600 pages of wisdom from Francis Grimke

Presbyterian pastor Francis Grimke (1850-1937) lived to the age of 87, and maintained the heart of a pastor till his final years. As he withdrew from public ministry, he continued to write in his notebooks, recording thoughts on preaching, ministry in general, the Bible, the Christian life, and the importance of character, as well as reflections on the racial situation of his day, observations on historical events and figures, and tender thoughts about his deceased wife. His love for Jesus, the gospel, the church, and his wife come through so clearly in the "Stray Thoughts and Meditations" that make up Volume 3 of his Works. Every pastor would do himself a favor to read and meditate upon the wise words of Grimke.

Two Books on the First Two Questions and Answers of the Westminster Shorter Catechism

John Hall (1806-1894), who edited the Letters of J.W. Alexander, is the author of book-length (100+ pages each) expositions of the first two questions and answers of the Westminster Shorter Catechism: The Chief End of Man: An Exposition of the First Answer of the Shorter Catechism (1841), and The Scriptures the Only Rule of Faith: An Exposition of the Second Answer of the Shorter Catechism (1844). To help us understand, from the Scriptures, what is our purpose in life, and what is the rule of our faith and practice, is the aim of these first portions of our Catechism, and Hall expounds these questions and answers in-depth. These volumes are intended for young as well as old, and they are an encouragement to all who read them with the heart of a child. Both of these works have been reprinted by Solid Ground Christian Books, the former with an essay on the Shorter Catechism by B.B. Warfield. They are spiritual gems, and worth downloading for prayerful study and application. 

Two Presbyterian Laymen, One Name

Elias Boudinot IV (1740-1821) was a Presbyterian laymen of French Huguenot descent. His father was a neighbor and friend of Benjamin Franklin. Boudinot IV lived a remarkable life, serving as President of the Continental Congress, Director of the United States Mint, Congressional Representative for the State of New Jersey, and founder and President of the American Bible Society. He had a particular interest in promoting the rights of black Americans and American Indians. He sponsored one young Cherokee Indian by the name of Buck Watie (his brother Stand Watie later famously fought as a General for the Confederate Army). The two men had such respect for each other that the younger Cherokee man adopted the name of his benefactor and became Elias Boudinot (1802-1839). As a leader of the Cherokee Nation, he edited their first newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix, using the new written alphabet created by Sequoyah. His Address to the Whites (1826) was delivered in the First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, and aimed to raise funds funds for a Cherokee academy and a printing press, as well as to help the white population better understand the aboriginal situation. Both of these Presbyterian laymen shared an understanding that all men of whatever color were created in the image of God, and ought to be free, whether from British tyranny or from racial prejudice. Their works are worth reading today. 

America's Foremost Hymnologist

Widely described as America's "foremost hymnologist," Louis FitzGerald Benson (1855-1930) was born and died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His first venture in the practice of law, after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania School of Law, lasted seven years; but later he studied at Princeton Theological Seminary, graduating in 1887. He was ordained for the ministry in 1888 and pastored a congregation in Germantown, Pennsylvania, until 1894. He later edited Presbyterian and Congregational hymnals, served as special lecturer in Liturgies at Auburn Seminary; served as Honorary Librarian at the Presbyterian Historical Society (1905-1923); and was thrice appointed to serve as the L.P. Stone Lecturer at Princeton Seminary (1906-1907, 1909-1910, 1925-1926). His personal library exceeded 9,000 volumes, and his collection of rare books was notable; many were donated to Princeton, and the Louis F. Benson Hymnology Collection is one of the gems of Princeton Theological Seminary’s Special Collections, being housed at Speer Library. "Among the numerous accolades received by Dr. Benson is a reference to him in the 1920 edition of Grove's Dictionary, as 'a foremost hymnologist.' Dr. Henry Jackson van Dyke called Louis Fitzgerald Benson the foremost hymnologist that America has produced" (Source).

His writings on the history of Psalmody in the Reformed Churches and the development of English hymnody are invaluable to the student of Reformed worship and liturgies. His study of William Shakespeare's use of the metrical Psalter makes for fascinating reading to students of both literature and church history. His Studies of Familiar Hymns gives valuable background information on how many particularly memorable hymns entered Presbyterian worship. He was also a composer of hymns and poems himself. If you have not had the opportunity to read Benson on the history of song in Reformed worship, be sure to look over the works we have added to his page at Log College Press. They represent the finest scholarship of his day on this topic, and have stood the test of time. 

Thornwell's Analysis of Calvin's Institutes

James Henley Thornwell (1812-1862) employed John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion as his textbook at Columbia Theological Seminary because, as Bruce Gordon notes, he "regarded Calvin's book as the fullest expression of Reformed theology" (John Calvin's 'Institutes of the Christian Religion': A Biography, p. 117). 

Benjamin Morgan Palmer recounts remarks by a student concerning Thornwell's opening lecture on the Institutes: "I remember well the account he gave of his visit to Calvin's grave, and of his musings upon the molding influence of the mighty Reformer upon theological thought: and the statement of his conviction, that the emergencies of the conflict with Rationalistic infidelity were now forcing the whole Church more and more to occupy Calvin's ground. His pale face alternated with flushes of red and white, as he was speaking, and his eye dilated until it seemed almost supernaturally large and luminous. Deeply moved myself, and fired with an enthusiasm for Calvin, which I hope never to lose, I turned a moment's glance to find the class spell-bound by the burst of eloquence and feeling" (The Life and Letters of James Henley Thornwell, p. 534). Gordon comments: "Thornwell must have divined some secret knowledge to have known where Calvin was buried" (Ibid., p. 118).

