His daughter loved to read: a vignette about Rev. David and Lucy Laney

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Lucy Craft Laney (1854-1933) is a beloved name in Georgia. Her portrait hangs in the Georgia state capitol. Her labors for 50 years as principal of the Haines Institute for Industrial and Normal Education — the first school for African-American children in Augusta, Georgia — are treasured. She contributed much to the furtherance of education among African-Americans in her state. She was a life-long Presbyterian, and was also the daughter of a Presbyterian minister, Rev. David Laney (1814-1894).

David was born a slave in 1814 in Sumter, South Carolina, and trained well in carpentry, but purchased his own freedom as well as that of his wife, Louisa Tracey Laney. Lucy was born twenty years later, in Macon, Georgia, the sixth child among ten biological siblings, several cousins and at least one orphan who was embraced by the family. David went on to become the first pastor of the Washington Avenue Presbyterian Church in Macon (ordained in 1866), and helped to found the Knox Presbytery and Atlantic Synod of the PCUSA. Lucy, meanwhile, was prepared from early in life to help educate young minds.

Mary Jackson McCrorey wrote a tribute to Lucy which appeared in the June 1934 issue of The Crisis. One vignette which she relates has to do with Lucy’s love of reading and her father’s encouragement.

Miss Laney was prepared — to begin with, by inheritance. She was bred, born and reared in a Christian family….

Her father was a Presbyterian minister with qualifications of marked leadership. Her mother and father had some education, they were for the times more than ordinarily intelligent, and they had high ideals in living. Both of them read good literature. He in particular read much of it. She handled a great deal of the kind while doing the delicate, careful work in looking after the home of her owner. They bought for their children good books and papers like those bought for their owners’ children. Miss Laney herself had read several of George Eliot’s books, Charles Lamb’s Tales of Shakespeare before reading several of Shakespeare’s plays and she had read other standard literature long before she left home to go to school. Years after when she was at her best in developing her school she would enjoy telling me how she would get away with the other children in the family by her love for reading. She would sit on the woodpile reading while the sisters were washing the dishes and the boys were carrying in the wood for the night. When they complained because she was not helping to wash the dishes, she would say, “Pa, I just must finish reading this book.” And he would say, “Let her alone. I want her to finish her book.” How she chuckled to tell of getting out of washing those dishes. She often said in a modest manner to make me think that her mother and father, and especially her father, were looking for evidences in her life of much they had hoped and prayed and worked for in the making of their family.

A child who reads will often grow up with a love for learning. Certainly this was the case with Lucy Craft Laney, and she passed on that love of learning to many during a long career spent educating the young of Georgia.

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Friday Fun from Log College Press

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For a little Friday fun, we are sharing some interesting facts about select authors at Log College Press. It is intended as a revealing, even light-hearted, look at some curious and interesting facets of the group of writers that constitutes this assembly of Presbyterian writers.

We begin with some current stats of interest:

• Who is the most prolific author on Log College Press? - B.B. Warfield (currently there are 253 works by Warfield on LCP)

• Who is the oldest author on Log College Press? - Arthur Judson Brown (died at the age of 106)

• Who is the youngest author on Log College Press? - Archibald Johnston (died at the age of 25) - although we also have a published letter by A.A. Hodge written when he was 10 years old.

• In what year was the earliest Log College Press author born? - Robert Hunt was born c. 1568.

• In what year did the most recent Log College Press author enter glory? - Ernest Trice Thompson died in 1985.*

• Who was the most well-traveled author on Log College Press? - Pioneer missionary John Cuthbertson traveled an estimated 70,000 miles during his 40-year career.

• How many African-American authors are on Log College Press? - 40

• How many authors on Log College Press were formerly slaves? - 18

• How many Native-American authors are on Log College Press? - 5

• How many female authors are on Log College Press? - 16

• How many authors were U.S. Presidents? - 3

And then we have some more subjective matters.

• What is the most amusing title found on Log College Press? - Do Not Marry a Fop by William B. Sprague

• Who was the most “dashing” author on Log College Press? - Chauncey Webster wore the top hat very well.

Chauncey Webster

Let us know what else you would like to know about the authors found at Log College Press. We welcome suggestions for additions to the site as well. Meanwhile, have a great Friday!

*Part of the criteria to be an author featured on Log College Press is that the author must be born prior to 1900.

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"Time Is," a poem by Henry J. Van Dyke, Jr.

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Henry Jackson Van Dyke, Jr. had many notable friends, including Mark Twain (he officiated at Twain’s funeral) and Helen Keller. Also among his circle of friends was Spencer and Katrina Trask, a remarkable couple — with ties to Princeton and Thomas Edison — whose estate near Saratoga Springs, New York, was known as Yaddo. On that estate a garden was built with a sundial for which Van Dyke wrote an inscription, which has since become one of his most famous poetic works. The poem he wrote was, in part, read at Princess Diana’s 1997 funeral. It is the second half, often referred to as “Time Is,” which is most remembered and is perhaps most beloved. It can be read in Music and Other Poems (1904).

Katrina Task’s sundial at Yaddo.

Katrina’s Sun-Dial

Hours fly.
Flowers die:
New days,
New ways:
Pass by!
Love stays.

Time is
Too Slow for those who Wait,
Too Swift for those who Fear,
Too Long for those who Grieve,
Too Short for those who Rejoice;
But for those who Love,
Time is not.

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American Presbyterians in Europe

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St. Augustine, when he speaks of the great advantages of travelling, says, that the world is a great book, and none study this book so much as a traveller. They that never stir from home read only one page of this book. -- John Feltham, The English Enchiridion (1799)

Like many today who might be itching to travel again, American Presbyterians in the 19th century also sought the benefits of a long voyage, and Europe was one particular favorite destination. Among the life experiences of authors found at Log College Press, trips to Europe are a recurring theme, and our Travelogue page highlights this.

The letters, journals, books and poetry that resulted from such trips are a valuable historical record of life on one side of the pond as viewed through the eyes of residents from the other side. In today’s post, we take a closer look at these memorials of their experiences.

• James Waddel Alexander — J.W. Alexander traveled to England, France, Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, Scotland on a six-month tour of Europe in 1851. He met Adolphe Monod in Paris. Later, in 1857, he returned to Europe and met Charles H. Spurgeon in England, and Thomas Guthrie in Scotland, while also visiting France, Germany, Switzerland and Belgium. His reports on these travel experiences are recorded in Forty Years' Familiar Letters, and also in James W. Garretson, Thoughts on Preaching & Pastoral Ministry: Lessons from the Life and Writings of James W. Alexander.

• Joseph Addison Alexander — J.A. Alexander spent a year in Europe (1833-1834). Time was spent in England, France, Switzerland, Germany, and Italy. From diary extracts given in H.C. Alexander’s The Life of Joseph Addison Alexander, we learn many fascinating details about the people he met, and the poems he wrote, inspired by his European travels.

• Henry Martyn Baird — Baird spent much of his childhood in France and Switzerland, and then after graduating from the University of New York, lived in Greece and Italy during 1851-1853, and studied at the University of Athens. Besides his many written studies of the French Huguenots, he authored Modern Greece: A Narrative of a Residence and Travels in that Country (1856).

• Robert Baird — Baird visited Europe many times as recorded in H.M. Baird’s biography The Life of the Rev. Robert Baird, D. D. (1866). Baird himself wrote about his travels in Visits to Northern Europe (1841) and Old Sights With New Eyes (1854). His travels also enabled him to write with personal knowledge about Protestantism in Italy.

• John Henry Barrows — Barrows’ world travels, detailed in A World Pilgrimage (1897), included England, France, Germany, Greece and Italy.

• Robert Jefferson Breckinridge — R.J. Breckinridge was appointed by the PCUSA General Assembly to serve as its representative in Europe, leading to a trip to England, France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy. His travels are detailed in Memoranda of Foreign Travel (1839 and, in 2 vols., 1845).

• George Barrell Cheever — Cheever’s journey though the French-Swiss Alps is recorded in Wanderings of a Pilgrim in the Shadow of Mont Blanc and the Jungfrau Alp (1848).

• Theodore Ledyard Cuyler — Cuyler’s travels through England, France, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Greece, and the Czech Republic, are recorded in From the Nile to Norway and Homeward (1881).

