What's New at Log College Press? — September 1, 2023

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Dear Friends,

As summer draws to a close, we wish to give an update on what’s been happening at Log College Press. Our virtual shelves are filling up with old Presbyterian books, articles, poetry and manuscripts. We recently reached a milestone of sorts - there are now over 20,000 works available to read at Log College Press.

In a year of celebration and remembrance, we have previously paid tribute to John Witherspoon’s 300th birthday (Feb. 5, 1723); Thomas Murphy’s 200th birthday (Feb. 6, 1823); the 100th anniversary of Robert P. Kerr’s passing (March 25, 1923); the 250th anniversary of Joseph Caldwell’s passing (April 21, 1773); the 150th anniversary of William H. McGuffey’s passing (May 4, 1873); A.A. Hodge’s 200th birthday (July 18, 1823); the 150th anniversary of Gardiner Spring’s passing (Aug. 18, 1873); the 150th anniversary of Thomas Smyth’s passing (Aug. 20, 1873); and we are looking ahead to the 300th birthday of Samuel Davies (Nov. 3, 1723). These anniversaries are reminders of the rich heritage of American Presbyterianism, and how these men have contributed in their own ways to shaping our history. As we like to say, there is no time like the present to study the past.

Meanwhile, to return to the here and now, members of the Dead Presbyterian Society have special access to certain features on this website, which include the Early Access and Recent Additions page, as well as the DPS quote blog, and the Log College Review. We wish to draw your attention to notable works of interest that have added recently.

Some highlights at the Early Access page:

  • Samuel Davies, Travel Diary (1753-1754) — A kind and helpful supporter of our work noticed that some handwritten manuscript journals have been digitized by the Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Virginia, including Davies’ diary which covers a portion of his trip to Great Britain to raise funds for the College of New Jersey (Princeton).

  • William Henry Foote, Journal (3 volumes, 1794-1869) — This is a remarkable manuscript journal (written in beautiful penmanship) which covers almost the entirety of Foote’s life, and includes newspaper clippings, family history, ecclesiastical records (some pertinent to the founding of the Presbyterian Church, C.S.A.), and much more.

  • Francis Alison, Peace and Union Recommended (1758) — A notable sermon preached by an Old Side divine at the opening of the synod at which the Old and New Sides were reunited.

  • David Bostwick, Self Disclaimed and Christ Exalted (1758) — A powerful sermon on the words from John 3:30: “He must increase but I must decrease.”

  • Jonathan Dickinson, A Sermon, Preached at the Opening of the Synod at Philadelphia, September 19, 1722 (1723) and A Vindication of God’s Sovereign Free Grace (1746).

  • Samuel Finley, The Curse of Meroz; or, The Danger of Neutrality, in the Cause of God, and Our Country (1757) — A notable patriotic sermon preached during the French and Indian War.

Some highlights at the Recent Additions page:

On the Log College Review:

  • Reviews by Jonathan Peters: Review of Francis R. Flournoy, Benjamin Mosby Smith: 1811-1893 (1947) [2023], and Review of William E. Thompson, In Stonewall’s Long Shadow: James Power Smith, Aide de Camp (2020) [first appeared in The Confessional Presbyterian 18 (2022)].

Meanwhile, please feel free to browse the many resources available to our readers in print and in digital format. We appreciate hearing from our readers if they find matters needing correction, or if they have questions about authors or works on the site, or if they have suggestions for additions to the site. Your feedback helps the experience of other readers as well. Thank you, as always, for your interest and support. Stay tuned for more good things to come.

What's New at Log College Press? - June 14, 2023

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It has been a while since we have updated our readers on what’s happening at Log College Press, but there is in fact much to report. As you may know by now, Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary announced in recent weeks that it has acquired Log College Press, a partnership which is a tremendous step forward in our ministry. It is a tremendous privilege to associate with the seminary in our mutual efforts to edify the church body, in our case, by bringing American Presbyterian works from the past into the present, which makes for an exciting future.

We are very pleased to report that Caleb Cangelosi, the founder of Log College Press, will continue to serve as General Editor of the publishing side of Log College Press. Some of the planned forthcoming titles to be published include:

- A Plain and Scriptural View of Baptism, by Daniel Baker

- The Utility and Importance of Creeds and Confessions, by Samuel Miller

- The Broken Home: Lessons in Sorrow, by Benjamin Morgan Palmer

- Suicide: Its Guilt, Folly, and Sources, by Samuel Miller

- The Memoirs of John Leighton Wilson, by Hampden Coit DuBose

Andrew Myers remains the Website Manager for Log College Press. At this point in time, we are approaching 20,000 titles available to read online on the website. Members of the Dead Presbyterian Society have special access to certain features on the site, which include the Early Access and Recent Additions page, as well as the DPS quote blog.

Some highlights at the Early Access page:

  • Mary McLeod Bethune, My Last Will and Testament (an article that she published shortly before her death in a 1955 issue of Ebony magazine);

  • Sidney Lanier, Tiger-Lilies (1867) - this is Lanier’s one and only novel;

  • A.A. Hodge, Progress in Theology (1883) - Hodge’s contribution to a symposium on the subject which appeared in The Catholic Presbyterian;

  • James Kennedy, Thoughts on Prayer (1898) - Kennedy’s final publication includes a memorial of his life; and

  • Geerhardus Vos, Dogmatiek, Vols. 1-5 (1896) - this is Vos’ Reformed Dogmatics, handwritten, in Dutch.

Some highlights at the Recent Addtiions page:

  • William Munford Baker, Church-Planting in Texas: A Pioneer Sketch (1879);

  • Thomas Bloomer Balch, Reminiscences of Presbyterian Ministers (1877-1878) - a series of personal recollections that appeared in The Central Presbyterian;

  • Louis FitzGerald Benson, The Hymnody of the Christian Church (1927);

  • George Washington Cable, Mark Twain and G.W. Cable: The Record of a Literary Relationship (1960);

  • John Gresham Machen, Captain With the Mighty Heart: The Story of J. Gresham Machen (1967-1971), and Personal Reminiscences of J. Gresham Machen (1985) - the first being a 19-part biographical sketch by Henry W. Coray from The Presbyterian Guardian, and the second being a series of recollections by people who knew Machen personally from The Presbyterian Journal;

  • Gilbert McMaster, The Upright Man in Life and at Death: a Discourse Delivered, Sabbath Evening, November 7, 1852, on the Occasion of the Decease of the Rev. Samuel Brown Wylie, D.D. (1852);

  • Richard Clark Reed, The Gospel as Taught By Calvin (1896, 1979);

  • John Rodgers, A Brief View of the State of Religious Liberty in the Colony of New York (1773, 1838);

  • Charles Adamson Salmond, Dr. Charles Hodge (1881)

  • Thomas Caldwell Stuart, “Father” Stuart and the Monroe Mission (1927); and

  • Geerhardus Vos, De verbondsleer in de Gereformeerde theologie - Dutch original of The Doctrine of the Covenant in Reformed Theology] (1891).

This is an exciting year for Log College Press for many reasons, and, in our fashion, we have, this year, already taken note of John Witherspoon’s 300th birthday, Thomas Murphy’s 200th birthday, and we are looking ahead to the 200th birthday of A.A. Hodge, and the 300th birthday of Samuel Davies. 2023 is a good time to study the writings of these giants of the American Presbyterian Church. There is no time like the present to study the past.

Meanwhile, please feel free to browse the many resources available to our readers in print and in digital format. We appreciate hearing from our readers if they find matters needing correction, or if they have questions about authors or works on the site, or if they have suggestions for additions to the site. Your feedback helps the experience of other readers as well. Thank you, as always, for your interest and support. Stay tuned for more good things to come.

John Witherspoon Was Born 300 Years Ago

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One of the great leaders of the early American Presbyterian church, John Witherspoon, was born 300 years ago, on February 5, 1723. We remember him as a minister, a President of the College of New Jersey (Princeton), a Founding Father of the United States of America, and as moderator of the first General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA).

Witherspoon was born in the village of Gifford, Scotland, where John Knox was also born two centuries before. He went on to attend the Haddington Grammar School, and later graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a Master of Arts in 1739, where he continued his studies in theology. He received an honorary doctoral degree in divinity from the University of St. Andrews in 1764. He ministered in Beith, Ayrshire (1745–1758), where he married Elizabeth Montgomery (they had ten children, with five surviving to adulthood), and at the Laigh Kirk, Paisley (1758-1768).

After declining the first invitation in 1766, Witherspoon accepted the second invitation to serve as President of the College of New Jersey in 1768. Already well-respected as a theologian and author on this side of the pond, Witherspoon became an important voice in American ecclesiastical affairs, and in the political realm as well.

He taught moral philosophy and other subjects at Princeton. He helped to organize the Nassau Presbyterian Church there, and he served in the Continental Congress as a delegate from New Jersey, and as chaplain, and signed both the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation. He preached a famous fast-day sermon called The Dominion of Providence Over the Passions of Men (1776), which includes these memorable words:

If your cause is just, you may look with confidence to the Lord, and intreat him to plead it as his own. You are all my witnesses, that this is the first time of my introducing any political subject into the pulpit. At this season, however, it is not only lawful but necessary, and I willingly embrace the opportunity of declaring my opinion without any hesitation, that the cause in which America is now in arms, is the cause of justice, of liberty, and of human nature. So far as we have hitherto proceeded, I am satisfied that the confederacy of the colonies has not been the effect of pride, resentment, or sedition, but of a deep and general conviction that our civil and religious liberties, and consequently in a great measure the temporal and eternal happiness of us and our posterity, depended on the issue. The knowledge of God and his truths have from the beginning of the world been chiefly, if not entirely confined to those parts of the earth where some degree of liberty and political justice were to be seen, and great were the difficulties with which they had to struggle, from the imperfection of human society, and the unjust decisions of unsurped authority. There is not a single instance in history, in which civil liberty was lost, and religious liberty preserved entire. If therefore we yield up our temporal property, we at the same time deliver the conscience into bondage.

In his later years, Witherspoon married for a second time and had two more children. He was elected as the moderator of the PCUSA General Assembly in 1789. He wrote the preface to the 1791 Isaac Collins Bible, the first family Bible published in America. He died at his farm Tusculum, just outside Princeton, in 1794, and was laid to rest at Princeton Cemetery.

Statues have been sculpted in his honor on both sides of the Atlantic and may be found in Washington, D.C., at Princeton University, at the University of the West of Scotland in Paisley, and at the Presbyterian Historical Society in Philadelphia. Witherspoon is remembered today as a man whose ideals included personal piety, ecclesiastical purity, and civil liberty, and who left his mark on the course of American and Presbyterian history. We honor him today as a man who contributed much to the shaping of the Presbyterian church, and whose legacy has left its mark on the whole world for good.