There are modern study guides to Calvin's Institutes, such as J. Mark Beach, Piety's Wisdom: A Summary of Calvin's Institutes with Study Questions (2010), but what we find in Thornwell's Collected Writings, Vol. 1, in Appendices C and D, starting at p. 597, although incomplete, constitutes a valuable 19th contribution to the study of Calvin's magnum opus

Titled "Analysis of Calvin's Institutes, With Notes and Comments" and "Questions on Calvin's Institutes," the former is a summary and analysis of the first three books of the Institutes, while the latter is drawn from the first book. One wishes that we had more of Thornwell's insightful comments and study questions on the rest of the book, but what we have here is a treasure. His analysis is skillful, and his questions are probing, both intended to elucidate a deeper understanding of Calvin's teaching. 

If you are seeking a guide to this world-changing book, consider Thornwell's 19th century contribution to studies of the Institutes.

Benjamin Franklin and the Presbyterians

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One of the most fascinating characters in colonial America is Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790). His relationship with Presbyterians and the Presbyterian Church of his day is also extraordinarily complex. He claimed in his Autobiography to have been raised "Presbyterian" in Boston, but the Old South Church in which he was baptized and raised was Congregational. (Franklin characteristically did not distinguish between Calvinististic Congregationalism and Presbyterianism.) He thought little of the doctrines of election, describing them as "unintelligible." As a youth, he had a memorable encounter with Cotton Mather (Congregational). His favorite book was John Bunyan's (Baptist) The Pilgrim's Progress. He was a great fan of George Whitefield as well, initially, although his feelings cooled towards Whitefield later on as the latter came to embrace the Log College men.

When he first came to Philadelphia in 1723, he attended a local Quaker meeting house; later he half-heartedly (for Franklin, attending church five Sabbaths in a row was a major achievement) attended the ministry of Jedediah Andrews at First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia. But as conflicts arose in the following decade over the ministry of assistant pastor Samuel Hemphill, who was expelled by the Synod of Philadelphia in 1735, Franklin defended Hemphill, and left the Presbyterian church he was attending (though he continued to financially support it). As editor of the Pennsylvania Gazette and as publisher, Franklin used the tools at his disposal to critique what he disliked about the Presbyterian church. The year 1735 saw him publish A Defence Of the Rev. Mr. Hemphill's Observations: or, an Answer to the Vindication of the Reverend Commission; and his Dialogue Between Two Presbyterians. In both of these works, he was more concerned to justify a focus on external morality over fidelity to Biblical and Confessional doctrine. In his controversies with the Presbyterians, he famously described using a vulgar term (see Joseph S. Moore, Founding Sins: How a Group of Antislavery Radicals Fought to Put Christ into the Constitution, p. 39); and he also famously referred to his opponents as "zealous Presbyterians" (letter dated January 9, 1760; also in his Autobiography; see Melvin H. Buxbaum, Benjamin Franklin and the Zealous Presbyterians), writing and publishing works both favorable towards and critical of the Covenanter theology of Alexander Craighead, the Great Awakening, and the Log College men. (Franklin once caused Gilbert Tennent's congregation to move, and declined a request from Tennent for financial assistance, though Franklin did give Tennent "free advice as to the best method of seeking contributions" (Milton J. Coalter, Jr., Gilbert Tennent, Son of Thunder: A Case Study of Continental Pietism's Impact on the First Great Awakening in the Middle Colonies, p. 139.)) Franklin became a Deist in his youth. Beginning in 1731, Franklin was also a Freemason, achieving the rank of Grand Master in 1734, and ultimately, Venerable Master. John Adams, himself a long-time Unitarian, described him thus: "The Catholics thought him almost a Catholic. The Church of England claimed him as one of them. The Presbyterians thought him half a Presbyterian, and the Friends believed him a wet Quaker." 

Interestingly, the first treatise published in America to denounce the monarch of Great Britain a tyrant (King Charles II) -- excepting an anonymous 1743 pamphlet said to be written by Alexander Craighead, which was condemned by the Synod of Philadelphia and of which no copy now remains -- was the 1743 Renewal of the Scottish National Covenant and Solemn League and Covenant, which was also work of Alexander Craighead, and which Benjamin Franklin published in 1744 and 1748. It is also said that Craighead, who went on from Pennsylvania to pastor the Sugar Creek Presbyterian Church, in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina until his death in 1766, inspired the writing of the 1775 Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, which preceded the 1776 Declaration of Independence, of which Benjamin Franklin served on the committee which authored it. Franklin abhorred Craighead's zealous Presbyterianism and would have viewed his brand of Presbyterianism as ecclesiastical and civil tyranny, but came to embrace a zeal for independence from Great Britain, not dissimilar from Craighead, on grounds of rejecting the Crown's civil tyranny.

