Among the debates that became prominent during the 19th century American Presbyterian (and Reformed) churches was the debate over what restrictions the Bible taught concerning relations of affinity and consanguinity within marriage.
The Westminster Confession (24:4., 1646) states:
"IV. Marriage ought not to be within the degrees of consanguinity or affinity forbidden in the Word; nor can such incestuous marriages ever be made lawful by any law of man, or consent of parties, so as those persons may live together, as man and wife. The man may not marry any of his wife's kindred nearer in blood than he may of his own, nor the woman of her husband's kindred nearer in blood than of her own."
The annotations of the Dutch Statenvertaling Bible, authorized by the Great Synod of Dort, on Leviticus 18:16, 18 also show the view of the Dutch Reformed Church, which was consistent with Westminster.
However, this particular understanding of the Levitical laws regarding marriage (the Westminster Assembly's proof-texts include New Testament passages as well as those from the book of Leviticus), has been often challenged in the years since.
"When Samuel Miller was examined for licensure and ordination he took exception to the affinity sentence [WCF 24:4], but later in his ministry his view changed and he became convinced of the accuracy of the sentence." (Barry Waugh, The History of a Confessional Sentence: The Events Leading up to the Inclusion o f the Affinity Sentence in the Westminster Confession o f Faith, Chapter 24, Section 4, and the Judicial History Contributing to its Removal in the American Presbyterian Church, 2002 Ph.D., p. 274) Dr. Waugh notes the inclusion of two particular volumes contained in Samuel Miller's library after his death, which shed light on Miller's thinking on this matter. In a footnote on p. 111 of Dr. Waugh's most helpful dissertation, he writes: "Dr. Miller maintained some interest in the issues of marital affinity because the inventory of his library following his death revealed two near-kin titles. One book is Janeway’s, Unlawful Marriage, 1843, and the other is an 1816 work described as a Dissertation on Marrying a Wife's Sister, which may be Livingston’s A Dissertation on the Marriage of a Man with His Sister in Law (New Brunswick: Deare & Myer, 1816). See: Samuel Miller, “Catalogue, As Found at his Death,” PTSEM 1:3, pp. 2, 35."
Jacob Jones Janeway (1774-1858), in fact, studied under John Henry Livingston (1746-1825), who was not strictly speaking a Presbyterian, but was a leader of the Dutch Reformed Church in America. Janeway notes in the introduction to his book that the Dutch Reformed Church rescinded the rule against marriage to a deceased wife's sister in 1842. Both men opposed the tide that was overtaking both the American Presbyterian Church and the Dutch Reformed Church in America. Charles Hodge (1797-1878) in his Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, pp. 413ff, and elsewhere, also argued likewise.
Nevertheless, in 1886, the Presbyterian Church in the United States officially removed the affinity sentence from WCF 24:4. This revision was retained in the 1936 WCF by the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) and, later, by the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA).
The works touching on this topic highlighted above can be read online at Log College Press. They provide a window not only into Samuel Miller's library, but also into a controversy that occupied many 19th century Presbyterian General Assemblies, and, though decided in certain branches of the Reformed and Presbyterian churches, continues to reverberate today.
The Log College Press Bookstore Continues to Expand!
If you haven't checked out the Log College Press Bookstore lately, it's worth a few minutes of your time. We have no doubt that you will find books on American Presbyterian history that you've never heard of, and many that you'll wish you owned. The two booklets that Log College Press has published (The Five Points of Presbyterianism by Thomas Dwight Witherspoon and A Forty-Three Year Pastorate in a Country Church by Cornelius Washington Grafton) are also for sale, soon to be joined by our third booklet, William Swan Plumer's Christ All in All: The Right Temper for a Theologian.
We're constantly adding books to our secondary source bookstore, so check back regularly!
Wanted: A Samaritan
We have had occasion previously to take notice of the number of poets that are represented among the ministers highlighted at Log College Press. B.B. Warfield is one of those Presbyterian pastor-poets.
One of his particular compositions is brief but profound. Interestingly, he first published "Wanted: A Samaritan" in January 31, 1907 issue of The Independent under the non de plum "Nicholas Worth, Jr." It was later published under his own name in Four Hymns and Some Religious Verses (1910).
Wanted: A Samaritan
Prone in the road he lay,
Wounded and sore bested:
Priests, Levites past that way
And turned aside the head.
They were not hardened men
In human service slack:
His need was great: but then,
His face, you see, was black.
Saturday Evening Retirement
Ashbel Green (1762-1848) in his Lectures on the [Westminster] Shorter Catechism, Vol. 2, p. 112, on the Fourth Commandment, after arguing in favor of midnight-to-midnight observance of the Christian Sabbath, or Lord's Day, offers this bit of wisdom regarding preparation for keeping the day holy:
"As far as practicable, it will be well for you, my young friends, to adopt what I know has been the practice of some devout Christians; that is, to spend the evening of Saturday, as much as you conveniently can, in retirement from the world. The children of dissipation often spend it in parties of mirth and levity, or at theatres, or other places of carnal amusement; and they often add to their other sins, by an actual trespass on holy time. Take for yourselves an exactly opposite course. Whenever you can, so order your affairs that your worldly occupations on the evening preceding the Lord's day, may be of such a retired and peaceful kind, as to admit of serious meditation avoid promiscuous company altogether; let your associations at this time, be with the pious, and your conversation be on religious topics; or better still, if you can, spend a part at least of the evening, in religious reading and devout meditation. I am well aware that may are so circumstanced that a stated compliance with this advice will not be practicable; and I offer it, not as pointing out a prescribed duty, but as a matter of Christian prudence, with those who are favoured in providence to have their time in some degree at their voluntary disposal. Even our ordinary devotions, on secular days, will not usually be performed to the greatest advantage, unless they are preceded by a short space of recollected and serious thought. And it is highly desirable, with a view to the most profitable spending of holy time, to prepare for it, by getting our minds into a devoted frame. It is delightful in deed to the practical Christian, when the evening which precedes the Lord's day is so spent, that his very dreams become devout; and that he awakes in the morning on which his Saviour rose from the dead, with the aspirations of his mind going forth to Him, as he is now seated on his throne in the heavens, and with the whole soul attuned to the employments of the sacred hours of this blessed day."
