Breckinridge's Protest Against Instrumental Music in Worship

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In December 1851, Robert Jefferson Breckinridge was very ill. So much so that, when he was requested by friends to address an important theological-practical issue in the church he willingly did so, while recognizing that it might be his last contribution to the church. He deemed the particular issue worthy to take up the final strokes of his pen. As a matter of fact, Breckinridge would live for another two decades, but in this matter he left on record a very powerful protest against the use of instrumental music in the stated public worship of God.

Breckinridge’s testimony against musical instruments in worship led, he says, to him being excluded from some pulpits and also to him being reviled in some cases. For him, though, it was a matter of conscience — respecting fidelity to God’s Word and his ecclesiastical standards — to maintain this position in the face of opposition from some among his brethren. It was at the request of other brethren who were dealing with the question of organs being brought into their own congregations that Breckinridge prepared his 11-point statement.

This article is dated December 30, 1851. According to Thomas E. Peck — who interacted with it in General Principles Touching the Worship of God (1855) — Breckinridge’s article was first published the Presbyterian Herald (Danville, Kentucky) and then reprinted in Baltimore three years later. On Log College Press, we currently have two editions of Breckinridge’s paper: 1) a reprint from the February 1853 issue of The Covenanter, edited by James M. Willson; and 2) an 1856 reprint published in Liverpool, England. The former includes a concluding paragraph that is lacking in the latter.

Breckinridge makes clear in his paper that he is not arguing against the use of musical instruments outside of public worship on the Lord’s Day. He is only addressing the ecclesiastical use of musical instruments as an accompaniment to praise that is sung in worship. He also makes clear in his article that his intended audience is that of the Presbyterian community. It is not a paper written to address all objections to a cappella worship, but only those main objections or concerns that have been voiced by Presbyterians. Key to his argument is a “fundamental” principle [one that we know today by the term “regulative principle of worship”], which, in his words, “[rejects] every human addition to God’s word, God’s ordinances, and God’s worship.”

If something substantial is introduced into the worship of God, Breckinridge argues, positive Scriptural warrant that such a change is necessary — and not merely warrant that it is indifferent — is required.

Persons who seek, openly or covertly, to undermine or to corrupt the faith or practice of our church, founded upon that grand principle, as, for example, by the introduction of instrumental music into our churches, ought to be able to show much more than that such practices are indifferent. They ought to be able to show that they are necessary; for, if they are only indifferent, the positive, general, and long continued settlement of the sense, feelings, and faith of the church against them are reasons enough why offensive attempts should not be made to change the order of our worship, merely to bring in things indifferent; especially when thereby divisions, alienations, and strifes, and at last schism may be the result.

According to Breckinridge, the primary arguments against the introduction of musical instruments into public Christian worship are that it is contrary to God’s commanded ordinances of worship, and it is contrary to the standards of the Presbyterian Church. In numerating the ordinances of public worship commanded by God in the Christian era, and sanctioned by the Westminster formularies, we find reading and preaching of the Word of God, prayer, praise by singing, and benedictions. In opposition to this, Breckinridge highlight the Church of Rome’s efforts to suppress, corrupt and add to every one of these ordinances. Specifically, he points to the use of the organ in worship as a corruption of the ordinance of praise whereby the mechanical tends to the supplant the vocal and spiritual aspects of the ordinance.

Here, then, is the outline of the argument in its simplest form: The use of instrumental music, of any sort, in the stated public worship of God in Presbyterian congregations is, 1st, contrary to the ancient and settled character and habits of Reformed Christians, and especially of those holding the formularies of the Westminster Assembly, and involves defections and changes most deplorable to them: 2d, It is contrary to the covenanted standards of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, both in the general principles and spirit, and the particular definitions and provisions thereof, and involves a breach of covenant: 3d, It is contrary to the revealed will of God, as exhibited in the positive institutions for his public worship set up by himself; and involves rebellion against his divine authority.

He goes on to spend some time discussing the Jewish usage of musical instruments on extraordinary occasions related to the Temple, and denies that they made up part of the regular Temple worship, much less the worship performed in the synagogue. But as this aspect of their worship, to the extent that it took place, was ceremonial in nature, and as Christian worship is based on that which is moral and not ceremonial, Breckinridge warns against any attempt to return to the ceremonial form of worship that has been abrogated. He emphasizes that we ought to look to the New Testament for instruction on how Christians should worship, and in the New Testament there is no warrant for the use of musical instruments in public worship by Christians.

The important place which Breckinridge occupies in the history of the American Presbyterian church, and the importance of the particular question he addresses here makes this paper very much worthy of study by the serious Christian. Note that the fuller edition is the 1853 edition from The Covenanter (see also the editorial comments by Willson, which show that not everything Breckinridge says would be endorsed by this representative leader of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America, a denomination known for its a cappella worship). Both editions found on Log College Press are quite brief, as is, of course, the summary of Breckinridge’s position given above. His name is cited, though not this paper in particular, by John L. Girardeau in his own masterful treatise, Instrumental Music in the Public Worship of God (1888). See this writer’s paper from the Log College Review for a further look into historic Southern Presbyterian views on a cappella worship. Breckinridge’s 19th century Protest merits consideration by 21st century Christians today.

A Bibliography by William Childs Robinson

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One particular enjoyable aspect of perusing old books is noting their provenance — that is, the history of where the book came from. Or, who owned this book and from whose library? Many of the books found in the Log College Press digital library were scanned at the Princeton Theological Seminary library (to name but one) and arrived there by way of someone who bequeathed the book to Princeton. Many books were once owned, for instance, by B.B. Warfield, Louis F. Benson, Samuel Miller or William H. Green (which often bear their handwritten names or personalized book plate labels). These markings help to tell a story that is bigger than the book itself.

Recently, this writer acquired some books with especially interesting provenances. One such book is Thornwell’s Life and Writings (1875) by Benjamin M. Palmer. This copy comes from the library of William Childs Robinson, bears his name and handwritten notes, and includes an undated typewritten bibliography of the works of B.M. Palmer produced by Robinson himself. The list also notes which volumes were owned by Robinson.

One can picture Robinson — who says of himself that “I have lived in the shadow of Columbia Theological Seminary” (In Response to Recognition by the Alumni (1967)), where he studied and taught church history — sitting in front of his typewriter, working to develop this list and carefully recording with an asterisk those Palmer works which he owned in his library.

Bibliography of B.M. Palmer by William C. Robinson (undated, photo credit: R. Andrew Myers).

An inscription in this copy of Palmer’s biography of Thornwell informs us that it was given to him by his father, David, on October 18, 1919. Clearly, it was read with care. Thornwell’s Life and Letters by Palmer is referenced many times in Robinson’s 1931 study of Columbia Theological Seminary and the Southern Presbyterian Church.

Paul Settle, a student Robinson, drew a line from Thornwell to Palmer to Robinson in a “heartfelt tribute to his teacher.”

He was one of the last in a line of Southern Presbyterian worthies, extending from Thornwell, Dabney, Palmer, Girardeau, and others, to the present, who proclaimed and lived the whole counsel of God (quoted in David B. Calhoun, Pleading For a Reformation Vision: The Life and Selected Writings of William Childs Robinson (1897-1982) [2013], p. 125).

Another line can be drawn from Palmer’s biography of Thornwell to Robinson’s The Reformation: A Rediscovery of Grace (1962). Among the notations and underlining found in Robinson’s copy is this from p. 81: “…the doctrines of the Reformation, which are only the doctrines of grace…” And on p. 8 of Robinson’s The Reformation, we read: “On account of its rediscovery of the doctrines of grace, the Reformation has been hailed as a revival of Augustinianism.” Certainly, the concept that the Reformation was largely about the doctrines of grace is not unique to these authors, but it was crucially important in their understanding of the history and theology of their spiritual forefathers. And so it is to us. There are lines that connect truth between generations, and that is what today’s story is about.

A Look Back at the Year 1572

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Note: This post was originally published on June 13, 2018 and is here slightly edited. We are republishing it today on the 450th anniversary of the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, which occurred on August 24, 1572. It was a profoundly significant event in church history which is worthwhile to pause and consider today. Also, on this date in history, 2,000 Puritans were ejected from their pulpits in what was known as the Great Ejection, on August 24, 1662, called Black Bartholomew’s Day.

The St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre (August 24, 1572).

Church history matters. As William Pratt Breed put it, "Ecclesiastical history is the record of the outworking of God's decree for the world's renovation. It is the complicated story of the progress of the truth, its assaults upon error, the resistance of error to these assaults, and the results, in the life and experience of men and nations, of these onsets and oppositions — results many of them cheering and glorious, some of them fearful and bloody. Full of food for the head and the heart is such a story!"

In 1872, he published a book which looked back at the state of Presbyterianism three hundred years previous: Presbyterianism Three Hundred Years Ago. In fact, 1572 was a momentous year in church history. It was the year that the first English presbytery was formed, the year that the Huguenots of France were massacred on St. Bartholomew's Day, the year that John Knox entered glory. In this book, Breed paints a picture, sketching where the Protestant church stood in Europe in that eventful year. The tales he tells ought to enlighten and inspire Presbyterians, not only of the 19th, but indeed the 21st, century.

Thus was it with Presbyterianism three hundred years ago, and well were it for us all were we more familiar with the thrilling, bleeding, glorious tale. Well were it for our Church could our youthful Presbyterians be induced to fill their minds with the records of those days that so sorely tried men's souls, with the true character and history of our glorious Presbyterianism, with the heroism to which it gave birth, the heroes that glorify its progress and the services it has rendered the world....How instructive, too, and in many respects how cheering, is the contrast between those days and ours! Over all the round world, almost, no hindrance to the free propagation of the unsearchable riches of Christ.

How does all this relate to American Presbyterianism? By 1572, because of the missionary vision of Admiral Coligny, two Protestant (Huguenot) colonies had already been planted on American soil. But beyond this, it is worthwhile to consider how we as Christians, as Presbyterians, got where we are today. What challenges did our spiritual ancestors face, and how did they, by the grace of God, overcome them? In the words of Michael Crichton, "If you don't know history, you don't know anything. You are a leaf that doesn't know it is part of a tree." William Breed's book is a helpful look back so that we may better understand the present, and be encouraged about the future.

