Recent Additions to Log College Press -- January 28, 2021

January 28, 2021

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As we approach 10,000 separate works available to read for free online at Log College Press, we wish to keep our readers apprised of some recently-added highlights.

Caleb Cook Baldwin (1820-1911) and his wife Harriet Fairchild Baldwin (1826-1896) were American Presbyterian missionaries to China. Together they served Chinese Christians for almost five decades, and translated much of the Bible into the Fuzhou (Foochow) dialect. Mrs. Baldwin’s poems were published posthumously, and her pencil sketches are a joy to behold.
John Armor Bingham (1815-1900) was a friend of Titus Basfield (whose correspondence was destroyed sadly in the 1990s). He is known to history as a lawyer who participated in the trial of the conspirators involved in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, a prosecutor in the impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson, and as the primary author of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Alexander Latimer Blackford (1829-1890) was an American Presbyterian missionary and the first moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Brazil.
Amos Dresser (1812-1904) was a Presbyterian minister, abolitionist and pacifist. He was once publicly beaten in Tennessee for carrying abolitionist literature and advocating their contents, a story recounted in his famous Narrative.
Edward Payson Durant (1831-1892) was a ruling elder to whom A.A. Hodge gives credit for inspiring Hodge to write his commentary on the Westminster Confession of Faith.
Mary Augusta McConnell Palmer (1822-1888) was the wife of Benjamin Morgan Palmer.
Elizabeth Lee Allen Smith (1817-1898) was the wife and biographer of Henry Boynton Smith. She is also known for her hymn translations, including that of I Greet Thee Who My Sure Redeemer Art, attributed sometimes to John Calvin (this attribution is disputed).
Lewis French Stearns (1847-1892) was the son of Jonathan French Stearns. Lewis served as a professor at Bangor Theological Seminary in Maine, and was greatly mourned when he died in his early 50s.
Hermann Warszawiak (1865-1921) was a born a Polish Jew, but after his conversion to Christ, his heart was set on missions to the Jews who lived in New York City.
Loyal Young (1806-1890) and Watson Johnston Young (1838-1919) were father and son Presbyterian ministers. Samuel Hall Young, the famous missionary to Alaska, was another son of Loyal Young. Loyal’s commentary on Ecclesiastes was a noteworthy contribution to Biblical exegesis. Both Loyal and Watson were poets as well.
Many additional writings by Lyman Hotchkiss Atwater, Albert Barnes, Francis Landey Patton, Henry Boynton Smith, and others have been added in recent weeks as well.

As always, we are grateful for the suggestions of our readers for people and works to add to the site. And as Log College Press continues to grow, keep checking back to see what’s new. Tolle lege!

Joel Parker's Initiatory Catechism

January 25, 2021

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We have previously drawn our readers’ attention to The Presbyterian's Hand-Book of the Church: For the Use of Members, Deacons, Elders, and Ministers (1861), prepared jointly by Joel Parker (1799-1873) and Thomas Ralston Smith (1830-1903). In its guidance to Christian parents and to church officers, the teaching of the Westminster Shorter Catechism is naturally encouraged. But included also is a related tool, described as the Initiatory Catechism, by Joel Parker, which we wish to highlight today.

Originally published in 1855 under the title The Pastor's Initiatory Catechism, or, The Shorter Catechism: Made More Brief and Simple for Young Children (we do not yet have the 1855 edition on Log College Press), it is republished in The Presbyterian’s Hand-Book of the Church. Our author describes it thus:

A short explanation of the design of this appendage may not be out of place.
The Initiatory Catechism passes over the same general ground as the Assembly's Shorter Catechism, with a little additional matter in respect to the ecclesiastical arrangements of our revered and beloved Church. This is the main thing which distinguishes it as the Presbyterian Initiatory Catechism. The Assembly's Shorter Catechism is added in a compact style, in order that these forms of instruction, by being bound up in the Manual, may serve to remind parents of their duty, and that they may not be lost, as they are apt to be when possessed only in the cheap penny editions prepared for children's classes.

Organized under three headings, the first is titled “Christian Doctrine” (73 questions and answers). Next, is “Christian Duty” (48). And finally, there is “The Christian Church” (8) - for a total of 129 questions and answers. It begins thus:

1. Who made you?
God.
2. What else has God made?
He made all things.
3. Of what did God make all things?
Of nothing.
4. For what did God make you?
To love and serve him.
5. What will make you most happy?
To love and serve God.
6. How long will it make you happy to love and serve God?
All my life.
7. Will to love and serve God make you happy in the next world too?
Yes, when I die.
8. What is the rule to show you how to love and serve God?
The Word of God.
9. What does the Word of God teach you?
To love the truth and do right.
10. Is God good?
Yes; in all he thinks and does.
11. Does God know all things?
Yes; he knows all ray thoughts.
12. Does God see all things?
Yes; and he sees me all the time, night and day.
13. Did God make all men at once?
No; he first made one man and one woman.
14. What were their names?
Adam and Eve.

One can see the overlap with Westminster as well as Joseph P. Engles’ Catechism for Young Children, and yet note points of divergence as well. The third section on the church in particular covers fresh ground. It is a catechism that is not well known today, but it was appreciated and employed in its day. To read it in full, see The Presbyterian’s Hand-Book on the Church, pp. 56-70 here. It is a short read and edifying to see how one pastor in the mid-19th century employed a catechism based on Westminster to meet the particular needs of those coming into the Presbyterian Church.

Happy birthday to John T. Faris!

January 23, 2021

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Editor, author, traveler and Presbyterian minister, John Thomson Faris was born 150 years ago today on January 23, 1871 at Cape Girardeau, Missouri. John studied at several schools, including Princeton and McCormick Theological Seminary. His father, William Wallace Faris, was both a Presbyterian minister and an editor, in whose footsteps, in both capacities, John would follow. John’s brother, Paul Patton Faris, also became a minister and an author.

