Psalm Tunes by J.K. Robb

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O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation (Ps. 95:1).

Some of the tunes in the 1929, 1950, 1973 and 2009 editions of the psalters authorized by the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA) were composed or arranged by Rev. John Knox Robb (1868-1960).

Dr. Paul D. McCracken paid the following tribute to Robb:

Dr. Robb was a man of many talents. He was an experienced carpenter, an able preacher, a wise counselor, a faithful shepherd, and a warm friend. He will long be remembered for his rare musical ability. With his mellow voice, his "absolute pitch," and his keen sense of harmony and beauty, he served the Church on Psalter Revision Committees in 1929 and again in 1950, and our present Psalter contains originals and 4 arrangements that bear his name.

The tune Syracuse by Robb is perhaps his most famous. In the two most recent psalters, Robb is credited thus:

  • The Book of Psalms For Singing (1973) - Psalm 4A (Wallace); 31G (Saints’ Praise); 46B (Hetherton); 86A (Conwell); 104B (Emsworth); 104D (Bradford); 115B (Scott); 126B (Rutherford); and 127A (Syracuse)

  • The Book of Psalms For Worship (2009) - 4A (Wallace); 86A (Conwell); 104B (Emsworth); 107H (Conwell); 112A (Hetherton); 115B (Scott); 118D (Hetherton); and 127A (Syracuse).

One may listen to these tunes here.

On This Day in History - October 22

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Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee (Deut. 32:7).

On this day in church history, several Log College Press men are noted:

  • Archibald Alexander (April 17, 1772 — October 22, 1851) — This date marks 170 years since Archibald Alexander entered into glory.

  • James W.C. Pennington (1809 — October 22, 1870) — It was just last year that we commemorated the 150th anniversary of his passing into glory.

  • William Swan Plumer (July 26, 1802 — October 22, 1880) — A memorial tribute, which speaks of Plumer’s last days, written by his daughters, was recently added to the Log College Press. His entering into glory has been highlighted here previously. Many of his writings remain in print today; meanwhile, take a moment to review his published writings at LCP here.

We also note that the College of New Jersey (Princeton) was granted a charter on October 22, 1746. Additionally, the Synod of Virginia met for the first time on October 22, 1788 at the New Providence Presbyterian Church in Raphine, Virginia.

Georgia Scholar C.C. Jones, Jr. on the Native American History of His State

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Charles Colcock Jones, Jr. (1831-1893) was the son of Presbyterian pastor C.C. Jones, Sr. (1804-1863). Although he was not a minister, but instead a Harvard-educated lawyer by profession, and a mayor of Savannah, Georgia for a time, his reputation rests largely on his prolific historical writings and as an respected antiquarian. He was nationally known for his collection of portraits, books, manuscripts and autographs, including those of every signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Perhaps best-known for his “magisterial” History of Georgia (2 vols., 1883), which was dedicated to his father, he developed early on a fascination for the early Native American tribes who inhabited his home state, and the mounds and artifacts they left behind. In this passion, he was joined by his brother, Dr. Joseph Jones (1833-1896), who pioneered archeological studies in Tennessee, as C.C. Jones, Jr. did in Georgia. Both men prepared reports for the Smithsonian Institute of their studies, and C.C. Jones, Jr. made donations from his extensive collection of antiquities — estimated at around 20,000 artifacts — to the American Museum of Natural History, while Joseph’s collection now resides at the National Museum of the American Indian.

At Log College Press, we have assembled some of C.C. Jones, Jr.’s antiquarian writings, which remain of great interest to anthropologists, archeologists, linguists and ethnologists today. Here are some of the titles which reflect his dedication to the study of Native Americans of the Southeast.

  • Indian Remains in Southern Georgia: Address Delivered Before the Georgia Historical Society, on Its Twentieth Anniversary, February 12th, 1859 (1859);

  • Monumental Remains of Georgia (1861);

  • Historical Sketch of Tomo-Chi-Chi, Mico of the Yamacraws (1868);

  • Antiquities of the Southern Indians, Particularly of the Georgia Tribes (1873);

  • Aboriginal Structures in Georgia (1877, 1878);

  • Primitive Manufacture of Spear and Arrow Points Along the Line of the Savannah River (1880); and

  • Silver Crosses From an Indian Grave-Mound at Coosawattee Old Town, Murray County, Georgia (1883).

To this list may be added his discussion of the sixteenth century Native Americans in The History of Georgia, Vol. 1 (1883), and similar discussions in History of Savannah, GA.: From Its Settlement to the Close of the Eighteenth Century (1890), Memorial History of Augusta, Georgia (1890), and other historical writings.

There is a rich amount of material to search through for those interested in not only the history of the indigenous peoples of the Southeast before the arrival of Europeans, but also with respect to the early interactions between Native Americans and Europeans in Georgia and the surrounding territory. The pioneer antiquarian studies of both C.C. Jones, Jr. and his brother Joseph did much in the nineteenth century to elevate an appreciation for that history.

James Bradley's Brief Account of an Emancipated Slave

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The story of James Bradley has many curiosities, unanswered questions and fascinating details. Born around 1810 in Guinea, Africa, he was enslaved at a very young age and transported to the United States via Charleston, South Carolina, before he was purchased by a Mr. Bradley of Kentucky (whose last name he assumed), before the family moved to the Arkansas Territory.

There the Mr. Bradley passed away, but James continued to toil in servitude. Although he had not been taught of God, he longed for liberty, and began the laborious effort — by working at night to make horse collars, and by means of growing tobacco and selling pigs — to purchase his own freedom, which after eight years, he accomplished in 1833 for the sum of just under $700. In his own words, he tells of where he went next as a free man.

As soon as I was free, I started for a free State. When I arrived in Cincinnati, I heard of Lane Seminary, about two miles out of the city. I had for years been praying to God that my dark mind might see the light of knowledge. I asked for admission into the Seminary. They pitied me, and granted my request, though I knew nothing of the studies which were required for admission. I am so ignorant, that I suppose it will take me two years to get up with the lowest class in the institution. But in all respects I am treated just as kindly, and as much like a brother by the students, as if my skin were as white, and my education as good as their own. Thanks to the Lord, prejudice against color does not exist in Lane Seminary! If my life is spared, I shall probably spend several years here, and prepare to preach the gospel.

