This is the Happy Day! - Émile Doumergue on the Church of the Psalms

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In April 1902, at Geneva, Switzerland, a lecture was given by a man described later by Lorraine Boettner as the the author of “the most exhaustive and authoritative work ever published on [John] Calvin” - Émile Doumergue. Seven years later, on the occasion of Calvin’s 400th birthday, this address on “Music in the Work of Calvin” was translated and published by B.B. Warfield. It highlights not only a tremendous appreciation on the part of Calvin for Biblical aesthetics in worship, but also how very foundational one particular aspect of the arts was to the Calvinistic branch of Christendom - the Psalter. One extract is here given, but the entire address is very much worth reading (found here).

Here we are, gentlemen, on a fine afternoon in May, 1558, on the great promenade of the students of Paris, the Pré-aux-Clercs, on the banks of the Seine. Some students are singing the Psalms, and their singing is so fine that their comrades gather and sing with them. The same scene is repeated the next day. Only, the lords of the court — Chatillon, Condé, the King of Navarre — mingle with the singers. It is a procession of seven or eight hundred people which unrolls itself, and the immense and delighted crowd listens with transport. What is it? The apparition of the Psalm, sung in chorus — “that unexpected harmony”, as Michelet puts it, “that sweet, simple and strong singing, so strong as to be heard a thousand leagues away, so sweet that everyone thought he heard in it the voice of his mother”. And while to the echoes of the Pré-aux-Clercs, there were answering the echoes of the Pré Fichaut of Bourges or of the promenades of Bordeaux, the old historian of the University of Paris, Bulee, said: “In the singing of the Psalms, the Protestants laid the foundations of their religion”; and Florimond de Raemond said: “It is from this event [the apparition of the Psalms] that the Church of Calvin may be dated” — the Church of the Psalms.
…
From that moment, the Psalms have been indissolubly bound up with the life, public and private alike, of Calvinists, and, as has been remarked, it would be possible to make a calendar, in which all the salient events of the history of French Protestantism should be recalled by a verse of a Psalm.

Here is that famous verse, for example, of Psalm 118:

This is the happy day
That God Himself did make;
Let us rejoice alway
And in it pleasure take.

Now, in describing the battle of Coutras (1587), won by Henry of Navarre, the son of Jeanne d’Albret, from the Duke de Joyeuse and the Catholic army, D’Aubigne expresses himself thus:

“Of the two artilleries, the last to come, that of Huguenots, was the first in position, and commenced to play before nine o’clock. Laverdin, seeing the damage which it did, rode towards his general and cried out, while still some distance off: ‘Sir, we are losing by waiting: we must open up.’ The response was: ‘Monsieur the Marshal speaks the truth.’ He returned at a gallop to his place, gave the word and charged.

“On the other side, the King of Navarre having had prayer offered throughout the army, some began to sing the Hundred-and-eighteenth Psalm: ‘This is the happy day.’ Many Catholics of the White-Cap cried out loudly enough to be heard: ‘S’Death! They are trembling, the poltroons; they are making confession.’ Vaux, lieutenant of Belle-garde, who had more frequently rubbed knees with these people and who alone rallied for the combat, said to the Duke: ‘Sir, when the Huguenots take this figure, they are ready to lay on with a will.’ ” And some hours later the victory was theirs.

But this same song, “This is the happy day”, has sustained the Calvinists in other combats, more dangerous, more difficult. It is heroic to cast ourselves at a gallop without fear into the midst of the battle. It is more heroic, laid on a bed of agony, to receive, calm and smiling, the assault of the last enemy which man has to conquer on this earth. Such a hero, the author whose narrative we have just read showed himself. His widow relates: “Two hours before his death, he said with a joyful countenance and a mind peaceable and content, ‘This is the happy day’.” There is something more heroic still. Listen! Far from the excitement of the combat, unsustained by the affections and care of friends, face to face with the mob howling with rage and hate, on the scaffold, at the foot of the gallows, here are the martyrs of the eighteenth century, — the Louis Rancs, the Frangois Benezets, the Frangois Rochettes,' — who, with their glorious souls, raise towards the heavens where their Saviour listens to them, the song of triumph: “This is the happy day!”

The Psalms in the heart of the Bible were at the heart of Biblical worship as envisioned and practiced by John Calvin. To join with him in singing such praise to God — oh, this is the happy day!

Histories of the Westminster Assembly

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Among the writings of American Presbyterians at Log College Press, we have several significant historical studies of the Westminster Assembly and its members.

  • James Reid, Memoirs of the Lives and Writings of Those Eminent Divines, Who Convened in the Famous Assembly at Westminster, in the Seventeenth Century, Vol. 1 (1811) and Vol. 2 (1815)

  • Thomas Smyth - The History, Character, and Results of the Westminster Assembly of Divines (1844)

  • Charles Augustus Briggs - The Documentary History of the Westminster Assembly (1880)

  • William Wirt Henry, Sr. - The Westminster Assembly: The Events Leading Up to It, Personnel of the Body, and Its Method of Work - An Address (1897)

  • Presbyterian Church in the United States - Memorial Volume of the Westminster Assembly (1897)

  • William Henry Roberts, ed. - Addresses at the Celebration of the Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Westminster Assembly (1898)

  • John Moffatt Mecklin - The Personnel of the Westminster Assembly (1898)

  • John DeWitt - The Place of the Westminster Assembly in Modern History (1898)

  • Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield - The Making of the Westminster Confession (1901) and The Westminster Assembly and Its Work (1908)

One enduring classic history of the Westminster Assembly was published in 1843 by the Scottish Presbyterian William Maxwell Hetherington. But the first such history published by anyone (so far as this writer knows) was published two years prior - by an American Presbyterian, Archibald Alexander: A History of the Westminster Assembly of Divines (1841).

As far as we know, no history of the Assembly has ever been separately written….The compiler of the following history has now indicated the sources from which he has derived his materials. He puts in no claim to original research: if he deserves any credit, it is merely for collecting and arranging what he found scattered in the authors named. For many years he sought for information on this subject, with but little success. He has found the same complaint of a want of information, and a desire to obtain it, in many persons; especially in young ministers, and candidates for the ministry, which induced him to undertake the labour of collecting, under suitable heads, such information as was accessible to him; and if it should prove unsatisfactory to some, whose knowledge is more extensive, yet he is persuaded that it will supply a desideratum to many, who will be gratified with the particulars which he has been able to collect.

As James I. Helm wrote in a review of Hetherington and Alexander’s works in 1843, “It is somewhat remarkable that two centuries should have elapsed before any separate history of the Westminster Assembly was given to the public” (The Biblical Repertory and Princeton Review vol. 15, no. 4 , October 1843, p. 561).

These studies help to shine a light on a most important time and place in church history. The legacy of the Westminster Assembly and the standards it produced and the men who contributed so much to the well-being of the Church constitute a story that was overdue for the telling in 1841, and remains a story worth getting to know here in the 21st century. Check out these fascinating studies and learn more about the Westminster Assembly and its rich spiritual legacy.

Chaney's Planetarium

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James McDonald Chaney (1831-1909) was a Presbyterian minister best-known for authoring William the Baptist. This fictional dialogue between an immersionist and a Presbyterian minister remains a classic presentation of the Biblical view of baptism.