And yet...from Franklin's own printing press, he published the following by some noted Presbyterian writers, including some available to read here at Log College Press (and some that we hope to add): Ralph Erskine, Gospel Sonnets (1740); Josiah Smith, The Character, Preaching, &c of the Rev. George Whitefield (1740); Samuel Finley (1715-1766)Letter to a Friend, Concerning Mr. Whitefield (1740), Christ Triumphing and Satan Raging (1741), Clear Light Put Out in Obscure Darkness (1743); Gilbert Tennent (1703-1764), Remarks Upon a Protestation to the Synod of Philadelphia (1741), A Sermon Upon Justification (1741), Brotherly Love Recommended by the Argument of the Love of Christ (1748), The Late Association for Defense Farther Encouraged (1748); Alexander Craighead (1707-1766), A Discourse Concerning the Covenants (1742), The Reasons of Mr. Alexander Craighead's Receding from the Present Judicatures of this Church, Together With Its Constitution (1743), Renewal of the Covenants, National and Solemn League (1744, 1748); Samuel Davies (1723-1761), A Sermon Preached Before the Reverend Presbytery of New-Castle (1753); Samuel Jacob Blair (1712-1751), The Doctrine of Predestination (1754); Henry Scougal, a German-language edition of his The Life of God in the Soul of Man (1756); and quite a few other Presbyterian works, such as the Westminster Standards (1745).

How to explain his general dislike of and active opposition towards "zealous Presbyterians" while at the same time his willingness to publish many works by such as would fit that description? One must be careful to avoid a simplistic answer to a question involving a man of such complexities as we find in Benjamin Franklin. For example, Franklin, despite his opposition to Gilbert Tennent's views, published several of his works, including a 1747 sermon defending the lawfulness of defensive wars, which must have carried some weight with the man who later designed and proposed a Great Seal for the United States, which contained a scene from Exodus and the words "Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God." But it is hard to argue with Joseph Moore's remark that the controversies within American Presbyterianism in the 1740s and 1750s caused Franklin to be "elated" because, for a secular printer, "they...were good for business" (Founding Sins, p. 39). And we can be thankful in the providence of God to have many of these works still around today, including those at Log College Press.

A. A. Hodge's "The Day Changed and the Sabbath Preserved"

Archibald Alexander Hodge's pamphlet, "The Day Changed and the Sabbath Preserved," is a brief yet powerful argument for the permanence of the Sabbath commandment in both old and new covenant administrations of the covenant of grace. If you've never seen a copy of the original pamphlet, you can find it on the Log College Press website

In the space of 22 small pages, Hodge states the grounds on which the church has held that the fourth commandment is a part of the unending moral law, and that the first day of the week has been substituted for the seventh day by the authority of Christ's apostles (and therefore of Jesus Himself). Here are his points, which he unpacks in sufficient detail given the scope of his work:

1. The particular day of the week on which the Sabbath was to be kept never was, or could be, of the essence of the institution itself.

2. The introduction of a new dispensation, in which a preparatory and particularistic national system is to be replaced by a permanent and universal one, embracing all nations to the end of time, is a suitable occasion to switch the day.

3. The amazing fact of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus on the first day of the week constitutes an evidently adequate reason for appointing that in the stead of the seventh day to be the Christian Sabbath.

4. During his life Jesus had affirmed that he was "Lord also of the Sabbath day."

5. From the time of John, who first gave the institution its best and most sacred title, "Lord's day," there is an unbroken and unexceptional chain of testimonies that the "first day of the week" was observed as the Christian's day of worship and rest. 

6. With this view the testimony of all the great Reformers and all historical branches of the modern Christian Church agree.

7. The change of the day by the apostolic church has thus been proved by historical testimony, to which much might be added if space permitted, but against which no counter-evidence exists. 

The strength of Hodge's pamphlet lies in that inclusion of historical testimony, both from the early church fathers and the Reformers. Hodge is aware that the Reformers made statements contradicting the view he is arguing for, but he contends that these statements, unguarded and unadvised as they were, were uttered in the context of the Romanists reasoning from the early church's altering a command of the decalogue to the power of Rome to impose obligations on Christians, even to the altering of divine laws. Hodge draws from the writings of the Reformers themselves to show that the Reformers spoke in accord with a right view of the Lord's Day as the Christian Sabbath in several places. 

In an age in which Sabbath keeping is ignored or anathema even amongst Christians, Hodge's pamphlet is an important piece of writing we are glad to made accessible again to the church.

Christ All in All: The Right Temper for a Theologian, by William Swan Plumer, is Now Available!

Our third publication is now for sale! Christ All in All: The Right Temper for a Theologian, by William Swan Plumer, is available in paperback, Kindle, and EPUB versions. Containing Plumer's two inaugural addresses (at Western Theological Seminary and Columbia Theological Seminary), this 32-page booklet will benefit all believers, and is a particular encouragement and exhortation to seminary students and officers in Christ's church. Plumer's Christ-centered piety shines through beautifully as he explains what the focus of theological studies should be and in what spirit the student of theology should approach such a transcendent topic. 

While you're in our online bookstore, make sure to check out our first two publications (Thomas Dwight Witherspoon's The Five Points of Presbyterianism and Cornelius Washington Grafton's A Forty-Three Year Pastorate in a Country Church) and our large collection of secondary sources on American Presbyterianism.

At Log College Press, we believe the past isn't dead, primary sources aren't inaccessible, and American Presbyterians aren't irrelevant. More publications are in the works, so every purchase paves the way for us to continue to collect and reprint the writings of and about American Presbyterians from the 18th and 19th centuries. Thanks for your support!

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Westminster Shorter Catechism for Today's Youth

When the Westminster Shorter Catechism was written in 1646-1648, it was designed, according to the Church of Scotland which adopted it, "to be a directory for catechising such as are of weaker capacity," in contrast the the Westminster Larger Catechism, which was, according to the same, designed to be a "a directory for those who have made some proficiency in the knowledge of the grounds of religion." 

