The First 50 PCUSA GA Moderators

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When the first General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA) met in May 1789 at the Second Presbyterian Church on Arch Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Rev. Dr. John Witherspoon — the only clergyman to sign both the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation — was the convening Moderator. A new moderator was soon thereafter elected to preside over the Assembly, and every year after the process was repeated.

As recent media reports of potential plans of the PCUSA to scrap General Assembly meetings have circulated, it brings to mind past assembly meetings, and those who have moderated them. At Log College Press, the writings of many of those Moderators are available to read, including all 50 who served prior to the 1837 Old School-New School split. In fact, we now have almost all of the 18th and 19th century PCUSA and PCUS General Assembly Moderators on the site, along with many more from the RPCNA, ARP and other branches of American Presbyterianism. Here is that list of the first 50 PCUSA GA Moderators - please feel free to browse and explore their pages. It is interesting to note that among the first 50 are 3 sets of brothers.

  • 1789 — John Witherspoon (1723-1794) — Witherspoon was the Convening Moderator of the very first American General Assembly, and served as President of Princeton.

  • 1789 — John Rodgers (1727-1811) — Rodgers was one of the primary architects of the new General Assembly and revised ecclesiastical standards.

  • 1790 — Robert Smith (1723-1793) — Like Rodgers, Smith also was influential in the creation of the new PCUSA constitution, and also served as a Trustee at Princeton.

  • 1791 — John Woodhull (1744-1824) — Woodhull, too, was a distinguished minister of the gospel who also contributed to the work of establishing the new PCUSA constitution.

  • 1792 — John King (1740-1813) — King served as a pastor in Conococheague, Pennsylvania for over 40 years.

  • 1793 — James Latta (1732-1801) — Latta served the church in many capacities, including chaplain, minister, educator and author.

  • 1794 — Alexander MacWhorter (1734-1807) — A well-respected clergyman, MacWhorter helped to establish congregations in North Carolina, and ministered for many years in Newark, New Jersey.

  • 1795 — John McKnight (1754-1823) — McKnight was a prominent education and minister, serving as President of Dickinson College.

  • 1796 — Robert Davidson (1750-1812) — Like McNight, Davidson also served as President of Dickinson College.

  • 1797 — William Mackay Tennent (1744-1810) — Tennent was the grandson of the founder of the Log College, William Tennent, Sr., and ministered at the Abingdon Presbyterian Church in Pennsylvania for almost 30 years.

  • 1798 — John Blair Smith (1756-1799) — Smith served as President of both Hampden Sydney College and Union College, and made important contributions to the cause of religious liberty in Virginia.

  • 1799 — Samuel Stanhope Smith (1751-1819) — Like his brother John, Smith served as President of Hampden Sydney College; he also served as President of Princeton.

  • 1800 — Joseph Clark (1751-1813) — Clark served as a faithful minister in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

  • 1801 — Nathaniel Irwin (1756-1812) — Irwin served as pastor of the Neshaminy Presbyterian Church in Bucks County, Pennsylvania for many years.

  • 1802 — Azel Roe (1738-1815) — Roe served as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Woodbridge, New Jersey, for 52 years.

  • 1803 — James Hall (1744-1826) — Hall was a pioneer missionary, educator, pastor and patriot.

  • 1804 — James Francis Armstrong (1750-1816) — Armstrong served as pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Trenton, New Jersey from 1786 until his death. His funeral sermon was preached by Samuel Miller.

  • 1805 — James Richards (1767-1843) — Richards was a well-regarded minister and also served as a professor at Auburn Theological Seminary.

  • 1806 — Samuel Miller (1769-1850) — One of the most well-respected theologians of the 19th century, Miller helped to establish — and served as a professor at — Princeton Theological Seminary, and he was a voluminous author.

  • 1807 — Archibald Alexander (1772-1851) — Alexander served as President of Hampden Sydney College, and as the first professor at Princeton Theological Seminary. He was the author of many books, some of which are still in print.

  • 1808 — Philip Milledoler (1775-1852) — Milledoler served as President of Rutgers College, and was influential in the founding of Princeton Theological Seminary.

  • 1809 — Drury Lacy, Sr. (1758-1815) — Lacy served as President of Hampden Sydney College, among many various contributions to the church.

  • 1810 — John Brodhead Romeyn (1777-1825) — Romeyn was an important New York Presbyterian minister who helped to establish the American Bible Society, among other labors. His sermons were highly regarded.

  • 1811 — Eliphalet Nott (1773-1866) — Nott was an eminent preacher and educator, serving as President of Union College.

