A Snapshot of Presbyterian History

Have you ever found something in an old bookstore, or perhaps on Ebay, that turned out to be an historical treasure? The story that follows is a reminder that God's hand of providence overrules and directs all of history to his own glory. 

"On one distant October day in the early autumn of 1845, a twenty-five year old divinity student at Hampden-Sydney began taking notes for his seminary class in Senior Theology. And so this tale of Texas, like so many good things, had its origin in Virginia. 

Fifty-seven years later, a somewhat older, but still youthful, minister entered a second-hand bookstore more than twelve hundred miles away, in Houston, Texas. Noting a bundle of manuscripts which appeared to be destined for the rubbish heap, he found, upon examination, that they were the same notes begun by the young Virginian almost six decades before. The dealer was gratefully willing to be spared the trouble of destroying the papers, and the finder departed from the shop with them under his arm. Such were the circumstances under which Rev. Samuel Mills Tenney acquired the notes made by Robert Lewis Dabney as the latter sat in Professor Samuel B. Wilson's classroom at Union Seminary. 
...
The Dabney Papers, however profitable to their transcriber, were to exert a moving influence on Mr. Tenney, the ultimate effect of which was to determine the course of his life's work. The unseemly fate from which they had been so incidentally, yet providentially, rescued, caused him to ponder, in studied fashion, the all-too-frequent manner in which great men and those things associated with them are wont to be forgotten and neglected by their successors, or even their contemporaries; and the crystallization of these deliberations was manifest in the organization during the fall of the same year (1902) of the Presbyterian Historical Society of the Synod of Texas, with Mr. Tenney as president." — Thomas H. Spence, Jr., The Historical Foundation and Its Treasures (1956, 1960), pp. 1–2

The organization that Tenney founded in Texas later became, through the additional efforts of William S. Red, the Historical Foundation of the Presbyterian and Reformed Churches, which in 1927 was relocated to Montreat, North Carolina. The collections at Montreat were later merged with those at the Presbyterian Historical Society in Philadelphia, and a new Presbyterian Heritage Center was built at Montreat in 2006. Some of the materials that used to be housed at Montreat continue to be found on the used book market too, marking a cycle of sorts. 

This bookplate is from an 1841 edition of John Dick's Lectures on Theology in the private collection of R. Andrew Myers.

An unpublished religious novel by Archibald Alexander

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This post is about a work by Archibald Alexander that was never published. We aim to explore what is known about the manuscript. What is perhaps most interesting and intriguing about it is the genre: a religious novel.

As Michael J. Paulus, Jr. writes (“Archibald Alexander and the Use of Books: Theological Education and Print Culture in the Early Republic,” Journal of the Early Republic, Vol. 31, No. 4 (Winter 2011), p. 645):

Another interesting project that Alexander worked on in Virginia was a religious novel titled Eudocia. The project is interesting because American novels were rare — only twenty-five appeared in the first decade of the nineteenth century — and American Calvinists were often suspicious of the genre.

Archibald’s son, and biographer, James W. Alexander, introduces us to the project (The Life of Archibald Alexander, p. 290):

A literary project of Mr. Alexander, which he had entertained before leaving Virginia, was matter of much entertainment in his little circle of intimates. He had begun, and perhaps had completed, a work of fiction, answering exactly to what has since been called the religious novel. It was entitled "Eudocia," and purported to be the history of a young lady of wealth and beauty, who is led through various changes and degrees, from giddy ignorance to piety and peace. The plot was engaging; there was a thread of romantic but pure love, running through the whole; it abounded in graphic description and lively dialogue. Some of the scenes were eminently pathetic; and Mr. [Conrad] Speece was known to burst into tears, when it was read aloud. The whole was made subservient to the inculcation of evangelical truth. The author finally determined to suppress it. The manuscript was not destroyed, but the delay — beyond the nonum prematur in annum — resulted in the destruction of more than one half. What remains would fill a good duodecimo.

Rev. Speece had this to say in a letter dated August 15, 1808 to Alexander:

I am delighted with the prospect of seeing your sweet Eudocia presented to the public. Before I received your letter I had resolved to write to you soon, principally to entreat that the door which confined her might be opened, that she might walk forth for the entertainment and edification of the world. I hope the humorous and satirical parts of the work will be retained. They will be useful in themselves, and will render the book alluring to a larger number of readers. And though I should not like to differ in a point of taste from Mrs. Alexander, allow me to put in a word in behalf of the dream, or dreams, which you read to me from the manuscript. Dreaming is indeed a delicate subject, both in philosophy and religion. But we believe that God does sometimes speak to men, 'in dreams and visions of the night’ to fasten important instruction upon their hearts.

John Holt Rice, another friend and confidant of Alexander, wrote to him regarding the novel on January 28, 1810 (at which time Alexander was serving as pastor of the Old Pine Street Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia):

Three days ago I finished the perusal of ‘Coelebs’ [Coelebs in Search of a Wife (1809) by Hannah More]. Miss Lightfoot Carrington, who is now in Richmond, met with it there, and sent it to me. I had often laughed at her for spending so much time in reading novels. When she got Coelebs, 'Here,' says she, 'is a novel at last which I know that Mr. Rice will be pleased with;' and accordingly despatched it to Charlotte, I read it with more pleasure than any thing of the author's writing. It delighted me; I trust it improved me too. It put me much in mind of a certain Miss Eudocia, whom I have been longing to see for some time past. The rage for novels is so great that I have long wished to see that species of writing converted to a better purpose. Miss Hannah More has very completely answered my wishes, and has, by the way, obtained that credit with the religious world which I think in all reason belonged to you. If you differ with me on this point, we will discuss it after we shall have talked over this new-fashioned school affair and other matters; which I hope to do in May next. At that time Mr. Speece and I hope to be with you, and then — ! I give you notice that Mr. Speece will come with his pockets loaded with money, in the full spirit of trade. I know that he intends to make some grand speculation, for he has within the year past sold nearly two hundred dollars' worth of books, with a view of taking the money to Philadelphia.

Now the question may be asked, Who was Eudocia? It is possible that the protagonist was Aelia Eudocia (c. 401-460 AD), a young lady from a wealthy background who became a Byzantine Empress, and an accomplished Christian poet. It is not known to this writer whether the partial manuscript by Alexander survives. If so, it would be worthy of study. A work of historical fiction about her life and faith would certainly food for thought. One can wonder at the possibility of a religious novel published Archibald Alexander. His intimate circle of friends very much appreciated the work. As it is, we can only imagine.

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John Holt Rice: "I have more books than I can read"

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What and where my relish for books, which I may be hungry for? Lord, Because I shall see thee, or serve thee, the more for the reading of them. – Cotton Mather

Not long after Archibald Alexander’s inauguration as the first Professor at Princeton Theological Seminary, he made a significant addition to his collection of books with the acquisition of a private library that belonged to a Dutch Reformed minister. Hughes Oliphant Old tells us that

At one point he was able to buy the private library of a learned Dutch theologian, the Reverend Mr. John van Harlingen. This provided him with many of the classics of Reformed theology from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as well as editions of the Church Fathers (The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures in the Worship of the Christian Church, Vol. 6, p. 233).

After hearing of this acquisition, his friend John Holt Rice wrote to him on November 4, 1813 to commend his purchase.

I could not help exclaiming when I heard of the fine library you had purchased, "O fortunatum!" but I could hardly add, "equidem hand invideo" But why should I repine? I have more books than I can read.

This is recorded in J.W. Alexander’s Life of Archibald Alexander, p. 353, but the full letter by Rice is found here.

Rice describes what the Japanese refer to as Tsundoku, having more books than one can read. We have previously made mention of this concept. If one is to err, it may be best to err on the side of having more books than one can read, than on the other side. But nevertheless, it is fascinating to read about the libraries and book purchases of godly men who have gone before. And, of course, it is best to read all that we can to the glory of God!

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B.B. Comegys on the Christian family's library

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Books are the windows through which the soul looks out. A house without books is like a room without windows. No man has a right to bring up his children without surrounding them with books, if he has the means to buy them. It is a wrong to his family. He cheats them. Children learn to read by being in the presence of books. The love of knowledge comes with reading and grows upon it. And the love of knowledge, in a young mind, is almost a warrant against the inferior excitement of passions and vices. . . .A little library, growing larger every year, is an honorable part of a young man's history. It is a man's duty to have books. A library is not a luxury, but one of the necessaries of life. — Henry Ward Beecher

A prominent and successful Philadelphia banker, a ruling elder, and one of the key individuals who led the Presbyterian Church to officially embrace the liturgical calendar, Benjamin Bartis Comegys was also a great lover of books. He amassed a great personal library and published a fascinating Tour Round My Library (1893), which reflects the philosophy of Henry Ward Beecher above, which Comegys quoted.

In this little book, Comegys proposes to give the reader a “chatty” description and tour of his personal library, setting the stage first with his ideas about the value of building a good, solid library for the Christian family. In the preface, he writes:

There are few lives so busy that some intervals cannot be found for the indulgence of a taste for art, science or literature. For most of my life I have been engaged in an occupation laborious, exacting and full of responsibilities. But from my early youth I have been a lover of books, and though I make no claim to scholarship, the cultivation of a taste for general literature has been one of the chief pleasures of my life. The companionship of books has been, and is, among my most cherished companionships, and I love them as I love my friends.

The love of books has led me to the gathering of some such as I cared most to have, and which were within my means; and the “intervals,” which have always been the evenings, have given me opportunities for reading and sometimes for writing.

True to the adage of Augustine (quoted by John Calvin in his Preface to the Institutes) — “I profess to be one of those who, by profiting, write, and by writing profit.” (Augustine, Epist. 7.) — Comegys was not only a reader but a writer, many of whose published works have recently been added to Log College Press.

Comegys also writes that the study of the Scriptures was a major goal in the building of his library as he acquired Bible commentaries and ultimately taught a class on the Bible. “Yet in a well-selected library that part ordinarily is the most valuable which contains books written to interpret the Holy Scriptures.” His body of published writings reflects a particular interest in both contributing to the work of the church, and to teaching and counseling the young.

A library bought for the purpose of filling a room, large or small, with books, even if well selected as to authors, subjects and binding, is not a library in the truest and best sense. A library for the family should be the growth of many years. Begun with a few books over the mantel shelf, and growing to fill a cupboard or two, then overflowing to some temporary shelves, it grows until a bookcase is needed; then another and another, until the room itself scarcely contains its treasures. Children must be provided with books, picture-books at first, then stories well chosen, then histories, such as the admirable series of histories and biographies by the Abbotts; then large histories, then fiction, then poetry, then books for Sunday reading, of which there is a vast field most attractive: for a household that is brought up to make a distinction between Sunday reading and every-day reading, will be none the worse for it when the children are grown, even if some people do sneer at such a distinction; then polite letters generally, then books of reference, never intended to be read, then dictionaries, then encyclopedias.

