Rev. Robert Hamilton Bishop, was born in Scotland in 1777, and grew up a son of the Seccession Church. He received a fine education at the University of Edinburgh, and put this to good use on the American Frontier. Licensed to preach the gospel on June 28, 1802, by the Associate Burgher Presbytery of Perth, he was selected to come to this country and minister. He journeyed to America with other students and ministers anxious to fill the call for ministers in the new nation. He attended the Associate Reformed Synod in New York in October 1802, and was sent to Kentucky. In Kentucky he received and accepted a call to two churches, Ebeneezer ARP, and New Providence, and taught at the predecessor to the University of Kentucky. His teaching was problematic for his Presbytery, and though it appears he received the call in 1804 or 1805, he was not not ordained until 1808. The issue surrounding his ordination would not be the only issue in the ARP; he had a falling out with Rev. Adam Rankin over the issue of the tithe, and would lose his pastorate at Ebeneezer ARP. He was rebuked by the Presbytery, and Rankin was suspended. Bishop in 1819 sought to get over his troubles with the ARP by joining the PCUSA, and upon doing this it seems he had no more trouble in the church courts. He was an advocate of education of all varieties, a firm abolitionist and even established Sabbath schools for slaves. Bishop upon being received into the PCUSA went on to serve as president of Miami University in Ohio, and write a number of books, including the first book of sermons published west of the Allegheny Mountains. Bishop at his death was president of a small agricultural college near Cincinnati, Ohio on April 26, 1855. You can find some of his works here.
Happy Birthday to Robert Jefferson Breckinridge!
Robert Jefferson Breckinridge was born on March 8, 1800 in Cabell’s Dale, Kentucky. A lawyer, politician, educator and pastor, he lived a remarkable life. The son of a divided state, he was a man of many conflicts: 1) he was an Old School Presbyterian who authored the 1834 Act and Testimony which led to the 1837 Old School-New School split; 2) he was a slave-holder who desired gradual emancipation of slaves and became a fervent abolitionist and Union supporter; 3) two of his sons fought for the Confederacy and two fought for the Union; and 4) he supported Abraham Lincoln for President in 1860 over his own nephew, John C. Breckinridge, the Southern Democratic candidate.
He is also known as the "father of the Kentucky's public school system." Notably, he aimed to make the Bible central to public education. He wrote many works on Presbyterian church government, Roman Catholicism, worship, and the state of the country in tumultuous times. We continue to add his writings to our site, but today in particular we remember his life and recommend his books for your study.
George Buist: A Carolina Low Country Presbyterian from Scotland
Presbyterianism in the Low Country of South Carolina has its own unique history, and perhaps the chief amongst the points of that unique History, is that the Low Country Southern Presbyterians maintained closer ties with Scotland than did the rest of American Presbyterian Church. The name of Charleston's First Scots Presbyterian Church exemplifies that, and her early ministers were all drawn from Scotland. The early years in the First Scots Congregation had many short term ministries from men in Scotland, but finally they were to procure a minister of their own from Scotland, and the man brought over was George Buist (1770-1808).
Buist was a graduate of the University of Edinburgh, and was of some literary note having published an abridged edition of Hume’s History of England. At the same time he published that work, First Scots was without a pastor, and in 1792 they sent a letter to Scotland seeking a qualified man to come fill their pulpit. They were sent George Buist, who arrived in Charleston in June of 1793, and immediately undertook his ministry. In 1805 he was appointed President of the College of Charleston, which improved its reputation as an academic institution. Buist would minister for 15 years as Pastor of First Scots, and the Lord took him home in August of 1808. Before his death he was of the mind to edit and publish his sermons but never found time; the two volume set was taken from his notes, and allows him to preach still today. Enjoy this forgotten Low Country Presbyterian!
The Pastor in the Sick-Room
John Dunlap Wells (1815-1903) was licensed to preach the gospel in 1842, and graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1844, learning, as he reports, "at the feet of Dr. Archibald Alexander, Dr. Samuel Miller, Dr. Charles Hodge and Dr. Joseph Addison Alexander, all of blessed memory." In his 61-year ministry as a pastor, he attended "hundreds" of sick beds and death beds, and acquired a store of wisdom that is shared both his The Last Week in the Life of Davis Johnson, Jr. (1861), and, most especially, in the three lectures he delivered at Princeton in 1892 and which were published a year later under the title The Pastor in the Sick-Room.