  • 1812 — Andrew Flinn (1773-1820) — Flinn contributed to the pastoral, as well as educational, aspects of the ministry, and is remembered for his ministry in Charleston, South Carolina.

  • 1813 — Samuel Blatchford (1767-1828) — Blatchford served as President of  Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

  • 1814 — James Inglis (1771-1820) — Inglis ministered in Baltimore for almost 2 decades.

  • 1815 — William Neill (1778-1860) — Neill served as President of Dickinson College.

  • 1816 —James Ebenezer Blythe (1765-1842) — Blythe served as a professor and as President of Transylvania University, as well as President of Hanover College.

  • 1817 — Jonas Coe (1759-1822) — Coe ministered at the Presbyterian Church in Troy, New York for almost 30 years.

  • 1818 — Jacob Jones Janeway (1774-1858) — Janeway was an eminent pastor and author who labored much for the cause of the church and for missions.

  • 1819 — John Holt Rice (1771-1831) — An important figure in Virginia Presbyterianism, Rice served as President of Hampden Sydney College, and authored many works.

  • 1820 — John McDowell (1780-1863) — A leading Philadelphia minister, McDowell had a lengthy pastoral career, and published a number of sermons.

  • 1821 — William Hill (1769-1852) — Hill ministered in Winchester, Virginia for over 30 years.

  • 1822 — Obadiah Jennings (1778-1832) — Jennings ministered in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.

  • 1823 — John Chester (1785-1829) — Chester served as President of the Albany Female Academy and as President of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

  • 1824 — Ashbel Green (1762-1848) — Green served as President of Princeton Theological Seminary, and authored an important exposition of the Westminster Shorter Catechism.

  • 1825 — Stephen N. Rowan (1787-1835) — Rowan began his pastoral career in the Reformed Church, but transitioned to the Presbyterian Church. He labored much for the cause of missionary efforts directed to the Jews.

  • 1826 — Thomas McAuley (1778-1862) — McAuley was the first President of Union Theological Seminary in New York.

  • 1827 — Francis Herron (1774-1860) — Herron ministered in Pittsburgh for 4 decades, and was instrumental in the founding of Western Theological Seminary.

  • 1828 — Ezra Stiles Ely (1786-1861) — Ely served as pastor of Philadelphia’s Pine Street Church for 20 years, and was a noted author and editor, and did much to help the poor.

  • 1829 — Benjamin Holt Rice (1782-1856) — Brother of John Holt Rice, Benjamin ministered in Virginia and at Princeton, New Jersey, and served as secretary of the Home Missionary Society.

  • 1830 — Ezra Fisk (1785-1833) — Fisk served as a missionary, pastor, and professor at Western Theological Seminary, among his many labors for the church.

  • 1831 — Nathan Sidney Smith Beman (1785-1871) — Beman served as President of Franklin College in Georgia, and as President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

  • 1832 — James Hoge (1784-1863) — Hoge was a pioneer leader in the history of Ohio Presbyterianism.

  • 1833 — William Anderson McDowell (1789-1851) — McDowell was the brother of John McDowell. He ministered in New Jersey and elsewhere, and served as secretary of the Board of Domestic Missions of the Presbyterian Church.

  • 1834 — Philip Lindsley (1786-1855) — Lindsley served as President of both Princeton and of the University of Nashville.

  • 1835 — William Wirt Phillips (1796-1865) — Phillips ministered in New York City for many decades, and served the church in various other capacities, including that of President of the Board of Publication.

  • 1836 — John Knox Witherspoon (1791-1853) — Witherspoon was the grandson of the earlier John Witherspoon. An educator, author and pastor, Witherspoon did much to contribute to Christian education in North Carolina.

  • 1837 — David Elliott (1787-1874) — Elliott served as President of Washington College. The last Moderator of the original united PCUSA General Assembly, he lived to be present at the reunion of 1870.

Thomas Bradbury on Baptism - the American Edition

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Thomas Bradbury (1677-1759) was an English Dissenting minister (Congregational) who was known for his defense of the divinity of Christ in the midst of the Salters’ Hall controversy beginning in 1719. His sermons on many topics, including baptism — published as The Duty and Doctrine of Baptism in Thirteen Sermons (1749) — were highly regarded. An American edition of those baptism sermons was published in 1810 with an introduction and notes by the collaborative effort of John Brodhead Romeyn and Alexander McLeod. Also included was an abridged memoir of the life of Thomas Bradbuy by John Brown of Whitburn, son of John Brown of Haddington.