Chaney, James McDonald photo.gif

However, Chaney was a man of varied interests. Besides William the Baptist and its sequel, Agnes, Daughter of William the Baptist, or The Young Theologian, he wrote other works of science fiction, such as Poliopolis and Polioland, or A Trip to the North Pole (1900) and Mac or Mary, or The Young Scientists (1900) [these works are not yet available at Log College Press, although the former can be read online here].

Moreover - in the vein of John Calvin who wrote “Let us mark well Job's intent here is to teach us to be astronomers, so far as our capacity will bear… [for] God intends to make us astronomers, so far as each man’s capacity will bear it” (Sermon 33 on Job 9:7-15) - Chaney invented a small-scale planetarium. It is described for us here in an 1896 publication.

Source: The Observer (March 1896), p. 123.

Source: The Observer (March 1896), p. 123.

A “greatly improved” edition of this planetarium is pictured in another journal the following year.

Source: Popular Science (January 1897), p. vi.

Source: Popular Science (January 1897), p. vi.

It is not known by this writer whether any of Chaney’s planetariums still exist. But his love of science remains an inspiration to those who heed the counsel of Ovid, as quoted by John Calvin: “While other animals look downwards towards the earth, he gave to man a lofty face, and bade him look at heaven, and lift up his countenance erect towards the stars” (Calvin’s commentary on Isaiah 40:26).

The kingdom of Christ will live forever! - Samuel Miller

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It was on September 29, 1813, that Dr. Samuel Miller was inaugurated as Professor of Ecclesiastical History and Church Government at Princeton Theological Seminary. His inaugural discourse was never published, but it was summarized briefly by his son in The Life of Samuel Miller, Vol. 1 (pp. 358-359).

That address was known as a Sketch of the Characters and Opinions of Some of the More Conspicuous Witnesses for the Truth During the Dark Ages. Perhaps one day this discourse, which resides in manuscript form at the Princeton Theological Seminary Archives, and which needs further editing, as Miller himself acknowledged in a letter, will be published after all. We are given a taste to whet our appetite for it with these powerful lines as recorded by Dr. Miller’s son:

Paul is no more! Claudius is no more! Wickliffe, Luther, Calvin, are gone! But the kingdom of Christ did not die with them! It still lives; and it will live forever!

His son observes that we are hereby taught not to despair or be discouraged, even in troublous and perilous times. God has his faithful witnesses even in the darkest of periods, but whether times are good or bad, his kingdom endures through all. Jesus Christ reigns in both the midst of his enemies as well as his willing subjects (Psalm 110:1-3). Faithful witnesses we must be in whatever age of history we are called to serve, yet we are but servants of the Most High King, and the kingdom we serve will never disappear from the earth, but rather, as Miller himself once later preached in 1835, “the earth will be filled by the glory of God!”

The Translated and the Untranslated at Log College Press

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In 1812, on the occasion of the inauguration of Archibald Alexander as Professor of Didactic and Polemic Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary, Samuel Miller preached a memorable sermon titled The Duty of the Church to Take Measures for Providing An Able and Faithful Ministry in which he made an observation about the benefit of ministerial acquaintance with other languages besides English:

And here I will take occasion to remark, the great importance of a familiar acquaintance with the Latin language, to the Theologian. Although no part of scripture is written in that language, yet it is almost essentially necessary to pass through this vestibule, in order to arrive at the knowledge of any other ancient language; most valuable grammars and dictionaries being written in Latin: and almost all Theological works, not designed for the immediate use of the people, were composed in this language, prior to the middle of the last century, a very small portion of which have been translated into English. The course of theological study would indeed be very much circumscribed, if we were destitute of this key to unlock its rich treasures.

Samuel Davies had made a similar point about the importance of knowledge of languages in the previous century:

[Candidates] have acquir’d the Latin and Greek languages; studied Philosophy, particularly, Logic, Ontology, Pneumatology; and read sundry approven Systems of Theology, besides various Writings on particular important subjects; as, on Natural and Revealed Religion in Opposition to Atheism, Deism, &c. Most of them have learn’d Hebrew, and some of them read Physics and Ethics, or Natural and Moral Philosophy; besides what progress they made in sundry branches of Mathematics [The Impartial Trial, Impartially Tried, and Convicted of Partiality: in Remarks on Mr. Caldwell’s, alias Thornton’s Sermon Intituled, An Impartial Trial of the Spirit, &c. and the Preface of the Publisher in Virginia (Williamsburg, VA: W. Parks, 1748), 17, quoted in Joseph C. Harrod, Theology and Spirituality in the Works of Samuel Davies, p. 37].

James W.C. Pennington (the fugitive blacksmith slave who became a Presbyterian minister), though denied admittance to Yale Divinity School and only permitted to silently audit courses, famously taught himself Greek and Latin, and was described by a contemporary as an able German scholar as well, showing how motivated he was to learn languages to aid his work for the kingdom of Christ.

An able (educated) and faithful Presbyterian ministry has proved to be a multilingual blessing to the Church. Here at Log College Press we have noticed some of the fruits of these language skills. Many of the writers here have translated works from other languages into English, while others have written in languages besides English, including dictionaries and grammars for students. Some of the work, particularly by missionaries, involved pioneering cross-cultural communication. In today’s post, we will attempt to survey some of these linguistic efforts.

Translations

  • Archibald Alexander translated from Latin into English (and slightly abridged) the 1675 inaugural discourse of Herman Witsius on The Character of the Genuine Theologian;

  • James Waddel Alexander translated The Annunciation of Messiah to Our First Parents by Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg and a portion of Jules Michelet’s memoirs of Martin Luther, both from German into English;

  • Elias Boudinot translated the Gospel of Matthew into Cherokee;

  • Abraham Rezeau Brown translated the Memoirs of Augustus Hermann Francke and an article On the Song of Solomon from German into English;

  • Stephen Foreman translated the Gospel of Luke into Cherokee;

  • Stephen Return Riggs translated much of the Bible into the Dakota language, and John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress, as well as other works;

  • Benjamin Breckrinridge Warfield translated Émile Doumergue’s 1909 discourse on Music in the Work of Calvin from French into English;

  • John Leighton Wilson translated the Gospel of Matthew into Grebo (1838);

  • Samuel Isett Woodbridge, Sr. translated The Golden-Horned Dragon King; or, The Emperor’s Visit to the Spirit World (1895), The Mystery of the White Snake: A Legend of Thunder Peak Tower (1896), and China’s Only Hope: An Appeal by Her Greatest Viceroy, Chang Chih-Tung, with the Sanction of the Present Emperor, Kwang Su (1900) from Chinese into English;

  • Julia McNair Wright translated Romain Kalbris: His Adventures By Sea and Shore by Hector Malot from French to English.

It is also especially worthy of note that one of the most significant translation works ever accomplished was George Musgrave Giger’s translation of Francis Turretin’s Institutes of Elenctic Theology. Although this particular work is not available at Log College Press, the author is represented here. Prior to Giger’s translation of these volumes, James Renwick Willson had translated Turretin on the Atonement of Christ (1817, 1859).

Also worthy of note are the discourses by Jean-Henri Merle d'Aubigné appended to Robert Baird’s memoir of the author. Included are translations by M.M. Backus and Thomas Smith Grimké (uncle of Francis James Grimké Fresh translations of most of these discourses from the French into English were later made by his son Charles Washington Baird.

