What's New at Log College Press? - January 10, 2023

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With the arrival of a New Year, we at Log College Press are continuing to expand the number of resources available to our readers. Last month, in December 2022, we added 524 new works to the site. We have close to 18,000 free works available at LCP.

This week we are highlighting 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:

  • James Benjamin Green, A Harmony of the Westminster Presbyterian Standards (1951); and The Distinctive Teachings of Presbyterianism (1936, 1959);

  • John Murray (1742-1793), Jerubbaal, or Tyranny's Grove Destroyed, and the Altar of Liberty Finished: A Discourse on America's Duty and Danger, Delivered at the Presbyterian Church in Newbury-Port, December 11, 1783. On Occasion of the Public Thanksgiving for Peace (1784); and Grace and Glory: or, Heaven Given Only to Saints: a Sermon Preached at the Presbyterian Church in Newbury-Port, Jan 26, 1788, Occasioned by the Death of Mr. Ralph Cross on the 4th of that Month, Aetat 82 (1788);

  • Jonathan Parsons, Wisdom Justified of her Children: A Sermon Preached at the Publick Lecture in Boston, on Thursday, September 16, 1742 (1742); and Account of the Revival of Religion in the West Parish of Lyme in Connecticut (1744);

  • articles from The Presbyterian Standard concerning the debate between psalmody and hymnody by John Thomas Chalmers [Why the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church Adheres to the Exclusive Use of the Inspired Psalter in the Worship of God (1900)]; and Alexander Jeffrey McKelway [Dr. Chalmers’ Failure (1900)];

  • and more by Francis James Grimké, some of which were contributed by a helpful reader: Colored Men as Professors in Colored Institutions (1885); Mr. Moody and the Color Question in the South (1886); The Defects of Our Ministry, and the Remedy (1886); The Secret of Power in the Pulpit (1887); The Pulpit in Relation to Race Elevation (1887); The Negro Will Never Acquiesce as Long as He Lives (1898); The Roosevelt-Washington Episode; or, Race Prejudice (1901); and The Second Marriage of Frederick Douglass (1934).

Some highlights at the Recent Addtiions page:

Also, be sure also to check out the quotes we have been adding at our blog for DPS members: Though Dead They Still Speak, including William M. Blackburn on a Sixth Point of Calvinism; A.A. Hodge on the Change of the Sabbath Day; John B. Adger on the Limits of Church Authority; Philip Lindsley on the Key to Improvement of Time; J.R. Miller on Consecration of Will; Thomas De Witt Talmage on the Christian Way of Measuring Life; Francis J. Grimké on How to Approach the New Year; William H. McGuffey, who argues that the Christian Religion is America's Religion; and T.V. Moore on The Oldest Seminary is the Family Fireside.

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.

Meanwhile, please feel free to browse the many resources available to our readers in print and in digital format. The New Year is a great time to explore the many Presbyterian voices from the past. Thank you, as always, for your interest and support, dear friends, and we wish you all the very best in 2023!

The Presbyterian Church That George Whitefield Built

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Although George Whitefield was an Anglican minister who promoted the revivalism of the Great Awakening and in particular, Calvinistic Methodism, he had close ties to colonial American Presbyterians such as Gilbert and William Tennent, Sr. [Whitefield’s journal entry following his visit to the elder Tennent in 1739 is one of the earliest and most significant descriptions of the original Log College], Ebenezer Pemberton, Jonathan Parsons, Samuel Davies, among others.

Davies may have heard Whitefield preach at Faggs Manor, Pennsylvania in 1739-1740. Davies certainly heard him preach in England in late 1753 and visited him at his house, as noted in his journal. It is noteworthy that the literature acquired by Samuel Morris that helped to inspire the 1740s Great Awakening in Virginia prior to Samuel Davies’ arrival there included the published sermons of George Whitefield, who had preached previously at the Bruton Parish Anglican Church in Williamsburg, Virginia in 1739.

In 1743, following Whitefield’s ministry in Philadelphia, the Second Presbyterian Church in that city was organized, and Gilbert Tennent was called to serve as the pastor.

On another New England preaching tour, in October 1740, at New Haven, Whitefield encountered Jonathan Parsons, who, although he had studied under Jonathan Edwards, was at the time an Arminian-leaning Congregational minister at Lyme, Connecticut. The Great Awakening that Whitefield promoted also deeply affected Parsons, whose ministry changed dramatically after Parsons embraced the experimental piety that Whitefield preached. Following another Whitefield tour of New England in 1746, a congregation began meeting in Newburyport, Massachusetts, and with Whitefield’s guidance, Parsons was called to serve as the pastor. The present building of the First Presbyterian Church of Newburyport (more popularly known as Old South Church - and sometimes, as “Whitefield’s Church”) was constructed in 1756 in three days by over 100 men working together. Later, a church bell cast by Paul Revere was installed in the clock tower.

