In 1675, the Dutch Reformed theologian Herman Witsius gave an inaugural address to divinity students at the university in Franeker, the Netherlands. This oration has endured as a monument to experimental piety. It was completely translated for the first time into English in 1877 by Free Church of Scotland minister John Donaldson, and this edition was republished by Ligon Duncan in 1994 under the title On the Character of a True Theologian. It has been commended by men such as William Cunningham in the 19th century and Joel Beeke in the 20th century for its combined spiritual profundity and intellectual acuity. An abridged translation was previously published by Archibald Alexander in The Biblical Repertory and Theological Review, April 1832, with the title The Character of the Genuine Theologian. Alexander's translation is now available to read at Log College Press.
As Beeke wrote of this valuable work: "Witsius' inaugural, On the Character of a True Theologian, is a masterpiece which exemplifies his own dictum: 'He alone is a true theologian who adds the practical to the theoretical part of religion.' Like all of Witsius' writings, this address marries profound intellect with spiritual passion. All Christians, but especially theological students and ministers, would do well to peruse it prayerfully and repeatedly." Alexander commends further its "elevated thought and ardent piety." It has great value for church officers, laymen, and indeed all who seek to serve Christ in every capacity.
Have You Read the Letters of David Brainerd?
Among classic Christian writings are the letters of John Calvin (French Huguenot); Martin Luther (German Reformer); Samuel Rutherford (Scottish Covenanter); and Joseph Alleine (English Puritan). The letters of David Brainerd (1718-1747), American Presbyterian missionary to the Delaware Indians of New Jersey, are perhaps less well-known, but are equally devotionally precious.
The life of this young man was cut short in the providence of God at the age of 29. It was in the house of Jonathan Edwards, Sr. that Brainerd died of tuberculosis, and it was Edwards who wrote the life of Brainerd based on his diary. This work, the most-reprinted work written by Edwards, was originally published in 1749 under the title An Account of the Life of the Late Rev. David Brainerd. In the genre of Christian biography, it remains a classic (reprinted under a variety titles). Of this work, Henry Martyn once wrote: "Oh! blessed be the memory of that beloved saint! No uninspired writer ever did me so much good."
From here we have gleaned some extracts from Brainerd's letters (beginning at p. 261) which illustrate the experimental piety of this young man. They savor so sweetly of heaven that they seem sent from Immanuel's Land. Though his time in this vale of tears was short, he was conscious of the preciousness of time, possessing as he did a view of eternity, and made the most of the time given to him in order to answer his chief end, that is, to glorify God. And that was the view of time which he bequeathed to others. This is the counsel of one who tasted eternal bliss while on his earthly pilgrimage, and now sends word to us from heavenly places to be heavenly-minded.
Letter (II) to John Brainerd (Dec. 27, 1743):
I find nothing more conducive to a life of Christianity than a diligent, industrious, and faithful improvement of precious time.
Letter (III) to Israel Brainerd (Jan. 21, 1743/4):
Again, Be careful to make a good improvement of precious time. When you cease from labour, fill up your time in reading, meditation, and prayer: and while your hands are labouring, let your heart be employed, as much as possible, in divine thoughts.
Letter (IV) to a Special Friend (July 31, 1744):
Verily, no hours pass away with so much divine pleasure, as those that are spent in communing with God and our own hearts.
Letter (VI) to John Brainerd (Dec. 25, 1745):
My brother, "the time is short." Oh let us fill it up for God; let us "count the sufferings of this present time" as nothing, if we can but run our race, and finish our course with joy." Let us strive to live to God....I think I do not desire to live one minute for any thing that earth can afford. Oh that I could live for none but God, till my dying moment!
Letter (VII) to Israel Brainerd (Nov. 24, 1746):
Let me intreat you to keep eternity in view, and behave yourself as becomes one that must shortly "give an account of all things done in the body."
Letter (VIII) to Israel Brainerd (June 30, 1747):
It is from the sides of eternity I now address you....But let me tell you, my brother, eternity is another thing than we ordinarily take it to be in a healthful state. Oh how vast and boundless; how fixed and unalterable! Of what infinite importance is it, that we be prepared for eternity!