A library formed on some such plan, the needs of the family being the motive for getting the books, may be years and years before its accumulations are large; but every book so purchased will have a history of its own, every book will be loved for its own sake, its author will somehow become as a personal friend and visitor in the house — and no book, the reading of which would bring a blush to the cheek if read aloud, will find a place in that library.

The value of a library does not depend on the number of books it contains. The readers of “Ten Thousand a Year,” Dr. Warren’s charming novel, will not fail to recall the attempts of Tittlebat Titmouse to gather a library. This ridiculous character was, in this quest, a type of man whom some of us have seen in our country.

Comegys goes on to discuss principles of wisdom in the selection of the best books in various genres of literature, history and theological study, highlighting some of his favorite and most relied-upon. He also speaks to the reader about the joy of traveling via books without even leaving one’s library. And in a sense he takes the reader to places far and near, through ages of time long and short, by means of a little “tour round my library.”

Our tour guide then writes:

But first let me describe the room which I call my library. An irregularly shaped room with a deep, wide bay-window on the south and another window down to the floor: a deeper alcove and two windows on the north: the shelves on the west side broken by a wide fire-place and a mantel reaching almost to the ceiling, and a fine old German cabinet: a room wainscoted throughout with wood; no plaster, paint or paper; the ceiling of dark yellow pine set in deep panels, with pendants of dark walnut.

The spaces between the windows and all the rest of the wall are covered with shelves — the highest range being within easy reach, and over the shelves are placed busts of some of my favorite authors. In the middle of the room is the broad, strong table, that can bear any load of books — so firm that it does not shake under its sometimes heavy load. Across one corner of the room, quite away from the doors and the fire-place, is a most tempting lounge, with its pillows, the other furniture being the easy armchairs, all leather-covered, and the chair without arms, but with nearly straight back, which is always drawn up to the table, and which is my work-chair.

A glimpse of the library of B.B. Comegys.

The writer almost becomes a poet, reflecting the poetic treasures found in his library, as he paints a picture with words. In following chapters, Comegys waxes nostalgically about special books, favorite authors and places to which he has traveled. Speaking of Sir Walter Scott, he is transported — along with the reader — to places in Scotland where Scott once lived, and where Comegys has traveled — to relive memories and experiences. The books on his shelves act in effect as a time travel device.

A second view of Comegys’ library.

Other chapters follow which speak of authors such as Rev. John Todd (1800-1873) and Arthur Penrhyn Stanley (1815–1881), Dean of Westminster. The author is “chatty,” as he said, when telling us of the authors who have impacted him and which grace his library.

Third view of Comegys’ library.

A library, in the view of Comegys, is a place where family, art, comfort, and edification unite, grow together, and leave deep and warm impressions that stir the heart, mind and soul. The Christian reader — even in the 21st century — will benefit from this remarkable tour of a library, which was so notable that it founds its way to the Smithsonian.

Comegys Collection
In 1966, the Smithsonian's Museum of History and Technology (now the National Museum of American History) set up an exhibition which featured the 19th-century library room of Benjamin B. Comegys (1819-1900), president of the Philadelphia National Bank, with the original wall panels, books, objects, and other furnishings. The exhibition was taken down in 1984 and the books were transferred to the Smithsonian Institution Libraries' Dibner Library. The works in this collection reflect the particular interests of Benjamin Comegys: religious and moral subjects, titles in English literature, and youth education. As it gives insight into the social and cultural concerns of the era, the Comegys collection is an important research tool to Museum staff and historians in general. The collection also contains a number of extra-illustrated books: works containing illustrations bound into the existing pages that contained images relevant to the text. This interesting aspect of book collecting became quite popular in the 1800s.

Even in the age of digital books — which we love at Log College Press, and strive to assemble for the benefit of our e-readers, along with our hardcopy publications — there is something special about the type of library that Comegys describes. Whether one’s library is a good collection of paper or digital writings, the goal of edifying the family is a timeless principle that Comegys articulates and represents. Not every library will look like his, and his Anglican leanings show in many of his particular selections, but all Christians do well to heed his general advice on how to build a good family library. Come and take that tour with Comegys here.

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Reading in Moderation: Thoughts of J.W. Alexander

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At Log College Press, we love books! We read them, study them, upload them and publish them. As Christians, we are “people of the Book.” With Charles Spurgeon, we exclaim, “Visit many good books, but live in the Bible!” and “Paul cries, ‘Bring the books’ — join in the cry.” With Cotton Mather, we exclaim, “To the Man of Leisure, as well as to the Minister, it is an Advice of Wisdom, Give thyself unto Reading. Good BOOKS of all sorts, may Employ your Leisure, and Enrich you with Treasures more valuable, than those, which the way and Work of your Callings would have purchased. Let the baneful Thoughts of Idleness be chased out of our Minds. But then also, Let Some Thoughts on that Subject, What Good may I do? come into them.” and “What and where my Relish for BOOKS, which I may be hungry for? LORD, Because I shall see THEE, or serve THEE, the more for the Reading of them.”

Yet, all things in moderation. There is a time and a season for this and for that (Eccl. 3). Even after reading, one should meditate and reflect and practice what is learned. Sleep is needed too. And fellowship with the saints. J.W. Alexander, an author of many books, who taught that the Bible should be read daily, reinforces this point in his journal, as noted in Thoughts on Preaching, pp. 437-438:

§ 22. Books and Solitude. — Much may be learned without books. To read always is not the way to be wise. The knowledge of those who are not bookworms has a certain air of health and robustness. I never deal with books all day without being the worse for it. Living teachers are better than dead. There is magic in the voice of living wisdom. Iron sharpeneth iron. Part of every day should be spent in society. Learning is discipline; but the heart must be disciplined as well as the head; and only by intercourse with our fellows can the affections be disciplined. Bookishness implies solitude; and solitude is apt to produce ill weeds: melancholy, selfishness, moroseness, suspicion, and fear. To go abroad is, therefore, a Christian duty. I never went from my books to spend an hour with a friend, however humble, without receiving benefit. I never left the solitary contemplation of a subject in order to compare notes on it with a friend, without finding my ideas clarified. Ennui is not common where men properly mingle the contemplative with the active life. The natural and proper time for going abroad is the evening. Such intercourse should be encouraged in one's own house as well as out of it. Solitary study breeds inhospitality: we do not like to be interrupted. Every one, however wearisome as a guest, should be made welcome, and entertained cordially. Women surpass men in the performance of these household duties; chiefly because they are all given to habits of solitary study. The life which Christ lived among men is a pattern of what intercourse should be for the good of society. I have a notion that the multiplication of books in our day, which threatens to overleap all bounds, will, in the first instance, produce great evils, and will afterwards lead men back to look on oral communication as a method of diffusing knowledge which the press has unduly superseded; and that this will some day break on the world with the freshness of a new discovery.

We continue to add books to Log College Press every day. There is much to glean from the past, and we encourage reading by making thousands of books available for free, and by republishing especially worthy volumes from time to time. But we also affirm what J.W. Alexander said, “I never went from my books to spend an hour with a friend, however humble, without receiving benefit.” Read godly books, and take time for the other things that matter too. Give God the glory in all!

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A 1903 recommended pastoral library

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We have examined previously what constitutes a solid, recommended pastoral library as described by Thomas Murphy; and J.O. Murray, B.B. Warfield, and others. In today’s post, we take a look at recommendations from George Summey of The Presbyterian Quarterly and R.A. Lapsley, Sr. in the Union Seminary Magazine of 1903.

In Vol. 16 of The Presbyterian Quarterly, pp. 407-409, we find a list of 100 recommended titles compiled from the suggestions of many pastors and professors as to what should constitute the basic inventory of a young pastor’s library.

Beginning with the King James Version and Revised Version of the Bible, and Greek and Hebrew lexicons, the list continues with Bible dictionaries and concordances, and Bible commentaries (Matthew Henry and J-F-B on the whole Bible, and select commentators on individual books, such as William Henry Green on Job and Joseph Addison Alexander on Isaiah), before proceeding to classics of Christian literature such as John Calvin’s Institutes, Charles Hodge’s Systematic Theology, Thomas à Kempis’ Imitation of Christ, Thomas Murphy’s Pastoral Theology, Fisher’s Catechism, B.M. Palmer’s Theology of Prayer, and D'Aubigné’s History of the Reformation; and classics of literature in general, including Shakespeare, Milton, Tennyson and Dickens.

It is a full list with a sufficiently broad scope to encompass many areas of study with which each pastor ought to be acquainted. But no list of this nature is going to be complete. R.A. Lapsley wrote his own article to supplement that of the Presbyterian Quarterly by proposing several additional fields of literature of great value to the young minister.

• Experimental religion - Andrew Murray, Abide in Christ; Archibald Alexander, Thoughts on Religious Experience; William S. Plumer, Vital Godliness; Jonathan Edwards, Religious Affections; and the practical works of John Owen;

• Revivals of religion - G.W. Hervey’s Manual of Revivals, with particular reference to the bibliography at p. 143-144, and the outlines of George Whitefield’s sermons, and others;

• Sermons — The sermons of Charles Spurgeon are recommended, as well as Stuart Robinson’s Discourses of Redemption; and those found in the 1896 Southern Presbyterian Pulpit;

• Hymnology — S.W. Duffield, English Hymns: Their Authors and History; and

• Christian biographies — Memoirs of Robert Murray M’Cheyne, Edward Payson, William C. Burns, and David Brainerd are among those recommended.

Lapsley concludes thus:

These, then, are some of the lines along which a preacher's library ought to grow, building upon the solid foundation laid down in the Quarterly’s list of one hundred books. If a man is to be a preacher and pastor, as well as a theologian and exegete, he wants to have and “inwardly digest” some books on religious experience and revivals of religion, some volumes of sermons, something on religious poetry, especially hymnology, and a number of the choicest religious biographies. These, along with text-books on Pastoral Theology and hand-books of missions, furnish the material for that great department of Practical Theology which is a vital point in ministerial equipment, coördinate with dogmatics and hermeneutics.

In short, the well-read and well-rounded minister is one who begins with the study of the Bible and proceeds to consult spiritual classics from the spectrum of history. Lapsley is not averse to recommending (for occasional perusal) the autobiography of Charles Finney (with a caution about his Pelagianism), but offers his highest praise of the practical works of John Owen. Read Summey’s list here, and Lapsley’s article here, for the combined pastoral library recommendations from the 1903 Presbyterian Quarterly and Union Seminary Magazine.