Bradley’s Brief Account of an Emancipated Slave, published in 1834, reveals a man who, in the Lord’s providence, despite many obstacles, managed to learn how to read and write, became knowledgeable of his need for a Savior, and with a longing for liberty, achieved his personal goal of emancipation from slavery and sought rather to serve the Lord.

Bradley’s admission to a Presbyterian seminary in 1834, came just a few years after Theodore S. Wright, a free African-American, graduated from Princeton in 1828, and later was ordained as a Presbyterian minister. It was in 1837 that Titus Basfield graduated from the Canonsburg Theological Seminary of the Associate Presbyterian Church and went on to serve as a minister in that denomination. Sadly, events transpired at Lane which would derail Bradley’s aspirations to pursue the gospel ministry.

In 1834, a series of debates were held among students and faculty concerning the appropriateness of immediate abolition of slavery, and the question of the work of the American Colonization Society, which aimed to send free blacks to Africa, to build the new nation of Liberia. Although the general sentiment of opposition to slavery was held by many at Lane, these were controversial matters which raised tensions at the seminary and in the surrounding area, which were magnified by nationwide newspaper coverage. Many notable people were present, including Lyman Beecher, President of the seminary; Calvin Ellis Stowe, a professor, and his future wife, Harriet Beecher; John Rankin; and others. James Bradley spoke at these debates, and he was the only black person and only former slave to do so; although some slaves, owned by Southern students, were also present at the debates. He recounted the oppression he experienced, and answered objections to immediate abolition, such as the concern that slaves would be unable to care for themselves.

In a March 10, 1834 letter, fellow student Henry B. Stanton recount Bradley’s role at the Lane Debates:

James Bradley, the emancipated slave above alluded to, addressed us nearly two hours; and I wish his speech could have been heard by every opponent of immediate emancipation, to wit: first, that “it would be unsafe to the community;” second, that “the condition of the emancipated negroes would be worse than it now is; that they are incompetent to provide for themselves; that they would become paupers and vagrants, and would rather steal than work for wages.” This shrewd and intelligent black, cut up these white objections by the roots, and withered and scorched them under the sun of sarcastic argumentation, for nearly an hour, to which the assembly responded in repeated and spontaneous roars of laughter, which were heartily joined in by both Colonizationists and Abolitionists. Do not understand me as saying, that his speech was devoid of argument. No it contained sound logic, enforced by apt illustrations. I wish the slanderers of negro intellect could have witnessed this unpremeditated effort. I will give you a sketch of this man's history. He was stolen from Africa when an infant, and sold into slavery. His master, who resided in Arkansas, died, leaving him to his widow. He was then about eighteen years of age. For some years, he managed the plantation for his mistress. Finally, he purchased his time by the year, and began to earn money to buy his freedom. After five years of toil, having paid his owners $655, besides supporting himself during the time, he received his “free papers,” and emigrated to a free State with more than $200 in his pocket. Every cent of this money, $855, he earned by labour and trading. He is now a beloved and respected member of this institution. Now, Mr. Editor, can slaves take care of themselves if emancipated? I answer the question in the language employed by brother Bradley, on the above occasion. “They have to take care of, and support themselves now, and their master, and his family into the bargain; and this being so, it would be strange if they could not provide for themselves, when disencumbered from this load.”

Bradley acquitted himself admirably at the debates, but the seminary trustees were soon moved to ban further discussion of these controversial issues. Local threats of violence against abolitionists were a great concern. Unable to abide by these restrictions, the so-called “Lane Rebels” resigned from the school en masse in October 1834, publishing A Statement of the Reasons Which Induced the Students of Lane Seminary, to Dissolve their Connection with that Institution, signed by 51 persons, including James Bradley.

Bradley moved to Oberlin, Ohio, where he studied at the Sheffield Manual Labor Institute. But after 1837 nothing further is known of Bradley, except that he assisted in the liberation of other slaves possibly via the Underground Railroad. He never became a gospel minister. We do not even have a picture of the man or a physical description, although a statue was erected in his honor at Covington, Kentucky in 1988. Bradley was portrayed by Jaylen Marks in the 2019 docudrama Sons & Daughters of Thunder.

Although he was lost to history, in that the final chapters of his life are unknown, he is remembered still, as a passionate advocate of freedom for all, and the autobiographical account of his emancipation is a brief but stirring read. Read more about and by James Bradley here.

Forgotten Founding Fathers of the American Church and State

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There is a volume of biographical sketches that is well worth the read - William T. Hanzsche’s Forgotten Founding Fathers of the American Church and State (1954). It highlights some of the most significant colonial Presbyterians found on Log College Press. These include: Francis Makemie (“the Father of American Presbyterianism”); William Tennent, Sr. (founder of the Log College); Jonathan Dickinson (first President of the College of New Jersey in Princeton); David Brainerd (the “Apostle to the North American Indians”); Gilbert Tennent (“Son of Thunder”); Samuel Davies (the “Apostle to Virginia”); and John Witherspoon (the only clergyman to sign the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation).

Hanzsche’s study is a great introduction to these men and their legacies. Their contributions to early American Presbyterianism, and indeed, to the history of the United States and the world, are worthy of notice and appreciation. This volume helps students of history to better understand the significance of each of these American Presbyterian worthies.

Alexander Blaikie on what it means to praise God

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Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD. — Ps. 150:6

The first chapter of Alexander Blaikie’s Catechism on Praise teaches us what is the fundamental nature of and reason for praise, that joyful duty to which we owe God.

I. What is the praise of God? 

It is the manifestation of his declarative glory by his creatures. Psa. 69:34; 150:6.

II. Do the Scriptures authorize or command that praise shall be given to God, as an act of worship? 

Yes, both. All creatures, but especially Christians, are required to render it. Psa. 86:12,13; 138:1; 65:1; 89:5.

III. Has God given to us any directions how we are to praise him? 

Yes, in his word. Psa. 9:1; 86:12; 109:30; Hos. 14:2; Heb. 13:15.

IV. For what are we to praise God? 

For his great and wonderful excellencies; for what he in himself, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Author of salvation to his saints; for what he has done, and what he has promised to do.