Yet, in the 19th century -- not to mention the 21st -- some catechizers found it useful to revise the Shorter Catechism for the benefit of young persons. First, is Joseph Patterson Engles (1793-1861), a ruling elder at the Scots Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, and publishing agent for the Presbyterian Board of Publication. He designed a version of the Shorter Catechism titled Catechism for Young Children: Being an Introduction to the Shorter Catechism (1840). This work has been widely republished in modern times (and a very helpful study guide was produced about it by Jeff Kingswood, From the Lips of Little Ones: A Study in the in the Catechism for Very Little People, 2008), but it is believed that the PDF which appears on Log College Press (courtesy of Wayne Sparkman at the PCA Historical Center) is the only such scanned copy of the original work available on the internet today. The introduction is a precious word of encouragement to parents and teachers: "Emulate the spirit of the pious mother who, when asked by a witness of her patience and successful perseverance in the instruction of one of her children, 'How could you repeat that sentence to the child twenty times?' answered, 'If I had repeated it only nineteen times I should have lost my labor.'" The beginning of Engles' Catechism is also beloved by many: 

Q. 1. Who made you?
A. God.
Q. 2. What else did God make?
A. God made all things.
Q. 3. Why did God make you and all things?
A. For his own glory.
Q. 4. How can you glorify God?
A. By loving him and doing what he commands.

Second, James Robert Boyd (1804-1890), a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, pastor, educator, author of text-books, and other works, including an exposition of the Westminster Shorter Catechism. He also wrote The Child's Book on the Westminster Shorter Catechism (1855, since republished as A Child's Guide to the Westminster Shorter Catechism, 2015). Boyd designed this work for children 12 and under, and recommends that study and memorization of this version of the catechism be undertaken for an half hour each Sabbath afternoon. 

For parents who might feel that their young ones are not quite ready for the Westminster Shorter Catechism, these 19th century Presbyterian abbreviated versions may provide a suitable alternative, and while they are available in modern reprints, the introductions particularly to both works are not always included, and they are worth downloading for thoughtful consideration.

The 19th Century Debate over Unlawful Marriages

Among the debates that became prominent during the 19th century American Presbyterian (and Reformed) churches was the debate over what restrictions the Bible taught concerning relations of affinity and consanguinity within marriage. 

The Westminster Confession (24:4., 1646) states: 

"IV. Marriage ought not to be within the degrees of consanguinity or affinity forbidden in the Word; nor can such incestuous marriages ever be made lawful by any law of man, or consent of parties, so as those persons may live together, as man and wife. The man may not marry any of his wife's kindred nearer in blood than he may of his own, nor the woman of her husband's kindred nearer in blood than of her own."

The annotations of the Dutch Statenvertaling Bible, authorized by the Great Synod of Dort, on Leviticus 18:16, 18 also show the view of the Dutch Reformed Church, which was consistent with Westminster.

However, this particular understanding of the Levitical laws regarding marriage (the Westminster Assembly's proof-texts include New Testament passages as well as those from the book of Leviticus), has been often challenged in the years since. 

"When Samuel Miller was examined for licensure and ordination he took exception to the affinity sentence [WCF 24:4], but later in his ministry his view changed and he became convinced of the accuracy of the sentence." (Barry Waugh, The History of a Confessional Sentence: The Events Leading up to the Inclusion o f the Affinity Sentence in the Westminster Confession o f Faith, Chapter 24, Section 4, and the Judicial History Contributing to its Removal in the American Presbyterian Church, 2002 Ph.D., p. 274) Dr. Waugh notes the inclusion of two particular volumes contained in Samuel Miller's library after his death, which shed light on Miller's thinking on this matter. In a footnote on p. 111 of Dr. Waugh's most helpful dissertation, he writes: "Dr. Miller maintained some interest in the issues of marital affinity because the inventory of his library following his death revealed two near-kin titles. One book is Janeway’s, Unlawful Marriage, 1843, and the other is an 1816 work described as a Dissertation on Marrying a Wife's Sister, which may be Livingston’s A Dissertation on the Marriage of a Man with His Sister in Law (New Brunswick: Deare & Myer, 1816). See: Samuel Miller, “Catalogue, As Found at his Death,” PTSEM 1:3, pp. 2, 35."

Jacob Jones Janeway (1774-1858), in fact, studied under John Henry Livingston (1746-1825), who was not strictly speaking a Presbyterian, but was a leader of the Dutch Reformed Church in America. Janeway notes in the introduction to his book that the Dutch Reformed Church rescinded the rule against marriage to a deceased wife's sister in 1842. Both men opposed the tide that was overtaking both the American Presbyterian Church and the Dutch Reformed Church in America. Charles Hodge (1797-1878) in his Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, pp. 413ff, and elsewhere, also argued likewise. 

Nevertheless, in 1886, the Presbyterian Church in the United States officially removed the affinity sentence from WCF 24:4. This revision was retained in the 1936 WCF by the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) and, later, by the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). 

The works touching on this topic highlighted above can be read online at Log College Press. They provide a window not only into Samuel Miller's library, but also into a controversy that occupied many 19th century Presbyterian General Assemblies, and, though decided in certain branches of the Reformed and Presbyterian churches, continues to reverberate today. 

The Log College Press Bookstore Continues to Expand!