In this latter volume, which is permeated with compassion for the suffering and the lost, Wells distinguishes between the sick bed and the death bed, while also emphasizing the connection between body and mind, and the need to deal lovingly and wisely with the whole person in all their circumstances. In the context of his discussion of death-bed conversions, he also recounts famous last words by various Christians (in a fashion similar to Alfred Nevin's How They Died; or, The Last Words of American Presbyterian Ministers).
For those who minister to the sick and suffering and dying, this book will serve as an encouragement to do so in love and with compassion for the bodies, minds and souls of those in the greatest need. "Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me: (Matt. 25:34-36).
The Reformed Presbyterian Catechism
William Louis Roberts (1798-1864) was a Reformed Presbyterian minister, who studied under James Renwick Willson (1780-1853) at Coldenham, New York, and who is, like his mentor, regarded as one of the great ministers of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America in the 19th century.
In Roberts' The Reformed Presbyterian Catechism (1853), we have set before us the distinctive principles of the RPCNA, as officially held to at that time. In the introduction, he sets forth the focus of this ecclesiastical catechism:
"Question. How many are the peculiar and more prominent principles of the Reformed Presbyterian church?
Answer. TWELVE.
Q. What are these?
A. The doctrines of
1. Christ’s Mediatorial Dominion in general.
2. his Exclusive Headship over the Church.
3. The supremacy and ultimate authority of the word God in the church.
4. Civil government a moral ordinance of God.
5. Christ’s headship over the nations.
6. The subjection of the nations to God and to Christ.
7. The word of God the supreme rule in the state.
8. The duty of nations to acknowledge and support the true Christian religion.
9. The spiritual independence of the Church of Christ.
10. The right and duty of dissent from an immoral constitution of civil government.
11. The duty of social covenanting, and the permanent obligation of religious covenants.
12. The application of these doctrines in the form of a practical testimony, to the civil governments where Reformed Presbyterians reside.
Q. What is meant by 'peculiar' principles?
A. Those which distinguish Reformed Presbyterians from other Christian denominations.
Q. What is meant by 'prominent' principles?
A. Those which, though held by some other denominations, are not made practically a part of their testimony."
All of these doctrines are expounded upon with Scripture references, and they demonstrate the Biblical grounds for the RPCNA's emphasis on, in particular: 1) Christ's mediatorial kingship over all nations; 2) political dissent from immoral civil government; and 3) the duty of social covenanting.
If you are interested to read an ecclesiastical catechism that teaches what American Reformed Presbyterians in 19th century believed in distinction to other groups of American Presbyterians, this is the book for you.
More Westminster Commentaries to Add to Your Digital Bookshelf
Log College Press has recently added several expositions of the Westminster Standards which you may wish to download for further study.
Robert Annan (1742-1819) wrote an Exposition and Defense of the Westminster Assembly's Confession of Faith in 1787, which was republished with notes by David McDill (1790-1870).
John McDowell (1780-1863) published in two volumes a series of sermons on the Westminster Shorter Catechism.
Edwin Hall, Sr. (1802-1877) published The Shorter Catechism of the Westminster Assembly, With Analysis and Scripture Proofs.
Our database of resources on the Westminster Standards continues to grow. Please check back with us for more such confessional studies from early American Presbyterians.
The Word of God its Own Witness
The Westminster Confession of Faith teaches that "We may be moved and induced by the testimony of the Church to an high and reverent esteem of the Holy Scripture. And the heavenliness of the matter, the efficacy of the doctrine, the majesty of the style, the consent of all the parts, the scope of the whole (which is, to give all glory to God), the full discovery it makes of the only way of man's salvation, the many other incomparable excellencies, and the entire perfection thereof, are arguments whereby it does abundantly evidence itself to be the Word of God: yet notwithstanding, our full persuasion and assurance of the infallible truth and divine authority thereof, is from the inward work of the Holy Spirit bearing witness by and with the Word in our hearts" (WCF 1:5).
