Christ All in All: The Right Temper for a Theologian, by William Swan Plumer, is Now Available!

Our third publication is now for sale! Christ All in All: The Right Temper for a Theologian, by William Swan Plumer, is available in paperback, Kindle, and EPUB versions. Containing Plumer's two inaugural addresses (at Western Theological Seminary and Columbia Theological Seminary), this 32-page booklet will benefit all believers, and is a particular encouragement and exhortation to seminary students and officers in Christ's church. Plumer's Christ-centered piety shines through beautifully as he explains what the focus of theological studies should be and in what spirit the student of theology should approach such a transcendent topic. 

While you're in our online bookstore, make sure to check out our first two publications (Thomas Dwight Witherspoon's The Five Points of Presbyterianism and Cornelius Washington Grafton's A Forty-Three Year Pastorate in a Country Church) and our large collection of secondary sources on American Presbyterianism.

At Log College Press, we believe the past isn't dead, primary sources aren't inaccessible, and American Presbyterians aren't irrelevant. More publications are in the works, so every purchase paves the way for us to continue to collect and reprint the writings of and about American Presbyterians from the 18th and 19th centuries. Thanks for your support!

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Our Newest Publication Will Be Available Soon!

Christ All in All: The Right Temper for a Theologian, by William Swan Plumer, is at the printers! This booklet contains Plumer's two inaugural addresses at Western Theological Seminary and Columbia Theological Seminary. In the first he beautifully portrays the person of Jesus Christ and the importance of keeping Christ at the center of the theological enterprise. In the second, he lays out several characteristics of a theologian after God's own heart. Both addresses are rich and significant for the church today. 

We'll let you know as soon as you can purchase this booklet on our website. Until then, be sure to browse our library and subscribe to our near-daily blog posts. If you haven't checked out the Secondary Sources on American Presbyterianism in our Bookstore, it's worth a look. And if you appreciate all the free materials and blog posts we provide through our website, consider crowdfunding us here

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William Swan Plumer's The Rock of Our Salvation is Well Worth Your Time

If you are looking for a work on the person and work of Jesus Christ, don't overlook The Rock of Our Salvation (1867), by William Swan Plumer. This 500-page tome is theologically robust and devotionally affective. A simple survey of the Table of Contents should whet your appetite for the rich fare you'll find within:

1. Christ All in All
2. The Divinity of Christ
3. The Sonship of Christ
4. The Incarnation of Christ
5. The Messiahship of Jesus of Nazareth
6. Christ the Mediator
7. Christ a Prophet
8. The Priesthood of Christ
9. Christ a King
10. Christ's Humiliation
11. General Views of Christ's Work
12. Redemption in Christ
13. The Atonement
14. The Folly of Objecting to the Atonement
15. Christ's Resurrection
16. Christ's Ascension and Session
17. Christ in Heaven
18. Christ's Personal Absence From This World
19. Christ on the Judgement Seat
20. Christ the Good Shepherd
21. Christ a Physician
22. The Gentleness of Christ
23. Christ Shall Yet Have a Glorious Reward
24. The Gospel of Christ is Hid From Some
25. The Sin and Danger of Not Believing in Christ
26. The Reproach of Christ
27. Conclusion

If you've never read Plumer before, you're in for a treat!

The Gospel of the Incarnation, by William Swan Plumer

“Our Lord Jesus Christ became incarnate, was made under the law, lived, acted, obeyed, suffered died and rose again for his people.

He came down to earth that they might go up to heaven.

He suffered that they might reign.

He became a servant that they might become kings and priests unto God.

He died that they might live.

He bore the cross that their enmity might be slain, and their sins expiated.

He loved them that they might love God.

He was rich and became poor that they, who were poor, might be made rich.

He descended into the lower parts of the earth that they might sit in heavenly places.

He emptied himself that they might be filled with all the fullness of God.

He took upon him human nature that they might be partakers of the divine nature.

He made flesh his dwelling place that they might be an habitation of God through the Spirit.

