J.R. Miller: A Brief Remembrance

March 20, 2023

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It was said of J.R. Miller, the Presbyterian minister and devotional writer that “he kept a complete record of all the important dates in the lives of his people — birthdays, wedding anniversaries, et cetera — and he marked each of these by sending a short letter of remembrance” (J.T. Faris, The Life of Dr. J. R. Miller: "Jesus and I are Friends” [1912], p. 168).

At Log College Press, we too try to remember the important dates in the lives of “our people,” those men and women from the past whose lives and writings continue to live on and touch our readers today. Today we remember J.R. Miller who was born on this day in history, March 20, 1840.

He was born in Beaver County, Pennsylvania and raised in a Presbyterian home where he was taught Scripture, the Shorter Catechism and Matthew Henry’s Bible commentary, while family worship was practiced daily. His profession of faith was made in an Associate Presbyterian church in 1857, which became part of the United Presbyterian Church (UPCNA) a year later.

During the War Between the States he served in the U.S. Christian Commission from 1863 to 1865. He studied at Westminster College and at Allegheny Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania before entering the ministry and becoming ordained in the UPCNA in 1867. He later came to have scruples about the practice of exclusive psalmody to which his family and his church held. And thus he joined the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA), the denomination in which he remained for the rest of his life, just nine days after the Old and New School branches reunited in 1869.

In 1880, he began editorial work for the Presbyterian Board of Publication in Philadelphia, and he also published his first book, Week Day Religion. He would go on to write many more books, and numerous articles. He was extremely popular in his day for his devotional contributions to Christian literature. His biographer wrote in 1912 that copies of his published books had sold over 2 million copies.

Throughout his life and his careers as a pastor and an author, Miller reflected the values that were instilled in him and which were important to him. He loved the Lord Jesus Christ and as a consequence loved others well. A younger minister once asked him the secret of success in the ministry. He replied thus in a letter:

Cultivate love for Christ and then live for your work. It goes without saying that the supreme motive in every minister’s life should be the love of Christ. ‘The love of Christ strengtheneth me,’ was the keynote of St. Paul’s marvellous ministry. But this is not all. If a man is swayed by the love of Christ he must also have in his heart love for his fellow men. If I were to give you what I believe is one of the secrets of my own life, it is, that I have always loved people. I have had an intense desire all of my life to help people in every way; not merely to help them into the church, but to help them in their personal experiences, in their struggles and temptations, their quest for the best things in character. I have loved other people with an absorbing devotion. I have always felt that I should go anywhere, do any personal service, and help any individual, even the lowliest and the highest. The Master taught me this in the washing of His disciples’ feet, which showed His heart in being willing to do anything to serve His friends. If you want to have success as a winner of men, as a helper of people, as a pastor of little children, as the friend of the tempted and imperilled, you must love them and have a sincere desire to do them good (The Life of Dr. J. R. Miller: "Jesus and I are Friends,” pp. 87-88).

And this illustration speaks to the eternal truth of what Dr. Miller lived and practiced:

Love is never lost. Nothing that love does is ever forgotten. Long, long afterwards the poet found his song, from beginning to end, in the heart of a friend. Love shall find some day every song it has ever sung, sweetly treasured and singing yet in the hearts into which it was breathed. It is a pretty legend of the origin of the pearl which says that a star fell into the sea, and a shellfish, opening its mouth, received it, when the star became a pearl in the shell. The words of love’s greeting as we hurry by fall into our hearts, not to be lost, but to become pearls and to stay there forever (The Life of Dr. J. R. Miller: "Jesus and I are Friends,” pp. 204).

In his last days, while he was ill, the General Assembly of the PCUSA sent him a message of sympathy and encouragement. In fact, he himself was still working on The Book of Comfort when the end came and he entered into his eternal rest. J.R. Miller died on July 2, 1912, and was laid to rest at the West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. A simple service was held for the occasion which included prayer, the recitation of the Twenty-Third Psalm, the singing by a soloist of “He Will Lead His Flock Like a Shepherd” from Handel’s Messiah, and the congregational singing of a favorite hymn.