• George Duffield IV — Duffield’s travels were published in the Magazine of Travel during 1857, and later republished in Travels in the Two Hemispheres; or, Gleanings of a European Tour (1858).

• Henry Highland Garnet — Garnet traveled to Europe in 1851, including England, Ireland Scotland and Germany. His speeches from some of those locations are found here.

• Stephen Henry Gloucester — Gloucester, pastor of the Lombard Street Central Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, visited England and Scotland in 1847-1848. The record of his trip, and letters which he wrote home, can be found in Robert Jones, Fifty years in the Lombard Street Central Presbyterian Church (1894).

• Charles Hodge — From 1826 to 1828, Hodge traveled to Europe, studying in Paris and and wrote a handwritten journal of his experiences (primarily in Germany) available to read here. See also A.A. Hodge’s The Life of Charles Hodge for more on these travels, including letters written to home.

• Alexander McLeod — McLeod visited England and Scotland in 1830. His experiences are recounted in Samuel Brown Wylie’s Memoir of Alexander McLeod (1855). Wylie’s own trip to Europe in 1802-1803 is also discussed in this volume.

• James Clement Moffat — Moffat recounts his experiences in the summer of 1872 in Song and Scenery; or, A Summer Ramble in Scotland (1874).

• Walter William Moore — Moore recounts his experiences in England, Scotland, France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands in A Year in Europe (1904, 1905).

• James W.C. Pennington — The “Fugitive Blacksmith’s” s travels to England, Scotland and Germany are detailed in Christopher L. Webber, American to the Backbone: The Life of James W. C. Pennington, the Fugitive Slave Who Became One of the First Black Abolitionists. He was the first African-American in Europe to be awarded the degree of Doctor of Divinity.

• Samuel Irenaeus Prime — Prime’s travels were recorded in Travels in Europe and the East: A Year in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, 2 vols. (1855, 1856).

• Joel Edson Rockwell — Rockwell’s journey through France, Germany, Italy, England, Scotland and Ireland is chronicled in Scenes and Impressions Abroad (1860).

• William Buell Sprague — Sprague writes in the preface to his Visits to European Celebrities (1855), “In 1828, and again in 1836, I had the privilege of passing a few months on the continent of Europe and in Great Britain. In both visits, especially the latter, I was more interested to see men than things; and I not only made the acquaintance, so far as I could, of distinguished individuals as they came in my way, but sometimes made circuitous routes in order to secure to myself this gratification.” See also his Letters From Europe, in 1828 (1828).

• Thomas De Witt Talmage — A world traveller, Talmage wrote Great Britain Through American Spectacles (1885); From the Pyramids to the Acropolis: Sacred Places Seen Through Biblical Spectacles (1892); and The Earth Girdled: The World as Seen To-Day (1896).

These are some of the men at Log College Press who spent time in Europe, and their writings often tell us about life abroad, and often inspired them in various ways, just as travels inspire us. It is human nature to want to travel, and if we are limited in our ability to do so at present, we can at least turn to others who have done so and be inspired by them.

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W.G.T. Shedd was born 200 years ago

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On June 21, 1820, in Acton, Massachusetts, one of the premier 19th century American Presbyterian theologians was born — William Greenough Thayer Shedd.

He studied at Andover Theological Seminary, graduating in 1843. He went to minister in Brandon, Vermont and also briefly at the Brick Church in New York City. His academic skills led him to serve further as a professor of English literature at the University of Vermont, professor of sacred rhetoric at Auburn Theological Seminary, professor of church history at Andover Theological Seminary, and professor of sacred literature and systematic theology at Union Theological Seminary. He died in New York City on November 17, 1894.

He is perhaps best-known today for his profound writings, some of which are still in print, which include:

• Dogmatic Theology (3 vols);

• A History of Christian Doctrine (2 vols.);

• Homiletics and Pastoral Theology;

• Sermons to the Natural Man and Sermons to the Spiritual Man;

• The Doctrine of Endless Punishment;

• A Critical and Doctrinal Commentary Upon the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans;

• Theological Essays and Literary Essays;

• Calvinism: Pure and Mixed - A Defence of the Westminster Standards; and

• Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy: A Miscellany.

Michael Jensen has made the case that Shedd is one of those theologians especially worth getting to know. Read his writings and more about the man here, and remember that he was born on this day 200 years ago, while his contributions to the church endure.

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New Devotional Writings and Sermons by T.D. Witherspoon

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As we continue to build our Presbyterian library at Log College Press, we wanted to highlight some new additions to the Thomas Dwight Witherspoon page that are well worth checking out. These new materials comprises mostly devotional pieces and sermons which he published in the 1880s and 1890s.

Here is a list of some of the new additions:

• Saul Preaching Christ (1883);

• Samuel the Judge (1883);

• Paul at Corinth (1884);

• Confidence in God (1884);

• The True Oblation (1884);

• God’s Great Sacrifice (1884);

• Desire for Communion (1884);

• The Material Decays — Only the Spiritual Abides: A Baccalaureate Sermon (1884);

• Sowing in Tears (1884);

• Paul Before Agrippa (1885);

• The Gracious Invitation (1885);

• The God of Jeshurun [opening sermon before the PCUS General Assembly] (1885);

• The Christian’s Surrender to Christ (1885);

• The Priceless Legacy: A Sermon to Young Men (1890); and

• Christ as the Rain (1891).

The last devotional meditation was written on a rainy Lord’s Day and uses the imagery in Scripture from Hosea 6:3 (“He shall come to us as the rain”) to portray Christ as a gentle rain who gives life and refreshment to our souls.

Feel free to browse, meditate on and download these works for further study. T.D. Witherspoon is a treasure, and we hope to keep adding to his page as we go along, D.V. Also, if you have not already, be sure to check out his Five Points of Presbyterianism.

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Early American Covenanter Doctrine of the Civil Magistrate's Power Circa Sacra

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The civil magistrate may not assume to himself the administration of the word and sacraments for the power of the keys of the kingdom of heaven; yet he hath authority, and it is his duty, to take order that unity and peace be preserved in the Church, that the truth of God be kept pure and entire, that all blasphemies and heresies be suppressed, all corruptions and abuses in worship and discipline prevented or reformed, and all the ordinances of God duly settled, administered, and observed. For the better effecting whereof, he hath power to call synods, to be present at them, and to provide that whatsoever is transacted in them be according to the mind of God. — 1646 Westminster Confession 23:3

The Westminster Assembly’s doctrine of church-state relations as outlined in chapter 23 particularly was a testimony against Erastianism, despite the fact that a few members of the Assembly were of the Erastian party. The Assembly’s position was contra-Erastian, and instead, an affirmation of the Presbyterian view that civil and ecclesiastical authorities are to work together, in their proper and distinct spheres, to advance the kingdom of God on earth — a position sometimes referred to as the Establishment Principle — exemplified in the very existence of the Westminster Assembly, which was summoned by the British Parliament to remedy the ecclesiastical situation in that nation.

The principle of national establishment of religion was partially rolled back by the 1788 amendments to the Westminster Standards by the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA), and even the present-day Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA) — which does affirm the duty of nations and their rulers to covenant with the Lord Jesus Christ to advance his kingdom on the earth — objects in its current Testimony to the portion of WCF 23:3 which follows the colon.

But a paper written in 1834 by William Sloane and affirmed by the RP Synod explains and defends the Westminster view of the relationship of church and state. An Erastian view — in which the civil ruler is the supreme authority in ecclesiastical matters — has reference to the power of the magistrate in sacris, that is, in sacred things. But the title of Sloane’s paper is Argument on the Magistrate’s Power Circa-Sacra, that is, about sacred things, which reflects the historic Presbyterian position (a position sketched notably in William Hetherington’s introduction to Robert Shaw’s Exposition of the Westminster Confession).

Sloane’s paper has recently been added to Log College Press and can be read here. In this published overture, Sloane explains what Scripture and the Confession teach in regards to the duty of magistrates with respect to upholding and defending the church, in contrast to Erastians, Papists and those who believed that the civil magistrate should have nothing to do with religion at all. He responds to common objections against the establishment principle; and argues that as God is the creator of both civil and ecclesiastical government, distinct but coordinate authorities intended to serve God on earth, and that all persons are bound by the second commandment, according to each person’s place and calling, to remove all monuments of idolatry (WLC 108 - which was never altered by the PCUSA, et al.), magistrates have certain duties to protect the church and uphold true religion in society.

