Happy Thanksgiving From Log College Press!

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This years marks the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrim Fathers’ arrival at Plymouth, Massachusetts, and we are now in our third year of the project to make the past come alive and give voice to Presbyterians from a by-gone era — known as Log College Press. At this time of Thanksgiving, we want to express how thankful we are for the saints who have gone before us and paved the way for Christians in 21st century America, and how thankful we are for you, our readers and supporters, who do so much to help make this project — as we trust — a blessing to the Church.

“The First Thanksgiving, 1621” by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris.

We are conscious that 2020 has been a hard and challenging year for America and the world. The year 1620, too, presented enormous challenges (and rewards) for Christians such as the Pilgrims. The Lord often brings judgments upon sinful people and nations, and yet always gives cause to be thankful. One striking message on this parallel working of God is J.R.W. Sloane’s God's Judgments, and Thanksgiving Sermons: A Discourse (1858). It was a time of financial distress for America, and war was brewing on the horizon. Yet, in the midst of judgment, Sloane found cause for thanksgiving and rejoicing, as well as for personal and corporate repentance.

God is more merciful than we deserve, and we can even be thankful that He chastises His people, calling them to return to Him, and not forsaking them utterly. As Ecclesiastes teaches us, “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven…A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance” (Eccl. 3:1, 4). And as Martin Luther teaches, in this world we are called to joy while walking through a vale of tears: “We say, 'In the midst of life we die.' God answers, 'Nay, in the midst of death we live'" (cited by Roland H. Bainton, Here I Stand, p. 290).

Thank you, dear friends, once again for all of your support for Log College Press. It means a great deal to us. We wish each of a very Happy Thanksgiving, and God’s richest blessings to you and yours.

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William S. Plumer's Impeccable

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Introducing the Log College Annex

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

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

Some of the new authors found on the Annex include:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Also, on the Main Library, new additions include:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Out with the old, in with the New: Sermons for a New Year

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As 2019 comes to a close, and a new year dawns, we at Log College Press want to thank all of our readers for all of your support in the past year. We are most grateful for your interest, appreciation, feedback and encouragement. It is a joy for us to dust off old Presbyterian works and make them accessible to a new generation, and we, along with our readers, are learning much along the journey as well. As we round out this year and prepare, with the mercy and blessing of God, to enter another, we wish to highlight some special sermons from the past which are worthy of consideration.

• Henry Augustus Boardman (1808-1880) - Mottoes For the New Year, as Given in Texts of Sermons (1882);

• George Barrell Cheever (1807-1890) - A New Year’s Sermon (1843);

• Samuel Davies (1723-1761) - On January 1, 1760, he preached "A New Year's Gift" (see Sermons on Important Subjects, Vol. 3, Serm. 59, pp. 309 ff), using Rom. 13:11 for his text: "And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed." On January 1, 1761 (his last year of life), Davies preached "A Sermon on the New Year" (see Sermons on Important Subjects, Vol. 2, Serm. 34, pp. 139 ff), from Jer. 28:16: "This year thou shalt die";

• Elias Harrison (1790-1863) - New Year’s Day Sermon (1817);

• Erskine Mason, Sr. (1805-1851) - The Approach of Death: A New Year’s Sermon (1845) and New Year’s Sermon for 1848: Dependence on the Future (1848);

• Benjamin Morgan Palmer (1818-1902) - Century Sermon (1901), preached on January 1, 1901; and

• Gardiner Spring (1785-1873) - Something Must Be Done: A New Year’s Sermon (1816).
  

Each of these sermons has a message that is good for 21st century readers to consider as we stand at the same point on the calendar between years that Christians have done before. New Year’s is always an appropriate time to review the past and consider our resolve to walk closer with the Lord in the future. We close with this meditation and resolution from Gardiner Spring’s “Reflections on the New Year” in Fragments from the Study of a Pastor (1838):

In entering on another year, I know not from what unexpected quarter, or at what an unguarded hour, difficulties and dangers may come. O that I could enjoy more of the favour of God, more of the presence of the Saviour, more of the sealing of the ever blessed Spirit! O for more of a calm, approving conscience, and more of the delightful influence of the peace-speaking blood of Jesus Christ!

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Happy Thanksgiving from Log College Press!

