The Pastor in the Mirror

“Take heed to yourselves, lest your example contradict your doctrine, and lest you lay such stumbling-blocks before the blind, as may be the occasion of their ruin...Take heed to yourselves, lest you live in those sins which you preach against in others, and lest you be guilty of that which daily you condemn” (Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor, pp. 63, 67.

Few remember that Joseph Ruggles Wilson, the father of President Woodrow Wilson, was a Presbyterian pastor in 19th century America. In an article in The Southern Presbyterian Review entitled "In What Sense Are Preachers To Preach Themselves," he discusses the power and importance of the individual in the act and ethos of preaching. A snippet:

"[The agency of preaching] is, so far as it possesses visibility, entrusted to men, who are to wield it, in God's name, each according to his own idiosyncracies of mental and moral character. The preacher's power over those to whom he addresses the word of salvation,(whilst, indeed, it could be nothing—certainly nothing very valuable—were he not sent and sustained by the Almighty, whose servant he is yet,) greatly depends upon what he himself is. That is, there is a sense in which the preacher preaches himself. He is more than a mere instructor. His work does not terminate in the mere act of imparting information, of opening up truth, and causing people to know what they were before ignorant of. If he stopped here, there might be no necessity for his office; books could convey instruction as well, or better, and a general distribution amongst men of plain treatises upon religious subjects, might probably take the place of the living teacher. Indeed, the inquiry has been started in certain quarters, where now is the use of so much public preaching, seeing that the press is so active in sending forth ever-increasing multitudes of cheap printed volumes, whose pages teem with all the knowledge of Scripture that is needed by the reading masses? The answer to this query is not alone to be found in the fact that there are many who cannot read, and therefore must be orally taught; or in the very different fact that God having instituted preaching as the means for drawing souls to himself, will own only his own ordinance in effecting this great result. The truer and profounder answer is, that they who favor this suggestion altogether mistake the nature of a preaching office; regarding it as nothing more than a teaching office. They leave this entirely out of the account, viz.: that the preacher is a man who employs sacred truth as a vehicle through which he brings his own peculiar distinctive self to bear upon his fellow-men. That truth is with him not mere knowledge, but this knowledge woven into his own experiences, and it is these experiences which he seeks to impress upon others in a way that shall make them their experiences as well. He publishes salvation as he himself understands it, and as he has come to understand it thoroughly by having imbibed it into his own soul. Hence he says, "I believe, therefore I speak.'' From the storehouse of his own convictions he strives to convince. It is these convictions that constitute him a preacher at all; and in proportion to their warmth and strength is he a mighty preacher."

You can read the entire article here.

(You will also see on Wilson's page an unfortunate sermon advocating the righteousness of American slavery; as with many of our Presbyterian forefathers, Wilson believed that slavery was a Biblical institution. Log College Press in no way affirms or advocates these views, but includes these writings in an attempt to collect on our site all the 18th-19th century American Presbyterian writings that are available digitally, for historical reference, and as a humbling reminder that all men have feet of clay.)

[The majority of this post was first published on July 29, 2017.]

The Story of William Sheppard, African-American Presbyterian Missionary to the Congo, is Amazing

If you're a Presbyterian and you've never heard of William Henry Sheppard, that isn't surprising. But it is disappointing. He was a black Southern Presbyterian missionary to the Congo, who overcame prejudice and segregation to bring the gospel to the Congolese. At times perhaps he seems to have been more explorer and artifact collector than Christian missionary, but his impact on Presbyterian and world history was significant in both church and state. You can read his account of his missionary journeys here. 

[This post was originally published on July 26, 2017. See also Pagan Kennedy, Black Livingstone: A True Tale of Adventure in the Nineteenth-Century Congo here.]

Happy 300th Birthday to John Cuthbertson, Pioneer Covenanter Missionary!

The name of John Cuthbertson is greatly renowned in both the history of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of America, and that of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. He was born on April 3, 1718, near Ayr, Ayrshire, Scotland. Having studied theology under the auspices of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland, he was licensed 1745, ordained in 1747, and served as Moderator of the RPCS in 1750. The following year, he was sent as the first Scottish Covenanter missionary to America.

He landed in Newcastle, Delaware, where he began a diary, which still survives. "It is a small leather-bound volume, recording his day-to-day activities, sometimes in English, sometimes in Latin, often abbreviated, with some shorthand, portraying a magnificent life of travel and service" (David M. Carson, Transplanted to America: A Popular History of the American Covenanters to 1871, p. 11). Cuthbertson went on to settle at Middle Octorara, Pennsylvania, where Alexander Craighead had previously ministered, and also renewed the Scottish Covenants in 1743. 