For the full argument by William Sloane concerning the magistrate’s power and authority in matters circa sacra, visit his page here. It is a valuable window into the views of the early American Covenanter Church and the confessional position on church-state relations as inherited by them from the Westminster Assembly.

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A.A. Hodge's Table Talks on the Lord's Day

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From the Table Talks of A.A. Hodge, today we glean some extracts having to do with the Lord’s Day, or Christian Sabbath. He has written more extensively on this topic in other locations, such as this treatise on The Day Changed and the Sabbath Preserved, but these bite-sized extracts are also worthy of consideration.

The Essence of the Sabbath.

That a regular portion of time, appointed by God, to be observed by all men, should be set apart for rest and the worship of God,—this is the essence of the Sabbath ; that one-seventh of time should be so set apart is, relatively to this, the accident. It is, however, the case that one-seventh of time has been positively set apart by God for a Sabbath, and a particular one-seventh of time. The choice has not been left to us.

Duration and Extent of the Sabbath Law.

"Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy," is as much a moral law as "Thou shalt not steal" — the law founded on the relations of property. Its duration and extent are determined by the character of the institution and the abiding reason for it; and also by Scripture, in the New Testament portion of which its permanence is incidentally recognised, though there is no specific re-establishment of it, any more than of infant church membership.

The Lord’s Day and the Sabbath the Same.

Our "Lord's Day" and the Jewish "Sabbath" are not different in essence. Both are days of rest and festival, not of gloom. The essence of the Sabbath could not be changed without changing the nature of man. But the accidents of it may be changed by competent authority, and were actually changed by the college of Apostles, for a sufficient reason.

The Change of Day.

The stream of Sabbath observance on the seventh day of the week came right down to the time of the Apostles; it took a bend at that point; and it has come right on ever after. Only they could have altered it; the authority of no other would have wrought such an universal change in the Christian world. The adequate reason for the change was, the celebration of the Resurrection of Christ and the new creation it secured. The competent authority was that of the Apostles, and no other. (The trouble with the hierarchical bishops now is, that they are all Apostles, though they have not seen the Lord — not a soul of them!)

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Holiness and Health: Words of Wisdom from William Nevins

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William Nevins, whose ordination sermon was preached by Samuel Miller in 1820, died at a young age (37). In the last year of his life (and ministry as pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Baltimore), while battling illness, his diary records his thoughts on health matters. In his city, the cholera raging. But what mattered more to him was faithful service to the Lord. Hear his thoughts on health and holiness from his diary, letters and from his pulpit, extracted from his Select Remains, published after his death by William S. Plumer.

In one undated letter, Nevins writes:

If all my relatives were followers of the Lord, I should feel easy about them, though in the midst of pestilence. Death, even by the cholera, is gain to the Christian.

From his diary:

August 28, 1832. The cholera is raging in the midst of us, but praised be God, I and mine are spared, not for our deserts, but for his great mercies. I feared that when 1 should be called to visit a subject of this disease, I should be appalled at the prospect; but when the summons actually came, I was enabled to obey it without the smallest hesitation or trembling, and to determine at once to comply with every similar call in future, the which I have been aided to do, God gives his servants grace just when they want it; not in anticipation of their necessities. When I think of dying, I feel, if not an unpreparedness, yet an unwillingness to leave the world now, and an inability to exclaim, 'Oh death, where is thy sting?’ but I trust it would not be so, were I actually called to die. I am persuaded there is nothing which the grace of God cannot do for me.

November 20, 1832. On the 26th of September, I was taken ill of a bilious fever, by which I have been laid aside until now, and from which, I have not yet entirely recovered. What thanks do I not owe to my preserving God, that he spared me when so many others were taken! How gracious was he, when the pangs were upon me! But now, that they are removed, how soon I forget God! I am afraid my sickness has not been sanctified to me, I find the same wicked heart in me as ever. Oh how sinfully I live from day to-day! How I suffer little matters to disturb my peace and ruffle my temper, and lead me into sin! How the very minutiae of this world affect me! I am ashamed of the petty cares and anxieties of which I am the subject. I am careful and troubled about many things, and so neglect the one thing needful; and then how many fears I have, unworthy of a Christian. Oh for that perfect love which casts out fear; oh, to know that I am one to whom the gracious God says, ' fear thou not, for I am with thee; I am thy God.’

July 9, 1833. I have been reading Baxter on our unreasonable unwillingness to die, that we may possess the saint's rest. Oh that God would make me willing to do and suffer all his will, just because it is his will. Oh that he would deliver me from all fear of death. His grace is sufficient, and his word is given, and his promise is sure. I will trust him and not be afraid. I shall not be left. He will not disappoint my confidence in him.

August 17, 1833. I have about me a dread of disease and death, such as I was not wont to have before the pestilence came, and which is very unbecoming a Christian. Oh to be delivered from it. Oh for that love which casts out fear.

September 13, 1833. I cannot bear the idea of living along from day to day, unprofitably to myself and others, without making any progress in personal holiness, and without benefiting the souls of others. I desire this day to live usefully — to do something for the glory of God and the good of man, and I resolve that with the Lord's help I will.

September 26, 1833. I would not let this day pass, without noting it as the anniversary of my sickness. This day, one year, I was attacked by that illness, which brought me nearer the grave than I ever was before. But God mercifully spared me, and has lengthened out my term, while he has cut short that of others. Poor brother Fullerton is taken in the dawning of life and usefulness.

December 21, 1833. I thank the Lord for that calm and even and happy state of mind in which I have been for the last few days. May he continue and increase my peace, making it like a river, flowing in a constant, gentle and unrippled current, increasing daily in extent and depth, until it shall reach the interminable ocean of serenity. I feel as if God will revive us. Oh may he not be offended by any act or omission. May none of us grieve the good Spirit of the Lord.

January 30, 1834. Nothing gives me more pain than the fear that I am living to no purpose, neither growing in grace myself, nor promoting the salvation of others. Oh God, let it not be so. Make me useful. Let me not live in vain. " I desire to have these several things, viz.

1. In all I do, a single eye to the glory of God.

2. A uniform and deep sense of my entire dependance on God, especially for the success of my ministry.

3. I desire to feel continually the sweet and powerful constraining of a Saviour's love. I would feel him to be ever and very precious to me.

4. I would endure as seeing him who is invisible. 1 would feel continually, 'Thou God seest me.'

5. I desire to be delivered from all sin. I would be a partaker of the meekness and gentleness of Christ. I would be sincere, upright, true.

6. I desire to be able to say, 'Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none on earth I desire besides thee.' Oh to have such a love for God and such a delight in him.

7. I desire to be willing to die, whenever the Lord wills to take me. I want to be weaned from this world before I am taken from it. I would not be driven away. I would go willingly.

8. I desire to have no will of my own in any thing, but to say and feel always, ‘Thy will be done.’

February 3, 1834….I choose for my motto this, ‘To me to live is Christ.’

May 3, 1834. I returned yesterday from Philadelphia and New York, where, for three or four weeks, I have been for my health, which has failed me. The Lord has laid me aside from his active service, for how long 1 know not ; whether altogether, he knows. May his will be mine, and may they not merely accidentally coincide, but may his will be mine because it is his. On the first of May, in Philadelphia, I wrote as follows:

O Lord, let me have now, though all unworthy, a little sweet communion with thee: canst thou, with all thy care of worlds, attend to me? Thou canst, for even worlds are no cares to thee! And wilt thou? Wilt thou so condescend, not merely to such littleness, but to such guilt? O how unworthy I am of what I ask! I am convinced that no one is more unworthy than I am. How can any one be more unworthy ? If mercy were any thing merited, I should be sure of never receiving it. Oh how I spoil my actions by my motives ! My heart is not right even when my conduct is. Oh thou who ponderests hearts and weighest spirits, sanctify my motives. Make them such as thou wouldst have them.

May 6, 1834. I ask not, O Lord, that thy will may coincide with mine, but mine with thine. I am only in a very subordinate sense in the hands of physicians and other advisers. I am in the Lord’s hands. There I ought to be. There may I delight to be. O for confidence.

