William Henry Green, a professor at Princeton Theological Seminary in the 19th century, answered these questions in a brief sermon on Luke 4:18-19 at the installation service of Rev. Heman Timlow in 1856. This sermon (along with the charge by Daniel Dana) can be found here, where we plan to upload more of Green's works in the future!
Is this the only 19th century Presbyterian to write a novel?
Franklin Pierce Ramsay evidently was both a BCO nerd and a storyteller. He wrote A Exposition of The Form of Government and the Rules of Discipline of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, and a novel: The Question. No, I haven't read the novel, so I have no idea if it's any good. But the mere fact that a 19th-20th century Presbyterian pastor and teacher wrote a novel is a bit startling. Check it out and let us know what you think.
A Missionary's Farewell - Why John Bailey Adger went to preach the gospel in Asia Minor
In 1834, 24-year-old John Bailey Adger of South Carolina prepared to sail across the world to minister the gospel to the Armenians in Asia Minor, sent out by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. But why would he go to a foreign nation, when the need was so great in his own country? To the Executive Committee of the Southern Board of Foreign Missions, he penned this Farewell Letter. It is a beautiful apologetic for the work of missions to every people, tribe, tongue and nation.
A snippet: "Great as are our domestic necessities, I have been unable to convince myself, that it is my duty to remain in America! Why? Simply because I hear a louder call from Asia. Our Savior's ascending command, bids us evangelize the whole world. But his ministers are chiefly confined to a small portion of the earth. Very few Americans (hardly any from the South) have left their country to go to more destitute lands. All seem occupied in looking down at the contracted space around their own feet. Instead of the telescope, we are using the microscope. Instead of all mankind, we think only of our own countrymen. Instead of the whole harvest, we are anxious about reaping only the produce of a little corner. Instead of the whole glory of THE SAVIOR OF MANKIND, we are striving to win for Jesus, only a dim and lustreless diadem. I desire not that such views and feelings should be mine. It is the duty of the Church of Christ, and it should be my endeavour, 'to lift up the eyes and look round about.' Our Master has instructed us to teach all nations. He has allotted us our work upon a great scale. We must, therefore, 'attempt great things, and expect great things.' (the motto of William Carey, D.D., Baptist Missionary to India)."
William Swan Plumer's commentaries on Hebrews and Romans are as rich as his commentary on the Psalms.
Thanks to Banner of Truth, William Swan Plumer's commentary on the Psalms has been a blessing to the church not only in the 19th century, but in the 20th and 21st centuries as well. Unfortunately, his commentaries on Hebrews and Romans have not remained in print. Yet they contain the same exegetical, theological, practical, and pastoral gems that are found in his work on the Psalms. Here is a beautiful example, from his note on Hebrews 12:1-2:
Hebrews 12:1-12 largely introduces to us the subject of afflictions. To pious people this matter possesses special interest. They and all their friends are liable to suffer. For some kinds of grief custom allows us to hang out signals of distress, and to call on friends for lively sympathy. But many sorrows must be borne in silence and retirement. The dove lays her wing over the arrow that pierced her. The wounded hart seeks the silent dell there to die, and the child of sorrow often goes to his chamber to weep alone. The widow in her weeds may be truly sad, but her neighbor without a yard of black crape may be suffering ten times more. It is often a relief when we can say: “Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me,” Job 19:21. But often we are compelled like the sad prophet to “weep in secret places,” Jer. 13:17.
Sometimes tears come to the relief of the sorrowing. Then again their moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Dry sorrow drinks up their blood and spirits. Some afflictions are brief; others are lasting. Sadness sends some to their closets: others, to their graves. It covers some with wrinkles; others, with the clods of the valley. “Many are the afflictions of the righteous; but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.”
Very good men have bad punishments sent on them for particular sins. What sufferings came on Jacob for supplanting his brother? Leah is deceitfully given him for Rachel. And all his worldly goods are imperiled, yea and his life also by Esau. The rebellion of Absalom was a punishment on David for a particular sin, 2 Sam. 12:9-12. The father of John the Baptist, though he and his wife habitually walked in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless, was yet by the judgment of God made dumb for nearly a year as a punishment for his unbelief, Luke 1:20. So that all temporal punishments are not confined to the reprobate. Yet we should guard against censoriousness and uncharitableness, when we see others suffering. It is seldom proper for us to say that a given calamity befalling one of our neighbors is a punishment for a particular sin. This was the great error of Job’s friends. Our Saviour warned us against this offence when he spoke of the fall of the tower in Siloam, etc., Luke 13:1-5.
