The Church of the Puritans (Presbyterian)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

New Year's Wishes From Log College Press

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“So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." — Ps. 90:12

At the close of 2021, we at Log College Press wish to thank you, our dear readers, for your support and encouragement.

In years past, we have highlighted New Year’s sermons and meditations by Samuel Davies, Francis James Grimké, Benjamin Morgan Palmer, Henry Augustus Boardman, George Barrell Cheever, Elias Harrison, Erskine Mason, Gardiner Spring and others. This year we turn the spotlight on a message from Thomas DeWitt Talmage: Standards For the Measurement of Life: A New Year’s Sermon (1899).

How do evaluate or measure our mortal existence? That is a question for all of us, and an appropriate one at the close of one year and the beginning of another. Based on the text from Genesis 47:8 (“How old art thou?”), Talmage asks us to consider whether we are using a good standard to measure our time spent on this earth. As he notes, there are wrong ways to measure our time, and a right way. There are some, he says, who measure their years by the money they make, or the joys or sorrows they experience. “They say, ‘The year 1866, or 1870, or 1898 was wasted.’ Why? ‘Made no money.’” But hear how Talmage concludes the matter.

I remark again: there are many — and I wish there were more — who are estimating life by the good they can do.

John Bradford said he counted that day nothing at all in which he had not, by pen or tongue, done some good. There have been men who have given their whole life in the right direction, concentrating all their wit and ingenuity and mental acumen and physical force and enthusiasm for Christ. They felt in the thrill of every nerve, in the motion of every muscle, in every throb of their heart, in every respiration of their lungs, the magnificent truth: “No man liveth unto himself.” They went, through cold and through heat, foot-blistered, cheek-smitten, back-scourged, tempest-lasht, to do their whole duty. That is the way they measured life — by the amount of good they could do.

Do you want to know how old Luther was; how old Richard Baxter was; how old Philip Doddridge was? Why, can not calculate the length of their lives by any human arithmetic. Add to their lives ten thousand times ten thousand years, and you have not exprest it — what they have lived or will live. Oh, what a standard that is to measure a man’s life by? There are those in this house who think they have only lived thirty years. They will have lived a thousand — they have lived a thousand. There are those who think they are eighty years of age. They have not even entered upon their infancy, for one must become a babe in Christ to begin at all.

This is a good day in which to begin a new style of measurement. “How old art thou?” You see the Christian way of measuring life and the worldly way of measuring it. I leave it to you to say which is the wisest and best way.

As 2021 comes to an end, and we look ahead to 2022, we encourage our readers to consider Talmage’s message about how we measure our days, and to meditate upon the words of the Psalmist above. We are excited about the growing number of resources available at Log College Press to aid in the study of spiritual devotion, the Christian life, church history, Christian biography and much more. And we are grateful for the input of all those who continue to support and encourage us in our endeavors. May the Lord bless richly bless you and yours in the coming New Year!

Four Centuries Since the First Traditional American Thanksgiving

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O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever (Ps. 107:1).

Apart from the French Huguenots who celebrated a thanksgiving at Fort Caroline, near modern-day Jacksonville, Florida on June 30, 1564, and the celebration at Jamestown, Virginia on December 4, 1619, what is traditionally referred to as the first American Thanksgiving, observed by the Pilgrims at Plymouth, Massachusetts, took place in the autumn of 1621, four hundred years ago.

George B. Cheever tells us briefly about this special occasion in The Pilgrim Fathers: or, The Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, New England, in 1620 (1849), pp. 231-232.

We find in this volume the very first instance of the New England thanksgiving. It is referred to by Mr. Winslow in his letter to a friend. It was after the gathering in of the harvest, and a fowling expedition was sent out for the occasion by the Governor, that for their Thanksgiving dinners and for the festivities of the week they might have more dainty and abundant materials than ordinary. That week they exercised in arms, and hospitably feasted King Massasoit and ninety men. The Governor is said by Mr. Winslow to have appointed the game-hunt after harvest, that so the Pilgrims "might after a more special manner rejoice together, after they had gathered the fruit of their labours." This admirable annual New England custom of Thanksgiving dates back therefore to the first year of our Forefathers' arrival.

W. Carlos Martyn also recounts the tale in The Pilgrim Fathers of New England: A History (1867), pp. 132-133, also drawing on Edward Winslow.