Letter (IX) to a Young Gentleman, a Candidate for the Ministry (Summer 1747):
How amazing it is that "the living who know that they must die," should notwithstanding put far away the evil day, in a season of health and prosperity; and live at such an awful distance from a familiarity with the grave, and the great concerns beyond it. Especially it may just fill us with surprise, that any whose minds have been divinely enlightened, to behold the important things of eternity as they are, I say, that such should live in this manner. And yet, Sir, how frequently is this the case. How rare are the instances of those who live and act, from day to day, as on the verge of eternity; striving to fill up all their remaining moments in the service and to the honour of the great Master. We insensibly trifle away time, while we seem to have enough of it; and are so strangely amused as in great measure to lose a sense of the holiness and blessed qualifications necessary to prepare us to be inhabitants of paradise. But oh, dear Sir, a dying bed, if we enjoy our reason clearly, will give another view of things.
Spiritual Improvement on a Journey Homeward
"There is no object that we see; no action that we do; no good that we enjoy; no evil that we feel, or fear, but we may make some spiritual advantage of all: and he that makes such improvement is wise, as well as pious" (American Puritan poet Anne Bradstreet, Meditations Divine and Moral I).
From English Anglican Bishop Joseph Hall's Occasional Meditations (1630) to English Puritan John Flavel's Husbandry spiritualized, or, The Heavenly Use of Earthly Things (1674) to Anne Bradstreet's Meditations, we have examples of devotional literature wherein the pious writer takes note of ordinary or extraordinary things around him or her and with meditation finds spiritual application and benefit.
One such example from the literature of American Presbyterianism comes from the Journal of Samuel Davies. In 1753, he left Virginia to visit England and Scotland. That is when his Journal begins. He often took note of the wind, waves and weather around him as he sailed, and sometimes inspired his poetry, but it was not until he was almost back home, off the coast of North Carolina, in 1755, that he really began to takes notes on what he saw for purposes of spiritual meditation and improvement (George William Pilcher, ed., The Reverend Samuel Davies Abroad: The Diary of a Journey to England and Scotland, 1753-55).
"Wednesd. Feb. 12. Blessed be God, we had the wellcome [sic] Sight of Land this Morning; and suppose we are on the Coast of N. Carolina, about 20 Leagues S. of Cape Henry. The Wind is contrary; and if a Storm should rise, we might be driven out to Sea again.
Since my last Remarks, we have had strong Gales and violent Storms of Snow, with violent intense Cold. It has been so cloudy; that we have had no good Observations of 9 Days; and our Reckoning for Longitude being out [editorial note: John Harrison's marine chronometer was not invented until 1761], we knew not where we were. We have been expecting Land, and sounding for Ground, these 14 Days, but were still disappointed 'till this Morning. If the Longitude, which has been so long sought for in vain, could be certainly discovered, it would be vastly to the Advantage of Navigation.
Tho' my Mind has been in such a confusion, during the Passage, that I have not been able to make any useful Remarks to any Advantage; yet the various Phenomenon of the Ocean have suggested to me such Hints as might be well improved by a spiritual Meditant. And I shall take short Memorandum of them that if I should happen to be disposed for it hereafter, I may improve upon them.
The majestic Appearance of this vast Collection of Waters, may suggest to use -- the Majesty -- and Power of God, the Author -- and his uncontroulable Government who rules so outragious an Element as he pleases, and stills it with one almighty Mandate, 'Peace, be still,' -- and the Terror of the Conflagration which shall dry it up.
The alternate Storms and Calms are a picture of the Mutability of human Life on this World -- of the various Frames of a Xn.
As Storms and Hurricanes purifie the Sea, and keep it from corrupting; so Afflications are necessary to purge and sanctifie the People of God, and shall work together for their Good. And so God brings Good out of Evil.
It is calm in some Parts of the Ocean, while it is tempestous [sic] in others. So, particular Persons -- and Countries, are alternately happy and miserable.
The Sea in the Ferment of a Storm gives us an Image -- of a Mind agitated with furious Lusts and Passions -- and a riotous Mobb.
The Ship is our only Safety. So is Xt. to the Souls amid the Ruins of Sin.
After a Storm and a gloomy Night, how wellcome and chearing is the Return of a Calm, and a the Morning Light! So is the Return of Peace and the Light of God's Countenance to a Soul in Darkness and Distress.
