John Martin: First Gospel Minister to Preach in Tennessee

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“Preach the gospel, die, and be forgotten.” — Attributed to Count Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf (18th century Moravian minister)

There are some figures in church history about whom we know very little, even though they accomplished very much. John Martin is one such person. It is believed that he was born in Virginia, in the early 18th century. He first appears in the records of the Hanover Presbytery for March 1756.

Mr. John Martin offered himself upon Tryals for the gospel Ministry, and delivered a Discourse upon Eph. 2.1 which was sustain’d as a Part of Tryal; & he was also examined as to religious Experiences, & the reasons of his designing the ministry; which was also sustain’d. He was likewise examined in the Latin and Greek languages, and briefly in Logick, ontology, Ethics, natural Philosophy, Rhetoric, geography and Astronomy; in all which his Answers in general were very satisfactory. And the Presbytery appoint him to prepare a Sermon on I Cor. 1.22-23, & an Exegesis [in Latin] on this Question, Num Revelatio Supernaturalis sit Necessarias? to be delivered at our next Committee.

At the following meeting he preached that sermon and presented his exegesis after which “The Committee proceeded to examine him upon ye Hebrew, and in sundry extempore Questions upon ye Doctrines of religions, and some Cases of Conscience.” Then he was required to deliver a sermon on Galatians 2:20 at the next meeting of presbytery and to give a lecture on Isaiah 61:1-3. Having done this successfully, he was then required to compose a sermon at the next presbytery meeting on I John 5:10, whereupon

The Presbytery farther examin’d Mr. Martin in sundry extempore Questions upon various Branches of Learning, and Divinity, and reheard his religious Experiences; and upon a review of ye sundry Trials he has passed thro’; they judge him qualified to preach ye Gospel; and he having declar’d his Assent to, and Approbation of ye Westminster Confession of Faith, Catechisms, and Directory…ye Presbytery do license and authorize him to preach as a Candidate for ye ministry of ye Gospel…and appoint ye moderator to give him some Solemn Instructions and Admonitions, with regard to ye Discharge of his office. [source: Ernest T. Thompson, Presbyterians in the South, Vol. 1 (1963), p. 69]

Martin was licensed to preach the gospel on August 25, 1756, and received a call to serve in Albemarle County, Virginia in April 1758. He was ordained to the ministry in June 1758 (various sources record the date as June 5, 7, or 9, 1758) at which time Samuel Davies preached the ordination sermon in Hanover, Virginia: The Office of a Bishop a Good Work. Thus, Martin was the first man ordained as a Presbyterian minister in Virginia. However, Martin declined the call to Albemarle, and instead was commissioned by an organization founded by Davies known as the Society For Managing the Mission and School Society For the Propagation of the Gospel to serve as a missionary to the Overhill Cherokee Indians in Tennessee. Later that year, he traveled as far as the Little Tennessee River and preached to the Cherokees there; however, without any significant success to report. However, in so doing, Martin became the first Protestant minister to preach the Gospel in the bounds of the state of Tennessee. His ministry there was supplemented by William Richardson (whose missionary journal still exists today in the archives of the New York Public Library). The efforts of both men were thwarted by language and culture challenges, but especially the commencement of hostilities in the French and Indian War. Also, when Davies left Virginia and took up his post as President of the College of New Jersey at Princeton in 1759, the missionary society that he had founded in Virginia fizzled out as well. Both Martin and Richardson departed from Tennessee and went on to settle in South Carolina. It is not known precisely where he lived, when he died or where he was buried. (See Richard Webster, A History of the Presbyterian Church in America From Its Origin Until the Year 1760 (1858), p. 674; George Howe, History of the Presbyterian Church in South Carolina, Vol. 1 (1870), p. 267; Alfred Nevin, Encyclopedia of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (1884), p. 472; Samuel C. Williams, An Account of the Presbyterian Mission to the Cherokees, 1757-1759, Tennessee Historical Magazine (Jan. 1931); William W. Crouch, Missionary Activities Among the Cherokee Indians, 1757-1838 (1932); and A. Mark Conard, The Cherokee Mission of Virginia Presbyterians, Journal of Presbyterian History (Spring 1980).)

From the little that we know about Martin, we can ascertain that he was well-educated for the ministry, had a heart for missions, and was willing forgo a stable pastoral call in order to go where he believed he was most needed to preach the gospel. His pastoral career is a but a blip on the historical radar, but as the first Presbyterian minister ordained in Virginia, and the first to preach the gospel in Tennessee, he is worthy of remembrance.