Bilingual Dictionaries and Grammar Studies

  • James Curtis Hepburn published A Japanese and English Dictionary (1867);

  • Robert McGill Loughridge published an English and Muskokee Dictionary (1890);

  • William McCutchan Morrison published Mukanda Wa Kuluida Muibidi (1904); Nsumuinu Yakambabo Kudi Jisus (1904); and a Grammar and Dictionary of the Buluba-Lulua Language as Spoken in the Upper Kasai and Congo Basin (1906);

  • Charles Henry Parkhurst published Analysis of the Latin Verb: Illustrated by the Forms of the Sanskrit (1870);

  • Stephen Return Riggs published The Dakota First Reading Book (1839) and a Grammar and Dictionary of the Dakota Language (1851)

  • John Leighton Wilson published A Grammar of the Mpongwe Language, With Vocabularies (1847), A Grammar of the Bakěľe Language, With Vocabularies (1854), and Heads of Mpongwe Grammar; Containing Most of the Principles Needed by a Learner (1879);

  • Samuel Brown Wylie published An Introduction to the Knowledge of Greek Grammar (1838).

The Untranslated

If the earth belongs to the Lord, how good it is when he is exalted in every language and his kingdom on earth strengthened by the translation of edifying literature into each language. American Presbyterian ministers and missionaries recognized the value of linguistic knowledge and translation work early on, and we see its value in many of the works at Log College Press that we find and make accessible to readers. We rejoice when linguistic barriers to the spread of the gospel are overcome. May God be glorified in every language and by every tongue!

Autograph Manuscripts at Log College Press

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Recently, Reformation Heritage Books has published a transcription of notes taken by Charles Hodge during lectures on Systematic Theology delivered by Archibald Alexander. Those handwritten notes can be found on their respective pages. The transcription collaboration by Travis Fentiman and James M. Garretson and others is titled God, Creation, and Human Rebellion: Lectures Notes of Archibald Alexander from the Hand of Charles Hodge and is available for purchase here.

It is worth noting that a growing segment of the content available at Log College Press consists of such handwritten autograph manuscripts. Recently, we have uploaded some additions which we wanted to let readers know about.

  • Samuel Davies, annotations on portions of the New Testament;

  • Minutes of Hanover Presbytery, Vol. 1 (1755-1769), Vol. 2 (1769-1785), Vol. 3 (1786-1795), Vol. 4 (1796-1804);

  • Charles Hodge, Journal of European Travels (1827-1828);

  • Charles Colcock Jones, Sr., Charge (n.d.) [this is a handwritten document of 35 pages intended as a guide for newly ordained Presbyterian officers]; and three volumes of handwritten sermons covering 1840-1842, 1843-1845 and 1844-1855;

  • Brief Historical Sketches (1793/1858) of Bethel Presbyterian Church, White Hall, Maryland by George Luckey and George Morrison, Jr.;

  • Jonathan Parsons, Notebook of Handwritten Sermons (1727-1772);

  • 94 handwritten sermons by Ebenezer Pemberton, Jr. from the period from the 1740s to the 1770s;

  • James W.C. Pennington, Letter to Amos Augustus Phelps dated Feb. 26, 1846 (sent from Jamaica) (1846);

  • Minutes of the Synod of Virginia, Vol. 1 (1788-1797), and Vol. 2 (1798-1806);

  • William Tennent, III: 1) Louisburgh Taken (1759) [poem on a major British victory in the French and Indian War]; 2) The Birth of Measures (1759) [poem]; 3) Strive to Enter In at the Straight Gate: A Sermon Preached at New York, January 20, 1765 (1765); 4) Speech on the Dissenting Petition, Delivered in the House of Assembly, Charleston, South Carolina, January 11, 1777 (1777); 5) Let Young Men Be Really Modest (n.d.); and 6) Some of the Blessings of Military Law, or, The Insolence of Governor Gage (n.d.); and

  • Diary of Moses Waddel in three parts: 1823-24 [handwritten], 1824-1826 [typed transcript] and 1826-1827 [handwritten].

As our content continues to grow, please check back with us to see what else is new. There are challenges involved in working through handwritten manuscripts from the 18th and 19th centuries - but also great rewards!

Remembering Robert Annan

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After having been thrown from his carriage the Sabbath before, Presbyterian minister Robert Annan went to his heavenly home on this day in history: December 5, 1819. One of the founding members of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church in 1782, he was also the author of one of the earliest American commentaries on the Westminster Confession of Faith.

A man of many interests, he carried on a debate through the newspapers under the pseudonym Philochorus with Benjamin Rush over the legitimacy of capital punishment (opposed by Rush). He also received a visit from George Washington once during the American War of Independence to discuss what were presumably mastodon bones found on Annan’s farm, an account of which Annan later published.

A leading force among the dissenting wing of colonial American Presbyterianism, Robert Annan is remembered two hundred years to the day that he entered his eternal rest.

There is wisdom in numbering our days - Amzi Armstrong

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Amzi Armstrong (1771-1827), father of George Dodd Armstrong (1813-1899), published two sermons in The New Jersey Preacher (1813). One of these sermons was based on the text from Psalm 90:12: “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” Titled “Wisdom Resulting From Numbering Days,” the elder Armstrong speaks to the importance of time well-spent, and warns about the folly of acting as though our time on this earth will last forever. There is a timelessness about such a message that makes it valuable to 21st century Christians as it was to his hearers in the early 19th century. We all have need of such reminders.

NONE of us expect to continue here forever. By unquestionable evidences we have been convinced, even from our early childhood, that the time will come when we must leave these earthly scenes, and, the number of our days being run out, we must lie down in death. Nor do any of us ever indulge the expectation that the period of our earthly cares and enjoyments will be lengthened out to an hundred years to come. Yet how little influence does this sure conviction usually have upon our thoughts and purposes.

It is an observation of an ancient sage, daily verified, that "though all men expect to die, and are looking for a state of existence beyond the grave; yet they are busy in providing for this life as though it were never to have an end, and for the life to come as though it were never to have its beginning."

How we ought to consider the importance of eternal concerns in priority over temporal concerns!

Whatever satisfaction and support the mind may derive from philosophical knowledge, in the present state of things; yet in the comparison of the present and the future, God has put such an immense difference between them, that all the best attainments of mere philosophy are but as the small dust of the balance against the weighty and all-important concerns of that which is to come. Would they bend the energies of their minds to knowledge with a view of applying it to the great concerns of that change, which must take place at death, and make it serve the purpose of preparing themselves, and helping to prepare others, for these vast and eternal concerns, their study and labor would then be turned to some good account. And if they were daily growing in the knowledge of God and of Christ, this would make life worth possessing. Let them once begin to number their days, and consider seriously the shortness and uncertainty of life, and the certainty and the solemnity of that great change that will take place at death, and they will soon perceive the vanity and unprofitableness of all that [knowledge], that helps not to prepare for these great events, and the necessity of applying their hearts to a truer wisdom, and more enduring knowledge.

Armstrong closes with an exhortation to those who do seek the Lord, and yet need such a reminder as this.