Introducing an American Heroine: Rachel Caldwell

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The names of Alexander Craighead (1707-1766) — “the spiritual father of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence” — and David Caldwell (1725-1824) — of the Caldwell Log College are well known to both North Carolinians and to students of Presbyterian church history. Less well-known, but of great significance to civil and ecclesiastical history, is a woman with ties to both men: Rachel Brown Craighead Caldwell (1742-1825), daughter of Alexander and wife of David.

Alexander was a firebrand Presbyterian — the first Covenanter minister in America — of Scots-Irish descent. He and his family moved from Pennsylvania to Virginia (he was a founding member of Hanover Presbytery) to North Carolina. Rachel was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania just a year before her father renewed the Scottish covenants at Middle Octorara in 1743. Later, Rachel would sometimes speak of her experience growing up in western Virginia during the French and Indian War of the 1750s, as a period fraught with danger. At one point, after General Braddock’s 1755 defeat, Indians were coming in the front door as the family was exiting the rear door.

David, who was older, first met Rachel while attending services led by Alexander; she was four years old at the time. They met again some years later and were married in 1766, the year her father passed away, when David was 41 and Rachel was 24. Alexander had four daughters and two sons, and believed strongly in educating all of his children thoroughly. Rachel was at once devout, intelligent and compassionate, all qualities which served her family and her husband’s students well in the years which followed.

In 1767, the Caldwells settled on land near what is now Greensboro, North Carolina. They built a homestead, a farm and an academy, which became known as the Caldwell Log College. This school became a nursery, as it were, for both the church and state. Richard P. Plumer wrote (Charlotte and the American Revolution: Reverend Alexander Craighead, the Mecklenburg Declaration & the Foothills Fight for Independence, p. 67):

Caldwell Academy, which Reverend Caldwell began in 1767, became the most well known and longest lasting of any of the thirty-three Presbyterian log colleges that were established before the Revolutionary War. At the time the academy closed, almost all of the Presbyterian ministers in the South were either graduates of or had taught at the college, about 135 ministers in all. Five governors, fifty U.S. senators and congressmen and numerous doctors had attended Caldwell Academy. Rachel got to know all the students at the academy, was extremely kind to them and instructed them in every way possible on their salvation. It was said that ‘David Caldwell made them scholars, but Mrs. Caldwell made them preachers.’

James McGready, the noted Presbyterian revivalist, John M. Morehead, North Carolina governor, and Archibald Murphey, “the Father of Education in North Carolina,” were among those future leaders who studied there. As alluded to above, Rachel Caldwell had a particular gift for encouraging the students and their pastoral studies.

Passionate for the gospel, she was also compassionate towards those in need. David Caldwell, who helped write part of the 1776 North Carolina state constitution, was forced with his family to leave his homestead for part of the War of American Independence (British General Cornwallis placed a £200 bounty on Caldwell’s head, his house was plundered, his library and livestock destroyed, and his family was mistreated by British soldiers). Before and during the 1781 Battle of Guilford Courthouse, Caldwell was forced to hide in a nearby swamp as the British used his property as a staging ground for the Battle of Guilford Courthouse. After the battle, the Caldwells returned and David — who was not only a minister and an educator, but also a physician — and Rachel both tended to the wounds of soldiers lying on the field.

David and Rachel were married almost 60 years, and had thirteen children, some of whom died in infancy. Nine grew to maturity, and at least three of the boys became ministers. Much like Catherine Tennent, who was mother not only to her sons, also students at the original Log College, but also the other students — Thomas Murphy described her as “the real founder of the Log College” — Rachel Caldwell was mother not only to her own children but also to the many students at the Caldwell Log College. A pioneer Presbyterian preacher’s daughter and a teacher’s wife, she not only served her family and the Caldwell academy, but also the church and the cause of liberty in America. She died a year after her husband and their son, Rev. Samuel Craighead Caldwell, both passed away. Rachel and David were laid to rest side by side at the Buffalo Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Greensboro. The David and Rachel Caldwell Historical Center in Greensboro honors their sacrifices and contributions to North Carolina today and keeps alive their memory.

We conclude this brief notice of an American heroine with the words of E.W. Caruthers, who made these remarks in his sketch of the life of David Caldwell:

For good sense and ardent piety, [she] had few if any equals, and certainly no superiors, at that time and in this region of the country. In every respect she was an ornament to her sex and a credit to the station which she occupied as the head of a family and the wife of a man who was not only devoted to the service of the church, but was eminently useful in his sphere of life. Her intelligence, prudence, and kind and conciliating manners were such as to secure the respect and confidence of the young men in the school, while her concern for their future welfare prompted her to use every means, and to improve every opportunity, for turning their attention to their personal salvation; and her assiduity and success in this matter were such as to give rise and currency to the remark over the country that, 'Dr. Caldwell made the scholars, but Mrs. Caldwell made the preachers.’

Machen on the Faith Intended For the Whole World

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For we are not trying to spread over the world any particular view of Christian truth or any particular form of Christian organisation. I belong to the Presbyterian Church, but I have not the slightest zeal in seeking to have the Presbyterian Church extended over the non-Christian world. — Robert E. Speer, Christianity and the Nations (1910), pp. 331-332

In a striking example of two radically opposite approaches to the missionary vision, Robert E. Speer, the ecumenical layman-theologian, above, spoke of his desire for cooperation between denominations without giving weight to the distinctive beliefs of the Presbyterian church. But some years later, J.G. Machen responded clearly and forcefully to Speer’s statement with his own conviction that those distinctive beliefs represent a full-orbed gospel message as opposed to a watered-down gospel (The Attack Upon Princeton Seminary: A Plea For Fair Play [1927], pp. 8-9).

As over against such a reduced Christianity, we at Princeton stand for the full, glorious gospel of divine grace that God has given us in His Word and that is summarized in the Confession of Faith of our Church. We cannot agree with those who say that although they are members of the Presbyterian Church, they “have not the slightest zeal to have the Presbyterian Church extended through the length and breadth of the world.” As for us, we hold the faith of the Presbyterian Church, the great Reformed Faith that is set forth in the Westminster Confession, to be true; and holding it to be true we hold that it is intended for the whole world.

We may agree very much with Samuel Davies, who once wrote: “I care but little whether men go to Heaven from the Church of England or Presbyterian, if they do but go there; but Oh! Multitudes of both denominations must experience a great change before they obtain it” (August 13, 1751 Letter to brother-in-law John Holt). But there is an important difference between acknowledgment that Christianity is not at all confined to one denomination, which is most certainly the case, as confessed in the Presbyterian creed — “The visible church, which is also catholic or universal under the gospel (not confined to one nation, as before under the law), consists of all those throughout the world that profess the true religion…This catholic church hath been sometimes more, sometimes less, visible. And particular churches, which are members thereof, are more or less pure, according as the doctrine of the gospel is taught and embraced, ordinances administered, and public worship performed more or less purely in them” (Westminster Confession of Faith 25.2, 4) — and a desire, such as that which Machen expressed, that the “whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27) be preached to the nations rather than a watered-down, non-offensive message be delivered to the world that eviscerates the truth of the gospel.

What's New at Log College Press? - August 16, 2022

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There is always a lot going on at Log College Press. Here is a brief report to get you up to speed.

In July 2022, we added 349 new works to the site. Today we aim to highlight some of the new free PDFs available as found on our Recent Additions and Early Access pages, two features provided to members of the Dead Presbyterians Society.

Early Access:

  • In 1760, a letter authored by Gilbert Tennent and signed by seventeen other Presbyterian ministers was sent to the Archbishop of Canterbury concerning William McClanachan (1714-c. 1765), a sometime Anglican, Congregational and Presbyterian minister, which proved to be somewhat ecclesiastically messy for the writers. What is particularly interesting about the “eighteen Presbyterian ministers” who jointly signed the letter is that this is one occasion when Samuel Davies and the Tennent brother (Gilbert, Charles and William, Jr.) united in a literary production. Others who also signed include John Rodgers, Abraham Keteltas, Alexander MacWhorter, John Blair, Robert Smith, John Roan, Charles McKnight; all together at least seven alumni of the Log College signed this letter, which is now available to read on our Early Access page.

  • Speaking of the Tennents, we have added a volume by Mary A. Tennent titled Light in Darkness: The Story of William Tennent Sr. and the Log College (1971) to the William Tennent, Sr. page. It is a valuable study of the Tennent family and the Log College.

  • In the course of our research, we came across a volume of sermons once owned by Samuel Miller. Many of the individual sermons bear his handwritten signature on the title pages. Some of the sermons were delivered in connection with the May 9, 1798 fast day appointed by President John Adams (William Linn, Ashbel Green and Samuel Blair, Jr.). Also included was another separate fast day sermon preached by Nathan Strong and an 1815 thanksgiving sermon preached by James Muir (following the end of the War of the 1812).

  • We added some interesting works by John Tucker (1719-1792), including a noted 1771 election sermon and two editions (one published and one handwritten manuscript) of a 1778 sermon on the validity of Presbyterian ordination.

  • Robert R. Howison, author of a noted history of Virginia, wrote a history of the War Between the States in serial fashion which was published in the Southern Literary Messenger from 1862 to 1864. We have compiled each installment into one PDF file comprised of almost 400 pages.

  • Perhaps the most famous sermon delivered by Clarence E.N. Macartney was Come Before Winter, first preached in 1915 and then annually for many years after. We have added the 30th anniversary edition of that sermon to his page.

  • We have also recently added more sermons and letters by Samuel Davies, some of which are now at the Recent Additions page.

Recent Addtiions:

Be sure also to check out the quotes we have been adding at our blog for DPS members: Though Dead They Still Speak, including some by John Murray on the regulative principle of worship; David Rice on religious controversy; and Louis F. Benson on early Presbyterian psalmody.