"There was great store of wild turkeys, of which they took many, besides venison." The fowlers had been sent out by the governor, "that so they might, after a special manner, rejoice together, since they had gathered the fruit of their labors;" this was the origin and the first celebration of the national festival of New England, the autumnal THANKSGIVING. On that occasion of hilarity they "exercised their arms," and for three days "entertained and feasted" Massasoit and some ninety of his people, who made a contribution of five deer to the festivity. Health was restored; household fires were blazing brightly; and in good heart and hope the lonely but thankful settlers disposed themselves to meet the rigor of another winter.

As we reflect on that moment in church history which illustrates the goodness of God to his people, and the tradition that is known as the American Thanksgiving, and as we count our blessings with gratitude to God, we thank you, dear friends, once again for all of your support for Log College Press. It means a great deal to us. We wish each of a very Happy Thanksgiving, and God’s richest blessings to you and yours.

The 400th anniversary of the Mayflower Landing and the Mayflower Compact

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WEDNESDAY, 6th September, the wind coming E.N.E., a fine small gale, we loosed from Plymouth, having been kindly entertained and courteously used by divers friends there dwelling; and, after many difficulties in boisterous storms, at length, by God's providence, upon the 9th November following, by break of the day we espied land, which we deemed to be Cape Cod; and so afterward it proved. And the appearance of it much comforted us, especially seeing so goodly a land, and wooded to the brink of the sea; it caused us to rejoice together, and praise God that had given us once again to see land. And thus we made our course S.S.W., purposing to go to a river ten leagues to the south of the Cape; but at night, the wind being contrary, we put round again for the bay of Cape Cod; and upon the 11th November we came to an anchor in the bay, which is a good harbour and pleasant bay, circled round, except in the entrance, which is about four miles over from land to laud, compassed about to the very sea with oaks, pines, juniper, sassafras, and other sweet wood. It is a harbour wherein a thousand sail of ships may safely ride. There we relieved ourselves with wood and water, and refreshed our people, while our shallop was fitted to coast the bay, to search for an habitation. There was the greatest store of fowl that ever we saw. — Edward Winslow, Mourt’s Relation in George Barrell Cheever, The Pilgrim Fathers: or, The Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, New England, in 1620 (1849)

The Pilgrims who sailed to America from England and The Netherlands in 1620 did so trusting in God to preserve them through stormy seas and an unknown wilderness. The hand of God brought them to Cape Cod on November 11, 1620 (O.S.) [November 21, N.S.], where they signed the Mayflower Compact and first stepped ashore at Provincetown Harbor.

Signing the Mayflower Compact 1620, a painting by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (1899).

Signing the Mayflower Compact 1620, a painting by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (1899).

The following month (December 11/21) the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Harbor — tradition locates the spot at Plymouth Rock — where they would begin to build a home, Plimoth Plantation. After a harsh first winter, assistance provided by Native Americans, and a bountiful autumn 1621 harvest, leading to a Thanksgiving celebration — the story of which is told by William Bradford, Edward Winslow and others — the Pilgrims’ story became embedded in the American consciousness (see Timothy Alden’s story of John and Priscilla Alden). It is a narrative that is challenged by some today, but the story Pilgrims’ journey in search of freedom to worship God without fear of persecution was treasured by many 19th century American Presbyterians.

"Daily the Pilgrims turned their eyes westward, hoping for a sight of the new land. They had shaped their course for the Hudson river, of which the Dutch navigators had made favorable reports. As the voyage lengthened, their longings for the land increased. They had been tossed on the sea now sixty-five days, when, on the 9th of November, the long, low coast-line of the New World gladdened their eyes. They thanked God for the sight, and took courage. On the 11th of November they dropped anchor within Cape Cod. Sixty-seven days they had passed in the ship since their final departure from England, and one hundred and twelve since the embarkation at Delft Haven. They were weary, many were sick, and the scurvy had attacked some. They might well rejoice that they had reached these shores." — Charles W. Elliott, The New England History, quoted in William Carlos Martyn, The Pilgrim Fathers of New England: A History (1867)

In this quadricentennial of the Mayflower Landing and the Mayflower Compact, we remember the sacrifices and faith of the Pilgrims, the contributions of the Native Americans, and the legacy of faith and Biblical civil government which the Pilgrims brought to America, as cherished by American Presbyterians.

Pilgrim Anniversary, 22d Dec., 1842

Two hundred and twenty-two years
Have flown over Fore-fathers' rock,
Since th' era our home-love endears, —
There landed the brave little flock.

The ocean, the air and the land
Bent on them a stern winter frown,
But in faith and devotion that band,
Bold founders of empire, sat down.