James Wood on the Theological Divide of the Old and New Schools
James Wood (1799-1867) was a 19th century American Presbyterian pastor (in Amsterdam, New York), seminary professor (at New Albany, Indiana), and college president (of Hanover College and Van Rensselaer Institute). Charles Hodge had this to say about Wood: "In common with all his brethren, I ever regarded him as one of our best, wisest, and most useful ministers. The important positions which he was called upon to fill are proofs of the high estimation in which he was held. His sound judgment, dignified manners, amiable temper, combined with his learning and energy, secured for him a wide and happy influence in the Church."
One of his most important works was Old and New Theology: Or an Exhibition of Those Differences with Regard to Scripture Doctrines, Which Have Recently Agitated and Now Divided the Presbyterian Church (first edition, 1838, second edition, 1845). In this book, Wood lays out what divided the Old School and the New School theologically: the imputation of Adam's sin, original sin, justification, human ability, regeneration, and more. Anyone interested in knowing more about why the Presbyterian Church in the United States split in 1837 should read this book.
Pastoral Visitation Neglected, But Much-Needed
As an experienced pastor, such as Theodore Ledyard Cuyler (1822-1909), will tell you: A pastor's job does not consist solely in homiletics. "A large part of the labors of every settled minister lies outside the pulpit."
Addressing an aspect of the ministry that is often overlooked to some degree -- pastoral visitation -- Cuyler goes on to say, in How to be a Pastor (1890):
"The importance of all that portion of a minister’s work that lies outside of his pulpit can hardly be overestimated. What is the chief object of the Christian ministry? It goes without saying that it is to win souls to Jesus Christ. A great element of power with every faithful ambassador of Christ should be heart-power. A majority of all congregations, rich or poor, are reached and influenced, not so much through the intellect as through the affections. This is an encouraging fact; for while only one man in ten may have the talent to become a very great preacher, the other nine, if they love Christ and love human souls, can become great pastors. Nothing gives a minister such heart-power as personal acquaintance with, and personal attentions to those whom he aims to influence; for everybody loves to be noticed. Especially is personal sympathy welcome in seasons of trial. Let a pastor make himself at home in everybody’s home; let him come often and visit their sick rooms, and kneel beside their empty cribs, and their broken hearts, and pray with them; let him go to the business men in his congregation when they have suffered reverses and give them a word of cheer; let him be quick to recognize the poor, and the children — and he will weave a cord around the hearts of his people that will stand a prodigious pressure. His inferior sermons — (for every minister is guilty of such occasionally) —will be kindly condoned, and he can launch the most pungent truths at his auditors and they will not take offense. He will have won their hearts to himself, and that is a great step towards drawing them to the house of God, and winning their souls to the Saviour. “A house-going minister” said [Thomas] Chalmers, “makes a church-going people.”
To read more about the importance of pastoral visitation, especially in times of trial and sickness, and how it glorifies God in the ministry by demonstrating the love of Christ, take up and read Cuyler's heart-warming little book on the subject, which is dedicated particularly to "the young ministers of the Lord Jesus Christ," but is valuable for all.
The Whigs of the Covenant Who Fought at Drumclog
The Battle of Drumclog on June 1, 1679, represents the high-water mark, militarily speaking, of the Scottish Covenanter struggle (1638-1688) against the Stuart kings (specifically King Charles II and King James VII). It was followed by a major Covenanter defeat at the Battle of Bothwell Bridge on June 22, 1679. What followed after that is known to history as an intense period of persecution that we refer to as "the Killing Times" (c. 1680-1688). In the phase of the conflict from 1661 to 1688, it is estimated that 18,000 men, women and children were killed "for Christ's Crown & Covenant."
Log College Press has recently added works by William Craig Brownlee (1784-1860), the Scottish-born American Presbyterian, who was descended from a survivor of these battles. He recounted the history primarily in Narrative of the Battles of Drumclog, and Bothwell Bridge (1822, 1850); in the beginning of his critique of the Quakers, published in 1824; and in his two-volume The Whigs in Scotland: or, The Last of the Stuarts. An Historical Romance of the Scottish Persecution (1833).
Scottish Covenanter Thomas Brownlee (1638-1713), Laird (landowner, or squire, not lord) of Torfoot, fought in both the battles of Drumclog, and Bothwell Bridge. After the latter battle, he was captured and placed on a prisoner ship bound for Barbados to be sold into slavery. This ship sank near the Orkney Islands on December 10, 1679, and approximately 200 Covenanters drowned, but Thomas Brownlee was one of those who escaped and made it to shore alive. His account of these battles, it is said, was not published until 1822, by a descendant, in an American newspaper, the National Gazette. (It is this work which was later published by William Craig Brownlee under the title Narrative of the Battles of Drumclog, and Bothwell Bridge.) By this time, Sir Walter Scott had recounted the battle of Drumclog in his "Waverly Novels" (The Tale of Old Mortality from Tales of My Landlord), not in a favorable light to the Covenanters. The account of Thomas Brownlee was prefaced by a letter to the editor which took note of this and, he says, it led him to seek publication of this defense of the "Whigs of the Covenant."