Several of his books were devotionals meant to be read throughout the year. It seems fitting to conclude this brief remembrance of J.R. Miller with an extract from one of them, Dr. Miller's Year Book: A Year's Daily Readings (1895), from the very date of his birthday.

Henry Kollock: If Christ Be Loved

April 22, 2021

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The Rev. Henry Kollock was a much-admired pastor at the Independent Presbyterian Church of Savannah, Georgia. He died young, at the age of 41, but after his death four volumes of his sermons were published. One volume was published during his lifetime: Sermons on Various Subjects (1811).

One of the particular sermons contained in this volume is “Love to the Saviour” (Sermon XIII), a memorable discourse which stirs the heart to greater adoration of our Redeemer.

If Christ be loved, the Holy Spirit who “takes of the things of Christ and shews them unto us,” will be loved also: we shall gladly cherish his dictates and motions upon the heart; we shall listen to his voice directing us in our duty, with joy receive his testimony in the inner man, open our souls for the reception of his influences, and be careful not to quench, to grieve, or resist him. If Christ be loved, his scriptures which contain his will, his promises, his threatnings will be loved also: “O how I love thy law; it is my meditation all the day;” is the language of him who has this affection. If Christ be loved, his ordinances where he is wont to meet with his people will be most dear: “How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts; a day in thy courts is better than a thousand;” this is the sentiment of their hearts whose affections are fixed upon Jesus, and who attend his ordinances not to pay him a cold formal visit, but to enjoy delicious intercourse with him. If Christ be loved, his children who bear his image will be loved: “By this,” saith the Saviour, “shall men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love to one another.” If we admire the perfections of the Lord, we must delight to see these perfections enstamped upon any of his creatures; if we love him we cannot be indifferent to those who are the objects his tenderest affection. If Christ be loved, his cause and interest will lie near our hearts: if his mercies be despised, his authority be contemned, his glories overlooked by a thoughtless world, his friends are deeply grieved, and exclaim with David, “Rivers of waters run down mine eyes because men keep not thy law;” or with Jeremiah, “Because you will not hear, my soul shall weep in secret places for you.”

May these words ring in our ears today. With so many reasons and motives to do so, how our hearts ought to be stirred up with more ardent love to the one who gave himself for us and in whose image we are remade when we are born again. Jesus Christ is the only true Savior, and how we ought to love the one who first loved us, and to manifest that love in our lives, thoughts and actions. Read Henry Kollock’s sermon in full here.

A Dialogue Between D.L. Moody and W.S. Plumer - In Two Acts

April 13, 2020

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In 1875 and 1876, on two separate occasions, a young Dwight L. Moody and an elderly William Swan Plumer, took the stage together to dialogue about questions concerning salvation. In these dialogues, or colloquies, it was Moody who, in the role of an anxious inquirer, posed questions which Dr. Plumer answered, as crowds listened attentively.

The first event took place at Wannamaker’s Grand Depot in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on December 31, 1875. Moody had already preached to an audience of twelve thousand on the text: “How long halt yet between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him” (1 Kings 18:21). As was his custom, Moody followed his sermon with an inquiry meeting. But this meeting was special because of its format and the guest speaker involved.

To set the stage further, as it were, we turn first to William R. Moody’s The Life of Dwight L. Moody, pp. 269-270, in which he quotes Dr. Henry Clay Trumbull thus:

The central figure on the platform that New Year’s eve was one whose appearance and bearing were most impressive. The Rev. Dr. William S. Plumer, then a professor of the Columbia Theological Seminary in South Carolina, and who nearly forty years before was moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, was a figure that would compel reverence and regard in any gathering. Massive in frame, towering in stature, venerable in appearance, with snowy hair and flowing beard, he suggested Michael Angelo’s Moses.
Mr. Moody was on this occasion represented, not at the teacher, but as the inquirer. Dr. Plumer stood out as the teacher, to whom the younger Moody came with his questionings of heart. Few men, if any, in the world better knew the anxious cravings and doubts of the inquiring soul than Moody, as he had met with them in his varied evangelistic labors. Few trained theologians could have more wisely and simply answered those inquirers than the large-brained, large-hearted, large-framed, venerable patriarch before whom Moody stood.
The whole scene evidenced the simplicity of trust in God as the sinner came to him through Jesus Christ, in his need and in his confidence. The theologian could give the answer that the anxious soul longed for. Mr. Moody and Dr. Plumer were at one in this interview.