V. For what are we to give thanks? 

For all our comforts and hopes; especially for an interest in Christ, and the hope of eternal life. Eph. 5:20; Heb. 13:15.

VI. What, then, is the nature of praise? 

It is a tribute of affection and esteem, which we give to the true God, that thus we may increase his declarative glory. Psa. 50:23.

It is good not to lose sight of such a precious and fundamental precept as the duty to offer praise to our God. We always have occasion to praise the Lord even in all circumstances. He who praises his Maker and his Redeemer is blessed in rendering glory to God, which is our chief end and also our great delight.

William Maxwell's Virginia Historical Register

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It was largely attributable to the efforts of John Holt Rice that the Virginia Historical Society was founded, but after his death, it fell to William Maxwell, Rice’s biographer, to “resurrect” the institution. And so he did, as its librarian and as the editor of its journal. The journal which he edited began as The Virginia Historical Register, and Literary Advertiser, and later was known as The Virginia Historical Register, and Literary Note Book; and The Virginia Historical Register, and Literary Companion. All of these volumes, from 1848 to 1853, are now available to read on Log College Press.

The material contained within these volumes includes items relevant to the history of Virginia, poetical pieces and much more, including tributes to, and notices of, notable Virginians, such as Archibald Alexander, Rice’s dear friend; William Henry Foote, author of the Sketches of Virginia, in two volumes; Samuel Davies, the great pioneer missionary to Virginia; and Francis Makemie, “the father of the Presbyterian church in Virginia;” and others. The history of Governor Spotswood’s 1716 Knights of the Golden Horseshoe Expedition across the Blue Ridge Mountains; a notice of the French Huguenot family who emigrated from Ireland to Virginia [the Jacques Fontaine family, from which this writer is descended]; accounts of the Indian princess Pocahontas and Captain John Smith; and many other names of interest to the students of history are discussed in this journal. This a resource rich in historical treasures.

In Maxwell’s words, introducing the journal to the public, “We are…lovers of history.”

If you share this love, dear reader, be sure to check out these fascinating volumes edited by William Maxwell.

The Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia

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Philip Schaff, the Reformed scholar and historian, was a prolific writer who produced several sets of great interest to readers in his day, as well as ours.

In the past we have highlighted Schaff’s 8-volume History of the Christian Church and his 3-volume Creeds of Christendom. Today we take note of another addition to his page at Log College Press. Both the 3-volume A Religious Encyclopedia (1882-1884) and the 13-volume The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge (1908-1914) are now available to read. The latter is the expanded edition, published posthumously, of the former, all of which are based on the original work of Johann Jakob Herzog’s Real-Encyklopädie für protestantische Theologie und Kirche (1853–1868). Schaff edited an additional work titled Encyclopedia of Living Divines and Christian Workers of All Denominations in Europe and America, Being a Supplement to Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge (1887).

We have recently added his assistant editor, Samuel Macauley Jackson (1851-1912), to Log College Press, and are working to add more of his works, including those which he jointly produced with Philip Schaff.

Together the volumes produced by these men contain a wealth of information historical, biographical and theological. The student of church history will benefit from this valuable 19th and early 20th century scholarship. Peruse these resources on the Philip Schaff page, and avail yourself of this great treasure.

The Benediction: No Mere Form But a True Blessing - William H. Adams

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William Hooper Adams, Sr. argued in The Southern Presbyterian Review (Jan. 1874) that the benediction, which customarily concludes the public service of worship, is not a mere formality, but rather a crucial, and highly significant and meaningful, aspect of corporate worship.

After a study of the Biblical texts, and reference to many commentaries on the inspired Aaronic and New Testament blessings, Adams concludes that the benediction which customarily concludes a public worship service is not a mere dismissal of the congregation, not a mere prayer, and not a mere formality, but is instead rather a crucial affirmation of God’s blessing upon the worship that has just taken place.

Following Biblical precedent, it must be given by the pastor, who, invoking the sacred and holy name of the Most High, speaks peace to the people authoritatively and comfortingly, as the service concludes. In the words of Adams:

The Benediction is not so much our prayer as it is the Lord's "Amen" to his people's prayers and praises. Into it he collects all the desires and vows and holy meditations of the service now being terminated, and in this single sentence assures every true worshipper that every thing conformable with his will shall be accomplished; yea, that he will do exceeding abundantly, filling them with "all the fulness of God."

With this summary, Adams shows us how much the Lord gives to his children in the benediction, and what a high value we ought to place upon such a gift. Read his full essay on the matter here, and take note of what a rich blessing the benediction truly is at the conclusion of every public worship service.

John Murray on the Tercentenary of the Westminster Assembly

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On the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the commencement of the Westminster Assembly, which first convened on July 1, 1643, John Murray wrote a series of articles for The Presbyterian Guardian sketching the history of its calling, work and catechisms. Those articles are now available to read at Log College Press.

  • The Calling of the Westminster Assembly, Part 1 (1942)

  • The Work of the Westminster Assembly, Part 1 (1942)

  • A Notable Tercentenary (1943)

  • The Calling of the Westminster Assembly, Part 2 (1943)

  • The Work of the Westminster Assembly, Part 2 (1943)

  • The Catechisms of the Westminster Assembly (1943)

Murray wrote a great deal about the Westminster Assembly and Standards over his long career. His knowledge of the history and his conveyance of that knowledge to readers is extensive and edifying. In his article on the Catechisms, he makes a point that students of this history do well to bear in mind: the Confession and the Catechisms have overlapping but also distinct places in the work of the Assembly.

