What's New at Log College Press? - January 10, 2023

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With the arrival of a New Year, we at Log College Press are continuing to expand the number of resources available to our readers. Last month, in December 2022, we added 524 new works to the site. We have close to 18,000 free works available at LCP.

This week we are highlighting some of the new free PDFs available as found on our Recent Additions and Early Access pages, two features provided to members of the Dead Presbyterians Society.

Some highlights at the Early Access page:

  • James Benjamin Green, A Harmony of the Westminster Presbyterian Standards (1951); and The Distinctive Teachings of Presbyterianism (1936, 1959);

  • John Murray (1742-1793), Jerubbaal, or Tyranny's Grove Destroyed, and the Altar of Liberty Finished: A Discourse on America's Duty and Danger, Delivered at the Presbyterian Church in Newbury-Port, December 11, 1783. On Occasion of the Public Thanksgiving for Peace (1784); and Grace and Glory: or, Heaven Given Only to Saints: a Sermon Preached at the Presbyterian Church in Newbury-Port, Jan 26, 1788, Occasioned by the Death of Mr. Ralph Cross on the 4th of that Month, Aetat 82 (1788);

  • Jonathan Parsons, Wisdom Justified of her Children: A Sermon Preached at the Publick Lecture in Boston, on Thursday, September 16, 1742 (1742); and Account of the Revival of Religion in the West Parish of Lyme in Connecticut (1744);

  • articles from The Presbyterian Standard concerning the debate between psalmody and hymnody by John Thomas Chalmers [Why the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church Adheres to the Exclusive Use of the Inspired Psalter in the Worship of God (1900)]; and Alexander Jeffrey McKelway [Dr. Chalmers’ Failure (1900)];

  • and more by Francis James Grimké, some of which were contributed by a helpful reader: Colored Men as Professors in Colored Institutions (1885); Mr. Moody and the Color Question in the South (1886); The Defects of Our Ministry, and the Remedy (1886); The Secret of Power in the Pulpit (1887); The Pulpit in Relation to Race Elevation (1887); The Negro Will Never Acquiesce as Long as He Lives (1898); The Roosevelt-Washington Episode; or, Race Prejudice (1901); and The Second Marriage of Frederick Douglass (1934).

Some highlights at the Recent Addtiions page:

Also, be sure also to check out the quotes we have been adding at our blog for DPS members: Though Dead They Still Speak, including William M. Blackburn on a Sixth Point of Calvinism; A.A. Hodge on the Change of the Sabbath Day; John B. Adger on the Limits of Church Authority; Philip Lindsley on the Key to Improvement of Time; J.R. Miller on Consecration of Will; Thomas De Witt Talmage on the Christian Way of Measuring Life; Francis J. Grimké on How to Approach the New Year; William H. McGuffey, who argues that the Christian Religion is America's Religion; and T.V. Moore on The Oldest Seminary is the Family Fireside.

We appreciate hearing from our readers if they find matters needing correction, or if they have questions about authors or works on the site, or if they have suggestions for additions to the site. Your feedback helps the experience of other readers as well.

Meanwhile, please feel free to browse the many resources available to our readers in print and in digital format. The New Year is a great time to explore the many Presbyterian voices from the past. Thank you, as always, for your interest and support, dear friends, and we wish you all the very best in 2023!

Introducing the Century Club at Log College Press

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Among the nearly 2,000 authors found at Log College Press there are at least three centenarians (Arthur Judson Brown [1856-1963, 106]; William Rankin III [1810-1912, 102]; and George Summey [1853-1954, 101]), as well as at least three authors who were 99 years old when they entered into their eternal rest (Littleton Purnell Bowen, David Caldwell, and Maria Fearing). But the Log College Press Century Club which we are introducing today has to do with something a little different.

To be a member of this club, there must be at least 100 works by (and sometimes about) the author on their particular pages. At this point in time, there are 27 such individuals in the LCP Century Club, as follows:

There are some other prolific writers who we anticipate may join this club at some point in the future, such as Isabella Macdonald Alden, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Finley Milligan Foster, Robert Jefferson Breckinridge and Cleland Boyd McAfee, to name a few. As the Lord gives us strength and ability, we continue to add works by these and many other writers. We still have our work cut out for us, especially, for example, with respect to T.L. Cuyler, who penned over 4,000 separate published articles. Meanwhile, if viewed as a snapshot of our most prolific authors, the LCP Century Club invites readers to explore a representative cross-section of early American Presbyterianism. We hope you will take this opportunity to see what’s available among these prolific writers’ pages (as well as those not-so-prolific), and to enjoy a visit to the past, which we trust will be a blessing to you in the present.