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

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

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

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

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Log College Press Roundup - November 18, 2019

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

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

New Authors Added:

• William McFaddin Alexander (1861-1944)

• William Coombs Dana (1810-1880)

• Samuel Lyle Graham (1794-1851)

• Edward Owings Guerrant (1838-1916)

• George Hale (1812-1888)

• Joseph Henry (1797-1878)

• James Robert Howerton (1861-1924)

• James Knox (1786-1864)

• William Linn (1752-1808)

• John Moffatt Mecklin (1871-1956)

• Robert Hugh Morris (1876-1942)

• George Laurens Petrie (1840-1931)

• John Pierson (1689-1770)

• Alexander White Pitzer (1834-1927)

• Anson Davies Fitz Randolph (1820-1896)

• Samuel Meek Rankin (1864-1939)

• WIlliam Stuart Red (1857-1933)

• Thornton Rogers Sampson (1852-1915)

• Gaius Jackson Slosser (1887-1968)

• Samuel Mills Tenney (1871-1939)

• Joseph Smith Van Dyke (1832-1915)

• Edgar Woods (1827-1910)

Select New Titles Added:

• 94 handwritten sermons by Ebenezer Pemberton, Jr.

• 11 issues of Watchman of the South (1837-1844), edited by William Swan Plumer

• 10 works by Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield

• 6 letters on Psalmody by William Ramsey Hemphill

• 5 essays by Conrad Speece published under the pen name “Melancthon”

• 2 letters by Jedediah Andrews to John Pierson

• 2 writings of Cornelius Washington Grafton

• James Renwick Willson’s Address, on the Subject of African Slavery (1837)

• and a Notebook of Handwritten Sermons (1727-1772) by Jonathan Parsons

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

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The Most Prolific Authors at Log College Press

As we have been adding writers and their works at Log College Press since 2017, the site has continued to grow. Some of the authors that we highlight here have been tremendously prolific. A review of the official bibliography of William Buell Sprague shows that he is credited with at least 160 published titles, plus a great deal of additional material. Samuel Miller’s bibliography as compiled in 1911 by his grand-daughter, Margaret Miller, runs 22 pages; an updated, annotated, comprehensive bibliography compiled by Wayne Sparkman for The Confessional Presbyterian, Vol. 1 (2005) runs 30 pages. The Archibald Alexander family has a catalogue of their writings which is also quite extensive. A question arises: which author has the most titles on our site currently?

It should be noted that while we have ten volumes of the Works of Thomas Smyth (which each contain many separate writings), the Works of Sprague or of Samuel Miller have never been likewise assembled. Many of our authors have written letters which are listed separately as well as books of sermons which contain many compiled writings. Just one of Alfred Nevin’s titles is his mammoth Encyclopedia of the Presbyterian Church, while the actual text of the mission report of Lewis Johnston, Jr. (the first African-American minister ever ordained by the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America) constitutes just less than one page. It should also be noted that additional writings by some authors found on the Compilations page are not always represented on their personal pages, and are not included in this count. Therefore, for purposes of this snapshot count (as of today) we are measuring each author’s prolificity by the number of titles associated with them as currently represented on the site. Remember that the work of adding their titles is ongoing. Also, note that each volume of, for example, a two or three volume set is counted separately for our purposes here. But as of today, after reviewing all authors with 10 or more titles listed, the results are as follows:

• Samuel Miller, Sr. (1769-1850) — 74

• James Russell Miller (1840-1912) — 61

• Henry Jackson Van Dyke, Jr. (1852-1933) — 54

• Archibald Alexander (1772-1851) — 47

• William Swan Plumer (1802-1880), William Buell Sprague (1795-1876) — 46

• Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield (1851-1921) — 40

• James Waddel Alexander, Sr. (1804-1859), Thomas De Witt Talmage (1832-1902) — 36

• Philip Schaff (1819-1893) — 35

• Charles Hodge (1797-1878) — 32

• Theodore Ledyard Cuyler (1822-1909) — 26

• Geerhardus Vos (1862-1949) — 25

• George Duffield IV (1794-1868), John Thomson Faris (1871-1949) — 23

• Samuel Irenaeus Prime (1812-1885), Robert Lewis Dabney (1820-1898), Robert Elliott Speer (1867-1947) — 22

• Leonard Woolsey Bacon (1830-1907), Henry Augustus Boardman (1808-1880) — 21

• Louis FitzGerald Benson (1855-1903), Samuel Davies (1723-1761), Benjamin Morgan Palmer (1818-1902), Nathan Lewis Rice (1807-1877) — 18

• William Jennings Bryan, Sr. (1860-1925), Thomas Smyth (1808-1873) — 17

• Ashbel Green (1762-1848), Edward Duffield Neill (1823-1893) — 16

• Robert Jefferson Breckinridge (1800-1871), Robert Hamill Nassau (1835-1921), Charles Wadsworth (1814-1882), William Craig Brownlee (1784-1860) — 15

• William Pratt Breed (1816-1889), Robert B. Davidson (1808-1876), John Lafayette Girardeau (1825-1898), William Greenough Thayer Shedd (1820-1894), Stephen Return Riggs (1812-1883) — 14