The Catechisms of the Westminster Assembly were, of course, intended to serve a different purpose from that of the Confession, and any comparison of the Catechisms with the Confession should bear this in mind. It should be said, however, that the formulations of the Catechism, especially of the Larger, are at certain points an improvement over the formulations of the Confession. It is altogether nature that the greater maturity of thought attained at the time of the Catechisms were prepared should have had this effect. For example, the formulation of the doctrine of the Covenant of Grace found in the Larger Catechism is more lucid and felicitous than that found in Chapter VII, Section III, of the Confession. A comparison of this section with Questions 30 to 32 in the Larger Catechism will readily show what is meant. Again, the definition of the sinfulness of the estate into which the fall brought mankind, given in both Catechisms, is in at least one respect more adequate than Chapter VI, Sections I to IV, of the Confession. This concerns the question of the imputation of the guilt of Adam’s first sin, a doctrine distinctly asserted in the Confession (Chapter VI, Section III) but not clearly grounded in the covenant relationship between Adam and posterity, as is done in the Larger Catechism, Question 22, and in the Shorter, Question 16. Well-grounded may be the surmise of William Cunningham that the discussions taking place in France in connection with Placaeus’ doctrine of mediate imputation and the decisions of the Synod of Charenton (1644-1645) had become better known and the implications better understood when the divines prepared the Catechisms. In any case, greater precision is manifest in both Catechisms than appears in the Confession. Examples like these show how necessary it is, in determining the position of the Westminster Assembly, to consult the Catechisms as well as the Confession, and in the matter of the subordinate standards in Presbyterian churches a great deal is to be gained by the inclusion of the Catechisms as well as the Confession.

With such insights as these, Murray guides his readers through the times and significance of the Westminster Assembly and its work. This series of articles by a remarkable scholar and teacher is a wonderful introduction to such an important chapter in church history.

J.A. Alexander: Be Still and Know That I am God

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Joseph Addison Alexander, the remarkable Biblical scholar who was skilled in 25 languages, was also a prolific poet. In 1833, while on travel in Europe, he wrote what his biographer, H.C. Alexander, called “one of his noblest productions.”

Be Still and Know That I am God

I.

When fortune smiles and friends abound;
When all thy fondest hopes are crowned;
When earth with her exhaustless store,
Seems still intent to give thee more:
When every wind and every tide
Contribute to exalt thy pride;
When all the elements conspire
To feed thy covetous desire;
When foes submit and envy stands
Pale and abashed with folded hands;
While fame’s unnumbered tongues prolong
The swell of thy triumphal song;
When crowds admire and worlds applaud
”Be still and know that I am God.”

II.

When crowns are sported with and thrones
Are rocked to their foundation stones;
When nations tremble and the earth
Seems big with some portentous birth;
When all the ties of social life
Are severed by intestine strife;
When human blood begins to drip
From tyranny’s accursed whip;
When peace and order find their graves
In anarchy’s tempestuous waves;
When every individual hand
Is steeped in crime, and every land
Is full of violence and fraud;
”Be still and know that I am God.”

III.

When to the havoc man has made
The elements afford their aid;
When nature sickens, and disease
Rides on the wing of every breeze;
When the tornado in its flight
Blows the alarm and calls to fight;
When raging Fever leads the van,
In the fierce onset upon man;
When livid Plague and pale Decline
And bloated Dropsy, form the line;
While hideous Madness, shivering Fear
And grim Despair, bring up the rear;
When these thy judgments are abroad:
”Be still and know that I am God.”

IV.

When messages of grace are sent,
And mercy calls thee to repent;
When through a cloud of doubts and fears
The Sun of Righteousness appears;
When thy reluctant heart delays
To leave it’s old accustomed ways;
When pride excites a storm within,
And pleads and fights for every sin;
Be still, and and let this tumult cease;
Say to thy raging passions, “Peace!”
By love subdued, by judgment awed:
”Be still and know that I am God.”

Archibald Alexander on Prayer as a Means of Grace

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The fourteenth chapter of the Westminster Confession of Faith provides instruction concerning saving faith. In the opening paragraph, the following is stated:

The grace of faith, whereby the elect are enabled to believe to the saving of their souls, is the work of the Spirit of Christ in their hearts, and is ordinarily wrought by the ministry of the Word, by which also, and by the administration of the sacraments, and prayer, it is increased and strengthened.

By the infinite, eternal, and unchanging mercy of God, saving faith in Jesus Christ is instigated in a redeemed sinner’s heart by the work of the Holy Spirit; saving faith is a testimony to God’s grace (Jn. 3:8; 1 Cor. 12:3; Eph. 2:8; Titus 3:5). Furthermore, the confession teaches that saving faith is “ordinarily wrought by the ministry of the Word.” That is to say, that it is the normal course of action for the Holy Spirit to instigate saving faith through the reading, but especially, the preaching of God’s inspired Word. The apostle Paul testified to this when he penned the following:

How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? (cf., Matt. 28:19-20; 1 Cor. 1:21).

Therefore, in echoing the authoritative teaching of God’s Word, the Westminster Confession has properly recognized that the Spirit ordinary initiates saving faith through the preaching of His Word. However, the confession also describes how saving faith is “increased and strengthened,” and it happens by the administration of the sacraments and prayer. Collectively, the preaching of God’s Word, the administration of the sacraments, and prayer are known as the “ordinary means of God’s grace” by which the Christian believes and is matured in his faith (see Westminster Larger Catechism Q&A 154). 

Admittedly, there is much to be said about how the preaching of Scripture and administration of the sacraments are a means of grace, but this essay is reserved for considering prayer in this regard and what our Presbyterian forefather, Archibald Alexander, had to say about it.

To arrive at how prayer is a means by which the Spirit strengthens a Christian’s faith, it should be understood what prayer is. The Westminster Shorter Catechism defines prayer as “an offering up of our desires unto God, for things agreeable to his will, in the name of Christ, with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgment of his mercies” (Q&A 98; see Ps. 10:17; 62:8; Matt. 6:9-13; 7:7-8; Jn. 16:23-24; 1 Jn. 1:9; 5:14).  While there are several elements to prayer noted, of importance is what the given definition of prayer assumes﹘it presupposes that there is access to the God of mercy. Hence, because of Christ’s accomplished work of salvation, redeemed sinners may offer up their desires unto God in order that they might be recipients of His grace. Thus, the author to the Hebrews has written:

Let us, therefore, come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16).

This is the essence of why prayer is a means of God’s grace. By prayer, the Christian may come before the throne of grace and find refuge in the Lord. Prayer is communion with the triune God and to commune with Him is no insignificant matter s the following verses reveal:

Lord, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will prepare their heart; You will cause Your ear to hear… (Ps. 10:17).

Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us (Psalm 62:8).