He made himself of no reputation, that they might wear his new name, and be counted an eternal excellency.

He became a worm, and no man, that they, who were sinful worms, might be made equal to the angels.

He bore the curse of a broken covenant that they might partake of all the blessings of the everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure.

Though heir of all things, he was willingly despised of the people, that they, who were justly condemned, might obtain and inheritance that is incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away.

His death was a satisfaction to divine justice, a ransom for many, a propitiation for sin, a sweet smelling savour to God, that we, who were an offense to God, might become his sons and daughters.

He was made sin for his people that they might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Though Lord of all He took the form of a servant, that they, who were the servants of sin, might prevail like princes with God.

He, who had made swaddling-clothes bands for the sea, was wrapped in swaddling-clothes that they, who were cast out in their blood, might be clothed in linen white and clean, which is the righteousness of the saints.

He had not where to lay His head that they who otherwise must have laid down in eternal sorrow, might read the mansions in His Father’s house.

He was beset with lions and bulls of Bashan, that his chosen might be compassed about with an innumerable company of angels and of the spirits of just men made perfect.

He drank the cup of God’s indignation that they might for ever drink of the river of His pleasures.

He hungered that they might eat the bread of life.

He thirsted that they might drink the water of life.

He was numbered with the transgressors that they might stand among the justified, and be counted among the jewels.

He made His grave with the wicked that they might sleep in Jesus.

Though He was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was, yet He became a helpless infant, that creatures of yesterday, sentenced to death, might live for ever.

He wore a crown of thorns that all, who love His appearing, might wear a crown of life.

He wept tears of anguish that His elect might weep tears of repentance not to be repented of.

He bore the yoke of obedience unto death that they might find His yoke easy and His burden light.

He poured out His soul unto death, lay three days in the heart of the earth, then burst the bars of death, and arose to God, that they, who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage, might obtain the victory over the grave and become partakers of His resurrection.

He exhausted the penalty of the law that His redeemed might have access to the inexhaustible treasures of mercy, wisdom, faithfulness, truth and grace promised by the Lord.

He passed from humiliation to humiliation, till He reached the sepulcher of Joseph, that His people might be changed from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord.

He was matchless in grace that they might be matchless in gratitude.

Though a Son, He became a voluntary exile, that they, who had wickedly wandered afar off, might be brought nigh by His blood.

He was compassed about with all their innocent infirmities that He might perfect His strength in their weakness.

His visage was so marred more than any man, that His ransomed might be presented before God without spot, or blemish, or wrinkle, or any such thing.

For a time He was forsaken of His Father that they, whom He bought with His blood, might behold the light of God’s countenance forever.

He came and dwelt with them that they might be forever with the Lord.

He was hung up naked before His insulting foes that all, who believe on His name, might wear a glorious wedding garment, a spotless righteousness.

Though He was dead, He is the firstborn among many brethren.

Through His sorrow His people obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing flee away.

Though He endured the worst things, they do and shall forever enjoy the best things

Wonderful mystery! God was manifested in the flesh! Here is no absurdity, no contradiction, no fiction, and yet a mystery that baffles all attempts to solve it, and dazzles all human and angelic vision. Blessed is he, who is not offended in Jesus. Blessed is he, who loves the incarnate mystery, and rests upon it. It is a mystery of love, of power, of salvation. It is the mystery of Godliness. It is the great study of the inhabitants of heaven, and shall be while immortality endures.”

-- From The Grace of Christ, chapter 21

William Swan Plumer on Solus Christus

“In proportion as men are truly pious, they make Jesus Christ the foundation and top-stone, the sum and substance and center of all their hopes and rejoicings. He is believed on in the world, not merely because there is no other way of salvation, but because this way is so admirably adapted to all the necessities of sinners, and because it brings glory to God in the highest. The true believer not only trusts in Christ; he glories in him. He not only makes mention of him; he admits none into comparison with him. To all the ends, parts and purposes of salvation Christ stands alone. There is none like him, there is none with him, there is none before him, there is none after him, there is none beside him.” (From "Christ All in All" - Plumer's Inaugural Discourse at Western Theological Seminary)