Let me now address an exhortation to such, as have obeyed the voice of wisdom, and have given themselves to seek and to serve the Lord. If you have done this in truth and sincerity, it is thus far well. But remember, you too have your appointed time, and God hath set bounds also to your days. If it behoves you to shew your love to God in the world, and to labor for the prosperity of religion, and for the salvation of your fellow men; if you would be well prepared for death, and fitted to enter on the joys on high; you have no time to lose — no days or hours to waste in trifling or unimportant purposes. The day is spending, and with some of you is already far spent. The night approaches. And your Saviour himself said, concerning his work on earth, "I must work the work of him that sent me while it is day; the night cometh, wherein no man can work." If you have any thing yet to accomplish, set about it without delay; and do that which thy hand findeth to do, with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave whither thou goest.

"So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." — AMEN.

Time is a precious gift. Read the full sermon here.

The Intercessor - a Poem in Benjamin Morgan Palmer's Book on Prayer

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In chapter five of the second part of Benjamin Morgan Palmer’s 1894 book on prayer, entitled Theology of Prayer as Viewed in the Religion of Nature and in the System of Grace, he writes of the connection between prayer and the intercession of Jesus Christ. It is a powerful examination both of the nature of the Son’s priestly work of intercession and the way our praying is stimulated by that heavenly work. Palmer concludes the chapter with what he calls “exquisite lines” - though the author of the lines was unknown to Palmer (a publication in 1872 noted that they were translated into English from German, and other sources attribute authorship to “E. Birrell”). Fan into flame your own prayers with the confidence of Christ’s ongoing ministry for you:

The Intercessor

Father, I bring this worthless child to thee,
To claim thy pardon once, yet once again.
Receive him at my hands, for he is mine.
He is a worthless child; he owns his guilt.
Look not on him; he cannot bear thy glance.
Look thou on me; his vileness I will hide.
He pleads not for himself, he dares not plead.
His cause is mine, I am his Intercessor.
By each pure drop of blood I lost for him,
By all the sorrows graven on my soul,
By every wound I bear, I claim it due.
Father divine! I cannot have him lost.
He is a worthless soul, but he is mine.
Sin hath destroyed him; sin hath died in me.
Death hath pursued him; I have conquer'd death.
Satan hath bound him; Satan is my slave.
My Father! hear him now—not him, but me.
I would not have him lost for all the world
Thou for my glory hast ordain’d and made,
Because he is a poor and contrite child,
And all, his every hope, on me reclines.
I know my children, and I know him mine
By all the tears he weeps upon my bosom,
By his full heart that beateth against mine;
I know him by his sighings and his prayers,
By his deep, trusting love, which clings to me.
I could not bear to see him cast away,
Weak as he is, the weakest of my flock,
The one that grieves me most, that loves me least.
I measure not my love by his returns,
And though the stripes I send to speed him home
Drive him upon the instant from my breast,
Still he is mine; I drew him from the world;
He has no right, no home, but in my love.
Though earth and hell against his soul conspire,
I shield him, keep him, save him; we are one.

Waldensian Presbyterians in North Carolina

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Named for Peter Waldo (c. 11140-1205), a proto-Reformer who looked to the Holy Scriptures to guide his faith and life, the Waldensians were a persecuted group of Christian believers who lived largely in the French and Italian Alps. They joined with the Reformation in 1532, but always retained a distinct identity within the Protestant wing of Christendom. Moved by their sufferings, John Milton wrote a tribute to their sufferings after a terrible tragedy in 1655.

On the Late Massacre in Piedmont

Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints, whose bones
Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold,
Even them who kept thy truth so pure of old,
When all our fathers worshiped stocks and stones;
Forget not: in thy book record their groans
Who were thy sheep and in their ancient fold
Slain by the bloody Piedmontese that rolled
Mother with infant down the rocks. Their moans
The vales redoubled to the hills, and they
To Heaven. Their martyred blood and ashes sow
O'er all th' Italian fields where still doth sway
The triple tyrant; that from these may grow
A hundredfold, who having learnt thy way
Early may fly the Babylonian woe.

They received religious freedom in 1848 after an Edict of Emancipation was issued by King Charles Albert of Sardinia. But after centuries of persecution, some Waldensians looked to America for a better life. A colony called Valdese was founded by them in western North Carolina in 1893. Other groups of Waldensians came and settled elsewhere in the United States, but this was and remains the largest such colony in North America.

Photo by R. Andrew Myers

Photo by R. Andrew Myers

The Waldensians of Valdese affiliated with the Southern Presbyterian Church (PCUS) in 1895. Construction began on a Romanesque-style church building in 1897 and it was completed and dedicated on July 4, 1899.

Photo by R. Andrew Myers.

Photo by R. Andrew Myers.

The early period of the congregation saw customs and practices largely unchanged from their experience in the Old Country. But, as their website notes,

Many customs brought from Italy were retained in the Church until 1921 when changes began, including:

  • The offering was collected in the pews during the service instead of at the door as the congregation departed.

  • The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper would be celebrated while the congregation remained seated in the pews, being waited on by elders. Formerly, partakers would present themselves at the altar two-by-two, drinking from the same cup, with the pastor reciting a different verse of Scripture to each person. Sometimes a verse particularly appropriate for that individual was used.

  • Men and women would no longer sit on opposite sides of the Church.

  • Previously, all services were conducted in French. Now one service each month was held in English. Gradually, English services replaced French and after 1941, all services were in English.

  • From June 1923, the Church minutes were to be recorded in English.

Photo by R. Andrew Myers.

Photo by R. Andrew Myers.

Two early pastors of the Waldensian community of Valdese who may be found on Log College Press include Henry (Enrico) Vinay (1856-1896), who served briefly from 1893 to 1894 before his also brief term as a missionary in California, and John Pons (1877-1944), who served twice as their pastor from 1907 to 1909 and from 1918 to 1925.

The Waldensian Heritage Museum, across the street from the church, has done much to keep alive the heritage of the Waldensians in North Carolina and around the world and offers tours which highlight an amazing collection of old Bibles, books, and other remarkable artifacts. A history of the Waldensians published by John Pons is available for purchase at the museum gift shop.

Historical portrayal of the interior of the Waldensian Presbyterian Church at the Waldensian Heritage Museum. Photo by R. Andrew Myers

Historical portrayal of the interior of the Waldensian Presbyterian Church at the Waldensian Heritage Museum. Photo by R. Andrew Myers

We hope to add more about this fascinating intersection of Reformation and American Presbyterian history to Log College Press in the future. Meanwhile, if you are ever in western North Carolina, be sure to stop at the church and museum and explore this rich heritage of faith.

Happy Thanksgiving from Log College Press!