Accordingly, Archibald Alexander has also written of this matter in a small article titled “Prayer A Privilege” [Practical Truths (1857), pp. 36-38] Therefore, in an attempt to elaborate on the significance of prayer as a means of grace, consider Alexander’s thoughts from his article:

Although God is everywhere present, yet he is invisible. He is an all-pervading Spirit, yet is perceived by none of our senses. We behold his glorious works in the heavens and in the earth, and may learn something, by careful observation, of the general laws by which the material universe is governed; but still the great Architect is concealed. As far as reason can lead us, we seem to be shut out from all intercourse with our Maker; and whether prayer is permitted would remain for ever doubtful, were it not for divine revelation. We are not surprised, therefore, that some deists have denied that prayer is a duty, or that it can be available to the Deity. Indeed, considering man as a sinner, it would seem presumptuous for such a creature to obtrude himself into the presence of a holy God. Natural religion, as it is called, is not at all suited to the wants of sinners, but divine revelation teaches us that God may be acceptably approached by sinners only through the mediation of his Son.

Prayer is everywhere in the Bible recognized as proper and inculcated as a duty. But it is also a most precious privilege, one of the richest blessings conferred on man. It opens a method of intercourse and communion with our Father in heaven; it furnishes a refuge for the soul oppressed with sin and sorrow; it affords an opportunity to the heart overwhelmed with an intolerable weight of misery to unburden itself, to pour its griefs into the ear of one who can pity and help.

The moral effect of prayer is important. It humbles the soul, and excites veneration for the august and holy character of God. But though prayer brings into exercise the noblest acts and emotions of which our nature is capable, yet it would be a grand mistake to confine the efficacy of prayer to their moral effects. Prayer, when offered in faith, for things agreeable to the will of God, actually obtains for the petitioner the blessings which he needs. It has an efficacy to obtain forgiveness of sins, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and deliverance from a thousand evils. Prayer enters into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth; the prayer of faith is the mightiest engine upon earth. The Lord of heaven has given his word to answer prayer. He will be inquired of by his people, that he may bless them.

God can make any means effectual; and among the instituted means for the government of the world, and the preservation and comfort of his people, prayer holds a high place. The objection that God is immutable, and knows what we need, has no more force against prayer than any other means—no more force than if urged against the necessity of cultivating the ground in order to obtain a crop, or receiving food to nourish the body. The Christian life is sustained by prayer. By it every grace is exercised, every blessing is obtained. Without the sincere desires of the heart, prayer is nothing; it is worse—it is a mockery. He is the best Christian who prays most. As God is ever near to us, “for in him we live, and move, and have our being,” we are permitted to hold intercourse with him at all times, and in all places. We are commanded to “pray without ceasing”—to “be instant in prayer”—to “pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands.”

In prayer there is not only an outgoing of the soul to God, in acts of faith, love, and confidence, but there is an actual communication from God to the soul. Prayer is a holy converse—a fellowship with God. One hour spent in prayer, will accomplish more good than many employed in study or labor. Surely, then, it is good to draw nigh to God.

Indeed, prayer is a privilege, and it is a privilege precisely because it is a means of strengthening saving faith. Thus, the Christian life ought to be filled with the joy of communing with the triune God in prayer.

The Shepherd Prince

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It was in 1853 that the Lithuanian writer Abraham Mapu (1808-1867) published what is considered to be the first Hebrew language novel, Ahavat Ziyyon (The Love of Zion). It is an historical romance set in the days of the prophet Isaiah. Although Mapu struggled to make ends meet as an author, this publication was a landmark event and would inspire many who worked to establish the nation state of Israel.

There were English translations of this novel in 1887 under title Amnon, Prince and Peasant, tr. by F. Jaffe; in 1902 as In the Days of Isaiah, tr. by Benjamin Alexander Moses Schapiro; and as The Shepherd Prince in 1922 and 1930, also by Schapiro, a Jewish-Christian missionary to the Jewish people. The 1922 translation was published with an introduction by the great Princeton linguistic scholar, Robert Dick Wilson.

Wilson, Robert Dick, Introduction to The Shepherd Prince Title Page cropped.jpg

Wilson’s praise of the story and the translation by Schapiro is remarkable given his expertise as a Christian Orientalist.

THE perusal of “The Shepherd-Prince,” translated from the work of the famous Jewish writer of fiction, Abraham Mapu, by Mr. B.A.M. Schapiro, will show how possible it is for the spirit and “atmosphere” of a people, as well as the environment and setting of ages long past, to be brought out so vividly as to make them real to the consciousness of readers of today. To achieve this is a distinction, the height of literary art.

This work is to be warmly commended to Christian readers because it presents in graphic form the ideas of a modern Israelite with regard to the life and ideals, the emotions and aspirations, of the Ancient Chosen People.

The period of this intensely interesting love story is that of the time of Isaiah, the greatest in the long list of prophets from Moses to Christ. And the incidents of the love-idyl and love-tragedy throughout its course, which, as in all human experience, did not run smooth, but was ultimately triumphant, are admirably developed and in language so felicitous that one feels almost as if it were from the Bible-fount itself.

Love—the greatest thing in the world—found expression in ancient times just as it does today; although the setting differed, the essentials are the same, and the reader of modern fictional literature will find something refreshing in the pure and ardent affection of the hero and heroine, in their tribulations and joys. We believe that this book will be uplifting and that it will have a healthful influence on readers of the present time; for, as has been well said, “There is no time in life when books do not influence a man,” and the potency and sway of a good book are incalculable.

The love story—the leading motive of the book—illustrates the theme of the Song of Songs: that love is stronger than death. It is interesting to observe that love at first sight was, in the estimation of Mapu, as common a thing as it is in our own times, and that the course of love ran no more smoothly then than now. The manner in which the passion was manifested, especially of the heroine, may shock the sensibilities of some of the readers, because of the departure from certain conventionalities to which they are accustomed; but it is well to learn how other people express their affection and how a great Hebrew scholar imagines the passion and the practice of love among the Israelites 2,700 years ago.

Mr. Schapiro has put the reading public unfamiliar with Hebrew language and literature under a deep debt of gratitude for the excellent manner in which he has rendered into English this masterpiece of Abraham Mapu, whose fame is known to the uttermost ends of the earth as the “Father of Jewish Fiction.”