Romeyn, John Brodhead, Introduction and Notes to Thomas Bradbury's The Duty and Doctrine of Baptism Title Page cropped.jpg

Romeyn and McLeod — whose strong personal friendship and remarkable ecclesiastical partnership is noted in Samuel B. Wylie’s Memoir of Alexander McLeod — performed a valuable service in their introduction and with their notes at the end of the book. The introduction sketches out the Reformed view of the sacraments, and that of Baptism specifically, as detailed broadly in the creeds and catechisms of the Reformed churches, and in the Westminster Standards particularly. Together, these contributions strengthen an already powerful resource for the better understanding of the Reformed doctrine of baptism. This American edition may be found in several places at Log College Press, including the John B. Romeyn page, the Alexander McLeod page and the Sacraments page. Bookmark or download this volume for further study, and take a few minutes to peruse what Romeyn and McLeod in particular have written as to the teaching of the Reformed confessions on the subject of infant baptism. The attentive reader will be richer for it.

William Traill's Advice

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When Col. William Stevens wrote to the Presbytery of Laggan in Scotland in 1680 requesting that a godly pastor be sent to minister to the faithful on the Eastern Shore, that call was answered first by William Traill (1640-1714), and soon after, by Francis Makemie. While Makemie is known to history as the “Father of American Presbyterianism” for his pioneer ministry and labors to establish the first Presbytery in America, William Traill is far less known than he should be today. He was the brother of Robert Traill, the famous Scottish Covenanter, and served as clerk and as a Moderator of the Laggan Presbytery. Robert addressed his noted letter on Justification to his older brother, William. Both Robert and William, as well as their father, suffered persecution; William, having been imprisoned for preaching in Ireland, came to America after his release from prison in 1682, where he ministered to the people of Rehoboth, Maryland, possibly serving as their first pastor, until his return to Scotland in 1690.

Today we consider an extract from some spiritual counsel written by William Traill for a private lady in 1708, which was abridged and republished in 1841 under the title “Necessary and Excellent Advice About Some Duties.”

Follow Christ, by taking up the cross that he has appointed for you , and by faith lean upon him for strength and succour, to bear you up under its burden from day to day. Observe your daily deficiencies and short-comings, and press forward that you may know more of the spirit, life, and power of every duty. Keep constant watch against your easily-besetting sins, and take heed that, by a sudden surprisal, they do not prevail against you. Particularly inquire whether you are not tempted to unbelief, and calling in question almost every truth — whether you are not sinfully jealous of the love of God to your soul, after the multiplied evidences of his care — whether affected diffidence, impatient haste, rash and uncharitable censures of others, are not found in your heart— whether you regard the proper season for every duty, and daily labour to “redeem the time" — whether in circumstances of difficulty you ask yourself, what would my Lord and Saviour have done in this case? and do likewise whether you mind his own blessed rule, “Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you , do ye even so to them .” Learn to remember your latter end, “to die daily" — adventure upon nothing but what appears to be your duty, both lawful and seasonable, and such as you would adventure upon, if you had but a day to live.

Read the rest of his spiritual counsel here, and take note of this remarkable pioneer Presbyterian who helped pave the way for the planting of the Presbyterian Church in America. More about Traill can be found in L.P. Bowen’s The Days of Makemie (1885) and Makemie and Rehoboth (1912); J.W. McIlvain, Early Presbyterianism in Maryland (1890); C.A. Briggs, American Presbyterianism (1885); Alfred Nevin, History of the Presbytery of Philadelphia (1888); among other records of pioneer Presbyterianism in America.

HT: Matthew Vogan

Alone in the room, but there is comfort

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I have discovered that all the unhappiness of men arises from one single fact, that they cannot stay quietly in their own chamber. — Blaise Pascal, Pensées 139

The Rev. Herrick Johnson (1832-1913) was a Presbyterian minister who ministered in New York, Pennsylvania and Illinois, and also served as a Professor at Auburn Theological Seminary and McCormick Theological Seminary. He was elected to serve as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PUCSA) in 1882.

His wife Catherine Hardenbergh Johnson (1835-1907) was, like her husband, a published author, whose book of poems Comfort (1888) we have available on Log College Press. It is dedicated to Christians who may be struggling along the path.

To the toilers and sufferers, on the way to the “better country,” may these words come with something of help and healing.

Today’s selection from her little book brings to mind Pascal’s famous quote above which speaks to man’s sinful condition, while Mrs. Johnson’s poem reminds the reader — who perhaps is alone while reading this, or praying for another who is isolated — that the believer is never really truly alone. There is hope and comfort even in solitude.

ALONE

Alone in the room!
Oh, darkest mystery,
Earth’s bitter history,
Reads like a doom.

Alone in the room!
Missing the loving grace,
Wanting the precious face
Lost in the gloom.

Drinking death’s bitterness;
Cries of our sore distress
Piercing the tomb.