Old South had a special place in George Whitefield’s heart. He returned on occasion to preach there, and maintained a close friendship with Parsons. It was on a visit there that George Whitefield passed away suddenly on a Lord’s Day morning, September 30, 1770 at Parson’s house. Parsons was called upon to preach his funeral sermon later that day, “To Live is Christ, To Die is Gain” (published in 1771). At Whitefield’s own stated request, he was buried under the pulpit of Old South.

Parsons served as pastor of Old South from 1746 until his death in 1776, a few days after the Declaration of Independence. He, too, was buried in the vault under the Old South pulpit, as was Joseph Prince, the famous blind minister, who died in 1791.

After Parsons, John Murray ministered to the congregation from 1781 to 1793. The third pastor of Old South was Daniel Dana, who served from 1794 to 1820. The long line of faithful ministers in Newburyport includes Jonathan F. Stearns, who delivered A Historical Discourse, Commemorative of the Organization of the First Presbyterian Church, in Newburyport, Delievered at the First Centennial Celebration, Jan. 7, 1846 (1846); and Ashbel G. Vermilye, author of A Discourse Delivered at Newburyport, Mass., November 28, 1856, on Occasion of the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Building of the First Presbyterian Church (1856).

To this day, those who want to see where the earthly remains of the great revival preacher George Whitefield are laid to rest will make the trek to Newburyport, Massachusetts to a Presbyterian church in which his memory is cherished, along with that of Parsons and Prince. This Presbyterian church, and the line of faithful ministers who served it for many years, may rightly be considered fruits of George Whitefield’s remarkable ministry. His labors were legendary, as was his preaching voice; he spent his life for Christ, and preached around 18,000 times to an estimated approximately 10 million listeners. When the Lord took him home it was at the house of a dear old friend, with whom he would be reunited in Christ a few years later.

If one makes the trip to see where Whitefield and Parsons are buried, consider not only the happy fruit of their ministry, but also the very words of the Apostle Paul chosen by Parsons to preach on after Whitefield’s death: “To live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Old South was but a waystation for them, and a very special one at that.

Autograph Manuscripts at Log College Press

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Recently, Reformation Heritage Books has published a transcription of notes taken by Charles Hodge during lectures on Systematic Theology delivered by Archibald Alexander. Those handwritten notes can be found on their respective pages. The transcription collaboration by Travis Fentiman and James M. Garretson and others is titled God, Creation, and Human Rebellion: Lectures Notes of Archibald Alexander from the Hand of Charles Hodge and is available for purchase here.

It is worth noting that a growing segment of the content available at Log College Press consists of such handwritten autograph manuscripts. Recently, we have uploaded some additions which we wanted to let readers know about.

  • Samuel Davies, annotations on portions of the New Testament;

  • Minutes of Hanover Presbytery, Vol. 1 (1755-1769), Vol. 2 (1769-1785), Vol. 3 (1786-1795), Vol. 4 (1796-1804);

  • Charles Hodge, Journal of European Travels (1827-1828);

  • Charles Colcock Jones, Sr., Charge (n.d.) [this is a handwritten document of 35 pages intended as a guide for newly ordained Presbyterian officers]; and three volumes of handwritten sermons covering 1840-1842, 1843-1845 and 1844-1855;

  • Brief Historical Sketches (1793/1858) of Bethel Presbyterian Church, White Hall, Maryland by George Luckey and George Morrison, Jr.;

  • Jonathan Parsons, Notebook of Handwritten Sermons (1727-1772);

  • 94 handwritten sermons by Ebenezer Pemberton, Jr. from the period from the 1740s to the 1770s;

  • James W.C. Pennington, Letter to Amos Augustus Phelps dated Feb. 26, 1846 (sent from Jamaica) (1846);

  • Minutes of the Synod of Virginia, Vol. 1 (1788-1797), and Vol. 2 (1798-1806);

  • William Tennent, III: 1) Louisburgh Taken (1759) [poem on a major British victory in the French and Indian War]; 2) The Birth of Measures (1759) [poem]; 3) Strive to Enter In at the Straight Gate: A Sermon Preached at New York, January 20, 1765 (1765); 4) Speech on the Dissenting Petition, Delivered in the House of Assembly, Charleston, South Carolina, January 11, 1777 (1777); 5) Let Young Men Be Really Modest (n.d.); and 6) Some of the Blessings of Military Law, or, The Insolence of Governor Gage (n.d.); and

  • Diary of Moses Waddel in three parts: 1823-24 [handwritten], 1824-1826 [typed transcript] and 1826-1827 [handwritten].

As our content continues to grow, please check back with us to see what else is new. There are challenges involved in working through handwritten manuscripts from the 18th and 19th centuries - but also great rewards!