Eyewitnesses to History

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One fascinating feature found within the writings of early American Presbyterians is the window some authors have given us to key moments in history. Amidst the doctrinal and devotional literature are records and observations, speeches, sermons, diary entries, letters and more that tell future generations, including ours, what it is like to be present at some of the most momentous historical events in the annals of America and the world.

  • One of the earliest Presbyterians in America was Alexander Whitaker, a chaplain who arrived at the Jamestown colony in Virginia in 1611, and who ministered to the Indian princess Pocahontas. He reported in a June 18, 1614 letter to his cousin William Gouge, later a Westminster Divine, concerning both her conversion to Christianity and her marriage to John Rolfe: “But that which is best, one Pocahuntas or what Matoa the daughter of Powhatan, is married to an honest and discreete English Gentleman Master Rolfe, and that after she had openly renounced her Country Idolatry, professed the faith of Jesus Christ, and was baptised; which thing Sir Thomas Dale had laboured a long time to ground in her.”

This portrait of The Baptism of Pocahontas by John Gadsby Chapman (1840), which shows Alexander Whitaker administering the sacrament, hangs in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol Building, Washington, District of Columbia.

  • Reportedly, among the 56 signers of the U.S. Declaration of Independence at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, twelve were Presbyterians, including Richard Stockton and John Witherspoon, the only clergyman present. Witherspoon also had a hand at another historical moment - the signing of the Articles of Confederation.

Signature of John Witherspoon on the 1776 U.S. Declaration of Independence (Witherspoon signed it on August 2, 1776).

Signature of John Witherspoon on the 1781 Articles of Confederation (New Jersey delegates signed the document on November 26, 1778).

  • Samuel Miller (then known as “Sammy”) was a young witness to history having been present at the State House in Philadelphia (Independence Hall) at the time of the 1787 Constitutional Convention. He watched as George Washington, and many other founding fathers, some of whom were friends of his father, John Miller, entered and departed while the work of preparing the US Constitution was going on. He was also a student at the University of Pennsylvania in 1789 while the first General Assembly of the PCUSA was meeting and working to revise the standards of the church. Miller’s friend — and later, colleague — John Rodgers played an important role at that Assembly (Miller was Rodgers’ biographer). He also developed close ties at this time to Ashbel Green, whose advice and counsel to young Miller would prove important as he entered upon his theological studies.

Junius Brutus Steams, Washington as Statesman at the Constitutional Convention (1856)

  • One of the most amazing meteor showers recorded in history took place in during the night and early morning of November 12-13, 1833. There were many who witnessed the Leonid meteor storm in which between 50,000 and 150,000 meteors fell each hour, one of whom was David Talmage, the father of Thomas De Witt Talmage, who later told his father’s story in a sermon.

Engraving of the 1833 Leonid Meteor Shower by Adolf Vollmy (1889), based on the painting by Karl Jauslin.

  • Albert Williams, who founded the First Presbyterian Church of San Francisco, California, wrote about the series of fires that plagued the city in 1851 in A Pioneer Pastorate (1879): “So frequent and periodical were these fires, that they came to be regarded in the light of permanent institutions. Fears of a recurrence of the dread evil, in view of the past, were not long in waiting for fulfilment. On the anniversary of the fire of the 4th of May, 1850, came another on the 4th of May, 1851, the fifth general fire. The city was appalled by these repeated calamities. And more, it began to be a confirmed conviction that they were not accidental, but incendiary. On the 22d of June, 1851, the sixth, and, happily the last general fire, and severest of all, occurred. The fact that the point of the beginning of this fire was in a locality quite destitute of water facilities, with other attending circumstances, left hardly a remaining doubt of its incendiary character.”

Depiction of the June 22, 1851 San Francisco Fire.

  • The summer of 1855 was devastating to the city of Norfolk, Virginia. George D. Armstrong, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, endured the epidemic of yellow fever that decimated the city. He stayed during the outbreak to minister to the sick, often serving them for over 15 hours per day, but lost his wife, one daughter, a nephew and a sister-in-law to the disease. He wrote The Summer of the Pestilence: A History of the Ravages of the Yellow Fever in Norfolk, Virginia (1856).

Market Square, Norfolk, Virginia.

  • The War Between the States saw Presbyterians on both sides of the conflict. Robert L. Dabney, Stonewall Jackson’s chief of staff and biographer, wrote What I Saw of the Battle of Chickahominy (1872) concerning the June 27, 1862 conflict also known as the Battle of Gaines' Mill in Hanover County, Virginia. Later that year, on the same day as the Battle of Antietam (or Sharpsburg, Maryland) [September 17, 1862], a terrible tragedy took place in at the Allegheny Arsenal in Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania, now a neighborhood in Pittsburgh. Three consecutive explosions rocked the facility and 78 people were killed along with 150 injured, making it the worst civilian and industrial accident of the war. Presbyterian minister Richard Lea was at his church one block away, who immediately rushed over to render aid. Eleven days later, he preached a Sermon Commemorative of the Great Explosion at the Allegheny Arsenal. Before the war ended, Henry Highland Garnet made history in Washington, D.C. by becoming the first African-American to address the House of Representatives on February 12, 1865. His sermon called for the death of slavery and freedom for all American citizens.

Henry Highland Garnet preaching to Congress.

Thomas De Witt Talmage had a very successful ministry at the Brooklyn Tabernacle in New York. But the congregation was challenged by the occasions when their building was destroyed by fire, not once, but three times — in 1872, 1889, and 1894. After the third conflagration, Talmage retired from that pastorate. As he began a trip around the world, he wrote to his friends: “Our church has again been halted by a sword of flame. The destruction of the first Brooklyn Tabernacle was a mystery. The destruction of the second a greater profound. This third calamity we adjourn to the Judgment Day for explanation. The home of a vast multitude of souls, it has become a heap of ashes. Whether it will ever rise again is a prophecy we will not undertake. God rules and reigns and makes no mistake. He has his way with churches as with individuals. One thing is certain; the pastor of Brooklyn Tabernacle will continue to preach as long as life and health last. We have no anxieties about a place to preach in. But woe is unto us if we preach not the Gospel! We ask for the prayers of all good people for the pastor and people of Brooklyn Tabernacle.”

Brooklyn Tabernacle after the fire.

  • On May 31, 1889, after days of heavy rain, the South Fork Dam upstream of Johnstown, Pennsylvania burst leading to the deaths of over 2,000 people. David J. Beale was one of the survivors and his account of the tragedy is gripping: Through the Johnstown Flood (1890).

Debris from the Johnstown Flood.

  • At 5:12 am local time on April 18, 1906, the city of San Francisco was rocked by one of the deadliest earthquakes ever to strike the United States. Over 3,000 people were killed and 80% of the city was destroyed. Among those affected were the Chinese girls who were being cared for at the Occidental Board of Foreign Missions after having been rescued from involuntary servitude. Superintendent Donaldina Cameron was able to, shepherd those girls to the premises of the San Francisco Theological Seminary after the earthquake. Edward A. Wicher, a professor at the seminary, wrote an appeal for emergency funds to help the suffering, which Cameron co-signed. Cameron later wrote of the blessings that God wrought in the midst of that tragedy: “‘As the night brings out the stars’ so through the shadow of disaster there shines for the Chinese Rescue Home the unfailing light of God's love and peace, and we are happy.”

The Occidental Board of Foreign Missions Headquarters after the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake.

  • From 1915 to 1917, approximately 1 million Armenians were slaughtered by Ottoman forces. The Armenian Genocide was documented in part by American missionaries, such as as William Ambrose Shedd and his wife Mary Lewis Shedd, Mary A. Schauffler Labaree Platt, author of The War Journal of a Missionary in Persia (1915), and Frederick G. Coan, author of Yesterdays in Persia and Kurdistan (1939). Rev. Shedd: “It lies with us to see that the blood shed and the suffering endured are not in vain. May God grant and may we who know so well the wrongs that have been borne, so labor that the cause of these wrongs be removed. That will be done when Christ rules in the hearts of those who profess His name and is acknowledged by all, not merely as a great prophet but as the Saviour for Whose coming prophecy prepared the way, Who is the fulfillment of revelation, and in Whom human destiny will find its goal.”

Ottoman troops guard Armenians being deported. Ottoman Empire, 1915-1916.

  • Wilson P. Mills was an American missionary who served also in a diplomatic capacity during the 1937-1938 “Rape of Nanjing,” a massacre by Japanese soldiers that resulted in the deaths of somewhere between 40,000-300,000 civilians in occupied Nanjing, China. His efforts to help arrange a truce are described in letters to his wife dated January 22/24 and January 31, 1938. The story of his eyewitness account of the Japanese occupation of the city and the reign of terror that existed is told sequentially in letters from January to March 1938. For his role in protecting the 250,000 citizens of the Nanjing Safety Zone, Mills received the Order of the Green Jade, the highest honor given to Westerners by the Chinese government.

Scene from the Nanjing Massacre.

Examples of eyewitnesses to history among American Presbyterian could be greatly multiplied. So many of them have left us a valuable record of some of the most momentous events in our history, “all [of which] have a common place in the great scheme of Providence” (Henry A. Boardman, God's Providence in Accidents (1855).

Happy Thanksgiving From Log College Press!

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The history of Thanksgiving is always a fascinating (and sometimes, controversial) topic. The site of the first Protestant Thanksgiving in America is usually associated with the Pilgrims of Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621, but Virginia also puts forth a claim to an earlier observance of Thanksgiving at Jamestown in 1610, and even prior to that, Thanksgiving, including the singing of a psalm, was observed by the French Huguenots at Fort Caroline, near modern-day Jacksonville, Florida in 1564.

Moving forward to the colonial and early American eras, magistrates began to follow these earlier examples of gathering to give thanks at appointed occasions and they issued Thanksgiving proclamations. Two notable Presbyterians who had a hand in this were John Witherspoon and Elias Boudinot IV.

Witherspoon served on a committee which drafted the Thanksgiving proclamations by the Confederation Congress for 1781 and 1782. Boudinot, who served as President of the Confederation Congress, and later, as a representative of New Jersey in the U.S. House of Representatives, signed the Congressional Thanksgiving Proclamation for 1783, and also proposed the resolution calling upon President George Washington to issue a Thanksgiving proclamation in 1789.