With Middle Octorara as his base, Cuthbertson traveled throughout the middle American colonies on horseback, through Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia, and so ministered widely to the scattered Scots-Irish in these places. "His ministry spanned the forty years after his 1751 arrival, and he traversed a remarkable 70,000 miles in his preaching tours through at least seven colonies" (Joseph S. Moore, Founding Sins: How a Group of Antislavery Radicals Fought to Put Christ into the Constitution, p. 44). Extracted from his diary by S. Helen Fields is a Register of Baptisms and Marriages performed by Rev. John Cuthbertson. "According to his diary, during the thirty-nine years he was engaged in active service, he preached on two thousand four hundred and fifty-two days; baptized one thousand eight hundred and six children; married two hundred and forty couples; rode on horseback seventy thousand miles, or nearly equal to three times around the world. And this traveling was done in those days when there were no roads or bridges" (William M. Glasgow, History of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in America, p. 478). His travels and trials are recorded in this diary with brevity ("Slept none. Bugs." "Give all praise to my gracious God." "l.D. [laus Deo, praise to God]") and with humility: "a real conviction of one's original guilt; actual transgressions of childhood; riper years, especially in the great office of the ministry; pride, carnality, indifference, want of true zeal for Christ's cause and the welfare of Immortal souls..." [after reading a sermon by Ralph Erskine]. 

On March 10, 1774, along with two other ministers and some ruling elders, Cuthbertson helped to establish the first Reformed Presbytery in America. His diary entry for March 9, 1774 states "Conversed with Messrs. Lind, Dobbin & until 1 o,clock," and on the following day he wrote "After more consultation, & prayer, Presbytery." On July 2, 1777, Cuthbertson swore allegiance to the cause of the American colonies in their conflict with Great Britain. Formal discussions with the Associate Church in that same year, and in 1782, these two ecclesiastical bodies merged to become the Associate Reformed Church, taking with them most members of both churches. This union between the Covenanters and the Seceders was not without challenges to Cuthbertson -- he wrote to his nephew that "Our coalescence with ye Seceders, I apprehend, is almost at an end...Was told that ye Covenanters in ye north of Ireland...had appointed a minister to come over here. Should divine Providence favor this, I expect ye true Covenanting cause might again lift up ye head in ys western world" (Letter to John Bourns, Aug. 19, 1789) -- but he never rejoined the Covenanter (Reformed Presbyterian) Church before his passing.  

When he died on March 10, 1791, he was buried in the church cemetery at Middle Octorara. There is a fine sketch of his life in William M. Glasgow's History of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in America. On the occasion of his 300th birthday, this pioneer Covenanter missionary is worthy of remembrance.

The First African-American to Speak in the US House of Representatives was a Presbyterian Pastor!

Henry Highland Garnet (1815-1882) had been the pastor of the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C., for less than a year, when in 1865 the Chaplain of the US House of Representatives, William H. Channing, requested him to preach a memorial discourse on the occasion of the approval of the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution, abolishing slavery in the country. In so doing he became the first African-American man to speak in the US Capitol building. Garnet had been educated classically in New York, having escaped Southern slavery with his family when he was nine years old. He came into contact with the Presbyterian church through the ministry of Theodore Sedgwick Wright, and eventually became a Presbyterian pastor in New York, and then Washington, D.C. 

His life story and memorial discourse is found here, and is important reading for Presbyterians today. 

[This post was originally published on August 7, 2017.]

The Necessity of Christ's Resurrection, by John Franklin Cannon

Did Jesus have to rise from the dead? Every Christian would say "Yes" - but would we know any reasons why? In 1896, John Franklin Cannon, pastor of the Grand Avenue Presbyterian Church in St. Louis, Missouri, preached a sermon entitled "The Necessity of Christ's Resurrection," published on page 287 of Southern Presbyterian Pulpit: a Collection of Sermons by Ministers of the Southern Presbyterian Church (you can find this book on the Compilations page of the Log College Press website). We won't steal Cannon's thunder, but suffice it to say that the reasons he gives are theological robust, Christ-exalting, and spiritually invigorating. Read it today to have your faith in the resurrection of Jesus solidified and strengthened! 

Biblical Fasting

Have you wondered if fasting is still an ordinance of God for Christians today? Samuel Miller (1769-1850) provides sound teaching on this extraordinary element of worship prescribed in the Westminster Confession of Faith (21.5) and in the Westminster Directory of Public Worship. It is, as he affirms, a duty, and a blessing, to those who seek to draw near to God in a special way. His 1831 sermon on The Duty, The Benefits, and the Proper Method of Religious Fasting remains a faithful witness to an ordinance that is much-neglected today.

Consider his words concerning Daniel and how they resonate today: "Religion was at a low ebb among the professing people of God. Even their deep adversity had not led them to repentance and reformation. ... But this holy man trusted in God; and in the exercise of faith, saw, beyond the clouds which encircled him and his people, a ray of light which promised at once deliverance and glory. He perceived nothing, indeed, among the mass of his Jewish brethren which indicated a speedy termination of their captivity; but he 'understood by books,' that is, he firmly believed, on the ground of a recorded prophecy, delivered by Jeremiah, that the period of their liberation was drawing nigh. In this situation, what does he do? Instead of desponding, he 'encourages himself in the Lord his God.' And, instead of allowing himself to indulge a spirit of presumption or indolence, on account of the certainty of the approaching deliverance, he considers himself as called to special humiliation, fasting and prayer; to humble himself before God under a sense of the deep unworthiness of himself and his companions in captivity; and to pray with importunity that their unmerited emancipation might be at once hastened and sanctified. Such is the spirit of genuine piety."