Moody then introduced his friend and partner in this endeavor to the audience at nearly midnight with these words:

Here is the Rev. Dr. Plumer, of South Carolina. He is seventy-four years old. He has been living on borrowed time for four years. For fifty-five years he has been sitting at the feet of Jesus. I’m going to put him on the witness-stand, and question him before you all. Dr. Plumer, will you take the pulpit?

We have a transcript of this and a subsequent “colloquy,” and the text shows a back-and-forth dialogue that left a deep impression on its hearers. We are told that “It was a most impressive service. Many a soul seemed to feel himself the questioner, and to listen as for his life to the answer.”

Act 1 begins:

Dr. Plumer — I was to give a year-text to this assembly. It is from the 73d Psalm: “Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee.”
Mr. Moody — Dr. Plumer, we often speak of “conviction.” What is conviction?
Dr. Plumer — Conviction is a clear persuasion that a thing is true. Religious conviction is a clear, settled persuasion of five things: First, That I am ignorant, and need instruction. Second, That I am guilty, and deserve wrath, and need pardon. Third. That my heart is vile, and must be renewed. Fourth. That my condition is miserable; I am “wretched and miserable and poor.” Fifth. That I am helpless; I am without strength; I can not save myself; I can not think a good thought without divine grace."
Mr. Moody — What is the use of conviction?
Dr. Plumer — The use of conviction is not to punish a man for his sins; nor is it to make him any better. The devils in hell have been under awful conviction for a long time, and not one of them is any better. The sole object of conviction is to shut up the soul to the faith of Jesus. The sole object of conviction is to bring the sinner to accept salvation by atoning blood.
Mr. Moody — Is any given amount of distress necessary to genuine conviction?
Dr. Plumer — Lydia seems to have had no dis tress; we read of none. God opened her heart, and she attended to the things spoken of Paul; but the jailer of Philippi would probably not have accepted Christ without some alarm. If you will accept the Son of God, you need have no trouble; there is nothing in mere trouble that sanctifies the soul.
Mr. Moody — Well, doctor, what is conversion?
Dr. Plumer — Glory be to God! there is such a thing as conversion. If there was not, everlasting chains and darkness would be our doom. To be converted is to turn from self, self-will, self-righteousness, all self confidence, and from sin in every shape, and to be turned to Christ. The turning-point in a man's conversion is his acceptance of Jesus Christ; then he closes in with Christ and gives Him all his confidence.
Mr. Moody — Why must a sinner come to Christ for salvation ?
Dr. Pumer — Because there is salvation in none else. All the angels in heaven and all the saints in heaven and earth can not save one sinner. He must come to the Saviour. I will tell you why. Here are quintillions of tons of atmospheric air: why does not that support life without your respir ing it? You must breathe it or you die. For the same reason you must make Christ yours, or you perish notwithstanding what He has done. The sight of a river will never quench thirst, and the sight of food will never satisfy hunger. You must come to Christ, and make His salvation yours.
Mr. Moody — Can a man be saved here to-night, before twelve o'clock — saved all at once?
Dr. Plumer — Why not? In my Bible I read of three thousand men gathered together one morning — all of them murderers, their hands stained with the blood of the Son of God. They met in the morning, and before night they were all baptized members of Christ. God added to the church in those days such as should be saved. If you are ever saved, there must be a moment when you accept Christ and renounce the world.
Mr. Moody — What is repentance?
Dr. Plumer — It is turning to God with abhorrence of sin and cleaving to Christ with purpose pf obedience. A man truly repents of his sins when he does not commit the sins he has repented of; therefore saving repentance always terminates in purity of life and in reformation. A thorough change of heart is followed by a thorough change of character.
Mr. Moody — How can I know that I am saved?
Dr. Plumer — By the fact that God is true. “Let God be true, but every man a liar.” If I accept Jesus Christ, it is not Mr. Moody's word, nor Mr. Sankey's, nor Dr. Newton's; it is the Word of the living God, whose name is Amen. “He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life.”
Mr. Moody — What if I haven't got faith enough?
Dr. Plumer — Glory be to God! if I can touch the hem of my Saviour's garment I shall be saved. A little faith is as truly faith as a great deal of faith. A little coal of fire in the ashes is as truly fire as the glowing heat of the furnace. Jesus says not, If you have great faith you will be saved, but “He that believeth shall be saved.” Oh! come and trust Him fully! Give Him all your confidence, and if your faith is not as strong as it ought to be, cry as the disciples did, “Lord, increase our faith.”

