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As the son of a professor who graduated from and taught at Davidson College, in Davidson, North Carolina, and whose mother lives in Davidson, this writer may hopefully be excused for looking for connections to Davidson at Log College Press. There are many to be found.

Davidson College, named for Brigadier General William Lee Davidson (1746-1781), who served and died in the American War of Independence, was founded in 1837 under the auspices of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

It’s college seal was designed by Peter Stuart Ney, who is believed by some to have been Napoleon's Marshall Peter Ney. That is a story shrouded in mystery to this day.

Presidents and Faculty

Robert Hall Morrison (1798-1889) - Morrison served as the first President of Davidson College. He was also a father-in-law of Stonewall Jackson.
Drury Lacy, Jr. (1802-1804) - Lacy was the third President of Davidson College.
John Lycan Kirkpatrick (1813-1885) - Kirkpatrick was the fourth President of Davidson College.
George Wilson McPhail (1815-1871) - McPhail was the fifth President of Davidson College. He is buried at the Davidson College Cemetery.
John Rennie Blake (1825-1900) - Prof. Blake served as faculty chairman of Davidson College who oversaw the college in the absence of a President from 1871 to 1877.
Andrew Dousa Hepburn (1830-1921) - Hepburn served as President of Miami University (Ohio) before becoming President of Davidson College.
William Joseph Martin, Sr. (1830-1896) - Col. Martin served as acting President of Davidson College from 1887 to 1888.
John Bunyan Shearer (1832-1919) - Shearer served as the eighth President of Davidson College.
Henry Louis Smith (1859-1951) - Smith served as the ninth President of Davidson College, although he was not an ordained minister, and later served as President of Washington & Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. A scientist, he is credited with pioneering the development of X-rays while at Davidson, as well as important efforts which hastened the end of World War I.
William Joseph Martin, Jr. (1868-1943) - The younger Martin served as the tenth President of Davidson College for 17 years.
Walter Lee Lingle (1868-1956) - A graduate of Davidson College, Lingle served as the college’s eleventh President.
John Rood Cunningham (1891-1980) - Cunningham served as the twelfth President of Davidson College.
Patrick Jones Sparrow (1802-1867) - Sparrow was a Presbyterian minister who served as Davidson’s first professor of ancient languages.
Daniel Harvey Hill (1821-1889) - Hill, a Confederate officer, served as Chair of the Mathematics Department at Davidson College. He is buried at the Davidson College Cemetery.
Cornelia Rebekah Shaw (1869-1937) - Shaw served as the first full-time librarian at Davidson College. This writer once worked at the E.H. Little Library at Davidson College under Mary D. Beaty, who was a respected historian, and author of Davidson: A History of the Town from 1835 until 1937 (1979); A History of the Davidson College Presbyterian Church (1987); A History of Davidson College (1988); and helped to translate Calvin’s Ecclesiastical Advice (1991).

Alumni and Other Connections

Calvin Knox Cumming (1854-1935) - Cumming was a Presbyterian missionary to Japan, who died in Davidson, North Carolina. His son, W.P. Cumming (1900-1989), was a famed professor of English, and expert on cartography, at Davidson College, who this writer interviewed in 1980.
Robert Lewis Dabney (1820-1898) - Dabney delivered the Davidson College Divinity Lectures for 1897, published as Christ Our Penal Substitute (1898).
George Howe (1802-1883) - Howe delivered an oration on The Value and Influence of Literary Pursuits at Davidson College in 1846.
Stonewall Jackson (1824-1863) - Stonewall Jackson, the famed Confederate general, served as a deacon in the Presbyterian Church in Lexington, Virginia. He was the son-in-law of Robert Hall Morrison, first President of Davidson College (see above).
Benjamin Rice Lacy, Jr. (1886-1981) - Lacy is the grandson of Drury Lacy, Jr., who served as President of Davidson College (see above). He studied at Davidson and was a star quarterback for the football team. He went on to become President of Union Seminary in Richmond, Virginia.
Alexander Jeffrey McKelway (1866-1918) - McKelway received an honorary D.D. degree from Davidson College in 1900. Three generations later, this writer studied piano in the McKelway household.
Julius W. Melton (1933-2017) - Melton, a family friend of the writer, worked at Davidson College, and wrote the valuable study on Presbyterian Worship in America: Changing Patterns Since 1787 (1967, 2001), which we have highlighted previously here.
Wilson Plumer Mills (1883-1959) - Mills graduated from Davidson College with a B.A. in 1903, and after long missionary service in the Far East, received an honorary D.D. degree from Davidson in 1951.
Walter William Moore (1857-1926) - Moore graduated from Davidson College with an A.B. in 1878. He went on to become the first President of Union Seminary in Richmond, Virginia.
LeRoy Tate Newland (1885-1969) - Newland graduated from Davidson College with a B.A. in 1908.
J.W. Rosebro (1847-1912) - Rosebro studied at both Davidson College and Princeton. He also served as President of Fredericksburg College (Virginia); director of Union Seminary, Richmond; and as a professor at Southwestern Presbyterian University in Clarksville, Tennessee. He was the son-in-law of B.M. Smith.
Jethro Rumple (1827-1906) - Rumple graduated from Davidson College in 1850 and “in 1887 he edited the First Semi-Centenary Celebration of Davidson College, Addresses, Historical and Commemorative, Delivered at the Annual Commencement, Wednesday, June 13, 1887, which includes a forty-six page address by Rumple on the history of the college” (Barry Waugh, Presbyterians of the Past).
Omar ibn Said (1770-1864) - Ibn Said’s Arabic translation of the Bible is currently held at the Davidson College Library Rare Book Room.
Charles Alphonso Smith (1864-1924) - Smith studied at Davidson College, earning his A.M. degree in 1887. He was a brother of Henry Louis Smith (see above) and Egbert Watson Smith (see below).
Egbert Watson Smith (1862-1944) - Smith graduated as valedictorian of Davidson’s class of 1882. He was a brother of Henry Louis Smith and Charles Alphonso Smith (see above).
Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) - Wilson attended Davidson for the 1873-1874 school year before transferring to Princeton (he later served as President of Princeton). He was a a Presbyterian ruling elder, and later served as President of the United States.
B.B. Warfield (1851-1921) - Warfield received an LL.D. degree from Davidson College in 1892.