Miller helps us to understand that fasting has its place in the life of a Christian. Take time to study this religious duty, and to find the blessing that God has ordained for those who practice it in faith. 

Philadephia Presbyterianism

Some cities have a religious connection that endures even today in secular American society, such as Boston and the Puritans. For American Presbyterians, more than any other (and there are others that have close ties to the Presbyterian Church) that city is Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1682, by the Quaker William Penn, it was here in 1706 that Francis Makemie organized the first American presbytery - the Presbytery of Philadelphia - in 1706. The first American Synod - the Synod of Philadelphia - was established in 1717. The first American General Assembly met here in 1789. As we have noted before, one of Philadelphia's greatest icons, Benjamin Franklin, did much to publish colonial Presbyterian literature. The first black Presbyterian church in America - First African Presbyterian Church, pastored by John Gloucester - was established here in 1807. Since 1857, the Presbyterian Historical Society has been situated in Philadelphia, and continues to serve as a repository of valuable records. 

In 1888, Alfred Nevin published an History of the Presbytery of Philadelphia, and of Philadelphia Central. A few years later, another thorough study of Philadelphia Presbyterianism was published by William Prescott White and William H. Scott, The Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia: A Camera and Pen Sketch of Each Presbyterian Church and Institution in the City (1895). These volumes are still referred to by historians today, and they can be read by clicking on the author links above. Take time to get to know the work of the Lord in the city of Philadelphia from the earliest days of colonial America forward. Philadelphia is not just the home of the Liberty Bell and the birthplace of the Constitution. It has a spiritual heritage that is dear to Presbyterians and indeed all American Christians. 

What Are the Limits of Church Authority?

As we have noted before, few questions are more important than to understand the nature and limits of church power. How do we distinguish between circumstances of worship and prescribed elements? May the Church authorize ceremonies in worship not commanded in Scripture?

The answer is clear from the Westminster Assembly: "God alone is Lord of the conscience, and hath left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men which are in any thing contrary to his Word, or beside it in matters of faith or worship. So that to believe such doctrines, or to obey such commandments out of conscience, is to betray true liberty of conscience; and the requiring an implicit faith, and an absolute and blind obedience, is to destroy liberty of conscience, and reason also" and "But the acceptable way of worshipping the true God is instituted by himself, and so limited by his own revealed will, that he may not be worshipped according to the imaginations and devices of men, or the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representation or any other way not prescribed in the holy Scripture" (Westminster Confession of Faith 20:2; 21:1).

On this topic, we have previously highlighted John Bailey Adger (1810-1899)'s 1884 article on "Church Power." He affirms: "Our doctrine, our discipline, our worship, are all divine and revealed things, to which the Church can add, from which she can take away, nothing. No more discretion has the Church in regulating those who compose her membership. She can make no new laws to bind their conscience. Neither contrary to, nor yet beside the Scripture, can she impose any new duties not imposed on men by the Word. On the other hand, she cannot make anything to be sinful which God himself has not forbidden. In fine, the Church has no lawmaking power, except as to circumstances of time and place, order and decency, which, from the nature of the case, Scripture could not regulate, and which must needs be left, and have therefore been left, to human discretion. All the power which the Church has about laws is declarative and ministerial. Her officers are servants of the Lord, and declare not their own will, but the Lord's, and that only as he makes it known in the Word, which is open to all men, and which every man is entitled to judge of and interpret for himself."

We would also bring your attention two additional works by John Lafayette Girardeau (1825-1898): 1) The Discretionary Power of the Church (a sermon preached in 1875, found in his Sermons, wherein he quotes James Henley Thornwell so profoundly; and 2) Individual Liberty and Church Authority, a sermon preached in 1889. 

These works help to clarify that ecclesiastical authority is ministerial and delegated, not authoritative in itself. Adger and Girardeau have correctly and helpfully exposited the nature and limits of church authority, limiting it to what God has authorized, and not going beyond that. Take time to study these works, and to address what a very important question that every Christian must face. 

American Presbyterian Missions to China

The missionary endeavor has always been important to Calvinists as evidenced, for example, by John Calvin sending the first Protestant missionaries from Geneva, Switzerland to the New World (Brazil, 1557). In the 19th century, American Presbyterians began to send missionaries to the Far East. Log College Press is assembling the works of some of these missionaries, and the stories of the lives and labors is fascinating to read. To give a few examples:

Nathan Robinson Johnston (1820-1904) was a Reformed Presbyterian minister who labored as a missionary to the Chinese in California, as he notes in his autobiographical memoir, Looking Back From the Sunset Land; or, People Worth Knowing. He records his joy at finally seeing Covenanter ministers sent to China, and notes their motto: "China for Christ."