We are less apt to err in regarding particular afflictions sent on ourselves as punishments for particular transgressions. Thus even a heathen said: “As I have done, so God hath requited me,” Jud. 1:6. The pious Jews confessed that the Babylonish captivity was in punishment for their great sins, Ezra 9:13. To Israel God said: “You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore will I punish you for all your iniquities,” Amos 3:2. Yet even pious men may misinterpret God’s dealings with them, and without a cause write bitter things against themselves. We may reverently pray, “Shew me wherefore thou contendest me;” but we may not always decide that our afflictions are judgments sent on us for particular sins.
Some afflictions are exemplary. God often makes his people a spectacle to angels and to men. He commonly keeps the path to heaven moist with tears, and often with the blood of his saints. To this end in part the worthies of old suffered. “Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.” Jas. 5:10. Rich treasures have been laid up for the church in the illustrious heroism of her suffering members. In the days of legal persecution the blood of the martyrs was the seed of the church. Mohammedanism triumphed by the blood of its foes; Christianity, by the blood of its friends. To this day the history of the martyrs ministers strength to the faith and fortitude of God’s suffering people. The Lord’s people are never sent a warfare at their own charges. Perhaps they are never more sustained than when outward things look dark. So thought Paul: “As the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.” 2 Cor. 1:5. Nor could the people of God from age to age do well without such examples. They stir them up to do and suffer all God’s will. To the plain and obscure they often give vast opportunities for usefulness. To a heathen tyrant, who was posing her with hard questions, a poor woman said: “I cannot dispute for Christ, but I can burn for him.” I have seen a whole community turn aside to admire the grace of God in one of his people, rustic in manners, poor in worldly goods, and weak in intellect, yet remarkable for severity of sufferings, and patience of spirit.
Some afflictions are designed to prevent worse evils. Sin is more to be dreaded than any earthly sorrow. God often makes men sick to teach them their weakness. Many things are permitted deeply to mortify us, that pride may not be our ruin. The cruel deceit of some gay worldling drives us from the giddy circle, which jeopards our salvation. In this life good men are often sorely chastened that they may not be condemned with the world. 1 Cor. 11:32. When God undertakes a man’s salvation, he will not permit any of his sins to have dominion over him. To do this, he sees best to spoil their pleasant things, write “vanity of vanities” on the glories of earth, and bring down their hearts with labor and sorrow. Low as are the attainments of God’s people, they would have been far less but for divine chastenings.
God’s people are also afflicted in the way of discipline. “Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law.” It is well for the Lord to correct us, if we may thereby be made partakers of his holiness. In his last sickness Dr. Archibald Alexander said: “My pains are intended for my purification.” The good husbandman prunes every fruitful vine that he may make it more productive. Christ often calls the languishing graces of his people into lively exercise by methods as strange as they are salutary. We wish to walk by sight, God would have us to walk by faith. Like Job in distress we cry out, “Oh that I knew where I might find him. Behold I go forward; but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him; on the left hand where he doth work, but I cannot behold him; he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him,” Job 23:8, 9. Yet one thus tried may soon be able to say: “Though he slay me, yet will I trust him.” All the graces of the Spirit, not excepting joy, thrive best when the waters of affliction somewhat moisten their roots. Let us not object to the treatment God gave to the prophets, martyrs and confessors, who reached the kingdom of heaven through great tribulation Yea the Captain of our salvation himself was made perfect through sufferings.
In all our afflictions, whatever their design, let us in patience possess our souls. “He, who composes his own mind, is greater than he, who composes a book.” “He that ruleth his spirit is better than he that taketh a city.” “It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. He sitteth alone, and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him. He putteth his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope.” To be as a weaned child is a great attainment.
Plumer continues this train of thought for several more pages, discussing the truths that God has told us in order that we might behave wisely and quietly under trials, and the several things that we learn by way of application from Hebrews 12:1-2 in particular. If you are teaching or preaching through Hebrews or Romans, take advantage of Plumer!