In the field of journalistic publishing, John worked for The Talk, Anna, Illinois (1890); The Occident, San Francisco, (1891–1892); and The North and West, Minneapolis (1892). Ordained to the ministry in 1898, John ministered in Mt. Carmel, Illinois and St. Louis, Missouri, before taking on official journalistic duties for the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA). He saw the importance of Sunday School, and this would become a focus of his labors.

He served as editor of the Sunday School Times, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1907–1908); and editor of the Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbath School Work, Philadelphia (1908–1923). He was the Director, Editorial division, of the Board of Christian Education of the PCUSA (1923–1937). Finally, he served as General Director of the editorial department of the Presbyterian Board of Christian Education, and as President of the Sunday School Council of the Evangelical Denominations.

He had a special affinity for J.R. Miller, whose biography he authored, and several of whose works he posthumously edited and published.

John T. Faris traveled extensively, and wrote prolifically. He published over 60 books, many of which highlighted the history and the geography of America. He focused on the romance of the past, and the virtues needed for the present, as well as the value of Sunday School for the strengthening the work of the kingdom. He seemed to have a vision for reaching people through words and imagery that evoked the best virtues in his readers. He died on April 13, 1949, and is buried in the same cemetery at Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania as where J.R. Miller is interred. We continue to add Faris’ writings to Log College Press, but today we remember that while his mortal life began 150 years ago, his legacy through the written word endures.

Samuel Higginbottom: The only cure for caste is Christ

January 21, 2021

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Sam Higginbottom (1874-1958) was an English-American Presbyterian who graduated from Princeton, and went on to serve as a missionary to India, where he founded the Allahabad Agricultural Institute (now known as the Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences in his honor). He writes about his friendship with Mahatma Gandhi in his autobiography, while carefully distinguishing Gandhi’s Hindu beliefs from Christianity. Higginbottom was very concerned to present the gospel to Indians, particularly those of the lower caste, while also seeking to address the full scope of their needs, both temporal and spiritual.

Sam Higginbottom (photo colorized by Matthew Lankford).

In The Gospel and the Plow; or, The Old Gospel and Modern Farming in Ancient India (1921), pp. 30-32, he has this to say:

There was a day when the missionary felt that baptism was the end. To-day he knows it is only the beginning. When these people come they are still poor, still ignorant, their eyes not yet clear, so that they see men as trees, walking. They have in them the inheritance of centuries of oppression and degradation. If we only baptize them and leave them alone we do them infinite harm. Baptized they are babes in Christ and need the milk of the Word that they may grow up to the full measure of the stature of men in Christ Jesus. How can we help such a lowly, dependent folk, who have no traditions of independence or liberty to brace them? If we dole out charity to them we rob them of the very thing they need training in most of all. It is not doles of charity they need but help to help themselves. Teach them by their own efforts how to earn their own living, and such a living as will enable them not only to have enough to eat, and to be decently clothed, but a living which contemplates education for the children, contributions to schools and churches, to hospitals and libraries, a living which enables them to take full responsibility as citizens.
I believe the best and quickest way to do this is to train them in agriculture, train the best and brightest in a good central institution so that the ones so trained can go out to their own folk in the villages. The ones trained in modern farming can earn much more than the un-trained, so much more in fact that they can pay their own way and take their part as self-supporting members of the community. Some people who have seen this mass movement work criticize it. They say these people do not understand Christianity, that their motives are mixed and often unworthy, that they come to Christ for what they can get out of Him, that they are mercenary Christians, that they come for the loaves and fishes, that they are rice Christians. Having said so much they think the work is condemned and the case closed, but is it? Grant all they say, it means that these poor folk see in Christianity more than in their old faith. While adhering to their old faith material progress was impossible, under Christianity it is possible. Under their old faith they were denied common human rights, under their old faith they were denied the spiritual resources of that faith, under Christianity their only limit is their capacity to comprehend the length and breadth and depth and height of the love of God for the lost. It always seems to me that Jesus must have had the low-caste in mind when He stated His mission to be to seek and to save that which was lost. After all, it is not the motive with which men or women come to Christ that matters, but the motive with which they stay with Him, and many can bear witness that God is raising up to Himself out of these whom man despises, a body of believers that are the spiritual equals of any body of believers anywhere on earth. In faithfulness even to death, in the last great supreme sacrifice for His dear sake, they are abundant witnesses. The low caste converts educated in our mission schools and colleges often attain positions of distinction and high responsibility. They move freely among high-caste people, where, had they not been converted and trained, they never could have gone. As I see the progress of these masses to Jesus I come to see that the only cure for caste is Christ. That He effectually takes away any disability that caste causes. That in this life if any man be in Christ Jesus he is a new creation.

HT: Matthew Lankford

Read more by this noted missionary and educator at his page here.

Writing on the Sand: Verse by John Hall

January 19, 2021

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Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time. — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “A Psalm of Life”

Christian biographies are a treasure that will enrich the reader who seeks them out. The lives of saints who have gone before us can teach us much not only about those men and women, but about how God works from generation to generation, even our own.

Recently added to Log College Press is Thomas Cuming Hall’s life story of his father, John Hall, Pastor and Preacher: A Biography (1901). John Hall (1829-1898) was born in County Armagh, Ireland. After laboring as a missionary and pastor in Ireland, he attended the 1867 PCUSA General Assembly meeting as a delegate, and was soon thereafter called to minister to the Fifth Street Presbyterian Church in New York City, where he would serve for the remainder of his life. He survived an assassination attempt by a deranged shooter in 1891.

From his biography, we take note of the many poems he composed over the years. One in particular stands out, which evokes perhaps to the modern reader thoughts of a famous 20th century poem known as “Footprints in the Sand.” But these lines were written by Hall in 1858, and thanks to their publication in The Missionary Herald that year, and the notice given to them in his biography, these lines have not “washed away”; we recall them to mind today.