Cleland Boyd McAfee: The Man Who Coined the TULIP Acrostic

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Although many [1] credit Loraine Boettner (1901-1990) in The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination (1932) with originating the acrostic for the Five Points of Calvinism known as TULIP [2] it is believed that the true originator was instead Cleland Boyd McAfee (1866-1944), who did so in 1905. We are thankful to Wayne Sparkman of the PCA Historical Center for highlighting this important footnote to church history in the past.

William H. Vail wrote a 1913 article in The Outlook which describes McAfee’s TULIP lecture, delivered before the Presbyterian Union of Newark, New Jersey, in the context of others who have written about the Five Points of Calvinism. Here is McAfee’s version of TULIP according to Vail:

And here is Boettner’s 1932 version for comparison:

The Five Points may be more easily remembered if they are associated with the word T-U-L-I-P; T, Total Inability; U, Unconditional Election; L, Limited Atonement; I, Irresistable (Effacious) Grace; and P, Perseverance of the Saints (source: The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination (1932), p. 60).

We can see that Boettner modified McAfee’s list slightly as to the meaning of the U in TULIP, but otherwise retained McAfee’s usage.

McAfee would go on to serve as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of the United States of America (PCUSA) in 1929. His legacy may be studied from various perspectives — including his authorship of a famous hymn: Near to the Heart of God — but his TULIP acrostic, which rightly (see Boettner [3]) or wrongly [4} has certainly left its mark on history.

Note: This is an updated edition of a post published previously in 2018.

1. See, for example, Roger Nicole, Foreword to David N. Steele, Curtis C. Thomas & S. Lance Quinn, The Five Points of Calvinism Defined, Defended, and Documented (1963, 2004), p. xiv.
2. An allusion to the 1619 Canons of Dort, formally titled The Decision of the Synod of Dort on the Five Main Points of Doctrine in Dispute in the Netherlands.
3. Boettner employs the acrostic with great effectiveness albeit with this caution: “Let the reader, then, guard against a too close identification of the Five Points and the Calvinistic system. While these are essential elements, the system really includes much more. As stated in the Introduction, the Westminster Confession is a balanced statement of the Reformed Faith or Calvinism, and its gives due prominence to the other Christian doctrines.”
4. See, for example, Richard A. Muller’s negative assessment of the TULIP acrostic in Calvin and the Reformed Tradition: On the Work of Christ and the Order of Salvation (2012), p. 58ff.

Cleland B. McAfee: Where He Is

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Cleland Boyd McAfee (1866-1944) was a Presbyterian minister who served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, was known for his famous hymn “Near to the Heart of God,” and has left his mark on history as the originator of the acrostic “TULIP.”

In the biographical sketch of him, written by his daughter, Katherine McAfee Parker, Near to the Heart of God (1954), she made reference to the first book which he ever published, Where He Is (1899), a book about “immortality,” and its connection to her mother, Harriet, a Canadian-born fellow-graduate of Chicago’s Park College. They were married in 1892. It was a deep and abiding love that they shared, as evidenced by a poem that he wrote to her.

For more than sixty years since my mother took my father for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, she has held to the conviction that he was one of the best things the Lord ever made. He felt exactly the same way about her. He gave her the first copy of his first book and wrote on the flyleaf:

Harriet:

E’en heaven of Christ would lose
for me its joy,
Did I not know that “Where He Is”
there thou shalt be;
And this I know since where
thou art here in the earth
I catch the clearest vision
of the Christ of Galilee.

C.B.M.
5 Nov. 1899

They spent fifty-two years together on earth, companions of each other’s hearts and minds.

This poignant love poem is a reminder that a godly man’s greatest support, apart from Christ himself, is his wife. And that husband and wife ought to point each other to Christ, that they may both be where He is.

Resources on Calvinism at Log College Press

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And I have my own private opinion that there is no such a thing as preaching Christ and him crucified, unless you preach what now-a-days is called Calvinism. I have my own ideas, and those I always state boldly. It is a nickname to call it Calvinism; Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else. I do not believe we can preach the gospel, if we do not preach justification by faith, without works; nor unless we preach the sovereignty of God in his dispensation of grace; nor unless we exalt the electing, unchangeable, eternal, immutable, conquering, love of Jehovah; nor do I think we can preach the gospel, unless we base it upon the peculiar redemption which Christ made for his elect and chosen people; nor can I comprehend a gospel which lets saints fall away after they are called, and suffers the children of God to be burned in the fires of damnation after having believed. Such a gospel I abhor. The gospel of the Bible is not such a gospel as that. We preach Christ and him crucified in a different fashion, and to all gainsayers we reply, "We have not so learned Christ." (Charles Spurgeon, Sermon no. 98, New Park Street Pulpit 1:100)