"Messrs. Editors,
Of all the Waverly Novels "Old Mortality" produced perhaps the greatest sensation in Scotland. It pleased the light readers. It was very acceptable to the Tory party. It roused the attention of the Whigs--I mean not the Radicals, but the descendants and lovers of the true "Whigs of the Covenant." It excited a burst of admiration, and a burst of indignation, deep and severe. The one from the Tories, and the mere admirers of fine historical romance-- the other from the religious and devout body of the nation.
It was a novel affair, and it excited the public feeling to an intense degree, to see venerable clergymen descending into the arena to attack the statements and sentiments of a romance. There was a reason for this. The book was read by everybody, and it contains the sentiments of toryism in their most imposing form--and there is much that approaches to a degree of impiety which that sober people will not bear. Nay, the religious people deemed that they saw no less than a design to ridicule the memory of the martyrs and patriots of the days of Charles II and to vilify their holy religion. The description which he has given of the conduct and motives of the military chieftains; the personal accomplishments and the romantic gallantry with which his imagination has clothed the atrocious Claverhouse, do prove that there is too much room for the one; and the absurd balderdash and disgusting cant which he has put into the mouths of the leading preachers of that age (and they were no mean men), do altogether show a spirit of hostility and persecution not to be tamely submitted to in this enlightened age. The result of this public indignation was visably in favour of the "good cause." Accurate engravings of Graham of Clavers were brought forward. In opposition to the romantic paintings of the novelist, the harsh features of his iron face were revealed; and the tout ensemble exhibited an exterior in every respect befitting the gloomy and dark soul of a man whose hands were dipped in human blood to the wrists. And in the late additional details of his public character, it has been satisfactorily shown, from the most authentic documents, that the "gallant and enterprising officer" of Hume and of the Tories, was a cold-blooded murderer of the unarmed peasantry; that he shot down, without trial or form of law, free citizens on their own lands, and by their own firesides; that he belonged to that licensed banditti, the oppressors of their country, who "employed even the sagacity of blood-hounds to discover the lurking places of the patriots and martyrs," whom they butchered in the presence of their wives and crying babes. (See Laing's History of Scotland, vol. ii, Scots Worthies, & c.passim.)Another consequence of this national excitement was a holy seal, which put forth its activities in repairing the tombs and monuments over the bodies of the martyrs. Each sacred spot, on mountain, in valleys, and on moors, where the patriots had fallen by the steel of the life-guards, was sought out and monuments erected, and tombstones repaired, and a host of "Old Mortalities" put in requisition to chisel deeper the names and the epitaphs of the martyrs.
This is my introduction--I now offer you the "Battle of Drumclog". And the "Battle of Bothwell Bridge" shall be forthcoming--that you may judge of the contrast between the account of these battles in the Waverley romance, and in history.
In his "Battle of Drumclog", the "great wizard" makes the Covenanters' army murder a gallant young officer, who came with a flag of truce. Nothing can be more erroneous and slanderous. It is an outrage to history. It is only surpassed by that more outrageous fiction of their intending murder of young Morton in the night after Bothwell battle.
The following words of the Laird of Torfoot, whose estate is this day in possession of two brothers, his lineal descendants of the fifth generation. The Laird speaks of what he saw and what he did. I have carefully compared his account with the statements handed down by family tradition--particularily with the statements of a venerable aunt, who died lately in Pennsylvania, aged nearly ninety, and who was grand-daughter of the Laird's second son. I have also compared the account with the brief printed account of these battles in the "Scottish Worthies" and the "Cloud of Witnesses." This last book (p. 334, Lond. edit.) records the Laird's name in the list of those driven into banishment; but who, in spite of Clavers and Charles, and shipwrecks, by the grace of God, regained his native halls to bless his afflicted family, and who finally died in peace, in the presence of his family, in a good old age."
The history of Drumclog has been written by the infamous John Graham of Claverhouse. Sir Walter Scott's account has already been alluded to. In Thomas Brownlee's account, via William Craig Brownlee, we have a sympathetic tale of the Covenanters who suffered and gave so much for freedom. It is little-known today, but Brownlee's account, more so than the others, is a tale is worth the re-telling.
Two 19th Century Opponents of the Sin of Man-Stealing
As we have earlier noted, Reformed Presbyterian minister Alexander McLeod (1774-1833), who was born in Scotland, as early as 1802 testified against the sin of man-stealing in Negro Slavery Unjustifiable: A Sermon on the Unlawfulness of Holding Men in Perpetual Slavery Through Man-Stealing. Previously, McLeod had declined a pastoral call to the RP church at Coldenham, New York, because their were slaveholders who had signed the call; his stand on this issue ultimately led both to a unanimous 1800 ruling by the Reformed Presbytery of America that "no slaveholder should be allowed the communion of the church" and to his accepting the pastoral call at Coldenham.
Within the main body of American Presbyterianism, the Synod of New York and Philadelphia issued a deliverance urging the eradication of slavery in the United States as early as 1787. This ruling was further republished by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA) in 1793. The following year, the General Assembly then issued a statement on Question 142 of the Westminster Larger Catechism, which in its list of sins forbidden by the Eighth Commandment, including the sin of "man-stealing." The explanatory statement was then appended to copies of the Westminster Standards (as amended by the PCUSA in 1788), and it is worth reproducing here in full (Puritan Matthew Poole's Synopsis Criticorum is cited in conclusion):
"I Tim. i.10. The law is made for man-stealers. This crime among the Jews exposed the perpetrators of it to capital punishment, Exodus xxi.16; and the apostle here classes them with sinners of the first rank. The word he uses, in its original import, comprehends all who are concerned in bringing any of the human race into slavery, or in retaining them in it. Hominum fures, qui servos vol liberos abducunt, retinent, vendunt, vel emunt. Stealers of men are all those who bring off slaves or freemen, and keep, sell, or buy them. To steal a freeman, says [Hugo] Grotius, is the highest kind of theft. In other instances, we only steal human property, but when we steal or retain men in slavery, we seize those who, in common with ourselves, are constituted by the original grant, lords of the earth. Genesis i.28. Vide Poli synopsin in loc."