As we continue to grow, please avail yourself of the many resources (both digital and in print) at Log College Press, and be sure to tell your friends about us. We hope that brushing off these old tomes will indeed enrich the 21st century church - that is our prayer. Thank you, as always, for your interest and support, dear friends.

Samuel Davies on 'the Venerable Dead'

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It was on this date in history — August 13, 1751 — that Samuel Davies (1723-1761) from Hanover County, Virginia wrote to his brother-in-law, John Holt, residing in Williamsburg, Virginia, a memorable summary of his feelings at that time.

Davies was then 27 years old. He had married his second wife Jane (his term of endearment for her was “Chara”) in 1748, and by this date they had two children, and another would be born the following year. A month before, in July 1751, Davies had lost his dear friend and mentor, Samuel Blair, of whom he wrote poetic tributes. In late June Davies had written a letter to Joseph Bellamy, a Congregational pastor residing in Bethlehem, Connecticut, which would later be published under the title The State of Religion Among the Protestant Dissenters in Virginia (1751) and then republished under a different title: An Account of a Remarkable Work of Grace, or, The Great Success of the Gospel in Virginia (1752). Though there were struggles and disappointments, yet, this was a period in Samuel Davies’ life that was filled with optimism and that is reflected in a poem he wrote, soon to be published in January 1752 within his collection of Miscellaneous Poems, titled Gratitude and Impotence, in which he pours out a desires to offer more praise to God than he thus does because he has so much for which to be thankful:

My Breast with warmer Zeal should burn,
With deeper tend’rer Sorrows mourn,
Than Gabriel that surrounds the Throne,
Than any Wretch beneath the Sun.

Imagine Davies, at home with his “Chara,” as well as with little William and Samuel, Jr., in his humble library, perhaps with Jonathan Edwards’ Life of David Brainerd (which he loaned to a friend in September 1751) on his desk; or the verse and prose of Joseph Addison, whom he described to John Holt in a letter a few days previously as “our favorite”; and perhaps extracts from Edward Young’s Night Thoughts, which he asked John to procure for him the following month, and of which he was to say, “of all the poetical Pieces I ever read, the Night thoughts, I think have been most serviceable to me; and I shall keep them as my companion, till I commence an Immortal.”

The memorable words which Davies wrote to Holt on August 13, 1751 are these:

I can tell you that I am as happy as perhaps Creation can make me: I enjoy all the Necessaries and most of the Conveniences of Life; I have a peaceful Study, as a Refuge from the Hurries and Noise of the World around me; the venerable Dead are waiting in my Library to entertain me, and relieve me from the Nonsense of surviving Mortals; I am peculiarly happy in my Relations, and Providence does not afflict me by afflicting them. In short, I have all a moderate Heart can wish; and I very much question if there be a more calm, placid and contented Mortal in Virginia.

Three years later, on July 21, 1754, while in England with Gilbert Tennent fundraising on behalf of the College of New Jersey (Princeton), that Davies wrote in his diary words that hearken back to that very special place and feeling described above: “How do I long for Retirement in my Study, and the Company of my Chara!”

Three Wrights at Log College Press

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Three years ago we introduced to our readers the famous 19th century author, Mrs. Julia McNair Wright (1840-1903), who penned numerous biographical sketches and works of fiction, primarily aimed at younger readers. Today, on his birthday, we introduce her husband, the also noteworthy Rev. Dr. W.J. Wright (August 3, 1831-February 26, 1903).

Born at Weybridge, Vermont, the latter Wright graduated from Union College in Schenectady, New York in 1857. After a brief period spent teaching and in the practice of law, he pursued theological studies, first at Union Theological Seminary (New York), and then at Princeton Theological Seminary, graduated from there in 1862. From 1863-1865, he served as a chaplain in the U.S. Army. Except for a two-year period spent studying in Europe (1871-1873), he served as pastor of several congregations in New Jersey, Ohio and West Virginia. Briefly, he served as professor of mathematics at the Wilson Female College in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania (1876-1877), but more significantly, he served as the chair of metaphysics and as vice-president at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri (1887-1899). Author of several tracts of mathematics, he was the first American admitted to the London Mathematical Society. Like his wife, he was a contributor to The Presbyterian Quarterly, including one article on the powerful but unBiblical legacy of Darwinism, a generation after the hypothesis was first proposed.

Married in 1859 to his bride, it was Julia McNair Wright who became a 19th century household name, rather than her husband. It was in that year that Mrs. Wright published her first story, beginning a long and successful career as an author of so many works of a biographical, fictional, Biblical and scientific nature. Her pen was particularly active in the late 1860s and early 1870s, when numerous articles and stories appeared in the press, including two sets of 12 volumes each: True Story Library No. 1 and No. 2. She often focused on the temperance cause, or on anti-Catholic stories, but the diverse range of her interests was tremendous, and included some translation work. Her particular forte was in writing to young readers to stimulate minds and hearts for service to God. She often wrote for Presbyterian periodicals, as well as for the Presbyterian Board of Publication.

Together they had two children, who survived their parents after both passed away in the same year: a son, John M. Wright, of New York City, and a daughter, Jessie Elvira Wright Whitcomb, of Kansas City, Missouri. Jessie, born at Princeton, New Jersey, also became known as both a writer and a lawyer. She was a member of the Presbyterian church, like her parents. She and her husband, George Herbert Whitcomb, were classmates at Boston University Law School, and later became partners at George’s law firm. He also served as a judge and a professor of law. They had six children, several of whom were also noted in their fields.

B.B. Warfield had occasion to review some of the writings of both Julia and Jessie over the years, and gave them high commendation. All three Wrights highlighted here used their gifts for the service of others, and as authors left a legacy that still enriches readers over a century later. The Wrights are worth getting to know.

Davenport's Presbyterian Meetinghouse

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Much has been written here and elsewhere about the impact and legacy of Samuel Davies on Virginia Presbyterianism. After a 12-year ministry in Hanover County and surrounding parts, Davies left Virginia to assume the office of President of the College of New Jersey at in 1759 (he died at Princeton two years later). He had much occasion before his departure, however, to spend time in Williamsburg, Virginia, then the capital of the colony, in order to obtain his license to preach as a dissenter from the General Court, among other matters, and because his second wife was the daughter of the former mayor of Williamsburg.

George Davenport’s Presbyterian Meetinghouse at Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia.

It was on June 17, 1765 that a group of seventeen men petitioned the Court for permission to maintain a place of worship for dissenting Presbyterians at the home of George Davenport (d. 1766), who was a respected clerk for legislative committees at the House of Burgesses. That Presbyterian Meetinghouse, along with Davenport’s home and related buildings, has been restored as an historical landmark at Colonial Williamsburg.

Courtesy of Rich Brown.

Our friend Rich Brown recently brought Davenport’s Presbyterian Meetinghouse to mind. This place of worship was the only place one could meet for worship as a dissenter in Williamsburg prior to the American War of Independence in a district dominated by Bruton Parish Church (Anglican). Stephen Nichols on the 5 Minutes in Church History podcast has a segment titled “17 in 1765” which tells the story of how this important landmark in the history of religious freedom developed. Whereas the birthplace of Samuel Davies, as we have noted before, is in a state of great disrepair, we are thankful that Colonial Williamsburg has seen fit to restore and maintain this historical site, the Davenport Presbyterian Meetinghouse for today’s generation to remember a key time and place from the past in the history of Virginia Presbyterianism.

Interior signage at the Davenport Presbyterian Meetinghouse (courtesy of Rich Brown).

Davenport did not live long after approval for his house of worship was granted. His wife Catherine continued to maintain the property, and the congregation, though without a regular pastor, continued with preaching by various Presbyterian ministers, including (in 1767), the notable James Waddel. See more about George Davenport at his page on Log College Press, and if you are in the area of Colonial Williamsburg, be sure to check out the Presbyterian Meetinghouse, the Davenport House, the Davenport Stable, the Davenport Kitchen and the Davenport Stable, and consider the legacy that endures.

The Church of the Puritans (Presbyterian)

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The Church of the Puritans, Presbyterian of New York City had its beginnings with a small group that began meeting together in the summer of 1869 in a house on the corner of Lexington Avenue and 128th Street. That assembly developed, under the authority of the Presbytery of New York, into a congregation that became known as the First Presbyterian Church of Harlem in 1871, which met at Harlem Hall. Its continued growth necessitated the creation of a Second Presbyterian Church of Harlem, which was organized in March 1872.

Later that year a call was issued to Edward L. Clark (1838-1910) to become pastor of this second congregation. He was installed as pastor on October 24, 1872, at which time John Hall preached the sermon, Howard Crosby gave the charge to the pastor, James O. Murray gave the charge to the people and an address was given by Thomas S. Hastings.

The corner-stone of a new building on 130th Street near Fifth Avenue was laid on June 26, 1873. George B. Cheever gave an address on this occasion. He was also a major benefactor of the work and it was a condition of his financial gift (most cheerfully accepted) that the congregation be renamed “The Church of the Puritans.” Cheever had previously served as pastor of The Church of the Puritans, Congregational in New York City at Union Square and 15th Street, and it was $87,000 received from the sale of the lease of the Union Square property which Cheever donated in part to carry on the name. Construction of the work was supervised by architect James W. Pirsson and conducted in the Gothic Revival style. The Financial Panic of 1873, however, severely impeded progress.

Dedication of the church building took place on April 15, 1875. The sermon was preached by George B. Cheever, prayer was offered by Philip Schaff, and addresses were delivered by John Hall and others. The following month all debts were paid, which was a tremendous relief to a congregation that had endured the weight of financial pressures since the Panic ensued.

Part of the means to pay off the church’s debts involved the sale of the 1875 George Jardine & Son organ to the St. Cecilia Roman Catholic Church in Harlem. In 1921, it is known that the Church of the Puritans had another (Alexander Mills) organ in use - despite the well-known historic Puritan opposition to the use of instrumental music in worship, especially by means of organs.

