A 1903 recommended pastoral library

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We have examined previously what constitutes a solid, recommended pastoral library as described by Thomas Murphy; and J.O. Murray, B.B. Warfield, and others. In today’s post, we take a look at recommendations from George Summey of The Presbyterian Quarterly and R.A. Lapsley, Sr. in the Union Seminary Magazine of 1903.

In Vol. 16 of The Presbyterian Quarterly, pp. 407-409, we find a list of 100 recommended titles compiled from the suggestions of many pastors and professors as to what should constitute the basic inventory of a young pastor’s library.

Beginning with the King James Version and Revised Version of the Bible, and Greek and Hebrew lexicons, the list continues with Bible dictionaries and concordances, and Bible commentaries (Matthew Henry and J-F-B on the whole Bible, and select commentators on individual books, such as William Henry Green on Job and Joseph Addison Alexander on Isaiah), before proceeding to classics of Christian literature such as John Calvin’s Institutes, Charles Hodge’s Systematic Theology, Thomas à Kempis’ Imitation of Christ, Thomas Murphy’s Pastoral Theology, Fisher’s Catechism, B.M. Palmer’s Theology of Prayer, and D'Aubigné’s History of the Reformation; and classics of literature in general, including Shakespeare, Milton, Tennyson and Dickens.

It is a full list with a sufficiently broad scope to encompass many areas of study with which each pastor ought to be acquainted. But no list of this nature is going to be complete. R.A. Lapsley wrote his own article to supplement that of the Presbyterian Quarterly by proposing several additional fields of literature of great value to the young minister.

• Experimental religion - Andrew Murray, Abide in Christ; Archibald Alexander, Thoughts on Religious Experience; William S. Plumer, Vital Godliness; Jonathan Edwards, Religious Affections; and the practical works of John Owen;

• Revivals of religion - G.W. Hervey’s Manual of Revivals, with particular reference to the bibliography at p. 143-144, and the outlines of George Whitefield’s sermons, and others;

• Sermons — The sermons of Charles Spurgeon are recommended, as well as Stuart Robinson’s Discourses of Redemption; and those found in the 1896 Southern Presbyterian Pulpit;

• Hymnology — S.W. Duffield, English Hymns: Their Authors and History; and

• Christian biographies — Memoirs of Robert Murray M’Cheyne, Edward Payson, William C. Burns, and David Brainerd are among those recommended.

Lapsley concludes thus:

These, then, are some of the lines along which a preacher's library ought to grow, building upon the solid foundation laid down in the Quarterly’s list of one hundred books. If a man is to be a preacher and pastor, as well as a theologian and exegete, he wants to have and “inwardly digest” some books on religious experience and revivals of religion, some volumes of sermons, something on religious poetry, especially hymnology, and a number of the choicest religious biographies. These, along with text-books on Pastoral Theology and hand-books of missions, furnish the material for that great department of Practical Theology which is a vital point in ministerial equipment, coördinate with dogmatics and hermeneutics.

In short, the well-read and well-rounded minister is one who begins with the study of the Bible and proceeds to consult spiritual classics from the spectrum of history. Lapsley is not averse to recommending (for occasional perusal) the autobiography of Charles Finney (with a caution about his Pelagianism), but offers his highest praise of the practical works of John Owen. Read Summey’s list here, and Lapsley’s article here, for the combined pastoral library recommendations from the 1903 Presbyterian Quarterly and Union Seminary Magazine.

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An answer to Pilate's question: What is truth?

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Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? (John 18:38)

Besides the famous Log College of William Tennent and its daughter schools in Pennsylvania — as well as the Log College of David Caldwell in North Carolina, and others — there was the Shepherd’s Tent of New London, Connecticut. of which Timothy Allen (1715-1806) served as President in the 1740s. Shepherd’s Tent was a brief but important contribution to the revivalism of the Great Awakening; see Richard Warch, “The Shepherd's Tent: Education and Enthusiasm in the Great Awakening,” American Quarterly, vol. 30, no. 2, 1978, pp. 177–198, for more about this contribution. John Brainerd and Elihu Spencer were among the students of Shepherd’s Tent.

Meanwhile, today’s post is extracted from a fascinating essay by Allen written as a response to an age-old question. The full treatise is very much worth the read. In conclusion, he gives an eight-part answer as follows.

Lastly. We see the sum of the answer to Pilate’s question, in these particulars.

1. GOD, his nature, and all his attributes and perfections, are truth, in its first and most important sense. His proper distinctions is, GOD of truth, Deut. xxxii.4.

2. JESUS CHRIST as a divine person, and as perfectly expressing GOD to men, is in equal sense, the truth. John xiv.6.

3. The Holy Ghost, as the great efficient of all divine purposes, and as represented in the genuine influence of all the words, and all the works of GOD, on the consciences of men, is truth. 1 John v.6. And for this reason styled, the Spirit of the truth. John xiv.17.

4. The work which JESUS CHRIST came to do, and which is the only obedience of merit, in which therefore all the hope of sinners lies, itself being the only perfect practical righteousness, is truth, in fact, through which only we are saved. 2 Thess. ii.13.

5. The Scriptures, as the only perfect literal description of the Godhead, and the only history of his kingdom, and its righteousness, is in the same sense, truth itself. John xvii.17.

6. The saving work of the Spirit of GOD, through belief of the word of GOD, and by which sinners are made partakers of the divine nature, and have fellowship with God, is truth. 1 John ii.27.

7. The whole kingdom of God, as including the creation and government of all things, is original truth, exemplified in facts. All his works are done in truth. Ps. xxxiii.4.

8. NATURAL self-consisting truth, in the last and most finished representation of it to men, is the distinguishing character of that kingdom, of which JESUS CHRIST was born lord and king. It was represented in types, in the Jewish state of the church; and the whole of that state of the church was type, or typical. But now the truth is come, which was all along meant by those types.

In this summation, Allen explores the manifold sense in which Pilate may receive a full answer to a profound question. Pilate may not have sought such an answer, but lovers of the truth, which is timeless, will appreciate what Allen had to say over 250 years ago. Our God is indeed a God of truth.

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Happy the Man, per G.S. Plumley

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Horace, Odes 3.29:

Happy he,
Self-centred, who each night can say,
“My life is lived: the morn may see
A clouded or a sunny day:
That rests with Jove: but what is gone,
He will not, cannot turn to nought;
Nor cancel, as a thing undone,
What once the flying hour has brought.”

John Dryden:

Happy the man, and happy he alone,
He who can call today his own:
He who, secure within, can say,
Tomorrow do thy worst, for I have lived today.
Be fair or foul or rain or shine,
The joys I have possessed, in spite of fate, are mine.
Not Heaven itself upon the past has power,
But what has been, has been, and I have had my hour.

An ode by Horace has been versified by many, with Dryden’s version perhaps the most famous in the English language. Today we consider a rendition by Gardiner Spring Plumley.

Happy the man who, far from business, found
The sea girt shore of old Long Island Sound.
He leaves Wall street, with all its din and row
To taste the cream of his pet Jersey cow.
He grafts his trees and trains his Concord vine,
And treats himself and friend to currant wine.
He, from the shore the busy bee swarm makes,
Enjoys their honey on his buckwheat cakes.
Or, when red Autumn glowing verdure wears,
Feasts on the Seckle or Bartlett pears.
Oft, fled the town, beneath a leafy vine,
He stretches out at his full length supine,
Sends from his pipe blue clouds and rings afar,
Or, frugal puffs from a Key West cigar.
Meanwhile, bright waters glide with soothing sound,
And warbling birds re-echo music round.
Let others, ‘mid November’s wintry airs,
Scour through the woods for coots, and coons and bears,
He seeks at eve his home and social ties
To revel on his mince and pumpkin pies,
Amid these scenes are all his cares forgot,
While loving wife and children bless his lot.
His wife, as nearer speeds the homeward train,
Hastes forth to meet him down the shaded lane;
An open fireplace sheds its welcome flare,
The kettle sings its song, the toast is there.
This simple meal with her more praise will win
Than Blue Point oysters, game, or terrapin.
Not turbot which the foamy ocean’s toss,
Not fat roast turkey with cranberry sauce,
He says, not grouse or woodcock can combine
To make a banquet so complete as mine:
When wife and children round the frugal board
Brings smiles and love, I envy not the hoard
Of Vanderbilt or Gould, be theirs the wealth,
Mine are the joys of innocence of cent per cent.,
If on real, solid satisfaction bent,
Will to Stamford town from stern business roam,
And only there find bliss in such a home.
Far from electric cars and stuffy flat,
Rats, mice, and bugs, mosquitoes and all that.
Then, week by week, a trifle I’ll put by,
And from foul streets and fetid odors fly,
Own my own humble roof, with comfort blest,
Work in the town, but in the country rest.
Rejoice when moil and toil and labor end,
That the town’s suburbs relaxation lend,
Save me from the landlord’s thrall and rent’s annoy,
And give to every day sweet hours of joy.