Though this statement continued to be published with copies of the Westminster Standards, and was followed by another denunciation of slavery in the 1795 minutes of the General Assembly, no efforts at enforcing this ruling against slaveholding were made in the following years. Enter George Bourne (1780-1845) - British-born, but by 1815, he was a Presbyterian minister serving in the Harrisonburg, Virginia area - who brought a resolution to the 1815 General Assembly of the PCUSA calling slaveholding a sin and requiring the excommunication of slaveholders. This action by Bourne led to the 1816 General Assembly officially removing the above-referenced footnote on Q. 142 from copies of the Westminster Standards (which is discussed by B.B. Warfield in The Printing of the Westminster Confession, p. 69). It was in that same year that Bourne published The Book and Slavery Irreconcilable, which became a leading abolitionist work and which was to influence William Garrison (Bourne later republished this book in expanded form under the title Picture of Slavery in the United States of America (1834)). Opposed by his own Harrisonburg congregation, Bourne was deposed from the ministry by the 1818 General Assembly for "bringing reproach on the character of the Virginia clergy." This same General Assembly, however, also issued a ruling that stated that slavery was "inconsistent" with the law of God (to love our neighbor) and the gospel of Christ. Bourne was later re-ordained as a Presbyterian minister by the New York Presbytery in 1824. He wrote on a variety of topics, but none more so than slavery. He details the history of the General Assembly's actions on slavery in several of his works, such as An Address to the Presbyterian Church, Enforcing the Duty of Excluding All Slaveholders from the "Communion of the Saints" (1833); Picture of Slavery in the United States of America (1834); and Man-Stealing and Slavery Denounced by the Presbyterian and Methodist Churches (1834). He authored several other works in opposition to American slavery, including A Condensed Anti-Slavery Bible Argument (1845), which includes a chapter specifically on man-stealing.
George Bourne is not as well-known today as he ought to be. But his 19th century writings in opposition to slavery, along with Alexander McLeod's, can be downloaded and studied today. The arguments made within these works against man-stealing on a Biblical and confessional Presbyterian basis may be of particular interest to readers of the Log College Press.
Two Colonial Presbyterian Birthdays in One
February 5th marks the birthday of two notable colonial American Presbyterian ministers: Gilbert Tennent (Feburary 5, 1703 - July 23, 1764) and John Witherspoon (February 5, 1722 - November 15, 1794).
Gilbert Tennent, known as the "Son of Thunder" (George Whitefield described him thus: "He is the son of thunder and does not regard the face of man”), was the son of William Tennent, the founder of the Log College, and brother of William Tennenet, Jr. Most famous for his sermon "The Danger of an Unconverted Ministry," he was a New Light Presbyterian who did much to challenge what he viewed to be the dead orthodoxy of the day, and he became one of the leaders of the Great Awakening. Be sure to visit his page, but also see Archibald Alexander's Biographical Sketches of the Founder and Principal Alumni of the Log College (1845) and his Sermons and Essays of the Tennents and Their Contemporaries (1855, published posthumously by his brother Samuel Davies Alexander) for biographical information and examples of his preaching.
John Witherspoon was a Presbyterian minister, a teacher of Moral Philosophy, a President of the College of New Jersey (Princeton), and a signer of both the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation. He lived in tumultuous times, and played an important role in the founding of the United States of America.
For more modern perspective on both men highlighted here, S. Donald Fortson, II, edited a volume on Colonial Presbyterianism: Old Faith in a New Land (2007), which contains helpful chapters on their lives and lasting influence - C.N. Wilborn wrote on "Gilbert Tennent: Pietist, Preacher, and Presbyterian"; and L. Gordon Tait wrote on "John Witherspoon's Prescription for a Nation Strong, Free, and Virtuous."
Samuel Davies Passed Into Glory on This Date in History
Readers of this blog will recall that on January 1, 1761, Samuel Davies (1723-1761) preached "A Sermon on the New Year" (see Sermons on Important Subjects, Vol. 2, Serm. 34, pp. 139 ff), based Jer. 28:16: "This year thou shalt die." In that sermon, he said:
"Thus it appears very possible, that one or other of us may die this year. Nay, it is very probable, as well as possible, if we consider that it is a very uncommon, and almost unprecedented thing, that not one should die in a whole year out of such an assembly as this. More than one have died the year past, who made a part of our assembly last new year's day. Therefore let each of us (for we know not on whom the lot may fall) realize this possibility, this alarming probability, 'this year I may die.'"
As it turned out, less than three weeks later, Davies, who is known to history as "the Apostle of Virginia," caught a severe cold, and under the care of his physician, was bled with leeches. He seemed to improve briefly, and was able to preach again, but by January 23, he relapsed and was overtaken by a fever and chills. At that point, in and out of delirium, he spoke of his earlier sermon as "his own funeral sermon." (In a remarkable providence, this was the exact text that Aaron Burr, Sr. (1716-1757, the second President of the College of New Jersey) preached as a New Year's sermon right before his death, which Davies knew, yet which inspired him somehow to choose for his own text. The same was also true, by the way, of both Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758, the third president of the College of New Jersey) and his son, Jonathan Edwards, Jr. (1745-1801).)