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J.R. Miller in The Book of Comfort (1912) writes:

Thanksgiving implies thought of God. One may be glad all the day and never think of God. Thanksgiving looks up with every breath and sees God as Father from whom all blessings come. Thanksgiving is praise. The heart is full of gratitude. Every moment has something in it to inspire love. The lilies made Jesus think of his Father, for it was he who clothed them in beauty. The providence of our lives, if we think rightly of it, is simply God caring for us….He who has learned the Thanksgiving lesson well has found the secret of a beautiful life. "Praise is comely," says the Hebrew poet. Comely means fit, graceful, pleasing, attractive. Ingratitude is never comely. The life that is always thankful is winsome, ever a joy to all who know it. The influence of an ever-praising life on those it touches is almost divine. The way to make others good is to be good yourself. The way to diffuse a spirit of thanksgiving is to be thankful yourself. A complaining spirit makes unhappiness everywhere….Thanksgiving has attained its rightful place in us only when it is part of all our days and dominates all our experiences. We may call one day in the year Thanksgiving Day and fill it with song and gladness, remembering all the happy things we have enjoyed, all the pleasant events, all the blessings of our friendships, all our prosperities. But we cannot gather all our year's thanksgivings into any brightest day. We cannot leave to-day without thanks and then thank God to-morrow for to-day and to-morrow both. To-day's sunshine will not light to-morrow's skies. Every day must be a thanksgiving day for itself. (pp. 167, 170-172) HT: Dorothy Simpson

For your Thanksgiving reading pleasure, be sure to check out the full chapter in Miller’s book titled “The Thanksgiving Lesson.” Also, you may wish to peruse William Carlos Martyn’s classic The Pilgrim Fathers of New England: A History (1867). Earlier this year we shared a post about Presbyterian Timothy Alden, Jr. ‘s account of his Mayflower ancestor John Alden’s courtship of Priscilla Mullins. We have also written about an earlier Thanksgiving celebrated by the French Huguenots in Florida in 1564. Many Thanksgiving sermons can be read here.

Pilgrim Thanksgiving.jpg

We here at Log College Press are thankful to God for the men and women of faith who have gone before us, and left us with such a rich legacy that our generation is able to rediscover through the blessings of technology. We are thankful that God has not left us without a witness to his faithfulness from generation to generation. We are thankful for the team of contributors who help Log College Press to bring the writings of earlier generations to the eyes and ears of the modern world. We are thankful for all of our readers, and all the kind expressions of support which we have received. Thank you all, and Happy Thanksgiving!

A Week in Log College Country

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An ordinary traveller passing along the turnpike that winds southward through the county of Bucks in Pennsylvania would take no particular interest in a certain empty field lying on his left; but were he a lover of history he would stop short and gaze earnestly, for in the middle of a potato-patch, just where a knoll rises, stood once the structure that has become famous to posterity as the Log College.

So begins a fascinating account of “A Week in Log College Country” by Charles Spencer Richardson, Jr. which appeared in The Nassau Literary Magazine (April 1903). Drawn to the same history which inspires us here at Log College Press, Richardson tells the story of William Tennent, Sr. and his famous academy. Moreover, he recounts how he came to hold in his hands the original 1735 deed to the property upon which the Log College stood, as well as Tennent’s 1746 last will and testament and the inventory of his goods which was taken after his death.

The sun was touching the hills when I drove on down the turnpike and stopped before a large, colonial house in the village of Hatborough. An elderly lady answered my ring and in response to the query whether she knew of any documents connected with the Tennant property, said that there were some old papers in the garret but that she had not examined them. She soon returned with several musty, yellow parchments which she gave to me with the remark that they were of no possible benefit to herself….In a foot note to his History of the Neshaminy Church, written about 1850, the Rev. D. K. Turner mentions the documents, but for over half a century they have lain untouched in the attic of the Carrell house and owing to the fact that they are of parchment, they are as legible as on the day when they were written, one hundred and sixty-eight years ago.

The memory of William Tennent and the Log College has been kept alive by many — and especially today by the William Tennent House Association. But the story of a drive through Bucks County, Pennsylvania over a century ago and what Richardson learned and discovered on that trip, makes for fascinating reading today for those who treasure the heritage of the first American Presbyterian theological seminary. That story, along with the documents mentioned, can be read here.

The Alexander Memorial

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On April 29, 1879, a dedication ceremony took place at the Miller Chapel at Princeton University, New Jersey. Memorial tablets were installed to honor the legacy of six men, leaders of Princeton Theological Seminary, who served the Church of Christ with distinction. It was a solemn dedication but also a celebration.

Source: Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, May 17, 1879, p. 177.

Source: Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, May 17, 1879, p. 177.

The six men honored were: 1) Archibald Alexander (1772-1851); 2) James Waddel Alexander (1804-1859); 3) Joseph Addison Alexander (1809-1860); 4) Samuel Miller (1769-1850); 5) John Breckinridge (1797-1841); and 6) Charles Hodge (1797-1878).

Source: Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, May 17, 1879, p. 177.

Source: Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, May 17, 1879, p. 177.

A book was subsequently published which is known as The Alexander Memorial (1879), which included addresses delivered on this special occasion by William Maxwell Patton on Archibald Alexander; Theodore Ledyard Cuyler on James W. Alexander; and William Cassady Cattell on Joseph Addison Alexander. This work is not currently available on Log College Press, but it is a treasure that highlights the legacy of these luminaries from the Alexander family.

Paxton speaks of Archibald thus:

These tablets, as I understand them, put honor not only upon the names which they bear, but also upon the Alumni of Princeton Seminary.

They tell to the world how much we loved these men, and simply to love such men is our highest praise.

Archibald Alexander needs no tablet to perpetuate his name. There is his monument. Princeton Seminary is the record of his fame. He projected it, cradled it, nurtured it. He chose and gathered around him the honored associates who helped him make it what it is. He watched over it for forty years. He commenced with three students, and lived to see the Seminary in its full grown maturity, its class-rooms crowded with one hundred and sixty candidates for the ministry. As long as the fame of Princeton Seminary endures, the name of Archibald Alexander will not be forgotten.

Cuyler spoke of James Waddel:

James W. Alexander lived on earth fifty-five years — every one of them busy to the brim. To condense them into ten minutes is like an attempt to cut Westminster Abbey on a cameo….Dr. Alexander was not only an accomplished Professor, and a most affluent preacher of the Word; he was also a voluminous author. He put more thoughts into type than any man who has ever lived in Princeton.

Cattell spoke of Addison:

“Taking him all in all,” said his life-long colleague — that great master upon whose memorial tablet, in our recent sorrow, we look with moistened eyes to-day, and who knew what greatness was — “taking him all in all,” said Dr. Charles Hodge, “he was certainly the most gifted man with whom I have ever been personally acquainted.”

Each of these men have bequeathed a legacy to the modern Church by not only the example of their personal piety, but also through their many edifying writings. We continue to build our own memorial tablets, as it were, to the Alexanders and others by adding their works to their respective pages. In the last week alone, 15 writings by James have been added. Be sure to explore these pages and benefit from the spiritual legacy of these honorable men.

Archibald Alexander
James Waddel Alexander
Joseph Addison Alexander
Samuel Miller
John Breckinridge
Charles Hodge

A Sabbath sermon preached 150 years ago by J.R. Hutchison

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Among the memoirs of John Russell Hutchison (1807-1878), published as Reminiscences, Sketches and Addresses Selected From My Papers During a Ministry of Forty-Five Years in Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas (1874), is a sermon preached just over 150 years ago at Hempstead, Texas in October 1869 titled simply The Sabbath.

“Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” — Exodus 20:8. The observance of the Sabbath is essential to the spread of Christianity, and to its transmission from one age to another. The Sabbath is the centre of the system, the keystone of the arch. Without it, the Gospel would have no opportunity of exerting its benign influences upon the masses, of giving forth, in public assemblies, its loud and solemn utterances of warning and instruction.

After showing the antiquity of the Sabbath institution, and that it precedes the birth of the Jewish nation, Hutchison goes on to explain further why the Sabbath is of universal and binding application, and not merely a ceremonial and obsolete law.