• Charles Augustus Briggs (1841-1913), John DeWitt (1842-1923), Jonathan Dickinson (1688-1747), John Hall (1829-1898), Jacob Jones Janeway (1774-1858), John Williamson Nevin (1803-1886), Thomas Harvey Skinner, Sr. (1791-1871) — 13

• Joseph Addison Alexander (1809-1860), George Bourne (1780-1845), Archibald Alexander Hodge (1823-1886), George Junkin, Sr. (1790-1868), Sidney Clopton Lanier, Sr. (1842-1881), Edward Dafyyd Morris (1825-1915), David Ramsay (1749-1815), Ethelbert Dudley Warfield (1861-1936), Theodore Sedgwick Wright (1797-1847) — 12

• Charles Edward Noble Maccartney (1879-1957), James Madison MacDonald (1812-1876), Alfred Nevin (1816-1890), Jacob Harris Patton (1812-1903), Gardiner Spring (1785-1873), Thomas Dwight Witherspoon, Sr. (1836-1898) — 11

• Edwin Francis Hatfield (1807-1883), Thomas Cary Johnson (1859-1936), Cleland Boyd McAfee (1866-1944), Charles Henry Parkhurst (1842-1933) — 10

Thus, Samuel Miller, Sr. is our unofficial winner of the title of our “Most Prolific Author to be Found on Log College Press” survey. But as you can see, we have many voluminous writers listed and the numbers will continue to grow. Altogether, by the way, the authors listed above represent 1,253 titles currently available to read on Log College Press. Many more are also available at our Library Index. Be sure to explore our site and learn about the remarkable body of Presbyterian literature that exists here at Log College Press.

A note about the author links above: These links are provided to make easy access to their individual writings. As the website continues to grow and be re-structured, however, it may require URL changes to author pages which will mean that some of these links may be broken in the future. But all authors can be found at the main index here.

Log College Press is growing!

Log College Press has grown a lot in 2018. We now count over 500 authors and over 2500 free PDF volumes available to read on our site. We have also slowly but steadily been adding author photos, biographical links, and information about where our authors are buried.

Also, our topical pages have been growing. By way of contrast, here is a list showing the number of works for each topical category as of July 31, 2018 and as of December 31, 2018:

Apologetics – 4 / 6
Autobiographies – 16 / 26
Biographies – 109 / 152
Christian Life – 26 / 30
Christology – 20 / 24
Church and State – 66 / 117
Church History – 117 / 165
Commentaries – 36 / 48
Compilations – 16 / 21
Correspondence – 8 / 14
Devotional – 22 / 25
Ecclesiology - 79 / 95
Eschatology – 13 / 26
Ethics – 4 / 4
Family – 20 / 23
Fiction – 14 / 20
Funeral Discourses – 34 / 46
Inaugural Addresses – 25 / 35
Missions – 41 / 84
Pastoral Theology – 6 / 6
Poetry – 24 / 42
Preaching – 9 / 13
Sacraments – 28 / 38
Sermons – 110 / 174
Systematic Theology – 13 / 17
Travelogues – 22 / 32
Westminster Standards – 39 / 45
Worship – 70 / 90

Please check out these expanding resources and check in often for more. We appreciate your support and interest, and we hope to continue growing in 2019, with the Lord’s blessing.

Why Log College Press?

I've attended a Presbyterian church since 5th grade. I've understood what being a Presbyterian means since high school. And I've enjoyed history - especially American history - as long as I can remember. And so as I started reading church history and theology in college and in seminary, I was naturally drawn to my forefathers in the faith from my own country and my own tradition: American Presbyterians. I began to see my story as intimately connected to their story, for better or for worse. 

Let's be honest, there aren't many Presbyterians in America. And not many Presbyterians care about history in general or their own ecclesiastical history in particular. So there is a need to remind people from whence they and their churches came. There is a need to remind people of the pastors and teachers and writings that have shaped the church that we know today. The 18th and 19th centuries were the formative years of the Presbyterian church in America. They were filled with ideas, instruction, organization, conflict, iron sharpening iron, disagreement, and division. Like any church, our Presbyterian ancestors were justified sinners - they had many flaws, but they also had Spirit-wrought insight into the word of God. They wrote voluminously, but so many of their writings have been forgotten or lost to the moden era.

That's why Log College Press exists - to make known and make available in one place the rich treasure trove of American Presbyterian writings hidden away online. It's a slow work in progress, but the hope is that one day everything published by an 18th or 19th century American Presbyterian that is accessible will be found on this site. Eventually, we plan to reprint a select number of books that we believe are worth being more broadly available to the church today. We hope you enjoy what you discover here. Please let us know if there is any author or work in particular you'd like us to include on this site sooner rather than later.