Interior view of the Roman Hippodrome in New York City.

A subsequent event took place on March 30, 1876 at P.T. Barnum’s Great Roman Hippodrome in New York City, the precursor to Madison Square Garden. Act 2 commences at 8 pm, following the conclusion of a convention.

At eight o’clock the house was filled, every seat being occupied, and hundreds standing. Mr. Moody, followed by Dr. Plumer, of South Carolina, entered. The usual devotional exercises were held. Mr. Moody then arose, and said: “The exercises of this evening will vary from those commonly had at this hour. I shall not preach, but shall call on Dr. Plumer to answer many questions of great importance; these questions relate to the way of life. Dr. Plumer has long been studying the Word of God. He will please take the stand.
Mr. Moody — Dr. Plumer, I am living in the world, with eternity before me. I am accountable to God; I have broken His law. What must I do to be saved?
Dr. Plumer — There is but one safe answer to that question. It sounds out from the jail at Philippi: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” Acts xvi. 31. That is the substance of all the Scriptures on this subject summed up in a few words.
Mr. Moody — Is faith in Christ essential to salvation?
Dr. Plumer — So says the Lord Jesus Christ: “He that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John iii. 18.
Mr. Moody — Many in the inquiry-room tell us that we are making too much of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Dr. Plumer — If they mean that we are making too much of the Lord Jesus Christ himself, that cannot be so; for He is All in All; the First and the Last; the Author and Finisher of Salvation; the one Mediator between God and man; the Prophet, Priest, and King of His Church. If they mean that we are making too much of faith itself, that cannot be so, unless we go beyond the Scriptures. The words faith and believe occur in the New Testament about five hundred times; and in a large number of cases salvation is clearly connected with believing. Jesus taught us this when asked, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” He answered, “This is the work of God that ye believe on the name of Him whom He hath sent,” and, “If ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins.” John vi. 29; viii. 24.
Mr. Moody — Does our faith, or our want of faith, decide our relations to God the Father?
Dr. Plumer — The Scriptures so affirm: “Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father;” “He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath the Father and the Son;” “He that hateth me, hateth my Father also.” I John ii. 23; 2 John 9; John xv. 23. No man can refuse to confess that Christ, the Son of God, is come in the flesh, without denying and dishonoring God the Father.
Mr. Moody — Is true faith wrought in the heart by the Holy Ghost alone?
Dr. Plumer — Paul says: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,” and so on; and, “No man can say that Jesus is Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.” Galatians v. 22; I Cor. xii. 3. Elsewhere he says, “Faith is of the operation of God;" and John says, “Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is of God; and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is not of God.”
Mr. Moody — Is there no substitute for faith in Christ Jesus?
Dr. Plumer — None whatever. The want of faith mars everything. I remember John Calvin thus puts it: “The annihilation of faith is the abolition of the promises.” Many Scriptures justify this remark. In the great commission given by Christ to the preachers of His Gospel, He says: “He that believeth not shall be damned.” Mark xvi. 16. These words are awſul, and they are true: “He that believeth not shall be damned;” so says the Son of God, our final Judge.