After 13 days of illness, at 38 years of age, at 2 pm on February 4, 1761, in Princeton, New Jersey, where he served as fourth President of the College of New Jersey, Samuel Davies passed into glory, leaving behind his bereaved second wife (Jane Holt Davies, known to readers of Davies' poetry as "Chara") and five living children, and many others who lamented the loss of a remarkable man. The story of his life and final days is well told by Dewey Roberts in Samuel Davies: Apostle to Virginia (2017).
What he once wrote to his brother-in-law, John Holt, who lived in Williamsburg, from his rural retreat in Hanover, Virginia, has special meaning for those who appreciate the work of Log College Press: "I am as happy as perhaps creation can make me: I enjoy all the necessaries and most of the conveniences of life; I have a peaceful study, as a refuge from the hurries and noise of the world around me; the venerable dead are waiting in my library to entertain me and relieve me from the nonsense of surviving mortals. I very much question if there is a more calm, placid, and contented mortal in all of Virginia." (Letter dated Aug. 13, 1751)
Would you like to help Log College Press grow?
We at Log College Press are thankful for you, our readers. It is for you that, beginning in 2017, we have assembled a growing body of works by 18th and 19th century American Presbyterians for your reading pleasure. We have so far accumulated on our site over 500 such works, and the number continues to grow. The list includes works by colonial, Northern, Southern, Reformed Presbyterian, Associate Reformed Presbyterian, and other branches of the Presbyterian family.
Additionally, in 2017, we published two booklets: 1) Thomas Dwight Witherspoon, The Five Points of Presbyterianism: The Distinctives of Presbyterian Church Government; and 2) C.W. Grafton, A Forty-Three Year Pastorate in a Country Church. A new booklet containing the inauguration addresses of William Swan Plumer, Christ All in All: The Right Temper of a Theologian, is coming out soon, and more publications are planned. We desire to publish quality works that have been overlooked in the last 150+ years. There are many to choose from, and we are interested in your input and feedback as we consider future publications.
The costs associated with website maintenance and book production are not negligible, and if the free materials and blog posts that we provide are of interest to you, we would be grateful for your contributions to the work that we are doing. If you are interested in helping to build this project to its fullest potential, please visit this page to learn more about crowdfunding the work of the Log College Press. Thank you for your interest, and your support, whether that is through prayer or by financial contributions or otherwise. We are grateful!
Happy 200th Birthday to T.V. Moore!
It was on February 1, 1818, that Thomas Verner Moore (1818-1871) was born in Newville, Pennsylvania. He would grow up to study for the ministry at Princeton Theological Seminary, and later succeed William Swan Plumer (1802-1880) as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Richmond, Virginia, before ending his ministry in Nashville, Tennessee.
He is, perhaps, most famous today for his well-regarded commentaries on Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi, which have been republished by Banner of Truth as part of the Geneva Commentary Series. He is less well-known for his poetry. But another noteworthy work of his would be his history of The Culdee Church (1868), in which he traces the Presbyterian links in the chain between the ancient and Reformation-era Church of Scotland.
His grandson, Thomas Verner Moore (1877-1869), was a Roman Catholic monk and pioneer of modern psychology. Three other members of his family would go on to share the same name. But today we honor the bicentennial of a 19th century Presbyterian minister who left his mark as a pastor, a Biblical commentator, and as a church historian.
The Story of the Psalms
Henry Van Dyke, Jr. (1852-1933) writes of true religion that it is "the same in every man and in every age." As the Psalter exemplifies that spirituality that is timeless and common to all the saints, his aim in The Story of the Psalms (1887) is to "bring these ancient and sacred poems into close connection with the men who wrote them, -- men of like passions, and sins, and trials, and hopes, and aspirations, with ourselves."
In this volume, after a brief list of notable reference works on the Psalms and an overview of the Psalter, Van Dyke focuses on these particular Psalms, devoting a chapter to each: 23, 24, 31, 32, 42, 46, 51, 57, 63, 72, 90, 107, 118, 127-128, 133, 134, and 137. He analyzes the authorship and context of each Psalmist, and the lessons that we can glean through circumstances to which we, the reader, can relate.
Van Dyke was, besides a being a famous minister in his day, a student of literature, and a lover of poetry, being a notable Tennyson scholar and an accomplished poet himself. He also authored The Poetry of the Psalms (1900). It has been said of him that he brought literature into his preaching, and preaching into his literature. In The Story of the Psalms, Van Dyke has ably developed edifying meditations based on important themes that connect the Psalmist and all the saints to Christ. Add this book of Psalm meditations to your digital library, for although it is not well-known today, it is rich in the spirituality of the Psalter.
A Sweet Devotional From a Blind Presbyterian Minister
Recently, we had occasion to take note of the James Waddel (1739-1805), the "Blind Preacher of Virginia." Today, we are highlighting another blind Presbyterian minister, in this case from Maryland, who became blind at the age of six, and who despite his handicap, graduated from Princeton, and faithfully preached Christ, though his life and ministry on this earth was brief: William Henry Fentress (1851-1880).
Shortly before he died of possible tuberculosis, he published a devotional that breathes of the exaltation of Christ: Love Truths From the Bible (1879). Indeed, this work exudes the love of Christ on every page. If you are looking for an encouraging Presbyterian devotional from the late 19th century, you have found such a one here.
This writer was particularly struck by the last chapter, "No Sea in Heaven," based on Rev. 21:1 ("There was no more Sea."). The words of Samuel Rutherford came to mind: "Believe God's love and power more than you believe your own feelings and experiences. Your rock is Christ, and it is not the rock that ebbs and flows but the sea." If your soul is restless like the sea, take time to read Fentress' sweet devotional which points like a compass to Christ.