There are likely many more ties to Davidson College at Log College Press. Davidson’s place in American Presbyterian church history should not go unnoticed. Many individuals have traveled through Davidson, and Davidson has left its mark on many. Its library alone is a treasure, and its cemetery honors many who have ended their mortal journey there. Small though the town and college is, Davidson is a waystation to take note of for students of history. May this brief introduction inspire further study and appreciation.

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From the Southern Presbyterian Pulpit (1896), today we highlight a sermon by J.W. Rosebro which is based on Isa. 55:6: “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near." As Rosebro notes, the text is both a invitation and a command, both a privilege and a duty, and incorporates both a promise and a warning.

Rosebro (1847-1912) was educated at Davidson College, North Carolina, Princeton University, and Union Seminary in Richmond, Virginia. He served pastorates at Mossy Creek Presbyterian Church in Augusta County, Virginia; Lewisburg, West Virginia; and at the Tabb Street Presbyterian Church in Petersburg, Virginia. He also served as President of Fredericksburg College (Virginia); director of Union Seminary, Richmond; and as a professor at Southwestern Presbyterian University in Clarksville, Tennessee. He was the son-in-law of B.M. Smith.

Returning to our sermon, after an insightful introduction showing the connective tissues between the 53rd, 54th and 55th chapters of Isaiah, Roseboro shows the connection between God’s gracious invitation and firm command.

The command is, "Seek ye the Lord." It comes from one who has the right to command. Let not the fulness and freeness of the invitation lead you to think you have nothing to do. It is true Jesus says he came to seek as well as save the lost; yet he also declares we must seek if we would find. It is true, he stands at the door and knocks, yet must we knock if we would have it opened unto us. It is true, God opens wide the door of his grace and proclaims, “whosoever will may come”; yet must we "strive to enter in." He offers the water of life “without money”; yet must we “buy” it. God presses the gift of eternal life on us; yet is it true, “I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel." God forces himself on no soul. He offers himself, and then it is our privilege, our duty to "seek the Lord.” We cannot sit down and wait for salvation; we must seek the Lord, though he. is not far from us.

It is on the basis of Christ’s work as Redeemer, seen so vividly in Isa. 53, that the promises given to those who come at God’s gracious call do rest.

If God invites us to come and commands us to come, there is surely an implied promise of acceptance, when we obey the command and accept the invitation. He has filled his book with richest promises and holds up before us one illustration after another, that we may see how sinful souls came to accept his invitation and that none ever went away unblest. He assures us that the favor of God standeth sure, and that '''whosoever'' cometh to drink of this water shall receive it without money….It is a glorious, amazing truth, that since Jesus died God is graciously bound to receive every soul that comes trusting in Jesus who died.

Yet with the call, there is an admonition to the hearer.

The preacher would not be faithful to you did he not press on your thoughts the warning in this text. Do not the words, "while he may be found," "while he is near,” warn us that there is a time when he may not be found, when he is not near?

This is the full-orbed, whole gospel message which Rosebro conveys to his auditors and readers.

Oh! while the Spirit is whispering in your heart, "To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your heart," while Jesus once more invites, while God is near, come! come! Provoke not that state in which it will be impossible to renew you again to repentance. It were better for you, if you had never been born.
Begin now to seek the Lord. Stop and think. You cannot stop and think of your sin and ingratitude against such love and patience without coming to repentance. You cannot think of Jesus bearing your guilt, of his suffering and death for you, without learning to love him who thus first loved you. "My people will not consider" is the mournful charge God brings against us. Therefore does he entreat us to — "Come now let us reason together." "Harden not your heart,” but "seek ye the Lord while he may be found; call ye upon him while he is near.”

Read the full sermon by Rosebro here. Oh, may the Spirit of God quicken us to draw near and not shrink back when God graciously calls us to himself. To God be the glory for his kindness and love towards undeserving, unworthy sinners for Christ’s sake.

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