WRITING ON THE SAND

Alone I walk'd the ocean strand—
A pearly shell was in my hand;
I stoop'd, and wrote upon the sand
My name—the year—the day.
As onward from the spot I pass'd
One lingering look behind I cast.
A wave came rolling high and fast,
And wash'd my lines away.
And so, methought, 'twill shortly be
With every mark on earth from me;
A wave of dark oblivion's sea
Will sweep across the place.
Where I have trod the sandy shore
Of time, there will remain more,
Of me—my name—the name I bore,
'Twill leave no track—no trace.
And yet, with Him who counts the sands.
And holds the water in His hands,
I know the lasting record stands,
Inscribed against my name;
Of all this mortal part has wrought,
Of all this thinking soul has thought.
And from these fleeting moments caught.
For glory or for shame.

Weight of Glory: Thoughts on Affliction

January 16, 2021

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John Franklin Bair writes, in Poems For All Classes (1922), p. 174:

The Blessings of Affliction

Afflictions come, but not by chance,
Nor do they from the ground arise,
They may be heavy, but each one
Is but a blessing in disguise.
By faith I see the hand of God
In all afflictions sent to me;
Therefore I will rejoice because
My future blessings they will be.

Do we measure our happiness in life by putting our afflictions on one scale and balancing them against our blessings? We may receive evil from the hand of the Lord, but we hope to receive more good. Is that the right way to take account of a good life? If one is opposed to the other, do we stand on pins and needles at the equipoise until the scales tip in our favor? In fact, on the scales of God's justice, we are found wanting. We deserve no good thing at all. But the afflictions of the righteous are in fact blessings in disguise. While they are hard providences, they are providences from the loving hand of Almighty God, who has promised that nothing "shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 8.39), and "that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose" (Rom. 8.28). That being case, we must reckon rightly that blessings and afflictions are not properly weighed against each other but weighed together as "a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (2 Cor. 4.17).

William Henry Green (1825-1900), chair of Biblical and Oriental Literature at Princeton, addressed this notion in his commentary on Job, originally titled The Argument of the Book of Job Unfolded (1874), pp. 313-314, 318; [republished with editorial modifications as Conflict and Triumph: The Argument of the Book of Job Unfolded (1999), pp. 152, 154]:

Sublime as was Job's resignation in the first and second stage of his afflictions, it is sublimer now. When his property and his children were all swept from him at a stroke, Job still blessed the name of the Lord, mindful of the fact that the Lord had given what he now took away. When in addition his own person was visited with a dreadful and incurable malady, he meekly received the evil at the hands of the Lord, mindful of the good which he had previously bestowed.

His constant trust in God rooted itself each time in the past, in the abundance of former mercies, his grateful sense of which was not effaced by all the severity of his present trials. He put his trials in the scales over against the benefits which the Lord had so bounteously conferred upon him, and the latter still largely outweighed.
...
This is the lesson which Job has now learned; and hence he retracts all his murmuring words, and all that he has said reproachful to his Maker. He abhors himself for having uttered them, and repents in dust and ashes. He would not ask as before, 'Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?' [(2:10)]. There is no evil [adversity], there can be no evil [adversity] from the hand of the Lord.

Evil [Adversity] is good when it comes from him. He [Job] no longer puts the benefits from God in one scale and afflictions in the other. But afflictions are put in the same scale with benefits: they, too, are benefits when God sends them. And thus, instead of tending to create a counter-poise, they but add their weight to that of obligation previously existing.

Synod of Appalachia: The Strength of the Hills

January 14, 2021

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I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help (Ps. 121:1).

The Appalachian Mountain region of the United States is one of the most beautiful parts of America. The Mountaineers who live there are a special, but often-neglected, part of its constituency. The Presbyterian Church recognized a spiritual need there early in the 20th century.

Massanutten Mountain, Virginia (photo by R. Andrew Myers).

The [PCUS] General Assembly of 1915 erected a new synod, new not only in name in concept as well, in that it followed the general boundaries of the southern Appalachian Mountain region rather than conforming to state lines. The Synod of Appalachia originally covered portions of Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia, with several churches in Kentucky and West Virginia. Robert F. Campbell (1858-1947), pastor of the First Church of Asheville, North Carolina, who became prominent as a leader in the formation of the synod, served as its first moderator. The Synod of Appalachia functioned in an effective manner with respect to the progress of Presbyterianism within its borders until its dissolution, over its own protest, with its final meeting held in 1973. — James E. McGoldrick, Presbyterian and Reformed Churches: A Global History, pp. 234-235

The Synod of Appalachia was a long-term 20th century experiment by the Southern Presbyterian Church to address a particular home missionary need. It was a chapter in American Presbyterian history that is worthy of study because of the particular focus on the mountaineers who reside in those bounds. Below is a map of the synod’s boundaries as found in a 1927 volume on this subject.

Map of the Synod of Appalachia from E.M. Craig, Highways and Byways of Appalachia (1927) [a book not yet available to read on LCP]. — Map of the Synod of Appalachia from E.M. Craig, *Highways and Byways of Appalachia* (1927) [a book not yet available to read on LCP].

Homer McMillan writes of this Synod in "Unfinished tasks" of the Southern Presbyterian Church:

Synod of Appalachia. It is the territorial unity and similarity of interest of the mountain Presbyteries that lie back of the great mountain Synod of Appalachia. This great Home Mission Synod embraces almost the same territory as the proposed State of Appalachia. The mountain sections of the Church, just as in the case of the States, received scant attention from the Synods to which they belonged. There was a disposition to look upon the mountain Presbyteries as dependent missionary territory, rather than an integral part of the Synod. They had little voice in the councils of the Church. The formation of these Presbyteries, with their common interests and common problems, into a separate Synod has lifted the mountain sections of the Church out of the back yard and has given them a Church-wide prominence. The churches of the mountain Presbyteries having the same educational and religious needs are able to develop their own resources, train their own leaders, build their own educational institutions and colleges, and carry out the program of service best adapted to their needs.