We base the perpetual obligation of the Sabbath, not merely upon its institution in Paradise, its recognition among all the nations of antiquity, and its incorporation into the Jewish economy, but mainly on the fact of its constituting a prominent part of the ten commandments. Hence, all who admit the universal and perpetual obligation of the Decalogue, must admit the equally binding nature of the Sabbath.

For if the Sabbath was merely ceremonial, serving a temporary purpose, and then passing away, like other temporary rites of the old dispensation, why should it occupy such a prominent place in that code of laws designed by God to be binding on the whole human race? Why is it found there at all? Why select it from the number of the merely temporary ordinances of the Mosaic economy, and place it so conspicuously in the very centre of that eternal compendium of moral duties, given for the government of the whole world? The fact of its being found where it is decides the question. And there is something in the peculiar position which this command occupies in the Decalogue, and the language in which it is couched, which renders it the most remarkable precept of the entire ten. It is the longest commandment. It is the most minute and specific in its language, carefully enumerating a large number of particulars. It is located in the very heart of the code, between the two tables of the law — the first embracing our duties to God, the second our duties to man. And because this precept partakes of the nature of both tables, and enjoins duties to both God and man, it is placed between both. It is the golden clasp which binds the two tables together; and whoever would take it away, breaks the clasp and mars the whole. For he robs God of his worship and man of his rest. The fact, then, of the law of the Sabbath being found in the Decalogue, settles the question under discussion. And mankind have no more right to violate or ignore its requirements, than they have to set aside the law respecting idolatry, or murder, or theft, or filial insubordination, or conjugal infidelity.

There are civil and temporal benefits to adhering to the day of rest, which God has commanded, and great troubles follow when the day of rest is not kept, as Hutchison tells us. The Sabbath is truly intended as a mercy to mankind, and the means by which both bodies and souls are cared for in accordance with the design of God.

Be entreated then, to “Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy.” This is the day the Lord hath made. He calls the hours his own. Remember it, for it comes to rest the weary laborer, to calm the fevered brow of the anxious merchant. Remember it, for it is the type of heaven—of that rest which remaineth for the people of God. Remember it, for God wrote it with his own finger upon tables of stone, and proclaimed it, amid thunderings and lightning and earthquakes, from the summit of Mount Sinai.

The Sabbath rest is both a command and a blessing, which reminds us of that which our Lord and Savior tells his disciples, ie., that his yoke is easy and his burden is light (Matt. 11:30). The command to keep the Sabbath day holy, far from being a burden, is truly a delight (Isa. 58:13). Read Hutchison’s full sermon here, and may the words of a 150-year old sermon remind us that the day of rest remains for the people of God.

The Government of God Over Nations: James W.C. Pennington

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The sovereignty of God over all nations was a Biblical doctrine of great comfort and practical value to the fugitive blacksmith-turned-Presbyterian minister, James W.C. Pennington (1807-1870). In 1856, he preached a sermon based on Psalm 22:28.

“All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord; and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee. For the kingdom is the Lord’s; and He is the Governor among the nations.”

In the text from our Saviour’s own lips the subject is completed in every point of view. God the Father is not only declared to be Lord of Heaven and earth, but certain acts are ascribed to Him which indicate the effectiveness of His sovereignty over all nations.

Pennington teaches us from this text that the principle of God’s sovereignty over all the nations is one of great importance:

That God administers a supreme, holy, just, and all-powerful government over all the nations of the earth, including all creatures and things, both animate and inanimate, is a truth of profound interest to the Christian.

Further, Pennington takes a position that is rarely heard today from the pulpit: God is the ruler of not only individuals, but also nations.

Nations, as moral persons, are amenable to God as our moral Governor….The same God who is governor over nations, is also governor over individuals.

Thus, as the moral Governor of the universe, we may look to him to right wrongs, and to comfort the oppressed.

But to all this we may add the declaration in the text: — He is the governor among the nations.” He governs all the nations. His eye is in all places beholding the evil and the good. His ear hears and understands every language an speech beneath the sun. His superintending hand is in all national matters. He has to do with the Throne, and with the Chair of State, the Bench, the Bar, and the Jury Box.— The hearts of all men are in His hands and he turns them as the rivers of water are turned. The minds of all men are in His hands. He can control the thinking powers. He can communicate His own mind unto men. He can fasten conviction upon the souls of men.

In all his operations as our moral governor He has in view the best welfare of nations.

These truths comforted and animated the Hebrews under bondage in Egypt, slaves such as Pennington in the United States, and should be a source of comfort and strength to all Christians everywhere in all times. No matter what wrongs seem to prevail for a time, the God who truly governs among the kingdoms of the earth will hear the cry of the oppressed, and will cause justice to roll down like a river (Amos 5:24) as well as leaves to bring healing to the nations (Rev. 22:2).

Log College Press Roundup - November 18, 2019

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November 2019 has been a busy month at Log College Press. On the heels of our release of Thomas Smyth’s The Mission of Parenting: Raising Children Who Love the Mission of God in October, as well as Gardiner Spring’s Letter to a Young Clergyman as a PDF tract, another new publication is now available: Alexander McLeod’s Messiah, Governor of the Nations of the Earth. We are very excited about these new releases, it is our prayer that they will be a blessing to the 21st century church, as they were to the church of the 19th century.

Meanwhile, since November 1st, many new authors and works have been added to the website. Some have been suggested or provided by our good friend Wayne Sparkman of the PCA Historical Center. Consider the following:

New Authors Added:

Select New Titles Added:

We are always seeking to grow and build on the vision that we have to make early American Presbyterian writers and their primary works more accessible, more available to readers who share our passion for this rich heritage. Check out some of these authors and their writings, and keep checking in to see what’s new. And, as always, thank you for your interest and support!

Songs in the Night: Joseph S. Van Dyke

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God has given us “songs in the night” (Job 35:10) to sing for our encouragement in the midst of darkness. Joseph Smith Van Dyke explains how the Scriptures, and especially the Psalms, are a great source of comfort to believers in the midst of affliction in a volume titled Be of Good Cheer.

Songs have marvelous power over human hearts. Rendering us forgetful of the miseries that environ us, they bear us on wings of hope to a celestial sphere, making us in spirit the companions of angels. Out of earth's worries up through the arches of the invisible they seem to waft us into an ecstasy of delight.

If songs are needed we may conclude that they have been given. Our Father has made provision for supplying our needs. Food needed: food furnished. Fuel needed: fuel supplied. Immortality coveted: immortality an inheritance of which even Satan cannot rob us. Rest ardently longed for: "There remaineth a rest to the people of God." Man desires wealth as the means of procuring future happiness. God enables him to lay up "enduring riches and righteousness in heaven"; and his greed for earthly possessions may be the perversion of a laudable desire. Have we, then, any reason to doubt whether God will sing songs in our nights? He can readily furnish a song. He can teach us to sing. He can produce such a measure of cheerfulness as shall prompt us to give expression to our joyousness.

Who giveth songs? God, our Maker. If the song is given by him who created the soul, who is the Master Musician, who covets its music, who proffers us the opportunity of singing "the song of Moses and the Lamb," then may we be sure that the song will soothe our hearts and inspire undying hopes.

