Introducing the Century Club at Log College Press

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Among the nearly 2,000 authors found at Log College Press there are at least three centenarians (Arthur Judson Brown [1856-1963, 106]; William Rankin III [1810-1912, 102]; and George Summey [1853-1954, 101]), as well as at least three authors who were 99 years old when they entered into their eternal rest (Littleton Purnell Bowen, David Caldwell, and Maria Fearing). But the Log College Press Century Club which we are introducing today has to do with something a little different.

To be a member of this club, there must be at least 100 works by (and sometimes about) the author on their particular pages. At this point in time, there are 27 such individuals in the LCP Century Club, as follows:

There are some other prolific writers who we anticipate may join this club at some point in the future, such as Isabella Macdonald Alden, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Finley Milligan Foster, Robert Jefferson Breckinridge and Cleland Boyd McAfee, to name a few. As the Lord gives us strength and ability, we continue to add works by these and many other writers. We still have our work cut out for us, especially, for example, with respect to T.L. Cuyler, who penned over 4,000 separate published articles. Meanwhile, if viewed as a snapshot of our most prolific authors, the LCP Century Club invites readers to explore a representative cross-section of early American Presbyterianism. We hope you will take this opportunity to see what’s available among these prolific writers’ pages (as well as those not-so-prolific), and to enjoy a visit to the past, which we trust will be a blessing to you in the present.

Centenarians at Log College Press

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Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come (Ps. 71:18).

The testimony of a long life lived to the glory of God is a powerful one. At Log College Press, there are at least three who lived beyond the century mark.

  • Arthur Judson Brown (1856-1963, 106) - This “missionary statesman,” a pioneer of the ecumenical and missionary movements, was ordained in 1883 and died 80 years later. He was born in the same year as Woodrow Wilson, was a friend of Herbert Hoover, and he died in the same year as John F. Kennedy. Brown left a profound mark on the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, and indeed, throughout the world.

  • William Rankin III (1810-1912, 102) - Rankin served as a ruling elder and (for 37 years) as treasurer of the PCUSA Board of Foreign Missions. At the time of his death, he was the oldest college graduate in the United States.

  • George Summey (1853-1954, 101) - A “Christian Statesman,” editor of The Presbyterian Quarterly, and church historian (whose research and labors led to A History of the Presbyterian Church in Louisiana [1961], to whom the work was dedicated by the author, Penrose St. Amant), Summey’s legacy was far-reaching in the Presbyterian world.

We may also take note of Robert Bluford, Jr., Presbyterian minister, “Virginian of the Year” for 2011, and author of Living on the Borders of Eternity: The Story of Samuel Davies and the Struggle for Religious Toleration in Colonial Virginia (2004) and The Battle of Totopotomoy Creek: Polegreen Church and the Prelude to Cold Harbor (2014), who has done so much to promote the heritage of the Historic Polegreen Church, where Davies ministered. He turned 103 years old a few days ago.

Another worthy of mention is Ralph Waldo McBurney (1902-2009), RPCNA ruling elder, beekeeper, award-winning track and field athlete and author of My First 100 Years!: A Look Back From the Finish Line (2004), who should not be forgotten. He lived to the age of 106. He wrote in his autobiography: “It is easy to earn gold medals when one has no competition in one's age group!” He, like Eric Liddell, would never race on the Lord’s Day.

Also worthy of note is Walter Alexander Soboleff (1908–2011), the first Native Alaskan to become a Presbyterian minster. He was a Tlingit scholar who did much to promote the rights of indigenous people in Alaska. He died at the age of 102.

Undoubtedly, there are many more who could be named here, but these names must suffice for the present.

Considering the length of days of such as who have lived beyond a full century of life on this mortal earth, a portion of Archibald Alexander’s Prayer For One Who Feels That He Is Approaching the Borders of Another World (see Aging in Grace: Letters to Those in the Autumn of Life, p. 35) comes to mind:

O most merciful God cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength declineth. Now, when I am old and grey-headed, forsake me not; but let thy grace be sufficient for me; and enable me to bring forth fruit, even in old age. May my hoary head be found in the ways of righteousness! Preserve my mind from dotage and imbecility, and my body from protracted disease and excruciating pain. Deliver me from despondency and discouragement, in my declining years, and enable me to bear affliction with patience, fortitude, and perfect submission to thy holy will. Lift upon me perpetually the light of thy reconciled countenance, and cause me to rejoice in thy salvation, and in the hope of thy glory. May the peace that passeth all understanding be constantly diffused through my soul, so that my mind may remain calm through all the storms and vicissitudes of life.

A 1903 recommended pastoral library

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We have examined previously what constitutes a solid, recommended pastoral library as described by Thomas Murphy; and J.O. Murray, B.B. Warfield, and others. In today’s post, we take a look at recommendations from George Summey of The Presbyterian Quarterly and R.A. Lapsley, Sr. in the Union Seminary Magazine of 1903.

In Vol. 16 of The Presbyterian Quarterly, pp. 407-409, we find a list of 100 recommended titles compiled from the suggestions of many pastors and professors as to what should constitute the basic inventory of a young pastor’s library.