Witherspoon’s 1781 Thanksgiving proclamation called upon Americans to:

assemble on that day, with grateful hearts, to celebrate the praises of our gracious benefactor; to confess our manifold sins; to offer up our most fervent supplications to the God of all grace, that it may please Him to pardon our offences, and incline our hearts for the future to keep all his laws; to comfort and relieve all our brethren who are in distress or captivity; to prosper our husbandmen, and give success to all engaged in lawful commerce; to impart wisdom and integrity to our counsellors, judgment and fortitude to our officers and soldiers; to protect and prosper our illustrious ally, and favor our united exertions for the speedy establishment of a safe, honorable and lasting peace; to bless all seminaries of learning; and cause the knowledge of God to cover the earth, as the waters cover the seas.

Boudinot’s 1789 Thanksgiving resolution called upon President Washington to

recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging, with grateful hearts, the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably a Constitution of government for their safety and happiness.

Corporate giving of thanks to God as Creator and Governor of the Nations, through Christ, King of the Church and the Nations, has been the practice of Christian families, churches and nations for centuries, but as the holiday of Thanksgiving is a peculiarly American institution, it is helpful to reflect on its early history in colonial times leading up to the foundation of our republic.

Theodore L. Cuyler once wrote:

Thanksgiving Day is a fitting time to inventory your mercies and blessings. Set all your family to the pitch of the one hundred and third Psalm; and hang on the wall over your Thanksgiving dinner these mottoes -- 'A merry heart is a good medicine' -- and 'He that is of a cheerful heart hath a continual feast' ["'A Merry Heart Doeth Good': A Talk For Thanksgiving Day" (1897)].

We at Log College Press are thankful for our readers and their support, and we wish each of you a very joyful and Happy Thanksgiving. May God bless you and yours richly!

What's New at Log College Press? - September 20, 2022

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It’s been a busy summer at Log College Press. Here is an update on what’s been going on lately.

In August 2022, we added 301 new works to the site. Today we aim to highlight some of the new free PDFs available as found on our Recent Additions and Early Access pages, two features provided to members of the Dead Presbyterians Society.

Some highlights at the Early Access page:

Some highlights at the Recent Addtiions page:

Be sure also to check out the quotes we have been adding at our blog for DPS members: Though Dead They Still Speak, including one by Cornelius Van Til on the authority of Scripture.

Please feel free to browse the many resources available to our readers in print and in digital format to our readers. There is a lot to explore, and many Presbyterian voices from the past to hear. Thank you, as always, for your interest and support, dear friends.

Davidson's Desiderata

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Early on in its history, in May 1853, a discourse was delivered at the Presbyterian Historical Society in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by Robert B. Davidson: Presbyterianism: Its True Place and Value in History (1854). After an overview of the history of Presbyterianism in Scotland and in early America, Davidson left his hearers with a list of things things desired or wanted in connection with the goal of preserving the history of Presbyterianism - a desiderata. This list was an inspired effort to steer the work of the Presbyterian Historical Society as it began to put into practice the vision of its founder, Cortlandt Van Rensselaer.

  1. Collections of pamphlets, tractates, controversial and other essays, bearing on the history of the Presbyterian church in this country, especially touching the Schism of 1741. These should be bound in volumes, and arranged in chronological order, handy for reference. No time should be lost in this work, for pamphlets are very perishable commodities, and speedily vanish out of sight. A copy of Gilbert Tennent’s Remarks on the Protest cannot now be obtained. One was understood by Dr. Hodge, when he wrote his History, to be in the Antiquarian Library, in Worcester, Mass., but the work is reported by the librarian as missing. This shows us that we should hoard old pamphlets and papers with Mohammedan scrupulosity, especially when there are no duplicates.

  2. Collections, like Gillies’, of accounts of Revivals, and other memoranda of the progress of vital religion. Such collections would be supplementary to Gillies’ great work, which does not embrace the wonderful events of the present century in America.

  3. Collections of memoirs of particular congregations, of which quite a number have been at various times printed, and which ought to be brought together and preserved.

  4. Collections of occasional Sermons, both of deceased and living divines. As old productions are of interest to us, so such as are of recent publication may interest posterity. Such collections would furnish good specimens of the Presbyterian pulpit, and might be either chronologically or alphabetically arranged.

  5. Collections of discourses delivered about and after the era of the Revolution. They would exhibit in a striking and favorable light the patriotic sympathies of the clergy at that period, as also the popular sentiment on the independence of the States, and their subsequent union under the present constitution.

  6. A similar collection of Discourses preached on the day of Thanksgiving in the year 1851, would be very interesting; exhibiting the various views held on the Higher Law, and the preservation of the Union, and also the value of the Pulpit in pouring oil on the strong passions of mankind.

  7. Biographical sketches of leading Presbyterian divines and eminent laymen. It is understood that one of our most esteemed writers is engaged in the preparation of a work of this sort, embracing the different Christian denominations. Whatever emanates from his elegant pen will be sure to possess a standard value; but it is thought, from the very structure of his projected work, such a one as is now recommended will not interfere with it, nor its necessity be superseded. Mark the stirring catalogue that might be produced, names which, though they that bare them have been gathered to their fathers, still powerfully affect us by the recollection of what they once did, or said, or wrote, and by a multitude of interesting associations that rush into the memory: Makemie, the Tennents, Dickinson, Davies, Burr, Blair, the Finleys, Beattie, Brainerd, Witherspoon, Rodgers, Nisbet, Ewing, Sproat, the Caldwells, S. Stanhope Smith, John Blair Smith, McWhorter, Griffin, Green, Blythe, J.P. Campbell, Boudinot, J.P. Wilson, Joshua L. Wilson, Hoge, Speece, Graham, Mason, Alexander, Miller, John Holt Rice, John Breckinridge, Nevins, Wirt. Here is an array of names which we need not blush to see adorning a Biographia Presbyterianiana. And the materials for most of the sketches are prepared to our hand, and only require the touch of a skilful compiler.

  8. Lives of the Moderators. There have been sixty-four Moderators of the General Assembly; and as it is usual to call to the Chair of that venerable body men who enjoy some consideration among their brethren, it is fair to infer that a neat volume might be produced. Many were men of mark; and where this was not the case, materials could be gathered from the times in which they lived, or the doings of the Assembly over which they presided.

  9. A connected account or gazetteer of Presbyterian Missions, both Foreign and Domestic, with sketches of prominent missionaries, and topographical notices of the stations. Dr. Green prepared something of this sort, but it is meagre, and might be greatly enlarged and enriched.

  10. Reprints of scarce and valuable works. It may be objected that we have already a Board of Publication, who have this duty in charge; but it is not intended to do anything that would look like interference with that useful organ. The Board are expected to publish works of general utility, and likely to be popular, and so reimburse the outlay; this society would only undertake what would not fall strictly within the Board’s appropriate province, or would interest not the public generally, but the clerical profession.

  11. A continuation of the Constitutional History of the Presbyterian Church to the present time. The valuable work of Dr. Hodge is unfinished; and whether his engrossing professional duties will ever allow him sufficient leisure to complete it is, to say the least, doubtful.

  12. Should that not be done, then it will be desirable to have prepared an authentic narrative of the late Schism of 1838; or materials should be collected to facilitate its preparation hereafter, when it can be done more impartially than at present. Dr. Robert J. Breckinridge did a good service in this way, by publishing a series of Memoirs to serve for a future history, in the Baltimore Religious and Literary Magazine.

  13. It might be well to compile a cheap and portable manual for the use of the laity, containing a compact history of the Presbyterian Church in America.

Other proposals on Davidson’s list include a history of the rise and decline of English Presbyterianism; a history of the French Huguenots; and a history of the Reformation in Scotland as well as biographical sketches of Scottish divines.

It is a useful exercise for those who share Davidson’s interest in church history to pause and reflect on the extent to which the goals that he proposed have been met. The Presbyterian Historical Society itself — located in Philadelphia — has certainly done tremendous legwork in this regard as a repository of valuable historical materials which has allowed scholars the opportunity to study and learn from the past. We are extremely grateful for the efforts of the Presbyterian Historical Society. Samuel Mills Tenney’s similar vision led to the creation of the Historical Foundation of the Presbyterian and Reformed Churches in Montreat, North Carolina. The PCA Historical Center in St. Louis, Missouri is another such agency that has done great service to the church at large as a repository of Reformed literature and memorabilia.

We do have access today to Gilbert Tennent’s Remarks Upon a Protestation Presented to the Synod of Philadelphia, June 1, 1741. By 1861, we know that a copy was located and deposited, in fact, at Presbyterian Historical Society. Though not yet available in PDF form at Log College Press, it is available for all to read online in html through the Evans Early American Imprint Collection here.

The biographical sketches then in progress that Davidson referenced in point #7 were carried through to publication by William B. Sprague. His Annals of the American Pulpit remain to this day a tremendous resource for students of history, yet, as Davidson wisely noted, though many writers have followed in Sprague’s footsteps on a much more limited basis, there is always room for more to be done towards the creation of a Biographia Presbyterianiana.

Regarding the Lives of Moderators (point #8), we are grateful for the labors of Barry Waugh of Presbyterians of the Past to highlight the men that Davidson had in mind. The lists and biographical sketches that he has generated are a very useful starting point towards achieving the goal articulated by Davidson, and help to bring to mind the contributions of Moderators to the work of the church.

There are a number of organizations that have taken pains to reprint older Presbyterian works of interest. Too many to list here, the contributions of all those who share this vision to make literature from the past accessible to present-day readers is to be applauded, including the efforts of Internet Archive, Google Books and others who digitize such works. We at Log College Press also strive to do this both with respect to reprints and our library of primary sources. For us, the past is not dead, primary sources are not inaccessible, and the writings of 18th-19th century Presbyterians are not irrelevant. It is worth noting that there are topical pages with growing resources available on Log College Press that highlight material on biographies, church history, the 1837 Old School / New School division, sermons and much more.

Much more could be said in regards to the extent to which organizations, historians and others have carried forward the goals articulated by Davidson. But for now we leave it to our readers to consider Davidson’s Desiderata, articulated over 150 years ago, and its connection to our shared interest in preserving the history and literature of early American Presbyterianism.

Fourth of July Celebration at Log College Press

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If your cause is just — you may look with confidence to the Lord and intreat him to plead it as his own. You are all my witnesses, that this is the first time of my introducing any political subject into the pulpit. At this season however, it is not only lawful but necessary, and I willingly embrace the opportunity of declaring my opinion without any hesitation, that the cause in which America is now in arms, is the cause of justice, of liberty, and of human nature. — John Witherspoon, The Dominion of Providence Over the Passions of Men: A Sermon, Preached at Princeton, on the 17th of May, 1776. Being the General Fast Appointed by the Congress Through the United Colonies (1777)

It was five years ago today that Log College Press was founded on July 4, 2017. (See what this site looked like early on [as of January 19, 2018] via the Wayback Machine here.) Thanks to the support and encouragement of our dear readers, we have come a long way since then.