Log College Resources

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At Log College Press, we aim to survey the broad landscape of American Presbyterianism, from mainstream denominations to dissenting branches, both conservative and liberal, to provide insight into the history and claims of those who speak for Presbyterianism in America. But we have a special place in our heart for the original Log College, which served as the first Presbyterian seminary in the colonies.

A 19th-century sketch of the Log College with an interesting background described here.

Here is an effort to provide resources for further study on that Log College and specially connected to it. This is not a complete survey, but it is hoped that readers who wish to study the Log College more in-depth can do so ably with the material referenced below.

The Founders of the Log College (c. 1726) were William Tennent, Sr. (1673-1746) and Catherine Kennedy Tennent (1683-1753). Each of their male children were among the graduates of the Log College program of education: Gilbert, William, Jr., John, and Charles. Other famous Log College alumni include Samuel Blair, John Blair, Samuel Finley and Charles Beatty. The Log College planted seeds which later resulted in the founding of Princeton, the Log Colleges of John McMillan, David Caldwell and others.

There are many valuable works about the Log College and its alumni and influence available to read at Log College Press, including:

• Archibald Alexander - Biographical Sketches of the Founder, and Principal Alumni of the Log College (1845) and Sermons and Essays by the Tennents and Their Contemporaries (1855)

• Elijah R. Craven - The Log College of Neshaminy and Princeton University (1902)

• Nathaniel Irwin - Memoirs of the Presbyterian Church of Neshaminey (1793, 1904)

• Guy S. Klett and Thomas C. Pears, Jr. - Documentary History of William Tennent and the Log College (1940)

• Thomas Murphy - The Presbytery of the Log College; or, The Cradle of the Presbyterian Church in America (1889)

• Douglas K. Turner - History of Neshaminy Presbyterian Church of Warwick, Hartsville, Bucks County, PA, 1726-1876 (1876); Sketch of Log College (1886, 1909); and The Log College (1889)

Also of interest is Charles Spencer Richardson, Jr., A Week in Log College Country (1903), available to read here. William B. Sprague’s Annals, Richard Webster’s History of the Presbyterian Church in America, and many other biographical and historical literature is also available to read at Log College Press.

Other works known to the writer, but not yet available on Log College Press include:

• George H. Ingram - The Story of the Log College (1927) and Biographies of the Alumni of the Log College (1929-1930)

• Clarence E.N. Macartney - The Log College and the Beginning of Princeton (1946-1947)

• Richard McIlwaine - The Influence of the Log College in the South (1889)

• Thomas C. Pears, Jr. - History by Hearsay or New Light on William Tennent: A Footnote on the 'Documentary History of William Tennent (1940)

• Gary E. Schnittjer - William Tennent and the Log College: A Common Man and an Uncommon Legacy (1992) and The Ingredients of Effective Mentoring: The Log College as a Model for Mentorship (1994)

Books which directly treat aspects of the Log College from the Secondary Sources page at Log College Press include:

• Milton J. Coalter, Jr. - Gilbert Tennent, Son of Thunder (1986)

• S. Donald Fortson III - Colonial Presbyterianism: Old Faith in a New Land (2006)

• John F. Hansen - The Vision That Changed a Nation: The Legacy of William Tennent (2007)

• Margaret Adair Hunter, Education in Pennsylvania Promoted by the Presbyterian Church, 1726–1837 (1937)

• Alexander Leitch - A Princeton Companion (1978)

• Howard Miller - The Revolutionary College: American Presbyterian Higher Education, 1707-1837 (1976)

• Mary A. Tennent - Light in Darkness: The Story of William Tennent, Sr. and the Log College (1971)

There is a great deal of literature on Princeton which can be read online at Log College Press, or ordered from the Secondary Sources page, which touches on the history of the Log College. Many titles are not mentioned here, but could be included in a more thorough compilation. But it is hoped that the resources highlighted here will provide the student of colonial American Presbyterian history with readily available information to assist in their studies of a remarkable chapter of church history.

And let us remember that “the past is not dead,” because the story of the Tennents and the Log College is but prologue to the present. The William Tennent House Association continues its work in a different direction to make this history and legacy alive and accessible to visitors as well. One Log College, and the many others which followed, did so much to leave a godly legacy for America. We are glad to help others learn more about the story, and we are thankful to God for the legacy.