William Speer (1822-1904) was another Presbyterian missionary both to the Chinese in California, and to China itself. After serving as a medical missionary to Canton, China, for five years, Speer came to San Francisco in 1852 with a call from the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions to evangelize to the city's Chinese population, where he labored until 1858. He was the founding minister of the Presbyterian Chinese Mission Church ("North America's Oldest Asian Church"). He started what became the first public school for Chinese children and youth; published The Oriental, America's first English-Chinese bilingual newspaper; and helped bring about the repeal of a California law that imposed a tax targeting Chinese miners. Some of his works include China and California; An Humble Plea, Addressed to the Legislature of California, in Behalf of the Immigrants from the Empire of China to This State; and The Oldest and Newest Empire: China and the United States.

Absalom Sydenstricker (1852-1931) was a Southern Presbyterian missionary to China. His life story is told by his daughter, Pearl S. Buck, the famous prize-winning author and noted liberal who played a role in J.G. Machen's conflict with the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., in The Fighting Angel and The Exile. Sydenstricker authored An Exposition of the Construction and Idioms of Chinese Sentences, in Colloquial Mandarin.

Hampden Coit DuBose (1845-1910) was another Southern Presbyterian missionary to China, who went on to found the Anti-Opium League in China. He authored Preaching in Sinim; or, The Gospel to the Gentiles, With Hints and Helps for Addressing a Heathen Audience; The Dragon, Image, and Demon, or The Three Religions of China: Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism; and “Beautiful Soo,” the Capital of Kiangsu.

 Hunter Corbett (1835-1920) was a Princeton graduate who served as a missionary in China for many years, where he established an academy for boys which became China's first university. He also helped to established the Shandong Presbytery, and would later serve as a moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. He authored A Record of American Presbyterian Mission Work in Shantung Province, China; and Opening of Presbyterian Hospital, Chefoo, Shantung China.

Divie Bethune McCartee (1820-1900) was a medical missionary to China, who established the first Protestant congregation in that country in 1845. He served as a diplomat as well, and authored works on science, history and politics.  Robert Elliott Speer (1867-1947) paid tribute to him in A Missionary Pioneer in the Far East: A Memorial of Divie Bethune McCartee. 

Click on the author links above to learn more about these remarkable 19th century American Presbyterian missionaries to the Chinese. And remember the motto: "China for Christ."

Princeton Studies for Your Reading Pleasure

From the original Log College (1723-1746) to the College of New Jersey (1746-1896) to Princeton University (1896-present) and to Princeton Theological Seminary (1812-present), we are developing here at Log College Press a wealth of resources for further study about the history and character of our namesake during its golden era. We owe a debt of gratitude to the fine folks at PTS today who have worked so diligently to make accessible so many works from their libraries through Internet Archive, from which many of the resources noted below are derived. 

Beginning, of course, with the companion books by Archibald Alexander, the first professor of Princeton Theological Seminary, Biographical Sketches of the Founder, and Principal Alumni of the Log College (Alexander wrote: "It may with truth be said, that the Log College was the germ from which proceeded the flourishing College of New Jersey") and Sermons of the Log College (not forgetting also his inaugural sermon at the College in 1812 and other related works), one may learn about the Log College founded by William Tennant, Sr. 

His son, Samuel Davies Alexander, also wrote a useful volume titled Princeton College During the Eighteenth Century (1872), and a smaller work, Princeton College, Illustrated (1877).

Samuel Miller, the second professor installed at Princeton Theological Seminary, published A Brief History of the Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church at Princeton, New Jersey, Together With Its Constitution, By-Laws, &c (1837), and who can forget his famous "Able and Faithful Ministry" inauguration sermon for Archibald Alexander in 1812? It was Miller who laid out one of the primary goals of the seminary: "It is to unite, in those who shall sustain the ministerial office, religion and literature; that piety of the heart, which is the fruit only of the renewing and sanctifying grace of God, with solid learning: believing that religion without learning, or learning without religion, in the ministers of the Gospel, must ultimately prove injurious to the Church.

Thomas Murphy's The Presbytery of the Log College; or, The Cradle of the Presbyterian Church in America is another excellent place to begin by examining Princeton's roots, and growth into the 19th century. 

William Armstrong Dod wrote a History of the College of New Jersey from the period of 1746 to 1783; as did John Maclean, the college's 10th president, in two volumes, spanning 1746 to 1854. Both men are buried at Princeton Cemetery. 

John Thomas Duffield published The Princeton Pulpit in 1852, which is a fine collection of notable Princeton sermons. Charles Hodge's Princeton Sermons are available to read here, as is B.B. Warfield's inaugural address at Princeton. There is also a wonderful compilation of Princeton Sermons published in 1893. We have William Henry Green's inaugural discourse, as well as the celebration of the 50th anniversary of his tenure on the faculty of Princeton, which coincided with the sesquicentennial of the college (1896).