William Swan Plumer writes that "If the Bible is not the word of God, it is certain that man has no revelation from heaven...None will deny that the Bible claims to be the word of God...All these things are found in a volume, which reserves its heaviest woes and maledictions for false prophets and false teachers, who corrupt God's word, add to it, or take from it. So that if the prophets, evangelists and apostles were not divinely inspired to write the various books of the Bible, they were, by their own showing, among the worst men that ever lived, and deserving of the sorest plagues reserved for atrocious sinners." (Earnest Hours, pp. 25-26)
David MacDill (1826-1903) has written a full and very helpful volume titled The Bible a Miracle; or, The Word of God its Own Witness (1872). If you are seeking a book about the divinely-inspired Book of books is indeed what it claims to be, be sure to download this work for further study.
The Presbyterian Board of Publication
One of the great 19th century contributions of the mainline American Presbyterian Church to the world was the creation and labors of the Presbyterian Board of Education in 1833. The idea for this work was born out of informal discussions about the need and value of using the printing press to promulgate the teachings of the Presbyterian Church, and it was the Synod of Philadelphia that approved a resolution to "constitute a board of managers to prepare, publish and circulate Presbyterian tracts and books inculcating the distinctive doctrines of our Standards, which board shall be known as 'The Board of Managers of the Presbyterian Tract and Sabbath-School Book Society,' under the care of the Synod of Philadelphia." A series of tracts was published over the next few years (Samuel Miller’s Presbyterianism the Truly Primitive and Apostolical Constitution of the Church of Christ was Tract No. 1; the Westminster Shorter Catechism was Tract No. 5) met with great success, and by 1838, the organization was re-named "The Board of Publication of Tracts and Sabbath-School Books of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America."
Many of the ministers found at Log College Press served on the Presbyterian Board of Publication, such as Ashbel Green, Samuel Miller, Robert Jefferson Breckinridge, Henry Augustus Boardman, Archibald Alexander, William Pratt Breed, William Swan Plumer, and others. Joseph Patterson Engles, author of the Catechism for Youth, was a publishing agent of the Board. Many of the works found at Log College Press are the fruit of the labors of the valuable organization.
A very useful aid to learning more about the history and legacy of Board of the Publication is Willard Martin Rice (1817-1904), History of the Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbath-School Work (1888). We at Log College Press, and all who appreciate the vast body of great Presbyterian literature of the 19th century, owe them a great debt, and in this book one finds the names of the individuals whose labors we hope in a sense to carry on into the 21st century.
The Hymns of Samuel Davies
Samuel Davies (1723-1761) was both a poet and an early American advocate of singing uninspired hymns in public worship - in fact, he was the first American-born hymn-writer. A minister who read and appreciated the The Psalms of David Imitated by Isaac Watts, he frequently gave away copies of Watt's hymnal to others. Davies himself composed a total of 18 hymns, two of which were variations on compositions produced by Philip Doddridge. The other sixteen were published in one volume, though scattered amongst other compositions, posthumously by his friend Thomas Gibbons in 1769, under the title Hymns Adapted to Divine Worship. We have extracted those hymns by Davies from that volume at Log College Press.
Louis FitzGerald Benson (1855-1930) also wrote two fascinating articles about Samuel Davies, the hymn-writer, in the Journal of the Presbyterian Historical Society: "President Davies as a Hymn Writer;" and "The Hymns of President Davies." His analysis of the background of these hymns is extremely helpful to those concerned to know more about the context of these hymns, which were often written by Davies to accompany a particular sermon upon which he preached. The latter article reproduces not only the 16 original compositions by Davies, but also the 2 variations on Doddridge.
If you wish to learn more about the compositions of "America's Isaac Watts," these primary and secondary sources will be of great help.
Helps to Private and Family Prayer
Two works by 19th century American Presbyterians newly added to Log College Press are designed to aid individuals and families in their devotions to God.