If you haven't checked out the Log College Press Bookstore lately, it's worth a few minutes of your time. We have no doubt that you will find books on American Presbyterian history that you've never heard of, and many that you'll wish you owned. The two booklets that Log College Press has published (The Five Points of Presbyterianism by Thomas Dwight Witherspoon and A Forty-Three Year Pastorate in a Country Church by Cornelius Washington Grafton) are also for sale, soon to be joined by our third booklet, William Swan Plumer's Christ All in All: The Right Temper for a Theologian. 

We're constantly adding books to our secondary source bookstore, so check back regularly! 

Wanted: A Samaritan

We have had occasion previously to take notice of the number of poets that are represented among the ministers highlighted at Log College Press. B.B. Warfield is one of those Presbyterian pastor-poets.

One of his particular compositions is brief but profound. Interestingly, he first published "Wanted: A Samaritan" in January 31, 1907 issue of The Independent under the non de plum "Nicholas Worth, Jr." It was later published under his own name in Four Hymns and Some Religious Verses (1910). 

Wanted: A Samaritan

Prone in the road he lay,
Wounded and sore bested:
Priests, Levites past that way
And turned aside the head.

They were not hardened men
In human service slack:
His need was great: but then,
His face, you see, was black.

Saturday Evening Retirement

Ashbel Green (1762-1848) in his Lectures on the [Westminster] Shorter Catechism, Vol. 2, p. 112, on the Fourth Commandment, after arguing in favor of midnight-to-midnight observance of the Christian Sabbath, or Lord's Day, offers this bit of wisdom regarding preparation for keeping the day holy: 

"As far as practicable, it will be well for you, my young friends, to adopt what I know has been the practice of some devout Christians; that is, to spend the evening of Saturday, as much as you conveniently can, in retirement from the world. The children of dissipation often spend it in parties of mirth and levity, or at theatres, or other places of carnal amusement; and they often add to their other sins, by an actual trespass on holy time. Take for yourselves an exactly opposite course. Whenever you can, so order your affairs that your worldly occupations on the evening preceding the Lord's day, may be of such a retired and peaceful kind, as to admit of serious meditation avoid promiscuous company altogether; let your associations at this time, be with the pious, and your conversation be on religious topics; or better still, if you can, spend a part at least of the evening, in religious reading and devout meditation. I am well aware that may are so circumstanced that a stated compliance with this advice will not be practicable; and I offer it, not as pointing out a prescribed duty, but as a matter of Christian prudence, with those who are favoured in providence to have their time in some degree at their voluntary disposal. Even our ordinary devotions, on secular days, will not usually be performed to the greatest advantage, unless they are preceded by a short space of recollected and serious thought. And it is highly desirable, with a view to the most profitable spending of holy time, to prepare for it, by getting our minds into a devoted frame. It is delightful in deed to the practical Christian, when the evening which precedes the Lord's day is so spent, that his very dreams become devout; and that he awakes in the morning on which his Saviour rose from the dead, with the aspirations of his mind going forth to Him, as he is now seated on his throne in the heavens, and with the whole soul attuned to the employments of the sacred hours of this blessed day." 

James Wood on the Theological Divide of the Old and New Schools

James Wood (1799-1867) was a 19th century American Presbyterian pastor (in Amsterdam, New York), seminary professor (at New Albany, Indiana), and college president (of Hanover College and Van Rensselaer Institute). Charles Hodge had this to say about Wood: "In common with all his brethren, I ever regarded him as one of our best, wisest, and most useful ministers. The important positions which he was called upon to fill are proofs of the high estimation in which he was held. His sound judgment, dignified manners, amiable temper, combined with his learning and energy, secured for him a wide and happy influence in the Church."

One of his most important works was Old and New Theology: Or an Exhibition of Those Differences with Regard to Scripture Doctrines, Which Have Recently Agitated and Now Divided the Presbyterian Church (first edition, 1838, second edition, 1845). In this book, Wood lays out what divided the Old School and the New School theologically: the imputation of Adam's sin, original sin, justification, human ability, regeneration, and more. Anyone interested in knowing more about why the Presbyterian Church in the United States split in 1837 should read this book. 

Pastoral Visitation Neglected, But Much-Needed

As an experienced pastor, such as Theodore Ledyard Cuyler (1822-1909), will tell you: A pastor's job does not consist solely in homiletics. "A large part of the labors of every settled minister lies outside the pulpit." 

Addressing an aspect of the ministry that is often overlooked to some degree -- pastoral visitation -- Cuyler goes on to say, in How to be a Pastor (1890): 

"The importance of all that portion of a minister’s work that lies outside of his pulpit can hardly be overestimated. What is the chief object of the Christian ministry? It goes without saying that it is to win souls to Jesus Christ. A great element of power with every faithful ambassador of Christ should be heart-power. A majority of all congregations, rich or poor, are reached and influenced, not so much through the intellect as through the affections. This is an encouraging fact; for while only one man in ten may have the talent to become a very great preacher, the other nine, if they love Christ and love human souls, can become great pastors. Nothing gives a minister such heart-power as personal acquaintance with, and personal attentions to those whom he aims to influence; for everybody loves to be noticed. Especially is personal sympathy welcome in seasons of trial. Let a pastor make himself at home in everybody’s home; let him come often and visit their sick rooms, and kneel beside their empty cribs, and their broken hearts, and pray with them; let him go to the business men in his congregation when they have suffered reverses and give them a word of cheer; let him be quick to recognize the poor, and the children — and he will weave a cord around the hearts of his people that will stand a prodigious pressure. His inferior sermons — (for every minister is guilty of such occasionally) —will be kindly condoned, and he can launch the most pungent truths at his auditors and they will not take offense. He will have won their hearts to himself, and that is a great step towards drawing them to the house of God, and winning their souls to the Saviour. “A house-going minister” said [Thomas] Chalmers, “makes a church-going people.”