May 13, 1834. Will the Lord deign to restore my voice to me, and to allow me once more to preach Jesus? I am not needed; and I am unworthy. But may such he employs. I shall esteem it a great favor. I shall praise him forever for it. I am too fond of life and this world. Oh, I am too unwilling to die. I cannot say to death, ‘Where is thy sting?’ I would be weaned from earth and time. I would desire to depart and be with Christ. I would see and feel that to be far better. Oh for sweet and complete submission to the divine will.

May 20, 1834. Will the Lord dictate the means I should employ for the recovery of my health, and then bless those means. O may I love Jesus more before I preach him again, and have a clearer and more satisfactory experience of the work of grace on my own heart, that out of the abundance of the heart, my mouth may henceforth speak to sinners. I would be careful for nothing, but in every thing by prayer, &c. Phil, iv, 6. Then I shall enjoy that peace of God, which passeth all understanding.

May 24, 1834. How I am held in bondage by the fear of death ! O that Christ would deliver me ! It was one great purpose of his death, to deliver those who, through fear of death are, all their lifetime, subject to bondage. Strange that I should be afraid and unwilling to go to my Father, to my Saviour, to my home and inheritance. Ah, it is because of unbelief. Last night I waked up with a pain in my breast, and how unduly it alarmed me—how unmanly, above all, how unchristian are my fears ! O that God would say to me, ' fear thou not, for I am with thee ; be not dismayed, for I am thy God,' — that he would speak these words to my heart. O, I needed this affliction, and I ought not to desire its removal until it has answered the purpose for which it was sent. I have been an unfaithful minister. I wonder God should have borne with me so long. Wonderful is the patience of God ! To reflect on it, will be among the employments of eternity; — to contemplate and admire the long-suffering and forbearance of God ! How slow he is to anger!

My throat affection seems not so well for the last few days. But let not this distress me. I am in the best hands — in hands divine — in the very hands that were pierced for me, and from which no foreign power can pluck me. If I die, yet dying is not going out of those hands, or if it is, it is going from the hands to the bosom of God, — a gainful and blessed exchange. Will the Lord dictate what means I shall use for recovery, and bless those means, else the most wisely adapted will be of no avail.

June 1, 1834. Again, as last Sunday, I am detained from the house of God, and it is now more than two months since I preached. The Lord has some object in this affliction. May I not defeat it. O how strange it seems to me to have no voice to preach of Jesus. Shall I never again be permitted to tell sinners of him? Will the Lord counsel me in regard to going to Norfolk to-morrow. Let thy will be done. O Lord, thou canst make me well, and thou canst make me holy; speak but the word, and I shall be whole both in body and in soul. Thou art the physician of both. Thou alone canst mend thy own work. O for the privilege of preaching the gospel again! Lord sanctify this affliction to me. Help me to cast my burden on thee, and to make the best of every thing.

June 4, 1834. I am at Norfolk for the benefit of my health. How vain are all means without God’s blessing! And what slight remedies prove successful in his hands! May he bless the retirement this visit affords me to my soul! Ah, this is what is most out of order. I ask for health, but for grave I cry. Lord, hear my cry. I cannot move along without grace. Grace I ask, to be, and do, and suffer all though have me to. If Christ has no more work for me to do, how little he lets me off with; for how very little I have done for him. I have not been laborious for my Saviour; and much that I have seemed to do for him, I have reason to fear has been done for myself. Why should I not be willing to be released from further labor, if the Lord has no more for me to do. O, why so very reluctant to depart and be with Christ. Will the Lord be my wisdom and strength to-day.

June 20, 1834. I am in New York again for my health. I bless the Lord that I seem to be getting better….

I am in quest of health. How much more important to ‘follow holiness!’ I hope I desire the latter, the rather of the two — holiness, conformity, moral conformity to God, submission to his holy will.

July 11, 1834. I must record it to the praise and glory of God, that I feel better to-day than I have felt since I was taken sick. May I increase in holiness more rapidly than in health, being strengthened in the inner as well as outer man. O that God would give me the ‘earnest of the Spirit,’ that I also may be always confident, that in being absent from the body I shall be present with the Lord. I am persuaded God will be my counsellor.

It was in November 1834 that Nevins’ wife passed away and went to be with the Lord. It was nearly twelve years to the day after their wedding when she died of cholera. Six weeks later his mother-in-law also passed away. The grief, and submission to the divine will, expressed by Nevins in his diary is profound. But to keep with the particular theme of this post, we pass over this tremendous loss and resume our extracts, this time from a letter dated June 21, 1834:

Health is a precious blessing, but it is not the blessing of greatest price. Holiness is the inestimable pearl. What a wonderful book the Bible always is, but especially sometimes. How it speaks to the heart! It seems to be all alive!

After a partial recovery in the summer of 1834, Nevins’ health deteriorated especially after his wife’s death. In the spring of 1835, doctors sent him to Saint Croix in the West Indies (at that time owned by Denmark, now a part of the U.S. Virgin Islands) in hopes that the climate would benefit him. However, his body was in a long, slow decline from which he would not recover.

In September 1835, having returned to Baltimore, he made a substantial donation to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. He told a friend, “There are one hundred dollars for the Board. It is, I suppose, the last donation I shall ever make to the cause of Christ. If you see any suitable way of saying it, I would like to have it known that the nearer I get to heaven, the dearer is the cause of missions to my heart.”

He died on September 14, 1835. His last words were: “Death — death, now, come Lord Jesus — dear Saviour.”

William and Martha Nevins are buried together at Westminster Burial Ground in Baltimore, Maryland.

Most of his written legacy was published after his death, and his writings are indeed a treasure, some of which are still in print today, particularly, his Practical Thoughts and Thoughts on Popery. Read more about the man and his writings here, and consider his words — that health is a precious blessing, but holiness is an inestimable pearl.

These concluding thoughts come from an 1832 sermon which Nevins preached to his congregation in Baltimore while the cholera epidemic was raging.

There is a great deal of dying now. And it is apprehended by many that there will be more. Death is abroad. The insatiate archer has got a new arrow in his quiver, severer and sharper than any of the rest. A new terror clothes the brow of the king of terrors. The aged are sickening and dying, nor are the young men and maidens exempt. And it is appointed to us to die. We shall be sorry to part with any of you; but if you must go, we cannot feel indifferent as to how and where you go. There is a direction we would have you take, and a conveyance we would have you employ. If you must leave earth, let it be for heaven. If you must go, go by the safe way and regard your company. There is but one safe way into eternity. There is only one rod and one staff that can comfort in death. It is not morality, nor philosophy, nor the poetry of Christianity. And there is but one companion of the way, who can give the charm of society to death. You know his name. It is Jesus. Oh, that you did but trust in him! Oh, if you only loved him! Oh, would you but obey him! Oh, that you were not ashamed of him! Into his hands I am willing to resign you.

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Alexander McLeod was born almost 250 years ago today

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"Ministers are living books, and books are dead ministers; and yet though dead, they speak. When you cannot hear the one, you may read the other." — Matthew Poole 

On June 12, 1774, in the Isle of Mull, Scotland, Alexander McLeod was born. He came to the United States as a young man in 1792, and would go on to become one of the leaders not only of his own denomination, the Reformed Presbyterian Church, but was well-respected as a leading voice among all branches of American Presbyterianism.

His pastoral ministry, where he served at Coldenham, New York and in New York City, lasted from 1801 until his death on February 17, 1833, which was mourned by many. He was instrumental in confirming the RPCNA’s early institutional opposition to slavery. McLeod also contributed to the founding of the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary, among many other endeavors on behalf of both the kingdom of God and the common good, which have had a lasting influence that endures today.

McLeod played a role in the founding of the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary beginning as early as 1807 (Robert M. Copeland, Spare No Exertions: 175 Years of the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary, pp. 19, 23). McLeod was additionally involved in the establishment of the American Colonization Society; with Samuel Miller he furthered the work of the New York Bible Society; with John Stanford he worked to establish the New York Society for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb; and with Philip Milledoler he helped to organize the American Society for Meliorating the Condition of the Jews. He was honored with the degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1809 at Middlebury College, Vermont. In 1812, he was unanimously elected to serve as Professor of Mathematics (replacing his first cousin, John Maclean, Sr., in that capacity) and as Vice-President of the College of New Jersey (Princeton), but he respectfully declined this invitation in order to serve his flock. In the midst of his regular preaching duties, he was also a prolific writer, publishing many works and contributing to many periodicals.