The first, by James Robert Boyd (1804-1890), is Daily Communion with God on the Plan Recommended by Rev. Matthew Henry, V.D.M., for Beginning, Spending, and Concluding Each Day with God (1873). This revision of Henry's Directions for Daily Communion with God (a work that has also been republished under the title of The Secret of Communion with God, is different than his Method of Prayer), is edited with helpful introductory matter concerning the life of Henry, Henry's own practice of piety, and poetic verse inserted by Boyd for meditation and contemplation. This work shows the value placed by one 19th century Presbyterian minister on spending each day for and with God, much as his Puritan forebears did.
The second is a course of daily family prayers for morning and evening over a month's time by John Hall (1829-1898), called Family Prayers, For Four Weeks (1868). These written prayers should be seen as guides for those in need of assistance in leading their family worship, that is, head of households, including households with absent fathers. They are meant to be adapted or modified to suit circumstances, but mainly to encourage regular family worship twice a day. They are partly Hall's own writings, and partly borrowed, he says, from an earlier anonymous author. One will note the prayers for Sabbath preparation and sanctification, as well as for all the daily needs of individuals, families, and civil and ecclesiastical society. This is a good guide for families who need a bit of assistance in this most precious family duty.
If you need help with your private or family prayers, or know someone who does (and who doesn't?), please download these works and make use today of these valuable aids from two centuries gone by.
Have you seen the Compilations page of Log College Press?
If you haven't checked out the Compilations page of Log College Press lately, please do so. We've uploaded several new books, filled with chapters and essays to pique the interest of any lover of Presbyterian history, theology, or biography. Each book has multiple authors on a variety of topics. Here's the current listing of books available at our Compilations page:
Discourses Delivered in Murray Street Church
The Spruce Street Lectures
The Princeton Pulpit
The Man of Business, Considered in His Various Relations
The New York Pulpit in the Revival of 1858
Successful Preaching: Addresses to Theological Students
Memorial Volume of Columbia Theological Seminary
Centennial Addresses of the Presbyterian Church
Princeton Sermons
Southern Presbyterian Pulpit
Memorial Volume of the Westminster Assembly
Calvin Memorial Addresses
Biblical and Theological Studies by the Faculty of Princeton Seminary
The Protestant Reformation and Its Influence
600 pages of wisdom from Francis Grimke
Presbyterian pastor Francis Grimke (1850-1937) lived to the age of 87, and maintained the heart of a pastor till his final years. As he withdrew from public ministry, he continued to write in his notebooks, recording thoughts on preaching, ministry in general, the Bible, the Christian life, and the importance of character, as well as reflections on the racial situation of his day, observations on historical events and figures, and tender thoughts about his deceased wife. His love for Jesus, the gospel, the church, and his wife come through so clearly in the "Stray Thoughts and Meditations" that make up Volume 3 of his Works. Every pastor would do himself a favor to read and meditate upon the wise words of Grimke.
Two Books on the First Two Questions and Answers of the Westminster Shorter Catechism
John Hall (1806-1894), who edited the Letters of J.W. Alexander, is the author of book-length (100+ pages each) expositions of the first two questions and answers of the Westminster Shorter Catechism: The Chief End of Man: An Exposition of the First Answer of the Shorter Catechism (1841), and The Scriptures the Only Rule of Faith: An Exposition of the Second Answer of the Shorter Catechism (1844). To help us understand, from the Scriptures, what is our purpose in life, and what is the rule of our faith and practice, is the aim of these first portions of our Catechism, and Hall expounds these questions and answers in-depth. These volumes are intended for young as well as old, and they are an encouragement to all who read them with the heart of a child. Both of these works have been reprinted by Solid Ground Christian Books, the former with an essay on the Shorter Catechism by B.B. Warfield. They are spiritual gems, and worth downloading for prayerful study and application.