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The Protesters of 1741

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On Monday, June 1, 1741, a protest authored by Robert Cross and signed by him, along with eleven other ministers and eight ruling elders, was submitted to the Synod of Philadelphia, with Jedediah Andrews serving as Moderator, which led to the great Old Side-New Side split of the colonial American Presbyterian Church. The signers were mostly from the Presbytery of Donegal, representing the Old Side party. D.G. Hart writes* that “This division in American Presbyterianism has been the most difficult one to explain in the history of the church…” The protesters, for one thing, referred to their opponents (the New Side) as “protesting brethren,” which certainly clouds the issue for those removed from the controversy by centuries.

It is not the purpose of this post to attempt to explain the circumstances and motivations of either party, which would require an essay of great length, and the tragic story is told elsewhere in church histories by Charles Hodge, Richard Webster, and others. but simply to alert students of church history to the fact that all twelve ministers who signed the Protestation are now found on Log College Press. As William Tennent’s Log College did play an important role in the events leading up to the 1741 split, it is a matter of great interest to us at Log College Press to read what the Old Side had to say, as well as the New Side.

The twelve ministers who signed included 3 Roberts, 3 Johns and 2 Samuels, and most were born in Ireland:

• Robert Cross (1689-1766) - The Protestation’s author served the First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia alongside Jedediah Andrews.

• John Thomson (1690-1753) - Thomson was the author of the 1729 Adopting Act.

• Francis Alison (1705-1779) - Alison was a scholar and educator, as well as a leading voice among Old Side presbyters. He preached the opening sermon at the 1758 reunion Synod on “Peace and Union.”

• Robert Cathcart (d. 1754) - Cathcart ministered in Wilmington, Delaware from 1730 until his death.

• Richard Sankey (1710-1789) - In church records, his last name is often spelled Zanchy. He was the son-in-law of John Thomson, and — after a rocky start in which he was accused of plagiarizing his ordination sermon — later served Virginia Presbyterians under the jurisdiction of the Hanover Presbytery.

• John Elder (1706-1792) - The “Fighting Pastor” is known to history as the founder of “Paxton Boys,” who were involved in the Conestoga Massacre in the aftermath of the French and Indian War, and then marched on Philadelphia. In the American War of Independence, he recruited patriots to the American cause.

• John Craig (1709-1774) - Craig, about whom we have written before, later served the Hanover Presbytery in Augusta County, Virginia as the first settled Presbyterian minister west of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

• Samuel Caven (1701-1750) - Caven’s tombstone at the Silver Spring Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania indicates that he was 44 years old when he died on November 9, 1750; however, other sources indicate that he was born (in Ireland) in 1701.

• Samuel Thomson (1714-1787) - Although some have thought that Samuel was the son of John Thomson, the latter’s biographer, John Goodwin Herndon, makes the case that this was not so. Samuel Thomson served as pastor of the Great Conewago Presbyterian Church in Hunterstown, Pennsylvania from 1749 to 1787.

• Adam Boyd (1692-1768) - Over a 44-year pastoral career, Boyd — a man “eminent” for piety — help to organize 16 “daughter” and “grand-daughter” churches.

• James Martin (d. 1743) - Martin left his mark as pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Lewes, Delaware, where the house that he once owned remains an historical landmark.

• Robert Jamison (d. 1744) - Jamison, after arriving from Ireland in 1634, ministered in Delaware until his death.

These names are worth getting to know. The ministers who signed the Protestation played an important role in a tragic chapter of American Presbyterian history, and some of them were part of the reunited Synod 17 years later. Ezra Hall Gillett writes of some of these men in The Men and Times of the Reunion of 1758 (1868). That was a happier year than 1741. The rupture that happened after the Protestation had been building for years, and both sides were to blame, as Gillett says. In reviewing the protesters, on both sides, we are reminded that all men fall short of the divine standard of holiness, love and long-suffering that ought to be characteristic of believers. The history of the Presbyterian church affords many examples of division; happily, in this case, a great reunion followed.

* S. Donald Fortson III, ed., Colonial Presbyterianism: Old Faith in a New Land, p. 158

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Encouragement for the anxious from Charles Hodge and W.P. Patterson

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Take all Mr. Fearing’s features together, and even Shakespeare himself has no such heart-touching and heart-comforting character. — Alexander Whyte, Bunyan Characters

Building on the memorable character from John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress to whom many can relate, William Parker Patterson (1848-1901) published a volume titled A Heartening Word For Mr. Fearing; or, Cheer For Doubting Pilgrims (1897) which gives Scriptural reasons to support and encourage inquirers who are anxious to know whether they are on the right path to the celestial country. The extract that follows speaks to the question of making our calling and election sure.

Memory recalls an incident which occurred in the class-room of the beloved Dr. Charles Hodge in our seminary days at Princeton. The class, at the time, was engaged in the study of the subject of election, and, in the recitation, a member put this question to the professor, who was always ready, if he could, to meet and satisfy every difficulty: "Suppose, Doctor, I am the pastor of a church, and there comes to me an honest and anxious inquirer who, in our conversation, with evident sincerity, desires to know how he is to determine whether or not he is one of the elect, what answer, if any, can I truthfully give?" With that look of rare tenderness and solicitude which every pupil of Dr. Hodge can easily recall, and in tones which none can ever forget who have heard them, the reply came: "My young brother, there is only one answer that can meet such an inquiry, and it is given in the very words of the Master himself: 'He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.'" It is enough. Nothing more is possible.

Would we, indeed, know beyond all peradventure that our own names are written in the book of life? then let us determine, first of all, whether or not we have come to Christ; for he himself declares, for our guidance in this judgment, "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." Have we come to Christ? Are we conscious of having our affections and willpower changed to the Christlike and the heavenly? If we can truthfully and humbly affirm that we have come to Christ, and are endeavoring by grace to excel in whatever achievements are predicated of those who are divinely revealed as belonging to Christ, we surely need not doubt our calling and election. As the good bishop Leighton puts it, "He that loves may be sure that he was loved first, and he that chooses God for his delight and portion may conclude confidently that God hath chosen him to be one of those that shall enjoy him and be happy with him forever; for that our love and electing of him is but the return of the beams of his love shining upon us.”

Perhaps this word of encouragement from the past will speak to you, or to another, today. If so, to God be the glory, who alone can complete the good work which he alone begins in all of his children (Phil. 1:6).

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The Value of Life: Testimony From Three Centuries

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If ever a culture needed to hear a message about the value of human life, our nihilistic 21st century America would be at the top of the list. Today’s post constitutes a witness from the past three centuries of American Presbyterian sermons and essays on the topic.

18th Century - Hugh Knox (1733-1790), “The Value and Importance of a Child,” Essay 58 in The Moral and Religious Miscellany; or, Sixty-One Aphoretical Essays, on Some of the Most Important Christian Doctrines and Virtues (1775):

The moment in which a rational, immortal spirit animates a human foetus, a spark is kindled which shall never be extinguished. The materiąl sun will grow old, wax dim with years, and be probably put out as a lamp that burneth; the stars shall fall from their orbits, and be covered with darkness; but this breath of the Almighty, this intellectual spark once kindled up in the moral world, ſhall burn on with undiminiſhed and ever increasing lustre, as long as God himself endures.

The birth of a child we deem to be but a trifling event, and look with indifference, perhaps with contempt, on the little helpless stranger. But if we viewed it with the penetrating eye of reason; if we considered it as emerging from eternal night into life immortal; — as an heir of worlds unknown, and a candidate for an everlasting state; — as a glimmering spark of being, just struck from nothing by the all-creating rock, which must burn and flame on to eternity, when suns and stars have returned to their native darkness or non-entity; — which must survive the funeral of nature, and live through the rounds of endless ages; which must either rise from glory to glory, ascending perfection’s scale by endless gradations, or sink deeper and deeper into the bottomless abyss of misery, and to which its immortality must either prove an unsufferable curse, — or a blessing inconceivable, according to the manner in which it shall have acquitted itself in its present probationary state — we shall clearly discern, that the value and importance of a human infant can scarcely be computed.