We have now published 7 books, and 10 booklets. Log College Press now has over 15,000 works by over 1,900 authors available to read on the site.

On this date in past years we have highlighted men who served the cause of civil and religious liberty, as well as books by our authors which celebrate the cause.

This year we take note of our authors which share a birthday with Log College Press and the United States of America:

At Log College Press we have much cause to celebrate, and we give thanks to God for the labors of godly men and women who have gone before in service to the cause of Christ and freedom. We also recognize how far this country has fallen from its ideal as epitomized in John Winthrop’s “City on a Hill” (1630).

Our national sins are great. It was in 1778 that Jacob Green famously said: “Can it be believed that a people contending for liberty should, at the same time, be promoting and supporting slavery?” And it was in 1832 that James R. Willson pointed out our great need as a nation to acknowledge our dependence upon and submission to God, and to kiss Son specifically, alluding to Ps. 2:12 and quoting Ps. 9:17, when took note of the great omission by our Constitutional Founding Fathers who chose not to honor God in our national charter: “Was it a mere omission? Did the convention that framed the constitution forget to name the living God? Was this an omission in some moment of national phrenzy, when the nation forgot God? That, indeed, were a great sin. God says, ‘the nations that forget God, shall be turned into hell’” (Prince Messiah).

Though far from where we as a nation ought to be, yet there is cause for remembrance of and thanksgiving for the blessings of the past as well as the mercies of today. As William B. Sprague once said, “LET THE DAY BE OBSERVED, BUT LET IT BE OBSERVED RELIGIOUSLY” (Religious Celebration of Independence: A Discourse Delivered at Northampton, on the Fourth of July, 1827 (1827)). That is to say, with respect to this civil holiday (as distinct from a religious holy day), we ought to celebrate its noblest ideals, exemplified in America’s fight for freedom and independence, with proper solemnities, in an appropriate Christian manner, but in humble acknowledgment of how far we as a people have still to go, by the grace of God, to arrive at those ideals.

To understand civil and religious freedom aright, we believe it is important to study God’s Word first, but not to neglect the study of history as well. Primary sources from the past are a valuable tool in promoting reformation and revival in the present. Our topical page on Church and State is one particular relevant resource. We thank our readers for their interest in and support of this project by Log College Press to make accessible what Presbyterians who have gone before had to say on this and other important matters. To God be the glory, as we we celebrate another Independence Day, and a birthday besides.

Forgotten Founding Fathers of the American Church and State

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There is a volume of biographical sketches that is well worth the read - William T. Hanzsche’s Forgotten Founding Fathers of the American Church and State (1954). It highlights some of the most significant colonial Presbyterians found on Log College Press. These include: Francis Makemie (“the Father of American Presbyterianism”); William Tennent, Sr. (founder of the Log College); Jonathan Dickinson (first President of the College of New Jersey in Princeton); David Brainerd (the “Apostle to the North American Indians”); Gilbert Tennent (“Son of Thunder”); Samuel Davies (the “Apostle to Virginia”); and John Witherspoon (the only clergyman to sign the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation).

Hanzsche’s study is a great introduction to these men and their legacies. Their contributions to early American Presbyterianism, and indeed, to the history of the United States and the world, are worthy of notice and appreciation. This volume helps students of history to better understand the significance of each of these American Presbyterian worthies.

A Preface to the Bible by John Witherspoon

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The first complete English Bible published in America was by Robert Aitken in 1782. The first family Bible published in America (Trenton, New Jersey) was by Isaac Collins in 1791. The 1791 Collins Bible featured a preface to the reader that was written by John Witherspoon. This preface was reprinted in many other succeeding editions of the Holy Scriptures, including an 1801 edition of the King James Version which is available to read at Log College Press.

This preface is a memorable history and defense of translating the Word of God from Hebrew and Greek into the vernacular languages. Witherspoon highlights “the providence of God” made “manifest in” the “preservation and purity” of the Holy Scriptures as he describes the historical process by which the English Bible was translated for American readers. It is a brief but well-stated introduction to a translation beloved by many. Read it in full here.

Postscript on Witherspoon:

Last month we published a blog post on “John Witherspoon’s Letter From a Blacksmith.” An alert reader reached out to us to let us know that the attribution of Witherspoon as the author of this anonymously-published 1759 letter is disputed and far from clear. As a result of our friend’s helpful information, and following further research, we have removed that letter from Witherspoon’s page. It is unknown for certain who wrote it. But in the meantime, we have also added many more works by Witherspoon, including the preface to the Bible noted above. Thank you to our friend for reaching out to help us clarify this point.

John Witherspoon's Letter From a Blacksmith

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Blacksmith, A. John Witherspoon, D.D. A letter from…to the ministers and elders of the Church of Scotland…L. 1759. — William Cushing, Initials and Pseudonyms: A Dictionary of Literary Disguises (1885), Vol. 1, p. 36.

Before John Witherspoon came to America to serve as President of Princeton, and before he signed the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation, Witherspoon served as a minister of the Church of Scotland. In 1759, while serving as the pastor of Laigh Kirk, Paisley, he published a work under a pseudonym, A.T., supposedly a blacksmith, aimed at reforming contemporary worship: A Letter From a Blacksmith to the Ministers and Elders of the Church of Scotland. Interestingly, the anonymous but learned blacksmith with a heartful desire to see reform in the Church of Scotland references the Ecclesiastical Characteristics, which Witherspoon himself authored in 1753.

The work challenges officers of the church to amend the manner of worship in regards to defects in the public reading of the Scriptures, singing of Psalms, the manner of the administration of the Lord’s Supper, prayer, and preaching. He aims to show that such worship as was achieved by the Reformers had degenerated in the author’s day, and also that set forms of public prayer, which he argues were used by John Knox and others, would be more helpful than the extemporaneous prayers then currently employed.

Witherspoon’s Letter From a Blacksmith has recently been added to Log College Press. It is an intriguing read, especially knowing who the author was - a minister, not a blacksmith, who was in fact, writing to his colleagues. Witherspoon also later served as the convening Moderator of the 1789 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, which adopted a revised Directory of Worship. Take time to explore this fascinating early work by Witherspoon here.

As noted in a later (June 8, 2021) blog post - Postscript on Witherspoon:

Last month we published a blog post on “John Witherspoon’s Letter From a Blacksmith.” An alert reader reached out to us to let us know that the attribution of Witherspoon as the author of this anonymously-published 1759 letter is disputed and far from clear. As a result of our friend’s helpful information, and following further research, we have removed that letter from Witherspoon’s page. It is unknown for certain who wrote it. But in the meantime, we have also added many more works by Witherspoon, including the preface to the Bible noted above. Thank you to our friend for reaching out to help us clarify this point.

Recent Additions to Log College Press -- October 13, 2020

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We are always busy adding to the Log College Press website, but we don’t always announce what’s new. Today’s post highlights some recent additions to the site that are worth special notice.

  • Archibald Alexander and Samuel Davies Alexander, Dr. Alexander’s Sketch of Dr. Robert Smith (1855) - This biographical sketch by Archibald Alexander was among papers received by his son S.D. Alexander, and later submitted for publication in The Presbyterian. We also added Life Sketches From Scottish History, or, Brief Biographies of the Scottish Presbyterian Worthies (1855) by S.D. Alexander, which is a wonderful collection of biographical sketches.

  • Donaldina MacKenzie Cameron (1869-1968), The Story of Wong So (1925); and Ming Quong Home (1925). She was a New Zealand-born Presbyterian missionary who worked in San Francisco to help Chinese women escape from slavery and sex trafficking.

  • Anne James Carter (1834-1908), Recollections of the Early History of the Presbyterian Church of Fredericksburg, VA (1906) — This fascinating, brief and rare work was recently acquired, scanned and uploaded to LCP. It was written by a church member on her 72nd birthday and gives an account of the early ministers of the church, including Samuel B. Wilson, A.A. Hodge, and much more.

  • Isabella Marshall Graham (1742-1814), The Power of Faith: Exemplified in the Life and Writings of the Late Mrs. Isabella Graham, of New-York (1816); and The Unpublished Letters and Correspondence of Mrs. Isabella Graham, From the Year 1767 to 1814; Exhibiting Her Religious Character in the Different Relations of Life (1838). She was a member of John Witherspoon’s church in Scotland, before coming to America and beginning a life of philanthropy to help others in need.

  • Andrew Patton Happer (1818-1894), A Professorship of Missionary Instruction in Our Theological Seminaries (1876); Is the Shang-Ti of the Chinese Classics the Same Being as Jehovah of the Sacred Scriptures? (1877); A Visit to Peking, With Some Notice of the Imperial Worship at the Altars of Heaven, Earth, Sun, Moon and the Gods of the Grain and the Land (1879); The Missionary Enterprise: Its Success in Other Lands the Assurance of Its Success in China (1880); The State Religion of China (1881); The Population of China (1883); What Shall Be Done With Converts Who Have More Than One Wife? (1883); The Number of Buddhists in the World (1883); A Retrospect (1884); and Influence of the College in the Civilization of the World: A Sermon (1894). He was a Presbyterian missionary in China for 40 years. 

  • David Raymond Taggart (1880-1958), Science and the Flu (1919); The Faith of Abraham Lincoln (1943); and A Catechism For Covenanter Children (n.d). Taggart was a Reformed Presbyterian minister. His 1919 article concerns the Spanish Flu pandemic, and in it he writes: “Would it not be the part of wisdom, and the ultimate conclusion of science, that instead of closing the churches first, as the nonessential gathering of the people, that they should be made the exception, and considered one of the essentials for the health of the community.”

  • Isaac Malek Yonan (1871-1941), Persia, Its Religions and Mission Work (1894); Persian Women: A Sketch of Woman’s Life From the Cradle to the Grave, and Missionary Work Among Them, With Illustrations (1898); The Armenian Church (1898-1899); and March 27, 1917 Letter (1917). Yonan was a Persian-born Presbyterian pastor who studied under T.D. Witherspoon.

  • Nez Perce Presbyterian Mission, Idaho — Robert Williams (1846-1896), Gospel Hymns in the Nez Perce Language (1897). He was the first Nez Perce ever ordained as a Presbyterian minister. James Hayes (1857-1928), Gospel Hymns in the Nez Perce Language (1897). He was a Nez Perce Presbyterian minister. Kate Christine McBeth (1832-1915), Gospel Hymns in the Nez Perce Language (1897); and The Nez Perces Since Lewis and Clark (1908). Susan Law McBeth (1830-1893), Diary entries from 1858 and 1860. These sisters were missionaries to the Nez Perce in Idaho. Henry Harmon Spalding (1803-1874) also contributed to the making of Gospel Hymns in the Nez Perce Language (1897).