With many other questions, on both occasions, did Moody draw out from Plumer the “way of life,” that is, a gospel understanding of repentance and faith and salvation, as given to us in the Scriptures. The rest of the dialogue is given in Great Questions Answered: Two Colloquies Between D.L. Moody and Wm. S. Plumer (1876), available to read here. The drama of these two men, in the roles of anxious inquirer and wise teacher, in two different locations, is played out in that remarkable volume, and is well worth the read. Plumer acquitted himself with distinction in giving Moody and his 19th century hearers sound Biblical answers to questions of great importance, and readers of the 21st century will profit too by consideration of these dialogues.

Dabney on 'The Happy Service'

April 5, 2020

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Among the collection of manuscript army sermons preached by Robert Lewis Dabney which we have at Log College Press (courtesy of Union Seminary in Richmond, VA) is one preached in August 1861 at Centreville, Virginia titled “The Happy Service.” It is based on the words of Jesus from Matthew 11:28:

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

In this sermon (which was republished by Sprinkle Publications as a stand-alone booklet), Dabney offers some counsel to those who might chaff at these simple, yet profoundly true words of our Lord and Christ.

Although Jesus was not clothed in kings’ garments when He uttered those words — words which even a Roman Emperor could not utter in truth — yet as both man and God, He was and is able to fulfill the promise given.

First, Our Peace is to be found in embracing Christ and his service by faith…
Who is this, then, that calmly stands up and announces to his dying race this audacious proposal? “Come one, come all, to me; and I will give you rest.” Is this the Nazerene, the carpenter’s son; the man who “had not where to lay his head”? How dare he pledge to suffering mankind, he, in his beggary, a relief which Caesar, upon the throne of imperial Rome, with all the legions of her armies bowing to his sceptre, and all the nations of the civilized globe pouring their tributes into his royal treasury, would not presume to undertake?…
Be assured, my brethren, that the holy Jesus would have been incapable of using this language had he not been conscious that he was not only man, but God. It was because he could claim: “I and my Father are one”; “It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell.” “He hath set him at his own right hand in heavenly places, and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church.” Unless the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, and infinite attributes of omniscience and omnipotence, he cannot give peace to mankind. But he is both God and man.

Dabney continues by highlighting the apparent paradox of finding rest in taking a yoke.

Second, We read assurance of our peace and blessedness in Christ in the nature of the yoke which we are invited to receive. “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”
Here, again, there appears to the unbeliever a still greater paradox; he is invited to look for rest in assuming a yoke! It is when the yoke is unbound and the wearied ox is released to follow his own will pasture-ward, that he finds rest. So the perpetual delusion of the unbeliever is, that he can find his preferred happiness in the emancipation of his soul from the dreaded restraints of Christianity, and in this alone….
But I repeat, no man is free, or can be; all who do not bear the yoke of Christ, groan under that of sin and Satan. Such is the testimony of the Scriptures. “Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever committeth sin, is the servant of sin.” “Thou art in the gall of bitterness, and the bond of iniquity.” They are “taken captive by the devil at his will.”…These are but instances of the pinching of Satan’s yoke.
…it is not apathetic indolence or sensual ease which Christ promises, but rest for the soul. It consists of peace of conscience, harmony of the affections, and the enjoyment of legitimate and ennobling exercise for all the powers….He who bears the right yoke, or, in other words, has assigned to him the proper activities, is the man who truly enjoys his existence.

Then Dabney reminds us that Christ is the very “Lamb of God,” meek and mild to His beloved children. This is He who promises rest.