19th Century - Henry Augustus Boardman (1808-1880), The Low Value Set Upon Human Life in the United States: A Discourse Delivered on Thanksgiving-Day, November 24th, 1853 (1853):

It is impossible to frame any suitable conception of the value of life , or of the criminality of abridging its duration , without viewing man as an immortal being. The moment this idea is admitted into the inquiry, it overshadows everything else. The pains of dissolution, the pang of parting, the blighted hopes, the sorrows of widowhood and orphanage, the destruction of the vital spark , and whatever of grief and woe we may be accustomed to associate with the name of death considered simply as a temporal event — all becomes insignificant when we think of its future issues. It is the dismission of an individual from time into eternity. It is the sending him to the bar of his Maker. It is a terminating of all his opportunities for repentance and reformation . He is, thenceforth , done with the Bible and the throne of grace , with Sabbaths and sermons, with offers of pardon and tenders of reconciliation , with the Saviour's invitations and the Spirit's strivings, — all these are finished . He goes to appear before the “ great white throne,” and to receive his award of everlasting life , or of shame and everlasting contempt.
…
There is nothing over which the Deity has reserved to himself a more implicit control than life and death. “The Lord killeth and maketh alive; he bringeth down to the grave and bringeth up.” “I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal.” As He alone can give life, so no creature may take it away without His permission. The wilful destruction of it, He has not only forbidden in the decalogue, but marked with His special abhorrence, by requiring every murderer to be put to death. And, as if to set forth in a yet more emphatic way, His estimate of the sacredness of life, and of the enormity of extinguishing it, he required even the involuntary homicide, among the Hebrews, to be tried; and if proved innocent, he was still treated as a quasi-prisoner, and prohibited, on pain of death, from quitting the city of refuge during the life of the high-priest. If further proof were wanting of the value He sets upon life, it offers itself to us on every side, in the various and inexhaustible provision He has made for its nurture and protection; in the antidotes He has prepared to the diseases sin has introduced; and above all, in the infinite love He has displayed towards our race in sending His be loved Son into the world to redeem us.

These are all His mercies. We are responsible to Him for the use we make of them. It is for Him to say how long, and under what circumstances, we shall enjoy them. Upon our conduct here, “everlasting things” are suspended. This is our probation; heaven and hell hang upon it. Nor is this all. We are so implicated with one another, that we are all helping to determine each other's characters and destiny. Our life or death may seriously affect, for good or ill, the welfare of a nation, or the prosperity of the church. Nay, we are even allowed to say, that the glory of God Himself, the ever-blessed and incomprehensible Jehovah, may have some connexion with our longer or shorter continuance here.

20th Century - Theodore Ledyard Cuyler (1822-1909), The Value of Life (1908):

Life is God’s gift; your trust and mine. We are the trustees of the Giver, unto whom at last we shall render account for every thought, word and deed in the body.

In the first place, life, in its origin, is infinitely important. The birth of a babe is a mighty event. From the frequency of births, as well as the frequency of deaths, we are prone to set a very low estimate on the ushering into existence of an animate child, unless the child be born in a palace or a presidential mansion, or some other lofty station. Unless there be something extraordinary in the circumstances, we do not attach the importance we ought to the event itself. It is only noble birth, distinguished birth, that is chronicled in the journals or announced with salvos of artillery. I admit that the relations of a prince, of a president and statesman, are more important to their fellow men and touch them at more points than those of an obscure pauper; but when the events are weighed in the scales of eternity, the difference is scarcely perceptible. In the darkest hovel in Brooklyn, in the dingiest attic or cellar, or in any place in which a human being sees the first glimpse of light, the eye of the Omniscient beholds an occurrence of prodigious moment. A life is begun, a life that shall never end. A heart begins to throb that shall beat to the keenest delight or the acutest anguish. More than this — a soul commences a career that shall outlast the earth on which it moves. The soul enters upon an existence that shall be untouched by time, when the sun is extinguished like a taper in the sky, the moon blotted out, and the heavens have been rolled together as a vesture and changed forever.
…
What is the purpose of life? Is it advancement? Is it promotion? Is it merely the pursuit of happiness? Man was created to be happy, but to be more — to be holy. The wisdom of those Westminster fathers that gathered in the Jerusalem chamber, wrought it into the well-known phrase, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.” That is the double aim of life: duty first, then happiness as the consequence; to bring in revenues of honor to God, to build up His kingdom, spread His truth; to bring this whole world of His and lay it subject at the feet of the Son of God. That is the highest end and aim of existence, and every one here that has risen up to that purpose of life lives.

The truth spoken by these voices is timeless, just as every being made in the image of God is of eternal worth. May today’s generation give heed to these witnesses to the value and dignity of human life from centuries past.

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Time spent for the glory of God is well-spent, according to Hugh Knox

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Today’s post begins with a quote from Martin Luther’s The Estate of Marriage (1522), continues with a quote from Hugh Knox., and ends with a quote from John Milton

Now observe that when that clever harlot, our natural reason (which the pagans followed in trying to be most clever), takes a look at married life, she turns up her nose and says, “Alas, must I rock the baby, wash its diapers, make its bed, smell its stench, stay up nights with it, take care of it when it cries, heal its rashes and sores, and on top of that care for my wife, provide for her, labour at my trade, take care of this and take care of that, do this and do that, endure this and endure that, and whatever else of bitterness and drudgery married life involves? What, should I make such a prisoner of myself? 0 you poor, wretched fellow, have you taken a wife? Fie, fie upon such wretchedness and bitterness! It is better to remain free and lead a peaceful. carefree life; I will become a priest or a nun and compel my children to do likewise.”

What then does Christian faith say to this? It opens its eyes, looks upon all these insignificant, distasteful, and despised duties in the Spirit, and is aware that they are all adorned with divine approval as with the costliest gold and jewels. It says, “0 God, because I am certain that thou hast created me as a man and hast from my body begotten this child, I also know for a certainty that it meets with thy perfect pleasure. I confess to thee that I am not worthy to rock the little babe or wash its diapers. or to be entrusted with the care of the child and its mother. How is it that I, without any merit, have come to this distinction of being certain that I am serving thy creature and thy most precious will? 0 how gladly will I do so, though the duties should be even more insignificant and despised. Neither frost nor heat, neither drudgery nor labour, will distress or dissuade me, for I am certain that it is thus pleasing in thy sight.”

A wife too should regard her duties in the same light, as she suckles the child, rocks and bathes it, and cares for it in other ways; and as she busies herself with other duties and renders help and obedience to her husband. These are truly golden and noble works. . . .

Now you tell me, when a father goes ahead and washes diapers or performs some other mean task for his child, and someone ridicules him as an effeminate fool, though that father is acting in the spirit just described and in Christian faith, my dear fellow you tell me, which of the two is most keenly ridiculing the other? God, with all his angels and creatures, is smiling, not because that father is washing diapers, but because he is doing so in Christian faith. Those who sneer at him and see only the task but not the faith are ridiculing God with all his creatures, as the biggest fool on earth. Indeed, they are only ridiculing themselves; with all their cleverness they are nothing but devil’s fools.

Hugh Knox (1733-1790) in Essay 48 of The Moral and Religious Miscellany; or, Sixty-One Aphoretical Essays, on Some of the Most Important Christian Doctrines and Virtues (1775), “On the Shortness and Due Improvement of Time,” speaks to the value of time spent on the little necessary things of life, which some might think wasted.

Time employed in worldly business and cares, is not always misspent or thrown away; for, while we have bodies, families, and the poor and needy to care for, lawful worldly induſtry, will ever be an essential part of our Chriſtian duty. But that the time spent in worldly business be lawfully ſpent, it is necessary that we thus spend it in subserviency to a higher, nobler end; that we do it to the glory of God, and in obedience to his command, and that the world is kept down from the highest place in our affećtions.

Whether we are gardening, waiting on a stoplight on our way to do good, or washing dishes, if done to the glory of God, all such tasks are worthy of a Christian and count as time well-spent.

They also serve who only stand and wait. — John Milton, Sonnet 19, “When I Consider How My Light is Spent”

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No God in the Constitution

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The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God (Ps. 9:17).

A concern of many 19th century Presbyterians regarding the American Constitution is that it omits any reverent acknowledgement of God Almighty. The failure to honor the God of nations in our national charter was noted in a previous post highlighting the remarks of George Duffield IV and George Junkin. Today’s post highlights a remark attributed to Vice-President Alexander Hamilton. The omission of God in the U.S. Constitution was noticed by Presbyterians even outside of the Covenanter Church (which from the beginning of America’s founding as a nation until the 1960’s held to the position of political dissent) very early in American history as we shall see.

Appended to Thomas Smyth’s 1860 sermon The Sin and the Curse are comments regarding this defect of the U.S. Constitution.

No God in the Constitution

“The name of God does not occur in the Constitution which they framed, nor any recognition of Divine Providence.”

As a fitting accompaniment to an article in last week’s Observer, of which the closing period forms an appropriate title to still another item of history, connected with the same subject, some of your readers wil be, perhaps, interested in an extract or two from one of the many Congratulatory Addresses presented to President Washington on his election as First President under the new Constitution, with his reply.

“The First Presbytery of the Eastward,” in their “Address to George Washington, President of the United States, after many pious congratulations, &c., proceed thus:

“Whatever any have supposed wanting in the original plan” [of the Constitution], “we are happy to see so wisely provided in its amendments; and it is with peculiar satisfaction that we behold how easily the entire confidence of the people, in the man who sits at the helm of government, has eradicated every remaing objection to its form.

