What's New at Log College Press? - November 15, 2022

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As the year winds down, Log College Press remains in high gear as we continue to expand the site and make accessible more and more literature from early American Presbyterians.

Last month, in October 2022, we added 494 new works to the site. There are currently over 16,000 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:

• Recently we extracted selections found within Sterling’s Southern Orator and Sterling’s Southern Readers, including writings by George Howe, T.V. Moore, Benjamin Morgan Palmer, and William Wirt;

• We also extracted sermons from The Union Pulpit (1860) by William Adams, Phineas D. Gurley, Nicholas Murray, Charles H. Read, and Byron Sunderland;

• Poems by Charles L. Thompson (Paul at Athens, 1872) and Edward D. Morris (The Final Faith, 1913); and

• General Assembly Moderators’ Sermons by John C. Lord (PCUSA, 1853) and Joseph R. Wilson (PCUS, 1880).

Some highlights at the Recent Addtiions page:

• Philip Schaff edited both The American Church History series and A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church (first and second series). All of the above has now been added to Log College Press (approximately 23,000 pages of material);

• Working for the Presbyterian Board of Publication, William M. Engles edited the 12-volume British Reformers series, which has now been added to his page;

• The full run of The Penn Monthly Magazine under Robert E. Thompson’s editorship (13 volumes);

• Dozens of works by Theodore L. Cuyler, Benjamin M. Palmer and Thomas DeWitt Talmage;

• Joshua L. Wilson’s 1845 first sermon on witchcraft; and much more.

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 George Howe on the importance of a well-educated spiritual ministry; E.S. Ely on the duty of civic rulers to "kiss the Son"; Alexander Proudfit on the Biblical qualifications for public office; and Robert D. Wilson’s life plan to defend the Old Testament.

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. Thank you, as always, for your interest and support, dear friends.

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Calvin's Institutes at Log College Press

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Now, my design in this work has been to prepare and qualify students of theology for the reading of the divine word, that they may have an easy introduction to it, and be enabled to proceed in it without any obstruction. For I think I have given such a comprehensive summary, and orderly arrangement of all the branches of religion, that, with proper attention, no person will find any difficulty in determining what ought to be the principal objects of his research in the Scripture, and to what end he ought to refer any thing it contains. — John Calvin, Preface to the 1559 edition of the Institutes of the Christian Religion (1841 ed.)

One of the great classic works in Reformed Christian literature is the Institutes of the Christian Religion by the French-Swiss theologian John Calvin. First published in Latin in 1536, with subsequent editions in Latin and French, the final authoritative Latin edition approved by its author came out in 1559. It’s importance as a guide to the Christian faith can be measured in how many times it has been republished, including in America. Perhaps more than any other single book, Calvin’s Institutes has influenced and shaped the Protestant Reformation and Protestantism in general.

Today, in the English-speaking world, the most commonly used translations are those by Ford Lewis Battles (edited by John T. McNeill, 1960) and Henry Beveridge (1845), although more recent. translations from the 1541 French edition of the Institutes (Calvin’s own translation of the 1539 Latin Institutes into French) by Elsie Anne McKee (2009) and Robert White (2014) are gaining in popularity. Older English translations by Thomas Norton (1561) and John Allen (1813) continue to have their respective admirers; Calvin scholar Dr. Richard Muller is said to prefer Allen’s over the rest.

Although the first American edition was published in 1816, it was not until overtures by John C. Backus and Robert J. Breckinridge on behalf of their Baltimore congregations, with financial assistance, led the Presbyterian Board of Publication to issue its own edition of Allen’s translation in 1841 with an introduction by William M. Engles, editor of the Board, along with editorial assistance by his brother Joseph P. Engles.

Title page of the 1841 edition of Calvin’s Institutes.

In 1936, a new edition of Allen’s translation was published by the Presbyterian Board of Christian Education. It has some features worthy of note. Included are B.B. Warfield’s article on The Literary History of the Institutes (first published in 1909) and An Account of the American Editions by Thomas C. Pears, Jr.