There are people and places all around America, and the world, whose needs the church must consider and address. The Appalachian mountaineers of the 20th century had a history, a spiritual need, and portion in God’s plan, which is still unfolding. Remember to pray for the mountaineers of Appalachia. They have been described as the “strength of the hills.” Bob Childress “The Man Who Moved a Mountain,” Dr. and Mrs. Sloop, and many others have labored to bring the gospel to them, and their legacy is not forgotten. May we continue to pray for the work that goes on amidst the mountains of Appalachia to the glory of God.

Uncle Jack's martyrdom: "I am not afraid"

January 12, 2021

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When John Walker Vinson arrived as a Southern Presbyterian missionary at Sutsein, North Kiangsu, China on February 4, 1907, he soon met a young lady already stationed there, Miss Jeanie deForest Junkin, daughter of Rev. Ebenezer Dickey Junkin and grand-daughter of Rev. George Junkin. He would come to be affectionately known to younger missionaries as “Uncle Jack,” but meanwhile was immediately smitten by the sight of this young lady, who became his wife a year later. They had six children, but only three survived to adulthood. Both Jack and Jeanie experienced severe health problems, and in 1923, Jeanie passed away soon after giving birth to a daughter.

Some years later, Jack, following an operation in Shanghai, nevertheless made a 30-mile trip from his station at Haizhou to the little country town of Yang- Djia-Gee, where he often ministered to the saints who lived there, some of whom he had baptized previously. While he was staying at the Christian Chapel there, a bandit army 600-strong arrived, captured many of the town’s inhabitants, and Jack as well. After learning what had happened, government forces were dispatched to deal with the crisis.

E.H. Hamilton, in his account of Vinson’s life and death, describes what happened next:

The bandit chief, realizing the perilous situation, came to Mr. Vinson, and asked him, “Do you want to go free?”
“Certainly,” came the reply.
“All right. If you will write a letter to the general of that army, and get him to withdraw his troops, I will let you go free,” said the bandit chief.
“Will you also release all these Chinese captives you are holding?” the missionary asked.
“Certainly not,” answered the bandit chief.
“Then neither will I go free,” said Mr. Vinson; and although the bandit chief was livid with rage, and vehement in his threats, the frail man before him was adamant.

During the night, the bandits, who were surrounded, attempted to break out and escape. They incurred heavy losses, and around 125 of the 150 prisoners managed to escape. Because of his condition, Jack was not able to escape, nor was he able to walk as the bandits fled the area with him and the other remaining captives. Hamilton continues:

A little girl, the daughter of a Chinese evangelist, was one of the captives of the bandits. The child afterward told how she had seen and heard a bandit trying to intimidate Mr. Vinson. She said the bandit pointed a gun at Mr. Vinson’s head, and said, “Aren’t you afraid?”
“No, I am not afraid,” came the answer.
And again, “I’m going to kill you. Aren’t you afraid?”
Once more the man of God replied, “NO, I AM NOT AFRAID. If you kill me, I will go right to Heaven.”

It was then that Jack was shot and killed, and beheaded.

Hamilton writes that “In his death Jack Vinson preached to more people than he ever had at one time in his life.” He also proposes to ask the reader a question, one that in various forms many believers have faced through the ages.

What would you do if you were held captive by a gang of ruthless bandits, and one of them came up to you— while your hands were bound—and pointing a pistol at your head, said, “I’m going to kill you. Aren’t you afraid?”
That was not a hypothetical question to Jack Vinson. It was grim reality, in North Kiangsu, China, November 2nd, 1931. What he did, and the reply he made, have both thrilled and strengthened the people of God in many lands. And by his answer he has earned a place alongside:
Queen Esther — “If I perish, I perish.”
Nehemiah — “Should such a one as I flee?”
Paul — “What are you doing weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be imprisoned, but even to die at Jerusalem for the Name of the Lord Jesus.” (Acts 21:13. RSV)
Martin Luther — “Though every tile on every roof in Worms be a demon, yet will I go there.”
And David Livingstone — “Who am I that I should fear? Nay, verily, I will take my bearings tonight, though they be my last.”
For Jack Vinson looked his tormenter in the eye, and calmly answered, “No, I am not afraid. If you kill me, I will go right to heaven.”

A poem that Hamilton wrote within minutes of hearing the news of the tragic but glorious death of his friend, Jack, reminds us of the saying of Ulrich Zwingli (who died in battle): “Not to fear is the armor.”

Afraid? Of what?
To feel the spirit’s glad release?
To pass from pain to perfect peace.
The strife and strain of life to cease?
Afraid—of that?
Afraid? Of what?
Afraid to see the Saviour’s face,
To hear His welcome, and to trace
The glory gleam from wounds of grace?
Afraid—of that?
Afraid? Of what?
A flash—a crash—a pierced heart;
Darkness—light—Oh, Heaven’s art!
A wound of His a counterpart!
Afraid—of that?
Afraid? Of what?
To enter into Heaven's rest,
And yet to serve the Master blest,
From service good to service best?
Afraid—of that?
Afraid? Of what?
To do by death what life could not:
Baptize with blood a stony plot,
Till souls shall blossom from the spot?
Afraid—of that?

In times of trial, we are thankful for the testimonies of saints who have faced life-or-death questions before and honored Christ with all of their being to receive an eternal reward. Read the full story of Vinson’s life here.

Occupy Till He Comes: Warfield on doing all to the glory of God

January 11, 2021

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And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come (Luke 19:13).

An important theme in the life and teaching of B.B. Warfield is that we ought to do all to the glory of God. Not only in the seminary classroom, but in every work to which we put our hands, we ought to aim at the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31). In an October 1911 address to the seminary students at Princeton, published later under the title The Religious Life of Theological Students, Warfield not only spoke against falsely dichotomizing theological study and religious devotion, but also affirmed that in whatever we do in life, in our studies and beyond them, we should be aiming to glorify our God.