The translator is an acknowledged master of Hebrew, the Rabbinical exegesis of the Old Testament, and the Talmudical interpretation of the same. He has written much and well, being the author of many useful and learned pamphlets. He is therefore eminently well qualified to translate for readers of English the wonderfully poetic and figurative language of the original, which abounds in prose-poetry and song of the highest character. Indeed, the translation is so free from the usual ear-marks of translated works that, if there were not two names on the title-page, it might well be taken for an original work in English.
…
Within the limits of a Foreword it is impossible adequately to do justice to the scholarship and intrinsic worth of such a work as this; but, without flattery, it can safely be asserted that Mr. Schapiro has presented in a singularly fascinating way in its English dress, the greatest novel that has ever been produced in the Hebrew language. To say more would be like painting the lily or refining pure gold.

The Shepherd Prince is now available to read at Log College Press at R.D. Wilson’s page. If you are in search of a classic historical novel, this is a great one to add to your reading list.

Abraham Gosman on Biblical Theology

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In reviewing Abraham Gosman’s 1894 charge to the new professor of Biblical Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary, Geerhardus Vos, it is interesting to note that he credited Joseph Addison Alexander and Caspar Wistar Hodge, Sr. as early precursors of this theological discipline.

Here is a brief extract from that charge which summarizes the nature of Biblical Theology, as conceived by a Director of the Seminary, and its relation to other areas of study.

Biblical Theology stands in close relations both to Exegetical and Systematic Theology, and yet has its own well-defined bounds. It presupposes Exegetical Theology; it furnishes the material for Systematic Theology. If Systematic Theology is, as we may conceive it to be, the finished building, harmonious in its proportions, symmetrical and beautiful; then Exegetical Theology may be regarded as the quarry from which the material is taken; and Biblical Theology, as putting the granite blocks into form, not polished and graven, but shaped and fitted for the place they are to fill, as the structure grows in its vastness and beauty. It seeks the saving facts and truths as they lie in the Word, and are embedded, and to some extent expressed, in the history of the people of God. God's methods are always historical and genetic, and it conforms to His methods. It views these words and facts in their historical relations and their progressive development. It aims not merely to arrive at the ideas and facts as they appear in particular authors and in the books justly ascribed to them, and as they may be modified in their form by time, culture, influences friendly or hostile; but to set forth these facts and truths thus ascertained in their relation to the other books in which they may appear in clearer light, — to trace their progress and unfolding from the germ to the ripened fruit. As the stream of sacred history runs parallel with that of revelation, it borders closely upon Historical Theology. But the two conceptions are distinct.

Read more of Gosman’s charge as well as Vos’ inaugural address on The Idea of Biblical Theology as a Science and as a Theological Discipline, at their respective pages, as well as the Biblical Theology page.

Samuel Davies on the Excellency of the Divine Being

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Editorial note: Rev. Dylan Rowland is Pastor of Covenant Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Mansfield, Ohio.

Recently, I have preached through various Psalms during our afternoon Lord’s Day service. In particular, I’ve preached sermons on Psalms 93 and 95 and will, Lord willing, preach from Psalms 96-100 in the near future. These Psalms are beautiful testimonies to the glory and majesty of the Lord God our King. For example:

Psalm 93:1–2 (NKJV): The Lord reigns, He is clothed with majesty; The Lord is clothed, He has girded Himself with strength. Surely the world is established, so that it cannot be moved. Your throne is established from of old; You are from everlasting.

Psalm 95:3–7 (NKJV): For the Lord is the great God, And the great King above all gods. In His hand are the deep places of the earth; The heights of the hills are His also. The sea is His, for He made it; And His hands formed the dry land. Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture, And the sheep of His hand.

Psalm 96:6–8, 13 (NKJV): Honor and majesty are before Him; Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary. Give to the Lord, O families of the peoples, Give to the Lord glory and strength. Give to the Lord the glory due His name; Bring an offering, and come into His courts….For He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with righteousness, And the peoples with His truth.

These Psalms bring to the center of our attention the glory and majesty of theology proper (doctrine of God), and they do so in a pastoral way. The descriptions of God’s attributes were written in such a way so as to move readers to worship the Lord with humility, joy, thanksgiving, and with great adoration. By the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, these Psalms are meant to pastorally demonstrate how the doctrine of God culminates in our worship of Him.

However, I have also been reading through the collected sermons of Samuel Davies (1723-1761), an eighteenth century Presbyterian minister. In a sermon titled, The Nature and Universality of Spiritual Death, Davies comments on the majesty of God’s divine excellence (His nature and attributes) and answers the question as to why men fail to adore the Triune God for His excellence. 

The following is a quoted excerpt from Davies' sermon which is a helpful and humbling commentary detailing what an appropriate response to the nature of God should be. His insights are especially helpful in seeking to apply the wonderful truths of Psalms 93-100. Consider the following from Davies [Sermons on Important Subjects (1804 ed.), Vol. 1, pp. 133-135]:

Consider the excellency of the divine Being, the sum total, the great original of all perfections. How infinitely worthy is He of the adoration of all His creatures! How deserving of their most intense thoughts and most ardent affections! If majesty and glory can strike us with awe and veneration, does not Jehovah demand them, who is clothed with majesty and glory as with a garment, and before Him all the inhabitants of the Earth are as grasshoppers, as nothing, as less than nothing, and vanity? If wisdom excites our pleasing wonder, here is an unfathomable depth. Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! If goodness, grace, and mercy attract our love and gratitude, here these amiable perfections shine in their most alluring glories. If justice strikes a damp to the guilty, here is justice in all its tremendous majesty. If veracity, if candor, if any, or all the moral virtues engage our esteem, here they all center in their highest perfection. If the presence of a king strikes a reverence; if the eye of his judge as the criminal, and restrains him from offending, certainly we should fear before the Lord all the day, for we are surrounded with His omnipresence, and He is the Inspector and Judge of all our thoughts and actions. If riches excite desire, here are unsearchable riches: if happiness has charms that draw all the world after it, here is an unbounded ocean of happiness; here is the only complete portion for an immortal mind. Men are affected with these things in one another, though found in a very imperfect degree. Power awes and commands, virtue and goodness please, beauty charms, justice strikes with solemnity and terror, a bright genius is admired, a benevolent, merciful temper is loved: thus men are affected with created excellencies. Whence is it, then, they are so stupidly unaffected with the supreme excellencies of Jehovah?