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Meet Jonathan Cross: The pioneer colporteur of the Alleghany mountains

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Do you know what a “colporteur” is? It is a someone who “peddles” or hands out books, newspapers, tracts, etc. - especially, in 19th century America, religious tracts, books and Bibles. Jonathan Cross (1802-1876) was one such colporteur, who worked for the American Tract Society for over two decades. He wrote about some of his experiences in western Virginia as “the pioneer colporteur in the Alleghany mountains” in Five Years in the Alleghanies (1863).

There are autobiographical details in most of his published writings, but we turn to the History of the Presbyterian of Washington (1889) for a brief biographical sketch of this interesting pioneer, who late in life, after having served as a ruling elder for many years, became a Presbyterian minister. Rev. Jonathan Cross

Was, for about six years, a member of our Presbytery. He was born in the year 1802, in Beaver County, Pa. At the age of twenty years he became a Christian, and afterwards was made a ruling elder. His burning zeal led him to enter the service of the American Tract Society, in which capacity he labored for many years, chiefly in West Virginia, in the double work of distributing evangelical literature and of winning souls by personal appeal and prayer. It was his great success in this line of service that led him to his entrance into the ministry late in life. In 1866, at the solicitation of that godly man, Samuel Ott, Esq., he came to his only pastoral charge, the Third [Presbyterian] Church of Wheeling [West Virginia], when that church was at the point of disbanding; but great success and increase marked his work until 1872, when ill health compelled him to retire. He died at Newark, Ohio, December 18, 1876, aged about seventy-four years. In many place he is remembered as an earnest evangelist.

Elsewhere in this volume we learn that Cross was ordained as a ruling elder on September 2, 1832; and he was installed as a pastor on December 16, 1866; until his pastoral charge was dissolved on February 4, 1873.

Cross is known to students of the Westminster Shorter Catechism for his 2-volume Illustrations of the Shorter Catechism, for Children and Youth (1864). In the preface to this work, we are told that Cross had memorized the Shorter Catechism by the age of six. But his heart was not changed by God’s Holy Spirit until he became a young man, and then he became zealous to share the gospel of God’s grace with others, and the Catechism was for him a valuable tool as a Sabbath School teacher. He was experienced in the expositions of the Catechism by John Brown of Haddington, John Willison and that which goes by the name of “Fisher’s Catechism.” But he felt the need for another tool to help teach children the truths of the Bible - thus, his Illustrations of the Shorter Catechism was born.

As a colporteur for the American Tract Society (Superintendent of Colportage for Virginia and North Carolina), Cross reported the following summary of his work in 1866:

In other parts of Western Virginia, after a great deal of labor you may find a few persons who can read; then they are furnished with books, and a Sunday-school is started by them, which becomes the means of the formation of a church. That is the work of the colporteurs. They go there and plant a little seed, and by the blessing of God it increases and prospers.

I could tell you many instances of such things. We generally found the people very ignorant, and in huts and cabins which the foot of a religious man had never entered. Here we scattered the seed; and the publications of this Society were placed in their hands.

In North Carolina, under my own supervision, one hundred thousand children were gathered into Sunday-schools; and I know of no other agency which is so well calculated to meet the wants of our destitute population as the Tract Society.

Cross and other colporteurs did much to promote education in the backcountry, as he tells us in an 1851 colportage report to the American Tract Society.

In many instances families were found, numbering from five to twelve persons, who did not know a letter of the alphabet; they wanted no books, of course. The colporteur would open some book, read a passage, and exhibit some of the pictures. The eyes of the children would sparkle; ‘Mother, get me that book — I want to learn to read it.” What mother can resist such an appeal? The book is bought, or received as a gift. In a little time the child is in school. Such an occurrence as the above has been very common in the experience of our colporteurs.

The labors of Cross and other colporteurs in 19th century America did much to bring the word of God, and many edifying religious books and tracts, to people who would not otherwise have received them. Is there a place for colporteurs in 21st century America? We do not wish to see Jehovah’s Witness tracts spread abroad, but the online work of Log College Press is perhaps akin to what pioneer colporteurs did two centuries ago in that we make accessible to many, through the internet, godly literature which might otherwise lay obscure and unconsulted in libraries. For this opportunity, we are grateful to the American Tract Society, its colporteurs, the Presbyterian Board of Publication, the Presbyterian Historical Society, librarians, and the staff of Internet Archive, Google Books and many other institutions, including the PCA Historical Center, and others, for their labors in making possible what we at Log College Press do. And so, in remembering the work of Jonathan Cross, we also aim to carry it forward.

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John B. Reeve: A man of many books, and *the* Book

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Visit many good books, and live in the Bible. — Charles H. Spurgeon

Beloved to many, pastor and professor John Bunyan Reeve was especially dear to Francis James Grimké. It was Reeve who presented Grimké to the Presbytery of Philadelphia as a candidate for the ministry. The two remarkable ministries of these men were intertwined in God’s providence in many ways and over many decades. Three addresses by Grimké testify to the profound impact that Reeve had on his own life, and that of many others. These include: 1) “Remarks at the Semi-Centennial of the Ordination to the Ministry of the Reverend John B. Reeve, June 4, 1911;” 2) “Rev. John B. Reeve, January 20, 1916;” and 3) “A Short Address delivered at Howard University, November 11, 1930, in Connection with the Presentation of a Portrait of the Rev. John B. Reeve” [all found in Vol. 1 of Grimké’s Works].

Although Presbyterian by conviction, it is perhaps not surprising that a man named after John Bunyan, would take to Spurgeon’s maxim noted above. Reeve was an avid reader. Grimké describes him as '“an omnivorous reader.” A man knowledgeable in the Word, a man of prayer, a remarkable preacher - but a man who labored to bring that Word to the flock under his care.

As the under-shepherd of the flock, he realized that his great mission was to lead the flock into green pastures and by the side of still waters. And he knew that these green pastures and still waters were not stumbled upon, but had to be searched for, came as the result of careful, diligent, persistent effort. The scriptures must be searched; the truth must be digged for; waters out of the wells of salvation must be drawn out; there must be effort put forth, constant, persistent painstaking effort.

Reeve knew that after all the planting, watering and effort, “the increase comes from God.” But he did his job, searched the Scriptures, and studied to bring forth the Word faithfully. It is apt that such a man would help, along with Matthew Anderson and others, to establish the Berean School of Philadelphia (as well as the Department of Theology at Howard University).

The man that Grimké describes in his addresses is a man who loved God’s Word, and valued the study of good books to aid in the understanding and preaching of that Word.

He was a man of scholarly attainments. He never ceased to be a student; he never lost his taste for study; he never allowed himself by pressure from the outside to deprive him of his study hour. He was always delving; always seeking to enlarge the stores of his knowledge, to get a broader vision of things, and a greater store of information from which, not only to enrich his own intellectual and spiritual life, but also from which to draw supplies for his pulpit ministrations. He was an omnivorous reader. I don’t know any man among us who was as widely read as he was, who, during his lifetime, read as many books as he did. He was reading, always reading, and reading in many directions — history, poetry, philosophy, fiction, books of travel — books religious and books secular.

Very early in his college and seminary life he came to realize with Milton the value of good books. “As good almost kill a man as a good book;” you remember is what Milton said; “who kills a man kills a reasonable creature God’s image; but he who destroys a good book kills reason itself, kills the image of God, as it were in the eye.” “A good book is the precious lifeblood of a master-spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond.” Yes, good books; and he knew what the friendship of good books was; and that friendship was sedulously cultivated — continued to the very end.

The last time I was with him, we talked about books; and when I was coming away, he spoke about the sermon he had heard me preach just the day before, and of the interest which he felt in the line of thought discussed in it, and handed me a package containing two books, which he said, he wanted me to accept, and which dealt with one aspect of the same subject which I had treated in my sermon. He was able to put his hand, at once, upon books bearing upon the subject discussed. I mentioned this incident to show how wide was his reading, how he kept in touch through the printed page, with almost every phase of thought. And here, too, the younger men who are coming up, and are just forming habits, and the older men also, in many instances, might learn an important lesson from him as to keeping up their habits of study, and of cultivating an ever-growing friendship for good books.

Whether to the young or to the old, Grimké’s words — and Reeve’s example — ring as true today as they did over a century ago. The friendship of good books, in right proportion and for the right ends, is a valuable support to the study of the Good Book, the Holy Scriptures. That is the Berean way.

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How to Form a Minister's Library by J.O. Murray and Others

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The first dean of the faculty at Princeton was James Ormsbee Murray (1827-1899), who served as such from 1883 until his death. Dean Murray, in January/June 1890, authored a 2-part article for The Homiletic Review titled How to Form a Minister’s Library. In addition to his own recommendations for useful books, he included further lists of recommended titles by Caspar Wistar Hodge, Sr. on New Testament exegesis, William Henry Green in Old Testament, James McCosh (former President of Princeton) in philosophy, Francis Landey Patton (then-current President of Princeton) in ethics, George Park Fisher in history, and B.B. Warfield in Dogmatic Theology.

Although in the 21st century, many theological students and ministers have found digital books the economical way to build a library, and Log College Press is doing its best to assist with thousands of worthy titles available on this site, there is still wisdom to be gained from reviewing the recommendations and suggestions of notable late 19th century ministers, theologians and scholars, although the counsel found herein as to how to purchase quality books.

For one thing, the recommendations go beyond theology to the realm of general history (as well as ecclesiastical), science, poetry and even novels - Murray writes: “Is fiction to have any place in the minister's library? How can he have it, if he is going to preach against novel-reading? If he is to preach indiscriminately against all use of fiction, he by no means should use it himself. But he had better refrain from all such folly, and set an example of using the novel as not abusing it.” This wisdom could be applied to other genres of art and aspects of culture as well.

Moreover, many classic titles in theology and Biblical studies that were utilized by Princeton theologians in the 19th century have stood the test of time, if not the test of popularity, even though the century of more of scholarship that has been performed since this article was published should also not be neglected. Patrick Fairbairn on the Typology of Scripture, Alfred Edersheim’s The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, George Smeaton on the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit - these are some of specific titles mentioned which have stood the test of time. Some of the titles given are by American authors, some by European; some are available today in digital format, others require a trip to a seminary library. But the modern minister or student of the ministry today can gain from a review of this 1890 article by Murray and the listed recommendations. Bookmark this article and take a few minutes to see what men like Warfield and other Princeton divines thought was important to have in a minister’s library.

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John W. Pritchard's Covenanter Bookshelf

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In 1921, John Wagner Pritchard, author of Soldiers of the Church: The Story of What the Reformed Presbyterians (Covenanters) of North America, Canada, and the British Isles, Did to Win the World War of 1914-1918 (1919), and the editor of The Christian Nation, a weekly publication associated with the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America and the National Reform Association, which is published in New York City, conceived the idea of creating a catalog of Covenanter literature. He wrote on March 2: “We are going to try to compile a complete list of all the books written by Covenanters or written about Covenanters.”