Certainly, every man who aspires to a religious man must begin by doing his duty, his obvious duty, his daily task, the particular work which lies before him to do at this particular time and place. If this work happens to be studying, then his religious life de pends on nothing more fundamentally than on just studying. You might as well talk of a father who neglects his parental duties, of a son who fails in all the obligations of filial piety, of an artisan who systematically skimps his work and turns in a bad job, of a workman who is nothing better than an eye-servant, being religious men as of a student who does not study being a religious man. It cannot be: you cannot build up a religious life except you begin by performing faithfully your simple, daily duties. It is not the question whether you like these duties. You may think of your studies what you please . You may consider that you are singing precisely of them when you sing of "e'en servile labors,” and of “the meanest work.” But you must faithfully give yourselves to your studies, if you wish to be religious men. No religious character can be built up on the foundation of neglected duty…
A truly religious man will study anything which it becomes his duty with “devotion” in both of these senses. That is what his religion does for him: it makes him do his duty, do it thoroughly, do it “in the Lord.”

Thomas Hugh Spence, Jr. wrote about the effect of this sort of teaching on one particular student of Warfield’s in the 1890s in The Historical Foundation and Its Treasures (1956, 1960), p. 3:

While a student at Princeton, Mr. [Samuel Mills] Tenney had been impressed with the insistence of Professor Benjamin B. Warfield upon the importance of making the most of time. He once described to the writer how he repeatedly stood for hours by night in the rocking railway coaches of that pre-streamliner era in order to devote those periods of travel to reading by the ineffectual oil lamps then provided byway of token illumination in such cars.

An older writer's famous maxim says much the same thing:

Be thou never without something to do; be reading, or writing, or praying, or meditating, or doing something that is useful to the community. -- Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ (1.19)

Warfield certainly practiced what he preached: always writing, always teaching, always lovingly caring for his wife at home - he exemplified the ethic called for in the Scriptures to do all to the glory of God whether the task was menial or seemed to be of the greatest import for advancing the kingdom of God. Kingdom work is truly made up of the small as well as the great. We have business to accomplish in this life for our King and Master, who both give talents and gifts, and enables us to turn every occasion of using them as a means to glorify Himself and do others and ourselves much good. How we may then joyfully anticipate hearing those precious words: “Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord” (Matt. 25:23).

The flowers of spring: An appreciation of and by Cornelia Phillips Spencer

January 5, 2021

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…WINTER, slumbering in the open air,
Wears on his smiling face a dream of Spring! — Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “Work Without Hope”

In the midst of winter, it may help revive the spirit to look ahead to the prospect of spring. A newly-added author to Log College Press — Cornelia Phillips Spencer (1825-1908) — was a Presbyterian author who had a special fondness for the flora of her adopted state, North Carolina. Her poetry and her paintings reflect the sense of the Creator who adorned his creation with such beauty. The Carolina lily pictured below later became the official state wildflower of North Carolina.

Carolina lily by Cornelia Phillips Spencer (photo by Ken Moore).

Spencer was known as “The Woman Who Rang the Bell,” because after the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was closed during the Reconstruction period following the War Between the States, from 1870 to 1875, she sent numerous letters to the state legislature beseeching them to reopen that institution of higher learning. Finally, on her 50th birthday, she received word that they had granted her request. In jubilation, she rang the campus bell, and composed a hymn of praise for the occasion. Spencer Hall on the Carolina campus is named in her honor.

As anyone who has lived in Chapel Hill in the springtime and beheld the dogwoods blooming, and more, can testify, the flowers of North Carolina are a special sight. In her 1866 volume on The Last Ninety Days of the War in North Carolina, she included these verses, reflective of her appreciation of the setting of a memorial which took place in the month of April.

Come, Southern flowers, and twine above their grave;
Let all our rath spring blossoms bear a part;
Let lilies of the vale and snowdrops wave.
And come thou too, fit emblem, bleeding-heart!
Bring all our evergreens — the laurel and the bay.
From the deep forests which around us stand;
They know them well, for in a happier day
They roamed these hills and valleys hand in hand.
Ye winds of heaven, o'er them gently sigh.
And April showers fall in kindliest rain,
And let the golden sunbeams softly lie
Upon the sod for which they died in vain.

A bouquet including Goldenrod and Christmas fern by Cornelia Phillips Spencer (photo by Ken Moore).

Spencer’s botanical appreciation for the beauty of nature around her was reflective of her love for the God who made the flora and fauna, and the art forms she chose to express that appreciation were reflective of the Artist who brings all to new life again in the spring. During the winter months, let us remember God’s faithfulness to bring vivid colors once again to grey landscapes. The land will rejoice, and flowers shall blossom again, to the praise of God (Isa. 35:1).

A tearful missionary's farewell: J.B. Adger

January 3, 2021

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At one point in the movie Mary Poppins (1964), Bert asks Michael and Jane,

Look at it this way. You've got your mother to look after you. And Mary Poppins, and Constable Jones and me. Who looks after your father? Tell me that. When something terrible happens, what does he do? Fends for himself, he does. Who does he tell about it? No one! Don't blab his troubles at home. He just pushes on at his job, uncomplaining and alone and silent.

When John Bailey Adger prepared to depart on his missionary journey to from South Carolina to Smyrna (now known as Izmir, Turkey) in 1834, he wrote a farewell letter to his brethren at home. The scene of his departure was especially touching, as recounted in Adger’s autobiography, My Life and Times, because of his concern for his father.

The time drew nigh for my ordination, and in the Second Presbyterian church I was solemnly set apart by the Charleston Union Presbytery to the work of foreign missions. An immense audience gathered to witness the laying on of the Presbytery's hands. Before setting out I wrote and published a farewell letter to my friends throughout the State, giving them my reasons for the step I was taking. It was a day of weeping when my wife and I parted from her relatives and mine. My father accompanied us to New York and Boston. So did my brother James. The little brig that was to carry us to Smyrna was not quite ready to sail. We had also some purchases for our outfit to make in Boston. Having no occupation whilst we were making our purchases, the time hung heavy on my father's hands. I saw that he was much distressed at the prospect of separation, and at last I begged him to leave us. He started home early the next morning by stage. I went down with him and saw him in the stage, and my brother James subsequently informed me that, as they started off, my father laid his hands on the back of the seat before him, and bowed his head upon his hands and wept audibly and profusely. As for me, that was the bitterest hour of my life — up to that period. I had left my mother with my father to take care of her; but the thought that oppressed me was, who was I leaving behind me to take care of my father?