From his famous Ecclesiastical Catechism, he writes concerning the present disunity of the Church:

Seeing there are many distinct denominations of Christians, what is their duty toward one another?

To form one church of societies retaining their peculiar habits and prejudices, would only produce confusion, or substitute a base neutrality for Christian zeal It is the duty of every denomination to reform abuses, and endeavour, after conformity to the plan of church order appointed by Christ, that the Catholic Church may attain to the unity of the Spirit, and become visibly connected in the bond of peace.

In 2019, Log College Press republished one of McLeod’s major works, Messiah, Governor of the Nations of the Earth. Today, we remember that he was born almost 250 years ago and yet his voice still speaks to our generation.

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An Action Sermon by David McAllister

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In 1891, the Eighth Street Reformed Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania observed its 25th anniversary. Rev. David McAllister was serving as pastor at the time. In a memorial volume recently added to Log College Press, Quarter-Centennial of the Pittsburgh Congregation of the Covenanter Church, 1866 to 1891, in which, among other discourses and sermons are found, there is an action sermon which he delivered which we take note of today.

An action sermon is a term for “the sermon preached at the communion service” (Hughes Oliphant Old, Holy Communion in the Piety of the Reformed Church, p. 648), as was customary in the Scottish Presbyterian tradition. And as was also customary, the text McAllister chose for the occasion was taken from the Song of Solomon, chap. 2, ver. 16: “My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies.” The title of his sermon was “The Relations of Covenanting and Communion.”

McAllister says of this verse, “This is the endearing expression of the bride, the church, concerning her husband, the Lord and Saviour. It is also the language of each believing soul concerning Christ.”

The marriage tie is thus the human relationship which our Lord has specially honored by making it a most eminent figure of the bond of union between himself and his people. This Song of songs and Song of love draws aside the curtain from the privacies and confidences and intimacies of that union which makes of twain one flesh and one true moral personality. The sensual mind looks upon the revelation and sees nothing but the reflection of its own carnality. But the spiritual mind looks upon the sacred mysteries, and sees shadowed forth, in all the emblems and tokens of pure and hallowed wedded love, the obligations and privileges of the covenant relation between Christ and those whom he chooses and possess as his own.

No wonder, then, that this Song of songs is so intimately associated with communion seasons. Perhaps no part of the Bible, unless it be the accounts of the institution of the Lord’s Supper as given by Paul in 1st Corinthians, and by the different evangelists, is so often the subject of sacrament meditations. How appropriate did we all feel the passage of Scripture to be the other evening, when in our preparation for this day’s festivity, we meditated in our prayer meeting on the “Banqueting House and the Banner of Love!” And now, as we draw near the banquet itself, how fitting is it that we should say in the language of our text, “My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies!”

This affectionate declaration of the bride is the avowal of the covenant relation between the Bridegroom and herself. Her Beloved is hers and she is his. This declaration also affirms the fellowship or communion between the Bridegroom and all the individual members who constitute his bride, the church. They are the lilies, transformed in purity of character into the likeness of the Beloved, “the Lily of the valleys,” and therefore among them he delights to feed. In most intimate communion he feasts with all those who are in the covenant with himself. Let us bring together, then, these thoughts of covenanting and communion, and seek to trace the connection between them.

McAllister goes on to do just that, affirming that

1. “The covenant relation constitutes the union which is essential to all true communion”;

2. “Covenanting pledges the exclusive possession which promotes and intensifies communion”;

3. “Covenant engagements serve to remove hindrances to communion”;

4. “Covenanting quickens the gracious exercises in which communion positively consists”; and

5. “By covenanting the believer is brought into special fullness of fellowship with Christ as the Covenant Head of all his people.”

The essence of McAllister’s argument in this sacramental sermon is that the covenant relationship between Christ and his church, portrayed in the Song of Solomon, is expressed most suitably in the public covenanting that pledges his church to love and serve him which, as he describes it, is both an inward and spiritual communion with the Lord, and a personal engagement and public identification with Christ and his kingdom on earth by means of solemn vows and holy conduct, walking in the faith of Christ by the lively work of the Holy Spirit.

There are three practical lessons with which McAllister leaves his hearers concerning the connection between covenanting and communion:

1. “It teaches us to seek a firmer hold by faith upon the provisions of the covenant of grace”;

2. “It suggests to us how we may make our whole life a season of communion with our Lord”; and

3. “Our subject to-day points us to the perfect union and communion of the heavenly home.”

Though there are many hindrances in this life to the fullest and highest expression of the covenant relationship of believers to Christ, yet resting on the knowledge that “My beloved is mine, and I am his,” every believer may take comfort in knowing that

…the interruption and marring of the believer’s of the church’s communion with the Lord shall have an end. Christ shall perfect his work in every believing soul. The eternal day shall break. The shadows of sin and sorrow shall forever flee away. Over every mountain which separates his own from Christ he will come, and finally separate them from all that can hinder their communion with himself. His own in covenant relation, he will make them every one his own in every faculty and purpose and desires and activity. And then the marriage supper of the Lamb in all its fullness of glory and happiness will have come, and the bride, made ready for it, will know through the eternal ages the inexhaustible meaning of the words: “My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies.”

What sweet communion indeed!

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William S. Plumer's Impeccable

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At Log College Press, we are excited to report that we expect our newest publication to be available soon: William S. Plumer’s Impeccable: The Person and Sinless Character of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Originally published in 1876, this new edition of a remarkable volume is edited by Miles Smith and includes a foreword by Dr. Blair Smith.

More good news to report: we are having a launch sale this week for Plumer’s book which includes all our titles:

Preorder Impeccable today for $9.00 - 25% off the retail price.

All titles in our Bookstore are 25% off through June 12!
(Orders will ship after Impeccable arrives from the printers next week.)

The endorsements for Plumer’s Impeccable are indicative of its value to the church:

“William Swan Plumer’s short treatise, Impeccable, contends for the ‘spotless rectitude’ of Christ Jesus. Plumer’s command of theology evidences his skill as a gifted scholar. His concern for the flock of God discloses the heart of a caring shepherd. And so, he writes with precision to enlighten the mind, with compassion to reinforce godly faith, and with ardor to remove any ‘uneasiness felt.’ Impeccable stands on its own as a compelling case for Christ as non potest peccare. But the short treatise offers more. The pastor scholar Plumer exemplifies the type of spiritual leadership so desperately needed for the church around the world today.” — David B. Garner, Ph.D., Academic Dean, Vice President of Global Ministries, and Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

 “William Swan Plumer (famous for his one volume Commentary on Psalms, said by Spurgeon to be the best) has, with perception and clarity, dealt with the essential issues in the Biblical teaching on the impeccability of Christ. He is right to the point in stating that ‘uncertainty is not necessary to freedom"; that is, his lack of indwelling sin and the intense holiness of his person never meant that he was not severely tempted to sin. Plumer properly shows how we need to keep in mind the relationship of the divine person to his two natures, and that he really was a true person – not a sort of machine. In his victory over the fiercest onslaughts of evil and temptation that ever came against a descendant of Adam lies our victory. Plumer will show you how!” — Douglas F. Kelly, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Reformed Theological Seminary

 “The re-publication of William Plumer’s nineteenth-century work on the sinlessness of Christ reaches into the vault of the historical past to bring out hidden treasure. Plumer’s work is brief but full of insight and breathes the air of wisdom of the church throughout the age. This little book is well worth the read.”— J. V. Fesko, Ph.D., Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology, Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson, Mississippi

Be sure to take advantage of this great opportunity, and order your copy of William S. Plumer’s Impeccable today!

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Samuel Miller on Religious Conversation

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Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man. (Col. 4:6)

Samuel Miller had a concern for how ministers of the gospel, as ambassadors of Christ, represented him in public, as well as in private. The impressions left on others after interaction with a minister have a bearing on his witness for Christ. In his 1827 volume Letters on Clerical Manners and Habits, Miller has much wisdom and counsel to offer his fellow co-laborers in the work of the kingdom in this regard.

One bit of wisdom, in particular, though directed to ministers, is very much applicable to all Christians.