John DeWitt, an alumni from the Class of 1861, published Princeton College Administrations in the Nineteenth Century as well as The Planting of Princeton College, both in 1897.

Charles Adamson Salmond, another Princeton alumni, wrote the most remarkable work Princetoniana: Charles & A.A. Hodge: With Class and Table Talk of Hodge the Younger, from the perspective of "a Scottish Princetonian." 

Our library is growing. If this topic interests you, please click on the author links above. We have catalogued many more secondary resources about Princeton here. We are thankful for the "able and faithful ministry" of the Princeton men, and the books we have identified here are a great way to introduce yourself to them. 

The Poetry of J.A. Alexander

Previously we have taken note of both the devotional mediations and poetry of James Waddell Alexander (1804-1859). Today, we consider the poetic compositions of his brother, Joseph Addison Alexander (1809-1860). Best known for his commentaries on Isaiah and other portions of Scripture, Joseph was a man of many gifts, particularly in the theological, linguistic and literary realms. The great Biblical commentator was equally as keen in his insights into the prose history of Acts as the Hebrew poetry of the Psalms. In his personal life, we know that he corresponded in both prose and poetry himself. He often entertained himself by composing poems while traveling. Only a little of his poetry saw the light of day during his lifetime. We can thank his nephew and biographer, Henry Carrington Alexander (1835-1894) for the window we have into what was clearly, not just an academic, but a poetic soul.

H.C. Alexander wrote: “Dr. [J.A.] Alexander had all the qualities of the rhapsodist as well as the chronicler. He could play the part of an improvisatore as well as that of a raconteur or annalist. His powers were of an order and degree that fitted him as well for the domain of poetry as for that of history and eloquence. An eminent physician once remarked to me, ‘Dr. Addison Alexander was a born poet’” (Life of J.A. Alexander 2:539)

The labor of extracting and assembling the poetic compositions of J.A. Alexander is one that is worthy of a full and thorough undertaking, which is not possible here. This writer has only just begun the process by identifying and highlighting a few of his compositions, chiefly from H.C. Alexander’s biography. And this introduction to his poetry is meant to whet the appetite for further study.

His most famous poem was published in 1837 under the title “The Doomed Man,” and it is better known as an hymn, although the author never intended it to be such. The story is given in Life 1:415-417, with additional elaboration about a stanza omitted from the original publication found in J.W. Alexander’s Forty Years’ Familiar Letters 2:285. A friend (Theodore Ledyard Cuyler, Heart Thoughts, pp. 114-115) wrote this about “The Doomed Man”:

Of one more American hymn we must speak before closing this paragraph. Its author was my beloved friend and teacher the late Dr. Joseph Addison Alexander. He certainly never dreamed that it would find its way into any collection for public worship when he threw it off one evening rapidly from his versatile pen. The day after its composition he mailed it to Rev. Dr. Hall, then the editor of the Sunday School Journal. The lines were published under the title of "The Doomed Man," and they describe with solemn and terrible energy the fate of a sinner who has "crossed the hidden boundary between God's patience and His wrath." These fearful lines are not so much a hymn as a thrilling appeal to the impenitent, in metre. They were at first circulated in small hand-bills through prayer-meetings, in seasons of revival. They went the rounds of religious journals, and finally lodged in Dr. Robinson's Hymn-book, and in one or two others. As originally written, the opening verse was—

"There is a time, we know not when,
A point, we know not where,
That marks the destiny of men
To glory or despair."

If Hillhouse's hymn is a prelude to the minstrelsy of heaven, these solemn lines of Alexander may be styled the dirge of a lost soul against whom the gates of heaven are closed for ever!”

As a young boy, J.A. Alexander wrote “The Parricide” (Life 1:32-33); “Solitude” (Life 1:33); and “The Pleasures of Study” (Life 1:33-34). These remarkable compositions bely the youth of the writer.

Well-studied in Persian poetry, J.A. Alexander composed lines in English concerning an epic event that occurred in 1722: “The Fall of Ispahan” (Life 1:140-142). Isfahan was the capital of Persia (Iran) at the time, when it fell to the Afghans. He turned his attention to the famous rival of Persia in “A Vision of Greece” (Life 1:142-144). While traveling in Italy, he composed his “Verses Written at Turin” (Life 1:304-305).

This writer’s favorite poem by J.A. Alexander is a four-stanza composition titled “Be Still and Know That I am God” (Life 1:306-107). It is introduced by H.C. Alexander thus: “As this has been thought one of his noblest productions in metre, I make no scruple to give it without abridgment. For solemn grandeur of meaning, and for nervous diction and sonorous music he has perhaps not written anything that exceeds it.” Here is given the first stanza:

When fortune smiles and friends abound;
When all thy fondest hopes are crowned;
When earth with her exhaustless store,
Seems still intent to give thee more;
When every wind and every tide
Contribute to exalt thy pride;
To feed thy covetous desire;
When foes submit and envy stands
Pale and abashed with folded hands;
While fame’s unnumbered tongues prolong
The swell of thy triumphal song;
When crowds admire and worlds applaud
“Be still and know that I am God.”