Two "New" 19th Century Presbyterian Works on Ecclesiology Added to Log College Press
We are pleased to note that two additional works on Presbyterian eccclesiology have been recently added to Log College Press.
The first is by Alexander Taggart McGill (1807-1889): Church Government: A Treatise (1888), the product of four decades of seminary lectures on the major points of church government as affirmed by a 19th century Princeton Presbyterian (he taught at Columbia Seminary in South Carolina; served as Professor of Ecclesiastical History and Church Government at Western Theological Seminary (now Pittsburgh Theological Seminary) in Allegheny, Pennsylvania; and as Professor of Pastoral Theology at Princeton Seminary). There is a wealth of material here to digest for those interested in studying Presbyterian church government.
And second, Samuel Miles Hopkins, II (1813-1901), Manual of Church Polity (1878). He served as Professor of Ecclesiastical History and Church Polity at Auburn Theological Seminary. This too, is a volume rich in insights as to the workings of Presbyterian church government. Both of these works have much to say about the officers of the church, with discussion about many of the historical controversies that were the talk of the Presbyterian church in the late 19th century, including the role of ruling elders, the place of women in the church, innovations in worship, and more.
Both of these men, incidentally, "collaborated" (along with Samuel Jennings Wilson (1828-1883)) in a work that appeared posthumously titled A Short History of American Presbyterianism From Its Foundations to the Reunion of 1869 (1903).
Take time to read the table of contents of these works, and download them for further study. They represent a window into the study of church polity of late 19th century American Presbyterianism.
The National Reform Association
A movement that began among 19th century American Reformed Presbyterians, and included support from many other various Protestant denominations, was known as National Reform. This movement sought to promote the national recognition of the crown rights of King Jesus within the U.S. Constitution by the amendment process, and hence, it also came to be known as the Christian Amendment movement.
Meeting were held by interested parties in Illinois, Ohio and Pennsylvania in 1863, but the National Reform Association was officially founded on January 27, 1864, in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, although its origin is traced to an 1861 resolution adopted by the Lakes Presbytery of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA) calling for the U.S. Constitution to be amended “to acknowledge God, submit to the authority of his Son, embrace Christianity, and secure universal liberty.” The organization’s original name was the National Association for the Amendment of the Constitution, but it was changed to the National Reform Association in 1875.
It is reported that members of the NRA actually met with President Abraham Lincoln before his death in an effort to advance their goals with his support. “A large and influential Committee was appointed to wait upon President Lincoln for an official endorsement of the work proposed by the Association. He responding said that in as far as he had opportunity to understand the purpose of the Association, he heartily favored it. Some time previous to this a number of Christian men had waited upon Mr. Lincoln and had requested of him the accomplishment of two measures. First, the abolition of American slavery, and second, the adoption of a suitable recognition of the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Constitution of the United States. To a few of the men who were on the Committee of the National Reform Association he privately said, ‘Gentlemen, in your former visit you requested of me two things. During the first term of my administration I was able to secure your first request. It is my hope that during my second term I will be able to secure your second request.’” (David McAllister, Christian Civil Government (1927), p. 24)
The list of early Presidents, officers and members include notable names such as William Strong (U.S. Supreme Court Justice and Presbyterian ruling elder); Archibald Alexander Hodge (Presbyterian minister); Charles Hodge (Presbyterian minister); Joshua Hall McIlvaine (Princeton Seminary professor); James Renwick Wilson Sloane (Reformed Presbyterian minister and Reformed Presbyterian Theological School professor); Thomas Patton Stevenson (Reformed Presbyterian minister); and Sylvester Fithian Scovel (Presbyterian minister and president of Wooster University); among other representatives and members from the Protestant Episcopal Church and other backgrounds, including Methodist and Baptist bodies.
The official publication of the NRA, The Christian Statesman, was founded by T.P. Stevenson and David McAllister in 1867. Proposed amendments to the U.S. Constitution received significant popular support in the latter half of the nineteenth century, resulting in the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives, which tabled the proposal in 1874, and in hearings before Congress in the 1890s and 1910s.
Over time, a number of issues have been the focus of the NRA’s labors, beyond its primary goal of advancing a Christian amendment to the US Constitution acknowledging national submission to the Lord Jesus Christ, including Sabbath laws, religion in public schools, pro-life concerns, and other matters of interest to those who hold to Christ’s mediatorial kingship over both church and state.
It is this fundamental doctrine of Christ’s mediatorial kingship over all things, publicly avowed by the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America, and affirmed by many Reformed and Presbyterian ministers and churches in America over the years (Francis Robert Beattie, Alexander Craighead, Robert Lewis Dabney, Samuel Davies, Robert James Dodds, Robert James George, David McAllister, James Calvin McFeeters, Alexander McLeod, Gilbert McMaster, Alfred Nevin, Benjamin Morgan Palmer, William Swan Plumer, William Sommerville, David Steele, Thomas Patton Stevenson, James Henley Thornwell, Geerhardus Vos, Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield, James McLeod Willson, James Renwick Willson, Richard Cameron Wylie, and Samuel Brown Wylie, are among such men represented at Log College Press), that undergirds the mission of the National Reform Association.
Who can forget the profound words of A.A. Hodge, in particular, on behalf of the "crown rights of Jesus"?