Over the next several months, with suggestions contributed by readers in America and overseas, his ambitious goal resulted in a list that exceeded 250 titles. He wrote on June 8: “Columbus thought he had found a group of islands, and did not live long enough to learn that he had discovered a new continent. W'e started in search of sufficient books written by or about Covenanters to fill a shelf, and did not need to live but a few months to learn that there were enough of such books to fill a good sized room.”

Among the sources utilized in this research was James Calvin McFeeteter’s address at the First International Convention of Reformed Presbyterian Churches held in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1896 titled Reformed Presbyterian Literature (American) [available to read here]; and John C. Johnston’s marvelous compendium titled Treasury of the Scottish Covenant (1887), of such usefulness that it is listed twice (#195 and #259), which was unknown to Pritchard at the beginning of this endeavor.

Pritchard’s catalogue met with such success that the 1921 RP Synod ruled that “Authority was conferred to collect as far as possible one copy each of books, catalogued in the Covenanter Book Shelf, for College and Seminary.” The library at the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to this day is the great repository of Covenanter literature in America.

We have recently added Pritchard’s “Covenanter Book Shelf” to his page recently, and it is truly a valuable resources for Covenanters and students of the Covenanters on both sides of the Atlantic. One will find the names of Scottish Covenanters such as Cameron, Cargill, Gillespie, Guthrie, Knox, Melville, Rutherford, Peden, Symington and many others highlighted; as well as American Covenanters Dodds, George, Glasgow, Kennedy, McAllister, McFeeters, McLeod, McMaster, Scott, Sommerville, Sproull, Willson, Wylie and more. As we work our way through this catalogue, we hope to add more and more of the American titles listed to Log College Press. If you have an interest in Covenanter literature, be sure to check out Pritchard and McFeeters and you will benefit from their research.

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The first book published in West Virginia

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It is remarkable how many books by Presbyterians were among the first to the published in this or that early American locale. We have shared some examples of this previously. Today’s query: what was the first book published in West Virginia?

Answer: The first book published in what is now West Virginia (which seceded from Virginia in 1863) is Moses Hoge’s Christian Panoply; Containing an Apology for the Bible in a Series of Letters Addressed to Thomas Paine (1797), and it was published in Shepherdstown. A tiny handful of pamphlets and broadsides were printed in 1791 and 1796, but Christian Panoply was the first book published in the territory of West Virginia.

Christian Panoply is a response to Thomas Paine’s The Age of Reason. The work essentially consists of three parts: 1) Richard Watson’s letters titled Apology for the Bible and his Address to Scoffers at Religion; 2) William Paley’s The Authenticity of the Books of the New Testament (extracted from his A View of the Evidences of Christianity); and 3) Hoge’s The Sophist Unmasked (under Hoge’s pseudonym, Philobiblius).

We added this work to Log College Press last year, and it represents another Presbyterian landmark in the history of American literature. Students of church history can bookmark this West Virginia milestone for further study here.

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Presbyterianism in Catechetical Form

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A recent acquisition of interest from the library of the late Dr. Morton Smith is a small booklet titled Presbyterianism in Catechetical Form, compiled by Mrs. M.W. Pratt and published by the Presbyterian Committee of Publication in Richmond, Virginia (1893). This work has not yet been uploaded to Log College Press, but it is hoped that we can do so in the future.

It is written for the Presbyterian in the pews and others who desire to better understand the system of doctrine and polity embraced by our church and articulated in its standards. A particular extract concerning the Westminster Assembly may serve to whet the appetite for this valuable and rare little work.

Question 1. What are the names of the Presbyterian standards of faith and government?
Answer. “The Confession of Faith,” “The Larger and Shorter Catechisms,” and “The Book of Church Order.”

Q. 2. When were the Confession of Faith and Catechisms written?
A. In 1643-1649.

Q. 3. Where?
A. In England, in Westminster Abbey.

Q. 4. By whose order?
A. The British Parliament.

Q. 5. Who composed the Assembly that wrote them?
A. One hundred and forty-two divines, including four from Scotland, thirty-two laymen, including two from Scotland. (Hetherington’s Hist. Westminster, pp. 98, 99.)

Q. 6. Of what denominations were they?
A. Presbyterians and Independents.

Q. 7. Were they learned and good men?
A. Yes; they were among the most learned and godly men who ever adorned the British empire.

Q. 8. What did Richard Baxter of them?
A. That the Christian world since the days of the apostles had never had a Synod of more excellent divines than this and this and the Synod of Dort.

Q. 9. What vow did they take before beginning their work?
A. I do sincerely and solemnly protest, in the presence of Almighty God, that in the Assembly of which I am a member I will not maintain anything in matters of doctrine but what I think in my conscience to be the truth, or in point of discipline but what I consider to conduce most to the glory of God and the good and peace of the church.

Q. 10. How long were they in preparing this work?
A. More than five and a half years.

Q. 11. What did they was their object in thus formulating their doctrine and form of church government?
A. That a scheme of doctrine and form of church government pure and scriptural would be the most excellent means for establishing the rights for which they were contending, and forming the virtues by which freedom is blest.

Q. 12. Has their work proved them wise prophets?
A. Yes, it has done more good for the world than any other books ever written except the Bible.

Q. 13. What country approved and adopted their work?
A. Scotland, in their General Assemblies of 1647-1648.

Q. 14. Were these standards adopted by the church in America?
A. Yes, in Philadelphia, in May, 1788, with a slight change in regard to civil government.

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Presbyterian Landmarks of American Literature

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It is well known that the Bay Psalm Book (a New England Puritan Psalter) was the first book published in British North America (1640). One of the editors of this work was John Eliot (1604-1690), the famous “Apostle to the Indians,” who also wrote Communion of churches, or, The divine management of gospel-churches by the ordinance of councils constituted in order according to the Scriptures as also the way of bringing all Christian parishes to be particular Reforming Congregationall Churches, humbly proposed as ... a means of uniting those two holy and eminent parties the Presbyterians and the Congregationals (1665), a work which has led some to propose that Eliot was a Presbyterian at heart.*

Whether or not he is rightly classified as a Presbyterian or a Congregationalist, or something in-between, there are some notable examples apart from the Bay Psalm Book which constitute Presbyterian landmarks in American literature.

Pennsylvania was the home of Founding Father Benjamin Franklin of Philadelphia, whose publication of so many Presbyterian works from the 1730s forward we have discussed previously here.

The first Presbyterian book published in the South was by Old Side minister John Thomson (1690-1753): An Explication of the Shorter Catechism (1749, Williamsburg, Virginia).

John Thomson’s exposition of the Westminster Shorter Catechism was the first Presbyterian book published in the American South.

In 1765, layman John Redick (whose dates are not known and who is not yet on Log College Press) authored the first book published in Baltimore, Maryland: A Detection of the Conduct and Proceedings of Messrs. Annan and Henderson, Members of the Associate Presbytery’s Whole Sitting at Oxford Meeting-House, April 18th, Anno Domini 1764, Together with Their Abettors; Wherein is Contained Some Remarks. Printed by Nicholas Hasselbach, only one copy is known to exist. It came into the possession of George W. McCreary, librarian of the Maryland Historical Society, who reprinted 300 copies of it in 1903, under the title The First Book Printed in Baltimore Town, with a history of the printer and the book, one of which is in the possession of this writer. The book is an account of a financial transaction between Redick and Hugh Scott, a blacksmith, which later led to ecclesiastical charges.

The first book published in Baltimore was by a Presbyterian layman.

The first book published in Kentucky was by Presbyterian minister Adam Rankin (1755-1827): A Process of the Transilvania Presbytery (1793). We have previously given an account of this work here.

The first book published in Kentucky was by Presbyterian minister Adam Rankin.

The first book of poetry published in Georgia was by Presbyterian minister Samuel Jones Cassels (1806-1853): Providence and Other Poems (1838).

The first book of poems published in Georgia was by Presbyterian minister Samuel J. Cassels.

This brief survey of Presbyterian landmarks in American literature is just a cursory look at some noteworthy highlights and is far from complete, just merely scratching the surface of this intriguing topic. But it suggests the importance of Presbyterian literature in the colonial era and in the early days of the American republic. It is natural that books and Presbyterians go hand-in-hand, and these landmarks provide a snapshot of this truism in early American history.

* William Henry Roberts wrote, “Eliot was a Presbyterian by conviction, and the splendid service which he rendered from 1637 to 1690, in the conversion and education of the heathen on our shores, made him the forerunner, not only in the general work of American foreign missions, but also in the labors of the Presbyterian Church for the conversion of the heathen world. His was the first voice of an American Presbyterian crying in the wilderness, ‘Make ye ready the way of the Lord’” (“The Part Which American Presbyterians Have Had in Foreign Missions in the Past,” in David McConaughy, ed., The World-Call of Men To-Day: Addresses and Proceedings of the Men’s Missionary Convention, Held in Philadelphia, February 11-13, 1908 (1908), p. 84).

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Lost Treasures of American Presbyterianism

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What light would be thrown upon the dim past if we had to-day the diaries of Francis Makemie, Jedediah Andrews, Francis Doughty, Richard Denton or Matthew Hill. Had we the catechism which Makemie published, but which has absolutely disappeared, we should understand fully his attitude toward the Quakers and why he came into conflict with George Keith. Had we all the discussions and the letters which must have been written about the famous Adopting Act of 1729, how many precious hours of time in later years would have saved, misunderstanding avoided and the Church spared much restlessness and bad feeling. Could we but have the lost minutes of the Presbytery of Philadelphia from 1717 to 1733, the action of that body and the opinion of its members on the Adopting Act and other similar matters, might have proved mouth and wisdom to some of the men of later generations. Would it be more than the mere gratifying of an idle curiosity if we knew the reasons why the Presbyterians did not have a conference with the Baptists after having requested it and with whom they had worshipped in the Barbadoes Store, Philadelphia, from 1695 to 1698? If we could but see the lost page or pages of the first minutes of the Presbytery of Philadelphia, it would settle for the Church the question of time and perhaps the question as to the declaration of doctrine and the attitude of the early fathers to the Confession of Faith. If we could but read 'the loving letters from Domine Frelinghuysen,' it might reveal to us the secret as to the change in the ministry of Gilbert Tennent to a more evangelistic style of preaching. -- William L. Ledwith, "The Record of Fifty Years, 1852-1902: Historical Sketch of the Presbyterian Historical Society" in Journal of Presbyterian History, Vol. 1, No. 6, p. 404

The Presbyterian Historical Society in Philadelphia was built to preserve the records and artifacts of Presbyterian history, and provides climate-controlled record storage services, along with fire protection, and other document preservation resources.

