J.R. Miller: A Brief Remembrance

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Shepherd Prince

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It was in 1853 that the Lithuanian writer Abraham Mapu (1808-1867) published what is considered to be the first Hebrew language novel, Ahavat Ziyyon (The Love of Zion). It is an historical romance set in the days of the prophet Isaiah. Although Mapu struggled to make ends meet as an author, this publication was a landmark event and would inspire many who worked to establish the nation state of Israel.

There were English translations of this novel in 1887 under title Amnon, Prince and Peasant, tr. by F. Jaffe; in 1902 as In the Days of Isaiah, tr. by Benjamin Alexander Moses Schapiro; and as The Shepherd Prince in 1922 and 1930, also by Schapiro, a Jewish-Christian missionary to the Jewish people. The 1922 translation was published with an introduction by the great Princeton linguistic scholar, Robert Dick Wilson.

Wilson, Robert Dick, Introduction to The Shepherd Prince Title Page cropped.jpg

Wilson’s praise of the story and the translation by Schapiro is remarkable given his expertise as a Christian Orientalist.

THE perusal of “The Shepherd-Prince,” translated from the work of the famous Jewish writer of fiction, Abraham Mapu, by Mr. B.A.M. Schapiro, will show how possible it is for the spirit and “atmosphere” of a people, as well as the environment and setting of ages long past, to be brought out so vividly as to make them real to the consciousness of readers of today. To achieve this is a distinction, the height of literary art.

This work is to be warmly commended to Christian readers because it presents in graphic form the ideas of a modern Israelite with regard to the life and ideals, the emotions and aspirations, of the Ancient Chosen People.

The period of this intensely interesting love story is that of the time of Isaiah, the greatest in the long list of prophets from Moses to Christ. And the incidents of the love-idyl and love-tragedy throughout its course, which, as in all human experience, did not run smooth, but was ultimately triumphant, are admirably developed and in language so felicitous that one feels almost as if it were from the Bible-fount itself.

Love—the greatest thing in the world—found expression in ancient times just as it does today; although the setting differed, the essentials are the same, and the reader of modern fictional literature will find something refreshing in the pure and ardent affection of the hero and heroine, in their tribulations and joys. We believe that this book will be uplifting and that it will have a healthful influence on readers of the present time; for, as has been well said, “There is no time in life when books do not influence a man,” and the potency and sway of a good book are incalculable.

The love story—the leading motive of the book—illustrates the theme of the Song of Songs: that love is stronger than death. It is interesting to observe that love at first sight was, in the estimation of Mapu, as common a thing as it is in our own times, and that the course of love ran no more smoothly then than now. The manner in which the passion was manifested, especially of the heroine, may shock the sensibilities of some of the readers, because of the departure from certain conventionalities to which they are accustomed; but it is well to learn how other people express their affection and how a great Hebrew scholar imagines the passion and the practice of love among the Israelites 2,700 years ago.

Mr. Schapiro has put the reading public unfamiliar with Hebrew language and literature under a deep debt of gratitude for the excellent manner in which he has rendered into English this masterpiece of Abraham Mapu, whose fame is known to the uttermost ends of the earth as the “Father of Jewish Fiction.”

The translator is an acknowledged master of Hebrew, the Rabbinical exegesis of the Old Testament, and the Talmudical interpretation of the same. He has written much and well, being the author of many useful and learned pamphlets. He is therefore eminently well qualified to translate for readers of English the wonderfully poetic and figurative language of the original, which abounds in prose-poetry and song of the highest character. Indeed, the translation is so free from the usual ear-marks of translated works that, if there were not two names on the title-page, it might well be taken for an original work in English.
…
Within the limits of a Foreword it is impossible adequately to do justice to the scholarship and intrinsic worth of such a work as this; but, without flattery, it can safely be asserted that Mr. Schapiro has presented in a singularly fascinating way in its English dress, the greatest novel that has ever been produced in the Hebrew language. To say more would be like painting the lily or refining pure gold.

The Shepherd Prince is now available to read at Log College Press at R.D. Wilson’s page. If you are in search of a classic historical novel, this is a great one to add to your reading list.