“Among these we never considered the want of a religious test, that grand engine of persecution in every tyrant’s hand: but we should not have been alone in rejoicing, to have some explicit acknowledgment of the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He hath sent, inserted somewhere in the Magna Charta of our country, &c., &c.

“October 28, 1789.”
…
The venerable Dr. [John] Rodgers once met Alexander Hamilton, soon after the adoption of the Constitution of the United States and said to him, “Mr. Hamilton, I am grieved to see that you have neglected to acknowledge God in the Constitution.” Hamilton replied, “My dear sir, we forgot to do it.”

George Duffield V also took note of the reported conversation between John Rodgers and Alexander Hamilton in The God of Our Fathers: An Historical Sermon (1861).

Hamilton said to Dr. Rodgers, “Indeed, Dr., we forgot it!”

In the same sermon Duffield quotes the words of John Mitchell Mason:

“That no notice whatever should be taken of that God who planteth a nation, and plucketh it up at his pleasure, is an omission which no pretext whatever can palliate. Had such a momentous business been transacted by Mohammedans, they would have begun, “In the name of God.” Even the savages, whom we despise, setting a better example, would have paid some homage to the Great Spirit. But from the Constitution of the United States, it is impossible to ascertain what God we worship; or whether we own a God at all. * * Should the citizens of America be as irreligious as her Constitution, we will have reason to tremble, lest the Governor of the Universe, who will not be treated with indignity by a people, any more than by individuals, overturn, from its foundation, the fabric we have been rearing, and crush us to atoms in the wreck.” — Works of J.M. Mason, D.D., Vol. i., p. 50.

Hamilton’s biographer Ron Chernow, when speaking of the story of Hamilton’s quip about forgetting God, says: “One is tempted to reply that Alexander Hamilton never forgot anything important” (Alexander Hamilton, p. 235). James Renwick Willson would concur.

There is no acknowledgment of Almighty God, nor any, even the most remote, token of national subjection to Jehovah, the Creator. It is believed, that there never existed, previous to this constitution, any national deed like this, since the creation of the world. A nation having no God! In vain shall we search the annals of pagan Greece and Rome, of modern Asia, Africa, pagan America, and the isles of the sea — they have all worshipped some God. The United States have none — But here let us pause over this astounding fact. Was it a mere omission? Did the convention that framed the constitution forget to name the living God? Was this an omission in some moment of national phrenzy, when the nation forgot God? That, indeed, were a great sin. God says, “the nations that forget God, shall be turned into hell.” It was not, however, a thoughtless act, an undesigned omission. It was a deliberate deed, whereby God was rejected; and in the true atheistical spirit of the whole instrument, and of course, done with intent to declare national independence of the Lord of hosts (Prince Messiah's Claims to Dominion Over All Governments; and the Disregard of His Authority by the United States, in the Federal Constitution (1832), p. 25).

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William J. Armstrong's ode to the Bible

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William Jessup Armstrong (1796-1846) ministered in Trenton, New Jersey, and in Richmond, Virginia, before serving as Secretary for the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. The son of Amzi Armstrong and brother of George Dodd Armstrong, William was an eminent preacher a volume of his sermons shows. He died tragically and bravely on the steamer Atlantic in Long Island Sound in the early hours of November 27, 1846. Reports from the survivors of that wreck speak of his prayers as the ship was in peril through that night, and the spiritual comfort which he offered to his fellow passengers. His memoir records a poem of his composition which merits notice. The nautical imagery is particularly striking.

The Bible

The Bible, man’s best friend on earth,
Friend, indeed, of Heavenly birth,
Precious gift of God to man,
Who Thy excellence can scan?

In this vale, where sorrows spring,
Thou canst make the mourner sing;
In this land of darkest night,
Thou canst cheer with heavenly light.

When the heart corrodes with care,
Sweet Thy consolations are;
When the anguished spirit dies,
Springs of life are Thy supplies.

In the hour of ardent youth,
May I love Thy scared truth;
May it all my actions guide,
May it check my passions’ tide.

When advancing on life’s stage,
I arrive at middle age,
Be thou still my chosen friend,
All my footsteps to attend.

May I never, never stray,
From that calm and peaceful way,
Over life’s tempestuous sea,
Pointed out alone by Thee.

When I hear the billows roar,
As they dash against that shore
Whither all are tending fast,
At which all must end at last:

As a beacon shed Thy light,
O’er the waves, dispel the night,
Cheer the darkness, cheer the gloom,
Thickening awful o’er the tomb.

Light me to that blissful port,
Where my Saviour holds his court;
Then I’ll chant Thy praises high,
There my joys will never die.

Read more about Armstrong’s life, and his sermons, here. In fifty years of life on this earth, he gave a powerful testimony to the grace of God by word and deed. What Charles Spurgeon said of John Bunyan might well be said of Armstrong: “Prick him anywhere — his blood is Bibline, the very essence of the Bible flows from him.”

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Mrs. A.T.J. Bullard: Peeress for a Day

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In 1850, Rev. Artemas Bullard, Jr. traveled to Europe, with his accomplished wife Anne Tuttle Jones Bullard, to serve as a delegate at the International Peace Congress in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. The couple spent six months traveling in Europe. She wrote letters to the Missouri Republican back home in St. Louis, Missouri, which were later published as Sights and Scenes in Europe: A Series of Letters From England, France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy, in 1850 (1852), which she dedicated “to the ladies of the First Presbyterian Church, St. Louis, Mo.”

There are interesting literary connections to the Bullard family. Anne herself was a gifted writer who often published under pseudonyms. Her husband’s younger sister, Eunice Bullard, married the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher (both Eunice and Henry were noted writers), which meant that Anne also had family ties to Harriet Beecher Stowe. And, further, the Rev. Henry Bullard (son of Artemus and Anne), was a fellow transatlantic passenger with Mark Twain. It has been noted before that Anne’s Sights and Scenes in Europe bears a similarity to Twain’s Innocents Abroad (1869), inspired certainly by the 1867 voyage, but perhaps Anne’s 1852 book was known to him, since Twain also was from St. Louis and it is thought that he had heard Artemas preach (before Artemas died in 1855 during the Gasconade Bridge train disaster).

One little snapshot of the Bullards’ trip through Europe has to do with the day that Mrs. Bullard was an invited guest for a speech given by Queen Victoria to the House of Lords in London on August 15, 1850. A Mr. R . Cobden procured for her admission to the one of the most-sought after seats in the city (she writes: “A ticket of admission is obtained only from the Lord Chamberlain through a Peer”).

Mrs. Bullard’s ticket of admission to hear Queen Victoria’s speech.

Mrs. Bullard’s description of the event takes up many pages (see Letter No. IV), but we can glean how momentous the occasion was from this extract:

The streets were lined with people to see the Queen pass. I understood it is three years since she has prorogued Parliament in person. Temporary seats, three tiers or more, were built up on each side, for which some persons paid three shillings (or seventy-five cents) each.

No gentlemen are admitted to the floor of the House of Lords except peers, Bishops, and Ambassadors, and there are seats for only about two hundred ladies. It was announced that the Queen would arrive at 2 o’clock, and to be in season I took a carriage at half-past eleven. There were about fifteen carriages in advance of mine, and as the House was not opened until 12 o’clock, the ladies must of course sit in their carriages until their turn came to be admitted. Precisely at twelve the door was opened, and when all the carriages before me were emptied and my turn came, I was allowed to pass in, but without the escort of any gentleman. Only about thirty ladies were seated before me, and I was shown one of the most desirable places for observation in the room, near the Queen, and for two hours and a half I had an admirable opportunity to scan the novel scenes before me.

The House of Lords is a most gorgeous place. The ceiling is magnificently gilded in raised figures, and the galleries are formed of very open iron-work, also gilded. The Queen’s throne, or chair of State, her canopy &c., have also all the appearance of the most elegant carved work, covered with gold. The seats, arranged lengthwise of the room in four rows, were without backs and covered with crimson morocco. One of the most beautiful young ladies in the rooms [was] at my right hand, and, very fortunately for me, she was agreeable and communicative, and pointed out many persons of rank, whom I could not have recognized but for her politeness. In answer to one of my inquiries, whether such a lady was a Peeress, my companion replied, “Oh, yes, we are all Peeresses, you know.” I smiled, but did not undeceive her, thinking as it was the first and last time I should ever pass for a Peeress, I would enjoy my rank.

She went on to enjoy the privilege of hearing Queen Victoria’s speech, which was a rare opportunity for the wife of an American Presbyterian minister. For the full story, see her account, and read about her other experiences in Europe, here. Peeress for a day!