It is no novelty, then, that I am-preaching; no new doctrine. I love to proclaim these strong old doctrines, which are called by nickname Calvinism, but which are surely and verily the revealed truth of God as it is in Christ Jesus. By this truth I make a pilgrimage into the past, and as I go, I see father after father, confessor after confessor, martyr after martyr, standing up to shake hands with me. Were I a Pelagian, or a believer in the doctrine of free-will, I should have to walk for centuries all alone. Here and there a heretic of no very honorable character might rise up and call me brother. But taking these things to be the standard of my faith, I see the land of the ancients peopled with my brethren - I behold multitudes who confess the same as I do, and acknowledge that this is the religion of God’s own church. (Charles Spurgeon, Sermon on Election 1:551)

Although Calvinism (which Charles Spurgeon has described as “the gospel, and nothing else”) permeates the works of American Presbyterians on numerous topics, and we have pages dedicated to the topics of Systematic Theology the Westminster Standards, there are particular resources on Calvinism to be found at Log College Press which we aim to highlight today. These may be worth bookmarking for future study by the student of the doctrines of grace.

Calvinism is also known by the acrostic TULIP, which is intended to make the so-called ‘Five Points of Calvinism’ easier to remember. It was the Synod of Dort (1618-1619) in The Netherlands which articulated the Calvinistic Five Points in response to the Arminian Remonstrants. And it was Loraine Boettner who popularized (and modified) the TULIP acrostic summarizing those Five Points in The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination (1932), but it was Cleland Boyd McAfee who is believed to have coined it in the first place c. 1905. We have noted this previously, but it is worth mentioning again.

The history of McAfee’s utilization of TULIP as an aid to teaching the doctrines of grace was perhaps first recorded by William H. Vail in an important 1913 article as was discussed previously here. What’s particularly interesting about Vail’s historical study of the Five Points is that is draws from multiple authorities, including the Synod of Dort, Jonathan Dickinson, and several living (at that time) leading clergymen.

William H. Vail’s chart showing the Five Points of Calvinism compared historically. A represents the list derived from Abbott’s Dictionary of Religious Knowledge; B comes from Dr. Francis Landey Patton; C is from Dr. Hugh Black; D is from the Rev. G…

William H. Vail’s chart showing the Five Points of Calvinism compared historically. A represents the list derived from Abbott’s Dictionary of Religious Knowledge; B comes from Dr. Francis Landey Patton; C is from Dr. Hugh Black; D is from the Rev. George B. Stewart; and E is from the Rev. Isaac N. Rendall.

The Five Points, says Mr. Vail, “as formulated by the Synod of Dort, according to two authorities, are as follows:

1. Personal, Gratuitous Election to Everlasting Life.
2. Particular Redemption.
3. Depravity, Native and Total.
4. Effectual Calling, or Re generation, by the Holy Spirit.
5. Certain Perseverance of Saints unto Eternal Life.

1. Divine Predestination.
2. The Redemption of Men through the Death of Christ.
3. Total Depravity.
4 Redemption through Grace.
5. Perseverance of Saints.”

The list from Jonathan Dickinson is as follows:

1. Eternal Election. Ephesians i. 4, 5.
2. Original Sin. Romans v. 12.
3. Grace in Conversion. Ephesians ii. 4, 5.
4. Justification by Faith. Romans iii. 25.
5. Saints' Perseverance. Romans viii. 30.

The TULIP list from Cleland B. McAfee, as noted by Vail, is as follows:

1st, T stands for Total I)epravity.
2d, U “ “ Universal Sovereignty.
3d, L -- “ Limited Atonement.
4th, I -- “ irresistible (, race.
5th, P -- “ Perseverance of the Saints.

Jonathan Dickinson covered this ground in The True Scripture Doctrine Concerning Some Important Points of Christian Faith (1741).

Robert L. Dabney wrote on The Five Points of Calvinism (1895) [not yet available at Log College Press] and identified them as follows:

1.. Original Sin
2. Effectual Calling
3. God’s Election
4. Particular Redemption
5. Perseverance of the Saints

The works by Dickinson and Dabney have been republished by Sprinkle Publications in 1992 as one combined volume.

Loraine Boettner in 1932 wrote: “The Five Points may be more easily remembered if they are associated with the word T-U-L-I-P; T, Total Inability ; U, Unconditional Election; L, Limited Atonement; I, Irresistible (Efficacious) Grace; and P, Perseverance of the Saints.” This has become the standard meaning of the TULIP acrostic.