Two Presbyterian Laymen, One Name
Elias Boudinot IV (1740-1821) was a Presbyterian laymen of French Huguenot descent. His father was a neighbor and friend of Benjamin Franklin. Boudinot IV lived a remarkable life, serving as President of the Continental Congress, Director of the United States Mint, Congressional Representative for the State of New Jersey, and founder and President of the American Bible Society. He had a particular interest in promoting the rights of black Americans and American Indians. He sponsored one young Cherokee Indian by the name of Buck Watie (his brother Stand Watie later famously fought as a General for the Confederate Army). The two men had such respect for each other that the younger Cherokee man adopted the name of his benefactor and became Elias Boudinot (1802-1839). As a leader of the Cherokee Nation, he edited their first newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix, using the new written alphabet created by Sequoyah. His Address to the Whites (1826) was delivered in the First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, and aimed to raise funds funds for a Cherokee academy and a printing press, as well as to help the white population better understand the aboriginal situation. Both of these Presbyterian laymen shared an understanding that all men of whatever color were created in the image of God, and ought to be free, whether from British tyranny or from racial prejudice. Their works are worth reading today.
America's Foremost Hymnologist
Widely described as America's "foremost hymnologist," Louis FitzGerald Benson (1855-1930) was born and died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His first venture in the practice of law, after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania School of Law, lasted seven years; but later he studied at Princeton Theological Seminary, graduating in 1887. He was ordained for the ministry in 1888 and pastored a congregation in Germantown, Pennsylvania, until 1894. He later edited Presbyterian and Congregational hymnals, served as special lecturer in Liturgies at Auburn Seminary; served as Honorary Librarian at the Presbyterian Historical Society (1905-1923); and was thrice appointed to serve as the L.P. Stone Lecturer at Princeton Seminary (1906-1907, 1909-1910, 1925-1926). His personal library exceeded 9,000 volumes, and his collection of rare books was notable; many were donated to Princeton, and the Louis F. Benson Hymnology Collection is one of the gems of Princeton Theological Seminary’s Special Collections, being housed at Speer Library. "Among the numerous accolades received by Dr. Benson is a reference to him in the 1920 edition of Grove's Dictionary, as 'a foremost hymnologist.' Dr. Henry Jackson van Dyke called Louis Fitzgerald Benson the foremost hymnologist that America has produced" (Source).
His writings on the history of Psalmody in the Reformed Churches and the development of English hymnody are invaluable to the student of Reformed worship and liturgies. His study of William Shakespeare's use of the metrical Psalter makes for fascinating reading to students of both literature and church history. His Studies of Familiar Hymns gives valuable background information on how many particularly memorable hymns entered Presbyterian worship. He was also a composer of hymns and poems himself. If you have not had the opportunity to read Benson on the history of song in Reformed worship, be sure to look over the works we have added to his page at Log College Press. They represent the finest scholarship of his day on this topic, and have stood the test of time.
Thornwell's Analysis of Calvin's Institutes
James Henley Thornwell (1812-1862) employed John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion as his textbook at Columbia Theological Seminary because, as Bruce Gordon notes, he "regarded Calvin's book as the fullest expression of Reformed theology" (John Calvin's 'Institutes of the Christian Religion': A Biography, p. 117).
Benjamin Morgan Palmer recounts remarks by a student concerning Thornwell's opening lecture on the Institutes: "I remember well the account he gave of his visit to Calvin's grave, and of his musings upon the molding influence of the mighty Reformer upon theological thought: and the statement of his conviction, that the emergencies of the conflict with Rationalistic infidelity were now forcing the whole Church more and more to occupy Calvin's ground. His pale face alternated with flushes of red and white, as he was speaking, and his eye dilated until it seemed almost supernaturally large and luminous. Deeply moved myself, and fired with an enthusiasm for Calvin, which I hope never to lose, I turned a moment's glance to find the class spell-bound by the burst of eloquence and feeling" (The Life and Letters of James Henley Thornwell, p. 534). Gordon comments: "Thornwell must have divined some secret knowledge to have known where Calvin was buried" (Ibid., p. 118).
There are modern study guides to Calvin's Institutes, such as J. Mark Beach, Piety's Wisdom: A Summary of Calvin's Institutes with Study Questions (2010), but what we find in Thornwell's Collected Writings, Vol. 1, in Appendices C and D, starting at p. 597, although incomplete, constitutes a valuable 19th contribution to the study of Calvin's magnum opus.