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The Protesters of 1741

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On Monday, June 1, 1741, a protest authored by Robert Cross and signed by him, along with eleven other ministers and eight ruling elders, was submitted to the Synod of Philadelphia, with Jedediah Andrews serving as Moderator, which led to the great Old Side-New Side split of the colonial American Presbyterian Church. The signers were mostly from the Presbytery of Donegal, representing the Old Side party. D.G. Hart writes* that “This division in American Presbyterianism has been the most difficult one to explain in the history of the church…” The protesters, for one thing, referred to their opponents (the New Side) as “protesting brethren,” which certainly clouds the issue for those removed from the controversy by centuries.

It is not the purpose of this post to attempt to explain the circumstances and motivations of either party, which would require an essay of great length, and the tragic story is told elsewhere in church histories by Charles Hodge, Richard Webster, and others. but simply to alert students of church history to the fact that all twelve ministers who signed the Protestation are now found on Log College Press. As William Tennent’s Log College did play an important role in the events leading up to the 1741 split, it is a matter of great interest to us at Log College Press to read what the Old Side had to say, as well as the New Side.

The twelve ministers who signed included 3 Roberts, 3 Johns and 2 Samuels, and most were born in Ireland:

• Robert Cross (1689-1766) - The Protestation’s author served the First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia alongside Jedediah Andrews.

• John Thomson (1690-1753) - Thomson was the author of the 1729 Adopting Act.

• Francis Alison (1705-1779) - Alison was a scholar and educator, as well as a leading voice among Old Side presbyters. He preached the opening sermon at the 1758 reunion Synod on “Peace and Union.”

• Robert Cathcart (d. 1754) - Cathcart ministered in Wilmington, Delaware from 1730 until his death.

• Richard Sankey (1710-1789) - In church records, his last name is often spelled Zanchy. He was the son-in-law of John Thomson, and — after a rocky start in which he was accused of plagiarizing his ordination sermon — later served Virginia Presbyterians under the jurisdiction of the Hanover Presbytery.

• John Elder (1706-1792) - The “Fighting Pastor” is known to history as the founder of “Paxton Boys,” who were involved in the Conestoga Massacre in the aftermath of the French and Indian War, and then marched on Philadelphia. In the American War of Independence, he recruited patriots to the American cause.

• John Craig (1709-1774) - Craig, about whom we have written before, later served the Hanover Presbytery in Augusta County, Virginia as the first settled Presbyterian minister west of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

• Samuel Caven (1701-1750) - Caven’s tombstone at the Silver Spring Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania indicates that he was 44 years old when he died on November 9, 1750; however, other sources indicate that he was born (in Ireland) in 1701.

• Samuel Thomson (1714-1787) - Although some have thought that Samuel was the son of John Thomson, the latter’s biographer, John Goodwin Herndon, makes the case that this was not so. Samuel Thomson served as pastor of the Great Conewago Presbyterian Church in Hunterstown, Pennsylvania from 1749 to 1787.

• Adam Boyd (1692-1768) - Over a 44-year pastoral career, Boyd — a man “eminent” for piety — help to organize 16 “daughter” and “grand-daughter” churches.

• James Martin (d. 1743) - Martin left his mark as pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Lewes, Delaware, where the house that he once owned remains an historical landmark.

• Robert Jamison (d. 1744) - Jamison, after arriving from Ireland in 1634, ministered in Delaware until his death.

These names are worth getting to know. The ministers who signed the Protestation played an important role in a tragic chapter of American Presbyterian history, and some of them were part of the reunited Synod 17 years later. Ezra Hall Gillett writes of some of these men in The Men and Times of the Reunion of 1758 (1868). That was a happier year than 1741. The rupture that happened after the Protestation had been building for years, and both sides were to blame, as Gillett says. In reviewing the protesters, on both sides, we are reminded that all men fall short of the divine standard of holiness, love and long-suffering that ought to be characteristic of believers. The history of the Presbyterian church affords many examples of division; happily, in this case, a great reunion followed.

* S. Donald Fortson III, ed., Colonial Presbyterianism: Old Faith in a New Land, p. 158

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Joseph Wilson's Presbyterian Historical Almanac now at Log College Press

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In 1859, one of the great historical and biographical contributions to the American Presbyterian Church was first published in Philadelphia by a young man named Joseph M. Wilson. Over the next decade, The Presbyterian Historical Almanac, and Annual Remembrancer of the Church became a very well-respected and indeed invaluable resource for the church of his day and for future historians.