Rev. Clark resigned not only as minister of The Church of the Puritans, but also withdrew from the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA) in 1893 in protest of the decision in the trial of Charles A. Briggs. That departure marked the beginning of the decline of what had been a congregation with a promising future. The church conducted a Puritans Chapel on 135th Street with Mr. George C. Lay as Superintendent from 1902 to 1907. In 1936, the decision was made to sell the building to St. Ambrose, a black Episcopal parish, led by Rev. Elliott E. Durant.

This picture, taken in 2014, shows St. Ambrose Episcopal Church, as the congregation is now named.

The early history and architecture of this congregation is told by Edward L. Clark in The Church of the Puritans, Presbyterian (1889). Today, one might well pass the St. Ambrose Episcopal Church on W. 130th St. and not realize that this Gothic church building was once a Presbyterian landmark in the city of New York with a memorable name.

What's New at Log College Press? - July 15, 2022

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As Log College Press continues to grow, we have much to report. The site has now reached over 15,000 works among over 1,900 authors. In June 2022, we added 341 new works.

One new book was published in June as well: Dylan Rowland, ed., Pandemic Pastoring. This is a collection of sermons, letters, and biographical notes from 19th-century American Presbyterians - offering helpful reflection for today's believers in walking through the wake of pandemic suffering.

We like to highlight some of the new free PDFs available as found on our Recent Additions and Early Access pages, two features provided to members of the Dead Presbyterians Society.

Early Access:

  • Henry Kollock, Christ Must Increase: A Sermon, Preached Before the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (1803)

  • Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield, Is the Shorter Catechism Worthwhile? (1909, 1979)

  • Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield, John R. MacKay, Benjamin B. Warfield -- A Bibliography (1922)

  • Geerhardus Vos, Our Lord’s Doctrine of the Resurrection (1901)

Recent Addtiions:

  • Robert Aitken — Journals of the Proceedings of Congress (1776-1777)

  • Samuel Buell, The Excellence and Importance of the Saving Knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospel-Preacher, Plainly and Seriously Represented and Enforced: and Christ Preached to the Gentiles in Obedience to the Call of God: A Sermon, Preached at East-Hampton, August 29, 1759; at the Ordination of Mr. Samson Occum (1761)

  • Compilations, Auburn Affirmation (1924)

  • Compilations, The New Psalms and Hymns [PCUS] (1901)

  • John Samuel MacIntosh (1839-1906),The Worthies of Westminster: A Contribution to the Celebration of the Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Assembly of Divines at Westminster (1899)

  • James Calvin McFeeters, Sketches of the Covenanters (1913)

  • Alexander Taggart McGill, Life By Faith: A Sermon Preached Before the Synod of New-Jersey, at the Opening of Its Sessions, at Rahway, New-Jersey, Tuesday Evening, October 21st, 1862 (1862)

  • Thomas Verner Moore — Several poems and articles.

  • Absalom Peters, Life and Time: A Birth-Day Memorial of Seventy Years. With Memories and Reflections For the Aged and the Young (1866)

  • Robert Fleming Sample, I Hear a Voice, ‘Tis Soft and Sweet (1898) [hymn]

We have also created some new topical pages: 1837 Old School / New School Division, Anonymous Writings and Book Reviews. These are all works-in-progress so please check back as the content continues to grow.

Be sure also to check out the quotes we have been adding at our blog for DPS members: Though Dead They Still Speak.

B.B. Warfield - We decided to streamline Warfield’s author page by taking his book reviews, which are numerous, from his main author page and transferring them to a new B.B. Warfield Book Reviews page. Together the number of B.B. Warfield works at Log College Press now exceeds 500 and continues to grow. We also want to highlight a new resource that Warfield readers will appreciate. Our friend Barry Waugh (Presbyterians of the Past) has created a useful, annotated database showing 1,268 book reviews written by B.B. Warfield for Princeton journals. See that tremendous resource here.

Stay tuned as we continue to expand our digital bookshelves. It is our prayer at Log College Press that resources made available here will be an encouragement to our 21st century readers that the past has much to teach us in the present about the advancement of Christ’s kingdom in the earth. Blessings, and thank you, as always, for your support.

Samuel Davies' Communion Tokens

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The practice of employing communion tokens represents a chapter of church history well worth studying. Their use predates the Reformation by many centuries, but it was in the Protestant Reformation that usage of communion tokens really became part of Reformed church history. Walter L. Lingle, in his introduction to Mary McWhorter Tenney’s classic study of Communion Tokens (1936) [not yet available on Log College Press], writes of the significance of communion tokens.

The Communion token stood for something. It was usually a small piece of metal which served as a ticket of admission to the Communion table. As the Communion season approached preparatory services were held. The people were examined by the ministers and elders as to their knowledge of the way of life and as to their way of living. Only those who were approved receive the tokens and only those who had tokens could approach the Communion table. People took their religion seriously in those days.

Mrs. Tenney writes of the origin of this practice in the early church and traces its reappearance in the Reformation to Geneva, Switzerland in 1560 where John Calvin and Pierre Viret helped to bring back the custom as a way of keeping the Lord’s Supper from being profaned by the scandalous and the profane (p. 17).

Used throughout Europe, especially in Scotland, the custom of employing communion tokens was transplanted to America as Protestants migrated there, particularly in the 18th century. In 1747, Presbyterians in Virginia were small in numbers but scattered throughout the center of the British and Anglican colony. The labors of Francis Makemie on the Eastern Shore a half century previously had born fruit, but when Samuel Davies was sent by the Presbytery of New Castle (Delaware) that year as a missionary to Virginia, at that time very spiritually dry, he was used by the Lord as part of a Great Awakening which was then spreading over the land. Davies would ultimately help to organize seven churches in five counties with very little in the way of additional manpower. (We have written previously of how Davies had to ride on horseback over a wide parish and once got lost in the woods.)

George Pilcher writes that “a prominent facet of Davies’ pastoral work [was] his use of tokens….Virginia Presbyterians adhered to this [Protestant] practice closely, identifying it with the process of catechetical instruction.” He goes on to say (Samuel Davies: Apostle of Dissent in Colonial Virginia, p. 93) that

In using tokens, Davies was following the established customs of Scottish Presbyterianism and apparently was trying to make his practice conform to this claim of being a member of the Church of Scotland. But instead of using the Presbyterians’ traditional small stamped metal disks, the New Light minister distributed engraved cards that allowed him to present longer inscriptions or passages of his own poetry pertinent to the event, such as:

Do this says Christ ‘till Time shall end,
In Memory of your dying Friend.
Meet at my Table and Record
The Love of Your departed Lord.

The cards also were probably less expensive than metal disks, although they were made from steel engravings, which no doubt had to come from England. Davies placed a high value on these cards and exercised painstaking care in their preparation.

Samuel Davies’ paper communion token used at the Polegreen Church, Hanover, Virginia. Source: Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Union Seminary, Richmond, Virginia.

The story is told in James W. Alexander, The Life of Archibald Alexander, pp. 180-181, of how Mr. and Mrs. John Morton, members of the Anglican Church, were moved to attend an “action sermon” preached by Davies, whereupon, in the middle of the service, Mr. Morton called on Rev. Davies to admit him to the sacrament, and after further examination by the minister, Mr. Morton was given a communion token and allowed to participate.

The communion tokens employed by Davies were part of an historic tradition that was in widespread use in his day among Presbyterians, but they were remarkable in that they were made of paper rather than metal and also in their use of sacramental poetry by Davies himself.*

They represent a special facet of a bygone Protestant and Presbyterian tradition which illustrates how seriously the duty of fencing the table was taken and what a privilege it is to being admitted to the table of the Lord. As we look back on this bit of church history, consider how important these little paper tokens were to Davies and his flock of Virginia Presbyterians as emblems of Christ’s love to them, which made them precious indeed.

* “A Token For the Sacrament” appears in Richard Beale Davis, ed., Collected Poems of Samuel Davies, 1723-1761 (1968), p. 157.

Fourth of July Celebration at Log College Press

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If your cause is just — you may look with confidence to the Lord and intreat him to plead it as his own. You are all my witnesses, that this is the first time of my introducing any political subject into the pulpit. At this season however, it is not only lawful but necessary, and I willingly embrace the opportunity of declaring my opinion without any hesitation, that the cause in which America is now in arms, is the cause of justice, of liberty, and of human nature. — John Witherspoon, The Dominion of Providence Over the Passions of Men: A Sermon, Preached at Princeton, on the 17th of May, 1776. Being the General Fast Appointed by the Congress Through the United Colonies (1777)

It was five years ago today that Log College Press was founded on July 4, 2017. (See what this site looked like early on [as of January 19, 2018] via the Wayback Machine here.) Thanks to the support and encouragement of our dear readers, we have come a long way since then.

We have now published 7 books, and 10 booklets. Log College Press now has over 15,000 works by over 1,900 authors available to read on the site.

On this date in past years we have highlighted men who served the cause of civil and religious liberty, as well as books by our authors which celebrate the cause.

This year we take note of our authors which share a birthday with Log College Press and the United States of America:

At Log College Press we have much cause to celebrate, and we give thanks to God for the labors of godly men and women who have gone before in service to the cause of Christ and freedom. We also recognize how far this country has fallen from its ideal as epitomized in John Winthrop’s “City on a Hill” (1630).

Our national sins are great. It was in 1778 that Jacob Green famously said: “Can it be believed that a people contending for liberty should, at the same time, be promoting and supporting slavery?” And it was in 1832 that James R. Willson pointed out our great need as a nation to acknowledge our dependence upon and submission to God, and to kiss Son specifically, alluding to Ps. 2:12 and quoting Ps. 9:17, when took note of the great omission by our Constitutional Founding Fathers who chose not to honor God in our national charter: “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’” (Prince Messiah).

Though far from where we as a nation ought to be, yet there is cause for remembrance of and thanksgiving for the blessings of the past as well as the mercies of today. As William B. Sprague once said, “LET THE DAY BE OBSERVED, BUT LET IT BE OBSERVED RELIGIOUSLY” (Religious Celebration of Independence: A Discourse Delivered at Northampton, on the Fourth of July, 1827 (1827)). That is to say, with respect to this civil holiday (as distinct from a religious holy day), we ought to celebrate its noblest ideals, exemplified in America’s fight for freedom and independence, with proper solemnities, in an appropriate Christian manner, but in humble acknowledgment of how far we as a people have still to go, by the grace of God, to arrive at those ideals.