"And if Christ is Lord of lords and King of kings, if he is really the Ruler among the nations, then all nations are in a higher sense one nation, under one King, one law, having one interest and one end. There cannot be two laws for Christians—one to govern the relations of individuals, and the other the relations of nations. We must love our neighbor-man as ourselves, so the Master says; therefore we must love our neighbor-man as our own. The rivalries, jealousies, antagonisms and cruel wars between nations are all hideous fratricidal contests and satanic rebellions against Christ our common King. How miserably small and narrow and selfish is the form of so-called patriotism which our poor children are taught is so great a virtue, in comparison with that holy, uplifting passion which comprehends all nations as inseparable parts of the one living universal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Suppose your enterprise in the great competitions of manufacture and trade surpasses theirs, and you grow rich and gild your palaces with the spoils of their poverty; suppose your sinews of war or your personal prowess and valor surpass theirs, and your empire grows great out of the ruins of their commonwealth,—what are you, after all, but the betrayer of your brother's peace or the destroyer of your brother's life and the disloyal render of the body of your common Lord? Alas, that we have yet to learn that the so-called code of honor among nations is just as mean and vulgar a thing as the code of honor among individuals!
And if Christ is really King, exercising original and immediate jurisdiction over the State as really as he does over the Church, it follows necessarily that the general denial or neglect of his rightful lordship, any prevalent refusal to obey that Bible which is the open lawbook of his kingdom, must be followed by political and social as well as by moral and religious ruin. If professing Christians are unfaithful to the authority of their Lord in their capacity as citizens of the State, they cannot expect to be blessed by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost in their capacity as members of the Church. The kingdom of Christ is one, and cannot be divided in life or in death. If the Church languishes, the State cannot be in health, and if the State rebels against its Lord and King, the Church cannot enjoy his favor. If the Holy Ghost is withdrawn from the Church, he is not present in the State; and if he, the only "Lord, the Giver of life," be absent, then all order is impossible and the elements of society lapse backward to primeval night and chaos.
Who is responsible for the unholy laws and customs of divorce which have been in late years growing rapidly, like a constitutional cancer, through all our social fabric? Who is responsible for the rapidly-increasing, almost universal, desecration of our ancestral Sabbath ? Who is responsible for the prevalent corruptions in trade which loosen the bands of faith and transform the halls of the honest trader into the gambler's den ? Who is responsible for the new doctrines of secular education which hand over the very baptized children of the Church to a monstrous propagandism of Naturalism and Atheism ? Who is responsible for the new doctrine that the State is not a creature of God and owes him no allegiance, thus making the mediatorial Headship of Christ an unsubstantial shadow and his kingdom an unreal dream?
Whence come these portentous upheavals of the ancient primitive rock upon which society has always rested? Whence comes this socialistic earthquake, arraying capital and labor in irreconcilable conflict like oxygen and fire? Whence come these mad nihilistic, anarchical ravings, the wild presages of a universal deluge, which will blot out at once the family, the school, the church, the home, all civilization and religion, in one sea of ruin ?
In the name of your own interests I plead with you; in the name of your treasure-houses and barns, of your rich farms and cities, of your accumulations in the past and your hopes in the future,—I charge you, you never will be secure if you do not faithfully maintain all the crown-rights of Jesus the King of men. In the name of your children and their inheritance of the precious Christian civilization you in turn have received from your sires; in the name of the Christian Church,—I charge you that its sacred franchise, religious liberty, cannot be retained by men who in civil matters deny their allegiance to the King. In the name of your own soul and its salvation ; in the name of the adorable Victim of that bloody and agonizing sacrifice whence you draw all your hopes of salvation; by Gethsemane and Calvary, — I charge you, citizens of the United States, afloat on your wide wild sea of politics, There is Another King, One Jesus: The Safety Of The State Can Be Secured Only In The Way Of Humble And Whole-souled Loyalty To His Person and of Obedience His Law." (A.A. Hodge, Popular Lectures on Theological Themes, pp. 284-287)
While Eph. 1:21-22 is considered by many to be the locus classicus showing Christ’s mediatorial reign over all things (sometimes Matt. 28:18 too), McAllister argues from several other Scriptural passages thus in Christian Civil Government, p. 158:
"The Scriptures Teach that Christ is Ruler of Nations
1. Jesus Christ as Mediator, has all power and universal dominion committed to him, which must include authority over nations.
MATTHEW 28:18. – ‘And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.’
JOHN 5:22, 23. – ‘The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son; that all men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father which hath sent him.’
ACTS 10:36. – ‘Jesus Christ, he is Lord of all.’
1 CORINTHIANS 15:27. – ‘He [the Father] hath put all things under his [the Son’s] feet.’
PHILIPPIANS 2:9-11. – ‘God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.’"
William O. Einwechter, “The Judgment is God’s” in Explicitly Christian Politics: The Vision of the National Reform Association (1997), p. 81, writes:
“The Judgment is God’s: Christ’s Reign
According to the Old Testament prophetic Scriptures and the New Testament revelation, the statement that the ‘judgment is God’s needs to be further defined to declare that in this age of fulfillment ‘the judgment is Christ’s.’ This declaration concerning the Lord Jesus Christ reflects the fact of His current mediatorial reign over the nations. At the time of the resurrection and ascension, the Lord Jesus Christ was invested with all authority in heaven and earth and given dominion over all the nations. The Father has committed all judgment to the Son who presently rules at His right hand. Let us briefly consider three important biblical texts that lead to the conclusion that now the judgment is Christ’s."
Einwechter (a Reformed Baptist mininster and former vice-president of the NRA) then goes on to discuss Psalm 2, Psalm 110 and Daniel 7 and how these particular passages teach that Christ, in his mediatorial office of king, has unlimited scope of authority and dominion over all things.