The Pilgrims! a patriarch race,
Left country and kindred to find
For religion and freedom a place,
A home for th' oppressed of mankind.

The frail little Mayflower bore
The germ of a nation to rise
From East to Far West's distant shore,
And brave every clime 'neath the skies.

Ye fathers of millions,
I gaze with thrilling emotions on you,
My spirit goes back to your days,
Pure virtue, firm valor to view.

Your children now sip every stream
That waters our wide-spread domain,
Who of them so base as to dream
Descent from the pilgrims a stain. — James Lyman Merrick (1803-1866), Missionary to Persia, The Pilgrim’s Harp (1847)

American Presbyterians in Europe

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St. Augustine, when he speaks of the great advantages of travelling, says, that the world is a great book, and none study this book so much as a traveller. They that never stir from home read only one page of this book. -- John Feltham, The English Enchiridion (1799)

Like many today who might be itching to travel again, American Presbyterians in the 19th century also sought the benefits of a long voyage, and Europe was one particular favorite destination. Among the life experiences of authors found at Log College Press, trips to Europe are a recurring theme, and our Travelogue page highlights this.

The letters, journals, books and poetry that resulted from such trips are a valuable historical record of life on one side of the pond as viewed through the eyes of residents from the other side. In today’s post, we take a closer look at these memorials of their experiences.

  • James Waddel Alexander — J.W. Alexander traveled to England, France, Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, Scotland on a six-month tour of Europe in 1851. He met Adolphe Monod in Paris. Later, in 1857, he returned to Europe and met Charles H. Spurgeon in England, and Thomas Guthrie in Scotland, while also visiting France, Germany, Switzerland and Belgium. His reports on these travel experiences are recorded in Forty Years' Familiar Letters, and also in James W. Garretson, Thoughts on Preaching & Pastoral Ministry: Lessons from the Life and Writings of James W. Alexander.

  • Joseph Addison Alexander — J.A. Alexander spent a year in Europe (1833-1834). Time was spent in England, France, Switzerland, Germany, and Italy. From diary extracts given in H.C. Alexander’s The Life of Joseph Addison Alexander, we learn many fascinating details about the people he met, and the poems he wrote, inspired by his European travels.

  • Henry Martyn Baird — Baird spent much of his childhood in France and Switzerland, and then after graduating from the University of New York, lived in Greece and Italy during 1851-1853, and studied at the University of Athens. Besides his many written studies of the French Huguenots, he authored Modern Greece: A Narrative of a Residence and Travels in that Country (1856).

  • Robert Baird — Baird visited Europe many times as recorded in H.M. Baird’s biography The Life of the Rev. Robert Baird, D. D. (1866). Baird himself wrote about his travels in Visits to Northern Europe (1841) and Old Sights With New Eyes (1854). His travels also enabled him to write with personal knowledge about Protestantism in Italy.

  • John Henry Barrows — Barrows’ world travels, detailed in A World Pilgrimage (1897), included England, France, Germany, Greece and Italy.

  • Robert Jefferson Breckinridge — R.J. Breckinridge was appointed by the PCUSA General Assembly to serve as its representative in Europe, leading to a trip to England, France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy. His travels are detailed in Memoranda of Foreign Travel (1839 and, in 2 vols., 1845).

  • George Barrell Cheever — Cheever’s journey though the French-Swiss Alps is recorded in Wanderings of a Pilgrim in the Shadow of Mont Blanc and the Jungfrau Alp (1848).

  • Theodore Ledyard Cuyler — Cuyler’s travels through England, France, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Greece, and the Czech Republic, are recorded in From the Nile to Norway and Homeward (1881).

  • George Duffield IV — Duffield’s travels were published in the Magazine of Travel during 1857, and later republished in Travels in the Two Hemispheres; or, Gleanings of a European Tour (1858).

  • Henry Highland Garnet — Garnet traveled to Europe in 1851, including England, Ireland Scotland and Germany. His speeches from some of those locations are found here.

  • Stephen Henry Gloucester — Gloucester, pastor of the Lombard Street Central Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, visited England and Scotland in 1847-1848. The record of his trip, and letters which he wrote home, can be found in Robert Jones, Fifty years in the Lombard Street Central Presbyterian Church (1894).

  • Charles Hodge — From 1826 to 1828, Hodge traveled to Europe, studying in Paris and and wrote a handwritten journal of his experiences (primarily in Germany) available to read here. See also A.A. Hodge’s The Life of Charles Hodge for more on these travels, including letters written to home.