To whom are these songs given? To all who are able to say, "God, my Maker." None are so despondent that their Maker cannot inspire the spirit which will prompt them to sing. None are so girt round by temptation that the Almighty cannot give them a song of deliverance. None have attained such heights of goodness that they do not need a song of praise to the mercy of God. Songs for all, for those of a melancholy temperament and for those of a cheerful, for those who are hopeful and for those who are despairing, for those who are on the hill-top, and for those who are in the valley.

"Songs in the night." The sweetness of a song is enhanced by the time in which it is sung. It has increased inspiration as it comes through the stillness and darkness of the night. Whispering of a time when life's shadows shall be succeeded by noonday, it awakens life, love, sympathy and hope. Songs in the night of poverty, in the night of failing health, in the night of remorse, in the night of affliction, in the night produced by the waywardness of loved ones — in every night however intense the darkness, and however numerous the clouds which produce it.

It ought to be to us a source of joy that our Father wears a title so significant, "He who giveth songs in the night"; for nights come to all, brief to some, reaching down to the grave of others. As the measure of darkness which, in the absence of the sun, comes to each is dependent upon conditions, so the amount of trial which comes to anyone is determined in measure by his surroundings. Hence, we are not fitted to estimate accurately the poignancy of the griefs that come to others' hearts. There are fountains of anguish upon which our eyes are not permitted to gaze. Some springs empty their waters through visible channels, some through invisible, some have no outlet, and their waters become bitter. One conceals his grief; another pours his tale of woe into every listening ear.

Each name and each phrase by which our Maker is designated produces its own impression on the soul. When we think of him as The First Cause, The Infinite, The Ultimate of all Ultimates, we are filled with awe. When we contemplate him as The Just and Holy One, the source of authority, the center of excellency, the fountain of goodness, the judge before whom all must appear, we are prompted to bow at his footstool and exclaim, "God be merciful to me a sinner." When we meditate upon his eternity, omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, immutability, we are forced to ask, "Who can understand the Almighty unto perfection?" If we pause to think of him as making provision for man's redemption, as inviting wanderers to accept forgiveness, as proffering endless joy without money and without price, gratitude is prompted to whisper in accents of prayer, "May Christ dwell in our hearts by faith; that we being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge." When we regard him as a companion of earth's sojourners to the beyond, as lifting up those who have fallen by the way, as reviving the faint, refreshing the weary and singing songs of joy during nights of sorrow, we are swathed in emotions which language is incapable of expressing. There is no season of perplexity, no night of grief, no period of gloom in which He is not ready to give needed comfort.

Are the burdens which poverty entails depressing the spirits? For this night God has given songs. If we were to expunge from the Bible the passages which contain comfort for the needy we should find the character of the book changed to no inconsiderable extent. Indeed, abundant is the encouragement given to this class of persons. Consequently the Gospel has won its greatest triumphs among those who were poor in the things of this world, but "rich in faith towards God." Nor need we marvel at this, for the Saviour addressed them with tenderness. Not only in the New Testament, but as well in the Old, we find messages to the poor. In the 68th Psalm we read, "Thou, O God, hast prepared of thy goodness for the poor." It cannot be said that God has not provided for the poor till it has been proved that all the possible products of the soil, judiciously distributed and savingly used, are insufficient for the maintenance of all.

In things spiritual, as well as in things temporal, God "hath provided of his goodness for the poor." In their spiritual welfare Christ was interested. To them He spoke with tenderness. In their homes He displayed His power. From them He gathered disciples. His apostles were fishermen. For the poor it is comparatively easy to realize the fact that worship is with the heart, not with costly raiment and glittering diamonds, not with gold and incense, not with ceremonies and genuflections. When the poor man hears God's voice demanding homage, he knows that the demand means, "Give me thy heart"; for he has little or nothing else to give. It is also easier for him to cultivate a spirit of dependence upon God than it is for those who have tutored themselves to rely in all things upon efforts of their own. Are we not justified then in saying that those who form the purpose of becoming religious after they have acquired wealth would do well to remember that those who are without piety in the season of poverty are likely to be destitute thereof in the day of prosperity? If he does not covet God's presence in the cottage, why should he flatter himself that he will implore the forgiveness of sin if he is permitted to reside in a mansion? He ought to find no difficulty in believing that the agriculturist at the plow, the mechanic at the bench, the lawyer at the bar, the merchant at the counter, and the housekeeper at her occupations, may not only grow in the graces of the Spirit but are especially well situated to exemplify practical Christianity.

I need do little more than remind you that in the night produced by failing health, God giveth songs. He who feeds the ravens, clothes the lilies, counts the hairs of our heads, and notes the falling of a sparrow, will furnish a song for those who find the earthly house of their tabernacle crumbling to decay. To them, the word of the apostle may have special sweetness, "We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." "These light afflictions which are but for a moment shall work out for me a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."

Those who are filled with forebodings in reference to the future of human society ought to observe the footsteps of God in the history of the world. Having done this they ought to have no difficulty in believing in human progress. The world is working upwards to a higher form of civilization. Religion is becoming more intelligent and more general. It is true, disheartenment may temporarily weigh down the soul as one gazes upon ignorance, superstition, bigotry, cruelty, duplicity and unreasonableness. We should bear in mind, however, that Christ is risen and his resurrection is a pledge of the triumph of truth. To Him The Father has said, "I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." The sea of human society may continue to heave and foam and hiss for centuries to come, but He who calmed the waters of Lake Gennesaret will quiet its billows in his own time. Wars shall cease. Idols shall crumble to dust. Superstitions shall perish. Cruelty shall give place to kindness. "The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea."

To such as have a night produced by a sense of personal sinfulness, our Father sings songs whose sweetness is unparalleled. In Isaiah we read, "I will pardon their iniquities:" "Come, now, let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." So abundant in Scripture is the testimony to God's willingness to forgive sin that the penitent ought to have no difficulty in catching the notes of pardoning mercy. The Psalmist exclaims, "Bless the Lord O my soul and forget not all his benefits: who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingness and tender mercies." "There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayst be feared."

I need do no more than remind you of the Saviour's song of pardoning mercy, "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest."

In affliction — one of the departments of God's training school — the listening ear can catch a song which is fitted to produce cheerfulness and resignation. Nor will it be difficult to discover those who, taught by experience, are ready to testify, not only to the sweetness of the songs their Maker gives, but to the fact that the sweetness is enhanced by drawing near the hand that holds the rod. If burdens drive us to him, if human enmity induces us to seek divine love, if waves of adversity prompt us to rest on his bosom, we may succeed in cultivating such a measure of resignation as shall enable us to thank him for whatever He sends — most, perhaps, for the severe. Forth from the fire the tried ones come purified, chanting the songs taught them in the furnace. A mother, bending over her babe and imprinting kisses which elicit no answering smile, is heard whispering between sobs, "The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord:" "It shall not return to me but I shall go to it." Or, in an apartment whose stillness is oppressive stands one whom we imagined no grief could unnerve. Lo! crushed in spirit, he is endeavoring to learn the song which his Father is repeating to him, "As thy day thy strength shall be:" "My grace is sufficient for thee :" "My strength is made perfect in weakness:" "These light afflictions . . . shall work out a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory:" "If ye suffer with me ye shall also reign with me." Experiences of bereavement are so common, however, and songs fitted to produce resignation are so numerous, and occasions which furnish for them avenues to the soul are so many, that I need do no more than remind you that no matter how deep the gloom of sorrow's night, our Maker can furnish comfort. Why then should man be less cheerful than the bird which in winter sings its carol though its mate lies buried in the snow and no crumb is obtainable. May we not sing with the Psalmist, "This is my comfort in my [present] affliction, that Thy word hath quickened me" — hath in past afflictions revived my spirit.