There is some irony in the fact that this publisher of Presbyterian literature who did so much to memorialize the lives and contributions of others is shrouded in biographical mystery himself. In fact, some of his publications have been attributed erroneously to another Joseph M. Wilson who lived from 1838 to 1902. We believe that Wilson was born in Philadelphia in 1822. We are not sure when he died, but it does not appear that he published anything after 1868.

Operating from his place of business in downtown Philadelphia, during a very active span during the 1850s and 1860s, among the titles that Wilson published were:

• Alfred Nevin, Churches of the Valley: or, An Historical Sketch of the Old Presbyterian Congregations of Cumberland and Franklin Counties, in Pennsylvania (1852);

• Joseph H. Jones, The Attainments of Men in Secular and Religious Knowledge, Contrasted: A Sermon (1854);

• Richard Webster, A History of the Presbyterian Church in America (1857);

• Cortlandt Van Rensselaer, A Discussion on Slaveholding with George Armstrong (1858);

• Stuart Robinson, The Church of God as an Essential Element of the Gospel (1858); and

• Cortlandt Van Rensselaer, God Glorified by Africa: An Address Delivered on December 31, 1856 (1859).

Source: S. Austin Allibone, A Critical Dictionary of English Literature and British and American Authors (1908), Vol. 3, p. 2781.

At Log College Press, we are delighted to report that Wilson’s magnum opus, The Presbyterian Historical Almanac, and Annual Remembrancer of the Church, in ten volumes, has been uploaded here and is available for your perusal. We have often consulted these volumes as a valuable source of historical and biographical information. Wilson aimed at unity of the church, and his almanac spans all the main branches of American Presbyterianism. Not only ecclesiastical reports and updates — rendered during a critical period of time — and biographical sketches are found therein, but also portraits and illustrations of great interest.

What Wilson wrote in 1868 (the year of reunion) is a fitting summary of his goal in producing this Almanac and Remembrancer:

The main object of the work from its commencement has been to place upon permanent record the current history of every branch of the Presbyterian Church. To show that these Annual Chronicles meet the wants of those who are intelligently active in advancing the interests of Presbyterianism, I refer to what has already been accomplished:

I. Over five hundred and fifty Acts and Deliverances have been fully recorded, also —

II. Many judicial cases involving questions coming within the purview of Ecclesiastical Law.

III. Full accounts of various organizations, whereby the Church carries on its benevolent operations.

IV. Histories of Churches and Theological Seminaries,

V. Statistics of Churches, Boards and Committees.

VI. Lists of Ministers, giving the names and post-office of every Presbyterian minister in the world.

VII. Biographies of Presbyterian ministers who have died during the period covered by the publication of the Almanac, numbering between twelve and thirteen hundred.

VIII. Manses, being comfortable homes for Presbyterian ministers, free of rent, have been constantly urged upon the Church, and this subject is pre-eminently worthy of serious and active consideration.

IX. Libraries for Manses and Periodical Associations have been pleaded for and their importance demonstrated.

X. Statistical Tables, valuable as well as interesting.

The Almanac has also labored for the reunion of the Church; which, owing partly to the strong protesting element among Presbyterians, was divided into at least thirty branches, ranging in numbers from fourteen ministers up to twenty-eight hundred; and, though belonging to the same household of faith, the thin partitions thus erected tended to keep them apart.

In the Almanac these branches were brought together, and as the members thereof examined the "Records" — it was a bond of mutual sympathy to know that they all contended for the truth with the same zeal — were as keenly alive to the necessity resting upon them to extend the blessings of Christianity in our own and in foreign lands — to provide for the religious instruction of the children — to educate the rising ministry — to guard the declining years of the aged and infirm ministers, and tenderly care for the widows and orphans; and though thus engaged in advancing the interests of our common Christianity, and though one in spirit and believing in one Lord, one Faith and one Baptism, they were not organically one.