Beginning with the King James Version and Revised Version of the Bible, and Greek and Hebrew lexicons, the list continues with Bible dictionaries and concordances, and Bible commentaries (Matthew Henry and J-F-B on the whole Bible, and select commentators on individual books, such as William Henry Green on Job and Joseph Addison Alexander on Isaiah), before proceeding to classics of Christian literature such as John Calvin’s Institutes, Charles Hodge’s Systematic Theology, Thomas à Kempis’ Imitation of Christ, Thomas Murphy’s Pastoral Theology, Fisher’s Catechism, B.M. Palmer’s Theology of Prayer, and D'Aubigné’s History of the Reformation; and classics of literature in general, including Shakespeare, Milton, Tennyson and Dickens.

It is a full list with a sufficiently broad scope to encompass many areas of study with which each pastor ought to be acquainted. But no list of this nature is going to be complete. R.A. Lapsley wrote his own article to supplement that of the Presbyterian Quarterly by proposing several additional fields of literature of great value to the young minister.

  • Experimental religion - Andrew Murray, Abide in Christ; Archibald Alexander, Thoughts on Religious Experience; William S. Plumer, Vital Godliness; Jonathan Edwards, Religious Affections; and the practical works of John Owen;

  • Revivals of religion - G.W. Hervey’s Manual of Revivals, with particular reference to the bibliography at p. 143-144, and the outlines of George Whitefield’s sermons, and others;

  • Sermons — The sermons of Charles Spurgeon are recommended, as well as Stuart Robinson’s Discourses of Redemption; and those found in the 1896 Southern Presbyterian Pulpit;

  • Hymnology — S.W. Duffield, English Hymns: Their Authors and History; and

  • Christian biographies — Memoirs of Robert Murray M’Cheyne, Edward Payson, William C. Burns, and David Brainerd are among those recommended.

Lapsley concludes thus:

These, then, are some of the lines along which a preacher's library ought to grow, building upon the solid foundation laid down in the Quarterly’s list of one hundred books. If a man is to be a preacher and pastor, as well as a theologian and exegete, he wants to have and “inwardly digest” some books on religious experience and revivals of religion, some volumes of sermons, something on religious poetry, especially hymnology, and a number of the choicest religious biographies. These, along with text-books on Pastoral Theology and hand-books of missions, furnish the material for that great department of Practical Theology which is a vital point in ministerial equipment, coördinate with dogmatics and hermeneutics.

In short, the well-read and well-rounded minister is one who begins with the study of the Bible and proceeds to consult spiritual classics from the spectrum of history. Lapsley is not averse to recommending (for occasional perusal) the autobiography of Charles Finney (with a caution about his Pelagianism), but offers his highest praise of the practical works of John Owen. Read Summey’s list here, and Lapsley’s article here, for the combined pastoral library recommendations from the 1903 Presbyterian Quarterly and Union Seminary Magazine.

Introducing the Log College Annex

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At Log College Press, a lot has been happening. We have been growing so much lately that we have expanded beyond the main library of authors into a new Annex.

Log College Press now has an Annex to the Main Library.

Log College Press now has an Annex to the Main Library.

Some of the new authors found on the Annex include:

  • Charles Eugene Edwards (1860-1937) - He is the son of Jonathan Edwards (1817-1891), and the author of a devotional work, which has been republished in the 20th century as the Devotions and Prayers of John Calvin, its original title being Scripture Texts With Expositions and Sentence-Prayers From Calvin’s Commentaries on the Minor Prophets (1897);

  • Maria Fearing (1838-1937) - She was an African-American Presbyterian missionary from Alabama who served in the Congo for twenty years as a teacher and translator;

  • Amos Noë Freeman (1809-1893) - He was an African-American Presbyterian minister who co-authored (with Frederick Douglass and others) a famous 1853 address known as Claims of Our Common Cause;

  • Benjamin Harrison (1833-1901) - He was the 23rd President of the United States, and a Presbyterian ruling elder, who had while in office an all-Presbyterian cabinet;

  • Beverly Tucker Lacy (1819-1900) - He served as chaplain to Stonewall Jackson;

  • Cyrus Hall McCormick (1809-1884) - He was an inventor and business who did much to support the Presbyterian Church, and who endowed what is known as McCormick Theological Seminary; and

  • Poon Chew Ng (1866-1931) - He was the first Chinese-American Presbyterian to minister on the American West Coast.

Also, on the Main Library, new additions include:

We invite you not only to browse and explore the Main Library and the Annex, but also to let us know if you have suggestions for further additions to Log College Press. As we continue to grow, build and expand, we hope that Log College Press, including the new Annex, will continue to be beneficial to our readers as a resource that taps into the deep well of wisdom that is to be found in early American Presbyterianism. We are also working to publish more volumes, and we will have more to say about this very soon, DV. Meanwhile, thanks to all our readers and those who have contributed in many ways to the work that we are doing. We are grateful to you. May the Lord bless His Church!