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The Stone Lectures constitute a famous tradition that encompasses Abraham Kuyper’s Lectures on Calvinism (1898) and Herman Bavinck’s The Philosophy of Revelation (1908), among other notable examples. But for whom are these lectures given bi-annually at Princeton Theological Seminary named?
Levi Payson Stone was born on May 1, 1802 in Wendell, Massachusetts. Raised in a religious household, he became a successful businessman. His father’s counsel, which he followed, was: “See to it my child, that the world does not get too strong a hold of your affections. It is a deadly enemy to the soul. Be diligent in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.”
One key moment in his life was the reading of Charles Hodge’s The Way of Life.
…the thing that brought him to the light, and gave him settled convictions, was the reading of Dr. Charles Hodge's Way of Life, in which the words in II Cor. 5: 14, were explained in a way that was new to him. When he saw what the Apostle meant in saying, "If one died for all, then were all dead," — that is, not that all were dead in sin before Christ died for them, but that all died in Him to sin when He died; — " If one died for all, then all died;" — when he caught sight of this clear statement of a vicarious atonement in which the Lord Jesus became the sinner's substitute, bearing the penalty in his stead, his mind was filled with light and peace. And ever afterward he seemed grateful to the man who had been the means of opening his eyes. To some extent, this doubtless explains the deep interest he took in Princeton Seminary, in which Dr. Hodge was a professor.
He made a personal covenant which reads as follows:
Lord's day, July 4, 1830. It is this month two years since I began to indulge a hope in the mercy of God in Jesus Christ; and one year this day since I took upon me the vows of God in pubhc, and was admitted into the communion and fellowship of the church. Relying on the promises to repenting sinners of acceptance through the Redeemer, I do this day renewedly devote myself to the service of God; all my faculties of body and mind, all my time, property and influence, resolving to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ, and to live no longer unto myself, but unto Him that died for me, choosing Him for my whole portion for time and eternity. Through divine assistance. — L. P. S.
In his memoir, one can read snatches of his poetry from the journal that he kept during this time. It was in 1841 that he was ordained to serve as a deacon at the Brick Presbyterian Church in New York City. Gardiner Spring was the pastor of that congregation at the time.
After retiring in 1866, Stone endowed the L.P. Stone Lectureship at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1871. Shortly before his death in 1884, he bequeathed to the same seminary a collection of old Puritan books. Both a director and a trustee of Princeton Theological Seminary, he also served as director of the German Theological Seminary at Newark, New Jersey (now known as Bloomfield College).
After an illness, he entered into glory on December 31, 1884. The prayer at his memorial service was offered by A.A. Hodge. His name lives on not only through the lectureship which he sponsored, but also in the Book of Life in which all saints are held in precious remembrance. “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints” (Ps. 116:15). Read more about his life and legacy here.