Third, We may expect rest under the yoke of Christ because of the character of our Master. “He is meek and lowly in heart, and we shall find rest unto our souls.” He is a gentle, kindly, tender master. A merciful master makes an easy service. His benevolence makes him watchful of the welfare of his servants, and considerate in dealing with their infirmities. His lowliness of heart ensures that he will never sacrifice the happiness and lives of his subjects in reckless and ambitious enterprises. He is not a tyrant to drag his wretched subjects, like an Alexander, or a Tamerlane, through frozen wilds and burning wastes, and to pour out their blood as a libation to the idol of his fame. He is the prince of peace, whose sceptre is truth and meekness and righteousness, and whose law is love. To his own people, he is the “Lamb of God,” who loved them and gave himself for them. How, then, is it possible that he, in regulating the lives and services of his ransomed ones, should impose on them any other law than one which conduces to their truest well-being? To dread the yoke of Christ is guilty mistrust and unbelief….
If, then, we would find rest to our souls, let us learn to imbibe the temper of the meek and lowly Jesus, and to bear his yoke with that devoted spirit with which he fulfilled his Father’s will in living and dying for us.

Among Dabney’s concluding remarks, he summarizes what is offered here by Christ to sinners. Let sinners and saints consider the blessedness of embracing and entering into Christ’s promise.

But now remember the blessed truth already established from the Scripture: that when a believing soul embraces the cross, Christ “crucifies the enmity thereby”; that he engages to take away the stony heart out of our flesh and give us a heart of flesh; that when he reconciles God to us by his atonement, he also reconciles us to God by our effectual calling, and sheds abroad his love upon our hearts. Then, as the regenerated sinner considers this amazing love and condescension of a Redeemer God, stooping to death to rescue him from unutterable ruin, a new-born gratitude conspires with adoration for his excellences, and he begins to say, “I love him because he first loved me.” Then the love of Christ constraining him becomes the spring of a joyful obedience; and he sings with devout delight, in the language of David, “O Lord, truly I am servant: I am thy servant and the son of thy handmaid. Thou hast loosed my bonds.” This is the way, O sinner, the yoke is made easy and the burden light! Cannot you apprehend it?

On the Lord’s Day, when the Son of God rose from the dead to conquer death and sin, and loose us from the bonds of iniquity, may His promise of rest to all those who take on His yoke by faith be an encouragement to you who are weary. Dabney’s sermon reminds us that it is a “Happy Service” indeed to be one of Christ’s precious saints walking His holy ways.

The Intercessor - a Poem in Benjamin Morgan Palmer's Book on Prayer

December 1, 2019

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In chapter five of the second part of Benjamin Morgan Palmer’s 1894 book on prayer, entitled Theology of Prayer as Viewed in the Religion of Nature and in the System of Grace, he writes of the connection between prayer and the intercession of Jesus Christ. It is a powerful examination both of the nature of the Son’s priestly work of intercession and the way our praying is stimulated by that heavenly work. Palmer concludes the chapter with what he calls “exquisite lines” - though the author of the lines was unknown to Palmer (a publication in 1872 noted that they were translated into English from German, and other sources attribute authorship to “E. Birrell”). Fan into flame your own prayers with the confidence of Christ’s ongoing ministry for you:

The Intercessor

Father, I bring this worthless child to thee,
To claim thy pardon once, yet once again.
Receive him at my hands, for he is mine.
He is a worthless child; he owns his guilt.
Look not on him; he cannot bear thy glance.
Look thou on me; his vileness I will hide.
He pleads not for himself, he dares not plead.
His cause is mine, I am his Intercessor.
By each pure drop of blood I lost for him,
By all the sorrows graven on my soul,
By every wound I bear, I claim it due.
Father divine! I cannot have him lost.
He is a worthless soul, but he is mine.
Sin hath destroyed him; sin hath died in me.
Death hath pursued him; I have conquer'd death.
Satan hath bound him; Satan is my slave.
My Father! hear him now—not him, but me.
I would not have him lost for all the world
Thou for my glory hast ordain’d and made,
Because he is a poor and contrite child,
And all, his every hope, on me reclines.
I know my children, and I know him mine
By all the tears he weeps upon my bosom,
By his full heart that beateth against mine;
I know him by his sighings and his prayers,
By his deep, trusting love, which clings to me.
I could not bear to see him cast away,
Weak as he is, the weakest of my flock,
The one that grieves me most, that loves me least.
I measure not my love by his returns,
And though the stripes I send to speed him home
Drive him upon the instant from my breast,
Still he is mine; I drew him from the world;
He has no right, no home, but in my love.
Though earth and hell against his soul conspire,
I shield him, keep him, save him; we are one.