The Want of an Observation to discover the Latitude, in cloudy Weather, leaves the Mariner perplexed about his Course. Thus perplexed is the Xn. when God withdraws the Light of his Countenance, or when the Meaning of the Scripture is uncertain.
It is a great Disadvantage to Navigation, and occasions the Loss of many Ships, that the Longitude is not discovered. Thus would it have been, with the moral [sic?] World, if it had not been favoured with the Light of Revelation; and thus is the heathen Part of Mankind at a Loss about the Way to Heaven.
After a long and dangerous Voyage, how eager are the Seamen looking out for Land; and how rejoiced at the Sight of it! Thus eager are some Xns and thus eager should they all be, to see Immanuel's Land, and arrive there.
It is a striking Evidence of the Degeneracy of human Nature, that those who traverse this Region of Wonders, who see so many Dangers and Deliverances, are generally tho'tless, vicious and impenitent.
Such Remarks as these, decorated with lively Images and good Langue, would be both useful and entertaining."
It was the next day that Samuel Davies arrived in Yorktown, Virginia, and two days following he returned home to his dear wife.
Pictured: Winslow Homer, Northeaster (1895).
An Awakening in Central Virginia
Presbyterianism was planted in eastern Virginia in the late 1600s and early 1700s with the arrival and ministry of Francis Makemie. As pioneer settlers, many of them Scotch-Irish, migrated down the Valley of Virginia, they brought Presbyterianism with them. These seeds were watered by the ministry of such men as John Blair, John Craig and Alexander Craighead, and others, who planted and organized congregations along the Blue Ridge. But in-between, the established Anglican church dominated the colony of Virginia, and as a consequence, parish preaching often led to a spiritual dormancy.
As Ezra H. Gillett notes, "The rise of Presbyterianism in Hanover is inseparably connected with what is known by tradition as Morris' Reading-House" (History of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, Vol. 1, p. 111). The spirit of God began to stir in the County of Hanover around 1740, an awakening which centered, in the providence of God, upon Samuel Morris, a simple brick mason who was anxious for the state of his soul, and, as a result, began to read such works as Martin Luther's commentary on Galatians, Thomas Boston's Fourfold State, and the sermons of George Whitefield, who had preached in Williamsburg in 1739, and began to embrace true Biblical experimental piety. He organized meetings in his home with family and neighbors to pray, read Scriptures and discuss these books. These Sabbath afternoon meetings became so popular that crowds grew, necessitating the erection of a meeting-place, which became known as "Morris' Reading House," while attendance upon the parish churches began to decline. This decline became so precipitous that the authorities in their alarm summoned Morris and his friends to appear before the Governor's Council in Williamsburg "to declare their creed and name." Being largely unacquainted with church history, and referencing the works of Luther, they were apparently identified as "Lutherans" and allowed to continue their meetings. Another report, said by Ernest T. Thompson to be "almost certainly apocryphal" (Presbyterians in the South, Vol. 1, p. 52), claims that on their way to Williamsburg, Morris and company happened upon a copy of the Westminster Confession of Faith, which they found most agreeable to their religious sentiments. Governor Gooch, when presented with this document, being a Scotsman himself, is said to have immediately identified the group as Presbyterian dissenters whose right to worship was protected under the Toleration Act.
It was in the winter of 1742-1743 that the Rev. William "One-Eyed" Robinson was sent by the Presbytery of New Castle to minister to points south, which included Hanover. Archibald Alexander's Biographies of the Log College Men gives an account of Robinson's arrival there (included in that account is a 1751 letter by Samuel Davies, which further incorporates a letter by Samuel Morris describing the experience of Robinson's ministry there). On July 6, 1743, Robinson preached the first Presbyterian sermon in those parts, and he stayed for three further days, fanning the flames of revival. Morris called those four days the "glorious days of the Son of Man." As a token of thanks, a substantial financial gift was offered to Robinson, which he declined. Edward Mack relates the account thus: "The first Presbyterian preacher who came to this Hanover flock was William Robinson, whose four days of preaching in 1743 bore fruit in earnest throngs and many converts. Being a man of means, Robinson refused money for these days of preaching. But discovering a large roll of bills slipped into his saddle-bags without his knowledge, he dedicated it to the education of a young man for the ministry, in the hope that he might come to Virginia. So it was that a poor, struggling young man, Samuel Davies, became the beneficiary of Virginia’s first gift for Ministerial Education, and after a few years, in 1747, this same Samuel Davies, at the age of twenty-three, came to these Presbyterians of Hanover as their first regular minister." Thus, a congregation was planted, Polegreen Church (which was attended by Patrick Henry), and eventually in 1755 the Hanover Presbytery itself was organized, "the mother-Presbytery of most of the churches and Presbyteries south of the Potomac" (Robert Ellis Thompson, A History of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, p. 38).
