help of the Holy Spirit, preach, pray and live as they did.