Here, my brethren, turn your eyes inward upon yourselves, and inquire, are not several of you conscious that, though you have passions for such objects as these, and you are easily moved by them, yet, with regard to the perfections of the Supreme best of beings, your hearts are habitually senseless and unaffected? It is not an easy thing to make impressions upon you by them; and what increases the wonder, and aggravates your guilt, is, that you are thus senseless and unaffected, when you believe and profess that these perfections are really in God, and that in the highest degree possible. In other cases you can love what appears amiable, you revere what is great and majestic, we eagerly desire and pursue what is valuable intends to your happiness; in all of this you do freely, spontaneously, vigorously, by the innate inclination and tendency of your nature, without reluctance, without compulsion, nay, without persuasion; but as to God and all of His perfections, you are strangely insensible, backward, and averse.  Where is the one being that has any confessed excellency in the compass of human knowledge, that does not engage more of the thoughts and affections of mankind than the glorious and ever blessed God? The sun, moon, and stars have had more worshippers than the uncreated Fountain of Light from which they derive their luster. Kings and ministers of state have more punctual homage and more frequent applications made to them than the King of kings and Lord of lords. Created enjoyments are more eagerly pursued than the Supreme Good. Search all the world over, and you will find but very little motions of heart towards God; little love, little desire, little searching after Him. You will often, indeed, see Him honored with the complement of a bended knee, and a few heartless words, under the name of a prayer; but where is the heart, or where are the thoughts, where the affections? These run wild through the world, and are scattered among a thousand other objects. The heart has no prevailing tendency toward God, the thoughts are shy of Him, the affections have no innate propensity to Him. In short, in this respect, the whole man is out of order: here he does not at all act like himself; here are no affectionate thoughts, no delightful meditations, no ardent desires, no eager pursuits and vigorous endeavors; but all is listless, stupid, indisposed, inactive, and averse: and what is the matter? “Lord, what is this that has seized the souls of Thine own offspring, that they are thus utterly disordered towards Thee?” The reason is, they are dead, dead in trespasses and sins. It is impossible a living soul should be so stupid and unaffected with such an object; it must be a dead soul that has no feeling. Yes, sinners, this is the melancholy reason why you are so thoughtless, so unconcerned, so senseless about the God that made you: you are dead. And what is the reason that you, who have been begotten again to a spiritual life, and who are united to Christ as your vital head, what is the reason that you so often feel such languishments; that the pulse of spiritual life beats so faint and irregular, and that its motions or so feeble and slow? All this you feel and lament, but how comes it to pass? What can be the cause that you, who have indeed tasted that the Lord is gracious, and are sensible that He is all glorious and lovely, and your only happiness–oh, what can be the cause, that you, of all men in the world, should be so little engaged to Him? Alas, the cause is, you have been dead, and a deadly stupor has not yet left you: you have (blessed be the quickening spirit of Christ!) you have received a little life; but alas, it is a feeble spark; it finds the principles of death still strong in your constitution; there it must struggle with, and by them it is often borne down, suppressed, and just expiring. Walk humbly, then, and remember your shame, that you were once dead, and children of wrath, even as others.

This is a humbling testimony from Davies and readers would do well to meditate on it. Therefore, it seems important to ask: when we read the Bible’s testimony concerning God’s divine excellencies, are we moved to worship and adoration? If not, why? To worship and adore the Triune God because of His divine excellencies is surely the lovely truth found in Psalms 93-100. Read more about Samuel Davies at the biographical links on his page, as well as the full sermon highlighted above.

Log College Press: Summer Update (August 31, 2021)

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So much has been going on at Log College Press that it is often hard to find time to write about it, but we wish to keep our readers aware, so here is a brief summary of recent activity.

In the month of August, we have added 17 new authors and almost 300 new works. That includes 45 works by Charles Henry Parkhurst, 19 by B.B. Warfield, and 16 by J.G. Machen.

We now have around 700 links to useful Secondary Sources which are well worth browsing.

This summer we published Mediations on the Lord’s Supper by Jacob Jones Janeway. And Log College Press was represented at a booth at the PCA General Assembly. We have received much kind feedback from our readers, and we thank everyone for their interest and support. One of our July posts was shared on Facebook at least 144 times and reached over 17,000 people. It is hoped that the work done at Log College Press in dusting off 18th and 19th century Presbyterian works is an encouragement and a blessing to our 21st century readers. We continue to grow and build on this project begun four years ago. Lord willing, there is much more to come.

Blessings to all!

The Presbyterian Pulpit

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Have you read the sermons that make up the Presbyterian Pulpit? From 1902 to 1904 there were ten volumes published, which included eight sermons each. Each volume is available to read below.

This is how the set was advertised in early 1904. Mitchell’s volume was originally to be titled The Divine-Human Face, but was changed. The full box set was for sale at the cost of $6.00.

An advertisement for the Presbyterian Pulpit series which appeared in the May 1904 issue of The Assembly Herald.

An advertisement for the Presbyterian Pulpit series which appeared in the May 1904 issue of The Assembly Herald.

There is much gold to be mined in these volumes. This set is a treasure to be well-studied. Tolle lege!

Advice to Lennie from Charles Hodge

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Hugh Lenox Scott — son William McKendree Scott, and grandson of Charles Hodge — who became a famed U.S. military officer, once wrote that

I was brought up a Presbyterian of the Presbyterians in Princeton within a stone's throw of Princeton Seminary, the very essence of Presbyterianism in America.

When he graduated from West Point Military Academy in 1876, his grandfather gave him a Bible inscribed with the following message:

Dear Lennie,

  • Never pass a day without reading the Bible and calling upon God in prayer.

  • Learn to pray always. The Lord Jesus is ever near you. It does not take long to pray: “Lord preserve me: Lord help me; Lord keep me from sin.” We need to say this a hundred times a day.

  • Never gamble.