Titled "Analysis of Calvin's Institutes, With Notes and Comments" and "Questions on Calvin's Institutes," the former is a summary and analysis of the first three books of the Institutes, while the latter is drawn from the first book. One wishes that we had more of Thornwell's insightful comments and study questions on the rest of the book, but what we have here is a treasure. His analysis is skillful, and his questions are probing, both intended to elucidate a deeper understanding of Calvin's teaching.
If you are seeking a guide to this world-changing book, consider Thornwell's 19th century contribution to studies of the Institutes.
Benjamin Franklin and the Presbyterians
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One of the most fascinating characters in colonial America is Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790). His relationship with Presbyterians and the Presbyterian Church of his day is also extraordinarily complex. He claimed in his Autobiography to have been raised "Presbyterian" in Boston, but the Old South Church in which he was baptized and raised was Congregational. (Franklin characteristically did not distinguish between Calvinististic Congregationalism and Presbyterianism.) He thought little of the doctrines of election, describing them as "unintelligible." As a youth, he had a memorable encounter with Cotton Mather (Congregational). His favorite book was John Bunyan's (Baptist) The Pilgrim's Progress. He was a great fan of George Whitefield as well, initially, although his feelings cooled towards Whitefield later on as the latter came to embrace the Log College men.
When he first came to Philadelphia in 1723, he attended a local Quaker meeting house; later he half-heartedly (for Franklin, attending church five Sabbaths in a row was a major achievement) attended the ministry of Jedediah Andrews at First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia. But as conflicts arose in the following decade over the ministry of assistant pastor Samuel Hemphill, who was expelled by the Synod of Philadelphia in 1735, Franklin defended Hemphill, and left the Presbyterian church he was attending (though he continued to financially support it). As editor of the Pennsylvania Gazette and as publisher, Franklin used the tools at his disposal to critique what he disliked about the Presbyterian church. The year 1735 saw him publish A Defence Of the Rev. Mr. Hemphill's Observations: or, an Answer to the Vindication of the Reverend Commission; and his Dialogue Between Two Presbyterians. In both of these works, he was more concerned to justify a focus on external morality over fidelity to Biblical and Confessional doctrine. In his controversies with the Presbyterians, he famously described using a vulgar term (see Joseph S. Moore, Founding Sins: How a Group of Antislavery Radicals Fought to Put Christ into the Constitution, p. 39); and he also famously referred to his opponents as "zealous Presbyterians" (letter dated January 9, 1760; also in his Autobiography; see Melvin H. Buxbaum, Benjamin Franklin and the Zealous Presbyterians), writing and publishing works both favorable towards and critical of the Covenanter theology of Alexander Craighead, the Great Awakening, and the Log College men. (Franklin once caused Gilbert Tennent's congregation to move, and declined a request from Tennent for financial assistance, though Franklin did give Tennent "free advice as to the best method of seeking contributions" (Milton J. Coalter, Jr., Gilbert Tennent, Son of Thunder: A Case Study of Continental Pietism's Impact on the First Great Awakening in the Middle Colonies, p. 139.)) Franklin became a Deist in his youth. Beginning in 1731, Franklin was also a Freemason, achieving the rank of Grand Master in 1734, and ultimately, Venerable Master. John Adams, himself a long-time Unitarian, described him thus: "The Catholics thought him almost a Catholic. The Church of England claimed him as one of them. The Presbyterians thought him half a Presbyterian, and the Friends believed him a wet Quaker."
Interestingly, the first treatise published in America to denounce the monarch of Great Britain a tyrant (King Charles II) -- excepting an anonymous 1743 pamphlet said to be written by Alexander Craighead, which was condemned by the Synod of Philadelphia and of which no copy now remains -- was the 1743 Renewal of the Scottish National Covenant and Solemn League and Covenant, which was also work of Alexander Craighead, and which Benjamin Franklin published in 1744 and 1748. It is also said that Craighead, who went on from Pennsylvania to pastor the Sugar Creek Presbyterian Church, in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina until his death in 1766, inspired the writing of the 1775 Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, which preceded the 1776 Declaration of Independence, of which Benjamin Franklin served on the committee which authored it. Franklin abhorred Craighead's zealous Presbyterianism and would have viewed his brand of Presbyterianism as ecclesiastical and civil tyranny, but came to embrace a zeal for independence from Great Britain, not dissimilar from Craighead, on grounds of rejecting the Crown's civil tyranny.