Another 19th century Presbyterian Biblical Theology - this one specifically on the OT
We highlighted Stuart Robinson's book Discourses on Redemption recently, but that is not the only work of Biblical theology to come from the 19th century. Charles Colcock Jones, the subject of a chapter in Iain Murray's book Heroes, wrote The History of the Church of God in the Period of Revelation. Published posthumously, it was intended to be the Old Testament volume in a two volume set, but poor health and then death prevented Jones from writing/publishing his work on the New Testament. Jones walks through the Old Testament story of grace, showing in detail the unfolding plan of God's covenant with His people. As the title indicates, he believes that the people of God before Jesus' coming were, in fact, the church of God. Would that Christians today held such a view of the unity of God's people!
As with other books on this site, you will find that Jones argues that the institution of slavery as practiced in the American South was sanctioned by the Bible. Log College Press does not advocate this view, but includes these writings in an attempt to collect on our site all the 18th-19th century American Presbyterian writings that are available digitally, for historical reference, and to remember that even heroes have feet of clay. In this particular case, there is a large baby in the bathwater, and from our chronological distance we declaim the latter while proclaiming the former.
What did a 19th century pastor want his motherless daughter to know as she set out in life?
William Buell Sprague, author and editor of wonderful biographies of American pastors (soon to be posted here!), also wrote beautiful and instructive letters to his daughter. Her mother (his wife) had passed away some time previously, and so he desired to set down in writing his hopes and dreams and directions for her as she prepared to go out from his household. These letters are not only of historical significance, but also are of great practical value even to us in the 21st century today. To be sure, times have changed - but with chapters such as "Early Friendships," "Marriage," "Improvement of Time," "Practical Religion," and "Humility," surely our Christian daughters could benefit from Sprague's book. It can be found in its entirety here.
"There is a sense in which the preacher preaches himself" -- Joseph Ruggles Wilson
Few remember that Joseph Ruggles Wilson, the father of President Woodrow Wilson, was a Presbyterian pastor in 19th century America. In an article in The Southern Presbyterian Review entitled "In What Sense Are Preachers To Preach Themselves," he discusses the power and importance of the individual in the act and ethos of preaching. A snippet:
"[The agency of preaching] is, so far as it possesses visibility, entrusted to men, who are to wield it, in God's name, each according to his own idiosyncracies of mental and moral character. The preacher's power over those to whom he addresses the word of salvation,(whilst, indeed, it could be nothing—certainly nothing very valuable—were he not sent and sustained by the Almighty, whose servant he is yet,) greatly depends upon what he himself is. That is, there is a sense in which the preacher preaches himself. He is more than a mere instructor. His work does not terminate in the mere act of imparting information, of opening up truth, and causing people to know what they were before ignorant of. If he stopped here, there might be no necessity for his office; books could convey instruction as well, or better, and a general distribution amongst men of plain treatises upon religious subjects, might probably take the place of the living teacher. Indeed, the inquiry has been started in certain quarters, where now is the use of so much public preaching, seeing that the press is so active in sending forth ever-increasing multitudes of cheap printed volumes, whose pages teem with all the knowledge of Scripture that is needed by the reading masses? The answer to this query is not alone to be found in the fact that there are many who cannot read, and therefore must be orally taught; or in the very different fact that God having instituted preaching as the means for drawing souls to himself, will own only his own ordinance in effecting this great result. The truer and profounder answer is, that they who favor this suggestion altogether mistake the nature of a preaching office; regarding it as nothing more than a teaching office. They leave this entirely out of the account, viz.: that the preacher is a man who employs sacred truth as a vehicle through which he brings his own peculiar distinctive self to bear upon his fellow-men. That truth is with him not mere knowledge, but this knowledge woven into his own experiences, and it is these experiences which he seeks to impress upon others in a way that shall make them their experiences as well. He publishes salvation as he himself understands it, and as he has come to understand it thoroughly by having imbibed it into his own soul. Hence he says, "I believe, therefore I speak.'' From the storehouse of his own convictions he strives to convince. It is these convictions that constitute him a preacher at all; and in proportion to their warmth and strength is he a mighty preacher."
You can read the entire article here.