Alone in the room!
Oh, when will night be done?
Oh, Darling, Darling, come
Back to the room.

Alone in the room?
Oh, sweetest mystery!
Earth’s hidden history,
Christ’s in the room.

Alone in the room?
Cannot His perfect grace,
His tender pitying face,
Lighten the gloom?

Oh, He’s in the room!
Death’s bitter pang is past;
Victors we are at last,
Rending the tomb.

Alone nevermore!
Morning comes soon or late;
Oh, Darling, Darling, wait
Close by the shore.

200 Years Ago Sylvester Larned Entered into Glory

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Born on the same day that he entered into glory — Sylvester Larned was born on August 31, 1796 in Pittsfield, Massachusetts and died on August 31, 1820 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Trained at Andover and Princeton for the ministry, and ordained in 1817, Larned was appointed as a missionary to the “Old Southwest.” The city of New Orleans captured his heart, and in 1818, when he arrived, there was very limited knowledge of the gospel in this mostly Roman Catholic territory. He coordinated outreach efforts for a time with the local Episcopalian minister (who, after his death, presided over his funeral). The cornerstone for the First Presbyterian Church was laid on January 8, 1819 and was dedicated on July 4, 1819. Rev. Larned’s ministry to the people of New Orleans lasted but a short while before he succumbed to yellow fever at the age of 24. He was “the first pastor of the first Presbyterian church in New Orleans,” and we have highlighted his love for the city as reflected in prayer previously. Today, we recall the life and death of a young man who gave his all in the service of Christ for the gospel, and the fact that he entered into glory 200 years ago today.

For more details on life and ministry, see his biography by R.R. Gurley, along with sermons, here.

Henry Highland Garnet on the path to happiness

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Those that look to be happy, must first look to be holy. — Richard Sibbes, Commentary on 1 Corinthians 1:22 in Works 3:469

Henry Highland Garnet preached a sermon on Isaiah 57:13-14 concerning brotherly love and honoring God which was published in the May 12, 1848 North Star. His words remain simple and yet deeply profound over 170 years later.

The first great duty of man is to honor the living God. For this he has all the necessary capacities. He is endowed with thought, and affection, and the one is capable of being turned lovingly upon the Lord, and the other can be improved illimitably.

And there is another duty which a righteous man will perform. He will labor to promote the happiness of his brethern of the human family; to remove if possible, the sorrows that may gather around them; to wipe away the tears from their eyes; to soothe their aching hearts, and to lead them by precept, and example to the bosom of the universal Father.

There is another great duty devolving upon men; a duty which the majority of mankind places first upon the list; a regard for one’s own happiness. This blessing so eagerly sought, but which is so seldom found, can only be secured by the discharge of the two former duties. Love to God and man, opens the road to happiness. Love and obedience united, produce this happy state of mind. He who lives the holiest life, enjoys the happiest spirit; so it has been since men or angels have had being, and so it ever will be. He who loves God, and his fellow men, receives the approbation of Jehovah, and his conscience is the witness. Perfect love flows from the heart in several directions, and like a stream from the brain of a mountain, it gladdens every spot through which it flows. It prepares us to maintain all the relations of life. We become faithful patriots, friends, brothers, companions, parents and Christians.

Belk and Wanamaker's - Founded by Presbyterian Businessmen

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Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings (Prov. 22:29).

Today we highlight three enterprising Presbyterian businessmen whose names have endured long after they passed from the scene of their earthly labors.

John Wanamaker (1838-1922) founded one of the first department stores in the United States. We have highlighted his Grand Depot store in Philadelphia previously as it was the site of a famous evangelistic meeting at which D.L. Moody and William S. Plumer spoke to large crowds. Wanamaker’s store was known for its policy of allowing cash refunds, and it is said he invented the price tag. He aimed to run a Christian business operation and once said, “The Golden Rule of the New Testament has become the Golden Rule of business.” His store was a landmark in Philadelphia and New York City for many decades.

Wanamaker’s Philadelphia Grand Depot in 1876.

Wanamaker’s Philadelphia Grand Depot in 1876.

From the posthumously-published Prayers of John Wanamaker, we have extracted an example of his devotion:

O GOD, Thou hast set in motion the world's great clock, and from the eternity of the past it is wound up to go on to the eternity of the future.

To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under Heaven. All things are beautiful in Thy time, and always shall be, until Thine angel shall declare that time shall be no more.

The massive trees, the bright gardens and the blossoming shrubbery are witnesses to Thy faithfulness.

These Sabbath days are Thy times for worship and praise and prayer, and for ploughing into Thy Book of Truth.