And yet...from Franklin's own printing press, he published the following by some noted Presbyterian writers, including some available to read here at Log College Press (and some that we hope to add): Ralph Erskine, Gospel Sonnets (1740); Josiah Smith, The Character, Preaching, &c of the Rev. George Whitefield (1740); Samuel Finley (1715-1766), Letter to a Friend, Concerning Mr. Whitefield (1740), Christ Triumphing and Satan Raging (1741), Clear Light Put Out in Obscure Darkness (1743); Gilbert Tennent (1703-1764), Remarks Upon a Protestation to the Synod of Philadelphia (1741), A Sermon Upon Justification (1741), Brotherly Love Recommended by the Argument of the Love of Christ (1748), The Late Association for Defense Farther Encouraged (1748); Alexander Craighead (1707-1766), A Discourse Concerning the Covenants (1742), The Reasons of Mr. Alexander Craighead's Receding from the Present Judicatures of this Church, Together With Its Constitution (1743), Renewal of the Covenants, National and Solemn League (1744, 1748); Samuel Davies (1723-1761), A Sermon Preached Before the Reverend Presbytery of New-Castle (1753); Samuel Jacob Blair (1712-1751), The Doctrine of Predestination (1754); Henry Scougal, a German-language edition of his The Life of God in the Soul of Man (1756); and quite a few other Presbyterian works, such as the Westminster Standards (1745).
How to explain his general dislike of and active opposition towards "zealous Presbyterians" while at the same time his willingness to publish many works by such as would fit that description? One must be careful to avoid a simplistic answer to a question involving a man of such complexities as we find in Benjamin Franklin. For example, Franklin, despite his opposition to Gilbert Tennent's views, published several of his works, including a 1747 sermon defending the lawfulness of defensive wars, which must have carried some weight with the man who later designed and proposed a Great Seal for the United States, which contained a scene from Exodus and the words "Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God." But it is hard to argue with Joseph Moore's remark that the controversies within American Presbyterianism in the 1740s and 1750s caused Franklin to be "elated" because, for a secular printer, "they...were good for business" (Founding Sins, p. 39). And we can be thankful in the providence of God to have many of these works still around today, including those at Log College Press.
A. A. Hodge's "The Day Changed and the Sabbath Preserved"
Archibald Alexander Hodge's pamphlet, "The Day Changed and the Sabbath Preserved," is a brief yet powerful argument for the permanence of the Sabbath commandment in both old and new covenant administrations of the covenant of grace. If you've never seen a copy of the original pamphlet, you can find it on the Log College Press website.
In the space of 22 small pages, Hodge states the grounds on which the church has held that the fourth commandment is a part of the unending moral law, and that the first day of the week has been substituted for the seventh day by the authority of Christ's apostles (and therefore of Jesus Himself). Here are his points, which he unpacks in sufficient detail given the scope of his work:
1. The particular day of the week on which the Sabbath was to be kept never was, or could be, of the essence of the institution itself.
2. The introduction of a new dispensation, in which a preparatory and particularistic national system is to be replaced by a permanent and universal one, embracing all nations to the end of time, is a suitable occasion to switch the day.
3. The amazing fact of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus on the first day of the week constitutes an evidently adequate reason for appointing that in the stead of the seventh day to be the Christian Sabbath.
4. During his life Jesus had affirmed that he was "Lord also of the Sabbath day."
5. From the time of John, who first gave the institution its best and most sacred title, "Lord's day," there is an unbroken and unexceptional chain of testimonies that the "first day of the week" was observed as the Christian's day of worship and rest.
6. With this view the testimony of all the great Reformers and all historical branches of the modern Christian Church agree.
7. The change of the day by the apostolic church has thus been proved by historical testimony, to which much might be added if space permitted, but against which no counter-evidence exists.