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How did "In God We Trust" come to be on American currency? A 19th century Presbyterian played a major role

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James Pollock left his mark on history. Born on September 11, 1810, he graduated from the College of New Jersey (Princeton) and became a lawyer, a judge and congressman. At one point he roomed with Abraham Lincoln and they developed an enduring friendship. He was present when Samuel Morse sent his first message by telegraph: “What hath God wrought?” and helped to support telegraph technology financially. He was the first in Congress to advocate for the construction of a transcontinental railroad. He later served as Governor of Pennsylvania, Director of the U.S. Mint, and as President of Lafayette College.

In 1861, in the midst of war, while James Pollock was serving as Director of the U.S. Mint, Mark Richards Watkinson (1824-1877), a Baptist minister from Pennsylvania, wrote a letter to Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase.

Dear Sir: You are about to submit your annual report to Congress respecting the affairs of the national finances.

One fact touching our currency has hitherto been seriously overlooked. I mean the recognition of the Almighty God in some form in our coins.

Your are probably a Christian. What if our Republic were now shattered beyond recognition? Would not the antiquaries of succeeding centuries rightly reason from our part we were a heathen nation? What I propose is that instead of the Goddess of Liberty we shall have next inside the 13 stars a ring inscribed with the words ‘perpetual union’; within this ring the all-seeing eye crowned with a halo; beneath this eye the American flag, bearing in its field stars equal to the number of the States united; in the folds of the bars the words ‘God, liberty, law.’

This would make a beautiful coin, to which no possible citizen could object. This would relieve us from the ignominy of heathenism. This would place us openly under the divine protection we have personally claimed. From my heart I have felt our national shame in disowning God as not the least of our present national disasters.

To you first I address a subject that must be agitated.

Within a week, Secretary Chase wrote the following to Director Pollock:

Dear Sir: No nation can be strong except in the strength of God, or safe except in His defense. The trust of our people in God should be declared on our national coins.

You will cause a device to be prepared without unnecessary delay with a motto expressing in the fewest and tersest words possible this national recognition.

Pollock gave an official response to Chase’s request in an 1862 report:

The distinct and unequivocal recognition of the divine sovereignty in the practical administration of our political system is a duty of the highest obligation. History unites with divine revelation in declaring that “happy is that people whose God is the Lord.” In the exercise of political sovereignty our nation should honor him; and now, in this hour of peril and danger to our country and its liberties, it is becoming to acknowledge his power and invoke his protection. Our national coinage in its devices and legends should indicate the Christian character of our nation, and declare our trust in God. It does not do this. On the contrary, ancient mythology, more than Christianity, has stamped its impress on our coins. It is, however, gratifying to know that the proposition to introduce a motto upon our coins, expressing a national reliance on divine support has been favorably considered by your department, and will no doubt be approved by an intelligent public sentiment. The subject is under the control of Congress; and without a change in existing laws, no alteration in the legends and devices of most of our national coins can be made; a motto, however, may be added without additional authority or violation of the present law.
…
In consideration of the legal provisions referred to, it will be necessary, in attempting to introduce a motto on the face of our coins, to interfere as little as possible with the present legal devices. The first difficulty to be encountered is the necessary condensation. The idea should be unmistakably expressed in our own language, and at the same time the letter should be distinctly and easily legible. To unite these desiderata within the limits presented on the face of the coin, in connexion with the required arrangement of the legal devices, demands much reflection. The motto “In God is our trust,” which has become familiar to the public mind by its use in our national hymn the “Star Spangled Banner,” would be an appropriate one, but it contains too many letters to insert in the place of the crest, without crowding - too much for good taste. For greater brevity we may substitute the words, “God our trust,” which convey the same idea, in a form of expression according with heraldic usage, and as readily understood as the more explicit form of the other…The adoption on our coin of the motto “God our trust,” or some other words expressive of national reliance upon divine support, would accord fully with the sentiment of the American people, and it would add to the artistic appearance of the coins.

In the next annual report to the Secretary (1863), Pollock followed up with these remarks:

I would respectfully and earnestly ask the attention of the department to the proposition, in my former report, to introduce a motto upon our coins expressive of a national reliance on divine protection, and a distinct and unequivocal national recognition of the divine sovereignty. We claim to be a Christian nation. Why should we not vindicate our character, by honoring the God of nations, in the exercise of our political sovereignty as a nation? Our national coinage should do this. Its legends and devices should declare our trust in God; in him who is the “King of kings and Lord of lords.” The motto suggested, “God, our trust,” is taken from our national hymn, the “Star Spangled Banner;” the sentiment is familiar to every citizen of our country; it has thrilled the hearts and fallen in song from the lips of millions of American freemen. The time for the introduction of this or a similar motto is propitious and appropriate. ‘Tis an hour of national peril and danger, an hour when man’s strength is weakness, when our strength and our nation’s strength must be in the God of battles and of nations. Let us reverently acknowledge his sovereignty, and let our coinage declare our trust in God.

Secretary Chase’s response to this report, dated December 9, 1863, was:

I approve of your mottoes, only suggesting that on that with the Washington obverse the motto should begin with the word, “Our,” so as to read, “Our God and Our Country.” And on that with the shield it should be changed so as to read, “In God We Trust.”

The first appearance of the motto “In God We Trust” on American coinage was on the obverse side of a two-cent piece.

The motto for American coins “In God We Trust” was approved by Congress on April 22, 1864. It was not until July 11, 1955, that Congress authorized the use of this motto on paper currency as well. This was at the urging of Congressman Charles Bennett of Florida, known also for his role in the establishment of a national memorial near Jacksonville, Florida to commemorate the French Huguenot settlement at Fort Caroline. This writer had the privilege to correspond with Congressman Bennett on certain matters before his passing.

James Pollock was a link in the chain which led to an important statement, however symbolic, of national reliance upon God as expressed in our currency. He was a Presbyterian, and a member of the National Reform Association, and the stamp he left upon history, and upon our national coinage, endures.

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The Keys Psalter

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Until the 1860’s, the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA) employed the 1650 Scottish Metrical Psalter (SMP) in its worship. But it was felt at that time that there was a need for a revised psalter.

In 1863, the RPCNA Synod minutes show that a communication was received from William W. Keys proposing the publication of a new edition of the Psalter with music settings appropriate to each Psalm. The Psalter project had apparently been initiated in 1860 (as the Preface tells us). The proposal was referred to a committee initially made up of T.P. Stevenson, A.C. Todd, N.R. Johnston and D.H. Coulter. The Psalter — known as the Keys Psalter — was published that year, and the following year Synod minutes show that Psalter had earned the endorsement of the special committee.

So in 1864, Synod recommended the Keys Psalter, which combined words and music on the same page and modernized some of the Scottish Psalter’s words (William J. Edgar, History of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America, 1871-1920, p. 23).

The Committee gave its report as follows (which was adopted):

Feeling the need and importance of earnest effort for the improvement of the service of song-in our church, and the desirableness of greater uniformity in the service among our congregations; appreciating, also, from our own examination, and on the testimony of competent judges, the manifold excellencies of this work, especially its retention of time honored-melodies and generally judicious adaptations of music to the sentiments of the Psalms; and believing that the employment of this book will prove a strong support in the advocacy of Scriptural Psalmody, and also a means of extending the use of the songs of inspiration throughout the churches; therefore,

Resolved, That we recommend the use of this book in all our congregations, as well adapted for the attainment of the specified ends.

We would further recommend, in this connection, that all our sessions be urged to take measures for the improvement of the service of praise in their respective congregations, and that to this end, they encourage the formation of singing classes, and attendance upon them. D. M'Allister, Chairman.

The Keys Psalter had help from some notable names, including

• French-American composer Leopold Meignen (1793-1873) - who served as a bandmaster in Napoleon’s army before coming to the United States, and who contributed several tunes to the Keys Psalter; and

• James M. Willson, Keys’ pastor until 1862, when Willson left First RPC in Philadelphia to fill the chair of Theology at RPTS, who helped divide Psalms into smaller sections with assigned tunes.

The tune “Keys,” composed by Dr. Leopold Meignen, is assigned to Psalms 33 and 98.

Keys in his Preface spoke to what he saw as the prime benefit of this new edition of The Psalms of David.

The superiority of this book over any other Psalm-Book heretofore published consists in the music being printed along with each Psalm, or portion of Psalm, throughout the entire book.

The advantage of this is two-fold: 1st. The precentor is not compelled to hurriedly select a tune at the same time that he is searching for the Psalm which has been announced. He knows that having found the Psalm, suitable music to be sung to it is there also, and all he has to think of is to have the tune properly pitched. 2d. There is no doubt or hesitation on the part of the congregation in commencing to sing, as all know precisely what tune is to be sung, and are prepared to commence as soon as the first note is given.