To understand civil and religious freedom aright, we believe it is important to study God’s Word first, but not to neglect the study of history as well. Primary sources from the past are a valuable tool in promoting reformation and revival in the present. Our topical page on Church and State is one particular relevant resource. We thank our readers for their interest in and support of this project by Log College Press to make accessible what Presbyterians who have gone before had to say on this and other important matters. To God be the glory, as we we celebrate another Independence Day, and a birthday besides.

George Burrowes: The Christian life is a series of revivals

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I sleep, but my heart waketh. — Song of Solomon 5:2

Commenting on this text of Scripture, George Burrowes takes occasion to expound upon the nature of the spiritual ups and downs of the Christian life more largely in descriptive terms to which experienced believers can well relate.

This passage, to the end of ver. 8, illustrates the exercises of the soul in a time of spiritual sloth and decay. After thus unfolding to us his love, he lets us, as in this passage, see our depravity and indifference. Our religious life consists of a series of revivals and of withdrawals by Jesus, for calling into exercise and putting to the test our graces. When under the influence of first love, we determine never to forget the Saviour, and think the thing almost impossible. After some experience of the deceitfulness of the heart, when at some subsequent period we have had our souls restored and made to lie down in green pastures, beside the still waters, we resolve again to be faithful in close adherence to our Lord, under the impression, that with our present knowledge of the workings of sin, and the glorious displays made to us of the loveliness of Christ, and of his love towards us personally, we shall now at length persevere; but we soon find to our sorrow, that, left to ourselves, we are as unsteady and unfaithful as ever. It is surprising how quickly coldness will succeed great religious fervour. To the experienced believer it will not appear strange, that this divine allegory should bring this representation of indifference to the beloved into such immediate connection with the remarkable expressions of Jesus' love contained in the foregoing chapter. Where is the Christian who has not found the truth of this in his own experience? The three chosen disciples were overcome with lethargy even on the mount of transfiguration; and immediately after the first affecting sacrament, they not only fell asleep in Gethsemane, but all forsook Jesus and fled; while Peter added thereto a denial of his Lord, with profane swearing. While the bridegroom tarried, even the wise virgins with oil in their lamps, slumbered and slept. After endearing manifestations of Jesus' love, how soon do we find ourselves falling into spiritual slumber — often, like the disciples on the mount, under the full light of the presence of the Holy Spirit. And after periods of revival, in the same way will churches speedily show signs of sinking down into former coldness.

Burrowes speaks similarly concerning Song of Solomon 2:8-9: “The Christian life is a series of visits and withdrawals of our Lord, of revivals of grace in the heart and exposure to trials.”

He himself walked through valleys and climbed mountaintops. In a nod to Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, that brilliant allegory of the Christian life, Burrowes writes elsewhere: “The Delectable Mountains and the River of the Water of Life, cannot be reached by the pilgrim without passing through the Valley of Humiliation and the Valley of the Shadow of Death” (Advanced Growth in Grace, 1868). James Curry writes in a biographical sketch of Burrowes found in his History of the San Francisco Theological Seminary, p. 62:

He was a Christian of deep and humble piety, and had at various times all through his mature life remarkable religious experiences. He attributed them to the presence and influence of the Holy Spirit. After one of these experiences he wrote:

"Had I stood with Moses on the top of Pisgah my soul could hardly have had such delightful emotions as those now felt." Again he wrote: "When I arise in the morning and come into my study, here I find Jesus already waiting for me, and I meet Him with delight of heart.” "I can scarcely conceive of anything more desirable in Heaven than merely to have these feelings made perfect, and the union with Jesus completed by my being brought to be with Him where He is to behold His glory."

Each of us has our own unique path to follow when we take up our cross to follow our Savior. Solomon himself elsewhere teaches that “The heart knoweth his own bitterness; and a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy” (Prov. 14:10). If the same Shepherd leads one through a valley of the shadow of death, while another is led through a different sort of trial or grants a season of encouragement, be assured that our Lord is the only truly faithful guide. Each day, by the grace of God, we must do the hard work of sanctification, and though some days will be sweeter than others, we must walk by faith and not by sight (Heb. 11:13) with our eyes fixed on Jesus (Heb. 12:1). The soul that longs for Jesus in a dry and thirsty land (Ps. 63:1) will experience both nights of tears and mornings of gladness (Ps. 30:5), but in the words of many saints who have gone before, Heaven will make amends for all.

W.H. Fentress: No Sea in Heaven

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Read the scripture, not only as an history, but as a love-letter sent to you from God which may affect your hearts. -- Thomas Watson, A Body of Practical Divinity, p. 27

Considering he was blind, the word-pictures painted by William Henry Fentress (1851-1880) are all the more remarkable. In one sermon from his volume Love Truths From the Bible (1879), he speaks of the ocean with tremendous insight into matters temporal and spiritual. The sermon is “No Sea in Heaven” (based on Rev. 21:1: “and there was no more sea”) and the extracts which follow are intended to whet the appetite for all of his sermons.

Have you ever stood by the sea? have you ever had the sense of being lost in the contemplation of its wonders? have you ever seen, and heard, and realized what it has to reveal? if so, you have been admitted to one of the grandest privileges known to the lovers of nature. It seems impossible that even the careless should pass by the sea uninfluenced: there is so much to engage the attention; so much to compel interest; a very spell, a fascination in its presence. To the thoughtful it is most impressive; unfolding to consciousness mysteries of thought and sentiment that banish the common things of life; that produce an experience beyond language to define; that give, as it were, a new being, with other motives, other powers, other ambitions. These impressions come again when the sea is far away, as we fancy that the night heavens of the Orient recur to the traveller, who has once enjoyed their sublime magnificence; as the splendors of royalty haunt the mind of an exiled Napoleon; as the awful meeting of contending armies is recalled by the old veteran, when the war has long been over, and lie is resting with his little ones about him in his peaceful home.

The sky, the forests, the mountains, all have attractions peculiar to themselves; and so has the sea. Behold the giant waves, crimsoned with sunbeams! or silvered by the light of the moon! how majestically they rise and fall ! Now raging under the lash of the storm demon, now moving in calm with long measured roll, they seem impatient of restraint, as if possessed by a spirit of life; as if some mighty force were rocking the cradle of the deep. Hear the rush of waters, the waves struggling and dying on the sands, the deep thunder of the breakers on the shore! and strangely with the deafening tumult mingle the wild shriek of the seagull and the soft note of the curlew. For miles inland upon the hush of night comes the monotone of the ocean. It is as the sound of a distant, heavy-rolling train. It is an unbroken anthem of praise to the great Creator. The beach is strewn with shells of every size, and shape, and color. Have you never kneeled upon the hard, white sand to gather these bright offerings washed up by the surf? and when a larger one was found, have listened with a child's delight to the whisper of some far off sea, laving the shores of some distant isle, or continent? These shells are nature's beautiful playthings, adorning the frame-work, in which she has placed the master-piece of her art. What a setting! what a picture! commanding the admiration not only of earth, for the hosts of heaven delight to mirror themselves in the boundless, blue expanse.

Fentress continues to expound upon the vast expanse of the ocean and its deepest depths which harbor shipwrecks, treasures, animals, caves and more, culminating in this cry: “O sea! Not only man, but thou also art wonderfully and fearfully made.”

It is thus evident, that the sea is not the source of a perfect joy. Far from it! It has features, occasions and associations which are productive of sadness and suffering. Has it beautiful shells and pearls? It has also loathesome weeds and reptiles. Has it fairy isles and safe harbors? It has also dangerous Scylla and Charybdis. Has it warm streams, that moderate climate and contribute to human comfort? It has also floating fields and mountains of ice, which are a terror to man. Do its waves appear fair and bright in the sunshine? When clouds gather and the wind spirit goes abroad, they are terrible to look upon. Is there majestic music in the roar of the surf? to the mariner whose vessel driven from its course, is hurrying toward the breakers, it is a knell of death. Does it bring to ns the treasures of India and other lands? alas! it sometimes bears away dear treasures of our hearts, and returns them no more. Hence, as we learn from our text, there will be no sea in heaven: for "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes ; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away."

As beautiful as the sea is to behold, Fentress reminds us that its wide expanse separates divides continents and separates mariners from their loved ones; while in heaven, there is no separation between spirits, no division between members of Christ’s body. Though at times it may seem placidly calm, the sea is a place of change with its tides which ebb and flow, and its tempests which bring such violence and danger; whereas, in heaven, there is eternal rest from this life’s storms, and peace from the contrary gales which we all experience.

O mariners on the sea of life, seeking rest but finding none; make your reckoning with a view to eternity; take the Bible as your chart; hold your course straight for the Star of Bethlehem; and in the fiercest storm, through the darkest night keep a brave heart, relying upon God: and though the voyage be long, and wearying, and beset with difficulties and trials, peace will be reached at last.
…
There will be noble strivings in heaven. The spirits of just men made perfect, will vie with each other in obedience, love and consecration to Him who loved them; who washed them from their sins in His own precious blood; who made them Kings and Priests unto God. The law of progress will demand ambition, increase, change: ambition to be holy, as God is holy; increase in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ; and change by advancing in the divine image: but there will be no sea in heaven; that is, no restlessness, no discontent with what you are, and have. For earth, with all its petty cares, its fevered dreams, its nameless longings, its unsatisfying pleasures, will have passed away; the realties of the life in God, will bring to the troubled heart profound calm; the Prince of peace will give His own peace to the weary soul, and not a wave of care will ever disturb the deep serenity of that life in the bright Forever.

Our speaker puts his finger on that which troubles the mind and heart of many believers in this life: fear. And death.