John Anderson, Associate Presbyterian pastor, on Jesus Christ as the object of faith

The Lord’s Day is a day set aside for the worship of the living and true God, and to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Jesus Christ is the object of the Christian’s faith, His name is the only name under heaven which can save, and so perceiving of His person and work rightly is key. In 1793, the Reverend John Anderson of the Associate Presbyterian Church wrote a book on viewing Christ as the object of faith, aptly titled The Scripture Doctrine of the Appropriation which is in the Nature of Saving Faith. Perhaps this Lord’s Day you could read about Christ as the object of your faith!

Digital gold: B. B. Warfield's "On the Emotional Life of our Lord" and two Inaugural Addresses

One of the great American Presbyterian theologians, B. B. Warfield's article "On the Emotional Life of our Lord" (from Biblical and Theological Studies published by the Princeton Theological Seminary faculty) is among his most important works. His two inaugural addresses are not far behind. The first was given at Western Theological Seminary (modern Pittsburgh Theological Seminary) in 1880, entitled "Is the Church Doctrine of the Plenary Inspiration of the New Testament Endangered by the Assured Results of Modern Biblical Criticism?" The second was given at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1888, entitled "The Idea of Systematic Theology Considered as a Science." You can find them both on the B. B. Warfield page of the Log College Press site. 

One of the projects we have in mind for reprinting is an anthology of seminary inaugural addresses from the 19th century. Does anyone else think this would be a worthwhile endeavor? 

Who can take the sinner's stead? Francis Smith Sampson on the necessity of the work of Jesus Christ

Francis Smith Sampson (1814-1854) was a pastor and professor at Union Theological Seminary in Virginia. He died young, but left us with several gems, including a commentary on Hebrews and a lecture on the canon. The following is an excerpt from a sermon included in his Memoirs, written by Robert Lewis Dabney. It beautifully expresses the sole sufficiency of Jesus Christ to save sinners. 

"It behooved another, far above every creature and every name that is named, whether in Heaven or on Earth, to undertake and execute for us. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, coequal with the Father, in all respects divine, stoops to take our nature upon himself. It is not man, nor angel, but God-man, or God manifest in the flesh, that is our Saviour. It is he, whose are the worlds and all the inhabitants thereof: who holds in his hands the government and the law: dependent on no being, and bound to none beyond his own righteous ordination. Of his own account, therefore, he comes; and, moved by no obligation but his own merciful and sovereign purpose, he assumes our nature complete, saving sin; thus freely subjecting himself to the law, that he may meet all its demands upon the sinner, and not only deliver him from eternal death, but secure for him everlasting life. To purchase Heaven, he obeys the law: to save from Hell, he suffers death. Infinite justice accepts the substitute. No mere creature could ever so magnify the law and make it honorable. No obedience was ever so worthy, no suffering was ever so satisfactory. The law can ask nothing more: its claims are fully met. Our iniquities were laid upon him: his righteousness is reckoned to us. Hell was our desert; Heaven is our reward! It only remains that this Saviour be able to take us, all deformed as we are, and fashion us after his own glorious image: that he be able to deliver us from the bondage of Satan, whose captives we are, and from sin, whose pollutions we love; and thus, while he gives us freedom, enable us to preserve and enjoy it: and he is all the Saviour, and the very Saviour that we need.

All this he can do, and will, for all who call upon him in truth. A new heart he will give them: new desires he will create within them, and new objects of pursuit he will set before them. He will never leave nor forsake them. In all the wilderness he will be their companion and guardian and guide: no enemy shall triumph over them, no weapon formed against them shall prosper. All the trials and difficulties of the way he will convert into blessings: all things, by his care, shall work together for their good. And when, their course being finished and their work done, they come to leave all that is dear on earth, he will take them to himself: Heaven will be their home, and in his presence they shall dwell: sorrow and sin shall have seen their end; and the high and holy joys of angels and saints shall be theirs forever and ever.