When our days of trial come, may we re member Joseph who through trial ascended to the place of power.

We say our prayers through Jesus Thy Son. Amen.

His stores were closed on the Lord’s Day (as noted by Nicole C. Kirk in Wanamaker's Temple: The Business of Religion in an Iconic Department Store), as were Belk department stores, an iconic chain in the South, which began near Charlotte, North Carolina.

Belk took its name from the founder William Henry Belk (1862-1952), who also recruited his brother, John Montgomery Belk (1864-1928), to jointly run the business. The Belk brothers grew up in a Presbyterian household, although their father was killed in 1865 by Union troops. Their mother had an Associate Reformed Presbyterian background. The following illuminating autobiographical extract comes from LeGette Blythe, William Henry Belk: Merchant of the South, pp. 185-186:

“I just didn’t think I was good enough to join the church,” he explained recently. “I felt that a fellow to be a member of the church ought to be a mighty good person and I just didn’t think I was good enough.

“But when I was twenty-one years old and a grown man they had a revival in my mother’s church and I was going to the services. The Reverend A.W. Miller, the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Charlotte and a wonderful preacher, was doing the preaching. One night he preached an unusually powerful sermon. I still remember it clearly. He was preaching on the text, ‘God is love.’ During the course of the sermon he went over some of the excuses that people make for staying out of the church. One of them was that you’re not good enough. The preacher then went on to answer that argument.

“‘You say you are not good enough,’ he said. ‘The truth about the matter is that you are not good enough to stay out of the church. If you were perfect you wouldn’t need to be in the church. But you aren’t perfect, you need the cleansing blood of Jesus to make you fit to be a member of the church. For that reason you should come to Him and be saved and then you will be fit to join the church and strive to be a better man or woman.’

“It sounded like a pretty good argument to me. It settled the very point that had been bothering me all those years. I went up to the preacher that night, confessed my sins and accepted the Lord as my saviour, and joined the church. And I have never regretted that step I took.

“There’s much good in all churches, I think, and all of them are headed in the same direction. But I just like the Presbyterian brand best. It seems to me that Calvinism is the best developer of sound Christian character. I believe that it is likely, if a man follows it, to make him a strong, moral force in his community. My mother was a strong Presbyterian and I guess that has a lot to do with the way I feel about the Presbyterian denomination.”

His love for his denomination, as he indicates, is but another testimonial to the love he had for his mother and his eagerness to testify to her greatness.

The first Belk store was located in Monroe, North Carolina.

The first Belk store was located in Monroe, North Carolina.

These successful businessmen were each committed Christians who were members of the Presbyterian Church. They applied Christian principles to their business operations and were successful in their endeavors despite (as the world might wonder) the fact that they closed their stores on the Lord’s Day. They also contributed philanthropically to their communities, and to the ministry and educational efforts of the church. For many decades these stores reflected the values of their founders, and that is a heritage worthy of remembrance.

250th Anniversary Commemoration of the Westminster Assembly (1897)

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In May 1897, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States (Southern Presbyterian Church) convened in Charlotte, North Carolina, in part to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Westminster Assembly. Moderator George T. Goetchius presided over the exercises which were organized by a committee consisting of Rev. Francis R. Beattie, Rev. Charles R. Hemphill and Ruling Elder Henry V. Escott. A memorial volume was published in recognition of the event, which included the text of an introduction, plus eleven addresses. This memorial volume may be read in full at our Compilations page. But now each of the men who delivered their addresses has their own page at Log College Press, including most of their known published writings.

Memorial Volume of the Westminster Assembly Title Page cropped.jpg

  • Francis Robert Beattie (1848-1906) - Beattie edited and wrote the introduction to the memorial volume, which includes an able historical framework to the work of the Assembly as well as a helpful bibliography of secondary source literature. The previous year he authored a valuable exposition of the Westminster Standards which is still in print today, and contains a 1997 biographical sketch by Dr. Morton H. Smith. Born in Canada, he served several years on the faculty of Columbia Theological Seminary in South Carolina, but in 1893 he joined the faculty at what is now Louisville Theological Seminary in Kentucky. He authored a number of works, and also served as an editor at The Presbyterian Quarterly and the Christian Observer.

  • Henry Alexander White (1861-1926) - White served as a long-time Professor of History at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, and is known for his biographies. His address was on the social and political historical context of the Westminster Assembly.

  • Robert Price (1830-1916) - Price served as a Professor at Southwestern Presbyterian University in Clarksville, Tennessee (now Rhodes College in Memphis). His address was on the ecclesiastical situation in Great Britain at the time of the Westminster Assembly.