Now in human affairs the possible, more than the actual, is the cause of distress. Life's fabric takes its sombre colors, more from what may be than what is. In other words, fear is the main, disturbing element to human peace: but in heaven there will be nothing of this. There, doubt, uncertainty, danger, and threatenings of misfortune will have no place. We shall know, even as we are known; we shall love, even as we are loved: and perfect knowledge and perfect love will cast out all fear. O the trust and confidence and security that will be the heritage of God's children, when gathered home; when folded at last in the Father's embrace! No sea in heaven; that is, no fear.
…
But is it not written, that "the sea shall give up the dead that are in it, and that Death and Hell shall be cast into the lake of fire?'' In heaven therefore, the daughters of music will not be brought low: nor desire fail because man goeth to his long home: nor mourners go about the streets: nor the silver cord be loosed: nor the golden bowl be broken: nor the pitcher broken at the fountain: nor the wheel broken at the cistern. There, there will be no gathering of friends at the bed-side, to be crushed with anguish at the departure of one beloved: no struggling for breath, then a marble coldness: no damp wiped from the brow; no eyes closed by the hands of another. There will be no tolling of bells; no procession in black; no speaking of the words, "dust to dust." There will be no turning away, to leave a father, a mother, a brother, a sister, a husband, a wife, a child, or a dear friend to solitude and night; no going back to the house with the awful feeling, that we have no more a home; no strewing of flowers on fresh, green mounds. Thank God! there will be no church-yards in heaven. No sea in heaven; that is, no death.

Those who gaze out at the horizon may with difficulty at times discern where the sea ends and heaven begins. But those with spiritual sight are taught here to look up to the center of heaven where our Chief Pilot, who commands the winds and the waves, will navigate us home.

Jesus brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. He has gone to prepare a place, to make ready the many mansions, that where He is, His disciples may be also. Yes, to Jesus, and Jesus only do we owe our sweet hope of heaven. Heaven, that golden clime far beyond life's troubled ocean! Heaven, on whose blissful shores no waves ever break! Heaven, that land of love and loveliness! Heaven, that paradise home, where the pure in heart are joined forever! You and I have loved ones already there. We parted from them, as from our very life. The world has never seemed so fair and bright since they went away. Are we seeking for re-union in that better country? Let us then be sure to take the homeward way. Let us run with patience the race set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Let us fight the good fight of faith, and sing the victor's song. Let us go forth, and accomplish the voyage, marked out for us on the sea of life: not as the disciple who began to sink because of unbelief; but with unwavering trust in God, that He will not let the waves and the billows go over us; that He will direct our course aright; that He will be our guide and refuge to the last: and be assured, He will then receive us to that haven of rest, where the sorrows of the sea are no more.

Read this and other sermons by W.H. Fentress here, and meditate on such “love truths from the Bible,” for our author would have you “look unto Jesus.”

Cleland Boyd McAfee: The Man Who Coined the TULIP Acrostic

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Although many [1] credit Loraine Boettner (1901-1990) in The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination (1932) with originating the acrostic for the Five Points of Calvinism known as TULIP [2] it is believed that the true originator was instead Cleland Boyd McAfee (1866-1944), who did so in 1905. We are thankful to Wayne Sparkman of the PCA Historical Center for highlighting this important footnote to church history in the past.

William H. Vail wrote a 1913 article in The Outlook which describes McAfee’s TULIP lecture, delivered before the Presbyterian Union of Newark, New Jersey, in the context of others who have written about the Five Points of Calvinism. Here is McAfee’s version of TULIP according to Vail:

And here is Boettner’s 1932 version for comparison:

The Five Points may be more easily remembered if they are associated with the word T-U-L-I-P; T, Total Inability; U, Unconditional Election; L, Limited Atonement; I, Irresistable (Effacious) Grace; and P, Perseverance of the Saints (source: The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination (1932), p. 60).

We can see that Boettner modified McAfee’s list slightly as to the meaning of the U in TULIP, but otherwise retained McAfee’s usage.

McAfee would go on to serve as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of the United States of America (PCUSA) in 1929. His legacy may be studied from various perspectives — including his authorship of a famous hymn: Near to the Heart of God — but his TULIP acrostic, which rightly (see Boettner [3]) or wrongly [4} has certainly left its mark on history.

Note: This is an updated edition of a post published previously in 2018.

1. See, for example, Roger Nicole, Foreword to David N. Steele, Curtis C. Thomas & S. Lance Quinn, The Five Points of Calvinism Defined, Defended, and Documented (1963, 2004), p. xiv.
2. An allusion to the 1619 Canons of Dort, formally titled The Decision of the Synod of Dort on the Five Main Points of Doctrine in Dispute in the Netherlands.
3. Boettner employs the acrostic with great effectiveness albeit with this caution: “Let the reader, then, guard against a too close identification of the Five Points and the Calvinistic system. While these are essential elements, the system really includes much more. As stated in the Introduction, the Westminster Confession is a balanced statement of the Reformed Faith or Calvinism, and its gives due prominence to the other Christian doctrines.”
4. See, for example, Richard A. Muller’s negative assessment of the TULIP acrostic in Calvin and the Reformed Tradition: On the Work of Christ and the Order of Salvation (2012), p. 58ff.

New Resources at Log College Press - June 15, 2022

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If you are a member of the Dead Presbyterians Society at Log College Press, you may have noticed some interesting new material added to the site. If you are not yet a member, perhaps the list below will whet your appetite.

In the month of April 2022, we added 650+ new works as well as 23 new authors. In May 2022, we added 512 new works and 40 new authors. At present, on Log College Press, we have over 14,000 works by over 1,900 authors.

Often we list the most interesting material first at the Early Additions page to give our members a sneak preview. Some works there at present include:

  • Articles by John Murray on The Theology of the Westminster Standards and The Fourth Commandment According to the Westminster Standards;

  • Correspondence by Robert J. Breckinridge to President Abraham Lincoln;

  • William B. McGroarty’s 1940 study of the history of The Old Presbyterian Meeting House at Alexandria [Virginia], 1774-1874;

  • Louis Voss’ 1931 survey of Presbyterianism in New Orleans and Adjacent Points;

  • A fascinating 1860 article by William S. Plumer titled Mary Reynolds: A Case of Double Consciousness;

  • David Ramsay’s 1789 Dissertation on the Manners of Acquiring the Character and Privileges of a Citizen of the United States; and

  • In 1848, a London edition of Matthew Henry’s famous commentary of the Bible (which was completed by other hands after his death after Henry finished his comments on Romans) was published which includes notes from Charles Hodge on Romans and notes from John Forsyth on the exposition of James (written originally by Samuel Wright).

Also, of note among many titles at the Recent Additions page:

  • Charles Paschal Telesphore Chiniquy (1809-1899), Fifty Years in the Church of Rome (1886) — Chiniquy was a Canadian-born Roman Catholic priest-turned Presbyterian minister who wrote about the errors of his former ways and the dangers of Roman Catholicism;

  • Reviews by John Forsyth of various volumes of William B. Sprague’s Annals of the American Pulpit — Sprague’s Annals are widely considered to be his magnum opus and Forsyth’s reviews are a valuable introduction to this remarkable set of biographical sketches;

  • David Holmes Coyner (1807-1892), The Lost Trappers (1847, 1855) - Coyner, a Presbyterian minister, wrote this volume as a true narrative of the wanderings of trapper Ezekiel Williams, who, according to Coyner, led twenty trappers up the Missouri River to the Rocky Mountains in 1807. One year later, seventeen of the twenty had died, and the three survivors decided to separate. Two started for Santa Fe, getting lost in the Rockies until they met a Spanish caravan bound for California, while Williams journeyed home by canoe on the Arkansas and Missouri rivers, though he was taken captive for a time by Indians in Kansas. Dismissed as fiction by some, modern scholarship has confirmed the factual basis for Coyner’s account;

  • David Joshua Beale, Sr. (1835-1900), Through the Johnstown Flood (1890) - This is a remarkable account of a major 19th century natural disaster by an eyewitness who lived through it;

  • Alexander McLeod, The Constitution, Character, and Duties, of the Gospel Ministry: A Sermon Preached at the Ordination of the Rev. Gilbert McMaster, in the First Presbyterian Church, Duanesburgh (1808) - This sermon by one noted Reformed Presbyterian minister at the ordination of another represents an important ecclesiological statement on the gospel ministry;

  • Eulogies on President George Washington by William Linn, David Ramsay and Samuel Stanhope Smith;

  • John Todd, An Humble Attempt Towards the Improvement of Psalmody: The Propriety, Necessity and Use, of Evangelical Psalms, in Christian Worship. Delivered at a Meeting of the Presbytery of Hanover in Virginia, October 6th, 1762 (1763) — This sermon on song in worship preached during the colonial era is a fascinating read;

  • William Edward Schenck, The Faith of Christ's Ministers: An Example For His People: A Discourse Commemorative of Benjamin Holt Rice, D.D., Preached in the First Presbyterian Church, Princeton, New Jersey, on Sabbath Morning, July 20, 1856 (1856);

  • Many works by Theodore L. Cuyler, J. Addison Alexander, James McCosh, Thomas De Witt Talmage, Henry Van Dyke, Jr., and numerous novels by Isabella Macdonald Alden, a prolific Presbyterian author, known best by her pen name, “Pansy,” written for young people primarily;

Also, take note of some works recently added to our Compilations page, such as:

  • The Constitution of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America Containing the Confession of Faith, the Catechisms, the Government and Discipline, and the Directory For the Worship of God (1789);

  • A Narrative of the Revival of Religion, in the County of Oneida [New York], Particularly in the Bounds of the Presbytery of Oneida, in the Year 1826 (1826);

  • The Testimony of the United Presbyterian Church of North America (1858);

  • Overture on Reunion: The Reports of the Joint Committee of the Two General Assemblies of 1866-7, and of the Special Committee of the (N. S.) General Assembly of 1868 (1868)

  • The Confessional Statement of the United Presbyterian Church of North America (1926) — This document dramatically changed the worship and government of the UPCNA; and

  • Many psalters published by UPCNA and the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA).

There is much more that is new to explore on these and other pages at Log College Press, and of course all that is new is old, so if you appreciate old treasures, please dive in and enjoy. We are always growing, and dusting off antique volumes for your reading pleasure.