To read more about the importance of pastoral visitation, especially in times of trial and sickness, and how it glorifies God in the ministry by demonstrating the love of Christ, take up and read Cuyler's heart-warming little book on the subject, which is dedicated particularly to "the young ministers of the Lord Jesus Christ," but is valuable for all. 

The Whigs of the Covenant Who Fought at Drumclog

The Battle of Drumclog on June 1, 1679, represents the high-water mark, militarily speaking, of the Scottish Covenanter struggle (1638-1688) against the Stuart kings (specifically King Charles II and King James VII). It was followed by a major Covenanter defeat at the Battle of Bothwell Bridge on June 22, 1679. What followed after that is known to history as an intense period of persecution that we refer to as "the Killing Times" (c. 1680-1688). In the phase of the conflict from 1661 to 1688, it is estimated that 18,000 men, women and children were killed "for Christ's Crown & Covenant." 

Log College Press has recently added works by William Craig Brownlee (1784-1860), the Scottish-born American Presbyterian, who was descended from a survivor of these battles. He recounted the history primarily in Narrative of the Battles of Drumclog, and Bothwell Bridge (1822, 1850); in the beginning of his critique of the Quakers, published in 1824; and in his two-volume The Whigs in Scotland: or, The Last of the Stuarts. An Historical Romance of the Scottish Persecution (1833). 

Scottish Covenanter Thomas Brownlee (1638-1713), Laird (landowner, or squire, not lord) of Torfoot, fought in both the battles of Drumclog, and Bothwell Bridge. After the latter battle, he was captured and placed on a prisoner ship bound for Barbados to be sold into slavery. This ship sank near the Orkney Islands on December 10, 1679, and approximately 200 Covenanters drowned, but Thomas Brownlee was one of those who escaped and made it to shore alive. His account of these battles, it is said, was not published until 1822, by a descendant, in an American newspaper, the National Gazette. (It is this work which was later published by William Craig Brownlee under the title Narrative of the Battles of Drumclog, and Bothwell Bridge.) By this time, Sir Walter Scott had recounted the battle of Drumclog in his "Waverly Novels" (The Tale of Old Mortality from Tales of My Landlord), not in a favorable light to the Covenanters. The account of Thomas Brownlee was prefaced by a letter to the editor which took note of this and, he says, it led him to seek publication of this defense of the "Whigs of the Covenant."

"Messrs. Editors,

Of all the Waverly Novels "Old Mortality" produced perhaps the greatest sensation in Scotland. It pleased the light readers. It was very acceptable to the Tory party. It roused the attention of the Whigs--I mean not the Radicals, but the descendants and lovers of the true "Whigs of the Covenant." It excited a burst of admiration, and a burst of indignation, deep and severe. The one from the Tories, and the mere admirers of fine historical romance-- the other from the religious and devout body of the nation.

It was a novel affair, and it excited the public feeling to an intense degree, to see venerable clergymen descending into the arena to attack the statements and sentiments of a romance. There was a reason for this. The book was read by everybody, and it contains the sentiments of toryism in their most imposing form--and there is much that approaches to a degree of impiety which that sober people will not bear. Nay, the religious people deemed that they saw no less than a design to ridicule the memory of the martyrs and patriots of the days of Charles II and to vilify their holy religion. The description which he has given of the conduct and motives of the military chieftains; the personal accomplishments and the romantic gallantry with which his imagination has clothed the atrocious Claverhouse, do prove that there is too much room for the one; and the absurd balderdash and disgusting cant which he has put into the mouths of the leading preachers of that age (and they were no mean men), do altogether show a spirit of hostility and persecution not to be tamely submitted to in this enlightened age. The result of this public indignation was visably in favour of the "good cause." Accurate engravings of Graham of Clavers were brought forward. In opposition to the romantic paintings of the novelist, the harsh features of his iron face were revealed; and the tout ensemble exhibited an exterior in every respect befitting the gloomy and dark soul of a man whose hands were dipped in human blood to the wrists. And in the late additional details of his public character, it has been satisfactorily shown, from the most authentic documents, that the "gallant and enterprising officer" of Hume and of the Tories, was a cold-blooded murderer of the unarmed peasantry; that he shot down, without trial or form of law, free citizens on their own lands, and by their own firesides; that he belonged to that licensed banditti, the oppressors of their country, who "employed even the sagacity of blood-hounds to discover the lurking places of the patriots and martyrs," whom they butchered in the presence of their wives and crying babes. (See Laing's History of Scotland, vol. ii, Scots Worthies, & c.passim.)Another consequence of this national excitement was a holy seal, which put forth its activities in repairing the tombs and monuments over the bodies of the martyrs. Each sacred spot, on mountain, in valleys, and on moors, where the patriots had fallen by the steel of the life-guards, was sought out and monuments erected, and tombstones repaired, and a host of "Old Mortalities" put in requisition to chisel deeper the names and the epitaphs of the martyrs.