Ruth the Moabitess
The life of Ruth the Moabitess, the great-grandmother of King David, has lessons that are instructive for us today. Archibald Alexander once wrote a tract that is little-known today titled Ruth the Moabitess, or The Power of True Religion, in which he sets forth some of those lessons for our consideration.
"1. The power of true religion appears in making persons willing to abandon all idolatry, and all false notions and corrupt institutions of religion, in which they have been educated, or to which by inclination they may have been attached....Ruth the Moabitess was brought up an idolater, no doubt, but sovereign grace had touched her heart. By hearing she had been brought to believe, and under the influence of this new principle she turns her back on all the false deities which she had been accustomed to revere, and says to a pious Israelite, 'Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.'...
2. The power of religion is manifest in making persons willing to forsake their nearest and dearest earthly relatives, when their duty to their God and Saviour requires it. Those ties which bind men together are often so strong that they will lay down their lives for the preservation of those who are nearly related to them. But the love of Christ is stronger than all natural affections—stronger than the love of life itself. If our Lord had not known the power of his religion, he would never had laid down such terms of discipleship, as to forsake father and mother, wife and children, houses and land, yea our own life for his sake....
3. The power of true religion is again manifest in leading its votaries to choose the service of God, and the people of God, although the choice is in direct opposition to natural inclinations and worldly interests, and even though poverty and affliction should be the inevitable consequence. This is a good description of true religion. It consists in the deliberate choice of God as our God, and of his people as our people. They who make this choice have been divinely illuminated. Of all such it may truly be said, 'flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto them, but their Father who is in heaven.'...
4. The power of true religion is remarkably manifest in this, that it enables its possessor to stand firm when others turn back. When religion flourishes, there will be some who profess to follow Christ, and yet have no root in them. The blessed Saviour most strikingly characterizes them by the seed sown on a rock, which, though it quickly sprung up, soon withered away. During Christ's ministry, many followed him for a season,—but they were led on by low and selfish motives. And when their carnal expectations were disappointed, they would proceed no further, but 'went back from him.' Thus it was in the apostolic churches; some of high professions and high standing fell away. But the foundation of God is immovable, for the 'Lord knoweth them that are his.' 'They went out from us because they were not of us.' These are sifting times. Satan is ready to suggest to the sincere disciple, 'you may as well follow the example,' and for a moment the pious soul may be ready to slide, while he sees those apostatising of whose piety he had entertained a much more exalted opinion than of his own. But there is in him an imperishable seed, and he cannot sin deliberately. No, his heart is fixed, and however many may draw back unto perdition, his resolution becomes stronger; like the oak shaken by the storm he takes firmer root....
5. The power of religion appears, not only in resolving and choosing, but more especially in acting and enduring. Ruth goes to Bethlehem with her mother-in-law. The whole town is moved on their arrival, 'And they said, Is this Naomi?' And she said, 'Call me not Naomi, (which signifies pleasant) but call me Mara, (which signifies bitter) for the Almighty hath dealt bitterly with me.' Ruth is now in a strange land, and her mother-in-law being old, the burden of labour falls on her. The poor in Israel had a right by the law to the scattered stalks which the reapers left, and to every handful which they dropped, and to any sheaf which they forgot, and to what grew in the corners of the field. The poverty of these two widows is further evident, from the circumstance of Ruth's going out to glean after the reapers, from day to day. But she made no complaint. She cheerfully performed her duty, and patiently submitted to these humiliating circumstances."
Take up this short tract which has blessed others (as mentioned by J.W. Alexander in the biography he wrote of his father) and may its lessons and applications be a blessing to you, dear reader.