What's New at Log College Press? - August 16, 2022

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There is always a lot going on at Log College Press. Here is a brief report to get you up to speed.

In July 2022, we added 349 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.

Early Access:

  • In 1760, a letter authored by Gilbert Tennent and signed by seventeen other Presbyterian ministers was sent to the Archbishop of Canterbury concerning William McClanachan (1714-c. 1765), a sometime Anglican, Congregational and Presbyterian minister, which proved to be somewhat ecclesiastically messy for the writers. What is particularly interesting about the “eighteen Presbyterian ministers” who jointly signed the letter is that this is one occasion when Samuel Davies and the Tennent brother (Gilbert, Charles and William, Jr.) united in a literary production. Others who also signed include John Rodgers, Abraham Keteltas, Alexander MacWhorter, John Blair, Robert Smith, John Roan, Charles McKnight; all together at least seven alumni of the Log College signed this letter, which is now available to read on our Early Access page.

  • Speaking of the Tennents, we have added a volume by Mary A. Tennent titled Light in Darkness: The Story of William Tennent Sr. and the Log College (1971) to the William Tennent, Sr. page. It is a valuable study of the Tennent family and the Log College.

  • In the course of our research, we came across a volume of sermons once owned by Samuel Miller. Many of the individual sermons bear his handwritten signature on the title pages. Some of the sermons were delivered in connection with the May 9, 1798 fast day appointed by President John Adams (William Linn, Ashbel Green and Samuel Blair, Jr.). Also included was another separate fast day sermon preached by Nathan Strong and an 1815 thanksgiving sermon preached by James Muir (following the end of the War of the 1812).

  • We added some interesting works by John Tucker (1719-1792), including a noted 1771 election sermon and two editions (one published and one handwritten manuscript) of a 1778 sermon on the validity of Presbyterian ordination.

  • Robert R. Howison, author of a noted history of Virginia, wrote a history of the War Between the States in serial fashion which was published in the Southern Literary Messenger from 1862 to 1864. We have compiled each installment into one PDF file comprised of almost 400 pages.

  • Perhaps the most famous sermon delivered by Clarence E.N. Macartney was Come Before Winter, first preached in 1915 and then annually for many years after. We have added the 30th anniversary edition of that sermon to his page.

  • We have also recently added more sermons and letters by Samuel Davies, some of which are now at the Recent Additions page.

Recent Addtiions:

Be sure also to check out the quotes we have been adding at our blog for DPS members: Though Dead They Still Speak, including some by John Murray on the regulative principle of worship; David Rice on religious controversy; and Louis F. Benson on early Presbyterian psalmody.

As we continue to grow, please avail yourself of the many resources (both digital and in print) at Log College Press, and be sure to tell your friends about us. We hope that brushing off these old tomes will indeed enrich the 21st century church - that is our prayer. Thank you, as always, for your interest and support, dear friends.

Nathan Strong (1748-1816): Founder of the Connecticut Evangelical Magazine

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Editorial Note: Our guest writer today is Tom Sullivan, who for 36 years has served as The Narrated Puritan at Puritan and Reformed Audiobooks, and also serves as a research assistant for Dr. Sam Waldron, President, Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary.

Nathan Strong, was born in Coventry, Connecticut; ordained on Jan. 5, 1773; and served as pastor of the First Church, Hartford, where he remained until the close of life, Dec. 25, 1816.

This church received its fame from its first pastor Thomas Hooker, the Puritan founder of the Colony of Connecticut. It was known in Strong's day as the North Presbyterian Church in Hartford.

In 1798, Strong became the chief organizer of the Connecticut Missionary Society. Two years later, he became the principal founder and editor of The Connecticut Evangelical Magazine, which was also at that time a new departure, and which was destined to continue through fifteen volumes.

From an article in the Christian Spectator for 1833: “The plan of this work originated with Dr. Strong, and the labor of conducting it devolved chiefly on him. It was continued fifteen years, and amounted to as many volumes.” The first seven volumes were titled The Connecticut Evangelical Magazine (1800-1807); the next eight were titled The Connecticut Evangelical Magazine; and Religious Intelligencer (1808-1815).

Christian periodicals had long found their usefulness in England, but the reason for it not known in the Colonies was supposed that there was not enough material to keep the magazine interesting. However, at the beginning of the 19th century numerous revivals had been reported not only in local assemblies, but at the College of New Jersey under the presidency of Ashbel Green, and Yale College under the presidency of Timothy Dwight.

In the first editorial, Strong wrote, “The late wonderful outpouring of the Holy Spirit and revival of experimental religion, in large districts of the American Church will furnish much matter for publication to delight the hearts satisfy the benevolence of the children of God. There has not hath been so great and extensive a work of divine grace in this land since the years 1742 and 1744.”

Another goal of this magazine was to report on “the wonderful spirit of missions to heathen people, and to our new and scattered settlements on the borders of the wilderness…” The timing of this was providential for the magazine was started at the same period that the “Great Revival of 1800” had just started in Kentucky under the pastoral charge of James McGready (1763-1817). It was to Nathan Strong that Archibald Alexander wrote in January 1802, including correspondence from George A. Baxter, concerning a report on that notable revival.

From the Annals of the American Pulpit, Vol. 2, p. 36, William Sprague wrote: “It may be doubted whether he ever rendered a more important service to the church or to the country, than in the part which he took in establishing and sustaining the Connecticut Missionary Society.”

In 1801, he was honored with the degree of Doctor of Divinity from the College of New Jersey. A eulogy written from Thomas Robbins upon his death:

Dr. Strong was, for many years, my neighbor and intimate friend. I had an opportunity of observing him and there is perhaps no man who has departed, in respect to whose character I have a more definite and well considered opinion. [As the end of Strong’s mortal life approached] I remember to have been present on one occasion, when a neighboring minister put to him the question, “Are you ready to go yet?” and he replied, — “Yes, tomorrow, if God pleases."

Such was the piety of this long-time minister of God’s Word, founder of the Connecticut Evangelical Magazine.