This is my introduction--I now offer you the "Battle of Drumclog". And the "Battle of Bothwell Bridge" shall be forthcoming--that you may judge of the contrast between the account of these battles in the Waverley romance, and in history.

In his "Battle of Drumclog", the "great wizard" makes the Covenanters' army murder a gallant young officer, who came with a flag of truce. Nothing can be more erroneous and slanderous. It is an outrage to history. It is only surpassed by that more outrageous fiction of their intending murder of young Morton in the night after Bothwell battle.

The following words of the Laird of Torfoot, whose estate is this day in possession of two brothers, his lineal descendants of the fifth generation. The Laird speaks of what he saw and what he did. I have carefully compared his account with the statements handed down by family tradition--particularily with the statements of a venerable aunt, who died lately in Pennsylvania, aged nearly ninety, and who was grand-daughter of the Laird's second son. I have also compared the account with the brief printed account of these battles in the "Scottish Worthies" and the "Cloud of Witnesses." This last book (p. 334, Lond. edit.) records the Laird's name in the list of those driven into banishment; but who, in spite of Clavers and Charles, and shipwrecks, by the grace of God, regained his native halls to bless his afflicted family, and who finally died in peace, in the presence of his family, in a good old age." 

The history of Drumclog has been written by the infamous John Graham of Claverhouse. Sir Walter Scott's account has already been alluded to. In Thomas Brownlee's account, via William Craig Brownlee, we have a sympathetic tale of the Covenanters who suffered and gave so much for freedom. It is little-known today, but Brownlee's account, more so than the others, is a tale is worth the re-telling. 

Two 19th Century Opponents of the Sin of Man-Stealing

As we have earlier noted, Reformed Presbyterian minister Alexander McLeod (1774-1833), who was born in Scotland, as early as 1802 testified against the sin of man-stealing in Negro Slavery Unjustifiable: A Sermon on the Unlawfulness of Holding Men in Perpetual Slavery Through Man-Stealing. Previously, McLeod had declined a pastoral call to the RP church at Coldenham, New York, because their were slaveholders who had signed the call; his stand on this issue ultimately led both to a unanimous 1800 ruling by the Reformed Presbytery of America that "no slaveholder should be allowed the communion of the church" and to his accepting the pastoral call at Coldenham. 

Within the main body of American Presbyterianism, the Synod of New York and Philadelphia issued a deliverance urging the eradication of slavery in the United States as early as 1787. This ruling was further republished by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA) in 1793. The following year, the General Assembly then issued a statement on Question 142 of the Westminster Larger Catechism, which in its list of sins forbidden by the Eighth Commandment, including the sin of "man-stealing." The explanatory statement was then appended to copies of the Westminster Standards (as amended by the PCUSA in 1788), and it is worth reproducing here in full (Puritan Matthew Poole's Synopsis Criticorum is cited in conclusion): 

"I Tim. i.10. The law is made for man-stealers. This crime among the Jews exposed the perpetrators of it to capital punishment, Exodus xxi.16; and the apostle here classes them with sinners of the first rank. The word he uses, in its original import, comprehends all who are concerned in bringing any of the human race into slavery, or in retaining them in it. Hominum fures, qui servos vol liberos abducunt, retinent, vendunt, vel emunt. Stealers of men are all those who bring off slaves or freemen, and keep, sell, or buy them. To steal a freeman, says [Hugo] Grotius, is the highest kind of theft. In other instances, we only steal human property, but when we steal or retain men in slavery, we seize those who, in common with ourselves, are constituted by the original grant, lords of the earth. Genesis i.28. Vide Poli synopsin in loc." 

Though this statement continued to be published with copies of the Westminster Standards, and was followed by another denunciation of slavery in the 1795 minutes of the General Assembly, no efforts at enforcing this ruling against slaveholding were made in the following years. Enter George Bourne (1780-1845) - British-born, but by 1815, he was a Presbyterian minister serving in the Harrisonburg, Virginia area - who brought a resolution to the 1815 General Assembly of the PCUSA calling slaveholding a sin and requiring the excommunication of slaveholders. This action by Bourne led to the 1816 General Assembly officially removing the above-referenced footnote on Q. 142 from copies of the Westminster Standards (which is discussed by B.B. Warfield in The Printing of the Westminster Confession, p. 69). It was in that same year that Bourne published The Book and Slavery Irreconcilable, which became a leading abolitionist work and which was to influence William Garrison (Bourne later republished this book in expanded form under the title Picture of Slavery in the United States of America (1834)). Opposed by his own Harrisonburg congregation, Bourne was deposed from the ministry by the 1818 General Assembly for "bringing reproach on the character of the Virginia clergy." This same General Assembly, however, also issued a ruling that stated that slavery was "inconsistent" with the law of God (to love our neighbor) and the gospel of Christ. Bourne was later re-ordained as a Presbyterian minister by the New York Presbytery in 1824. He wrote on a variety of topics, but none more so than slavery. He details the history of the General Assembly's actions on slavery in several of his works, such as An Address to the Presbyterian Church, Enforcing the Duty of Excluding All Slaveholders from the "Communion of the Saints" (1833); Picture of Slavery in the United States of America (1834); and Man-Stealing and Slavery Denounced by the Presbyterian and Methodist Churches (1834). He authored several other works in opposition to American slavery, including A Condensed Anti-Slavery Bible Argument (1845), which includes a chapter specifically on man-stealing.