  • Thomas Dwight Witherspoon (1836-1898) - Witherspoon was a beloved pastor in Virginia, Tennessee, Mississippi and Kentucky, and had previously served as Moderator of the PCUS General Assembly in 1884. His address on was the details of the Assembly itself - its place of meeting, how it was conducted, and who were the participants.

  • Robert Lewis Dabney (1820-1898) - Dabney had previously served as Moderator of the PCUS General Assembly in 1870. A minister, chaplain, professor, author, architect, and farmer, Dabney’s broad experience made him one of the most respected theologians in 19th century America. His address was on the doctrinal contents of the Westminster Standards, as well as the necessity and value of creeds.

  • Givens Brown Strickler (1840-1913) - Strickerl had previously served as Moderator of the PCUS General Assembly in 1887, and would later serve as a Professor at Union Theological Seminary in Virginia. His address was on the nature and usefulness of catechisms.

  • Eugene Daniel (1849-1935) - Daniel was pastor at the First Presbyterian Church of Raleigh, North Carolina. Serving in his capacity as alternate for Benjamin Morgan Palmer, his address was on the theme of the connection between church polity, doctrine and worship in the Westminster Standards.

  • James Doak Tadlock (1825-1899) - Tadlock served as President of King College in Tennessee. His address was on the relationship between the Westminster Standards and other Reformed creeds and confessions.

  • Moses Drury Hoge (1818-1899) - Hoge served as pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church in Richmond, Virginia for almost 54 years. His address was on the relationship between the Westminster Standards and foreign missions.

  • Samuel Macon Smith (1851-1910) - Smith served as pastor at the First Presbyterian Church of Columbia, South Carolina for many years. His theme was on the relationship of the Westminster Standards to current religious ideas and the needs of the future.

  • John Franklin Cannon (1851-1920) - Cannon served as pastor of the Grand Avenue Presbyterian Church in St. Louis, Missouri, and went on to serve as Moderator of the PCUS General Assembly in 1899. His address was on the influence of the Westminster Standards upon the individual, the family and upon society, with particular reference to the Christian Sabbath.

  • William Michael Cox (1859-1940) - Judge Cox of Baldwyn, Mississippi was the only ruling elder to address the assembly in this memorial commemoration. He served as a justice on the Mississippi Supreme Court. His address was on the contribution of Westminster to the cause of civil liberty and civic government.

The combined contributions of each of these men constitute a profound, informative and enduring tribute to the legacy of the Westminster Standards. Students of church history in the early 21st century, and those who love the Presbyterian church standards of the 17th century, will find much to glean in these memorial addresses from the late 19th century. Read them all together or individually, but be sure to take note of this valuable resource for your Westminster studies.

Charles Hodge: He cares for the sparrows

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Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them (Matt. 6:26).

Charles Hodge, in an autobiographical reminiscence about his childhood, teaches us how we all ought to live if we would but remember that God cares for the birds of the air, and even more so for His beloved children.

Our early training was religious. Our mother was a Christian. She took us regularly to church, and carefully drilled us in the Westminster Catechism, which we recited on stated occasions to Dr. Ashbel Green, our pastor. There has never been anything remarkable in my religious experience, unless it be that it began very early. I think that in my childhood I came nearer to conforming to the apostle's injunction: "Pray without ceasing," than in any other period of my life. As far back as I can remember, I had the habit of thanking God for everything I received, and asking him for everything I wanted. If I lost a book, or any of my playthings, I prayed that I might find it. I prayed walking along the streets, in school and out of school, whether playing or studying. I did not do this in obedience to any prescribed rule. It seemed natural. I thought of God as an everywhere-present Being, full of kindness and love, who would not be offended if children talked to him. I knew he cared for sparrows. I was as cheerful and happy as the birds, and acted as they did. There was little more in my prayers and praises than in the worship rendered by the fowls of the air (A.A. Hodge, The Life of Charles Hodge D.D. LL.D., p. 13).

Christians love one another: John Black's sermon on Church Fellowship

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By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another (John 13:35).

While it is to be deplored that there is ecclesiastical division amongst the churches of Christ throughout the world, who hold to different creeds, and church unity is a thing to be earnestly desired and prayed for, yet such unity must begin with love. If there is such love — which itself is the gift of God — then there is hope that barriers to unity will be overcome in the Lord’s great mercy.

A sermon preached at the opening of the 1816 Synod of the RPCNA by John Black (1768-1849) on Christian Fellowship acknowledges the reality of ecclesiastical barriers to full, unhindered communion, but speaks profoundly of the love of the saints, that basic building block needful for unity. It is worth pondering Black’s words on this point; they are timeless because this essential Biblical truth is timeless.