Never retire from any company, then, without asking yourself, “What have I said for the honour of my Master, and for promoting the everlasting welfare of those with whom I conversed? What was the tenour of my conversation? What opportunity of recommending religion have I neglected to improve? From what motives did I speak, or keep silence? In what manner did I converse? With gentleness, modesty, humility, and yet with with affectionate fidelity; or with harshness, with formality, with ostentation, with vanity, and from a desire to avoid censure, or to court popular applause?” Few things, I believe, would have a more powerful tendency to promote watchfulness, diligence, and unremitting perseverance in this important duty, than the constant inspection and trial of ourselves here recommended.

This counsel speaks not only to the aim which we all ought to have to be faithful witnesses to Christ in all of our interactions, but also to our duty to examine ourselves regularly as to whether we have aimed at God’s glory in our dealings with others. In this way, ministers, and indeed all believers, ought to strive to speak with right motives and with wisdom according to the situation so that we may give a good account before our Lord.

Ministers and others do well to consult the full work by Miller on Clerical Manners for much wisdom on how to rightly represent Jesus Christ in our various conversations with others, which is available to read here. According to our place and calling, may we all seek to glorify God in our conversations.

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Introducing the Log College Annex

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At Log College Press, a lot has been happening. We have been growing so much lately that we have expanded beyond the main library of authors into a new Annex.

Log College Press now has an Annex to the Main Library.

Some of the new authors found on the Annex include:

• Charles Eugene Edwards (1860-1937) - He is the son of Jonathan Edwards (1817-1891), and the author of a devotional work, which has been republished in the 20th century as the Devotions and Prayers of John Calvin, its original title being Scripture Texts With Expositions and Sentence-Prayers From Calvin’s Commentaries on the Minor Prophets (1897);

• Maria Fearing (1838-1937) - She was an African-American Presbyterian missionary from Alabama who served in the Congo for twenty years as a teacher and translator;

• Amos Noë Freeman (1809-1893) - He was an African-American Presbyterian minister who co-authored (with Frederick Douglass and others) a famous 1853 address known as Claims of Our Common Cause;

• Benjamin Harrison (1833-1901) - He was the 23rd President of the United States, and a Presbyterian ruling elder, who had while in office an all-Presbyterian cabinet;

• Beverly Tucker Lacy (1819-1900) - He served as chaplain to Stonewall Jackson;

• Cyrus Hall McCormick (1809-1884) - He was an inventor and business who did much to support the Presbyterian Church, and who endowed what is known as McCormick Theological Seminary; and

• Poon Chew Ng (1866-1931) - He was the first Chinese-American Presbyterian to minister on the American West Coast.

Also, on the Main Library, new additions include:

• Over 20 additional works by Benjamin Morgan Palmer (1818-1902), along with several works by his uncle, Benjamin Morgan Palmer (1781-1847);

• Over 20 additional works by Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield, bringing the total number of works by him available to read at LCP closer to 300;

• All volumes of The Presbyterian Quarterly to George Summey’s (1853-1954) page;

• A rare copy of Alexander MacWhorther’s Century Sermon (first delivered in 1801, first published in 1807, and republished in 1916);

• U.S. President Grover Cleveland’s 1888 Address Before the Northern and Southern Presbyterian Assemblies;

• John McDowell’s Fifty Years a Pastor, a semi-centenary discourse;

• Two rare works by John Thomas Chalmers (ARP) on Psalmody; and

• much, much more, including several works added to our Compilations page.

We invite you not only to browse and explore the Main Library and the Annex, but also to let us know if you have suggestions for further additions to Log College Press. As we continue to grow, build and expand, we hope that Log College Press, including the new Annex, will continue to be beneficial to our readers as a resource that taps into the deep well of wisdom that is to be found in early American Presbyterianism. We are also working to publish more volumes, and we will have more to say about this very soon, DV. Meanwhile, thanks to all our readers and those who have contributed in many ways to the work that we are doing. We are grateful to you. May the Lord bless His Church!

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Prayers for the times from The Book of Common Worship

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In times of national calamity, prayer is needed more than ever. And although written prayers imposed on corporate worship are not compatible with the liberty given to God’s people who are to keep only those ordinances which are commanded, and not those “which are in any thing contrary to His Word; or beside it, if matters of faith or worship” (WCF 20.2); yet, they may aid in our devotions as samples and guides, and The Book of Common Worship (1906) has some prayers which seem suitable to the times in which we live.

The 1906 Book of Common Worship was controversial in its day. It was the work of a committee composed of Henry Jackson Van Dyke, Jr., Louis F. Benson, and others. Some of the prayers below are also found in Benson’s A Book of Family Worship (1921), as well. May these particular prayers serve as encouragements to pray in our day along the lines of the sentiments expressed therein.

In Time of Pestilence

Holy and mighty Lord, who didst turn back the angel of the plague from the dwellings of Thy people; We beseech Thee to hear our cry for those who are suffering and dying, under the visitation of disease. Mercifully bless the means which are used to stay the spread of sickness, strengthen those who labour to heal and comfort the afflicted, support those who are in pain and distress, speedily restore those who have been brought low, and unto all who are beyond healing, grant Thy heavenly consolation and Thy saving grace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

After a Great Disaster

Almighty God, who are a very present help in time of trouble; Let not the heart of Thy people fail when fear cometh, but do Thou sustain and comfort them until these calamities be overpast: and since Thou knowest the cause and reason why this grievous disaster, hath fallen upon men, so do Thou heal the hurt and wounded, console the bereaved and afflicted, protect the innocent and helpless, and deliver any who are still in peril, for Thy great mercy’s sake. Amen.

In Time of Insurrection and Tumults

O Almighty Lord God, who alone riddest away tyrants by Thine everlasting determination, and stillest the noise and tumult of the people; Stir up Thy great strength, we beseech Thee, and come and help us; scatter the counsels of them that secretly devise mischief, and bring the dealings of the violent to naught; cast down the unjust from high places, and cause the unruly to cease from troubling; allay all envious and malicious passions, and subdue the haters and the evil-doers; that our land may have rest before Thee, and that all the people may praise Thee, our Help and our Shield, both now and evermore. Amen.

For Deliverance From National Sins

Lord God Almighty, defend our land, we beseech Thee, from the secret power and open shame of great national sins. From all dishonesty and civic corruption; from all vainglory and selfish luxury; from all cruelty and the spirit of violence; from covetousness which is idolatry; from impurity which defiles the temple of the Holy Spirit; and from intemperance which is the mother of many crimes and sorrows; good Lord, deliver and save us, and our children, and our children’s children, in the land which Thou hast blessed with the light of pure religion; through Jesus Christ, our only Saviour and King. Amen.

For All Who Are In Trouble

O God, remember in Thy mercy the poor and needy, the widow and fatherless, the stranger and the friendless, the sick and the dying: relieve their needs, sanctify their sufferings, strengthen their weakness: and in due time bring them out of bondage into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. Amen.

Almighty and everlasting God, the Comfort of the sad, the Strength of sufferers; Let the prayers of those that cry out of any tribulation come unto Thee; that all may rejoice to find Thy mercy present with them in their afflictions; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

God of all comfort, we commend to Thy mercy all those upon whom any cross or tribulation is laid; the nations who are afflicted with famine, pestilence, or war; those of our brethren who suffer persecution for the sake of the Gospel; all such as are in danger by sea or land, and all persons oppressed with poverty, sickness, or any infirmity of body or sorrow of mind. We pray particularly for the sick and afflicted members of this church, and for those who desire to be remembered in our prayers. May it please Thee to show them Thy fatherly kindness, chastening them for their good: that their hearts may turn unto Thee, and receive perfect consolation, and deliverance from all their troubles, for Christ’s sake. Amen.

Be merciful, O God, unto all who need Thy mercy, and let the Angel of Thy Presence save the afflicted: Be Thou the Strength of the weary, the Comfort of the sorrowful, the Friend of the desolate, the Light of the wandering, the Hope of the dying, the Saviour of the lost, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

We remember before Thee, O Lord, our brethren who are tried with sickness: entreating Thee to increase their faith and patience, to restore them to health, if it be Thy will, and to give them a happy issue out of all their troubles. Have pity on all widows and orphans; succour all who are in danger by sea and land, all prisoners and captives, and all who are oppressed with labour and toil. Have mercy on those who are tempted, and on those who are in darkness and perplexity, and strengthen them with Thy Holy Spirit. Be present with those who are dying, and grant that they may depart in peace, fearing no evil, and live before Thee in Thy heavenly kingdom; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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A place longed for amidst this wretched world: E.P. Lovejoy's "happy isle"

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Elijah Parish Lovejoy (1802-1837) was a young Presbyterian minister and abolitionist journalist who was murdered in Illinois for his outspoken anti-slavery views. Senseless violence such as that which led to his death has plagued our world since Cain killed Abel, and it seems widespread in our day. Such things make believers long for heaven. Lovejoy wrote of this longing in an 1827 poem which he titled

THERE IS AN ISLE

There is an isle, a lovely isle,
Which ocean depth’s embrace,
Nor man’s deceit, nor woman’s wile,
Hath ever found the place.
How sweet ‘twould be, if I could find
This isle, and leave the world behind.