Many more authors and works have been added in recent weeks, but these may serve to whet the reader’s appetite. Church history and biography is so rich with fascinating accounts of servants of the Most High King, and their contributions to the work of the kingdom. These authors — who were pastors, missionaries, and regular church members — all lived remarkable lives and have remarkable things to tell. Take a look at these new additions, and keep checking back for more.

The First 50 PCUSA GA Moderators

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When the first General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA) met in May 1789 at the Second Presbyterian Church on Arch Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Rev. Dr. John Witherspoon — the only clergyman to sign both the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation — was the convening Moderator. A new moderator was soon thereafter elected to preside over the Assembly, and every year after the process was repeated.

As recent media reports of potential plans of the PCUSA to scrap General Assembly meetings have circulated, it brings to mind past assembly meetings, and those who have moderated them. At Log College Press, the writings of many of those Moderators are available to read, including all 50 who served prior to the 1837 Old School-New School split. In fact, we now have almost all of the 18th and 19th century PCUSA and PCUS General Assembly Moderators on the site, along with many more from the RPCNA, ARP and other branches of American Presbyterianism. Here is that list of the first 50 PCUSA GA Moderators - please feel free to browse and explore their pages. It is interesting to note that among the first 50 are 3 sets of brothers.

  • 1789 — John Witherspoon (1723-1794) — Witherspoon was the Convening Moderator of the very first American General Assembly, and served as President of Princeton.

  • 1789 — John Rodgers (1727-1811) — Rodgers was one of the primary architects of the new General Assembly and revised ecclesiastical standards.

  • 1790 — Robert Smith (1723-1793) — Like Rodgers, Smith also was influential in the creation of the new PCUSA constitution, and also served as a Trustee at Princeton.

  • 1791 — John Woodhull (1744-1824) — Woodhull, too, was a distinguished minister of the gospel who also contributed to the work of establishing the new PCUSA constitution.

  • 1792 — John King (1740-1813) — King served as a pastor in Conococheague, Pennsylvania for over 40 years.

  • 1793 — James Latta (1732-1801) — Latta served the church in many capacities, including chaplain, minister, educator and author.

  • 1794 — Alexander MacWhorter (1734-1807) — A well-respected clergyman, MacWhorter helped to establish congregations in North Carolina, and ministered for many years in Newark, New Jersey.

  • 1795 — John McKnight (1754-1823) — McKnight was a prominent education and minister, serving as President of Dickinson College.

  • 1796 — Robert Davidson (1750-1812) — Like McNight, Davidson also served as President of Dickinson College.

  • 1797 — William Mackay Tennent (1744-1810) — Tennent was the grandson of the founder of the Log College, William Tennent, Sr., and ministered at the Abingdon Presbyterian Church in Pennsylvania for almost 30 years.

  • 1798 — John Blair Smith (1756-1799) — Smith served as President of both Hampden Sydney College and Union College, and made important contributions to the cause of religious liberty in Virginia.

  • 1799 — Samuel Stanhope Smith (1751-1819) — Like his brother John, Smith served as President of Hampden Sydney College; he also served as President of Princeton.

  • 1800 — Joseph Clark (1751-1813) — Clark served as a faithful minister in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

  • 1801 — Nathaniel Irwin (1756-1812) — Irwin served as pastor of the Neshaminy Presbyterian Church in Bucks County, Pennsylvania for many years.

  • 1802 — Azel Roe (1738-1815) — Roe served as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Woodbridge, New Jersey, for 52 years.

  • 1803 — James Hall (1744-1826) — Hall was a pioneer missionary, educator, pastor and patriot.

  • 1804 — James Francis Armstrong (1750-1816) — Armstrong served as pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Trenton, New Jersey from 1786 until his death. His funeral sermon was preached by Samuel Miller.

  • 1805 — James Richards (1767-1843) — Richards was a well-regarded minister and also served as a professor at Auburn Theological Seminary.

  • 1806 — Samuel Miller (1769-1850) — One of the most well-respected theologians of the 19th century, Miller helped to establish — and served as a professor at — Princeton Theological Seminary, and he was a voluminous author.

  • 1807 — Archibald Alexander (1772-1851) — Alexander served as President of Hampden Sydney College, and as the first professor at Princeton Theological Seminary. He was the author of many books, some of which are still in print.

  • 1808 — Philip Milledoler (1775-1852) — Milledoler served as President of Rutgers College, and was influential in the founding of Princeton Theological Seminary.

  • 1809 — Drury Lacy, Sr. (1758-1815) — Lacy served as President of Hampden Sydney College, among many various contributions to the church.

  • 1810 — John Brodhead Romeyn (1777-1825) — Romeyn was an important New York Presbyterian minister who helped to establish the American Bible Society, among other labors. His sermons were highly regarded.

  • 1811 — Eliphalet Nott (1773-1866) — Nott was an eminent preacher and educator, serving as President of Union College.

  • 1812 — Andrew Flinn (1773-1820) — Flinn contributed to the pastoral, as well as educational, aspects of the ministry, and is remembered for his ministry in Charleston, South Carolina.

  • 1813 — Samuel Blatchford (1767-1828) — Blatchford served as President of  Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

  • 1814 — James Inglis (1771-1820) — Inglis ministered in Baltimore for almost 2 decades.

  • 1815 — William Neill (1778-1860) — Neill served as President of Dickinson College.

  • 1816 —James Ebenezer Blythe (1765-1842) — Blythe served as a professor and as President of Transylvania University, as well as President of Hanover College.

  • 1817 — Jonas Coe (1759-1822) — Coe ministered at the Presbyterian Church in Troy, New York for almost 30 years.

  • 1818 — Jacob Jones Janeway (1774-1858) — Janeway was an eminent pastor and author who labored much for the cause of the church and for missions.

  • 1819 — John Holt Rice (1771-1831) — An important figure in Virginia Presbyterianism, Rice served as President of Hampden Sydney College, and authored many works.

  • 1820 — John McDowell (1780-1863) — A leading Philadelphia minister, McDowell had a lengthy pastoral career, and published a number of sermons.

  • 1821 — William Hill (1769-1852) — Hill ministered in Winchester, Virginia for over 30 years.

  • 1822 — Obadiah Jennings (1778-1832) — Jennings ministered in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.

  • 1823 — John Chester (1785-1829) — Chester served as President of the Albany Female Academy and as President of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

  • 1824 — Ashbel Green (1762-1848) — Green served as President of Princeton Theological Seminary, and authored an important exposition of the Westminster Shorter Catechism.

  • 1825 — Stephen N. Rowan (1787-1835) — Rowan began his pastoral career in the Reformed Church, but transitioned to the Presbyterian Church. He labored much for the cause of missionary efforts directed to the Jews.

  • 1826 — Thomas McAuley (1778-1862) — McAuley was the first President of Union Theological Seminary in New York.

  • 1827 — Francis Herron (1774-1860) — Herron ministered in Pittsburgh for 4 decades, and was instrumental in the founding of Western Theological Seminary.

  • 1828 — Ezra Stiles Ely (1786-1861) — Ely served as pastor of Philadelphia’s Pine Street Church for 20 years, and was a noted author and editor, and did much to help the poor.

  • 1829 — Benjamin Holt Rice (1782-1856) — Brother of John Holt Rice, Benjamin ministered in Virginia and at Princeton, New Jersey, and served as secretary of the Home Missionary Society.

  • 1830 — Ezra Fisk (1785-1833) — Fisk served as a missionary, pastor, and professor at Western Theological Seminary, among his many labors for the church.

  • 1831 — Nathan Sidney Smith Beman (1785-1871) — Beman served as President of Franklin College in Georgia, and as President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

  • 1832 — James Hoge (1784-1863) — Hoge was a pioneer leader in the history of Ohio Presbyterianism.

  • 1833 — William Anderson McDowell (1789-1851) — McDowell was the brother of John McDowell. He ministered in New Jersey and elsewhere, and served as secretary of the Board of Domestic Missions of the Presbyterian Church.

  • 1834 — Philip Lindsley (1786-1855) — Lindsley served as President of both Princeton and of the University of Nashville.

  • 1835 — William Wirt Phillips (1796-1865) — Phillips ministered in New York City for many decades, and served the church in various other capacities, including that of President of the Board of Publication.

  • 1836 — John Knox Witherspoon (1791-1853) — Witherspoon was the grandson of the earlier John Witherspoon. An educator, author and pastor, Witherspoon did much to contribute to Christian education in North Carolina.

  • 1837 — David Elliott (1787-1874) — Elliott served as President of Washington College. The last Moderator of the original united PCUSA General Assembly, he lived to be present at the reunion of 1870.

Presbyterians and the Revolution

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In 1876, on the centennial anniversary of America’s birth as a nation, William Pratt Breed published a volume titled Presbyterians and the Revolution, which examined the historic connection between Presbyterianism and resistance to tyranny.

As Breed notes, Calvinism has imbued a spirit of civil and ecclesiastical liberty into the freedom-loving peoples of Switzerland, France, Scotland, England, the Netherlands, and the American colonies, not to mention the Waldenses and others. Presbyterians have long stood at the forefront of the struggle for “lex rex,” or limited, just government, in opposition to tyranny both in the state and in the church. The heritage of the Scottish Covenanters and French Huguenots in this regard contributed much to the American Presbyterian witness on behalf of Biblical liberty.

Here is the Table of Contents for Breed’s work:

  1. Presbyterians and the Centennial

  2. Presbyterianism A Representative Republican Form of Government

  3. Presbyterianism Odious to Tyrants

  4. Presbyterians Spirit in Harmony With That of the Revolution

  5. The Westmoreland County Resolutions

  6. The Mecklenburg Declaration

  7. Presbyterian Zeal and Suffering

  8. Formal Action of the Presbyterian Church

  9. Declaration of Independence and Dr. John Witherspoon

  10. Organization of the Confederacy

  11. Monument to Witherspoon

Breed quotes from a classic work by Ezra H. Gillett (History of the Presbyterian Church in the United States) to show how closely allied Presbyterianism and the cause of American liberty were:

To the privations, hardships and cruelties of the war the Presbyterians were pre-eminsntly exposed. In them the very essence of rebellion was supposed to be concentrated, and by the wanton plunderings and excesses of the marauding parties they suffered severely. Their Presbyterianism was prima facie evidence of guilt. A house that had a large Bible and David's Psalms in metre in it was supposed, as a matter of course, to be tenanted by rebels. To sing "Old Rouse" was almost as criminal as to have leveled a loaded musket at a British grenadier.