(You will also see on Wilson's page an unfortunate sermon advocating the righteousness of American slavery; as with many of our Presbyterian forefathers, Wilson believed that slavery was a Biblical institution. Log College Press in no way affirms or advocates these views, but includes these writings in an attempt to collect on our site all the 18th-19th century American Presbyterian writings that are available digitally, for historical reference, and as a humbling reminder that all men have feet of clay.)
Why do we remember the fathers and mothers of the faith? John L. Girardeau: "To magnify the grace of God."
John Lafayette Girardeau, in his eulogy of George Howe, uttered these words, which remind us that the primary purpose of Christian biography is to glorify God by remembering the work He has done in His servants:
“In doing honor to those who have attained to eminence, there is a tendency unduly to exalt the perfection of human nature, from the indulgence of which we are restrained by the principles of Christianity. It can never be forgotten by those who are imbued with its instructions and possessed of a consciousness illuminated by its light, that all men, even the greatest and best, are sinners; and that, whatever advancement in mere moral culture may be effected by the force of natural resolution, neither the beginning nor the development of holiness is possible without the application of the blood of atonement, and the operation of supernatural grace. To signalise, therefore, the virtues of a departed Christian is to celebrate the provisions of redemption, and to magnify the graces of the Holy Ghost.”
Because Christians are sinners, we dare not lionize them. But because Christians are God's workmanship, redeemed in Christ Jesus, we dare not demonize them.
Presbyterians in South Carolina, do you know your church's history?
In 1870 and 1883, George Howe (professor at Columbia Theological Seminary from 1831 until his death in 1883) published his two volume opus magnum: The History of the Presbyterian Church in South Carolina. If you are a Presbyterian living in the Palmetto State, this should at least be a book you peruse (it's over 1500 pages long, so I doubt many will read it in its entirety). Telling the story of God's faithfulness in South Carolina through 1850, Howe performed a great service to the church, and we do well to remember the story, the servant who told it, and the God at the center of it all.
The story of William Sheppard, African-American Presbyterian missionary to the Congo, is amazing.
If you're a Presbyterian and you've never heard of William Henry Sheppard, that isn't surprising. But it is disappointing. He was a black Southern Presbyterian missionary to the Congo, who overcame prejudice and segregation to bring the gospel to the Congolese. At times perhaps he seems to have been more explorer and artifact collector than Christian missionary, but his impact on Presbyterian and world history was significant in both church and state. You can read his account of his missionary journeys here.
Why does Covenant Theology matter? A little known gem from John L. Girardeau
In 1884, a memorial volume was published in recognition of the 50th anniversary of Columbia Theological Seminary (we'll have this book uploaded eventually!). There were several significant articles in this volume, but perhaps none more important than John Lafayette Girardeau's "The Federal Theology: Its Import and Its Regulative Influence." Girardeau gives several reasons why covenant theology matters, and the way it shapes our theology as Presbyterians. This thirty-three page has been reprinted in the last twenty-five years, but it is now out of print. Yet it still deserves a broad readership. So read, share, and read again. You won't be disappointed.
The Practical Writings of Archibald Alexander
Archibald Alexander (1772-1851) was an academic: nine years the President of Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia, and thirty-nine years the first Professor of Princeton Theological Seminary. But he was also an author that aimed to take his great learning and bring it down to the level of the people. One of the last volumes he published in his lifetime (Practical Sermons, 1850) , and a volume published posthumously (Practical Truths, 1857), are proof. The former was written for families to use in family worship, and the latter was a "Collected Writings" that contained "about forty articles written by Dr. Alexander in the latter years of his life, for the American Messenger; seven standard Tracts on high evangelical themes, for the Tract Society's general series; six small books written in simple style, and issued in large type, to gain the attention of common readers; selections from his cheering correspondence with the Society, and brief sketches of his life and character" (from the Preface).
Who can take the sinner's stead? Francis Smith Sampson on the necessity of the work of Jesus Christ
Francis Smith Sampson (1814-1854) was a pastor and professor at Union Theological Seminary in Virginia. He died young, but left us with several gems, including a commentary on Hebrews and a lecture on the canon. The following is an excerpt from a sermon included in his Memoirs, written by Robert Lewis Dabney. It beautifully expresses the sole sufficiency of Jesus Christ to save sinners.