Title page of the 1936 edition of Calvin’s Institutes.

It is hoped that we might be able to add Hugh T. Kerr’s A Compend of the Institutes of the Christian Religion (1939) at some point in the future. Meanwhile, the 1841 and 1936 editions of Calvin’s Institutes, with prefatory material by Engles, Warfield and Pears are fully available to read at Log College Press. Allen’s translation of Calvin’s magnum opus is a treasure appreciated by American Presbyterians since the 19th century, and we are pleased to make it accessible to our 21st century readers as well.

It has pleased God that Calvin should continue to speak to us through his writings, which are so scholarly and full of godliness, it is up to future generations to go on listening to him until the end of the world, so that they might see our God as he truly is and live and reign with him for all eternity. — Theodore Beza, Life of John Calvin

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Happy birthday to John Calvin!

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If you are Reformed, you probably know something about John Calvin. He is widely recognized as the author of the Institutes of Christian Religion (1536, 1559), and as the leader of the Reformed wing of the Reformation (in contrast to Martin Luther’s Lutheran wing). He was born in Noyon, France on July 10, 1509. Today is his birthday, and thus, Log College Press is celebrating with select resources about the man and his theology. Consider these works for an in-depth study of the man and his legacy.

• John Bailey Adger, Calvin and Servetus; and Calvin’s Doctrine of the Lord’s Supper;

• Louis FitzGerald Benson, John Calvin and the Psalmody of the Reformed Churches;

• William Maxwell Blackburn, The College Days of Calvin; and Young Calvin in Paris;

• Charles Eugene Edwards, Calvin on Infant Salvation;

• William Morrison Engles, An Introduction to Calvin’s Institutes;

• Thomas Cary Johnson, John Calvin and the Genevan Reformation; and Calvin’s Contribution to Church Polity;

• Nathaniel Smyth McFetridge, Calvinism in History;

• Henry Collin Minton, John Calvin, Lawyer; and Calvin the Theologian;

• Samuel Leslie Morris, The Relation of Calvin and Calvinism to Missions;

• Presbyterian Church in the United States, Calvin Memorial Addresses;

• Richard Clark Reed, Calvin’s Contribution to the Reformation;

• David Schley Schaff, Martin Luther and John Calvin, Church Reformers;

• Philip Schaff, Calvin’s Life and Labors;

• Thomas Smyth, Calvin and His Enemies;

• John Weldon Stagg, Three Maligned Theologians: John Calvin, William Twisse and Jonathan Edwards; and Calvin’s Traducers, Who They Were and What They Thought;

• Geerhardus Vos, Calvin and Common Grace (translation of Herman Bavinck);

• Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield, Calvin’s Knowledge of the Doctrine of God; Calvin’s Doctrine of the Creation; The Literary History of the Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin; John Calvin: The Man and His Work; Calvin’s Doctrine of the Trinity; Music in the Work of Calvin (translation of Émile Doumergue); Calvin’s Doctrine of God;

• Robert Alexander Webb, Calvin’s Doctrine of Infant Salvation; and

• Julia McNair Wright, John Calvin.

As Calvin would say,

I have always been exceedingly delighted with the words of Chrysostom, “The foundation of our philosophy is humility;” and still more with those of Augustine, “As the orator, when asked, What is the first precept in eloquence? answered, Delivery: What is the second? Delivery: What the third? Delivery: so, if you ask me in regard to the precepts of the Christian Religion, I will answer, first, second, and third, Humility (Institutes 2.2.11).

As Reformed Christians, we do not exalt Calvin beyond measure, but we are thankful for the grace of God that accomplished so much good in his life. He was a very humble man, and that is seen in the writings referenced above which explore his life and many contributions to the world, and to the kingdom of God. We remember a good man today who was born over 500 years ago.

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