Breed quotes Gillett further to list the heroic sacrifices of Presbyterian clergymen who served and suffered during the war. Among the names listed are John Rodgers, Azel Roe, Jacob Green, Henry Pattillo, David Caldwell, William Tennent III, Hugh McAden, Alexander MacWhorter and many others. We shared an honor roll of Presbyterians who served the cause of American liberty last year as well.

Breed pays special attention to the role of John Witherspoon, who was the only clergyman to sign the 1776 Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation.

The Calder statue of John Witherspoon at the Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (photo by R. Andrew Myers).

The Calder statue of John Witherspoon at the Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (photo by R. Andrew Myers).

All of these names — their stories, their service, their sacrifices — recalled to mind by Breed, are worthy of remembrance today, just as they were in 1876. The cause of freedom, both civil and ecclesiastical, is always linked to the right honor of Christ the King, who rules the nations. The record of American Presbyterian contributions to civil liberty constitutes a noble history, though filled with flaws and inconsistencies, but that history is sometimes shrouded in mist, and is in danger of being forgotten. Presbyterians and the Revolution is book worth reading, especially on this Independence Day.

Pre-Eminent American Presbyterians of the 18th and 19th Centuries: A List

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The question is sometimes asked, “Who are the important or significant early American Presbyterians to know historically?” Another question that is often posed to Log College Press is ”Where should someone unfamiliar with this time period start?” These are difficult question to answer because the period of which we are speaking — primarily the 18th and 19th centuries — was so diverse and there are so many representative authors. But in an attempt to respond helpfully, as well as to introduce readers of Log College Press to some of the pre-eminent authors on our site, we have developed a list - or actually a set of lists. Lists are both subject to scrutiny and often have a subjective element, and this one can certainly be modified or adjusted as needed. But lists provide a starting point for discussion. Consider the following as our contribution in response to some excellent questions that challenge with their simplicity.

17th Century American Presbyterian Worthies

  • Francis Makemie (1658-1708) - Although Makemie was not the first Presbyterian minister to serve in the American colonies, because of his pioneering labors along the Eastern Seaboard, particularly in the establishment of the first Presbytery in America, he is often credited as “the Father of American Presbyterianism.”

18th Century American Presbyterian Worthies

  • David Brainerd (1718-1747) - A pioneer Presbyterian missionary who died young, his diary was reprinted by Jonathan Edwards and remains a spiritual classic.

  • Samuel Davies (1723-1761) - Davies accomplished much in a short life, contributing significantly to the Great Awakening as a pioneer minister in Virginia and as President of the College of New Jersey (Princeton).

  • Jonathan Dickinson (1688-1747) - Dickinson was the first President of the College of New Jersey and an important voice in American colonial Presbyterianism.

  • John Mitchell Mason (1770-1829) - Mason was a leading figure in the Associate Reformed Church.

  • David Rice (1733-1816) - An early Presbyterian opponent of slavery, “Father Rice” helped to build the Presbyterian Church in Virginia and Kentucky.

  • John Rodgers (1727-1811) - An early colleague of Samuel Davies, Rodgers went on to play a very influential role in the establishment of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America.

  • Archibald Stobo (c. 1670-1741) - Stobo helped to found the first Presbytery in the New World (Panama) and the first Presbytery in the Southern United States (South Carolina).

  • Gilbert Tennent (1703-1764) - The son of the founder of the original Log College, Gilbert Tennent was also known as the “Son of Thunder.” A New-Side adherent, he was involved in both the 1741 split of the Presbyterian church and the 1758 reunion.

  • William Tennent, Sr. (1673-1746) - The Founder of the original Log College seminary was a major force in the early American Presbyterian Church who left a legacy of well-educated ministers and many academies and schools which trace their roots to his labors.

  • John Thomson (1690-1753) - The architect of the Adopting Act of 1729, which influenced the course of the American Presbyterian Church tremendously, Thomson was an Old Side minister who served different pastorates throughout the Mid-Atlantic region.

  • John Knox Witherspoon (1723-1794) - President of the College of New Jersey, Witherspoon was also the only clergyman to sign the Declaration of Independence, and he signed the Articles of Confederation as well.

19th Century American Presbyterian Worthies

  • John Bailey Adger (1810-1899) - Adger served the church as a widely-respected and influential pastor, missionary, seminary professor and author.

  • Archibald Alexander (1772-1851) - Pastor, author and first professor of the Princeton Theological Seminary, Alexander was a major force in American Presbyterianism in the first half of the 19th century. He also served as President of Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia for 9 years.

  • James Waddel Alexander, Sr. (1804-1859) - Son of Archibald Alexander, J.W. was, like his father, an eminent pastor, professor and author.

  • Daniel Baker (1791-1857) - The founder of Austin College was a pioneer missionary and noted preacher who did much to bring Presbyterianism to the Western United States.

  • Robert Lewis Dabney (1820-1898) - A leading voice of Southern Presbyterianism, Dabney was a noted preacher, seminary professor, author and architect. His 5 volumes of Discussions remain in print today.

  • John Lafayette Girardeau (1825-1898) - A pastor with a heart for ministering to former slaves, as well as author and seminary professor, Girardeau became one of America’s greatest theologians.

  • Ashbel Green (1762-1848) - President of the College of New Jersey, Green authored lectures on the Westminster Shorter Catechism and was an influential voice within the Presbyterian Church in the first half of the 19th century.

  • Francis James Grimké (1850-1937) - A former slave of French Huguenot descent, Grimké was a leading African-American Presbyterian during his lengthy ministry, mostly based in Washington, D.C.

  • Archibald Alexander Hodge (1823-1886) - Son of Charles Hodge, A.A. Hodge was the author of a well-respected commentary on the Westminister Confession of Faith, and followed in his father’s footsteps as a leader at Princeton.

  • Charles Hodge (1797-1878) - One of the most important leaders of the Presbyterian Church in the 19th century, Hodge authored a 3-volume Systematic Theology, served as principal of Princeton Theological Seminary, and wrote numerous articles as editor various theological journals.

  • Moses Drury Hoge (1818-1899) - Hoge served as a minister of the Second Presbyterian Church of Richmond, Virginia for almost 54 years, during which time he was a widely-respected leader throughout the Presbyterian Church.

  • Jacob Jones Janeway (1774-1858) - Janeway served the Second Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from 1799 to 1828, and also authored sermons, articles and other works for the advancement of missions, both foreign and domestic.

  • Alexander McLeod (1774-1833) - McLeod was an important leader both in the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America, influencing its institutional opposition to slavery, and within the broader Presbyterian Church, by means of his evangelistic efforts and concerns for the welfare of society.

  • Samuel Miller (1769-1850) - The second professor at Princeton Theological Seminary, Miller was a prolific writer, and diligent minster of the gospel, who was widely recognized as a leader in 19th century American Presbyterianism. Many of his works remain in print today.

  • Benjamin Morgan Palmer (1818-1902) - Palmer was a leader in the Southern Presbyterian Church because of his pastoral ministry, and his role as a seminary professor and author.

  • Thomas Ephraim Peck (1822-1893) - Peck was an important Southern Presbyterian minister, author and seminary professor whose 3 volumes of Miscellanies remain in print today.

  • William Swan Plumer (1802-1880) - Plumer was an Old School minister, seminary professor and prolific writer with a heart for teaching God’s Word to as many as possible, young and old.

  • John Holt Rice (1777-1831) - Rice did much to preach the gospel and promote education in the South as a minister, seminary professor and editor.

  • Stuart Robinson (1814-1881) - Robinson’s advocacy of the spiritual independence of the church during a time of civil conflict made him a controversial but respected figure in the Presbyterian Church.

  • Thomas Smyth (1808-1873) - Minister, scholar, seminary professor, author - Smyth’s 10 volumes of Works reveal his prolific output and influential voice within the 19th century Presbyterian Church.

  • William Buell Sprague (1795-1876) - A prolific preacher and author, Sprague is also known as the “Patriarch of American Collectors,” for his collection of autographs, including those of every signer of the Declaration of Independence, pamphlets and other materials. He authored the Annals of the American Pulpit, an important collection of biographical sketches.

  • James Henley Thornwell (1812-1862) - Thornwell wrote and accomplished much in a short lifetime, helping to found The Southern Presbyterian Review, and representing the Southern Presbyterian perspective on matters of ecclesiology in debates with Charles Hodge.

  • Cortlandt Van Rensselaer, Sr. (1808-1860) - Van Rensselaer served the church as a pastor, missionary, editor and as the first President of the Presbyterian Historical Society.

  • Moses Waddel (1770-1840) - Founder of the “American Eton,” Waddel pioneered education in the South.

  • Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield (1851-1921) - An eminent Biblical scholar and seminary professor, Warfield was a prolific author. His Works were collected into 10 volumes.

  • James Renwick Willson (1780-1853) - A leader in the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Willson was known as an opponent of slavery, and for his call to reform the United States Constitution.

  • John Leighton Wilson (1809-1886) - Wilson was a pioneer Southern Presbyterian missionary to West Africa, and the first to bring a skeleton of a gorilla back to the United States.

Early 20th Century American Presbyterian Worthies

  • John Gresham Machen (1881-1937) - A conservative minister and Princeton professor, Machen led a split from the increasingly liberal mainline Presbyterian Church to help form what became known as the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.

  • John McNaugher (1857-1847) - "Mister United Presbyterian," McNaugher served the United Presbyterian Church of North America as a pastor, professor of New Testament literature, seminary president and as a writer and teacher.

  • Geerhardus Vos (1862-1949) - A Dutch-American minister and seminary professor, Vos is known as a pioneer of Biblical Theology, and as an eminent expositor of Scripture. He was a also a poet.

Other Early American Presbyterian Worthies to Know

  • John Boyd (1679-1708) - Boyd was the first Presbyterian minister ordained in America (1706).

  • David Stewart Caldwell, Sr. (1725-1824) - Caldwell is known for many contributions to church and society, but especially as the founder of the “Southern Log College,” near Greensboro, North Carolina.

  • James Caldwell (1734-1781) - “The Fighting Parson” was a noted supporter of the colonists in the civil conflict with Great Britain.

  • John Chavis (1763-1838) - Chavis was the first African-American Presbyterian to be ordained as a minister (in 1801).

  • Alexander Craighead (1707-1766) - Craighead was the first Reformed Presbyterian minister in America, a member of Hanover Presbytery, and the Mecklenburg Declaration of Indpendence, although written after his death, may be his greatest legacy.

  • John Cuthbertson (1718-1791) - Cuthbertson was a pioneer Reformed Presbyterian (Covenanter) missionary in America, and helped to found the first RP Presbytery in America, and the Associate Reformed Church as well. He estimated that during his missionary labors he rode over 70,000 miles on horseback.

