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It is well known that the Bay Psalm Book (a New England Puritan Psalter) was the first book published in British North America (1640). One of the editors of this work was John Eliot (1604-1690), the famous “Apostle to the Indians,” who also wrote Communion of churches, or, The divine management of gospel-churches by the ordinance of councils constituted in order according to the Scriptures as also the way of bringing all Christian parishes to be particular Reforming Congregationall Churches, humbly proposed as ... a means of uniting those two holy and eminent parties the Presbyterians and the Congregationals (1665), a work which has led some to propose that Eliot was a Presbyterian at heart.*

Whether or not he is rightly classified as a Presbyterian or a Congregationalist, or something in-between, there are some notable examples apart from the Bay Psalm Book which constitute Presbyterian landmarks in American literature.

Pennsylvania was the home of Founding Father Benjamin Franklin of Philadelphia, whose publication of so many Presbyterian works from the 1730s forward we have discussed previously here.

The first Presbyterian book published in the South was by Old Side minister John Thomson (1690-1753): An Explication of the Shorter Catechism (1749, Williamsburg, Virginia).

John Thomson’s exposition of the Westminster Shorter Catechism was the first Presbyterian book published in the American South.

In 1765, layman John Redick (whose dates are not known and who is not yet on Log College Press) authored the first book published in Baltimore, Maryland: A Detection of the Conduct and Proceedings of Messrs. Annan and Henderson, Members of the Associate Presbytery’s Whole Sitting at Oxford Meeting-House, April 18th, Anno Domini 1764, Together with Their Abettors; Wherein is Contained Some Remarks. Printed by Nicholas Hasselbach, only one copy is known to exist. It came into the possession of George W. McCreary, librarian of the Maryland Historical Society, who reprinted 300 copies of it in 1903, under the title The First Book Printed in Baltimore Town, with a history of the printer and the book, one of which is in the possession of this writer. The book is an account of a financial transaction between Redick and Hugh Scott, a blacksmith, which later led to ecclesiastical charges.

The first book published in Baltimore was by a Presbyterian layman.

The first book published in Kentucky was by Presbyterian minister Adam Rankin (1755-1827): A Process of the Transilvania Presbytery (1793). We have previously given an account of this work here.

The first book of poetry published in Georgia was by Presbyterian minister Samuel Jones Cassels (1806-1853): Providence and Other Poems (1838).

The first book of poems published in Georgia was by Presbyterian minister Samuel J. Cassels.

This brief survey of Presbyterian landmarks in American literature is just a cursory look at some noteworthy highlights and is far from complete, just merely scratching the surface of this intriguing topic. But it suggests the importance of Presbyterian literature in the colonial era and in the early days of the American republic. It is natural that books and Presbyterians go hand-in-hand, and these landmarks provide a snapshot of this truism in early American history.

* William Henry Roberts wrote, “Eliot was a Presbyterian by conviction, and the splendid service which he rendered from 1637 to 1690, in the conversion and education of the heathen on our shores, made him the forerunner, not only in the general work of American foreign missions, but also in the labors of the Presbyterian Church for the conversion of the heathen world. His was the first voice of an American Presbyterian crying in the wilderness, ‘Make ye ready the way of the Lord’” (“The Part Which American Presbyterians Have Had in Foreign Missions in the Past,” in David McConaughy, ed., The World-Call of Men To-Day: Addresses and Proceedings of the Men’s Missionary Convention, Held in Philadelphia, February 11-13, 1908 (1908), p. 84).

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The first book printed in the State of Kentucky (which became a state in 1792) was published on January 1, 1793 by a Pennsylvania-born (March 24, 1755) Presbyterian minister, Adam Rankin. It is titled, A Process of the Transilvania Presbytery, which refers to the presbytery covering the territory of Kentucky within the Presbyterian Church of the United States of America, established in 1786. Adam Rankin had been charged with several offenses which involved worship and doctrinal differences between him and others. This book is his account of the matter.

Rankin, Adam, A Process in the Transilvania Presbytery Title Page.jpg

In this interesting work, Rankin fired the first literary salvo in his controversy with the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA), specifically, the Transilvania (Transylvania) Presbytery of Kentucky, of which he was a member. The controversy led to the further publishing of 1) A Narrative of Mr. Adam Rankin's Trial by the Transylvania Presbytery (1793); and 2) Adam Rankin’s A Reply to a Narrative of Mr. Adam Rankin's Trial (1794). Here, in A Process, he lays out the particular charges that were leveled against him, along with his defense. Additional sections of the book set forth his reasons for separating from the PCUSA (he later joined the Associate Reformed Church); a digest of his positions on matters of controversy at that time between the PCUSA and the ARC, including the free offer of the gospel, terms of communion, national covenanting, marriage licenses and more; followed by “A Appendix on a late performance of the Rev. Mr. John Black of Marsh Creek, Pennsylvania,” in which Rankin sets forth satirically a “Modern Creed” which lays out the arguments of the opposition, largely regarding the place of the Psalms in worship.

One of the major issues between Rankin and the Transylvania Presbytery was his conviction that the Psalms of David alone were to be sung in public worship, to the exclusion of Isaac Watts’ imitations. A Process, in fact, constitutes one of the earliest published American defenses of exclusive psalmody. Following the January 1, 1793 publication of A Process, we have at Log College Press also a February 7, 1793 letter of encouragement from ARC minister Robert Annan to Rankin touching on this very issue.

Rankin is famous in church history for possessing difficult temperament. Here is an opportunity to read his own words in the heat of controversy to see for yourself how he expressed himself. Also available at LCP is his Dialogues, Pleasant and Interesting, Upon the All-Important Question in Church Government, What are the Legitimate Terms of Admission to Visible Church Communion? (1819). John Wilson Townsend, Kentucky in American Letters, 1784-1912, Vol. 1, p. 18 (1913), says: “His Dialogues …, is really his most important publication, but it has been greatly overlooked in the recent rush among Kentucky historical writers to list A Process as the first book published in Kentucky.”

Controversy followed Rankin even in the ARC in the form of a dispute with Robert Hamilton Bishop, which resulted in church discipline for both men. Eventually, Rankin left the ARC too, bidding his Lexington, Kentucky congregation farewell with plans to travel to Jerusalem. He died on the way in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on November 25, 1827. James Brown Scouller, A Manual of the United Presbyterian Church of North America, 1751-1881, pp. 493-494, writes:

There can be no question that Mr. Rankin was “encompassed with infirmities,” that he was sensitive, a little jealous, impulsive and strong of will, so that he soon put himself on the defensive, and always with his face to the foe, and he had the misfortune of living at a time when ecclesiastical things did not always run smoothly. On the other hand it is just as certain that he was loyal to the truth and valorous in its defence, however faulty his methods. He was of unquestioned piety, and commanded the full confidence of those among whom he lived. He possessed unusual eloquence and power in the pulpit, and often moved a whole congregation to tears.

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