The strength of Hodge's pamphlet lies in that inclusion of historical testimony, both from the early church fathers and the Reformers. Hodge is aware that the Reformers made statements contradicting the view he is arguing for, but he contends that these statements, unguarded and unadvised as they were, were uttered in the context of the Romanists reasoning from the early church's altering a command of the decalogue to the power of Rome to impose obligations on Christians, even to the altering of divine laws. Hodge draws from the writings of the Reformers themselves to show that the Reformers spoke in accord with a right view of the Lord's Day as the Christian Sabbath in several places.
In an age in which Sabbath keeping is ignored or anathema even amongst Christians, Hodge's pamphlet is an important piece of writing we are glad to made accessible again to the church.
Christ All in All: The Right Temper for a Theologian, by William Swan Plumer, is Now Available!
Our third publication is now for sale! Christ All in All: The Right Temper for a Theologian, by William Swan Plumer, is available in paperback, Kindle, and EPUB versions. Containing Plumer's two inaugural addresses (at Western Theological Seminary and Columbia Theological Seminary), this 32-page booklet will benefit all believers, and is a particular encouragement and exhortation to seminary students and officers in Christ's church. Plumer's Christ-centered piety shines through beautifully as he explains what the focus of theological studies should be and in what spirit the student of theology should approach such a transcendent topic.
While you're in our online bookstore, make sure to check out our first two publications (Thomas Dwight Witherspoon's The Five Points of Presbyterianism and Cornelius Washington Grafton's A Forty-Three Year Pastorate in a Country Church) and our large collection of secondary sources on American Presbyterianism.
At Log College Press, we believe the past isn't dead, primary sources aren't inaccessible, and American Presbyterians aren't irrelevant. More publications are in the works, so every purchase paves the way for us to continue to collect and reprint the writings of and about American Presbyterians from the 18th and 19th centuries. Thanks for your support!
Westminster Shorter Catechism for Today's Youth
When the Westminster Shorter Catechism was written in 1646-1648, it was designed, according to the Church of Scotland which adopted it, "to be a directory for catechising such as are of weaker capacity," in contrast the the Westminster Larger Catechism, which was, according to the same, designed to be a "a directory for those who have made some proficiency in the knowledge of the grounds of religion."
Yet, in the 19th century -- not to mention the 21st -- some catechizers found it useful to revise the Shorter Catechism for the benefit of young persons. First, is Joseph Patterson Engles (1793-1861), a ruling elder at the Scots Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, and publishing agent for the Presbyterian Board of Publication. He designed a version of the Shorter Catechism titled Catechism for Young Children: Being an Introduction to the Shorter Catechism (1840). This work has been widely republished in modern times (and a very helpful study guide was produced about it by Jeff Kingswood, From the Lips of Little Ones: A Study in the in the Catechism for Very Little People, 2008), but it is believed that the PDF which appears on Log College Press (courtesy of Wayne Sparkman at the PCA Historical Center) is the only such scanned copy of the original work available on the internet today. The introduction is a precious word of encouragement to parents and teachers: "Emulate the spirit of the pious mother who, when asked by a witness of her patience and successful perseverance in the instruction of one of her children, 'How could you repeat that sentence to the child twenty times?' answered, 'If I had repeated it only nineteen times I should have lost my labor.'" The beginning of Engles' Catechism is also beloved by many:
Q. 1. Who made you?
A. God.
Q. 2. What else did God make?
A. God made all things.
Q. 3. Why did God make you and all things?
A. For his own glory.
Q. 4. How can you glorify God?
A. By loving him and doing what he commands.
Second, James Robert Boyd (1804-1890), a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, pastor, educator, author of text-books, and other works, including an exposition of the Westminster Shorter Catechism. He also wrote The Child's Book on the Westminster Shorter Catechism (1855, since republished as A Child's Guide to the Westminster Shorter Catechism, 2015). Boyd designed this work for children 12 and under, and recommends that study and memorization of this version of the catechism be undertaken for an half hour each Sabbath afternoon.
For parents who might feel that their young ones are not quite ready for the Westminster Shorter Catechism, these 19th century Presbyterian abbreviated versions may provide a suitable alternative, and while they are available in modern reprints, the introductions particularly to both works are not always included, and they are worth downloading for thoughtful consideration.