At Log College Press, we delight in bringing old, dusty, classic American Presbyterian works into the light of day again for a new generation to appreciate. But there are some works that are simply lost to history, as painful for we bibliophiles to admit, and as William Ledwith has shown us already (the Presbyterian Historical Society was founded mainly to protect and preserve the treasures of Presbyterian church history). There are works known to exist at one time that have simply disappeared from the stage before the advent of digital imaging. These include diaries, Presbytery minutes, letters, and even entire books.A few examples which pertain to Log College Press authors:

The first two pages of the first Presbytery’s Minute Book, which describe the first meeting, are lost to history. Pictured above is page 3 of the Minute Book, which gives an account of the ordination of John Boyd.

• Francis Makemie - Besides the aforementioned Catechism, and his personal Diary, which are both gone, Makemie was accused by Lord Cornbury (who had previously tried him for preaching without a dissenters’ license and lost) with authorship of a 1707 New Jersey publication titled Forget and Forgive — of which Makemie denied authorship — for apparently slanderous remarks directed at him contained within. That book, which would certainly shine light on the ongoing dispute between Makemie (even if he was not the author) and Lord Cornbury, is simply nowhere to be found today.

• Alexander Craighead - The first American Covenanter minister has left us some remarkable writings, but there are some gaps in his bibliography as well. His 1742 Discourse Concerning the Covenant is, strangely, missing eight pages. Moreover, no copy of an anonymous 1743 pamphlet thought to be published by him has survived after it was condemned by the Synod of Philadelphia for seditious principles. Considering his known published views on resistance to British tyranny, and the influence he had posthumously on the 1775 Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, this missing pamphlet constitutes a rather large gap in our understanding of a fascinating colonial Presbyterian.

• Titus Basfield - Basfield was a former slave who studied at what is now known as Franklin College, where he was mentored by the college president and Associate Presbyterian pastor John Franklin. John Bingham (later the architect of the 14th Amendment) was a fellow student and close friend of Basfield with whom he carried on a correspondence of 40 years. Bingham's letters to Basfield were destroyed in the 1990s, after John Campbell, a private collector who owned them, died, and his widow threw them away (source: Gerard N. Magliocca, American Founding Son: John Bingham and the Invention of the Fourteenth Amendment, p. 197).

• Samuel Davies - At one point during the ministry of Davies in Virginia, a writer who took the pen name “Artemas” attempted to “lampoon” Davies by association with alleged excesses related to the Great Awakening, including “a copious flow of tears” and “fainting and trembling” by some under his ministry. Davies responded with a pamphlet titled A Pill For Artemas, which according to a 19th century anonymous writer (“ A Recovered Tract of President Davies,” The Biblical Repertory and Princeton Review (1837), Vol. 9, No. 3, pp. 363-364), “evinced the power of his sarcasm.” Davies sought a middle ground between extremes of lukewarmness and frenzied ecstasy in his hearers as the received the word of truth and responded appropriately. In any case, although the anonymous writer above said he had seen Davies’ pamphlet, George H. Bost wrote in 1942 that “Both pamphlets seem to have been lost” (Ph.D. dissertation titled Samuel Davies: Colonial Revivalist and Champion of Religious Toleration, p. 53).

So while we will continue to hunt for the interesting, rare and special works pertaining to American Presbyterianism to make them available at Log College Press, sadly, there are some things that are apparently lost to history. Would it be wonderful though, to find something thought to be lost in a drawer or attic somewhere? A church historian can dream, can’t they?

A 19th century Presbyterian publisher whose name you might know

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The subject of today’s post had an elder brother, William, who became a Presbyterian minister. The story is told, by Rev. William Hammil, the Principal of the Boys’ School at Lawrenceville, New Jersey, of William’s conversion, followed by that of his brother days later.

He [William] came to me,” says Mr. Hammil, “ and said, ‘I have found the Saviour, and I wish you would tell my companions.’ I said to him, ‘William, you had better tell them yourself. It will do them and you both good.’ He stood up and said, ‘My dear schoolmates, you have, perhaps, not understood why I have not been out upon the playground as much as usual for some days past. I have been seeking the salvation of my soul, and trust I have found my Saviour, and wish to tell you how much joy I have.’ After prayers, William came to me and said, ‘ I wish you would speak to my brother…, and pray for him.’ I promised to do so. Like Andrew the Apostle, he was desirous that his brother should see Jesus. In a few days, … his younger brother, was indulging a good hope of an interest in Christ.

James W. Alexander once wrote in a preface to his Discourses on Common Topics of Christian Faith and Practice that “The appearance of these Discourses is due to the kind importunity of the Publisher, once my pupil and since my esteemed friend, who has for several years asked this contribution.”

The man who would one day became a publisher whose name is known around the world studied at Princeton, graduating in 1840. After health issues derailed an initial venture into the legal profession, he instead went into the business of publishing books. His first base of operations was in meeting rooms leased from the Presbyterian Brick Street Chapel in New York City for $600 annually. Shepherd Knapp, Jr., in his sketch of this famous historical congregation, tells us that:

In 1846 another publishing house became the church's tenant, that of …, whose successors, …, and the present … have continued the firm's long relationship to the Brick Church by becoming the publishers of the principle works of the church's ministers during the last half century.

J. David Hoevelter, Jr., in James McCosh and the Scottish Intellectual Tradition: From Glasgow to Princeton, p. 308), adds:

The firm had an eclectic list of works, but it excelled in high scholarly, and especially theological, works. These included books by Horace Bushnell, Henry B. Smith, Noah Porter, and others that especially illustrate the Princeton connection — Archibald and James Waddel Alexander, Charles Hodge, and then McCosh.

The list of works by Log College Press authors published by this man and his company is voluminous. Some of the names and titles can be noted on this Princeton chronology here. The publisher’s name remains well-known today, in the 21st century: Charles Scribner (1821-1871). Although he died at the age of 50, his work was carried on under the name Charles Scribner’s Sons. One of his sons, who later led the family business, was John Blair Scribner - named after a former Log College student, John Blair. His legacy has endured, and we at Log College Press are grateful for the many Presbyterian works that he and his family published during the 19th century.

J.W. Alexander: A Man Will Be as His Books

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“Visit many good books, but live in the Bible.” — Charles H. Spurgeon

A friend recently pointed this writer to a quote from James Waddel Alexander’s Thoughts on Preaching: Being Contributions to Homiletics.

It must be the habit of the preacher to be continually opening new veins, and deeply considering subjects allied to those on which he is to preach. This habit is greatly aided by judicious reading on theological topics. A man will be as his books. But of all means, none is so effectual as the perpetual study of the Scriptures. Let a man be interested in them day and night, continually labouring in this mine, and, whether he write or not, he will be effectually secured against self-repetition. There is such profundity, comprehensiveness and variety in the Word of God, that it is a library of itself. There is such a freshness in its mode of presenting truth, that he who is perpetually conversant with it can scarcely be dull (pp. 18-19).

The Book of Books — that is, the Bible — is the treasury of wisdom. All other books are to be measured by their consistency with the Scriptures. That being the case, the careful choice of good books is a great aid to the minister or elder or, indeed, to any Christian reader. At Log College Press, we select the titles that we republish with care as well.

Are you an elder? Read Witherspoon. Are you in seminary? Read Plumer. Are you a pastor? Read Rice & Grimké. Are you pastoring in a small town? Read Grafton. Are you getting older? Read Alexander. Are you interested in the Synod of Dort? Read Miller. There is profound, edifying and encouraging literature here for everyone. And a special deal for ordering all seven titles.

If you agree with Alexander that “a man will be as his books,” or that a person is a reflection of the books in which they spend their time, then consider these adding these titles to your library. These are volumes in which spiritual wisdom is practically applied and in which church history is made plain. It is our prayer that they will contribute to the church today, as they have in times past, and be a blessing to your soul.

The Story of a Children's Book that was Parleyed into a Presbyterian Library

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Have you heard of the Peter Parley stories? The title character of a popular series of children’s books authored by Samuel Griswold Goodrich (1793-1860), Peter Parley was “an elderly, quirky, but also lovable old Bostonian who enjoy[ed] telling stories to children.” The stories he told helped to teach children about history, geography, and science. By 1856, 7 million copies of the Peter Parley stories had been sold.

Published by the firm of Sorin and Ball, the copyright holder to the series was an associate of the firm named Samuel Agnew (1820-1880). He was also a Presbyterian ruling elder who had a deep interest in books and history. The enormous success of his publishing labors enabled Agnew to retire at around the age of 40.

In tracing the history of the Presbyterian Historical Society, which was founded in 1852, William Laurence Ledwith writes:

The noble triumvirate who bore the burden were the Rev. Cortlandt Van Rensselaer, D. D., the Rev. Richard Webster, and Samuel Agnew, and the greatest of these was Agnew….Samuel Agnew was the librarian from the organization until 1880, the time of his death, covering a period of twenty-eight years. The Society owes to him more than to any one else; his time, his labors, his money being given without stint to the cause he so dearly loved. In his earlier days he was a member of the firm of Sorin and Ball, publishers, and he owned the copyright of the Peter Parley histories. He was a man of ample means, and devoted himself to the interests of the Historical Society, and it is no extravagant statement to say that the Society itself, its library with its large and rare collection, the building which the Society purchased in 1879, are his monuments. He was ever on the watch for anything and everything in print that had value for the Society. He frequented book auctions, and often, rather than miss the volume or pamphlet he desired, would purchase the whole package in which they were tied. It is said that when he saw the advertisement of a library sale in New York, Boston, Cleveland or Cincinnati, he would start at once for the place, and secure, often at large cost, the books he desired. Even in London, Edinburgh, and Glasgow, he had his agents under instructions to secure such books as he wished to purchase. In this work, to which he gave himself so heartily, he spent $25,000, as he once confessed to a friend, when worried lest these historic treasures of the Society which he had stored away might be destroyed by fire. He also collected 4,000 volumes and pamphlets on the Baptist Controversy, which he left in his will to Princeton Theological Seminary. After his death it was some little time before they could be found, but they were discovered stored away in a building used as a stable. He died just as the Society was entering upon the use of the first building it owned, and which he had labored so faithfully to secure.

We have a snapshot of the fruits of Agnew’s labors on behalf of the PHS library because in 1865 he published a catalogue of its holdings. It covers 100 pages of book titles, but remarkably it does not include a “large and valuable collection of more than eight thousand Pamphlets, Magazines and Reviews; two hundred volumes of Newspapers; three hundred Portraits; and many valuable Manuscripts.”