All real Christians love one another. They all love Christ, and cannot but love all who bear his image. And this is the characteristic mark of all who love him — they have his Father’s name written in their foreheads. All such will delight to mingle their voices, their hearts and affections, in religious exercises. They will speak of Christ — of the wonders of his love, and the wonders of his grace, with pleasure and delight They will join in his praises. They will talk together in recommending him more and more. The theme is inexhaustible. They will unite in addressing him, for they love prayer, and they have one heart. One spirit actuates them.

We must ask ourselves this as we pray for unity among the saints of God: do we love one another? If the answer is yes, the path is laid before us and, by the grace of God — notwithstanding the need for union based on truth and not error — that love will find its outward expression in the unity of the visible church. If the path is to begin somewhere, it must begin with the words of Christ, who said that they will know us to be Christians for our love to one another.

Get to know Nathaniel S. McFetridge

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Having benefited over the years from a little book titled Calvinism in History — Loraine Boettner spoke highly of it in his own classic The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination — by Nathaniel Smyth McFetridge, this writer had little information at first about the author and was curious for more. From a combination of sources, we have gleaned details about this fascinating Presbyterian minister who died quite young.

Wayne Sparkman at the PCA Historical Center wrote a biographical sketch, which provides very helpful information, including a partial bibliography. Other information has been assembled from ecclesiastical and genealogical records and publications from colleges with which he was associated. There is much more that we wish we had — for example, a photograph, and a few more of his known published writings. But we have discovered where he was laid to rest, among other details of interest. It is hoped that we will learn more over time, but below are some fresh brush strokes which will attempt to paint in some measure the picture of his life, and to supplement material that Dr. Sparkman has previously published.

McFetridge was born in Ardina, Dunboe Parish, County Derry, Northern Ireland on August 4, 1842. His family came to America when he was but a child, and they settled in Catasauqua, Pennsylvania. He studied at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, and retained ties to the school after he graduated in 1864. It was in that year that his prize-winning essay on the Prologue to Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales was published. He split the Fowler Prize with another student (who won $20, while he won $10) for his introductory study of the great classic. Recently, this writer obtained a copy and uploaded pictures of the text for readers who may wish to read young McFetridge’s insights into Chaucer.

Our author tells us in the preface to Calvinism in History that he benefited greatly in his later studies at Western Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh under A.A. Hodge, which he regarded as one of the greatest blessings of his life. McFetridge graduated from seminary in 1867 and was ordained into the ministry by the Presbytery of Erie (PCUSA) soon after, being installed the following year as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Oil City, Pennsylvania. Married in 1868 to Jane Sutton, the McFetridges had four daughters and one son. He wrote to the Lafayette Monthly in March 1872 that he contemplated leaving the Oil City pastorate, but was persuaded to stay. In 1874, however, he transferred his credentials to the Presbytery of Philadelphia, North and became pastor of the Wakefield Presbyterian Church of Germantown, a neighborhood in northwestern Philadelphia. Dr. William C. Cattell, President of Lafayette College, gave the charge to the pastor on December 10, 1874.

Regarding his ties to Lafayette, it was reported in the July 1, 1871 Lafayette Monthly that Rev. McFetridge read a poem of his own composition titled “Peace” and offered the closing prayer at Alumni Society meeting held the day before commencement exercises. A hymn composed by McFetridge was published in January 1873 Lafayette Monthly titled “Jesus is Born.” The same periodical reported on January 1, 1879 that McFetridge presided over an alumni dinner, “with a quiet dignity and grace becoming the occasion, and introduced the speakers in a very happy manner,” with Dr. Cattell sitting at his right hand. In 1879, after the death of William Adamson, who served on the Lafayette Board of Trustees, Rev. McFetridge delivered a commemorative sermon. The February 1, 1880 Lafayette Journal informed its readers that McFetridge was recently elected to fill the vacant seat on the Board of Trustees, and also mentions that in 1878 he delivered the annual sermon before the Brainerd Society and the Christian Brotherhood.

In February 1881, McFetridge was seriously injured in a train accident, an event alluded to in the July 1, 1881 Lafayette Journal’s description of commencement exercises at which he was asked to speak but declined due to his injuries. He was spoken of as the man “whom steam engines can not crush.” He did pronounce the benediction at an oratorical contest as reported in the March 1, 1883 Lafayette Journal. The December 1883 Lafayette College Journal published a dispatch by McFetridge which reported on the departure from New York of Dr. Cattell and his family on board the steamship SS Servia bound for Liverpool, England. The warmth of his affection for Lafayette’s President is most apparent in his praise of the man. McFetridge’s Calvinism in History — which originated in lectures delivered at Wakefield Presbyterian Church in 1881 and which was published in 1882 — is dedicated to Cattell.