The influence exerted by the Almanac, however, in thus placing Presbyterians together in the same volume, naturally leads earnest and thoughtful members of the Church to the consideration of the question. Shall these divisions continue? — to which there is but one reply, viz.. Reunion. That work has begun. In the Almanac will be found the union of the Associate and Associate Reformed, forming The United Presbyterian Church of North America; The Presbyterian and the United Presbyterian, forming the Canada Presbyterian Church; The Synod and the Free Church of Nova Scotia, forming the Presbyterian Church of the Lower Provinces of British North America; and this latter body with the Synod of New Brunswick; the Presbyterian bodies in Australasia; The Presbyterian Church in the United States with the United Synod. In all these cases the "Basis" of "Union" is fully recorded, and in this volume will be found reunion indications distinct and significant; and so the work goes on; and will not every one join in the prayer of our Saviour, as given in the seventeenth chapter of the Evangelist John, and earnestly strive for the time when UNITY shall be the blessed condition of The Presbyterian Church throughout the world?

Now 21st century readers at Log College Press can take advantage of this invaluable ecclesiastical resource. Read Wilson’s Historical Almanac and Annual Remembrancer as a labor of love for the unity of the church, and these volumes will reward you well.

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The Story of a Children's Book that was Parleyed into a Presbyterian Library

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Have you heard of the Peter Parley stories? The title character of a popular series of children’s books authored by Samuel Griswold Goodrich (1793-1860), Peter Parley was “an elderly, quirky, but also lovable old Bostonian who enjoy[ed] telling stories to children.” The stories he told helped to teach children about history, geography, and science. By 1856, 7 million copies of the Peter Parley stories had been sold.

Published by the firm of Sorin and Ball, the copyright holder to the series was an associate of the firm named Samuel Agnew (1820-1880). He was also a Presbyterian ruling elder who had a deep interest in books and history. The enormous success of his publishing labors enabled Agnew to retire at around the age of 40.

In tracing the history of the Presbyterian Historical Society, which was founded in 1852, William Laurence Ledwith writes:

The noble triumvirate who bore the burden were the Rev. Cortlandt Van Rensselaer, D. D., the Rev. Richard Webster, and Samuel Agnew, and the greatest of these was Agnew….Samuel Agnew was the librarian from the organization until 1880, the time of his death, covering a period of twenty-eight years. The Society owes to him more than to any one else; his time, his labors, his money being given without stint to the cause he so dearly loved. In his earlier days he was a member of the firm of Sorin and Ball, publishers, and he owned the copyright of the Peter Parley histories. He was a man of ample means, and devoted himself to the interests of the Historical Society, and it is no extravagant statement to say that the Society itself, its library with its large and rare collection, the building which the Society purchased in 1879, are his monuments. He was ever on the watch for anything and everything in print that had value for the Society. He frequented book auctions, and often, rather than miss the volume or pamphlet he desired, would purchase the whole package in which they were tied. It is said that when he saw the advertisement of a library sale in New York, Boston, Cleveland or Cincinnati, he would start at once for the place, and secure, often at large cost, the books he desired. Even in London, Edinburgh, and Glasgow, he had his agents under instructions to secure such books as he wished to purchase. In this work, to which he gave himself so heartily, he spent $25,000, as he once confessed to a friend, when worried lest these historic treasures of the Society which he had stored away might be destroyed by fire. He also collected 4,000 volumes and pamphlets on the Baptist Controversy, which he left in his will to Princeton Theological Seminary. After his death it was some little time before they could be found, but they were discovered stored away in a building used as a stable. He died just as the Society was entering upon the use of the first building it owned, and which he had labored so faithfully to secure.

We have a snapshot of the fruits of Agnew’s labors on behalf of the PHS library because in 1865 he published a catalogue of its holdings. It covers 100 pages of book titles, but remarkably it does not include a “large and valuable collection of more than eight thousand Pamphlets, Magazines and Reviews; two hundred volumes of Newspapers; three hundred Portraits; and many valuable Manuscripts.”

Thus it was, in the providence of God, that the fortune built on the sales of a children’s book by Samuel Agnew was parleyed into the library of the Presbyterian Historical Society, a legacy of lasting value to the church.

How did 19th century Presbyterians understand the history of the Presbyterian Church?

It's always interesting to see how a particular time period understood itself - where it was, how it got there, and where it was going. We've just uploaded two classic histories of the Presbyterian Church: Richard Webster wrote in the middle of the 19th century about the Presbyterian Church from its founding till 1760. George Hays wrote at the end of the 19th century about the entire history up to his day.  Hays' work is unique in that he asked authors from the respective Presbyterian denominations of that time to write the history of their particular church (i.e., Moses Drury Hoge writes the history of the Southern Presbyterian Church).