See from the heaven-born Pleiades,
Comes the young, blooming spring;
Her light car yoked unto a breeze,
With aromatic wing;
Gaily she drives around its shores,
And scatters all her purple stores.

Ten thousand Naiads sport along,
Her ever joyous train;
And life and love are poured in song,
And bliss in every strain;
So soft, so sweet, so bland the while,
That even despair itself would smile.

Eternal calm hangs o’er its plains,
Its skies are ever fair;
In nectar’d dew descends its rains;
No fire-charged clouds are there,
To speak in thunder from the path
Of God come down to earth in wrath.

Its silvery streams o’er crystals flow,
Where sparkling diamonds be,
And, sweetly murmuring, gently go,
To meet a stormless sea;
And in their clear, reflective tide,
In golden scales the fishes glide.

Melodious songsters fill its groves,
To harmony attuned;
Where saints and seraphs tell their lvoes,
Their golden harps around,
In strains as soft as charmed the hours,
When man was blest in Eden’s bowers.

No birds of blood, nor beasts of prey,
Can in its woodlands breathe;
Peace spreads her wing o’er ev’ry spray,
And beauty sleeps beneath;
Or wakes to joy her varying note,
From ev’ry golden-feather’d throat.

No gloomy morning ever gleams
Upon this isle so fair;
No tainted breeze from guilty climes
Infects the evening air;
For in the light of ev’ry star
Are angels watching from afar.

Oh! I would leave this wretched world,
Where hope can hardly smile;
And go on wings by faith unfurled,
To reach this happy isle;
But that some ties still bind me here,
Which while they fetter, still endear.

And I would not that these should part,
Till He, and He alone,
Who would them finely round my heart,
Has cut them one by one:
And when the last is severed, then
Upon this isle ‘twill heal again.

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A monument engraved on hearts - remembering John F. Cook, Sr.

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A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered. Carve your name on hearts, not on marble. – Charles Spurgeon

In the autumn of 1859, an African-American Presbyterian minister, William Thomas Catto (1809-1869), addressed the crowd which had assembled at the dedication of a monument located at Columbian Harmony Cemetery in Washington, D.C. The monument was erected in memory of another African-American Presbyterian minister, John Francis Cook, Sr. (1810-1855). Catto’s address was published in the Weekly Anglo-African (November 5, 1859). It is a powerful tribute to a man whose legacy, while not widely known today, nevertheless endures.

Columbian Harmony Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

Cook was the founder of what is now the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. This is the same church which was later served by Henry Highland Garnet and Francis James Grimké. He was the first African-American Presbyterian to minister in the capital city of the United States. Born as a slave in 1810, his freedom was purchased by his aunt when he was 16 years old. He began to earn a living as a shoemaker, and as a messenger for the office of the U.S. Land Commissioner. He taught himself to read and write, but then (it is believed) later studied at the Smothers School in D.C. Later, he became headmaster of the same school, which he renamed Union Seminary. Cook associated himself with the Presbyterian Church, and with the support of John C. Smith, he was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of the District of Columbia in 1841, and helped to found the First Colored Presbyterian Church of Washington, D.C. that same year. Elected as pastor then, he was required to engage in further theological study, but in 1843 he was ordained and installed as pastor, and served that congregation until his death in 1855.

Catto, author of the first written history of the First African Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, was present in Washington, D.C., in 1859 to deliver the address when a monument was raised in Cook’s honor. His speech, which evidences great classical learning, is a memorable encomium in itself.

Through the personal efforts of Mrs. Rachel Kiger, at a cost of $160, this monument has been procured. Filled with an holy zeal she went forth in her ardent Christian love, determined to wrest from the treachery of memory and the possibility of oblivion the life and labors of him she valued in life, and mourned in death. Unaided and alone, like the good Samaritan, or like a Florence Nightingale, went forth on her mission of love, and finding a ready response from kindred hearts, we behold to-day the consummation of her labor, and may we not say in view of her success, “well done.” In the language of Scripture it may truthfully be said to the citizens of Washington, with no disparagement whatever, “that this man was born there,” and of Zion, “this man was born in her.” Here John [F.] Cook was born, here he lived, and here he died. Loved when living, regretted when dead, and his memory cherished though in his grave, for his usefulness and virtue.
…
This superstructure we this day raise we raise to the memory of a good man. May this monument remind us all to act well our parts in life, that when dead there may be left behind us such evidences as we see this day that in life we did something for God, something for humanity, and something for the world. May no hand dare deface it. Sacreligious would be the hand that would do it. And when any approach this spot, may they remember that around it clusters sacred and tender associations; and could I speak to that marble as its spire points heavenward, I would say to it, as you, my audience, now hear me, Thou marble monument, thou memorial of friendship, around thee stand friends of the departed; to-day, as ever, fond and friendly hearts around this spot in sympathy beat. We love this spot where friendship’s hand has placed thee Henceforth thou art the guide to show the stranger that here lies the body of John F. Cook. Here stand, thou sentinel, firm to thy post by night and day; and when the bleak, cold winds of winter blow and moan among these cypresses — when iceicles, like crystals, hang from sprig and branch, and nature is clad with its mantle of ice; or when the starry snow-flakes, beautifully pure and white, shall fall around this spot, driven by furious winds, sheeting the earth around in its drapery of white, and piling it in drifts around and around thy base, thy head from out the drifts yet lift, looking heavenward, and still proclaiming, “This is hallowed ground. It is here they have laid him; come see the place.” When winter’s winds, its frosts and snows, have passed away, and when sweet spring returns; when Nature’s God shall have dressed the earth in her garments of green; when from amid the foliage of these cypresses and oaks the feathered songsters of this grove are sweetly singing; when beautiful flowers, in their rich variety, planted by friendship’s hands over the graves of departed loved ones, are unfolding their beauties and blushing in the sunlight; when gentle zephyrs sigh softly through these trees, and all nature is alive and happy, stand thou here, and from thy place proclaim that he who slumbers here inhabits a fairer land than this. And when the playful, merry boy comes bounding along, or the little innocent, laughing girl, whose bright eye shows how lithe and happy is her life; or the maiden and youth leisurely sauntering here conversing of matters to come; or when the strong, sturdy man, or the grey-headed sire, or the aged and infirm, resort to this place— whilst all move along, each wending his way to some favorite spot — some spot cherished and dear —stand thou in thy place, thy head still towering heavenward, and proclaim to each passer, “This earth is not thy home; here you have no continuing city. Work out your salvation in fearing and in trembling, for the day of life waneth, and the night of death draweth nigh.”

We this day plant thee here on this consecrated spot, where lies the mortal remains of John F. Cook. Henceforth who that looks upon thee will remember him who, when living, was beloved by all who knew him best as a man—loved by God, whom he made his trust, and respected and loved by men, for whose best interests he labored.

We plant thee here to show the living that this life, when well spent, is not without its reward; that though, when living, we may be called to endure its ills, if faithful to the end, the good, the virtuous and the just will never consent to let the energies of a good man die, and recollections of them slumber with him in the grave. Stand thou here in summer and in winter, by night and day, in sunshine and in storm, as a memorial in honor of a good man, whose life was spent in honoring and glorifying his God and blessing his fellow men. And may the doings of this occasion so impress the living that each may strive to live the life of the righteous, that our last end may be like his.

With these powerful words echoing through time, it is sad to note that the cemetery where Cook’s mortal remains were laid to rest, where the monument was raised in his honor, and where his famous son, John F. Cook, Jr., was also buried, was relocated to Landover, Maryland in 1960. All those buried were moved without their tombstones, however; many of which were discovered by hikers along the Potomac River in Virginia in 2009, where they had apparently been unceremoniously dumped half a century before.