The current mission statement (2017) of the NRA includes this statement:
“In order to honor the commandment of Scripture to acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord over the nations of the earth (Psalm 2:7-12; Matt 28:18; Eph 1:20-22; Col. 2:10; Rev 1:5; Rev 11:15) and to progress with fulfillment of the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20), the mission of the National Reform Association since 1863 has been to work with political leaders, pastors, and lay leaders to promote reformation in government and society, and to secure an amendment to the United States Constitution modifying it as needed, particularly in its Preamble and First Amendment, to recognize Jesus Christ as King and Supreme Governor of the United States. The wording of the new Preamble would be proposed as such:
WE, THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES, recognizing the being and attributes of Almighty God, the Divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures, the law of God as the paramount rule, and Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Savior and Lord of all, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessing of liberty to ourselves and to our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
Thus, from the mid-19th century to the present, the NRA, organized with both Reformed Presbyterian leadership and ecumenical support, continues to testify on Biblical grounds that the United States has an obligation to acknowledge the kingship of Christ and to submit to his mediatorial reign over the nations. To read more about this organization and its principles, please consult 1) George Price Hays, Presbyterians (1892), pp. 420-421; 2) Robert Ellis Thompson, A History of the Presbyterian in the United States (1895), pp. 280-283; 3) David McAllister, Christian Civil Government (1927); 4) James H. Moorhead, Princeton Seminary in American Religion and Culture (2012), pp. 227-228; and 5) Explicitly Christian Politics: The Vision of the National Reform Association (1997).
Note: The author of this post serves on the Board of the National Reform Association as Secretary and Treasurer.
Our Newest Publication Will Be Available Soon!
Christ All in All: The Right Temper for a Theologian, by William Swan Plumer, is at the printers! This booklet contains Plumer's two inaugural addresses at Western Theological Seminary and Columbia Theological Seminary. In the first he beautifully portrays the person of Jesus Christ and the importance of keeping Christ at the center of the theological enterprise. In the second, he lays out several characteristics of a theologian after God's own heart. Both addresses are rich and significant for the church today.
We'll let you know as soon as you can purchase this booklet on our website. Until then, be sure to browse our library and subscribe to our near-daily blog posts. If you haven't checked out the Secondary Sources on American Presbyterianism in our Bookstore, it's worth a look. And if you appreciate all the free materials and blog posts we provide through our website, consider crowdfunding us here!
It's Friday, But Sunday's Coming!
It is never too early (or too late) in the week to prepare for the Lord's Day. One valuable 19th century Presbyterian work that aimed to assist both ministers and church members in preparing to make the most of the day apart by God for his worship is Gardiner Spring (1785-1873)'s The Power of the Pulpit; or, Thoughts Addressed to Christian Ministers and Those Who Hear Them (1854).
It is full of counsel to preachers concerning the highest task to which they are called as God's ambassadors, stressing the importance of personal piety for ministers, and a reliance upon the Holy Spirit in the work of the ministry. Spring puts the utmost stress of the need to view preaching of the gospel from the pulpit as a minister's highest duty, and consequently, he also highlights the need for church members to pray for their pastors, to give diligence to the hearing of God's Word, and consider that God's Word is being proclaimed to them. There are duties of the pulpit for ministers, and duties of the people who are present to give ear to God's Word. The counsel that Spring offers in regards to both comes from an experienced minister and with pastoral concern for the exaltation of Christ in the pulpit and in the hearts of the people. Be sure to download this work and read over it prayerfully as you seek to make the most of your next Lord's Day.
Happy 200th Birthday to Benjamin Morgan Palmer!
It was 200 years ago today that Benjamin Morgan Palmer (January 25, 1818 - May 25, 1902) was born. "One of the greatest of the Old School [Southern Presbyterian] preachers" (Hughes Oliphant Old, The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures in the Worship of the Christian Church, Vol. 6: The Modern Age, p. 321), Palmer has also been described as "a Presbyterian of the Presbyterians, a Calvinist of the Calvinists, and a Christian of the Christians" (T.C. Johnson, The Life and Letters of Benjamin Morgan Palmer, p. 658).
A native of South Carolina, Palmer ended up serving as pastor of a Presbyterian congregation in New Orleans, Louisiana for 46 years. He was a faithful adherent of the American Westminster Standards, a supporter of the Confederate cause, and a believer in a Christocentric world-view in both religion and politics. "As a preacher of the gospel, he is to be ranked with the greatest in church history. He is in the class of Chrysostom, Whitefield and Spurgeon. A preacher of his caliber has not been heard since his death in 1902." (Joseph Morecraft III, Biographical Introduction to the Sermons of Dr. B.M. Palmer)
In analyzing two of Palmer's sermons, "Looking Unto Jesus" and "Love to an Unseen Christ," Old summarizes the Puritan style of Palmer's preaching, including the pattern recommended by the Huguenot minister Jean Claude (1619-1687), who advocated choosing as a text a single verse with a single theme for the auditors to comprehend. Palmer exalted Christ as He is revealed in the Scriptures, both as very God and very Man, as Servant and King, who ought to be the immediate object of our faith and worship. He appealed to the Scriptures to support this testimony and encourage his hearers in their faith. "Spurgeon and Palmer were masters at this," Old says.
We at Log College Press are thankful for the ministry of such a man, and he was a man indeed, with clay feet, and blind spots, as we all have, but of his humility, his love for Christ, and his eloquence in the Word, none can doubt. So on the bicentennial of his birth, take time to look over the growing body of works by Benjamin Morgan Palmer at our site.
"It is at Dr. Palmer’s feet we now come to sit, and through his writing at the feet of Christ Jesus, in order that we might become more grounded in Biblical faith and practice, and more ardent in our love for our Savior." (C.N. Willborn, Foreword, Selected Writings of Benjamin Morgan Palmer, 2014)
The Man Who Coined the TULIP Acrostic
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 American Presbyterian worth getting to know. Visit here for more information on his life and works.