How we may imitate Christ in His universal charity to all men - Ebenezer Pemberton

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Ebenezer Pemberton, Jr. (1705-1777) was a leading American Puritan of the colonial era. His father preached at the Old South Church (Congregational) in Boston, Massachusetts. Our Ebenezer was affiliated with the Presbyterian Church for the first half of his ministerial career and then returned to his father’s church in 1753. He served as chair of the New York Board of the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge, preached the ordination sermons for both David and John Brainerd. Recently, we have added over 90 autograph manuscript sermons by him to Log College Press. Many of these, but not all, were written in shorthand. They cover the time period between the 1740s and 1770s. With remarkable penmanship, we can get a glimpse of the ministerial labors of a remarkable preacher.

From another source (not found on Log College Press at present) we take note of a passage from a sermon he preached from Philippians 2:5 titled “The Duty of Imitating the Example of Christ” (The Puritan Pulpit: Ebenezer Pemberton, Soli Deo Gloria Publications, 2006, pp. 103-105). In the tradition of Thomas à Kempis and The Imitation of Christ, and John Calvin, who sought to guide Christians in the right manner of imitating our Saviour while avoiding superstitious abuses of the principle, Pemberton’s sermon covers various aspects of how Christians ought to follow Christ’s example. One of these consists in how we ought to imitate Christ in regards to his relationship to all men.

We must imitate the example of Christ in His universal charity and kindness to men. This is indeed beyond a parallel, and what can never be fully imitated by any of the children of men. His whole life upon earth was one continued act of the most generous and disinterested love to the most base and unworthy objects. The gospel history everywhere abounds with astonishing instances of His grace and benignity to mankind.

It was love that brought him down from the bright realms of eternal day and fixed His abode for a time in this miserable and benighted world. This animated Him continually to go about doing good to the souls and bodies of men, instructing the ignorant, comforting the sorrowful, healing the sick, and supplying the wants of the poor and needy. This carried Him through a scene of the most distressing sorrows and afflictions in His life, and at last humbled Him to the dust of death and nailed Him to the cursed tree as an expiatory sacrifice for the sins of the world. This is such an instance of love as exceeds the power of love to describe, and the utmost stretch of our imagination to conceive of the height and depth, the length and breadth. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). “But herein God commended His love toward us, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). It is the manner of men to place their affections upon those they apprehend to be the most agreeable and deserving objects; and it is the highest instance of human love to die for a friend. But this is the transcendent excellency of the love of Christ, that it was placed upon the most base and unlovely part of the creation. He laid down His life for His very enemies, who had renounced His sacred authority and were in open rebellion against His laws.

This is certainly a most surprising and unusual pattern of love, and should powerfully dispose us to the most extensive charity and benevolence to our fellow creatures. This is the inference made by St. John, the beloved disciple: “If God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.” For this end the example of Christ is frequently proposed for our imitation, and we are solemnly enjoined to copy it. “This is My commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you” (John 13:34). Nay, He makes it the distinguishing badge of His followers, and the necessary character of His genuine disciples: “By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye love one another.” And what stronger obligations can we be under to this excellent duty, what more powerful motives can be set before us to engage us to the practice of it, than the positive command of our Master and Lord, and the noble example of Him who has given us so many expensive evidences of His wonderful kindness and love.

Remembering a prince in Israel who served His King

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Archibald Alexander Hodge, son of Charles Hodge, entered into glory on this day in history, November 12, 1886. As husband, father, pastor, missionary, professor, and author - A.A. Hodge did much to contribute to the advancement of the kingdom of Christ during his 63 years on earth.

Today, we remember one strand of his thought in particular concerning how the state ought to relate to both Christ and the Church. This was an important topic to him, which he developed in several of his writings. From one recent addition to Log College Press — provided graciously by our friend Dr. Wayne Sparkman of the PCA Historical Center — we take note of Hodge’s understanding of these relations in the American context.

Hodge delivered an annual address before the Presbyterian Historical Society, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1878. This speech was soon made into a tract by the Christian Statesman, an organ of the National Reform Association, of which Hodge served as a vice-president. Titled “The State and Religion,” Hodge articulates the major theories of church-state relations, including the Roman Catholic, Erastian and what has been known as the “voluntary” theory of complete separation of church and state, described by Hodge as “the new American theory.”

Although the American form of government does not claim to install a king on the throne, according to Hodge, “We, the people” has become the new king in our country. But Hodge responds thus:

In our time another king has appeared, styled "The People," for whom absolute, irresponsible sovereignty is also claimed, who, it is assumed, can make, by prerogative, whatsoever he wills right.

We take the words of Melville originally addressed to James VI., of Scotland, and address them to this arrogant modern American sovereign, who proposes to set himself in the seat of God, "Ye are God's silly vassal. There are two kings and two kingdoms in America: there is king 'people,' the immediate head of the commonwealth, and there is Christ the king over both Church and commonwealth, whose subject the people is, and of whose kingdom the 'people' is not king nor lord, nor head, but subject only."

In short, Hodge advocated a “Reformed or Calvinistic” theory of government which sought to emphasize “a Christian State and a Free Church, founded on the recognition of the universal supremacy of King Jesus in both spheres.”

Elsewhere, he wrote these words which ring true today as never before:

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. (Popular Lectures on Theological Themes, p. 287)

Hodge devoted his life to the service of his King in all areas, and he was deeply concerned about public desecration of the Sabbath, then under attack, as well as the education of youth by a State which claimed to be secular. In our day, marriage — another institution founded before the Fall — is also under attack, making Hodge’s words all the more relevant to 21st century readers.

We remember a prince in Israel today who served his King with “whole-souled loyalty”: A.A. Hodge.

Autumn's Ending - Geerhardus Vos

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As the leaves fall from the trees leaving a glitter of gold on the forest floor, this encomium to the season by the theologian and poet Geerhardus Vos (Western Rhymes, 1933) comes to mind.

AUTUMN’S ENDING

What joy was ours on seeing the glorious riot
Of Indian Summer’s surge the forest overwhelm,
That, from the vision drunk, we asked in wonder, why not
The year wears all around her orange-yellow of din
Or wine-red maple robe, protesting she should die not,
A Queen bedecked with all the jewels of the realm.

Alas, we sobered soon; just at the splendor’s highest
It seemed to outblaze itself, and burst into a flame,
Which, by its own breeze fanned, leaped from the nighest
Unto the farthest crowns, consuming where it came
The body as through the garb. Ah Autumn, when thou diest,
’T is in a passion-fire, counts life and death the same.

Thy regal staging scarcely one brief month outlasted;
Bare stand and bleak the trees whereon the glories hung;
Earth’s face is shrunk and drawn, like to a nun’s who fasted
Both flesh and strength away; not even a sad song sung,
Sound-frozen lies the air, and all the buds are blasted,
That, trusting thy warm smile, to second youth had sprung.