Love to an Unseen Christ - B.M. Palmer

October 19, 2019

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Hughes Oliphant Old once wrote (The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures in the Worship of the Christian Church, Vol. 6, p. 326), “The remarkable thing about the preaching of Benjamin Morgan Palmer is the centrality it gave to the figure of Jesus. It is for this that he was above all remembered. What could commend a preacher more highly!” One of the sermons that Old highlighted to demonstrate this is titled “Love to an Unseen Christ” (note that we do not have this particular sermon available yet on Log College Press).

In this sermon, Palmer connects the Christ of the Bible with the Word of Christ (Logos).

It is this living Christ who gives the freshness and vitality to the Bible, which belongs to no other book. Because He lives in His own essential life, and lives as mediator at the Father’s right hand, there is life in all the words and syllables and lines and letters of the sacred book. As you and I walk up and down through its pages, it is as thought we were walking arm and arm with our living Lord through the walks of a garden; and as our eyes trace the words, they are not to us the cold impressions of a printing press, but they are the articulate utterances of the living Lord, who speaks through this word, as it is interpreted to us through the Holy Spirit, with His own lips from His throne above. Thus it is that the Bible becomes to us a secondary incarnation of our Lord — the secondary rainbow, the outer halo which we behold around His blessed head.

This sermon appears in Vol.. 1 of Sermons by Rev. B.M. Palmer, first published in 1875, and then republished by the late Lloyd Sprinkle of Sprinkle Publications in 2002. This is one of many sermons by a man who truly exalted the Christ of the Bible, and the Bible from which Christ is proclaimed. Though unseen, Christ is most surely the true God incarnate through which alone men may be saved (Acts 4:12), and he is the rewarder of those who diligently seek him in faith (Heb. 11:6). This theme is a constant in Palmer’s preaching, as Old explains. Take time to study the writings, and the sermons, of B.M. Palmer. We hope to add more of his works as we continue to build Log College Press.

The Gospel of the Incarnation, by William Swan Plumer

December 25, 2018

William Swan Plumer, the 19th century Southern Presbyterian pastor and theologian, wrote more than most of us have time to read. But you don't want to miss this excerpt from the 21st chapter of his book The Grace of Christ (available here!) on the beauty and glory of the incarnation of Jesus Christ. The gospel is richly here, soak in it today and lets it truths permeat your soul:

“Our Lord Jesus Christ became incarnate, was made under the law, lived, acted, obeyed, suffered died and rose again for his people.

He came down to earth that they might go up to heaven.

He suffered that they might reign.

He became a servant that they might become kings and priests unto God.

He died that they might live.

He bore the cross that their enmity might be slain, and their sins expiated.

He loved them that they might love God.

He was rich and became poor that they, who were poor, might be made rich.

He descended into the lower parts of the earth that they might sit in heavenly places.

He emptied himself that they might be filled with all the fullness of God.

He took upon him human nature that they might be partakers of the divine nature.

He made flesh his dwelling place that they might be an habitation of God through the Spirit.

He made himself of no reputation, that they might wear his new name, and be counted an eternal excellency.

He became a worm, and no man, that they, who were sinful worms, might be made equal to the angels.

He bore the curse of a broken covenant that they might partake of all the blessings of the everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure.

Though heir of all things, he was willingly despised of the people, that they, who were justly condemned, might obtain and inheritance that is incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away.

His death was a satisfaction to divine justice, a ransom for many, a propitiation for sin, a sweet smelling savour to God, that we, who were an offense to God, might become his sons and daughters.