George Bourne is not as well-known today as he ought to be. But his 19th century writings in opposition to slavery, along with Alexander McLeod's, can be downloaded and studied today. The arguments made within these works against man-stealing on a Biblical and confessional Presbyterian basis may be of particular interest to readers of the Log College Press. 

Two Colonial Presbyterian Birthdays in One

February 5th marks the birthday of two notable colonial American Presbyterian ministers: Gilbert Tennent (Feburary 5, 1703 - July 23, 1764) and John Witherspoon (February 5, 1722 - November 15, 1794)

Gilbert Tennent, known as the "Son of Thunder" (George Whitefield described him thus: "He is the son of thunder and does not regard the face of man”), was the son of William Tennent, the founder of the Log College, and brother of William Tennenet, Jr. Most famous for his sermon "The Danger of an Unconverted Ministry," he was a New Light Presbyterian who did much to challenge what he viewed to be the dead orthodoxy of the day, and he became one of the leaders of the Great Awakening. Be sure to visit his page, but also see Archibald Alexander's Biographical Sketches of the Founder and Principal Alumni of the Log College (1845) and his Sermons and Essays of the Tennents and Their Contemporaries (1855, published posthumously by his brother Samuel Davies Alexander) for biographical information and examples of his preaching.  

John Witherspoon was a Presbyterian minister, a teacher of Moral Philosophy, a President of the College of New Jersey (Princeton), and a signer of both the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation. He lived in tumultuous times, and played an important role in the founding of the United States of America. 

For more modern perspective on both men highlighted here, S. Donald Fortson, II, edited a volume on Colonial Presbyterianism: Old Faith in a New Land (2007), which contains helpful chapters on their lives and lasting influence - C.N. Wilborn wrote on "Gilbert Tennent: Pietist, Preacher, and Presbyterian"; and L. Gordon Tait wrote on "John Witherspoon's Prescription for a Nation Strong, Free, and Virtuous." 

Samuel Davies Passed Into Glory on This Date in History

Readers of this blog will recall that on January 1, 1761, Samuel Davies (1723-1761) preached "A Sermon on the New Year" (see Sermons on Important Subjects, Vol. 2, Serm. 34, pp. 139 ff), based Jer. 28:16: "This year thou shalt die." In that sermon, he said:

"Thus it appears very possible, that one or other of us may die this year. Nay, it is very probable, as well as possible, if we consider that it is a very uncommon, and almost unprecedented thing, that not one should die in a whole year out of such an assembly as this. More than one have died the year past, who made a part of our assembly last new year's day. Therefore let each of us (for we know not on whom the lot may fall) realize this possibility, this alarming probability, 'this year I may die.'" 

As it turned out, less than three weeks later, Davies, who is known to history as "the Apostle of Virginia," caught a severe cold, and under the care of his physician, was bled with leeches. He seemed to improve briefly, and was able to preach again, but by January 23, he relapsed and was overtaken by a fever and chills. At that point, in and out of delirium, he spoke of his earlier sermon as "his own funeral sermon." (In a remarkable providence, this was the exact text that Aaron Burr, Sr. (1716-1757, the second President of the College of New Jersey) preached as a New Year's sermon right before his death, which Davies knew, yet which inspired him somehow to choose for his own text. The same was also true, by the way, of both Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758, the third president of the College of New Jersey) and his son, Jonathan Edwards, Jr. (1745-1801).)

After 13 days of illness, at 38 years of age, at 2 pm on February 4, 1761, in Princeton, New Jersey, where he served as fourth President of the College of New Jersey, Samuel Davies passed into glory, leaving behind his bereaved second wife (Jane Holt Davies, known to readers of Davies' poetry as "Chara") and five living children, and many others who lamented the loss of a remarkable man. The story of his life and final days is well told by Dewey Roberts in Samuel Davies: Apostle to Virginia (2017). 

What he once wrote to his brother-in-law, John Holt, who lived in Williamsburg, from his rural retreat in Hanover, Virginia, has special meaning for those who appreciate the work of Log College Press: "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 very much question if there is a more calm, placid, and contented mortal in all of Virginia." (Letter dated Aug. 13, 1751)

Would you like to help Log College Press grow?

We at Log College Press are thankful for you, our readers. It is for you that, beginning in 2017, we have assembled a growing body of works by 18th and 19th century American Presbyterians for your reading pleasure. We have so far accumulated on our site over 500 such works, and the number continues to grow. The list includes works by colonial, Northern, Southern, Reformed Presbyterian, Associate Reformed Presbyterian, and other branches of the Presbyterian family. 

Additionally, in 2017, we published two booklets: 1) Thomas Dwight Witherspoon, The Five Points of Presbyterianism: The Distinctives of Presbyterian Church Government; and 2) C.W. Grafton, A Forty-Three Year Pastorate in a Country Church. A new booklet containing the inauguration addresses of William Swan Plumer, Christ All in All: The Right Temper of a Theologian, is coming out soon, and more publications are planned. We desire to publish quality works that have been overlooked in the last 150+ years. There are many to choose from, and we are interested in your input and feedback as we consider future publications. 

The costs associated with website maintenance and book production are not negligible, and if the free materials and blog posts that we provide are of interest to you, we would be grateful for your contributions to the work that we are doing. If you are interested in helping to build this project to its fullest potential, please visit this page to learn more about crowdfunding the work of the Log College Press. Thank you for your interest, and your support, whether that is through prayer or by financial contributions or otherwise. We are grateful!