In a Preface to the second edition (published a month after the first), Keys quotes an endorsement from William Blackwood:

Every congregation in the country in which the 'Old Psalms' are used, will thank the author and publisher for this beautiful and admirably designed volume. * * * The airs are selected with taste and judgment. The harmony is delightful; and the general circulation of this book in churches would unquestionably promote in a very powerful manner the extension of congregational singing of a very high order. Every Psalm, and, in many of the longer ones, the portions of them suitable for a service, are provided with a proper air; and thus the book may be used in the pew, the lecture-room, or in the family, as well as by a precentor or leader.

The Keys Psalter is one of a series of editions approved by the RPCNA besides the old 1650 SMP, and it was followed by an 1889 split-leaf edition, and further editions in 1911, 1919, 1929, 1950, 1973 and 2009. Many of those later revisions took into account the work by Keys. For example, the tune Arlington, paired with Psalm 1, is also associated with Psalm 1 in the 1950 and 1973 editions (the former mentions the Keys Psalter in the Preface).

The Keys Psalter is an important step along the trajectory of psalmody in the RPCNA. Many editions were published in its heyday (at least 15 by 1874). Editions published in 1864 and 1865 are now available to peruse on Log College Press. We have little biographical information as of yet regarding William Wallace Keys, but we have learned when he lived (1832-1892), and where (primarily Philadelphia, although he died in Connecticut), and we take note of his arrangement of the tunes Kilmarnock and Wilson, as well as his driving passion to bring together words and music for the improvement of psalmody in the church. This was his motto, as shown on the cover of the Keys Psalter: “'I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also" — 1 Cor. 14:15.

I trust my efforts have been well directed and that the book may tend to the honour and glory of God, and to the delight of his people, by causing all who use it to "sing with the spirit and the understanding," and "with a loud noise skilfully." If so, then my design will be accomplished. — W.W. Keys

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Jenny Geddes' Day

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It was in the month of July—a month since become so memorable in the history of human freedom—on the twenty-third day of the month, that Jenny emerged from domestic obscurity to historic celebrity and renown.

From the pen of Wiliam Pratt Breed we have a reminder of an historical event of great importance to Presbyterians and all lovers of civil and ecclesiastical liberty. When authorities attempted on July 23, 1637, at St. Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh to impose the Book of Common Prayer upon the Presbyterian people of Scotland, a lady named Jenny Geddes is reputed to have started a riot by throwing her three-legged sitting stool at the prelate who was officiating the service while crying “Villian! dost thou say mass in my lug?” (meaning: “in my hearing”). This incident was pivotal in the ensuing Second Reformation of Scotland, which included the signing of the National Covenant in February 1638 and the purging of Episcopal bishops from the Church of Scotland later that year, as well as the military conflict which followed.

For a helpful resource on the significance of this event in history, consider Breed’s Jenny Geddes, or, Presbyterianism and Its Great Conflict With Despostism (1869). As he walks the reader through those remarkable events in Scottish history, he highlights the debt that American Presbyterians and all Christians owe to Jenny and other faithful Scots during those troubled but inspiring times. As long as liberty is treasured, Jenny Geddes and her stool will be remembered.

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The 1847 Edwards Quilt

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Note: Today’s guest post is by Nancy Elliott Mehne, who is the great-granddaughter of American Presbyterian minister Jonathan Edwards.

In 1847 the newly-married minister Jonathan Edwards (1817-1891) and his bride, Eliza Rice Edwards (1827-1880), were presented with a beautiful Baltimore Album–Signature quilt. It was a labor of love given to the young couple as a gift from his congregation, Somerset Presbyterian Church, Somerset, Ohio. A total of 80 different squares were made by 56 women. Each square was signed by its maker with newly-popular permanent brown ink. The signatures represented 23 families.

Edwards had been called to pastor the two small congregations, Somerset and nearby Hopewell, just outside of Cincinnati, Ohio in 1844. He was very familiar with the area since he was born in Cincinnati in 1817. He had made profession of faith in 1828 under the ministry of Dr. Joshua Wilson at First Presbyterian Church, Cincinnati. According to the practice at that time he was expected to memorize Scripture verses. With his quick memory he readily learned 50-100 verses each week and eventually memorized the entire New Testament. As a young man, he was exposed to a lot of the theological issues of the day, was able to receive kind treatment from godly ministers and given the opportunity to further his education even though he was being raised by a widowed mother. In 1832, he became a student at Hanover College, Indiana. In 1835, he began teaching school in Walnut Hills which enabled him to become lifelong friends with the Kemper family and well acquainted with Dr. Lyman Beecher. The following years found him teaching and serving as the head of Bardstown Collegiate Institute while working under Dr. Nathan Lewis Rice. With the development of the Theological Department at Hanover College, Edwards was able to be licensed by the Presbytery of Salem in 1843, ordained by the Presbytery of Cincinnati, and installed pastor of the churches Hopewell and Somerset, Ohio on April 17, 1844.

Eliza Rice Edwards had strong Presbyterian roots. Like others traveling down the Valley of Virginia, both her Rice father’s and her Finley mother’s families became early settlers in the Danville, Kentucky area. She was related to David Rice who had been the original Presbyterian minister into Kentucky in 1784. Eliza’s father, Phineas G. Rice was a long time elder in the Danville Presbyterian Church and her pastor, John C. Young, was President of nearby Centre College. Eliza’s three uncles, Nathan Lewis Rice, John Jay Rice and William Garrett Rice were Presbyterian ministers.

When Eliza was only seven years old, her mother died in the 1833 cholera epidemic and was buried next to the Danville church. Both sides of the close-knit family then lovingly helped her father care for Eliza and her sister, Maria. As Eliza grew up “she was familiar with the fine types of Kentucky society” according to her son. There is a family story that “when Eliza would ‘go calling’ she would pick up the accent of the woman she had visited, so the family immediately knew where she had been.”

The photo of Eliza was taken about the time she married Jonathan. They had four children who lived to adulthood: Effie Edwards, who married Presbyterian Elder Dr. Samuel O. Loughridge; the Rev. Charles Eugene Edwards; the Rev. Chauncey Theodore Edwards; and Dr. Eleanor Edwards, who married the Rev. Walter Scott Elliott and served in China.

Jonathan and Eliza faithfully gave of themselves to the Presbyterian Church and its congregations, colleges, and seminaries. Every night they would sleep under the quilt lovingly made by their first congregation. Two following generations of their descendants also regularly enjoyed it’s warmth. In the early 1900's the quilt was exhibited in a Philadelphia quilt show and was praised as being one of the largest Baltimore Album quilts ever seen. It is still in good condition and safely in the possession of the family. The quilt photos were taken in 1999.

Much of the content of this post is derived from a biography of his father written by Charles.

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Thaddeus Dod: A heart humbled before God

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Speaking of pioneer Presbyterian minister and one of the co-founders of Washington & Jefferson College Thaddeus Dod (1740-1793), Helen Turnbull Waite Coleman writes:

In his brief diary, now in the collection at Washington and Jefferson, we read throughout the thin, tenuous pages, in his fine, silvery script such words as these: “July 25, 1775, Help me to take up my cross and follow Thee…I would desire nothing but to be Thine, — and that forever…Let no corrupt design lead me astray from the paths of simplicity and truth.” His “Covenant with God” he wrote at twenty-four, and this he renewed, again and again (Banners in the Wilderness: Early Years of Washington and Jefferson College, p. 8)

Many years after Thaddeus’ death, his son Cephas Dod transcribed portions of his journal and published his father’s “Autobiography and Memoir” in The Presbyterian Magazine (August 1854). The extracts given below are centered on Thaddeus’ covenant with God, which he swore on July 25, 1764.

Although Thaddeus had, as a boy of eleven years old, purposed to dedicate himself to the Lord, but had gradually instead become “most secure in sin.” Yet, in the summer of 1764, as a revival of religion was underway, and as his father passed away, the Lord began a work of grace in his heart that is manifest in his journal entries, and which culminated in a changed and covenanted life as a believer. But there were anxious moments as that work of grace progressed.

July 9th, 1764. — In the morning, rose early. Taking the Bible, I cast my eyes on these words, Ezek. 13:12: “Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith ye daubed it?” This spoke to my very case. My wall is fallen, and I might justly be upbraided for my folly in trusting thus to it. Before any of the family were up, I went out, and my sorrows gave full vent, which much eased my mind. I retired into a wood near to Mr. T.’s, as I imagined, very humble, where I behaved myself very proudly before that God who sees in secret, which I shall not soon forget.

In the forenoon went to meeting. Some business was to have been transacted, but nothing could be done. The whole assembly was in confusion, as to any business. All that could be done or heard was the need of a Saviour. Undoneness without Christ. This was a day of divine power. Mr. B. told Mr. T. and me, he had had us much on his mind since parted with us last night. I hope to celebrate an endless eternity with him, and that he will be amply rewarded by bounteous Heaven, though I am unable to reward his faithfulness

This afternoon, the whole house seemed to be a “Bochim” — mourning for sin, it seemed to me, was universal through the whole congregation.