Thus it was, in the providence of God, that the fortune built on the sales of a children’s book by Samuel Agnew was parleyed into the library of the Presbyterian Historical Society, a legacy of lasting value to the church.

The History of Early Presbyterianism in All 50 States

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If you have been in search of resources covering the history of Presbyterianism in a particular state or regional area within the United States, the list below (which is by no means comprehensive) may be of some assistance. Links are provided to works by LCP authors, but also note that much of the other literature referenced can be found on our secondary sources page as well. PCA Historical Center Director Wayne Sparkman’s research here was one of several helpful resources in compiling this list.

• Alabama - James Williams Marshall, The Presbyterian Church in Alabama: A Record of the Growth of the Presbyterian Church from its Beginning in 1811 in the Eastern portion of Mississippi (1977); Synod of Alabama, “The King’s Business” in the Synod of Alabama (1926)

• Alaska - Sheldon Jackson, Alaska, and Missions on the Pacific North Coast (1880); and The Presbyterian Church in Alaska: An Official Sketch of Its Rise and Progress, 1877-1884. With the Minutes of the First Meeting of the Presbytery of Alaska (1886); Aaron Ladner Lindsley, Sketches of an Excursion to Southern Alaska (1881); Thora McIlroy Mills, The Contributions of the Presbyterian Church to the Yukon During the Gold Rush, 1897-1910 (1977); Dianne Anderson O’Connell, The Yukon Presbyterian: An Unauthorized Biography (100 Years of Presbyterian Work in the Northern Parts of Alaska) (1999); Samuel Hall Young, Hall Young of Alaska, The “Mushing Parson”: An Autobiography (1927)

• Arizona - Richard K. Smith and J. Melvin Nelson, Datelines and By-Lines : A Sketchbook of Presbyterian Beginnings and Growth in Arizona (1969)

• Arkansas - Thomas H. Campbell, Arkansas Cumberland Presbyterian, 1812-1984: A People of Faith (1985); Charles Beatty Moore, The History of Presbyterianism in Arkansas, 1828-1902 (1902); James Wilson Moore, Presbyterianism in Arkansas (1858, 1905); H.L. Paisley, Centennial History of Presbyterianism (U.S.) in Arkansas (1954)

• California - Jane Atkins-Vásquez, Hispanic Presbyterians in Southern California: One Hundred Years of Ministry (1988); Robert B. Coote & John S. Hadsell, San Francisco Theological Seminary: The Shaping of a Western School of the Church, 1871-1998 (1999); James Curry, History of the San Francisco Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. and Its Alumni Association (1907); Henry Collin Minton, Presbyterianism in California (1897); Greg Roth, Gold Rush Legacy: W.W. Brier, Pioneer Presbyterian Pastor (2005); Edward Arthur Wicher, The Presbyterian Church in California, 1849-1927 (1927); James L. Woods, California Pioneer Decade of 1849: The Presbyterian Church (1922)

• Colorado - Andrew E. Murray, The Skyline Synod: Presbyterianism in Colorado and Utah (1971); John Bernard Schoolland, A Pioneer church: Being a Reverently Realistic Account of the First Presbyterian Church of Boulder, Colorado in it's Total Pioneer Origin, 1872-1972 (1972)

• Connecticut - See below (esp. Blaikie on Presbyterianism in New England)

• Delaware - John W. Christie, Presbyterianism in Delaware (1947); James H. Lappen, Presbyterians on Delmarva: The History of the New Castle Presbytery (1972); United States Army Command and General Staff College, Presbyterian Patriots: The Historical Context of the Shared History and Prevalent Ideologies of Delaware’s Ulster-Scots Who Took Up Arms in the American Revolution (2015); James Laird Vallandigham & Samuel Alexander Gayley, History of the Presbytery of New Castle, From Its Organization, March 13, 1717, to 1888 (1889)

• District of Columbia - Benjamin Franklin Bittinger, The Rise, Progress and Influence of Presbyterianism in the District of Columbia (1895); Compilations, The Centennial of the Beginning of Presbyterianism in the City of Washington (1895); Frank E. Edgington, A History of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church: One Hundred Fifty-Seven Years, 1803-1961 (1961); Dorothy Schaffter, The Presbyterian Congregation in George Town, 1780-1970 (1971); Dewey D. Wallace, Jr., Golden Wilson and Edith Holmes Synder, Capital Witness: A History of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. (2011)

• Florida - James R. Bullock, Heritage and Hope: A Story of Presbyterians in Florida (1987); Karen Harvey, Florida’s First Presbyterians: A Celebration of 175 Years in St. Augustine, 1824-1999 (1998); Herbert A. Love, Opportunities, Responsibilities: The Work of the Presbyterian Church U.S. in Florida (1927); William Erskine McIlwain, The Early Planting of Presbyterianism in West Florida (1926)

• Georgia - Lowry Axley, Holding the Torch Aloft: A Histor of the Independent Church of Savannah, Georgia (1958); Groves Harrison Cartledge, Historical Sketches: Presbyterian Churches and Early Settlers in Northeast Georgia (1960); Dwyn Mecklin Mounger, Who We Are As Presbyterians: Brief Scences From Our Past - A series of five vignettes to be presented at the fourteenth stated meeting of the Synod of the Southeast at St. Simons Presbyterian Church, St. Simons Island, Georgia, - September 16-17, 1986 in celebration of the 250th anniversary of Presbyterianism in Georgia (1986); James Stacy, A History of the Presbyterian Church in Georgia (1912); Franklin C. Talmage, The Story of the Presbytery of Atlanta (1960); Groves Harrison Cartledge, Historical Sketches: Presbyterian Churches and Early Settlers in Northeast Georgia (1960)

• Hawaii - James McKinney Alexander, Mission Life in Hawaii: Memoir of Rev. William P. Alexander (1888)

• Idaho - E. Paul Hovey, Presbyterian Yesterdays in Northern Idaho (1964)

• Illinois - William Irvine Blair, The Presbyterian Synods of Illinois (1952); Leroy Jones Halsey, A History of the McCormick Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church (1893); James Gore King McClure, Sr., The Story of the Life and Work of the Presbyterian Seminary Chicago (1929); Augustus Theodore Norton, History of the Presbyterian Church, in the State of Illinois (1879); Andrew Stevenson, Chicago: Pre-Eminently a Presbyterian City (1907)

• Indiana - Hanford Abram Edson, Contributions to the Early History of the Presbyterian Church in Indiana (1898); L.C. Rudolph, Hoosier Zion: The Presbyterians in Early Indiana (1963); Synod of Indiana, Presbyterianism in Indiana (1926)

• Iowa - J.F. Hinkhouse, One Hundred Years of the Iowa Presbyterian Church (1932); Joseph Welton Hubbard, The Presbyterian Church in Iowa, 1837-1900 (1907); H. Gene Straatmeyer, The Synod of the West: A History of the Presbyterian German Synod of the West and Its Churches (2016); Beth Wunder, North Central Iowa Presbytery: Bicentennial History (1989)

• Kansas - John Boynton Hill,The Presbytery of Kansas City and Its Predecessors (1901); Robert H. McFarland and A.J. McFarland, Papa Got It Right! (2016)

• Kentucky - Robert Hamilton Bishop, An Outline of the History of the Church in the State of Kentucky (1824); Robert Davidson, History of the Presbyterian Church in the State of Kentucky; With a Preliminary Sketch of the Churches in the Valley of Virginia (1847); Moses Drury Hoge, Memorial Discourse on the Planting of Presbyterianism in Kentucky One Hundred Years Ago.(1883); Mack, George H. and Sanders, Robert Stuart, One Hundred Fifty Years of Kentucky Presbyterianism, 1802-1952 (1952); Louis B. Weeks, Kentucky Presbyterians (1983)

• Louisiana - Benjamin Charles Bell, Presbyterianism in North Louisiana, Celebrating the Diamond Jubilee of Red River Presbytery (1930, 1988); Penrose St. Amant, A History of the Presbyterian Church in Louisiana (1961); Louis Voss, Presbyterianism in New Orleans and Adjacent Points (1931)

• Maine - Jonathan Greenleaf, Sketches of the Ecclesiastical History of the State of Maine, From the Earliest Settlement to the Present Time (1821); see below (esp. Blaikie on Presbyterianism in New England)

• Maryland - James E.P. Boulden, The Presbyterians of Baltimore: Their Churches and Historic Grave-Yards (1875); James William McIlvain, Early Presbyterianism in Maryland (1890)

• Massachusetts - See below (esp. Blaikie on Presbyterianism in New England)

• Michigan - Maurice F. Cole, Impact of the Civil War on the Presbyterian Church in Michigan (1965); John Comin & Harold F. Fredsell, History of the Presbyterian Church in Michigan (1950)

• Minnesota - Maurice Dwight Edwards, History of the Synod of Minnesota, Presbyterian Church U.S.A. (1927); Edward Duffield Neill, Early Days of the Presbyterian Branch of the Holy Catholic Church, in the State of Minnesota (1873); John P. Williamson, ed., Historical Addresses Delivered at the Semi-Centennial Celebration of the Organization of Synod. October 14-19, 1908 (1908)

• Mississippi - Cornelius Washington Grafton, Pioneer Presbyterians and Their Successors in Mississippi (1915); History of Presbyterianism in Mississippi (unpublished manuscript, n.d.); Frederick Roscoe Graves, The Presbyterian Work in Mississippi (1927); Thomas Luther Haman, Sr., Beginnings of Presbyterianism in Mississippi (1909); Robert Milton Winter, Shadow of a Mighty Rock: A Social and Cultural History of Presbyterianism in Marshall County, Mississippi (1997); Outposts of Zion: A History of Mississippi Presbyterians in the Nineteenth Century, (2014); and Citadels of Zion: A History of Mississippi Presbyterians, Vols. 1 & 2 (2016)

• Missouri - Joseph M. Garrison,The Missouri Presbytery, 1817-1937  (1937); Timothy Hill, The Early History of the Presbyterian Church in Missouri (1861); Historical Outlines of the Presbyterian Church in Missouri: A Discourse (1871); Eugene Edward Stringfield, Presbyterianism in the Ozarks A History of the Work of the Various Branches of the Presbyterian Church in Southwest Missouri 1834-1907 (1909); Kenneth R. Locke and J. Joseph Trower,“Like Prairie Wildfire…Presbyterianism Spreads Westward.” A Story of the Presbytery of Missouri Union, 180 Years of Mission, 1817 to 1997 (1997)

• Montana - George Edwards, The Pioneer Work of the Presbyterian Church in Montana (1907); Patricia M. McKinney, Presbyterianism in Montana: Its First Hundred Years (1972)