B.B. Warfield: We are called "not to unselfing ourselves, but to unselfishing ourselves"

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The Christian is called to endurance (2 Tim. 4:5) and self-denial (Luke 9:23-24) in this life, but not to monasticism or stoicism. B.B. Warfield explains the nuances of this distinction most ably in a sermon from The Saviour of the World (1913) titled “Imitating the Incarnation,” pp. 265-270. In the eloquent words below, Warfield also teaches us what it means to follow Christ’s example of humility in the truest sense, and what that looks like and leads to for the Christian on earth and into eternity.

…it is difficult to set a limit to the self-sacrifice which the example of Christ calls upon us to be ready to undergo for the good of our brethren. It is comparatively easy to recognize that the ideal of the Christian life is self-sacrificing unselfishness, and to allow that it is required of those who seek to enter into it, to subordinate self and to seek first the kingdom of God. But is it so easy to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that this is to be read not generally merely but in detail, and is to be applied not only to some eminent saints but to all who would be Christ's servants? — that it is required of us, and that what is required of us is not some self-denial but all self-sacrifice? Yet is it not to this that the example of Christ would lead us? — not, of course, to self-degradation, not to self-effacement exactly, but to complete self-abnegation, entire and ungrudging self-sacrifice? Is it to be unto death itself? Christ died. Are we to endure wrongs? What wrongs did He not meekly bear? Are we to surrender our clear and recognized rights ? Did Christ stand upon His unquestioned right of retaining His equality with God? Are we to endure unnatural evils, permit ourselves to be driven into inappropriate situations, unresistingly sustain injurious and unjust imputations and attacks? What more unnatural than that the God of the universe should become a servant in the world, ministering not to His Father only, but also to His creatures, — our Lord and Master washing our very feet ? What more abhorrent than that God should die? There is no length to which Christ's self-sacrifice did not lead Him. These words are dull and inexpressive; we cannot enter into thoughts so high. He who was in the form of God took such thought for us, that He made no account of Himself. Into the immeasurable calm of the divine blessedness He permitted this thought to enter, "I will die for men!" And so mighty was His love, so colossal the divine purpose to save, that He thought nothing of His divine majesty, nothing of His unsullied blessedness, nothing of His equality with God, but, absorbed in us,—our needs, our misery, our helplessness — He made no account of Himself. If this is to be our example, what limit can we set to our self-sacrifice? Let us remember that we are no longer our own but Christ's, bought with the price of His precious blood, and are henceforth to live, not for ourselves but for Him, — for Him in His creatures, serving Him in serving them. Let all thought of our dignity, our possessions, our rights, perish out of sight, when Christ's service calls to us. Let the mind be in us that was also in Him, when He took no account of Himself, but, God as He was, took the form of a servant and humbled Himself, — He who was Lord, — to lowly obedience even unto death, and that the death of the cross. In such a mind as this, where is the end of unselfishness?

Let us not, however, do the apostle the injustice of fancying that this is a morbid life to which he summons us. The self-sacrifice to which he exhorts us, unlimited as it is, going all lengths and starting back blanched at nothing, is nevertheless not an unnatural life. After all, it issues not in the destruction of self, but only in the destruction of selfishness; it leads us not to a Buddha-like unselfing, but to a Christ-like self-development. It would not make us into

deedless dreamers lazying out a life
Of self-suppression, not of selfless love,

but would light the flames of a love within us by which we would literally "ache for souls." The example of Christ and the exhortation of Paul found themselves upon a sense of the unspeakable value of souls. Our Lord took no account of Himself, only because the value of the souls of men pressed upon His heart. And following Him, we are not to consider our own things, but those of others, just because everything earthly that concerns us is as nothing compared with their eternal welfare.

Our self-abnegation is thus not for our own sake, but for the sake of others. And thus it is not to mere self-denial that Christ calls us, but specifically to self-sacrifice: not to unselfing ourselves, but to unselfishing ourselves. Self-denial for its own sake is in its very nature ascetic, monkish. It concentrates our whole attention on self — self-knowledge, self-control — and can therefore eventuate in nothing other than the very apotheosis of selfishness. At best it succeeds only in subjecting the outer self to the inner self, or the lower self to the higher self; and only the more surely falls into the slough of self-seeking, that it partially conceals the selfishness of its goal by refining its ideal of self and excluding its grosser and more outward elements. Self-denial, then, drives to the cloister; narrows and contracts the soul; murders within us all innocent desires, dries up all the springs of sympathy, and nurses and coddles our self-importance until we grow so great in our own esteem as to be careless of the trials and sufferings, the joys and aspirations, the strivings and failures and successes of our fellow-men. Self-denial, thus understood, will make us cold, hard, unsympathetic, — proud, arrogant, self-esteeming, — fanatical, overbearing, cruel. It may make monks and Stoics, — it cannot make Christians.

It is not to this that Christ's example calls us. He did not cultivate self, even His divine self: He took no account of self. He was not led by His divine impulse out of the world, driven back into the recesses of His own soul to brood morbidly over His own needs, until to gain His own seemed worth all sacrifice to Him. He was led by His love for others into the world, to forget Himself in the needs of others, to sacrifice self once for all upon the altar of sympathy. Self-sacrifice brought Christ into the world. And self-sacrifice will lead us. His followers, not away from but into the midst of men. Wherever men suffer, there will we be to comfort. Wherever men strive, there will we be to help. Wherever men fail, there will be we to uplift. Wherever men succeed, there will we be to rejoice. Self-sacrifice means not indifference to our times and our fellows: it means absorption in them. It means forgetfulness of self in others. It means entering into every man's hopes and fears, longings and despairs: it means manysidedness of spirit, multiform activity, multiplicity of sympathies. It means richness of development. It means not that we should live one life, but a thousand lives, — binding ourselves to a thousand souls by the filaments of so loving a sympathy that their lives become ours. It means that all the experiences of men shall smite our souls and shall beat and batter these stubborn hearts of ours into fitness for their heavenly home. It is, after all, then, the path to the highest possible development, by which alone we can be made truly men.

Not that we shall undertake it with this end in view. This were to dry up its springs at their source. We cannot be self-consciously self-forgetful, selfishly unselfish. Only, when we humbly walk this path, seeking truly in it not our own things but those of others, we shall find the promise true, that he who loses his life shall find it. Only, when, like Christ, and in loving obedience to His call and example, we take no account of ourselves, but freely give ourselves to others, we shall find, each in his measure, the saying true of himself also: "Wherefore also God hath highly exalted him." The path of self-sacrifice is the path to glory.

May this indeed be the attitude of Christians who desire to seek the path of true humility. Not that we must leave the world and deny our existence or focus only on the internal, but that instead we must pour out ourselves in the service of Christ and our neighbor, to “spend and be spent” (2 Cor. 12:15), and wherever there is need, to give all for Christ. In this way, in losing our life for Christ’s sake, we shall truly find it.

A Walk Through Green-Wood Cemetery

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If you are one of those rare individuals who enjoys strolling through cemeteries and contemplating the past, you may appreciate this post. If historic cemeteries are not your cup of tea, please indulge this writer’s request for a few moments of your time to consider nevertheless the conjunction in history of some notable persons who once took such a stroll together and wrote about the meaning it had for them.

Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.

The year was 1878. Dean Stanley (A.P. Stanley), the English Anglican historian, was touring America and had occasion to give a lecture on the noted Biblical geographer Edward Robinson. Both Philip Schaff and Theodore L. Cuyler tell the story of the tour of Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York that followed.

In David S. Schaff, The Life of Philip Schaff, in Part Autobiographical, pp. 329-330, we find this account:

The following day [after Dean Stanley’s lecture], Dr. Schaff, in company with Dr. Theodore L. Cuyler and Dr. Henry M. Field, accompanied the dean on a pilgrimage to Greenwood Cemetery to visit the grave of Dr. Edward Robinson. "This was a most interesting and touching visit," he notes, "of four mourners to the grave of that eminent scholar to whom Stanley paid such a graceful tribute in Union Seminary. Dr. Robinson's son and daughter were there by appointment to meet us. After looking at the simple granite monument, the dean exclaimed, 'That granite crown is simple solidity, just like the man himself.'" From there, the party went to the grave of Dr. Cuyler's little boy, George, whose death was the occasion of that book of comfort to the bereaved, The Empty Crib.

The site where Georgie Cuyler is laid to rest at Green-Wood Cemetery.

Dr. Cuyler writes in Recollections of a Long Life: An Autobiography, pp. 96-97, speaking of the book written after the death of his young son Georgie:

Dean Stanley read it aloud to Lady Augusta Stanley in the Deanery of Westminster ; and when I took him to our own unrivalled Greenwood Cemetery he asked to be driven to the spot where the dust of our dear boy is slumbering. many thousands have visited that grave and gazed with tender admiration on the exquisite marble medallion of the childface, — by the sculptor, Charles Calverley, — which adorns the monument.

Cuyler goes (pp. 113-114) to speak at greater length of that 1878 visit to the cemetery with his friends.

When Dean Stanley visited America in the autumn of 1878, I met him several times, and he was especially cordial, and all the more so because of my out-spoken letter [offering a gentle criticism of a sermon preached by Dean Stanley]. The first time I met him was at the meeting of ministers of New York to give him a reception, and hear him deliver a discourse on Dr. Robinson, the Oriental geographer. He recognized me in the audience, came forward to the front of the platform, beckoned me up, and gave me a hearty grasp of the hand. I arranged to take him to Greenwood Cemetery on the morning before he sailed for home, and after breakfasting with him at Cyrus W. Field's we started for the cemetery. Dr. Phillip Schaff and Dr. Henry M. Field met us at the ferry, and accompanied us. When we entered the elevated railroad car, Stanley exclaimed: "This is like the chariots on the walls of Babylon." With his keen interest in history he inquired when we reached the lower part of the Bowery, near the junction of Chatham Square: "Was it not near here that Nathan Hale, the martyr, was executed?" and he showed then a more accurate knowledge of our local history than one New Yorker in ten thousand can boast! That was probably the exact locality, and Dean Stanley had never been there before. Before entering the Greenwood Cemetery he requested me to drive him to the spot where my little child was buried, whose photograph in "The Empty Crib" I have referred to in a previous chapter. When we reached the burial lot he got out of the carriage, and in the driving wind, of a raw November morning, spent some time in examining the marble medallion of the child, and in talking with my wife most sweetly about him. I could have hugged the man on the spot. It was so like Stanley. I do not wonder that everybody loved him. We then drove to the tomb of Dr. Edward Robinson and the Dean said to us: “In all my travels in Palestine I carried Dr. Robinson's volume, 'Biblical Researches,' with me on horseback or on my camel; it was my constant guide book."