I went home again with Mr. T. This was a night of the utmost consequence to me — never to be forgotten; for, if I am not deceived, it will be matter of everlasting rejoicing. If I am deceived, it is of the same everlasting concern; for if I never discover the fatal delusion, I shall have reason to bemoan the time when I was deceived in a matter of such importance. If I should be brought to see the fallacy of my hope, and to close savingly with Christ, then I shall for ever blessed the Lord, who saved me from the delusion; so that it is of the greatest importance to me and to Mr. T. And I bless God I have (though not as I ought, and then thought that I should) been in earnest for my soul’s salvation. I this time received great light. I lay no stress upon any joys, or confidence of my interest in Christ. If what I had then, and from time to time since, hath not a transforming influence upon my soul, making me more and more like the blessed God, and bringing me to a conformity to His holy, just, and good law, I pray God I may discover it, and may be saved from the fatal, delusive, and treacherous heart I have in me.

July 10th, 1764. — Went with Mr. T. to D.C.’s, where we were received with much pleasure, and had some pleasant discourse upon the things of God. Went to other places, and had some pleasant discourse upon the things of God. Went to other places, and everywhere had discourse upon the great Gospel mysteries. I would have disdained as much to have entered into discourse about the things of the world as to wallow in the dirt with the swine. The Scripture seemed new to me. Those things which seemed written for the Jews were brought home to me, and Christ was become (as I thought) my whole dependence for wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.

July 16th. — I feel so prodigiously hardened and confused in my mind, that I know not what answer to give any one. Am so amazed and confused, that I cannot examine my own state — cannot tell what has been and what has not with me.

This afternoon, began to write an instrument of self-dedication to God, according to the advice of several divines, particularly Dr. Doddridge.

July 17th. — Very much distressed in mind. Much in doubt as to the state of my soul. Satan still follows me with most horrid thoughts — blasphemous, unbelieving. I am afraid to speak or write anything, lest it be wrong.

July 18th. — This morning my soul had such a visit from heaven that I felt myself quite turned about, and could scarcely believe that it had been with me as it had. I cannot describe it.

July 24th. — In a sweet frame. Had some freedom with God in prayer. O my God, give me preparedness to go through with the solemn business of to-morrow!

July 25th, 1764. — This being the day set apart to seek the eternal welfare of my soul, and for imploring divine assistance, retired into a solitary place on the mountain. Here I made my solemn engagements in writing, and in that solemn manner entered into covenant obligations to be the Lord’s. O! may divine grace be ever near for my support, without which I shall never perform one article. O my God! leave me not to a cold, dead, careless performance of duty, but help me daily to take up my cross and follow thee. Now that I am enlisted into thy service, help me to approve myself a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

As he began his soldier service for the King, he immediately again felt the spiritual struggle and warfare that all Christians know well. But having covenanted to belong to Christ, the work of grace by God in him continued. He labored for the cause of Christ as a minister of the gospel and as a teacher in a log cabin school, paving the way — with his co-laborers in the Lord — to bring the Gospel to people west of the Allegheny Mountains. When he entered into glory on May 20, 1793, his funeral sermon was preached by John McMillan, the text being “And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them” (Rev. 14:13). He found his soul’s rest, and his legacy for the cause of Christ is not to be forgotten. Read more from diary and his son’s memoir here.

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J.I. Packer remembered at Log College Press

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At the age of 93, famed Christian scholar and author J.I. Packer entered into glory on July 17, 2020. Many Christians have benefited from his writings on Reformed piety — such as Knowing God and A Quest For Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life — and other topics, including “Fundamentalism” and the Word of God. He was an Anglican divine, not Presbyterian, but he had some connections to authors found on Log College Press.

• Don J. Payne, in The Theology of the Christian Life in J.I. Packer’s Thought: Theological Anthropology, Theological Method, and the Doctrine of Salvation, p. 63, writes: “The formulation of Packer’s theology and piety was a process involving multiple influences: the Puritans, J.C. Ryle, D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones and the theologians of the old Princeton Theological Seminary. He states that by 1947 he was aware of Benjamin B. Warfield (1851-1921) and had been encouraged to read him. In unpublished correspondence Packer writes, ‘There were some volumes of Warfield … including the two on perfectionism, in the OICCU library, and … the late Douglas Johnson was exhorting all who had any aptitude for theology to read Warfield, and that his name was bandied around in the circle of IVF’s Theological Students Fellowship and Tyndale Fellowship.”

• Dr. Packer wrote this endorsement of James M. Garretson, Princeton and Preaching: Archibald Alexander and the Christian Ministry: “From Dr. Garretson comes a first-class account of a first-class delineation of the preaching ministry by a first-class theologian, mentor, and minister of the gospel – the versatile Archibald Alexander, who for its first generation virtually was Princeton Seminary in both its academic and its practical aspects, and who laid the foundation for all its future greatness. Alexander is a neglected figure, and it is high time for someone to begin to do him justice, as Dr. Garretson does. Enrichment and enjoyment in equal parts await the student of this excellent book.”

• Packer wrote this endorsement of Gary Steward, Princeton Seminary (1812-1929): Its Leaders’ Lives and Works: “The quality and achievement of Princeton Seminary’s leaders for its first hundred years was outstanding, and Steward tells their story well. Reading this book does the heart good.”

• Packer wrote the introduction to the Crossway Classic Commentaries edition of Charles Hodge on Romans, in which he said: “Charles Hodge (1797-1878), the greatest of Princeton Seminary’s nineteenth-century theologians, began his teaching career as Professor of Oriental and Biblical Literature in 1822, becoming Professor of Exegetical and Didactic Theology in 1840. The titles of his chairs show that for more than fifty years, up to his death in harness, he carried responsibility for interpreting the Bible, and classroom exegesis was a major part of his role. Four printed expositions resulted: on 1 and 2 Corinthians, on Ephesians, and a true masterpiece on Romans. B.B. Warfield, Hodge’s most distinguished pupil and ardent admirer, described Hodge as a teacher who, with limited philological and linguistic resources, was peerless and spellbinding in his power to pick out and display the flow of an argument, and it is this quality that sets Hodge’s Romans apart from most other expositions before and since. First published in 1835, its classic quality led to its being reprinted once already in this century (Eerdmans, 1951), and the present edited reissue should give it another lease of useful life. Hodge’s intellectual rigor, as a masterful Reformed theologian committed to state and defend his sixteenth- and seventeenth-century heritage, was a quality that all his peers respected, but his terse, springy, thrustful style of expression enabled him to write popular theology for his own era and makes his 150-year-old applicatory analysis of Romans very accessible and acceptable today.”

• In Knowing God, p. 134, Packer refers to the famous hymn by Samuel Davies: “The reaction of the Christian heart contemplating this, comparing how things were with how they are in consequence of the appearing of grace in the world, was given supreme expression by the one-time president of Princeton, Samuel Davies:

Great God of wonders! all thy ways
Display the attributes divine;
But countless acts of pardoning grace
Beyond thine other wonders shine:
Who is a pardoning God like Thee?
Or who has grace so rich and free?”

In these snapshots, we glean the appreciation that Packer had for some Log College Press authors that we too are fond of, and in particular, the piety of old Princeton. We remember these things about him as facets of a life lived for the glory of God. He labored long as a teacher and author, the legacy he left behind is rich; but now we rejoice that he has entered into his rest in the arms of our Lord Jesus Christ.

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Joseph Patterson: A painting by the Holy Spirit

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Joseph Patterson (1752-1832) was one of the Presbyterian ministers who contributed so much to pioneer labors in Western Pennsylvania. Joseph Smith (1796-1868) recounts an anecdote, in Old Redstone (1854), towards the end of Patterson’s life, which is the subject of today’s post.

On Friday, before he died, he took the final sitting for his portrait. The artist had been expressing his purpose to visit the celebrated Sully, the great American painter, with a view to receive instructions for his own improvement. As Mr. Patterson rose from the chair, after looking for a while at his own picture, he turned to the artist, and taking him by the hand, he said to him, with great solemnity and affection, "I can recommend to you another great painter. Do you get the Holy Ghost to draw the image of Christ upon your heart, and it will last for ever. And he will charge you nothing for it!" The painter, who was of infidel sentiments, probably despised the counsel, and might soon have forgotten it, but from his hearing, a few days after, to his great surprise, of Mr. Patterson's death. He then related this remark of Mr. Patterson. He subsequently, abandoned his infidel sentiments, and made a profession of religion.

To God be the glory for Patterson’s witness to the grace of God in the final days of a life lived in His service.

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James R. Boyd on the Providence of God

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James Robert Boyd employed a useful method of teaching the substance of the Westminster Shorter Catechism. First, he presented the particular question, followed by the great doctrinal truths comprehended within, supported by Scripture. Then, he listed practical lessons to be derived from those truths. Finally, he gave illustrations of these teachings to bring them home.