• Nebraska - Charles Arthur Hawley, Fifty Years on the Nebraska Frontier: The History of the Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Omaha, Nebraska (2012); Julius F. Schwarz, History of The Presbyterian Church in Nebraska (1924)

• Nevada - Zelvin D. Lowman, A Voice in the Desert: A History of First Presbyterian Church, Las Vegas, Nevada (1992)

• New Hampshire - Samuel Lankton Gerould, The Congregational and Presbyterian Churches and Ministers of New Hampshire connected with the General Association: A Continuation of the compilation of Rev. Henry A. Hazen, issued in 1875, bringing the record down to 1900 (1900); see also below (esp. Blaikie on Presbyterianism in New England)

• New Jersey - Allen H. Brown, Historical Sketch of the Synod of New Jersey For the Quarter of a Century, From 1861 to 1886 (1888) and An Address on the Presbyterian Church in South Jersey, Its Origin and Progress (1888); David B. Calhoun, Princeton Seminary (2 vols., 1996); Centennial, Presbytery of Newton: An Adjourned Meeting, in the First Presbyterian Church, Washington, N.J.: The Historical Narrative, Histories of the Churches and Other Data (1917); William Armstrong Dod, History of the College of New Jersey (1844); George H. Ingram, “The Erection of the Presbytery of New Brunswick, Together With Some Account of the Beginnings of Organized Presbyterianism in the American Colonies” in Journal of Presbyterian History, Vol. 6, No.6 (June 1912) [and a series of articles titled “History of the Presbytery of New Brunswick” appearing in the Journal of Presbyterian History from 1912 to 1919]; Theron Hewitt, One Hundredth Anniversary of the Organization of The Presbytery of West Jersey, November 5, 1839 - November 5, 1939, in the First Presbyterian Church, Bridgeton, New Jersey, November 6, 1939 (1939); John Maclean, Jr., History of the College of New Jersey, Vol.s 1&2 (1877); Samuel Miller, A Brief History of the Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church at Princeton, New Jersey, Together With Its Constitution, By-Laws, &c (1837, 1838); Joseph Gaston Symmes, Historical Sketch of Monmouth Presbytery and Its Churches (1877)

• New Mexico - Ruth Kerns Barber, Sowers Went Forth: The Story of Presbyterian Missions in New Mexico and Southern Colorado (1981); Dale B. Gerdeman, Presbyterian Missionaries in Rural Northern New Mexico: Serving the Lord on the New Mexico Frontier (1999)

• New York - Samuel Davies Alexander, The Presbytery of New York, 1738 to 1888 (1887); Dorothy Ganfield Fowler, A City Church: The First Presbyterian Church in the City of New York, 1716-1976 (1981); Philemon Halstead Fowler, Historical Sketch of Presbyterianism Within the Bounds of the Synod of Central New York (1877); Joyce D. Goodfriend, “A New Look at Presbyterian Origins in New York City,” American Presbyterians, Vol. 62 (1989), pp. 199-207; Robert Handy, A History of Union Theological Seminary in New York (2011); Robert Hastings Nichols, Presbyterianism in New York State: A History of the Synod and Its Predecessors (1963); George Nicholson, The Story of Long Island Presbytery and Churches (1956); Theodore Fiske Savage, The Presbyterian Church in New York City (1949); Thomas S. Wood, History of the Presbytery of New York (1976)

• North Carolina - Walter Conser & Robert Cain, Presbyterians in North Carolina: Race, Politics, and Religious Identity in Historical Perspective (2012); David Irwin Craig, A History of the Development of the Presbyterian Church in North Carolina, and of Synodical Home Missions (1907); Harold J. Dudley, History of the Synod of N.C., Presbyterian Church in the U.S. (1963, also titled Brief History of the Presbyterian Church in North Carolina); William Henry Foote, Sketches of North Carolina (1846); Neill Roderick McGeachy, Confronted by Challenge: A History of the Presbytery of Concord (1985); Jethro Rumple, The History of Presbyterianism in North Carolina (1966); Charles Alfonso Smith, Presbyterians in Educational Work in North Carolina Since 1813 (1913); Robert Hamlin Stone, A History of Orange Presbytery, 1770-1970 (1970)

• North Dakota - William C. Hunter, Presbyterianism in North Dakota (1959); C.R. McCurdy, Establishment of Presbyterianism in North Dakota (1990); Marian E. McKechnie, Spiritual Pioneering: A History of the Synod of North Dakota, Presbyterian Church, USA, 1885-1954 (1955); Stanley Norman Murray, Presbyterians on the Northern Plains: A History (2002); James P. Schell, A History of the Early Presbyterian Church in North Dakota (1913); Linda Warfel Slaughter, Leaves From Northwestern History (1905)

• Ohio - William Wilson McKinney, The Presbyterian Valley: 200 Years of Presbyterianism in the Upper Ohio Valley (1958); Rick Nutt, Contending for the Faith: The First Two Centuries of the Presbyterian Church in the Cincinnati Area (1991); E.B. Welsh, Buckeye Presbyterianism: An Account of the Seven Presbyterian Denominations With Their Synods Within the State of Ohio (1968)

• Oklahoma - Michael Cassity & Danny Goble, Divided Hearts: The Presbyterian Journey Through Oklahoma History (2009); G.T. Ralls, Oklahoma Trails: A History of the Work of the Synod of Oklahoma of the Presbyterian Church in the United States (1927)

• Oregon - Clifford Merrill Drury, Marcus and Narcissa Whitman and the Opening of Old Oregon, Vols. 1&2 (1986); Julie Joy Jeffrey, Converting the West: A Biography of Narcissa Whitman (1994); Nard Jones, The Great Command: The Story of Marcus & Narcissa Whitman and the Oregon Country Pioneers (1959)

• Pennsylvania - Daniel M. Bennett, Life and Work of Rev. John McMillan: Pioneer, Preacher, Educator, Patriot of Western Pennsylvania (1935); Centenary Memorial of the Planting and Growth of Presbyterianism in Western Pennsylvania and Parts Adjacent (1876); Samuel John Mills Eaton, History of the Presbytery of Erie (1868); Peter E. Gilmore, Irish Presbyterians and the Shaping of Western Pennsylvania, 1770-1830 (2018); Dwight Ray Guthrie, John McMillan: The Apostle of Presbyterianism in the West, 1752-1833 (1952); Guy Solliard Klett, Presbyterians in Colonial Pennsylvania (1937); Donald Roth Kocher, The Mother of Us All: First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, 1698-1998 (1998); William Wilson McKinney, Early Pittsburgh Presbyterianism: Tracing the Development of the Presbyterian church, United States of America, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from 1758-1839 (1938); Thomas Murphy, The Presbytery of the Log College; or, The Cradle of the Presbyterian Church in America (1889); Robert Mayne Patterson, Historical Sketch of the Synod of Philadelphia (1876); Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary, To God Be the Glory: Celebrating 200 Years (2008); Joseph Smith, Old Redstone; or, Historical Sketches of Western Presbyterianism, Its Early Ministers, Its Perilous Times, and Its First Records (1854); James Arthur Walther, Ever a Frontier: The Bicentennial History of the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary (1994)

• Rhode Island - See below (esp. Blaikie on Presbyterianism in New England)

• South Carolina - David B. Calhoun, Our Southern Zion: Old Columbia Seminary (1828-1927) (2012); Joanne Calhoun, The Circular Congregational Church: Three Centuries of Charleston History (2008); Erskine Clarke, Our Southern Zion: A History of Calvinism in the South Carolina Low Country, 1690-1990 (1996); George Howe, History of the Presbyterian Church in South Carolina, Vols. 1&2 (1870); Nancy Snell Griffith & Charles E. Raynal, Presbyterians in South Carolina, 1925-1985 (2016); F.D. Jones and W.H. Mills, History of The Presbyterian Church in South Carolina (1926); Edward Guerrant Lilly, Beyond the Burning Bush: First (Scots) Presbyterian Church, Charleston, S.C. (1986); Caroline T. Moore, The Reverend Archibald Stobo: Brief Account of Archibald Stobo's Immigration from Scotland in 1700 and His Ministerial Labors in Charleston, S.C., and Vicinity, Including the Founding of Presbyterian churches at James Island, Willtown Bluff, Pon Pon, Edisto Island, and Cainhoy (1969)

• South Dakota - Bruce David Forbes, “Presbyterian Beginnings in South Dakota, 1840-1900” (South Dakota State Historical Society, 1977); Dakota Presbytery Council, The First 50 Years: Dakota Presbytery to 1890 (1892); Stanley Norman Murray, Presbyterians on the Northern Plains: A History (2002); Stephen Return Riggs, Sketches of the Dakota Mission (1873)

• Tennessee - John Edmiston Alexander, A Brief History of the Synod of Tennessee, from 1817 to 1887 (1890); Thomas C. Barr, et. al., eds., The Story of the Presbyteries of Nashville and Columbia: From Early Settlement to 1972 (1976); Charles Edward Diehl, The Story of a Vineyard: The Work of the Presbyterian Church U.S. in the Synod of Tennessee (1927); Jovanna Emerson & Mary Ann Van Osdell, Historic Presbyterian Churches of Tennessee (2006); James Isaac Vance, Pioneer Presbyterianism in Tennessee (1898)

• Texas - Thomas Chavez, Jr., Texas Mexican Presbyterians (1980); William E. Lytch, The Cradle of Texas Presbyterianism: A History of Memorial Presbyterian Church, San Augustine, Texas (1993); William McLeod, Presbyterian Expansion in the Synod of Texas of the PCUS (1927); Robert Finney Miller, Early Presbyterianism in Texas as Seen by Rev. James Weston Miller, D.D. (1915); George H. Paschal, Jr. and Judith A. Benner, One Hundred Years of Challenge and Change: A History of the Synod of Texas of the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (1968); William Stuart Red, A History of the Presbyterian Church in Texas (1936); Presbytery of Brazos, Echoes From the Past: Brief Historical Sketches Connected With Presbyterianism in the South and Its God-Given Work in the World (1936); Levi Tenney, History of the Presbytery of Central Texas (1895)

• Utah - Paul Jesse Baird, Presbyterian Pioneers in Utah (1996) and The Mystery of Ministry in the Great Basin: William Mitchell Paden en route to Utah, 1897 (1976); Frederick Burton, Presbyterians In Zion: History of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in Utah (2010); George K. Davies, A History of the Presbyterian Church in Utah (1942, 1945); Theodore D. and Marian E. Martin, and Emil Nyman, Presbyterian Work in Utah, 1869- 1969 (1970); Emma Jane McVicker, The History of Presbyterian Work in Utah (1893); Andrew E. Murray, The Skyline Synod: Presbyterianism in Colorado and Utah (1971); Albert Walton Roth, A Century of Service in Utah, 1869-1969 (1969)