On the occasion of Martin Luther’s four hundredth birthday, in 1883, at the Presbyterian Church in Abington, Pennsylvania, Rev. McFetridge, along with Robert Ellis Thompson, gave an address in commemoration of “The Dear Man of God: Doctor Martin Luther of Blessed Memory.”

After eleven years at Wakefield, McFetridge resigned from his pastorate (due to his impaired health, we are told by Francis B. Reeves in his historical sketch of Wakefield Presbyterian Church) and was elected in early 1885 to fill the position of chair of Greek, Anglo-Saxon and Modern Languages at Macalester College in Minnesota, and had joined the faculty there by the autumn of that year.

An 1887 memorial tribute by Macalester College informed its readers that after a brief but much beloved tenure, Rev. McFetridge entered into glory on December 3, 1886 at the age of 44. It is thought that the injuries suffered from the train accident several years before they took their final toll on his body. Although he died in St. Paul, Minnesota, he was buried at the Shenango Valley Cemetery in Greenville, Pennsylvania, where his wife and at least two daughters were later laid to rest as well. A memorial window at Wakfield Presbyterian Church was given by his wife (where also artwork by a Japanese student who once lived with the McFetridges was presented). As described by his colleagues at Macalester, he was an inspiration as a teacher, minister of the gospel and friend:

As members of the Faculty, we were strangers when we met; but very soon our departed brother won the esteem and confidence of us all. No less did he win that of the students. As a professor, he was scholarly. careful and diligent in his work. He had the aptitude for teaching in a high degree. He exacted careful and diligent work from the students. Though a constant sufferer, he did not spare himself, and he had small patience with idleness and inattention on the part of any in his classes. When he led the college in morning prayers, his confessions of human frailty and sin, and his pleadings with our Heavenly Father for grace and strength to bear us through the duties of the day, were peculiarly touching.

As a member of the Faculty, he was prudent in counsel, firm in the maintenance of right, faithful to the best interests of the College, and courteous to his brethren.

As a preacher, he was remarkably clear in exposition and impressive in manner. He delighted especially in commending the love, the patience and the faithfulness of Christ, and was never happier than when so engaged.

He was a man of sprightly temperament, of genial and kindly disposition. His intellect was fine, his culture high, his views broad, and his spirit catholic. He was eminently patient in suffering and we who never saw him free from it, know how his brightness and hopefulness and faithfulness in the midst of it, enforced the lesson of Christian joy in submission to the Father's will, with "patient continuance in well-doing," upon all about him.

The writings of Nathaniel S. McFetridge that we have assembled thus far are available to read at his page here. His enduring Calvinism in History is there to read, along with a few other writings referenced above. We hope to add more eventually. From these and other materials we have gleaned that he was a well-respected, indeed beloved, pastor, teacher, friend and family man. Although details of his life are fewer than we would wish, we have sketched some aspects which reveal him to be a poet, a correspondent, a loyal college alumni, and a scholar. He was a man of humility too, and who looked to Christ in the midst of his personal physical suffering; and all of these qualities are evident in his writings and in the testimonials about him by others. He was a candle that burned brightly and briefly, yet the illumination of his life and legacy continues to shine.

Uncle Jeremy's "Sowing the Seed"

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Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days (Eccl. 11:1).

Among the writings of “Uncle Jeremy” — as United Presbyterian minister Jeremiah Rankin Johnston (1836-1890) signed letters to children which were published in the Youth’s Evangelist — is a collection of devotional poems which reveal his artistic side. Published posthumously by his friend James A. Grier, the poems — as well as sermons, addresses and biography of Johnston — are a delight to read. Here is one extract for consideration on a Sabbath afternoon.

Sowing the Seed

Let your seed be sown in the morning;
While the stars are still in view,
While the leaves are wet with dew;
And watch for its verdant adorning,
As you humbly wait and pray
In the coming sunny day.

Let it scattered be at the nooning;
When the sky is all aglow,
When the tender breezes blow;
And think in your happy communing,
Of the day when it shall spread
All its beauty o’er your head.

Let ev’ning forbid to withhold it;
As the air collects its chill,
As the shadows cloud the hill;
And trust, as the earth shall enfold it,
That its golden sheaves shall stand
In the singing reaper’s hand.

But the see is His that you’re sowing;
From His hand distill the rains
That shall multiply your grains;
And from Him is the love bestowing,
That at last shall glory shed
On the happy sower’s head.

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.

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.

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.

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

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).

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.
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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.
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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.

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.

Diaper changing.jpg

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”

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.”
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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).