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

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At the close of 2022, Log College Press is staying very active as we continue to expand the site and make accessible even more literature from early American Presbyterians.

Last month, in November 2022, we added 582 new works to the site. There are currently over 17,000 free works available at LCP. Today 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:

  • Two works by Thomas Cleland, A Familiar Dialogue Between Calvinus and Arminius (1805, 1830); and The Socini-Arian Detected: A Series of Letters to Barton W. Stone, on Some Important Subjects of Theological Discussion, Referred to in His "Address" to the Christian Churches in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio (1815);

  • Abraham Brooks Van Zandt, God's Voice to the Nation: A Sermon Occasioned by the Death of Zachary Taylor, President of the United States (1850);

  • Cornelius Van Til, The Defense of the Faith (1955); and Christianity and Barthianism (1962);

  • John Murray, The Reformed Faith and Modern Substitutes (1935-1936); and The Application of Redemption (1952-1954) [a series of many articles which served as the basis for his 1955 book Redemption Accomplished and Applied];

  • Geerhardus Vos, A Song of the Nativity (1924, 1972) [a Christmas poem]; and

  • early sermons by Francis James Grimké, Our Duty to the Poor — How We Observed It on Christmas (1881); Wendell Phillips: A Sermon Delivered Sunday, Feb. 24, 1884, at the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church, Washington, D.C. (1884); Our Future as a People (1890), each of which was contributed by a reader.

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 John Holmes Agnew: The Lord Loves the Gates of Zion; B.B. Warfield on Theological Study as a Religious Exercise and on What it Means to Glorify and Enjoy God; William H. Green on How the Child of God May Rightly Undergo Frowning Providences; John Murray: To the Calvinist Who Once Struggled With the Arminian Idea of Free Will; E.C. Wines: Christ is the Fountain of the Promises; James Gallaher on the Difference Between Calvinism and Fatalism; William S. Plumer's Suggested Guidelines for Making Family Worship More Profitable; Elizabeth Prentiss on Dying Grace; and T. De Witt Talmage: The Sabbath a Taste of Heaven.

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. There is a lot to explore, and many Presbyterian voices from the past to hear. We look forward to seeing what the Lord has in store for Log College Press in 2023. Thank you, as always, for your interest and support, dear friends, and best wishes to you in the New Year!

Princeton vs. The New Divinity

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Twenty years ago, a handy little volume was published by Banner of Truth titled Princeton Versus The New Divinity. It is a collection of a handful of articles written by 19th century Princeton divines in response to the movement known by various names, including New England Theology, Edwardsean, and The New Divinity, among other nomenclatures. In general, it was a movement that heavily emphasized evangelism and revival at the expense of Biblical theology on such matters as sin, total depravity, and grace.

Princeton divines were greatly concerned that this new movement needed to be countered by sound theology. A number of articles were written in The Biblical Repertory and Theological Review, The Biblical Repertory and Princeton Review and in other titles to respond to the movement by way of direct discussion and historical overview. Today we are thankful for the digitizing labors of those at the Library of the Princeton Theological Seminary who have made these articles, and others, so much more accessible.

As mentioned in the Banner of Truth volume, David Calhoun’s outline of the issues and authors involved, which appears in Princeton Seminary, Vol. 1, is highly recommended.

There were seven chapters/articles included in the 2001 Banner of Truth volume:

  • Charles Hodge, Review of Cox’s Sermon on Regeneration, and the Manner of Its Occurrence (1830) — titled “Regeneration” in the BoT volume;

  • Archibald Alexander, The Early History of Pelagianism (1830);

  • Archibald Alexander, The Doctrine of Original Sin as Held by the Church, Both Before and After the Reformation (1830) — titled “Original Sin” in the BoT volume;

  • Archibald Alexander, An Inquiry Into that Inability Under Which the Sinner Labours, and Whether it Furnishes Any Excuse for His Neglect of Duty (1831) — titled “The Inability of Sinners” in the BoT volume;

  • Charles Hodge, The New Divinity Tried (1832);

  • Albert Baldwin Dod, Finney’s Sermons (1835) and Finney’s Lectures (1835) — combined and titled “On Revivals of Religion” in the BoT volume — “William G. McLoughlin comments that Dod’s ‘review of the Lectures on Revivals can and should be properly considered the official and definitive counterattack upon the theological revolution that [Charles] Finney led,” David Calhoun, Princeton Seminary, Vol. 1, p. 467;

  • John Woodbridge, Review of The Scriptural Doctrine of Sanctification Stated and Defended Against the Error of Perfectionism (1842) — titled “Sanctification” in the BoT volume; and

  • Thomas Cleland, Bodily Affections Produced by Religious Excitement (1834) — an 1846 reprint was titled “Bodily Effects of Religious Excitement” and included the BoT volume.

All of these articles are available to read online at the links above. In addition, some others on this overall topic are also available to read and recommended for further study. Also, take note of our earlier post relating to the 1837-1838 split of the Presbyterian Church on the Old School-New School Explained.

  • Archibald Alexander, January 25, 1802 Letter to Nathan Strong (1802);

  • Lyman Hotchkiss Atwater, Dr. Woodbridge on Revivals: Influence of the New Divinity on Religion (1842);

  • Lyman Hotchkiss Atwater, Old Orthodoxy, New Divinity and Unitarianism (1857);

  • Lyman Hotchkiss Atwater, Jonathan Edwards and the Successive Forms of The New Divinity (1858);

  • Lyman Hotchkiss Atwater, Revivals of the Century (1876);

  • George Addison Baxter, January 1, 1802 Letter on the Kentucky Revival (1802);

  • Charles Hodge, Finney’s Lectures on Theology (1847);

  • William Buell Sprague, Lectures on Revivals of Religion (1832);

  • David Alexander Wallace, The Theology of New England (1856); and

There is even more to read at Log College Press on this topic. But this may serve for starters. If you have an interest in the theological innovations that disrupted in the Presbyterian Church in the early 19th century, and how Princeton divines responded, dive in to these materials prayerfully, and with a Bible at hand, to better understand what was at issue, and how God’s Word and the history of the church sheds light on these matters. The editor of the Banner of Truth volume had to say about the importance of the subject:

Why these articles should be reprinted at a date so far removed from the controversy which occasioned them warrants introductory comment. Some controversies represent no more than a passing disturbance in the church. It was not to be so with the New Divinity. Both contending parties in the controversy saw this clearly. Those who introduced the new ideas were insistent that they would have revolutionary and long-term benefits for the advance of the gospel. Especially would this be so, they claimed, with respect to effective evangelism and the promotion of revival. The Princeton men, and those who supported them, were equally convinced that, should the new teaching succeed, it would mean a change of direction exceedingly adverse to the spiritual interests of later generations. Where the ‘New School’ were certain of the practical benefits resulting from the changes for which they were working, the ‘Old’ saw disaster.