"It behooved another, far above every creature and every name that is named, whether in Heaven or on Earth, to undertake and execute for us. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, coequal with the Father, in all respects divine, stoops to take our nature upon himself. It is not man, nor angel, but God-man, or God manifest in the flesh, that is our Saviour. It is he, whose are the worlds and all the inhabitants thereof: who holds in his hands the government and the law: dependent on no being, and bound to none beyond his own righteous ordination. Of his own account, therefore, he comes; and, moved by no obligation but his own merciful and sovereign purpose, he assumes our nature complete, saving sin; thus freely subjecting himself to the law, that he may meet all its demands upon the sinner, and not only deliver him from eternal death, but secure for him everlasting life. To purchase Heaven, he obeys the law: to save from Hell, he suffers death. Infinite justice accepts the substitute. No mere creature could ever so magnify the law and make it honorable. No obedience was ever so worthy, no suffering was ever so satisfactory. The law can ask nothing more: its claims are fully met. Our iniquities were laid upon him: his righteousness is reckoned to us. Hell was our desert; Heaven is our reward! It only remains that this Saviour be able to take us, all deformed as we are, and fashion us after his own glorious image: that he be able to deliver us from the bondage of Satan, whose captives we are, and from sin, whose pollutions we love; and thus, while he gives us freedom, enable us to preserve and enjoy it: and he is all the Saviour, and the very Saviour that we need.
All this he can do, and will, for all who call upon him in truth. A new heart he will give them: new desires he will create within them, and new objects of pursuit he will set before them. He will never leave nor forsake them. In all the wilderness he will be their companion and guardian and guide: no enemy shall triumph over them, no weapon formed against them shall prosper. All the trials and difficulties of the way he will convert into blessings: all things, by his care, shall work together for their good. And when, their course being finished and their work done, they come to leave all that is dear on earth, he will take them to himself: Heaven will be their home, and in his presence they shall dwell: sorrow and sin shall have seen their end; and the high and holy joys of angels and saints shall be theirs forever and ever.
There was a book on Biblical Theology in the 19th c. Presbyterian Church before Vos!
If you have never heard of or read Stuart Robinson's Discourses of Redemption, you are in for a treat. Traversing the story of God's covenants with His people, Robinson opens up redemption in Jesus Christ from the beginning of God's dealings with men in the Garden of Eden, through Abraham, Moses, David, the Prophets, and culminating in Christ Jesus and His apostles. In addition to opening up the theology of the gospel and its sacramental signs/seals in historical and theological fashion, along the way he sets forth his views on the abiding principle of Sabbath observance, the place of the church in the plan of redemption, the relationship between church and state, and the non-secular character of the church. Like most of the Southern Presbyterian clergy, Robinson was an advocate of slavery, and that position comes through at times in his writings. But this book deserves a wider audience nonetheless. It has been reprinted by Tentmaker Publishers.
What Do Presbyterians Believe About Baptism?
As Baptists and Presbyterians spread throughout the growing United States in the 19th century, debates about baptism became more prevalent. Thus the century saw many books written on the subject of baptism: its meaning, its mode, its recipients. The subject has not lost its importance, and sometimes the writings of the 19th century can be more helpful than modern works. We'll put as many as we can find on our website eventually, but for now check out one from the early 19th century (John Holt Rice's Essay on Baptism), and one from a 19th century man in the early 20th century (Thomas Cary Johnson's Baptism in the Apostolic Age).
Two key 19th century histories of the American Presbyterians Churches
In the late 1890s, Phillip Schaff led a team of editors in publishing the American Church History Series, "consisting of denominational histories published under the auspices of the American Society of Church History." Thomas Cary Johnson wrote the history of the Southern Presbyterian Church, and Robert Ellis Thompson wrote the history of the Northern Presbyterian Church. Both are foundational for understanding how the 19th century Presbyterian churches understood themselves and their past, present, and futures. One nice feature of these books is a detailed bibliography of sources used from the 18th and 19th centuries. These volumes are little known, but worth reading.
Should Christians raise children who love missions? Thomas Smyth says, "Absolutely. And here's what that means."
"It is evident that parents are laid under obligation not only to “train their children in the way that they should go, that when they are old they may not depart from it,” but also to “bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord,” that is, (as the words certainly mean, and should be rendered in order to make them more intelligible,) “bring them up in the education and discipline of Christians,” that is, of those who “are the Lord's.” We are thus taught that our children by their baptism are devoted to the Lord, and become members of his church and kingdom, and that we are under obligation to bring them up as such, not merely by instructing them, and thoroughly imbuing their minds with Christian truth, but also by accustoming them to, and interesting them in, every part of Christian activity, devotedness, and zeal.