When we pray for missionaries, let us not only remember their families on the mission field, but also their families at home. There is a chain of relationships that are all connected, and all have their parts, and all merit our prayers — for the sake of the gospel. Pray for missionaries, and for their families at home and abroad. A father’s heart for his missionary son (and the son’s for the father) ought to spur to pray for the whole family as well as the whole work of missions.

A New Year's Meditation by Francis J. Grimké

December 31, 2020

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From the third volume of Francis J. Grimké’s Works (pp. 383-386, 603), we have extracted a few thoughts suitable to the close of one year and the beginning of another. Consider these words penned close to 90 years ago.

This is the first day of the new year 1930. God in his kind providence has spared me to see it. And, while I am not strong in body, yet I have much to be thankful for, — kind friends, and sufficient of this world's goods to meet all my physical needs. Above all these mere creature comforts, I am able to read the Word of God, and to have communion, fellowship with him through prayer each day: and also the sweet consciousness of the fact that I am ever under the care and keeping of One who is abundantly able to care for me. On this, the first day of the year, out of a sense of gratitude, I do here and now reconsecrate myself to his service and to the service of my fellow men. God helping me, I will endeavor to live right, and as one of his followers, to represent him more worthily before the world. I know how weak we are, but with help Divine, we can all be better than we are; can all do better than we do.

***

It is a solemn thing to live! A solemn thing to live with the thought before us that we must one day face our record, — one day answer at the bar of God. It is with this thought that we ought to enter upon the New Year, and should resolve to live every moment of it so as to meet the approbation of God, to win from him the plaudit. Well done, good and faithful servant. If we carry this thought with us, and allow ourselves to be influenced by it, at the same time depending upon Divine help, we need have no fear as to the result. It will be a record that will be creditable to us. An earnest purpose to do right, steadily adhered to, is half the battle. Failure can come only from our neglect to avail ourselves of the help that is offered to us.

***

Like every other year 1931 has had its joys and its sorrows, its ups and downs, its bright days and its dark days, but through it all, the guiding hand of one who never sleeps nor slumbers, whose thoughful, loving care for all his creatures, especially for those whose trust is in him, has been clearly discernible. We have not, it may be, during the year realized all of our hopes, but still we have so much to be thankful for. We cannot fail, if we have any sense of appreciation, to be deeply grateful to God for the way along which he has led us. May the New Year find us, not only with grateful hearts, but with the purpose and determination to serve him better than ever before, to be more faithful to the duties and responsibilities devolving upon us. If we fail, let it not be from carelessness or indifference or lack of effort on our part.

May these New Year’s thoughts of Rev. Grimké echo in our hearts and minds. From Log College Press, we wish each of you joy, peace and happiness — and God’s richest blessings — for a Happy New Year!

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

December 28, 2020

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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.

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.

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.

Tenney's Souvenir of the General Assembly

December 23, 2020

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At the outset, it will be noted that the Souvenir of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church U.S. (1924), compiled by Samuel Mills Tenney, and pictured here, is not yet available to read at Log College Press. But this little volume has proven so useful in our research that we wish to highlight it today.

Tenney, Samuel Mills, Souvenir of the GA Title Page cropped.jpg

The book is simply a collection of biographical sketches of persons associated with the Southern Presbyterian Church. Beginning with Francis McFarland (who called to order the first General Assembly meeting on December 4, 1861 in Augusta, Georgia) and ending with Hallie Paxson Winsborough (superintendent of the Woman’s Auxiliary of the PCUS), almost 100 individuals are highlighted, providing an introduction to the leaders of the denomination — many of them General Assembly moderators, but also other officers, missionaries and other notables figures — with both illustrations and a record of their doings and published writings.

For many weeks we have been combing the pages of this little book and it has led us to names and places and books and articles of great interest. Now we can say that every individual highlighted in the book can be found at Log College Press, although the work of adding all of their published writings is still ongoing. The historical, biographical and literary rabbit trails have been most profitable, leading to dozens more individuals added to Log College Press than are listed in the book itself. Missionaries to Asia, Africa, Mexico and other parts of the world have been added. Family members of C.W. Grafton and other worthies have been added. Photographs have been added. Secondary sources have been added. After studying the pages of Tenney’s Souvenir, Log College Press has grown, expanded and profited by careful attention to the contents therein.

We are thankful for the labors of Samuel Mills Tenney, and others (such as Wayne Sparkman and Barry Waugh), who have done much to highlight the names and writings of Presbyterian worthies of the past. Their efforts have helped us shine a light on people worthy of remembrance.

Who was Miss Annie E. Wilson?

December 21, 2020

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Here is a question for our readers: Who was Miss Annie E. Wilson?

We know a few things about her, and there is still much that we do not know. Perhaps some of our readers can enlarge our understanding of this late 19th and early 20th century Presbyterian author. Let’s start with what we know so far.

Along with Isabella M. Leyburn Ritner, Wilson co-edited (and contributed various articles to) Electra: A Belles Lettres Monthly For Young People in 1883-1884. That volume notes:

Miss Wilson is the grand-daughter of the late Professor S.B. Wilson, D.D., of Union Theological Seminary, Va., and Miss Leyburn is the daughter of the late Rev. Geo. W. Leyburn, who laid down his life in mission service in Greece.

Wilson, Anneliza Carruthers signature photo.jpg

She was a prolific writer. From 1883-1915 we have compiled at least 12 separate published writings by her, and we know of additional works by her as well. She was educational works for youth, historical fiction, articles, short stories and more.

She lived in Louisville, Kentucky, and it is thought that she worked as a Presbyterian Sunday School teacher there.

She is identified by various sources as Anneliza Carruthers Wilson. Annie E. Wilson was the pen name under which she published. Sometimes she has been referred to as Ann Eliza Carruthers Wilson.