He was made sin for his people that they might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Though Lord of all He took the form of a servant, that they, who were the servants of sin, might prevail like princes with God.

He, who had made swaddling-clothes bands for the sea, was wrapped in swaddling-clothes that they, who were cast out in their blood, might be clothed in linen white and clean, which is the righteousness of the saints.

He had not where to lay His head that they who otherwise must have laid down in eternal sorrow, might read the mansions in His Father’s house.

He was beset with lions and bulls of Bashan, that his chosen might be compassed about with an innumerable company of angels and of the spirits of just men made perfect.

He drank the cup of God’s indignation that they might for ever drink of the river of His pleasures.

He hungered that they might eat the bread of life.

He thirsted that they might drink the water of life.

He was numbered with the transgressors that they might stand among the justified, and be counted among the jewels.

He made His grave with the wicked that they might sleep in Jesus.

Though He was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was, yet He became a helpless infant, that creatures of yesterday, sentenced to death, might live for ever.

He wore a crown of thorns that all, who love His appearing, might wear a crown of life.

He wept tears of anguish that His elect might weep tears of repentance not to be repented of.

He bore the yoke of obedience unto death that they might find His yoke easy and His burden light.

He poured out His soul unto death, lay three days in the heart of the earth, then burst the bars of death, and arose to God, that they, who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage, might obtain the victory over the grave and become partakers of His resurrection.

He exhausted the penalty of the law that His redeemed might have access to the inexhaustible treasures of mercy, wisdom, faithfulness, truth and grace promised by the Lord.

He passed from humiliation to humiliation, till He reached the sepulcher of Joseph, that His people might be changed from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord.

He was matchless in grace that they might be matchless in gratitude.

Though a Son, He became a voluntary exile, that they, who had wickedly wandered afar off, might be brought nigh by His blood.

He was compassed about with all their innocent infirmities that He might perfect His strength in their weakness.

His visage was so marred more than any man, that His ransomed might be presented before God without spot, or blemish, or wrinkle, or any such thing.

For a time He was forsaken of His Father that they, whom He bought with His blood, might behold the light of God’s countenance forever.

He came and dwelt with them that they might be forever with the Lord.

He was hung up naked before His insulting foes that all, who believe on His name, might wear a glorious wedding garment, a spotless righteousness.

Though He was dead, He is the firstborn among many brethren.

Through His sorrow His people obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing flee away.

Though He endured the worst things, they do and shall forever enjoy the best things

Wonderful mystery! God was manifested in the flesh! Here is no absurdity, no contradiction, no fiction, and yet a mystery that baffles all attempts to solve it, and dazzles all human and angelic vision. Blessed is he, who is not offended in Jesus. Blessed is he, who loves the incarnate mystery, and rests upon it. It is a mystery of love, of power, of salvation. It is the mystery of Godliness. It is the great study of the inhabitants of heaven, and shall be while immortality endures.”

William Swan Plumer on the Glory and Grace of the Incarnation

August 10, 2018

William Swan Plumer, the 19th century Southern Presbyterian pastor and theologian, wrote more than most of us have time to read. We've published his two inaugural addresses as Christ All in All: The Right Temper for a Theologian (you can purchase a copy of the booklet, or it's available as a free ebook in the month of August!). But you don't want to miss this excerpt from the 21st chapter of his book The Grace of Christ (available here!) on the glory and grace of the incarnation of the Son of God. The gospel is richly present, so soak in it today and lets its truths permeate your soul:

“Our Lord Jesus Christ became incarnate, was made under the law, lived, acted, obeyed, suffered died and rose again for his people.

He came down to earth that they might go up to heaven.

He suffered that they might reign.

He became a servant that they might become kings and priests unto God.

He died that they might live.

He bore the cross that their enmity might be slain, and their sins expiated.

He loved them that they might love God.

He was rich and became poor that they, who were poor, might be made rich.

He descended into the lower parts of the earth that they might sit in heavenly places. He emptied himself that they might be filled with all the fullness of God.