Other resources to be found at Log College Press which concern Calvinism either historically or theologically considered include:

  • Ashbel Green Fairchild, The Sovereignty of God, Especially in Election; The Great Supper: or, An Illustration and Defence of Some of the Doctrines of Grace; and What Presbyterians Believe;

  • Abel M. Fraser, Calvinism: A Bible Study;

  • John L. Girardeau, Calvinism and Evangelical Arminianism;

  • A.A. Hodge, Calvinism;

  • Samuel Miller, Introductory Essay to the Thomas Scott’s Articles of the Synod of Dort (available in print here); Presbyterianism the Truly Primitive and Apostolical Constitution of the Church of Christ (available in print here); and Mole-Hills and Mountains, or The Difficulties of Calvinism and Arminianism Compared;

  • Nathan L. Rice, God Sovereign and Man Free: Or, The Doctrine of Divine Foreordination and Man's Free Agency, Stated, Illustrated and Proved From the Scriptures;

  • W.G.T. Shedd, Calvinism: Pure and Mixed - A Defence of the Westminster Standards;

  • William D. Smith, What is Calvinism?; and

  • B.B. Warfield, Calvinism and Calvinism: The Meaning and Uses of the Term; and Calvinism.

There are additional works on the subject that Log College Press hopes to add in the future such as Robert Hamilton Bishop, An Apology For Calvinism; and Samuel A. King, Presbyterian Doctrines, as Contained in the Five Points of Calvinism. And many more are already on the site relating to the thought of both John Calvin and Augustine. Also, be sure to consult, David N. Steele, et al., The Five Points of Calvinism: Defined, Defended, and Documented.

It is a core belief of historic Presbyterianism that people who are saved are saved by grace alone and not by works (Eph. 2:8-9). This is a reflection of both God’s sovereignty and man’s inability to save himself. The works referenced above concerning the doctrines of grace, and many more not mentioned by name here, are resources to take up and study by those who wish to better understand historic doctrine, which is, in the words of Spurgeon, “no novelty…no new doctrine,” but simply the fundamental teaching of God’s Word on soteriology. To God be the glory!

William H. Vail's Five Points of Calvinism Historically Considered

We have previously noted here on this blog that the first person known to have coined the TULIP acrostic is Cleland Boyd McAfee (1866-1944), who did so in 1905. Following up on earlier research by Wayne Sparkman of the PCA Historical Center, which cites a 1913 article in The New Outlook by William H. Vail as the source for this historical reference, we have recently added Vail and his June 21, 1913 article to Log College Press. The article is a brief, fascinating survey of TULIP’s origins and how other Presbyterian and Reformed theologians historically understood and made use of the Five Points of Calvinism (from the Synod of Dort to Jonathan Dickinson to contemporaries of Vail).

But also of interest to our readers is to know the answer to the question: Who was William Henry Vail? He lived a rather remarkable life. Born on August 4, 1845, in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, he first studied at Blair Academy (founded as a Presbyterian institution), and then went to Princeton (at that time known as the College of New Jersey), from which he graduated in 1865 (his senior oration topic was on William the Silent). He further studied at the College of Physicians & Surgeons, Columbia University, from which he received his M.D. in 1868. He practiced medicine from 1869 to 1886. Later in life he served as Secretary and Treasurer of Blair Academy; as a director of the Belvidere National Bank and of various railroads; as a member of the Board of Trustees of Lincoln University (Pennsylvania); and as a Presbyterian ruling elder and Sunday School Superintendent.

Founded in 1854, Lincoln University is regarded as the first degree-granting black college in America. In 1898, Dr. Vail, who had received a large inheritance, donated the funds to construct Vail Memorial Library (in 1972 the building was converted into an administrative office building and renamed Vail Memorial Hall), which is a lasting reminder of his legacy to that institution.

He maintained an active involvement in ecclesiastical and alumni affairs, participating in the 1912 Princeton Centennial Celebration. In 1915, at the age of 70, to celebrate his 50th reunion, he walked 50 miles from Newark to Princeton, New Jersey. A 1935 New York Times article highlighted the fact that Vail was the oldest living auto driver in New Jersey. The picture we have of him shows him walking in the 1937 Princeton P-rade. At the time of his death on December 31, 1943, he was at 98 the oldest living Princeton alumnus. He attributed his longevity to brown eggs, brown sugar, whole wheat bread, baked beans, and walking.

Such is a brief sketch of our author. To return to the article, which is both of historical significance in documenting TULIP’s origins, and important as an historical survey on the Five Points of Calvinism, it is now available for you to read for yourself. Be sure to check it out here.

The Man Who Coined the TULIP Acrostic: Cleland Boyd McAfee

Although many credit Loraine Boettner (1901-1990) in The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination (1932) with originating the acrostic for the Five Points of Calvinism known as TULIP, it is believed that the real originator was instead Cleland Boyd McAfee (1866-1944), who did so in 1905 (whose TULIP was a slightly different version than that of Boettner). More widely known for his study of the King James Version of the Bible, and other works, McAfee is a 19th century-born American Presbyterian worth getting to know. Visit here for more information on his life and works. 

Note: This blog post was originally published on January 24, 2018 and has been very slightly edited.