"It follows, therefore, as an undeniable inference, that it is incumbent upon every Christian, parent, teacher, and church, to see to it that the children of their charge are brought up as the Lord's,—as Christians,—as members of his visible church,—and therefore not only as those who ought to believe in him, and to know the doctrines that are of God, but as those who are bound also to love him, to serve him, to honor him, and to co-operate, according to their measure of ability and their sphere of influence, in the promotion of his glory, and the advancement of his cause. And as the term “Missionary” is employed to designate the work of making known “the glorious gospel of the blessed God” to those that know it not,—which is the great work and duty of the church, and of every Christian—it is therefore our manifest duty to bring up our children in a missionary spirit, and in a missionary practice.
"A missionary is one who is sent to preach the gospel to those that are “sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death,” whether abroad, or in our own country. To have a missionary spirit, is to be anxiously desirous that such missionaries should be sent, and the gospel made known to all that are “perishing for lack of knowledge.” And a missionary practice or habit, is the habit of carrying out this desire, first, by praying that such missionaries may be raised up “and sent forth by the Lord of the harvest, into every part of his vineyard ; secondly, by contributing as far as we can towards meeting the necessary expense of sending and supporting these missionaries, and supplying what is necessary to establish schools and print bibles, and other needful books; and, thirdly, by uniting with zeal in such efforts as will promote this spirit, and secure this habit…
"[It] is utterly impossible to have a missionary spirit, unless the heart is full of love and devotion to the cause of Christ; unless we can with pleasure give up everything however much it might add to our present comfort or happiness if it interferes with our duty; and unless we can bear all sorts of privations and trials that we may meet with in that narrow path. In short, to be able in all things to give up self, and think only how we can best serve God, promote his glory, and do his will, this alone is a real Missionary spirit. But this is the very spirit which must be shown, if we would see God's glory promoted, in every situation of life in which it may please him to place us. And hence we have seen some people who never went ten miles from home, do as much good in winning souls to Christ, as if they had left their country and travelled thousands of miles to reach the heathen. Missionaries, therefore, in the true sense of the word, but above all, a Missionary spirit, are needed everywhere! and in every condition of life."
-- from Thomas Smyth, "The Duty of Interesting Children in the Missionary Cause," in Complete Works of Thomas Smyth , Volume 7, pages 332, 345.
Why should Christians care what the Bible says about the character and conduct of pastors? John Witherspoon answers.
"To understand what ought to be the character, and what principles should animate the conduct of a minister of the Gospel, cannot be without profit, even to a private Christian. It will teach him whom to prefer, when he is called, in providence, to make a choice. It will teach him to hold such in reputation for their office sake, and to improve the privilege of a regular gospel ministry, if he himself is favored with it. And I think it must incline him to make daily supplication to the Lord of the harvest, to send forth faithful laborers into his harvest." -- John Witherspoon, "Ministerial Character and Duty," in Works (Volume 2)
How did 19th century Presbyterians understand the history of the Presbyterian Church?
It's always interesting to see how a particular time period understood itself - where it was, how it got there, and where it was going. We've just uploaded two classic histories of the Presbyterian Church: Richard Webster wrote in the middle of the 19th century about the Presbyterian Church from its founding till 1760. George Hays wrote at the end of the 19th century about the entire history up to his day. Hays' work is unique in that he asked authors from the respective Presbyterian denominations of that time to write the history of their particular church (i.e., Moses Drury Hoge writes the history of the Southern Presbyterian Church).
A few biographies from which to select for your Lord's Day reading...
We have links to several 19th century biographies of 19th century men on the Log College Press website: among others, The Life and Letters of Moses Drury Hoge (by Peyton Harrison Hoge), The Life of Archibald Alexander (by James Waddell Alexander), The Life of Joseph Addison Alexander (by Henry Carrington Alexander), a biography of John Gloucester (by William Catto), The Memoirs of John Leighton Wilson (by Hampton Coit DuBose), and Southern Presbyterian Leaders (by Henry Alexander White). We'll be posting more in weeks to come, but these should keep you occupied till then!