Dr. Cuyler certainly had a special place in his heart for this cemetery. In 1870, he wrote a short article called A Walk in Greenwood Cemetery, New York, in which he states: “For some years past, my favorite resort has been the beautiful and incomparable Greenwood. It has no rival in the world.” He speaks of the connection between this spot and his little Georgie:

Yesterday I went to Greenwood alone. How often, in times past, have I walked there with a pair of little feet tripping beside me, which now, alas! are laid under a mound of green turf and flowers. The night before the precious child departed, having wearied himself with play, he quaintly said, “My little footies are tired at both ends.” Ere twenty-four hours were past, the tired feet had ended life’s short journey, and were laid to the dreamless rest.

Further on, in his concluding remarks on that particular 1870 visit, he shares his farewell thoughts:

To me, the most captivating view is from Sylvan Cliff, overlooking Sylvan Water. On that green brow stands a monument which bears the figure of Faith kneeling before a cross, and beneath it the world-known lines of Toplady: —

”Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to thy cross I cling!”

As I stood beside that graceful tablet yesterday, the light of an October sun threw its mellow radiance over the crimsoning foliage, and the green turf, and the sparkling water of the fountain which played in the vale beneath. In the distance was the placid bay, with one stately ship resting at anchor, — a beautiful emblem of a Christian soul whose voyage had ended in the peaceful repose of the “desired haven.” The sun went down into the purpling horizon as I stood there; a bird or two was twittering its evening song; the air was as silent as the unnumbered sleepers around me; and, turning toward the sacred spot where my precious dead is lying, I bade him as of old, Good-night!

The Cuyler family plot at Green-Wood Cemetery.

To this “garden of souls” Dr. Cuyler would eventually return, along with many of his family members, to await to the final resurrection. Among those with whom his body is laid to rest, besides little Georgie, are his wife Annie (d. 1915), his daughter Louise (d. 1881), whose death inspired Cuyler to write his classic devotional work of comfort God’s Light on Dark Clouds, others that bear his name such as Theodore L. Cuyler, Jr. (d. 1943), Theodore L. Cuyler III (d. 1976), and Theodore L. Cuyler IV (d. 2003).

The cemetery may seem to be full of death, but to those who tread lightly and take time to study the epitaphs on the tombstones, it may be found that one seemingly in the midst of death is in fact in the midst of life. The lives of those who have gone before remind us of precious blessings that God has given for a time, and the journey that is not yet over. We may not recognize all the names we pass, but “no man is an island…because I am involved with mankind” (Donne). For those personally touched by the tombstones we visit, “weeping may endure for a night” (Ps. 30:5), but what comfort in these words, “unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings” (Mal. 4:2).

Able and Faithful Presbyterian Ministers

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It was in trying to fulfill my responsibilities as pastor of a Presbyterian Church in the farming country of Pennsylvania that I first became interested in the question of what worship according to the Reformed tradition should be. As I tried to search out the meaning of Reformed worship, I became more and more convinced that I must travel to those lands in which the Reformation had taken place, learn the languages the Reformers spoke and search the documents they left behind. So it was that I found myself living as a foreigner in Europe for almost seven years. -- Hughes Oliphant Old, preface to "The Patristic Roots of Reformed Worship”

Most of us do well to know our primary language sufficiently to communicate with those around us. Bilingual ability is a great blessing. In keeping with the Presbyterian tradition of promoting a learned and educated ministry, ministers do well to know their primary language, plus Hebrew and Greek. Latin was the language of scholars of the past, and knowledge of same has its significant benefits today. But there are some whose linguistic abilities are so special as to be regarded as extraordinary gifts.

Among our Log College Press authors, there are many who could be highlighted as noteworthy in this area. James Robert Boyd, for example, was fluent in six languages. There are many missionaries whose fluency in native tongues led them to write grammar-dictionaries that have since served as valuable reference works. B.B. Warfield knew — besides English, Hebrew and Greek — Latin, German, French, and certainly had some familiarity with Dutch, if not more. Isidor Loewenthal, the famous missionary and Bible translator, who was born in Poland, educated at Princeton and died in India, “could preach with facility in the Pushtu, Persian, Hindustani and Arabic languages.” According to one biography, he was “a master of the classical languages of Europe as well as of Hebrew and its cognate languages Arabic and Chaldee.” Robert Dick Wilson is said to have mastered 45 languages. Many more examples could be given, but there is one particular gifted linguist which we intend to highlight especially today.

We can thank Henry C. Alexander for the detailed list which follows concerning his uncle Joseph Addison Alexander’s knowledge of languages (Henry C. Alexander, The Life of Joseph Addison Alexander, Vol. 2, pp. 862-865).

  1. Arabic: of which he was a consummate master, from a child, and wrote with some ease, but which he could scarcely be said to speak.

  2. Hebrew: ditto.

  3. Latin: which he knew profoundly, from a child, and wrote and spoke.

  4. Persian: which he knew intimately, from a child, and wrote, but did not speak.

  5. Syriac: which he knew intimately, from a child, and perhaps wrote, but did not speak.

  6. Chaldee: which he knew as well, or nearly as well, as he did Hebrew, and read with rapidity without a lexicon.

  7. Greek: which he knew profoundly, from a child, and wrote, but did not attempt to speak.

  8. Italian: which he read with the same facility he did English, and spoke.

  9. German: which he knew profoundly, from his youth, and wrote and spoke.

  10. Spanish: which he knew thoroughly, and probably wrote and spoke.

  11. French: which he read, wrote and spoke with ease.

  12. English: which he knew no less profoundly than familiarly.

  13. Ethiopic: which he knew philologically and profoundly, and could read without difficulty.

  14. Chinese: of which, in its innumerable details, he had but a smattering, but knew pretty well philologically.

  15. Romaic: which he read and wrote with ease.

  16. Portuguese: which he read with ease, but perhaps did not attempt to speak.

  17. Danish: which he says he soon “read fluently with a dictionary,” and probably in time, without one.

  18. Turkish; and

  19. Sanscrit: which (soon after he acquired them) he says were “becoming quite familiar,” and doubtless became more so.

  20. Polish: which he read with ease, though probably with the aid of the lexicon.

  21. Malay: which he began in connection with Chinese, and probably read with a dictionary.

  22. Coptic: which he knew philologically and, I think, profoundly, and read, though perhaps not with ease.

  23. Swedish: which he read with ease; at least with the dictionary.

  24. Dutch: which he read, perhaps with ease; at least with the dictionary.

He no doubt had an inkling of the nature, and a glimpse into the structure of many others, which he has not named, and knew part of the vocabulary of others.

Summary: He knew profoundly, not only philologically but linguistically, i.e., read, wrote, and spoke well —

  1. English.

  2. Latin.

  3. German.

  4. French.

  5. (Almost certainly) Italian.

  6. (Almost certainly) Spanish.

  7. (Probably) Portuguese.

It is quite possible that he knew several others in this way. He knew profoundly as a philologist, and read without helps, and wrote, but did not speak — i.e., not familiarly —

  1. Arabic.

  2. Hebrew.

  3. Persian.

  4. Greek (which, however, he may have spoken a little.)

  5. Romaic: ditto.

  6. Chaldee: which he knew as well, or nearly as well, as he did Hebrew, and read with rapidity without a lexicon.

  7. (Probably) Ethiopic, which he certainly read, though perhaps with difficulty.

  8. (Probably) Dutch, which he certainly read, though perhaps not with ease.

  9. (Possibly) Sanscrit, which he certainly read, though perhaps with some difficulty.

  10. (Possibly) Syraic, which he read with perfect ease, but probably did not write.

  11. (Possibly) Coptic, which he read, and I think easily, but probably did not write.

  12. (Possibly) Danish, which he read without a lexicon, but probably did not write.

  13. (Probably) Flemish.

  14. (Possibly) Norwegian.

He knew profoundly as a philologist, and read with ease with the help of lexicons —

  1. Polish: which it is barely possible he came to read without a dictionary, and even to write.

  2. Swedish: ditto.

He knew well philologically, and pretty well I suppose, but had but a smattering of its details:

  1. Chinese: and 2, I think he had some knowledge of Hindostanee.

He also had a masterly acquaintance with the Rabbinical Hebrew, and several dialects of languages which are mentioned in this catalogue.

He no doubt, too, had some slight acquaintance with several other proper languages, as distinguished from mere dialectical variations of one language. He may, indeed, have acquired a few languages of which there is no record.

He was thus a perfect master of probably eight or ten languages; though it is not possible to determine in every instance precisely what ones. Dr. Sears testifies, that when a student in Germany he spoke about as many as Tholuck, which was at least six. He knew profoundly, as a philologist, and wrote, certainly thirteen, probably fourteen or fifteen, possibly nineteen, or even by chance, over twenty. He knew profoundly as a philologist at least, and read with ease, with the help of the lexicons, almost certainly twenty-one, and well, probably twenty-four. He knew in all, at least slightly, and in one way or another, probably between twenty-five and thirty. He knew, at least well enough for him to claim to know something of them, twenty-five, including English, and excluding mere dialectical variations of any one language.

And herein is an insight to J. Addison Alexander’s extensive linguistic knowledge which is evident in his articles, Biblical commentaries, and other writings. What a gift to know languages, and what a blessing to readers even today who benefit from such knowledge. In the words of Roger Bacon (Opus Tertium), “Knowledge of languages is the first gateway to wisdom.”