He wrote an unfinished but beautiful “A Poem in the Night” about the Resurrection (Life 1:307-308).

It was not uncommon for him to mix poetry with prose in his correspondence, as evidenced in the closing lines of his “Rhyming Epistle” to a little girl (Life 2:558):

“Of enjoyments below, and of gifts from above,
In the beautiful City of Brotherly Love;
(And thus I reveal to you for the first time,
That what you are reading is written in rhyme)
And with a regard which I feel for but few,
I bid you, dear Nannie, a final
Adieu.”

To another young girl named Lucy (titled “Medicine for Lucy” on the envelope, but “Lines ‘To a Fatherless Girl’” within (Life 2:687-689), he sent encouragement based on the Scripture: “He will not leave thee fatherless.”

Among his many travels, on a return trip from Europe in 1853, J.A. Alexander met some Canadian travelers, and began a poetic correspondence with one particular young lady. A sonnet, “Thrice Transplanted” (Life 2:860), is one of the fruits. Alexander’s prose account of this particular correspondence makes for a fascinating biographical read as well.

This introduction must come to a close, but more remains to be explored concerning the poetry of J.A. Alexander. Take up and read for yourself, dear reader.

The Tithe and Offering in American Presbyterian Worship

When the Westminster Directory of Public Worship (1645) was revised by the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (1788), an amendment was made to include the offering as part of the normal worship service. Previously, in Presbyterian churches, the offering was made outside of the worship service, on the Lord's Day, typically in a collection box, and the offering was not viewed as a distinct element of worship.

A century later, the Presbyterian Church (USA) (Northern), in 1886 revised its Directory of Public Worship to add the word “collection” to its chapter on “The Preaching of the Word,” and it added an entirely new chapter titled “The Worship of God by Offerings.” The Presbyterian Church (US) (Southern) followed suit in 1893, adding a new chapter to its Directory also titled “The Worship of God by Offerings,” thus further codifying the view that the financial offering to the church was a distinct and regular element of public worship.

The path that led to this change in Presbyterian worship is partially documented in Julius Melton, Presbyterian Worship in America: Changing Patterns Since 1787, in which he discusses the 1788 revision of the Directory (pp. 17-22), and changes to the Northern and Southern Directories (pp. 111-114); and by James Hudnut-Beumler (Dean of Vanderbilt University), In Pursuit of the Almighty’s Dollar (pp. 52-57), in which he discusses the increasing emphasis given to the doctrine of the tithe and its connection to the offering in worship within American Presbyterianism (sometimes called the “tithing renewal movement,” see David A. Croteau, Perspectives on Tithing: Four Views, pp. 183ff), largely beginning in 1873 with the publication of a collaboration of two Virginia Presbyterian ministers Alexander Lewis Hogshead (1816-1880) and John Wood Pratt, Sr. (1827-1888). Hogshead wrote The Gospel Self-Supporting to which an appendix was added by Pratt titled Will a Christian Rob God? or, The Tithe the Minimum of the Christian’s Oblations. Arnold De Welles Miller (1822-1892), a South Carolina-born minister who pastored in North Carolina at the time also published in the same year The Law of the Tithe, and of the Free-Will Offering. In 1875, William Speer (1822-1904), the famous evangelist to the Chinese, published God's Rule for Christian Giving: A Practical Essay on the Science of Christian Economy, which also taught that the tithe was mandatory in the Christian era.

These views were not without controversy at the time, but they helped to pave the way for understanding the offering to be a distinct element of Christian worship and Presbyterian liturgy. Just as this topic was a matter of great concern to 19th century laymen and presbyters, the place of tithe and offerings remains of great interest to many today. To understand the tithing renewal movement and its arguments, one may delve into this literature from a pivotal moment in 19th century American Presbyterianism here at Log College Press, by clicking on the author links above and downloading these titles for further study.

A Prize-Winning Essay on the Sabbath

In the mid 1870s, William A. Moore, a ruling elder of the First Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, Georgia, offered $200 for the best essay on the "Nature, Design, and Proper Observance of the Sabbath." E. T. Baird, Moses Drury Hoge, and C. H. Read were appointed the committee to judge the manuscripts submitted. These men were looking for essays that conformed to the scope set forth by Moore, that were "comprehensive, scholarly, clear, and forcible," and that evinced an arresting, tasteful, and convicting style. Though 108 submissions were entered, and several were remarkable in quality, only one could win the $200 prize - the essay by James Stacy, the pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Newnan, Georgia, was chosen. 

Stacy unpacks the Sabbath day in the following particulars: 1) it is rooted in tradition; 2) it is inwrought in Scripture; 3) it is confirmed by nature; 4) it is not abolished with the Jewish ceremonies; 5) it is established by New Testament teachings; 6) and finally, its manner of observance. 

If you're looking for a short treatment on the Sabbath, don't miss this essay by Stacy!