From the introduction to Webs of War in White and Black, it would appear that she was teaching near Farmville, Virginia around 1913.

T.C. Johnson, in his 1897 review in the Union Seminary Magazine of Wilson’s True Story of a Jewish Maiden (not yet available on LCP), described her work as “a useful gift” to the church. The Presbyterian and Reformed Review for January 1900 described her 1898 volume titled The Family Altar as encompassing “some wise instructions as to the management of household worship.”

We do not yet know when and where she was born or died or is buried, despite extensive ancestral research. We are hoping that a reader may yet provide that information to us. We are also lacking a picture of Anneliza Carruthers Wilson, aka Miss Annie E. Wilson. But we do have her signature.

Meanwhile, take a look at her page at Log College Press and peruse the works by her which we have assembled thus far. She was a gifted writer with a heart for educating the young especially, helping families, and for the conversion of unbelievers to a saving faith in Jesus Christ. A number of her books have been reprinted in the modern era. We are thankful to know her, and hope to get to know her better.

Homer McMillan on the importance of keeping the Sabbath holy

December 19, 2020

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In his noteworthy volume “Unfinished Tasks” of the Southern Presbyterian Church (1922) — published almost 100 years ago — Homer McMillan, Secretary of the Executive Committee of Home Missions for the Presbyterian Church in the United States, highlighted an important area of concern and focus for the work of Christ’s Church.

The maintenance of the Christian Sabbath lies at the root of all national morality and civil liberty. The Sabbath is the only safeguard of religion, and religion is the surest stay of the State. John Ruskin said that the thirty minutes on Sunday when the man of God stands forth to speak to ignorant and sinful men are the most important thirty minutes known to society and civilization. About one hundred and fifty years ago Voltaire prophesied that before the close of that century Christianity would have disappeared from the face of the earth. He advised his followers that if they would destroy Christianity they must begin with the Christian Sabbath. Christianity and the Sabbath stand or fall together.
''The rule is, where there is no church and no churchgoing there is no Sabbath, and where there is no Sabbath and no Sabbath-keeping there is no religion, and where there is no religion there is no God, and where there is no God there is no conscience, and where there is no conscience there is no respect for the rights of men, and where there is no respect for the rights of men there is no security for life or property. Now take religion, God, conscience, respect for the rights of men, and protection of life and property out of the American republic, and just how much of what is left would be worth having?"*
A reliable authority states that four million people in this country are making merchandise of the Lord's Day, and that twenty times that number spend the day in mere worldly pleasure-seeking. Well may we cry out for America, as Pope Pius said concerning France in his day: "Lose not a day, not even an hour, nor even a moment; go and tell France that if she would be saved she must return to the sanctification of the Lord's Day." When the Sabbath is gone, honesty is gone, justice is gone, and that which has been our nation's glory is gone.
* Dr. David Gregg, ''Makers of the American Republic."

How crucial is the keeping holy of the Lord’s Day, or Christian Sabbath? Of the highest importance, according to Homer McMillan. It is the Fourth Commandment of the Decalogue and in some sense a bridge between the first and second tables of the law, having reference both to the honor and worship of God, and to the good of mankind. May McMillan’s words serve to remind us of the great importance of sanctifying the Lord’s holy day.

To live forever with our Savior: A poem by J.F. Bair for a snowy day

December 16, 2020

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Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool (Isa. 1:18).

On a snowy day, one cannot help but remember the words of the prophet Isaiah. John Franklin Bair (1867-1951) was also mindful of this verse in a selection from The Complete Poetical Works of Rev. John Franklin Bair (1907).

I Live to Thee My Savior

Jesus, I will forever live
To thee my Savior and my Lord,
Who doth to ev'ry sinner give
Comfort and joy through thy blest Word.
E'en though my sins as scarlet be
And I by them am plunged in woe,
Still thy blest Word doth say to me,
They shall be made white as the snow.
Thanks be to thee, O God, for this
Blessed assurance thou dost give,
That I with thee in joy and bliss ,
In heaven shall forever live.
To thee, O God, the Father, Son,
And Holy Spirit, blessed three,
One God in three and three in one,
Be glory through eternity.

Baird on harmonizing differences among Christians

December 14, 2020

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Samuel J. Baird (sometimes known as Mr. Polity) writes in his ecclesiastical catechism, The Church of Christ: Its Constitution and Order (1864):

§ 272. Is the Church actually organized upon the scriptural model?
The ignorance, blindness, and corruption which still infect the best and purest Churches, have caused errors and divisions which mar the symmetry and unity of the body of Christ. Nor will it be otherwise until the promised day when the Spirit shall be poured out, when all shall know the Lord, and the watchmen shall see eye to eye. 1 Cor. xi. 18, 19, — "heresies," — Original, "sects;" Isa. lii. 8.
§ 273. May the order of the Church be disregarded for the sake of Christian union?
Any neglect or violation of the order of God's house is a transgression of the law of Christ, by which that order is established, and a disregard of the authority of his Spirit, by whom it is attested in the Word. It cannot, therefore, inure to the unity of the Spirit, which is the only bond of peace, and without which no other union is of any value. It tends, not to edification, but to destruction.
1 Tim. iii. 15; 1 Cor. xi. 34; xiv. 40; Tit. i.5; Eph. iv. 3; Isa. lxiii. 10; Rom. xvi. 17.
§ 274. What then is the present duty of Christians with respect to union?
It is the duty of Christ's people, as much as in them is, to harmonize differences by the light of revelation; and whereunto they have already attained, to walk by the same rule and mind the same things; whilst they adhere, as closely as possible, to the revealed constitution of the Church; as well as to the Scriptural doctrines of grace.
1 Cor. i.10; iii. 3; Phil. iii. 16; 1 Tim. iii. 15; 2 Tim. iii. 16, 17.

How Christians ought to strive for unity in the Spirit of God! A needful reminder among the ecclesiastical splits of the 19th century, and even more so in 21st century America.