Cleland B. McAfee: Where He Is

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Cleland Boyd McAfee (1866-1944) was a Presbyterian minister who served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, was known for his famous hymn “Near to the Heart of God,” and has left his mark on history as the originator of the acrostic “TULIP.”

In the biographical sketch of him, written by his daughter, Katherine McAfee Parker, Near to the Heart of God (1954), she made reference to the first book which he ever published, Where He Is (1899), a book about “immortality,” and its connection to her mother, Harriet, a Canadian-born fellow-graduate of Chicago’s Park College. They were married in 1892. It was a deep and abiding love that they shared, as evidenced by a poem that he wrote to her.

For more than sixty years since my mother took my father for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, she has held to the conviction that he was one of the best things the Lord ever made. He felt exactly the same way about her. He gave her the first copy of his first book and wrote on the flyleaf:

Harriet:

E’en heaven of Christ would lose
for me its joy,
Did I not know that “Where He Is”
there thou shalt be;
And this I know since where
thou art here in the earth
I catch the clearest vision
of the Christ of Galilee.

C.B.M.
5 Nov. 1899

They spent fifty-two years together on earth, companions of each other’s hearts and minds.

This poignant love poem is a reminder that a godly man’s greatest support, apart from Christ himself, is his wife. And that husband and wife ought to point each other to Christ, that they may both be where He is.

Henry Kollock: If Christ Be Loved

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

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

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

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

Christians love one another: John Black's sermon on Church Fellowship

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By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another (John 13:35).

While it is to be deplored that there is ecclesiastical division amongst the churches of Christ throughout the world, who hold to different creeds, and church unity is a thing to be earnestly desired and prayed for, yet such unity must begin with love. If there is such love — which itself is the gift of God — then there is hope that barriers to unity will be overcome in the Lord’s great mercy.

A sermon preached at the opening of the 1816 Synod of the RPCNA by John Black (1768-1849) on Christian Fellowship acknowledges the reality of ecclesiastical barriers to full, unhindered communion, but speaks profoundly of the love of the saints, that basic building block needful for unity. It is worth pondering Black’s words on this point; they are timeless because this essential Biblical truth is timeless.

All real Christians love one another. They all love Christ, and cannot but love all who bear his image. And this is the characteristic mark of all who love him — they have his Father’s name written in their foreheads. All such will delight to mingle their voices, their hearts and affections, in religious exercises. They will speak of Christ — of the wonders of his love, and the wonders of his grace, with pleasure and delight They will join in his praises. They will talk together in recommending him more and more. The theme is inexhaustible. They will unite in addressing him, for they love prayer, and they have one heart. One spirit actuates them.

We must ask ourselves this as we pray for unity among the saints of God: do we love one another? If the answer is yes, the path is laid before us and, by the grace of God — notwithstanding the need for union based on truth and not error — that love will find its outward expression in the unity of the visible church. If the path is to begin somewhere, it must begin with the words of Christ, who said that they will know us to be Christians for our love to one another.

How we may imitate Christ in His universal charity to all men - Ebenezer Pemberton

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Ebenezer Pemberton, Jr. (1705-1777) was a leading American Puritan of the colonial era. His father preached at the Old South Church (Congregational) in Boston, Massachusetts. Our Ebenezer was affiliated with the Presbyterian Church for the first half of his ministerial career and then returned to his father’s church in 1753. He served as chair of the New York Board of the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge, preached the ordination sermons for both David and John Brainerd. Recently, we have added over 90 autograph manuscript sermons by him to Log College Press. Many of these, but not all, were written in shorthand. They cover the time period between the 1740s and 1770s. With remarkable penmanship, we can get a glimpse of the ministerial labors of a remarkable preacher.

From another source (not found on Log College Press at present) we take note of a passage from a sermon he preached from Philippians 2:5 titled “The Duty of Imitating the Example of Christ” (The Puritan Pulpit: Ebenezer Pemberton, Soli Deo Gloria Publications, 2006, pp. 103-105). In the tradition of Thomas à Kempis and The Imitation of Christ, and John Calvin, who sought to guide Christians in the right manner of imitating our Saviour while avoiding superstitious abuses of the principle, Pemberton’s sermon covers various aspects of how Christians ought to follow Christ’s example. One of these consists in how we ought to imitate Christ in regards to his relationship to all men.