Today, we give an example of his method as it pertains to Q. 11 of the Shorter Catechism in The Westminster Shorter Catechism: With Analysis, Scriptural Proofs, Explanatory and Practical Inferences, and Illustrative Anecdotes (1854). It is a good subject for meditation, and Boyd’s teaching is a good reminder of a precious Scriptural truth.

Q. 11. WHAT ARE GOD’S WORKS OF PROVIDENCE?

God’s works of Providence are, his most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures, and all their actions.

What Truths are embraced in this Answer?

1. God preserves all his creatures. — Psal. cxiv. 15. The eyes of all wait upon thee: and thou givest them their meat in due season.

2. God governs all his creatures. — Psal. ciii. 19. His kingdom ruleth over all.

3. God directs and governs all the actions of his creatures. — Prov. xvi. 9. A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps.

4. God’s works of providence are most holy. — Psal. cxlv. 17. The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.

5. God’s works of providence are most wise. — Isa. xxviii. 29. The Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.

6. God’s works of providence are most powerful. — Psal. lxvi. 7. He ruleth by his power for ever.

What Lessons do you derive from the above Doctrines?

I learn (1.) That there is no such thing as blind fate; that there is a divine agency which guides, and protects, and governs; that it reaches to all places, beings, and events. (2.) To commit myself and all other creatures to the care and guidance of my Creator, and to endeavor at all times to act in obedience to his supreme will. (3.) That events which seem accidental, are nevertheless ordered by the Lord, as when the Bible informs us (1 Kings, xxii. 34) of a certain man who drew a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness. God’s providence directed the arrow to the mark. (4.) That the providence of God is merely the accomplishment of his eternal purposes concerning his creatures, and that all the circumstances of my life are regulated by his wisdom and power. Hence (5.) I must not murmur or complain when affliction befalls me, nor be ungrateful to God when he prospers me and gladdens me in my course. (6.) That the cause of religion — the church of Christ — is safe. (7.) That even the wickedness of man is overruled for good, as in the case of the envy of Joseph’s brethren, the crucifixion of our Saviour, and the sensuality of Henry VIII. of England.

What Illustrations can you give?

1. There is a habit of saying, “Such a thing will TURN UP,” as if it depended on chance; whereas nothing will turn up but what has been ordered. When a man becomes a Christian, he is written upon, “TO BE PROVIDED FOR,” and he ought, therefore, to notice, as he goes on, how Providence does provide for him.

2. When the Protestants in Rochelle were besieged by the French king, God, by his providence, sent in a number of small fishes that fed them, such as were never seen before in that harbor.

3. The raven, a bird that has not natural affection enough to feed its own young, yet providentially carried nourishment to the Hebrew prophet Elijah.

4. The Book of Esther details a series of the most wonderful providences in behalf of the Jewish people, when in great danger of a universal massacre.

5. The Rev. Richard Cecil has correctly observed, that “we are too apt to forget our actual dependence on Providence, for the circumstances of every instant. The most trivial events may determine our state in the world. Turning up one street instead of another, may bring us into company with a person whom we should not otherwise have met; and this may lead to a train of other events, which may determine the happiness or misery of our lives.”

6. OVERRULING PROVIDENCE. — “All these things are against me,” thought good old Jacob, when he exclaimed in the bitterness of his soul, “Joseph is not, Simeon is not, and will ye take Benjamin away?” And it did seem as if these bereavements would “bring down his gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.” But it was all cleared up when “he saw the wagons” which Joseph had sent to carry him and all his numerous family down to Egypt, and save them alive, during the terrible seven years’ famine. So Joseph himself must have thought, when his brethren cast him into the pit; when they sold him as a slave to the Ishmaelites; and when, upon the false charge of an adulterous woman, he was thrown into prison, without any hope of relief, or any prospect of it, except by a violent and ignominious death. But how was it, when he found himself suddenly raised to the vice-royalty of Egypt, and that God had sent him down to preserve the life of his venerable father, and of the very brethren who had so cruelly sold him to the passing caravan? “All these things are against us,” undoubtedly, thought our Puritan ancestors, when they were persecuted from city to city, and could find no secure resting-place short of this great Western wilderness; but God sent his angel before them, and what glorious foundations of civil and religious liberty did they lay upon these shores, for the building up of a great nation. We see in all these and numberless other striking examples, how much better care God takes of his people than they could take of themselves, and how he overrules the most adverse and trying events for their highest good. Indeed, this is a matter of every-day experience. Almost any person who has arrived at the age of forty, can recollect times when his favorite plans were thwarted, and it did seem as if the course of Providence was against him, when, as it proved in the end, it was all in his favor, and saved him from losses or calamities, in which the carrying out of his plans would inevitably have involved him. — Dr. Humphrey

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An acrostic by Amos Beman

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Amos Beman was a prominent African-American abolitionist and minister, as well as a close friend of James W.C. Pennington. Pennington, a former slave — “the fugitive blacksmith” — went on himself to become a prominent Presbyterian minister, as well as the first African-American to receive a Doctor of Divinity degree in Europe. One of his biographers, Christopher L. Webber, in American to the Backbone: The Life of James W.C. Pennington, the Fugitive Slave Who Became One of the First Black Abolitionists, pp. 441-442, tells of Beman’s poetic tribute to his friend, which is a remarkable memorial to a godly man.

The poem raises a puzzle that is at present unsolved. What abbreviation “C” in Pennington’s name stand for? As Webber tells us, he was born as James Pembroke. In the autobiographical The Fugitive Blacksmith, we are told of a name change to James W.C. Pennington, but we are not told why. The obvious inference is that a name change would be helpful to a fugitive slave. But what do to the abbreviations stand for? That Pennington does not explain. We have no writings by him that provide full names without abbreviations in his own hand. The degree given to him at Heidelberg University does give a full name (in Latin) of James William Charles Pennington. Some have speculated that “W” would stand for William Wright, who first harbored the escaped slave. No suggestion has been offered for name “Charles.” Amos Beman, however, uses “Cox” in the acrostic below, thinking, perhaps, of the Rev. Samuel H. Cox, “the man who welcomed [Pennington] into the Christian Church.” In any case, Beman’s tribute is a noble attempt to answer the age-old question, “What’s in a name?”

REV, J.W.C. PENNINGTON

J ustified by wisdom’s high behest
A slave no more—a man confessed—
M any have read from thy eloquent pen,
E nnobling thoughts for the freedom of men.
S till upward and onward is thy way.

W hich thousands admire, blessing God for the day
I n which you have toiled, so nobly and true—
L ike Garnet and Douglass, and Delaney, too—
L ifting the bondman from darkness and death—
I nvesting him with rights—inspiring him with breath,
A nd sending him forward in virtue’s career,
M ajestic and noble, divested of fear.

C ontinue then faithful and true to the end;
O n God you rely—He is strong to defend.
X ylographican skill let others unfold.

P resent thou thy record to ages untold,
E mblazoned with the deeds of light and love;
N one will deny thee a mansion above.
N ow awaiting to crown thee in thy new field,
I n heart and in hope as your power you wield,
N ew honors shall deck thee as in distant lands,
G iving thee joy amid the work of thy hands.
T o heaven we commend thee in all the way
O n which thou goest from home far away—
N one can more warmly adieu to thee say.

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Sturge's Cherry Tree

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No one can have visited Japan, with its lovely landscapes and dainty cherry blossoms and magnificent Buddhist temples and sequestered Shinto shrines, without ever afterwards having the deepest interest in the future of that almost fairyland of the east; and no one can have come into close contact, as the writer of this has done, with the Japanese character, with its picturesque naivitè and ceremonial politeness and charming gentleness of manners, without having that interest greatly deepened and enhanced. Dr. Sturge's work only needs to be better known to the Christian people of our own churches in order that it may be more highly appreciated by them. His work is not so much for to-day as for to-morrow; not so much directly for the few thousand Japanese people in California now as indirectly for the millions of Japanese in their native land.

So wrote Henry Collin Minton in his introduction to The Spirit of Japan: With Selected Poems and Addresses (1903) by Ernest Adolpus Sturge, American medical doctor and missionary, and long-time General Superintendent of the Japanese Presbyterian Church. Sturge’s poems capture the beauty of a place, and the spirit of a people, who were dear to him. Today, we consider the cherry tree, through Sturge’s eyes.

The Cherry

The cherry is grown for beauty alone;
The fruit that is left behind
Is bitter and small, and not eaten at all;
The petals that whirl in the wind
Like beauiful snow, seem to say as they go,
When called by each summoning blast:
“A lesson we give to people who live,
That beauty like ours will not last."

Long ages ago, in old Yamato,
These blossoms that quickly fall,
Taught brave Samurai to be ready to die
At once, at their master 's call;
To die by the sword for their feudal lord;
So cherries, wherever they blow,
With fragrance they fill the air, while they thrill
The spirit of Yamato.

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