  • Theodore Ledyard Cuyler (1822-1909) - Pastor of the largest Presbyterian congregation in the United States in New York City, Cuyler was a leading minister and prolific writer, as well as a friend to many American Presidents.

  • Henry Highland Garnet (1815-1882) - Garnet was the first African-American to address Congress (in 1865), and later served as a diplomat to Liberia, where he died, as well as a minister of the gospel.

  • John Gloucester, Sr. (1776-1822) - An early African-American Presbyterian minister (ordained in 1811), he was a former slave who helped to found the First African Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

  • William Graham (1745-1799) - As principal of Liberty Hall Academy in Lexington, Virginia, Graham trained Archibald Alexander and John Chavis, among others.

  • Jacob Green (1722-1790) - Father of Ashbel Green, Jacob was a chaplain in the American War of Independence, and an early opponent of slavery.

  • John McMillan (1752-1833) - “The Apostle of Presbyterianism to the West,” McMillan’s great legacy was the pioneering educational institutions which he founded.

  • Samson Occom (1723-1792) - Occom was one of first Native American Presbyterian ministers whose writings were published in English.

  • James W.C. Pennington (1807-1870) - The former “Fugitive Slave”-turned-Presbyterian minister and author became the first African-American to receive a doctorate of divinity at a European university.

  • Thomas De Witt Talmage (1832-1902) - “The Spurgeon of America” was one of the most popular ministers in America during the last half of the 19th century with an estimated 30 million readers of his sermons in the newspapers, and elsewhere.

  • Marcus Whitman (1802-1847) - Whitman was a pioneer ruling elder and medical missionary whose tragic death in Oregon inspired others to travel westward and continue to spread the gospel.

  • Julia McNair Wright (1840-1903) - An important Presbyterian author, she wrote widely on various topics, but is known especially for her Christian biographies for young readers.

  • Theodore Sedgwick Wright (1797-1847) - Wright was the first African-American to attend a theological seminary in the United States (Princeton). He was a leader in the Underground Railroad, as well as a well-respected minister of the gospel.

This list, it is hoped, will help to introduce readers to important figures in early American Presbyterianism. While not definitive or all-encompassing (it was difficult to leave off certain names from the approximately 900 authors that we have on Log College Press alone), it highlights some people very much worth getting to know. Their contributions to the Presbyterian Church, America and the world endure, and their memory is cherished.

A Virtual Tour of Princeton Cemetery

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William H. Foote once wrote of Moses Hoge (Sketches of Virginia, Second Series, p. 373):

He also visited Princeton College, which, in 1810, had conferred on him, in company with his friend, Mr. [Archibald] Alexander, the degree of S.T.D.; and passed a few days with Dr. Alexander. A cold easterly rain was falling the whole time of his visit. He examined thoroughly the condition of the two institutions, the College and the Seminary, with reference to the two in Prince Edward. He rejoiced in the extended influence of his friend Alexander, and [Samuel] Miller the co-laborer. He could not refrain from a visit to the grave-yard to meditate by the tombs of [Aaron] Burr, [Sr. and Jr.]; [Jonathan] Edwards, [Samuel] Davies, [John] Witherspoon, and [Samuel Stanhope] Smith. As he tarried in that hallowed spot, the bleak wind pierced his diseased frame, and hastened his descent into the valley of death. His heart was elevated as he went from grave to grave, and read the epitaphs of these Presidents of College and teachers of Theology; and his body under the cold rain was chilled in preparation for his own resting in the silent tomb. The conversations of Hoge and Alexander those few days, had there been a hand to record them, laying open the hearts, as by a daguerrotype, of men of such exalted pure principle, so unselfish and so unlike the mass of men - what simplicity of thought, benevolence in feeling, and elevation of piety! -- but there was no man to pen what all men would have been glad to read. Mr. Hoge took his seat in the Assembly - but his fever returned upon him, of a typhus case, and by means of the cold caught in Princeton, became too deeply seated for medicine to remove. He bowed his head meekly to the will of the Head of the Church, and fell asleep in Jesus, on the [5th] of July."

Of the Alexander family, A.A. Hodge once said (Henry Carrington Alexander, The Life of Joseph Addison Alexander, Vol. 2, p. 583):

Of this one great family, A. A. Hodge once said, “I never go to Princeton without visiting the graves of the Alexanders – father and sons – and I never think of them without having my poor staggering faith in God and in regenerated humanity strengthened. Let us uncover our heads and thank God for them.”

Princeton Cemetery is comparable to Westminster Abbey or Bunhill Fields, where so many godly saints are buried - John F. Hageman described it as "the Westminster Abbey of the United States." The number of Log College Press authors who have been laid to rest here is numerous; included are Archibald Alexander, James W. Alexander, Joseph A. Alexander, Aaron Burr, Sr., Samuel Davies, A.A. Hodge, Charles Hodge, Samuel Miller, B.B. Warfield, John Witherspoon, and so many more.

For those who are unable to visit Princeton Cemetery in person, or who wish to revisit the cemetery virtually, take a tour of this special place online here. See where the past Presidents of Princeton (including Jonathan Edwards, Sr.) are buried, along with a President and Vice-President of the United States, and many other luminaries with Princeton connections. This writer has spent many hours touring the grounds, including a visit to the grave of Charles Hodge on the 140th anniversary of his entering into glory. We can all be thankful for the technology to be able to revisit Princeton Cemetery, especially in a time of isolation.

The Calder Statues: American Heroes of the Faith

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Note from the Publisher: Hopefully you noticed the lack of blog posts the past two weeks - we were hit with a Mailchimp hack that suspended our account and deleted most of our subscriber base. We are back online, and hope to regain subscribers in the weeks to come (please help by spreading the word that folks need to resubscribe here!). While we’ve been offline, Andrew has been preparing several new blog posts, and I’ve been working on upcoming publications. We’re excited about how Log College Press is growing (we’re up to 4200+ works by over 750 authors in our free PDF Library), and we look forward to collecting and reprinting even more 18th-19th century American Presbyterian literature in days to come! Thank you for following us, and for spreading the word about our work — Caleb Cangelosi

Photo credit: R. Andrew Myers

Photo credit: R. Andrew Myers

Six early American Presbyterian heroes of the faith were sculpted by Alexander Stirling Calder (1870-1945) over a century ago. These sculptures are now located at the garden entrance to the Presbyterian Historical Society in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They stand as a testimony not just to individual men, but to the ideals that they represent. They are described as follows.

Presbyterian Revolutionaries

James Caldwell

Known as the “Fighting Parson,” James Caldwell became a pivotal figure during the Revolutionary War —what some historians have dubbed “The Presbyterian Rebellion.” When Continental troops ran out of gun wadding at the Battle of Springfield, Caldwell passed out Watts Psalm books, exhorting the troops to “Put Watts into them, boys!” The killing of Caldwell’s wife by British forces swayed many in New Jersey to support the Patriot cause.

John Witherspoon

A native of Scotland, John Witherspoon sailed to America in 1768 to become president of the College of New Jersey — today’s Princeton University. A strong supporter of Enlightenment ideals, he viewed the growing centralization of British government in the American colonies as a threat to individual liberties. While a delegate to the Continental Congress, he was one of twelve Presbyterians to sign the Declaration of Independence, and the only active member of the clergy.

Champions of Religious Freedom

Francis Makemie

Francis Makemie served as the first moderator of the first presbytery in America, which met in Philadelphia in 1706. The native of Ireland is also remembered as an early crusader for religious freedom. When the British magistrate Lord Cornbury arrested him in New York for preaching without a license, Makemie invoked the British Tolerance Act of 1689 in his defense. After Makemie’s acquittal, the New York legislature enacted legislation preventing such persecution in the future.

Samuel Davies

Samuel Davies overcame tuberculosis and his outsider status as a Presbyterian minister in predominantly Anglican Virginia to promote religious tolerance and the separation of church and state. A leading figure during the first Great Awakening, Davies preached in favor of educating all of God’s children, insisting that persons of faith must be able to hear and read the word of God. Davies was one of the first ordained ministers to preach directly to slaves and the first American-born hymnist.

Frontier Missionaries

John McMillan

The “Father of Presbyterianism in Western Pennsylvania,” John McMillan was a circuit riding preacher who established mission churches along the frontier. In 1780 he founded The Log School in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, the first educational institution west of the Alleghenies. McMillan’s efforts on behalf of an educated citizenry saw him play key roles in the founding of other schools, including Washington-Jefferson College and Pittsburgh Academy — today’s University of Pittsburgh.

Marcus Whitman

A medical doctor, Marcus Whitman traveled with his wife Narcissa to Oregon Country in 1835 and there started a school that taught Cayuse Indians to read and write their native language. A later cross-continental trip saw Whitman lead one of the first wagon trains along the Oregon Trail. Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, is named for the Whitmans, who were killed in an Indian massacre after a measles epidemic decimated the local Cayuse population.

Pictured are Francis Makemie, John Witherspoon and John McMillan (photo credit: R. Andrew Myers).

Pictured are Francis Makemie, John Witherspoon and John McMillan (photo credit: R. Andrew Myers).

Pictured are Samuel Davies, James Caldwell and Marcus Whitman (photo credit: R. Andrew Myers).

Pictured are Samuel Davies, James Caldwell and Marcus Whitman (photo credit: R. Andrew Myers).

The men portrayed in these statues are heroes to us as well. Learn more about their lives and writings at the links above. We appreciate the work of the Presbyterian Historical Society in preserving these sculptures, and the legacy of early American Presbyterianism, as we also do here at Log College Press.

Freedom's Cost

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That is which sometimes known as “the Presbyterian Rebellion” — the 1776 American War of Independence — had many actors who played their parts in leading the colonies to resist the actions of King George III and Parliament along Augustinian-Calvinistic principles of interposition by lesser civil magistrates against tyranny. The roll call listing heroes of the faith includes such as:

  • Alexander Craighead was the first Presbyterian minister to advocate the necessity to take up arms against the mother country back in 1743 (the tyrant-king then was Charles II). It was his patriotic influence (even after his death) that is largely credited for the May 1775 Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence.