  • Never drink intoxicating liquor.

  • Never use profane language.

  • Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth.

  • Never incur debt.

  • Live peaceable with all men.

  • Never be afraid to confess Christ.

  • Let your last words every night be: “I take Jesus Christ to be my God and Saviour.”

  • May the blessing of God be upon always and everywhere.

Your loving grandfather,
Charles Hodge
Princeton, Sept. 15, 1876

Source: Paul C. Gutjahr, Charles Hodge: Guardian of American Orthodoxy, p. 320

Charles H. Parkhurst: An Advocate for Social Justice

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Although the term “Social Justice Warrior” was not in vogue (or in disrepute) at the time, the Rev. Charles H. Parkhurst might well have identified with the label. Parkhurst served as pastor of the Madison Square Presbyterian Church in New York City from 1880 to 1918, during which time he not only preached the gospel from the pulpit but also, beginning in 1892, famously took on municipal corruption in the form of Tammany Hall.

Vice and crime, as well as unjust law enforcement, had long been a concern of Christians in New York. The Rev. Howard Crosby preached a November 1883 Thanksgiving Sermon at the Fourth Avenue Presbyterian Church titled The City’s Disease and Remedy. After Crosby’s death in 1891, it was Parkhurst who succeeded him as President of the Society for the Prevention of Crime.

In surveying the situation around him, Parkhurst began to realize that so much of the corruption he and his parishioners encountered was not only protected but supported and encouraged by the very officials charged with upholding and enforcing the law. This led to a remarkable sermon preached on February 14, 1892 based on the text “Ye are the salt of the earth” (Matt. 5:13) which he was later to refer to as “The First Gun of the Campaign” against Tammany Hall. His direct assault on city leaders ignited a firestorm of criticism and media attention. In fact, city leaders convened a grand jury to force him to either substantiate his accusations of corruption from the pulpit or else face possible charges himself for perjury.

Madison Square Park c. 1908

Madison Square Park c. 1908

Within one week he was indeed subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury and was not able to offer any substantive evidence to support his claims apart from “uncontradicted newspaper reports,” and thus a week later the grand jury issued a report completely rebuking him and apparently vindicating city leaders. Parkhurst looked upon this development not as a defeat, however, but as an encouragement to go out and investigate the matter himself (he did hire private detectives to assist) and to gather the direct evidence needed to show the link between criminal operations and police involvement. Meanwhile, he continued to preach denunciations of “municipal misrule” from the pulpit. On March 13, 1892, Parkhurst again proclaimed that it was his Christian duty to oppose the corruption that he saw around him.

I do not speak as a Republican or a Democrat, as a Protestant or a Catholic, as an advocate of prohibition, or as an advocate of license. I am moved, so help me Almighty God, by the respect which I have for the Ten Commandments, and by my anxiety as a preacher of Jesus Christ, to have the law of God regnant in individual and social life; so that I antagonize our existing municipal administration, because I believe, with all the individual exceptions frankly conceded four weeks ago, that administration to be essentially corrupt, interiorly rotten, and in all its combined tendency and effect to stand in diametric resistance to all that Christ and a loyally Christian pulpit represent in the world.

After Parkhurst presented evidence to a grand jury in March 1892, that grand jury issued a report which condemned the role of the New York Police Department in fostering and protecting vice and crime in the city. Newspapers took note of how the tables were turned. Public pressure continued to mount upon the Police Department and the Tammany Hall leaders, culminating in the Lexow Committee’s investigation of police corruption, including bribery and organized crime, which did much to expose the connections unearthed by Parkhurst and the City Vigilance League, of which he also served as President.

The boss of Tammany Hall, Richard Croker, was forced to leave the country and reside in Europe for three years following the work of the Lexow Committee. A new mayor was elected in New York City in 1894 who did much to reign in the abuses of Tammany Hall. Municipal reform achieved a great victory in these various ways, and much of that victory is attributable to the perseverance and unflinching determination of Rev. Charles H. Parkhurst in the face of great opposition from those who ran city hall.

He addressed an audience on May 14, 1894 at Union Theological Seminary on the topic of the place of the pulpit in the area of social reform.

I am to speak of the relation of the minister to good government. In order to avoid all misapprehension, let us start out by saying that nothing should be allowed to interfere with the pulpit's prime obligation to convert men, women, and children to Christ in their individual character. No one can have attended carefully to Christ's method of working in the world without appreciating the emphasis which he laid upon the individual, and without feeling the volume of meaning there is in the fact that so many of his finest words and deepest lessons were delivered in the presence of but a single auditor. There are no associate results which do not hide all their roots in the separate individualities that combine to compose such association.

At the same time, what God thinks most of is not a man in his individual character, but men in their mutual and organized relations. That is the idea that the Bible leaves off upon, and in that way throws upon the idea the superb emphasis of finality, culminating, as Scripture does, not in the roll-call of a mob of sanctified individualities, but in the apocalyptic forecast of a holy city come down from God out of heaven; not men, therefore, taken as so many separate integers, but men conceived of as wrought up into the structure of a corporate whole social, municipal, civic.

Men require to be sanctified, but the relations which subsist between them require to be sanctified also. Philemon was a Christian and Onesimus was a Christian; but Onesimus was still Philemon's slave. Philemon had been converted, and Onesimus had been converted, but the relation between them had not been converted. A good part of every man is involved in his relations, and heaven is not arithmetic but organic.

Wherever men rub against one another, therefore, the pulpit has something to say, or ought to have something to say.

Read the story of his reform efforts in his own words in Our Fight With Tammany (1895) and My Forty Years in New York (1923).

A Samuel Miller Bibliography

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Two bibliographies of the writings of Samuel Miller have been most helpful to us as we assemble the works he wrote at Log College Press. One is by Wayne Sparkman, Director of the PCA Historical Center, which was published in The Confessional Presbyterian, Vol. 1 (2005). The other was published by Margaret Miller, daughter of John Miller, and granddaughter of Samuel Miller, in The Princeton Theological Review (Oct. 1911).

The latter is now available to read online at Margaret’s and Samuel’s pages. It is a valuable resource which we continue to consult, and those whose are interested in the writings of Samuel Miller may benefit from this as well.