Truly, it may be said, that the life of man is better etched in hearts than in marble. And in the case of John F. Cook, Sr., and so many others, this is proven to be true. We remember him today simply because he was a faithful servant of Christ who, after growing up in slavery, became a minister of the gospel, and labored to advance the kingdom of Christ in the nation’s capital. Francis J. Grimké described him in 1916 as “a man of God thoroughly consecrated to the work of preaching the Gospel and to the general uplift of his people” (“Anniversary Address on the Occasion of the Seventy Fifth Anniversary of the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church, Washington, D.C.” in The Works of Francis J. Grimké, Vol. 1, p. 539), and this is how we remember him too.

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Far Above Rubies: A Devotional by Alexander R. Batchelor

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Alexander Ramsay Batchelor (1891-1955) was a (married) Southern Presbyterian with a deep, abiding concern for African-Americans. He authored Jacob’s Ladder: Negro Work of the Presbyterian Church in the United States (1953) — available at our Secondary Sources page — which gives an account of home missions by the Southern Presbyterian Church directed towards the African-American community. This work he dedicated both to his wife and to the African-American ministers of his denomination with whom he co-labored “in Christ, in whom is no color line.” It also contains devotionals, one of which — concerning women — is given here today for our prayerful consideration.

Far Above Rubies

Read Proverbs 31:10-31

“Greet Priscilla and Aquilla, my helpers in Christ Jesus.” — Romans 16:3.

Women, like men, have great potentialities for good or evil. The Bible abounds in examples of women who were devout servants of God and helpers in every good cause.

In the New Testament, Paul repeatedly commends them as “helpers in Jesus Christ,” “servants of the church,” and as having bestowed “much labour” and provided succour to God’s servants. In the Old Testament, the value of a good woman is declared as being “far above rubies.”

In the New Testament account of the life of Christ and the growth of His Church, women were:

Last at the cross — Mark 15:47

First at the tomb — John 20:1

First to proclaim the resurrection - Matthew 28:8

First to preach to the Jews — Luke 2:37,38

In attendance at the first prayer meeting — Acts 1:14

First to greet Christian missionaries in Europe — Acts 16:13

First European convert — Acts 16:14

Back of most men of God is a godly mother. Billy Sunday used to say, “The first time the Devil turned pale was when mother’s love came into the heart of a woman.” Someone else has said, “If you save a man, you save an individual. If you save a woman, you will probably save a home.” No thoughtful person has ever underestimated the power of a consecrated woman. Her value is "far above rubies.”

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The Princeton Book

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When Charles Hodge entered into glory in 1878, it seemed that one chapter in the history of Princeton had closed, and a new one was beginning. The following year, a memorial in honor of Hodge, Samuel Miller and the Alexanders was dedicated at Miller Chapel, and a book was published to commemorate the occasion, The Alexander Memorial (1879), of which we have written before. Today’s post concerns another volume published in 1879, The Princeton Book, “by officers and graduates of the college,” which is a remarkable and comprehensive look at the history and scope of Princeton’s legacy.

The Princeton Book has recently been added to our Compilations page. It is a volume filled with information about the founding of Princeton, both the college and the seminary, its relationship to church and state, the courses of study and activities conducted at Princeton, including science and athletics, the layout of the campus, the cemetery, the surrounding town, and much more. Each section is written by those with experience and knowledge of the topic, and a love of the institutions represented. It is a valuable snapshot in time (complete with many photographs and maps), as well as a look backward in time to inform readers of a rich heritage that belongs to Princeton and its people. The table of contents below will help today’s reader to better understand what this remarkable volume is all about.

I. Historical
History of the College of New Jersey by William Henry Hornblower
College Presidents by William A. Packard
Princeton and the Church by Henry J. Van Dyke
Princeton and the State by Henry J. Van Dyke
Princeton and Science by S.B. Dod
Princeton and Literature by William M. Baker

II. Organization
Course of Study in the Academical Department by James McCosh
The Faculty by Addison Atwater
The Treasurer by William Harris
The Librarian by Frederic Vinton
Commencement Day by Henry Alfred Todd
The American Whig Society by H.C. Cameron
Cliosophic Society by Melancthon W. Jacobus
The Philadelphian Society by John Thomas Duffield
The Nassau Hall Bible Society by George Sheldon
The St. Paul’s Society by Arthur B. Turnure
Class Meetings and Alumni Associations by George W. Sheldon

III. Buildings
Nassau Hall by John P. Campbell
Dickinson Hall by Edward D. Lindsey
The College Chapel by Lyman Hotchkiss Atwater
The College Library by Frederic Vinton
The Halsted Observatory by Stephen Alexander
The Working Observatory by C.A. Young
The Museum of Geology and Archaeology by Arnold Henry Guyot
The Gymnasium by Allan Marquand
Witherspoon Hall by William Harris
Reunion Hall by William Harris
East and West Colleges by William Harris

IV. The School of Science
The John C. Green School of Science by Henry B. Cornwall

V. The Theological Seminary
The Theological Seminary by George T. Purves
Library of the Theological Seminary by Wm. H. Roberts

VI. The Town
The Battle of Princeton by James C. Moffat
The First Church by Lyman Hotchkiss Atwater
The Princeton Graveyard by William Brenton Greene, Jr.
Tusculum by William Brenton Greene, Jr.
Morven by Bayard Stockton
Prospect by Bayard Stockton
Trinity Church by Bayard Stockton
Ivy Hall by Bayard Stockton
The University Hotel by William Harris

VII. Miscellaneous
On the Campus by Henry J. Van Dyke, Jr.
College Oratory by Simon J. McPherson
The Princeton Journals by Henry F. Osborn
Glee and Instrumental Clubs by Alfred L. Dennis, Jr.
History of Base Ball by Wilton Merle Smith
Foot-Ball by David Stewart
Athletic Notes by Allan Marquand

VIII. Statistics by William B. Scott
I. Statistics of Professions of Graduates
II. List of Presidents and Professors

Those interested in the history of “the legitimate successor of the celebrated ‘Log College’ at Neshaminy, Pennsylvania, and of several other schools of the prophets” (Henry Van Dyke), will find much in this volume to reward their study. The Princeton Book is a valuable resource indeed and can be read here.

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A Presbyterian Robinsonade: F.R. Goulding's "The Young Marooners"

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Stranded — marooned — on a desert island. If you have ever experienced this — and this writer has — or wondered about it — one cannot help but think of and compare your experience or daydreams to that of Robinson Crusoe, as told by the Presbyterian author Daniel Defoe. He originated, in fact, a genre of literature known as the Robinsonade — carried on by both non-Christian writers, and Christian authors such as Johann David Wyss (The Swiss Family Robinson); Robert Michael Ballantyne (The Island Queen and The Lonely Island); William Henry Giles Kingston (The Coral Island); and George Alfred Henty (For Name and Fame). Today we highlight an American Presbyterian author’s contribution to the genre.

Originally titled Robert and Harold: or, The Young Marooners on the Florida Coast (1852), this popular novel by Francis Robert Goulding (whose creative mind also developed an early version of the sewing machine) is often known as simply The Young Marooners. Not unlike Wyss’s Swiss Family Robinson, which came about through stories told by a pastor to his children, Goulding’s story also originated in tales told to young people. It tells the story — said to be partially based on factual events — of a family in the 1830s who set off from Charleston, South Carolina around the Florida peninsula to the Tampa Bay area. Where exactly they ended up, and how the children were separated from Dr. Gordon, and what adventures followed is the tale that we encourage you to read, or perhaps to read aloud to your children.

Worthy of special mention in this work is:

• The piety of the family - throughout their travels and adventures, the family’s commitment to Bible-reading, prayer and Sabbath observance is a golden thread that runs through the whole story;

• Although not a submarine like that which is found in another Robinsonade, Jules Verne’s The Mysterious Island, a nautilus is featured in Goulding’s tale, described by the author as a “Portuguese man-of-war”; and the fact that

• There is a sequel - after the success of Goulding’s adventure novel, which went through over ten editions in the United States and England, and was translated into several foreign languages, in the following decade Goulding published the backstory of Dr. Gordon’s search for the young children under the title of Marooner’s Island: or, Dr. Gordon in Search of His Children (1868). This and other adventure stories for young people can be found here.

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