  • John Craig was the “spiritual guide and minister” to 5 out of the 15 freeholders who wrote the January 20, 1775 Fincastle, Virginia Resolves, which stated in part: “We assure you, Gentlemen, and all our countrymen, that we are a people whose hearts overflow with love and duty to our lawful sovereign George III. whose illustrious house, for several successive reigns, have been the guardians of civil and religious rights and liberties of his subjects, as settled at the glorious Revolution; that we are willing to risk our lives in the service of his Majesty, for the support of the Protestant religion, and the rights and liberties of his subjects, as they have been established by compact, law, and ancient charters. We are heartily grieved at the differences which now subsist between the parent state and the colonies, and most ardently wish to see harmony restored, on an equitable basis, and by the most lenient measures that can be devised by the heart of men. Many of us, and our forefathers, left our native land, considering it as a kingdom subjected to inordinate power, and greatly abridged of its liberties. We crossed the Atlantick, and explored this then uncultivated wilderness, bordering on many nations of savages, and surrounded by mountains almost inaccessible to any but those very savages, who have incessantly been committing barbarities and depredations on us since our first seating the country. These fatigues and dangers we patiently encountered, supported by the pleasing hope of enjoying those rights and liberties which have been granted to Virginians and were denied us in our native country, and of transmitting them inviolate to our posterity. But even to these remote regions the land of unlimited and unconstitutional power hath pursued us, to strip us of that liberty and property with which God, nature, and the rights of humanity, have vested us. We are ready and willing to contribute all in our power for the support of his Majesty's government, if applied to constitutionally, and when the grants are made by our own representatives; but cannot think of submitting our liberty or property to the power of a venal British parliament, or to the will of a corrupt ministry. We by no means desire to shake off our duty or allegiance to our lawful sovereign, but on the contrary shall ever glory in being the loyal subjects of a Protestant prince, descended from such illustrious progenitors, so long as we can enjoy the free exercise of our religion, as Protestants, and our liberties and properties, as British subjects. But if no pacifick measures shall be proposed or adopted by Great Britain, and our enemies will attempt to dragoon us out of those inestimable privileges which we are entitled to as subjects, and to reduce us to a state of slavery, we declare, that we are deliberately and resolutely determined never to surrender them to any power upon earth, but at the expense of our lives. These are our real, though unpolished sentiments, of liberty and loyalty, and in them we are resolved to live and die.”

  • The freeholders who wrote the February 22, 1775 Augusta County, Virginia Declaration were also influenced by John Craig, when they wrote: “Placing our ultimate trust in the Supreme Disposer of every event, without whose gracious interposition the wisest schemes may fail of success, we desire you to move the Convention that some day, which may appear to them most convenient, be set apart for imploring the blessing of Almighty God on such plans as human wisdom and integrity may think necessary to adopt for preserving America happy, virtuous, and free.”

  • James Caldwell, the fighting parson who cried, “Give ‘em Watts, boys!” lost his wife to the British before being shot by an American sentry before the war ended.

  • Jacob Green, the father of Ashbel Green, was known as “Parson Green.” He authored Observations, on the Reconciliation of Great-Britain, and the Colonies by a friend of American Liberty in early 1776, and did much to both preach the gospel and defend the cause of civil liberty in colonial America. He also declared in a 1778 sermon: “Can it be believed that a people contending for liberty should, at the same time, be promoting and supporting slavery?” He saw American slavery as completely incompatible with the principles of freedom for which the colonists were then fighting.

  • Hezekiah James Balch, a leading architect of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, died just a year after its signing.

  • Ephraim Brevard - The reputed author of the 1775 Mecklenburg Resolutions and the scribe who penned the 1775 Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence spent time in British custody as a prisoner of war at Charleston, South Carolina, where the unwholesome air and diet crushed his health. After his release, he reached the home of his friend John McKnitt Alexander, in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, only to breathe his last shortly thereafter in 1781.

  • John Witherspoon preached a sermon based on Psalm 76:10 on May 17, 1776 titled “The Dominion of God Over the Passions of Men” which is credited with helping to prepare the colonies to embrace the Declaration of Independence which he signed (making himself a marked man) later that year: “If your cause is just — you may look with confidence to the Lord and intreat him to plead it as his own. You are all my witnesses, that this is the first time of my introducing any political subject into the pulpit. At this season however, it is not only lawful but necessary, and I willingly embrace the opportunity of declaring my opinion without any hesitation, that the cause in which America is now in arms, is the cause of justice, of liberty, and of human nature.

    So far as we have hitherto proceeded, I am satisfied that the confederacy of the colonies, has not been the effect of pride, resentment, or sedition, but of a deep and general conviction, that our civil and religious liberties, and consequently in a great measure the temporal and eternal happiness of us and our posterity, depended on the issue. The knowledge of God and his truths have from the beginning of the world been chiefly, if not entirely, confined to those parts of the earth, where some degree of liberty and political justice were to be seen, and great were the difficulties with which they had to struggle from the imperfection of human society, and the unjust decisions of usurped authority.

    There is not a single instance in history in which civil liberty was lost, and religious liberty preserved entire. If therefore we yield up our temporal property, we at the same time deliver the conscience into bondage.”

Many more names could be added to the ranks of those colonial American Presbyterians who proclaimed by word and deed their devotion to the cause of religious and civil liberty, and who were willing to sacrifice all for the sake of God and liberty. But one of the more poignant testimonies is found on the tombstone of the unknown Revolutionary War soldier at the Presbyterian church in Alexandria, Virginia. This epitaph speaks volumes about freedom’s cost.

Tomb of the Unknown Revolutionary War Soldier, Old Presbyterian Meeting House, Alexandria, Virginia

Tomb of the Unknown Revolutionary War Soldier, Old Presbyterian Meeting House, Alexandria, Virginia

Pattillo's Geographical Catechism

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When John Chavis — the first African-American Presbyterian ordained as a minister in the United States (licensed on November 19, 1800) — engaged in his secondary schooling in preparation for the ministry, he studied first under the Rev. Henry Pattillo (1726-1801), and then at Princeton under the Rev. John Witherspoon (1723-1794), both Scottish-born American patriot Presbyterian ministers and educators. It is to Henry Pattillo that we look today — who himself studied under the Rev. Samuel Davies — to take note of a memorable work which he produced, which is thought to have made a deep impression upon Chavis, who also was a patriot who served in the American War of Independence (as did Pattillo; Witherspoon signed both the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation).

That notable work was titled A Geographical Catechism (1796), the first textbook ever published in North Carolina. It constitutes an attempt to educate farmers and young people about the world around them, including the celestial world. Further, it introduced its readers to world history and culture, taking particular note of the newly-formed United States of America, and the other major nations of the earth. This overview, given in question-and-answer format, was produced with an explicitly Christian worldview, aiming to inculcate in its readers a desire to glorify the God of creation, providence and redemption.

Pattillo, Henry, A Geographical Catechism Title Page cropped.jpg

The scientific descriptions given by Pattillo for the world of nature reflect the current understanding of his day. Four continents are described, as well as seven planets in the solar system (the furthest away from the sun being known to Pattillo as “the Georgian Planet” — or, as we know it, Uranus).

His praise of the United States is high indeed. Answering Q. 104, he describes the United States as a “terrestrial paradise,” sketching its history from the arrival of Christopher Columbus, but focusing chiefly on the late conflict with England, summing his thoughts thus:

A general treaty took place, in which Britain acknowledged the independence of the American States, which the other nations of Europe did soon after. A constitution was formed by the united wisdom of our country, which after some time was adopted by all the states. Under its happy influence they have flourished ever since in peace, prosperity and reputation and the population of our western territory has never been equaled since the first ages of the world.

O fortunatos nimium, sua si bona norint Americanos! Virgil

Pattillo’s description of comets in space proceeds — encouraging his readers to follow this example — from the scientific to the doxological.

No part of God's works that have come to my knowledge, astonish me more than the infinite wisdom, foreknowledge and divine art of the Deity, in throwing from his creating hand more than 40 enormous globes, whose paths oppose and cross each other for thousands of years, in every direction, without the rapid fiery comet once touching or interrupting a single planet? which must have frequently happened had the planet been in that part of its orbit in which it was before the cornet passed, or would be soon after. Adore ye sons of men, and in humble gratitude acknowledge the power, wisdom and goodness of GOD! If he is thus tremendous in one of his works, who can stand when HE ariseth? Make peace with him whilst thou art in the way; for he is as gracious to returning penitents, as he will be terrible to the sinner in his crimes (A. 72).

Descending from the heavenly realm to the terrestrial, Pattillo still focuses the attention of the reader on the God who made all:

Q. 90. Having surveyed wonders sufficient to bring an infidel to his knees, and to animate the devotion of the most devout; may we now return to Geography, if any thing on our globe be worthy of notice, after the more illustrious scenes we have passed through?

A. It is true our world is but a speck in the creation, and yet it has wonders of power and wisdom belonging to it, sufficient to employ the deepest researches of the wisest of men, and fresh wonders discovered every day; and it has one thing to glory in, above all the creation of GOD.

Q. 91. What is that pray?

A. It is that great gospel truth, GOD so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. A world thus redeemed, is well worthy of our notice. We return then to Geography, or that description of countries, cities, and seaports, without the knowledge of which, no person can read a news-paper, nor follow a traveller by sea or land.

Chavis’ biographer states that it was “the Presbyterian view” indeed “that all knowledge is a part of God’s providence” (Helen Chavis Othow, John Chavis: African American Patriot, Preacher, Teacher, and Mentor (1763-1838), p. 39). By summarizing the basic knowledge of the world of creation and providence for his students, including John Chavis, Pattillo made an enormous contribution to the godly education of students in North Carolina and Virginia. Chavis is an important part of that legacy, because it reflects a desire on the part of the teacher to have all of his students, of whatever skin color, in the words of the great astronomer Johannes Kepler, “think God’s thoughts after Him.”

Pioneer Presbyterian Samuel Doak

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Samuel Doak (1749-1830) is known by many titles — "the Apostle of Learning and Religion in the West"; "the First Apostle of Presbyterianism in Tennessee"; "the Pioneer of Education in Tennessee”; and the “Pioneer Parson” whose prayer at Sycamore Shoals inspired the Patriot Overmountain Men before the Battle of King’s Mountain in 1780. He is also known for his stance on immediate abolition of slavery, a position which he took in 1818. But despite his importance as a leading pioneer Presbyterian and educator, we have little in the way of actual sermons or other published writings by him.

We have recently added to Log College Press Samuel Doak’s posthumously-published Lectures on Human Nature. This “Epitome” consists of a series of lectures (study questions were added after each lecture by the publisher) that Doak used to teach his students. Considering the scarcity of published writings from his hand, and considering that these lectures were born from his own studies under William Graham of Liberty Hall Academy and John Witherspoon of Princeton, as well as his teaching days at Hampden-Sydney and Washington College, they represent a valuable source of information as to what this noted educator taught his pupils about such topics as education, first principles, the will, common sense, memory, the state of mankind, etc. Two additional essays by his sons — who were also themselves Presbyterian ministers — were appended to this work (Samuel Witherspoon Doak on the Conscience and John Whitfield Doak on Life).

This interesting work is worthy of notice for the insight it gives us into early 19th century American Presbyterian education, and because it helps us to understand what a famous pioneer parson, who influenced so many around him in his day, believed about the nature of man.