The Story of the Old Makemie Desk

For so long, besides the churches planted by him on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Virginia, and the writings left by him, there was little to show for the life and death of "the Father of American Presbyerianism," Francis Makemie (1658-1708). We don't even know precisely what he looked like - only one contemporaneous portrait was ever painted of Makemie (and his wife), but it was destroyed in a fire in 1831. Even his burial site was unknown until it was discovered by Littleton Purnell Bowen (1833-1933), whose tireless research led him to the banks of Holden's Creek in Temperanceville, Accomack County, Virginia, where the Makemie Monument was finally erected in 1908 to mark the spot (this writer had occasion to visit the spot once again last year, which is a wonderful place for contemplation). 

Bowen - the preacher, poet, historian and biographer of Makemie - also made another remarkable discovery, one which is preserved to this day at Union Seminary in Richmond, Virginia. He found the very desk employed by Francis Makemie in his ministerial and household labors. 

The story of this discovery is told in John Stevenson McMaster (1859-1924), A Sketch of the Rev. Samuel McMaster: 1744-1811 (1900), by both McMaster and Bowen himself (see especially pp. 20ff). John McMaster was a Presbyterian ruling elder and descendant of his grandfather, Rev. Samuel McMaster, who was the pastor of Anne Makemie Blair King Holden (1702-1788), daughter of Francis Makemie, who took possession of the desk at her father's passing. Upon her death, this solid mahogany desk was willed to Rev. Samuel McMaster, who later bequeathed it to his son Samuel, after whose death it was purchased by a John B. White, who later revealed its existence to Bowen, showing him all the "concealed springs and drawers...[where] the old Presbyterians of the past had hidden their gold and treasures," and after much persuasion (White's wife said: "By all means let Mr. Bowen have it. We are Baptists, and cannot appreciate it as the Presbyterians would. Mr. Bowen's heart is in the history, and he ought to own the desk"), sold it to him, after which, in 1900, Bowen donated it to the Union Theological Seminary of Richmond. 

This is where it resides today, and it may be seen only by appointment. As McMaster notes, "This desk is the only known relic of the Makemie family in existence." 

19th Century Counsel for Students of the Ministry

It was Herman Witsius (Dutch Reformed, 1636-1708) who offered such golden wisdom to students of the ministry in his inaugural oration at Franeker, in 1675, On the Character of a True Theologian. In the 18th century, Cotton Mather (American Congregational, 1663-728), published his famous Manuductio ad Ministerium. Directions for a Candidate of the Ministry (1726). John Brown of Haddington's (Scottish Presbyterian, 1722-1787) Address to Students of Divinity (extracted from his A Compendious View of Natural and Revealed Religion, 1782) has often been republished, and remains a treasure to 21st century seminary students. In the 19th century, there have been several great works published on how to prepare for the ministry of the Word, but one that we are highlighting here today is that of George Howe (1802-1883), A Discourse on Theological Education; Delivered on the Bicentenary of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, July, 1843. To Which is Added Advice to a Student Preparing for the Ministry (1844). His concern for the aims of an educated and godly ministry permeates this valuable work, and is worth consideration almost three centuries later. If you are a student of the ministry, or seeking to become so, consider downloading this book, and spend time with it, to learn what this man of God has to say. 

The First Presbyterian Church in America

The first Presbyterian church established in America, which continues to exist to this day, is the congregation known today as the First Presbyterian Church in Jamaica, located in Jamaica, Queens, Long Island, New York. It was organized in 1662, and its history is ably told by its pastor, James Madison McDonald (1812-1876), who wrote two books on the subject: 1) A Sketch of the History of the Presbyterian Church, in Jamaica, L.I. (1847); and 2) Two Centuries in the History of the Presbyterian Church, Jamaica, L.I.; The Oldest Existing Church, of the Presbyterian Name, in America (1862). These volumes, told by a Princeton minister, stationed at the Jamaica church, tell a story that is not well-known today, but deserves to be told. Organized Presbyterianism in America began in New York, and in these records we find not only a remembrance but inspiration for the future. 

The Legacy of a Congregational Church in Georgia

One of the most important churches for Presbyterians in the South wasn’t Presbyterian but rather was Congregational, and its history was recorded by Rev. James Stacy (1830-1912). The Midway Congregational Church in Liberty County, Georgia was founded by a group of Puritan settlers from New England on August 28, 1754, who at first came to South Carolina, found conditions there undesirable and then headed down to Liberty County, GA. They founded a Congregational church, and from this church would come six Congressman, and of ministers, fifty Presbyterians, seventeen Baptists, thirteen Methodists, and one Episcopalians. The Presbyterian ministers were some of the most distinguished in the Southern United States, among them being the great Old School Presbyterian revivalist Daniel Baker, the first professor at Columbia Theological Seminary Dr. Thomas Goulding, and the famous missionary among the slaves, Dr. Charles Colcock Jones. The Midway Church would eventually close, but its legacy of faithfulness did not. Dr. Stacy, who wrote the book on the church, made the remark that the Midway Church’s reasons for success was “the good pleasure of God, who, in his sovereign exercise of Providence putteth down one, and setteth up another.” He goes on to talk about some of the secondary causes and miraculous things that made Midway successful, but you will have to read the book for that! The Midway Congregational Church never fully closed, but ceased having Session Meetings in October, 1867, and slowly faded away, but its legacy endures today.  