  • Alexander McLeod — McLeod visited England and Scotland in 1830. His experiences are recounted in Samuel Brown Wylie’s Memoir of Alexander McLeod (1855). Wylie’s own trip to Europe in 1802-1803 is also discussed in this volume.

  • James Clement Moffat — Moffat recounts his experiences in the summer of 1872 in Song and Scenery; or, A Summer Ramble in Scotland (1874).

  • Walter William Moore — Moore recounts his experiences in England, Scotland, France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands in A Year in Europe (1904, 1905).

  • James W.C. Pennington — The “Fugitive Blacksmith’s” s travels to England, Scotland and Germany are detailed in Christopher L. Webber, American to the Backbone: The Life of James W. C. Pennington, the Fugitive Slave Who Became One of the First Black Abolitionists. He was the first African-American in Europe to be awarded the degree of Doctor of Divinity.

  • Samuel Irenaeus Prime — Prime’s travels were recorded in Travels in Europe and the East: A Year in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, 2 vols. (1855, 1856).

  • Joel Edson Rockwell — Rockwell’s journey through France, Germany, Italy, England, Scotland and Ireland is chronicled in Scenes and Impressions Abroad (1860).

  • William Buell Sprague — Sprague writes in the preface to his Visits to European Celebrities (1855), “In 1828, and again in 1836, I had the privilege of passing a few months on the continent of Europe and in Great Britain. In both visits, especially the latter, I was more interested to see men than things; and I not only made the acquaintance, so far as I could, of distinguished individuals as they came in my way, but sometimes made circuitous routes in order to secure to myself this gratification.” See also his Letters From Europe, in 1828 (1828).

  • Thomas De Witt Talmage — A world traveller, Talmage wrote Great Britain Through American Spectacles (1885); From the Pyramids to the Acropolis: Sacred Places Seen Through Biblical Spectacles (1892); and The Earth Girdled: The World as Seen To-Day (1896).

These are some of the men at Log College Press who spent time in Europe, and their writings often tell us about life abroad, and often inspired them in various ways, just as travels inspire us. It is human nature to want to travel, and if we are limited in our ability to do so at present, we can at least turn to others who have done so and be inspired by them.

Out with the old, in with the New: Sermons for a New Year

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As 2019 comes to a close, and a new year dawns, we at Log College Press want to thank all of our readers for all of your support in the past year. We are most grateful for your interest, appreciation, feedback and encouragement. It is a joy for us to dust off old Presbyterian works and make them accessible to a new generation, and we, along with our readers, are learning much along the journey as well. As we round out this year and prepare, with the mercy and blessing of God, to enter another, we wish to highlight some special sermons from the past which are worthy of consideration.

  • Henry Augustus Boardman (1808-1880) - Mottoes For the New Year, as Given in Texts of Sermons (1882);

  • George Barrell Cheever (1807-1890) - A New Year’s Sermon (1843);

  • Samuel Davies (1723-1761) - On January 1, 1760, he preached "A New Year's Gift" (see Sermons on Important Subjects, Vol. 3, Serm. 59, pp. 309 ff), using Rom. 13:11 for his text: "And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed." On January 1, 1761 (his last year of life), Davies preached "A Sermon on the New Year" (see Sermons on Important Subjects, Vol. 2, Serm. 34, pp. 139 ff), from Jer. 28:16: "This year thou shalt die";

  • Elias Harrison (1790-1863) - New Year’s Day Sermon (1817);

  • Erskine Mason, Sr. (1805-1851) - The Approach of Death: A New Year’s Sermon (1845) and New Year’s Sermon for 1848: Dependence on the Future (1848);

  • Benjamin Morgan Palmer (1818-1902) - Century Sermon (1901), preached on January 1, 1901; and

  • Gardiner Spring (1785-1873) - Something Must Be Done: A New Year’s Sermon (1816).

Each of these sermons has a message that is good for 21st century readers to consider as we stand at the same point on the calendar between years that Christians have done before. New Year’s is always an appropriate time to review the past and consider our resolve to walk closer with the Lord in the future. We close with this meditation and resolution from Gardiner Spring’s “Reflections on the New Year” in Fragments from the Study of a Pastor (1838):

In entering on another year, I know not from what unexpected quarter, or at what an unguarded hour, difficulties and dangers may come. O that I could enjoy more of the favour of God, more of the presence of the Saviour, more of the sealing of the ever blessed Spirit! O for more of a calm, approving conscience, and more of the delightful influence of the peace-speaking blood of Jesus Christ!