• Vermont - See below (esp. Blaikie on Presbyterianism in New England)

• Virginia - Patricia Alridge, ed., Virginia Presbyterians in American Life: Hanover Presbytery (1755-1980) (1982); Henry M. Brown & William M.E. Rachal, Yesterday and Tomorrow in the Synod of Virginia (1962); Thomas E. Buckley, Church and State in Revolutionary Virginia, 1776-1787 (1977); William Henry Foote, Sketches of Virginia (First and Second Series) (1850, 1855); Wesley M. Gewehr, The Great Awakening in Virginia, 1740-1790 (2011); James Robert Graham, The Planting of the Presbyterian Church in Northern Virginia (1904); Joseph C. Harrod, Theology and Spirituality in the Works of Samuel Davies (2019); Thomas Cary Johnson, Virginia Presbyterianism and Religious Liberty (1909); Edward Mack, The Early Virginia Puritans: — Founders of American Presbyterianism (1901), Our Presbyterian Heritage in Eastern Virginia (1924); Dewey Roberts, Samuel Davies: Apostle to Virginia (2017); William Henry Tappey Squires, The Presbyterian Church in the Colony of Virginia, 1562-1788 (1938); William B. Sweetser, Jr., A Copious Fountain: A History of Union Presbyterian Seminary, 1812-2012 (2016); Howard McKnight Wilson, The Tinkling Spring, Headwater of Freedom: A Study of the Church and Her People, 1732-1952 (1954), The Lexington Presbytery Heritage: The Presbytery of Lexington and its churches in the Synod of Virginia, Presbyterian Church in the United States (1971), Presbyterian Beginnings in Lower Tidewater Virginia (1973)

• Washington - Robert Boyd, History of the Synod of Washington, of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, 1835-1909 (1910); Robert L. Welsh, The Presbytery of Seattle, 1858-2005: The “Dream” of a Presbyterian Colony in the West (2006)

• West Virginia - Dennis Eldon Bills, Presbyterianism in West Virginia: A History (2019); Lloyd Courtney, The Church of the Western Waters: An History of Greenbrier Presbytery and Its Churches (1940); Dorsey Daniel Ellis, Look Unto the Rock: A History of the Presbyterian Church, U.S. in West Virginia, 1719-1974 (1982); Gill I. Wilson, The Story of Presbyterianism in West Virginia (1958); The Work Projects Administration, Inventory of the Church Archives of West Virginia: The Presbyterian Churches (1941)

• Wisconsin - William Fiske Brown, Past Made Present: The First Fifty Years of the First Presbyterian Church and Congregation of Beloit, Wisconsin; and A History of Presbyterianism in Our State Up to the Year 1900 (1900); Edward C. Wicklein, A Wisconsin History of the Associate Presbyterian Church of North America, Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church of the West (Later of America), Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America, Reformed Presbyterian Church, General Synod, United Presbyterian Church of North America, With Historical Sketches of Each Congregation, 1840-1958 (1974)

• Wyoming - Art Randall, History: The Presbytery of Wyoming of the Synod of the Rocky Mountains, 1869-1988 (1988)

There are also a number of helpful regional studies of Presbyterianism in America:

New England

• Alexander Cameron Blaikie, A History of Presbyterianism in New England (1881)

• Walter McCree Boston, A Study of Presbyterianism in Colonial New England (1971)

• Frederick William Loetscher, Sr., Presbyterianism in Colonial New England (1921)

• Charles N. Pickell and Mrs. George E. Bevans, Presbyterianism in New England: The Story of a Mission (1962)

• Earl A. Pope, New England Calvinism and the Disruption of the Presbyterian Church (1987)

• William Henry Roberts, “The New England Churches and the First Presbytery,” in Journal of Presbyterian History, Vol. 5, No. 6 (June 1910)

Mid-Atlantic

• Edward Marshall Craig, Highways and Byways of Appalachia: A Study of the Work of the Synod of Appalachia of the Presbyterian Church in the United States (1927)

• Irving Spence, Letters on the Early History of the Presbyterian Church in America (1838)

Northwest

• James Geddes Craighead, The Story of Marcus Whitman: Early Protestant Missions in the Northwest (1895)

• Stephen Return Riggs, Protestant Missions in the Northwest (1894)

South

• Daniel Walker Hollis, Look to the Rock: One Hundred Ante-Bellum Presbyterian Churches of the South (1961)

• Harold M. Parker, Jr., Studies in Southern Presbyterian History (1979)

• Walter Brownlow Posey, The Slavery Question in the Presbyterian Church in the Old Southwest (1949); and The Presbyterian Church in the Old Southwest, 1778-1838 (1952)

• T. Watson Street, The Story of Southern Presbyterians (1961)

• Ernest Trice Thompson, The Changing South and the Presbyterian Church in the United States (1950); and Presbyterians in the South, (3 vols., 1963-1973)

• John Miller Wells, Southern Presbyterian Worthies (1936)

• Henry Alexander White, Southern Presbyterian Leaders (1911)

Southwest

• Mark T. Banker, Presbyterian Missions and Cultural Interaction in the Far Southwest, 1850-1950 (1992)

• R. Douglas Brackenridge and Francisco O. Garcia-Treto, Iglesia Presbiteriana: A History of Presbyterians and Mexican-Americans in the Southwest (1987)

• Louis Voss, The Beginnings of Presbyterianism in the Southwest (1923)

West

• Norman J. Bender, Winning the West for Christ: Sheldon Jackson and Presbyterianism on the Rocky Mountain Frontier, 1869-1880 (1996)

Puerto Rico

• Graeme S. Mount, Presbyterian Missions to Trinidad and Puerto Rico (1983)

• Edward Albert Odell, It Came to Pass (1952)

Note: This post was updated on March 28, 2022.

New Addition to Log College Press: Machen's Christianity and Liberalism

(If the author links in this post are broken, please visit our Free PDF Library and click on the author’s page directly.)

January 1, 2019 marked the lapse of copyright restrictions for many books published in the United States in the year 1923. It also marked the 82nd anniversary of the passing of J.G. Machen into glory (which occurred on Jan. 1, 1937). It so happens that one of his most famous books — Christianity and Liberalism — was published in 1923 and is now in the public domain. A faithful friend and reader of our site, Pastor Phil Pockras, was kind enough to alert us to the availability of this particular book, which is now accessible at Machen’s author page.

To whet your appetite for this classic work, here are a few notable quotes that have stood out to this reader:

“In the sphere of religion, as in other spheres, the things about which men are agreed are apt to be the things that are least worth holding; the really important things are the things about which men will fight.” - pp. 1-2

A public-school system, if it means the providing of free education for those who desire it, is a noteworthy and beneficent achievement of modern times; but when once it becomes monopolistic it is the most perfect instrument for tyranny which has yet been devised. Freedom of thought in the middle ages was combated by the Inquisition, but the modern method is far more effective.’ – p. 14

“Christ died" -- that is history; "Christ died for our sins" -- that is doctrine. Without these two elements, joined in an absolutely indissoluble union, there is no Christianity. – p. 27

The narration of the facts is history; the narration of the facts with the meaning of the facts is doctrine. "Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried" -- that is history. "He loved me and gave Himself for me" -- that is doctrine. Such was the Christianity of the primitive Church. – p. 29

Paganism is that view of life which finds the highest goal of human existence in the healthy and harmonious and joyous development of existing human faculties. Very different is the Christian ideal. Paganism is optimistic with regard to unaided human nature, whereas Christianity is the religion of the broken heart. – p. 65

If you have read this book already, what are some gems that you can share with our readers? If you have not read this book, please consider downloading it for your reading pleasure. And if you have other suggestions for books that we should add to the site, please contact us directly to let us know. Thanks Phil, and thanks to all our readers, for your support and encouragement!

Book Highlight: Presbyterian Worship in America by Julius Melton

(If the author links in this post are broken, please visit our Free PDF Library and click on the author’s page directly.)

From time to time, we hope to highlight books from our Secondary Sources page — which is intended to serve as a wealth of secondary resources on American Presbyterianism — which are of particular meaning and interest.

For this writer, one such book is Presbyterian Worship in America: Changing Patterns in Worship Since 1787 by the Rev. Dr. Julius Wemyss Melton, Jr. (1933-2017). First published as the product of his doctoral dissertation research at Princeton University in 1967, and later expanded in 2001 with an additional chapter which was first published in 1984 as part of a festschrift to honor his mentor, Horton Davies (John E. Booty, ed., The Divine Drama in History and Liturgy: Essays in Honor of Horton Davies on His Retirement From Princeton University), this book has served me as a valuable resource for the study of how Presbyterian worship in America has changed since the founding of the Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUSA).

Born in Jackson, Mississippi, the author received his B.A. from Mississippi College (1955); a B.D. (1958) and Th.M. (1959) from Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, Virginia; and master’s (1962) and Ph.D. (1966) degrees in religion from Princeton University; and has worked and taught at places such Southwestern (now Rhodes College) at Memphis, Tennessee, the University of Geneva, and Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina. He has been involved in both academic and ecclesiastical work, laboring in many capacities for his presbytery and denomination (PCUSA). He was a contributor to Donald K. McKim, ed., Encyclopedia of the Reformed Faith (1992). He was also a dear friend of this writer’s family.

Presbyterian Worship in America is the single most important book known to this writer on the broad topic which is of deep interest to many. To answer the question of how mainline Presbyterians at the turn of the 19th century (that is, circa 1800) worshiped, and why their forms of worship have changed so dramatically two centuries later, there is no other individual volume that so helpfully connects the dots. The scholarly research performed by Dr. Melton is a goldmine for those who wish to dig further. His end notes are full of citations to valuable primary material. It was from the first chapter that this writer first learned of Samuel Miller’s 1796 Sketch of the Early History of the First Presbyterian Church, which was reprinted in 1937, a rare copy of which I located at the Princeton Theological Seminary and later uploaded to Log College Press. Perhaps it was this very copy that Dr. Melton consulted in his own research.

The list of worship sub-topics that is covered by this volume is extensive, including holidays, musical instruments, liturgies, psalms and hymns, offerings, sacraments, responsive readings, preaching, Sabbath observance, and so much more. The additional chapter mentioned above, which is focused on trends in American Presbyterian worship of the 20th century, perhaps inspired by a similar chart comparing liturgies found in Horton Davies’ The Worship of the English Puritans, contains a chart comparing the orders of worship found in five American Presbyterian books of worship dating from 1906, 1932, 1946, 1970 and 1983.

Over many years of study, this is the book that has helped this writer more than any other individual work to better understand how things historically were done in worship, and why certain aspects of worship changed over the years. It is commended to the student of early American Presbyterian church history as a most useful resource, and it can be purchased at our Secondary Sources page here.