Log College Press - Where Do I Start?

December 9, 2020

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When Log College Press began around three and a half years ago, in July 2017, it was conceived as a project to help make accessible to 21st century Christians the wisdom of American Presbyterians from an earlier era.

THE PAST IS NOT DEAD.
PRIMARY SOURCES ARE NOT INACCESSIBLE.
18TH-19TH CENTURY AMERICAN PRESBYTERIANS ARE NOT IRRELEVANT.

This is what we believe. In the age of digitized books, we have all been blessed to rediscover authors and works that have laid dormant and gathered dust on library shelves. We have now republished thirteen works by early American Presbyterians, and our website is currently closing in on 10,000 published (and sometimes manuscript works (free PDF files) by the same. With such a growing volume of primary source material, it can be a bit overwhelming for a first-time visitor to the site. Besides our bookstore and our secondary source bookstore pages, following up on an earlier post in this vein, we have introduced a new page for visitors called Where Do I Start? If you are new to this site, or to American Presbyterianism, be sure to check out this new page, which highlights the some of the most notable works of some of the most notable American Presbyterians. It is but an introduction. We continue to grow and hope you will continue the journey with us. “Tolle lege!”

The Underground Railroad at Log College Press

December 5, 2020

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Reformed Presbyterian minister William Sommerville once wrote that “The Bible does not discourage the slave from making his escape; and the underground railroad is built in the very spirit of God's counsel” (Southern Slavery Not Founded on Scripture Warrant, p. 5). The Underground Railroad — an informal system whereby “agents” and “stations” comprised an avenue of escape for American slaves in bondage — was a tool employed by many in the North to aid slaves seeking freedom, including Presbyterians, and very often, Reformed Presbyterians (Covenanters).

Among the resources found here at Log College Press, there are many perspectives on the slavery issue which were held by 19th century century Presbyterians in various parts of the country. Today’s post focuses on those who were supportive of, active on, or otherwise connected to the Underground Railroad. We highlight a few here in alphabetical order, although more could be mentioned.

Caroline Still Anderson — Caroline was the wife of Matthew Anderson, pastor of the Berean Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, and daughter of William Still, whose book on the Underground Railroad is a valuable record of material Caroline’s father is sometimes known as “The Father of the Underground Railroad,” and he helped over 800 slaves escape to freedom.
Titus Basfield — Basfield, a former slave, studied at Franklin College, New Athens, Ohio, an institution founded by John Walker, Presbyterian minister and abolitionist, which was a haven for those traveling on the Underground Railroad. A friend and classmate of his, John Bingham, was the principal author of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Philo Carpenter — Carpenter was a Chicago pharmacist and abolitionist. His home was a station on the Underground Railroad, and it is reported that he helped approximately 200 slaves reach freedom, often by rowing them across Lake Michigan to Canada by night.
Theodore Ledyard Cuyler — Cuyler was an outspoken abolitionist, and it is reported that his Brooklyn, New York congregation — the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church — was a hiding place for escaped slaves seeking freedom.
Alexander Dobbin — Dobbin was a Covenanter who helped found the first Presbytery of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in America, and later, the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. He died in 1809, but his house, located at the site of the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg, endured, serving as a waystation along the Underground Railroad.
James Faris — A Covenanter minister from South Carolina, he attempted to have the South Carolina legislature pass a law which would encourage emancipation, but failed. After moving to Bloomington, Indiana, his home became a waystation on the Underground Railroad.
Amos Noe Freeman — Freeman was an African-American Presbyterian minister, who was also a conductor along the Underground Railroad at his congregation in Portland, Maine.
Henry Highland Garnet — Garnet was an African-American Presbyterian minister who was born into slavery, but escaped with the aid of others, including Underground Railroad stationmaster Thomas Garrett.
William Hayes — Hayes was a Covenanter layman who aided slaves in Illinois who were escaping to freedom. He was successfully sued in 1843 by a neighbor, who objected to Hayes’ role in the escape of his slave, Susan “Sukey” Richardson. The well-documented story of that lawsuit and Hayes’ heroic role in the freedom of many slaves is told by Carol Pirtle, Escape Betwixt Two Suns: A True Tale of the Underground Railroad in Illinois (2000).
Erastus Hopkins — Hopkins was a Presbyterian minister who was active politically in the Free-Soil Party. His home in Northampton, Massachusetts has been documented as a waystation along the Underground Railroad.
John Black Johnston — A Covenanter minister, Glasgow reports that Johnston “was a fearless advocate of the cause of the slave, and was a distinguished conductor on the ‘Underground Railroad.”
James W.C. Pennington — Pennington was a “fugitive slave” who escaped by means of the Underground Railroad before later becoming a Presbyterian minister and an outspoken abolitionist.
John Rankin — Rankin was a Presbyterian minister and an active conductor on the Underground Railroad in Ohio. It was Rankin’s account — given to Calvin Stowe — of Eliza Harris’ 1838 escape to freedom that inspired the character Eliza in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin (see below). It is reported that when “Henry Ward Beecher was asked after the end of the Civil War, ‘Who abolished slavery?,’ he answered, ‘Reverend John Rankin and his sons did.’"
Thomas Smith — Smith was a Covenanter layman who Bloomington, Indiana home was a station on the Underground Railroad.
Calvin & Harriet Beecher Stowe — Calvin was a Presbyterian minister, and his wife Harriet achieved fame with the publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852), a fictionalized account of a slave who escaped on the Underground Railroad. The Harriet Beecher Stowe House in Brunswick, Maine is officially part of the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom.
Theodore Sedgwick Wright — Wright was an African-American Presbyterian minister who studied (and suffered — see his 1836 letter to Archibald Alexander) at Princeton. His home in New York City was a waystation for the Underground Railroad.

These connections to the Underground Railroad at Log College Press may serve to whet the appetite for further study of a fascinating and heroic chapter in American history, and shows how passionately some Presbyterians felt about the cause of freedom for those bondage.

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