William Sprague wrote in his Annals concerning the aforementioned Thomas Goulding: "It might be profitable to inquire why the one Church of Midway, Liberty County, has furnished more Presbyterian ministers for the State of Georgia, than all the other ninety-two counties united. The influence of one little colony of Puritans that made its way thither through a scene of trials and disasters, from Dorchester, Mass., who can describe? Heaven's register will unfold many a page which Earth's historians fail to write. What the Christian Church does for the State, the world will never fully know."

Two Presbyterian Presidents

Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson (1824-1863), best-known as a Confederate general (he was also a Presbyterian deacon), was married twice during his life. His first marriage in 1853 was to Elinor "Ellie" Junkin (1825-1854), daughter of the Rev. George Junkin (1790-1868). Rev. Junkin performed the marriage ceremony, and the couple lived with him until the following year when Ellie Junkin gave birth to a stillborn child, and she died thereafter following complications from the childbirth. 

Rev. Junkin was a Presbyterian minister, but also served as president of Lafayette College, Miami (Ohio) University and, at the time of the events noted above, Washington College (now named Washington & Lee University) in Lexington, Virginia. Today, he is buried at the Stonewall Jackson Memorial Cemetery in Lexington. He was the author of a number of fascinating works, such his account of the trial of Albert Barnes, for which Rev. Junkin served as the prosecutor; treatises on justification and sanctification; a defense of the Lord's Day; a commentary on Hebrews; and others. He was featured briefly in the movie Gods and Generals (2003), which noted his opposition to Southern secession, another topics of his writings. His biographer was his own brother, David Xavier Junkin (1808-1880).

Stonewall Jackson continued to live with Rev. Junkin after Ellie's death until the time he began to court the lady who became his second wife, Mary Anna Morrison (1831-1915). She was also the daughter of a Presbyterian minister, the Rev. Robert Hall Morrison, Sr. (1798-1889). He studied at Princeton, established the North Carolina Telegram, the first religious gazette in the South; ministered for 65 years; and served as the first president of Davidson College, in Davidson, North Carolina. He also opposed secession, but remained loyal to the South during the War. 

These Presbyterian clergymen and their writings are available to study at Log College Press. Be sure to check out our growing database of authors and their works, as well as our LCP publications and secondary resources at the Bookstore page.    

A History of the Presbyterian Church in Georgia

Presbyterianism was planted in the American colonies, and has been a major force in the shaping of this nation. The state of Georgia has its own Presbyterian heritage which dates back to the early 18th century. Rev. James Stacy (1830-1912) was the clerk of Synod of Georgia for thirty-three years, and in 1912 his A History of the Presbyterian Church in Georgia was edited by his nephew and posthumously published. In the history the Presbyterian faith from its infancy in the colony Stacy has clearly shown the development of the established institutions of the Church. He also brings out the various controversies which occurred in the history of the Synod up to that point including the evolution controversy, and other minor controversies. He also provides insight into the history of “New Schoolism” in Georgia. If you are seeking a detailed account of Presbyterianism in Georgia, click on the link above to find Stacy's important and useful volume.

More Resources on American Presbyterian Ecclesiology

In 1885-1886, Peyton Harrison Hoge (1858-1940), the nephew and biographer of Moses Drury Hoge (1818-1899) delivered three sermons on The Officers of a Presbyterian Congregation to his congregation at the First Presbyterian Church of Wilmington, North Carolina: 1) the minister of the word, as he himself entered into the pastoral office there; 2) the ruling elder, on the occasion of a ruling elder's ordination; and 3) the deacon, on the occasion of two deacons' ordinations. These sermons were assembled together for private circulation, and are now available for study at Log College Press. They demonstrate a solid understanding of the nature and functions of, and Biblical warrant for, these offices, although more could be said about the duties of a minister besides the primacy of faithfully preaching Christ and the whole counsel of God (e.g., pastoral visitation, etc.). 

In 1897, John Aspinwall Hodge (1831-1901), nephew of Charles Hodge (1797-1878), himself a very significant resource on American Presbyterian ecclesiology, is the author of What is Presbyterian as Defined by the Church Courts? (1884), a very comprehensive overview of Presbyterian church government in question-and-answer format that goes beyond the primary offices of the church to discuss such matters as assemblies, moderators, stated clerks, church elections, and much, much more; and The Ruling Elder at Work (1897), a practical guide for ruling elders and how they may best serve the congregation, the session, and the higher courts as well. 

We continue to add more works on American Presbyterian ecclesiology at Log College Press. Be sure to click on the author page links and download these volumes highlighted above for further study, and to check back again for more.