We must imitate the example of Christ in His universal charity and kindness to men. This is indeed beyond a parallel, and what can never be fully imitated by any of the children of men. His whole life upon earth was one continued act of the most generous and disinterested love to the most base and unworthy objects. The gospel history everywhere abounds with astonishing instances of His grace and benignity to mankind.

It was love that brought him down from the bright realms of eternal day and fixed His abode for a time in this miserable and benighted world. This animated Him continually to go about doing good to the souls and bodies of men, instructing the ignorant, comforting the sorrowful, healing the sick, and supplying the wants of the poor and needy. This carried Him through a scene of the most distressing sorrows and afflictions in His life, and at last humbled Him to the dust of death and nailed Him to the cursed tree as an expiatory sacrifice for the sins of the world. This is such an instance of love as exceeds the power of love to describe, and the utmost stretch of our imagination to conceive of the height and depth, the length and breadth. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). “But herein God commended His love toward us, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). It is the manner of men to place their affections upon those they apprehend to be the most agreeable and deserving objects; and it is the highest instance of human love to die for a friend. But this is the transcendent excellency of the love of Christ, that it was placed upon the most base and unlovely part of the creation. He laid down His life for His very enemies, who had renounced His sacred authority and were in open rebellion against His laws.

This is certainly a most surprising and unusual pattern of love, and should powerfully dispose us to the most extensive charity and benevolence to our fellow creatures. This is the inference made by St. John, the beloved disciple: “If God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.” For this end the example of Christ is frequently proposed for our imitation, and we are solemnly enjoined to copy it. “This is My commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you” (John 13:34). Nay, He makes it the distinguishing badge of His followers, and the necessary character of His genuine disciples: “By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye love one another.” And what stronger obligations can we be under to this excellent duty, what more powerful motives can be set before us to engage us to the practice of it, than the positive command of our Master and Lord, and the noble example of Him who has given us so many expensive evidences of His wonderful kindness and love.

Charles Hodge: Nothing but truth can really do good

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Charles Hodge, in his commentary on Romans 14, makes a point that Christians do well to consider in apologetics and other forms of conversation and discussion, especially in the age of social media.

It is, therefore, of great importance to keep the conscience free; under no subjection but to truth and God. This is necessary, not only on account of its influence on our own moral feelings, but also because nothing but truth can really do good. To advocate even a good cause with bad arguments does great harm, by exciting unnecessary opposition; by making good men, who oppose the arguments, appear to oppose the truth; by introducing a false standard of duty; by failing to enlist the support of an enlightened conscience, and by the necessary forfeiture of the confidence of the intelligent and well informed. The cause of benevolence, therefore, instead of being promoted, is injured by all exaggerations, erroneous statements, and false principles, on the part of its advocates.

According to Hodge, therefore, it matters not just what we say, but how we say it. The Lord, of course, can bring good out of evil, but as the Scripture teaches elsewhere, we are not just called to “speak the truth,” but to do so “in love” (Eph. 4:15). Hodge makes note of this in his commentary on Ephesians:

…the apostle, while condemning all instability with regard to faith, and while denouncing the craft of false teachers, immediately adds the injunction to adhere to the truth in love. It is not mere stability in sound doctrine, but faith as combined with love that he requires.

To truth, then, must be added that which is good. The presentation of truth must be done in love. In this way, Christians glorify God after the most excellent way (1 Cor. 12:31). Love “rejoiceth in the truth” (1 Cor. 13:6). Love, therefore, is the motive for “speaking the truth,” and as such, we must remember not only how to declare to others that which is true, but also to do in a manner consistent with the gospel of God’s grace. As Hodge also notes (again, in his commentary on Ephesians):

It is possible "to hold the truth in unrighteousness;" to have speculative faith without love. The character most offensive to God and man is that of a malignant zealot for the truth.

Hodge, then, emphasizes in these commentaries the unity of purpose in speaking truth in the right manner, and so glorifying God both in what we say, and in how we say it. May such a unity of purpose be the aim of all Christians who desire to exemplify that “more excellent way.”